EAST FAREWELL
NEWS
Thursday, July
19, 1956 Vol. C577
LOCAL
NEWS
1ST OFFICIAL
SAILBOAT RACE DRAWS LARGE CROWD
East Farewell – The first official ‘Sails on the Lake’ race was
held on Saturday and thrilled a large crowd on Lakefront
Plaza as well as lakefront viewers all around the Lake Charles. The race
was spawned by a grudge race held last year by two local sailors, Ward James
and Earl Dornan, who wanted to settle a bet over their rebuilt sailboats. The
first race ironically was won by a third entrant, a bandwagon jumper so to
speak, Jake Smart. After the unexpected success of the race in which there
ended up being ten entrants was limited to fifteen entrants this year for
safety reasons and the slots filled quickly. Smart, Ward and Dornan were in the
group along with last year entrants, David Wells, Kathy O’Malley, Billy Green,
Walter Scott and Sonny Fisk. New entrants included Charlie Hertz, Will Getz,
Sanford Chase, Charles Smart (Jake’s son), Winnie Baylor (the only other female
entrant), Arthur Dolan and Sam Sweeney.
The race
started off with the starter’s gun and a roar from the crowd and the boats
gracefully sweeping by the Plaza.
The racecourse led the group around the lake for four laps; a lap was added to
last year’s race, by temporary buoys set up along the way. The moderate breeze helped
push the boats at a fair clip and sailors enjoyed attention from the
landlubbers as they passed. Many parties were held around the lake just to
watch even though it was only moments that the boats passed and then there was
a wait for them to come around again. “We just loved it,” said Natalie
Mallard, local resident, “This is going to be an instant tradition if I
ever saw one.”
The race was
won by one of the originators, Ward James, who led second place Charles Smart
by three lengths. “Well this puts to rest the original question of who has the
better boat, me or old Doran. That is what we wanted to settle all along. I
knew I had a better boat. Now the whole town knows. It feels great”
The wonderful
race took three hours forty seven minutes and the lead changed hands several
times. At one point in the race both females were in the lead with O’Malley
leading Baylor by the slimmest of margins. Both were overtaken by James and
eventually by Smart. The woman finished in third and fourth place followed by
Dornan then Hertz, Fisk, Wells, Sweeney, Dolan, Green, Getz, Jake Smart and
finishing last but not least was Walter Scott who experienced a catastrophic
mast disaster in the final lap that reduced him to sailing with only his jib
sail to complete the course but he did complete it.
There was no trophy for the winner but one was promised for next year’s winner. A party-like after race ceremony was held on the Plaza with all the contestants sharing in the revelry. The race’s success seems to have placed in on the town’s social calendar.
Exciting start to the 1956 ‘Sails on the Lake’ Race
SPORTS
MINERS CAVE IN ON TRAVELERS
Slate Mountain – The Travelers six game winning streak came to
an end on Saturday when they were crushed by their arch rivals Slate Mountain
Miners, 6-1. It was obvious that the Miners were looking for revenge for their
early season thumping by the Travelers and they set stage for the show down by
opening the gates early and letting fans watch and comment/raspberry the
Travelers during batting practice. The Miners ace, Tony ‘Michael’ Angelo, was
indeed a master over the Travelers. He pitched six perfect innings, let in one
hit in the sixth and then pitched another two perfect innings and only slipped
in the ninth when he let Johnny Cloos finally connect with a fastball that must
have slowed just enough for Johnny to catch up to it and send it out of the
park. That was too little too late because the Miners had managed to accumulate
12 hits and turn them into six runs. The Travelers did not have an answer to
Angelo’s breaking curve and blazing fastball. The Miners looked strong on
defense, too. They turned a double play in the sixth to squelch the feeble
Traveler’s threat. The rest of the game was all Miners and the Travelers need
to move past last week and get back on track when they continue on the road and
visit a new addition to the league, the Monticello Vikings, for the first time.
The game begins at 1:30 in the brand new Monticello Ball Park.
NATIONAL NEWS
IKE TO STAY IN HOSPITAL – BOMBS IN CYPRUS
KILLS ONE – AIRLINER CRASH IN NJ – LEWIS & MARTIN OFFICIALLY OVER – LIONS
FREE IN ROME
President Eisenhower’s personal physician discloses the President will be hospitalized somewhat longer than first forecast. He won’t get out before the middle of next week.
Two bombs are thrown into a downtown restaurant in Cyprus, killing one American and injuring six.
A Venezuelan airliner carrying 74 persons crashed as it limped back to Idlewild Airport after one of its engines quit. The plane, which took off from the New York airport got as far south at a point 250 miles east of Norfolk and turned around. Just as the plane was almost back at Idlewild (32 miles east of Asbury Park, NJ), it began dumping fuel (a normal procedure), but the fuel caught fire as it left the plane. Other pilots say the burning fuel looked like a torch. The last radio transmission from the pilot was frantic - “Gas Caught Fire.” 20 victims were Americans.
Hedda Hopper says that Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis are breaking up their act again - this time for good. “I’m happy at last,” Lewis told her. He said the latest feud with his partner involved their appearance in a projected picture “Damon and Pythias”, which Lewis also is to direct. Martin flatly refused to perform in the film.
Two lions break free from their cages
at a Rome circus, leaving hundreds of patrons running screaming. One of the
lions broke the back of circus mule with a caught quickly.
Many, many thanks to www.mrpopculture.com for
contributing to this section of the East Farewell News.
