Imperial Valley press., June 17, 1942, Image 1

About Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current

Image provided by: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA

                
WEATHER
Maximum Tuesday 103. Minimum
Wednesday 09. 5 pm. Tuesday 97,
humidity 20. 5 a.m. Wednesday 71,
humidity 64. Noon Wednesday 96,
humidity 36.
BANK DEBITS
El Centro Business Barometer
Tuesday $501,181.23
Last Year $930,811-81
VOLUME XL, No. 271
ALLIES BAR AXIS PINCERS ON MID - EAST
Scrap Rubber Collection
Tops 85,000-Pound Total
Rambling
eporter
I’m Telling Me—
A one armed paper hunger or even
an armless one could scarcely be as
busy as Lillian Harkey officiating
behind the lunch counter in u
downtown eatery.
Formerly a waitress, she has been
officiating as a ccok until someone
went on vacation or something.
Now you should see her She takes
tlie order from the customers, shouts
the order to herself, rushes to the
stove ai.* cooks it, shouts to herself
that the order is ready, and serves
the customer. •
The Swtl’. Head—
We don’t wish to be unnecessarily
unkind but Deputy Sheriff Don
Campbell has the swell head.
In fact, he has the mumps.
He Can’t Take It—
There is one man in El Centro
who always cashes in on his vaca
tions. You know. Reed Cunningham,
the traffic cop. He always works at
something besides traffic copping
while on vacation. He has an idea it
relieves his nerves.
This year he decided to work for
the Pure Ice company. His boss.
Hugo Miller, said at the end of the
first day he had to send Reed home
in an ambulance.
Reed found out that dragging ice
is a bit different from dragging
drunks. Or is it?
Ou' Of The Mouths— . . .
Tlie Rev. Mr. Hayden Sears stop
ped in the vestibule of the Method
ist church and drew a glass of wa
ter. He stood holding it in his hand
as he waited for the time to go
down the aisle and mount the pul
pit.
"Why don’t you drink it?” the
little girl asked
He explained that he always took
a glass of water to the pulpit so
he could have some water to drink
while he was preaching his sermon.
"Oh,” said the little girl,” I wish
we could have some water to drink
during your sermon.”
Raid Horn Test
Termed Success
The test of air raid warning whis
tles last Monday was a distinct suc
cess, said Fire Chief Corn Reed
Wednesday as he disclosed that civ
ilian defense measures in El Centro
are becoming more complete daily.
Two fire horns at the fire station
blew in a Continuous blast immed
iately after noon and to date only
three calls have been received at
the station saying that the warning
had trot been heard.
In the future no sirens on cars
or trucks will be used for warnings,
Reed said. The two horns at the
station, the creamery whistle and
the one at the water plant will
sound off in intermittent blasts of
three seconds if the warning is the
real thing.
Reed also said that there is now
a supply of sand for use against
incendiary bombs at the station and
that residents may bring buckets
and fill them up. From two to three
gallons per person may be taken
from the six-cubic-yard bin west
of the station
Stores to Push
War Stamp Sales
r.'jtail stores in El Centro will devote 15 minutes of their
time exclusively to the sale of war stamps and bonds at
noon, July 1, as part of a nation-wide campaign, officials
of the drive in El Centro said Wednesday.
The quarter-hour sale is designed to pep up the sale of
stamps through the business houses
of the nation and make the public
more aware of the necessity of in
vesting money with Uncle Sam.
Fred Nebel-T.iau, in charge of
supplying retail stores in El Centro
with the bonds and stamps, said
that the large majority of the stores
have put in stamps along with their
regular wares and have been selling
them regularly. Main troub'e, Nebel-
Thau said, comes from the failure
of storekeepers to replenish their
stocks of bonds once they run out.
He urged that all stores put in
a sufficient stock before the sale
on July 1.
Assuring that all El Centro stores
will cooperate in the program 100
IMPERIAL VALLEY PRESS
Only Paper in Imperial Valley Served by Complete United Press Fast News Wire Day and Night, Full NEA, Inc., Features, with Valley News by the Largest Editor
ial Staff in Southeastern California.
Eight Pages
HOBOES GET
JAIL TERMS
Riding the freight trains fcr
nothing became ten unpopular mode
of transportation in Imperial coun
ty Wednesday because of Sheriff
Robert W. Ware’s drive to eliminate
the practice.
Seven transients were behind the
bars of the county jail in El Cen
tro Wednesday after being sen
tenced in Calipatria justice court to
10 days fcr evading payment of
railroad fare.
Wednesday's sentences brought
to 25 the number of men arrested
Unioneer Sought
In Brawley Case
Engineers' Business Agent Hunted for
Damaging Automatic Music Machines in
Brawley Cafe; Reason for Act Mystery
Mike Henry, business agent for local No. 12 of the
union of operating engineers in Imperial and San Diego
count; s, an American federation of Labor affiliate, was
missig from his usual naunts in the two counties Wednes
day while officers sought to serve him with a Brawley
justice court warrant charging him
with malicious mischief.
The complaint against Henry was
signed June 5 by Dale Freeman,
who alleged that Henry damaged
three of his music machines by tear
ing them off the counter in a cafe
in Brawley a short time before the
complaint was signed Freeman said
the damage suffered by the three
machines was estimated at $75.
Freeman said he did not know
Henry, had never seen him, and had
had no dealings and no trouble with
him before the business agent dam
aged the three machines. Freeman
said he knew of no reason why
Henry should damage the machines
The warrant Freeman signed in
Brawley justice court charged Hen
ry with malicious mischief, a mis
demeanor.
The business agent lived in El
Centro for several years and then
moved away. He returned to Impe
rial Valley a little over a year ago
and began operations as the busi
ness agent of the operating engin
ers, apparently sent to the valley
to see to the umzation of all men
on defense construction projects.
He also was instrumental and active
in the unionization of employes in
some private concerns.
Former Valleyite
Missing in Action
Relatives of Lieut. Walter Swan
berger, Jr., 22, former El Centran,
received word from the government
that the young Marine air corps
officer is missing in the battle of
Midway island.
He is the son of Mr. and Mrs.
TValter Swanberger. sr„ of Santa
Ana, who lived in El Centro many
years where the elder Swanberger
was employed by B. Salomon The
missing man was born in El Centro
and is a nephew of Sid Swanberger.
per cent. Secretary Ben Herring of
the chamber of commerce Wednes
day sent Ben Hamm chairman of
the retail advisory committee of the
bond drive at Washington, D. C.,
a wire informing him that El Centro
merchantj could be counted upon.
Speaking in other phases of the
stamp and bond drive, Herring said
that three more organizations in
El Centro have reported that volun
tary deductions from employe’s pay
checks are being made for the
purchase of stumps and bonds They
are: Sherwood's cafe, Adobe lounge
and the highway patrol and divi
sion of registration office stamp.
(Five Cents Per Copy) WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 1942
and jailed in Imperial county since
Ware launched his drive a week
ago at the request of Gen. J. L.
DeWitt, who urged it as a means of
protecting valuable transports ion
facilities and a means of guarding
agricultural areas through which
tiie railway routes lie.
Other counties along the South
ern Pacific railway route joined in
the drive against free train riders
and Ware said he was informed
that few men were found riding
for nothing.
236 Join Militia
With 117 Signed
Up in River Area
Officers Chosen for
Three Platoons in
Bard, Winterhaven
Enlistments in the state
militia in Imperial county to
taled 236 Wednesday with
117 of the number included in
the three platoons in the Col
orado river districts, at Bard, Win
terhaven, and Ft. Yuma.
G. Noble is captain of the Bard
group, Harrison Hunt is first lieut
enant; James W. Henderson is a
second lieutenant, Deputy Sheriff
Maurice Breech is first sergeant,
W. L. Wallace is supply sergeant,
and Henry Morley Is company clerk
Sergeants of the Bard group are
William Bobo, LOuis Byrd, Harold
B. Brown, Clarence C Foster and
S. Boskovich. Tire corporals are
Forest Beasley, Karl Beasley, Sid
ney Duke, Wilbur Owens, James
Hunt and Virgil H. Prater.
Winterhaven sergeants include
vernon Baumgardener, D. C. Kerr
and the corporals are Earl Bernier
Ell Talbert, and Andrew J. Taylor,
Ft. Yuma officers were to be select
ed later.
Summer School
Staff Announced
Teaching staff at summer school
sessions at Central Junior college
was completed Wednesday ant!
classes were rapidly filling up, Dean
Glenn Kieffer said.
In the morning Myron Garver is
teaching bookkeeping, Stan Atkin
is teaching civics, physics A, and
music, Olin Gresham is teaching
typing. Harry Fillman is teaching
mechanics, and Gresham beginning
shorthand. At night school Kermit
McCracken is teaching meterology
and navigation and Garver ad
vanced shorthand and typing.
Two Trash Fires
Reported Here
Two trash fires broke out in El
Centro alleys shortly after 1 a.m.
Wednesday morning, causing dam
awe to a telephone pole, said Fire
Chief Corn Reed.
Three soldiers turned in an alarm
for the second fire at 1:30 in the
alley north of Main street between
Fifth and Sixth streets. It was there
that the blaze spread tn a pole. The
other, for which an alarm was turned
in, was between Fourth and Fifth
north of Broadway.
Reed said he appreciated the sol
diers turning in the alarm but they
should have called instead of awak
ing the whole city by using a box.
Valley
Drive
Grows
Residents Act fo
Avert Rationing
By Giving Scrap
Scrap rubber in ever in
creasing amounts cascaded in
an unending deluge upon the
service stations of Imperial
county Wednesday and in the
first two days of President Roose
velt’s scrap rubber salvage cam
paign the county total was in
cess of 85,323 pounds.
The total collection on Tuesday
was more than 54,143 pounds. Total
for the El Centro, Holtville, and
Imperial area was 37,598 pounds,
Brawley’s was 11.877 pounds, and
Calexico’s was 4 668. Totals of West
morland and Calipatria were not
available Wednesday and the re
turns from Imperial and Holtville
were not complete.
Service station owners and pro
prietors perfected their systems of
weighing in Wednesday and expect
ed to have the transaction simpli
fied greatly by the end of the week.
"Bring on more rubber and more
rubber,” was the cry of the mem
bers of the petroleum Industry in
Imperial county Wednesday. They
declared that the more scrap rub
ber turned in the less possibility of
gasoline rationing faced the motor
ing public.
All expense of the national scrap
rubber salvage campaign is carried
by the petroleum industry. If the
rubber is bought by the service sta
tions at the 1 cent a pound as set
by the government, it is sold at I'4
cents and the fourth of a cent Is
donated to three charities, the Red
Cross, the USO. and the Navy Re
lief. If the rubber is donated by
the public, the rubber is sold for
land the entire amount goes
to the charities.
Capital Leaders
Turn in Rubber
WASHINGTON, June 17 <UP>
Price Administrator Leon Hender
son is hanging on to his rubber
cigar holder and Secretary of In
terior Harold L. Ickes hasn't turned
in any old rubber yet.
Both have excuses, however, and
there are plenty of indications that
almost everybody else—from Falla,
the presidential Scotch Terrier, to
Secretary of the Treasury Henry
W. Morgenthau, Jr—ls contributing
his bit to the scrap rubber collec
tion drive
Henderson, the big gasoline-and
tire-rationing man, must keep a
firm grip on his holder, according
to his office, because " we make
him use it to keep him from chew
ing his cigars.”
And Ickes, who is also petroleum
Baseball
NATIONAL
Chicago 010 000 000 1-4-0
Brooklyn 002 000 12x—5-7-0
Lee & McCullough; Higbe &
Owen.
First Game
Cincinnati 201 101 000-4-6-2
Boston 000 200 000 2-7-0
Derringer & Lamanno; Earley,
Hutchings, Donovan & Kluttz
Second Game
Cincinnati °OO 002
Boston 020 000
Starr & Hemsley; Tobin <fe Masi
St. Louis 010 000 020-3-9-1
New York 000 000 000 0-5-2
M. Cooper & W. Cooper; Melton,
Adams & Danning.
AMERICAN
Philadelphia I°° 21
Chicago 000 00
Marchildon & Swift; Humphries
& Tresh.
Boston 000 01
St. Louis 201 01
Butland, Terry & Conroy; Auker
& Haves.
New York 000 000 000-0-5-1
Detroit 000 000 001-1-6-1
Breuer & Dickey; Trout & Teb
betts-
Fate of the Near East and Australia may hinge on actions in
the the areas mapped above. Above, scene of major land battles
now in progress, with the British forced back almost to Tobruk.
Below, scene of this week’s Mediterranean battle to protect big
British convoy. _
Warships Return
To Base at 'Rock 1
19 British Vessels Home Again From
Mediterranean Battle With Wounded,
Dead; Nine Still Unaccounted For
LA LINEA, Spain, June 17. (UP)— Spanish sources
reported that the British aircraft carriers Eagle and Argus
and the 31,000-ton battleship Malaya, all damaged in the
Mediterranean naval battle, arrived in Gibraltar today to
remove the dead and wounded.
co-ordinator, lias been so busy up
to a late hour yesterday getting
400,000 filling stations lined up to
receive scrap rubber that he hadn’t
found time to dig up any himself
"But,” an interior spokesman
said, “they're scouring the Ickes
farm and ought to come up with a
lot of stuff ”
Vice President Henry A Wallace
thus far hasn't contributed to the
drive because he couldn’t find any
discarded rubber gadgets around
the house and Speaker Sam Ray
burn’s office reported, "we haven't
anything made of rubber except
our erasers—and we don't dare
give them up”
Morgenthan is so ‘‘vitally inter
ested” in the drive, his office said
that he ordered the Morgenthau
farm searched for anything that
would bounce or stretch. Secretary
of Commerce Jesse Jones, whose
conduct of the synthetic rubber
program has been criticized in con
gress, was out of town.
Rep John Z. Anderson, D„ Cal.,
said congressmen ought to be
straight shooting enough not tc
need cuspidor mats and proposed
that the hundreds cf mats in the
canitol be turned in
Falla led the White House con
tributors. At the last count he had
turned in: two rubber bones, three
rubber balls, two rubber mice, two
rubber chewing rings, one rubber
donkey and a rubber mannikin
'Stolen Car' Just
Parked, Forgotten
N. C. "Tex" King, 38, thought
his car had been stolen for awhile
Tuesday but when police went to
look for it they found it parked
at 1264 El Centro avenue where he
had parked and evidently forgotten
it
The officers brought King into the
station on charges of drunkenness
and disturbing the peace. He plead
ed not gu’lty and was released on
Sls bail. His trial was set for 4 p m
Thursday,
PHONE 300
» Nineteen British naval vessels,
including nine small corvettes, arriv
ed in Gibraltar during mid-morning
from the scene of the four-day bat
tle.
The 22,606 - ton aircraft carrier
Eagle, a former battleship, landed
dead and wounded from her com
plement of about 748 officers and
men and was moved into a repair
dock
The Argus, a former liner con
verted into a 14,500-ton carrier, had
slight damage io its deck. It also
brought wounded.
The damage to the battleship
Malaya was described as not serious.
Several hours after the two car-
(Continued on Page 2, Col. 21
They're ‘Guests'
In Group Riding
When a number of people go in
together and use one car to carry
them all to work for a period of
time and thus avoid using rubber
on more than one car, they shall
be classified as "guests,” officials
of the group riding program in El
Centro were informed Wednesday.
This classification places the pas
sengers in the same position as
members of the family or anyone
else riding without payment ot
fares under the state law and re
leases the owner from danger of
being sued in case of an accident
in which a passenger is injured.
Texas Regiment Fighting
In Java Guerilla War
MELBOURNE, June 17 (UP>
A broadcast by the Tokyo-control
led Batavia radio indicated today
that some members of the United
States 131st artillery regiment,
formed from the Texas National
Guard, still may be operating
against the Japanese in interior
Java under their leader, Col. Albert
C Searle of Pawtucket, RT.
As heard by the Netherlands East
Indies information service here, it
reported the capture by the Jap
anese of Maj. Gen. A. Pesman,
leader of Dutch guerilla troops in
West Java. He was said to have
been taken prisoner after more
THE POST-PRESS
Libyan. Russian
Drives at Peak
With Nazi Gains
Peril Grows in North Africa, Ukraine
As Hitlers Summer Offensive Gets
Under Way; Rommel Efforts Repulsed
By UNITED PRESS
Armed fores of the United Nations, bolstered by Amer
ican air power in the Mediterranean, battered Axis drives
to a halt in Libya and southern Russia Wednesday in con
tinuing battles against an enemy pincers toward the Middle
East. ’1
The summer campaigns, swinging
toward a peak on widely separated
fronts, presented grave threats to
the Allied defenses in both north
Africa and the Ukraine. But for
the moment at least the Axis had
failed in two new flanking thrusts
against Tobruk and in powerful at
tacks at the Crimean naval base of
Sevastopol and on the Kharkov
front, where the Red army regained
local initiative
Problems of supply were the great
est danger to the British in Libya
as was emphasized by “considerable'
losses due to Axis attacks on two
Allied convoys, but supplies were
delivered to Tobruk and Malta with
the aid of American and RAF fliers
who blasted at least seven Italian
warships.
Losses to the British as well as
to the Axis in the Libyan battle
have been heavy, it was emphasized
in London dispatches, and still more
tanks and other weapons must reach
the Tobruk defenders if the Nazi
offensive toward Egypt and the
Suez is to be thrown back decisively.
At the same time, Malta must be
maintained as a base for attacks
on enemy supply lines to North
Africa.
On the main fronts, dispatches
showed:
LIBYA Axis thrusts atAcroma,
west of Tobruk, and Sidi Rezegh,
east of Tobruk,’ repulsed; fighting
continues.
RUSSIA — Supreme German effort
to take Sevastopol defeated in 22-
hour battle; Russian counterattacks
on Kharkov front successful at some
points.
GERMANY— RAF used 300 bomb
ers in new raids on German war
factories in Rhineland and Ruhr.
JUGOSLAVIA — Guerillas fighting
new Axis offensive reported to have
captured 1500 enemy troops and
wiped out an enemy battery in
mountains; heavy casualties on both
sides.
FRANCE Marshal Petain com
plains of spreading unrest and in
effective action by Vichy govern
ment.
CHlNA— Powerful Japanese forces,
seeking to eliminate Allied bases
from which Tokyo might be bombed,
(Continued on Page 2, col 5)
Americans Count
Hits on Italians
AN ALLIED AIRDROME IN NORTH AFRICAN DES
ERT, June 17. (UP) —American airmen told today how
they dumped heavy bomb loads on two Italian battleships
in their first war action in the battle of the Mediterranean
and “plainly saw smoke pouring out’’ of the en?my dread-
naughts from amidships to stern. 1
“The American planes—all except
two were United States Liberators
(Consolidated B- 24 bombers)
headed off the Italian fleet trying
to intercept a British convoy to
Malta and three of our planes im
mediately unloaded, scoring hits,”
Maj. Alfred Kalberer, the leader
of the American flight, said. No
American planes were lost, but per
haps two score hits were made on
the enemy ships, he added.
An RAF communique said Mon
day night British torpedo planes
again attacked the Italian fleet and
torpedoed one of the battleships.
than three months of resistance
Tlie fact that no mention of
Searle and his men has been made
in the Japanese broadcasts
strengthened belief that they still
are operating, since the Japanese
would be certain to boast if they
were taken.
Pesman’s capture, Dutch officials
pointed out, does not mean that
resistance in West Java has ended
Thev said Dutch generals still
eluding capture included Gen W
Schilling, commander of the first
corps area of the Batavia district
and now leader of active guerilla
forces in Java
EL CENTRO, CALIF.
Yanks Fighting On
More Fronts Than
In World War One
Americans Now On All
Continents, Every Sea
In Worldwide Struggle
WASHINGTON, June 17.
(UP) —Disclosure that Amer
ican fliers have been in action
in Rumania and in the Medit
erranean emphasized today
that the United States’ participa
tion in the war is worldwide.
American forces are now on every
continent and on the shores of every
ocean. American aid for the United
Nations is registering its effective
ness on all fronts.
American forces, planes and tanks
are aiding the Russians against
the Germans as well as the British
In their struggle to maintain bases
in North Africa.
American forces are halting the
Japanese as they thrust one direc
tion after another in the Pacific—
toward Australia, Hawaii, Alaska—
in contrast to last winter when the
United Nations repeatedly gave
ground.
A LONG LIST
It is only necessary to list the
places where Americans are fight
ing or are on guard to demonstrate
that for the United States this is
far more a world war than the
1918 struggle.
Americans are aiding in the de
fense of Australia and lighting in
the air against the Japanese in that
area. They are holding New Caledo
nia. American naval forces are
guarding Australia’s neighbor, New
Z.‘aland.
Americans are holding outposts
stretching from Hawaii to the Anti
podes. They are holding America’s
major outposts in the Pacific—
Alaska and Hawaii—and holding the
(Continued on Page 2; Column 1)
American and British planes sank
an Italian 10.600-ton cruiser, bat
tered two destroyers and two cruis
ers, hit both enemy battleships in
which fires broke out and shot down
more than 14 enemy airplanes on
Monday.
“We sighted the smoke of the
Italian craft about 30 miles away
after flying about 508 miles,” Kal
berer said.
"They were steaming along en
t rely unaware of our presence and
on aeourse that would have event
ually intercepted the British convoy
about 255 miles distant.”
Pesman, head of a Dutch army
unit in west Java during the in
vasion. commanded the plateau
around Bandoeng, Dutch army
headquarters, before that city fell
Netherlands Colonial Mln’ster Hu
bertus J. Van Mook has commended
both Schilling and Pesman, it was
announced.
The Tokyo radio recently claimed
the capture of several Americana
who served with Searle's artillery
regiment, but other reports have
indicated that the 131st may lie
among the Allied regiments still
at large in the wild country on the
Island s interior.
I