1959-09-24; Clare Sentinel

              s
3ECSEE25SS;
Establish"** 1878
$3.50 Year in Clare, Isabella Counties
" THE CLARE SENTINEL, C^ABE, MICHIGAN THURSDAY, SEPT 24, 1958
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Ten Cents Copy
New Series Vol. 68, No. 2
9f
BEAR-MAN, TELLER OF TALL STORIES
Old "Spikefiorn
Ends Colorful Life
He was the age-bent, stained-
Whiskered old man of the wilderness, — clever showman and carnival attraction , . . and now he's
gone and there will never be another like him,
"Spikehdrn" Meyer died last
Saturday in a nursing home in
Gladwin where he had been in
failing health for almost two
years.
He had been cared for in the
home since soon after a fire destroyed his roadside curio shop
and animal pens near Harrison.
The fire not only made ashes of
the ramshakle deer and bear
"zoo", but seemed to burn the
temper out of the old man's vitality as well.
125 Attend
District GOP
Rally Here
The Clare County Republican
Committee, with Robert Campbell, chairman were hosts Saturday evening to JL25 members
•and guests of the 10th Congressional District when they met
in the Clare I. O, O. F. Hall for
the fall rally. A country style
chicken dinner was served by.
the Rebekahs and Oddfellows.
Emil*Bucholz of Harrison gave
the invocation.
The Hon. Russell H. Strange,
Jr.,' state representative of the
Isabella-Clare district acted as
toastmaster. Special guests introduced included: John B. Martin of Grand Rapids, Republican
National" Committeeman, '-and
Mrs. Martin, Mrs. Sarah Schaeffer of Clare, who introduced Dr.
William Butt, of Mt, Pleasant,
and Miss Eileen Wyatt of Omer,
all members of the Repj.ibli.can
State Central committee; Herbert Smith, chairman of the 10th
Congressippal ^district, ari$- Mrs.
Smith, also county chdirtti§n, and
several state Senators and representatives of the area.   *• -    - ••
'Roll call of -counties showed
a good representation from the
fourteen, counties" o'f tbe district.*
Mr. Martin spoke briefly on the
policy and program to confront
the voters for the 1960 election.
The Hon. Elford A. Cederberg,
10th District Representative in
the "United State Congress was
the speaker of the evening. In
his opening remarks he spoke of
the problems and discussions
Which were most timely at the
recent Congressional session.
He gave a report of his two
day trip to Russia in August,
serving as a member of the subcommittee -charged with the Responsibility of appropriating
funds for the American Exposition in Moscow.
His iannounced plans to rebuild the place ibigger and better
never.got started.
Like the fabled Paul Bunyon,
old Spikehorn was a figure of
colorful legend. His actual exploits and capers grew and enlarged with the telling.
But Spike was for real. He
capitalized on the spread of wild
stories which he spieled, and the
wilder ones that were told a-
bout him, too.
State newspapers taking note
of his passing, repeated one of
Spikehorri's favorite yarns about
a time when a creek dried up be-
cause a forest fire drove thousands of fish up the current to a
narrow place where their bodies
packed into a dam and cut off
the "flovy of the stream.
But upstate residents, familial
with the spectacle of the old
mail, got more chuckles out of
his impact on Detroiters such as
the case one snowy day in late
winter when he shuffled down
Woodward avenue barefooted in
his, fringed deerhide costume.
He was in the casual company of
an "Indian", Chief Something-Oir-
Other Eagle, and was holding a
half-grown bear cub on a chain.
, Of course the time was not
too many weeks before the spring
Vacation opening in north Michigan and old Spike was handing
out a supply of advertising postcards which plugged his souverir
business on the highway.
Or his sure-fire headline catcher when he unrolled drawings
and plans for a tunnel under the
Straits of Mackinac, and told big-
eyed editors that he was a engineer genius with the solution
of the Straits traffic problem.    -
Old Spike once offered a fabulous "reward" for the capture
of Adolf Hitler alive. Said he
wanted to exhibit the fuhrer a-
long with his animals.
He erected a road side billboard to campaign, against the,
reelection, of. Michigan .Governor
Frank• Murphy."The bugh sign'
likened Murphy in uncomplimen-_
4aryY4errns .to—aY wofpds animal:
With a White striped back. -    \
Winner in many, battlers With
•a. neighboring'-' exhibitor, and
daimers of damages by his animals, Spike was once bested by
a former' employee who claimed
back wages and gave- -his long
whiskers an irreverent yank in a
scuffle. 7
His matted gray beard, trademark and pride of the old man
had to be cut off after he became, a patient in the nursing
home.
Born in 1870 in Isabella county
Spikehom (real name, John E.
Meyer) had a varied career as a
laborer a'nd wouldfije inventor
before he "found" the vocation
as Bear man.
. Ldst rites for him were held
Tuesday at the Stephenson Funeral Home in Clare and burial
was at Shepherd, Michigan,
Will Raze
Clare Inn
The Clare Inn hotel on
W. Fourth street, Clare
has been sold to Marvin
Witbeck, owner of the IGA
supermarket in Clare. Present* owner and occupant,
Arthur Morgan will give
possession on November lo.
Mr. Witbeck expects to
have the building torn down
to inake room for customer auto parking.
He has plans to offer the
property including a large
lot forming an X. around
the sMe and rear of tlie
hotel, for sale to the City
of Clare for- public parking.
Red Collective Farm
Fails In Production
By  DONALD* E.   BEARD
We visited the Russian exhibition in New York City
before leaving on this tour, which only gave us a faint idea
of what we would see when we got to Russia; most of the
products which" the Russians boast about, are only enjoyed
by the party members and not within reach of the rank
and file of the people. Remember, only about three per cent
of "the Russian population belong to the Communist Party,
which rules as the Soviet State.
We were not wined and dined by the "top-brass commies" like the members of the Nixon party were. We went
to see the Russian people, mingle among them, talk to them,
photograph them and show good will toward them. We had
a fe"w rough spots, but took this 25-day tour in gallant
stride, without any serious incident, thanks to Our able conductor.
In Kiev we learned there were
no oranges or grapefruit available in Russia, so we went without this "American luxury" until we reached Poland. We asked
Zoya why? She replied that the
season was too short. We later
learned that Russia will not im-
'port anything they feel they do
not need. They probably would
buy lots of citrus fruits from the
United States if we reciprocated
with an equal amount of trade
for Russian products.
^We were "toured" out to a
Collective Farm, which was the
worst distortion of the truth we
ever listened to. We were assembled in a small meeting hall,
where the farm committee chairman told us (thru 2!oya) that
they had 300 cows, 1600 pigs,
5000 chickens, 160 horses, * 400
bee hives, etc. After the lecture,
we walked about two miles a-
round the farm and all We saw
was one calf, 3 horses ahd one
colt, about a dozen chickens, and
no pigs nor bee hives. It was
here  we began to realize how
well these interpreters are trained to lie to the tourists, especially American's.
ODESSA
From Kiev we flew to Odessa
where we spent two days. Here
we got a chance to talk to some
of the people without Zoya a-
rodnd, and occasionally we Would
find one whp could talk a little
English. When asked if lliey
would like to go to America, they
would not give us a direct answer, but would insist that it
costs too much money. Here in
Odessa, Zoya told us that the
American tourists drinks too
much and only come to Russia to
look, not to study or learn. After
all, she might be right on this
point. We asked her how she
liked John Gunther's book. "Inside Russia Today" and she fairly
screamed: "Lies! Lies! Lies!"
When we called her an "idealist," she felt insulted and kept
repeating that she was a "materialist" and intensely loyal to the
Soviet regime.
(Continued On Pajfe »
Gas Overcomes
Two Farwell
Children
Two young children of Mr.-and
Mrs. * Raymond Koontz - had a
close brush with disaster when
they were partially overcome by
carbon monoxide fumes in the
family car at Farwell last week
Wednesday.
Linda Koontz, 9 and ftichard 5
were treated and released at
Clare General Hospital after gas
from an idling auto engine rendered them semi-conscious.
The children had been left in
the car a few minjutes while
waiting for their parents to take
them home.
Frank Coker, Farwell ambulance service owner expressed relief . that .the youngsters suffered no extreme after effects of
their close call, and thought that
the incident may serve as a
warning to others that the
cooler weather with. auto, windows closed makes danger present
from the deadly fumes. • *
. In'Lansing, the Michigan Department ,***:£ Health .broadcast a
word of warning 'a'bout 'the same
danger imder*different gUises,
■When teinperattfres go dowft-
your chances of falling victim, to
carbon monoxide go_ up* Dr. Albert E. Heustis, commissioner
said.
But there :are several precautions you can" take to protect
iyourself against this deadly gas,
the department added. Most of
them apply to automobilies and
the uSe of carbon iuels in stoves
and appliances.
Carbon fuels include, coal
charcoal, coke, wood, oil, gasoline, kerosene, natural gas and
bottled gas.
Some carbon monoxide is
formed whenever earbon-con-
taining materials are burned.
The amount of carbon monoxide
increases as the air supply is
reduced. If venting is adequate,
the deadly gas is carried away
without causing harm.
Last year 55 persons died in
Michigan of carbon monoxide
poisoning, almost all of them inside cars or buildings where carbon fuels, were being burned improperly or exhausted improperly,
"Have your car's exhaust sysj
tern checked and repaired or replaced if necessary. If the muf-
flur ■ isn't working right, carbon
monoxide will leak up through
the floorboards."
Water To
Improve
Why has Clare city water, the
subject of complaints for a long
time, been suddenly worse for
the past three weeks?
Well, — there's a reason and
now we know!
Clarence Gum, city manager
speaking at the Rotary lunch
Wednesday said that while the
city's big Water tank has been
empty for repairs, the chemical
treatment of water had to be
suspended.
The chemical rust inhibitor
Was not circulating properly with
out the reservoir, feeding water
into city mains.
Now that the repairs are completed the water should improve,
he said.
Meanwhile, Layne Northern,
well1 drilling contractors are
nearly ready to begin sinking of
the largest and final production
well that is couhted on to supply
Clare with more than enough
pure, sweet water.
A 36-inch, gravel-packed well in
the northeast section will be
started shortly and the producers
have contracted to deliver 750
gallons per minute,. or more of
water that tests iron-free, and
softer by many degrees^ than
that now furnished to the city.
Airport
Project Moves
Forward     ;
In the hands of Clare, authorities this week is- good hews about
the appropriation of State, ijtibjiey
for the City of Clare - airport
project. The appropriation^,bill
became Act Number'255 during
the-past session of *tKe. Legislature.    \ •   ''.'[;''
A letter from Janies -D; -Ramsey, director of the. Michigan*,-Department of Aeronautics to. A(ah
Ott, Clare said that tentative-allocation of Federal funds fojv-air-
Rort aid would be made""M|r$|SJo-
vember of this year.       '""?7
Ott is head of the local: ?i-|?n"
ization. representing Clare jnyjjeg-
Qtia.tiqns to obtain State.andjEed-
eral funds offered, for .Federal
Aid Airport program and'.Michigan matching allocations. He'.is
cashier! at the.. Citizens., State
Bank,.: Clare. - ♦,-..,--..'
.       -» • f t.fi
. Clare is . one of 20 -Michigan
cities, specifically named ■ in*, the
Michigan. Legislative. ACt* Which
will get a total" of.' $728,500.
Clare'S amount -is subject to re-,
vision before the transaction is
final, but it is' known* that ""the
improvement for the local airport
ihvolves spending' df upwards of
$100,000,007
* The money actually committed
by. the city has been used for the
purchase of. the site adjacent to
the- present airport. -Here the
expansion will- push runway
length's • farther  northeast.
At least ten' privately owned
civil aircraft .are kept at the
Clare field and Holly Carburetor
would fly a DC-3 large plane in
and out of the-Clare airport when
the runway- will -accomodate the
plane. ■*■.-."■ i
* Because the''-2Qmpa*hy Will be
a" principal user bf the expanded
facilities, Holley is agreeing to
contribute a very large share of
the city's cost in the" project. ..
-, Formula for the source of tjie
money is the City with Holley
Carburetor puttin&;up 0ne,-ioi*rl|"t.
of the sum, thfe State cbHtjribtit-'
ihg an equal share, and, 'Federal
allotment of a full half.
* Information given to the State
agency describes the location of
the Clare airport as "strategically located on a north-south'
route and a diagonal from Detroit to lower horthwestern Michigan. This airport is very important to local industries and
would receive considerable
recational use if paved.
High school teacher OeorgeP-tory (Math and Coaching) faces his first class on Monday morning in the new Clare building.
Finding th**? rooms something less thsin near completion, Mr. Perry's class assembled at one end of the room while behind him the.
students eyed stacks of cotalanqtton materials and a workman on a ladder who was installing ceiling panels* **What a mess",
was the general opinion jot the conditionin the behind-schedule (new school,
rec-
Far From Finished
But Classes Start Anyway
Some 383 high school students poured through the
dbors of their new building on Monday morning this week
and gained the distinction of being the first to attend
classes/in a Clare school built exclusively for the upper four
grades, . 7 _--  -. .     .
Clare High School Was officially open and doing business, £>uring the past few months as construction fell farther bfehihel seiheclulfe the opening 'dti-Ef-had. to be set back
twice. ■ " '   .,    ■ . ,    , ,
* So it was far from "conditions normal" as school began
in- thevbuilding with many -construction details $alf completed. --'■•' .■ • , * ,..,
Students invaded class areas where workmen, were still
on the dragging job of finishing ceiling and partition erecting, aiid where outside window glass was still not set in
frames.
Necessary land is .already ac
quired and the funds will now
be spent for obtaining easements
for "'clear zones" for appraches
and for.improvements.
Construction may begin next
spring.   .
The runway improvement job
will include clearing, grading and
paving the strip and installing
electric, lights.
More of the project includes
construction of a payed taxiway
fr'Om the runway to the airport
office, and a similar ,'*apron" in
front of the office ibuilding.
Sewer "Tax"
To Relieve
City Deficit
1
A charge for city sewage service which was billed recently on
postcards to Clare residents stirred up something of a storm
at Mondayls Commission meeting. A room full of taxpayers
demanded to know what the .new
charge Was for.
City commissioners explained
that the cost of operating the
sewage treatment plant, and of
constructing and maintaining
sewer lines throughout the .city
has formerly been paid by the
city  Water" Department.'
Sewer and water coasts are
.going up. The cash balance in
the Water Department account
is going down.
In fact the account is in "the
red" due to the double cost load.
Next year the Commision will
collect a higher water-use fee to
balance the Department budget
but for this year, the* extra
charge had to be billed separately on the postcards which came
to your house," and yours, — and
yours.
The Commission says that next
May when city water bills are
due, that they will be one-third
higher and include both watered sewage charges. Commercial
establishments on water meters
will have the same rate applied
' and pay their ftietor charge, plus
a third,
The last postponment had run
out,, deadlines passed and it was
necessary to begin school whether workmen Were in the way
or pot. Students picked their
way' over heaps of sawdust and,
plaster'scraps to enter the build-
ing,and went from class to, class
through corridors choked with
stockpiles of building materials
still to be used.
Curiosity about the final shape
and appearance of the school
was mingled with. pride with
that which was already stamped
"done",
Noise of hammering and drilling often interrupted a teacher's
voice -. . plastic film hung over
wall gaps where glass is still to
be installed ,., science lab facilities are not ready, and* won't be
tor some time.
But give students and their
teachers credit! They're making
a good start under the difficult
conditions.
Most-heard fault finding is
over a lack of lockers. The lockers are in their places but cannot toe used yet because they are
not bolted to the floor. Students
carry an all-day pile of books and
jackets and personal belongings
with them wherever they go.
The- new $615,000. school is
near enough finished, however,
Lo provide a favorable constrast
with any former facilities foi
education.
When  the   day   comes   for  a
public showing of the building
as it will stand when finished,
earlier generations will envy
present students for the broadened opportunities for real learning which are available in the
handsome edifice.
You'll want to see pictures
on page 3 of four earlier
school buildings where Clare's
young citizens carved their ini
rials on desks and performed
other exercises of more studious nature in their pursuit of
a 12th-grade diploma.'
Start Choir
A choir for teen-agers' is being
organized by Mrs. Jan Johnson
who has announced a meeting to
be held in the Congregational
church at *7 p.m. on Wednesday,
September 30. Practice sessions
will be held each Wednesday evening. Seventh graders and 'older
are invited to join.
Another choir under the direction of Mrs, Johnston is for third
thru sixth graders and has 30
members.  ,
$ For Dems
Member's of the Clare county
Dollars For Democrats commit
tee' held their first meeting September 33 at Lake George. A
solicitdr will Call at" any home" if
teiephdriert at KE 9-53S1.
Classroom lighting goes daylight a bit better as it combines
illumination from windows with
overhead electric light diffused
from all ceiling areas. Recessed
fixtures are behind flush panels.
Comfort .and health of those
in the building is protected by
most modern heating and aii
conditioning. Fainted walls reflect cheerful, harmonious colors.
Students are discovering already that the design of the
school is a great aid in study
processes. The building is "functional" when it is considered thai
the function of a school building is to make learning easier
and more complete.
* There is much asking one's
way around in the new school.
Student handbooks furnished
to all ertrollees contain a double-
page size floor plan layout of
the building. The drawing is supposed to direct students to their
classrooms, but actual doors are
not yet lettered so the first days
of getting acquainted are busy
with  asking directions.
Mrs. Genevive Fleming, administrative assistant said Wednesday that the 383-student enrollment was more than 40 short oi
the expected count.
A mystery concerning What
happened to 37 junior class members was being traced late this
week after just 89 were counted
in school. One hundred and
twenty-six had registered last
spring for the beginning of this
year.
A pile of their enrollment cards
were separated in preparation
for a cheek at their homes to
see why they failed to show up
for school.
In t he elementary builling
four new enrollees Monday
brought the student count to
what is probably close to final
fifturtfl. .........   r
--.luiii-iils li ul .. Imi'l.isl'- Dl \\h.il iu »'M>"'<-( in-*i*'-' "IIii si ln»ol as
they stepped through sand, sweepings arid sawdust, outside the
doors on Monday. But the classes, already two weeks late just had
to start.
Where's room one-twelve? Students had to ask their way to
classes because, although their handbooks had guides to rooms,
the lagging progress of the work had not caught up with the
job of painting numbers on doors.
Cluttered corridors were half full of building material and supplies
when classes began on Monday in Glare's new high school, ttu*-
teachers and students understood that they were expected to make
the best of the situation. Above, a class is. in progress in one of
the rooms more nearly finished, while other students in the hall
are hurrying to class assignments.
Pioneers Open Grid Season
Clare high school gridders
wher have been practicing since
September R, will open the 10t>n
season on the home field when
they meet a Saginaw Lutheran,
Semininry eleven tomorrow «its»
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