EAST FAREWELL
NEWS
Thursday, March
3, 1955 Vol. C362
LOCAL
NEWS
PUBLIC TRANSIT SYSTEM MAKES
ITS DEBUT
East
Farewell- The new
trolley line that ties the Lakefront
Plaza area to the
downtown train station is now open. The
2.1 mile track was developed and partially financed by the Keystone
Railroad. The railroad has taken a keen
interest in the future development of East
Farewell. The relationship stretches
back to the founding of the town, originally the railroad was instrumental in
placing a stop at the current stations downtown location to help develop the
area and enhance the lines passenger traffic.
The town developed as a tourist destination as a respite for city dwellers
looking for relief. As the town grew the
railroad was very involved in the development of the attractions and other
local enterprises. It was not a
completely new idea when the railroad offered to partially finance the local
trolley line. It should be remembered
that in 1952 that the railroad named East Farewell as a “Destination Station” a
coveted honor given to resort towns that are currently in vogue.
The new trolley line was started
only 13 months ago and a novel approach to construction was taken. Instead of having designated stops or
stations the trolley will stop on any corner it passes when requested by a
rider. This saved money by not having to
build specific stations and only supplying streamlined shelters. The new line will feature cars built by the
Budd Company of Philadelphia. The cars are state of the art and the
inaugural run was March 1st.
The line will run year round and the cars will run on a ten minute
schedule.
“I think it is fantastic that you
only have to wait ten minutes at the most to catch a trolley and they will take
you almost anywhere in town,” gushed Bernie Talent, local rider. Other
townspeople expressed similar enthusiasm for the new line. There is already talk of tying the farther
reaches of the town, areas around the west side of Lake Charles, to the line. These areas are made up of development lots
and there is a small enclave of artists’ galleries and shops. A new Music Bowl is planned to be built in
that area.
“We are very proud of this system.
The superb craftsmanship that went into the building of this line along with
the state-of-the-art technology that is used to make it run is a testament to
the American worker and American know how,” gushed Ben Hagger, president of the
EFTS, at the press conference held to launch the system Monday morning.
The first car
left the depot at 8:20AM and completed its route on time in spite of snow
clogged streets and ice covered signals. The inaugural run saw a huge
ridership, mostly due to the novelty of the system and the pure history of the
event.
“A lot of riders were just riding,
they didn’t really have any place to go,” laughed Bernie Talent, a local
rider.
It seems the East Farewell Transit
System is off to a successful start and appears to have a wonderful future.
New
trolley passes through Main Street on loop system
SPORTS
COUGAR TAME THE WILDCATS
East Farewell – The Cougars were able
to get back in the lead of the league as they beat the Wildcats on Wednesday,
48-45 on Wednesday. The Wildcats tried to use the same strategy that they used to beat the Cougars in their last meeting, double team
center, Watson, and press every inbounds. They didn’t count on Coach Wilson
being as good a coach as he is. Wilson learned from the loss and like every
great coach made adjustments. The Cougars came out with an entirely different
game plan that focused on the forwards, Billy Reilly and Tommy O’ Hare. The
backcourt tandem, Green and Welch were able to keep the Wildcats zone moving
and finally forced them to switch to a man to man, which opened up the center. The
Cougars took advantage of splendid team play and tightly executed play by the
whole team. Reilly and O’Hare were able to combine for 30 points. 18 for Reilly
and 22 for O’Hare, Watson ended up with 8 while Green and Welch both had 5.
The Wildcats tried to press from the
start but the Cougars had obviously practiced several inbounds plays and were
not intimidated by the smothering but ultimately ineffective Wildcat
press. The Wildcats seemed to run out of
steam towards the end of the game and had to lift the press. The Wildcat
offense was very aggressive throughout the game with center, Gerald Conwell,
leading all scorers with 26 points.
The Cougars continue at home next
week against the Fort Lee Captains. The standings in the league are now;
Cougars, Devils, Bears, Wildcats, Canaries, Miners, Hawks and Captains. If the
Cougars win three more they will cliché the title.
NATIONAL NEWS
IKE GIVES CONGRESS A RAISE – VOLCANO SPLITS
HAWAII – CHURCHILL SAY COMMIES NO BIG THREAT – COMMIE CHIEFS IN TROUBLE
President Eisenhower signs into law a
50% pay raise for members of Congress. The legislation boosts their pay from
$15,000 to $22,500 per year. This includes a $2,500 taxable expense account.
Pahoa Hawaii - A new volcano splits a
half-mile crack in a cane field on Hawaii’s eastern tip and explodes a
200-foot-high fountain of red-hot lava about 200 yards from 12 plantation
workers. All escaped unhurt.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill says Soviet leaders realize they never can win a hydrogen bomb war against the west. “The
United States has an overwhelming superiority in thermonuclear weapons that may
be cut by the Russians within four years, but cannot be nullified,” said Churchill.
He also told the House that a sneak hydrogen bomb raid on Britain might bring a
retaliatory punch “almost immediately” from American bombers.
Sources in Russia say
that former Premier Malenkov seems
to be in serious danger. A case is
being built up and that it is possible he may be charged with ideological
heresy. Pravda condemned him by clear inference by expressing a view which the
paper said was “useful only to imperialist warmongers.” Last March, Malenkov
declared in an election address that if a new world war breaks out “with modern
weapons it means the run of world civilization.”
Premier Nikoalai Bulganin purges the
Soviet officials who served under ousted Premier Georgi Malenkov. He fired both
the Minister of state farms and the Minister of the Coal industry for
“unsatisfactory work.”=
Russia declares that the United States
as well as Britain is within the range of “military retaliation” with hydrogen
bombs. A Moscow radio broadcast quoted Maj. Gen. Isayev as saying that the
Soviet Union is well ahead of the United States in production of hydrogen
weapons.
It’s disclosed that Prof. Bruno
Pontecorvo, the Italian-born British atomic and hydrogen bomb scientist who
disappeared in 1950, has been working on nuclear research in Russia since that
time.
Many, many
thanks to www.mrpopculture.com for
contributing to this section of the East Farewell News.
