The Parsons Sun from Parsons, Kansas • 1

mfte Parson PRICE: 10 CENTS PARSONS KANSAS 67357 VOLUME 100 NO 255 38 PAGES THREE SECTIONS TUESDAY EVENING APRIL 11 1972 ii ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SERVICE Rohmiller Appointed Chetopan Named Valuation Director The Country Parson planning too much for the future many folks miss the fun of the present' Myron George Dies at Age 72 Once in House Myron George who served four terms in Congress from the old 3rd Kansas district died early today in the Labette County Medical Center He was 72 years old The former congressman long had been ill of a pulmonary disorder and was confined to his home at 3015 30th Drive in Parsons most of the time in recent years He had been retired since 1961 His death occurred at 5:20 am The nine county southeast Kansas district which George represented in Washington is part of the larger 5th District now having lost its identity in subsequent reapportionment A native of Erie and a southeast Kansas resident practically all of his life George was secretary of the State Highway Commission at the time he was nominated by 3rd District Republicans to succeed the late Herbert A Meyer of Independence in Congress Meyer died after his renomination in August 1950 to a third term in Congress County committees acted to choose George as the GOP nominee for the seat and he was elected in November His service in Congress actually began on Nov 27 1950 fill- for eight years on the board of trustees for Labette Community College and is a past post commander of the American Legion He is a Democrat appointment is effective immediately He will serve until the Senate confirms his appointment in the 1973 legislature and then at the pleasure of the governor East Kansas Has Chance of Showers An 80-degree reading at 1 pm today in Parsons meant that a new high for the area was likely The previous high here was 81 on Feb 29 There also was a south wind of 15-25 mph and occasional sunshine The low was 62 and the high on Monday 72 A trace of rain was noted on Monday TOPEKA Kan (AP) Kansas laces high rain possibilities until Wednesday when clouds will begin to dissipate in the eastern part of the state High temperatures today and Wednesday will generally be in the 70s with night time lows in the 40s in western Kansas and in the 50s elsewhere Clear to partly cloudy conditions are forecast for the three days beginning Thursday with little if any precipitation Temperatures for that period will be cooler dropping by Saturday to daytime highs ranging from the 50s to 60s On Monday highs were from 65 at Topeka to 79 at Wichita lows from 39 at Goodland to 65 at Pittsburg 0 () By JIM DAVIS Many persons have been saving empty cigaret packages Stacks of them have been accumulated in Parsons and Oswego and probably elsewhere in the area The reason? It is said they are redeemable by cigaret companies for a good cause A Parsons source asked FYI to publicize the project She said the beneficiaries would be a little girl and a young boy in Junction City and the other in Council Grove Both children are suffering from a disease which requires a machine to treat their blood the source said We assume a dialysis apparatus is what she meant Are cigaret companies really redeeming empty cigaret packages? We put the question to Earl Vandervoort of Parson a representative of the Brown Williamson Tobacco Corp which makes cigarets a he said "Just a Participants in the project are saving all kinds of cigaret packages not just those of one brand know cigaret companies going to redeem something like Vandervoort said An inmate of the Kansas State Industrial Reformatory wrote a letter to Parsons about a Junction City child in need of blood treatment He said he is a member of the Rock Castle Jaycees in the reformatory He said of cigaret packages that forty packs (empty) will get her a pint of He did not enlarge on that Not long ago good-hearted people saved cigaret packages to obtain a seeing eye dog for a blind person This proved to be a hoax Farther back a similar hoax involved cigaret packages and an iron lung TOPEKA Kan (AP) Gov Robert Docking announced today appointment of a former legislator Harold Rohmiller of Chetopa as director of the state Property Valuation Department Rohmiller who served in the Kansas House of Representatives for two terms in 1967-70 succeeds Clarence Malone who resigned about a month after the Senate had confirmed his appointment Malone will remain with the department as its chief legal counsel which he has been for several years Malone was named acting property valuation director last fall after Ronald Dwyer Wellington resigned the post for health reasons Docking then named Malone department director and the appointment was confirmed by the Senate in early March shortly before the 1972 session adjourned The position has a salary of about $13000 which is some $4000 below that of attorney for the department Malone had been handling both jobs of director and attorney Rohmiller is now semi-retired but raises cattle and has a variety of business interests including banking and construction He was a teacher for 20 years An Air Force veteran of World War II Rohmiller served School Tax SUN PHOTO STANDING The official rain gauge at the home of Currigan federal weather observer in Parsons stands empty and waiting for rain promises to be fulfilled (The Kansas forecast today through Wednesday cited a high possibility of rain after that little if any precipitation for the next few days) So far in 1972 the Currigan gauge has measured a skimpy 204 inches while normal for the first three months of the year is 585 Only traces have been recorded in April and none of any consequence since 60-inch on March 24 Petition Planned Act Against School WELL WILLIAM WOODHOUSE has wintered it out in Parsons At the end of the week he will be off to see another hunk of the world Woodhouse is from Durban South Africa He is seeing things on non-luxury terms He served on a yacht crew was shipwrecked at the mouth of the Amazon hitchhiked by boat truck and what-have-you over South America In Parsons he stopped to spend the winter and build 4 grubstake Now he has left his job at Brown-Davidson Inc and bought a motorcycle cycle to Colorado see part of the West then Canada' desert his motorbike go to the Scandinavian countries the British Isles maybe Europe and eventually home leave Parsons looking different than he did when he arrived While here he shaved off his blond beard Here scribed herself as a spokesman for a group of interested parents and taxpayers she said change of administration would be beneficial because of recent The next regular board meeting will be on May 1 Petitions were circulated during a recent controversy over a SOME COMPANY mailed us promotional material on strawberry plants Life-size color pictures of strawberries were included The paper bearing the pictures carries a strong scent of strawberries The scent must have been mixed into the ink A fellow at the next desk a real strawberry lover is looking sniffing and drooling WILDLIFE ITEM: A killer whale may swallow as many as 24 seals whole and struggling for a single meal We once knew a teenage boy who ate like that A petition to be presented at the next Parsons District school board meeting will request the resignation of Henry Norris superintendent of schools Mrs Betty Alloway said Monday night during a board meeting would rather it be a board action instead of presenting the said Mrs Alloway 2119 Crawford who de junior high school and McKinley Garfield and Washington schools which would increase the fire resistance of those buildings General obligation bonds probably will be issued for immediate financing on the basis of the $220000 anticipated from the mill levy The district has 60 clays from April 1 or June 1 Parsons District Special Fund Levy Reinstated Myron George at time he served in Congress ing unexpired term and continued until Jan 3 1959 He was defeated for re-election in 1958 As a member of Congress George concentrated on flood control legislation He was a member of the House Public Works Committee and led in efforts to locate federal flood control dams on the Neosho and Verdigris rivers and their tributaries The dams since have been built or are planned Floods which once ravaged their valleys regularly have been curbed George was bom in Erie on Jan 6 1900 His parents were Frank and Elizabeth Kyle George The family moved to Altamont in 1903 The father was an early-day weekly newspaper publisher with the Altamont Journal long known as a George paper Four sons followed him into the newspaper business Myron George was editor and publisher of the Edna Sun from 1924 to 1941 After becoming a right of way buyer for the State Highway Commission and living in Cha-nute with his family George was appointed secretary of the commission with headquarters in Topeka by Payne Ratner then governor He continued in that position in the subsequent administrations of Govs Andrew Schoeppel and Frank Carlson serving until his nomination to Congress George was a quiet man who preferred to work behind the scenes centering his activities in Congress on committee assignments instead of engaging in rough and tumble debate His congressional career in Washington coincided largely with that of Dwight Eisenhower a fellow Kansan in the White House Largely made immobile by reasons of health George read intensively in his retired years He made a ritual of reading the Congressional Record the daily compilation of debates and votes in Congress and also read newspapers and books closely A veteran of World War I George volunteered at the age of 17 and was stationed in Panama during that conflict He was a member of the American Legion and its district commander in 1940-41 George was a member of the Continued on page 2 Head departmentalization program instituted this school year at Lincoln and McKinley elementary schools Most of the debate centered on Lincoln The petitions however were never presented to the board Mrs Alloway declined to list specific grievances she said were listed on the petitions She is an income tax consultant and the mother of three children who attend Washington School Board members said they needed to know specific grounds for the complaints and recommended that the petitions be presented at the next board meeting if that is to be done Norris has been superintendent in Parsons four years and received a new three-year contract in January Flag Decal Ban Is Lifted Here Parsons police officers and firemen may wear American flag decals on their uniforms if they wish according to a directive issued Monday by Will Tschudy city manager About 10 policemen and several firemen had been requested last week to remove the flags from their uniforms Tschudy said today he had no further comment on reinstatement of the decals There are 24 police officers in the Parsons department and a-bout as many men in the fire department Advances Lead Wall Street Trade NEW YORK (AP) Prices simmered moderately higher in stork market after getting off to a slow start Advances held a respectable lead over declines The 2 pm Dow Jones average of 30 industrials was up 3 09 to 96117 It was the second consecutive session in which no great progress was made after last surge in which the Dow indicator gained 2190 Brokers said the early weakness in market was ascribed to uneasiness over the Vietnam situation But several favorable corporate earnings reports helped the trading Teacher Residency Policy Protested to comply with the fire directions Norris told board members he had requested a six-month extension for compliance He said that fire escapes and extra fire exits plus the fire extinguishers were expected to be installed before the beginning of the next school year ativeness and Mrs Ireland said is better for our students to be aware of other cities and their problems the teaching responsibilities should come the right to live where we choose just as other professionals do the only district in southeast Kansas to have this restriction" Dr Thomas Crispell board president said the policy was instituted because the board thought persons receiving salaries from the Parsons district should live in the district Most revenues for Parsons schools come from real estate taxes levied on property in the district Another reason for the change he said was that teachers would be more likely to become part of the community if they lived here and a third reason was because of easier access to the job and extracurricular activities Related Stories on Page 2 A two-mill tax levy for a special capital fund due to expire this year was reinstated Monday night by a unanimous vote of the Parsons District School board Funds raised from the levy will finance correction of about $100000 in fire standard defects reported after a recent inspection of schools by the state fire office Schools had cleared earlier inspections by the Parsons Fire Department and the fire office Henry Norris school superintendent said but this inspector demanded a more strict interpretation of the guidelines Necessary corrections include external fire escapes or enclosed interior stair wells for Parsons Junior High and McKinley elementary school Extra fire exits must be installed in libraries at McKinley Washington and Garfield elementary schools Fifty additional fire extinguishers also must be provided Recommendations were made for replacement of ceilings at the JhsL bdsiallwc PARSONS AREA (Via police radio from the Wichita weather bureau Cloudy and warm with scattered showers and thunderstorms through Wednesday south winds 10-25 mph today and tonight decreasing cloudiness Wednesday high today 78-83 low tonight 53-58 high Wednesday 75-80 precipitation probability 30 per cent today 40 tonight 30 Wednesday Stewart Pharm Ph 421-1150 adv A special meeting will be scheduled this week to discuss the Parsons District School policy of requiring new teachers to live in the district or within five miles of the city limits About 35 teachers attended a board meeting Monday night to protest the policy initiated in October 1971 Mrs Clarice Ireland former president of the Parsons Education Assn read a statement asking that the policy be withdrawn before contracts are signed by a Saturday deadline Board members had decided at a Wednesday meeting to postpone consideration of the policy until a regular policy review scheduled for the summer Exceptions are permitted under the current policy if they are approved by Henry Norris school superintendent believe this policy is detrimental because It stifles cre AP PHOTOFAX CHARLIE AND Comedian Charlie Chaplin holds a special Oscar he received Monday night at the annual Academy Awards ceremony held in Los Angeles Chaplin who left the US 20 years ago returned to Hollywood to accept the honorary award Story and other pictures on page 2.