Imperial Valley press., June 18, 1942, Image 1

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

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

                
WEATHER
Maximum Wednesday 104- Mini
mum Thursday 71. 5 p-m. Wednes
day 97, humidity 22- 5 a.m. Thurs
day 73, humidity 73. Noon Thurs
day 96, humidity 44.
BANK DEBITS
El Centro Business Barometer
Wednesday . $606,294.94
Last Year $499,203.34
VOLUME XL, No. 272
AXIS BLASTS BRITISH BACK IN LIBYA
PAF pilot stands beside American-built Tomahawk plane he
brought home after explosive shell hit tail over African desert.
Brewery's Office
Building Burns
MEXICALI, June 18. Soldiers stood guard today
around the smoldering ruins of a building that had been
one of Mexicali’s largest.
At 6 p.m. Wednesday the four-story sales agency build
ing of the Aztec Brewing company ignited and fire com-
Rambling
eporter
Oleanders To You
rr has a world of wholesome
respect for that great crew of
ground observation corps members
manning the lookouts throughout
the county.
This lookout duty is one of the
most important phases of national
defence but it totally without gla
mour and without any fanfare of
trumpets. It is t resomc, unexciting
work but as necessary to our safety
as any army of good fighting men
The observers are the first line of
defense If they fall down on the
job they have failed our fighting
men and made their task much
more difficult
Therefore it is with a great deal
of pleasure and deep appreciation
that RR votes oleandars to Mrs
Don Stephens of the Coyote Wells
lookout Mrs. Stephens, my rather
unappreciative friends, has served
as lookout there for 2,000 since the
system was established
Go thou and do likewise.
A Hot Case—
The jury in a superior court mur
der case was in a hot spot Wednes
day. They listened to the evidence
and sweat worse than the prisoner
at the bar.
Round and around went the fans
in the coolers but the room became
hotter and hotter. They mopped
their brows and fanned with vigor.
At a recess they went out into the
hall. It was cool out there. In fact,
investigation revealed that it was
10 degrees cooler in the hall than
in the court room
They mutinied
And why not? The water feed
into the cooler was stopped up and
the fan was simply fanning in hot
air ' , ,
And that's awful in a place al
ready packed with verbal hot air.
What Next?—
This scrap rubber collection cam
paign is turning up some amazing
things.
The El Centro city hospital turn
ed in 60 pounds of rubber with 37
pounds of tUe total composed of
worn out rubber gloves
The Sacrifice —
A small boy appeared at an El
Centro filling station with a pile
of scrap rubber
“I’m sorry you don't have a few
ounces more," the attendant told
the boy, “then I could give you a
quarter. ’’ He went inside the sta
tion to pct the quarter anvway.
When the attendant reached the
boy again, he was seated on the
around rinning the rubber heeles
from his shces and throwing them
into the pile.
IMPERIAL VALLEY PRESS
Onlu Paper in Imperial Valley Served by Complete United Press Fant News Wire Day and Night, Full NEA, Inc., Features, with Valley News by the Largest Editor
ial Staff in Southeastern California.
Eight Pages
•panics from Mexicali and Calexico
rushed to the scene. Small supply
of water forced the Calexico firemen
to return to the United States side
of the international boundary with
out lending aid.
The building had been used as
a storage place and warehouse for
brewery equipment The blaze .was
believed to have been started by
defective wiring.
At 11 p.m. Wednesday night the
building was still ablaze. Officials of
th? company could not estimate the
amount of loss but said that it was
considerable, for only a small corru
gated iron section of the structur'
remained standing Thursday morn
ing. The loss was partly covered by
insurance.
A slight wind whipped the fire
as Mexican firemen battled to con
trol it, causing it to jump the street
north of the building and demolish
several small houses.
The brewery building was con
structed in 1925.
Although the heat from the fire
was intense, no firemen or crowding
spectators were burned.
Bandmaster Dean
Succumbs in East
WEST LONG BRANCH. N. J..
June 18. (UP)—Arthur Pryor, 71-
year-old dean of American band
masters, died today at his home af
ter a two day illness.
Born in St. Joseph, Mo. on Sept.
22, 1870, Pryor was a musical prod
igy. His father founded the band
that was to make Arthur famous
for more than 40 years.
At three he had mastered the
drums, at six the piano. He joined
bis father's band as a trombone
player in his early 'teens became
conductor-pianist of the Stanley
opera.
Calexico Marine
Prisoner of War
The nam? of John Hamas, Calexico, was added Thurs
day to those of other Imperial Valley men missing or pris
oners of the Japanese in World War No. 2, according to a
war department communique issued at Washington.
Hamas, whos? next of kin was listed by the war depart-
*
ment as Mrs. John Hamas, El Rey
hotel, Calexico, is a U. S. Marine
machine gunner. He was listed def
initely as a prisoner of the Japanese,
probably captured when Wake Island
fell last Dec. 23.
Maj James Patrick Devereaux,
Hamas’ commander, was included in
the list of prisoners issued at Wash
ington. Also included were 133 other
marines and sailors who. with Maj
Devereaux and Hamas, are held at
Shanghai, China.
Most of the men. the war de
partment said, were 'captured when
Wake fell. The list included four
officers and 12 enlisted men from
the navy, and six officers and 112
(Five Cents Per Copy)
Draft Deferment
For Farm Labor
Gets Boost Here
Boards Declare Individual Farmers in
Valley Should Make Application for
Vital Men; Employment Office Helps
Imperial county’s two selective service boards and the
Federal Employment service banded together Thursday
to help farmers get valuable agricultural labor deferred
from military service and kept at home to plant and harvest
the crops needed by the United States.
“Farmers must make formal ap
plication to have their valuable
agricultural labor deferred,” said
Thomas N Finney of the Federal
Employment service, “or the selec
tive service board members can do
nothing at all about deferring the
agricultural laborers.
“It is up to the farmers to take
the initial step in the case of each
individual laborer necessary to them.
Tt is impossible to issue a blanket
deferrment order as each case must
be considered on its own merits.”
He declared that farmers should
not consider such a step unpatriotic
because the armed forces must have
food and it is up to the farmers to
keep the help they need to raise
it. Without food the armed forces
are helpless and it is the patriotic
duty of the farmer to do everything
in his power to see that he carries
out that duty, Finney declared.
Finney placed the facilities and
staff of his office at the disposal of
the farmers of the county when it
comes to making out the formal
application for deferrment of men.
He also will study the case and rec
ommend deferment of the necessary
men as this will be a help to the
board members. Farmers seeking
deferment for their men must fill
out form 42A and submit it to the
draft boards.
At present 1,055 men are needed
in necessary agricultural work and
Finney, asked to get them, has been
able to supply none at all for the
last three days.
Army Rules Louis
Can't Fight Now
WASHINGTON, June 18— (UP)
The war department has ruled that
heavyweight champion Joe Louis
must complete his basic army train
ing before it will consider allowing
Irm to participate in any furthei
public appearances, Secretary of
War Henry L. Stimsc.i said today.
“Lotlis’ public appearances have
m:.de it impossible for him to com
plete his army training and this is
unfair to both Louis and the army,"
the secretary said. “This is the
reason why we have made this rul
ing.'
Stimson said he did not know how
long it would be before Louis com
pletes his training. However, the
full basic trailing period takes 13
weeks and Louis already has com
pleted part of the required time.
Japs Add Sound
Effects to Movie
SPOKANE, Wah„ June 18. (UP
The motion picture “Dive Bomber"
played to a capacity audience with
“additional sound effects," accord
ing to a box office notice from
Dutch harbor, Alaska, released to
day by the Army's picture service
for the ninth corps area and Alaska
The picture was being shown sol
diers when the Japanese treated
the output to the real thing.
enlisted men of the marine corps
The sailors came from 11 states
and the marines from 31 states and
Canada.
It was the sixth prisoners list
issued on the basis of Red Cross
reports, and brought the number
o'f marines known to be captured to
5’6. Navy men in Japanese hands
total 280; soldiers, four, and civil
ians 219.
Devereaux, whose address was giv
en Governors Island, New York,
replied to a question of what the
Wake Island defenders wanted with
the now-famous radio message,
“send us more Japs.”
THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1942
OUT OF HAND
Rubber Drive Stretches
Imperial county's scrap rubber
salvage campaign was out of hand
and running wild Thursday as junk
dealers and secondhand store pro
prietors prepared to dump hun
dreds of thousands of tens of rub
ber into the mountainous pile al
ready contributed by the public.
In the El Centro, Holtville and
Imperial areas the total for .the
week thus far was 90,952 pounds,
in Calexico it was 17,724 and in
Westmorland 10,570 pounds making
the incomplete grand total for the
county 119.246 pounds.
On Wednesday residents of El
Centro, Holtville, and Imperial col
lected 37,598 pounds and in Ca
lexico 8,416 pounds.
Sam Danenburg, El Centro junk
dealer, was preparing to sell be
tween 200,000 and 250,000 pounds,
but since the rubber had not been'
weighed and checked in it was not
possible to include that amount in
the totals He prepared to sell his
rubber for S2O a ton under the gov
ernment set-up for collecting rub
ber to prevent gasoline rationing
The regulation ceiling on scrap
Boy, 10, Drowns In
New River, 2 Pals
Miss Same Fate
This summer’s fifth drowning
victim was taken from the waters
of New river near Brawley Thurs
day morning after being missing
since noon Wednesday when he
went wading in shallow water be
cause he couldn't swim and was
swept into the swift, deep water in
the center of the stream.
Malvin Lewter, 10-year-old son of
Mrs. Myrtle Lewter of Brawley,
drowned while wading with his
brother, Jerry, and Clarence Carr
a mile south of highway 99.
in the shallow water of New river
In some manner all three young
sters, none of whom could swim,
got into the deeper water. Malvin
was swept away but the other boys
manager to get out safely. They
ran home lor help
Imperial Irrigation district crews
put a net across the stream and
carried it through the water They
found the little body at 10:30 a.m.
Thursday about 3% miles down
stream from the point where the
child stepped into the water
Breakfast Food
Scion Divorced
LOS ANGELES, June 18—'UP)—
Mrs. Sue Slausen Colver today was
granted a divorce from William
Kellogg Colver, member cf the
wealthy Battle Creek. Mich., break
fast food family.
Mrs. Slausen charged that her
husband had been disloyal to her
and had asked her for his freedom
“so that he cculd remarry have
ch'ldren and evade the draft. ’
Colver is a grandson of Dr. Har
very Kellogg, founder of the Battle
Creek sanitarium, and a nephew of
W. K. Kellogg, the breakfast food
magnate. He is at present working
for the government as a chemical
engineer. She is a member of a
picneer southern California family.
WAR THREAT REDUCED
WASHINGTON, June 18 (UP)—
The threat of a Japanese attack
against the west coast has been
greatly reduced as the result of
American victories in the Pacific,
Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson
said today.
Stimson said all indications were
that the Japanese landings in the
Aleutians were small. He was un
able to say whether the invaders
had made effort to reinforce theS
initial landings at Attu and Kiska
Phantom Barber
Mystifies Town
PASCAGOULA, Miss., June 18
(CP) Everybody in town to
day was just as mystified over
the motive of the "phantom
barber" as they were about who
he might try to clip next.
Without robbing or other
wise disturbing his victims, he
breaks into homes at night and
snips the hair of heavy sleepers.
He has given haircuts to three
persons in the past week and
not one of them even woke up
during the process.
Police Chief A. W. Ezell said
his department has staked a
$309 reward for information
leading to the “barber s” cap
ture-
rubber was set at $lB a ton Danen
berg, however, agreed to load the
rubber himself when the time for
shipment came.
M. M Dizney of El Centro was
made head of a committee to con
tact all junk dealers and used car
lot proprietors and ask them to
turn out their accumulations of
scrap rubber Arthur Spring will
contact industrial plant, packing
shed and wholesale house owners
on a similar mission.
El Centro Boy Scouts, busily col
lecting rubber on the eastside
Thursday, asked that residents
have their contributions ready as
it will be impossible to return to
pick up the rubber. They will col
lect in the other parts of the city
Friday and Saturday.
Mrs. Lora McCarty
Dies In Valley
Mrs. Lora A. McCarty. 74. died
Wednesday at her home northeast
of El Centro and will be buried in
Sunny Slope cemetery in Corona
at 3 p m Monday after funeral ser
vices at the Lemons chapel in El
Centro at 3 pm. Friday.
The Rev Mr. Edwin Carter, pastor
of the State Street Christian
church, will officiate at the rites
in El Centro
Mrs. McCarty lived in Imperial
Valley since 1908 and saw the des
ert area grow and develop from
waste lands into a rich agricultural
area.
She was born in Mason City, 111.,
Feb. 13, 1868.
Among her survivors arc her
husband, George F. McCarty; her
son, Leslie McConnell; a brother.
George, of Riverside; and two
grandchildren
Soldier Honored
For Heroic Action
SACRAMENTO, June 18— (UP)
Private First Class Monroe D. John
son, 27. of Nashville, Tenn., today
was presented with the soldiers'
medal for heroic action in prevent
ing a serious fire at Mather Field
on January 10.
The presentation was made by
C>l Leo Walton, chief of staff
of the west coast training center
at Santa Ana. in a ceremony before
the post, headquarters building. The
medal was awarded by the war de
partment.
Johnson was loading a tank truck
with gasoline when the liquid burst
into flames. Despite the fact his
clothing was afire, he remained at
his post, turned off the gas line
valves, anti saved 2.000 gallons of
gasoline from threatened fire and
explosion.
He said it was difficult to co- ]
ordinate a complete picture of what
had happened in the Pacific from
the multitude of reports received
from flying personnel. But he said
the general 1 picture was clear
namely, that a great fleet of the
enemy had been put to flight after
the battle of Midway
Observation of develop men t s
along \he Aleutian Islands was
much more complex, he said, be
cause of the prevailing fogs through
PHONE 3bo
Opium
Haul
Made
SIO,OOO Worth of
Drug Seized, Two
Mexicans Jailed
Imperial county’s biggest
opium haul, SIO,OOO worth,
was marked as evidence in
the county jail Thursday and
two Mexicans were held on
a charge of smuggling the prohibit
ed drug into the United States from
Mexico.
Angel Rico, 27, and R. Rodriguez,
32, were arrested in a truck in the
rural area near El Centro late
Wednesday with six homemade cop
per cans stuffed with the opium
which was in a sort of paste form.
The two Mexicans were arrested by
Deputy Sheriffs Frank Raney, Pete
Klyne, and Alfred Lyons, and state
narcotic agents Clyde W. Carpen
ter and John Fenneil.
The opium was sold to an officer
by the Mexicans who received mon
ey for it, Sheriff Robert W. Ware
said.
"Opium is illegal anywhere in the
United States,” Sheriff Ware said,
“so in order to get opium it must
be smuggled in. Opium derivatives
may be used in medicines by author
ized persons but it is illegal for any
one to have the opium itself.”
The copper cans resembled to
bacco cans and the opium paste
was formed into small packets, and
wrapped’ in tissue paper, and packed
into the cans.
Council Ponders
Property Trade
El Centro city councilmen Thurs
day were pondering a proposal to
trade two pieces of property for one
and in so doing close one of the
city streets
M O. Best and Charles Baker,
representing the Shipper’s Ice com
pany, appeared before the council
Wednesday night with a plan
whereby the city would be given a
40-foot strip of land bordering
Commercial street in return for the
30-foot wide section of property on
which First street Is located be-
City Trustees In
3-Hour Meeting
It took El Centro's city council
only three hours and a half to take
care of business past, present and
future Wednesday night.
Business for the evening was con
fined to voting authority for water
officials to make an inventory of
equipment and manpower in cooper
ation with the state council of de
fense, voting raises to several city
employes, listening to a proposition
by officials of an ice company and
a flock of lesser items.
Police Officer Leslie Conn was
given a sls raise and Officer Bill
Schofield a $lO increase. Jack Lay.
city shop employe, was granted a
$lO raise.
Fireworks retail permits were giv
en the Post-Press and the Quality
Food Market. Mrs. Abbie Evans was
granted alice'nse to operate a luncn
stand and grocery store at Ninth
and Brighton.
Baseball
AMERICAN
Philadelphia 000 oO£ 0
Chicago 000 002 1
Knott & Swift* Ross & Tresh
New York 100 000 000-1-4-2
Detroit . 012 000 OOx—3-6-0
Chandler & Dickey; Trucks &
Tebbetts.
Washington* 022 0
Cleveland 000 0
Wynn & Early; Kennedy, Eisen
stat & Denning.
which fliers could obtain only
fleeting glimpses of the enemy.
Stimson said he was astonished
to fine that many members of the
press held the opinion that the war
and naval departments were not
giving full and adequate accounts
of the battles in the Pacific.
He said the press and public
should consider the limited ability
for observation of what occurs in
a modem air and sea battle.
THE POST-PRESS
imperials Fall
Back on Tobruk
As Germans Gain
Russian Gains Partially Offset Nazi
Victories in Desert; Reds Hit Back
Against Enemy Offensive at Kharkov
By UNITED PRESS
Axis armed forces pushed the British eighth army hack
toward Egypt in hard fighting on the Tobruk sector of the
Libyan desert battleront Thursday but on the Russian end
of the enemy’s giant middle eastern pincers the Red army
struck back with mounting fury. -
The important strong points of
El Adem and Sidi Rezegh on the
Tobruk front were abandoned by
the British and seized by Axis troops,
which claimed that Nazi Col. Gen.
Erwin Rommel had split the eighth
army in two, driving part of it back
on Tobruk and pushing the remain
der eastward toward Bardia, near
the Egyptian border. Axis troops
also apparently had taken Acroma.
in Tobruk’s outer defenses.
Both Cairo and London acknowl
edged the strong possibility that
the British will be forced back to
the Egyptian border with Tobruk
again under siege or—more likely
abandoned.
The difficulty of supplying Tobruk
by sea. as illustrated in this week’s
convoy battles in the Mediterranean,
may make it impossible for the
British to repeat their courageous
stand at that city last year. In ad
dition, it was pointed out that there
are no good deiense points on the
70-mile coastal road from Tobrux
to Bardia and the Egyptian border.
Whether Rommel would attempt
(Continued on Page 8; Column 1)
tween Commercial and a railroad
spur south, and also a 20-foot
strip between First street and Fair
mount Drive on Commercial
Best and the ice company own
pieces of property on either side of
First street and would like to con
solidate their holdings and fence
them
Fencing would close the street to
through traffic north of the Myers
produce coinpany to Commercial
The 40-foot strip of land that
would become city property would
winden the city right-of-way or.
Commercial to 80 feet between
Second and Frist.
Best said Joining together the
two pices of land would enable
him to develop the property. He
state that before the war broke
out, plans for building two new
packing sheds on the site had been
made. He contended that there is
no justification for a through street
on Frist and that at any time that
it would be deemed necessary to
reopen the street it could be done
without expense to the city.
Fire Chief Corn Reed who was
at the meeting denouced the pro
posed trade because "it would
handicap fire-fighting operations if
First street were closed." Access to
several nearby sheds and indus
trial plants in case of fire would
be partially cut off, Reed said
City Attorney Dorsey Whitelaw
was instructed to prepare an agree
ment between the city and Best and
the ice company that would assure
the possible reopening of the street
without cost to the city. After the
agreement has been written, the
matter is to be brought before the
board again for final consideration.
Army Ultimatum
Served in Strike
MICHIGAN CITY, Ind.,
Standard Car Manufacturing company and 1,000 striking
workers today faced an Army ultimatum that work must
be resumed by Monday on 1,500 Gondola cars for the gov
ernment or the work will be “done elsewhere.”
"If work is not resumed at Pull
man on Monday," the Army order
read, “materials will start to leave
the plants on Tuesday morning "
Charles Burchfield international
representative of the American Fed
eration of Labor, said he would take
the case to President Roosevelt if
the Army goes through with its
plan to move materials to other
plants.
Maj. H. J. Hocker of the Chicago
engineer procurement division is
sued the order last night after com
pany officials rejected the three
point proposal for settlement of
the labor controversy made by rep
resentatives of the Brotherhood of
Railway Carmen (AFL>.
EL CENTRO, CALIF.
Czechs Ask Right
To Execute Hitler
When War is Over
‘Eye for Eye’ Policy
Demanded in Commons
Against Nazi Terror
LONDON, June 18. (UP)
The Czech government in ex
ile demanded the right today
to execute Adolf Hitler, Hein
rich Himmler, Hermann Wil
helm Goering and other Nazi lead
ers after the war for the slaying oi
hundreds of innocent Czechs in re
prisal for the assassination of Rein
hard (The Hangmani Heydrich.
In an extraordinary session yes
terday, the Nationalist government,
under the leadership of Edouard
Benes, former Czechoslovak presi
dent, adopted a resolution formally
requesting the privilege of execut
ing the German warlords The min
isters of foreign affairs, national
defense, interior and justice were
instructed to carry out “without
delay everything for the early execu
tion of this measure.”
Demands for “eye for an eye"
retribution against Nazi killings of
innocent Czechs- were voiced in the
house of commons as the German
deadline for handing over the as
sassins of Heydrich neared.
Nazi authorities threatened to
burn Czech villages to the ground
and execute entire populations un
less sabotage and resistance ceases
and the killers of “The Hangman"
are turned over to authorities to
night, according to British reports.
The demand in the house was
made by Sir Thomas Moore, con
servative member, who demanded
Britain tell Germany that “in the
future an undefended German
town or village will be obliterated
by the RAF in retribution for every
innocent person murdered by the
Nazis in an occupied country.”
Maj. Clement R. Attlee, deputy
prime minister, said: “There would
not be enough German villages to
go around. You may rest assured
that our bombing effort against
Germany will be directed against the
most effective points.”
Netherlands Queen
Will Visit FDR
OTTAWA. Ont.. .lune 18. <UP>
Queen Wilhelmina of the Nether
lands arrived in Canada by airplane
today from England on her way to
visit President and Mrs. Roosevelt.
The queen was met at the airport
by her daughter Crown Princess
Juliana, and two granddaughters.
Princess Beatrix and Irene, whom
she had not seen for more than two
years.
Hocker said that at the outset
of the strike on Monday, the com
pany needed only 30 days to com
plete the 1,500-car order and that
the strike prevented completion of
27 cars a day.
The strikers had offered to go
back to work under three conditions
that the company rescind it* letter
of June 15. abrogating an existing
contract that expired in April; that
the company agrees that any w«g»
shall be made retroactive U> April
shall be made retroactive to April
16. expiration date of the old con
tract; that the company shall do
everything poesible to expedite sign
ing of a new contract.