A GENERAL NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF ORGANIZED LABOR IN CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA t A Union Press, Established May, 1935. = UNION AN ATTAINMENT OF THE LARGEST GENERAL WEEKLY NEWSPAPAER CIRCULATION IN CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA SS 9 EP CED —————————————— —— ee eet ee Se VOL. 52. NO. 15. PATTON, PENNSYLVANIA. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1945. SUBSCRIPTION $2.00 PER YEAR SHROYER DECLARES CAMBRIA HARDEST ON BELGIAN FRONT - l Cpl. Gene P. Skurky, 24, son of | GPL. SKURKEY KILLED | = {. County Supervisors, Auditors and Good Roads Association Has Annual Convention, Lido Giovachini of Colver was el- ected president of the Cambria Co. Supervisors, Auditors ana Good Roads Association at last Friday's session of | the annual meeting in the Ebensburg | courthouse. { Mr. Giovachini, supervisor in Cam- | bria Township, succeeds A. P. Norton | of Lower Yoder Twp., who declined | nomination after serving the past 3 | years in the post. | Garfield Small of Richland Town- | ship, was elected vice president; Ed- | ward Miscoe, Lower Yoder Township, | to his second term as recording sec-| retary and Daniel H. Weimer, Upper! Yoder township, treasurer. | Treasurer Weimer also was elected | delegate to the state convention to| be held on Feb. 14 and 15 in Reading. | John U. Shroyer, secretary of the | State Department of Highways, de-| clared in an address before the asso- | ciation that Cambria County roads | presented one of the most difficult] i» maintenance problems to the state in| president of the A.F.L., appeared to| organized what is known as the Cam- | the winter's snowfalls. ! Shroyer termed the prolonged win- | ter's blitz the worst since 1884 and | cited the fact that Cambria County | . HIT BY SNOWFALLS | Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Skurky, Pat-| ton, was killed Jan. 13 in Belgium | while serving with an engineering | cutfit. ! | The soldier entered the armed for- | j ces Dec. 1, 1941, and was sent over-| | seas in October 1942. He saw action | | in North Africa and Sicily before be- | Cpl. Skurkey was graduated from Pennsylvania Railroad when he Sef ton. Ensign Gerald, with the Navy leaves a brother, Joseph, San Diego, | UMW AND AFL CLEAR ing sent to the battlefront in France. | Patton High School with the class | of 1939 and was working for the] tered the service. He was a member | ot St. Mary's Catholic Church, Pat- Two brothers are in the armed | forces—Ronald, a paratrooper, and] Jacksonville, Fla. Besides his parents | and two brotners in the service, he Cal., and a sister, Barbara at home. - Vv . - between Green, | An exchange of letters John L. Lewis and William have cleared the way for reopening | negotiations on the United Mine Workers’ return to the Federation. Mr. Lewis’ reply to a letter from| | C {ing the present year also will COUNTY FARMERS T0 HAVE MEETING ON THURSDAY NEXT Annual Session of the Extension Association Is Set for Eb- ensburg Courthouse, All past presidents of the Cambria ciation will be honor guests at the 30th annual meeting of the organiza- tion on Thursday, February 8th, in the Ebensburg courthouse. Edward Jones, Wilmore, who has served as president of the association | since 1940 will be in charge of the { Fire Hall. meeting. During the meeting a brief re- in | view of the extension activities during | the past thirty years will be presen- ted by the various past presidents. Reports on important projects to be be undertaken by the association dur- be submitted. Cambria County Farm Agent H. C. McWilliams will discuss production methods and will outline the aims of the organization for 1945. In February, 1915, a group of 80 | of the leading farmers of the county! met in the Ebensburg courthouse and bria County Agricultural Extension Association. A tthe time of its or- | ganization the group was known as | the Cambria County Farm Bureau, has had 69 inches of snowfall since|Mr. Green conveying the A.F.L. con-| the name having been changed later December 11th. Due to the county's Shroyer said, Cambria county pre-| sents a bigger maintenance problem | of the miners, it was reported. | The UMW. president suggested! { vention’s desire to resume negotia-|to distinguish the organization from | topography, | tions was not exactly a commitment’ the American Farm Bureau Federa- tion. Jos. O. Thomas, prominent South COUNTY FIREMEN HAVE MEETING AT ~~ SPANGLER RECENTLY | Communities Are Requested to | Clear Roads to Fire Plugs, and Wells and Dams, { A plea for all municipalities in the ounty Agricultural Extensio Asso-|county to take immediate steps for | other subjects. PRIMARY LIKELY | MIDDLE OF JUNE Bi-partisan agreement last week at | | Harisburg fixed the 1945 primary el- | ection date at June 19th. ! | It was the first fruit of Governor | | Martin's drive to eliminate partisan | { controversy from major legislative | needs. The executive said he hoped | | the harmony move would extend to! CAMBRIA GOUNTY ASKED TO RAISE $242,400 THIS YEAR Campaign Opens Last of Feb. and Runs Through First Two Weeks in March. Residents of Cambria County have been asked to raise $242,400 as their | share to carry the financial load of than do the other counties. He said|that the Federation might make a|Ebensburg farmer, was eected the that Cambria county has 400 men | proposal, but he had not changed his | first president and served in that now working in the highway depart- | position of May 17, 1943, when the | capacity for four years. At present ment and that this number is propor- last negotiations were severed. On| he is residing with his son, Evan tionately higher than other counties | that date he got back the check he | Thomas, in Johnstown. Mr. Thomas, in the state. | deposited with the A.F.L. as a per| who observed his 92nd birthday on |clearing away snow from sources of | The object of holding the primary | water used for fire protection was | made duirng a meeting of the Volun- | teer Firemen’s Association of Cam- bria County and Vicinity held last | Thursday evening in the Spangler |earfer than September 11th as cus- | | tomary, is to allow more time for] distribution and return of ballots by | Pennsylvania GI voters for the No- | | vember general election. President Robert Whalen said that | Rival party heads negotiated the lin many boroughs, towns and town- | agreement last Wednesday. | | ships, small dams or wells are used | Cambria county will elect a Judge | |in water supplies in cases of emer-|Of the Orphans’ Court, a Sheriff and | {gencies. In many places roads or|two Jury Commissioners this year. | | lanes leading to these sources of wa- | Municipal offices also will be filled. ter are closed by deep snow -drifts | |and that no effort has been made to | | open them. | Vs | | (APPROVES CONTROL | | Firemen pointed out that they are | powerless when they are unable to FOR STRIP MINING | gain access to water when called ol | to combat a serious fire. { Members of the Nanty-Glo Fire Co.| The tremendcus wartime increase announced that the annual convention | in Pennsylvania strip mine production | —to 13 pct. of total anthracite and i 1st. Nanty-Glo will be host to the | bituminous coal output in the state] | conclave this year and the company | last year-—has resulted in demands! | announced that plans aiready are|for “immediate control legislation,” | {under way for the affair. | Richard Maize, state mines secretary, | It also was announced that the 4-| declared during the week. | { out- | The surface mining and culm bank | | break of the war again will be acti- | output of coal has jumped 200 per! | vated and will be used after Feb. 1.|cent under war time demands of in-| {It was found that the system elimin- | dustrial and residence consumers | ates many unnecessary runs for the | with the result that, during 1944 al-| | fire companies. | one— Firemen discussed at length a 17-| 1. Almost 20,000,000 of the 144, mile run made by the Nanty-Glo fire-| 000,000 tons of bituminous coal min- men to combat a fire in a home at|/ed came from stripping operations. Heilwood, Indiana county. It was dis- | 2. An estimated 8,000,000 of the covered that the borough had made 62,000,000 tons of anthracite pro- no arrangements with any fire com- | duced were from strip mines and culm will be held on Wednesday, August | | zone system used prior to the Secretary Shroyer said lack of eq-| capita tax, submitted with his appli-| Dec. 31 last, is planning to attend uipment presented the biggest obsta- cle to snow removal in the county. He | said the department has been unable to secure equipment on order. He added that some owners of eq- uipment have been asking exhorbitant prices for the equipment. Shroyer said the department has a rate rang- ing from $6 to $7.50 and hour for rental of equipment but that some of the owners have asked as high as $14 an hour. In an address delivered at the af- ternoon session James B. Watters, chief engineer of the township roads, cited the allocations for road work for the year. Due to inclement weather condi- tions the convention was attended by about only 50 persons. Attorney Phil- ip N. Schettig of Ebensburg, deliver- ed the address of welcome. Retiring President Norton qouted the late President Calvin Coolidge, declined to accept the nomination for | cation for re-entry in the Federation. | The stumbling block then was jur- | |isdiction over chemical workers. | | Since his withdrawal from C.I.O. and | |A.FL, Mr. Lewis had built up a vig- | | orous chemical workers union in his | catch-all District 50. The next move would seem to. be up to the AF.L. Executive Council, | which begins its annual session in | {Miami Feb. 5. The council includes | Mr. Green, George Meany, secretary- | | treasurer; Matthew Woll, vice pres-| | ident, and the presidents of 12 inter- | { national unions, representing the top {leadership in the Federation. |" The convention in November ex-| | pressed the desire that Mr. Green of- { fer the olive branch to Mr. Lewis, | {and Mr. Green complied by notifying | {the UM.W. head to this effect in| | mid-December. Mr. Lewis declined to| | discuss his reply with newspapermer. i Mr. Green declined to make public | | the Lewis correspondence, saying | | that the whole matter would be sub- | | mitted to the Executive Council at! the coming year. i mk |its Florida session next month. He| did remark that he had performed | | the duty required of him by the New | STULL WILL JUDGE Fi. ESS AY CONTEST rleans Ho in writing to | | Complying with the mandates the national convention, the Cambria | of MARY C, LIEB, NICKTOWN RESIDENT, 88 YEARS OLD County Ladies’ Auxiliary to the Am-| erican Legion, again will conduct the | Mrs. Mary C. (Luther) Lieb, a life- Americanism essay contest for jun- long resident of Cambria County was ior and senior high school students |the guest of honor at a family gather- as an important feature of the Am- | ing on Wednesday, in celebration of ericanism program this year. | he 88th birthday anniversary. Dr. Arthur M. Stull, supeintend- | The octogenarian, who makes her ent of the Cambria County Schools, {home with a daughter, Mrs. Bertha will serve as judge of essays sub-| Kirsch, Nicktown, is in good health, She spends much of her time writing | letters to her 12 grandsons in the ar- | med forces. | A native of East Carroll Township, | Mrs. Lieb was born Jan. 31, 1857; a | daughter of the late John and Susan (Sharbaugh) Luther, early Cambria residents. Widow of Adam Lieb, who died in 11916, she is the mother of 13 child- | ren, eight of whom are living. She {has 73 grandchildren and 67 great- | grandchildren. Mrs. Lieb’s eight living children are iA. A. Lieb, Carolltown; Albert and | Louis, both of Ebensburg; Ray and |R. G. Lieb, Mrs. Marie Soisson and Mrs. Bertha Kirsch, all of Nicktown, | and Earl, Indiana. She is a sister of | Michael J. Luther, Ebensburg, and | Mrs. Emma Binder, Hastings. ! Ne mitted. Mrs. Gladys J. Hartman, American- ism chairman of the county has an- nounced the conditions governing the essay contest. They include the fol- lowing: Subject and title: “Thomas Jeffer- son—His Contribution te American Democracy.” Length—The essay shall be more than 500 words. Eigibility—All pupils of junior and senior high schools. no Department rules—Each principal | of the school shall submit their es- says to the county Americanism chairman, Mrs. Gladys Hartman, not later than March 15th. Contestants submitting the winning essay in each department shall be awarded a com- plete set of the World Book Encly- copedia. It will be in the best bind- ing and the latest edition of 18 vol- umes and guide with more than 10,- | 000 pages and 15,000 illustrations. | PVT. LAPENNA RECEIVES | SLIGHT WOUND In addition to the department aw-| Pvt, Carmen Lapenna, 20, son of ard, the author of the essay judged | Mrs. Rose Lapenna, 700 Palmer Ave,, to be the best of all the winning es-| Patton, was wounded Jan. 7 in Bel- says submitted by the various state|giym, In a recent letter to his mother departments will receive a cash aw-| the soldier said he was wounded only ard of $100. | slightly and was recuperating in a Mrs. A. P. Strollo, Barnesboro, the | nogpital in France. He was with an president of the Combria County Le-| armored division but transferred to gion Auxiliary Council, will give a |g glider outfit before he was wounded $5.00 cash award to the county win-| He entered the Army March 21, ner. —The average yield for cotton per acre in the United States has been a little more than 270 pounds for the past ten years. 11942, and was assigned to overseas { duty in January 1943. Two brothers are in the armed forces—Pfc. Ralph with the A. A. F. in Yuma, Ariz, and Gene, seaman pecond class in the Navy the meeting as one of the honor guests. Past presidents of the association and their tenure of office are as fol- lcws:: Joseph O. Thomas, from 1915 to 1019; A. B. Kirsch, from 1919 to 1921; C. H. Hostletter, from 1923 to 1925; P. C. Strittmatter, from 1925 to 1928; C. T. Settlemyer, from 1928 to 1934; Lyman Sherbine from 1934 to 1937, and J. N. Griffith, from 1937 t 01940. The original board of directors in addition to Mr. Thomas were F. A. Westrick, Patton, vice president; Alex Strittmatter, Ebensburg R. D., sec- retary; L. S. Hummell, Ebensburg, treasurer; A. B. Kirsch, Nicktown; Abram Hostletler, Johnstown, R. D.; John H. Stephens, Johnstown; T. A. Osborne, Ebensburg; and Dr. M. S. Bentz, Ebensburg. CRESSON SELECTIVE SERVICE RECRUITS Cambria County Selective Service Board No. 1, with headquarters at Cresson, have announced the follow- ing men to report for duty in the armed forces:: John Walter Stevens, Gallitzin. Harold Francis Weaver, Cresson. Edgar Louis Johnston, Dean. Edward Blaine Moore, Portage R. William Paul Roberts, Cresson. Robert Charles Ketenheim, Cress- on. Francis Henry Sumner, Loretto, DD. Wilfred Robert Montier, Fallen- timber. Reginald Henry Yeager, . D. Joseph Ginter McClelland, Patton. Alfred Wilfred Lewis, Blandburg. Gerald Francis Albright, Patton. Bernard Walter Oretin, Dysart, R. D. 1. James Augustus Fogel, Ashville. Paul Francis McAleer, Cresson. Vv. PFC. GLASSER AWARDED THE PURPLE HEART Hastings The Order of the Purple Heart has been posthumously awarded to Pfc. Joseph Glasser, 28, of Carolltown, and has been received by his wife, Mrs. Florence Glasser. Pfc. Glasser was killed Sept. 13, 1944, while serving with and Anti-Aircraft Company in Italy. He entered the service August 23, 1943, and after training at Camp Adair, Oregon, was assigned to over- seas duty. Pfc. Glasser is ie son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Glasser of Car- rolitown. His wife also has received the com- bat infantryman’s badge, and the Bronze Star both awarded her hus- band. V- PVT ZAHAR WOUNDED A government casualty list made public yesterday carried the name of Pvt. Michael Zahar, 28, of Emeigh Run, Cambria Co., as wounded. pany for protection. Barnesboro, Spangler and Nanty-Glo will offer their services to the Indiana county coal mining community. A lunch was served by the ladies’ auxiliary of the host company and a program of entertainment was fur- nished #7; the firemen. The next meeting will be held on Washington’s birthday, Thursday ev- ening, Feb. 22, in Dale Boro fire hall. NT SUFFERS EYE INJURY. Mrs. Matilda Yanuta, aged 45, of Colver, was taken to the Memorial Hospital, Johnstown, last Thursday for treatment of an eye injury. Mrs. | | Yanuta was said to have been hurt | | when she was attacked by a heifer las she was tying the animal in a sta- | is described as | | ble. Her condition fair. WOMANINJURED | | banks. While the percentage of output of open pit mining to the state’s entire production does not appear out of hand, the stripping operations resul- ted in the tearing up of an estimated 3,000 acres of land—land which has riot been replaced, Maize said; admit] ting some of the acreage was unfit for farming or other use. As a move to push pending strip- mining control bills through the pres- ent session of the State Legislature, Maize said he will ask the lawmak- ers to synchronize the measures to! bring the surface miners under strin- | gent Mines Department control. { “ BROWNOUT'’’ IS TO BE RIGIDLY ENFORCED, Washington —The War Production) Board gave notice on Tuesday that| its order “browning out” unessential | lighting would be rigidly enforced by | discontinuing electric service. “In addition, any person who wil- ~~ INAUTO ACCIDENT Rie | fully violates the order is subject, Katherine Kollar of Patton, was in- | under the Second War Powers Act, at 11:30 o'clock Sunday morn- | to fine and imprisonment,” WPB's hich she was | Office of War Utilities announced. riding collided with another machine | If a store, theater, or other business on Route 219 about one mile south | feels that the order, effective at mid- of Wesley Chapel. I might, on Wednesday, would cut off Miss Kollar was treater for a dis- [lights necessary to public health or located left arm. She was riding in | safety, the establishment must pre- a machine operated by her sister, Ce- | sent to the nearest WPB field office a celia M. Kollar, Patton, when acar| statement to that effect from local operated by Cloyd Bollinger, Colver, | fire police, or health authorities, WPB skidded and crashed into the vehicle. | ruled. Bollinger told State Police that he Other prohibited lighting includes was traveling toward Johnstown privately-owned clocks outside stores when his machine went into a skid on | or in display windows; outdoors signs n jured ing when the car in w | was wounded last summer while serv-| | ing in the European theater of opera- the slippery highway and collided with the Kollar car. SGT. MILLER REPORTED The second of three sons of Mr. | and Mrs. Frank Miller of Chest Springs who are serving in the armed forces fell a war casualty Dec. 16 when Sgt. Leonard Miller was re} ported missing in Germany. | He was serving with an infantry | outfit when he was lost. A twin | brother of the missing soldier, Earl, | tions. Another brother. Robert, is serving with the Navy in the Pacific area. Sgt. Miller entered the armed | forces Feb. 14, 1943, and was sent overseas last October. PAUL GEORGE AWARDED PURPLE HEART MEDAL Mr. and Mrs. Paul George received the Purple Heart Medal on Monday, that was awarded their son, Pvt James C. George, who was injured in France in November. Pvt. George was shot twice in the right foot and is recuperating in an Fngland Hos- pital. In a recent letter to his par- ents, he mentioned about being in a wheel chair and said his buddies took him to see movies that are ghown in the hospital. nN MISSING IN GERMANY | | The soldier is a son of Judge Ivan | over stairway entrances to place of business; outside lighting promoting | War Bond drives, blood donations or | other civil activities; bulletins in front of churches; lighting on statues | and civic monuments. Protective lighting around war { plants is permitted as well as porch | lighting for private humes. DAVIS WOUNDED WHILE i SERVING IN THIRD ARMY Mrs. Frances McK. Davis, 201 East Ogle Street, Ebensburg has been ad- | vised that her son, Sgt. Donald E,| was wounded Jan. 8 while serving | with Patton’s Third Army in Bel- gium. J. McKendrick. He played the trom- | bone with a well-known orchestra in| New York City before entering the | Army in February 1941. He was sent | overseas in January 1943. A brother, | Staff Sgt. Marlin H, Army in the Pacific theater of war. —re Verses is with the PVT. MARK HOFFMAN WOUNDED IN GERMANY e——— Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hoffman of Baker's Cross Roads, were informed by the War Department, that their son, Pfc. Mark Hoffman, was woun- ded slightly on January 12, in Ger- many. Pfe. Hoffman was with the 78th Infantry Division of the First Army. He entered service on March 14, 1944 and went overseas on Oct- Buy War Bonds and Stamps. ober 14, 1944, the American Red Cross. To “Keep Red Cross at His side” on all fronts of the global war, Cam- bria County Chapter of the American Red Cross will campaign for this amount in a drive which will run through the closing days of Febru- ary and the first two weeks in March. Announcement of the quota was made Tuesday evening at the annual meeting of Cambria County Chapter, Red Cross, at Masonic Temple, Johns- town, when E. P. Blough, chapter chairman, outlined plans for the cam- paign. Tom Nokes of Johnstown, veteran campaigner, was named general chairman of the Red Cross War Funaq, with Ralph S. Robb as vice chair- man. War Fund chairman for the var- ious county branches were named as follows: Allegheny Ridge, J. R. May- ers of Portage; Beaver Valley, John Sloan of Summerhill; Blacklick, Roy Feeley of Nanty Glo; Mountain, Mah- lon J. Baumgardner of Ebensburg; Susquehanna, Louis Luxenberg of Barnesboro, and Clearfield, Joseph H. Marks of Fallentimber. “Keep Red Cross at His Side” is | the 1945 slogan for the War Fund. Labor, industry, agriculture and pro- fessional groups, together with wo- men organized on a house-to-house canvass, will furnish the medium of carrying the Red Cross message to every home and business place in Cambria County. COAL CONSUMERS HAVE NOT HAD MANY WORRIES Coal consumers have not had too many worries so far in this war, al- though that is not to imply there are not a few tight spots and that and others are not likely to get tighter, Ivan A. George says in Coal Age, McGraw-Hill publication. “Consumers have fared pretty well to date,” says the article, “because coal has come up with the tonnage— for example, some 620,000,000 bitum- inous and 35,000,000 anthricite in 1944. -“This record reflects credit first of i , ; all on’ management and mine workers —the men on the firing line. It re- flects credit on the manuracturers of mining equipment and supplies. And it reflects credit also on those men in government who have labored to keep coal in position to produce and make sure its output goes to the right places.” —— NL MORE RED STAMPS ARE VALID THIS WEEK The District Office of Price Ad- ministration at Altoona has announc- ed that the following red stamps, all worth ten points each for the pur- chase of meats and fats, became valid last Sunday—Y-5, Z-5 and A-2 thro- ugh D-2. Red stamps are validated on the first day of each rationing pe- riod and, since the February ration- ing period lasts five weeks instead of four, beginning ast Sunday and ending March 3, six red stamps in- stead of five are in effect. The OPA further anounced that blue stamps of the following denomin- ations will be good Feb. 1—for pro- cessed foods: H2,J2, K2, L2 and M2, { totaling 50 blue points. Hastings Soldier Commissioned. John Bernard Kolonay of Hastings, was graduated on Wednesday of last | week from the engineer officer can- didate school at Ft. Belvoir, Va., and received his second lieutenant’s com- mission. Son of Mr. and Mrs. John Kolonay of Hastings the 27 year old officer attended Hastings High Sch- ool and Wharton School of Finance. Husband of the former Genevieve A. Gunther, who resides in Hastings, Lt. Kolonay entered the Army May 11th, 1944, in New Cumberland, Pa. Before entering the army he was em- ployed as an inspector and foreman by the Westinghouse Eectric Co. —en PVT: YOHN WOUNDED IN EUROPEAN AREA Pvt. Madison Yohn, 25 of Ashville R. D. was wounded several months ago while serving with the Army in the European area. He worked in the coal mines before entering the armed forces. —_— Nr CARD OF THANKS We wish to extend our sincere thanks to our neighbors and friends, for their assistance, during the illness and death of my husband and our father. Mrs. Thos. R. Williams and family.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers