The Ludington Daily News from Ludington, Michigan • Page 1

98 Degrees Difference The highest temperature reported Sunday to the National Weather Service, excluding Alaska and Hawaii, was 81 degrees at Borrego, Calif. Today's low was 17 degrees beldw zero at Williston, N.D. The Lading ton The Weather An Independent Serving Mnton County and Surrounding Area Copyright 1977 by Ludington Daily News, Inc. LUDINGTON, MICHIGAN, MONDAY, JANUARY 31, 1977 Partly cloudy tonight with good chance of snow showers. Low 10 to 15.

Partly cloudy Tuesday with occasional snow flurries. High near 20. EXTENDED OUTLOOK A chance of snow Wednesday and scattered snow showers Thursday and Friday. Not so cold. Highs upper teens Wednesday and low lo mid 20s Thursday and Friday.

Lows zero to 10-above zero. VOLUME NO. 87, NO. 61 PRICE 15c News Capsules Truckers ELK RAPIDS (UPI) The president of independent truckers in Michigan sayS there won't be any protest slowdown by drivers on state freeways Monday, and there were never any plans for such an action in the state. Harlan Wilcox of Elk Rapids, president of the state chapter of the Independent Truckers Association, said he was misquoted last week, prompting reports that highways would be jammed Monday with slow moving trucks.

Killings PONTIAC (UPI) Police investigators looking into the kidnap-slayings of five southern Oakland County children say they believe that more than one killer was involved in the crimes. The children were slain over the past 13 months in the area. The latest victim was 10-year- old Kristine Mihelich of Berkley, who was found dead Jan. 21 in Franklin Village 21 days after she disappeared. An autopsy showed that Kristine had been smothered to death.

Investigators said there was some evidence to suggest that Kristine and 12-year-old Jill Robinson of Royal Oak may have been slain by separate women. This was indicated by the apparent absence of sexual attacks in the two cases. Young WASHINGTON (UPI) Andrew Young's past was an invited guest the day he was sworn in as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The ex-Georgia congressman and early backer of Jimmy Carter Sunday became the first black to hold the top American diplomatic post at the world organization.

Toll By United Press International The death toll on Michigan roads climbed to five when a Pontiac man was struck by a car on Interstate 75 Sunday in suburban Detroit and included two Saginaw teenagers, who died in a snowmobile accident. Police said the pedestrian victim was not immediately identified but died on 1-75 near Maple Road in Troy when struck by a car on Sunday. AAondale TOKYO (UPI) Vice President Walter Mondale met with Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda today for talks on the international economic situation and a possible phased withdrawal of U.S. ground troops from South Korea. The meeting started about 30 minutes behind schedule, apparently delayed by Fukuda's policy speech to parliament, which reopened today after a long New Year recess.

Garbage Pick-Up Tuesday City Manager George Von- Drak said this morning that Acme Disposal which is contracted by the city to collect garbage and rubbish, expects to collections Tuesday. The garbage and rubbish will be collected from the Tuesday pick-up sections first and continue on a regular pattern from then on, weather permitting. Huge Snow Drift All But Hides Houses In Hamlin DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY TOOD REED DAILY NEWS PHOTO BY RUSS MILLER JR. Plow Battles Drifts On US-31 North Of Scottville County Still Battles To Get Free Of Storm By PAUL S. PETERSON And VANS STEVENSON Weary snowplow crews and residents alike continued their seemingly endless battle today against a tremendous winter storm that already ranks among the worst of this century in Mason County.

Even though the storm, which began Wednesday morning, has eased somewhat from the intensity that it had maintained though Saturday, the county remained in anything but good shape. And conditions appeared to be again worsening. The U.S. Coast Guard in Ludington said this morning that its forecast called west to northwest winds of 25 to 37 knots this afternoon and tonight with snow and snow squalls. Edward Larsen, manager of the Mason County Road Commission, told the Daily News this morning that the county roads "are not too "We were just getting them in fair shape and had a good share of them would say aboutlhree-fourths of then this morning the wind has started to pick up again and a lot of drifting is reported," he said.

Motorists driving US-31 south of Ludington reported this morning that drifts were again building up and that in some places the highway was down to one lane again, Lakeshore Drive between Lincoln Hills Golf Club and the north bayou on Hamlin Lake was probably one of the most badly plugged roads in the county. An eight foot-drift on the middle bayou bridge late Sunday closed the road at that point. Between there and the south bayou bridge, it was like driving through a tunnel, according to several motorists who made the trip. "We have been going at it without stopping," Larsen said, "We had two big state snow blowers in here and they worked until 9 p.m. Saturday on the main highways.

Then the state ordered one of them to a southern county where emergency conditions are reported so we are down to one blower. "All we can do is try to keep the primary roads open and take care of the emergencies, which we have been able to do," he said. Larsen said that already this morning his department had received three emergency calls for fuel. "What we do," he said, "Is to call the dealer and verify that it is an emergency. Then we try to make sure that the fuel truck and our plow get on the road at the same time so that it won't be drifted in before the fuel arrives.

The same is true with medical emergencies." Larsen said that the weather has been terribly hard on the equipment. He said one big grader is down with a broken axel and a four-wheel drive truck also had a broken axel but that one went back into service on two-wheel drive. A Scottville city plow slid into a train at the Main Street crossing Saturday afternoon. There were no injuries reported, but the truck was heavily damaged, according to witnesses. (Continued on Page 2) Michigan Is Near ing Cold Weather Record By United Press International What Michigan needs is another Christmas not like the snowbound city in the Upper Peninsula but another warm day.

The National Weather Service in Detroit says Christmas was the last day it was above freezing, reaching 35 in Detroit. Since then, the temperature has averaged near the 13-degree mark and if the bitter cold continues until Wednesday, it will be the coldest stretch in the state's history for southern Lower Michigan breaking the 38-day below-freezing mark set in the winter of 1878-79. Dozens of schools in at least 20 counties were closed again today Anderson Pleads Guilty To Armed Robbery Charge A Ludington man, who was recently extradited from Mason City, Iowa, entered an unconditional plea of guilty last week here to an armed robbery charge. Michael L. Anderson, 19, of 205 S.

Madison charged with the June 1 holdup of the Fourth Ward Market, will be sentenced following a pre-sentence investigation. He is being held in the Mason County Jail pending sentencing on a bench warrant without bond. Anderson was first taken into custody by Ludington police two days after the robbery and bond was first set at $25,000 by Magistrate Roger Reeds. Anderson's bond was reduced to $5,000 by Judge Charles Wickens following arraignment in circuit court. Anderson's mother used the value of her house as bond to insure her son's appearance in court.

After Anderson was released from custody, he left the state and was first extradited from California to Mason City to answer charges of defrauding an innkeeper. and temperatures ranged from 4 degrees in Detroit with a wind chill factor of 34-below zero to 13 in the Tri-Cities area. Strong winds, gusting to 40 miles per hour, whipped snow on highways, causing poor driving conditions. If temperatures do not warm above 32 today and forecasters say they will reach only the upper teens or low 20s it will also be the first time in state history that it was never above freezing during the month of January. And, if the temperature doesn't reach at least 27 degrees today, it will also be the coldest January on record, averaging 12.9 degrees per day, breaking the 13-degree average for January, 1912.

And this followed the coldest November and December on record. The blowing snow closed western Michigan roadways during the weekend and slowed freighter traffic on the Great Lakes. Along Lake Michigan north of Muskegon, snow showers compounded the problems created Friday by the state's first blizzard in 40 years. But southern areas enjoyed a relative break in the siege, although winds still topped 20 miles per hour and temperatures barely reached above zero. In the west, the new snow restricted traffic or closed portions of Interstate Interstate 94, Interstate 96, Michigan 21, Michigan 40, Michigan 140, U.S.

31 and U.S. 131. Roads in Ottawa County were also closed. St. Joseph County officials declared a disaster from the weekend weather, and National Guard crews helped road clearing efforts in several other counties, including Cass, Allegan, Ottawa and Monroe.

Utilities reported they were able to handle the increased load from bitter cold Saturday and Sunday, but two Upper Peninsula cities were feeling a pinch because of icebound tankers carrying fuel oil. In Sault Ste. Marie the Coast Guard said two Canadian tankers carrying needed fuel oil for that city were making slow progress through the St. Mary River. The Coast Guard ice breaker Mackinaw was guiding the tankers through ice up to three feet thick.

Carferries Are Fighting Worst Ice In Decade By TODD NEED Assl. Managing Editor The worst ice conditions on the Great Lakes in more than a decade continued today lo impede the movement of ships along this shore of Lake Michigan, including two Chessie System carferries here. The City of Midland and Spartan spent much of the weekend battling a thick ice field extending more than two miles out from Ludington harbor, managing to break through and cross to Kewaunee but becoming stuck again on the return trip this morning. Both carferries remained icebound late this morning after working since about 3 and 5 a.m. to break way into port.

The 410-foot ships were reported working back and forth but making little progress. No request for Coast Guard assistance for the Spartan and Midland had been made by late this morning. It was expected the ferries would break their own way through as they finally did on their outbound crossings Saturday night and Sunday. Two passengers were reported aboard each ship along with crews of about 68. HOLDING IN for weather here since Friday morning after spending much of the day caught in the ice Thursday, the Chessie ships finally ventured out Saturday night and early Sunday morning but it was late Sunday afternoon before they broke through the ice field to thinner ice.

The Midland became stuck about 5:30 p.m. Saturday and remained stuck at 8:25 a.m. Sunday when the Spartan left port to assist her. It was 4 p.m. before both ships were finally free of the heavy ice field and on their way to Kewaunee.

On the return trip, the Midland became stuck about 2:45 a.m. today, the Spartan about 5:30 a.m. Strong westerly winds and more snow continued to build up the ice field over the weekend and weather conditions were not expected to improve before tomorrow. Prior to the past five days, the last time Ludington-based carferries were stuck in ice for any length of time was Feb. 2,1963, when at one time or another six ferries were unable to penetrate the heavy ice flow outside Ludington harbor.

One of them was stranded in the ice for over 21 hours, about as long as the Midland was stuck on its outbound crossing this weekend. ELSEWHERE, the Ann Arbor Line car- ferry Viking remained stuck outside Frankfort harbor this morning. The Coast Guard tug Raritan was to steam to Frankfort to help dislodge the Viking, icebound since Friday, but at mid-morning the Raritan was holding for weather in Northern Lake Michigan near Lansing Shoals. Four passengers and a crew of 33 were aboard the Viking. At Muskegon, the Grand Trunk carferry City of Milwaukee, commanded by John Bissell of rural a Chessie captain, was finally freed by the Coast Guard ice-breaker Westwind Sunday morning and made its way into Muskegon harbor.

Stuck for four days, the Milwaukee was running low on fuel and food when freed by the 269-foot Westwind, second largest Coast Guard cutter on the Great Lakes. AFTER FREEING the Milwaukee and another Coast Guard vessel stuck at the 180-foot buoy tender Acacia, the Weslwind spent eight hours inching through 15 miles of heavy ice and gale force winds to free the buoy tender Sundew. The Sundew and its crew of 40 men spent nearly two and a half days trapped in Lake Michigan ice four and one-half miles southwest of Little Sable Lighthouse near Pentwater. The Sundew had been expected to take port at Ludington for de-icing after being freed but with ships having difficulties elsewhere on the lake, both the Westwind and Sundew were steaming north to aid stranded oil tankers carrying 100,000 barrels of badly needed heating oil for Escanaba. An emergency shipment of heating oil for Sault Ste.

Marie, Ontario was expected to arrive at Escanaba early today after inching slowly through the ice of St. Mary's River. The tankers were escorted by the Coast Guard ice breakers Mackinaw and Griffith. Suburbs Face Total Lack Of Natural Gas By EDWARD K. DeLONG United Press International Voluntary gas conservation has eased Pennsylvania past a crisis point but serious shortages mean continuing emergencies in other areas, and police in New Jersey are knocking on doors to remind people to lower their thermostats.

President Carter says some suburban communities may run out of gas within a week or two if the bitter cold weather continues, and plans should be drawn up to move people to National Guard armories or schools if necessary. A new cold wave doubled gas consumption in Georgia this weekend. In that state and many other parts of the South, the Midwest and the East, officials have shut down industries and schools so all available gas can go to homes, hospitals and essential stores. A UPI survey of officials in 15 states east of the Rocky Mountains shows unemployment related to the energy shortage could total 1.6 million to 2 million today as plants failed to open on schedule. But Civil Defense officials in Pennsylvania said late Sunday that "very good" voluntary conservation and plant closings had ended the possibility that large parts of the state might run out of gas by early today.

Three Children Among 4 Dead In House Fire DEARBORN (UPI) Fire officials hunted Sunday for the cause of a fire that killed a 17-year-old mother, her six-month- old son and two other children here this weekend. Fire Marshal Michael S. Was said smoke detectors might have saved the lives of some of the victims, who died in the blaze Saturday morning. Dead are Debbie Albert; her son, Tony, and two of her brothers, Joe, 11, and David, 9. Rosemary Albert, mother of three of the victims and grandmother of the baby, suffered cuts and frostbitten feet in a futile rescue attempt.

Rene Albert, 13, who was sleeping on the second floor with the victims, managed to escape and run next door to call the fire department. Richie Albert 15, and Terry Oberto, a friend of the family, also escaped unharmed. Michael Albert, father and grandfather of the victims, left the house to go to work an hour before the blaze broke out at 6:15 a.m. Each victim died only inches from windows or doors, where they collapsed. They were apparently overcome by thick smoke only seconds before they could have escaped.

Autopsies have been scheduled. Oberto told authorities that he was awakened by the smoke, ran to awaken Mrs. Albert and the others on the first floor, and then shouted up the stairway to warn the people upstairs. He ran to the front porch, but heard screams and turned to reenter the home. Oberto said he was driven back by smoke and heat before running to a nearby home to call for help.

When firemen arrived within three minutes of the alarm, the 50-year-old two- story frame house was engulfed in flames. Fire fighting efforts were hampered by the subzero temperatures. Fire officials were paying special attention Sunday to a gas furnace, which Battalion Chief George Schleif said could not be ruled out as the cause of the fire. "It's difficult for us to say at this time what caused it," Schleif said. "We don't want to rule out anything.

But the biggest charring was around the furnace, indicating that may have been the seat of the fire." 3 Slain In Detroit DETROIT (UPI) Three men were shot and killed and two others were wounded, one critically, Sunday night during a robbery at a suspected illegal drinking establishment. on the city's east side. Three persons were taken into custody by police shortly after the incident for questioning. They were not immediately identified. Killed were John W.

Smith, who owned the small, two story frame home where the victims were found, and Allen Campbell, no age or address immediately known. The other man killed was not identified. The two wounded were taken to Detroit General Hospital. Each had been shot several times, said police. All five men gathered in Smith's home frequently at night to play cards and drink, police said.

Robbery was the suspected motive in the shootings but police did not disclose immediately what, if anything, was stolen. A neighbor told police they saw a man and woman run out of the building and moments earlier had heard loud voices and the television set raised to apparently drown out any other sounds. Explosion Sinks Tanker, Only 3 Known Survivors COLCHESTER, England (UPI) An explosion ripped through the Liberian-registered tanker Exotic today, killing several crewmen, Lloyds Intelligence Service reported. It said a radio message relayed by the Canary Islands reported six crewmen missing, three dead and three survivors seriously injured. It contained no details of the explosion aboard we ship, which was on a voyage from Fos, the port of Marseilles, France, to Brazil when the explosion occurred shortly after midnight Monday.

There were 38 crewmen aboard, Lloyds said. The relayed message gave no indication of what happened to the Exotic itself. The Exotic was reported about 100 miles off the coast of Morocco, near Agadir, when the explosion happened, Lloyds said. Attention AMERICAN LEGIONAIRES REGULAR MEETING RESCHEDULED TO WEDNESDAY, FEB. important vote on By-laws..