The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California • Page 22

B-4 THE SUN-TELEGRAM March 17, 1976 Mikesell leads rejection of asphalt plant zoning As zoned M-2. The supervisor said sand and gravel operations ast the disputed site are in accordance with general plan provisions for floor control and water conservation but should not pro-vide justification for an "intensification" of other types of industries in the same area. gravel at the site northwest of Upland. Its source at the Montclair site has been depleted, he said. Mikesell conceded the plant's costs may rise "somewhat," but he added, "It's not going out of business tomorrow morning." He said there are "ample areas" for such plants in the West Valley on sites already By BILL ROGERS Sun-Tlegram Staff Writer SAN BERNARDINO Having disqualified himself from earlier proceedings, Supervisor Daniel D.

Mikesell jumped back into the fray Monday to lead a county board rejection of controversial plans for an asphalt plant northwest of Upland. Mikesell argued from the premise that he and the board have long opposed heavy industrial operations north of Foothill Boulevard across western sections of the San Bernardino Valley because the area is Ideal for residential development. The board unanimously denied a request by Industrial Asphalt, for M-2 (heavy Industrial) zoning that would have permitted the company to relocate its Montclair plant to a site In the San Antonio wash west of the 20th Street- Benson Avenue v. '4 I (-' JHl WMriMin'iiTriiiiirw i wiui. i.JL.

FM'imulk, ''i Montclair store owner wounds robbery suspect 5to photo by Kothy Robollo-laoi tive Lenn Allen said Tuesday afternoon that officers were still seeking two Compton men. Deputies said burglars used a hammer to break open one of the store's doors and then stole a microwave oven and three portable color television sets worth $1,044. Proprietor Bill French, who lives nearby, told Investigators he noticed unusual activity and confronted several men carrying away merchandise. As they fled, French fired his shotgun at one of them, Allen said. Allen said investigators had not determined whether the men were armed.

One television and the microwave over were dropped by the fleeing men. MONTCLAIR A man carrying a television set was shot by the proprietor of a major appliance store near here Tuesday moments after the business was burglarized, sheriff's Investigators said. Sherman Thompson, 20, of Long Beach, suffered shotgun pellet wounds in his back and left leg during the 4:15 a.m. Incident at the Agitator Shop, 4238 Mission Blvd. He was arrested at the scene for investigation of burglary.

Thompson underwent surgery at San Beernardino County Medical Center and was admitted to the hospital's intensive care unit In satisfactory condition. Another Long Beach resident, Clarence Scott, 22, was arrested about 8 a.m. In Long Beach and was jailed for investigation of burglary. Detec Nellie Emel Smith gets her 100th birthday cake 100th St. Patrick's Day is both happy and sad for her Santa Fe strike Intersection.

The supervisors, however, approved such zoning to allow American Pac Concrete Pipe Co. (Ampac) to keep its pipe manufacturing plant in operation in the same area until its easement permit from the Flood Control District expires in 1984. Mikesell recalled that Ampac moved to the area some years ago as a "light industry" under a variance. The variance Is to expire in July and cannot be renewed. Industrial Asphalt's plan attracted heavy opposition from Upland and Claremont residents in the area and from the Upland City Council during recent lengthy hearings before the planning commission and the board.

The commission voted in favor of the company's proposal. Mikesell disqualified himself from hearings on the environmental Impact report last fall on the basis he could be challenged as being biased because he had led several past board denials of plans for asphalt plants In the area. The Second District supervisor denied at the time that he disqualified himself because the company's vice president, William E. Cozzo, is an old friend. He said privately he opposed the plan.

Recuperating from prostate surgery, Mikesell missed the board's recent hearing on the zoning request. But on the basis of having read the board minutes and listened to a tape recording of the hearing, Mikesell finally barged into the case Monday. He explained to reporters he had hoped Cozzo would withdraw his request before it reached the board. Denying his earlier abstention had anything to do with friendship, however, he said that over the years he has "denied perhaps 15 friends," including Cozzo on one other occasion, In their attempts to establish heavy manufacturing operations In areas across the valley north of Foothill. Cozzo, currently making his second run in four years as a candidate for Supervisor Nancy E.

Smith's board seat, later told a reporter ho would have dropped his zoning request before It reached the board had Mikesell Insisted on it, Mikesell claimed he did tell Cozzo he should not pursue It. Mikesell likened the board's policy regarding areas north of Foothill to Its past actions reserving a large part of the Chino Valley for dairies and other heavy agriculture and setting aside the area south of Foothill between Fontana and Ontario for Industry. He contended this has wisely kept (incompatible uses from mixing and has provided a "balanced economy" for the West Valley. Cozzo contended during the heal ings that his Montclair plant would face a serious lncrea.se in transorta-tion costs if it were not allowed to move to a new source of sand and By KATHY REBELLO-REES Sun-Tiltgrm Staff Wrlttr RIALTO Today means more than Just St. Patrick's Day to Nellie E.

Emel and her family. It marks a day that is both very special and very sad. Mrs. Emel is 100 years old today. It would be nice to say Mrs.

Emel is doing well, that after 100 years she's still alert and sharp but that wouldn't be true. Mrs. Emel Ls dying. She has not eaten in five days and her daughter, Connie Fletcher, has a Mormon bishop come to their home to bless her mother. "She's awful bad.

She opens her eyes a little but they're blank," Fletcher said Tuesday. "She won't get better this time. She's dying. "I'm sure when she goes I won't be too heartbroken because I know she won't suffer anymore. It Just make me feel sorry the way old people are treated.

They don't get respect. "The majority of people cherish aged things, like aged cheese, aged wines, aged furniture, you know, antiques. But when it comes to the old person they're not cherished, they're not treated with the respect they're due. "If children would love and protect them there would be so much love in the world. They wonder why I keep her (Mrs.

Emel) here. I won't put her in a convalescent home. A hospital if I have to, but not a convalescent home." Fletcher has been caring for her mother the past 10 years. When Mrs. Emel first came to stay with her daughter she was crippled, getting from one place to another with the help of a walker.

Within three years she was completely bedridden. At that time Fletcher arranged a bed for her mother in the dining area of her niobilehome. She quit working and devoted her time to watching al ter her mother. Mother and I used to talk a lot. She'd tell me all kinds of stories.

And sometimes lately she'd still say something," Fletcher said. "Not too long ago she said to me, 'It's hard to remember. But I believe it's for the best we can't remember everything' I think that's true." As if proving her conviction, Fletcher couldn't remember many details of her mother's life. Most of the dates for births, marriages and divorces were guesses. Vet Fletcher's memories of her mother's strong, yet kind character, her semmingly endless ability to work and the rugged life they lived are still very vivid.

Mrs. Emel was born in Cherokee Indian Strip, Oklahoma. Although she Is now called Nellie, she was christened Natawa a Cherokee name Fletcher can not translate. "Mother is half Cherokee. Oh, could she outdo women.

And when she was young she took a beauty prize out of 40 girls. She was that pretty." At age 17 Mrs. Emel married a man whose last name was Castleberry. But again Fletcher could not remember his first name, nor when he died. "He died young when their boys were little, then Mom got sick, real sick.

They put her in the hospital. That's when she lost her two boys, the twins. They took them away from her while she was in the hospital. She never saw them again. "In those days they didn't have any laws to protect you.

So when she put them in a children's home while she was sick they gave them away." The twins were Louis and Lyonal Castleberry. "I don't know how old the boys would be now. They're probably dead. But it'd be nice if they knew who their mother was and that she's still alive." About 1902 Fletcher's mother married James Abner Smith. She gave birth to seven children one of them Connie but only three survived.

"The children were all born at home. But mother worked so hard in the fields behind the plow, she'd have the children early. It's a shame. It's a shame she worked so hard and then wound up with nothing." Fletcher described how she traveled with her family in a covered wagon to Colorado where her father started a farm. "We lived In a dug-out.

We had a dirt floor and dirt steps. I remember my Dad was always taking care of the horses and hauling barrels of water. "And my mother, she worked so hard, Fletcher continued, "she helped dig the dug-out. How brave she was then. She could shoot as good as any man.

She could hit a deer or a bear right on sight. "And she made all our socks and clothing by hand. They didn't have any machines then. Those days the women worked hard. And she could take any rattlesnake and Indian herb and make medicine." Sometime before 1935 her mother and father divorced but Fletcher couldn't remeber the exact year.

She did remember her mother married Frank Emel in 1935, the same year they moved to a house on South Willow Street here. Emel dJed In 1956 at the age 79. "But before he died they got old and couldn't take care of the home any more. They couldn't take care of the trees and the hedges. That's when I became their watchdog." Mrs.

Emel had other Interest besides work. "She had a hobby kindness. That's the only thing I can say about Mama. There wasn't anybody she wouldn't feed. She'd even bring a bum in and feed him.

"Mama was always helping people. Even a girl who got pregnant and wasn't married. She could come and talk to mama. Mama was broadminded." At that, Mrs. Emel awoke, ane raising her arms in the air, she suddenly laughed.

"Mama doesn't know what she's saying anymore," Fletcher said as she watched her mother. "I'd take her to the hospital where they could feed her Intravenously, but the doctors said they can't find her veins, they've all collapsed." Although Mrs. Emel is not cognizant, Fletcher said she plans a small party for her mother complete with birthday cards and cake. But the party will Include just Fletcher, her mother and a neighbor. Fletcher said the rest of her family refused to come to the party.

"They said they don't want to see mother this way. They want to remember her the way she used to be." Mrs. Emel has two other surviving children: Marcaret Cockrell of Esrondido, and James C. Smith of Joshua Tree. She also has 12 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren.

monthly paycheck, he said. Some of the alleged overpayments total more than $2,500. The striking workers were employed In the rail's offices and stations. But the company said another represented by other unions observed the picket lines. The company spokesman said the strike came "as a complete surprise" because the carrier has a contract with the union which does not expire until 1977.

Before the strike ended, the railroad had begun winding down Its service, halting freight trains at terminals and operating Amtrak passenger trains with supervisory personnel. Those Amtrak trains which were en route when the strike started continued on to their destination. Many scheduled trains never left. Most of the passenger service involved California and Texas points. Santa Fe also operates In Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma, Illinois, Colorado and Louisiana.

Vegas shutdown is no boom for Adelanto ADELANTO Hi Desert Casino manager Lee Evans said a Las Vegas culinary workers and musicians' strike has caused little increase In cardroorn business. Evans said the casino has "don't believe what they read in the papers and go up (to Las Vegas) anyway. Legal games at the cardroorn are high draw and lo-ball poker and pan guinea. (Continued from Metro) coordinated the passage of trains that were moving when the stroke began. But few trains moved during the morning.

In Needles, 22 men and women began their picketing at 4 a.m. on Front Street at Sante Fe Park. One of their picket signs said, "Santa Fe all the way, except on Civil Rights Act." Another says, "Santa Fe owes its tradition to the Spanish-American but they won't promote us." In Chicago, Union President C. L. Dennis said that the strike v-as called because Santa Fe "had continued to put off resolution of issues regarding recall rights and alleged overpayment of wages to our members." Dennis said the union, following procedures in the Railway Labor Act, notified Santa Fe on Nov.

27 that It wanted certain changes In Its existing contract. Formal talks between the union and the carrier ended Feb. 19, but both sides had conferred off and on until Monday. The union had requested a contract change to prohibit the carrier from taking seniority away from employes who decline work assignments in the Santa Fe system up to 400 miles away from home, Dennis said. Under current contract language, an employe may be required to change residence at his or her personal expense or be fired, he said.

A second change sought by the union would amend the contract to prevent the Santa Fe from collecting overpaid wages from its employes, Dennis said. Under this practice, he said, Santa Fe has advised some employes that overpayment of salaries and fringe benefits had been made to them in the last five years. Then, with no recourse available, the employe sees up to $150 withheld from his or her San Bernardino water board OKs more Loma Linda water 4V 0 TV-: v- -avowal jLl its own well, but its money Is now committed for construction costs for the hospital facility itself. "The 300-gallons-per minute at the location where we now have the service to Loma Linda would not cause any problems to our system," Wessel explained. He said a tentative agreement has been drafted and will be submitted to Loma Linda officials before final commission approval requested.

In other business, the commission approved setting up a "red carpet'' system at City Hall's central cashier ing office, similar to that used in banks. Department Finance Director David Erzlnger said conditions ar4 "very chaotic" now at noon and on, the 1st and 15th of the month when large numbers of people go to th cashiering center to pay bills. Construction worker dies in fall from embankment By RICHARD S. KIMBALL Sun-Tangram Sta" Wrltar SAN BERNARDINO The city water commission has approved making additional water available to Loma Linda to meet standby requirements of the new Veterans Adminbtration Hospital. The commlvsion Monday authorized the water department staff to negotiate an agreement with Loma Linda to supply it with a 300-gallon-per-minute water supply at 9 6 cents 100 cubic feet the same price sma Linda pays for its existing per minute supply from the San Bernardino system.

Water Department General Manager Herbert B. Wessel said Loma Linda officials believe they have sufficient capacity to serve the hospital now, "and the 300 gallons will prohahly actually never be tak en However, he explained. The Veterans Administartion is requiring the additional upply in case it Is needed Wessel said the agreement will probably last for two years He said the hospital eventually plans to have V'l. Itoff ohoto by Or tchnalalor Gas fumes, glass and bent metal MENTONE A 47yoarild Bernardino man working on a Highway .18 widening project north east of here died Tuesday aftt-r fell down a 40-foot embankment, authorities said The drill slipped from it collar and Silva stepped out of its way ami! plunged down the slope, Rubidoux said The p.m. accident occured about one-half mile east of the Mill Creek Ranter Station.

Silva. an fc. cacer t'onM ruction Co emploe, suffered head amF chest injuries and was dead on am, val at Rrdlands Community Uospiul Rubidoux iid. The body was taken to Ifcihhitt Memorial Chapel Investiciatois inspect the wreckage of a pickup truck that was involved in a two-vehicle coIIisicmi Tuesday 'at Esparatva and streets in San Bernardino. The truck's three occupants escaped senuos injury, although the driver Gilbert Truiequn.

of T4939 f. Vine San Bernardino was temporarily trapped inside, police said The other driver, whose identify was not available, was taken to a local hospital for treatment of head injuries. Officer Tom Lahey said. The cause of the 9: lb p.m. accident was not immediately determined.

Dep. Coroner FVn Rubidoux said Proceso I'adilla Silva of 14" Morse St. was assisting other workmen lift out a drill used to hore blasting holt's in nvk to add another section.