The Coral Gables Times

THE Coral Gables TIMES

JOHN T. WATTERS | President ROLFE NEILL | Editor & Publisher Robert Collins | Advertising Manager Murry Evans | Circulation Manager Maurice Labelle, Reymond Lang | Reporters Mrs. Kay Squires | Classified Manager Miss Helen Reynolds | Society Editor Mrs. Dorothy McCreary | Office Manager Established Jan. 15, 1926 Paid at Miami, Fla. Second Class Postage Subscriptions: $4.20 year by mail anywhere

Why the Wait?

City Attorney Ted Semple is quoted on the front page of our newspaper today as saying he'll hang back on the reduced water rate affair. Too complicated, he says, and entry by the Gables at this point would just muddy the waters. Maybe so. But plenty of folks hereabouts — including us — wonder why we keep sitting on our haunches on this water rate case. We turned up our noses at South Miami four years ago when they asked our help and now they've won the case in the lower courts fighting alone. The judge has said that $1.40 is enough to pay Consumers Water Co. for a minimum amount of water. Inasmuch as the rate in the Gables is $1.50 for the minimum and inasmuch as Consumers' own estimate is that a "substantial" number of people in our town pay this rate, it seems abundantly clear to The Times that it's in the public interest for Semple and the City to get interested.

Let's Act Before The Spur of Tragedy

At a local meeting the other noon, Jack Holmes, citizen and parent, suggested that one thing we need in our town are some bicycle paths. He's right. As the picture at Ponce Junior High on this page shows, there are still hundreds of children riding bikes to school in the Gables, despite the fact that many parents use autos for this purpose. And in addition, there are a goodly number of adults who enjoy bicycling (see page one). Riding a bike today on the streets in any well-populated area is dangerous. It has been Providential that we have gone so long without a fatality in the Gables. We don't pretend to know the best way to set up some bicycle paths but we do think the need exists. It would be better for us to act with foresight than in the sorrow brought on by tragedy.

Hooray for City Hall!

We know of no program that will find quicker favor than the announcement this week by the City Commission that some street work is to be done. Anyone who's traveled the b-u-m-p-y way of Ponce de Leon, Riviera, Granada or any of the others mentioned will appreciate the knowledge that smoother days are just ahead. Happy motoring.

From Gulf, Good Things

The arrival of Gulf Oil Co.'s Western Hemisphere Exploration Division here last spring was a significant event for the city. Significant because this is the finest kind of industry we can have — high educational level, no industrial problems, and high salaries. Now, Gulf tells us it is doubling its operation here. All the benefits that came last Spring are likewise doubled. It is in this type of industry that our future lies.

Our Readers Write to Us, and How

EDITOR: I am writing about a problem that should be called to light before it is too late. I live in Florida near the Everglades. The Everglades is a sanctuary for wildlife, I might add a unique one. It is also a source of our water supply and the only home of our nation's symbol, the Bald Eagle. There is a certain group of "promoters" who want to expand southern Florida and drain the Everglades. They claim, they will just centralize the water more, that's all. But anyone who looks into the matter realizes this can't be done. If canals were made instead of swamps, boats going down the canals would cause too much water action and the sides would cave in. My biology teacher said the canals would have to be dredged every five years! The only reason the Everglades is being drained is for commercial reasons. Promoters can't sell real estate out there now, so they want to drain the land. For thousands of years the Florida swamps have been here, sheltering wildlife. Are we now going to destroy this work of beauty in a day? Thousands of people feel exactly the same as myself, but are afraid to express themselves for one reason or another. Please, I ask you in the interest of the people of my state, look into this matter and write to the readers of your newspaper. This is important enough to be on the editorial page in bold print. JUDY SILVER 820 Anastasia Ave. EDITOR: Has it occurred to you that the responsibility for a successful program in our Chamber of Commerce this coming year rests upon the 170 new members as much as on any other member? The Chamber of Commerce is not a machine into which is dropped the membership fees to start it percolating. The new members have paid their admission fee. Now they owe some part of their respective experienced talents to help all of us achieve a happy, prosperous, wholesome life in the Gables. The direction the Chamber takes and the distance it goes depends on the push applied. Get goin', neighbor. ONE OF THE DIRECTORS EDITOR: Recently you wrote a series of articles on The Monster, Metro. We are glad you have seen the "light" even though it is a bit too late to help much. Our national problems are so many and so intricately involved, with the "extreme" ADA practically running the show in Washington, but where there is staunch American spirit there is still hope we will be able to salvage some of our sovereignty. Please read the attached paper. What is more, study it hard—and then shudder. (MRS.) JEAN H. WATSON 1516 Ancona Ave. (The attached paper dealt with the internationalizing of America, initially through joining the European economic community and culminating, in the writer's opinion, with the submergence of this country into a one-world socialistic state.)

They're the Proof of the Need

God May Not Be Where They Say

By ELVA CHARLTON I can't find God in the right places. Rather do I see Him clearly in places where I least expect to. This thought is new to me because I have just come from church where I expected to see God clearly. But though I tried, sitting there in my Sunday best and listening to every word the minister said, I couldn't see a glimpse of Him. "There are none so blind as those who will not see," you will say of me. But you are wrong, I would see if I could. When a minister beckons to me and says, "Come forward, ye of little faith," I feel insulted, hurt and bewildered. If he said "Come all ye sinners," I think, where have I sinned? Going to church has always frightened me. It makes me think of death, instead of life. It depresses me, especially when I look around and see so many righteous-looking people. When I get up to join in the hymnals, I feel sick and dizzy, and that makes me think more of death. It's not a pleasant experience, so I go home and hope to see God somewhere else. But I am lost without a spiritual home, and no one feels it more than I. But I do congratulate myself on recognizing God when I see Him, so I know there is hope for me. Once while a visitor in Quebec, I walked out of a hot street into the dim coolness of a cathedral. Candles were burning on a small altar. A few people in nondescript clothes were worshipping. They knelt in devout prayer. There was unbroken silence except for a few soft strains of organ music. This, I thought, is where God is, and I too prayed. I also see God in the hands of professed non-believers as they tend a sick animal or a wounded bird. In the gift of himself a person makes to a wealthy friend; yet the gift has no monetary value. I see God in my garden as I prop up a weak plant, and realize God gave it life as he did the strong ones, and with help from me, it can have a better life. The biggest crimes to me are the ones which go unpunished. I listen to people willfully and verbally cut and hurt someone. I hear of the businessman who successfully maneuvers himself into his associate's position. Ridicule, intolerance and a host of other crimes are committed, and no penalty is exacted. "If I should die before I wake," there will be no minister to speak over me who knows me. He will just have to reach into his file and pull out a service he reserves for such persons. I look for God on a windy hill, or the valley below, in the firmament, or in people's hearts. But since I need a spiritual home, I will go to church again and hope to find God there.

From a Small Town, a Refugee Gets a Perspective of Us

By JOE C. MORRIS Correspondent Eleven years ago a Cuban moved to a small Baptist college town in central Kentucky. What happened to him will undoubtedly be repeated, one way or another, as Cuban refugees are resettled in more and more small towns across the nation where foreigners are often un-familiar sights. The people in this community, are typical of Americans across the land, who are just as subject to 'misunderstanding'. The Cuban, who prefers to remain anonymous, is now admired and respected as a businessman in his community. "I came here with $7.06 in my pocket," he said, "and the college gave me a job painting dormitory rooms at 33 cents an hour. "I was very grateful. But by the second day, because of what two people said to me, I was blaming the whole town for their stupidity. "A college boy asked me, 'do Cubans still dress like they did when Columbus discivered that land?' And a young man could not understand why I spoke only Spanish. He said, 'after all Cuba is part of the United States.' "I misjudged the mis-information of a few so called educated people and blamed everyone. It wasn't right . . . but that was the result. "Since then I have become an American citizen. And I've learned the ways of the people here. Soon, 20 Cubans now in this area, will have their families joining them. I'll help them make the adjustment. "They will have much to learn about this country and the way of life here. But they'll learn fast from necessity. "If only the Americans, in other small towns, will learn something about the Cuban; his customs, religion, social problem and background — the problem of adjustment will be easier . . . for both."