October 15, 1964 (28 pages)

Nevada City Mayor Dr. H.A. McPherson Saturday took a swipe at city merchants and others who have opposed the preservation of the historic Ott's Assay Office. The mayor, speaking before almost 200 historians from all overthe state at the luncheon session of the 13th Annual Symposium of Historical Societies of Northern California and Southern Oregon in the Nevada City Methodist Church social hall, also decried’ the “ignorance andjust plain indifference” of those blocking attempts to preserve the historical heritage ot the state. He stressed that as members of historical societies, the visiting historians must be the leadezs’ in the fight to preserve the state's famous buildings and m onuments. McPherson welcomed the visitors to “our historic town" and said he hoped they would find “greater enthusiasm for your job as historians. "As California historians you will need enthusiasm and energy to do the jobs that need to be done if our famous old buildings and monuments are to be saved. These old buildings and their contents are important means of teaching our children the story of the development of our state. ley, Red Dog, You Bet, Town Talk, Glenbrook, Little York, Take Ott's Assay Office as an example. A leisurely trip through it is worth ten thousand words in a history book. To you and to me it seems obvious that this building should be saved. Unfortunately not everyone thinks as we do. Ignorance and just plain indifference are always aligned against us. “Here in Nevada City we had a long hard fight to save the assay office from being torn down to make way for the freeway. And the fight was not all with the division ofhighways. There are still merchants in this town who feel that it is ‘just an old pile of NEVADA COUNTY N Serving the communities of Nevada City, Grass Va Cherokee, Mooney Flat, Sweetland, Alpha, Omega, French Corral, Roug Nevada City Mayor Takes On Foes Of History © bricks. “We arenot the only people to have this trouble. It seems to be part of human nature to resent the idea that the past might have any importance for the present. In the south of France there is a city called Carcassone. Started long before the Roman invasion it developed into a perfect example of a medieval walled city. When the ways of warfare changed and the walls were no longer necessary for protection the people started moving out intothe country. The final result was that the whole city wassold for a few francs. A contractor bought it fokasyoutce of building stones, He Kad acygsfff started to tear down the walls when a French physician managed to convince the government that it should be preserved as a national monument. Now it is rated as one of the three most beautiful French cities and one of the architectural marvels of the world. Tourists come from all over the world to see it. "Incidentally I am sure that the contractor accused the physician of standing in the way of progress. “Our California monuments can be saved but it will take a continuous effort--and the hisAd, in Juan, North Bloomfield, Humbug, Relief Hill, Washington, Blue Tent, LaBarr Meadows, Cedar Ridge, Union Hill, Peardale, Summit City, Walloupa, Gouge Eye, Lime Kiln, Chicago Park, Wolf, Christmas Hill, : City, Selby Flat, Grizzly Hill, Gold Flat, Soggsville, Gold Bar, Lowell Hill, Bourbon Hill, Scotch Hill, North Columbia, Columbia Hill, Brandy Flat, Sebastopel. Quaker Hill, Willow Valley, Newtown, tadian Flat, Bridge Moore's Flat, Orleans Flat, Remington Hill, Anthony House, Delirium Tremens. ‘ PROEES iceeinthiiniemmeia Volume 38 Number 42 10 Cents A Copy ‘October 15, 1964 Happy Historians Visit Here Nevada City and Nevada County put on their best autumn faces last weekend and visiting historians from all over the state just seemed to enjoy it. The event was the 138th Annual Symposium of the Historical So-’ cieties of Northern California and Southern Oregon and Nevada City's gold rush lore brought an overflow crowd of about 180. The weekend was marred by only three things, One was the death Saturday afternoon of John Nettell of Grass Valley while accompanying the historians on a tour of the Empire Mine. Nettell, a former president of the hosting Nevada County Historical Society, was stricken with a heart attack. The second event was a power failure at the Nevada City Elementary School during the general session Saturday morning. This was only a slight inconvenience, The third complaint was that there just did not seem to be enough time to get everything done. The visitors started arriving for registration Friday night at the Historical Museum. Many of the stores remained open for the visitors and Keene's plumbing shop next tothe museum was decorated by Marge Matusovic and the building was used as a hospitality room. Saturday morming the visitors heard addresses on the Wells Fargo by Elmer Stevens, Charles Parsons on the Gillet Nursery and Peter Ingram on early newspapers and their editors, Nevada City Womens Civic club hosteda (Continued on Page 3) Published Thursdays, Nevada City OFFICERS AND HOSTS gathered for lunch Saturday during the 13th Annual Symposium of Historical Societies of Northern California and Southern Oregon, Pictured above (left to right) are: Walter Frame, vice president, California Conference of Historical Societies and the conference executive secretary, Dr. Coke Wood, Mrs. Isabel Hefelfinger, symposium chairman; Nevada City Mayor Dr. H.A. McPherson and Gilbert Tennis, President of the Nevada County Historical Society. City Attacked For Doing Own Jobs Nevada City Council was chastised by the local building industry Tuesday night for failure to contract out public works projects. Curtis-Smith and a variety of union and building trades representatives appeared at the session. Smith, who said he was speaking both for the Nevada County Builders Exchange and for labor, registered a strenuous objection to the 'city policy of force account work on jobs over $2,500 and said the city was in violation of law. Smith and other speakers said the city was in violation of law in the matter of using city crews on public works projects, for failure to pay city crews the prevailing wage scale for the trade, failure to pay fringe benefits and infractions of safety regulations on the freeway relocation job, The council was also warned that a safety inspector would probably arrive Wednesday to in(Continued on Page 3) Countersuit Is Filed By Paul Lunardi Senator Paul J, Lunardi of Placer County Tuesday replied to charges filed in a lawsuit against him, denying all allegations made and by countersuing Edwin Koupal and Joyce Koupal and their attorney, Herbert F, Kaiser, for $10,000. Senator Lunardi stated, "I have (Continued on Page 3)’ County May Establish Controller System Nevada County Supervisors this week approved a minute order directing the county counsel to draw up an ordinance creating the post of county controller, The vote Tuesday on the motion toorder the ordinance drawn was 4-1 with Supervisor Gene Ricker casting the dissenting vote. It is expected that the ordinance willbe ready for board consideration at the next meeting. General Plan ‘Study Group To Be Formed Nevada County Supervisors Tuesday authorized the start of a citizens committee to work with the professional planners on the general plan for the county. Planning Director Bill Roberts appeared before the board and introduced Sydney Williams, Bob Cook and Rudy Platzek of the San Francisco planning firm of Cook, Williams and Mocine. This firm was chosen some time ago to do the planning work. Williams told the supervisors one of the first steps was formation of a citizens committee of 75-100 persons, The job of the committee is to obtain an expression of policies and goals of the people in an effort to make the general plan one that is a product of the county and not one created by outside planners. He suggested the supervisors contact the county and the two city planning commissions for nomination of committee members, Chairman Henry Loehr suggested that residents who worked to gather data forthe economic (Continued on Page 2) Both Ricker and Supervisor Neil Hennessy fought the move to combine the offices of clerk, auditor and controller, Both said they. were not opposed to creation of the position of controller, but said they had been warned by state officials about combining the three posts. Mark Phelan, representing the Nevada County Grand Jury, Herb Dodini and Wally Brunker, both of whom had audited the county books at various times, spoke in favor of the move, Board Chairman Henry Loehr said the appointment could not be made permanent and separated from that of clerk-auditor until the next election of clerk in two years, He felt there would be no harm in combining the three for this two year interim period. Hennessy and Ricker both maintainedthat it was a dangerous thing to have the same man preparing warrants from books he audits. Clerk-auditor Tom Trauner pointed out that that is . exactly what is going on now. The two supervisors maintained that the board could give sufficient authority to the auditor to see. that bookkeeping systems he initiated in the various departments were followed. Brunker, Dodini, Phelan and Trauner all pointed out that this had not worked in the past. They cited cases of the road department and the county hospital as examples of where accounting systems set up by the auditor had not been adhered to with the result that there were virtually no records atthe end of the fiscal year, Hennessy asked Trauner if he would resign the clerk's post to become auditor controller and Trauner replied that he would if (Continued on Page 2) . . Q a a ™ ° n” ct @ ct ® 3 f Gv ~~ ro Ce & 3) w @ G co o ae *3FT8D ‘6 OgueKeroes £28295

Nevada City Mayor Dr. H.A. McPherson Saturday took a swipe at city merchants and others who have opposed the preservation of the historic Ott's Assay Office. The mayor, speaking before almost 200 historians from all overthe state at the luncheon session of the 13th Annual Symposium of Historical Societies of Northern California and Southern Oregon in the Nevada City Methodist Church social hall, also decried’ the “ignorance andjust plain indifference” of those blocking attempts to preserve the historical heritage ot the state. He stressed that as members of historical societies, the visiting historians must be the leadezs’ in the fight to preserve the state's famous buildings and m onuments. McPherson welcomed the visitors to “our historic town" and said he hoped they would find “greater enthusiasm for your job as historians. "As California historians you will need enthusiasm and energy to do the jobs that need to be done if our famous old buildings and monuments are to be saved. These old buildings and their contents are important means of teaching our children the story of the development of our state. ley, Red Dog, You Bet, Town Talk, Glenbrook, Little York, Take Ott's Assay Office as an example. A leisurely trip through it is worth ten thousand words in a history book. To you and to me it seems obvious that this building should be saved. Unfortunately not everyone thinks as we do. Ignorance and just plain indifference are always aligned against us. “Here in Nevada City we had a long hard fight to save the assay office from being torn down to make way for the freeway. And the fight was not all with the division ofhighways. There are still merchants in this town who feel that it is ‘just an old pile of NEVADA COUNTY N Serving the communities of Nevada City, Grass Va Cherokee, Mooney Flat, Sweetland, Alpha, Omega, French Corral, Roug Nevada City Mayor Takes On Foes Of History © bricks. “We arenot the only people to have this trouble. It seems to be part of human nature to resent the idea that the past might have any importance for the present. In the south of France there is a city called Carcassone. Started long before the Roman invasion it developed into a perfect example of a medieval walled city. When the ways of warfare changed and the walls were no longer necessary for protection the people started moving out intothe country. The final result was that the whole city wassold for a few francs. A contractor bought it fokasyoutce of building stones, He Kad acygsfff started to tear down the walls when a French physician managed to convince the government that it should be preserved as a national monument. Now it is rated as one of the three most beautiful French cities and one of the architectural marvels of the world. Tourists come from all over the world to see it. "Incidentally I am sure that the contractor accused the physician of standing in the way of progress. “Our California monuments can be saved but it will take a continuous effort--and the hisAd, in Juan, North Bloomfield, Humbug, Relief Hill, Washington, Blue Tent, LaBarr Meadows, Cedar Ridge, Union Hill, Peardale, Summit City, Walloupa, Gouge Eye, Lime Kiln, Chicago Park, Wolf, Christmas Hill, : City, Selby Flat, Grizzly Hill, Gold Flat, Soggsville, Gold Bar, Lowell Hill, Bourbon Hill, Scotch Hill, North Columbia, Columbia Hill, Brandy Flat, Sebastopel. Quaker Hill, Willow Valley, Newtown, tadian Flat, Bridge Moore's Flat, Orleans Flat, Remington Hill, Anthony House, Delirium Tremens. ‘ PROEES iceeinthiiniemmeia Volume 38 Number 42 10 Cents A Copy ‘October 15, 1964 Happy Historians Visit Here Nevada City and Nevada County put on their best autumn faces last weekend and visiting historians from all over the state just seemed to enjoy it. The event was the 138th Annual Symposium of the Historical So-’ cieties of Northern California and Southern Oregon and Nevada City's gold rush lore brought an overflow crowd of about 180. The weekend was marred by only three things, One was the death Saturday afternoon of John Nettell of Grass Valley while accompanying the historians on a tour of the Empire Mine. Nettell, a former president of the hosting Nevada County Historical Society, was stricken with a heart attack. The second event was a power failure at the Nevada City Elementary School during the general session Saturday morning. This was only a slight inconvenience, The third complaint was that there just did not seem to be enough time to get everything done. The visitors started arriving for registration Friday night at the Historical Museum. Many of the stores remained open for the visitors and Keene's plumbing shop next tothe museum was decorated by Marge Matusovic and the building was used as a hospitality room. Saturday morming the visitors heard addresses on the Wells Fargo by Elmer Stevens, Charles Parsons on the Gillet Nursery and Peter Ingram on early newspapers and their editors, Nevada City Womens Civic club hosteda (Continued on Page 3) Published Thursdays, Nevada City OFFICERS AND HOSTS gathered for lunch Saturday during the 13th Annual Symposium of Historical Societies of Northern California and Southern Oregon, Pictured above (left to right) are: Walter Frame, vice president, California Conference of Historical Societies and the conference executive secretary, Dr. Coke Wood, Mrs. Isabel Hefelfinger, symposium chairman; Nevada City Mayor Dr. H.A. McPherson and Gilbert Tennis, President of the Nevada County Historical Society. City Attacked For Doing Own Jobs Nevada City Council was chastised by the local building industry Tuesday night for failure to contract out public works projects.

Curtis-Smith and a variety of union and building trades representatives appeared at the session. Smith, who said he was speaking both for the Nevada County Builders Exchange and for labor, registered a strenuous objection to the 'city policy of force account work on jobs over $2,500 and said the city was in violation of law. Smith and other speakers said the city was in violation of law in the matter of using city crews on public works projects, for failure to pay city crews the prevailing wage scale for the trade, failure to pay fringe benefits and infractions of safety regulations on the freeway relocation job, The council was also warned that a safety inspector would probably arrive Wednesday to in(Continued on Page 3) Countersuit Is Filed By Paul Lunardi Senator Paul J, Lunardi of Placer County Tuesday replied to charges filed in a lawsuit against him, denying all allegations made and by countersuing Edwin Koupal and Joyce Koupal and their attorney, Herbert F, Kaiser, for $10,000. Senator Lunardi stated, "I have (Continued on Page 3)’ County May Establish Controller System Nevada County Supervisors this week approved a minute order directing the county counsel to draw up an ordinance creating the post of county controller, The vote Tuesday on the motion toorder the ordinance drawn was 4-1 with Supervisor Gene Ricker casting the dissenting vote. It is expected that the ordinance willbe ready for board consideration at the next meeting. General Plan ‘Study Group To Be Formed Nevada County Supervisors Tuesday authorized the start of a citizens committee to work with the professional planners on the general plan for the county. Planning Director Bill Roberts appeared before the board and introduced Sydney Williams, Bob Cook and Rudy Platzek of the San Francisco planning firm of Cook, Williams and Mocine. This firm was chosen some time ago to do the planning work. Williams told the supervisors one of the first steps was formation of a citizens committee of 75-100 persons, The job of the committee is to obtain an expression of policies and goals of the people in an effort to make the general plan one that is a product of the county and not one created by outside planners. He suggested the supervisors contact the county and the two city planning commissions for nomination of committee members, Chairman Henry Loehr suggested that residents who worked to gather data forthe economic (Continued on Page 2) Both Ricker and Supervisor Neil Hennessy fought the move to combine the offices of clerk, auditor and controller, Both said they. were not opposed to creation of the position of controller, but said they had been warned by state officials about combining the three posts. Mark Phelan, representing the Nevada County Grand Jury, Herb Dodini and Wally Brunker, both of whom had audited the county books at various times, spoke in favor of the move, Board Chairman Henry Loehr said the appointment could not be made permanent and separated from that of clerk-auditor until the next election of clerk in two years, He felt there would be no harm in combining the three for this two year interim period. Hennessy and Ricker both maintainedthat it was a dangerous thing to have the same man preparing warrants from books he audits. Clerk-auditor Tom Trauner pointed out that that is . exactly what is going on now. The two supervisors maintained that the board could give sufficient authority to the auditor to see. that bookkeeping systems he initiated in the various departments were followed. Brunker, Dodini, Phelan and Trauner all pointed out that this had not worked in the past. They cited cases of the road department and the county hospital as examples of where accounting systems set up by the auditor had not been adhered to with the result that there were virtually no records atthe end of the fiscal year, Hennessy asked Trauner if he would resign the clerk's post to become auditor controller and Trauner replied that he would if (Continued on Page 2) . . Q a a ™ ° n” ct @ ct ® 3 f Gv ~~ ro Ce & 3) w @ G co o ae *3FT8D ‘6 OgueKeroes £28295