The Great Dis-Scenter
From onions, garlic, cheese or mildew
Come odors that can almost kill you,
And if you leave them free to roam
There's no such thing as HOME SWEET HOME.
So try the cure that's fast and sure,
Inexpensive, also pure;
Baking soda with magical power
Over odors pungent, ripe or sour.
Mix it with water or simply apply
The way it comes fr^m the package . . . dry.
And before you know it there’s nary a whiff
Or lingering aroma ... to prove it, sniff.
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BLINDFOLDED MEXICANS
BREAK YULE CLAY POTS
Clay pots dressed up in tissue
paper to look like donkeys, saints,
politicians or what have you are
always the center feature of
Christmas parties in Mexico.
The decorated pots, called “pin
atas,” are primarily for children,
but almost every adult party has
one, too. They are filled with
candy, nuts, fruits or any unbreak
able edible and hung from the cen
ter of the room. Then one of the
party is blindfolded and turned
around three times to make him
lose his sense of direction. He
swings wildly in the air with a
stick, seeking to break the pinata.
If he misses long enough, another
takes his place.
When the frail pinata is finally
broken, the sweets rain down on
the floor and all present scramble
for them.
A Serious Charge
In Pennsylvania on Dec. 23,
1936, Judge M. A. Musmanno of
the Allegheny County Criminal
Court ruled doubters of Santa
Claus in contempt of court.
1
From the humble manger in ancient Bethlehem
comes the eternal glow of mankind’s faith and
trust. Ill
As in generations past, we have come again
to that season when we rekindle our Spirit and
our Faith from this everlasting flame.
We extend our best wishes to one and all
at this Holiest of Seasons and hope your days
remain aglow with the bright promise which
still gleams from the manger after twenty
centuries.
NOME HARDWARE and U.S. MERC
THE WORLD TODAY
By JAMES MARLOW
Associated Press Netvs Analyst
WASHINGTON W) — Jack Ruby
created a legal situation never —
literally — seen before when, in
ful view of practically all Amer
ica he gunned a man to death.
Ruby coudn’t claim self-defense.
He shot Lee Harvey Oswald,
charged with assassinating Presi
dent John F. Kennedy, in the
Dallas city jail while the hand
cuffed Oswald was surrounded by
police. Nor could he claim it was
an accident.
He couldn't try to say he did
not do it. Millions saw him on
television as he did it. Other mil
lions saw him do it on endless
television reruns. Newspapers car
ried pictures of it from coast to
coast.
The U.S. Supreme Court has
already said what it thinks of the
■effect on a local community which
sees a man confess on local tele
vision to a local crime. But Ruby
did more than confess, and it
wasn’t local.
Since Kennedy and Oswald were
both killed in Dallas, the people
there could not but be particularly
aware of the events, and it would
be a poor Dallas citizen who
didn’t have an interest in the
events and what Ruby did.
Yet, Ruby will be tried before
a jury of Dallas citizens. This
raises a question: Can Ruby get a
fair trial in the legal sense that
the people on his jury have not
already prejudged him?
And, since the whole nation was
a witness could he in the same
sense get a fair trial anywhere in
this country?
Ordinarily where there are un
usually strong local feelings about
a crime, or where the people have
unusual interest or knowedge of
it, the defense lawyer can ask for
a change of venue.
This means having his trial in
some other city where there was
not the same local feeling, interest
or knowledge. But the interst in,
and knowldge of, what Ruby did
was national. A change in venue
would seem senseless.
The Supreme Court stepped into
a local case earlier this ysar.
Wilbur Rideau, a Louisiana
Negro, was convicted of murder in
a 1961 crime in which a bank
was robbed. A woman clerk was
stabbed to death, and three other
bank employes were wounded by
—
a lone bandit.
Rideau was apprehended. The
sheriff got a confession from him
and then, on a local television sta
tion, had him repeat the confes
sion in full public view. This TV
confession was broadcast three
days in a row.
The defense lawyer contended
that by the television showing Ri
deau was “allowed to convict him
self’’ before the public in an area
from which residents were called
as jurors at the trial. Further, the
lawyer argued, three of the trial
jurors saw the broadcast and two
of the jurors were deputy sheriffs.
The state argued the three TV
watching jurors swore they could
and would decide the case solely
on evidence produced at the trial
and that the two deputies had
honorary commissions and no con
nection with the sheriff’s depart
ment.
Rideau's lawyer asked that the
trial be held in another parish—
county. The request was denied
and, after being found guilty, Ri
deau was sentenced to death.
On June 3, 1961, the Supreme
Court overturned the conviction.
Justice Potter Stewart, speaking
for the court, said Rideau was de
nied constitutionally guaranteed
due process of law when he was
refused a change in venue.
Stewart said: “The people of
Calcasieu Parish — where the
trial was held — had been ex
posed repeatedly and in depth to
the spectacle of Rideau personally
confessing in detail to the crime
with which he was later charged.
“For anyone who has ever
watched television, the conclusion
cannot be avoided that this spec
tacle. to the tens of thousands of
people who saw and heard it, in
a very real sense was Rideau’s
trial — at which he pleaded guilty
to murder.
“Any subsequent court proceed
ings in a community so pervasive
ly exposed to such a spectacle
could be but a hollow formality.
Due process of law in this case
required a trial before a jury
drawn from a community of people
who had not seen or heard Rideau’s
‘televised’ interview.’
Where does this leave Ruby?
Could this public exposure in a
“very real sense” be considered
Ruby’s trial in which, by killing
Oswald in public view, he
“pleaded guilty to murder”?
" —n
WE’VE HAD A WORLD
OF FUN SERVING YOU
. .. HOPE YOU ENJOY
A WORLD OF GOOD
“““IH,S CHRISTMAS
THE GLUE POT
VERN MILLER, Prop.