The Key West Citizen Newspaper, August 17, 1954, Page 4

Page 4 THE KEY WEST CITIZEN Tuesday, August 17, 1954 The Key West Citizen Sohlnhed Jelle Value 2 G$MCC’[’[|]|[’"—"="=_—"—=~—?@__————RRoo—_—sX——= Published daily (except Sunday) itizen ding, corner Greene and Ann Streets. gene ocs sis _ “Only Daily Newspaper in Key West and Monroe County -L. P. ARTMAN, Editor and Publisher 1921 - 1954 NORMAN D. ARTMAN weorurmnnnnnisnsesnemn Editor and-Publisher Entered at Key West, Florida, as Second Class Matter TELEPHONES 2.5661 and 2-5662 Momber of The Associated Press—The Associ hh ertitled to use for reproduction of all news iiaee eodiel te or not otherwise credited in this lished here. : Paper, and also the local news pub- Member Associate Dailies of Florida Subscription (by carrier), 25¢ per week; year, $12.00; by mail, $15.60 OE OE OO ADVERTISING RATES MADE KNOWN ON APPLICATION —— Oe The Citizen is an open forum and invites discussion of public issues and subjects of local or general interest, but it will not publish anonymous communications. OUTCRY AGAINST FLUORIDE IN WATER RUNS TRUE TO PATTERN Opposition to the fluoridation of water is running true to pattern. Many discoveries and inventions evok- ed widespread denunciation when they were first an- nounced, and, in some cases, it required years before all opposition died out. Once smallpox was a dreaded scourge, but vaccina- tion has banished it from the civilized world. When Ed- ward Jenner in the 1790s advanced the theory that in- oculation with coxpox, a disease common in his part of England, would prevent contracting smallpox, he was derided even by members of the medical profession. Even his statement that when a person had had small- pox he couuld not contract it again, was not believed. Finally, the public began to consider vaccination a pre- ventive against smallpox when Jenner listed scores of cases to prove his point. Country after country, be- ginning with Bavaria, made vaccination compulsory, as a result of which smallpox is no longer dreaded. Recently, there was an outcry against Gamma Globulin as a possible preventiv€ of polio. Nobody knows whether or not it is a preventive, but everybody knows that the charges that it would cause various types of diseases have been proved untrue. Fluoride is not a medicine, and it is not dangerous in drinking water if it is used moderately, as it is fsed in' many cities in the United States. It is known definite- ly to prevent tooth decay, particularly among children. That fact was established in a small town in Texas when an investigation was made to ascertain why children in that community had sound teeth. It was discovered that the water they drank had fluoride in it, and then experiments were made by putting it in water that did not have it naturally, as did the water in the Texas town. : Those experiments were so satisfactory, the- Amer- ican Dental Association recommended putting exceed- ingly small quantities of fluoride in drinking water. Some tests with animals drinking fluoridated water showed ill effects, but in every case it was learned that too much fluoride had been used. Nature has a cure for-every disease, and the med- ical profession throughout the centuries has been con- stantly trying to discover the cures... Many of them have been found, but many still remain to be found. Who would have thought that mold would cure any- thing till Dr. Fleming made his wonderful discovery of penicillin. And consider the antibiotics taken from the soil. They have proved to be marvels incurring or arresting many dreadful diseases. The American Dental Association is too high and honorable a body to recommend the use of anything that would hurt the human system the least bit. On the strength of the association’s recommendation, The Citizen advocates the fluoridation of the drinking water used in the Florida Keys, There is too much argument about religion and not enough practice of it. [HIOTWEESTAIC|KRRSIL ATT} IE U PILIAIY MELE INIE) Crossword Puzzle ACROSS 1. Diminish 4. Apart 9. Animal’s 31. Wheeled vehicle [AIMIE] 32. Moving S R wagon Tr 33. Osculate 34. Circle of light 35. Carve EIR] tIViEd MEL! INIEIR i DISMEOICIRIE) JE INIT a FI URIE!S| DIE} LIEIGISMBLIA!X! IUISIEISHELIVIE! Solution of Yesterday's Puzzie foot 12. Shelter 13. Coin inspeo- tion in the Orient 37. Cancels W. Recipient of 38. Devoured nieeac 39. Kind of % rubber 40. Winged 43. Striped cotton cloth 46. Regard 48. Possess 17.8 18. Chilled 19. Study 20. More rati( 2. Insect 2.M 3. Commence ment 4. Flower 5. Cast off 6. Wrath 7. Accomplish 8. Attempts, 9. Equality 10. Bpoch 11. Marry 14. Discover 16. Expert aviators 19. Throws 20, Wait on 21, Of the planet Mars 22. Dwelling 23. Moving stairway 34. Not fresh 25. Novices 27. Onionlike plant 30. Gliders 34. Queen of the gods 36. Fixed charge 37. Valleys 39. Step 40. Bustle KE | ae Hane wom 49. Not at home 50. Twists around 51. Color DOWN 1. House addition 23 D 29. Brazilian money 80. Closes 48. Antelope 44. Female sheep 6. 47. Overhead sailway | eer ernment Ti sah acon eR HE CVV VV IV VIO VG IC VCCI TCI TCI VSTCTS CSCC CCT SGY The Ground By JIM COBB BAAAAMAAAAAADRALBALD ARMED ADIGA lr Be OM Bale ltrs |r Mrs. Nora Smiley has a pet| Did you know that Monroe county at one time extended all the She and Louise White are the| Way north to Vero Beach? Then authors of a new novel depicting| it was cut down to an area which the building of the railroad through] covers what is now Dade County, the Florida Keys. Mrs. Smiley’s pet peeve is this: People have been led to believe that the railroad was destroyed in the 1935 hurricane. ’Tain’t so, she says. The hurri- cane cut a 40 mile swath through the middle keys and ripped up considerable track, but engineers estimated that they could have had the road repaired and ready for use within three days. “The rumor that the railroad had been ‘destroyed’ has been circu- lating for years,” Mrs. Smiley said; “That’s one of the reasons I wanted to write the book.” And Mrs. Smiley ought to know whereof she speaks—her husband was an engineer on the railroad project, Reason the road was not repair- ed and put back into service, she says, is that trade with Cuba was falling off and it proved to be a good time for the railroad to end service to Key West. She added that money earmarked for main- tenance of the keys extension had already been spent to expand their mainland operations. Incidentally, Hurricane Road is packed with loads of historical in- formation you probably won’t find in any other volume. A lot of the data was learned first hand by Mrs. Smiley during conversations with her brother, Will Krome, who was in on the project from its inception. The au- thors were also plagued with masses of misinformation in their search for material. The book has some adventurous passages—i.e., accounts of a couple of bad hurricanes and a fire which broke out on Big Pine Key during the huge construction project. The hurricane sequences ought to make the book a natural for Hol- lywood. The authors originally titled their book “‘Anchorage’”’ because Flag- ler once made the statement that “he was going to anchor Key West to the mainland.” But the publishers changed the name to Hurricane Road. x kek There is a move afoot, spear- headed by the Upper Keys Cham- ber of Commerce, to split Monroe County up and make two counties out of it. Details on the proposal are sketchy, but we have learned that discussions among proponents have reached the point where two ten- tative names for the new county have been arrived at. They are Key County and Tropical County. Don’t hold your breath, readers. It will never happen. The idea is nothing new. Actual- ly, Monroe County has been split up several times. as well as the keys. Still later, it was reduced to its ‘present size. A red-hot political situation in the Upper Keys has been blamed for the proposal, It’s the old story of the “ins” and the “outs”. The “outs” are trying to embar- rags the “ins”. The chief argument advanced for the split is that keys residents pay more than half of the county's taxes. But an analysis of the tax rolls The city road planners must have had a change of plans. A couple months ago, I checked with the City Manager and he said that Von Phister Street would not be paved by the new street paving machine until about a year from then. ‘Tthe other day I came home and behold—Von Phister Street was in the process of being fixed up. Street paving is a job for comp- etent engineers to supervise. Streets will not stand the wear of time unless there is proper drainage or a proper gradient. It is a waste of tax payers’ money to pave a street where water will stand in low spots until it is ewaporated. The road sur- faces usually evaporates with the water under these circumstances. There is one thing that comes with smooth roads that I hate to see transpire—the speeders. In some sections, I notice that they have low. frequency trench- es or low spots at intersections. These speed traps by virtue of their construction hold cars down to a safe speed. You wouldn't think of having your house painted before you found out what it cost. By the “that we'd have a heck of a time getting the courthouse over the Seven Mile Bridge.” x k & Word from Tallahassee has that “home rule” will be a bigger issue than ever before when the legislature convenes next April. There are those who would like | to see the venerable Florida sys- tem of passing local bills abolish- show that to be inaccurate—60 per | ed. cent of the county taxes are col- lected from Key West residents. Another 25 per cent of the coun- ty’s tax dollar comes from middle keys residents, including Marathon, That means that the folks who want to “secede” from the county pay just 15 per cent of the taxes. Our friend John Goggin, presi- dent of the Marathon Chamber of Commerce, has long advocated moving the county seat there. “Only trouble is,” Goggin says, Then, presumably, the county commissioners would be given the power to enact laws (now they are, more or less, an administrative group). The idea is to bring county governments closer to the people. The home rule advocates have failed in past years in their éfforts to have auch legislation enacted. It is doubtful, in the opinion of those in close touch with the situa- tion, that they will fare any better next year. SWEET AS A it! same token, it is a good policy to find out what a wrecker service will charge to tow your car before he connects up and starts hauling. My advice to people who have cars towed from up the Keys, is to say “how much” right then and there. Do not be misled by the statement “Oh, it won't cost much.” The city took a major step for- ward when it asked for bids for city wrecker service. The man who received the bid charges nothing for tow service in the city limits. 4 Monroe County does not have a plan of this type. Perhaps it would be a good policy if the County Commissioners would ask for bids from‘ wrecker services in instances where the county law inforcement officers or employes make the call for the wrecker. This type bidding does not Place @ monopoly on wrecker service for the man that gets the bid. It means that if a law or county officer makes the call for a wreck- er, (which is the ugual case) they are forced by law to call the wrecker service that the county has selected by a low bid of charges precedure. This system of having a set fee on wrecker service is a good idea. It keeps the car owner from be- ing over charged by unscrupulous wrecker service owners. It also eliminates the possibility of law inforcement officers, who make these calls, from getting ‘‘kic’: backs.” So until the county takes the initiative, so that set rates will be known, I want to advise people to find out what the cost is before- hand if your car needs to be tow- jed away. | It is the policy of the state highway patrol to require wreck- ied and broken down vehicles to jbe towed from the highway to prevent looting and general high- way clutter.. Approximate rates, as set forth by national insurance company standards for wrecker service, are about one dollar a mile, at night, for tow service.. READ THE CITIZEA DAILY Your Grocer SELLS That Good STAR * BRAND aacusan COFFEE |——TRY A POUND TODAY — Triumph Coffee Mill at ALL GROCERS TELEVISION SALES AND SERVICE 1106 WHITEHEAD STREET st FIRST oo? PROMPT SRRANCING. — BANK EXPER 10 ELEMENT SERVICE — REASONAB: LOOK, COMPARE, THEN BUY DUMONT COMPLETE WITH YAGI INSTALLATION TELEPHONE 2.3449 274° warms IN TV — CHANNEL 4 RATES — NO Presents Television Listings WTVJ, Channel 4 TUESDAY, AUGUST 17 WRATHER JACK OF ALL SPORTS DOUG EDWARDS RENICK REPORTING MR. a ATTORNEY NESDAY, AUGU 100 DING DONG SoloeL © 2190 9:30 10130 1 1100 11:30 MENU MAGIC SEARCH FOR TOMORROW GUIDING LIGHT NOON EDITION is u WORLD of MR. SWEENEY 100 DANGER 1 ad THREE lives MEET a. THE VAGABOND Anw' EATHER EVEBRSHARP THEATRE ‘These semple three minut Rates are Low! —ee rates ise for tion, after 6 ‘af and all ay Sunday. Reduced Federal Excise taxes are extra. wore by Long Distance. Keep thous preciams contacts with friends and family while away from home and ture the melles into smiles ei a coll TELRPHOME AND THLECRAPH COMPANY Key West to: Atlanta $1.20 Cincinnati $1.35 Washington $1.45 Philadelphia $1.45 New Orleans $1.10 New York $1.50 St. Louis $1.45 Chicago $1.50 Los Angeles $2.00