EAST FAREWELL
NEWS
Thursday, August
20, 1959 Vol. C738
LOCAL
NEWS
WATER SKI JUMP OPENED AND
WELCOME ADDITION
East Farewell – The water ski jump on the lake has been in place
as long as anyone can remember. Looking back in the records it was found that
it was built back in 1932 by the sons of the original East Farewell builders,
the Lendel brothers, Sid and Lou. The
Lendel brothers had sold all of East Farewell
to the Mighty
Keystone Railroad in 1929 after suffering severe financial setbacks but
their sons, Abe, Ralph and Charles were able to hold on to some properties
around the lake and had the jump built to help promote attractions to Lake
Charles. The water ski jump was a rare thing back in 1932, having been only
invented in 1928, and the placement on the lake drew a lot of attention. At the
time there were only a handful of boats on the lake that were powerful enough
to pull a skier let alone pull them up and over the jump. There were plenty of
flops and bailouts over the years but many people who grew up on the lake
jumped over the 8 foot high ramp. Last year the ramp was closed for repairs and
reinforcement but once the work started it was clear that the whole thing had
to be replaced, too many runs over it and too many lake freezes and thaws took
their toll on the ramp. It was ruled no longer safe by the Lake Safety
Commission. The project was put out to bid but only on builder bid on the
project, Lake Home Builders owned by East Farewell longtime resident, Norm
Daily. He was able to tear down the old
ramp, set new supports on the lake’s bed and construct and new ramp in only 3
months. The new ramp is 8 feet six inches high and coated with a plastic top to
make it less resistive and better suited to the elements. This new ramp is also
removable for winter storage. The new ramp was opened to the public the week
before the July 4th holiday and has been used every day since them
barring rainouts and overly windy days.
The popularity
of the jump has never been a question but as the number of motorboats on the
lake grew and the number of skiers also grew it became clear that there had to
be some sort of order put in place to prevent crashes and accidents. So in 1958
a monitoring station was set up on a pier beside Lakeshore Beach where boaters
could stop and “schedule” a jump. This more a mere formality and courtesy than
a rigid law and there have been no complaints about the procedure. Part of
Daily’s reconstruction was to outfit the ramp with a flag system that can be
controlled from the monitoring station that will fly a red or green flag to
alert boaters and give them the ok to proceed with their jump.
Most of the
jumpers seem to be younger but there have been some older, more experienced jumpers
in the past few weeks. “We come to the
Lake every year, we’ve been coming for almost ten years now and I grew up
with that ski jump. Now this new one is just so much better, I used to be able
to jump about 20 feet now I can make at least 25 feet, close to 30. This is
great!” exclaimed local vacationer and ski jump aficionado, Sam Walker.
There is a lot
of talk between local water skiers that there should be some form of contest to
crown a “King Jumper” All the talk is still just in the preliminary stages but
the way things proceed in East Farewell, it won’t be long before we see a water
ski jump championship on Lake Charles.
Fans watch Sam
Walker go off jump
SPORTS
SENATORS OUTLAW TRAVELERS
Albany
– The Travelers five game winning streak came to an abrupt end on Saturday when
they ran into a hitting machine called The Albany Senators. The Senators
smacked a season record of six home runs against an unexpectedly weak Billy
Green, in their 11-1 win. The Senators started off quickly, scoring 2 runs in
the first and 3 more in the second. The Travelers were unable to get their own
offense started as they were held in check by Senators ace pitcher, Chris
“Cadillac” Carr, who threw an almost flawless game. He struck out 12 and only
allowed three hits and no walks. The only bright spot for the Travelers was a
right field homer by Johnny Cloos in the seventh. The Senators six homers were
spread out but their slugger, Ralph O’Hara, had a personal record of three, two
back to back. Bailey, Amari and Feldman were the other contributors to the
jackpot. The Senators also were able to manufacture three runs. They hit Green
for a total of 16 hits in seven innings after which he was mercifully relived
by young Hank Dunlap who was able to finish the game but gave up two more runs.
“This was the worst showing of the year for us,” said manager Fowler bitterly
after the game, “We are going to have to regroup and get back on tract,
immediately.”
That may be harder than it seems
because the Travelers stay on the road next week and visit another red hot
team, the Bear Creek Cubs, who have made an incredible turn around in the last
month and have won their last six games. The game is a late afternoon game and
begins at 4:05PM in Bear Creek Park.
NATIONAL NEWS
CROWDS LOVE IKE IN BONN AND LONDON – NIXON
CONFIDENT OF IKE VS KHRUSHCHEV – CHINESE MASS THOUSAND AT INDIAN BORDER – DALAI
LAMA GOING TO THE UN FOR HELP – KHRUSHCHEV BRINGING FAMILY TO USA
Crowds
line the route from Bonn’s Wahn Airport to greet and get a glimpse of President
Eisenhower. He was met at the airport by Chancellor Adenauer and
U.S. Ambassador David Bruce and a half million Londoners give President
Eisenhower a stirring welcome as he arrives from West Germany.
In
Minneapolis, Vice President Nixon told the American Legion that President
Eisenhower will not be “taken in or bluffed’ by Nikita Khrushchev during the
Soviet Premier’s visit to the United States next month. The Vice President
declared the enthusiastic reception President Eisenhower is getting on his
current trip to Europe undoubtedly will strengthen his hand when he meets with
Premier Khrushchev in Washington next month.
Nikita
Khrushchev declares he is going to the United States next month with a ‘burning
desire” to do his bit to relieve international tensions. He will be bringing
his family along.
Chinese
Communists have massed thousands of troops along India’s northeast frontier
where they attacked and occupied a chunk of Indian territory last week.
The
Dalai Lama announces that he has decided to seek the verdict of the United
Nations on Communist Chinese aggression against Tibet. The 23-year-old monk
ruler of the Tibetan people is now in exile in India.
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