The Coral Gables Times

Thursday, September 7, 1961, page 4 (of 47)

← Earlier issue Later issue → Download this page

The page

You can also pinch or scroll to zoom, and drag to move around.

The text of this pageRead by computer from the scan, so some words may be wrong. The page picture is the original.

Coral Gables TIMES

THE CORAL GABLES TIMES Thursday, September 7, 1961 Coral Gables TIMES Established Jan. 16, 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. Slane | Advertising Manager Roy Speier | Circulation Manager Maurice Labelle, Raymond Long, 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

Land Grabbers Busy While We Sleep

Are you surprised at the latest turn of events on the public land grab front? We aren't. It could have been predicted with absolute certainty. Why? Because there are always people around only too willing to take advantage of a laissez-faire policy. Today it is Black Point south of Cutler Ridge and the bay bottom land off the new municipality of Islandia. Yesterday it was Matheson Hammock, Crandon Park and Granada Golf Course. Tomorrow it will be some other coveted area. And most of our representatives apparently couldn't care less. It is difficult to see how these land grabs could happen without their consent. If they did not acquiesce, then it's obvious we need new representation for other reasons. The people have been placed on the defensive against these deals and it is only the action of a few individuals and a segment of area news media that has kept some of the deals from materializing. The problem always goes back to the same root: apathy. In a democracy leaders should reflect the will of the people. If the people forfeit that right their representatives will do what pleases or profits hem personally.

Place Awaits Accident

One of the most dangerous intersections in Coral Gables is that at Red and Bird Roads. A young woman lost her life there a few months back and several others have been injured, some seriously. The Coral Gables marker which once graced the entrance was knocked down several times and finally removed after being seriously damaged. Some drivers have been arrested for driving on the wrong side of the divided road as they entered Coral Gables. It does little good to point out that intoxication figured in many of the accidents and incidents involving Red-Bird. The fact remains that the intersection is dangerous for the reason that Bird Road is not properly aligned. Eastbound motorists must veer sharply to the right to avoid winding up in the westbound lane. The dangerous intersection is Metro's responsibility, since the county took over traffic enforcement, courts and engineering. Will anything be done.

Remember The Times

Coral Gables City Commission okayed construction of a bus terminal at Coral Way and Ponce de Leon Boulevard... Miss Helen Jones, secretary for the Coral Gables Real Estate Board, was chosen to represent the city at the Florida Cavalcade of Beauty in Daytona Beach... A. B. Curry was named Director of Public Service... D. E. Sox was Director of Public Safety... Marvin E. Kemery and Clarence B. Reemelin were nominated for commander of the Coral Gables post of the American Legion. 10 Years Ago Coral Gables High principal Harry Rath said enrollment for the new year would reach 2,100... Mrs. Thomas Holdcraft, president of the PTA at Gables Elementary School, got her members together to help register pupils for the new year... Howard Cram, Jess Waynick and E. Crymes Jr. showed up at the Mad Hatters Ball at the Coral Gables Country Club. The trio had dug up the wildest hats imaginable. 1 Year Ago Harry J. Dillon, 501 Valencia Ave., was elected president of the newly formed Granada Golfer's Association ... Ben R. Alter, 335 University Dr., was made a special sales agent by R. C. Mahon Co., of Detroit. Dr. F. P. Gargano, 124 Zamora Ave., was appointed an alumni representative for Coral Gables by George Washington University... Miss Eileen Campion, 118 Antilla Ave., was In Washington, D.C. attending the Phi Delta Delta (International Women's Legal Fraternity) convention.

Until Takeover Reds Hard To Find

By ELVA CHARLTON Correspondent Can we tell by the naked eye when we see a Communist? Is it how they look, what they say, how they dress? "No," say the experts. Are they so stupid to give themselves away by some very foolish act? If they do, it means failure, ruin, recall, demotion and even death. Many of us have linked beatniks and Communists together. Several years ago, a very wealthy, well dressed older citizen drew out the stool beside me in the cocktail lounge of the Coral Gables Country Club. Very well known to most of you, he surprised everyone by his snow white beard. Down to my olive in my first martini, I nearly asked him why he wore a beard. He forestalled the question with, "You are a very pretty lady." Eccentric? Yes. Beatnik? Maybe. He could afford to be. Certainly no Communist. Later my husband decided that I should go to a dentist friend of his. He was young, recently graduated from a very good school of dentistry. I wondered if his black beard would not detract from his business. "Is he a beatnik?" I asked my husband. "What do you care if he is, he's a good dentist," he answered. In his office, I felt relaxed instead of nervous. While he worked on my teeth he spoke of movies of the era he knew I would be interested in. Birds flew in and out of a bird house which was hung on a big tree outside the window in front of the dentist chair. He didn't seem to care if he had business or not. A bird watcher, a beatnik, an idealist? One thing certain. Although he didn't lack for beautiful female companionship, he seemed afraid of marriage. A recent article in Today's Health has reported: The average tourist sees a beatnik as an unwashed, bearded eccentric in moldy sweatshirt and dungarees - an amusing, carefree spirit who frequents espresso coffee houses, professes Zen Buddhism, and writes incomprehensible poetry. A new picture of a beat has been discovered by psychiatrists as neither a knight nor a court jester but a sad mentally sick individual with severe social-adjustment problems. We need expansion of clinical services to meet their very real human problems. So that rules out that beats are Communists. What I'm trying to say is that a Communist will not be easy to spot. According to a recent report on Soviet propaganda, we will have to be much smarter than they are to do it. "Americans, used to the bluster of Khrushchev and the blatancy of May Day parades in Red Square, will be surprised at the delicacy with which this devastating, yet invisible structure operates." If you find out before I do how to tell one at a glance, let me know. Screening out everybody else, leaves only thee and me. And sometimes I have my doubts about thee.

Challenges Statement

The attention of the electorate should be called to the gross distortion of truth in the lead editorial of The Miami Herald August 24th, "Try Reading The Charter." It states: "To amend the present charter it is necessary to get only the acquiescence of "a majority of the electors voting on the amendment." "But to 'abolish' (amend), (sic), the McLeod amendment, if once adopted, it is necessary to get a 'majority of all the electors registered to vote in state and county elections in Dade County' - a far larger number than customarily votes and one all but impossible to attain." The word in parenthesis (amend) is the key. Sec. 8.07 of the McLeod Amendments states: "Amendments to this Charter Amendment may be proposed by a resolution adopted by the Board of County Commissioners or by petition of electors numbering five per cent of the number voting in the county for the office of Governor in the last preceding gubernatorial general election. "The Board shall call an election not less than 60 nor more than 120 days after it adopts the resolution or receives a petition certified in the manner required for an initiatory petition for an ordinance. "The result shall be determined by a majority of the electors voting on the amendment. This is exactly the same, word for word, as Sec. 8.07 of the present charter, except for the word "Amendment." This statement of the editorial is both devious and stupid because its obvious variances from the truth is so easily proven. It is shameful that a newspaper should stoop to such tactics and chicanery. WM. WYATT NOLTING 241 Romano Ave.

Building Hits $81,000

Construction in Coral Gables last week totaled $81,900 and about one-third of this was accounted for by a home on Prospect Drive. Building permits issued for Aug. 28-Sept. 1 were: Harry M. Rhoden, Inc., 23 Prospect Dr., residence and pool, $28,000. Rovin Construction, 11021 Paradela Ave., pool, $2,700. Frank Clarke, 901 Hardee Rd., addition, $6,500. William A. Park, 733 Biltmore Ct., addition, $1,200. Wayne Withers, 1104 Hardee Rd., addition, $6,500. Frank Klebba, 5518 Maggiore St., residence, $19,000; 5510 Maggiore St., residence, $18,000.

OFF BEAT By MAURICE LABELLE

The Hollywood film industry is in a pickle - supposedly because of the competition of TV. To argue that TV has not had an impact on the cinema would be foolish, but, having said that, it must also be said that the typical product has not been a good one. Take the story of the German pocket battleship Bismarck of World War II fame, for instance. Of the various versions I have seen - and there's a rash of them on the market - I have yet to see one that agrees with historical fact. One omits the fact that the ship was attacked and crippled by torpedo planes and makes it an all-naval engagement. Another has the British fleet giving the Nazi tub the coup de grace in the North Atlantic when it was scuttled by the crew after leaving Montevideo, Uruguay. All versions are heavy with propaganda. It is an absolute- ly impossibility for Hollywood to stick with the facts and the truth. They must ham it up. They must twist and distort and change until the story bears little or no resemblance to historical fact. * * * Gables Police Chief William Kimbrough is busting his britches over his new squad room on the second story of the Police Station. Acoustical tile has replaced the exposed rafters and new partitioning and paint gives the place a professional look. In case you didn't know, the squad room is where the fuzz muster before they go out on their rounds. Officers also make out and keep their daily reports here. It is where our gal reporter, Becky Doyle-Quinn, found out she is not wanted. One of few places, I might add. There are some disadvantages to being a girl. First time Becky came back empty handed from an assignment. The squad room, you see, is also where zee flicks change into uniform! * * * You can always get a bit of philosophy along with a haircut and a $2 bet. A recent haircut produced an interesting bit of conversation in between clips and glances at a magazine. The Latin-American comb and scissor man agreed with me that the world was in orbit, but we differed about the position of the satellites. "After all," said he, "what Jesus Christ preached was nothing more than pure communism." By his simple logic, Christ must have been an atheist! And you think Castro is an idiot? Anyone who can murder ideas and words so eloquently is no fool. * * * Gableites are more fortunate than they probably realize. With some few exceptions, most neighborhoods always look well groomed and chinch bugs under control. The city will even spray your parkway, if need be. Not so in many other areas. People either cannot or will not do anything about the nasty chinch and weeds, tall and short, have replaced once beautiful lawns. Entire neighborhoods have gone to seed. This situation is also true upstate, where I visited recently. After spending the equivalent of several years' taxes, many residents there have given up on St. Augustine and similar strains of grass and labored to grow chinch-less varieties. The chinch infestation has been good for local business - if not for the pocketbook. Garden chemical companies and exterminators have been doing a land office business. Prices charged range from $8 or $9 to several hundred dollars, depending on what the traffic will bear. And there's no guarantee you'll get a guarantee. And a guarantee is no proof it will be honored.

Caesar Murdered Again | Et Tu Professor Handlin?

By PHILLIPS RUSSELL Correspondent Caesar has been assassinated again, this time by a Harvard professor. And a worthy job, too, some persons will say. Writing in the Atlantic, Professor Oscar Handlin of Harvard's history department, says: "I know not how many Gauls Caesar slaughtered. But I know that he has killed the interest of three generations of Americans in the classics." All those generations - surely more than three - which have suffered from one of the dullest and deadliest textbooks ever known to high school and college classes will applaud Handlin and extend three cheers to the committee of educators whom he thus quotes: "The book is altogether too difficult for beginners; it is too exclusively military in contents to be generally interesting; its vocabulary is too largely restricted... to afford the best introduction to subsequent reading." Will all those who have suffered from Caesar step forward and take a shovel? We will bury him forthwith - say 10 feet deep. It would be hard to say how Caesar and his Gallic Wars got so cemented into the school structure, and why schoolmasters have been so devoted to him and his painful book. It can only be surmised that the deference paid him was in imitation of the English, who have always been worshipful of anything Latin and Roman. He never contributed anything to the American mind, and it is not to be wondered at that so many students could endure him only with the aid of a "frot" or "jack," illicitly procured and illegally used. No peace to his ashes.