Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 3

'V Reno Evening Gazette Wednesday, May 24, 1978-3 One man dies KM Memorial Day Values as home falls SAN DIEGO (AP) As he lay buried in the deep dirt of a caved-in trench, geologist John Sayers sucked oxygen pumped into a garden hose and shouted that all he wanted "is those machines working to dig us out of here." Sayers, 30, and David L. McNair 27, were buried for three hours in a 16-foot-deep hole at a home construction site Tuesday after they went into the trench to take soil samples and the sides caved in. A third man escaped and ran for help. Rescuers dug feverishly with hands, shovels and backhoes. Sayers was rescued alive, but McNair died.

"I would prefer to be left alone," Sayers said Tuesday night from his hospital bed. "I just want to relax." McNair and Sayers, both employed by Geo-soils of Santa Ana, were working in the freshly dug ditch at the site of a housing development In the isolated area of Rancho Bernardo, a community off Interstate 15 in northern San Diego. Fifty workers assigned to the home building project raced to help when the trench caved in. A green rubber hose was pushed through nearly 15 feet of dirt and firemen pumped several tanks of oxygen through it and talked with Sayers. Monsignor Frances O'Duignan, a retired Roman Catholic priest who lives in Rancho Bernardo, administered last rites as the digging went on and Sayers shouted directions.

McNair's body was hoisted from the pit shortly after firefighters tied a rope to his waist and tugged him free with a trench digging machine. Sayers was hauled out on a stretcher about 30 minutes later and paramedics quickly clamped an oxygen mask over his face. He was airlifted by Coast Guard helicopter to Po-merado Hospital. A fireman who aided in retrieving McNair's body said he "probably suffocated because there was so much dirt pressing on his chest." The coroner was conducting an autopsy to find out why he died. Although Sayers was disoriented as to what direction he faced and where his companion was, "he never got panicky," a rescuer said.

"The guy was pretty cool." ''Jgj'iti I Surgeon does work at site By JIM McKAY 1AP) For hours workers ried to free Ralph Winner's shattered leg from lapsed bridge girders. Then as a light ra in feu la surgeon perched on a 2-foot-wide beanfhigh above thl Ian-University Hospital emerS crew who ordered the amputation Tuesday. "I hopel never have to make it again." It was either take Winner's leg or risk collaDse of th shaky bridge, officials said. coiiapse of the Winner, although sedated with morphine and shock-stemming fluids, remained awake during the ordeal on the 126-foot-high bridge that he had been helping prepare for demolition. 8 Paramedics said it took less than five minutes for Dr.

Joseph Young to cut off Winner's leg at the knee. "We thought we were losing him. We were lust running out of time," said Glenn Cannon, director of the city's medical emergency team. Winner, 48, of suburban North Hills and employed by Martin's Explosive Corp. of Anchorage, Alaska was listed in good condition late Tuesday at Presbytt nan Hospital after more than two hours in the ODerat-ing room there.

River traffic below the bridge stopped during the three-hour rescue effort. About 200 people watched silently from a bridge 10 feet away and heard Winner shout while physicians worked. "Up until nearly the end, he was all right," said an unidentified Ironworker. "He knew what he was saying. He just kept saying how he wanted the steel off of his leg." Winner was using a power saw to cut a hole in a beam to make room for an explosive charge designed to drop part of the bridge into the water below.

The 67-year-old bridge, which was closed two years ago shifted, and Winner slipped into the hole he was cutting. His right leg was cut three-quarters of the way through and his left leg was trapped when heavy steel girders slammed together. Cannon said three vertical beams had held the bridge from collapsing. But when the bridge shifted, one broke loose and a second was cut away to free Winner's left leg. "That left one vertical plane holding the bridge together, and that's where his right leg was caught," Cannon said.

Bridge experts from the state Department of Transportation and the American Bridge division of U.S. Steel Corp. were lifted by crane to the top of the span to check its stability. Bronx bus crash hurts 13 NEW YORK (AP) A local bus swerved into an abutment on a rain-slicked expressway near Yankee Stadium today, injuring at least 13 persons. One of the injured was reported in serious condition.

It was not known how many persons were aboard the bus. Riverdale Transit Corp. said the bus, operating between The Bronx and Manhattan during morning and evening rush hours, was on an express run down the West Side. After hitting the abutment, it skidded sideways on the Major Deegan Expressway but remained upright. Earlier reports erroneously indicated that the bus had overturned.

Bridge to be closed Glendale Bridge over the Truckee River will be closed during daylight hours Thursday and Friday, it was announced Tuesday by project engineer C.V. i McPartland. The hours of closure for the bridge on 1 Glendale Road will be approximately 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sky surgeon Dr.

Joseph Young removes his smock after amputating the leg of Pittsburgh steelworker Ralph Winner in an emergency operation Tuesday on top of the old Brady Street Bridge over the Monongahela River. Winner was trapped for three hours by collapsed bridge girders as he helped prepare the bridge for demolition. (AP Laserphoto) Reno Evening Gazette TELEPHONE NUMBERS General Information 786-8989 Circulation P9 Want Carson City Newt Bureau 882-3553 Sports Line 323-4422 Missed Your Gazette? Call 786-8744 Before 6 p.m. The Reno Evening Gazette, a Gannett newspaper, is published every day by Reno Newspapers, P.O. Box 280, Reno, Nev.

89520, 401 w. 2nd St. Second class Durante reported in fair condition SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) Wise-cracking comedian Jimmy Durante, famous for his gravel voice and giant nose, is reported in fair condition in St. John's Hospital, suffering from an upper respiratory infection.

Spokeswoman Peggy Shaff said Tuesday that the 85-year-old comedian's infection had "aggravated previous neurological complications," described as the aftereffects of a mild stroke he suffered in 1972. Durante, affectionately nicknamed "Schnozzola" or "The Schnoz," was admitted to the suburban Los Angeles hospital on Saturday, Mrs. Shaff said. He had been listed in satisfactory condition earlier Tuesday, but Mrs. Shaff said "fair" and "satisfactory" generally meant a patient's "vital signs are stable and within normal limits." "The patient is conscious but may be uncomfortable.

Indicators are favorable," she added. Mrs. Shaff said Dur ante's doctors expected the comedian to be hospitalized for about a week. Durante's wife, Marjorie, reached by telephone at the couple's Beverly Hills home, said her husband was "in for some tests." Mrs. Durante said she and their adopted daughter, Cece, two nephews and other family members had been visiting the comedian daily.

postage paid at Reno, Nev. SUBSCRIPTION RATES Carrier delivery in Reno. Sparks; six after noons SI. 10 per week; six afternoons ana bun- day $1.50. Delivery outside these areas and by adult motor route; six afternoons i.a week; six afternoons and Sunday morning $1.70 a week.

Bv Mail: six days $62.40 per year; seven days $88.40 per year. Other rates on re quest. All rates suggested. 89c (hear Mdyet Meat Beet i Bologna $1.39 8-oz. Oscar Mayer Pg Chopped Ham I I I I II I III' I I III -V'.

i "I t'. 1 i fn3 mfKnY ffli I Coupon 1 I i i Braunschweiger Braunschweiger Granny's cooked up a really special fr: price on her giant ttoz.pacKage jO 1 i (tharsairnciiwiabmuuiou 0 ((ni (Q I regular Twin "SUiinPo11 Grannys Special Holiday Offer! Just tear off the net weight statement from the corner of a Giant Twin Pack, mail it along with this coupon and get from Granny: 1 FREE DIP MIX plus a coupon good for either 75? OFF A GIANT TWIN PACK or A FREE REGULAR TWIN PACK when you buy another Regular Twin Pack. 7. my. Name- Prices effective thru Sat, May 27 at Safeway Addiess.

City StateZip. MR. Meter SMGrtmtrw 2035 N. Carwi St. INI S.

brio St. sruu ua atsottcin iw nmi-' to Stan Miry In Stm Wtry VIC Mr toStart Mtri -iior tiiMri MSwty i-ii Mi) Mail to: Granny Goose Foods, Box 2169, Oakland, California 94621. REN524 mmtrf HMn MS Special iasie: Granny's chips are cooked crisp as the dickens just for you. Just for the holidays, iiisurferM misvirtiM msn.smst. UNO KM tBrt to-SHntotari to-Stwt Wkvy Mtaf HOW, MSarfq.