Omaha daily bee., 1899-12-19
SELECTS The BALLARD SITE
Board of Education Chooses Place for New
High School,
THIRTEEN BALLOTS REQUIRED TO DO IT
After Considerable Talk and Some
WrnnglinR the Members Finally
Tackle and settle the
Vexed Question.
THIRTEEN BALLOTS REQUIRED TO DO IT

! erty on First avenue as a site for the pro-
posed new High school building. The selec-
) tion of this site was made on the thirteenth
ballot. The property is located Immediately
west of the Grand hotel on First avenue,
having a frontage of $50 feet and depth of
| 1872 feet. When the question of a site first
came before the board this property was
offered at s12 ,0O0 and it was stated at the
time that a perfect title could be procured
| The property is that which was left by Mrs
| Ballard as bequest to the Womens Chris
! tian Association hospital. The heirs of Mrs.
! Ballard have brought suit to have the be-
! quest set aside and the property is now the
subject of litigation 1t is understood, how
ever, that the heirs are willing that the prop
erty should be sold to the board and the
proceeds of the sale deposited in court.
At the opening of the meeting Attorney
l. N. Flckinger, who has led the fight
against the Oakland avenue site, submitted
the following propositions which, after being
/ read, were laid on the table without COM
ment:
The undersigned hereby offer to defend
the school district from any appeal which
may be taken from the selection of a High
school site situated south of Broadway and
avenue and east of Twelfth street to the
county and state superintendent of public
instruction without charge TO the district
therefor.
The undersigned hereby offer to defend
the. district against the suit brought against
county, Iowa, by the owners of the Oakland
avenue site for the sum of 500. This
amount to be in full of all fees in the dis
trict and supreme courts, should the case
be carried there. We agree to carefully look
after the interests of the district in said
to receive nothing for our services therein.
Payment to be made on the completion OF
the litigation. STONE & TINLEY,
Site Question Comes Up.
The matter of selecting High school site
was brought up by Member Henry at the
close of the routine business, who moved
that the board proceed to ballot for a loca-
tion for the High school. Lucius Wells
asked permission to say a few words and
being granted presented the petitions asking
that eie board order a special election in
order to obtain from the voters an expression
as to the location of the site. He stated that
the petition bore over 800 names, majority
Of the signers being prominent business and
professional men of the city
Attorney Flickinger then presented his
petition asking that the board proceed at
once to the selection of a site. He said he
did not know how many names 1t bore, but
claimed that it had been signed by every
icpl eSeuldllNe DuSluebb man III the city. lie
also said that the board had no authority to
order a special election to be held and il It
did any taxpayer could go into court and
have it enjoned.
Mr.. Wells then submitted a bond signed by
Thomas Bowman, Mrs. M. F. Rohrer and
several members of the Casady family to
protect the members of the board in
dividually from any liability in connection
with the expenses of such election in the
event of the courts holding that such cleo
tion was invalid and that the funds of the
school district could not be sued for that
purpose.
Flickinger then made another talk in
which he told the board that there was no
provision in the statutes authorizing the
board to call a special election, also that il
the voters should favor the Oakland avenue
site it could not possibly be considered after
the ruling by the state superintendent. He
also said that II the board should grant the
request and order an election 1t would place
itself in a most ridiculous position and no
good could come from It,
stewart Takes the Floor.
FlicMnger's remarks brought Member
Stewart to his feet and in an impassioned
speech he urged that the request of nearly
1000 voters be granted and that the board
order special election held. He termed
Flickinger's action in the matter, especially
in the matter Of submitting a proposition to
defend the district in case an appeal was
taken, as most unprofessional. At the close
of his talk he introduced resolution order
ing an election held.
On being put to the vote four of the men,
bers, Hess, Cooper, Moore and Henry, voted
against it, while Sims, Swaine and Stewart
voted for it. Member Henrys motion to
DrOpppd he selection Of a site was nlt and
carried and the balloting commenced. The
first ballot gave Oakland avenue two votes,
Fifth avenue and Seventh street site three,
Ballard property two and the Street site one.
The second ballot was the same. The third
to the tenth ballots gave Oakland avenue
one, Fifth avenue and Seventh street three
and the Ballard property three At the
eleventh ballot one vote shifted from the
Ballard site to the Street site, but went back
again on the twelfth. At the thirteenth bal
lot four votes went to the Ballard property,
two to the Fifth avenue and Seventh street
and one to the Oakland avenue site The
Ballard site was declared selected,
Casady's Suit.
After the regular grist of bills had been
disposed of Member Cooper asked what ac-
tion the board intended taking in the mat
ter of the suit brought by Simon Casady
lOI lut purchase VI tue Odhlduu avenue
property. He suggested that Attorney Flick
niger be employed to defend the district.
This at once brought President Sims to
his feet and he said that If Flickinger was
employed by the board he would resign at
once. He said that Flickinger had openly
charged at least two II not three of the
members of the board with being bribed In
connection with the school site selection and
he for one would never consent to employ
him to defend the district in any suit. After
considerable pyrotechnics it was decided to
employ Stone & Tinley.
Miss Seifert was appointed assistant |
teacher at the Twentieth Avenue school in |
the primary grade and her salary fixed at |
$40. 1t was decided to pay the teachers and |
janitors three weeks salary next Saturday |
so that they could have some money 10 |
spend for Christmas. The committee on text |
books was authorized to purchase supply !
of Baldwln's Studies on Physiology. The |
question OF purchasing further supplement
tary reading matter was referred TO the com
mittee on text books.
The report OF Superintendent Hayden |
showed that the enrolment for November
was 1927.
BarbeTs Elect Officers.