New Era-Herald (Hallettsville, Tex.), Vol. 84, No. 48, Ed. 1 Tuesday, February 26, 1957 Page: 2 of 6
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NEW ERA-HERALD, HALLETTSVILLE, TEXAS
-------------——------------------—-----------------
YUMBAY, HBMUAMV M,
TEEN
COLE THEATRE NEWS
TALK
upon it being brought to the attention of the publisher.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1957
i r—‘— --------— ------
Laredo Bridge
doesn’t suit
nes; Juniors Gaynell Schroeder, pretty badly involved, unable to
i i • i___• wollr onri vxritVirviif mimh hnno nf
c
, Texas, under the act of Congress, March 8, 1879.
gym Friday night,
invited and we un-
large evening is
guranteed. We’ve
We
has
the
walk and without much hope of
ever doing so. Now he is back
home walking around on crutch-
es and occasionally he strolls a
cross the room without crutches.
the tax col-
at the post
again
we’ve
SYMPTOMS AT ONE TIME...
IN IXSS TIME I ITS THE
PROVEN COLDS MEDICINE
Mrs. Norman Fahrenkamp
and Mrs. Elsie Biehunko ware
The meeting of United States
and Mexican armed forces on
last week when they re-
pins.
kids! Here we are
some of the tidbits
Opening To Be
Seen On Television
and Refining Company’s Texas
In Review next week as the two
countries observe George Wash-
ington’s birthday with a “good
neighbor” gesture.
Cameras will also travel to
Falfurrias, where the Heart’s De-
light Tennis Tournament is held.
Here, the people of Falfurrias
invite South Texas high school
students to compete and gain ex-
perience in tournament play.
Players are accommodated in
the homes of the townspeople
and trophies are furnished by
them.
Ma-
few
and Managing Editor
■ Editor -
pertatendent
The Advertiser, of Calais, Maine, points out that in
many parts of the world socialists are worried because
workers prefer jobs in private industry as against jobs
in nationalised industry. It cites two examples. The private
building industry in Soviet East Germany has been taking
the more efficient workers away from state owned com-
panies. And Bolivia’s experiment in government operation
of the tin industry failed primarily because of low worker
productivity, thpy worked harder for private owners than
thej did for the government.
This is not surprising. Worker^ can bargain with
private industry and get improved wages and working
conditions. But when government is the boss, it calls the
tune as it sees fit, and anything reseonbling equality of
bargaining is impossible.
The moral: The masses of working people always
get the short end of the.stick under socialism.
ton Heston, Anne Baxter, Gil-
bert Roland, Bruce Bennett, For-
rest Tucker and Barton McLane.
I’m going to tell a little bit
about the plot of this story, and
I guarantee you, it is “differ-1
ent”. A Civil War veteran im-
pulsively marries a stranger and I
story of Arizona’s mysterious
“phantom” outlaw.
The second feature is from
the Red Book story that startled
millions, “Three For Jamie
Dawn”. This is an exceptionally
well done mystery, drama. It
certainly has an outstanding cast
which includes Laraine Day, Ri-
cardo Montalban, Richard Carl-
son, and June Havoc.
Here are two very good pro-
grams for Saturday. Don’t miss
them. There are several very
good hours of intertainment
here.
We don’t know exactly how to
tell you about Sunday and Mon-
day’s picture. Don’t let titles of
pictures scare you That is a way
to miss a good program. Always
look at its possibilities' before
judging.
The Sunday picture is “Three
I Violet People”. It is in vista-
Ronnie finds considerable di-
version through his activities as
a “ham” radio operator Recent-
ly he received quite a thrill
when he managed to make con-
tact with Captain Kurt Carlson
of Flying Enterprise fame. Cap |
tain Carlson was off the coast |
of Portugal when contact was I
made.
Ronnie’s call letters a
K8DKB.
write the letters and, congress
figures, they might as well pay
for their stamps at
lector’s window as
office.
Another sight reading clinic
was held Saturday. This time in
Cuero. Brahma band members
attending were Sara Devall,
Roslyn Renger, Arlene Blahuta,
Dorothy Treptow, Bonnye Whit-
ley, James Evans, Bobby Sch-
wartz, Ervin Honish and yours
truly. Speaking of the band this
might be a good time to men-
tion the sock hop they’re throw-
ing in the
Everyone is
derstand a
practically
done a little snooping and from
what we can learn, a big floor
show is being planned, plus oth-
er entertainment. All for a no-
minal fee for the benefit of the
for all of you cats.
Congrats to Carolyn Appelt
for being chosen the Halletts-i
ville F. H. A.’s candidate for |
McCall’s Pattern Girl.
By the way, if you see a cloud
of smoke hanging over town
don’t get excited and turn in
the fire alarm. It’s just cigar
smoke from the “It’s a Boy”
cigars passed out by Coach
Thompson last Saturday,
wonder what postion Coach
picked for him to play on
football team.
Through the courtesy of
rianne Shirley we submit a
more vocabulary builders:
Big deal — important date
Big Wig — Popular individu-
al
Bird — Foolish
Biscuits — Phonograph rec-
ords
Blah — Very important
Boast Toastie — A conceited
girl
Here is a list of girls that let-
tered in basketball: Seniors, Do-
loris Kahanek and Marlyn Gro-
■
v*' ■ ........... I
Su^aatiptipn Rates; one year, $2-50, six months, $1.50; out
of state, one year, $3.00; six months, $1.75, in advance
‘ ~ ----------—---------- -
* It Will be remembered that, hist year, the president
vetoed a bill which woud have freed natural gas pro-
ducers, from regulation bythe Federal Power Commission.
He, did this not because he was opposed to the principal
objectives of the measure, but because in his opinion in-
excusable lobbying activities had been pursued on its be-
half.
» Now, in his new budget message, the president has
referred to the matter again. And what he says is of very
great importance to millions of people who use natural
gas, and the millions more who anticipate using it in the
futurt.
The president stated: “In returning the Harris-Ful-
bright natural gas bill to the Eighty-Fourth Congress
without my approval, I Stated that legislation conforming
to the basic objectives of that bill was needed. I am still
of that opinion. It is essential that consumers of natural
gas Be protected. We must endeavor to make sure that
there will bfe continued exploration and development of
adequate field supplies ef gas, and that producers’ sales
prieek are arrived at fairly and competitively. In this
way, and with authority vested in the FPC to regulate
interstate pipelined ag to the price at which gas may be
charged as an item of cost in fixing their rates, the price
to the public will be fair. Legislation freeing gas pro-
ducers from public utility type regulation is essential if
the incentives to find and develop new supplies of gas
are to be preserved and sales of gas to interstate markets
axe not to be discouraged to the detriment of both epn-
suiperS and producers, as w$ll as the national interest.”
That last sentence tells the story, and it is a vital story
indeed.
STORY NO. 9—in a series of ai.icics on Duval County by Frederick Hodgson and Franz
Rosenwald. New York newspaper and magazine writers who visited Duval County and
wrote the series exclusively for Texas readers.
■ftLX——-------lEri——--------.
Published every Tuesday and Friday
There they find trouble caused
by the man’s one armed young-
er brother, and this brings about!
his wife’s decision to leave.
Now that is all I am going to
tell you, other than it is a rat-
tling good drama that has activ-
ity, force and good character-
izations.
“Cha-Cha-Cha Boom!” is sev-
enty-eight minutes of uninter-
rupted melody for the teenag-
ers and the rock and roll en-
thusiasts. There is a light ro-
mantic story too as well as the
music and dance entertainment.
The story presents a variety
of entertainment as it unfolds
the tale of a talent scout for a
recording company who goes to
Cuba to find new and interest-
ing personalities. This picture
will be shown Tuesday and
Wednesday, March 5 and 6.
—-----o--
Irene Golsch of San Antonio
was a week end visitor in the
home of her parents, Mr. and
Mrs. Theo. Golsch .
Marcelle Schroeder and Arlene
Blahuta; Sophomores, Sandy
Miller, Mary Jane Mizera, Doris
Nance, Roslyn Renger and Gay-
nelle Grones. Congratulations
girls.
This week is a black one. Yup!
It’S that time again. Exam week.
The time when we become more
and more aware of our ignor-
ance. When faces are long and
when stacks of books are tak-
en home. When, presumably,
the midnight oil is burned. We
are told that school is just like
a washing machine . . . you get
out of it just what you put in
. . . but you’d never recognize
it. So . . .
Now I lay me down to rest,
Thinking of tomorrow's test.
If I should die before I wake
Tomorrow's tests 1 shall not
take!
■ P. 0. is making out financially -
| but rather over some of the
tiends in this worthy institution
1 Electronics are setting in.
I The word is out that a ma-
chine is being developed which
will read the addresses on let-
ters and sort them automatical-
ly. Another device, I am inform-
ed, will cancel mail electronical-
ly.
There is no telling where this
could end, and if I were a flesh
and blood post office employee,
I would be plenty worried. We
might even end up with some
sort of robot mailmen who, in-
cidentally, wouldn’t be worth a
'hoot for helping housewives get
cats out of trees, and like that.
Of course, there would always
have to be a standby crew at the
postoffice to push the buttons,
replace the fuses, change the
batteries, etc.
And read the postcards.
Not long ago Ronnie Parsons
of Gainesville came to the Gon-
zales Warm Springs Foundation
i plated and has the word “edj-
I tor” engraved on it. The rest
’ of us, including Kay Keil, Mar-
lyn Grones, Patricia Lorfing,
Dorothy Nance, Albert Kahan-
ek, Billy Jones, Ann Blahuta,
Lillie Smolik, Ann Mathies and
myself have pins with the word
“staff” on them.
The Navy Recruiting Service
j announced today that there are
i 86 “open” rates available to
! former Navy personnel who
1 have been discharged from the
I Navy more than one. but less
r e than two years upon re-embark
j ing on a Navy career.
| According to H. E. Wittington,
recruiter in charge of the Naval
Recruiting Station in Victoria
this is an entirely new program
in the Navy, and in addition to
receiving his or her old rate
back, ex-Navy personnel will be
granted 30 days advance leave
The Candy Stripers’’, Junior
Auxiliary of the Baptist Mem-
orial Hospital in San Antonio,
will be seen as the young teen-
agers help out in all phases of
hospital work The name “Candy
Stripers,” is an affectionate one
given the auxiliary because of
their striped uniforms.
Texas In Review can be seen
Monday, March 4 over KPRC-
TV, 9:30 p. m.; Tuesday, March
5, KTBC-TV, Austin, 8:00 p. m ;
Wednesday, March 6, KENS-TV.
San Antonio, 6:30 p. m.
-----o_____
Old Rates Open
To Former
Navy Personnel
Dance With Me Henry” is a
crazy mixed up comedy o,rni-
val. A junior edition of Disney
land was set up on the lot and
40 kids were made happy to
even work in this wonderful at
mosphere along with the comedy
riot team of Abbott and Costel-
lo.
Yet there are services, strictly commercial services,
which the user pais, only a part of the cost, and an-
■nart is made up| |hrough subsidies of one kind or
W' MHnU&JftTC6- These are services
gtjtl. One of them is parcel post,
it wsis estimated that since 1920
lAtriin to $1.2 billion, and this
chert while they're away at
e They don't gel their deer
at county expense, orcharuc
kids couirh medicine and
oil to the school district
art different in Duval.
’re different for the Duke.
His two banks, dfuoeitorie*
unty and school funds, lemt
p FROM WARM SPRINGS------
FACTS FANCY
V
choice for initial assignment and I
may travel to the new duty sta-,
tion in their privately owned ve- j
hicle if they so desire.
Advance travel pay to the new
assignment will be paid at the
South Texas Navy Recruiting
Service Headquarters in Hous-
ton prior to departing on leave.
I or complete information on
new program, offered by
the new career Navy, and a list
of the rates which are “open”
for enlistment, all ex-Navy per-
sonnel, both men and women,
art urged to contact their local
three years, after being without
fiscal check-up for decades.
All this examing of records has
had results. George Parr’s sun is
setting, and his shadow stretches
long and thin over the rubble of
his falling empire Half a dozen
. grand juries, no longer hand-
■ picked and controlled, have hung
1 hundreds of indictments around
1 the necks of the Duke and some
! 40 of his followers.
On January 29 a jury in New
Braunfels found Parr guilty of
stealing funds from the Bena-
vides School District and sen-
tenced him to five years in prison.
The previous day he was declared
bankrupt by a Federal court.
Three of his followers, convict-
ed of conspiracy to steal from
the county, have appealed their
cases. The rest have used a dozen
legal loopholes to postpone their
trials, including the hiring of a
Texas legislator as legal counsel.
A legislator, under Texas law,
can’t be taken away, from his
lawmaking duties to try a case
When the 54th Legislature ad-
journed, the lawmaker dropped
out of the Duval cases without
having been in court.
Right up to the time he finished
his. term January 1, Shepperd
’kept men in Duval County at the
request of District Attorney Sam
Burris, to work with grand juries.
Men like soft-spoken Willis Gres-
ham, jovial Sam Ratliff, young-
ish Frank Pinedo, and efficient
Ralph Rash. Most important, he
kept bulldoggish Sydney Chand-
ler there, an eternal thorn in the
side of the Duke. Back in Austin
a battery of barristers in the At-
torney General's office worked
around the clock many times to
keep ahead of George Parr, who
was nobody’s fool.
All , these men have become
symbols in Duval County. Sym-
bols of the new order, of the
democratic process, of the Con-
stitution, of the law of the land
as opposed to the law of the pis-
tol and the whip.
The presence of the Law in
Duval has changed even the con-
duct of the county's decent citi-
zens. The old fear has been lifted.
Election day used to be the day
everybody stayed indoors, while
the Duke’s faithful marched to
the polls to vote as instructed by
the pistoleros who patrolled the
polling places. You didn't go near
them if you wanted to avoid ser-
ious unpleasantness. It was long
years ago that the last man was
killed at the polls on election day.
but maybe that's only because the
machine’s opposition got smart
and quit showing up to vote.
But now everybody votes in
Duval, and they vote the way they
feel. The impounding of the bal-
lots after each election to assure
an honest count is standard oper-
ating procedure People know that
every ballot is now secret, and it
makes a powerful difference in
the way Duval voters mark the
little square.
In any well-run dictatorship it's
the natural leaders of a immun-
ity that fall to the bottom and
are kept there But when the
shake-up comes they rise back to
the top Before Shepperd had
been in the county a month, citi-
zens had formed the Duval Coun-
ty Clean Government League and
started a campaign for reform.
A hundred or so Duval women
who said they were fed up with
locking their doors at nignt and
wondering if their husbands
would come home alive, organized
the United Mothers and Wives of
Duval County
In stories tn follow, we'll take
a closer look at the “now” Duval
Cotirty, nod nt the proposed laws
which w.ll help prevent another
"Dukedom’’ from springing up
within tiw borders of the gallon's
migest state
in San Antonio Satur- Navy recruiter located to the :
. I Poet Office Building in Victoria. [
One thing we would like to
tell you about Abbott and Cos-
i tello that you may not know.
Their famous “Who’s On First”
routine has been accepted for
Baseball’s Hall of Fame in Coop-
erstown, New York. They would
rather have this honor than any
Oscar.
Every year there is another
group of Oscar winners but to
have a place alongside Babe
Ruth’s bat, Ty Cobb’s glove and
other displays of immortal base-
ball names is indeed a great
glory.
This picture will be shown vision and technicolor. A very
Thursday and Friday, February j good cast which includes Chari-
28 and March 1. You will rock
with rhythm and roll with glee
when you see “Dance With Me
Henry”.
Sterling Hayden, Arleen Wha-
lan and Forrest Tucker will be
in the technicolor picture “Flam-
ing Feather” in the top half of
Saturday’s program. This is the I takes her to his ranch in Texas.
Hi
1 with
(picked up round and about.
The staff members of the
Brahma Stampede were made
happy
reived
SrUejEferalii
t, Hallettsville, Texas
1072
ted by ip *nd Mrs. Virgil Mmea
ago were taken out of his hands,
closed down by the state. His
55,000-acre ranch, bought with
county funds, has gone back to
the county, and another 4,000-acre
hacienda was auctioned off by the
authorities to satisfy tax claims
against the Duke.
Donato Serna, the man Parr
jailed and clubbed with a flash-
light for taking a picture of
Parr's “deputies” is now County
Auditor, handling the purse
strings, requiring a sworn state-
ment from every county employe
that he did the work for which he
is paid. There are no more ficti-
tious names on the checks. Every
recipient of Duval County funds
now has to be a flesh and blood
reality with a name and a face.
When a boss loses his grip on
the purse strings, he loses friends
fast. Those who still stick by him,
and they are few, remain at his
side because they’re in the same
trouble he’s in.
Not all of Parr’s friends-in-
distress stayed with him, however.
County Judge Dan Tobin, long-
time Parr supporter who was
heavily indicted himself by Duval
grand juries, pulled away from
the Duke and in effect joined the
forces opposing him. In the same
way, Parr lost his control over
the Commissioners Court. That,
plus a half-dozen elections Parr
couldn't control, lined up the coun-
ty and school district offices
against the once-mighty Duke
who used to give orders to them
all.
The biggest change, though, is
in the names on the county and
school district payrolls—the many
non-elective employes who can
I either serve the county or rob it,
‘s in charge.
. „ ...........
no gravy train any more.
Duvalans long ago lost count
of the more than 150 hangers-on,
„____.. i" em-
i ployees who have either resigned
I their jobs in panic or have been
chopped off the payroll by Serna,
j His budget-trimming knife is ra-
I zor-sharp. The Parr supporters
| who used to be carried on the
books as “road consultant” and
“hide inspector” at two or three
I hundred a month, some of them
the wealthiest men in the county,
have been relieved of their duties.
I pointed out in an earlier arti-
cle that Duval's tax rate used to
be the highest in the state. It
began to come down when the
parasites started resigning. Elec-
tion costs have been reduced as
much as 90 per cent, while the
number of voters has just about
doubled.
County services, meanwhile,
hare improved remarkably. Parr
critics whose ranches were all but
inaccessible because county ma-
chinery wouldn’t grade their
roads now are getting home in 30
minutes over country lanes that
it used to take two hours to navi-
gate. *
The Benavides school kids got
one of the biggest breaks of all.
Four Parr men resigned from the
board three years ago when school
records were impounded, and the
new board found the district about
$AO,000 in the hole, in spite of a
gigantic tax intake. Many im-
provements had been made and
paid for on paper, btlt not in ac-
tuality The new board figured
they could make vast physical im-
provements and undertake major :
construction projects and still put i
the district back in the black with- i
out raising taxes Like the eoun' '
h?ve been '
audfttrf jnd re-auditen in tnc last I
' II ......1 I ss
—1 "l'w -------
Short End of The Stick
The User Should Pay
——e———-
Few would quarrel with the statement that the per-
son who wants and uses a commodity or service should
pay for it, that is, pay te-nough to cover all the costs of
And even if that
Mister Sumiperfield, he might ■
as well relax, sit back on his big
fat deficit, and enjoy it.
As I see it, the rea concern' lhe International Bridge at La-
Band Fund. So we’ll be looking should not be so much how the i re^° w*’*. De seen on Humble Oil
---— - •—■—---—---——— — -
.>\ny erroneous reflection upon the character, standing
of reputation of any firm, corporation or individual,
Published to these columns will be cheerfully corrected
’ > 4? ®ur ®ditor, Lillie Jo Christen
ft* President On Natural Gas Regulation hers" “ s°l<<
DUVAL COUNTY, USA"
Decline of Duval Dukedom Shows
How Publicity Withers Dictators
By-FREDERICK HODGSON
SAN DIEGO, Tex.-What was
it that finally pulled the props
from under George Parr's politi-
cal dictatorship? The people? The
State? The Federal Go vernment ?
The newspapers?
They ail had a hand in it!
There were also the Texas Ran-
-gers, and a lot of freedom-hungry
Duval residents both “Anglo” anil
‘‘Mexican.” And there were some
Texas newspapers and newspa-
permen who risked life or libel,
or both.
Without them, former Atty.
Gen. John Ben Shepperd’s assault
on the iron-clad county of Duval
might have been a grand and
valiant flop. He knew that when
he started.
As it turned out. the news-
papers were eager to print the
facts about George B. Parr, if
they just had some facts to print.
When they had the facts, they
pulled all the stops. That's when
the machine began to come apart.
There was a spunky newspaper
here and there that had been
chipping away at the foundation
all along, within the bounds of le-
gality and discretion.
The Alice Daily Echo wasn't
afraid of the Boss!. And when the
facts began to emerge the Echo’s
proof-reader, a little woman
named Caro Brown, turned re-
ported and won herself a Pulitzer
Prize. But not without having her
own life and that of her teen-age
daughter threatened.
There was also Santos de la Paz
over in Corpus Christi. He ran a
little bi-Iingual weekly called La
Verdad, the Truth, and that's just
«Jiat he tried to print about
George Parr Before it was over ______ . vlIt
he wound up holding a giant libel I depending on who’s ”i..
suit, besides going to jail for I The Duval County government is
getting over-eager and printing
things he couldn’t prove about
some of Pair’s friends The libel ____ ______ _________
suit turned out to be a legal trick parasites and “cooperative1
to force Par. to reveal what hen'
knew in a court hearing. The suit
was later dropped.
Just about all the newspapers
n Texas were as eager to get the
ruth out of Duval County as
hose close to the scene, and
weren’t afraid to print it.
That kind of spotlight withers a
lictatorship the way a hot wind
yilts an orchid. And that, com-
oined with more than 400 separate
court actions all over Texas, is
'he reason George Parr’s empire
isn't the same old empire it used
to be.
Parr used to deliver 100 to-1
majorities at the polls That’s why
Duval was his county. The district
judge, the district attorney, the
grand juries, the sheriff—every-
body took their oi-ders from the
Boss But not any more. There’s I
a new slate of officeholders, men I
whom the Duke did not choose.
The hundreds of gun-toting
"deputies" are gone The Commis-
sioners Court and the school
hoards no longer take orders from
Parr He doesn’t sign the checks
anymore, or keep the ■ records.
There’s no more easy money, no
handouts, no payoffs
County officials don’t charge
their personal household ex-penses,
medteal bills or gasoline to the
county any more Thev don't car-
ry their daughters on the payroll
ag _»—u--.
col
rifl
the
ca
Thi
too ■
of
year. AM Parcel post, remember,
tetitdon with uelf supporting, tax-
, express companies, local cartage
■/-
th at parcel post
diHfe ^^flc' jfrfnciplea
“Web Y'Ha started id i
km* ’TJ'
, that there should
liir, hot Akutfiffrsede, i- ?———«■—,--— —— _»—
Marjorie Main in a bathing suit visitors
jThe taxpayers are the ones who day
I notice that Postmaster Gen-
eral Summerfield is working
himself into something of a snit
trying to get congress to take
serious note of the fact that the
mail business la pretty dtag-
dong unprofitable Jf something
' Isn't done, he declaims, the out j
go is going to exceed the to *
c«me by a cool billion bucks a
year. *’'■
Thia has \caused about as
Mt»eh evitem^M to congrejs as i
The two new books received
at the Lavaca County Library (
can be taken at once.
this month are The Scapegoat |
and “Twlight for the Gods”. | Those persons deciding to
_. u_ ... I get back on the Navy payroll
The “Scapegoat was wntten »in be sent to the coast of their
by Daphne du Mauner and is a I
| new novel of mystery and sus-
pense. Not since “Rebecca" has
she written a novel so full of a
sense of mounting excitement,
of "wanting to know what is go
ing to happen.”
“Twilight for the Gods” by
Ernest Gann is the story of the
barquentine “Cannibal” and the
passengers and crew on her
(most tempestuous voyage from
the South Seas to Mexico with a
load of copra.
Upcoming Pages
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Minear, Virgil. New Era-Herald (Hallettsville, Tex.), Vol. 84, No. 48, Ed. 1 Tuesday, February 26, 1957, newspaper, February 26, 1957; Hallettsville, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1178025/m1/2/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Friench Simpson Memorial Library.