The Key West Citizen Newspaper, October 23, 1952, Page 3

Thirty-Three Year Old Man, Blind Since Birth, Founds Radio School For Sightless By BILL DEAN OMAHA ( — You don’t find many success stories about blind men, but when you do they are likely to be pretty spectacular. Take the case of a determined red-haired kid at the Idaho School for the Deaf and Blind. To young Lavon Peterson, suc- cess meant two things: learning to be a radio repairman and bein, able to live like those not handi- tapped by blindness, But who ever heard of a blind man mastering the intricacies of a finely wired radio circuit, fer- reting out troubles that could only be traced by delicate meters and making pin-point repairs with a scorching soldering iron? Today, at 33, Lavon Peterson has found a substantial measure of success. He has proved that a blind man ean make a living repairing radios, even teaching others how to do it. And he’s gone a good deal further in giving other blind men a chance at a better living as radio tech- nicians. 3 Peterson’ created quite a stir seven years ago when he estab- lished his Radio Engineering In- stitute here and enrolled three blind students in radio technicians’ courses. Today the school has 85 students. In seven years it has graduated between 700 and 800. About 200 of them were blind, about as many more had other handicaps. Of the blind ones, Peterson says, “A strong 70 per cent are making a living at it.” Only eight of the students today are blind. The rest come to Peter- son’s school simply because it’s a good place to learn practical radio and television mechanics. “We put the emphasis not so much on theory as on servicing the manufactured article,” Peter- gon explains. ‘‘The students learn by doing regular service jobs. In big schools, they can’t do that.” Peterson, blind since birth, be- gan picking up a working know- ledge of radio as a 12-year-old hanging around a radio repair shop. He added to it by asking questions, experimenting, reading braille and absorbing what was read to him. By the time he went to college for some work in physics and math, he was running a part- time radio repair business on the side. When the war started Peterson was operating his own business but moved over to the Omaha Eelectronics School for Soldiers and Marines as a teacher. In a pitch-black room, the serv- icemen learned how to repair field lio equipment under battle con- ditions. Meanwhile an idea was beginning to jell in the instructor’s mind. Why couldn’t the blind be taught this same thing—and more? Why couldn't the way be opened for them as Peterson had opened it to himself, to a better living? In 1945, with a couple of sighted fellow instructors who joined him in the project, Peterson started the Radio Engineering Institute in the basement of the Omaha YMCA. : By this time Peterson had licked one of the problems that led others to throw cold water on his own radio ambitions. He had devised testing equipment that combined sound and touch to tell the blind technician what the sighted radio- man learned from his meters. Gradually the Veterans Adminis- tration, various state and rehabil- itation departments and the Army gave their stamp of approval to the school. Peterson acquired a couple of new partners and the school moved from the basement of the “‘Y” to a building of its own. Peterson, his wife, who also is blind, and their three sighted children live pretty much like other people in a bungalow they are buying in a pleasant suburban neighborhood. HAL BOYLE SAYS By SAUL PETT (For Hal Boyle) HEMPSTEAD, N. Y. (®—Every now and then an obscure little man rises up in wrath and smites the sounds and sights of @ world that is too much with him. In doing so, he becomes a hero to many of us who share his convic- tions but not his courage. Such a man is Frank P. Walsh. Unable to submit any longer as a captive audience, he rebelled. He shot his television set, He shot it dead, right through its 12%-inch eye. But Walsh paid the price of martyrdom. He lost his job. ‘And “I'm still in my wife’s doghouse,” he said. “It’s very cold.” Mrs, Walsh, mother of five chil- dren ranging in age from 5 to 15, can’t explain her husband’s pre- cipitous action. “‘The set may have been on a little too loud,” she con- ceded, “But always before, when he complained of the noise, I turned it down and that was that.” STRUNK LUMBER YARD Clearance Sale METAL SHINGLES REGULAR $16.00 Sale $12.50 Sq. BARRETT S.LS. ROOFING Green, half of width heavy slate. Lays like hot asphalt roof and carries same guarantee. Anyone can apply. Takes 2 rolls for | Square. REGULAR PRICE $3.16 Sale $2.40 Roll SIS ROOF CEMENT FOR ABOVE 8 Gal. Reg. $4.50 Sale $3.50 1 Gal. Reg. $1.00 Sele 75e PAINTED BATHROOM AND KITCHEN PANELS — ON PRESTWOOD Regular Price 40¢ Sq. Ft. Sale 25e Sq. Ft. MANY OTHER MONEY SAVING ITEMS STRUNK | Mrs. Walsh looked forlornly at the empty corner of her living roo so recently occupied by her tele- vision set. “I feel so lost without it,” she said. “It cost $258 and I don’t know when we can get another one. We had it two yeats and only made the last payment this August,” Mourning her loss, Mrs. Walsh said television had become -part of her life. It was her habit, she said, to turn it on at 10 in the morning for an early movie while she “cleaned up in the living and din- ing room.” From 11:30 to 12, she watched “Strike It Rich’ while she “got the kids’ lunch ready.” Then came “Bride And Groom”, “Love Of Life” and “Search For Tomorrow.” “I almost always turned it off at 12:45 and didn’t turn it on until 3 o'clock for just one-half hour of ‘The Big Payoff'”, Mrs. Walsh said. “Then I kept it off until the early show movie came on at 6:15. From then on, I used to keep it on until I went to bed.” Now we come back to Frank Walsh, who is 38, tall and thin, He used to work nights for a private detective agency and by day he did odd electrical jobs, Frank liked He had nothing against television except when it disturbed his sleep. Several times before the fatal in- shooting the set when the sound shook his early evening naps. “Finally,” he sa | pened. Sunday night fing somebody scream, ‘Hey, Ab- | | bott!” It was Abbott and Costelic, |and I got nothing against them But I was mad not being able to sleep. I figured the easiest way was the quickest. j “I got my .38 Smith and Wesson. ‘| ; | walked out of the bedroom and leaned over the rail overlooking the sunken living room. My wife and all the kids were there. “I told them to move over and 15 feet away | the upper ri, Caught the tube in it corner. It exploded | glass didn’t fly far, Nobody was } burt, but the TV set was ruined. “I guess my wife got scared. She | took the kids outside and called the cops. They came and saw I | } was sober, They took my pistol and pistol permit away. Without the fights and the detective stories. | SEA SECRETS Q. What is the greatest height that ocean waves attain? Paul Smith, Milton, Fla. A. Since waves occur in series, they are commonly measured from est drop to the highest rise as the wave passes by a given point. Actual measurements of the high- est waves at sea, are of course difficult to make accurately, and are frequently reported much high- er than they actually are. Waves estimated to have heights of 110 and 112 feet were observed from the U. S. S. “Ramapo” in te North Pacific in February, 1933. This is considerably higher than the next largest estimate, a height of 80 feet reported in 1922 by the British ship ‘“Majestic.” Q. Is it true that the eel has two hearts? A. No. This incorrect notion is held by many fishermen however because of a yellowish, spindle- shape sac in the tail of an eel. This “pulsatile sac” actually does conduct some of the blood through a special vein, but it cannot be properly regarded as an accessory heart, since the eel, as in other fishes, possesses a closed vascular system consisting of a heart, art- eries, veins, and capillaries, and no secondary heart is known to exist. Q. What is the purpose of a re- versing thermometer? A. This is a divice used to measure the low temperatures en- countered in deep ocean waters. Like a fever thermometer whose mercury column “breaks” and re- mains fixed at the greatest tem- pertture reached until ‘shaken down” by hand, the reversing ther- mometer is so designed that the temperature at any desired time may be “‘set”, and later read ac- curately, even though the tempera- ture be quite different at the time of reading. This is accomplished by using a thermometer with a mercury bulb at each end and de- signed so that the column “breaks” in a certain place the moment the thermometer is upended. In prac- tice, the reversing thermometer is sent down on a wire cable to the desired depth, when a heavy brass weight weight of “messenger” is slid down the wire and automati- cally reverses the thermometer, which is then hauled to the sur- face. Q. What are Chaetognaths? A. These. are strangely-formed small sea animals often called “arrow worms”. Chaetognath means “‘bristly-jaw”, and is quite descriptive in this case, since the jaws, which are used to capture the small shrimp-like creatures on which it feeds, are recurved and shaped like a series of tiny ice tongs. These animals are usually about an inch long and are found in large numbers in clear ocean water, often quite near the sur- face. The head is ended with a pair of tiny eyespots; and the body jis smooth, tapering, and resem- | bles a tiny rocket with a tailfin at the tip and usually a pair of side fins or vanes along either side. s Q. Are sharks and rays related? A. Yes. They both belong to the great Subclass Elasmobranchi | which includes fishes with skele. | tons composed of cartilage and with a number of separate gill | openings. Rays are considered to |have descended from the more | Primitive and, generalized sharks. The angel sh Squatina (a ray- jlike shark), and the guitarfish, | Rhinobatus (a sharklike ray) are | considered to be somewhat inter- | mediate forms. trough to crest, or from the low- | Presidential ie e e Tiring -- Adlai By JAMES MARLOW WASHINGTON ® — When he opened his TV fireside talk last night Gov. Stevenson mentioned how tiring the long presidential campaign ‘can be on the candi- dates. He might have added: on the voters, too. Steadily since early September we've been listening to, or reading, what he and Gen. Eisenhower have had to say. And there’s no rest in sight for us for the next two weeks, Yet, they can hardly say any- thing on the main campaign issues, unless they reverse themselves, which we haven’t heard before. It’s been enough for most of us to have made up our minds about them, But the candidates and their political advisers don’t seem to think so. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be embarking on the well-known whirlwind finish before election day. Yet, even if the voters already ‘know all they need to know about the issues, between now and elec- tion day other developments might | swing the election. For instance, if a major scandal exploded before voting day. And there is the influence—or effect— of other people who have been, or will be, crowding into the picture. There’s President Truman, try- ing to rock and sock the general into a defensive position to take him off the backs of the Demo- crats whom he had been merrily clubbing. The President, who had been an issue in the campaign anyway, seems to have made himself a brand new issue by his attacks on Eisenhower. They may have won | Votes for Stevenson or cost him some. In most of those who have jumped into the campaign in one way or ‘another, the element of surprise was missing. They said what they were expected to say, For instance, plugs for the licans by ex-President Hoover, Some eyebrows went up when Sen. Harry F. Byrd, Virginia Dem- ocrat, said last week he couldn’t vote for Stevenson but for weeks just that. And when Sen. Wayne Morse, Oregon Republican, finally came out for Stevenson, there was no sense of shock anywhere. He had _ edging in that direction for weeks, Ens. Rosen Here For Supply Duty Ensign Richard S. Rosen, USN, recently reported to the Key West | | Naval Station and had assumed | duties as Assistant Supply and Fis- jcal Officer. He has relieved Lt. (JG) Emerson K. Fizer who will proceed to duty at Subic Bay, Phil- lippine Islands. Ensign Rosen completed Miami Beach Senior High School in 1948 | and entered the University of North | Carolina where he attained a Ba- |chelor of Science Degree in Com- merce upon graduation. He enter- jed the service immediately upon jcompletion of college in June of | 1952. | He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. | Samuel T. Shapiro of 3023 Bric- kell Ave., Miami, Fla. cident, he said, he had felt like | PROCLAMATION the position of the candidates on | Police Search Three States ¥ For Trio OF: > maniac” and lived up ‘te scription in a highway Kidnaping spree, “ ‘The gang, including # bashful boy. of 18 who carried boxing si iff i gob GE tet 6 i é = F F couple captives already were Three of the abductors the captives * PE A e: ” H Seek i : fi Democrats by Vice President | V! Barkley and plugs for the Repub- Chi it had been suspected he might say of ate Thugs GM To. Televise Tnanguration Korean War Is .. |Likened To Greek Tragedy In U.S. By JAMES MARLOW WASHINGTON #—The Korean War has assumed the full- trap- Pings of a Greek tragedy. It is being argued with fury on the American political stage as one of the main issues in the presiden- tial campaign. From afar come the winged battles won nny lost and of men To this now will be added the gloomy chorus of the diplomats de- bating Korea in the halls of ‘the United Nations. But in this play the authors, ‘the Communists, have refused, as if ‘Thursday, Cxteber 23, 1952 THE KEY WEST CITIZEN ~ Page 3 enjoying the agony and the smell of death, to write an The* United States, backed by France and Britain, pushed for im- mediate debate in the U. N. on Korea. So the debate begins, Secretary of State Acheson is ex- ected to lay down today the case for the U. S. and its allies. Andrei Vishinsky, Russia’s for- eign minister, -is on hand to biast the U. S. for the Communists. Before it's over the U. S. and other U. N. nations may condemn the Communists who, operating on the theory that sticks and stones may break their bones but names can’t bother them, will hardly be impressed. So before the debate begins— judging from what's happened in the past—it would be sheer optim- ism to believe any end to the war will come out of the speeches in the U. N. : George Washington received un- animous electoral votes both times he was chosen President. One Ton or 100 Tons...Leonard Bros 2595 N.W. 20th ST.,MIAMI,PLA, then I fired from an angle, about | into a thousand little pieces but the | ON THIS DAY, let all men of good will through. out the earth turn their thoughts toward their brothers in other lands... ON THIS DAY, let each of us pause to remem- ber that, whatever our race . . . our language . . . our beliefs . . . or the pigment of our skin . . . the needs and aspirations of our neighbor across the border iiffer but little from those of our neighbor next door and ourselves. ON THIS DAY, let us take pride in dreaming .. . in dreaming of a world in which ail men live forever at peace. For only out of dreams, down through the ages have come realities. SO ON THIS DAY, let all men of decency and good will, in all lands and on all the seas, saluie and cherish the instrument which the nations have crea- ted to construct a lasting peace. Let us... on this United Nations day .. . salute mankind's bright hope «++ THE UNITED NATIONS. NOW, THEREFORE, |. C. B. HARVEY, MAYOR | them, I couldn't work and knew it. So after the cops left, I changed | my clothes and went down to a | neighborhood bar and really got | _ Paused and looked at bis ¥ ; “Now that it’s over and I realize | all I've dope,” he said, “I'm sorry I did kt.” Mrs, Walsh said sothing. She just looked at the pty corner, { { Want a good filling for yeast L YARD | telis? Just mix @ cup of chopped, PHONE $18 120 Simonton Street cooked, pitted prunes with two teaspoons grated of orange rind three tablespoons of suger and a quarter teaspoon ef cinnamos. i OF KEY WEST, do hereby prociaim, Friday, October 24, 1952 UNITED NATIONS DAY, and call upon ail Citizens of Key West to join in the community-wide observances of this event as c tribute to the men and women who have pledged their lives to protect our nation against the threat of danger wherever it may arise. As an acknowledgement of my endorsement of the objectives of the United Nations Day. I have here- anto affixed my signature and the oificial seal c/ he City of Key West. Fic C. B. HARVEY, Mayor of the City ot Key West, Fla. (sd) Attest: Victor A. Lowe, City Clerk, lke wings for your feet, they're that ight hearted . . . like o bonws for your beget, they're thot lightly priced! 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