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Home My WebLink About01/05/1943 ,. "';" SWC:A-143 SUFFOLK COUnTY WAR COUNCIL Office of Civilian Protection Riverhead, NeN York January 5 1943 To From Subject . . Deputy County Directors DL'ector Civilian Protection Po~ta:L Eer'lice Regulations Covering the Blacking-Out of Post Office~ For your information~ the foJ.lo'"1ing extracts are quoted from the Postal B'.lllet:'.n, Wa sh:!.ng ton, Friday, November 6, 1942 under the heading, rnstr~ctions - Fourth Assistant Postmaster General _ Regulations Covering the Blacking-Out and Dimming-Out of Post Offices. * * '" .. * * -4< .. <<All post~aAters will be eX~ectdd to cooperste fully with 10cs1 oi.ri] tan df1fe"l.;E'! o~ganil':e.tl()rs"nd lecal military authorities in tile b1.ackir.g oht dr.d d:i.m~ir.g ')ut of t'1ei r quarters. *************** "Blacking-::Jut" Postmasters will be expected to compJy rully with the regul- ations and instructions issued by local dvEum nef"lnse and military authorities in the obscuration of a~1 lighting during air-raid alarms. At offices where receipts are in excess of $250,000 and where the Protective Construction Unit has not furnished facilities for obscuring lighting, all lights must be extinguished for the dur- ation of the alarm lmless arrangements can be made with the local civilian defense authcrities to extingui~h all lights for a period of aprroximately te"l minute~ from the initiation of the alarm and then turning the li~hts on in order to permit the handling of the mails. During a re~l al~rm all lights must be extinguished for the duration of the alar~. After facilities are furnished to obscure ligilting, offices will be expected to o~erate fully during alarms. Where the receipts are less than $2,0,000 no facilities will be l'urni.shed for obscuring lighting E'.nd at these offices all lights ffiUSt be extinguished fo~ the duratior of the alarm unless arrange- me~ts can be made ''lith the local civHian defense authorities for a te~po~ary period of blackir.g-~ut through turning out nIl lights and then a resumption of operations. r: the local civilian defense . aU':hc;ritie::l will not agree to a temporal'y period of blacking-ou'~ thGn all lights must remain uut durir~ the entire period cf th"l alarlt. JndE'!r no ~irc~.stances shou11 the mE'in switch be pulled. 7urn ofl lights P.t the socket or pull par.el s"~itches. ,. . A-143 -2- January 5 1943 At all post offices which are locked when the last employee leaves or at a later hour, all lights should be extinguished when the building is locked as it is not considered necessary to burn lights for protective purposes. At those offices wh8re it is nee- cessary to keep the lobby Op"lIl, action should be taken to restrict lobby lighting to actual needs and to pre\en~ lights from shining brightly through window3 and doors. It is s~ggested that the co- operation of the local police be solicited in keeping the building under surveillance. Each postmast~r is requested and urged to personally study these instructions and see that they are foE.ower'. in detail. This is an important m~tter and failure to cooperate with the loce.l defense cOl"1lcil in the matter of dim-outs and blacl.-o:lts s~bjects the DepBrt~ent to adverse criticism and reflects discredit upon the Postal Service of which YO:l, as postmaster, are the local representative. The Department cannot too strongly impress upon postmasters the 1mporta'lce of this matter. FLOYD D. HOUSTON Direct~r Civilian Protcctior. SWC;B-13 SUPFOLK COIDfTY WAR COu.~CIL Office of Civilian Protection Riverhead, New York January 5 1943 To From Sub,iect . . Deputy County Directors Director CivIlian Protection Film slides available at Control Centre I Control Cantre in Riverhe'l.d has a fUm..slide and projector loaned 'oy the New York Telephone Company to Suffolk Co-.mty for the month of January. There are two film-slides and records. One, "When :3ombs Falllf, the other, "What about Air Raids';". Because of the short time that the material is available only one night will be ~ossIble for each district. The projector, etc. will have to be called for during the afternoon of one day and returned d~ring the forenoon of the following day. First come, first ser7~d. :or.trol Centre also has a film-slide and projector on Emergency Medical Service. This is permanently in Riverhead at present. It is avai.lable for your use if scheduled in advance. Report Forms for practice blackout or air raid drill are to be made out in triplicate and forwarded to this office. /3.1' FLOYD D. HOUSTON Director Civilian Protection pRiSS RELEASE 1/5/43 Confronted with mounting evidence of automobile dimming vio- lations, the Suffolk Office of Civilian Protection decided this week to show the iron hand that lurks within the velvet glove of the State War Emergency Act. Instructions going out from county head- quarters here to all regular and auxiliary police agencieS c-a).l~. . a three-day crusade against offending motoristlf on January ,.,~~ 12, 13 and 14, to be followed by sustained enforcement, in all . Suffolk townships. Police were directed by Charles B. Belt, third division chief, and Sheriff William C. McCollom, police co-ordinator, not to content themselves with warning the offenders, but to hail them into court. Heretofore, autoists who failed to comply with the headlight regul- ations have been leniently treated, except in one or two towns, Now that the regulations have been in effect for some months and have been given wide publicity, OCP authorities see no further excuse for either cajolery or leniency. According to the orders, approved by Suffolk OCP Director Floyd D. Houston, summonses will be issued for the following vio- lations: (1) High-beam head1ightsi (2) upper half of headlights not covered by opaque material; (3) failing to obscure the upper half of headlights which were originally painted but are now in such condition that the paint remaining does not satisfactorily shield the lens; (4) operating with only one headlight; (5) using unscreened fog-lights or single mo~ted spotlight in lieu of screen- ed headlights; (6) operating without tail-light. "This office has received numerous complaints from citizens of the county to the effect that a considerable number of motor vehic- les do not have headlights properly obscured and a great many are still operating with high-beam lights", it was stated. "The use of such lights is contrary to Army and Office of Civilian Protection regulations. Further than that, many near accidents have been caused by such lights blinding the driver approaching f~om the op- posite direction, who is complying with regulations. "Automobile headlight regulations have received wide pUblicity during the past few months. There are no exceptions to these regulations. Many warnings have been issued. The time is now at hand when a summons will have a sa1utory effect. FOllowing the drive, continuous enforcement will be essential." Requesting the "utmost cooperation" of all police chiefs and town civilian defense officials, Director Houston pointed out that the lighting regulations date back to November 22, 1941, and were promulgated, not only to protect coastwise shipping from submarine attack, but also to safeguard the civilian population. "It is essential", he said, "that regulations pertaining to automobile headlights be strictly enforced for two reasons: First, to bring about compliance with the dimout program ordered by the U. S. Army; Second,' as a safety measure." Houston said that the degree of enforcement has varied from the issuance of several hundred summonses in one township where local OCP officials have been most zealOUS, to "practically no enforcement" in other localities. "They're all going to be zealous from now on", he concluded. "The regulations must be observed - or else 1" .--------