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Show But Not For Poetry r.. Rapid Reading Idea Proves Great Thing 1 . " ...... By JACK V. FOX WEST C0V1NA. Calif : (UPlt Dunald Wallhers, 13. a gaud looking, dark boy. thumbed through the pages of a buk with the title From Slave to Statesman the Life and Times of Frederick Douglass ' After four minutes, Donald put he-re- K v Q ) the bouk down on his chair-desThen he picked it jp and skimmed through it twics more. To outward appearances, it was a boy idly glancing at a book in which he had not much interest Actually, Donald had read the biography three times in 12 minutes and was prepared to discuss its contents in detail Young Walthers is an eighth grade student at the St. Christopher School where an experimental program has been under way this year in rapid reading under a system known as k s 'I ; ! ' U. f '! 1 i 1 - f V' ? i t a m l' i 2jO-3O- ,; I V I :.. 0 - I ) - . - "um am ihiiiiwii n, f --St v. , that's a different thing." she said " But actually you do get enjoyment and you can always slow your speed to your wish-do- wn to otily 1.000 words per minute if you desire ." Not For I'oHr) Poetry, with the sound and beauty of individual words and phrases as much or more important than substance, ts one of the types of reading material not suitable to Optimation Sister Francii recalled that recently she went to morning devotionals with other nuns. Each had a Book of Meditation and ttry a ere to read one paragraph and then meditate upon "Instead. 1 suddenly whipped through the entire book before I realized what i was doing and 1 just broke out in laughter there in the chapel." After the student demonstration of rapid reading, this reporter borrowed the sister s office and wrote a spot story which rap wound MO words. I handed to Sister Francis arid a.sked her if she would like to read it She glanced at the first page for one second, at the second page for one second and then handed it back. Good story." she said And she pointed out an ei ror Investigation Continues Into Getty Death - A LOS ANGELES l'Pi "psychological autopsy" like the one performed on Marilyn Monroe is trying to determine whether the mysterious death from drugs and alcohol of George F. Getty II, son of one of the world's richest men, was suicide or an accident. oil Getty, 48, a wealthy executive in his own right, died estimation, Wednesday it? hospital where "Cruist" or "Sprint" he was registered under a false Ttie average reading speed of a name. The cause was originally words reported to be a cerebral college graduate is per minute. Donald Walthers can hemorrhage. "cruise" through non technical The body of George S, Davis" material at 20.000 wpm and go was later revealed to be that of 80,000 in "sprints." Getty, son of billionaire J. Paul lie could read "Gone With the Getty. Police entered the case Wind" in 40 minutes. when knife wounds were found in But Donald is not a genius; he Getty's chest and left leg. There is not even unusual. In the were bruises on his left leg and demonstration at the Catholic arm. school he was one of four seventh The senior Getty, 80, who has and eighth graders, four adults and two public school students who all went through the Douglas IS in less than biography minutes. There also was a little doll of a girl, Cindy Charland, 9, a third grader who read an adventure story about a young girl in less than 15 minutes. The Optimation technique is being promoted by the Reading in Foundation of California with the hope of Pasadena having it widely adopted in public schools across the nation. Educational Breakthrough Robert G. Ayres, the foundation president, says the rapid reading system is one of the most significant breakthroughs in the history of education. 'The human mind is far more sophisticated and capable than any computer," Aytes said. "But we have only begun to utilize its 231-pg- e , wish to savor a book, to stop and put A dowr. and relish a passage, often been referred to as the psychologists who w ill Attempt to richest businessman in the reconstruct Getty' mood at the to determine world, was at his estate m time of England, reportedly deeply whether he w as suicidal The "psychological autopsy" shocked by the death. Dr. Thomas Noguchi, county technique was first used in the fflroner-rnedicexaminer, took death of Miss Monroe, who died personal charge of the autopsy of an overdose of pills in 1963 and declared Thursday that Noguchi ruled out the knife Getty died of "an overdose of a wounds as a factor in the death, combination of alcohol and saying they were less than an barbiturates, whether acciden- inch deep. The bruises were tal or otherwise." hypodermic needle marks. Getty had a blood alcohol Noguchi said Dr. The family physician. content of .06 per cent and had taken "10 to 15 Kendrick Smith, said he regisapparently capsules" of phenobarbitol type tered Getty under the false name sleeping pills. Noguchi said. at Queen of Angels Hospital to Alcohol and the sedatives avoid publicity. Police said Dr. Smith told them interreact to fatally depress the he was summoned to the Getty central nervous system. The case "has been referred to iwme early Wednesday morning. our behavioral scientists for The doctor said Getty's wife, further evaluation," Noguchi Jacqueline, told him Getty had said, referring to a of falien and hit his head on the " concrete during a barbecue by the swimming pool earlier in the evening, while carrying a knife, accidentally cutting himself. She later found him unconscious, the doctor said. Noguchi said that "careful examination of the head did not disclose any bruises of the scalp, skull fracture or hemorrhage in the brain." The knife wounds could not have been caused by such a fall, the exam- coroner-medic- iner said. "It looks as though they were self inflicted or occurred in an accident," Noguchi said. Getty, eldest of the senior Getty's four sons and executive vice president of Getty Oil Co., is to be b'lried Saturday on a seacost bluff in Malibu. overlooking the J. Paul panel Exciting Menhaitan "Ftox-2- 0 Fashion Stretch" tha all new woven dress cliiri thai stretches a full 20 It's a rceiv fashion miracle from capacity." The key to such astonishing rapid reading is the elimination of what is called "subvocaliza-tion.- " All "normal" readers .A subcon- sciously pronounce silently most of the words they are reading. It is a slow and tiring process. In Optimation, the reader no longer subvocalizes and also blots out any concept of words, sentences - f - , 3 ONE OF two aogs shown above has a wet towel draped over his head to cool off from the rect-n-t temperatures in Chicago, or paragraphs. Sister Francis, the principal at St. Christopher, has taken the course and says she is capable of bursts of reading at 160,000 words per minute. "It is one of the most exciting things I have ever experienced as an educator," she said. "And best of ail is that slow or even retarded students can grasp the technique and do far better than they did before which in turn produces a sense of confidence." Sister Francis says that comprehension and retention is greater than in slow reading. But what about reading for pure enjoyment? Can you still get the same sense of a writer's style, his wit, his subleties? Do you really enjoy reading Dickens' "Tale of Two Cities" in 20 minutes? "Well, of course, if you really - while the other dog, a prized shepherd named Patrick, improved his eyesight with prescription glasses. The Smallest Graduating Class BY JERRY MCGINN SPOKANE. Wash. (LTD -The graduation ceremony at "Sutton School" will consist of one graduate in cap and gown. For James D. Sutton, it proves a point. The single graduate is his eldest son, James Jr. The other three students at the school are Sutton's other children. Sutton was fired a year ago as a teacher in the Spokane school system in a cutback of 156 teachers after a $9 million special levy election failed. All but 35 were rehired several months later under a court order, and the rest have been negotiating with the district. inspection. But he's not sure of its future. "I want to go back to work in the city system. I'm broke. It's difficult to support a family on no income. I've proved my point." He said his wife sold real estate "to keep groceries on the table, but I'd like to get back to teaching. I'm not bitter about the experience, I would just like to get it over with." In the meantime. Sutton said the first "and hopefully last" graduation ceremony-- is being planned at Sutton School. James Jr.. will be graduated "with honors" on Friday. A fall program, including a one-ma- procession, n baccalaureate address, cap and "I'm teaching my own children gown ceremony is being preto prove a point : I am not a poor pared by Mrs. Sutton. teacher as the district has tried The Rev. Joseph Echols Jr.. a to prove." Sutton said. The math and science instructor said he "used to be a professor. I'd sit back and take my knocks and never utter a complaint. "But when my whole world caved in after 20 years, endless hours of summer school and preparation, I had to fight back." Sutton said, it's my whcie life." The short, stocky father of six said he expects to have his school accredited by the state this family friend, will give after a safety improvement." Spurred by California's gold rush population explosion, the first overland stage from the East arrived in 1857 and the Pony Express in 1860. Telegraph service was completed in 1861 and transcontinental railroad service in 1869, the National Geographic Society says. Misses Big Chance TERRE HAUTE, BUSINESS W IS By Roger Bolten Ind.(UPI)-Si- Mil Manhattan! nce 1966, special care has been given to a select group of trees scattered about Indiana. It had been assumed one of them would adorn the White House lawn this Christmas. Not so, says the National Park Service. The park service says it has changed its policy and no longer will the various states provide Christmas trees for the White House lawn each year. This was to have been Indiana's year, and planning for the honor began in 1965 by the Indiana Coal Association, which had the primary responsibility for choosing and delivering the tree. Instead, the park service said it has decided to transplant a tree from a private nursery in New Jersey with the idea of Strctch" Is a soft, luxurious woven fabric super that's eomfor-tahl- e because it actually stretches when you do! It's permanently pressed it the looking colors and patterns. 9.00 to 10.00 permanent national Christmas tree. But the tree, native to the Mediterranean Sea area, is 75 years old and 0 chance for given only a survival. And the usual 8.500 colored bulbs cannot be used because the heat might kill the tree. "The policy was changed because of a few reactionary people resenting that a tree would be cut for such a purpose," said William Betman, mauager of the Indiana Coal Association. 80 Dacron polyester, 20 cotton and conies in great 40-fo- making FUNNY d summer the invocation and Jim Martin, a will be the guest lawyer, speaker. "Jim was a good student," said headmaster Sutton with a wide grin. "He got a hardeamed A in government after working two months on the McGovern campaign for his class project." Of the other students, Sutton said they were pulling down B's and C's "with lots of room for Indiana 60-4- IlcKiemter Dasl on Father's Daj June 1 7th TAYLn'.2Cp Rio. 2sd W., PKOV |