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Show Volume 41 j Monty Sello ... says. . . I! ;; If I didnt know a darn sight better, Id say Spring was just around the corner. Course its silly to make such a statement, seein as how Spring on the calendars long gone. But I cant help gettin that way when I look at Main street and kinda dream of what it will look like when its all done. All smooth and nice. Not so much dust and no mud to ooze through. It does somethin to me, as I said. It kinda gives me that old feelin, like Id bust out all over and run the 100 from one end of the town to the other. Now dont get any ideas about my doin that, 'cause my runnin days are over, but I cant help sayin somethin about it. Maybe other folks feel the same way. And maybe if enough of us get the feelin itll spread all over town and everybodyll get a little more pep. This pavin and new curbs and gutters are goin to make a whale of a difference in this town and I guess it isnt too soon to start thinkin about how clean were gonna keep em after theyre done. I got lots of ideas about Monti-cellbut when I start daydreamin about em, some folks look at me like I was off my rocker. You know how it is: they probably wonder why I dont go about my business and leave things alone. Well, I dont wanna bother anybody or put em out, ya understand, but if I feel like gettin up on a box on one of these street corners and start yodelin to the effect that this towns gotta get off the dime and start movin, nobodys gonna stop me short of throwin me in Seth Wrights jailhouse. I was mighty glad to see our voters tell Uncle Sam it was all right with them if he let em have some dough to fix things up around here. They passed that ordinance for almost a half million bucks, but even now I have not heard any noise about it. See what I mean? A couple of hundred people show up at the polls to vote on somethin which concerns more than a couple of thousand! Where were the rest of em? If Monticellos got any growin pains, it sure isnt hurtin where it shows. My friend Ken Coates down at National Lead is one guy wholl listen to me and agree. Hes called a public confab for Friday night in order to give everybody a chance to discuss the community swimming pool thats been high and dry for about three years now. Ken and his friends who have been workin on this thing for a long time might be called unsung heroes of a sort, because while everybody else has had his head turned in some other direction, and girls Ken and his boys have been ploddin along trying to get things done. They can see daylight now, what with gettin approval from the state board of health and all. But theyll need help from everybody from now on. Sure, everybody in townll be tickled pink to go jump in the pool and have themselves a time if and when it gets finished. But hows it gonna get to that stage if 95 per cent of the people leave it up to the other 5 per cent to do all the work? Good old George. Let him do it. Progressive ideas are great things if enough people get em. But ideas arent enough. They gotta be sold to customers who can see their value and wanna use em. This whole idea of recreation is somethin thats gotta go ahead. You know it just as well as I do. Look at cities and towns all over the state. They all have special guys for the work. They organize all kinds of activities for kids, and the old folks the middle-ageand everybody loves It But nobody can even have a guy to run the show until the town puts the (continued on page eight) d pages 8 Monticello, San Juan County, Utah, Thursday, June 20, 1957 BULLETIN Voters Approve Bond Issue For Monticello BRANDING Bodies of two small children, aged 8 and 6 years, were recovered at 7 a.m. Friday from a small reservoir f mile north of about Blanding after an search. The children were a son and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Morris of Blanding. Mr. Morris is the San Juan county farm agent and formerly lived in Monticello. According to Deputy Sheriff one-hal- all-nig- By a comfortable margin but with a total ballot count that indicated a somewhat indifferent attitude on the part of the voting public, Monticellos $460,000 bond election was carried favorably Tuesday. Approval of Proposition No. 1 of the new ordinance, which calls for expenditure of the nearly half million dolars for water, electric and sewerage improvements for the city, was carried by a vote of 174 to 17. Proposition No. 2, which asked the question: Shall negotiable coupon bonds of the City of Monticello, Utah, in the sum of $50,000 bearing interest at a rate of not to exceed six per cent per annum, and due and payable in not to exceed 20 years from the date of said bonds, be issued and sold for the purpose of defraying part of the cost of improving and extending the waterworks plant and system of said city?, was approved by a vote of 169 to 18. Ordinance Adopted The vote on the white ballot, which called for adoption of the ordinance, received little attention from the voters, but was passed by a 30 to 3 margin. Although the turnout was not what a city the size of Monticello should show, in the opinion of city officials, it nevertheless gave for construction of the what undoubtedly will be the largest development for public good in the citys history. Frankly, I was disappointed in the number of ballots cast, said I City Manager Byron Oberg. believed the issue to be of such vital importance to the people that they would not only turn out wholeheartedly but approve it overwhelmingly. Okeh Main Worry Now that the ordinance has been approved, we shall start immediately to clear the final hurdles that are necessary before actual work on all phases of the whole project are begun. The important item of approval was our main worry. Perhaps some people do not yet fully realize what this bond election meant to the city, but I can assure them as well as those who voted against the ordinance that when all developments are completed, Monticello will be on the way to becoming a city to be proud of in every respect. Eye Water System Expansion of the present inadequate water system will be of primary consideration in the whole picture. Moisture available thus far this year has precluded any threat of a water shortage in the immediate future, but officials are counting on the new system to be operative in time for any future conditions which may threaten a water shortage. Among the more urgent items under consideration also are street lights to set off the new paved Main street, which is expected to be completed in another two weeks. It may take a little more time than people figure to have everything shipshape, but wre shall bend every effort to expedite every phase of the program, Mr. d , Oberg said. Local Pianists Play at Moab Two Monticello youngsters will take part Sunday in a social and benefit program designed to raise funds for St. Pious X Catholic parish in Moab. Buckley Jensen, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ned Jensen, and Paula Kay Lewis, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. G. R. Lewis, will appear as pianists on the program. They are pupils of Mrs. Sarabeth Blanck, who will accompany them. Also on the program will be Kathy Armstrong, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Shelby Armstrong of Aztec, N. M. Chauncey Black, the children had gone swimming early on Thursday evening. When they were reported missing a search party was organized. Their clothing was found on the bank of the reservoir about 9 p.m. Thursday. Searchers with boats and grappling hooks dragged the reservoir until after daybreak when the Reservoir was finally drained. The bodies were found in about three feet of water. HIGHWAY'S NO PLACE TO LAND i0c imiM per Number 20 copy tlteEcer M IMtlessiceEie pen Pit rJlin by Walt Beesley Cut down by a blast of gunfire from a fellow worker for no apparent reason, a San Juan county uranium mine worker was killed almost instantly Wednesday afternoon in a shooting spree at the Rattlesnake Pit mine 37 miles northeast of Monticello. Dead within minutes after he faced his slayer, who fired at least four shots point blank at the victim, was Charles Merrifield, 33, of Moab, a shovel operator at the mine since last March. one-ma- n The slaying occurred at approximately 3:30 p.m. and three hours later a suspect who admitted the shooting was arrested in Cortez, Colo., in the same pickup truck with which he made his escape immediately following the tragedy. Held in the Cortez city jail and later formally booked in the San Juan county jail at Monticello, the admitted slayer gave his name as James W. Rodgers, 46, who is a native of Lubbock, Texas. Officials and mine workers were at a complete loss as to County Board Slates Meeting Friday To Discuss Swimming Pool Project In an effort to launch a spirited recreacampaign for a tional program for Monticello, the San Juan county recreation board has called for a public meeting to be held Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the county courthouse. Principal subject at the meeting, however, will be the Monticello swimming pool, on which work has been started by Mullin company of Phoenix, Ariz. Plans and specifications for the pool finally have been approved and with cash on hand and pledges of nearly $30,000 with which long-rang- e . -- Above is shown what 'C ' i L .V !,' , ,1';' V 1 is left of a frisky plane that refused to climb and dropped onto Highway north of Monticello. Occupants unhurt. Errant Plane Crashes on Highway 1 60 Three Occupants Unhurt in Smashup Two men and a girl came down with a bang on the highway just north of Monticello last Saturday when the plane in which they were attempting a takeoff failed to gain altitude and took half a nosedive on the paved road. Except for a few scratches and bruises none of the trio was in- - National Lead Co. Gives Pins To Forty Employes Five year service pins were presented to 40 employes of the National Lead companys Monticello operation at a dinner meeting Tuesday night in the company Staffhouse. Presenting the pins was Luther Strole, director of public relations of the National Lead company home office in New York City. Accompanying Mr. Strole to Monticello for the presentation were Steve Stoney, assistant director of public relations; A. L. Culbertson, public relations director of the Fernald, Ohio, operation; Bob Bressler, manager of industrial relations for the division of National Lead at Toledo, Ohio, and Frank Plasha, public relations director for the Winchester Laboratory of National Lead at Winchester, Doeh-ler-Jarv- Mass. The following employes pins: Michael Camberlang, Heber Carroll, Merl Cummings, Gayle L. Holt, James Parley Laws, Steven L. Mayne, Mack Mc-Intir- Frank Montella, Melvin Grant Nelson, Lee R. Patterson, , Richard Pehrson, Rodney Henry Peterson, William O. Sheppard, Donald C. Evans, Elmer Bailey, Edwin Z. Black, Leon B. Black, William Glen Black, Aroe G. Brown, Elvin Jack Pehr-son- Brown; Erastus Burtenshaw, Noel Carter, Don F. Christensen, Neal Christensen, Robert M. Conway, Charles R. Harvey, Charles Ken Helquist, Melvin Hurst, Roy Clive , Johnson, Joe Kay, Jack G. Graydon L. Martin, James E. Pipkin, Joseph R. Priddy Sr., Joseph R. Priddy Jr., John W. Redd, Oris Sober and Thomas Man-son- Wozniak. ' - Dinner for the group was prepared by Mrs. Velma Askew, Mrs. Ida May Tucker, Mrs. Beulah Lewis and Mrs. Amanda Redd. - to proceed, the board hopes to complete the pool this summer. Iu-Enthusiasm G. K. (Ken) Coates, chairman of the county board, called the meeting in an attempt to instill into the people of this community if t r year-aroun- d e Funeral Service Electric Worker Conducted for Hurt by Blast Anna Carlson, 94 after the killing maintained there had been nothing in the action or conversations between the two men that would indicate any trouble. Maurice H. Brady, mine superintendent for the Continental Uranium company, said Rogers normally worked outside the great open pit mine and only Wednesday had been moved into the pit to assist in drilling operations. He added that the two men never had worked together before and as far as could be determined there never had been any trouble between them. Can't Explain Interviewed at the San Juan county jail Thursday, Rogers could give no explanation for his actions. "I can't tell you why I did it, he said soberly when questioned by a newsman. Hed been getting on my nerves for some time and I knew it was going to lead to serious trouble.. But I just cant the interest and enthusiasm that why I did it. has been lacking in the swimming explain Dee Gardner, a truck driver at pool campaign so far. the mine, recalled after the slay- The project was started about that the first indication of three years ago but because of Ing came when Rogers walktrouble the many details involved in ed out of the pit and deliberately building the pool, both legal and headed for his pickup truck, tellotherwise, most of the people ing Gardner and other workers Mr. have forgotten about it, that I guess Im going to have Coates said. to kill him (Merrifield) before I However, the board has been leave this job. with several whose in- working terest has not lagged and finally r ' we have obtained approval from jured, although the plane dropped m the state board of health to go k, sharply from an altitude of about ahead with the project. Approval 100 feet. of that board has been the biggest Deputy Sheriff Ray McAlister, cause of delay, but the plans as who investigated, said the men now laid, call for everything reand girl had departed on their quired by the state and the confrom Grand trip Valley, Colo., tractor also is all straightened and were en route to Maryville, 4 0 out and ready to go ahead," Cal., when they hit a storm front Regulation Pool and detoured around by Cortez. The pool will be a regulation Spotting the airstrip at MontiAAU layout, 82 feet 6 inches cello, the pilot landed the plane long and 40 feet wide, commonly so he could get an air map. called a 25 meter pool. There will On the takeoff, the plane barely be both low and high diving cleared a ranch house on the boards and depth of the pool will north end of the strip and the reach 11 feet six inches at the telephone wires before it hit a deepest end. downdraft and dropped on the Eventually, the board hopes to highway. One wing hit the paved have the pool fully enclosed to road first and it continued its use. The conpermit zigzag course for several hundred Mullin tract the with company feet before coming to a stop. All calls for guniting the area, tiling, three occupants walked away Anna K. H. Carlson, 94, installation of the heating and filfrom the crash. resident of San Juan, succumbs. trating plants and everything up Those in the plane were E. R. to the actual pouring of concrete. Murphy and daughter, Darla, and Bathhouses will be provided and O. F. Lindower, all of Grand Valthe whole area will be enclosed ley. by a fence. Our swimming pool drive for funds has been at a standstill for a long time, Mr. Coates said, and were going to need a lot more to finish the job. Something like $85,000 will be necessary. We Funeral services for Mrs. Anna have been approaching every anGrady Kinser, 38, an employe of the Service Electric company Kristine Holm Carlson, 94, who gle in an effort to raise the money who was injured in a dynamite died of natural causes Saturday, but when it comes right down to blast Tuesday, was released from June 15, were conducted in the brass tacks, it is the people of the San Juan county hospital Monticello Community church on Monticello who must do their Wednesday after treatment for Tuesday afternoon by the Rev. part. After all it is they who will benefit. leg cuts received in the explosion. W. E. Parks. Public Discussion The accident occurred while Speaker was A. J. Redd. Organ Several important items relatKinser was drilling a hole for a prelude was played by Helen utility pole about a mile and a Pehrson and a duet, In the Gar- ing to the project should be subhalf north of Mexican Hat. Part den, was sung by Grant Bron- mitted for public discussion, Mr. of a charge of dynamite which son and Lyle Adams. Fletcher Coates added, in urging the people failed to explode at the proper Bronson sang a solo, Abide With to attend the meeting. The swimming pool is just the time apparently was struck by Me, accompanied by Helen Pehrfirst project in a the drill held by Kinser. Pieces son. proof the steel drill pierced his leg. Burial was in the Mountain gram we have mapped out for the He is scheduled to return to View cemetery. city, he said. If only we can Monticello Saturday for further Mrs. Carlson was born in Goten-borg- , get everyone behind the program, treatment. Sweden, December 9, 1862, the city will take on a different a daughter of Sven and Kristina appearance and eventually we Olsen, and came to the United hope to have enough recreation States with her family when she facilities to accomodate everywas 10, settling in Ishpeming, one. Mich. She was married to Frank City officials are expected to Charles Carlson in 1881, and came attend and offer their ideas on to the Out East area in 1921. Mr. the program. The Rebus Rota Literary club Carlson died April 27, 1929. TO VISIT DAUGHTER will be entertained by Mrs. L. Surviving are two daughters, Mr. and Mrs. Vernon W. Sperry Frank Redd Saturday at 3 p.m., Mrs. Minnie Jones of Cortez, it was announced Wednesday by Colo., and Mrs. Maude Hoernke of Burbank, Cal., will arrive in' Miss Isabelle Redd, newly instal- of Long Beach, Cal.; three sons, Monticello Friday for an extenled president Henry, Arthur and Walter of ded visit with their daughter, Mrs. Bennion Redd will read Monticello; two grandchildren, Mrs. Bennion Redd, and family Our Town for the group follow- Mrs. Donna Pierce of Cortez and and particularly their new Frank C. Hoernke Jr., of Long ing a business meeting. grandchild. The Redds Members are requested to call Beach, and two great grandsons, have six other children. Mr. and Mrs. Sperry visited , here last the hostess if they plan to bring Donald and Robert Jones of summer. friends to the meeting. long-tim- cause of the shooting and eyewitnesses questioned by San Juan Record newsmen within an hour long-rang- e Rebus Rota Club Meets Saturday ld Rodgers continued toward his truck, Gardner said, took a .38 calibre revolver from the cab of the pickup and started back toward the pit. Had to Move In the meantime I had driven my truck to within 25 or 30 feet of where Chuck (Merrifield) was working and I had to move it when Rodgers came back, Gardner said. Rodgers walked past me a few feet and motioned for Chuck to get down off the shovel. Just then Dennis (Ingranj, a driller) came to me and said I guess Rodgers is going to scare Chuck with a gun. When Rodgers motioned to Chuck to get off the shovel, Chuck raised out of the seat and put one foot down. Thats as far as he got before Rodgers started shooting. I dont know why, but the first shot went into the ground, but then he turned the gun straight at Chuck and fired three or four times as fast as he could. Takes Care of That I didnt dare move because I felt Rodgers didnt like me either. When he had got through shooting, Rodgers put his gun back in his belt and said, Well, I guess that takes care of that. After Rogers left I ran to Chuck, who was bleeding a lot. I lifted his head so maybe he could breathe a little better but he died right away. Immediately following the shooting, another workman, Harold Pickens, started to run up the side of the pit but returned when Rodgers ordered him back. I wasn t about to run anymore when he told me to get back, Pickens said. However, Rodgers walked away after Pickens came to him. Robert Goodnight, another worker who was standing nearby, said Rogers passed him as he was putting his gun in his belt and remarked: Well, he asked for it and he got it. Set Up Road Block Workers outside the open pit that Rodgers came out after the shooting, went to his trailer and picked up some of his belongings and left the mine. In the meantime, one of the men had left for Moab to notify officers. Road blocks were thrown up on the highway at Moab and Monticello, but Rodgers said later in the county jail that he took the Stepladder road to Cortez and was headed for Denver. It was the bright red color of (continued on page eight) said ' |