The Coral Gables Times

THE Coral Gables TIMES

4 THE CORAL GABLES TIMES Thursday, July 20, 1961 THE Coral Gables TIMES Established Jan. 15, 1926 Published Weekly at 364 Seville Ave., Coral Gables, Fla. Second Class Postage Paid at Miami, Fla. ROLFE NEILL Editor & Publisher JOHN T. WATTERS President Robert M. Slane Advertising Manager Roy Speier Circulation Manager Maurice Labelle, Raymond Lang, Becky Doyle-Quinn Reporters Mrs. Irene Stoeber Classified Manager Miss Helen Reynolds Society Editor Mrs. Eleanor Newsholme Office Manager Subscription: $3.00 year by mail anywhere

After the Courtroom, Let's Ask Ourselves

Justice will have her say beginning today in whether a developer was denied his rights when he was stopped from building a 12-story apartment building here. The case goes into court, as a story on page 1 this week tells. What we would like to suggest for the community's consideration is a thought that pertains to life after the courtroom, namely: Shouldn't we be restrictive of ALL apartment building in Coral Gables? Let's move slowly. Why do we say this? Because we believe that the underpinning of this city is its home owners and not its apartment dwellers. Generally speaking, the renter is by definition more transient, less interested in the long-run aspects of the town he lives in. He can be counted on to do less to improve it, show less interest in municipal elections. Why are apartment developers looking longingly at the Gables anyway? It's simple. The careful work over the last three decades of planning this as a city of individual homes in a lovely setting has resulted in one of the nation's finest communities. Apartment builders would only exploit the enhancement which the homeowner has wrought.

Quo Vadis? Kennedy

The public opinion poll which showed nearly 90% of Americans are willing to fight for the safety of Berlin merely confirms what has been long suspected: The people of the United States have for about the last four months been ahead of their leadership. As we get it, our citizens are super-saturated with talk about our "world image," what the backward nations are going to think, United Nations complications et al each time a get-tough approach is advocated. The mood of America is that of a patient but unduly tried man no longer willing to hobble himself in the name of civility or amity. In this, as we said at the beginning of this piece, the people are ahead of the President. Where is the Kennedy fire of January? Where is the magnificence of vision which stirred even his enemies to admiration? Our President has been curiously silent these recent months, leaving his fellow countrymen to fret and to wonder. It has been Eisenhower drift but merely in a Democratic sea.

From Us Taxpayers, A Note

The City Commission's granting of a real estate tax exemption last week to Doctors' Hospital was more than recognition of its non-profit status, in the opinion of the Times. It was symbolic of an even more important status which the hospital has assumed. The institution, through its own, voluntary actions in recent months, has come to identify itself more closely with the city in which it is domiciled. The citizens of our community have been grateful from the beginning, we believe, for the excellence of the medical facility at Doctors' Hospital. Not always, however, has the hospital's attitude been the pleasant, helpful one it is today. As evidence of its intentions to seek a wider base of citizenship support, Doctors' Hospital recently named 50 or more people to an advisory committee. We look to this group to find an even more articulate role for the hospital. Meanwhile, as occasional grumbling taxpayers, we say to Doctors': We think you've earned your exemption and are glad you got it.

Reprinted from The New Yorker "Amigos, do you mind if the Premier plays through?"

THE MAILBOX

EDITOR: I was surprised and dismayed to find that Elva Charlton's usually charming column had taken a deep plunge in the issue of July 13, plummeting to what I consider to be a low point in taste and responsibility. The phrase "all men are created equal" refers simply to men's rights under the law, not to their moral, ethical or capability endowments. Negroes have no premium on thievery and ingratitude; unfortunately, at this point of our nation's development, they do seem to have more cause for both. They are underpaid, underfed, and underhoused, with few doors to advancement yet open. If your life were substandard in every aspect, how many temptations would you be able to resist? Everyone has had bad experiences with strangers working in their homes. It is foolish to leave money around and liquor unlocked. But these are as much mistakes in your own judgment as they are provocative of character defects in others. The fair person does not use individual experiences to supplant the logic of human relations. I am disappointed in you. As a public columnist, you have an extra responsibility to present the values of fairness and intelligent judgment. Your private prejudices are your own business; they have no place in a family newspaper. The column in question was on the level of back-kitchen gossip, and that is where it should have stayed. MRS. LEO MINDLIN (There has been some misunderstanding because of Elva Charlton's column of last week. We printed it not because we endorsed it — as a matter of fact we disagree. But we circulated it because it is an opinion held by millions of people. (It's a tired-blood editorial page which presents only views consistent with the editor's prejudices. We solicit contributions from readers at large. Your essay can be on any subject. It need only be interesting. (Our editorial pages will show strength in proportion to the cross-fertilization obtained through a number of writers seeing print on them.— Editor.)

OFF BEAT By MAURICE LABELLE

I attended one of the many anti-Communist study groups you've been reading so much about lately. It was quite different from what I had expected. There were no wild outbursts, no character assassinations, no outlandish or ridiculous charges, no imputing of motives. You might ask yourself what kind of anti-Communist group this is. It's a far cry from the militant Birch Society which hounds known or suspected Communists and expresses open doubts about the desirability of democracy. The study group is being conducted under the auspices of the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade. Membership in the study group, however, is not automatic membership in the CACC. Meetings are held in different homes each week and refreshments are held down to a minimum. Enrollment fee is $2.50 per person or $5 a couple. The study consists of discussions on the part of group leaders — people from all walks of life — tape recordings by authorities on Communism and question and answer periods. The approach is Christian, toned down, academic. For those who wish to take up the sword against communism this movement will not keep your blood hot. "We advocate that individuals who do not agree with our specific Christian position should establish an anti-Communist movement utilizing a motivating force they can commend," the CACC booklet points out. What floored me, as a newspaperman, was that no restrictions were placed on reporting any phase of the meeting. This, coming from a private group of this sort, is nothing short of amazing. When no one objected to my being there, I felt that the usual restrictions would be tacked on at the end of the meeting. Not so, help yourself, said one of the discussion leaders. Well, that's more than you can say for some public and semi-public bodies, and I don't recall that the Communist Party U.S.A. has held regular meetings open to the press or public.

Five Are Named By Commission

Five persons were named by the Coral Gables City Commission Tuesday to be its representatives on the People to People Program. They are Mrs. Lucile Neher, Frank Kerdyk, Sam Weissel, Edward Johnson and Joseph Mantinan.

EDITOR:

What happened to the MINIMUM STANDARD concept of Metro Gov't? FREDERIC D. VAN ARNAM 1033 Andora Ave.

A Time When Dad Holds On

BY JOE MORRIS CORRESPONDENT I was in Atlanta, Ga., on a business trip when my 22-year-old son, Nicky Morris, got his private pilot's license. He wouldn't take anyone up in the plane until I returned. He wanted me to be his first passenger. My arrival was too late Saturday to make a flight and we could hardly wait until Sunday afternoon to fly. On the way to the Aero Country Club a few doubts and some misgivings crossed my mind but I quickly erased them. What's a father going to do at a time like that... let his boy think he's afraid or that he doesn't trust him? So I put my life in his hands. He handled it with great care. Back on the ground now I wonder why I ever thought about the things I did. He started the engine like it was no more than a Chevy and he taxied to the end of the strip. There, more details had to be delved into and I watched him out of the corner of my eye. He was confident in all his movements and unhurried in appraising the situation, I thought to myself, "This is my son, in whom I am well pleased." He glanced at his watch. It was four minutes after three. My watch showed three o'clock on the dot. I tried to make a joke. "Should we synchronize our watches so we can come down together?" He looked surprised-t h e n laughed. And turned back to the controls. Once in the air we climbed to 3,000 feet. As soon as possible he invited me to take the wheel and fly the ship. Every time I made a turn to the right or left he kindly but firmly reminded me that I had again failed to look behind me for other aircraft. He showed me how to do a power-off stall, a side slip and a climbing turn. Then we did a slight climb and descent like going over an arch in the sky. For a second I thought I had dropped 10 pounds and proudly announced that that was just a little like weightlessness feels in outer space. Pointing out all the landmarks from Homestead to Miami he followed Red Road up to our house. It seemed, from the air, all the homes around us have swimming pools too. I think he was as relieved as I to find that our pool looks as clean and clear as the others. Above the engine's roar I asked him, "How did you feel the first time you came up here alone?" He hollered back, "scared." But he wasn't scared now. And neither was I, just proud and happy. He dropped down to 800 feet and entered the pattern to land. Clearing the engine with a touch of the throttle on the base leg we glided down to a perfect touchdown. "Do you always set it down this well, son?" "No sir," he said, "but today I had company." As I got out of the plane to let his mother take my place I confided in her under my breath. "We don't have a boy any more. We have a bird-MAN."