Sweet Cherries are ripe in the Land of Mears

FIFTY CENTS A YEAR

Sweet Cherries

-Norma Dormire has a stately new flag pole to hoist the national col- ors in the breeze at Silver Lake . K's Camp would draw quite a crowd on the 4th of July if Kinsey would climb the greased pole at hungry noontime and throw down a pound of pork sausages for the prettiest lady to catch in her hat . - It might be a source of consolation and com- fort to all you people who get hungry to know that the Corliss Food Shop in Hart is open on July 4th for you to get breakfast foods , dinner foods , supper foods . We keep open on all noisy holidays , also on all quiet ones , says Doc Corliss with the advice of Helen and Jean and Virginia . adv . - Get ready for the 4th of July . We have straw hats , both dress and work hats , also wool hats , men's sport shirts , slack suits for ladies and men , and bathing suits for men , women and children . Vern's Little Store in Hart . - Kinsey Dormire was painting a new rowboat this week . He'll have to dig a dozen more angleworms to go with it.- M. H. Wood says that the " 10 - wheel dune scooter " is his trademark . registered , and that all other dune cars are dune rides , dune cruisers , bugs and fleas . adv . - From Diamond Lake out Whitecloud way came Russell and Verda Menold to see the precious glimpses of Silver Lake with Gaylord Foss and Delores Ashby . June Grady showed them what sand is , quantitively speaking . - We won't see Sib Davis walking up the road to hear Subler's radio or carrying a basket of eggs down trade at Shogren's store . He was buried yesterday in the Round Lake cemetery . Always a bachelor , Sylvan Davis spent the greater part of his 77 years in these parts , coming here when about 10 years old with his father , Luther Davis , from St. Joseph , Berrien county . His father set- tled on a farm near Silver Lake and used to sell baskets and Yankee notions . Sib had a farm in Colfax once but for many years had lived on the old place . He leaves two brothers , Roy of Detroit , and Charles of Montage ; a sister , Mrs. J. W. Green of Ferry , and another sister , Mrs. Daisy Nelson , at home . - Mrs . Clarence Scofield is down in Ohio visiting for a month . Clarence warms up his own turkey hash and oys- ter stew . - Esslinger's gas station , which is cherry headquarters , has a

wwum come back in about an hour . There or visit , not once

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new 37 - foot flagpole . - Malcolm Wood , who has been running his ten- wheelers promiscuosly over other people's lands at will for the last sev- eral years without regard to private property or the wishes of the own- ers , set up a new jewel of consistency the other day when he completed his dune scooter bridge and from the very first car that trespassed over it he demanded two dollars . The innocent victim it seems had a Florida license on his car . He was a cherry inspector for the New Era canning factory . After parking his car he went up into the southern dunes to take some camera pictures . Returning he found the keys had been taken from his car and he turned to his girl and asked her if she had taken them , which she denied doing . After a while Malcolm Wood appeared and said they were trespassing on private property and Mal- colm demanded two dollars , which the visitor paid , wondering if that was a sample of the courtesy dished out to tourists . Mr. Wood admitted yesterday that he had collected the two dollars from the visitor . Doris Lawhorn exclaimed when she heard about it : " If he charges two dol- lars to drive across the bridge , I suppose he would charge 50c for walk- ing across it . " " Yes , " said Malcolm Wood , " I'll charge them if they even walk across it . I don't want them there . " Oh , consistency , thou art a jewel . For years he ran over other people's land when they expressly asked him not to . He has dumped hundreds , perhaps thousands of tin cans and loads of rubbish in the privately owned woods nearby to Silver Lake . And then , when an innocent visitor from Florida goes across his bridge once to take some pictures he seizes the car keys and demands two dollars . Such is life ! -Margaret Minich married Chuck and brought him to Silver Lake on a honeymoon . - C . B. Hopkins has a gentle dog named Mary who is obedient when she looks at the twig . Some of us got to wondering : if Mac Wood went back over the past five years and paid $ 2 for each trespass his scooters have made on private property , he might be hundreds of dollars in the hole . - Heath Goodwin , Methodist minister in Pentwater , will marry Alice Munro . - Keith Cor- liss hasn't any fire crackers but he has a lot of fresh soda crackers with plenty of snap to eat on the 4th of July . Also ginger snaps and ginger ale . adv . - Little puppy named Blackie stayed outside Krauter's back door with tears in his eyes because he was lonesome for six - year - old Jeanine who was swishing the soapsuds in the bath tub . - Notice how spic and span Ervin Gleason's oil station office is now with its fly screen and white paint . Stop at Economy station for gas and cattle spray . adv . - Mrs . Irene Draper suggests how much better looking and healthier Mears would be if the villagers would all cut their weeds and tall grass where the mosquitos lurk . I got to get busy with a sickle my- self . - A new outdoor fireplace is being built on the back yard gardens at Silver Hills Farm . It is of field stone construction and lined with fire brick . - I saw W. R. Tullis in Hart . He is the field superintendent of the northern Muskegon soil conservation district and is stationed in Montague . Receiving as he does a presumably adequate government salary for his time and driving mileage , no doubt he can afford to wax eloquent in behalf of this drastic district setup that is trying to get into Oceana county and which the farmers are up in arms about . As he pro- pounded its virtues I disconcerted him perhaps by asking him the amount of his salary , which he failed to tell , although I asked him sev- eral times . It might be somewhere between $ 2,000 and $ 5,000 a year , I considered , but why should he try to conceal the figure ? As we were talking we stood out at the curb in front of the court house this morn- ing . I pointed out that the salaries of the sheriff and other county of- ficers were matters of public information that anyone could know . Why then should we be kept in the dark about his salary as a public a

But he simply would not tell his salary . He didn't want me to tell you farmers how many thousand he gets in a year , whether it be $ 2,000 or $ 5,000 . We can only conjecture . Mr. Tullis admitted that there was also a forester in the northern Muskegon county district . And how much is the forester's salary ? I asked Mr. Tullis . He wouldn't tell that . And you have an office girl , too , don't you , Mr. Tullis ? Then in Muskegon county there is a south district setup so it is safe to say that the fed- eral expense of the entire Muskegon county soil conservation setup would be $ 10,000 to $ 15,000 a year . We make this estimate , because Mr. Tullis refuses to tell me what the salaries are . Maybe they are so high he doesn't want you plain farmers of Oceana county to know . I pre- sume if he and Mr. Tompkins both draw salaries for their time and mileage for their cars they can move complacently about the county trying to influence people in behalf of this soil conservation district business . But is it fair play ? Mr. Tompkins ought to be neutral . Is it right for him to run up mileage campaigning for this proposition ? It would be better if he were in his office and accessible to people who want to get advice on spraying and orchard pests . I give my time for nothing , protecting the agricultural liberties of the Oceana farmers . And no one pays me mileage on a car , I walk ; I can not afford to drive a car . While we were talking along came Charlie Claybanks Omness with the glad hand and the hi - sign to Mr. Tullis . He started cam- paigning on the values of the soil conservation district business . I questioned him and he admitted that he was a county soil committee man , received $ 5 a day and mileage and raked in $ 200 last year . Well , you can readily see why he was campaigning . He would rather be a soil committee man than to be at home pitching hay or hoeing the corn . Burrell Read is another committee man with similar preferences . One day a woman in West Golden said to Burrell : " I don't want yon messing around my land . I can look after my own farm . " He answered : " I couldn't make a living if I didn't have this work . " " Some day , " re- plied the woman , " the government is going to take all you failures and ship you up to Alaska . " And why not ? There are in Oceana county about 48 of these soil committee men who would much rather be push- ing a measuring wheel around on someone else's farm and standing with one foot on the fence board telling the real dirt farmers how farm . They themselves ought to be home cleaning out their pig pens . And watch these fellows now . These same committee men are moving softly about Oceana county this week trying to tell you Oceana farm- ers how much you need this soil district business , which you don't need at all , but which they want to unload upon you so they can continue to get some soft , easy work somehow or another instead of being home cultivating the beans . Watch the movements of your township commit- tee , and when anyone comes slapping you on the back and telling you what a good thing it is , ask him these questions : " Are you a soil com- mittee man ? How much did you make out of this job last year ? " These are the fellows who are trying to soft - soap you to vote yes . And re- member the drastic fines and jail sentences that can be imposed upon you if you violate any land use regulations once this setup is upon us . No , Mr. Tullis doesn't want you to know how much salary he gets . I told him this is a war year , we are told to save our dimes to buy de- fense stamps to help win the war . Why should Oceana county launch out now on something that may cost the federal government alone may- be ten thousand dollars a year in this county ? It is unnecessary . The government needs the dimes to win the war . You tell ' em a mouthful . Western and native beef , spring chickens , lamb , bacon , ham , home- made sausage . We especially welcome resort trade . Sanitary Meat Mar-

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