Coral Gables Historical Archive
The Coral Gables Times
Thursday, October 5, 1961, page 4 (of 52)
The page
The text of this pageRead by computer from the scan, so some words may be wrong. The page picture is the original.
THE Coral Gables TIMES
Established Jan. 15, 1926 Published Weekly at Second Class Postage 364 Sevilla Ave., Coral Gables, Fla. 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 | Reporters Mrs. Kay Squires | Classified Manager Subscription: $3.00 year by mail anywhere
Those High School Parties
(Reprinted from the Keynoter, Marathon, Fla.) Up in that cosmopolitan center known as Coral Gables the high school is faced with fraternity problems. After somewhat of an uproar over various activities connected with these groups, several organizations have made some profound decisions. Presidents of the high school's seven fraternities have promised to ban booze. This, it seems to us, is a reasonable request of high school students. Other problems within the social groups stem from drinking, it was noted. Punishment for getting "off the wagon" is banishment from fraternal life. This may appear an odd choice for an editorial, but it points out some of the advantages of growing up and going to school in communities of the Florida Keys. Drinking bouts and loose morals really have not been a problem in our school system. These unusual conditions no doubt sprouted under the very noses of ordinarily watchful parents - like you, the family next door, the people down the block. With attention to providing wholesome activity of the younger set, it's unlikely that booze ever will become a part of youthful pastime here. Filling the recreational voids for our young adults in athletic programs, scouting and the evening social get-together can be a real pleasure in a small town. People who haven't accepted this responsibility have missed out on a soul-satisfying venture. Just find an oldster who has managed to keep his youth and we predict you'll find a man or woman actively interested in the younger set.
Cloudy Days
It was not particularly surprising to read that Dr. Robert Johns of the University of Miami has put up a "Keep Out" sign for photographer Carroll Seghers II. Dr. Johns has taken on the reputation for being something of a disciplinarian, and as far as we can see a good bit of his student medicine has been needed. But it's regrettable that what was basically a favorable story about the University in Saturday Evening Post should be lost in the emotionalism which followed Dr. Johns' reprisal against cameraman Seghers. The doctor said, by inference, that some of Seghers' pictures of the University were in poor taste. We won't choose sides in the matter of censorship except to say that in all our days of campus strolling we've not seen the casual afternoon lovemaking behind the Engineering Building which Seghers' camera presumably recorded as typical. By the lake bridge, at night, why yes. And UM has no monopoly on normal biology, of course. The University is making headway in its fight to raise its academic standards and lower its reputation for being a degree mill for playboys. However, it would do well as it rounds the far turn to use a little less whip and a little more spur.
Between Us & Them
Is Coral Gables, this town we live and work in, basically any different from Marathon, down on the Keys? That really is the question posed in the editorial reprinted at right from the Keynoter, that sprightly weekly journal to the south of us. Editor Charlie Deal suggests that high school drinking isn't likely to be a problem there because of a variety of healthier recreational activities for his town's youth. We've got activities - many more of them, in fact - right here. This seems to the Times to indicate that the problem of high school drinking isn't so much one of the students' having nothing to do. Rather, the situation is encouraged by the home. Either the parents condone teen-age drinking by permitting it or they pay so little attention to their children that they don't know what they're doing. Drinking begins for most people as a show-off affair (and, regrettably, continues on this same juvenile level for many throughout their lives). If parents won't do their job of bringing a child to maturity no amount of recreational activities will fill the void.
About Miss Sheehy
A gentleman who wishes to remain anonymous (this breed will soon outnumber us at the rate of its multiplication) . . . well anyway, this gentleman reproved us in a letter for an editorial we had Sept. 20 about how long it takes for minutes of the City Commission to be made available. The time is from four to eight weeks. In his letter, he made an abundant defense of Miss Loretta Sheehy, the long-time town clerk. As far as we know, she needs no defense. She said she refused a citizen access to her notes on the grounds that these are her instructions from her superiors. Further, she said the minutes are tardy in being out for public inspection because her office is understaffed. So, our anonymous gentleman, if it is blame you want to place let's repeat what we said in the first place: Look to the Commissioners for relief; it's an affair of their making.
Good Going, Ed
Somebody said something about nothing is so powerful as an idea whose time has come. We suspect that was the case with the Singing Hurricane concert arranged last Sunday by Ed Crowley as another of his ideas of bringing town & gown closer. That it was worthwhile is demonstrated by the attendance, about 250 people. Good going, Ed.
OFF BEAT By MAURICE LABELLE
Once upon a time City officials could shuffle all their parking complaints to Metro. Whenever a complainant came in to gripe about a ticket, the standard reply went something like this: "You voted for Metro, go complain to them." Now, this wasn't exactly accurate, but it was easier than trying to explain that the City handed out the tickets and Metro collected the fee - a fee that had been hiked from $1 to $2 - and that two-thirds of the money came back to the City. But recently the City began to issue its own off-street parking tickets and now we have two sets of tickets and two fine schedules. Gets rather involved trying to explain these things to an irate ticket holder - especially when you have an axe to grind and you should have your stories straight. -ML- The City's first case in Municipal Court on an illegal parking rap folded. The defendant, whose name is unknown, was parked illegally in a hospital ambulance zone - but he had a patient. Case dismissed. -ML- Le Jeune Road isn't completed yet, but watch for bottlenecks to form when it opens. Whoever designed the intersection with University Drive was quite handy with a French curve, but not so hot, it seems to this driver, on traffic engineering. The eastbound portion of the road could have been made wide enough for a left turn lane, a through lane and a right turn lane, but the channel has been built to accommodate only a right turn lane and another for left turns and through. Watch them pile up behind cars waiting to make left turns. -ML- You heard one version about the parking meter girl story as told before the Trail Board. As is usually the case, there are others. If we could tell you about them, you wouldn't find it buried here. We can only tell you that some persons will not relax until this thing blows over. -ML- Melvin J. Robinson, the gentleman who had a close brush with the grim reaper when he struck Gables Officer Patrick Ryan Sept. 23 points out he had the green light at Granada Boulevard and Blue Road. Robinson, who was not charged, said he had his windows rolled up and air conditioner on and never heard or saw the police car until seconds before he hit it, flipped it around and into a banyan. Ryan was on his way to a false suicide call and was probably saved from serious injury or death by a seat belt. -ML- Michael Liskiewicz, personnel officer for the City, is annoyed at people not being able to remember, spell or pronounce his name. He's considering changing it to Joe. -ML- When the old Times building was recently demolished, it appeared that the old bus reservation bureau sign on the corner would never come down. The bulldozer kept chipping away at the only remaining wall and the sign seemed to be hanging from a cloud. After a monumental effort by the dozer, the sign finally came crashing down defiantly. It was as durable as Mrs. Margaret Jacobson, who operated the bureau there for the past 100 years. -ML- Sidney Richman, 737 Paradiso Ave., doesn't want that undug canal you've heard so much about if you pay him to take it. Richman doesn't think it's completely useless, however. He suggests that a fall-out shelter be built on it. -ML- City Commissioner Jerry Dressel showed up 11 hours early for a recent meeting. Dressel tells how he showed up at 7 a.m. at the University Court Motel for a conference meeting. The meeting was scheduled for 6 p.m. Shoulda gotta room.
MAILBOX
EDITOR: Sen. John Marshall Butler of Maryland has termed the recent Communist masonry in Berlin, "The Wall of Shame," and hopes this appellation will come into general use throughout the Free World. In this, I heartily concur. WM. WYATT NOLTING 241 Romano Ave.
From a Covey, Signs Of a Good Omen
By PHILLIPS RUSSELL Correspondent Somehow wild quail are not to be looked for in Coral Gables, yet only a few days ago while crossing a vacant tract covered with wire-like grass and bushes I got a start when a covey rose in front of me with the whir and boom that never fails to make the heart skip a beat. So even if I were blind I would surmise that fall has come and winter impends, for this bird needs no calendar to know when to call his family together for shorter days and longer nights. This is my favorite bird. He should be our national emblem instead of the eagle, for he appears and clings wherever the American farmer creates a field and sows it. I feel flattered whenever I can look out of a front window in the early morning and see a covey crossing my lawn, for it's a sign that urbanization has not quite overwhelmed the necessary wildness of life. I admire the bobwhite for his dauntlessness. Snakes, turtles, dogs, and men rob his nest, but me moves and starts another. If the mother bird is harmed, the father takes over and raises the family. If marauders scatter them, his morning pipe brings them together again. As his flock runs ahead of him through the weeds he keeps up a subdued murmur of caution and warning. His plump body, sad to say, brings his doom, for broiled and sauteed he makes delicious eating. A final note: the bird books say he should be called bobwhite, not quail or partridge or "pattidge." But it is only the male who says "you bob white." It's argued that he has named himself. But the female's call is different. She is not to be called "bob." Any suggestions?
Sages Of The Ages
Everything comes to him who waits. - Disraeli. A man in armor is his armor's slave. - Robert Browning. Let sleeping dogs lie. - Charles Dickens. Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes. - H. D. Thoreau. Property has its duties as well as its rights. - Ben Disraeli.
Remember The Times
ONE YEAR AGO THIS WEEK The City of South Miami, which two years ago fought Consumers Water Company in court over the price of water, is now arguing with a Metro Water Committee over the same water price. Coral Gables police last week picked up several persons for jay-walking in prohibited zones reserved for buses. Widening of Le Jeune Road through Coral Gables, dreaded by some but eagerly awaited by most motorists who use the busy artery, was finally given the go-ahead. TEN YEARS AGO THIS WEEK Members of the Coral Gables Civic Club will gather for their first fall meeting Thursday at the Country Club of Coral Gables, for high noon luncheon, program, and the making of fall plans. The First Presbyterian Church of Coral Gables celebrates its silver anniversary. TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO THIS WEEK Possibility of a speeding up of Coral Gables' bond settlement was seen this week following the meeting of the City Commissioners with the bondholders' protective committee and other committees representing bondholders in New York City. Faith in the continued Progress of Coral Gables is expressed by the printing department of the Times (then known as the Miami Riviera) where approximately $7,000 worth of new equipment has been installed.