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Community Corner

This Was Doylestown, 1952

Public employees take a loyalty oath at the courthouse, a veteran brings 12,075 pennies to a bank, and the owner of South Main Street tourist cabins seeks zoning approval for expansion, 61 years ago this week.

Hundreds of public employees take loyalty oath -

Editor's note - During the anti-Communist fervor of the 1950s, Pennsylvania and 41 other states required public employees to sign an oath swearing they were loyal to the elected government and were not members of a subversive (i.e., Communist) organization. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of these oaths in 1952, but later overturned them in several 1960s decisions. However, the loyalty oaths, including Pennsylvania's, remained on the books for decades.

Several hundred public employees in Bucks county, including those affiliated with the State Highway Department and other Commonwealth bureau offices, repledged their fealty to the Government of the United States on Monday night, at a special meeting held in the Court House.

The loyalty oath, required of all public workers under a new State law attesting that they are not subversive nor members of a subversive organization, was administered in the big court room by Judge Edwin H. Satterthwaite.

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The manifestations were made as a part of Loyalty Day proclaimed by Gov. John S. Fine to dramatize the new law, which affects all public workers except elected officials, who may take the oath if they so desire. Persons refusing to take the oath must be fired from their jobs. Those taking the vow fraudulently will be liable for a fine of up to $3,000 and seven years in jail.

Monday morning, oaths were administered to county employees and State Police in a similar ceremony in the same court room, by Judge Hiram H. Keller.

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Monday night's program was arranged by James D. Worthington, chief of the Bucks county maintenance headquarters of the state Highway Department, with offices in Doylestown.

Previous to the administering of oaths, and during the program, an excellent concert was presented by the popular Quakertown Band, through the sponsorship of the "Bucks County Music Performance Trust Fund." The band was conducted by Ralph R. Moyer. Among the fine numbers played was "His Honor," dedicated to Judge Satterthwaite, and "The North Penn March," written by a former conductor of the band. Attorney Claire G. Biehn, of Quakertown, a member of the band, was the announcer.

Judge Satterthwaite prefaced the actual oath administration by expressing thanks to the State Highway Department for selecting him as the official to administer the oaths. "I feel very proud of this opportunity," he said.

All those who had previously signed the oath were then asked to rise. Those who had copies of the oath but had not signed, were then asked to rise, and so were others who did not have copies but desired copies. Judge Satterthwaite then read the oath as the several hundred employees repeated after him.

 

Veteran turns in 12,075 pennies -

Robert S. Taylor, of North Main street, a young Army veteran, arrived at the Doylestown Trust Company on Monday with a brand new 11-quart pail almost full of pennies.

Taylor, who is a Purple Heart veteran of World War II, created quite a stir as he and a friend carried the pennies down North Main street to the bank. The pail of pennies weighed over a hundred pounds. To top it off, Monday was the day parking meter money was collected, so the bank was quite busy with "small change."

Bob started saving the pennies when he was discharged from the service in 1945. Now he wishes he had saved dimes instead, as he would have a very nice sum to add to his savings account.

Curious onlookers all began guessing how much money was in the bucket. Their guesses ranged from $100 to $150. One matron estimated that you can get $10 worth of pennies in a quart jar; so, therefore, her guess would be $120. It proved to be right, as the official count was $120.75.

Taylor, who is employed by the Philadelphia Electric Company, is a veteran combat infantryman of the European Theatre. When asked by a "Daily Intelligencer" reporter what he was going to spend the pennies on, he said he hadn't decided.

 

Police urged to be "salesmen" for borough -

"The police of Doylestown Borough should be our silent salesmen," declared Frank T. Reynolds, chairman of the public and business affairs committee of the Doylestown Kiwanis Club, at the club's weekly dinner meeting Tuesday night.

Reynolds, a past president of the Kiwanis, said that his committee intends to present a program at some future meeting of the club, to which borough council's police committee chairman, the Burgess [mayor] and the police chief will be invited to take part in a round table discussion.

"We should, as taxpayers and property owners, have the best of police service, and it is within our right and power to demand it," stated Reynolds. "Without big industry, Doylestown depends on its small businesses and stores, and the visitors and buyers who come here to shop. While they are here, those visitors should be made to feel welcome at all times, by courtesy on the part of all police officers.

"Recent incidents on the Washington's Birthday holiday--when some motorists were ticketed for not using the parking meters and some were not--did not indicate the kind of courtesy we want," he said..

"We expect our police officers to carry out the rules and regulations of the borough, but at the same time they can build goodwill by using common sense and being courteous always," Reynolds concluded.

 

Advertisement -

ODDS and ENDS SALE..Two Days Only - Friday, Feburary 29th; Saturday, March 1st...White Mountain Storm Coats. Regular Price, $35.00; Sale, Twenty-Five Dollars. Many Other Outstanding Values...THE CORNER SHOPPE, 47 East State Street, Doylestown, Pa....Bell Phone 5294.

 

Doylestown Zoning Board considers tourist cabins -

An application by a South Main street property holder to expand tourist cabin facilities, was held in abeyance at a meeting of the Doylestown Zoning Board of Adjustment on Monday evening.

Chairman Joseph R. Ruos and member Horace J. Bannister were present. William J. Kane, Jr. was absent. Chairman Ruos deferred final decision on the application in the absence of Mr. Kane.

Mrs. Marie G. Rubin, her son and daughter, who have 19 cabins at the All States Cottages, 300 South Main street, would like to build extensions to them for kitchen and cooking facilities.

Because the property contains slightly more than four acres, it would be possible to relocate the cabins so that they can conform with the Zoning Code's requirements for front, side and back yard regulations.

The Zoning Board of Adjustment indicated reluctancy in allowing larger cabins, which would be relocated beyond the driveway off South Main street at Hart avenue. The present size of the cabins is 24 feet, 6 inches by 12 feet.

Solicitor Arthur M. Eastburn, Jr. advocated that the Rubins' application be more specific and show exactly what they mean to do with each cabin and where it will be placed.

The entire area is in R-2. Chairman Ruos pointed out that it is not permissible to operate a tourist camp or cabins with the borough limits, but that the All States Cottages were there before the Zoning Code was adopted. To operate as tourist cabins, Mrs. Rubin's expansion must comply with the extension of non-conforming uses in the Zoning Code.

Mrs. Rubin explained that she does not want to have permanent tenants, but prefers transients to live in her cabins. Chairman Ruos explained there will probably be great protest from the neighbors if any of the cabins are moved up along the South Main street frontage.

The Board of Adjustment members agreed that Mrs. Rubin maintains an attractive tourist camp which has a good reputation, but expressed apprehension over what might happen if the property were sold.

 

Mailman retires after 33 years -

J. Warren Angeny, of North Main street, who has been employed by the Doylestown Post Office as a postman, has retired from his mail carrier duties in the mid-town section after 33 years of service.

Mr. Angeny, who began working in December 1918, received his appointment Jan. 19, 1919 under Postmaster Asher K. Anders, when the post office was located in the Lenape Building.

"I never subbed a day in my life," said the tall, slender, grey-haired mailman. "I began working steady the day I reported at the post office, which is unusual as so many post office employees have to put in long periods of substituting."

Angeny, who was taken ill while working on the heavy Christmas rush deliveries Dec. 20, 1951, has been compelled to relinquish his duties because of his health.

He began working when there were still three deliveries a day. The second one was called the "business one," although it took him all the way from the mid-town area to Cottage street.

He served under Postmaster Joseph G. Hart, now deceased; Samuel E. Spare, and present Postmaster Francis A. Fonash.

The veteran mail carrier, who is known for his cooperation and courtesy by the business people and home and apartment dwellers in the mid-town, has lived here all his life, with the exception of nine years.

He is well-known in Masonic circles, being a member of Doylestown Royal Arch Chapter No. 270; Doylestown Lodge No. 245, F.&A.M.; and the Allentown Consistory.

 

Advertisement -

NEWLY PAINTED stone-filled frame house with slate roof in good Doylestown residential area. Has 6 rooms, bath and fireplace. Full basement. Hot water heat. New garage. $12,000...FRANK L. MAGILL, Cross Keys, Doylestown, Pa....Phone Doylestown 3747. Sundays by appointment.

 

Doylestown Town Notes -

While fishing recently off the coast of Key West, Florida in the Island City Fishing Tournament sponsored by the Key West Junior Chamber of Commerce, Vincent Neamand, of Lower State road, caught a mackerel which tipped the scales at 9 pounds, and measured 2 feet, 7 inches in length.

Mr. and Mrs. George R. Shelly have moved from West Oakland avenue to their newly purchased home on Green street, which is the former J. Kirk Leatherman residence.

The O.P. James Memorial Ambulance was called out Wednesday to transport Mrs. Mary A. Kurtz, of Furlong, to the Doylestown Emergency Hospital to undergo surgery.

Miss Viola McCarty, who is employed at the F.W. Woolworth and Co. store on South Main street, is enjoying her Winter vacation this week.

Mrs. Bertha Leszkiewwicz, of the North Garden Apartments, has taken a clerical position in the office of Doylestown Borough Council in the Hart Building. Her husband is a Marine stationed at the Willow Grove Naval Air Station.

George W. Fisher, of Belmont avenue, who recently celebrated his 82nd birthday anniversary, was the guest of honor at a family party on Sunday.

Miss Bessie Price, of Hamilton street, broke her arm when she suffered a fall at her home last week.

Mr. and Mrs. John W. Pobst, of East State street, announce the birth of a daughter Sunday at the Doylestown Emergency Hospital.

Pfc. Paul E. Gares has returned to Camp Gordon, Georgia, after spending a ten-day furlough at the home of his mother, Mrs. Florence Gares, of Doylestown.

Rev. and Mrs. Charles F. Freeman, of East Court street, have returned home after a vacation trip to Florida.

The Youth Center at the American Legion Home on North street will be closed this Saturday night in order not to conflict with the basketball game and dance at the Armory.

Mrs. Joseph Myers, of West Oakland avenue, has returned to work at Gardy's stationery store, after being ill at her home.

 

From the Doylestown Daily Intelligencer, Week of Feb. 24-March 1, 1952

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