Renovation

It takes a six-week residence in Reno to become a divorcee. It takes a six-month residence to become a voter. Last week while "newcomers" were busy in court getting separated from their spouses, Reno's "oldtimers" went to the polls, re-elected Edwin Ewing Roberts, 61, as their Mayor for a third four-year term. Father-in-law of famed Baseballer Walter Perry ("Big Train") Johnson, and once (1910-19) a Republican Congressman, Mayor Roberts won 3,773 votes by his loud espousal of easy divorce, legalized gambling and free barrels of whiskey. For Howard Doyle, Reno's Chamber of Commerce president, 2,988 citizens, including a conservative reform element, cast their ballots. Milburn Gregory's campaign for Reno's "scenic and health attractions" got 159 votes.

Meanwhile the divorce rush in the Washoe County Court slacked off after Judges Moran and Curler had dissolved 83 marriages the first day at the rate of one every five minutes (TIME, May 11, et ante). Three divorcees remarried within the hour, one of them taking the Reno lawyer who had just secured her decree.

Idaho's 90 day divorce law, enacted to compete with Nevada's, became effective last week. Not a single petition was filed the first day.

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