Johnson County Democrat And Oxford Leader (Newspaper) - March 9, 1933, Oxford, Iowa AND OXFORD LEADER VOLUME FORTY-TWO MARCH 9, 1933 NO. 10 PATRONS OF THE OXFORD SCHOOLS We state these as facts last year there were four teachers in our high This year we are getting along with only It should be called to your attention also that our high school enrollment has increased from 48 to 60 this 2 That this year in order to increase thc efficiency of our high school two of our grade teachers who had special college training in History and Latin were shifted to the high school while their grade classes were being given instruction in every teacher in our except has a state which shows that he or she has completed at least two years of college Four of our seven teachers have completed four years of college In 1931-32 they spent more than their While the present board was on during part of the 1931-32 year some of extra expense was already made by contract of the previous board and there was nothing the new could do to prevent contracted 12 on September 2, 1930, being the first day of the school year 1930. 91, each teacher in the Oxford School system was advanced or loaned 50 percent of his or her salary for the first The president of the board did not sign these altho the law requires both the president's signature and that of the secretary on warrant 13 the present Oxford school if kept intact as it has been work and hold degrees from the State the past intend to ask for only University of Mr. Scott is one 118000 next year in the annual of the few superintendents t0 has been asked in the call for ployed here who a Master's the past three which indicates at least five years of college He also has had more than 10 years successful teaching That our school has run more smoothly this year than for a number of The board this year refused to to petty grievances of parents or until a matter was brought their attention only after an appeal from a decision of the 5 when the State High School inspector visited here this year he commented very favorably on the way the school was being run and also on the high type of instruction being given by our present teaching 6 never until the present board was elected has there been a complete inventory of alL the school Before school closed last May every teacher was required to file a complete inventory of every thing in his or her room or enabling the district to readily settle any loss should the school house be destroyed by 7. the present for the first time in the history of the put a drastic rule to prevent the promiscuous buying of supplies and required that all purchases to be made for the school must be upon written order of the signed by some member of the 8 since the new board went on they have saved the district this year more than when compared with last years Part of this effected in lowering in the renting of the Auditorium and the janitor service for said 9 if your taxes are higher this that it is not the fault of the school but because last year people in Oxford turned in their property at a lower valuation thus making it necessary to increase the millage in order to get enough money to run both the town and the Besides more people asked for an exemption of their taxes last which makes it cost the other taxpayers more money to make up for the shrinkage caused by the tax 10 if in previous the Oxford school boards had tried to balance their budgets as they went the present board would not be left with a. the beginning of the 1932-33 school year and the task of trying to reduce The present board is putting forth every effort to place our schools on- a There was in addition to this overdraft numerous unpaid old yet to be 11 ' beginning with the school year 1928-29 and continuing down until the present board - members were the old board spent annually on an ' average of more than their J In 1928-29 they spety more than their In 1929-30'they spent more than their 1930*81 they spent more their While this reduction is a drastic the present members feel that it must and can be 14 an audit of the school books showed that from July 1, 1930 until January 1, 1931 only two warrants were signed by the president of the school altho that all warrants on the school treasurer shall be signed by both the president of the board and the 15 in the straw ballot conducted by this newspaper last year 241 voters of the district went on record as saying they did not think an Oxford school board member should serve more than 6 Mr. Sponar is seeking another term after having served 6 16 during the time P. T. Sponar was president of the Oxford school Wells was permitted to teach the subject of Physics in our high school without ever having taken that subject either during his high school days or during his years in and that when questioned about this before the new Mr. Wells could not do otherwise than admit he was bluffing in trying to teach this The president of the new board had in his possession Mr. Wells high school and college record and was prepared to produce these had the former superintendent stated other than the 17 it is generally conceded that former Supt. Wells would never have instituted a suit against the school board trying to collect which he had done no and forcing the board to spend the payers money to hire a lawyer to defend the if Supt. had not been by some people here in 18 in 1930-91 school board members paid some school bills out of their own then presented the bills to board for an O. K. ' 19 up until the time the new board took over the reigns it had been the custom for former boards to pay or more for commencement The board instructed Mr. Wells year to cancel all arrangements for high price oratory for and Hon. H. D. District kindly consented to deliver the commencement making no charge for his thus saving the taxpayers of the district 20 the law suit instituted against the present board was unnecessary and uncalled for and would never have taken place had the men who constituted the Oxford school board in former years been familiar with laws governing the making of contracts with 21 ' the records of the Oxford school board in former years are in such shape that it is almost ble to make an accurate check up of the of renting and maintaining the year record has been kept of the various items renting the building and of maintaining in our SHERMAN HOME DESTROYED BY FIRE HERE WED. MORNING Fire Wednesday morning totally destroyed the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Sherman located on top of the hill on north Ohio The fire is supposed to have ed from a spark that fell on the front porch of the where it ignited some dry pine from the large pine tree in the front Mr. Agee of the Citizens Telephone company discovered the fire as he was stopping at the Watson house to repair the phone and Mrs. Watson immediately turned the The Oxford fire department responded immediately but by the time the men arrived the fire had gained such headway that it was impossible to save the or a piano and some household goods were besides the fruit in the Everything else was The brisk northwest wind helped fan the flames and for a time it looked like the C. Oakes house next door be destroyed Firemen played water intermittently on the Oakes property with no damage The fireproof shingle roof on the Oakes house was also responsible to some degree in warding off the Mrs. Sherman was working in kitchen at the northwest corner of the house and did not discover the flames until just about the time the alarm was turned in. Mr. Sherman was out in the country when the fire started and knew nothing of the fire until some of the neighbors drove out to get The loss was partially covered by Fire Truck Proves Its Worth Located as the Sherman house on top of a hill higher than the water tower hill it would have been impossible to have thrown of water on the burning building with enough force to haye checked the Sherman fire or to have saved the Oakes property if it had not for the Oxford fire truck with its engine pumping water continuously for an hour and a Once again the people of Oxford have been shown the great advantage of the fine fire equipment of our OXFORD HIGH TEAM CARD OF THANKS We wish to extend to the Oxford Fire department and to our kind friends and our appreciation for the assistance rendered us Wednesday morning when our home was Mr. and Mrs. Charles CARD OF THANKS v. We wish to express our sincere thanks and appreciation to the Ox ford department and all those who assisted in saving our property Wednesday during the Sherman Mr. and Mrs. C E. Mrs. George Yenter visaed her Mrs. Roger Reeve of Tiffin Mrs. Reeve is ill at her Mr. Merwyn Jones of gave the sermon at the morning and evening services of the First church last Sunday SECTIONAL MEET In a pair of thrilling Marengo and Lone Tree high school teams won sectional titles Saturday night to advance this week to the district tournament at Marengo knocked off Tipton in class 29 to 26, while Lone Tree nipped 35 to 32. The two winners from this section will start district competition Thursday at according to pairings made Sunday by George secretary of the state Marengo drew a and will meet the winner of the game probably on Friday In class Lone Tree drew for the first Comeback Victories Both of the victories Saturday night were last quarter Tipton held a 14-9 lead at halftime over and continued out 19-15 at the third Midway in the last period Tipton was leading 23-19 when Marengo broke loose with four field goals by by free throws by his to pull out to a 29-26 margin which they held onto for Loss of Captain rangy via the foul route in the third period cost Tipton what chances it had of winning the sectional In the class B the game was all upset in the last minute of Oxford was out in front except for the last 35 seconds of the At the Oxford held a 9-8 and stretched it to 19-11 at the The third quarter 25-20, and in the fourth session Oxford led 90 to 24. Flake Scores who had been held until that th % broke loose on the first of four field goals scored in the With a minute to Oxford was 32 to 30. A technical foul on a fourth time out gave Lone Tree a gratis shot which Flake made There was only 35 seconds but that was time enough for Flake to take the tip-off and flip it under the while Brown followed in a scramble under the basket to sew up the title for Lone The Lone Thee 35; Oxford 32 LONE TREE FG FT PF TP 0 1,4 f 2 0 2 4 1 1 11 5 2 1 12 Krueger g 1 0 4 2 O 1 2 1 g 1 3 1 Totals 5 14 35 BATTLE EXPECTED ON MONDAY AS SPONAR FORCES SEEK TO GAIN CONTROL OF SCHOOL BOARD Simpkins and Sponar file nomination papers for school Election held in Old Post Office Building Polls open from 12 M. to 7 P. Sick ballots now available and can be OXFORD AUDITORIUM COST OXFORD SCHOOL DIST. THIS YEAR This and apparently for the first time in the history of the Oxford an accurate check has been kept on the cost of renting and maintaining the Auditorium by the school s It will be recalled that the board rented the Auditorium this year for only four crowding in these four months nearly all of the school activities that had been carried on in nine months of last During the time the school district had the use of the Auditorium this year there been held in the 7 basketball 3 declamatory 1 grade school two high school plays and one minstrel In addition the building has been in daily use for basketball throughout the season both by the boys and the girls The Report The report of receipts and expenditures for the past four or during the time the school board had the building rented this are as For coal and hauling For janitor 34.00 For lights 30.04 For 7-01 Rent of Auditorium 260.00 Total cost Received from activities Total cost to school district Taking this report as a whole it would not seem a prohibitive price for the district to pay for the purposes for which the building was LILLICK AND HOWELL LEAD DECLAMATORY CONTEST OXFORD FT PF 4 9 2 0 2 2 1 1 g 1 3 1 3 1 1 Totals 8 6 11 4 5 5 7 22 before a high school principal Miss Owen who had been receiving month the laBt was offered the principalship of our school at She stated to the new board that she would not take less than per Regardless of her statement the board elected her at a salary of and offered her a contract which she was given two days to reconsider her but having failed accept within the given Miss Jones ' elected principal at a salary of She agreeing to assume the of the school and in addition to have charge of the physical Miss Owen could not handle athletics and did not havt a four year Jones could handle the had an A. degree from the University of and besides five years of teaching OXFORD GROUP WILL GIVE FOUR PLAYS AT CHURCH ON THURSDAY Members of the Ladies Aid society will present four short entitled Money in in the Methodist Thursday March 9th. The characters Miss Ella Dewey Ida Henry Winna Robert Anna Frank Mrs. Katy Charles Miss Minnie James Mrs. Sylvia Faye Lena V. E. Polly Homer Sophia Stanley Miss Lemmie Maude Daisy Glea Harrietta Eldon - D T. Barbara Lillick and Edward representing Iowa City high school in the dramatic and humorous groups respectively won firsts in the preliminary state declamatory contest held at Oxford March 3rd. The schools competing were West Branch and Iowa In the division Richard Millen of West Branch won first and Charlotte of Iowa City won Myrtle Larson of West Branch placed second in the and Patricia Hughes of Oxford won second place is the The program was as Oratorical - by Clifford Unknown by Charlotte Iowa Nobody by Richard West Dramatic - Myrtle West Little by Barbara Iowa of author Emory Humorous - Tuggy Drives His by Emily West Simple Case of the Edward Iowa by Patricia W. C. F. ELECTION Miss Genevieve and Miss Amy Beecher entertained the W. C. O. members at a party at the home Sunday Election of officers for the year was as Chief Vice Financial Honors for score in the 500. games were awarded Nelle Falls and Stella In the bunco games Welsh and Mrs. Robert Mahoney won A delicious luncheon was n ' What undoubtedly is an attempt by the Sponar forces to regain control of the Oxford School Board was manifested last Thursday when the nomination papers of F. T. Sponar and W. J. Simpkins by were filed with the secretary of the Oxford School for the school election next The filing of while a surprise to came as an anticipated event to as the result of the defeat handed Mr. Sponar at the school election a year ago when after completing 6 years on the board he sought another 3-year As announced in this paper last Dr. J. H. present member who is completing 18 months of service on the seeks tion for another W. J. Simpkins who is now finishing his third year on the board seeks another 3 year Nomination gapers were also filed Thursday for Louis Klimes who seeks the office of treasurer of the Oxford Independent school Mr. Klimes is unopposed for this Henry Dee who was named to fill out the term until July 1st of this year refused to be a candidate for the Board Members Records Available As all three of the candidates for school director have served on the board it is with little difficulty that a voter may check the record made by each while on the The six year record of T. Sponar is quite well known and is referred to several times elsewhere in this - The record of W. J. Simpkins is likewise well The last year of Mr. Simpkins term he has served on the new board with Baker and Dr. Schrader was appointed to fill a vacancy and after serving six months was elected last year for a one year His record of the past year has been highly He has been a tireless worker on the board and his hearty cooperation with Baker and Spratt was responsible for effecting the savings made by the new board the past in addition to the various other accomplishments mentioned elsewhere on this The school election Monday will be held in the old postoffice This was decided by the board after some protest was heard about ing the election upstairs in the city Last year of the older people of the community were unable to thus necessitating the use of many sick Sick Ballots and Absent Voters Last night president of the Oxford school called the members together to go over ruling of the Attorney General in re- gard to the law governing the issuance and voting of sick ballots arid absent The gist of the law as explained is as If a person is sick or knows he will be absent or unable to come to polls he may fill out an application blank for a sick under and send it to the When this application is Secretary must mail him a ballot and an envelope in which to Tetum the i ballot after it has been After the ballot has been voted and sealed in the envelope he must sign the affidavit on the outside of the envelope before a notary It may then be delivered by anyone to the In no case is the secretary to deliver a ballot to anyone to be delivered to the shall be mailed until in the hands of a sworn for sick or absent 1 era ballots may be made now to either this newspaper or to the George Those who find it inconvenient walk to the polls Monday may secure transportation or this J
