The Mercury from Pottstown, Pennsylvania • Page 1

B1GLDAIRJ not COMKJBW LINK C. KEISER CO St Copyright, 1952 by PotUtowa Co. RiflxU of Republication of All Local Ncwn Pottstown VOL. 22, NO. 80 TELEPHONE 6000 ASSOCIATED PRESS 9ENTBAL PRESS POTTSTOWN, TUESDAY Mercury MORNING, DECEMBER 30, 1952 AREA BUILDERS Tl Win Money PLAN HOUSES FOR NEW YEAR Contractors i i i In Spite of Drop Predictions RECENT ABOLITION OF BANS CITED AS CAUSE FOR PLANS TELEPHONE 6000 ASSOCIATED CENTRAL PRESS Se A COPT A WEEK Building of homes led the list of anticipated projects by Pottstown area builders and contractors for the coming' year, which also include a church and two bank build- Ings.

Notwithstanding national reports that the home building industry will take a drop in J.953 because supply has reached the level of demand for dwelling units, local builders feel optimistic as indicated by their plans and commitments, they said last night. The jecent abolition of restrictions" on down payments vital materials also were cited as reasons for continued building of various structures in this area. For Fire, Injury It's fun to report news. What's more it's worth money if you report news to The Mercury. A barn fire in which 15 cattle perished, the fractured Jeg of a 70-year-old woman and a ginger bread house which children will eat after the holidays, were among tips which paid dividends to tipsters who called The Mercury.

Five dollars went to Abraham Prince, 448 Apple street, for his tip on Mrs. Pearl Baer, 450 Apple street. Mrs. Baer fell in a gutter outside her home as she was returning from a visit to a sick friend. She was' found early Sunday (Continued on Paje Seven) Creates Beauty From Unusual Forms IMPERSONATOR PLEADS GUILTY, GETS-SENTENCE a Is i During Performance At Diner' by saving that plans reported now the year with James Frank Williams Daveu- aort, alias, FranMe Davis, 27, of Nashville, pleaded guilty Mont- By ROBERT E.

HOYER (Mercury Staff Writer) PottstowrTs 1952 budget will slip off the calendar with a surplus in excess of $30,000. J. Wayne Knause, Seventh ward, chairman of finance committee, told council last gomery of addi- Judge Harold tional projects, which still are in the negotiating' stage, during the; latter months of 1953. i in an obscene exhibition during a performance as a female impersonator Art's diner, West High street, on Nov. 22.

Hejvas directed to pay costs and re at Warren and (Continued on Pure Seven) Modern Innovations In Home Building To Go on Display The latest innovations in modern building will be on display at Sunnybrook ballroom, March 19 to 25. JPottstownBuilding Industries and The Exchange is an, organization of general contractors, sub-contractors and building suppliers. Chairman of the committee planning the event is Edmund K. Lindemuth, general of Merritt Lumber Yard incorporated. Working with him are James C.

Wilke and Allen K. Davidhciser, Pottstown builders. The committee reported last night at the Exchange's monthly meeting that 70 booths "will be packed with new home products. Half of the booth space already has been sold. ON EXHIBITION will be model kitchens in wood and metal with modern electrical appliances.

New heating systems will be open to public inspection and folding doors, which have only recently oeen installed in new homes, will be on display. New products will be furnished (Continued on Page Five) Refuse Collection Changed for Holiday The holiday schedule of garbage collections announced by Horace B. Gulden, borough manager, yesterday. The route scheduled for collection tomorrow will be collected commencing 12:01 a. m.

Receptacles containing refuse should be set out tonight. Thursday's route will be collected tomorrow morning Immediately upon completion of tomorrow's route. Refuse should be set out early tomorrow morning. The two days' collections will be completed by 1 o'clock tmorrow afternoon, thereby permitting the collectors to enioy the holiday. Collections Will return to normal routine next week.

Discarded Christmas trees will be collected by the refuse contractor during the week of Jan. 5. THE WEATHER For Eastern Pennsylvania: Today, rather cloudy with a high of 38 to 45. Occasional light rain. Tomorrow, cloudy and colder in the afternoon and night.

42 Mercury 20 Antics High Low TEMPERATURE EXTREMES Local temperatures yesterday early this morning were: 4 m. 20 P. m. 5 A. 20 n.

m. 6 a. ,...,20 6 p. m. 7 7 TJ.

m. ft. ...23 o. m. ft a 27 m.

10 a. 10 o. m. 11 a. m.

35 II TI, m. 12 m. 38 12 m. I 39 1 m. m.

2 rn- 3 i. m. nw .42 .40 ,18 36 36 ..37. 32 31 ,.30 Davis, who said lie was Tilled as the "male Dagmar" was arrested with two other performers, Frank of Brooklyn, and Jay Colby, 32, of New York along with Arthur Sirer, then" proprietor of the The others are out on bail awaiting hearings on similar charges. Sizer lias sold his place since the incident.

In entering a plea of guilty, Davis was cleared of one charge involving the State Liquor Control act. who refuses to lonety although forcement officer for the State Ldfluor Control board, who said he went diner on three separate occasions Nov. 7,12, and 21 (Continued on Pare SeTen) Arson Investigator To Probe Origin of $25,000 Barn Fire Investigation by an arson specialist into the $25,000 barn fire in Pennsburg RD 1 early Sunday morning in which 15 cows were burned to death will start today. The investigation will be conducted by State Police Sgt. Charles Taylor, of the Belmont barracks in Philadelphia, who said yesterday that he received a telephone call from Wilson Green, Montgomery county fire marshal, detailing him to the job.

Taylor said he is not sure exactly what evidence of arson he will seek since he has not yet visited the scene of the fire. Green, who has been conducting an investigation of the fire, and was on the scene at the time of the fire and again later in the day, said he summoned Taylor because he considered it a "very suspicious fire," He would not make any other comment beyond this statement LESTER M. MILLER, Red Hill fire chief, who also declined any comment last night until the investigation is completed, said that one of his assistants will aid Taylor in searching for clues of arson. The fire of undetermined origin which destroyed all the stock owned by LeRoy S. Anders, was discovered by Lester H.

Nacc, who thought his own barn was aflame --Mercury Staff Photo Unborn sea snails and the scales of garfish become a red-and-green poinsettia flower under the imaginative hand of 73-year-old Mrs. Mary E. "Mollie" Stalker, 836 North Charlotte street. On the easel is a three-dimensional ''painting." The raw materials of the flowers and leaves include seed pods" from black-eyed susans, orange blossom seedpods, cut pine cones and sea shells. Mrs.

Stalker, a widow living alone in her big house, has "spent thousands of hours looking for her unusual taw materials and thousands more on selecting, cementing and painting them. She refuses to commercialize her hobby. Holiday Greetings Are Made From Garfish Scales By FRED C. SELBY (Mercury Staff Writer) Mrs. Mary "Mollie" Stalker, 836 North Charlotte street, a 73-year-old widow of unborn whelk, the offspring and color.

In the living room and be idle or she's alone in a big house, can make attractive holiday greetings from the scales of garfish and from unborn whelk'. The widow of Thomas R. Stalker, who Downed a service station at South, Hanover- street- for many has been r-following- her hobby since 1938, when she and her husband made their first trip to Florida. Very briefly, what she does is take such things as tiny sea shells or pine cones or seed pods, study their basic shape and pattern and find out what kind of tiny flower they could be made to resemble with glue, paint and shellac. Her 1952 "Season's Greetings" card has a big, three-dimensional pomsettia flower on the front The red petals and green flowers are made of groups of garfish scales.

The yellow and dark-green centers of the flower are made of groups the kind of sea shells you to your ear to hear the sea. VIEWED FROM even a short dis- the poinsettia would be detected as something else than a beautiful painting or the real 1 thing only by a' flower expert. The big enclosed porch of her home is filled with jars holding shells and sea pods that she has collected over the years. On the walls are several three-dimensional paintings made of shells and seeds little -animal figures made entirely of shells. The entire house is fL'led with art Pottstonians to Get at Least One Day To Recover From New Year's Eve New Year's Club Celebrations Stay At '51 Price Range By NORMAN REED (Mercury Staff Writer) If you didn't- go broke paying for the 1951 New Year's Eve party, chances are you'll stay solvent Most Pottstonians will have at least a day to recover from the din of banging pots and pans and noisy rattles and horns which will be set off at midnight tomorrow to welcome 1953.

Industry's machines will remain idle and typewriters will stay'cov- ered as workers spend the first day of The New Year in leisure. Though most borough residents will again this year. That's the outlook revealed by a check'of Pottslown's clubs, lodges and cafes last night. In general, chairmen of New Year's Eve parly committees said, cover charges and prices oC food and liquor will stay about the same as the past year at this time. Managers of public places of entertainment in the area indicated that their price lists would not be raised for New Year's Eve.

'ALL PRIVATE clubs taking reservations in advance exp'ect a full house tomorrow night, with some when he saw a red glow in the sky; already sold out. at approximately 2 a. Sunday. Red Hill," Pennsburg and Green (Continued on rate A crowd of 400 in the Diecaster's (Continued on fuse Seven) New Year's Eve of 1902 Was Quiet New Year's Eve in the streets, i to welcome 1903 were serenading clubs and churches of Pottstown SOjparties, the Philadelphia Drum years ago was relatively quiet. jcorps and the Salvation Army, "Not so much noise as usual," a i which held a parade after midnight iieadline in the old Daily honor of the new year.

Ledger lamented. But it was still a The choir 'most church was sive celebration," the paper revealed. whistles, "shooting irons," and saluted the year 1903 as- it emerged "unscarred and unsullied" into the light of history. In the social clubs "the boys were all on hand and the New Year was ushered in by singing gay songs and drinking wine," the paper reported. A "JOLLY MOOD" prevailed in the streets, although there was a of First Methodist one of the singing groups that -serenaded shut-ins on New Year's Eve.

Watchnight meetings were held at the beginning of 1903 by First Methodist, Salem Evangelical, Trinity Evangelical and Baltzell United Brethren churches. The church services took the form of personal experience meetings, lasting i 9:30 p. m. until after midnight. Prices of food and entertainment seemed reasonable enough 50 years ago.

Hittle's Eating house, 15 North Hanover street, was willing to serve meals "at all hours" at dining room are 44 frames holding real paintings, her own. type of paintings and examples of needlework she has done. Needlework was her hoboy for many years. She maintained yesterday she decided to give this up because her house was overflowing with samplers and pillows and lampshades with exquisite embroidery on them. Mrs.

Stalker' took up her unusual, hobbyj after she fell in. love jth "Whenul" Brought tne trip shells home, tried to find out (Continued on Page Fiye) others will not return to their jobs until Monday morning. Even clubs and organizations with meetings scheduled for New Year's day either have canceled the i or arranged another date. Some borough churches have scheduled watch night services tomorrow. St.

Peter's Lutheran church, Stowe, and Trinity Evangelical Congregational church will hold services at 11 p. Bethel 1952 Budget Will Show Surplus Of 530,000, Council Learns finance chairman explained the cost of the highway and water building will be amortized over "two or three or maybe four or five years. This won't be decided wish to thank the difefrent convnut- until we make up the 1953 budget." COST OF the building and property on which it has been built at Beech and Grant streets (former building is amortized over three years the cost per year will be S18- 300. Knause said on council floor, "I night the budget will show junk yard site of John Balogh, who lives at 323 Chestnut street) will total $55,000. This money has been paid to iBalogh, and to Sanders and Thomas, tee heads for keeping within their budgets.

I know the highway (Chairman Paul Marshall, Tenth ward) and police (Chairman Earl R. Strange, West ward) departments were interested at all times i staying within their budgets." Knause reported the finance committee at its last meeting decided the water department should pay $250 a month or yearly rental to the bor- (Contmued on pa.se Seven) 'at least" a surplus. Knause made his prediction and then snapped, ''I wish to rm-rpr-t an prroriPOUS oalus collect an erioneous lepou contractors who constructed the borough will be in building. If the cost of the hole $23,000 for the year's operation. "We had an expenditure for a highway and water building of more than $50,000 which was not included in the budget.

Even taking this figure into consider a tion-i we would have an operating deficit Michael Sweda, a 25-year Reifsnyder, Sixth ward, read Ru- ML G. Sweda Approved as Councilman In 3d Ward, Succeeding George Ruyak of approximately and this is only from a technical standpoint. "As far as the budget is concerned we have a substanial surplus." After the session, the veteran THIS WEEK SET FOR OPENING OF MARCH OF DIMES Goal Is Established At $4500; Report On Polio Given The March of Dimes will open in Pottstown this week with its goal of $4500, it was announced yesterday by Clarence Yocom, general local chairman, who has had first-hand look at how polio can stake. In conjunction with the drive's impending start, the Montgomery county chapter, National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, yester i the county's polio death irate is de creasing and that retailed the history of the past year's toll. The March of Dimes is being conducted in Pottstown this year for the first time by the Pottstown Teachers association.

Yocom, a biology teacher in Pottstown Senior High school, is have at least a one-day holiday, New Year with a candlelight serv- AME church is holding services atpe father of 22-year-old Mel Yocom 10 p. Holiness Christian church will observe watch night services. at 10'30 p. m. FIRST CHURCH of the Brethren will begin its services at 9 p.

First Baptist church is holding services at 9:45 p. and First Methodist church is welcoming thel ice at 8 p. m. Pottstown banks will close their doors at 3 p. m.

tomorrow and will open again for business Friday morning. The Pennsylvania State Employment service office will have an extended holiday. The office will be close'd from 5 p. m. tomorrow until Monday morning.

Firestone Tire and Rubber (Continued on Pace Five) (Continued on Page Seven) Area Ice Skaters Get First Opportunity Pottstown area ice skaters got 'their first chance to unlimber flabby legs yesterday as the kept his frosty breath funneling in from the West. At Lakeside inn in Limerick and at Lodal creek dam east of Limerick along Route 422, skaters cut their first figures eights and bruised their first thighs of the new Winter season But the weatherman may break up the fun before long. He promises cloudy weather (Continued on Page employe of the Bethlehem Steel company, Mill be sworn in as a Third ward councilman tonight in borough hall. He will replace George P. Ruyak, who submitted his resignation on council floor last night.

Counci approved Sweda as Ms successor Ruyak has moved out of the Third ward to a new home at 1033 Pine street. In other action, council voted to enlist the aid of Tire Marshal George Herbst to clear West High, street junk yard of John 323 Chestnut street, and re-appointed members to the board of health, borough authority and the zoning board of adjustment. Sweda will be sworn in between 1 and 7:30 o'clock tonight, Council President William Pigs, Three Buildings Destroyed in $6400 New Berlinville Fire A $6400 fire killed 31 small pigs and two brood sows in a shec yesterday afternooa on. Emil Stand liardf aim in.New 1 a corn crib ancLgaragi attached to it and the contents all three also were destroyed by the blaze which began about 4 p.m. Standhart said he believed one of the pigs tore the wire connected to an infra-red lamp used to heat the first floor of the shed, causing a short circuit which started the fire.

A barn near-by was scorched and hay in the loft had ignited but Fireman Robert Richard, of the iberty Fire company, New Ber- inville, climbed the inside stairs vith a hose and quenched the hay blaze. MEMBERS OF THE LIBERTY COMPANY, the Friendship Hook and Ladder company and Keystone Tire company, both of Boyertown, battled the fire for three hours. Standhardt valued the -buildings at $4500 and the destroyed equipment at $1980. Insurance covers a part of the loss. Only concrete )locks and charred bits of the 'rame parts of the three buildings left.

The shed was a story and a half high, the garage and corn crib were one story tall. Destroyed in the 30 by 36 foot shed besides the pair of sows (Continued on Seven) yak's letter of resignation at'last night's meeting, i HE THEN thanked Ruyak for his service on council. He "George, your letter of resignation is one of those things which happens in a man's life. You were conscientious and fair-minded in your service. You might say you have shown plenty of guts in carrying out your job.

"I know you have displayed to the constituents in, your ward the kind of service they admire. I sincerely say I'm sorry to see you leave. But nevertheless, thats the way it is." J. Wayne Knause, Seventh, wari chairman of finance committee, then moved the resignation, be accepted "with Wrltark Henricksi Tenth ward, seconded the motion and asked for a standing vote of thanks, Councilmen' stood and applauded Ruyak. CouncE then passed a Tesolution which approved Sweda as Ruyak's successor.

Burgess William A. Griffith, presented a series of photographs Balogh's West End- tract taken by J. Linton. with the new police camera. "Photos around to commented, "I believe these will show you what is happening up there.

I think the fire marshal should be notified." Council then voted to submit the problem to the fire marshal. At the Dec. 8 session members directed the investigation of the Salogh tract which is bordered by (Continued on Page Five) 650 Local Voters Warned They Might Ballot Privilege By Staff Correspondent NORRISTOWN, Dec. 29- -The Well-Dressed Choir for New Year noticeable "absence of shooters," I prices ranging from 15 cents to 25 Among the groups who turned out Shown (hey prepare to start the new year in brand-new robtK members of Salem Evangelical United Brethren church's junior choir. The young slnger are, first row, left right, Linda Swavely, on Carol Swuvely, Silly Sconncly, -David Sackal and Janet Stoiidt, In --Mercury Staff Photo the second row, left lo right, are, Andrew Sackal, Toni Mariano, Bevcrley Martene Donna and Judy Zeigler.

The robes were presented to the choir by the mothers' guild of the church. names of approximately 650 Pottstown. voters are included on a list of 12,046 residents of Montgomery County who may lose their voting privileges in 1953 for failing to vote in 1951 and 1952. That was disclosed today by Kenneth H. Hallman, chief clerk of the County Voters' Registration commission, as he announced that letters were being sent to the listed registrants.

The letters warn that if the registrants do not ask for reinstatement within the next 10 days their names will be removed from the permanent registration files in accordance with provisions of the Voters' Registration act. Hallman estimated that between 40 to 50 percent of those on the list, will ask for reinstatement. The past year, he said, the county sent out 14,595 letters. Of this number he estimated that about 1100 were to electors on the Pottstown rolls. The county had 197,322 voters listed as eligible for voting in the presidential election in November.

This was a record total. ON THE MAIN DRAG MRS. THELMA ELLIS --riding a horse for the first time. GEORGE YOST --cooking his own dinner. MIRIAM LUDWIG --enjoying a vacation.

DOUGLASS MOYER a church meeting, JEANNE NIMMERICHTER --selling valentines. ABE JACOBS --discussing the holidays. DENIS COVER --answering the telephone. MIRIAM KECK --working on bills, ANDY HARP --working overtime. MOKRIS GAVIN --proud of his outdoor calendar.

JEWS PA PER I nFWSPAPFRf.