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Show 8A Lakeside Review South, Wednesday, Feb, 22, 1984 Centervilles War Newspaper . Gave Town, Servicemen News CHERYL ARCHIBALD Review Correspondent CENTERVILLE As the statCenterville Newsette ed, There may not be much to see in a small town, but what ' you hear makes up for it." What you read could have just as easily applied since Vestil Harrison, Centerville, said that people still come up to him and thank him for the small newspaper that he and an all volunteer staff put out during World War tid-b- it II. By its own definition, the Newsette was compiled as a town paper to record the doings of the little community of Centerville and to send the news to servicemen at war. It also kept the folks back home in the know about the events in the servicemens lives. The first issue, in December of 1943, told the news about Flight Officer Clyde D. Smith, who was reported by the Red Cross to be a "prisoner of war of the Ger- man government. The paper later printed the news from Smith's letters, Dale says he is feeling fine and is treated okay. ..the food isn't too good. ..says he has been doing a . lot of reading... he says Hello to everyone and he hopes to be home soon. After he returned home, the flCondiier told the Newsette, tions where I was held were more tolerable than the concentration camps of which you read so much. True, we went hungry several times but we were treated as human beings rather than animals." Names of Centervilles young men and women who had just enlisted were printed in every issue of the monthly newspaper, and an asterisk and footnote in- - dicated those who had been killed in action. James Evans was one who was reported killed and the paper ran the story and his picture on the front page of the August, 1945 edition. We can only hope that Jim died without undue fering, read the Newsette. On the lighter side, the newspaper printed stories of the parties, births and a little history about Centerville for the interest of the readers away from home. , The Sunday School party at Black Rock beach was typical of the happenings which the paper reorded for posterity. It was a windy day and the more adventurous ones enjoyed riding the waves... the swimmers came out to find Claude Kirklands car stuck in a mud puddle and then discovered that both Gene Fords car and Elliot Randalls car had flat tires. When things were again straightened out, everyone gathered for a delicious luncheon, the paper reported. A total of 27 issues, one a month, were published. Harrison said that after the war people lost interest and so the paper ceased publication. But during the war six to seven hundred copies were delivered each month to residents of Centerville, with extras for their loved ones out of state and overseas. used to go almost to the lake to an area called Little Italy to deliver, Harrison said. "Many of those people had boys in the service. I The paper was free to every resident and was supported wish that was just Bishop Tingey chasing me out of his watermelon patch! was a caption on one of Ves Harrisons cartoons in the Centerville Newsette. WOW! to- tally by donation. Carr Printing Company in Bountiful did the printing. Harrison, who at that time worked at Salt Lake Hardware, is now retired from the Newspaper Agency Corporation composing department. He spends many hours work- - I Grant Funds to Upgrade Rentals FARMINGTON A surplus of $55,000 from a 1983 federal Community Development Block Grant to the Davis County Housing Authority will be put toward rental rehabilitation in the Woods Cross area. The Davis County commission approved Housing Authority Director Rosemary Davis request last week to reroute the remaining CDBG monies to- ward rental rehabilitation. The original intent of the grant specified the rehabilitation of owner occupied homes. The housing authority received a CDBG grant of $85,000 in 1983 and agreed to match that amount with $95,000 for the rehabilitation program. The housing authority will contribute $5,000 from its funds to the program and an estimated $10,000 in staff time, said Mrs. Davis. She said the new program will allow the housing authority to loan money at a lower interest rate for repairs on' rental units. The owner will be required to rent to lower income people . Phpto by Robert Regan VES HARRISON, the editor, of Centervilles Newsette, a paper, published during World War Two, gave the resi- ing for the Centerville Historical Society. The Marriott University of Utah library asked for copies of the Centerville Newsette and d has all editions for the library. , Other volunteers who worked on the paper were Lois Clayton, associate editor, who at the time worked for Stevens and Wallace, one of the biggest advertising agencies in Utah. Clinton Barber who works for the Deseret News was the sports editor, Alta Blood and Eva Cardall were housewives, Cleveland Cook was a student at that time, and Leonard Mitchell, staff photographer, worked for Westinghouse. , micro-filme- dents of Centerville the news of their town and their servicemen. Harrison was, besides editor, the papers cartoonist and artist. For a contest to raise funds for the papers overseas circulation, Harrison composed a drawing of p Centervilles Servicemens Girl from four different girls facial parts; the one with the most beautiful hair, the prettiest eyes, the loveliest lips and the most shapely nose. Pin-U- Along with the latest sports scores from the local ward and other church news, the paper chose a picture of a child of a serviceman to say Hi Daddy in the paper every month. Another regular feature was the Pioneer History of Centerville written by Mabel S. Randall who wrote for the Daughters of the American Pioneers. Harrison said that each month a staff member would go to the DAR cabin and take pictures of relics for the feature. When LDS President George Albert Smith spoke at a stake meeting the paper was there to take a picture of him in an all white suit and his all white goatee. And in keeping with the patriotism of the times, the paper always plugged war bonds. Buy bonds to bring back the rest of our Centerville boys and girls in safety, the paper admonished. Long Lines Mail ENNY MEYERS Job Gets Big Response sitions were advertised last Review Correspondent BOUNTIFUL week. Employ- ment, according to President Reagan, is down considerably. But it seemed that all those who were left unemployed gathered at the post offices of the Salt Lake area after mailhandlers po Long lines were formed at the U.S. Post Offices through-ou- t the valley and the Bountiful Post Office got its share. Postmaster Nolan Birt stated that about 100 applicants per day showed up at the Bountiful Post Office, on Main Street. But Birt explained that this was only a small fraction from the entire response to the advertisements. The Bountiful Post Office was asked to handle the overflow from the thousands of applicants who streamed into the Salt Lake Post Offices. |