The Key West Citizen Newspaper, February 6, 1950, Page 1

Mier Holds Off Dredger's Key 24 PERSONS INJURED _ trod During Pebraary, Capt. Adel Declares e e e —- “us Un Overseas bridge Distric en ed « tet hee been ie ge he Gull of Mex: % William Arnold and . Edwin} Ages =. Bredgers } pe % Trevor, two well-known local} hes ° Atiwrals Bridge Receipts businessmen have. resigned from} oe ne { cameneneson | the Overseas Road and Toll! +n ane = Wen ro Commissioner Arnold resigned = A a Tees $740,214.75 on Monday, January 30, and i Commissioner Trevor sent in his © sereement| . resignation Saturday, February SEE) Ameonnt Is $9,942.75 4th. se - ; “ would & Over Last Year’s S win Trevor was chairman o: oy By t Year's Sum | sc board. Mr. Arnold’ received ox Key All previously known records his appointment from Governor Newy. were smashed last month in| Fuller Warren in May, 1949. - travel over the Overseas Road Arnold’s letter of resignation " eet to the | end Toll Bridge District. follows: Ne can Rece for January 1950| “Hon. Fuller Warren, eon | totaled 214.75. This was $8,- ; Governor of the State of Florida x <- of / #4275 for a similar period uast} Tallahassee, Florida . sety | weer, amd some $41,478.25 over| My Dear Governor Warren: wm Adet | January Feeling certain that my pres- eomt| Passenger travel for the same ,ent future usefulness as a mem- P he | period was 438, which was 10,- | ber of the Board of Commission- 100 more than in January 1949 | ers of the Overseas Road and Toll «md 21,602 more than in January | Bridge District is now precluded} oa | 1948 by circumstances beyond my* . ——— 'control, I respectively request | ove . NJ e that you accept my resignation} \ iolent Explos ON. | as a member of said board of! . + Commissioners, effective immedi- New a ‘ y Very truly yours, } cine Ga Pap Om) Wm. M. Arnold ‘Houston, Tex. HOUSTON, Tex.. Feb. 6—(4 1 Persons William Arnold, Edwin Trevor Resign As Commissioners é (#) Wirephoto POLICEMAN CLAUDE CONNELLY of the Accident Investiga- tion Unit, tries to figure out what to do with this 400-pound black bear found chained to the inside of a light panel truck after the vehicle struck a safety island. The driver has not been found. Mr. Bruin could not be coaxed into an Animal Shelter cage and was locked up with the truck in an empty garage. x Bear Came To Dinner In Chicago And Now Taxpayers Are Worried CHICAGO, Feb. 6.—(/).— up Saturday on the Chicago West Side. He had survived a traffic crash without a scratch. The truck he had Taxpayers here are groaning about the bear who came to dinner. TODAY MIAMI, Feb. 6.—().—Twenty- x: four persons have been injured, three seriously, in a bus-auto col- lision in Miami, The impact of the collision! hurled the bus to the south side| of the street, where it tore up 4 watermelon stand, crashed| through a stucco wall, and buried its nose into-a building. Seven ambulances and five police cars rushed 21 bus passen- gers with minor injuries to a hos- pital. The most serious injured was Paul Ratt, a passenger in the car. He suffered a compound fracture of the left leg and internal in- jjuries when he was thrown from } the vehicle. The bus driver, James L, Wil- liams, received a brain concus- sion and back injury. Ruth Tabor, | who accdrding to police was driv- ing the car, suffered a fractured skull. < Damage to the bus, a Miami ‘ansit Company vehicle. was imated at eight thousand dol- Jars; to the car, two thousand ; dollars; and to the building, five thousand dollars. Patrolmen O. E, Caudell ; Morris Rowe said the accident oc- } fe Fs jest t andj IN BUS-CAR CRASH |ONE OF TRIO KILLED MRS. ANNA SLECHTA, who is shown above, with her mother and sister in Tampa, Fla., Satutday. IN MIAMI i t z H [ : if é i Hes F “ti Hit gs ff i i : i ! i eff z § Ta ; & i E gag iF i i them, new fields, then there is soi shifting around of the old erees. “You take the matter of im We find the supply in Key Wet isn’t up te our requirements, = 1 (®) Wirephoto™ was killed Police | Br’er bear, a huge fellow whose appetite is in keeping with his 400 pounds, turned Mr. Trevor's resignation was a lengthy one, and was very criti- | (Continued On Page Six) been riding in was a wreck, and bruin was still chained ‘curred when the car failed to | stop at a stop sign. (Continued On Page Six) ' No charges have been filed. believe Tony Slechta, her hus- band, was the killer. Slechta met death under the wheels of ! i |..The authorities are still trying ee ec? Pie se Te So 3 sr +--+ —--—- | a truck near the house where ice for the boats, The tei Aeendents | te find owt what caused a violent ‘ er eS er the bodies were found. must be kept in ‘ice until comes vot vret oe ell A Statement To: Governor Warren-and The.General: ‘Warsthon aves eb ett. It was felt throughgut ; - $ . ae at eee cree ther Beekend the city and suburbs, and ‘even arathon May ~ sh tthe maa rack m towns 25 miles away. Build- Key West, Florida. the bills there and such items as children’s furniture for the | 7 Eventually 95 per » |e = shook Groceries were February 2, 1950. Manager's Quarters, ultra expensive cuts of meat, upholsterer’s Be Incor orated shrimp reach Fulton Market ‘© ts} knocked off shelves.” Windows Honorable Fuller Warren. bills were noted. The report showed that upwards of $15,000.00 P |New York City. Some of thew hed 1 fragment Bales Gowarncs of Blonde. had been spent at the Camp, improving it and making j A : M aha li oye PEN age Philadelphia witehboards were jammed with!) Tatjahassec, Folrida. ii luxury accommodations, A committee called on Mr. Bateman S Municipa ity ‘Til spend about $20.000 Sad teed ti wen oil Pilati! era : and he felt the expenditures were warr warranted and said he || ~ | month in Key West for fue Police checked the oil pipelines Bers oar sareenons would discuss them with you, Mr. McKeithan and Mr. Barber. City Attorney oil and other supplies. Then hat ross the area, but they I feel that the time has come when you andI should have The committee heard no further word. , i ; 2 es ‘families of the fishermen a wid find nothing wrong an open statement of principles and differences that exist be- Late in the month of December, 1949, the Commission met gna ester have = poe to live, and ¢ means ore houses. City Commission "S| Meets Tonight tween us, and that the people of Monroe County have full access to that statement. | You and I have known each other since 1923 when both of us were students at the University of Florida. At that early date you had ambition to be the Governor of this Siate and promised to dedicate your life to making yourself capable of Commission will hold being a good Governor of Florida. This promise I believec. eeting tonight Therefore, in 1940, when you announced for Governor, I and ' pooinae . Messce ane? that will mine called on you, supported you and contributed to your ar tag “te ag satheninicg making a very creditable showing in that election. Mettatee on vase €0ur) I called at your office in Jacksonville prior to your releare = Page Sie from service and again offered my aid, and I feel I did help with its atiorney and freely discussed the situation. A direc- tive was prepared, signed by each commissioner, and addressed to Mr. Bateman as follows: “Honorable Brooks W. Bateman General Manager Overseas Road and Toll Bridge District Pigeon Key, Florida Dear Mr. Bateman: By direction of this Board, the following items of Pi y will be put into effect within the Overseas Road and Toli Bridge District as of January Ist, 1950: 1, Subsistence of any tamily of district employees will be discontinued. Subsistence and quarters of any servants of district employees will be discontinued. No ladies will be regularly quartered on the Pigeon Key Camp, other thar in the General Manager's quar- 2. 3. Tells Residents Steps To Take “You take it all in all the iction that $35,000 a week ‘be spent here is a litthe bow About fifty officers, members ‘think. Key should pr and visitors were present at the’ for a long time. regular monthly meeting of the From Thunderbolt, whieh Marathon Chamber of Com- near Savannah, er said te merce, Thursday evening, Febru-, had fished for shrimp as far # ary 2 jas Cape Carneval all the wa Ignatius Lester, city attorney North Carolina. Toomer said thet of Key West, was speaker of the shrimp areas off Key West look g, giving information and ed very promising on the necess steps to; At the Thompson Enterpre be taken to incorporate Marathon docks several ships loaded wit as a city. the shrimp were unloaded ¢ _At this meeting the Board of morning and imediately shipp directors of the Chamber ,were | out. ters. . The use of district owned sel and draw up a proposed city cars wil! be limited to offi. (Continued On Page Fours empowered to employ legal toun-! The shrimp come in off ¢ boats well iced. They | dropped into water so are that te and assist during your successful campaign, although I had to ——————————d | Por the Good of Your Business, oppose good and capable friends—some of whom are lost to a Switch to a me, perhaps forever. Hospital Charity |Dodge “Job-Rated” Trucks Now, to enumerate some instances since your inauguration | Fit Your Job —at which, by the way, you promised to be “accessible at any BALL NAVARRO, Inc. time”... “just come right in and see me.” 601 DUVAL STREET In January, 1949, I brought the budget of Overseas Road Fretey February 10 | oe ne nen aR RE and Toll Bridge District to your Board of Administration meet- Elks Club Annex #00 P.M. th Por Reservations Phone 420'W or 1185-R MORNINGS) ' | Visit the Wedding Ring Store $1.80 eELECTRONICALLY TESTED for ACCURACY Knowles Jenelers $04 SOUTHARD STREET New Low Prices New Stock ASPHALT TILE - CORK TILE FORMICA - TILEBOARD LINOLEUM EXPERT INSTALLATION IT YOURSELF \RANTEED INSTALL KEY WEST FLOOR COVERING COMPANY Phone 1454 we Duval! -_— FREE ESTIMATES | #Three - Five Day Repair Service| All New and Repaired Watches ing. You accepted that budget, but cut an item of publicity in half, saying, “We must practice economy. I insist that budgets be cut.” I thought it was the “pioneer frugality” you spoke of at your inauguration. i tried unsuccessfully to see you later, but was finally able to see Frank Wright. At that time we diécussed the office of General Manager of Overseas Road and Toll Bridge District. At that time the name o* Brooks Bateman was ciscussed and I laid before Frank the basis of my objections; the first being that there were at least ten men in Monroe County,—the County responsible financial- ly for Overseas Road and Toll Bridge operation—who were as | well qualified to do the job. The other objection was a matter of record in the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Mon- roe County and the State Road Department. Frank assured me and I believed him that the matter was closed. No out-of- county man would. be forced on us. In spite of Frank’s assurances to me, I learned that on August 5th, the day prior to our meeting, you talked personally on the phone with six of the Commission and requesied them to appoint Brooks Bateman as General Manager. You made no attempt to reach me to explain a broken promise and have yet made no justification of it. I returned to duty in Washington and when relieved. wired you for a Tallahassee appointment at your convenience. This was refused by wire although I had stated my reasons for wishing to see you. On my return to Key Wesi i laid my personal objection to the General Manager aside and cooperated to the fullest. Later three of the Commission came to me voluntarily and said that in their opinion extravagance, waste and perhaps ir- regularities in spending of public funds was going on in the administration of the District, particularly at the Pigeon Key Camp. This camp has always been used as a work base, admin- istration centre, and a spot for entertainment of persons whom the Commission felt could heip the District or the Keys,—Fed eral and State officials, publicity representatives, etc. Parties | there have always been lavish in food and I feel have done the | District a world of good publicity-wise. These facts are gener- ally known to the Commission and were pointed out. A Finance Committee was appointed by me to check into ali cial business of the district. . Liaison and contacts with higher boards will clear through the initiating Overseas Road and Toll Bridge Commission. All expenditures other than regular operating and maintenance items must be specifically approved by the Board. The Board is desirious of harmonious cooperation with its employees but feels that close liaison must be initiated to obtain these desired results. | OVERSEAS ROAD and TOLL BRIDGE COMMISSION | On January 9, 1950, the Commission was called to a meet- ing to pass hurriedly on the budget. After the Commission met | the attorney explained that Mr. Barber had called him and said | that you and the State Roed Department were “hurt” at such \ a letter and felt that Mr. Bateman was doing the District job well, and that you wishec the directive rescinded. Thereupon, | by a vote of five to two, Mr. Arnold and I upholding the original and free action, the Commission rescinded the direc- tive, less Item 4. In my opinion, the Overseas Road and Toll Bridge Com- mission has not only the right, but the duty of controlling the operations of the District and directing the General Manager in his duties and ‘expenditures. Notwithstanding, both you and the State Road Department have on two occasions “requested” some of the Commission to do your bidding and this the Commis- sion has chosen to do. I feel that such interference is highly improper. Under the circumstances I fail to see further reason for me wasting my time, energy and efforts on a politically-controlled Commission. My continued presence as a member of the Com- mission would be condoning the manner in which it functions. I submit herewith my resignation as: 1, Chairman of the Board of Overseas Road and Toll Bridge Commission. 2. Commissioner on such Board. 3. Lieutenant Colonel on the Governor's Staff. her resignation as Mrs. Trevor likewise tenders Lieutenant Colonel. Regretfully, Advt. EDWIN F. TREVOR. | | gS i ge aE PD Le eS a Le ee Then t , ice is melted off them jare placed in boxes | i AN a EE a ERE ONT POOR OLD CRAG Son ee Se well « SERVICE STATION __ | the shrimp to our docks”, said Francis at Division Phone 91% Maitland Adams, general mer Your PURE O1L Dei ger of company, toda Grease, Spray oi: Change Your Oi]; SE SSSSSERSEG ee Palace Theater BARBARA STANWYCK and ROBERT PRESTON in “THE LADY GAMBLES” LET U WEAVER'S STOCK ISLAND INN Air Conditioned Bar and Restaurant Open All Night BOAT BAR 503 Duval Street § Phone SiGe AIR-CONDITIONED |, Sports Results Daily Key West's Most Comfortable Bar ee PRICES REDUCED by STUDEBAKER Effective Feb. Ist ! ALL MODELS OF PASSENGER CARS REDUCED FROM $82.00 TO $135.00 TWINS GARAGE “Your Friendly Studebaker Dealer” 1130 Duval Street Telephone 1870 (