The Coral Gables Times

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. SLANE | Advertising Manager Roy Speier | Circulation Manager Subscription: $4.20 year by mail anywhere

They Keep It Intact But for What Reason?

When should a man retire from the City's payroll? This is the problem our city fathers have been considering of late, as have their predecessors in other years. And as have their predecessors, this commission also decided to leave the policies unchanged. Thus, a man with 30 years' service at the age of 55 can be retired by the City. Or, if he's 60 and has 25 years' service he can be retired. At 65 he must be retired, unless requested to stay on. (Story on Page 2.) Exactly what led the commissioners to their decision we don't know but we wonder if another look might not be taken. In these regulations there is great flexibility. Perhaps there is more than needed? If an employe is worth his wage he should be permitted to work until 65, barring physical disability. It is cruel to toss him out at the mid point when he hasn't enough to live on from retirement income and is handicapped in getting a new job because of age. And if the real reason for this built-in flexibility is to enable the City to rid itself of "undesirables" why not instead merely face up to the fact early in the employe's service and discharge him. The retention of these loose-jointed regulations serves no purpose that we can see.

'Not Entirely Upon Money'

"We must not rely entirely upon money, thinking it will do the job. We should turn our talents and intelligence to every thought that doesn't require money that will push this program forward." Those are the words of our district congressman, Dante B. Fascell. They were spoken last week to the Gables People to People Committee in encouragement of its work with Latin Americans. In today's issue of this newspaper is a story which offers the type of opportunity Rep. Fascell describes. Parents are invited to accept a Latin child in their homes for a year on a swap basis, sending one of their own Southward. This, of course, is the ultimate refinement of the people to people idea. It is well known that hatred grows in ignorance and is dispelled with knowledge. When we get to know our neighbor we almost always will like him.

Needed! A Toning Down Of Our Self-Praise

By PHILLIPS RUSSELL Herald Correspondent Along with loud laudations, chiefly among officials who have speeches to make, about "The American way of life," and the American standard of living as "the greatest ever known," etc., etc., there is to be noted a rising volume of adverse criticism of that way and that standard. Even the Wall Street writers occasionally break out into warnings and cautions about the state of "the market." This is probably a healthy symptom. Inflation of the economy and the money supply is bad enough, but when it comes to inflation of the national ego and unabashed crowings of the American rooster, we can recognize the value of the Jeremiahs who scarified the stiff-necked tribes of Biblical times. A group of theologians writing for the journal, "Christianity Today," are uneasy about our constant bending of the knee to the unholy trinity of "money, security and status." Denunciations of this worship of the golden calf are not new. What is new is the accusation that the churches themselves are bowing before false gods. Karl Barth, the Swiss Theologian, declares: "The church has come to believe in images of man, of the world, and of God which she has fabricated of her own means." The Rev. Harold B. Kuhn of Asbury Theological Seminary thinks Americans are tending to set up their own conception of what constitutes liberty or progress as an "absolute." Before that other nations must bow, particularly when they need money and come forward for a loan. No one doubts the USA is sitting on top of the world in comfort and pleasure. These critics may help to tone down our national complacency and self-praise.

From the Pens of the People, These Letters

EDITOR: We are delighted to hear a new library will be built near City Hall that will be centrally located for most Gables people. All six of us love to read and with four school - age children in our family, we make frequent trips to the library for research on term papers, themes, book reports, etc. From the reference room to the children's desk, to the check-out desk, we find everyone helpful and most gracious to our every request. If you haven't made a trip to the library recently, please do so and meet those wonderful people who work behind the desk. They always leave me with the impression that it has been a pleasure to have assisted me in finding what I wanted. I sincerely hope the same personnel will be employed in the new library as we have now on Ponce. I don't know which florist is responsible for the floral arrangements on the desk at the library but they are always lovely and add to the bright, cheerful atmosphere. The people in Coral Gables are lucky to have such a warm, friendly, efficient personnel to staff their library. MRS. JOHN F. BRADY 1442 Urbino Ave. ★ ★ ★ EDITOR: I was extremely interested in the article in the TIMES a couple of weeks ago about discussion of expenditure of excess funds from the old Youth Center. Since the Youth Centers (both old and new) serve the young people of the white community so adequately, and since there are young people in the Negro community in Coral Gables who stand woefully in need of adequate recreational facilities, would it not be advisable to investigate these needs by calling the principal of G. W. Carver High School, or other qualified community leaders? The inequities of our segregated system are so painful that I believe we should seize every opportunity to help tilt the scale in the right direction. MRS. L. N. FELTS 7783 S.W. 62nd Ave. ★ ★ ★ EDITOR: We have read with interest of the efforts of the citizens of Coral Gables to keep retail stores closed on Sunday. We heartily commend these efforts, and note with satisfaction the fact that Mr. Fred Hartnett is chairing the effort. The small signs which your merchants are placing in their stores are especially good. We trust that all citizens will support this worthy move. Indeed, we need our day of rest. As church people, we would point out that this great American tradition is founded in the Christian faith, that as God ordained a day of rest, He also ordained a day of worship. May we keep our nation spiritually strong by going weekly to the church of our choice, there to renew our faith and our vows of loyalty to the Lord. The Greater Miami Council of Churches is an agency of all the Protestant churches in Dade County working to accomplish those things which can better be done together than can be done alone. LUTHER C. PIERCE, Executive Director Greater Miami Council of Churches

WALL STREET JOURNAL "I'm so bushed I couldn't spend another dollar if I had to."

PEOPLE

Dr. Melanie Rosborough, will present the Holy Land, second in series Wednesday at the home of Mrs. Gloria Peters, 3305 Alhambra Cir. Mrs. Peters has been hostess for the travelogues presented the first Wednesday of each month. Coffee from 10 to 10:30 a.m. precedes the talk sponsored by the AAUW. Donations are voluntary and guests welcome. ★ ★ ★ Coco Plum Woman's Club, members of its welfare department will help the delinquent children at Kendall this club year and to that end will sponsor a fashion show Saturday, Dec. 2nd in the auditorium of Kendall. The girls of the home will model clothes made by themselves using materials donated by C. P. members, Refreshments will be served and the public is invited. ★ ★ ★ Mrs. Robert Johns, 1425 Tangier St., is 3rd vice president of the Woman's Auxiliary to the Goodwill Industries. Officers will celebrate their first anniversary Monday, with a luncheon and new officers will be installed. ★ ★ ★ The Home and School Association, St. Theresa's School, will held a Christmas novelities fair next Thursday in the school cafeteria. Free refreshments and coffee will be served for parents, children, and friends of the School. Mrs. Robert Hildebrand and Mrs. Francisco Montana are co-chairmen.

EVERYBODY'S Business

By Rolfe Neill Noted Last week I noted the following three things: 1. A Gables meter - girl parking in a "No Parking" zone at the bus station. 2. A Florida Highway Patrolman cutting across the median on the Palmetto Expressway near a "No Driving on Parkway" sign. 3. Two Metro traffic cops running a stop sign at Sunset Drive and the Expressway. May they have mercy on us other sinners when we're caught. ★ ★ ★ Incongruous? There is talk of raising the price of milk in Florida a penny or two a quart. This quote from last week's market pages: "WASHINGTON — The Government says the milk surplus will get substantially larger next year. "It calculates a surplus of 10 billion pounds of milk next year that nobody wants to buy — except Uncle Sam, of course, who by law must purchase all the excess at prices high enough to keep the average national level." And so our democracy works. ★ ★ ★ Naples Love Is there a more inviting town in Florida than Naples? The place captivates me. It manages to maintain a village atmosphere despite its tourist orientation. It has a handsome public beach facility and its shops' architecture is directed in a stylized but individual manner. Doubtlessly, its Chamber of Commerce building is the nattiest in Florida. Naples, I love you. ★ ★ ★ Leftover Speaking of Florida . . . Can't something be done about the fact that the two tourist arteries leading to Miami (U.S. 27 and U.S. 41) each must have signs somewhere along the way which say the road is that "this section is substandard"? ★ ★ ★ Observation As I pass Gables High in the mornings I'm struck by the fact that one of the paramount issues of education today is where to park students' cars.

'Rose Tattoo' Scores with 2 Parts

(A Review) Although Tennessee Williams' "The Rose Tattoo" has 20 persons in its cast, there really are but three parts in the play. In the Ruth Foreman production now underway at Studio M, two of those three parts carry the show. The roles are these of Serafina Delle Rose, played by Toni Simeon, and that of her daughter, Rosa Delle Rose, played by Jackie Scelza. There is little doubt from the opening scene that Miss Simeon is going to give us good theater. She's shown on a worn divan in a Sicilian shack, fanning heavily, legs slightly ajar with a dreamy, expectant look on her face. Before the evening's out (and it sags a bit two-thirds of the distance through,) Miss Simeon has wrung both you and her out in a series of emotional gyrations. Williams' plot revolves around the husband whom we never see. He brought honor and love to Serafina and when he dies she has the untarnished memory of her Sicilian "baron." The story takes hold at the suggestion that despite her perfervid admiration for her late husband, there may have been another woman in his life. Despite the bizarre characters packed onto Studio M's tiny stage, Williams' lines still ask some searching questions about life. Miss Simeon fills the role wonderfully well. This is her third straight casting, however, as an Italian and we think it's time she tested herself in a different posture. Young Jackie Scelza is just as convincing as an adolescent daughter. The audience seemed happy, too, with the third star player, Alvaro Mangiacavallo, played by John Vella. He is the partial reincarnation of Mrs. Della Rose's husband and eventually stakes a conjugal claim. To me, Mr. Vella lost his effectiveness with his Marlon Brando entry and an apparent inability to shake the ghost of Brando's mannerisms. There must be a new way to play Williams' Brando character besides Brando. Dale Bernhardt, one of six members of that family involved in the production, rates an A for sets and Hagan Powell effectively wove in sounds from crickets to 10-ton trucks. And Coral Gables would do well to applaud the indefatiguable Ruth Foreman herself. She brings us the widest range of theater fare, generally we done and at prices all of us can afford.—ROLFE NEILL.