June 24, 2005

Oroville R. C. Drive to Aid Huge U. S. Call
Local Workers Meet Tonight; District’s Quota Is $18,000
Oroville district Red Cross workers will meet in the high school auditorium at 7:30 p. m. today to prepare for the district’s participation in a national drive to raise $200,000,000 for the American Red Cross. Announcing opening of the national campaign, Chairman Norman H. Davis in a statement in Washington today said three million volunteer workers tomorrow will begin a door-to-door canvass in the nation to meet what he described as “a greater burden than ever before in the history of the organization.”

President Roosevelt named March “Red Cross Month” and called upon the people to “open their hearts to this humanitarian appeal.” Davis said the Red Cross will be expected to assume an increasing burden due to the return of wounded and disabled serviceman. Also there would be increased calls for blood plasma, war nurse recruitment work, prisoner of war food parcels to Americans taken prisoner, and other Red Cross services, he said.
Locally, Clemmer W. Wise, general chairman of the Oroville area drive, said Oroville’s goal will be $18,800, twice last year’s objective and declared: “It is not a membership drive. We can’t meet the needs of our boys if everyone gives only $1 for a “membership”. Francis Kemper, chairman of the advance gifts committee, reported that $2000 has been turned in by solicitors who have worked for the past week in the advance gifts department. Names of donors will be announced later, when additional contributions are received and reports have been audited, he said.

Gals Gone Off To War
Leap year isn’t what it used to be. Or maybe the aggressive Butte county girls who used to get their man have gone into the WAVES, WAC, SPARS or Marines. The county clerk’s office records showed only 29 marriage licenses had been issued from Jan. 1 this year until this afternoon. Even without the extra day in February, the total last year for January and February was 53.

EDITORIAL by Dan Beebe
John Q. Citizen is being reminded that the time is almost here to plant that Victory Garden for 1944. It was a pain in the neck to some last year and it was plenty of fun for others. Most of us learned a lot: learned that to get the most out of what you plant is to know how to plant, when to plant and how to care for what you plant. Unless a few rules are observed there’s bound to be a lot of wasted effort, not to mention wasted seeds and wasted water. No doubt a great deal was accomplished from Victory Gardens as a whole in 1943. They helped to remove points from string beans in a can, which a good many of us appreciated this past winter. Tons of extra tomatoes and squash also found their way to many American tables although the points remain. However, there’s a greater need for food this year as our armies advance on war fronts over the Atlantic and over the Pacific so don’t shirk your duty. Let’s get going at that garden when the right time comes.

Stu’s Notes; Our Oroville Veterans Memorial Park Committee had it’s 4 year anniversary meeting and dinner June 20, 2004. Hopefully by our 5^th we will be actually doing the physical work on Oroville’s Veterans Memorial Park. Great things are not done overnight. We were honored to have Ginger Ewalt with us, her husband Ed was a founding member of our group. Ed spent a good part of his life serving our country. He is truly missed. His military career went from WWII through Vietnam. He was on the front lines in Korea and behind the lines a true hero of our country. We also were glad to have Sharon Atteberry, Oroville’s own and City Administrator, Council members Jim Proudy and Bob Sharky who are also Veteran Committee Park Members. Bill Fox organized the dinner and Jojo Clark and her husband Danny catered the dinner. Thank you Sherry and Bob Morehouse, Veterans Committee members who did a wonderful job on the decorations and helped Bill most of the day into the night.
Clemmer Wise was the husband of Dorothy Wise a long time member of the First United Methodist Church and a friend of ours. He and Dorothy were long time realtors in Oroville.