Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 3

Decatur, ITIinoTi, Sunday, October 9, 1966 DECATUR SUNDAY HERALD AND REVIEW But Some Had Pick, Poll Indicates Decatur Man No Housing Choice: Longview Residents Spaeth Dies; Well-Known Art Collector Otto L. Spaeth, 68, a former Decatur businessman and a well-known art collector, art Return to Italy Recalls' World War II Exploits 1 fought the Germans in Italy." Rademacher was the copilot of a B25 which was shot dowft during a bombing raid in November of 1944 over northern Italy. Three of the crew were captured. Rademacher lived with the partisans Italian guerilla forces who were anti-Fascist and anti-German during the war and took part in their guerilla activities for six months. "The Germans killed any partisans they found," be aaid, "and it meant certain death for them if they were found harboring an American." Rademacher headed for Geo-many next, where he bought Volkswagen at the factory in Wolfsberg.

"I was really impressed with that factory," he said. "It's a mile long and employs 50,000 people." He drove to Oberaden, Germany, his father's birthplace, where he stayed a few days with some cousins he had never met. He then drove into Holland, where he visited Rotterdam'i Euromast, a restaurant atop the highest tower in the city. He shipped his car home from Holland and traveled to Cologne, Germany, where be took a boat up the Rhine River to Rudesheim. "That was a real party t-' wf Iff! 1 1 fyriffl ft I'll- I 1 if OHr Hit 'T Bill' tl I I K.Tifu! V'i- I i I ml JJW Jfci 7 rt 4 Herald and Review Photo yards shows washing hung out to dry.

Couple in foreground are View of Longview back out that in the past several years, vacancies in Longview have hovered steadily between a dozen and two dozen. "I wanted a choice when we moved in," said a tall, round-faced Negro, "but we were just told to live here." He said be and his family have lived in Longview about three years. Their apartment is west of the railroad tracks. A Negro woman, who lives with her 11-year-old daughter in the 600 Block, said she was "placed in this apartment" in Decatur Clauses Provide 11 -Cent By Joseph M. Webb Of the Herald and Review Some residents of Longview Place claim they were not giv en choices about where they wanted to live in the city's 434- unit public housing project.

Three residents expressed surprise when it was suggested that federal laws require they should have been given a choice of all apartments for which they qualified. These indications emerged this week during a series of Herald and Review interviews with more than 20 Longview residents selected at random Irom all sections of the six- square-block complex. Five of the residents inter- Viewed said they had a choice of two or more apartments In the development. Three of the five were Negro. Most of the residents Who said they did not choose between at least two ap artments live in the project's 600 Block, which is occupied solely by Negroes.

Question's Origin The question of apartment choices arose last month following a discussion among Decatur Housing Authority commissioners on whether segregation exists in Longview. It was learned at that time that if segregation were present, the only way it could be eliminated was through a "voluntary integration." Under federal law, a family must be given a choice of where it wants to live a bousing project, the only restriction being the size of the family involved. i When the question was raised, DHA Executive Director Don F. Davis told the board that applicants are given choices of all of the apartments in the development for which they qualify. One commissioner pointed Union Contracts Escalator By Coleman T.

Mobley Of the Herald and Review The swift rise in the U. cost-of-living index during the past year has meant as much as 11-cent-an-hour wage increases for Decatur workers covered by an escalator clause in their union contracts. A partial survey of Decatur industry revealed 6,197 workers in six major industries covered by such a clause. The cost of living as measured by the U.S. Depart ment of Labor consumer price index has risen 3.8 points since August, 1963.

to 113.8, If a union contract is auto matically attached to this dex, granting a wage increase for a given index increase, it has an "escalator clause Five of the six escalator clauses in Decatur call for a one-cent raise for every .04 per cent increase in the price in dex. Unions With Clauses The clauses are in the con tracts of workers at Caterpil lar Tractor Mississippi Valley Structural Steel Co Marvel-Schebler and York divisions of Borg Warner and Wagner Castings Co. The sixth contract, for Cham bers Bering Qumlan Co. work ers, has a three-cent limit in its escalator clause, Most of Decatur labor lead ers questioned favor the esca lator clause. They feel it pre vents inflation from eating up negotiated wage increases during the term of the contract.

V. Q. LaPage, head of Region of the Allied Industrial Work ers (AIW), which has 17 un ions in the Decatur area, said that although labor hasnt put up any hard fight for an esca- lator clause recently, "it is de- Sirable and labor wants it." irrt rrZ echoed by Decatur labor 'lead- erswiin ice wcepuon oi nooeir rrVZ. nl TTninn nrifh Ql vuirnovmAn in rwohi? En'rcurao. Gooding said that his inter- national does not encour- bc fhoo.

u. it thinks "the union oueht to ne- eotiate a better-than-cost-of-liv- ingwage." -However, unions which don't have an excalator clause want one. Those which "soJd" theirs for a wage increase a few! years ago, when economists were predicting a leveling off in the cost of living, would like to get it back. The price index is based on By Charlotte Huser Of the Herald and Review Joe Rademacher of 39 Medial Dr. relived six months of his life in three weeks this Septem-er.

Rademacher went to Europe Sept. 1 and returned home Sept. 21. He spent much of the time reminiscing with war buddies and visiting a section of Italy where he spent six months behind German lines during World War n. His first stop was England.

"I went to South-End-on-Sea, a London suburb," Rademacher said, "to visit Jock Makinnon- Pattison. He was one of 22 Special Forces men of the En glish army who dropped behind enemy lines in Italy." There Rademacher met him. Makinnon Pattison and his two children took Rademacher on a tour of London. "Then I went to the other side of London to visit Tom As-hurst and his family," Rademacher said. "Ashurst was a British radio operator who was dropped in northern Italy during the war.

His job, was to send information from British spies back to British headquarters. He also helped to make contact with the partisans who Children's Fund Drive Planned Approximately 300 high school and junior high school members of the Decatur Youth Council of the Decatur Area Council of Churches will participate in the Trick or Treat for UNICEF Oct. 30. John Foreman of 1487 E. Dickinson Ave.

is area head of UNICEF. Larry Rueff of 1607 Florian Ave. is president of the Decatur Youth Council. The youths who are collecting for UNICEF will carry black and orange collection cartons bearing UNICEF's symbol of the mother and child. Road Petition Meaningless, Official Says About 40 area residents swarmed around George Mel-horn, Decatur Township highway commissioner as he held an outdoor hearing Saturday on closing North Lake Shore Drive at East William Street.

Most of the residents opposed closing the roao. The hearing was called by Melhorn after he received a petition from 31 residents along the street. Guy Olmstead of 601 N. Lake Shore Dr. is the group's leader.

Melhorn told a' reporter that the petition was meaningless since highway commissioners don't have the authority to bar ricade a road. Olmstead said that he got up the petition to indicate the desires of the residents when the state improves Illinois 105 (East William Street). Olmstead said that the state is planing a four-lane road for East William Street and the petition is an attempt to get the wishes of the residents of North Lake Shore Drive incorporated in the state plans. Township Highway Commissioner critic and a world traveler, died Saturday morning in a New York City Hospital after a lengthy illness. He was born in Decatur, the son of Anton and Clara Mel- choirs Spaeth.

Spaeth was a partner with his father in the Decatur Brewing which became the Premier Malt Sales Co. in 1927. Premier later became a part of the Pabst Brewing Co. Anton Spaeth sold the brewery in 1930. Otto Spaeth's uncle, the late Rev.

Joseph Spaeth, organized St. James Catholic Church and helped to found St. Mary's Hospital. Otto Spaeth was a member of the church while in Decatur. He was also a vice president and stockholder of the William Gushard department store until 1930 when it was merged with other stores in northern Illinois.

Spaeth was known as an art collector. Many works in his collection deal with Catholicism. One of his more famous purchases was Mark Symons' "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord." He allowed the painting to be displayed for tne first time in America in the Decatur Art Institute in 1930. He married Eloise O'Mara in Decatur on Nov. 4, 1924.

She survives. The Spaeths were featured in several national magazines after they acquired a "road yacht" fashioned after a commercial bus. They used the vehicle to travel extensively in the United States. They also made several trips to Europe. Spaeth was a graduate of St.

Francis College in Quincy. He was a member of the Liturgi cal Arts Association and a past president of the American Federation of Arts in Washington, D. C. He served as a lieutenant in the Army Reserves in 1918. The Spaeths moved to St.

Louis in the late 1920s, then to Dayton, Ohio, in the late 1930s. They had lived in New York since 1947. Survivors include three daughters, Mrs. Greig (Marna) Dougherty, Mrs. Frank (Deborah) Shakespeare and Mrs.

Bernard (Mary Louise) Koon, all of New York; a son, Otto Lucien Anton (Tony) of New York; three sisters, Mrs Charles (Marie O'Neil of Decatur, Mrs. Peter (Antoinette) Doran of Atlanta, and Mrs. Anna Asman of New Haven, Conn. A daughter, two brothers and a sister preceded him in death. Funeral arrangements are incomplete in New York.

RED CROSS OFFERS FIRST AID COURSE The Macon County Chapter of the American Red Cross is offering a special first aid course for school bus drivers. Illinois law requires that every school bus driver in the state must have a valid Red Cross First Aid Certificate. The free classes will be held each Monday evening from 7 to 9 p.m. in Blue Mound Christian Church, beginning Monday and ending Nov. 7.

Residents surround Decatur 1 "How many other apartments did you look at?" they were asked. "No others," they replied, nearly in unison. Long Discussion Another Negro woman in the 600 Block, who said she has been in Longview almost 15 years, discussed the housing there at length. "No choice was given to me." she said. "They just take you to an apartment and show it to you and tell you that's where Boost of the escalator clause.

rate to cover the rise, but not an automatic rise attached to the price index." J. Y. Phleger, president of the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen in Decatur, said that his union international leaders gave up the clause for a wage increase in 1964 and would now like to have it back. "But they won't get it. The company won't give it," he said.

Negotiations for 800.000 railroad employes are going on now in Washington, Phleger said. The cost-of-livkig clause was one of the issues in the Mueller Co. strike in 1965. The union struck over the issue, and the company resisted successfully. Public service employes such as teachers, firemen, police- when she applied for admission just over three years ago.

She said that last year she asked to be moved from her one-bedroom apartment to one with two bedrooms, so that her daughter could have a bedroom of her own. She said she was told to "wait and they'd see," but that nothing bad been done. A man and his wife, both past 60, who live in the 600 Block, said they were "assigned to this apartment when we asked to live here." view said that this clause may be a future bone of contention between labor lealers and the President John Hartley, labor economist for AIW's Region 8, said that the purpose of the cost-of-living clause is to maintain the purchasing power of the worker's dollar over a period of time. The. General Electric which is now negotiating in Decatur and nationally, refused to give an escalator clause to its more than 100 locals.

Robert G. Ripston, GE manager of employe and community relations in Decatur, said that the company got "stung" on this under a five-year contract between 1955 and 1960. "A recession set in in 1957-58 and the cost of living kept go- ing up, Ripston said, on way to laundry. you will live. They tell you all of the other apartments are taken.

They never have any others available." She continued: "Things just aren't like they used to be here. It used to be that they would come around every so often and check on you, but they don't do that any more, and these places are becoming pretty rundown. "It just isn't as good to live out here as it used to. I don't know what's wrong." Routine Agenda Faces Board Of Supervisors Nothing but routine business is listed on the agenda for Tuesday's meeting of the County Board of Supervisors. Board members are not, how ever, prevented from bnnging up items not on the agenda, and this often occurs.

One action which could come up is the requested rezoning for operation of a motel and trailer court at new U. S. 36 and Sun- nyside Rd. The board will meet at 0:30 a.m. in its quarters on the fifth floor of the County Building.

WAND Tower In Operation WAND's new tower and antenna near Argenta began transmitting its signal at 6:40 a.m. Saturday. Decatur residents in the west end of town and South Shores developed double images and "black wlggly skeletons" on their screens Saturday, a WAND newscaster said. WAND chief engineer Wayne Semple was not available for comment Saturday, but the station advised Decatur residents that it is putting out a clean signal. Antennas which have been directed toward the now dead South Shores tower should be directed northeast toward Ar genta, the station said.

The station reported that tel ephone calls from Danville, Jacksonville, Kappa and Pana indicated that the new signal is being received clearly an area larger than the "peanut- shaped area" across Central Illinois that was planned. The power of the station has been increased from 200,000 watts to 1,950,000 watts. GRANT TO ATTEND SCHOOL CONFERENCE Supt. Lester J. Grant of the Decatur schools will attend the three day fall conference of the Illinois Association of School Administrators in St.

Charles starting today. The theme of the meeting will be "Human Relations," and scheduled to appear on the program is Archbishop John Cody of Chicago, who will address a Monday luncheon session. William G. Caples, vice presi dent of Inland Steel Co. of Chicago, also will address the school officials town," Rademacher said.

"I got there on a weekend and it was like one big carnival all evening. I think every tourist in Germany was there." Frankfurt to Milan He went on to Frankfurt, where he took a plane for Mil an, Italy. From there he trav eled to Turin and the next day went to Torre Pellice, where visited another man who was a partisan during the war, Sergio Astengo. The area around Turin was where much of Rade- macher's partisan activity took place during the war. "My principal mission was helping to coordinate parachute drops by the British to the partisans," be said.

Through a set of coded signals, times of the drops were arranged. A pattern of signal fires marked the drop areas. "We had to be quick about getting the supplies," Rademacher said. "The Germans hunted our drop areas all the time." He said the supplies included food, clothing and arms. "If we knew a partisan was Communist, we gave him more domestic supplies than Rademacher said.

"It was apparent even by that time that the Communists intended taking over when the Germans were gone." After Rademacher left Toire Pellice, he went to Rome, where he renewed acquaintance with another partisan, Pi-ero Manzo. They went to Man-zo's mountain home and met his family. After visiting another wartime friend, Rademacher went back to Turin and flew to Paris, where he spent two days before returning home. Rademacher financed mojt of his trip with trading stamps. He sold office machines, for which the Gestetner Co.

of Yon-kers, N. awarded him books of trading stamps for his trip. Rademacher collected 210 books. He is owner of Allied Office Services in Decatur. Sufi photo by Dick Torgeraon George Melhorn Saturday.

Lindsay-Schaub artist Roger Kurth illustrates two views ij -v i H-'P an average cost of all items commodity groups, and is published each month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor The base period is 1957-59. Measuring fr 100 the index steadil each month August of 1963, when it rr Harold Angle, an internation- al representative of AIW, said that "as long as we are going to have long-term contracts, it is necessary to have an esca latr clause Protect workers' wa8es Not Johnson's Way This desire on the part of labor flies in the face of Pres- lident Johnson's state desire not to have wages attached to the price mdex, because be feels that this would feed inflation. The University of Illinois Bu reau of Economic and Business Research in its September re Company Drops Clauses men and postmen, whose con- "The company got rid of all I tracts are with governmental these clauses in 1960 and this bodies, do not have cost-of-liv-year is offering a flat yearly 'ing clauses in their agreements. iltihlit I..