Evening star., 1941-04-07
Mass Meeting
Called byFoes
OF Jai A|ai
More Organizations
State Opposition
To Referendum

County, opponents today completed
plans for a mass meeting tomorrow
night.
Washington I. Cleveland, presi-
dent of the Greater Kensington
Civic League, will be one of the
speakers and will introduce a reso-
luton opposing the proposal The
meeting will be held at 8 pm. in
the Silver Spring Baptist Church,
800 block of Wayne avenue
While the Allied Civic Groups of
Silver Spring announced the result
of a poll of residents of the area,
several other organizations went on
record against the game in Mont
gomery County, and the Women's
Democratic Club of Silver Spring
prepared to take action on the
measure at a meeting tonight in the
home of Mrs. Joseph Griffin, 1923
Fenwick lane.
Besides Mr.. Cleveland, others in
vited to address the mass meeting
tomorrow include o. M. Kile. presi-
dent of the Montgomery County
Civic Federation: Stephen Tuhy,
president of the Silver Spring Citi-
sens' Association, and Gerald Ryan,
president of the Sligo Park Hills
Association.
The congregation of the Silver
Spring Baptist Church went on rec
ord as opposing the measure at the
regular services yesterday. Members
were urged to write and send tele-
grams to Gov. O'Conor asking him
to veto the proposal
Pastor Urges Opposition.
Rev. Ralph D. Smith, pastor of
the Woodside Methodist Church, at
the morning service yesterday asked
support OF the campaign against the
bill, requesting members of the con-
gregation to telegraph the Governor
and to attend the mass meeting
tomorrow.
Citizens Defer Action.
The jai alai bill was taken up at
the meeting of the Woodland Citi-
sens Association of Bethesda at a
meeting last week and opposition
was voiced by several members. How
ever, the question was tabled tenn
porarily because all the facts were
not known.
Members of the Ashton Metho-
dist Church were asked to indicate
their opposition to the bill by urging
Gov. O'Conor to veto the referendum.
At the headquarters of the Gen.
Ar41 T0rfnrnr1ra ~f IL,
Adventist Church in Takoma Park,
Md, officials said no official action
had been taken on the question, but
that many members of the church
had sent individual letters opposing
the bill legalizing pari -mutuel betting
on the game in Montgomery County.
A point causing considerable dis
cussion among opponents of the bill
today was clause in the measure
authorizing the Maryland National
Capital Park and Planning Com
mission to make the final decision
on granting permit to erect the
jsi alai court Notwithstanding other
laws or ordinances now in effect.
Should a change in Zoning be
necessary to permit construction of
building on property not now zoned
commercial, the normal procedure
would be to have the planning COM
mission make a recommendation as
to its appropriateness and for the
Board of County Commissioners to
make the final decision after a hear
ing advertised not less than 80 days
in advance. If the zoning question
Is settled satisfactorily, the county
building inspector issues a building
permit after determining that the
specifications meet county regu-
lations.
Capitalization Explained.
1t was pointed out that the plan
ming commission, under the pro-
posed law, might designate any site
in the county for use by the pro-
moters, regardless of present re-
strictions.
One of the sponsors of the bill ex-
planned that the authority now exer-
cised by three different agencies, the
planning commission, the building
inspector and the county commits
sioners, was centralized in the plan
ming commission for this particular
project so that the site and plans
for the proposed jai alai court
would be known definitely before
the special election at which the
voters would be asked to approve
or disapprove the project.
Under present regulations it would
not be possible, unless the court
were to be erected on a site now
soned commercial, for the promoters
to secure an option on property,
have 1t zoned commercial and have
the building plans approved by the
county building inspector in time
to advise the voters where the pro-
posed court was to be located and
what type of building it was pro-
posed to erect.
The election for representative
for the 9th Maryland District, at
which. the referendum would be
held, must by law be called not less
than 20 days after the Republican
and Democratic Central Commit
tees of the five affected counties
have named their candidates.
In making the poll, Frank j
Felker, secretary of the Allied Civic
Groups, said the residents inter-
viewed were asked their opinion on
the jail alai proposal providing thai
the court were not erected in Silver
Spring or any nearby area where ii
miflnt interfere with an established
community.
He said that 1874 persons replied
that they would favor having the
referendum held on the question;
that Al were unalterably opposed tt
the bill under any circumstances
and that II expressed no deflnatt
opinion for or against the measure
but many in the latter group in.
dicated they might vote for it if il
would effect a reduction in taxes.