1959-12-17; Clare Sentinel

              Established 1878
$2.50 Year in Clare, Isabella Counties
THE CLARE SENTINEL, CLAHE, MICHIGAN
THURSDAY, DEC. 17,  1959
Ten CentB Copy
New Series, VoL 6S# No, if   ~~~
Joy Of Christmas
In Area Churches
The final week of the Advent
season is crowded with special
observances' and pre-Christmas
activity for Clare area churches,
Tq celebrate the most joyous
Christian holiday, church and
religious school groups have prepared special music, costumed
pageantry, elaborate observances with lighting, special decorations and other seasonal preparations. \
■   ***• "'    *    ,
First Baptist Church
At the Clare Baptist church
next Sunday will see Christmas
observances both in the morning
worship and later in the evening
when the congregation and
friends will celebrate at special
exercises in the church at 7
o'clock. Mrs, Reginald House is
chairman for the program
titled, "Jesus, The Saviour of the
World." She is being assisted by
Mrs. Leon Pull, Jr. and about 50
children will appear in the songs
and recitation program'.
"    St. Cecilia's
Traditional midnight worship
at. St. Cecilia Catholic church
will-see the beauty and solemnity of High Mass with an adult
choir of about 20 voices. Mrs.
Thomas Murphy, music director
said that Latin translations of
well-loved carols were included
in the special Mass music, Caroling will precede the opening of
the midnight services. Soloist is
to be Mrs. Eugene Murphy and
the organist is Mrs. Robert Beck.
The choir will also sing at the
Christmas morning Mass at
10:30. Confessions may be attended on Wednesday 7:30 to
8:30 in the evening, and on December 24, at 3-5 in the afternoon, and 7-9 in the evening.
Clare- Church Of God
Church of God members in
Clare joined on December 14 in
the beginnings. of a chain of
prayer which continues in other
congregations during the remaining -days until Christmas
Eve. Their Christmas program
will begin at 7 p.m. Sunday when
the Nativity story will he told
in songs and narration. A children's choir and the adult choir
will sing. A -film,.. The.* Guiding
Star will* be Shown and the public is Invited. The morning worship will be climaxed with Rev.
Too Tough For
CHS, 49-34
In Clare High's first sport
event in the new -high school
gymnasium Friday evening, the
Pioneers gave Shepherd basket-
eers a ten-point spot in the first
period, and then discovered that
was more than they could afford
as the Bluejays maintained that
much lead down to the final gun.
. 'Fact is, the aggressive play
and effective rebounding bf the
Shepherd quintet sort of improved the lead as the final half wore
on, and the final score was
Shepherd 49, Clare 34,
The 1959-60 cage season may
yet turn.out to be better than
the previous season's record, but
it is going to take some organizing Of the club's talents in
close-in scoring effectiveness,
and ih a lot tougher game under
the' backboards.
A crowd estimated at over 500
watched the contest, and got
their first view of the modern
playing floor and new gym
It was a long, unlucky evening
for tall Vern Hart who was shut
out without a single point, and
for Deb. Nolan who sunk a field
goal for his only two points.
A pair of veteran lettermen
from last year's varsity, Bill
Legg and Norm Davis accounted
for 10 and 7 points respectively.
They were aided by two mighty
handy first-year men in the lineup, Jeff Raymond at the pivot,
and Len McJames, also listed as
a center.
Raymond had seven points for
Clare besides making the most
determined pursuit of backboard
rebounds^ McJames added six
points to take fourth place in
total for Clare players.
Leading scorer for both teams
was pint-sized Al Gross who never heard that only tall boys can
play this game. He was fast and
tricky, and scored 17 points to
make himself appear "tall" in
the record hooks.
CHS will have another chance
to win on the home floor Friday
before Christmas vacation and a
long traveling schedule in January will quiet things down for-
home fans. Torn-arrow night's
foe is Chesaning . in the Mid-*
Miohigan'B loop.
Sickal's    sermon,    "When   God
Came Down".
Eagle and Arthur Center
Churches Of God
Services this Sunday Include
Sunday School at 10:30 and
Church at 11:30. Rev, Elza
Beery will-preach at Eagle while
Rev. Mrs. Lou Beery Will preach
at Arthur Center, ' Mrs, Beery
will present an illustrated story
of the, Nativity at. Arthur, Center
at 8 p.m. using Scene-p-Felt on
a hoard,
A Christmas party will be
December 23 at the Arthur Center church, and the day before
Christmas at Eagle. Young people from the Eagle invite any
others to join them in a caroling
party at 9:15 this Sunday, ,    .
First Congregational
This Sunday morning the Congregational Church will hold two
morning worship services. The
first service is* at 9:45, the second at 11:00..
Music for the worship will be
provided by the youth choir at
the early service and the adult
choir at the second service. The
classes in the church school Will
meet at their regular 9:45 hour.
Sunday afternoon at 4:30 the
church school will put on the annual Christmas pageant followed by .refreshments in the fellowship hall.
The special Christmas: services
will be concluded with a candlelight Christmas Eve service at
7:30 p.m. instead of the usual
11:00 p.m. hour. This change
was approved by the deacons
and deaconesses so that-more of
the church families would come
as a group to the service. The
Christmas Eve service has become a tradition in the church.
Gilmore Church of Christ
The Gilmore Church of Christ,
six miles south of .Farwell on the
Vandecar and W. Coleman roads
will have their annual Christmas program this Sunday evening, 7:30.
Along with children's recitations, traditional carols, the program will feature the much publicized cantata of John Peterson,
"Love Transcending".
,The choir presented this .►•wonderful work last week at the Mt.
Pleasant Church of Christ and
was commended for its fine presentation. Sunday morning's
Worship 10:00 will feature Mr.
Gate's message, "Why God
Loves." Bible schoolll:00.
St. John's Lutheran
Rev. Raymond Schultz will
preach Sunday on "Mary's Joyous Song Of Praise". Later Sunday the church will be the scene
Of a children's party at 4 in the
afternoon. Small gifts oi- money
Will be received for the Lutheran Children's Friends Society at
Bay City. A potluck supper follows at 5 o'clock.
On Christmas Eve there will
be a song and recitation service
Continued on Page 4
Chased Cop
With Prop;
That Did It
Remember that student pilot
in & small plane last October who
got himself some State headlines
by ibuzzing towns all over centra]
Michigan? About the only stunt
he overlooked was" flying under
a low bridge. -.,   .
He led authorities a merry
chase until he was caught, and
here's what he was charged with:
At Harrison, Michigan, on October 10th, taking off across the
field instead of using the available runway as required;
At Coleman, Michigan, flying
at less than 1000 feet over congested area;
»Being observed flying at tree
top level and hitting tops of said
trees;
Chasing automobiles from the
highway near Loomis, Michigan,
•by low flying above the highway;
Buzzing people and buildings
one mile west of Coleman, Michigan;
On take-off from Barstow-
Midland City Airport flying dar/j-
erously close to gas pump area
and police cars on the airport
without regard to safety requirements:
Flying at an altitude of from 25
to 75 feet over trees in a congested area of Midland, .Michigan;
Carrying passengers in violation of his Student Certificate
from Belding, Michigan, to Harrison, with stops -at Greenville
and Clare; and
Operating the aircraft when
under the influence of intoxicating liquor.
According to FFA officials the
above list of violations, 'earned
pilot Hysell revocation of his stu-
dpnt pilot certificate, for 3 years.
A count pf traffic  on Clare streets .reveals tb^t'ja pat-!
tern of collector   streets (bold lines)   parry vehicles   to 7
and from   traffic, generators,    (numbered   locatipnp].Y'
These streets and  the two' major trunkline  highways    '
are major   streets  which  engineers, sa.y-. SphpUld haye
.priority in immediate improvements. Civic leaders were
told Tuesday night that this growing community needs
Ike street improvement despite the pending removal of
federal highways outside Clare city   limits.   Numbers
'-represent 1 "New High   School,   2-public   Elementary
School* 8-.Sf. Cecilia Parochial School, 4-Clare General;
Hospital, 5-Hotel Doherty, 6-Loomis Machine Company,
7-Couniy Highway, Garage; 8-Bus Station.   9-Consum•*.
ers Power, V0-Thayer Dairy Co., 11-Clare Manufacturing Co, A Lee Sowle "aerial Photo.
Improved Straits And Law Enforcement
Study Report For Clfire
Urged
A full-dress report of findings
in a,.recent traffic survey for the
City of Clare was presented
Tuesday evening to members of
the city government and some
30 other interested officials and
leaders of civic, groups. Mayor
Gerald*' Nivisori, City Manager
Clarence Gum; with commissioners headed tHe room full of
guests dined -at the Doherty by.
The Auto Club of Michigan,
compilers of the report.
Foremost in recommendations
for Clare are:
1.) Establishment of a street
maintenance and improvement
schedule to recognize priority of
major streets and what "the report calls "collector streets"
which serve traffic generator
points.
2.) Widening of McEwan street
from Second to John "R., and the
prohibition or control of parking
on Fifth and Fourth streets'
near McEwan and other spots.
3.) Enlargement of the city's
police force by two men, and additional police training in traffic
work.
The report was silent on the
subject of Glare's system of
Stop, or yield right-of-way intersections throughout the local
street area, and it likewise failed
to mention whether a limited use
of one-\vay streets would be ah
advantage. One-way designation
has been sometimes suggested
for westbound traffic on Fifth
street, and eastbound traffic on
Fourth.
Neither did the report mention
solutions for auto traffic congestion at the shift change time
at Clare Manufacturing Company, nor control of traffic on
streets commonly used as quick-
exit lanes for Clare's Fire Department.
However, 'in general conclusion, the report said that the
purpose of the Study project Was
to "indicate stepj5 Clare' and its j
citizens can take to make the
streets of the city safer and easier to travel over." This purpose
was accomplished in the findings, with the solid recommendation based on factual evidence
gathered here.
The analysis of traffic conditions was undertaken hy the
Auto. Club at the request of the
city, and the engineers generalize that Clare can help reduce
congestion and prevents accidents.     * ,, .        ,     '7 :
Acknowledgements in the
front of the bound report credit
Clare officials and police with
special and valuable assistance
given throughout the study.
The report was presented by
Charles E.. Gordon, Auto Club
traffic research supervisor, and
Arthur Gibson, of the Detroit
traffic engineering firm of Gibson and Associates. Gordon
headed the survey team during
its study conducted last August.
Accidents and Engineering-
Clare's traffic accident problems are concentrated chiefly at
two intersections, the report
said. Almost one-third of the 106
accidents experienced during a
12-month period occurred, on
McEwan St. (US-27) at its' intersections with Fourth and
Fifth (US-10) streets. A total of
46 accidents, or nearly one-half
of the city's total, occurred on
McEwan-
Gibson noted, that both McEwan ahd Fifth are arterial
routes carrying relatively heavy
volumes of both through and local traffic.
"There, are many conflicting
turning maneuvers at this intersection because of the trunkline
junction," explained Gibson,
"and because this is .the center
of the business area."
The survey recommended that.
McEwan St. be widened from its
Farwell Bank President,
Allen R. Graham Retires
By Lois'Birdsall
Allen R.. Graham, retiring
president qf The Farwell State
Savings Bank departed last week
for Florida 'after a warm send-
off, from friends and members
of his family who.wished him
well after 43 years in the Far-
Well bank. -  '
At a testimonial dinner in
Twig's Restaurant Wednesday of
last week the l bank's directors,
stockholders and personnel honored Mr. Graham and invited his
two brothers and a sister with
their wives and husbands to see
him honored by co-workers.
The Grahams left for Florida
on Saturday, and so while his
elected term as president doesn't
end* until January 1960, he has,
in effect retired* ..   .
Mr. Graham..graduated in 1912
from then Central .Michigan-Col
lege and Was a school teacher
until 1916 when he joined the.
staff of the Farwell bank. He
has been with that institution
ever since.
He was in military "service
during World War I, and later,
during the 1930s, he was appointed receiver for the Clare County
Savings Bank qf Clare. 'He perr
formed all the functions of that
job while still holding his position as Farwell Bank president-
He liked to compare the bank's
present assets of $1,600,000,
with those of the days when he
began his career there and the
value of -assets was $35,000.
Following the dinner last
week the Grahams entertained
all the guests and hosts at their
home, .where they saw movies -of
a California trip.
present 65 feet to 76 feet with
provision made for a center left
turn lane, two lanes in each direction for through traffic and
curb lanes for parking.
Curb   parking   on   Fifth   St.
should he prohibited for a min-
Bands Join
For Concert
At Christmas
The public in invited to come
to the annual Christmas concert
at the new high school's gymnasium; —< and while there is
no chorus this year, Band Director Lloyd Conley said that* there
will be plenty of variety in the
instrumental performance.
There will even be an opportunity for the audience to sing
along in some of the old favorite
carols.
The Music Department of Clare
Public- Schools will- present -the
concert on Wednesday evening.
December 23, at 8 o'clock. Entrance to the hew gym is at tlie
southeast corner of the building.'
As has been the custom in the
past, no charge will be made for
this concert.
This year's presentation will he
quite different in that there is no
vocal group to. take part. Mr.
Conley, band director, has stated
that While he feels the vocal part
of the program and the text ot
the Christmas music is very, important, there is no choice since
no teacher has yet been found to
fill the position of high school
vocal music instructor. Consequently there is no high school
chorus. •
To help add variety to the program however, both the Senior
and Junior Bands will perform at
f the concert, which will offer both
^acred and secular Christinas
mUsic. The Junior Band will pre
sent the traditionalWhite Christmas and a medley of English
Carols as part of their group."   '
Outstanding in the Senior Band
portion of the program will be a
group of numbers by the., three
instrument families in the band,
including jingle Bells, played by
percussion only.
Those present Will also hear a
repeat of the well-known poem,
T'was The Night Before Christmas, in a setting for narrator
and band. Howard Taylor, student extern from Central Michigan University presently working with the Clare bands, will be
the narrator.
As a finale, the two bands wil
be combined into one unit for the
playing of three popular Christ
mas Carols,- with the.audience' in*
vited to'sing, along.. ;
The concert is- .being held in
the new gymnasium  •*
imum of 150 feet east and west
from the * intersection. It was
also recommended that pedestrian traffic signals be installed
to control all 'crosswalks since
observations made during the
survey, indicated that pedestrian
activity is "hampefing'-^jrderly
turning movements by auto
traffic. -.'•. 1-7 -    ■
At the intersection of McEwan
and Fourth streets, while there
is no clear-cut pattern of accidents, relatively heavy turning
movements appear, to be the
chief problem, the report stated.
Clare officials and civic
leaders are learning a new
vocabulary this week in order
to discuss significance of a
traffic survey which was introduced on Tuesday. Here are
. a few new words and phrases
they are hearing and. using:
)Peak Accident Period. — A
time, usually an hour during
Which traffic risks are higher
and the record shows more accidents occuring in a given location.
Arterial Street System, —In
Clare US-27 and US-10 togeth-
er with "collector streets".
Collector Streets. — They
gather traffic-from residential
areas and provide access to
"traffic generator points".
Design Standards. — Minimum right-of-way widths generally accepted for streets carrying given amounts of traffic.
' Traffic Generator. —Sources
of traffic congestion. Schools,
shopping places,-places of ei*n- ■
ployment, etc..
Local Street. — Its only
function is *to provide routes
to abutting land.
It recommended that, in addition
to widening .McEwan with the
same provjsjons as .specified a.t
-Fifth St., left, turns-from southbound McEwan to eastbound
Fourth be prohibited, parking on
the north side of,Fourth alongside the ' Citizens State Bank
building be changed from angle
to parallel-type and pedestrian
traffic  signals  be  installed.
In conjunction with widening
of McEwan at the two intersections it was recommended that
all of McEwan from Second St.
,to John R.' Blvd., a distance of
eight blocks, be widened to pr-o-
vide the city with a safe and efficient main thoroughfare.
Gibson* warned that in spite of
the proposed expressway bypass
of Clare,. the city will need to
improve McEwan because of an
gHs&XH-s*
Milt Harriger who only " recently left with Mrs. Harriger
for a winter in Florida, was reported to have died there at the
home of a relative. His home is
near Rosebush. A news .report
said that his remains would be
returned to,the Stinson Funeral
Home in ' Mt. Pleasant where
friends* mity-inquire about fune'r
al afraiigprnontsi *       7
expected rise in traffic volume
in the not-too-distant future.
Although no. accidents occurred at the new US:10 - - old
US-1Q intersection at the Western
edge of the city, during the 12-
months checked by the" Auto
Cliib team, thereport stated that-
it has a high accident* potentifd
during shift-change periods. The
opening of the addition to the
Clare Manufacturing .plarit has
further increased the accident
potential.
The report recommended that
the three-legged intersection be
improved by construction of a
traffic island, erection of traffic control signs and pavement
markings.
The survey report called for
the city to increase its police
force. The Clare force currently
number four men,
"If it is not possible to add two
full-time men at this time," said
Gibson, "consideration should be
given to using two part-time
men on weekends,"'especially on
Saturday, the peak accident
day,"* *
Because the nature of traffic
officers' work requires that they
be trained, the. report recommended that Clare send men
With an aptitude for this work to
New Wooden
Bridge In
Use In County
First- installations in Clare
county of new wooden bridges
to carry rural roads' oyer streams
and gullys has met with success,
"the County Road Commissior
says, and savings are expected to
mount largely*in money and construction time on the new type
'bridges..
Tom Copk, Road Commission
superintendent calls the structures "bridges", or "culverts" in-
terchangably, but he is talking
about the same thing al} tl\e time,
it is a small ibridge made of
wooden timbers which have been
pressure treated with preservative.
The bridges will stand up und
er engineer-tested load strains of
more than 20 ■> tons. .One' such
bridge already in use in this
county .has successfully, carried
loads of 38 tons over a stream-
crossing span.
■The bridge located on, a road
one mile .east of' the' Cornwell
Hanch, asd 300, feet north of the
corner is made with 7'6" members and having a 28-foot top.-
Cook says it can be installed in
from eight to 15 hours.
Advantages are more than just
time and money Saving,. Cook
says. The bridge is almost portable, in that it can be^ removed
from one location to ^another, or
widened, or reset .in new positions
to accomodate changing road, or
Stream condition**;, .
short Courses for such officers
at Northwestern or Michigan
State universities.
Elected By
usinessmen
The activities and fortunes of
Clare's Chamber of Commerce
will be guided next year by new
President Tim Cotter. He Was
elected Monday in the annual
meeting of the group and went
into office with Vice President"
Bernard Wyman and Secretary*
Treasurer, Dr. Robert Kring.   '.
Directors added to the Boaru
to replace three retiring ihem
bers are Dr. K. Hammerberg,
Art Ulrich and Jay Green.
The new officers immediately
made official the proposed dates
of several annual C- of C "events:
The popular and lboked-for-
watfd-to Winter Sports Festival
will be staged on January 29 to
31, and the officers say they Will
set a permanent policy of holding the colorful affair on the
last Saturday in January".'
. Farmers' Night has been set
for the  evening of February 9.
Chairmen for the two events
are Richard Groves and Joe
Johnston respectively. A whole
committee for the winter sports
weekend has been named to assist Groves: Ken Barnes, Art
Damoth, George Perry, Dr, K*
Hammerberg; Floyd Boardman,
Jerry Forsberg, and Richard Ulrich, v
Clare's chapter of Business
and Professional Women will as*
sist the committee with the selection of a candidate for" the
title, "Miss Clare County Winter
Sports."
•At' Monday's meeting Cotter
suggested that the group should
hold one meeting only in a
month and make it a "general
session in the evening of the
first Monday. He said that the
plan might pick up attendance
while the group's business could
be handled by smaller committees and the general meeting
would include a program.
More business had to do with
Clarence Riedel's report on the
orgahizaitonal meeting' for the
State Chamber of Commerce,
held December 9 and attended
by Riedel..
Holdover directors now serving on the Board are:     ,
Ben Burdo, Ken Cox, Ken
Barnes, Dick Groves, Bob Schellhas.
Harold    Sandborn,    Al      Ott,
Frank LaGoe,-  Murl"   Houghton, '
Jim Bicknell, Clarence Riedel.
Dan McDonald, Dick Ulrich,
Joe Johnston.
Dr. K. Hammerberg, Art Ulrich, Jay Green.
.r\\
V