1951-07-26; Saline Observer

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SIXTY-EIGHTH YEAR
NUMBER 43
SAIJNE, WASHTENAW COUNTY, MICHIGAN
THURSDAY, JULY 26, 1951        FIVE CENTS PER COPY      $2.50 PER YEAR IN ADVANCE
Inadequate Sewage
Old World Meets
New As German
Students Arrive
One week from today three young German students will arrive in Saline completing their long
journey to the America they have so eagerly awaited
to see.
Hertler Barn Burns
v\
The Saline
Scene
After an absence of several
weeks, this type of informal
column is back again,' this time
under a new heading. We'll see
what it looks like in print before
We decide to use it permanently.
Who knows, maybe next week it'll
be called "Here and There," or
"Just Wandering" or something
like that.
William' Gray (Gray's Photo
Service) has moved across the
street from the Observer office
and is now located at 113 W\
• Michigan. Says BiU "I handle
a complete line of cameras, films
and supplies, besides the camera
shop where I do commercial
photography and developing of
films for amateurs." (Note to billing department: charge William
Gray for the preceeding advertisement). Seriously though, Bill
has been the town's faithful recorder of pictorial events and formerly had his business in the Observer building since last Febru-
~.„ ary.
**"* Who   says   a   small  town  isn't
exciting or active? In one week
the daughter of some local citizens returns heme after two
years q£ travelling around the
world for the government; three
German youths get closer by the
hour to our city limits; a burgler
breaks into Frank's Texaco Service; the city nearly gets washed
down the river by a raging Missouri-like flood;—and the local
fire department responds to two
calls in one stormy night. If any
local residents prefer the dullness
of hermit life, Woodward at
Grand Circus Park in Detroit
moves at a slower pace. i
From the looks of the surrounding country wheat harvest is go- I
ing to produce a bumper crop, at
least in some places. We did hear
one farmer though, say his wheat
wasn't too good
We have on our desk, a small
' statue of an elephant  Now right
away there'll be some who say,
"Aha! I told you so," referring
of course to national politics. But
"Cal" as this -elephant is called,
does not necessarily represent any
political tendencies. Rather, we
found him in an ash can behind
tne house one day and brought
him to work to serve as chief paper-holder-downer on our desk.
(■Come to _hink of it, we found
him shortly after the last gubernatorial race). Anyway, Cal
winks wisely at us every now
and then and Breaks out with a
wise saying. (Now that you've
been formally introduced, you'll
hear from Cal in this column
from time to time. Incidentally,
his latest "is, "Try praising your
wife (or husband) and others,
even if it frightens them at first/
—Local police had a difficult time
convincing two Illinois men who
claimed they were handicapped
that they could not solicit donations in Saline. They were referred to state organizations which
provide for their welfare.
Rev. and Mrs. Feuell returned
■Monday from their 1560 mile trip
to Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri,
where they took Bates after termination of his leave. The Reuell's
can give an -eye witness account
of the tragic flood in the Missouri River areas through which,
they travelled. Rev. Feuell tooK
a number of pictures of the destruction caused by the floods
"Cal" overheard a talkative
barber ask, "How would you like
your hair cut this morning?"
"Off" "said the  gruff  customer.
This Saturday is the day set
for Detroits big birthday parade.
It is predicted this parade will
be one of the most outstanding-
assemblies of floats, bands, marchers and clowns of our time.
Since Detroit and its growth has
indirectly effected Saline, the
(Continued on page 8)
The three are included in a
group of seventy five who are
coming here under the auspices
of the 222nd and 223rd Districts of Rotary in cooperation
with the State Department.
(Sue Thomas of Saline was selected under a similar arrangement last week. She will sail
the 28th of September for
France.)
Saline's three foreign students left Rotterdam July 16.
They arrive in New York today where they will prepare to
travel to Detroit arriving in
that city August 1. A second
group of German students will
arrive in New York  July 31.
The Saline and Clinton Rotary Clubs began "Youth For
Understanding" (as this program is called) a few years
ago and it was adopted by the
222nd and 223rjd districts
which are located in southern
Michigan and Ontario.
Two girls and a boy are to
be residents of Saline for this
next year. Egon Gross, 17, of
Marburg, Germany, will live at
Dr. and Mrs. Harold Miller's
home. Christa Breitkrentz, 17,
of West Berlin, will reside with
Mr. and Mrs. George Wood, Fif-
_een-yea_!-old Sabine Zettl of
West Berlin will live for several months each at the homes
of Mr. and Mrs. Leo Jensen,
Mr. and Mrs. Don Ford, and
Mr. and Mrs. Alwin Gross.
The teen-rgers and their
Saline "pare its" will meet
August 2 for the first time, at
Dearborn Inn. They will come
to Saline that afternoon to
start their lives in America
While here they will attend
the local school and churches
and otherwise participate in
normal American living.
On August 19, the entire
seventy-five German youths
living in the southern Michigan-
Ontario Rotary districts will
attend a two weeks orientation
camp at the YMCA quarters
on Big Silver Lake near Pinckney. They will return to the
respective homes for the rest
of the one-year period.
A letter,   typical    of     those
written to the sponsoring Americans   follows  this** article.
(See Letter, page 8)
Engagemlrft
Announced
Saline Has New
Radio Program
Edison Employee!
Has Close Call
Harry De Wolf, an employee
of the Detroit Edison Company,
was miraculously »alive today after TravTng faced death when he
brushed against a 4800 volt power
line while working on a transformer on W. McKay Street,
Tuesday afternoon. DeWolf was
hurled to the platform, beuig
saved from falling to the ground
by his safety belt. His body was
lowered to the ground by three
companions, John Wilson, Robert
Donahue and Fred Knox. The
general foreman, Charles Sheliy,
immediately began administering
artificial respiration while a call
was being placed for Dr. Miller.
'Upon arrival Dr. Miller treated
the patient for shock and burns
about the shoulder. John Schild
was then called to deliver the re-
sitator, and the Lockwood ambulance arrived at the scene, taking
DeWolf to St. Joseph's hospital,
where the report was released
that he would be alright.
Nurses to See Film
The film "Medical Effects
of the Atomic Bomb" is to
be shown July Si, Tuesday,
from 7:30 p. m. to 9:30 p.
m. in the University's Kellogg Auditorium.
This is a part of the institute on "Nursing Aspects
of Atomic Warfare," given
to graduate nurses of Washtenaw county.
Don't miss these films.
They are educational, important and very difficult to
get.
Saline Firemen and drenching rains work together to keep fire from spreading to other
buildings on Hertler farm.
Fire Dep't. Has
Busy Day
Shortly after eleven o'clock Saturday night, the Saline fire Qc-
partmen answered a -call at the
Mannie __ertie_ larm, one and one
half miles east of Saline on U.S.
12.
The barn, which was struck by
lightning was a total loss, included was the silo, about twelve
hundred bales of hay, a wagon
and seven fattening hogs. When
th©. fire department arrived on
th scene the driveway to ^ne
Hertler farm was covered with
water and parts of it were washed
away, causing the first truck to
slide into the ditch and get stuck.
A call was issued to the Pittsfield
fire fighters and the second Saline truck was taken to tne tire.
Not long after the first alarm,
a second alarm sounded due t0 a
fire at the Chris Finkbeiner farm,
four and one half miles west of
Saline. The Clinton fire department was also called in. As an
emergency measure, the Milan
department was called and askeu
to stand by. Although the heavy
rain made driving difficult, there
was little damage at the Finkbeiner farm. The fire was confined to a straw stack which was
hit by lightning.
At four o'clock Sunday morning, firemen responded to a second call at the Hertler farm. A
jocal resident saw flames near the
Hertler home and turned in the
alarm. As it turned out, the
flames were from bales of hay
that were left burning since they
were not dangerous.
Clyde Griffin who is building
the new fire department tank
truck drove to both fires so ex
tra water would be on hand if
needed.
Mr. and Mrs. Harry Hersch
announce the engagement of
their daughter, Marlene E., to
Raymond Schroeder, son of Mr.
and Mrs. Walter Schroeder.
Both are graduates of Saline
High School. Miss Hersch is
attending Cleary Business  Col-
{lege and her fiancee is employed in Clinton.
; No date has been set for the
wedding.
Rev. and Mrs. Alvin Siemsen and family departed Sun-
j day afternoon for St. Louis,
I Missouri, for a week's vacation
I and they will spend their re-
j maining week in the Northern
' Grand Traverse region.
Janet Osgood.Returns
From Service In Korea
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Howell
Osgood are announcing the engagement of their daughter, Janet Ann, to William Irwin
Lyons, son of the late Comm.
and Mrs. L. LeBaron Lyons IT,
formerly of Mobile, Alabama,
whom Miss Osgood met while
working with the Fireign Service in Korea. Mr. Lyons is
presently serving tin Djakarta,
Indonesia, thus wedding plans
have been tentatively set for
some time, this fall.
Miss Osgood graduated from
the University of Michigan after majoring in political science
and German. At that time
she had a strong desire to
travel and see the world and
she also wanted to work for her
government. What better way,
she thought, than to combine
the two by applying for work
in the Foreign Service of this
country. jShe applied in. August of 19_8 and was accepted
in the State Department on
November 18, 1948.
Janet had hoped, of course,
to be able to go to Germany so
that she could put her German
training to use. However, Foreign Service workers must go
where assigned and on February
1/1949, Janet was assigned as
a clerk to the Embassy at Seoul,
Korea.
Miss Osgood says that her 16
month stay in Seoul was quite
delightful. The country, unlike Janan that has become
quite Westernized, has retained
all the oriental flavor and the
tour of duty was an education
in itself.
She arrived at Seoul the 27th
of February,  1949,    and    was
there until evacuated June 27,
1950, two days after bombardment began. The confusion was
so great many of Miss Osgood's]
that many of    Miss  Osgood's'
personal belongings had to be I
left behind; as a reminder of|
this Janet still has the keys to|
two trunks that were left be-i
hind in Seoul. I
Janet was  flown to    Itizuki:
Air Base in Southern .Japan and'
from there was shuttled in ra-j
pid succession to    Bofu Army
camp, Kyoto, and finally Tokyo, j
Japan, where the Korean Em-j
bassy set up  temporary headquarters.   It wasn't long before t
she was assigned to the Amer-j
ican Consulate General in Hong'
Kong.     She was    there    until.
June 24th of this year, then had j
a' two week leave and on July
12th proceeded to Washington,
D. C, for two days and arrived
home Wednesday, July 18th.
At the present Janet is on a
60 day leave and contingent on
wedding plans she may or may
not return to the Foreign Service.
Notice
The regular Fair Board meeting will be held Monday evening
at 8:30 at the Saline High School.
All Committees are to report at
this time.
Three members of Saline's City
Council will speak Sunday over
WPAG in "Meet Saline," third in
a series of radio programs foi
and about Saline.
Organized by the Junior Chamber of Commerce and sponsored
by local merchants, the program
is broadcast at 12:30 p.m. every
Sunday in a 13-week series designed to highlight the -civic achievements and citizens of the
community, and attract visitors
and commerce to the area.
•Sunday's featured speakers will
be Frank Brittain, commissioner
of parks and cemeteries; Henry
Leutheuser, commissioner of civil
defense; and Adrian Elsman,
commissioner of police.
Mr. Brittain will discuss maintenance of parks here. Mr. Leutheuser, who has been attending
a series of meetings on civil defense in Ann Arbor and Detroit,
will describe Saline's preparations
against possible future catastrophe.
Mr_ Elsman will discuss the Saline police force, as well as an
auxiliary deputy force which is
maintained for  emergencies.
Mayor E. D. Wolfin was the
principal speaker on last Sunday's
program. He pointed out that Saline may shortly be forced by recent State legislation to build a
sewage disposal plant, although
final decision on the project can
be withheld until after a meeting
on the subject which he will attend in Lansing next month. He
also discussed problems relating
to public utilities here, and the
projected expansion of Saline
Heights, as well as a building
project of 16 homes on N. Harris
street.
Als0 featured on last Sunday's
program was A. L. Giltrow, fire
commissioner, who announced
that additional fire equipment has
been ordered and will soon be installed, housed and used by the
city, but owned by Saline and Lodi townships. The new equipment
will be a great" advantage in the
fighting of rural fires and protection of farm homes, he said.
Speakers on the introductory
program were Max Collins, outgoing president of the Junior
Chamber of Commerce, and Stanton Roesdh, neV. president of the
organization.
■Saline merchants supporting
the series include: Burkhardt
Store; Saline Savings Bank; Saline ' Hatchery; Wood Hardware;
Haarer's Quality Market; A & M
Chevrolet; Grove Bros.; Lambarth
Bros.; Frank's Texaco Station,
Wheeler's Pharmacy; Saline
Theater; Keveling's Drug Store;
Sehmid's Food Market; Saline
Frozen Food Lockers; Saline
Dairy; Deede Radio Electric; Five
Points;, Saline Merchantile Co.;
Graf Gulf Station; Steeb Dodge
& Plymouth; T-ie Citizens' Bank;
Wiedman Auto Co.; Wolfin and
Robison; Hull's Grocery; and
Wheeler's Store.
Members of the JCc committee
in charge of the program are
John Flook, chairman and mod--
erator on the program; Stan
Clark, Elwin Strait, Oliver Stein-
er_ Robert Harrisoh, and Stantcn
Roesch.
ers Saline
Saturday's Rain
Still Here Sunday
The rains came.
The rains left.
The sewage remains—above ground.
Last Saturday's rain once
again drove home the seriousness of the sewage disposal
problem in this city. Pouring
down on Saline in the late afternoon, the torrent caused another often repeated flood of
municipal sewers, streets and
homes.
An accurate estimate of the
damage is impossible but it
would undoubtedly run into
thousands of dollars. One of
the hardest hit areas, the N.
Harris St. section, still has
small lakes of water standing
in yards and streets. In the
business district the Wolfin-
Robison store suffered five
hundred to a thousand dollars
damage when water seeped in
on the floor of the show room
and garage. Rolls of rope, wire
fencing and parts were all
damaged by the water.
Although the situation is not
new to the residents of Saline,
definite steps will probably be
forthcoming due to the last
flood. Inspection of this locality was made earlier in the
week by county health offic-
als who emphasized the need
for immediate action.
In a statement to the Observer, Dr. Otto Engelke, Director of the County Health
Department, said that the sewage conditions in this city are
the concern of everybody.
"Because there is so. much
sewage above ground, the danger of serious disease to the
entire populace is very possible," the doctor said. He concluded that ."once the diseases
get rolling, heaven knows where
they'll stop."
In discussing the situation
with an Observer reporter, Dr.
Engelke pointed out that the
only real solution to the problem is to contract a competent
engineering firm to study the
present sewage    system,   make
the recommendations for improvement and then follow
those recommendations. He
urged that a master plan be
worked out and preserved for
future  additions.
A special meeting of the city
council will be held in the near
future to discuss the necessary
steps for solving the disposal
problem.
Dr. Engelke said, "the sewage problem in Saline is the
number one item on the county health department's list.
The department is deeply concerned with it and will exercise
all its authorized powers to
take steps to remedy the situation.  Speed is essential.''
Residents   at Saline  Valley
, Farms  were    forced  to    walk
| where the road once crossed a
dam. —Photo   by   Gray.
AND THE RAINS CAME
Mr. and Mrs. Don Campbell and family left Saturday
morning for Providence, Rhode
Island, to visit at the home of
Mrs. Campbell's mother and
sister, on their return trip they
will ston at Cleveland to visit
Ms mother.
This scene on N. Harris street was repeated in many sections
of Saline after last Saturday's heavy rain.     —Photos by Gray.	
Work Continues
On Fire Truck
Assembling of the new fire
truck tanker, purchased jointly
by Saline and Lodi townships,
is progressing steadily as new
equipment arrives each week.
The •'truck, one of the most
modern of its type," is being assembled at the Griffin Welding
and Body Shop on north Arait
Arbor street.    The    American,
Fire    Apparatus Company    of
Battle Creek, is supplying the!
major pieces of equipment which'
includes fire hose, nozzles and.
axes.    Work on the truck has |
been somewhat delayed due to
a   tie-up   in  transportation   of
the pumps which will be mounted on the chassis for supplying
pressure to the hoses.
When completed the tanker
will be manned and housed by
the City of Saline.
Alaska, and rolling of bandages
for emergency relief in Korea.
The annual shower of small articles, towels, soaps, pins, layette
etc., will be brought to this meeting. All women in the congregation are urged to attend.
Campers Return from
Youth Island
Annual Hospital
Work Day
The Ladies Aid Society of Federated Church will hold its annual Hospital Work Day meeting
on Wednesday, August 1, at the
home of Mrs. Hazen Jewell. The
workers will gather about ten
o'clock, bringing their own sandwiches. A hot drink will be provided. Mrs. C. R. Burkhart, Sewing Chairman, will direct the
work which will include pads and
other hospital supplies to i>e sent
to Valley -Hospital,    in    Palmer,
On Friday evening, the group
of young people from-Federated
bhurch returnedhome -from their
week spent °5 Youth Island at
White Lake, near Pontiac. Tne
greatest number of over-night
campers was twenty-five, but numerous Saline people visited the
camp during their stay On Tuesday eveHTrig, they wer€ also hosts
to the High School group from
the First Baptist-Church in Ann
Arbor who were accompanied by
Rev] Chester Loucks, and the Religious Education Director, Mrs.
McGregor. A complete program
of Bible Classes, Handicraft,
Swimming, Boating, and Evening
Programs made up the week's
schedule under the direction of a
full-time staff of three adults,
with six part-time adult staff
members.
Saline Softball
League
STANDINGS
Pleasant Lake 10 0
American  Legion 8 2
Towner's Packing 6 4
Gross Implement 3 7
Haarer's Grocery % 9
Saline Valley Farms 1 9