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Letter to the editor

1950: Exam to decide if barber gets license

By THERESA BLACKWELL, Times Staff Writer
Published November 25, 2007

Nov. 28, 1950

CLEARWATER - Paul Matranga, a barber with 25 years experience in Baltimore and other northern cities, will learn today whether he has passed an examination to ply his profession in Clearwater.

But the decision of the city barber examining board means as much to some of Clearwater's masculine population as to Matranga. If the newly-arrived tonsorial artist gets his license, it will mean 65-cent haircuts are here to stay.

Until Matranga hung out his shingle at the Dorminy barber shop, located at 1216 E Cleveland St., haircuts at Clearwater's licensed emporiums were priced at 90 cents - 15 cents higher than the 75-cent rate that was given an upward kick by the profession about a month ago.

A barber shop permit was issued to the developer of the Dorminy building, not directly to Matranga. The barber claims the permit is valid for him since he's the tenant. When the new shop began doing a land office business, other barbers investigated. And formal notice was served on Matranga that he must pass a written examination at the hands of the city barber examining board.

Matranga called at City Hall and took a look at the questions. He flatly refused to take the test, terming the examination much too stiff.

"Second, there was a stipulation that if I missed the first section, I would get a failing grade on the rest of it," he said. "I thought that was absurd."

Either way, City Hall observers believe the whole business is headed for the courts.

Nov. 25, 1950

McMullen to observe lame duck session

CLEARWATER - Congressman-elect Chester B. McMullen leaves here Monday for Washington D.C., to observe the lame duck session of the U.S. House of Representatives, where he will become a full-fledged member when the new congress convenes in early January.

Today, in the quiet of his private law office, Florida's new representative outlined his hopes and dreams as a novice lawmaker.

"I hope to get appointed to three committees," he said. "These are public lands, public works and judiciary. Whether I will be given these assignments, of course, depends on Speaker Sam Rayburn, whom I met in Washington last June after the second Democratic primary. I was then the apparent Democratic nominee."

As a congressman-elect, the veteran Pinellas-Pasco state attorney, who resigned that position a few days ago, will have the privileges of the floor at the "lame duck" session except he will merely sit beside retiring Congressman J. Hardin Peterson as an observer.

"I'll be in Washington 10 days or two weeks," said McMullen. "It will be a busy fortnight. I must arrange for my Washington residence at the Congressional hotel, see about my office assignment in one of the two house office buildings. But most of the time will be spent attending sessions, meeting congressmen and establishing contacts."

His program is the same as his platform, which he expounded to first district voters during his campaign.

"I will vote against farm subsidies," he said, "and I was interested to notice that the government is removing price supports from eggs."

Uncle Sam should provide a crutch to agriculture "only in times of disaster," the new congressman said. "Folks must learn to stop leaning on the federal government," he added.

Foreign aid? McMullen thinks the United States should go ahead with the European recovery program with a few provisos.

"We should help other countries get on their feet," he declared. "But there is a limit beyond which our country cannot go. We cannot continue to feed and arm the world without jeopardizing our own economy."

Looking back

Headlines through the years

A look back at the events, people and places that made North Pinellas the unique place that it is. The information is compiled from past editions of the St. Petersburg Times

[Last modified November 24, 2007, 21:01:54]