110th Year No. 37 ST. JOHNS, MICHIGAN THURSDAY, JANUARY, 6, 1966 2 SECTIONS — 24 PAGES 10 CENTS Fred M. Lewis, 48 years a Acceptance of Yoh postman, retires By LOWELL G. RINKER THIS, ROBINSON said, was the Editor way Lewis was regarded: "Your cheerfulness and personal in­ appraisal in doubt terest shown to your patrons Dayt after day for 48 years Fred Lewis has given loyal, have helped develop a great friendly and efficient service to amount of good will not only to Preliminary the Post Office Department and this office but to the entire pos­ Maple the patrons of the St. Johns office. tal service. THE TOP 10 NEWS STORIES OF 1965 Friday he began a retirement *Your willingness to accept plan hits figures delayed several weeks so that he any assignment where your serv­ Here are the Clinton County News' staff's selections for could help the post office crew ice can be used most advanta­ the top 10 local and county news stories of 1965. The selections here over the big holiday rush. geously, your loyalty to the Post new snag were based on importance and reader interest. disputed Thursday, Dec. 30, was his last Office Department and the fact day on the Job as window clerk, you need little or no supervision The long and involved Maple 1) SEALED POWER EXPANSION: This $2.5 million proj­ Clinton County's 22 have all been contributing factors a post he's manned since 1948. River watershed project hit an*- ect tripled the plant's area and has resulted in a substantial * * to your winning the award.' supervisors took a other snag lateinDecemberwhen increase and planned Increase in employment, benefiting both THE POST OFFICE crew has the Conservation Department re­ St. Johns and the surrounding area. look Monday at the Yoh' told Lewis they'll miss him, and ROBINSON and Asst. Postmas­ ported the project would not be Co.'s preliminary re~ undoubtedly postal patrons who ter 'Keith Mishler pointed out possible under Public Law 566 as 2) SCHOOL ANNEXATIONS TO ST. JOHN: The annexing frequent the post office windows another statistic about Lewis' the present proposals stand. of 32 rural school districts last spring was the, biggest such appr ai s al figures, post office loyalty. He has ac­ . wIHrtoo. Lewis' slight smile and project in state hlstcry and makes the district by far the larg­ hashed them over for even, friendly disposition day cumulated 2,248 hours of sick In a letter dated Dec. 21, Earl est in the county. Coupledwlththisselectlonas the No. 2 story after day have registered with pa- leave timet E. Fenton, assistant state con­ was the fact that a big school building program is Involved for about a half-hour and tons and his fellow workers. servationist, said that "It appears the future. left them "up in the Thus, Lewis has taken the old that the only basis on which the • t * * * air." •We just don't find men like post office adage of "The mail project could be formulatedsoas 3) OVID-ELSIE BOND ISSUE: This $2.fi million, plus a to assure our being able to pro­ him any more," Postmaster J, must go throughl" and interpret­ later one for $200,000, represents a gigantic expenditure of The appraisal company's total D. Robinson commented. Robin­ ed it as "The mailmen must get vide planning assistance wouldbe value for county real estate and to reformulate the project to in­ public money and a great improvement In the county's school son dug out a copy of his letter to work I" The 2,248 hours of faculties. property was $28,627,434 higher to1 Lewis in 1961 when Lewis was accumulated sick leave would be clude recreation, fishandwildlife than the county supervisors' own given the Superior Accomplish­ enough to provide him with pay or other type measures which in 4) PALM SUNDAY TORNADO: While this resulted in figures, an Increase of 16.31 per ment Award by the Post Office for over a year had he been sick. combination with the floodwater death, injury and great property damage in the county and cent. Department. ' See POSTMAN.page 2-A Lewis—Last Window damage reduction benefits would probably had as much impact at the time as any story, its * * justify the cost of a project." overall significance Is overshadowed by the top three stories. BUT' THEY WERE only pre­ * * Our readers picked this as their top story. liminary figures—ones prepared THE CONSERVATION Depart­ prior to'the November and De­ ment had been working on the 5) DeWITT HIGH SCHOOL: This $750,000 high school cember hearings by the apprais­ District health department project with the thought in mind project is of a similar nature to Story No. 3 but is ranked al company. Many individual par­ that they would be the "local spon­ lower because of the lower cost and the fact it is not a new cel changes were made following sor" required on the PL566proj­ district, as is Ovld-Elsle. the hearings. ect's recreation aspects. On Dec. * *, * "We don't knbw hov/ much they. ^ may Ionia *1, •Fe.nton said, they were"notif led 6) URBAN RENEWAL*; The decision-for a study of such a changed the final figures!, in ejichV! they would not be authorized to township," Walter Npbis of Leb­ provide planning assistance to plan in St. Johns affects all its residents, ITHACA, —It, now appears that proposal. At the same time the service, but it does not favor the Ionia County are that Ionia and anon, chairman of the equaliza­ committee asked for a written four-county proposal outlined to Montcalm Counties join in atwo- develop a project as presently 7) NEW STATE PARK PROPOSAL: The Sleepy Hollow tion committee, told the board. there will be aMid-Michigan Dis­ outlined. trict Health Department, with or explanation of why the board re­ Its supervisors. county unit or thatlonia establish park In Ovid and Victor Townships will affect the recrea­ "But I don't think there's going without Ionia County. jected the proposal, in the hope a one-county department. tional habits of everyone In the area, as well as bring in out­ to be any big changes in the to- ' that this would make the action >To meet state requirements, * * "This action was taken In ac­ side dollars. tals." more understandable. Ionia must establish such a serv­ THE FIRST alternative is un­ cordance with administrative * * 'As originally proposed the dis­ * * policy which was applied in de­ trict would have included Mont­ ice. Two alternative proposals likely to gain support in Mont­ 8) MANDATORY 3-DAY JAIL TERMS FOR MINORS IN THE FINAL figures are ex­ IONIA REPORTEDLY, is not rumored to be under considera­ calm County. Manty said it is veloping the budget for the 1966 POSSESSION: This is an important big step by law enforce­ pected before the month is out, calm, Gratiot, Clinton and Ionia fiscal year. Projects will not be Counties, while the othe, ttiree against establishing a public tion by individual supervisors in somewhat unlikely the second ment agencies and the courts to cut down on teenage drinking. and individual property cards on would be approved by the state initiated under Public Law 566 * * * some of the townships may be counties" approv e d the plan, where the benefits accrue pri­ Ionia's board of supervisors de­ since Ionia does not have a large 9) WATER PROGRAM COSTSOVERFLOW:St. Johns' wa­ turned over to the supervisors population. marily from increased agricul­ yet this week. The county board cisively defeated it. tural production. ter program costs ended up costing more than$200,000 more than the original $750,000 bond issue. is going to wait for that final tab­ If Ionia desires to join the unit, * * ulation before they decide on At a Wednesday morning meet­ Merchants join in the door has been left open until "THE COST to protect and de­ 10) WEATHER: Summer drought andfall rains sent many, whether or not to accept the Yoh ing in Ithaca last.week, steering the steering committee's next velop the Maple River project, as figures for appraised values for^' committee representatives from meeting Jan. 26. Should Ionia wish many county farmers reeling and greatly affected farm In­ presently formulated, could not comes and farmers' expenditures. use In taxing this year. ^ Montcalm, Gratiot and Clinton 'salute of values' to come ik after that time itwould be justified when the more in­ Counties and the Montcalm, Clin­ require the consent of the boards tensive land use and changed land "These figures are mislead­ ton 2nd Ionia county, nurses met This week the merchants of St. Johns will honor the of supervisors of each of the other ing," Gerald Shepard of Bath re­ consumers of this trade territory with an assortment of use benefits were excluded," and decided to go ahead with three counties, Fenton wrote. marked of the preliminary set. plans to establish the health unit the greatest values'ever seen in any shopping center. * * New school "We should wait until we get the See the "Salute of Values* page of this edition of the Clin­ ' whether or not Ionia decides to THOSE ATTENDING the Dec. new -ones, even if we have to use join. • , ton County News for details. In short, the present plans do 29 meeting were Manty and Ruth not include enough recreation and executive the individual cards to figure Rosenow from the Department of them." Sales receipts and bank deposits show that St. Johns wildlife benefits. Representa­ ROY R. MANTY, administra­ Health; Supervisors Herschel tives of the Maple River water­ * * tive assistant andassociatecom­ is soaring ahead as a regional shopping center.