The Bluffton news. [volume], February 02, 1950, Image 1

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A Good Place to Live
VOLUME LXXIV
Bluffton Gets Lower
Cut of 121/2 Per Cent for Home
owners Here is Now
Effective
Efficient Fire Fighting Record
Here Drops Insurance
Costs
Lower fire insurance rates for
Bluffton, announced last week by the
Ohio Inspection Bureau, will result
in savings of approximately 12
pei- cent in the charges for dwelling
coverage, with slightly
ductions established for
properties.
Reductions in rates lor insurance
on business properties will be some
what greater than those applying to
dwellings, local insurance men said.
No rebates will be made on the
premiums paid for policies written
prior to January 23, it was an
nounced this week. The lower rates
will become effective on the next re
newal date of the policies.
In re-rating by the Ohio Inspection
Bureau Bluffton was placed in Class
Six. For years the town had been
rated in Class Eight, which is con
sidered a good rate for a village of
this size.
Good Fire Protection
Few’ other small towns in Ohio
qualify for the sixth classification,
in which Bluffton now’ is rated, local
insurance underwriters said in com
menting on the change.
In announcing the low’er insurance
rates, Glenn W. Knorr, Lima, super
intendent of the Ohio Inspection bu
reau, said that performance of Bluff
ton’s new’ fire pumper may have been
responsible for the rate drop.
Inspection of w’ork of the pumper
and the local fire department at
three critical fires here gave the vil
lage an excellent record, it wras
pointed out. These were the fires
in the Mrs. Edith Mann business
block, occupied by the A to Z Mark
et, the Fred Badertscher apartments
and the Biederman apartments
ing the last three years.
Fire Insurance Rates
greater re
commercial
Fire insurance for
residential
properties with non-combustible roofs
drops from $1.60 per thousand to a
new rate of $1.40, a reduction of
20 cents per thousand.
Homes with good shingle roofs
will have a new rate of $2.00 per
thousand, a drop of 20 cents from
the previous schedule of $2.20.
No Premium Rebate®
dur-
Bluffton Couple Is
Married Sixty Years
Mr. and Mrs. John M. Badertscher
will observe their sixtieth wedding
anniversary at their home at 145
South Lawn avenue, Sunday. There
will be a family dinner at the noon
hour followed by open house in the
afternoon from 2:30 to 5 when
friends and relatives are invited to
call.
One of Bluffton’s oldest married
couples, they were wed at the home
of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas
Schaublin, February 1, 1890, by the
Rev. Peter Greding of the Emman
nuel’s Reformed church.
Mr. and Mrs. Badertscher are 82
and 79 years of age respectively and
lifelong residents of this community.
They halte lived in town since 1935
when they retired from the farm.
Of their thirteen children, twelve
now living are:
Walter, Homer, Clara and Mrs.
Helen Reid all of San Francisco
Orville of North Manchester, Ind.
Mrs. Lydia Lugibill, Pandora Mrs.
Edna Gratz and Edwin Badei-tscher,
Bluffton.
Mrs. Louise Lugibill, Col. Grove
Mrs. Martha Mills, Green Camp
Levi, New Washington, and Mrs.
Neva Detwiler, Souderton, Pa.
Also living are 19 grandchildren
and seven great grandchildren.
Brothers and sister of Mr. Bader
tscher are: Mrs. Sarah Matter,
Bluffton, and Jacob Badertscher of
Bloomington, Ind., and Peter Bader
tscher of Lafayette.
Mrs. Badertscher’s brothers and
sisters are: Mrs. J. I. Lugibihl, Mrs.
Roy Pogue, Mrs. Andrew Gratz,
Walter and Elmer Schaublin, Bluff
ton Cal Schaublin, Rising Sun
Raymond of Cleveland and Harry of
Santa Rosa, California.
u
Race Relations Is
Union Service Topic
Next Sunday, designated as Race
Relations day will be observed in a
union evening service at St. John’s
Reformed church at 7:30 o’clock
sponsored by the Bluffton Ministerial
association.
Appearing on the program will be
a group of Bluffton college students
including Miss Joanna Bowen who
was employed in social service work
in New York City’s Harlem district
and Misses Pauline Holman4* and
Esther Berky connected with Brad
field Center, colored recreational pro
ject at Lima. K
BRANNAN PLAN FOR
PRICE SUPPORT TO
BE DEBATED HERE
United States Secretary of Agri
culture Will Uphold Plan
Merits
Program One of Features At
Rural Life Association Meet
ing On College Campus
Panel discussion pro and con of
the Brannon Farm Price Support
plan, in w’hich United States Secre
tary of Agriculture Charles Brannan
w’ill take part, will be one of the
highlights of the annual conference
of the Rural Life Association, to be
held on the Bluffton college campus
March 16, 17 and 18.
In debating merits of the plan, the
Secretary of Agriculture may be op
posed by Allan Kline, of DesMoines,
low’a, president of the American
Farm Bureau federation, who also
has been invited to appear.
Panel discussion of the Brannan
plan has been set for Friday even
ing, March 17. Third member of
the panel, to present the consumer
viewpoint, will be Jerry Voorhis, of
the Cooperative League of Chicago.
Many Features
Many rural life subjects are on
the program for the three-day ses
sion of the association, including a
session devoted to rural education
for high school
youths.
and college age
meeting here in
session, is spon-
The association,
its eighth annual
sored by Quakers, Brethren, Men
nonites and other church groups.
Conference programs will begin
Thursday afternoon, March 16,
the closing session will be held
following Saturday afternoon.
and
the
the
All meetings will be open to
general public. Delegates from out
of-town will make arrangements
meals through Bluffton college.
for
Well Known Speakers
Speakers will be of national
portance, and Dr. Lloyd L. Ramsey
er, president of Bluffton college, will
be chairman of the conference.
im-
Among others scheduled to speak
are:
Baker Brownell, professor of phil
osophy of Northwestern university
Richard Eastman, field secretary,
General Conference Friends in Ohio,
Indiana and Illinois Stanley Ham
ilton, executive secretary of the
Rural Life Association, Richmond,
Indiana the Rev. Russell Hoy, rural
minister, farmer and chaplain of
the Ohio State grange, Coshocton
Carl R. Hutchinson, educational
director, Ohio Farm Bureau Dr. I.
W. Moomaw,
missionary
Ramseyer,
lege the
Mennonite
Sugar Creek, Ohio.
former agriculture
in India Dr. Lloyd
president of Bluffton col-
Rev. William Stauffer,
minister and farmer, of
Schools Contribute
$125 In Polio Drive
Bluffton public school pupils con
tribute a total of $125.49 in the
March of Dimes campaign, through
a special school solicitation.
Grade school receipts
and in the high school
tributions amounted
Eighth graders led the
contributors.
were $78.74
classes con
to $46.75.
grade school
Shy, retiring Mr. Groundhog, who makes
but one appearance each year as a fabled
weather prophet, will do his best this Thursday
to unravel the topsy-turvy scheme of this year’s
“off again-on again” winter.
Right at present Bluffton has one of the
winter’s rare cold snaps, complete with snow
and ice, following close on the heels of un
seasonably warm weather in which daffodils
burst into bloom and other spring flowers broke
through the ground.
Whether winter will continue or give way
to spring will be determined Thursday on
Groundhog Day. Tradition has it that if the
Groundhog sees his shadow Thursday there will
be six more weeks of winter. If, however, he
cannot find his shadow when he emerges from
his burrow spring is just around the corner.
Snow, ice and cold weather this week were
in marked contrast to a warm spell the mid
part of last week during which the thermom-
Baby, It’s Cold
Outside If You’re
In North Dakota
Warm birthday greetings tele
phoned from frigid North Dakota
where it was 30 degrees below
zero surprised Albert E. Lugibill,
of S. Lawn avenue, last Thurs
day night, on his 81st birthday.
The telephone call was from
his son, Waldo, who lives on a
large farm near Hope, N. D.
Weather 30 degrees below zero
at the North Dakota farm was
in marked contrast to the spring
like temperatures prevailing
here, which had established a
January record of 70 degrees
only a day before the birthday
greetings
were telephoned.
North
6 thru
unable
On the
He is a former winner of Atwat
er-Kent auditions in New York and
later was connected with the Detroit
Civic Opera association and guest
soloist with the Detroit Symphony
orchestra.
Oberlin Graduates
Robert B. Marshall
Robert B. Marshall, sen of Mr.
and Mrs. Francis Marshall of Rock
port was graduated with the degree
of Bachelor of Arts at midwinter
commencement exercises of Oberlin
college, Wednesday morning.
Marshall, a graduate of
dam high school and a war
took a pre-medical course in
Beaver
veteran
college,
of Ohio
President Arthur Fleming
Wesleyan university delivered the
class address in Finney chapel.
Births
The following births at Bluffton
hospital:
Mr. and Mrs. Carl Schaller, Raw
son, a girl, Jeanette Lee, Thursday.
Mr. and Mrs. Lavoid Eagleson,
Leipsic, a boy, Randall Dean, Fri
day.
Mr. and Mrs. Norman Triplett,
Bluffton, a girl, Ann, Monday.
Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Henry,
Bluffton, a boy, James Neal, Monday.
Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Sumney,
Lafayette, a girl, Judith Lynn, Mon
day.
Mr. and Mrs. John Young, Beav
erdam, a girl, Carol Ann, Tuesday.
Mr. and Mrs. Harold Boehm, Raw
son, a boy, Wednesday morning.
Mi’, and Mrs. Oliver Collar, Pan
dora, a girl, Roberta Joan, Wednes
day morning.
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Botchlett,
Kenton, a boy, David James, at Mc
Kitrick hospital of that city, Satur
day. Mrs. Botchlett is the former
Dorothy Long of Bluffton.
THE BLUFFTON NEWS
A NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF BLUFFTON AND VICINITY
BLUFFTON, OHIO, THURSDAY, FEB. 2, 1950
Orange Township Area Petitions £or
Transfer to Bluffton School District
Bluffton Rocked by Topsy-Turvy Weather
Awaits Final Answer on Groundhog Day
Three Enumerators Will Be
Take Census Here
Named to
Two
Dakota farm
16 the family
to get out of
were blocked
from Jan.
had been
the house, roads
with snow, and the only connec
tion with the outside world had
been via telephone and the radio,
the elder Lugibill was told.
Baritone On College
Music Course Feb. 8
Andrew B. White, baritone, will
appear as the second number of the
Bluffton college concert series in
Ramseyer chapel, Wednesday night,
February 8 at 8:30 o’clock.
RESIDENTS
APPOINTED
LOCAL
TO
IF THEY QUALIFY
BE
Enumerators to be As
signed to Richland Twp.
One in Beaverdam
Eighty Enumera4c*s to Cover
114 Districts ul Alien
County
Apply Now
Applications to take the examina
tion now are being received at the
Lima headquarters,
enumerators will be
the number of calls
eter set a new all time record by mounting to
a mark of 70 degrees.
Snow Monday night, followed by sleet, gave
Bluffton a white setting Tuesday, and with
temperatures in the low twenties throughout
the day it was one of the few times this winter
that snow has remained on the ground for
more than 24 hours after it had fallen.
Spurred by warm weather daffodils last Sun
day were in bloom in the yard at the home of
Harry Shrider, Jr., on Harmon road. In his
flower bed tulips were up to a height of more
than two inches.
Cloudy and overcast skies were predicted
for Thursday, giving hopes that the groundhog
may not see his shadow and remain abroad to
welcome an early spring. Conservationists,
however, say that it will not be his first trip
outside. Because of the mild weather the wood
chucks have actually been in and out of their
winter quarters more frequently than in many
recent winters.
take the
beginning
with all
Three enumerators will
national census in Bluffton
the first week in April,
canvassing in the three districts to
be completed in a three-weeks pro
gram.
In Richland township two enum
erators will work in two districts,
and one enumerator will handle all
of Beaverdam.
Local residents will be appointed
enumerators if there are enough ap
plicants for Bluffton and Richland
township districts who pass an exam
ination to be given at census head
quarters on East North street in
Lima. Date of the examination has
not been announced.
Prospective
on the basis of
made.
be divided into
census enumera-
Allen county will
114 districts for the
tion. The canvassing, however, will
be handled by only 80 enumerators,
with some working in more than one
district.
Census Setup
In addition to the 80 enumerators
there will be five district supervisors,
each of whom will be in charge of
20 enumerators. District enumerat
ors will report daily to their super
visors.
Taking of the census in Bluffton
and Beaverdam is to be completed
within three weeks after its start
during the first week of April.
Farmers, however, will have addi-,
tional time to complete their reports.
Census blanks for those who
operate farms will be mailed to
them before enumerators start mak
ing calls, in order that the informa
tion can be prepared in advance.
Town residents, however, will not get
blanks preliminary to the calls made
by the enumerator.
Explain Census Here
for a
head
school
Arrangements will be made
representative from census
quarters to visit each high
in the county before the canvassing
is started by enumerators. An ex
planation of the census will be made
to members of
faculty and to
pupils may take
to their parents.
Editor’s Note—This
of a series of articles to
in the Bluffton News
with early Ohio history,
will appear
issues.
.qA-
one
appear
dealing
Others
in forthcoming
Yarn of the Knitted
Sox
The two Kentucky maidens who
boarded at the old American House,
Columbus, in the early 1840 s were
in a dither—students at the classical
Worthington Female Seminary, 9
miles away, they were learning to
knit and now’ had a job at their new
accomplishment. Lyne Starling,
wealthy young bachelor who also
lived at the inn, had promised each
of them $25 if each would knit him
a pair of sox.
Starling had big feet but plenty of
money. Widely known as “the
founder of Columbus,” he too, was a
Kentuckian huge, fond of horses and
Bourbon whisky, very eccentric and
had to have his sox custom made—
no ready-made ones ever
to fit him. Starling was
that he owmed and had
extra-sized carriage.
were found
so immense
to use an
knew less
The Kentucky belles
about knitting sox than they admitt
was necessary for them to
ancient dames, learned the
of turning the heels and
the toes and finally had
ed. It
consult
niceties
tipping
two pairs finished.
$50 for Two Pairs Sox
the
the
big
The demure young belles sent
sox by a colored waiter to the
man’s room, each
ped in a napkin
panied by a note,
returned with his
two envelopes, each containing $25.
pair neatly wrap-
and both accom
Soon the waiter
tray. On it were
Elated and feeling rich with the
thought of future sox to knit for the
man who couldn’t find them else
where, the maids made a foray on
Columbus dry goods stores, milliners
and boot shops. Twenty-five dollars
in the old days was a lot of money.
Starling was equally pleased. The
comfort giving sox put him in sucD
a generous frame of mind and he
was so appreciative that he made his
will and left each of the girls $8,000.
On thinking it over however, he can
celled those bequests. Maybe a toe
had poked its way through the sock
—or maybe the whole job began to
show big holes. Anyhow, Starling
had a revulsion of feeling and
(Continued on page 10)
Byers
Floyd
the high school
students, so that
information home
be counted on one
Transients will
special day thruout the entire nation,
during which enumerators will visit
hotels, tourist homes, etc., including
those in college dormitories and
hospitals.
(Continued on page 10)
cut
To Head
Indiana Dairies
Byers of Goshen, Ind.,
of Bluffton and son of
E. Byers was elected presi-
formerly
Prof. N.
dent of the Indiana Dairy' Products
association at the thirty-second an
nual convention of the group in In
dianapolis, recently.
Byers is head of the Goshen Milk
Condensing company and one of the
leaders in the Indiana dairy indus
try. He was previously chairman of
the state association’s milk products
division.
Territory Now In Mt
I
Real Estate Deals
Mrs. Geneva Badertscher has pur
chased the Wayne Amstutz property
on West Elm street and has moved
there with her family. She recently
sold her Poplar street residence to
John Weaver of the Bluffton college
business office.
In a real estate deal involving an
exchange of residences, Eugene Ben
roth has acquired the property of
the Misses Dora and Stella Kirch
hofer on South Jackson street and
the Kirchhofer sisters have obtained
the Benroth property on South Lawn
avenue. They plan to move early
in the spring.
SCHOOL TRANSFER
PETITIONS SIGNED
BY 94 PETITIONERS
Anderson-Marshall Petition
Carries Names of 43
Qualified Voters
Signatures On Beagle Petition
Number 51 Both Comprise
Large Majorities
of 94 Orange township
seeking transfer of the
which they live from the
Names
residents
areas in
Cory-Rawson to the Bluffton school
district appear on the tw petitions
filed during the last week with the
Hancock county board of education.
Both petitions are reported to con
tain signatures representing a large
majority of residents of the territory
affected.
Petition of Jesse Anderson and
Harold Marshall, filed last Wednes
day, is
voters,
signed by 43 of 48 qualified
as follows:
E. Anderson, Truman Bixel,
Jesse
Levada Bixel, Arthur Swank, Edith
Swank, Pearl L. Anderson, Dorothy
J. Anderson, Carl D. Marshall, Ber
della J. Marshall, Myron R. Triple
horn, Mary E. Triplehorn, John
Triplehorn, Maggie E. Ewing.
Bernice Klingler, Amos E. Kling
ler, Robert E. Klingler, John A.
Anderson, John A. Warren, Edna M.
Warren, Mel Long, Nelson M. Hie
stand, Nellie A. Hiestand, Harry D.
Anderson, Lillian M. Anderson, Clara
M. Long, Harold W. Marshall, Adah
P. Marshall, Samuel F.
Carrie Amstutz.
Amstutz,
Fisher,
Wilkins,
Roma Fisher, Charles
Waldo Wilkins, Blanche
Ralph Henry, Delbert Wilkins, Mar
vel M. Wilkins, Russell Amstutz,
Lamoile Amstutz, Bernard H. Win
get, Alvina Winget, Elbert Ander
son, Iona Marshall and Ray Mar
shall.
Beagle Signatures
The second petition, filed by Wil
liam A. Beagle, Monday, bears the
signatures of 51 of 50 qualified
voters, as follow’s:
William A. Beagle, Lola Beagle,
Noah M. Geiger, Emma V. Geiger,
Harvey G. Shine, Leslie M. Heigh
way, Nettie Nusbaum, Jacob Nus
baum, Edith Nusbaum, Albert Kempf,
Howard Nonnamaker, Alma Nonna
maker, D. D. Williamson, Bertha P.
Williamson, George Kimmel, Bernice
Kimmel. Adrian S. Pifer, Leota A.
Pifer, Helen M. Pifer.
Daniel A.
Krichbaum,
Marquart,
Florence Scothorn.
Krichbaum, Clara I
Dorothy Klingler, Maggie
Fred Marquart, Mabel M.
Albert Marquart, Emma
quart, Maud M. Fisher,
Fisher, Walter P. McDaniel, Mareia
McDaniel.
Marquart,
M. Mar
James W.
William J. Burkholder, Helen
Camper, Lloyd Arnold, Paul F.
Eikenbary, Everard L. Bish, Metta
V. Bish, Mildred B. Klingler, James
L. Scott, Columbus W. Klingler,
Kenneth Schaublin.
Faery L. Nonnamaker, Marlowe P.
Bish, Lillian Kempf, Enos P. Steiner,
Clarence V. Young, Eulalia Warren.
Ethel G. Young, Clyde Warren and
Paul Shulaw.
“Topcrop” is the name of a new
snapbean which the U. S. Depart
ment of Agriculture calls a gold
medal winner.
A Good Place to Trade
Cory-Rawson District
NUMBER 42
Two Petitions are Filed with
Hancock County School
Board
State Department of Education
May Make Final Decision
in Case
Another attempt by residents of
nearby Orange township area to re
join the Bluffton village school dis
trict from which
red back in the
this week with
Hancock County
Findlay, of two
that a block of territory be taken
from the Mt. Cory-Rawson school
district and assigned to Bluffton.
they were transfer
thirties materialized
the filing with the
Board of Education,
petitions requesting
Both petitions reportedly have
been signed by 85 per cent or more
of the qualified voters in the affected
territory. Signatures of 75 per cent
are required by law before transfer
of school territory can be considered,
and petitioners must’ have voted in
the previous November election.
Filed as individual petitions cover
ing two separate areas, the papers
are said to have total signatures of
43 of
district
other.
48 qualified voters in one
and 51 of 60 voters in the
Proposed Boundaries
Boundaries of the area in which
the petitioners live follow’ an ir
regular route extending as far north
as the Union towmship line and
south to a point one-half mile
betw’een the Rayl road and the Lin
coln highway. On the east the
farthest point is one-half mile be
yond State Route 69. Western
boundary is Bluffton school district,
either along the County
or one-half mile east from
spots.
Line road,
it at other
portion of
Altho in the northwest
the township the affected area ex
tends to the Union township line,
the greater part of the northern
boundary extends along Route 103.
From the intersection of Route 103
and Route 69 the eastern boundary
runs one-half mile east of Route 69
for a distance of one and one
(Continued on page 10)
Harkness Golden
Wedding Sunday
Mr. and Mrs. William Harkness
will celebrate their Golden wedding
at their home in Mt. Cory, Sunday,
with a family dinner at noon fol
lowed by open house in the after
noon from 2 to 4 o’clock when rela
tives and friends are invited to call.
The couple are lifelong residents
of Hancock county, Mrs. Harkness
being the former Ada Vickers of
Cass township and Mr. Harkness a
native of Pleasant township.
They were married February 3,
1900 and
Bloomdale
when they
and moved
active in church affairs.
have lived near
years ago
the farm
since
until twelve
retired from
to Mt. Cory.
are
Both
son
and
They have three children a
Clayton Harkness of Bluffton
two daughters Mrs. Ruth Linhart
of McComb and Mrs. Opal Watkins
of iFndlay.
Mrs. Harkness has one sister, Mrs.
Olive Tinkcom of Oakland, Calif.,
and Mr. Harkness has one sister
Mrs. Irene Routson of McComb and
two brothers Al and Lewis Hark
ness both of Findlay.
Columbus Speaker
To Address PT A
George E. Jenny, supervisor of
education of the Ohio State Museum,
Columbus, will address the Bluffton
Parent-Teacher association meeting,
Monday night, February 13, it is
announced by officers of the organi
zation.
Beaverdam Lions To
Hear Railroad Man
M. H. Markworth, industrial agent
for the Nickel Plate railroad will
address the dinner meeting of the
Beaverdam Lions club on Wednesday
night, February 8, it is announced
by club officers.