Thursday, June 6, 2024

6/3/1954

EAST FAREWELL NEWS


Thursday, June 3, 1954   Vol. C466


LOCAL NEWS


DECORATION DAY HAS A PARADE AND A RACE


East Farewell – Decoration Day was May 30th and East Farewell feted their veterans with a wonderful parade and stirring ceremony at the Lakefront Plaza. WWI, WWII and Korean War Vets all rode in luxury cars and waved to the crowds along the way. WWI vets, Tommy Flynn and Ernie Wood rode in a convertible Duesenberg SJ, “It was a real nice ride and all the folks seemed very nice, too bad old Jules (Sanford) wasn’t here. He passed away just about a month ago, I think he was 64. He was the oldest of all of us. We used to call him Pops.” Flynn said after the ceremony on the Lakefront Plaza.

            The parade was led by the Regional High School marching band and was followed by several spanking clean firetrucks from the East Farewell Volunteer Fire Department. An assortment of out of town firetrucks that were equally shinny followed. The Boy Scouts marched followed by several civic organizations and bringing up the rear was the SPCA with a wild menagerie of dogs, a few cats on leashes, two horses and two goats. The entire heard was “wrangled” by SPCA volunteers led by director, Dave Watson.

            The parade ended at the Lakefront Plaza where there was a stirring ceremony and while Taps was played by high school senior, Bill Swanson, a beautiful wreath was placed at the flagpole honoring the towns fallen.

            After the ceremony many people went over to Main Street to get a bite to eat in one of the many bistro type setups that the restaurants had set up. The scene resembled a French street full of open air cafes and as the diners were enjoying their meals they were able to cheer on their favorite bicyclist riding in the fourth annual “Race Around the Lake” bicycle race. This year had the largest entry pool ever. 52 racers signed up many from out of town, and it also seemed to take a more frivolous attitude. After the race “crashing” by Thomas Day last year several non-contestants showed up in unusual attire. Completely unauthorized and unexpected three different cyclists rode at least a lap on the course. They were all dressed in exotic finery or silly costumes. One was dressed like a gorilla. When the gorilla passed the judging station an official was quickly dispatched but could not track down the beast, apparently he “climbed a tree or something” according to the official. Most likely he ditched his bike off Lakeshore Drive, ditched his costume and joined back into the crowd.

            This year’s race had another unusual happening, in a surprise upset Thomas Day finished first in the race. Day was the missing-in-action contestant from the 1953 race who overslept, missed the sign-in, started the race a half hour behind everyone else but did finish although he was a very far last, and  was surprisingly not disqualified. He did show up this year on time for the sign-in, did start with everyone else and sprinted the last half mile to overtake the leader, Hank Fuller, to finish first. From worst to first. “I trained all year for this,” said Day after the race, “I was going to make up for that embarrassment from last year. Man, I got razzed by my friends all year. Now I’ve got a comeback. It feels great!”

            Day is a one year graduate from the Regional High School and is enrolled in the US Army Academy at West Point. He will report in the fall.


Decoration Day Parade 1954


SPORTS


TRAVELERS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF “FREIGHT” TRANE CANCELLATION



East Farewell – The Travelers played an unusual home game last week when they faced the Mountainview Explorers. They won convincingly, 8-4. The Explorers did not send their ace, Joe “Freight” Trane to the mound and the pitcher that faced the Travelers was third in the rotation and only in his second year in the league, Vernon Kay. The Travelers started off early by scoring two runs in the first. Francis led off with a single. Then Dunham walked. Bobby Watson tried to sacrifice fly but it was too shallow to move the runners. The Johnny Cloos unleased a long fly that looked like a home run but it fell short, bouncing off the centerfield wall in between fielders Campos and Dunn. Both Francis and Dunham scored. Cloos was stranded at second to end the first. While the Explorers did not have Trane, they did have their slugger, Bobby “Hammer” Taxen. He was able to bring the Explorers back with a three run blast in the fourth and the Explorers held a brief lead. In the bottom of the seventh Kay struggled to find the strike zone. He ended up walking the bases loaded after Sweet singled leading off. Bobby Watson came up again and was 0 for 2 on the day. He took Kay deep into the count and fouled off three 3-2 fastballs. Finally, Kay tried one more fastball and Watson connected. He drove the ball over the right field wall for a grand slam. The Travelers took a 6-3 lead. The Explorers were able to score one more run in the eighth but the Travelers sealed the win by matching those two runs in the bottom of the eight. The Travelers were able to walk off with an 8-4 win over a very competitive rival.

            The Travelers visit the Riverview Anglers next week for a night game. The game begins at 7:05 in the beautiful Riverview Stadium.


 NATIONAL NEWS


GENEVA CONFERENCE FRUSTRATES ALLIES – PERJURY SUGGESTED AT MCCARTHY HEARINGS – EXPLOSION ON USS BENNINGTON – IKE PRESENT BATTING TITLE TO VERNON – BURGLAR CAUGHT IN WAGNER’S HOUSE – PUPPET MASTER CLAMPET DEBUTS A NEW CHARACTER


 The Geneva conference beings its fifth week and is turning out to be frustrating for the western allies who hoped to liberate Korea and Indo-China from communist menace. Prime Minister Winston Churchill summoned his cabinet into a special session to consider once again whether to join in taking action against in Indo-China should the Geneva talks fail. 

Senator McCarthy/Army hearings – Possible perjury prosecutions against Robert T. Stevens (the secretary of the Army) and his legal counselor are suggested at the investigation of the Army controversy with Senator McCarthy. The “attack” against the secretary was led by the Senator. 

An explosion on the aircraft carrier Bennington kills at least 91 sailors and injures 201 in one of the worst peacetime disasters in Navy history. The blast occurred below the flight deck. The ship was cruising 75 miles off of Rhode Island.

President Eisenhower showed up early to present Washington Senators’ first baseman Mickey Vernon with a silver bat emblematic of the American League batting championship - for batting a .337 last year. In DC, the President watched the Senators beat the Yankees 7-3 at the season’s home opener.

A burglar gets into the home of Hollywood magnate Jack L. Wagner while he was entertaining guests. Kenneth Bowe says he just drove up, staying right behind another guest. When he got into the home, he began casing the place. A suspicious maid saw him go into the master bedroom and locked it – and called police.

Bob Clampett, creator of the syndicated “Time For Beany” is introducing another puppet to the series. He describes it as a satirical spoof on a well-known politician. It will be named Burpo, the Headline Hunting Headhunter.

Pop Music this week

 “Wanted” - Perry Como,

 “Little Things Mean A Lot” - Kitty Kallen

 “Cross Over The Bridge” - Patti Page

 “Young At Heart’ – Frank Sinatra

 “If You Love Me” - Kay Starr

 “Here” - Tony Martin

 “The Man With The Banjo’ - Ames Brothers

 “Jilted” - Teresa Brewer

 “The Man Upstairs” - Kay Starr


Many, many thanks to www.mrpopculture.com for contributing to this section of the East Farewell News.


 



No comments:

Post a Comment