Coral Gables Historical Archive
The Guide
Thursday, June 1, 1961, page 1 (of 16)
The page
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THE GUIDE
● SOUTH MIAMI ● KENDALL ● FLAGAMI ● WESTWOOD LAKE ● WESTCHESTER ● RED-BIRD ● SUNILAND ● CHAPMAN FIELD ● SNAPPER CREEK Vol. 2, No. 51 Thursday, June 1, 1961 Price 10c BULK RATE U. S. POSTAGE PAID Permit 742 Miami, Fla.
Parker: New District Leader Boy, What a Scout!
A man who spent so much of his leisure time on Boy Scout activities that he decided to make it his life's work is the new leader of District Three. He is Ted J. Parker, 12140 SW 188 St., a man who now finds that scouting occupies all of his time. Parker, who is also finance director for Dade scouts and retains his position as executive for Monroe County, took over the additional duties formerly handled by Paul Brick following a recent cutback on Scout personnel. "I'm trippling in brass," Parker said of his new assignment. "I'm merely serving the District until the Council has the funds to get another man," Parker explained. How did Parker, a native of Birmingham, Ala., get into scouting in a serious way? It was circuitous route, Parker will tell you. His first love was flying, and when he left the University of Alabama he had a chance to fulfill that early ambition by becoming a Navy flyer during World War II. But flying was not what it was cracked up to be and Parker decided to take a new heading. "It was all just a phase," Parker says now in retrospect. He left behind the aeronautical engineering knowledge and the flying experience and looted to a career in medicine. "I came back with the idea of becoming a doctor," Parker said. But medicine is an expensive study that Parker couldn't afford. He turned to bacteriology and poultry at Auburn University where he was graduated in 1950. All this time, Parker had maintained a strong interest in scouting and much of his energy was devoted to the program. Wherever he went, Parker was associated with Scouting. His first troop was a tough one—the Alabama Boys Industrial School, which is a nice way of saying you're trying to make good scouts out of bad actors. The transformation of those boys was amazing, Parker said. "I saw what scouting did for those boys," said Parker, "It reached those kids." And scouting has also reached many of the men and women who have become involved in it. "It has done as much for men," he said, with conviction. One day, his wife Catherine, kidded him about the countless hours he was devoting to Boy Scout movement. She asked him why he didn't make it a profession. Parker did. And he's really been in it ever since. How does Parker feel about Scouting now? "I was searching for something to do where I could feel that my life's work would mean more to me than financial or social acclaim. He has found it in Scouting. Parker has been active in other civic and social work. He helped organize a PTA organization in South Miami. He coaches a Little League baseball team and is a Rotarian. The Parkers have three little Scouts of their own growing up, Catherine Annette, 13, Theodore John III, 10, and Alan, four.
South Miami Roundup with Ed Knight
WHAT'S to become of Tropical Park? Will it remain a horse track? Will it become a dog track or will the track be discontinued for homesites? No one seems to know for sure. But with every Legislature meeting, rumors become rampant about Tropical Park. For lo these many years, Tropical Park has been a horse track. It's not the best in the country or even in Dade, but it doesn't have the best racing dates, either. Nor is it the nearest to the gambling element. ★ ★ ★ ONE RUMOR has it that Saul Silberman will move his operation to Gulfstream Park for the Thanksgiving Day opening. Gulfstream Park is in Hallandale, the nearest to the Beach area where the gamble's park during the running of the horses. In this event, an effort will be made to turn Tropical Park into a dog track, the racing dates for which are not known. At any rate, Tropical Park officials are definitely not satisfied with the yearly yield at the pari-mutuels. To one who cares, definitely not me, Silberman does look a sympathetic ear. Gamblers, aside from wearing big cigars, big cars and expensive clothes, are no different from other motorists. Who in his right mind would want to travel from the northern end of Miami Beach to Tropical Park to drop a bundle? Traffic hatreds are universal. But if Mr. Silberman will run it for just one more Tropical Park racing season he may see a change in the yield. If there is no increase in the dollar flow, he's bound to see a few more cars at his Bird Road track. Yes, sir, The Palmetto Expressway will be in use by the next opening of Tropical Park and Mr. Silberman's element will be able to go from Miami Beach and Northern Dade to Tropical Park via Palmetto Bypass in half the time it takes now. Everyone will be happy with the new expressway — the gamblers, Silberman, the state, the horse owners and the residents who reside near the horse track. The residents have been overlooked completely in this discussion. The merchants have added their two cents, but the residents have yet to be heard. Most residents would rather not have a horse track there in the first place. But the track was there long before the residents so it's something we must live with. But whether Tropical Park should be turned into a dog track is pertinent to the surrounding homeowners. In the first place, dog racing means night racing and this means more confusion on Bird Road than ever before. Night racing would be a public nuisance that would aid no one but Saul Silberman. It would mean more small gamblers, most of whom can little afford the luxury of several nights a week at a dog track. ★ ★ ★ SPINNING THE WHEELS—What is being done about the crime rate in the South- See Roundup Page 8
IRVING WHITMAN was elected president of the Coral Way Jewish Center last week. Whitman's main responsibility will be to coordinate the various religious-social activities at the Center, 8755 SW 16th St. An attorney, Whitman is a former Miami homicide detective who went to night school for five years at the University of Miami to receive his law degree. Married and father of three girls, Whitman lives at 1925 SW 86th Ave.
South Miami Kiwanis Honors Radio Head
South Miami Kiwanis presented its distinguished service award last week to George Thorpe, president and general manager of radio station WVCG. Judge Frank Dowling made the presentation during the Kiwanis' weekly meeting May 25 at the Dixie Belle Inn on South Dixie Highway. Thorpe was given the award for the contribution his radio station, and he as its head, have made to the community. Thorpe, the Kiwanis's guest speaker that day, demonstrated how radio, as a medium, can create a vivid picture in a listener's mind through word association. The radio executive, for example, played a recording of the crack of a bat, followed by a crowd yelling. The word picture created was a baseball game. Don Stang, program director, introduced Thorpe.
Four Sessions In Civil Defense
A four-session civil defense training course, sponsored as a public service by the Flamingo Chapter of National Children's Cardiac Hospital has been scheduled for every Monday evening in June and will be open to the public without charge. Classes, to be supervised and taught by local civil defense personnel, will take place from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. each Monday starting June 5, in Melvin Cohen Hall on the hospital grounds at LeJeune and West Flagler. Minimum age is 14 years. People interested in enrolling for the course are urged to register now by telephoning HI 4-9485.
THE GUIDE
TIMES & GUIDE 40,095 CIRCULATION Published by Gables Publishing Co. 364 Sevilla Ave., P.O. Box 580, Coral Gables 34, Fla. Phone HI 3-1661 ROLFE NEILL.......Editor ROBERT SLANE.......Adv. Mgr.
BOOK DONORS
During the past week the Coral Gables Public Library received gifts of books from Mrs. Louis G. Sachs, 800 Messina Ave.; Richard G. Schmid Jr., 1525 Cecilia Ave.; Mr. and Mrs. Milton Smith, 11301 SW 56th St.; and William Sheperdson, 516 Malaga Ave.
A Girl Meets a Feller Over Checkers
WAITING FOR THE DENTIST, eight year-old Nancy Ackerman wondered which move to make. We think you can tell what happened when 12-year-old William Strobinsky's turn came. Nancy lives at 520 SW 18th Ave. William lives at 1620 SW 9th St. (Guide Photos by Ramond Lang).