3/8/1956

 

EAST FAREWELL NEWS

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Thursday, March 8, 1956   Vol. C558

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LOCAL NEWS

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SNOW CLOSES RAILWAY AND TOWNS

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East Farewell- An early March blizzard completely closed down the Mighty Keystone Railroad between Central City and Springfield for two days last week.  This segment of the line runs through East Farewell, Slate Mountain, Riverview and Mountain View and the communities were effectively cut off for almost two days.  It wasn’t until massive locomotives with plows attached to the front that the rails were opened for travel.  The snow storm was an unexpected blizzard that caught the entire eastern half of the state off guard.  A storm that was traveling east from the Chicago area combined with a northern, artic front that swept in from Canada and dropped a massive 35 inches of snow on the area within an eight hour time frame.  The storm also closed the almost complete Interstate Highway. Since the interchanges that were hit by the snow were not officially opened yet, the number of vehicles that were stranded was minimal.  Approximately thirty people had to be rescued from snowed in vehicles on the highway.

            For two days the East Farewell was unreachable but that did not mean the town was closed down.  A festive atmosphere swept over the town when the radio announced the train shutdown.  People bundled up and flooded the traffic free streets before the snow had stopped.  A massive snowball fight and snow follies commenced and no one was left out.  The storm was in full swing through the first night and Lake Shore Drive was packed with people that looked like snowmen throwing snow at each other, others were running around like children, laughing and shouting at each other.  Many of the restaurants stayed open even as the snow piled up on the sidewalks and the streets became impassible. This had all the signs of a major disaster but it turned into a giant snow party.  For two days the town celebrated its isolation and townspeople came together with a sense of community and shared excitement.  When the trains rolled through on Thursday many people were standing at the station to greet the huge locomotives and pelt them with snowballs, all in fun of course.  The engineers were quite amused at the antics and let out several long steam whistles that brought cheers and more snowballs from the crowd.

            The storm mover through fairly quickly and was gone within 36 hours.  It left the town under over 4 feet of snow and numerous power and heating outages.  Even with these complications, spirits were high and enthusiasm was unflagging.  Schools were closed for most of the week and all events had been postponed or cancelled.  This storm will be remembered for a long time and often be referred to as, “The Great Snow of 1956.”

Train plowing snow near E.F. Station

The Great Snowball fight of ‘56

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SPORTS

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COUGARS LOSE 1 BUT STAY HOT AS SEASON COMES TO A CLOSE

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East Farewell- The Cougars lost a revenge match to the Riverview Wildcats, 48-52, after beating them, 50-48 only two weeks earlier.  The loss turned out to be only a blip on the record of an overachieving, scrappy team that has surprised everyone this season.   Along with the Wildcat games the Cougars faced the Slate Mountain Canaries, the Fort Lee Captains and the Southport Hawks during the final part of the season.  The final game of the season is with the Slate Mountain Miners.  This game was postponed due to the huge snow storm and will be played next week.

            The team has continued to improve with every game.  Coach Wilson has pointed toward the surprisingly even and controlled back court play of senior Timmy Green and sophomore Fergal Conner.  “Greeny and Conner have just been phenomenal.  They run the game like pros or at least really good college guards,” laughed Coach Wilson during a recent interview.   

            The two together have been responsible for more back court points than any in school history with one game still to play.  The front court also has been solid.  The all junior front court has also been solid and powerful.  Center Wilson Watson has become a powerful force under the basket while Tom O’Hare and Billy Reilly have stood strong as forwards grabbing offensive rebounds and feeding Wilson for put back scores that have won more than one game.

            If the Cougars win their last game they stand a chance to end up in a try for first place in the league.  In order to have this happen the Riverview Wildcats would have to lose to the Fort Lee Captains and the Canaries would have to beat the Corning Devils.  While this may be a long shot, it would be a fitting climax to the Cougars season.  The Cougars game has been rescheduled to Tuesday, Mach 13^th at 4:30 in the Regional High School Gym.

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 NATIONAL NEWS

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TROUBLE IN TUNIS – RADIO GROWING – RCA MERGES

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An anti-American mob of Algerian nationalists stormed the U.S. consulate in Tunis, ransacking offices and destroying files and then wrecking the headquarters of the U.S. Information Service.  Algerian nationalists carry their revolt against French rule to the streets of Tunis battling helmeted police who halted their march on the National Assembly.

Radio news - Radio growing - almost 15 million new radio sets were sold in 1955 and there are 140 million radio sets in this country. Several years ago, there was a belief the industry would diminish in interest. 

RCA-Victor here and Decca Record Company of London enter into a reciprocal agreement effective May 1957. Under terms, Decca in England will receive master recordings from the RCA Victor catalogue and Victor will have access to Decca recordings for release in America under the RCA Victor label. The new alliance terminates the oldest international pact in the record world – that between Victor and His Master’s Voice (HMV) in London. 

Decca London is not related to Decca here. The originator of the FFRR (Full frequency range recording) record, Decca not only has plants throughout Europe, but also owns Telefunken in Germany.  H.M.V. is a subsidiary of EMI.

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

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