The Coral Gables Times

Coral Gables TIMES

THE Coral Gables TIMES Established Jan. 15, 1926 Published Weekly at 364 Sevilla Ave., Coral Gables, Fla. Second Class Postage Paid at Miami, Fla. ROLFE NEILL | Editor & Publisher JOHN T. WATTERS | President Robert M. Shane | Advertising Manager Roy Speier | Circulation Manager Maurice Lebelle, 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

A Senseless, Shameful Run Around at City Hall

Dr. John F. Gibby is getting the run around at the Coral Gables City Hall. And there's no reason for it. Because of an error by the City—now several times compounded—he and his family are being greatly inconvenienced. With some publicity given the facts, we hope that action will be taken to give him relief. The case in brief: The Gibby family bought a home in the Gables on Parma Avenue last summer only after being told by the City's Building Department it could make an addition to the home to accommodate the Gibbys' large family. When the doctor got ready to build this spring he was turned down by the Zoning Board and told there had been a mistake. Now after two tries before the City Commission, he still hasn't even had his appeal heard. Meanwhile, the fifth little Gibby—for whom some of this extra room was intended and is badly needed—is about to be born onto the scene. The Zoning Board held up approval because of a dedicated but undug canal which cuts through the backyards of the Gibbys and their neighbors. The board has let some other neighbors build virtually to the edge of the imaginary canal. It is commendable that the Zoning Board wishes to establish a policy. But it seems cruel that they should penalize the one man who conscientiously sought, through architectural preparation, to avoid the very situation they themselves have created. Come on Messrs. Laurence, Junkin, Hinds, Pucci and Silver, have a heart.

Lawbreaking Without Inflation

We don't know where the most suitable plot is but we suspect City Attorney Ted Semple may be due to be enshrined for his legal opinion leading to the $1 Coral Gables traffic ticket (on off-street lots). It was announced at City Commission meeting Tuesday that we can thumb our noses at Metro's $2 tab and issue our own for $1, or for two bits if we wish. There's something in most of us that rebels at paying that $2 fine to Metro. Somehow, it seems like a stickup. Sure, $15 for a stop sign, but $2 for a minute overtime on the meter just ain't right. Thank you, Ted Semple, for taking the inflation out of lawbreaking.

You Can't Stop Lovin' (Thank Goodness)

A couple items in this week's Remember the Times caught our eye as we were preparing the copy for the printer the other evening. The first was in the "25 Years Ago" section. It records that W. Keith Phillips had been appointed Miami representative for Sun Life. We know some folks who'll wonder if it were only 25 years ago; they think Keith has been Mr. Sun forever. Time slips on, though, and Br'er Phillips, incidentally, is whiling the humid summer away in the Carolina hills. The second item catching our attention was in the "10 Years Ago" section. It mentions that two teenage couples had been caught necking in abandoned house on Avenue Malaga and that folks thereabouts wanted such "nuisances" put to an end. Now this just goes to show what hardening of the arteries does to a man's perspective. A little teenage spooning—nuisance indeed! As we recall, none of us former teenagers thought it so at the time.

When Welch Stumps Here, They Come

By JOE C. MORRIS Correspondent The John Birch Society in its effort to fight communism, invited more than 60 Gableites and citizens from the southwest area to see and hear John Welch speak last Thursday night at the Musicians Hall. The speech, filmed Oct. 3, 1959, was shown by Claude Boring, a Presbyterian church deacon and resident of Lake Placid, Fla. Boring, a full-time, paid worker for the society said, "This is the sixth time this week I have shown this film. I show it an average of four nights a week. "And while I'm doing my job, my wife Thelma, is usually in some other part of the state showing other films, such as, 'Operation Abolition' 'Communism on the Map.'" The film showing, was to attract more members into the society at a cost of $1 a month for women and $2 a month for men. Gables sponsors of the meeting are members of the society who wish to remain unnamed. They said they can be more effective in their anti-communism fight by not revealing their identity to the enemy. Boring stated, "There are several chapters in the Gables and surrounding area. We do not give out their names or the names of our members." He denied that the society is a secret organization. "We know who our members are but the communists don't." His reference to "we" referred to the society headquarters in Belmont, Mass. He also said, "I get mad when men, such as Senator Young of Ohio, accusing us of being right wing extremists say, 'give the Birch Society members a gun and they'll start a war! "We stand ready," Boring continued, "to fight for the rights of all people to say what they wish, but saying things like that just isn't true." "We have chapters in 49 states and have attracted a lot of ministers of the gospel," Boring told the group after the film ended. "The JBS is not a debating society. We want people to phone, write or wire their congressman and the President saying, 'Look, this is what we want ... "If we sit back as do-nothing citizens we'll have a do-nothing government. "The goal of the Birch Society is to create a better world through individual initiative and less concentration of government." Welch, in his filmed speech of nearly two years ago made, among other points these: Patience is the most important key to Communism's success. The Communists are 2-3 of the way to their goal of world domination. Castro has been a Red Agent all his life. The best government in Latin America was the Trujillo regime in Dominican Republic. President Romulo Betancourt of Venezuela is a marxist and former card carrying communist.

‘A Baby Picks Its Own Time’

By ELVA CHARLTON Correspondent It takes a heap of livin' to realize that the forthcoming birth of a new baby is always a blessing. The voice on the phone was a happy voice. It was excited, animated and full of life. "Hello, Elva, Mrs. Charlton? This is Jeanie in Dallas. I just called to tell you the good news. There's a new little one on the way. I just found out this morning." She couldn't wait to write, but she knew my ears would welcome the news and I would be happy with her. "Please call mommy," Jean continued. "It wasn't exactly planned." "Do take care of yourself, Jeanie, don't knock yourself out moving into your new house," I cautioned. "Oh, I will. You know I almost lost Linda, I don't want anything to happen like that. Linda's not walking yet, and she's 14 months old," she added. And there's Lori too, who is just two, I thought. I had very successfully talked myself into a spell of heat exhaustion likely to last until evening when this phone call came. But the news invigorated me so much that I snapped right out of it and started to clean two pounds of shrimp I thought was necessary to have for dinner. I propped the electric fan so it could blow full on my face while I cleaned the shrimp. I thought of 25 years ago when I was in Jean's position with my son Kerry, now her husband. "But I'm too old to have another baby, too nervous and scared to death," I pleaded to the doctor. "It's true, you're not the type, nervous, and in no financial position, but you're going to have one just the same," he stated. My pediatrician calmed my fears. I was not the first patient he had to do this to, I know now. "You will just have to stay out of all conflicts with your in-laws with whom you're living. This is the most important job in the life of a woman. Concentrate on it. Your child will be a blessing to you and the greatest comfort you could have." The confinement was easy, the birth easy, and I had a child who was easy to train and a joy to me. The money somehow materialized to pay the bills. I had more baby things for Kerry than either of the other two. I was 34, but I felt much younger after that. My mind refuses to think of how much I would have missed if I had not had Kerry. A baby is a blessing and often picks its own time to be born.

Anemia Wins Out The Sad Death of Oratory

By PHILLIPS RUSSELL Correspondent It seems likely that the year 1961 will be known to history as that in which American oratory died. Oratory has long been weak and ailing and efforts to pump life into it have failed, but it was only lately that it expired in so sudden and public a manner that no grave had been built for it. Senator Fulbright of Arkansas was recently due to make in the U.S. Senate a speech, timely and important, on foreign policy. The senator is not one to be waved aside when he speaks on such a subject, and the reporters in the gallery lost their boredom long enough to bend an ear, but the senator had hardly got as far as fourthly when the attendance dwindled to two or three persons. Recognizing that he was wasting energy, he decided to ring off and print the rest in the Congressional Record. That may be taken to be the point at which oratory, long the peculiar treasure of the U.S. Senate, gave up the fight and retreated into the government printshop before burial. What killed oratory in the nation which once listened to it with shining eyes? Some authorities say it is TV that bears the guilt. No doubt that TV was a factor in oratory's anemia. The nation listened closely to the candidates in the last presidential election, but what it heard was not oratory, but statistics mixed with generalities. There is no man living to-day who can make an audience react as Jefferson once de-scribed Patrick Henry - "he spoke as Homer wrote." The conditions have changed. Oratory once provided not only a forum for debate, but a social center. We don't jam the courthouse anymore to listen to a speaker. We turn on the TV set or read the summary in the morning paper.

Remember The Times 25 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

25 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK City clerks are busily preparing new drivers licenses for Gables residents (there were no state issued licenses then) and announcement was made that the old Evergreen telephone exchange will be replaced with a "4" prefix ... "Post Card Days," during which Coral Gables residents have sent post cards to friends in the north advising them of the local temperature in an effort to attract summer tourists, have been very successful, according to the Chamber of Commerce. Business men have been urged to stamp all their northbound mail with the temperature as well ... W. Keith Phillips, a director of the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce, has been appointed the Miami representative for the Sun Life Insurance Co. and opened his new office in the Ingraham Building.

Dennis —Reprinted from the Wall Street Journal "Williams—you've done wonders since you took over here. Production has doubled and our profits are up by two million dollars. Thanks a lot."