Evening star., 1952-01-25
City Voices Anger and Despair
LAT Two Death Blows From Air

screaming.
Billy's father is a typical Eliza
bethan. Forget about his name,
as he suggests, he's just an ordi-
nary working guy He has lived
in Elizabeth almost all his life,
and is, paying for a small, 12-l
year-old house under the CT Bill
of Rights. He and hundreds like
him have been clamoring for
years about the planes.
"We never got to first base" he
says, mot even when that nom
sked went down in the river last
month" Then-perhaps under
standably. bitterness creeps into
his voice:
They'll press it now, I bet. But
|it won't be on account of us. IT
win be because of that big guy
|on the plane: you know, what's
his nalne?"
His name was Patterson. a
name that meant a lot in Wash
|ington and New York. but hardly
more In E1izabeth than Billy's
fathers name would mean in the
Capital.
GinmilI without Parallel.
.ThesJersey ginmill is an insti-
tuition unto itself, almost without
parallel in the United States. In
working class districts. the gin
mill is something like a British
pub-not q place for heavy drink
ing and wild carouse, but a place
for a quiet beer and sober talk
among men Of substance in the
neighborhood.
The Six-Forty club Is such a.
ginmill-located on South street
Just around the corner from the
crash. The bartender, an Irish
patriarch, says he's had his fingers
crossed for eight years against such
a tragedy as this.
TITS Gods own miracle" he tells
you. "It was bad enough, six of
our people being killed. But what
ii it had hit Battin High School
across the street, or st. Mary's
School, or st. Elizabeth's Hospital
a block awayP Dozens, maybe
hundreds dead"
A customer, one of the few wear
ing Masonic pin in this strongly
Catholic section breaks in:
"Itn happen again, mind you,
and next time it'll be worse. It'll
hit the courthouse. You watch"
A mile or so down Broad street,
at the Elizabeth Journal Office.
the managing editor lays it on the
line for you. He tells you he doesn't
want to be yellow" about it--a.
journalistic term meaning overly
sensational.
But we've been getting the run
around for years." he says. 1.-TWO
years ago the Port Of New York
Authority assured us the Newark
airport fight pattern would be
changed to take incoming and out
going planes over the water of
Newark Bay.
$50 far. nothing. They still
Ifly over the city-he paused as
a plane roared overhead-"and
they'll probably keep on flying
over the city.
Look at it this way. That first
crash; there were Sc people on
that plane. They all took q chance.
This time, six of our own people
died, and they had no chance.
Something's got to be done"
Anger Is Undirected.
But the editor couldn't pre-
dict what would be done. He
acknowledged that planes have
to fly and have to land. He was
angry and hurt, like the rest of
Elizabeth, but angry at whom?
Most Elizabethans agree that
their anger is undirected. Some
LOT them say they are furious at
THE Port Of Authority"-the lo-
lcal misnomer for the interstate
Organization that runs the air.
port. But they agree that it's
hard to be mad at a big, amor
lphous quasi-governmental agency.
"All right, so we're not mad. :"
la merchant comedies. Were
frustrated"
That probably sums up the feel
ing Of Elizabeth-an angry sort
Iof Illustration, q natural reyulsion
Ito the flaming death that has
come to the city twice In less
than 40 days. No one has thought
ut all the way through. because
emotion has not yet given way
Ito sober thought.
Most Elizabethans have one idea
that viii solve the problem: Move
the airport away.
Where could it be moved? Eliz-
Iabeth doesn't knoW-or care. All
the city wants Is a little tran
guilty. It is g town that win
take It's chances with the hazards
~ n