December 14, 1960 (10 pages)

oir 132 Main St., Nevada Dial 265-2471 R. Dean Thompson. ... . Editor-Manager Robert M. Wyckoff. .. .Circulation Manager ‘Clarice Mc Whinney. ... Amt Editor City, Calif. Second class postage paid at Nevada City, Calif. Adjudicated a legal newspaper of general circulation . by the Nevada County Superior Court, June 3, 1960 Decree No, 12, 406 Subscription Rates: One Three years, $7.00. Printed by Berliner & Mc Ginnis, Nevada City. year, $3.00; Two years, $5.00 EDITORIAL Off-Street er Parking Nevada City merchants are looking at Grass Valley's off-street parking plans with envy in their eyes. Downtown business districts have suffered throughout the United States as more and more shopping centers have been constructed. Inmanycities the assessed valuation of downtown property has tumbled and the quality of store occupancy has been lowered. There are those in Grass Valley who say the parking lot should have been built five years ago. Perhaps they are right inassuming that some of the firms that moved from Mill Street would have remained in their previous locations if adequate parking had been available. If we admit it is late, we must also admit it is not too late. The downtown parking lot can now be a force in making the downtown area of Grass Valley more desireable. It will nearly double the potential parking: area in the city's mainBusiness district. And parking space is directly related to the potential volume of a business. True, shopping centers will come in increasing numbers to Nevada County, and they will be serving a useful purpose. But the main center of shopping can continue to be the downtown areas. The Grass Valley merchants have done the job themselves. Although city help will bé necessary and is pledged, the desire of the merchants was todothe job with funds derived from that area of the city which will benefit, the downtown area. Some years ago, a proposal was made in Nevada City to procure property off Spring Street behindthe National Hotel for the constructionofa parking lot. The Proposal died because of the expense necessary to fillinthe site to make it large enough: to be of value. Nevada City merchants now are watching the Grass Valley effort, and at the same time looking off their:streets at possible sites for similar promotion. & >. thousands of blinking Christdollar. Needless to say, the SAGE system has a champagne appetite. By 1965 its Is SAGE ? By Alfred Heller $61 billion dollars. They unveiled the shiniest Christmas toy of them all last week at Camp Beale, a rocket-breathing two-headed dinosaur called SAGE. . This freakistr play thing i: chained and trapped in a huge windowless three-story blockhouse some thirty miles down the road from here. If I were naming him, . would call the toy dinosaur SPARKY, a friendly name for @ pet, and suggestive of the ing monument to human ness. Where else can you find a wide, blue-lit room some day whisper the fate uf this nation to-a collection of unerring machines? . am talking about the “Weapons Room" of SAGE. Reporters visiting Beale last week were greeted atthe door of this room by a smiling colonel whose face was sallow under the dim blue light. “Welcome to the weapons room, gentlemen, “he said. “This is where the air battle is fought.” The colonel then proceeded to conduct a simulated battle before our very eyes, The unwitting “enemy” was an airliner actually coming in from Hawaii. Crowded arounda radar scope, we watched tensely as the operator pushed the mas lights which decorate his spine. But the Air Force calls him SAGE, perhaps because some of the best technical minds in America have constructed his brain, or rather his two brains. : Whether they know it or not, the American people have spent an estimated $120 million dollars for SPARK Y-and he is but one of 22 similar dinosaurs across the nation. Tothe Air Force, SAGE is not a toy. He is “the entire electronic complex which links the San Francisco Air Defense Sector's various components together. "In short, he is the nerve-center of our air defense system. To the greater glory of the Yuba Basin, heis located at Beale Air Force Base. But what does SAGE do and how does he work? Here is a breakdown of his anatomy: His heart consists of six diesel generators capable together of supplying the power for both Marysville and Yuba City. His many eyes are an extensive radar system which wams of the approach of enemy aircraft. His brains are two interchangeable electronic computers each of which gan store over a million bitXof information at onetime, and produce a summary of the air defense picture of use to the local air defense commander, General Thomas MeGehee, who is a mere mortal. ; SAGE'S intestines are made up of thousands of miles of electronic andtelephone cables and wires, as well as a network of wireless channels, His muscle, the thing that makes him move, is man. His weapon is a large collection of fighter planes armed with rockets, and an arsenal of ground-based missiles (the Nike). His food, as we have indicated, isthe taxpayer's presumably--the kill. And we could see the battle in the form of blips of light moving inexorably toward armed conflict. The Weapons Room is but one of many fascinating installations of the SAGE Center. Visiting themis a heady experience, for it is obvious that in these unreal rooms bathed in unreal light there is couched somewhere very close tothis marvelous machinery the power to destroy and kill. eee eee ses eee 8 . Whether the whole thing adds-up to very much in the way of effective defense against emeny attack is another matter. Major General John D. Stevenson told us that as‘a defense against manned enemy aircraft the SAGE system would be “darned effective." However, neither he nor Gen. McGehee would claim 100 per cent effectiveness. "No air defense is one hundred per cent. effective, " Gen. McGehee said. At the press briefing, no one speculated on the destruction that might be wrought on the San Francisco. Sector by the enemy craft that did slip through. Presumably, this could amount to a crippling blow. And it might include the SAGE blockhouse itself , for we were told it is only built to withstand the blast of a 20 kiloton bémb exploding one half mile away. AND WILLING TO MAKE HAPPY GO TO Sharp All Shop 436 CLAY ST., N.C Will sharpen all kinds of saws lawn mower base knives, and adjust knives, scissors, or any other sharp edge tool. : Satisfaction Assured }! Reasonable Prices Dial 265-2681 EVERYTHING ELECTRICAL in Nevada City, Calif. John L. Beitz Jeweler + Longine-Wittnauer Authorized Dealer Nevada County + HEATRE BLDG, FOOTE ELECTRICAL ( Alta Street Phon: OSBORN Flower Shop We Specialize In . "Florist Telegraph Delivery _ 205 W. Main St. Grass Valley 273-6578 () 2G DEL ORO T CLEANERS =e JOIN THE THRONG OF HAPPY, SATISFIED CUSTOMERS. LOOK TO US FOR THE BEST. READY, EAGER Insurance Companies Thomas Hocking Sierra Freight Lines] NORTH SAN JUAN Twenty kilotons is the force of the bomb exploded at Hiroshima during World War II. By modern standards, it ‘Wepmmeneerccg sonar . Just Received MEN'S: CAR COATS ORLON PILE LINED G 2 4 —— If ~—w YOU Demar Dundas HEATING AND COOLING SERVICE FULLY WASHAB $469 . : Pe State Form ' Huge Supply of Heavy Mackinaws and Jackets 209 West Main St. Grass Valley, Calif, Phone 273-2304 Agent WE SPECIALIZE IN EXTRA LARGE SIZES SPCC eee ee eeeeeses DOWNIEVILLE ipharhecheevintah le SIERRA CITY VIC BREUER’S MENS WEAR SIERRAVILLE * FRontier 1-9125 143 Mill St., G.Vv. a repast will have cost us some ‘ Tothe layman, the SAGE center at Beale is an im— pressively clicking and blinkingenuity and resourceful~ — filled with radar scopes and ~ control panels monitored by . ordinary airmen who may_ \ z 4 X # X 4 ; t buttons and gave the orders _ag for the interception and-§ United States Air Force ope 4 The SAGE direction center of Camp Beale. 5 rators view the air situation on IBM SAGE Computer display consoles. The consoles present sector information regarding the location, speed, and direction of airborne objects, and the status of defense weapons. Operators can make tactical decisions, assign weapons to attack hostile aircraft and take action to direct interceptors to their 'argets. is considered a small bomb . However, even granting that the SAGE system is a deterrent tothe attack of of enemy bombers, no one willcallit a defense against ballistic missiles. “There is no known defense against ballistic missiles, "Gen. McGehee said. The Nike Zeus, soon to be tested, amounts tothe “first step" in the development of anti-missile missiles, he indicated, But any layman can figure out that in the future an enemy capable of raining missiles on us would simply send enough to make sure they had penetrated our antimissile defense--knowing full well that "no air defense system is one hundred per cent effective, " If SAGE isineffective against missiles, it isequally ineffective against germ or chemical warfare, internally-placed bombs, or against a dozen other modern means of waging war. After the press briefing, Gen. Stevenson asked one of the visitors, “What's your reaction to SAGE?" "Fear," the man replied. Personally, I was glad to hear that the SAGE -equipment might some day be converted into an air traffic monitoring system for the Federal Aviation Agency. However, as the nation's Christmas gift to itself, SAGE asit is stands up against any electric train or toy dinosaur on the market. . EXPERIENCED COUNSEL IN YOUR TIME OF NEED We offer you friendly, sympathetic help with attention to the details that.mean so much. We strive to give everyone the finest. .no matter 1ow much or how little they spend. CALL US DAY OR NIGHT WE ARE READY TO SERVE YOU BERGEMANN FUNERAL CHAPEL J. Paul Bergemann ( Formerly Holmes Funeral Home ) "246 Sacramento St., Nevada City Dial 265-2421 24-Hour Ambulance Service Z X 4 You cant MISS if you giv MRS. a beautiful. \ e your fo ma (IT PORTABLE TYPEWRIMI ke her Christmas merrylll OO Set Bee . er ~ ¥ WILL MAKE YOU HAPPY, TOO. ONLY $88 plus taxes} Ques buhouse & OFFICE . 120 W Main St., Grass Valley. EQUIPMENT be q iy yet g iq apse rt

oir 132 Main St., Nevada Dial 265-2471 R. Dean Thompson. ..... . Editor-Manager Robert M. Wyckoff.. ... .Circulation Manager ‘Clarice Mc Whinney. ...... Amt Editor City, Calif. Second class postage paid at Nevada City, Calif. Adjudicated a legal newspaper of general circulation . by the Nevada County Superior Court, June 3, 1960 Decree No, 12, 406 Subscription Rates: One Three years, $7.00. Printed by Berliner & Mc Ginnis, Nevada City. year, $3.00; Two years, $5.00 EDITORIAL Off-Street er Parking Nevada City merchants are looking at Grass Valley's off-street parking plans with envy in their eyes. Downtown business districts have suffered throughout the United States as more and more shopping centers have been constructed. Inmanycities the assessed valuation of downtown property has tumbled and the quality of store occupancy has been lowered. There are those in Grass Valley who say the parking lot should have been built five years ago. Perhaps they are right inassuming that some of the firms that moved from Mill Street would have remained in their previous locations if adequate parking had been available. If we admit it is late, we must also admit it is not too late. The downtown parking lot can now be a force in making the downtown area of Grass Valley more desireable. It will nearly double the potential parking: area in the city's mainBusiness district. And parking space is directly related to the potential volume of a business. True, shopping centers will come in increasing numbers to Nevada County, and they will be serving a useful purpose. But the main center of shopping can continue to be the downtown areas. The Grass Valley merchants have done the job themselves. Although city help will bé necessary and is pledged, the desire of the merchants was todothe job with funds derived from that area of the city which will benefit, the downtown area. Some years ago, a proposal was made in Nevada City to procure property off Spring Street behindthe National Hotel for the constructionofa parking lot. The Proposal died because of the expense necessary to fillinthe site to make it large enough: to be of value. Nevada City merchants now are watching the Grass Valley effort, and at the same time looking off their:streets at possible sites for similar promotion. & >. thousands of blinking Christdollar. Needless to say, the SAGE system has a champagne appetite. By 1965 its Is SAGE ? By Alfred Heller $61 billion dollars. They unveiled the shiniest Christmas toy of them all last week at Camp Beale, a rocket-breathing two-headed dinosaur called SAGE. . This freakistr play thing i: chained and trapped in a huge windowless three-story blockhouse some thirty miles down the road from here. If I were naming him, . would call the toy dinosaur SPARKY, a friendly name for @ pet, and suggestive of the ing monument to human ness. Where else can you find a wide, blue-lit room some day whisper the fate uf this nation to-a collection of unerring machines? . am talking about the “Weapons Room" of SAGE. Reporters visiting Beale last week were greeted atthe door of this room by a smiling colonel whose face was sallow under the dim blue light. “Welcome to the weapons room, gentlemen, “he said. “This is where the air battle is fought.” The colonel then proceeded to conduct a simulated battle before our very eyes, The unwitting “enemy” was an airliner actually coming in from Hawaii. Crowded arounda radar scope, we watched tensely as the operator pushed the mas lights which decorate his spine. But the Air Force calls him SAGE, perhaps because some of the best technical minds in America have constructed his brain, or rather his two brains. : Whether they know it or not, the American people have spent an estimated $120 million dollars for SPARK Y-and he is but one of 22 similar dinosaurs across the nation. Tothe Air Force, SAGE is not a toy. He is “the entire electronic complex which links the San Francisco Air Defense Sector's various components together. "In short, he is the nerve-center of our air defense system. To the greater glory of the Yuba Basin, heis located at Beale Air Force Base. But what does SAGE do and how does he work? Here is a breakdown of his anatomy: His heart consists of six diesel generators capable together of supplying the power for both Marysville and Yuba City. His many eyes are an extensive radar system which wams of the approach of enemy aircraft. His brains are two interchangeable electronic computers each of which gan store over a million bitXof information at onetime, and produce a summary of the air defense picture of use to the local air defense commander, General Thomas MeGehee, who is a mere mortal. ; SAGE'S intestines are made up of thousands of miles of electronic andtelephone cables and wires, as well as a network of wireless channels, His muscle, the thing that makes him move, is man. His weapon is a large collection of fighter planes armed with rockets, and an arsenal of ground-based missiles (the Nike). His food, as we have indicated, isthe taxpayer's presumably--the kill. And we could see the battle in the form of blips of light moving inexorably toward armed conflict. The Weapons Room is but one of many fascinating installations of the SAGE Center. Visiting themis a heady experience, for it is obvious that in these unreal rooms bathed in unreal light there is couched somewhere very close tothis marvelous machinery the power to destroy and kill. eee eee ses eee 8 . Whether the whole thing adds-up to very much in the way of effective defense against emeny attack is another matter. Major General John D. Stevenson told us that as‘a defense against manned enemy aircraft the SAGE system would be “darned effective." However, neither he nor Gen. McGehee would claim 100 per cent effectiveness. "No air defense is one hundred per cent. effective, " Gen. McGehee said. At the press briefing, no one speculated on the destruction that might be wrought on the San Francisco. Sector by the enemy craft that did slip through. Presumably, this could amount to a crippling blow. And it might include the SAGE blockhouse itself , for we were told it is only built to withstand the blast of a 20 kiloton bémb exploding one half mile away.

AND WILLING TO MAKE HAPPY GO TO Sharp All Shop 436 CLAY ST., N.C Will sharpen all kinds of saws lawn mower base knives, and adjust knives, scissors, or any other sharp edge tool. : Satisfaction Assured }! Reasonable Prices Dial 265-2681 EVERYTHING ELECTRICAL in Nevada City, Calif. John L. Beitz Jeweler + Longine-Wittnauer Authorized Dealer Nevada County + HEATRE BLDG, FOOTE ELECTRICAL ( Alta Street Phon: OSBORN Flower Shop We Specialize In . "Florist Telegraph Delivery _ 205 W. Main St. Grass Valley 273-6578 () 2G DEL ORO T CLEANERS =e JOIN THE THRONG OF HAPPY, SATISFIED CUSTOMERS. LOOK TO US FOR THE BEST. READY, EAGER Insurance Companies Thomas Hocking Sierra Freight Lines] NORTH SAN JUAN Twenty kilotons is the force of the bomb exploded at Hiroshima during World War II. By modern standards, it ‘Wepmmeneerccg sonar . Just Received MEN'S: CAR COATS ORLON PILE LINED G 2 4 —— If ~—w YOU Demar Dundas HEATING AND COOLING SERVICE FULLY WASHAB $469 . : Pe State Form ' Huge Supply of Heavy Mackinaws and Jackets 209 West Main St. Grass Valley, Calif, Phone 273-2304 Agent WE SPECIALIZE IN EXTRA LARGE SIZES SPCC eee ee eeeeeses DOWNIEVILLE ipharhecheevintah le SIERRA CITY VIC BREUER’S MENS WEAR SIERRAVILLE * FRontier 1-9125 143 Mill St., G.Vv. a repast will have cost us some ‘ Tothe layman, the SAGE center at Beale is an im— pressively clicking and blinkingenuity and resourceful~ — filled with radar scopes and ~ control panels monitored by . ordinary airmen who may_ \ z 4 X # X 4 ; t buttons and gave the orders _ag for the interception and-§ United States Air Force ope 4 The SAGE direction center of Camp Beale. 5 rators view the air situation on IBM SAGE Computer display consoles. The consoles present sector information regarding the location, speed, and direction of airborne objects, and the status of defense weapons. Operators can make tactical decisions, assign weapons to attack hostile aircraft and take action to direct interceptors to their 'argets. is considered a small bomb . However, even granting that the SAGE system is a deterrent tothe attack of of enemy bombers, no one willcallit a defense against ballistic missiles. “There is no known defense against ballistic missiles, "Gen. McGehee said. The Nike Zeus, soon to be tested, amounts tothe “first step" in the development of anti-missile missiles, he indicated, But any layman can figure out that in the future an enemy capable of raining missiles on us would simply send enough to make sure they had penetrated our antimissile defense--knowing full well that "no air defense system is one hundred per cent effective, " If SAGE isineffective against missiles, it isequally ineffective against germ or chemical warfare, internally-placed bombs, or against a dozen other modern means of waging war. After the press briefing, Gen. Stevenson asked one of the visitors, “What's your reaction to SAGE?" "Fear," the man replied. Personally, I was glad to hear that the SAGE -equipment might some day be converted into an air traffic monitoring system for the Federal Aviation Agency. However, as the nation's Christmas gift to itself, SAGE asit is stands up against any electric train or toy dinosaur on the market. . EXPERIENCED COUNSEL IN YOUR TIME OF NEED We offer you friendly, sympathetic help with attention to the details that.mean so much. We strive to give everyone the finest. .no matter 1ow much or how little they spend. CALL US DAY OR NIGHT WE ARE READY TO SERVE YOU BERGEMANN FUNERAL CHAPEL J. Paul Bergemann ( Formerly Holmes Funeral Home ) "246 Sacramento St., Nevada City Dial 265-2421 24-Hour Ambulance Service Z X 4 You cant MISS if you giv MRS. a beautiful. \ e your fo ma (IT PORTABLE TYPEWRIMI ke her Christmas merrylll OO Set Bee . er ~ ¥ WILL MAKE YOU HAPPY, TOO. ONLY $88 plus taxes} Ques buhouse & OFFICE . 120 W Main St., Grass Valley. EQUIPMENT be q iy yet g iq apse rt