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Newspaper
Decatur Daily
Location
Decatur, Alabama, United States of America
Date
Aug 02, 1940
Page
1
A House subcommittee tentatively approved allowing national defense contractors to deduct full defense plant expansion costs, with 20 percent annual amortization for five years. The panel urged combining this with an excess profits tax and Vinson Trammell act suspension into one bill.
Washington reports the Senate military committee rejected a Lee amendment to cap compulsory service at 900000 men. The panel also spurned a 90 day voluntary enlistment plan, clearing the way for a final committee vote on Burke Wadsworth defense legislation next Monday.
The president said Senator Harrison of Mississippi aims for final action within a month on legislation for amortization appealing to manufacturers. He cited lingering conscription debates and reiterated opposition to ready made bills while leaving age brackets to lawmakers under a compulsory training law. The piece notes lessons from war and total defense as guiding principles.
General Charles De Gaulle, who formed a free French committee in London to continue resistance, was sentenced to death in absentia by a military court in the 13th region on charges of treason, attacks on state security, and desertion. He is in London and rose to prominence after Reynaud dismissed General Gamelin and restructured the army.
Jefferson county grand jury recommends impeachment of Sheriff Harry E Smith for corruption and neglect of duty over widespread slot machine gambling in Jefferson county roadhouses. The 10 page report names the Bohemia Club and notes Smith was absent when read. proceedings move to Alabama Supreme Court.
About four hundred Alabama National Guardsmen from Decatur Huntsville and Athens sail Sunday at 12 45 for Bringhurst Louisiana for intensive Army training returning August 23rd The 102nd Engineers join with the 127th Engineers from Huntsville and Athens The APO No 223 Alexandria La address lines list unit contacts for family and friends. Local food provisions were bid and purchased for the trip.
A collision at a grade crossing in West Canaan, New Hampshire, involving a Melvin F. Burgess Contracting Company truck and a Boston and Maine train killed six men. Among the dead were Robert Bolick of West Jefferson, North Carolina, who led the crew, and Waldo Beard of Hillsboro, New Hampshire, the truck driver. The crash sent bodies across the cowcatcher and along the right of way while weather was reported foggy and the crossing had automatic flashing signals operating.
The three children of King Leopold of Belgium Crown Prince Baudouin 9 Princess Josephine Charlotte 12 and Prince Albert 6 were flown by German plane from Portugal to Brussels and taken to the Belgian king in a military car as Belgium became a belligerent.
An injunction permanently restrains Jacob Schaffer, a vegetable and strawberry crate maker, and Fred W. Peinhardt with Irvin A. Peinhardt doing business as A H Peinhardt Co, all of Cullman, from violating the Fair Labor Standards Act. The order was granted by Judge T A Murphree upon the Wage and Hour Division, U S Department of Labor, based on an application by Administrator Philip B. Fleming. Robert T. Aims, Regional Director for the region covering Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, announced the decision today.
A wartime column by Dewitt Mackenzie imagines England and London scenes as a diversion from bomb fears. The piece riffs on possible activities from Dover chalk cliffs to Hampstead Heath and Southend while speculating on J Bull’s vacation plans and war burdens.
The piece notes the August bank holiday turning British summer into a widespread vacation period. It describes the royal family and aristocracy vacationing at Balmoral and estates, the grouse shooting season opening, and workers taking time off as cotton mills close for a furlough period.
Decatur prepares for a boat racing weekend drawing up to 20 000 spectators with a Saturday flotilla between two bridges and a fireworks display. Wheeler Lake Yacht Club plans an ambitious 1941 project for a 100 000 dollar water park and boat harbor opposite Decatur, with seating, traffic control, and access to U S Highway 31.
The War Department retracted Secretary Stimson’s claim that 81 foreign agents were detained in the Canal Zone. The 81 aliens await deportation or other disposition after a cleanup of aliens in the vila defense areas, with about 60 from Panama reportedly of German origin. Panama’s Leopoldo Arosemena said the detainees were mostly European refugees.
Ossie Henterster Tankersley 27 and Baren Gregg 22 die from a South Bee Line truck crash near Lacon Mountain Thursday morning. Gregg died at Benevolent Hospital Thursday afternoon. Tankersley survived by wife two children parents three brothers and eight sisters. Gregg survived by parents one brother and three sisters. Services held at Simcoe in Cullman county Saturday noon for Tankersley and Gillan Springs for Gregg. Drinkard of Cullman led the services.
Morgan County American Red Cross first aiders were asked to help at the boat races on Sunday as planned for the July celebration. They should report to the first aid station at the foot of Oak Street to John D. McKibben at 11 o'clock Sunday morning for final instructions.
Seventeen of the 24 cabins sites on Finley Island have been leased. Remaining leases must be completed and approved before August 31. Interested parties should contact W. M. Rice, TVA property manager, at the TVA warehouse in Decatur.
Kenneth F. Hagan 50, also known as Jesse Holt, was identified by FBI agent PIE Guinane as the man who held up the First National Bank in Birmingham last Saturday, getting $3000 from cashier Carl Grantham. He is in Atlanta custody pending a Birmingham warrant. Hagan has a long criminal record including 1926 Atlanta penitentary time for violation of the prohibition law and a 1930 Los Angeles robbery.
Revival in Rural Grove starts on the first Sunday, August 4, with Rev. J. M. Hendon preaching and Rev. W. B. Bentley assisting. T. B. Waddell reports the announcement and invites the public.
Reynolds Metals of Richmond plans a 15 to 18 million dollar aluminum plant in Northern Alabama. An RFC loan of 15.8 million backs the project, with construction to start soon and operation expected by early 1941. Possible sites include Sheffield Decatur or the Birmingham area. The plant would employ 1,500 to 2,000 workers and run on TVA power.
London reports that British bombers attacked the Krupp Munitions Works at Essen, supply depots and northwest Germany air dromes, with significant damage to oil plants and daylight raids on Holland air fields yesterday. Moscow notes the Moldavian Union Republic is created by the Soviet parliament, absorbing much of Bessarabia.
London said RAF raids in the past three months targeted Hamburg and thousands of German cities while destroying ships and industrial sites in Bremen. Germany claimed sinking British ships and reported losses as Allied air power pressed attacks across the Mediterranean and Atlantic fronts.
The Tennessee River rose to 20.1 feet by 7 am with no rainfall. Temperatures peaked at 96 and dipped to a low near six with hot conditions across the region. Weather notes: Tennessee fair tonight and Saturday, Alabama mostly cloudy with strong coastal showers and thundershowers.
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