01 Jan 1954
Page 1
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Newspaper
The Montana Standard
Location
Butte, Montana, United States of America
Date
Jan 01, 1954
Page
1
Cpl. Claude J. Batchelor left the Communist Red compound at Panmunjom and returned to the American side saying others may follow. He had wished to come back a month earlier but feared for his life as he reported that 21 Americans remained inside with daggers.
In Kermit Texas the mother and father of Corporal Claude J. Batchelor expressed joy after the son, once believed to favor communism, asked to be repatriated. The couple, awaiting his return at Odessa bus station, described the news as a long awaited relief and a Christmas sorrow turned to hope.
Dr. Arthur Fleming, head of the Office of Defense Mobilization, said the administration’s plan to funnel defense contracts into areas with high unemployment is a good policy. He joined officials arriving in Augusta to meet the President and prepare the State of the Union address. Fleming was a late addition to the advising group.
The world’s largest uncut diamond weighing about 770 carats was sold with an estimated value of 400 000 dollars. The ad then pivots to for sale notices inviting readers to contact a write for wording help and showcases a household furniture sale listing including a GE refrigerator and various room furnishings.
Cpl. Claude J. Batchelor, among 22 American prisoners who had embraced communism, requested release to the U N side at 1 a.m. Friday. He will be handed to U N command and then validated by the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission. Waiting in Tokyo is his Japanese wife Kyoko Araki who has pleaded for his return. she and Batchelor exchanged letters relayed by the AP.
Premier Georgi Malenkov told Tass there are no objective obstacles to better U S Soviet ties and urged a ban on atomic and hydrogen weapons. He voiced wishes for the American people’s happiness and peaceful life while calling for a world peace pact in 1954 not to use mass destruction weapons.
U S officials expect 1954 to bring crucial negotiations among Western allies rather than East West splits. Key points include a late January Big Four meeting in Berlin, talks on atomic energy pooling, and Russia’s Ban on atomic weapons proposals. France faces pressure over the European Defense Community and German rearmament.
Merrymakers in western Europe celebrate the turn of the year as 1954 looms, with parties from Moscow to London. The Kremlin hosts a fancy dress ball while Piccadilly Circus sees crowds and a wrapped Eros statue. Moscow reports 2000 shockworkers attend a New Year ball as hotel prices soar.
Major Ray White of the Montana Air National Guard located a derelict B 47 bomber near Yellowstone and led Capt. A K McGill and Capt. R L Lusk from 35 000 feet through thick clouds to Great Falls. Lt Ray Lewis then guided the aircraft to a landing, earning the crew’s thanks.
The changes reduce individual income taxes by about 10 percent for most, expire the excess profits tax on corporations, and raise the social security payroll tax from 12 to 2 percent affecting employees and employers. About 60 million taxpayers gain, while roughly 10 million lowest earners lose net due to higher Social Security levies.
Houston police say 19 year old bank employee Donny Allen admitted involvement in a 57 000 robbery of the Houston National Bank. He implicated three other men, sought by police after buying a 1953 Oldsmobile for 2400 cash following the heist. The robbers escaped unnoticed by a payday crowd.
In Cleveland on Memphis Avenue the Bank of Ohio was robbed as two masked gunmen forced 11 people to the wall and took about $21,000 in bills from drawers and tellers cages. The bandits fled in a car parked beside the bank and switched to a second vehicle in a nearby lot.
Two American ex prisoners describe Soviet camps as hell holes where men die daily or toil without hope. Pvt Homer H Cox 33 Oklahoma City says he was drugged in West Berlin on Sept 5 1949 and abducted into the East. Leland Towers 28 San Francisco says he entered the USSR illegally in 1951 to see what it was like and spent almost three years there.
New Year's Eve across two continents ushers in record wet weather with champagne sales rising in Moscow and a surge in all night drinking licenses in New York. Police and communities promote safe roads with coffee instead of spirits, taxi home schemes, and key removals from drivers.
Thousands of Butte residents welcomed 1954 with watchnight rites and public prayers seeking peace amid atomic war fears. Church services in Protestant and Catholic congregations marked the year, while dances and private gatherings filled clubs and homes as the Mining City ushered in its Diamond Jubilee year.
A five-year-old girl named Sherry Smart, found crying and bloodied, walked a mile through snow to seek help after a private plane carrying her parents, Mr and Mrs Dick Smart of Denver, crashed into a hill near Harlowton Montana. The child survived as authorities arrived after being discovered by Peter Priain and his wife who sheltered her and alerted officials.
Families of more than 3,600 American soldiers and airmen told Friday their relatives missing in Korea for over a year must be presumed dead. The Army and Air Force had announced in November that presumptive death findings would be made early January if no information suggested they might still be alive.
Cloudy conditions with light snow possible Friday and Saturday. Colder Friday into Friday night with highs near 34 and 35 on Friday and Saturday, lows around 18. North and east portions show more precipitation while west remains partly cloudy and cooler Friday night.
The State Department banned further publication of The Romanian News and related Communist pamphlets from the Romanian legation in Washington in retaliation for Bucharest orders. The move interrupts a weekly Romanian publication in the United States that had run for more than five years, including News From America which began in October.
A 37 year old Butte Union Pacific conductor William F Holton was critically hurt when his car left a curve on U S 10 near Nissler west of Silver Bow and plunged over an embankment. He was taken to St James Hospital for head and body injuries. Highway Patrolman Vanek and Deputies Rod Salo and Walt Stocker investigated.
The Census Bureau estimates the nation will reach about 161,200,000 residents on New Year’s Day, up 2,700,000 from the 1953 figure. The gain reflects postwar growth and migration trends across the United States.
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