EAST FAREWELL
NEWS
Thursday, March
1, 1951 Vol. C298
LOCAL
NEWS
DISASTER AVERTED
East
Farewell – Earnest Reese has being ice fishing on Lake Charles as long as
anyone can remember. Reese owned one of the farms that surrounded the lake
before the town was incorporated in 1902. When the Mighty Keystone Railroad
built the Iron Works to supply its westward expansion East Farewell was founded
and grew around the Iron Works. The Reese farm was on the edge of town but the
family opened a country store on Lakeshore Drive to supply the growing town.
The store quickly became a meeting place and early on a de facto town hall. As
time went on Main Street was constructed and a proper Town Hall was erected but
the Reese store remained an important part of town life. Earnest and his family
embraced the town and became known and liked by everyone. The town grew and
traditions were built. One which Earnest probably partook in before the town
was built was ice fishing on Lake Charles. Once the lake was frozen solid enough
he would drag his hut out to his “special place” on the lake surface and setup
his fishing spot. His camp out drew many fellow fishermen, who over the years
created a little community on the middle of the frozen lake. “He is always the first one out there and
usually the last to leave,” said Ralph Washington while observing the remaining
ice huts from the edge of Lake Charles last week.
For the most part the huts were
sturdy and the men knew how to stay safe on the ice. They would gather together
and there were even times when they were able to light a fire on the ice and
fry some of the fish they caught. Many families that were in the town in the
early days have an ice hut that they would keep beside their houses and every
winter they would slide it out on the ice and take part in the unusual but very
close group. This year was a little different from others. Lake Charles froze over
by mid-January and the ice fishermen set up shop in their usual place. The snow
was cleared off and for about two weeks everything was fine. Then the weather
took a turn for the worse, for the ice fishermen anyway, it became warmer. For
three straight days the temperatures were above freezing and the night time
temperatures didn’t get much below freezing. This extended warm patch seemed to
have a much bigger thawing effect on the lake surface than anyone thought. On
Tuesday morning Earnest and a couple of others were walking out to their huts
and the ice gave way. The crack was huge. It rippled through the ice and went
under the huts. Earnest broke through as he was walking out, luckily he was
still close enough to the edge he was able to wade out. He stood on the edge of
the lake and watched his beloved ice hut start to sink into the lake. “I always
thought I was a lucky guy but, now I’m sure of it, if I had made it out there
to the hut who knows where I’d be now. The hut seemed to sort of hang up on the
edge of the ice so I think I might be able to salvage it. Maybe someone will
lone me a boat,” Earnest said from the lakeside.
The ice hut was still clinging to
the edge of the ice crater that opened up beneath it at the time of this
publication but the offers for tow boats and other suggestions for recovery
have been plentiful and Earnest is weighing his options. This near disaster has
not changed his mind about putting a hut on the ice for some winter fishing. “
This comes with the territory, I’m just glad it wasn’t worse. I’ll get this
straightened out and I’ll be back next year, you bet.”
Earnest Reese’s ice hut
slips into Lake Charles
SPORTS
DEVILS PUT A CURSE ON THE COUGARS
East Farewell – The Cougars were hoping to extend
their winning ways when the met the Coring Devils on Saturday. They had lost to
the Coring Devils earlier this season, but felt they had made substantial
improvements in their play. The Corning Devils are the defending league champs
and had no intention of losing to the Cougars. The game started with both teams
having an edge on their shoulders. Both teams came out with a press on defense
and both teams tried a patient, slowed down offense looking for the best shot
every time. The first half was not a highlight reel. It plodded on and the best
thing was both teams made clean passes and worked the ball around smoothly. The
front court for the Cougars controlled the center but a stiff Devils defense
stifled shots and kept forcing the ball to the back court to set up another
play. The first half looked better for the Cougars than the Devils and it ended
with the Cougars barely on top 12-10.
The
second half was an entirely different game. The Devils abandoned the press and
came out running. They shot fast and often. Cougars front court, Donahue, Hagan
and Seltzer had their hands full as darting Devils ran across the court and cut
under the basket then back out. The Devils quickly took a lead and Coach Wilson
called a timeout to settle things down. After the timeout the Cougars regrouped
and started to play a man to man defense significantly slowing down the Devils
attack. The Cougars backcourt of Fitzgerald and Welch were able to keep the
Devils fast break in check but were not able to connect on the scoring side.
Both only had a total of 8 points. The Cougars were able to claw their way back
to 30-30 tie at the end of the third quarter.
In
the fourth quarter the Devils seemed to put a spell on the Cougars or a lid on
their basket. The Cougars took 15 shots in the fourth quarter and only 2 went
in. They scored a point on a foul shot but for the quarter they were only able
to 5 points. The only saving grace was that the Devils were almost as bad, but
they scored 8 and that was enough to seal the victory. The Devils won the rematch
38-35.
The Cougars have one more home game next week before they close out the season with all away games. They take on the Riverview Wildcats for the third time this season. Both teams are familiar with each other and they have split the first two games so this will be the deciding game in the series. The game is another Saturday afternoon game beginning at 3:00 in the High School gymnasium.
NATIONAL NEWS
MACARTHUR SAY
CHINESE AND NORTH KOREANS ARE “UNIMPAIRED” – MCCARTHY SUED FOR $600 THOUSAND –
TOY GUNS, TANKS & PLANES IN HUGE DEMAND – GM ANNOUNCES ALL WORKERS WILL
5-CENT HOURLY RAISE
In Korea war news, an operational summary from General Macarthur says that 31 Chinese and North Korean divisions have lined up across Korea and are still “unimpaired” despite heavy losses and broken supply lines.
Newspaper columnist and radio commentator Drew Pierson sues Senator Joseph McCarthy for $600 thousand including $250 thousand for what he said was a physical attack in December and $350 thousand for a libelous attack made in a 37 page report the same month.
The Toy Manufacturers of the U.S.A say that toy guns, tanks, jet planes, walkie-talkies and bathtub navies are in huge demand. It’s the first time since 1946. Cowboy toys are still number 1.
General Motors announces that 434,000 of its workers will get a 5-cent hourly pay raise. The new scale begins March 1 for hourly workers and June 1 for their salaried counterparts.
Many, many
thanks to www.mrpopculture.com for
contributing to this section of the East Farewell News.
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