The Key West Citizen Newspaper, September 21, 1954, Page 1

Key West, Florida, has the ‘"most equable climate in the with an average range of only 14° Fahrenheit country, VOL. LXXV No, 224 - Land THE SOUTHERNMOST NEWSPAPER Worth Millic SPEED IS A KILLER—Working in cooperation with the Key West Safety Council, the U.S. Navy has granted permission for this display of a wreck at the Southard Street gate. There have been 301 accidents amongst Navy personnel to date this year. Seventy people have been injured and @ight have died. Truly, the slogan, “The Life You Save May (Will) Be Uncle Sam's and Your \Own,” applies to Navy men. while on the highway. Safety Pi. ram In Park Tonight A program to promote safe- ty will be:presented tonight in Bayview Park at 8 p. m. Cor- poral Howell Gillett, safety edu- cator for the State Highway Patrol, will be in charge. Motion pictures are to be shown and a talk on safety will be a part of the event, which is @ part of the observance of Safety Week here, Children are urgad-to attend? this program and to bring their parents. Python Pete Still Prowls ‘ORT WORTH, Tex. (#—Podlice and zoo men were gettiug a lot of bum steers, but no snakes, today in their search for the missing | python, Pete. Several persons said they had seen the big 150-pound, 18-foot rep- tile, but none of the leads panned out. Pete, a native of the Bangkok area of Thailand, came to Forest Park Zoo here about four years ago and most of the time was a nice, law-abiding snake until he went AWOL. He was missed at 9:30 a.m. Saturday. He apparently had forced open a small door and climbed a 6-foot fence in making his escape. Stories Grow Since that time, snake stories have béen growing and Pete’s own- er, Harry Jackson, is afraid Pete will either starve or die of a cold in case of a turn to fall weather. However, zoo Curator Lawrence Curtis said Pete was fed three weeks ago and the Weather Bureau reported the temperature around 100 degrees in the Dallas-Fort Worth area yesterday. Volunteers who have showed up to help hunt Pete increased after Amon Carter, Fort Worth publish- er, and Amon Carter Jr. posted a $500 reward for the python’s safe return. Curtis said Pete would attack a person only if hungry or if some- body started the fight. But said one of the volunteers, growing a bit reluctant: “How do I know how hungry a snake gets in three weeks, and how does he know whether I’m gonna attack him.” RADIOACTIVE RAIN TOKYO (» — Radioactive rain, contaminated by recent Russian A-bomb tests, fell Saturday in northern Japan, -the newspaper Asahi said today. The radioacti- ¢ Ten Seconds Te Live j (As an observ: of Safety Week—this week—the Monroe County Sherif’s office has submitted the follow- ing to The Citizen.) He pushed his sleeve back, held his wrist close to the lighted speedometer, squinted to read the time. A little after nine. Five, ten minutes after. Ought to be in Key West in nalf an hour. «lf he’d' known he only had ten seconds to live, he might have checked thé time more clésely,. He might have done several things differently. Nine seconds to live. He'd Eight seconds to live. Lousy blade. Old one just spreads the Six seconds to live, { Five seconds to live. | squirmed back in the seat, trying Four seconds to live. of pavement every second, Four Three seconds to live. iblurry windshield. A tentative j truck ahead. Two seconds to live. right. tion. He opened his mouth to scream. Ten séconds to live. He massaged hii middle finger, trying to rub out some of the sand. Panic moved in car coming, Headlights too close. Ss eyes with thumb and driven almost eight hours since lunch, and was beginning to feel it. driving in the rain. Light from your headlights just seems to soak in along with the water. Seven seconds to live... Probably need a new windshield wiper water around instead of wiping clean. Get one tomorrow, or next time it rains. Somebody threw a cigarette out of an on- coming car. The red glow dissolved before it hit the pavement. }) He planted his heel on the floorboard, for comfort. At 60 miles an hour, a car covers 88 feet seconds, 352 feet. Something looked wrong, through the jab at the brake stiffened into a desperate pressure as he made out an old, unlighted, slow-moving Turn to the leff. No, Can't make it. Turn to the One second to live. Horror numbed everything into slow mo- He was floating right into the rear corner of the truck bed. No seconds to live. It’s happened to a lot of people. Oh, may- be not’ just that way, but similar. Drive too long, eyes get tired, reactions slow down, driving too fast. It could happen again. It could happen to YOU. It’s happened to lots of folks. Appraisal Slated | On Simonton St. Parking Lot Land | | An appraiser recommended by the city will be added to a ffanel of three realtors who will study the value of land at Simonton St. {and Angela St. which the city is | interested in purchasing for use as an off-street parking lot. |_ They received a letter from the! | Monroe Conaty board of realtors | |saying that a three saan panel of! \appraisers including realtors al! | Mills, Otto Kircheiner and Clem Price have been appointed to make ithe survey, But the commission, after discussion, said that they feel | the city should be represented and will ask that realtor Cecil Car-| bonell be added to the list. The} appraisers will receive a fee of one' jhalf of one per cent of their ap-| | praised value. The land has been offered to the | city at a price of $100,000. The| Zoning Variance Ordinance Passed A zoning variance ordinance al- lowing Simonton Stréet restau- rant owner Al Logun to expand his place of business to his prop- erty line was passed last night by the city commission. After a public hearing held last night, at which time an adjacent motel owner appeared to protest the action, the commission. voted to grant him the permission to build. Mayor C. B. Harvey and Commissioner Paul R. Roberts passed while the balance of the commission voted in the affirma- tive. POLICE CRACKDOWN ON BIKE RIDERS SET The police department announc- ed today that they will start a full- scale crackdown on sidewalk bi- eycle riders and those riding a- gainst traffic. Chief Bienvenido Perez promised vity was far below the danger |!and’is owned by Brown proper-| immediate arrest for offenders. level. Get PROPERTY READY for WINTER EARLY Strunk Lumber 120 SIMONTON STREET Near Citizen Building ties. The feeling of the commission, | however, is that the price it too| high. Commissioner Louis Car- bonell said that he will oppose any move to pay that amount. He point- ed out that the land is assessed for just $23,400, , A motion by city commissioner Jack Delaney to offer $38,000 for the land died for want of a second. He took action in the wake of several complaints from local re- sidents. RETURN COMPLETED PANMUNJOM @—The Commu- nists today completed the return of 4,023 Allied war dead buried north of the battle line. Included were 1,869 Americans. EY WEST, FLORIDA, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1954 IN THE Che Key West Citisen U.S. A. reach tenants or workers . DIAL 2-5661 or 2-5662 Today For Quick Communication, Use CLASSIFIED Ads! You'll buyers and sellers— + + Just PRICE FIVE CENTS ‘Saved For County Johns, Administration Bd. OK Transfer Of Keys Land On Fluoridation Follows Protest The city commission nearly passed a resolution say- ing that they approve of fluoridation of Monroe County’s water supply last night after a hilarious debate with W. A. Douglass, self-styled crusader against foisting “poi- soned water” off on the people. Beer License Action Put Off By Commission City Fathers Want More Time To Study Pleas Action was deferred last night on the passage of a controversial zoning vari- ance ordinance which would The discussion, marked by con- siderable levity, came about when Douglass appeared before the com- missioners, asking that they set a public meeting on the question. They Didn‘t Go He also complained that al- though the city commissision had passed a resolution asking that the county place the question on the ballot during the November gen- eral election, no official represen- tative of the city showed up at the last county commission meeting to inform them of that action. Douglass was told that the city commission has no jurisdiction in the matter, that he should go see the Navy, the Florida Keys Aque- duct Commission or the county commission if he wants a public hearing or a referendum. “All we do is make laws for the allow the sale of beer at/j‘ity.” said Mayor Harvey. Jimmy’s Drive-In, Avenue. The city commission decided to postpone voting on the ordinance, up last night for second reading, until they have a chance to study three petitions presented last night:" Somé ‘residents of the azea are protesting granting of the license, saying that it would be a viola- tin of the zoning code. Petitions Presented Last night, a petition bearing more than 50 names in opposition to granting the license was pre- sented to the commission. The pe- tition also bore the names of sev- eral members of churches in the area. James Yaccarino, owner of the; drive-in, countered with two more, petitions, one bearing more than 100 names of neighbors with no ob- jection and the other signed by 35 customers, saying thathey have no objection to beer being served at the restaurant. Applications at that address had been turned down by the commis-} sion several times in the past. But the commissioners pointed out that some signers of both pe- titions should not have a voice in the controversy since they do not actually live in the area. Not Close Enough Commissioner Jack Delaney, in particular, said that some of the signers live as many as seven blocks distant from the drive-in. Mrs. Isabel Hinds, who lives a- cross the street from the restau. rant addressed the commission, asking that the request be turned down. She pointed out that the area is a residental district and that there are many children who would be | subjected to a bad influence if beer is served there. Yacearino countered with a state- ment that all other drive-in res- taurants in the city are allowed to serve beer. “All I ask is the same consideration — I have to com- pete with them,” said Yaccarino. Commissioner Louis Carbonell then withdrew a motion that the ordinance be approved and ask for time to have the names on the pe- tition checked. Towing Rules To Be Drawn Up | A set of rules will be drawn up| ito govern the police department in contracting for towing service for cars involved in accidents when the motorist does not express a preference, the city commission de- cided last night. The service will be rotated a- mong local garage owners. After a considerable debate, Commissioner Jack Delaney ask- ed that the agreement be drawn up “to cover the city.” | A local garage owner Tequested Fiagler | that the towing business be rotated last week. No Stand Taken Douglass then hit out at the com- missioners for not taking a stand on the matter. “I realize that some of you will be running for re-elec- tion next year,” he said. At that point, Commissioner De- lio Co¥t 4 dentist in: private life, told Douglass: “In 1952 -when I ran for election, fluoridation was part of my platform, I feel that I have not misled the people. I also feel that it is not the duty of the city commission to decide this question. The Navy puts sulfuric acid in the water to keep the piples clean and they didn’t ask you about it and that really is a poison. I still think fluoridation is wonderful for the children.” Debate Proposed Cobo also said that he would ask Dr. Floyd DeCamp of the State Public Health service to come %o Key West to debate with Douglass if he so desires. Mayor C. B. Harvey, also spoke up in favor of fluoridation. “All this opposition to fluorida- tion is slightly ridiculous,” he said. Mayor Harvey added that com- pulséry education and vaccination met the same opposition. He add- ed that he is convinced the “medi- cal men know what they are talk- ing about.” : “After all this argument for and against fluoridation, I haven’t seen any evidence one way or the other — I’m neutral,” said the Mayor. Resolution Suggested At this point Dr. Cobo said? “I move we pass a resolution in favor of fluoridation or else we’ll be here all night.” Mayor Harvey and Commission- er Cobo voted in favor of the re- solution. Commissioners Delaney and Roberts opposed it. Commis- sioner Carbonell passed. “Now you are right back where you started from,” the Mayor told Douglass. When Commissioner Roberts | commented that “perhaps Mr. Douglass is afraid we'll pass a re- solution in favor of fluoridation while he’s home in bed” the city attorney was instructed to give per- sonal notification to Douglass if the issue is scheduled to be discussed by the commission in the future. Horse Ordinance Tabled Monday An ordinance setting a five dol-| lar registration fee for horses in Key West was tabled last night by | the city commission when they | could not agree on terms of the| measure. It was up for second reading, but when the commissioners could not agree on whether or not horses should be allowed to be staked out on private property, it was tabled at the motion of Commissioner Carbonell. ¢ Trailer Fire At Bahia Honda Is Probed Today A fire which destroyed a $25,- 000 diesel-powered air compres- sor and a trailer today was be- ing investigated by state and county agencies. The trailer, with the diesel- compressor on it, was parked across from Bahia Honda Park. Owned by the Beacon Tank and Bridge Corp., of Port St. Joe, Fla., the unit was being used in the sand blasting and painting of Bahia Honda Bridge. About 5:05 a.m. yesterday, ac- cording to the sheriff's depart- ment, the fire was discovered by Jim Sharpe who lives in Bahia Honda Park. He called the highway patrol who in turn notified the Mara- thon fire department. Today, Deputy State Fire 1 A. M. Willis, of Miami, was led to investigate the fire at the request of R. O. BuShea, chief of the Marathon fire department. The sheriff's of- fice is also investigating in con- junction with Willis and BuShea. Navy Men Give Boat To Local Sea Scouts SS Ship 250 Is Presented To Troop Monday The Sea Scouts of Key West were presented with a ship Monday afternoon at the Naval Station. With high ranking Naval Officers and Boy Scout officials present, Capt. Frank D. Walker, USN, Commanding Officer of the submarine tender Bushnell, commissioned the SS Ship 250. On behalf of the Scouts, H. M. Williams, Sea Scout skipper, ac- cepted the vessel and expressed his gratitude and thanks to all who had a part in the rebuilding of the ship. Boat Rebuilt Formerly a shrimp boat, the men of the submarine tenders Bushnell and Gilmore, during their off-duty hours, practically rebuilt the boat into a first class cruising vessel which is acceptable for Sea Scout work. The project was first brought up by Capt. Anthony R. Dropp, USN, then Commander Submarine Squa- dron Twelve. He ask the tenders if they want- ed to do the work and in turn re- ceive an unanimous response from Capt. Carter L. Bennett, USN, who was commanding officer of the Bushnell at that time. Official Approval Authority for this work was giv- en by the Secretary of the Navy ‘n a letter dated Aug. 31, 1953. He stated, “approved cooperation on the part of the Naval Establisn- ment with the Boy Scouts of Am- erica in their land, sea and air activities.” He particularly stressed naval help with the Sea Explorer pro- gram because of the age group concerned and because of the in- terest and training in seamanship. The departments responsible for the completion of the project on the Bushnell and Gilmore are the repair, carpenter and engine over- haul. Personnel of the submarine rescue vessel Petrel are also res- ponsible. Sponsors of the local Sea Scouts is the Fleet Reserve Association, Branch 76. They have set up a com- mittee to help the boys in other projects they have. All boys 14% years and older are welcome to join this organization which meets every Wednesday at By JIM action of the Overseas Road C. Papy told The Citizen by today. plea that the land, more tha to the county when the bonds Land Is Dedicated For Monroe County Park, Beach Purposes COBB The State Board of Administration has approved and Toll Bridge District in turning over its surplus lands — valued at an estimated 10-million dollars — to Monroe County, State Rep. Bernie telephone from Tallahassee ‘ Papy appeared before the state board of administra- tion this morning and voiced an impassioned 15 minute n 700 acres, be turned over floated to finance the build- ing of the Overseas Highway are paid off October 1.8 marked the third trip at his own expense, Papy said, that he has made to the capital on the matter. End To Right Turns On Red Lights Urged Ordinance Will Be Considered Ending Practiee Key West motorists will no longer be permitted to make right turns ‘on red lights if an ordinance to be considered at the next meet- ing of the city commission is passed, The commission instructed City Attorney J. Y. Porter to draw up the ordinance after C. R. Butler, of the city’s public service depart- ment conducted a survey which showed that the practice is dan- gerous to pedestrians. In a letter to the commission, Butler said that he made the study at the request of the police chief. All intersections controlled by traf- fie lights were included in the stu- dy. Ordinance Noted Butler pointed out that there is a city ordinance on the books which allows right turns on all red lights — after coming to a stop. He suggested that this ordinance be repiaced with another stating that a right turn be allowed only at intersections where the light is marked by a sign to that effect. At the present, Butler said, the practice of allowing right turns “does not allow pedestrians to cross with any degree of safety especially on Duval St.” One Location Butler recommended that rigat turns on a red light be allowed at only one intersection — North Beach Road and Truman Ave. Reason, he said, is that the pre- sent ordinance states that a ve- hicte is to come to a complete stop and then cautiously proceed with a right turn. “This ordinance is almost impos- sible to enforce and consequently is violated much too frequently,” said Butler. _No Room For Doubt “With a new ordinance, any movement on a red light would be |a violation and would leave no |doubt in the officer’s mind as to an _arrest.” The commission then instructed | the city attorney to draw up such an ordinance. In other action on traffic pro- posals last night, the commision } approved a 15 mile per hour speed } zone in the Naval Hospital area, | the designation of Petronia St.,: |between Emma and Simonton | Streets, as a one way throrough- |fare and set the speed limit on | Flagler Avenue at 35 miles per | hour. |KAMIKAZE MOVIES TOKYO — Japanese movie! makers are hard at work on films based on the kamikaze or suicide attack corps of World War II, the Japan News said today. Two films based on Japan’s role It will be considered at the next|7 p. m. in the old Commissary |in the war are nearing completion meeting of the commission. and a third is ready for production. The state road department had claimed the land under the terms of a lease-pur- chase agreement between an earlier Overseas Road Commission in 1946. But the county had claimed the land under the terms of legisla- tion passed a year later which deeds the land to the county when the bonds are retired, Request Granted _After Papy’s plea, the board con- sisting of Acting Governor Char- ley Johns, State Comptroller Ctar- ence Gay and Treasurer Ed Lar- sen, approved the grant of the lands to the county. “It’s a great day for Monroe County,” commented Pany. “I've been working since 1947 to get this land for the county.” Papy pointed out that the land rightfully should go to Monroe County because taxpayers here Placed a lien on their Property to guarantee payment of the bonds. The agreement, approved by the Overseas Road Commission at a meeting a month ago and endors- ed by the county commission, stated that all of the land owned by the commission will go to Mon- roe County — with the exception of a 100-foot right-of-way which will go to the State Road Depart- ment. They will maintain the Overseas Highway. Rest To County The balance of the land will go to the county. The county commission will de- signated which portion of the lands which lay from Lower Matecum- be Key south to Big Pine Key, shall be dedicated for park and beach Purposes. The balance of the land may be leased for not more than 10 years to provide revenue for the county, The land includes the Bahia Hon- da Beach facilities, Pigeon Key, the West Summerland Key boy and girl scout camps and hundreds of acres of choice keys land. End To Controversy The action of the board of ad. ministration will apparently bring to an end the controversy over ownership of the land. _ Papy told the board this morn- ing that Monroe County residents had been enraged by a 1946 agree- ment ratified by an earlier toll road commission under which the | State was to have title to overseas (Continued On Page Eight) RAUL’S “The Place To Go In Key West” Champagne Prize Time Every Night In The Lounge CONTINUOUS MUSIC Tiny and Nelson At the Bar