The Bluffton news. [volume], July 29, 1948, Image 1

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BLUFFTON
A Good Place To Live
VOLUME LXXIII
ALLEN COUNTYTO
HAVE ONE BOARD
TO HANDLE DRAFT
Single Board Will Administer
Registration August 30 to
Sept. 15
Three-Man Committee Named
to Recommend Personnel
for Draft Board
Allen county including Lima,
which operated during World War II
with three selective service boards,
will have only one board to handle
the entire area in the drafting of
youths under the new Selective
Service act.
This became known the first of the
week in connection with announce
ment of a three-man committee
named to nominate members of the
Allen county board which will handle
registration of all 18 to 25 year old
men from August 30 through
September 15.
On the nominating committee for
Allen county are Common Pleas
Judge Moran B. Jenkins, Probate
Judge Raymond P. Smith and A. D.
MacDonnell, Lima banker.
127 Boards in State
Adj. Gen. Chester W. Goble, state
director of selective service said
there will be 127 draft boards in
operation in Ohio this'time, compar
ed with 330 used previously.
A ratio of one board to each
100,000 population is being followed
throughout the state. Under this
rule, 78 Ohio counties will have
single boards. The remaining 10
counties will have two or more
boards.
Each board will consist of three
members as compared with five
member boards which functioned
during the war. Members for the
new draft boards must be at least
30 years old and cannot be members
of the armed forces or any reserve,
National Selective Service head
quarters announced.
Committee Personnel
Recommending committees in all
counties of the state consist of the
probate and common pleas judges
and a third member named by
Governor Thomas J. Herbert.
Recommendations for board mem
bership will be submitted to Govern
or Herbert, who in turn will submit
the nominations to President Tru
man.
In Hancock county the recommend
ing committee consists of Judges
Chester Pendleton, Judge Paul R.
Capel and R. L. Heminger, publisher
of the Republican-Courier.
Putnam county’s nominating com
mittee includes Judge A. A. Slay
baugh, Judge William George and
C. B. Millham.
Personnel of the new draft boards
will be announced in August.
Sails For Summer
Tour Of Europe
Peter C. Luginbuhl, of Lakewood,
brother of Sam C. Luginbuhl, south
west of town, will sail Friday on the
Queen Mary for a visit to. Europe
where he will spend some time visit
ing the various points of interest in
Switzerland including Geneva, Bern,
Interlaken, Basle also Paris, Avig
non, Nice, French Riviera, Monaco,
Grenoble in France Luxembourg
Belgium Holland and London, Eng
land. He will return in September
and hopes to bring back with him a
photographi* story of his trip.
While Mr. Luginbuhl is in Europe,
Mrs. Luginbuhl will stay with their
daughter, Kathryn, in Washington,
D. C.
Voice Recital At
College On Friday
Summer voice students of Prof.
Russell A. Lantz will be presented
in a recital open to the public, Fri
day night at 8 o'clock in Ramseyer
chapel on the Bluffton college cam
pus.
Appearing in the recital will be
students from Latty, Pandora, Beav
erdam, Bluffton and Lafayette.
Notice
Because of increased produc
tion costs the following subscrip
tion rates to the Bluffton News
*ent anywhere in the United
states will become effective
August 1, 1948:
1 Year, $2.50
6 Months. $1.50
3 Months, $1
single copies, 7c
Monoxide Gas Makes
Bluffton Family 111
Mrs. Paul Emmert of North Jack
son street was a patient in Bluffton
hospital Friday night as the result
of monoxide gas poisoning which af
fected her husband and children to a
lesser degree.
The family became ill while taking
an auto ride last Friday evening
with the windows closed when ex
haust gases from the motor reported
ly seeped into their car.
They were given medical attention
at the office of Dr. F. D. Rodabaugh
from where Mrs. Emmert more af
fected than the others was removed
in the Basinger ambulance to Bluff
ton hospital for overnight observa
tion and treatment.
A. C. RAMSEYER,
COLLEGE TRUSTEE,
STRICKEN AT SEA
Jonor of Ramseyer Chapel At
Bluffton College Dies
Enroute To Europe
Master Ohio Farmer Had Been
Trustee of College Here
For 20 Years
Alvin C. Ramseyer, 68, widely
known potato raiser at Smithville,
Wayne county, for many years a
Bluffton college trustee and donor of
Ramseyer chapel on the campus
here, died suddenly of a heart attack
Friday aboard the steamship
Mauretania enroute to Europe.
He was with a party of Wayne
county people making a summer tour
which included the Olympic games
in London. There was no other
member of his family with him.
On arrival of the ship in England,
the body will be returned by plane
to his home in Smithville where
funeral services will be held in Oak
Grove Mennonite church, probably
Saturday. Burial will be in the church
cemetery.
Officiating at the funeral will be
his former pastor, Rev. J. N. Smuck
er now minister of the First Men
nonite church of Bluffton.
Ramseyer who had experienced
previous heart attacks died suddenly
while resting in a deck chair after
a game of shuffleboard, according to
radio reports from the ship.
Daughter Flying Home
His daughter, Miss Edna Ram
seyer, dean of women of Bluffton
college, who is working with a Men
nonite relief unit in Germany this
summer, is enroute home by plane,
after being notified of the death.
Bluffton Man Makes Trip To Alaska
In One Day’s Flight By Army Plane
One of the largest potato growers
in the Midwest, Ramseyer, an Ohio
Master Farmer, at one time farmed
more than 1,200 acres of potatoes.
His present operations, however,
embrace approximately 800 acres,
principally around Smithville. In ad
dition, he has some acreage in
Pennsylvania uplands where he grew
his own seed potatoes.
In addition to potato farming,
Ramseyer also held extensive inter
est in citrus lands near Mission,
Texas, where his daughter and son
in-law, Mr. and Mrs. James F.
(Continued on page 8)
Remains Coming
Here For Burial
Body of Leonard Nusbaum, 52, of
Lima, native of the Bluffton area,
will be brought here for burial in
Maple Grove cemetery Thursday
afternoon.
Nusbaum died of a heart ailment
in Lima Memorial hospital Tuesday
morning. Death followed a three
years’ illness. Funeral services will
be held Thursday afternoon at 1
o’clock in the Lewis funeral home at
Lima, Rev. Paul Runk officiating.
He was born May 9, 1896 in Mon
roe township, the son of David Nus
baum, Bluffton, Route 2. His wife
is the former Florence Lambert of
Bluffton and one of four brothers is
Elmer Nusbaum of Bluffton.
A resident of Lima for 32 years,
Nusbaum was chief engineer for the
Lennox Furnace Co. in Lima.
Survivors include the widow two
sons, Charles and Ralph W. Nus
baum, both of Lima his father,
David Nusbaum, Route 2, Bluffton
four brothers, Harley, Columbus
Grove Gilbert, Route 3, Lima Elm
er,, Route 2, Bluffton and Robert,
Lima and two sisters, Mrs. Louie
Wagner, Ada and Mrs. Merlin
Jones, Columbus Grove.
"red Wenger Traverses 3,100
Mile Stretch from Dayton
To Fairbanks
Rugged Highway Baffles
Previous Attempt to Travel
By Automobile
Fred Wenger, of Beaver street,
forced to return from a projected
motor tour to Alaska 10 days ago
by impassable roads, Tuesday left
from Wright field, Dayton, in an
army plane, on a government busi
ness trip to Fairbanks, Alaska.
Leaving Wright field at 7 a. m.,
the plane, a C-47 cargo ship, makes
only one stop on the 3,100-mile
aerial flight to Fairbanks. It lands
at Whitehorse, in Yukon territory,
12 hours after take-off, and then
continues on 600 miles to Fairbanks,
arriving at midnight.
Cargo planes make a bi-weekly
trip from Wright field to Fairbanks.
Leaving Dayton every other Tuesday,
the plane stays in Alaska until the
following Tuesday, when it returns.
Wenger expects to return on the
plane next Tuesday.
Heads Division
The Bluffton man is chief of the
components development branch, elec
tronics division, at Wright field, and
the trip to Alaska is related to his
work.
Originally planning to make an
automobile trip to Alaska with mem
bers of his family over the Alcan
highway, Wenger turned back after
encountering impassable roads be
fore reaching the highway.
Most of the difficulty in driving is
experienced on a 550-mile stretch
from Edmonton, Alberta, to Dawson
Creek, start of the Alcan highway.
The -Edmonton to Dawson Creek road
is unimproved and is largely made
of boulders. Much of the route is
thru swamp territory, in which a
roadbed was made by laying logs,
then covering the base with rocks
and gravel.
Boulders
in Road
Rains wash away the gravel, leav
ing boulders, and natives shunning
automobiles, use a wagon with two
horses for travel. Wenger said he
saw a Buick with a broken crank
shaft and two Pontiacs with broken
shock absorbers, laid up along the
highway.
The Wengers had covered about
half the route from Edmonton to
Dawson Creek, but turned back when
natives said the road they had come
over was the “good stretch,’’ and the
remaining distance had washed out
weeks earlier, with no one able to
get through since that time.
He said that loose boulders, hard
on tires, slowed travel to such an
extent that in one stretch it re
quired 12 hours to drive 64 miles.
Poor Highway
In maintaining the 264-mile stretch
of road where the bed has washed
out, there were two little roadscrap
ers at work repairing the damage.
Residents of the area say it will be
at least five years before the road is
reasonably passable for auto travel.
No trucks operate in the area,
and everything shipped in comes by
a “hit-or-miss” fashion on a small
railroad line.
In Calgary, the AAA discourages
tourists from attempting the trip by
car, principally because of the condi
tion of roads to starting point of the
Alcan highway at Dawson Creek.
Although the Alcan roadway is not
hard-surfaced, it is graveled and is
fairly good, however, there are
plenty of ruts.
Births
The following births at Bluffton
hospital:
Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Spallinger,
Lafayette, a boy, Gary Lee, Thurs
day.
Mr. and Mrs. Wendell Wagner,
Mt. Cory, a boy, David Howard, Fri
day.
Mr. and Mrs. Serge Warren, Wil
liamstown, a boy William oseph, Sat
urday.
Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Von Stein,
Bluffton, a girl, Carol Sue, Tuesday.
Mr. and Mrs. Maynard Clark, Ar
lington, a girl, Onalee Kay, Tuesday.
Mr. and Mrs. Santiago Rangel,
Ottawa, a girl, Elida H., Wednesday,
Chief Gunner’s Mate Donald Nus
baum and Mrs. Nusbaum, a boy,
born at Waukegan, Ill., Monday.
Mr. Nusbaum is formerly of Bluff
ton.
Rev. and Mrs. J. P. Kochner, Buf
falo, N Y., a boy, Curtis William,
born in that city July 20. Mrs.
Kochner is the formei- Marie Lahr,
daughter of Rev. and Mrs. W. H.
Lahr of Harman road.
THE/BLUFFTON NEWS
A NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF BLUFFTON AND VICINITY
BLUFFTON, OHIO, THURSDAY. JULY 29, 1948
ROUTE 30 WILL
BE WIDENED EAST
FROM BEAVERDAM
lids For 4^ Mile Improvement
Program To Be Opened
August 17
Jncoln Highway Will Be Im
proved in Village And East
From Town
Widening and re-surfacing of the
Lincoln highway, U. S. Route 30, in
Beaverdam and east more than four
miles into Richland township is plan
ned in a state highway department
improvement program on which con
tractors may bid until Tuesday, Aug.
17.
That the improvement likely will
not be completed this summer is
seen in specifications in the notice
to bidders setting Aug. 31, 1949, as
the deadline for completion of the
work.
22 Feet Wide
The contract notice calls for im
provement of 4.675 miles of the high
way by “grading, construction drain
age structures and widening and re
surfacing with asphaltic concrete.”
Width of the new pavement will be
22 feet.
Estimated cost of the project has
been set at $168,00 by state high
way department engineers.
With re-surfacing of the highway
in Beaverdam and east of the town
corporation, the highway department
will be continuing a program launched
in the area last summer when the
Lincoln was improved between
Beaverdam and Cairo.
Auto Crash Victim's
Condition Unchanged
Condition of Harold Amstutz, 21,
auto crash vicitim who has been a
patient in Bluffton hospital since the
accident 18 days ago is reported un
changed.
Amstutz was removed from the
scene of the accident in an uncon
scious condition and since has re
covered consciouRiiess only at brief
intervals. He is the son of William
Amstutz Irving southwest of Bluffton
on the former Follett farm.
The accident occurred Sunday
July 11 in a two-car collision
at the intersection of the Columbus
Grove road and State route 696,
known as the Hilty school corner
four miles west of Bluffton.
Amstutz was eastbound on the
Col. Grove road while Virgil Leman,
39, of Lima, driver of the other car,
was southbound on the state route.
Both were riding alone. Laman was
not injured.
Two Bluffton Men
Hurt In Accident
Two Bluffton men were slightly
injured at 5:45 p. m. last Thursday
when the automobile in which they
were riding struck a utility pole and
overturned in a wheat field three
miles south of Beaverdam on the
Dixie highway.
Injured in the mishap were James
Stonehill, 21, driver of the car, and
James Birchnaugh, 23.
Stonehill was treated in Lima St.
Rita’s hospital for a deep cut on the
left leg and shoulder injuries. Birch
naugh received minor cuts and
abrasions.
The automobile .was demolished in
the crash.
According to state patrolmen,
Stonehill lost control of the car when
it started skidding, while driving
south toward Lima.
Kenneth Oberly Takes
State Engineer's Exam
Kenneth Oberly, son of Millard
Oberly, Bluffton, was among 815
graduate engineers who took the re
cent state examination at Columbus,
it was announced this week by Dr.
T. J. Smull, chief examiner of the
state registration board. Oberly took
his enginneering degree at Ohio
Northern university.
Opens North Main
Service Station
Harold Vance of Beaverdam has
re-opened the Gulf service station on
North Main street, it was announced
the first of the week. Mr. and Mrs.
Vance moved recently from Detroit
to Beaverdam where his wife opei
ates a beauty parlor.
Establish Bone Bank
A “bone bank” to provide a con
stant supply of bone for grafting
operations has been established at
Geisinger Memorial hospital, Don
ville, Pa.
Beaverburg, Haven of Married
G. I. Students, Will Be
Larger Than Ever
Wives In Student Families
Learn Housekeeping And
Take College Work
Beaverburg—Bluffton college trail
er camp which came into existence
two years ago as an answer to one
phase of the housing shortage is
preparing for its third and biggest
year when college opens for the fall
term in September.
The evergrowing colony of trailer
families, a post-war development on
the college campus, affords a wide
contrast to the era prior to 1945
when married college students com
prised a negligible percentage of the
student body.
Today, th married veteran with a
wife who takes care of housekeeping
and often pursues studies herself,
has become a fixture in campus life,
with the population of the trailer
colony climbing with the opening of
each school year.
Organized in 1946 when the hous
ing problem for G. I. students with
families was pressing, Beaverburg
consisted of seven occupied trailers
and two prefabricated houses.
Colony Larger
This fall, arrangements already
have been completed to accommodate
14 trailer families in the colony,
plus foui* families living in prefab
ricated homes. More trailers can be
accommodated if others wish to en
roll, college authorities said.
Cost of living in the trailers is
about $20 per month for each fam
ily, including electricity, fuel oil for
heating, use of the utility house
with hot and cold showers and laun
dry privileges.
Beaverburg residents can do their
own cooking, or eat in the college
dining hall, as they prefer. Most of
them, however, prepare their own
food, with the G. I.’s bride often
learning cooking and housekeeping at
the same time the couple pursues
regular college courses.
Bluffton College Trailer Village To
Grow In Population Again This Year
Elects Own Mayor
Beaverburg has its own mayor
and self-government. Wayne Ho
stettler, of Elkhart, Ind., a senior
next year, is present mayor, and will
continue in office until the annual
election next January.
Beaverburg’s population varies,
and the most reliable information as
to last year’s number of residents
was a sign erected at homecoming
time “29 Humans—Plus One Dog—
Plus Coming Attractions.” A re
vision last spring added another dog
to the list.
The growth of Beaverburg was as
sured when college dormitories proved
unsuited for the flood of married
G. I.’s, many of whom have child
ren and were unable to find housing
in the town for their families.
And with the advent of married
students, baby .buggies, a rarity on
the campus in pre-war days, now are
fairly common.
WITH THE SICK
Mrs. Minnie Lewis is quite ill at
her home on North Lawn avenue.
Satisfactory progress is reported
in the condition of Charles Bucher,
14-year old Bluffton youth who is
a polio patient in Lima Memorial
hospital. He is the son of Mr. and
Mrs. Clair Bucher of West Elm
street.
The June index of prices paid for
goods by farmers was 10 per cent
higher in June, 1948, than in the
same month of 1947. Interest and
taxes rose 1 point in the month
preceding June 15, 1948.
Elimination of the sales tax on all
sales under 41 cents will become ef
fective when Governor Herbert signs
the new state law, July 31^ it was
stated by C. Emory Glander, tax
commissioner.
Beginning August 1 all sales of
less than 41 centos will be exempt.
On purchases of 41 cents and over
the former tax rates will apply with
No Trace Found
Of Missing Man
No trace has been found of Jacob
Warkentin, 22-year-old Columbus
Grove roofing contractor and former
Bluffton resident who has been miss
ing since early last week when his
abandoned automobile was found near
Port Clinton not far from Lake Erie.
A note which he left stated that
his body would not be found and a
search by sheriff’s deputies in con
junction with coastguardsmen who
dragged the lake in the vicinity of
Port Clinton failed to uncover any
clues.
The family stated that Warkentin
had been doctoring and that he may
have wandered off while suffering
from a lapse of memory.
FARMERS REVERSE
HARVESTING OATS
CUT BEFORE WHEAT
Rainfall Delays Harvest of
Wheat Oats Now Being
Combined
Bumper Oats Crop Being Cut
Because It Shatters More
Easily In Field
Reversing the usual procedure in
farm harvesting operations, oats are
being combined on Bluffton area
farms during this week while farm
ers delayed completion of the bumper
wheat harvest.
Continued rainfall at a time when
both wheat and oats are ripe has
caused the shift in harvesting pro
cedure, with farmers changing their
plans because oats shatter more
easily in the field and due to the
fact that the moisture content of
wheat has been increased greatly by
i the rains.
Ordinarily, wheat harvesting is
out of the way before oats have
ripened, but intermittent ranfall in
the past week caused delays in
handling this year’s wheat crop.
Oats, when dead ripe, shatter
easily and with wheat better able to
1 wait for cutting, many farmers
hastily changed harvesting plans and
are taking the oats crop off first.
Yield Is High
Yield in an average oats acreage
this year is unusually good, with
early cutting indicating 80 bushels
or more to the acre. Preliminary
tests have shown about 36 pounds to
the bushel, as compared with the
standard of 32 pounds.
With the bumper oats harvest
flowing through elevators to big city
markets, Allen county farmers are
assured of about $573,000 for the
1948 oats crop, no matter what hap
pens to the commercial market, it
was learned this week.
No Sales Tax On Purchases
Under 41 Cents Beginning August 1
tax receipts with respect to taxable
sales. Vendors who wilfully fail to
give stamps to customers will con
tinue to be subject to prosecution
and also to suspension or revocation
of their licenses, Glander said.
This is the result of the county
support price, announced by the U.
S. Department of Agriculture on the
basis of an anticipated normal pro
duction.
Support price has been set at 75
cents per bushel as the accepted loan
rate on oats grown in the county,
the same as the rate in Hardin,
Hancock and Putnam counties.
Garden Club Plans
Flower Exhibit Here
Plans for a flower exhibit to be
held in the Methodist church parlors,
Friday, September 3 in the after
noon and evening by the Garden club
were announced by club officers the
first of the week.
Enroute Home After
Summer In England
Mrs. Harry Shrider, Jr., of Har
mon road is scheduled to sail from
Hull, England, this week returning
to her home here. She left Bluffton
early in May to visit at her former
home in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, in
northern England.
Mrs. Shrider came to this country
two years ago as a British war
bride, having first met her husband,
a Bluffton serviceman, while he was
stationed at Grimsby with a U. S.
army air unit She is expected to
arrive here early in August.
BLUFFTON
A Good Place To Trade
NUMBER 15
THREE TEACHERS
NEEDED FOR FIRST
GRADE THIS YEAR
?irst Grade Attendance To
Jump From 44 Last Year
To Estimated 65
Grade School Enrollment Will
Be Larger High School
Registration Smaller
Three first grade
teachers—two
handling first grades exclusively and
anoth?r with a mixed grade will be
assigi ed to direct the activities of
six-year-olds who will enter
school for the first time this fall.
Thi sis the largest number of in
sti*uctors ever assigned to a single
in the schools here, Supt. Ralph
Lanhiim said this wee]
in
cnTtiwiATifaL11VVzAlIlIIC.
tng o n the flood of fit st-graders ex
pectec when class room activity
on Tuesday moiming, Sept. 7,
Altliougn plans are subject to ad
justment when schoc1 opens, the
superintendent said the tentative
teaching program calls for two first
gradei3 of 27 pupils each, with the
balance in a mixed first and second
grade class.
Heavy influx of first-year pupils
will rsquire the use of two additional
class rooms in the grade school
buildiiig which have been vacant
since enrollment begs n falling off
here i n the past decacle.
More In Grades
Altllough enrollment at the grade
school will increase iis fall, as a
result of the first-grade situation,
h^gh school registration is expected
to be smaller than last year.
The incoming class from the grade
school to junior high school this fall
will be only 38, in comparison with
last spring’s graduating class of 44
seniors.
Last fall there were 44 first-grad
ers at the opening of school in Sep
tember. To handle the 44 there was
one class of first-graders and one
mixed class of first and second year
pupils.
In preparation for the opening of
the school term, now only a little
more than a month away, the inter
ior of the grade school building is
being redecorated.
Light Plant Engine
Basis Of Court Suit
An outmoded Skinner engine in
the municipal light plant, sold two
weeks ago by the Bluffton board of
public affairs, is the basis of an
$8,350 judgment suit brought in Al
len county common pleas court
against the purchaser of the engine.
Plaintiff in the action is the In
ternational Power Machinery Co., of
Cleveland, on the basis that it locat
ed the engine here for Tretolite Co.,
Inc., of St .Louis, successful purch
aser of the engine at a price of
$6,200 in open competitive bidding.
The Cleveland firm alleges it was
solicited by the defendant to locate
machinery, and entered into negotia
tions with the boafd of public af
fairs here relative to purchase of
the Skinner engine for the St. Louis
company’s needs.
In the meantime, an opinion by
City Solicitor Dan R. Trippiehorn
resulted in advertisement for open,
competitive bidding in sale of the
engine, in which the Tretolite bid
was high.
Two causes for action are listed
in the suit against the St. Louis
firm: For the commission lost thru
bypass purchase of the engine and
for cost of the plaintiff in locating
it. An order of attachment against
the engine also is sought.
The engine still is in the Bluffton
plant.
Real Estate Deals
Richard Davies of Harmon Road
has purchased the C. F. Niswander
property on South Main street. Pos
session will be given in the fall
when the Niswander family will oc
cupy their new residence now under
construction on South Main street be
tween Bentley road and the corpora
tion line. Sale of the property was
handled by Mrs. H. W. Althaus.
Berdell Huber has purchased the
Rev. J. J. Esau property on Cherry
street and will occupy the residence.
Rev. Esau and family left Friday
for Omaha, Nebraska, where he has
accepted a call to the pastorate of
the United Mennonite church, be
ginning August 1.
Earl Jorg, local hatcheryman, has
purchased the property of the late
A E. Temple consisting of a one
acre act and house at Vance and
Jefferson streets.