Greenbelt news review., January 06, 1955, Image 1

About Greenbelt news review. (Greenbelt, Md.) 1954-current

Image provided by: University of Maryland, College Park, MD

                
Y 01 - 19’ No- 22 * Greenbelt, Maryland, Thursday, January 6, 1955 10 Cents
"Atom 5 Goes To Work Bor Oil-Users
. .■ . •
Linden, N. J.—A small building rising on the Esso Research Center
grounds here will seem insignificant, physically, to the large structures
surrounding it. It will be only 42-by-46 feet when completed. As small
as it is in size, however, this building may be of great importance to
millions of oil-using motorists, home owners and farmers.
Inside its walls, scientists will strive to learn how atomic energy can
help make newer and better gasolines, motor and heating oils, lubri
cants and numerous petrochemicals.
The undertaking represents the most intensive research effort of its
type in the vast oil industry throughout the world. And it is strictly
a private industry affair. It it not connected with the U. S. Govern
ment and the Atomic Energy Commission, although the action is in
line with President Eisenhower’s pleas for greater application of atomic
energy to peacetime purposes.
The building will be known as a radiation laboratory. Its heart and
main feature is a material looking like an ordinary piece of pipe a foot
long. This “pipe,” however, will be the most radioactive single piece
of cobalt known. Even so, the pipe does not cause other things to be
come radioactive. But it does give off rays—gamma rays—which can
bring about chemical changes in oil. So, by exposing oil samples to
these rays —with the use of massive mechanical hands—Esso is going
to find out just what does happen. In that way, oil and the atom are
going to work together for the benefit of the industry and the con
suming public.
The sketch above shows the so-called cave section of the building
where the cobalt pipe will be used, and its storage well (“A”). At
(“B”) is one of the two arms of the mechanical hands. From that area,
scientists will operate the hands, looking through a special lead-glass
window (“C”). The concrete walls, such as at (“D”), are over four
feet thick.
Pogorelskin Girls
Take Essay Prizes
The petite red-headed and blonde
Pogorelskin sisters, Alexis and
Ann were second and third prize
winners in the recent Cleanup
Committee essay contest. Alexis
Pogorelskin, who copped the sls
second prize, is in Mrs. Cox’s fifth
grade class at the Center School.
She wrote on the subject, WHAT
I HAVE DONE DURING THE
SUMMER TO HELP KEEP
GREENBELT CLEAN as follows:
“When the clean-up campaign
started, I made the following plan:
1. To put trash in proper place,
and remind others to do so. 2. To
pick up trash and papers when I
saw them on the street, in the
parks, and at Center. 3. To have
several big clean-up jobs.
I worked hard at the first two
plans and now I have the habit of
using the trash cans.
Organized Club
My big projects were fun. I
raked the parks near our house and
pulled out weeds before their seeds
fell, I mentioned the clean-up cam
paign to my friends. Some of us
had a little club whose purpose is:
Keep Greenbelt Clean. I rode
around on my bike with a bag for
trash. I took my little sister and
brother to the Center to gather
papers.
Several times I cleaned news
papers out of the underpass, then
I wrote to the Washington papers
about the problem: When my let
ter was published, people wrote,
thanking me for calling the cam
paign to public attention. Mother
and I taked to the newsboys and
invited them to use our trash can.
I hope everyone will remember
to Keep Greenbelt Clean!”
Greeenbelt News Review
Published Every Thursday By The Greenbelt Cooperative Publishing Association, Inc., 9 Parkway, Greenbelt, Maryland
Junior High P.T.A.
To Meet Wednesday
The Greenbelt Junior High
PTA will play host to the North
End and Center School PTA’s
Wednesday, January 12, at 8 p.m. in
the auditorium of the high school.
Guest speaker will be George A.
Robinson who will talk on “Career
Incentives for Public School
Teachers.”
Woman’s Club To Meet
Thursday, January l 3
The Greenbelt Woman’s Club will
meet Thursday, January 13, at 8
p.m. in the social hall of the Com
munity Church. Chaplain Robert
Nace will address the meeting on
the subject of “Mental Health.”
GREENBELT BIRTHS
Girls gained a slight lead in the
population of Greenbelt between
December 16 and December 19
when three girls and two boys
were born to local families.
On the 16th a boy was born to
Mr. and Mrs. Christian Zust of 2-G
Garden way and a girl to Mr. and
Mrs. Aubrey Marcus of 8-G Re
search road. Mr. and Mrs. Ronald
Baxter of 34-E Crescent had a
girl on the 17th, and a girl was
Mackin of 38-D Crescent on the
19th. Also on that date Mr. and
Mrs. George Bauer of 16-F Cres
cent had a girl.
Great Books Topic
To Be Aristophanes
The Great Books group will meet
Thursday, January 13, at 8:30 p.m.
at the home of Professor and Mrs.
John Schmidt, 2-D Gardenway.
Three plays by Aristophanes will
be the topic for discussion. New
members are invited.
AN INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER
Your Income Tax
By E. Bonßullian
This, the third in a series of in
come tax articles on changes to
the Internal Revenue Code, per
tains to the medical, drugs and
non-reimbursed personal expenses.
Medical, Drugs, and Medicines
Deductions
The medical deduction which
has been subject to considerable
revision should be gone over very
thoroughly as you will not need
as much mdical expenses this year
as you did in former years to get
a medical deduction. Only the
medical expenses in excess of 3
percent of your income may be
claimed as a deduction. Medical
expenses will not include the cost
of drugs and medicines, these items
will be considered separately.
Tooth paste, hair tonics etc. of a
personal nature are excluded and
only the amount in excess of 1
percent of your income will be
taken as a drugs and medicines
deduction. A further limitation
has been added to the medical de
duction. If your doctor tells you
to take a trip for your health you
can deduct the price of the ticket
as a travel deduction. No other
deductions, such as food and
lodging will be allowed except
those directly applicable to medi
cinal deductions or drugs and med
icines, while you are on your trip
for your health. Medical expenses
incurred during an illness which
resulted in the death of the tax
payer can now be included in the
final return of the dead person.
The maximum medical deduction
allowable for each person has been
increased to $2500 with the maxi
mum allowable per family has gone
up to SIO,OOO.
Non-Reimbursed Expenses
Expenses which you have incur
red while on the job and which the
firm has not reimbursed you such
as transportation (carfare, auto ex
pense, etc.), or oth
er misc. business expenses can be
deducted from gross income in
stead of itemizing as a personal
deduction. (This does not include
commuting or going to and from
work from your residence). The
new law makes it easier for a sales
man to get credit for his business
expense (even if he is not away
from home overnight) and thus
reduce his taxable income and still
allow him to take the 10 percent
standard deduction. If you are go
ing to itemize it will be better for
you to subtract these non-reim
bursed expenses from your gross
income as your adjusted gross in
come is used in determining the
amount of your medical and drugs
and medicine expenses you may
claim as a personal deduction'. For
example: Assume an income of
$4,000, non-reimbursed expenses of
S4OO, medical expenses of S3OO and
medicines and drugs of $75. If
you included your non-reimbursed
expenses in your listing of personal
deduction your deductible medical
and medicines and drugs deduc
tion would amount of $225, com
puted as follows: 300 - (4000 x .03)
and 75 - (4000 x .01) 215.00. If
however, you subtracted the non
reimbursed S4OO from the gross
income of S4OOO your medical and
drugs and medicines deduction
would be $231. Computed as fol
lows: 300 - (4000 - 400 x .03) and
75 - (4000 - 400 x .01) s23l. Thus
you increase your medical and
drugs and medicines deductions by
sl6, thereby reducing your taxable
income by sl6 an acual saving of
$3.20 at a rate of 20 percent, simp
ly by taking a tax deduction in the
right place.
(Questions of a general nature
will be answered by calling GRan
ite 4-8746.)
Councilman Smith Blasts Litter
Situation; Schedules “Trash Tour”
By I. J. Parker
A small bombshell was exploded at the city council meeting
last Monday night as newly-elected councilman James Smith blast
ed the city administration'and the council for their failure to clean
up the city. Smith told the group to get off their trash-cans and
make a vigorous effort to put the Greenbelt Clean-up Committee’s
five-point program into effect, (Smith is chairman of that com
mittee, which comprises members from leading civic organizations.)
Shamed
Smith’s remarks were prompted
by a visit he made, at the request
of a local clergyman, to one of the
community’s underpasses. What
he saw angered and shamed him,
Smith declared. The underpass,
City Workers, Manager
Voted Pay Increase
A five percent pay increase for
municipal employees was approved
by the city council last Monday
night. The increase, included in
this year’s budget, goes to full-time
employees, and carries a minimum
of S2OO for personnel employed be
fore January 1, 1953. Also approv
ed was a similar pay increase for
the city manager. The entire in
crease for city employees amounts
to approximately S7IOO.
In another action, approval was
granted city manager Charles Mc-
Donald to expend funds to help
the local volunteer fire depart
ment gain admission to the Prince
Georges County Volunteer Fire
mans Association, pay for fireman
insurance and incorporation fees.
Joe Lewis, of the fire department,
spoke for that group at the meet
ing.
Payment for seven days leave,
which could not be carried into the
following year, was granted by the
council to Elliot Sines, recently re
signed director of public works.
The sum amounted to approxi
mately slls, McDonald discolsed.
Sines had accumulated 37 days
leave at the time of his resignation,
and only 30 days are permitted to
be carried into the following year.
A letter from Fred Tuemmler
and Associates, city planners, re
quested council approval of a move
by clients of Tuemmler to request
the Washington Suburban Sanitary
Commission to include a portion of
Greenbelt property into WSSC
jurisdiction. The area is now own
ed by Tuemmler’s clients. McDon
ald displayed a small map, and de
clared that the area does not drain
into Greenbelt’s sewage system,
and it requires pumping the sew
age into the local disposal plant
and sending it back to the area,
an expensive operation. Although
he approved of the move, McDon
ald agreed with the council that
more study is needed before com
pliance.
Council To Organize
Library Committee
A “library committee” of inter
ested citizens will be organized by
the city council at its next meet
ing, it was decided last Monday
night. The suggestion for such a
committee, originally made by
former Mayor Frank Lastner, was
endorsed by a letter to the council
signed by six local residents.
The committee will appraise the
transition of the library to the
county system and the service pro
vided and report their findings to
the council. Councilman Ben
Goldfaden called for a “standing
committee” on the library to meet
on occasion and discuss the library
operation and make recommenda
tions.
near the local filling station, was
a “complete mess” of discarded
tires, oil cans and debris.
“In order to serve the people, I
must speak out,” Smith asserted.
“My eyes are now open.” He cas
tigated city officials for placing
“their own time over the city’s
time” and “if time won’t permit
cleaning up the city, then so state
it!” Smith said, adding, “The time
has come to end the casual talks
with organization heads to accom
plish his clean-up,” Smith stated.
Smith recommended that a letter
to Greenbelt Consumer Servicse be
drafted by city manager Charles
McDonald and signed by Mayor
James Wolfe, asking the co-opera
tive to cooperate in cleaning the
filling station area and keeping it
neat. “Word it so that it requires
a written reply, Smith asked.
Smith backed up his sincerity by
inviting the council to take a tour
of the city, with transportation pro
vided by Smith to see the littered
areas of the community, much of
which Smith admits is on property
owned by GVHC. The city center,
the underpasses, the road-sides aiTd
the woods bordering homes were
cited as eye-sores by Smith. Also
invited for the “trash-tour,’ (ten
tatively scheduled for Saturday,
January 15), are the city-manager,
police chief, public works head,
city clerk (to take notes), the
press, James Campbell and James
Kane of GVHC.
Buddy Attick, newly appointed
superintendent of public works,
was highly praised by Smith, as a
man of integrity who will do a
good job.
McDonald Answers
In answer to several of the
points raised by Smith, McDonald
disclosed that a committee of “in
spectors” as requested in one phase
of the Clean-up Committee’s re
port did not succeed because of the
reluctance of citizens to “snoop”
on neighbors. Regarding another
point, McDonald stated that the
Center is broom-cleaned each
mornng, but that the underpass is
not cleaned as frequently. Much
of the trash in the community is
on privately-owned property, Mc-
Donald declared —“and you can’t
expect the city to go in there to
clean it up.”
McDonald reminded citizens and
the council that trash is to be
placed in suitable containers for
the pick-up men, and not thrown
loosely on the road-side or outside
hedges. The wind and children
usually scatter trash that is placed
illegally on roadsides, McDonald
continued.
The “pick-up-stick” man per
formed his duties adequately dur
ing the summer and exceeded the
budget alloted to his job, McDonald
said. “But my experience with
“stick-men” shows that bottles and
cans never go into his bag—just
paper,” he added.
The council, McDonald, and
Smith finally agreed that the clean
up of Greenbelt is a continuing
job that needs constant attention.
Although Smith agreed, he re
minded the council that they will
have to “sweat the problem out”
and “live with it” while Smith is
on the council.