The Bluffton news. [volume], March 03, 1949, Image 1

About The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current

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BLUFFTON
A Good Place to Trade
VOLUME LXXm
NEW TURBINE UNIT
ON LINE AT LIGHT
PLANT THIS MONTH
Installation of 2,000 KW Gener
ator Virtually Finished, Supt.
Swisher Reports
Additional Boiler Being Install
ed At Mur^ipal Plant Will
Be Completed In Spring
Installation of a 2,000 KW turbine
generator is practically completed at
the Bluffton municipal light plant
and the new unit will be put on the
line sometime the latter part of
March, Supt. John Swisher announc
ed this week.
With the additional turbine in
operation, Bluffton’s peak load
troubles experienced over the last 18
months will be eliminated, the super
intendent said, and the plant will
have two generators capable of ade
quately supplying demands of
patrons.
Present peak load demands at the
plant range from 1,000 to 1,100 KW,
Supt. Swisher pointed out, and only
one of the plant’s two present operat
ing turbines can carry the load.
The larger turbine in the exist
ing installation has a 1250 KW
rating, but the smaller has a rated
output of only 750 KW. As long as
the larger unit is on the line, the
local plant experiences no difficulties,
but when it is necessary to shut it
down for repairs or cleaning, the
smaller turbine cannot carry peak
loads, and it has been necessary at
times to pull the switches on lines
supplying Bluffton industries.
Surplus Purchase
With the additional 2,000 KW
turbine on the line, the plant will
have adequate generating capacity
for all demands, Supt. Swisher said.
The turbine was purchased early in
1947 as navy surplus removed from
a destroyer, and after its installation
here was rewound to make it suit
able for use in the Bluffton plant.
Additional boiler facilities required
at the plant will not be available
until in the spring, Supt. Swisher
said, for a new 600 HP boiler being
installed will not be completed until
that time.
When the boiler is put in use the
plant will have adequate steam
power to handle its increased load
now kicking when it is necessary to
shut down the one plant boiler, with
sufficient output for needs.
Standby power is not available in
sufficient volume at present because
the two older standby boilers do not
have adequate output for today’s
higher demand loads.
Letter Protests
Gara Prosecution
A letter protesting Selective Serv
ice Act violation prosecution of Lary
Gara, Bluffton college instructor,
has been sent to Attorney General
Tom Clark by the Peacemakers, a
national organization with head
quarters in New York City.
Gara was indicted in Toledo fed
eral court Jan. 5 on a charge of
advising draft-age men to refuse to
register for the draft. Gara has
pleaded innocent to- the charge and
trial has been set for March 9.
Thirty-four citizens, most of them
clergymen, signed the Peacemaker
letter, which protests prosecution of
Gara on the grounds that it is
against the public interest to im
prison persons who under compul
sion of their conscience refuse to
cooperate in military conscription.
Bluffton Youth Will
Graduate With Honors
James Gilbert, Bluffton rural
route, will be the only one of 38|
seniors to graduate with distinction i
at winter quarter commencement ex
ercises at Ohio Northern university
this week. Gilbert will receive a
B. S. in Education degree.
Called Home By
Mother's Death
Miss Ocie Anderson, Bluffton pub
lic librarian, was called to Cameron,
West Virginia, Sunday, following
the death of her mother at that
place. During Miss Anderson’s ab
sence the library here will be in
charge of two assistants.
Addresses Lions
In Mt. Blanchard
Dr. Gordon Bixel, Bluffton optome
trist, addressed the dinner meeting
of the Mt. Blanchard Lions club,
Thursday night. His subject “How
We See”, gave particular attention
to children’s eyesight troubles.
Dollar Days Success
For All Concerned
Dollar Days in Bluffton last Fri
day and Saturday left everybody
happy.
Wearing smiles at the close of the
big sales event were shoppers who
found shops jammed with bargains
merchants who did a record volume
of business, and some 750 kiddies
who saw a free movie at the Carma
theatre.
With the town jammed with shop
pers last Saturday afternoon, two
packed houses saw a free movie
screened at the Carma theatre for
children who could be left there
while their parents looked over the
bargain offerings.
The enthusiastic response to the
Dollar Days sale here came at a
time when many cities were report
ing lagging retail sales, and helped
local merchants establish volumes
comparable with any February per
iod in history.
ANNUAL RED CROSS
DRIVE IS UNDER
WAY IN BLUFFTON
Mrs. J. S. Steiner Directs Drive
To Raise $1,000 In Soli
citation Locally
Attempts Being Made To Com
pete Campaign During First
Two Weeks of March
Joining others in a nation-wide
drive, Bluffton Red Cross workers
this week began their solicitation in
the annual Red Cross campaign to
raise funds for the many phases of
the organization’s relief activities.
Bluffton’s quota in the campaign
has been set at a mark of $1,000
and Allen county as a whole is ex
pected to raise $27,585. The nation
al goal is $60,000,000.
Mrs. J. S. Steiner, veteran Bluffton
Red Cross worker, is in charge of
the Bluffton solicitiation, which as
in past years will include house-to
house canvassing.
Altho the entire month of March
has been designated by the National
Red Cross for campaigns, a concen
trated effort is being made to com
plete the Allen county drive in the
first two weeks. J. W. Schoonover
is chairman of the county solicitation
effort.
The American Red Cross attempts
to forsee the needs of local and
national chapters, and seeks funds
for the work thru contributions
received in the annual campaign.
Lt. Elias Augsburger
In Air Force School
Lt. Elias R. Augsburger, husband
of Mrs. Mary Jane Augsburger,
212 Jackson street, was a member
of a group of aviation students who
graduated last Friday from the
USAF advanced multi-engine school
at Barksdale, La.
Lt. Augsburger began pilot train
ing in February of 1948. He orig
inally was commissioned in the air
force as an aerial navigator in Octo
ber, 1944, and served overseas until
the end of the war.
Opening of the Lenten season, in
preparation for Easter, began this
Wednesday in an observance know-n
in the religious world as Ash Wed
nesday.
The Lenten period is a fast of 40
week days observed by the Roman
Catholic church and many of the
Protestant denominations. It was
not until 1840 that the date was
fixed for the fast to start on Ash
Wednesday and to continue through
Holy Saturday.
The name Ash Wednesday has a
general reference to the penitential
sackcloth and ashes so frequently
spoken of in the Old Testament. In
the Roman church there is a rite
observed on this day in which the
priest places ashes on the forehead
of the communicants as they kneel
at the altar rail.
As he does this he says, “Me
mento, homo, quiva pulvis es, et in
puferem reverteris” (Remember, man
thou art dust, and unto dust thou
shalt return.) The ashes are obtained
by burning palm branches consecrat
ed in the church on the Palm Sun
day of the year previous.
March Weather Holds Key To Vitally
Important Farm Outlook For This Year
Lenten Season In Preparation For
Easter Begins This Ash Wednesday
Continued Mild Weather Would
Set Stage for Bumper Grain
and Livestock
Mortality Rate for Pigs, Lambs
and Chicks Drops Sharply
This Spring
Continuation of mild winter weath
er thruout March will create as
favorable a spring farm outlook as
this century ever has produced local
ly veteran farm observers were
predicting here this week.
Monday’s cold snap when the
temperature dropped to a minimum
of 13 degrees is not regarded as
having any long range detrimental
effect since it was followed by
moderating temperatures.
Absence of severe weather so far
this winter already has created con
ditions favorable to the raising of
hogs and lambs for the mortality
rate has dropped sharply as mild
weather continues.
Less difficulty than usual also has
been experienced by raisers of early
chicks, who have not had the usual
mid-winter worries occasioned by
zero weather and howling blizzards.
Ease of starting early chicks, togeth
er with an increase in the number
of farmers raising chickens, will
vastly expand the volume of poultry
produced here this coming summer,
perhaps nearing record proportions."
If mild winter continues thru the
month of March, farm observers say
conditions will be favorable to bump
er yields of farm products, including
crops.
Wheat Prospect Good
Wheat so far has come thru the
winter with every indication of at
least average prospects, for altho
there has been virtually no snow to
provide a protective covering the
mild winter made protection largely
unnecessary.
Thus the month of March, always
a critical season so far as wheat is
concerned, looms more important
than ever this year, for a turn to
zero weather would find the stand
without protection.
All in all, early farm prospects
have not been as favorable in many
a year and suitable breaks in the
weather will be conducive to large
volume production.
Everything hinges on March
weather, however, for severe cold
which accounts for the principal
mortality in spring hog, lamb and
chick output still cannot be ruled out
of the realm of possibility. Unfavor
able weather this month, particularly
if it provides a combination of cold
and wet conditions, could change the
picture to a point where livestock
and wheat prospects would be reduc
ed at least to average.
World Day Of Prayer
Service On Friday
World Day of Prayer will be ob
served in a union service at St.
John’s Evangelical and Reformed
church, Friday afternoon at 2
o’clock. The program is sponsored
by women of Bluffton churches.
PLAN SOFTBALL SEASON
The Triplett softball team will
meet in the Triplett office this Wed
nesday night at 8 o’clock to make
plans for the coming season. All
interested are welcome.
Gradually it came to be the cus
tom of friends and relatives to man
ifest their humility by joining the
penitents, expressing a similar con
tribution in their outward guise and
offering their foreheads for the
ashes.
In time the number grew so large
that it was made necessary to ad
minister the ashes to the whole con
gregation in a single rite, the form
used at the present time.
Ash Wednesday was not alw-ays
included within the Lenten period.
In the fifth and sixth centuries Lent
began with the succeeding Sunday
and lasted six weeks. Omitting
Sunday this would be 36 days. The
addition of four days to this period
makes the fast exactly 40 days in
duration and therefore accords with
the fast of Jesus as well as the
fasts of Moses and Elias.
The use of ashes in the ceremony
has generally been discontinued since
the reformation. The entire Chris
tion world, however, starts the Len
ten celebration on this Ash Wed
nesday even though the form of the
celebration varies in the different
religious groups.
THE BLUFFTON NEWS
A NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF BLUFFTON AND VICINITY
BLUFFTON, OHIO, THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 1949
ROBBER MAY HAVE
TRIES TO CRACK
SCHOOL SAFE HERE
Ex-Convict Who Looted 38 High
Schools May be Implicated
In Local “Job”
Authorities Study Operations
To Link Zanesville Man With
B. H. S. Job Last Fall
Authorities this week are investi
gating the possibility that a captured
ex-convict who has confessed to loot
ing 38 high school safes in Ohio and
Indiana may have been the key man
in an attempted robbery of the safe
in the Bluffton High school office,
late last October.
The ex-convict, held by authorities
at Zanesville, where he was captured,
is 51-year-old Dwight Cherry, who
estimates his loot was between
$75,000 to $100,000 in the 38 rob
beries.
Cherry is linked with the attempt
to crack the Bluffton High school
safe last October 28 both because of
a similiarity of methods of robbery,
and because he often operated in
this area.
Admits Nearby “Jobs”
Safe robberies in nearby high
schools at Leipsic, Lakeview, Criders
ville, Roundhead, McGuffey and Ada
were admitted by the ex-convict.
In describing his safe-cracking
forays, Cherry said watched
newspapers for notices of revenue
producing high school entertain
ments and athletic events, then loot
ed office strong boxes following the
affairs.
His description of activity fits the
attempt here last fall, which was
made on the same night the Bluffton
High school grid team played
Wapakoneta here.
Receipts from the football game
were not in the office safe, but the
thieves didn’t learn that fact in their
visit here, for altho they knocked the
combination off the safe and jimmied
the handle, they never ucceeded in
opening the strong btrtT
In the safe at the time of the at
tempted burglary were approximately
$85 in cafeteria receipts.
The Bluffton robbery was one of
three attempted in Allen county on
the same night, when safe crackers
also broke into buildings at Spencer
ville and Shawnee.
Stage High School
Operetta March 8-9
“The Mocking Bird,” tuneful op
eretta will be staged in a two night
run in the high school gymnasium
next Tuesday and Wednesday nights
at 8 o’clock, by the high school mu
sic department.
Scene of the operetta is laid in
New Orleans about 1760 when
France and Spain were vying for
domination in the New World and
the action is complicated by incur
sions of a daring pirate sea captain.
Appearing in leading roles are
Ada May Oyer and Roger Linden
with a supporting student cast and
orchestra. Earl Lehman, instructor
in public school music directs the
production and Ruth Diller is ac
companist.
Couple Injured In
Auto Crash Sunday
Ed Williams, coloied and Miss
Kathleen Maupin .colored, both of
Richmond, Ind., were injured in an
accident on Rt. 25 at the south
corporation limits of Beaverdam
Sunday morning at 5:30 o’clock
when their car left the road and
overturned. They were traveling
north at the time.
They were removed to Bluffton
hospital in the Paul Diller ambu
lance where Williams was found to
have sustained a dislocated hip.
Miss Maupin received facial cuts.
The car was w-recked.
With The Sick
Mrs. Alice Lantz of Muncie, Ind.,
is a patient in Bluffton hospital as
the result of a fall sustained at the
home' of her son, R. A. Lantz of
Campus Drive.
Mrs. Idessa Henry of East Kibler
street is recovering from a four
weeks’ illness of pneumonia. Her
son Wm. Henry of Detroit, visited
her recently.
Mrs. Gideon Burkholder of East
College avenue is ill at the home
of her daughter, Mrs. Cal Steiner
of Poplar street.
Mrs. Ernest Gratz is a surgical
patient at Lima Memorial hospital.
Her condition is reported fair.
Mrs. Charles Stratton, ill at the
home of her daughter, Mrs. Paul
Marquart is somewhat improved.
Multiplying Factor of Electrical
Helps Results in Greater
Demand For Current
Bluffton Homemakers Depend
More and More on Electricity
In Daily Life
A steadily expanding demand for
more electrical conveniences in mod
ern housekeeping is reflected in a
1,000 KW daily increase in output
of the Bluffton municipal light plant
over the volume of current generat
ed a year ago.
In commenting on the increased
demands for electricity from the
municipal plant, Supt. John Swisher
said this week that at least half of
the 1,000 KW boost comes from the
use of more electrical appliances in
Bluffton homes.
Electrical housekeeping convenien
ces each year create expanded de
mands on the local plant, and such
things as the weekly washings and
ironings mount to a total current
consumption which must be reckon
ed with in plant operations, the
superintendent said
Peak
on
Supt. Swisher estimated that ap
proximately 25- eent of the
town’s homes now have either oil
furnaces or stokers.
The trend in Bluffton is reflected
throughout the United States as a
whole, for although this country has
only seven per cent of the world’s
population we generate as much
electricity as all the rest of the
world combined.
Home Use Doubles
Figures show that urban home
owners and apartment dwellers have
almost doubled their per-family use
of electricity in the last decade.
Over that period the average
yearly use of electric current for
a single residence increased from
a modest 853 KW in 1938 to 1,560
KW in 1948. In the next five or six
years, use is expected to climb to
as high as 2,000 KW.
Behind this increase in current
consumption is the multiplying fac
tor of electrical gadgets for the
home and their woder use.
Bluffton Student In
Senior Piano Recital
Miss Jesn Ann Steinman, student
in the E&ldwin Wallace conservatory
of music at Berea will present her
senior piano recital at that place on
Friday evening. Her program will
include compositions of Mozart,
Brahms, Griffes, Debussy, Ravel and
Schumann.
Miss Steinman, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Forrest Steinman of South
Lawn avenue will graduate in June
with the degree of Bachelor of
Music. She has been a student in
Baldwin W’allace conservatory for the
past three years and is president of
the local chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon,
national honorary music sorority.
Clothing Collection
For European Relief
Door-to-door collection of clothing
for European relief will be made
here Saturday afternoon in a pro
ject directed by the Relief commit
tee of the Women’s Missionary so
ciety of the First Mennonite church
and Bluffton college.
Shoes top the list of needs. Cloth
ing, new or used, should be clean
and mended. Apparel is needed for
men, women and children of all
ages.
“The need for relief this winter
is almost beyond comprehension/’
said Herta Van Delden, German stu
dent at the college here.
“A slip of paper bearing your
name, address and perhaps some
friendly message pinned on the cloth
ing is always appreciated by these
people who wish to express personal
ly their gratefulness for this aid,”
she said.
Electric Housekeeping Conveniences
Boost Demand On Light Plant Here
Washday
Peak demands on current generat
ing facilities of the plant come on
Monday and Tuesday mornings,
Supt. Swisher pointed out, largely
because of the family washing on
Monday, followed by ironing on
Tuesday.
On those two days, the peak load
will climb to 1200 KW in compari
son with an average of from 1,000
to 1,100 KW the rest of the week.
More and more electrical appli-1
ances are being added to the aver
age Bluffton household, covering a
broad field embracing ranges, refrig
erators, radios, home freezers, dish
washers, washing machines, air con
ditioning, water heaters, irons,
toasters, electric heaters, etc.
Many Angles
Electric consumption further is
boosted in the home by the increas
ing use of oil-burning furnaces and
coal stokers, both of which are elec
trically controlled and operated.
Mt. Cory Basketeers
Lose In Tournament
Mt. Cory high school basketball
team, Hancock county tournament
champions, were eliminated by Syca
more from the Class sectional
play at Bucyrus Tuesday night by
a one-point margin.
In the last two seconds of the
game, Lundy of Sycamore got two
foul shots and made both to give
his team a 36 to 35 decision over
the Hancock county team.
Mt. Cory led at the half 17 to 14
and held a 35 to 34 margin with
only 30 seconds left to play, when
Lundy was fouled in the act of
shooting. Each team made 14 field
goals. Sycamore converted eight of
16 free throws and Mt. Cory seven
of 14.
Bell of Sycamore was high point
man with a score of 14. Robert
Warren tossed in 10 and Dick Mar
quart nine for Mt. Cory.
BY HARRY U HAlt
Editor’s Note—This
is one
of a series of articles to appear
tn
the Bluffton News dealing
with early Ohio history. Others
will appear in forthcoming
issues.
The New spaper Ladder
To Fame
Not even half a brick bulges the
Pennsylvania Railroad roadbed to put
an extra click or bobble into the
smooth movement of ultra-modem
passenger trains through Martins
Ferry, Belmont County. But the
track runs right over a pretty big
bump on the journalistic surface of
Ohio nevertheless—the birth place of
William Dean Howells, termed
“America’s Leading Writer of Fic
i tion.”
Howells was born in a little one
story,* two-room Brick f5ttage there
March 1, 1837, built by his father. It
was pulled down to make way for
the Cleveland-Pittsburgh railroad
right of way.
When the hall of fame, giving
recognition to distinguished Ohio
journalists was established at Ohio
State University, Columbus, in 1928,
William Dean Howells was given one
of the most prominent places in it.
The beginning of his newspaper life
was most humble.
Of Welsh Quaker stock, the Ho
wells always had possessed a literary
strain but William’s newspaper life
began when his father moved to
Butler County and published a news
paper named “The Hamilton Intelli
gencer.” The boy then was three
years old but learned to set type
just the same.
News Boy-
Then the family moved to Dayton,
where the father bought the “Dayton
Transcript” and changed it to a
daily. William used to work till
midnight on that paper and then
get up at 4 a. m. and deliver it to
subscribers. It took that paper just
two years to flop. William Dean
Howell's father too, was a news
paperman and knew the ups and
downs.
In 1851, at 14, William Dean
Howells got a job setting type on
the still existent “Ohio State Journ
al,” Columbus. His pay was four
dollars a week—the first money he
ever earned and received of his own.
That he turned into the family purse
to keep starvation away.
It did not take Howells long to
become news editor of he Journal
and from 1856 to 1861 he was an
editorial writer on it.
During thd* tight Presidential cam
paign of 1860 Howells wrote a
political biography of Abraham
Lincoln which so benefitted and
pleased the President that he sent
the young writer to Venice as consul
there.
When he came back from Italy in
1864 Howells got a job on the staff
of “The Nation,” contributed to “The
Atlantic Monthly” and in 1872 be
came that magazine’s editor. By
1881 he was editor in chief.
Recognized As Poet
Howells’ first poetry was written
when he worked on the Ohio State
Journal as a type-setter. There he
and another compositor, John J. Piatt,
put out a whole volume of poems.
Later in New "England, he was
recognized by Lowell, Longfellow,
Emerson and Hawthorne.
Hie connection with Atlantic Mon
thly brought him national fame and
every- book he wrote was gobbled up
avidly by Ohioans, who rightfully
and proudly considered the journalist
the state’s own eminent son.
(Continued on page 5)
BLUFFTON
A Good Place to Live
NUMBER 47
CONTINUATION OF
SEWER WORK BIG
PROBLEM FOR CITY
Cherry Street Sewer Done
Funds For More Work This
Year Are Unlikely
Replacement Sewer Program
Will Take Years Unless Ad
ditional Funds Come
Installation of the new storm
water sewer covering a two-block
stretch on Cherry street virtually
was completed this week, but when
funds will be available for addition
al sewer work is a question which
stumps even the most optimistic
members of the city- government.
Cost of the Cherry street replace
ment sewer will run in excess of
$3,000, an expenditure which will
cut a huge slice from the city’s
operating funds.
Funds Are Low
Councilmen, in laying plans for an
expanded street repair program this
summer, announced at the time that
there likely would be little or no ad
ditional funds available this year
for a continuation of sewer replace
ments badly needed in all sections of
the town.
A survey made a year ago by
municipal officials showed 69 com
plaints regarding inadequate storm
water sewer facilities in many dif
ferent sections of the village.
With insufficient funds for full
scale sewer replacements, councilmen
set to work on a program of piece
meal sewer installation which could
be continued whenever money could
be made available for the work.
Replaces Flagstone Sewer
In construction of the new Cherry
street sewer from Mound avenue to
the Big Riley- creek, the town re
placed one of the village’s oldest ex
isting sewers. For most of the dist
ance involved, the drain was an old
i flagstone sewer, built with slab walls
and bottom and a fence-rail top.
Excavating and laying of tile was
completed Tuesday by’ the Charles
Kohl contracting firm of Lima, and
the only remaining work is in con
structing a manhole and laying tile
thru a netw-ork of Buckeye Pipe Line
oil mains just east of the Farmer's
Grain Co. elevator building.
Bluffton Native
Dies In Oregon
Mrs. Milton L. Myers, 75, native
of Bluffton, died at her home in
Salem, Oregon, on Tuesday of last
week, following a cerebral hem
orrhage.
Mrs. Myers is the former Alice
Steiner, born in Bluffton, April 21,
1873, the daughter of Gideon and
Elizabeth Steiner, pioneer residents
here. The family moved to Oregon
in 1887.
Mrs. Myers was for many years
prominent in civic affairs of Salem,
being a charter member and past
matron of the Eastern Star chapter
of that city and was director of the
Red Cross surgical dressing depart
ment during the first world war. As
a young woman she was one of the
two first “telephone girls” at the
Salem exchange.
Surviving besides her husband are
two nieces and a nephew.
Funeral services were held last
Thursday morning after which the
body was placed in a mausoleum.
Two Drivers Hurt
In Headon Crash
Bernard Davies, 20, Pandora, and
Hugo Basinger, 74, near Ottawa,
suffered minor injuries last Wed
nesday when their cars collided
headon on what was formerly Route
224, near Ottawa. Both automobiles
were damaged.
BLUFFTON MARKETS
Wednesday Morning
Grain—Wheat $2.13 corn $1.20
oats 72c soys $2.21.
Poultry—Heavy hens 34c leghorn
hens 27c: heavy springers 35c.
Eggs—Large white 40c large
brown 39c medium white 36c
medium brown 35c.
Butterfat—62c.
Births
The following births at Bluffton
hospital:
Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Cook,
Jenera, a boy, Keith Eugene, Thurs
day.
Mr. and Mrs. Francis Walter, Up
per Sandusky, a boy, Joe David,
Saturday.
Mr. and Mrs. John Herron, Co
lumbus Grove, a boy, Tuesday.