The Belleville Telescope from Belleville, Kansas • Page 9

United States, A Can't Do Country 11 seems to us that the United States is becoming a country of "can't do" rather than the country of can do" as it was a few decades ago. Many in Denver and Colorado now say they don't want the 1976 Winter Olympics, that it is too expensive. A member of the Colorado legislature says "The Japs did such a nice job let them do it again." We see this futile attitude when it comes to doing many things. We have seen legislators throw up their hands because of bureaucratic opposition to change of steps toward progress. We admit we can no longer underwrite the 100- cent dollar, we can't compete as well in world athletics as in the past.

Yet there is more demand by the younger generation today for leisure and recreation than at any time in the country's history. We even have difficulty finding candidates for public office on both local, state, and national levels. It is time the United States started recognizing the importance of initiative and ability, and placing greater efforts on goals of achievement. EDITORIAL PAGE THE 102nd YEAR NO. 21 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1972 'What's a Matter, You No See Fishing Boat Belleville, on Two Freeways Belleville's 50-year old copywrited slogan "at the Crossroads of America" may well see accomplishment within the next decade, as a result of the bill just passed by the Kansas Legislature to approve $320-million dollars in highway bonds to accelerate the state's highway program.

But the passage of this bill brings up several problems. Will US81 be allowed to remain in its present poor condition until the new freeway is built, or will the present highway be updated and widened as recommended by Commissioner Bob Kent? The new Kansas highway bill will also provide additional funds for both county and city road departments, funds that are equally badly needed. Yet despite this there are expenses, such as the replacement of bridges in the county that were built more than 50-years ago, for which there are no replacement funds. The $40-million a year highway bill will help, but it is none too soon. Obituaries Have A Value There is a trend toward no longer reading obituaries in the churches.

We have heard different reasons for this change in funeral procedure, one of by M. M. M. Used cars have been called about everything including "previously but Aunt Belle suggests some dealer might try "recycled" for a new term. The Public Mind column of this issue carries further arguments about when and where Jesse James was killed.

One thing we're pretty sure of is the fact that the renown bandit no longer lives. Unlike other forms of living, Valentines seem to grow more conservative over the years. The Japanese did very well in the Winter Olympics which shows that old saying about the home team holds true. them being that the minister likes to include most of the obituary facts in the sermon for a better presentation. There may be arguments pro and con relative to the different churches' attitudes on this matter and we realize that some churches have never used the reading of obituaries in their services.

But anyone in the newspaper business can tell you that obituaries do become permanent records about persons who have passed on. Year after year newspapers have numerous calls from those asking to examine back files of the newspaper to find someone's obituary. The reason? To complete information for a family tree, to determine personal facts for one purpose or another. Nowadays reasonably good records are kept by our vital statistics departments on when a person is born and when he dies, but few records are made that deal with family and other relatives, personal interests of the deceased individual, where and how burial was conducted. Preparing an obituary at the time of death may be difficult, but the decline in the use of obituaries does nothing for "time's record" for those who have passed on.

Public Mind (Short timely letters on current topics are invited. Letters signed by nom de plume must be accompanied by the name of the author for the editor's information, items in this column do not necessarily reflect the editor's opinion.) Writer Still Believes James Death a Hoax In Los Angeles they are planting artificial trees and bushes along the boulevards and in Arizona lawns are being replaced by colored rock, and football fields with Astro turfs. If this keeps up the U.S. may become known as the synthetic country. world in focus Editor The Belleville Telescope Belleville, Kansas Febr.

10,1972 The sparrows that have been "using" our martin house each year, apparently never heard of the fact that birds are supposed to go south for the winter. We forgot the year when we stopped smoking, but can still remember the price of cigarettes at that time was only 15-cents a package. Aunt Belle says she can't understand the philosophy of the value-added tax that is being proposed. She asks "When did taxes ever add to the value" of anything. It is hard to understand how a people known to be as courteous as the Chinese, can be so rude when it comes to peace talks and release of our prisoners.

When my granddaughter calls on the telephone you've got to be ready, or you'll miss the message. It comes clearly, but is brief, and then If we remove our troops from Vietnam, we hope Hong Kong will take back their flu. "YOUTH WITH A PURPOSE" is the theme of National FFA Week, February 19-26. The FFA is a national organization of 430,000 students studying vocational agriculture in 8,200 public schools. The foundation upon which FFA is built includes leadership, character development, sportsmanship, cooperation, community service, thrift, scholarship, improved agriculture, organized recreation, citizenship and patriotism.

We can be glad to live in an area where youths still look forward to tomorrow such as the Future Farmers of America. TEACH RESPONSIBILITY Every time we see the television short on "take your keys out of your car, you may be contributing to a youngster's becoming a thief. we get hopping angry. It is time that youth be taught that life is going to be full of temptations, things that can be taken by simply doing so. But that doing so is committing a crime for which there are penalties, and that one's life can be destroyed by not recognizing these facts.

Every adult who has raised a family realizes that "life's little temptations" are often "hidden" from the unknowing child, but when it comes to blaming the adults for vandalism and theft by teenagers that are old enough to know better, we feel differently. Dear Sir: Recently my long-standing J)elief that Jesse James was not shot and killed by Bob Ford on April 3, 1882 drew mention in your fine newspaper. In your most current publication you featured a rebuttal offered up by J. H. James of Long Beach, California.

It was quite a lengthy piece! I feel that my stand should be afforded as much newspaper space as was given Mr. James in his rebuttal. Your readers are deserving of "accurate" and complete details. So here goes. My extensive research into the matter of Jesse James' death of April 3, 1882 is sufficient enough to label it as a HUGE HOAX! It was a great and glorious hoax perpetrated by Jesse and Frank James AND the then Governor of Missouri T.

T. Crittenden. Bob and Charles Ford NEVER received the ten thousand dollar reward offered for Jesse James (dead or alive). All they received-was $250 apiece along with the warning "to keep your damn mouths shut!" The rest of the so-called reward money went into the pocket of Governor Crittenden. Records confirming the amount actually paid the Fords were uncovered in Jefferson City, Missouri.

The hoax of 1882 was not the first. As early as 1879 one of Jesse's men publicly stated the HE had shot and killed his famed leader. I have in my files complete accounts and the original newspaper reports of this 1879 fabrication. This hoax fell through when too many people saw Jesse after he was supposed to have been killed. But for a long time people did dead in 1879.

Following the 1882 hoax Jesse fled to South America and was there for a number of years. By leaving the country he eliminated all chances of having mis "death" disproved by someone who might recognize him. That had been his downfall three years prior. You see, that member of the James' gang who had said he had killed Jesse in 1879 later confessed publicly that he had not only lied about the killing but had done so on the orders of none other than Jesse James himself. He was supposed to give the reward money over to Jesse.

I have "period" newspaper items detailing this confession. In 1881 Mrs. Zerelda Samuel (Jesse's mother) told the press that BOTH her sons were dead, meaning Jesse and Frank. Of course they weren't dead. But many times did Mrs.

Samuel try to convince people that her boys were dead so that they would stop being hunted. She was dedicated to protecting Jesse and Frank by lying and saying they were dead. She wanted people to think Jesse dead and yet, in April of 1882, when she was led to the coffin bearing the body of "her son, Jesse" she looked down and in disbelieving relief uttered "My God! You've got the wrong man! This is not my son!" Taken into an adjoining room for a few minutes of consultation (and, perhaps, instruction), she came back to the corpse, took another look, and changed her mind. There is a written record of this happening. Also in my research I ran across a Doctor O.

R. Ellmaker who met and knew Mrs. Samuel quite well in 1901. She told him at that time that her son (Jesse) was not dead but still alive! I have in my possession statements by Jesse James III (Jesse's grandson), Charles E. Mason (a great grandson), and Mrs.

S. James Snow (daughter of Frank James). All three statements strengthen my belief that Jesse James was not killed in 1882 by Bob Ford. My guess is that J. H.

James' "Uncle George" was a part of the 1882 hoax. Why not? Everyone else who comprised the "Inner Circle" was! In his rebuttal Mr. James stated that Mrs. Samuel lost an arm when a Pin- ckerton bomb was thrown into her house while they (the Pinkertons) were trying to farrot out "Charley Quantrill and his The bomb ripped off her arm in 1875. Quantrill had been dead for ten years.

Someone should have told the Pinkertons! Someone should tell Mr. James that Quantrill's first name was William and not Charley. His middle name was Clark. There were other errors as well but I guess the errors, misconceptions, and falsehoods surrounding Jesse James always will be with us. I would appreciate hearing from anyone regarding Jesse James.

Thank you. Cordially, Rick L. Mach Community Services Director KSAL Radio and learn By A. C. Gordon 1.

Who was the famous Russian revolutionist who was assassinated while in exile in Maxico? 2. What famous soccer player holds the all-time record for goals scored in a career? 3. What percentage of the world's receive no formal education at all? 4: What is the highest mountain peak in South America? 5. What is a helix? 6. Who was the Italian theologian who ranks as the most influential figure in medieval philosophy? 7.

Which U. S. state is named for the 1 8, Where is the largest private house in vthe world? y. When the first U. S.

Census was taken III 1790, what were the three largest cities? What was the 48th state to be added to IT. prior to Alaska and Hawaii in il Whitin the world's smallest republic? American general who, when requested gave the 13. What four Books of the Bible have names beginning with the letter 14. What is the largest type of grass in the world? 15. What does each of these instruments measure: (a) Anemometer; (b) barometer; (c) hydrometer; (d) ammeter; (e) odometer? 16.

What is a 17. Which were the only three U. S. states in which there was a decrease in the population between the census of 1960 and that of 1970? 18. What was the first American incorporated automobile company? 19.

What are the present-day names of: Xa) Helvetia; (b) Persia; (c) Caledonia; (d) Constantinople? 20. Which on the average is the colder season, spring or autumn? ANSWERS 1. Leon Trotsky (1879-1940). 2. Edwon Arantes do Niascimento, belter known 3.

More than fifty per cent. 4. Aconcagua, Argentina; 22,834 feet $, Anything spiral in form. in 6. Thomas Aquinas (1225-74).

7. Jackson, Miss. 8. The 250-room Biltmore House Asheville, N. 9.

Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, in that order. 10. Arizona, in 1912. 11. Nauru, an island in the west Pacific -with an area of 8.2 square miles.

12. Anthony C. McAuliffe, commander of the 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge. 13. Philemon, Fhilippians, Proverbs, and Psalms.

14. Bamboo. 15. (a) Wind pressure; (b) atmospheric pressure; (c) specific gravity; (d) electric current; (e) distance 16. The intravascular coagulatien of the blood In any part of the circulatory system, as in the heart, arteries, veins, or capillaries.

17. West Virginia, and North and South Dakota. i 18; ThejDuryea Motor Wagon Company, or Springfield, in lMfc 19. (a) Switzerland; (b) Iran; (o) Mr. Nixon On Peace In 1781, Benjamin Franklin wrote in a letter to John Adams: "I have never known a peace made, even the most advantageous, that was not censured as inadequate, and the makers condemned as injudicious or corrupt.

'Blessed are the is, I suppose, to be understood in the other world; for in this (world) they are frequently cursed." The path of peace in Vietnam has seen President Nixon criticized mainly by those who led us down the path to war. His recent disclosure of the secret negotiations that have been carried on since 1969 reveals the intensity of the effort the President is putting into achieving a workable basis for serious negotiations with Hanoi. Mr. Nixon's plan is conciliatory. He has offered to pull out all U.S.

and allied troops within six months after a peace agreement is reached. This is to be accompanied by a mutual release of all prisoners of war by both sides. His plan calls for free elections within six months, internationally supervised and involving all the political interests in South Vietnam. A $7.5 billion rebuilding program, with $2.5 billion earmarked for North Vietnam, would be financed by the U.S. Hanoi, on the other hand, trumpets its own nine-point program-which calls for-a completeand -immediate U.S.

pullout. The differences lie mainly in the totality of Hanoi's demands that we abandon the Thieu Government. There is a lot of parallel thinking in the two offers; there is a lot of serious disagreement. In any event, the ball has been passed to Hanoi by the Nixon offer. World opinion, however, does not seem to exert much influence on the Communist countries.

PoliticaUy, the President has pulled the rug out from under many who have been carping about our "failure" to push for Jnhis televised speech to theHaJjon, the President said: mi the enemy wants peace, it wM ha difference Nixon's mm Meditation "This is my commandment that ye love one another, even as I have loved you." John 15:12. Have you ever wondered what each of us really is seeking from life? The answer, when you have really boiled everything "down, loved and to be understood by everyone else. You may ask, "What can I do about this?" You can do a great deal. You can give what is being sought by everyone. You can give love and understanding.

And, you do have them to give, you know. Everyone of us has this to give. God has endowed each of His children with ability to give love and understanding. When you know that you have love and understanding to give, you feel capable and helpful in the face of another person's needs. You know that what you have to give will reach to the darkest, loneliest place in another person's heart and give him light and warmth.

The best way to help another person, no matter what his need, is to give love and understanding. Give him the love and understanding and tolerance that will help him to have faith in himself and in his life, that will make him feel that he is important and necessary. And the more love and understanding you bestow on others, the more you open yourself to receive the same things from others. This makes for a richer, fuller, and happier life. "A man hath joy in the answer of his mouth; and a word in due season, how good it is!" Proverbs 15:23.

THE TELESCOPE Published by The Incorporated Merle M. Miller, Editor and Publisher Mark L. Miller, News Editor Kenneth Logan, Production Manager Issued every Thursday at East US81 Frontage Road, Belleville, Kansas, Zip Code 64935, Dial 527 2244 or 527 2245. Official City Paper Official County Paper Largest Paid Circulation of Kansas Weekly Newspapers Subscription price $5.50 plus tax per year in Republic, Washington, Jewell, Cloud counties; $5.50 In Thayer, Nuckolls and Jefferson counties; $6.50 plus tax elsewhere in Kansas; $6.50 elsewhere In the United States. A service fee will be charged when subscribers change address without notifying the Telescope In advance of the move..