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Show Sun Advocate Wednesday) October 1Sf 19BG Mangus remembers John ByARVA SMITH Staff writer From delivering newspapers up and down the steep slopes of the coal camps where he grew up to working in economic development and job training programs for Southeastern Utah, life has been interesting for Harry W. Mangus. In between those years were other equally interesting, sometimes exciting years, when he served in the Pacific campaigns of World War II and later, after returning home from the war, as a leader of the United Mine Workers of America. While working with the UMWA, he became acquainted with John L. Lewis during the great days of Lewis leadership. Mangus will retire Nov. 1, 1986 as director of manpower and training programs for the Southeastern Utah Association of Local Governments which includes Carbon, Emery, Grand and San Juan counties. Since 1983, he has also been working with the Southeastern Utah Private Industry Council (SEUPIC) in operating the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) for the AOG in the Southeastern Utah District. For the past 25 years he has been involved in establishing several local and district federally aided programs including the Southeastern Utah Economic Development District (SEUEDD) and the Southeastern Utah Community Action Program (SEUCAP). work has been satisfying, he said. Some of these programs have enabled this area, and other small towns, to get funding and expertise for job training and for social service programs such as mental This health. Before their establishment, most small towns had little money and expertise in many of these areas. It is easy to see the difference between the quality of life and opportunities then and now, he said. In addition, he has enjoyed the associations and friendships that he has gained while working with these programs. During the years, he has also acquired some definite ideas about the direction economic development should take, especially in Carbon and Emery counties. We have always had good times and bad, he said. The towns where I was born and raised, (he was born in Winter Quarters and grew up in Mutual) are ghost towns. Mining towns only last the life of the coal. A lot of the easy coal is gone and in some areas it will take a lot of money to redevelop the coal that is there, he said. But he thinks that coal will go back up because there are limited amounts of gas and oil in existence and the time will come when we will have to pay through the nose to buy the oil and gas we need. When those times come, coal, oil shale and bituminous tar deposits will again become very important. He said that the government should continue their sponsorship in developing alternate energy sources and the small prototype plants to process them. Usually industry wont do this without government help, sands he said. But, even more important for this area than the development of energy sources, is the need for diversification of industry to include some manufacturing and a variety of other things. We forget to do this and relax our efforts whenever times are good and most people are working, he said. It is very important to put forth our maximum effort even during the good times. He concedes that competition for industry is very great. Some larger population states, including our neighbor, Colorado, and even other Utah areas such as Ogden, offer industry a great deal such as free buildings and other concessions. We need something to of L. Lewis meetings highlighted life fer, he said. We research adequately have to offer and the the industries we are need to what we needs of trying to special call to go to the engineers. After training in this country they sailed for Australia on the USS Mt. Vernon. He met a friend from Carbon County, Bud Larsen, on the ship. From Australia he and Reid bring in. The ability to train people is here and there is a labor surplus, he said. A survey he conducted in the two counties, Carbon and went on to invasions of New Guinea at such places as Lae, Hollandia and Cape Zanzibar and on to Luzon and Leyte in the Philippines. Their path followed in general the progress of the war in the Pacific. The army in which they fought made it possible for Emery, revealed that there are more than 3,800 people between the ages of 0 who want to work. A lot of them are women 18-5- who both need and want to work, he said. He said that he is afraid that "There is inefficiency and duplication in government. We need to shake them up once in awhile." Harry Mangus General Douglas MacArthur to make good his promise I will return, to the Phillipines. people will have to reduce their standard of living in the future, partly because of overseas competition. We are being saturated with imported goods and it would help if people would look for the Made in the USA label when buying. There is a definite trend toward reducing wages and fringe benefits. The majority of jobs being developed in Utah is in the service areas where the wages are usually $3.35 per hour. Thinking back to But, Mangus said, we went in before he did. Part of the duty of Mangus outfit was clearing the beaches with mine detectors. The enemy placed mines not only on the beaches but often put booby traps in abandoned equipment and buildings. Some of the mine detectors were quite large and cumbersome. Later plastic mines were developed and they were harder to detect. Fortunately, Mangus suffered no more than shrapnel wounds. As the war progressed toward Japan, troops were poised for the intended invasion of Japan, itself, and he was given a code name and assigned to the 5th Amphibious Marine Corps. The decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan was correct, he believes, and Saved many lives. He and Reid, who now lives in Provo, were able during the past summer to attend the Second Annual Reunion of the 1881st Army Engineers in St. Paul, Minn. Following the war he retimed home to work in the coal mines and was elected president of his local, 7288, at Rains. Later he was elected president of District 22, UMWA and divided his time between the econojnics of his own youth, he said, I delivered the Tribune in Rains and Mutual for 90 cents a month or three cents a day. People in those towns were of many nationalities Austrians, Yugoslavians, Greeks, Russians, Italians, and I am not sure Japanese that all of them could read much of the newspaper, he said. I always sold twice as many of the big Sunday papers as the daily papers, partly because there were uses for the paper other than reading. Some of the paper went into making dummys used for firing shots in the mine and some of "The towns where I was born and raised are ghost towns. Price and Wyoming. He became acquainted with John L. Lewis through trips to Washington and telephone Mining towns only last the life of the coal." conversations. Lewis had a phenomonal memory, Mangus said. He could accurately remember names and dates and the details the newspapers were used in the outhouses, he added. He remembers the good times sleigh riding and ice skaing in the winter and there were sometimes bonfires . The bonfires occasionally had a more practical and urgent use than recreation. Horses were used to pull cars in the mine and sometimes a horse accidentally touched the electrical trolley line and was electrocuted. There were other accidents in which a horse broke a leg and had to be shot. When such things happend, more coal was piled on the outdoor fire and the dead horse was burned as a means of disposal. His days of walking up and down the slopes to deliver the newspaper on foot, the roads and paths were not suited to bicycles, ended when he entered Carbon High School and began riding the bus. I was in the first Carbon High School class that went to the college after it was built, he said. (Carbon High School and College of Eastern Utah, then Carbon College, shared facilities for about 20 years.) Graduating from high school in 1941, a few months before Pearl Harbor, he soon found himself in the uniform of the 1881st U.S. Army Engineers of the Sixth Army headed toward some of the big Pacific campaigns of World War II. He and his friend, Arvil Reid of Latuda, were aiming for the Air Force when they entered the service in January 1942 but got a of events. I had many face to face meetings with him when he and I were alone in the room, Mangus said. One of the things he was told about Lewis was that early in his career, Lewis was able to settle a long and bitter strike in the east that resulted from the threat to charge miners 50 cents each for broken and lost spags. (Spags were sharpened pieces of wood used as a brake in mine car wheels when coal was being loaded.) Actually only one miner had been charged for one spag. Lewis brought the two sides 14-in- ch together, negotiated the disagreement and left the meeting without ever taking his hat off, Mangus said. Lewis was farsighted in his approach to problems and did not oppose technological developments, partly because he knew they would make life easier for miners by doing away with backbreaking work, Mangus said. He also always insisted the miners live up to their word. Throughout the years Mangus has been an active citizen, working for several community it and agencies. For several years he was commander for Price Post 2379, Veterans of Foreign Wars and for a lengthy time was district commander for the VFW. Several times he received the non-prof- -- Department of Utahs Outstanding District and Post Commander of the Year award. A few years ago, the Fish and Carbon-Emer- y Game him a Association presented special plaque of appreciation for his 40 years service as an officer and a member. During the Kennedy and he Johnson administrations, worked with other concerned citizens in establishing manpower training and summer youth programs. In 1978, he received the Outstanding Citizen Award from CEU, an award given to those who make their communities a better place to live. He married Rita Thom, the girl who lived next door or, more precisely, two doors away in Mutual. They have three daughters, Harriet McKnight, Wise River, Mont.; Brenda Crissman and Becki Mangus both of Price. They have one grandson. With retirement, he is looking forward to hunting and fishing and to taking an active role in civic affairs. I will be able to speak out on he said, issues, something that government employees cannot always do because of the Hatch Act. There is inefficiency and duplication in government, he said. We need to shake them up once in awhile. . 'Santa the Legend' Christmas presentation Christmas is a time for secrets, shopping lists, music, good foods, parties, greeting friends and special traditions. A tradition at Utah Power and Light Company is the annual it ammi 1 :.J Christmas presentation. We are pleased this year to present Santa, the Legend. It is full of secrets, fun Christmas foods, decorations, stories, energy comparisons and a recipe calendar book for all who attend, officials said. home economist, UP&L Marilyn Manning, will be in the area and will be giving the Christmas presentation the following dates: 7 p.m., Oct. 15, Wednesday United Methodist Church, 10 North 200 East, Price. 7 p.m. Oct. 16, Thursday Price North LDS Stake Center, 449 North 100 East, Price. Oct. 17, Friday 7 p.m. Notre Dame Church, 210 North Carbon Ave., Price. 7 p.m. Nov. 11, Tuesday Helper LDS ward building, Helper. Nov. 12, Wednesday 7:30 p.m. St. Anthonys Church, 5th South Main, Helper. 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13, Thursday Cultura Club, Sr. Citizen Center, East Carbon. further For contact at office All information the Carbon District 637-066- 0. adults are welcome to attend. Marilyn Manning community news Fellowship entitles the Local physician receives fellowship Fred W. Feuerstein of Price, has been named a Fellow Dr. of the American Academy of Family Physicians. The degree of fellowship may be attained in either of two ways: successful completion of or more hours of accredited continuing medical study or achievement of diplomate status in the specialty of family practice as a result of passing a 600 certifying examination administered by the American Board of Family Practice. In addition, those elected to fellowship after Jan. 1, 1986 have been members of the American Academy of Family Physicians for at least six years. I con- feree to use the title, Fellow of the American Academy of or Family Physicians, FAAFP. The degree was conferred Sept. 30 upon more than 800 members of the academy in conjunction with AAFPs annual convention and scientific assembly in Washington, D.C. Fellowship candidates wore academic robes and mortar board caps. They were recognized according to state chapter groups and the oath of fellowship was recited en masse. The 57,000-memb- er AAFP, headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., was instrumental in establishing the medical specialty of family practice in 1969. It also was a pioneer in continuing medical education (CME), requiring its members to maintain 150 hours of approved CME credit every three years. Boyack named to Honor Society Kurt Boyack, Helper, has been named to the Presidential Honor Society at the DeVry Institute of Technology in Phoenix, Ariz. To be eligible for the prestigious honor, students must have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.5 (out of a possible 4.0) after two terms of study. Boyack, a student in the electronics technician (Continued on Page 6B) |