The Leavenworth Times from Leavenworth, Kansas • Page 1

Weather "Yesterday High 41 low 26 Precipitation 0.00 THE LEAVENWORTH TIMES THE and colder In lew 20i fonfght; warmer Thursday, temperatures in upper One Hundred Eighteenth Year- No. 275 LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, PAGES. Section A Single Copy Price Antiwar Bomb Strikes U.S. State Department WASHINGTON (AP) A leftist, antiwar group claimed credit for a bombing early today that damaged Cour floors in the State Department headquarters but caused no injuries. Telephone callers identifying themselves as members of the "Weather Underground Organization" warned news organization of the bomb plan and issued antiwar "communiques" in advance of the bombing.

A threatened second bombing at Armed Forces Induction Center in Oakland, Calif, failed to materialize immediately. Walls Collapse The explosion in a men's Stale Department collapsed i several walls and broke pipes causing water damage 'to the first through fourth floors. There was a small lake out-, side international conference room where Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger gave a news conference Tuesday. "This was a damn big bomb," said Sgt.

Charles Lightner of the D.C. Police. "It wasn't one of those blow-the-lid- off things." Police Dogs Officials searched the rest of the building with police dogs sniffing for additional bombs. room on the thjrd floor of the Two other State Department offices in Washington also were searched but no other bombs were found. A spokesman for the General Services Administration said a number of other federal buildings in Washington were being searched for bombs.

It was the sixth time in four years that someone claiming to be from the Weather Underground has claimed responsibility for a borpb blast, Critcize Ford A communique from the group criticized president Ford's request on Tuesday "for $522 million in arms aid for Cambodia and South Vietnam. The Weather Underground ment." Advance warnings State Department City Delays Plan On Development About 40 fire fighters scurried Tuesday night and into the morning hours today to ex- tinguish a stubborn PUUte City, blaze which gutted several buildings 'in the downtown area. The" fire began in the Mitchell Building, shown above, which housed offices of the county prosecutor and mayor. (Times Photo by Chris Camielia) County Prosecutor's Records Destroyed By BILL WILLETS Times Staff Writer Final approval of the city's community development plan was delayed Tuesday when commissioners failed to reach an agreement with citizens regarding a proposl for private club and restaurant relocation in Northeast Leavenworth. Move than 50 persons packed the city hall auditorium for a public hearing'that preceded the regular city commission meeting, to hear a review of the plan and to voice vehement objections to it.

Heated discussion took place for more than two hours before Mayor Benjamin H. Day cut off debate with instructions that interested club owners meet today with city officials to resolve differences. Approval Delayed Commissioners had hoped to give the plan final approval Tuesday so it could be reviewed by the Mid-American Regional Council (MARC) at Kansas City. Deadline for submitting' the plan to MARC, an eight county governmental body, is Feb. 3.

review resolved," said J. Malcolm liters Battle Platte City Blaze "We can't give final approval until it is Commissioner Graham. "We'll have to postpone our final say until later this week." The controversial relocation proposal is based on the city's contention that private clubs in Northeast Leavenworth are a major deterrent to development. Four Clubs Under that assumption, the city staff designated $130,000 for club relocation, and named four establishments as examples of negative influences in the araa. They are the Bed Shag, 718 N.

Third; Gen's Bar-b-que, 203 Dakota; Miller's Lounge, 928 N. Third and Players Lounge, 820 N. Third. The proposal is part of the city's plan to implement Community Development Revenue Sharing Act of 1974, which became law as of Jan, 1 of this year. Under the act, Leavenworth has been given 5781,000 in.

Department of Housing and Urban Development funds to spend on eliminating blight and to aic low income families, or familie with incomes of $8,000 a year "No relocation will take place without another location in Day said. Tells of Plan County Commissioner Jim or less. Provided guidelines, it meets federal Leavenworth i Lewis, a former chairman of a committee that studied the Northeast for Urban Renewal, told the commission it was his opinion his group had a comprehensive plan to develop the northeast area. The C9tnmittee met with commissioners over the plan, he said, "and out of it came nothing." Lewis mentioned several portions of the city proposal with which he including the club relocation. "My opinion is all that will do is cause four more holes in the northeast and all we have now is holes." he said.

"I haven't heard of one house being built in that area and that's what it's all about." Lewis, who drew a round of applause from the crowd for his remarks, told 'the audience he had the plans his committee had prepared and would be glad to show them at the meeting. 'Seems Wrong' Alan MacDougal, 913 Brookside, told the commission he had lived in Leavenworth Organization called the request "deliberate and outright saba- tage, of the Paris Peace agree- of tha bombing were received by The AP in Washington and -San Francisco, The Washington Post and Tha Los Angeles Times. The calls to the AP bureaus directed newsmen to commu- niques hidden Mn nearby telephone booths. Typed Letter The typed letter received in Washington began: "Tonight we attack the A.I.D. in the State Dept.

headquarters in Washington, D.C. and tha Defense Department 'in Oakland, Calif. Through them tha U.S. government continues to wage war against Vietnam and Cambodia." The bomb in the State Department exploded in a men's room next door to an "office of a health officer of the Agency for International Development. The State Department is closely guarded at all hours and visitors must have a building pass to get past the front lobby.

The building was guarded at three' entrances at tha time of the explosion. The call to the AP in Wa'sh- ington came at 12:37 a.m. and the call to the San Francisco By ED McGRATH Times' News Editor PLATTE. CITY, Mo. About 40'.

fire fighters from seven communities i 1 i the Delaware Township Fire Department, Lansing, fought a stubborn 'blaze which gutted a portion the downtown business" district here Tuesday night and this morning. The fire started in a professional building across the street from the, Platte City Courthouse and spread to a plumbing, heating and cooling building and later to a building housing, a branch of the Mid- Continent Puolic Library and a Masonic Lodge Hall. Other buildings damaged included a title company and "a real estate office. Nasty Wind Fire fighters were hampered in their efforts to contain the blaze by a nasty northeasterly wind which is believed to have spread the blaze to other buildings. Cause of the fire is not known.

Lost in the fire which ravaged the Mitchell Building, where the blaze began, the county prosecutor's files which included about 100 pending county court cases, most of which were felony charges. i We have decent tennis courts now at Wollman Park, and they are used by many. But with all of the emphasis on. conserving energy, can't the lights, be turned oft when the temperature is near zero and snow and ice cover the ground? (EDITOR'S NOTE: Larry N. Foster, city director of recreation and parks, answers this Needlepoint.) Operation of the lights at the Wollamn Park tennis courts has been a continuing problem and several solutions have been considered.

Two solutions given serious consideration were the changing of the operation of the lights to a coin operated system and the posibilHy changing the lights to a simple on-off system. Because of the type of fixture used neither of these possibilities proved feasible. The lights currently are activated by an aztec timer. This mechanism triggers lights at a certain time each evening aitcl turns them off at another time. To operate this timer manually, in an evening- to-evening basis, would require uii employe to come jn iil'tcr working hours to activate the mechanism.

This, requires a certain amount of electrical iibilily as well us minimum 25 tnuiute.s of time. The cost of such a service, because of overtime regulations, would be much greater than the 15 cents au hour it costs to operate the tennis court lights. ur ing a period in December we jaxnerimeuted with turning (he lights iff completely. Enough requests for (he lights iVere heard during this period to convince Needlepoint us people do use the tennis courts on winter evenings. Vandalism Is factor in our decision to leave the lights on at the tennis courts.

It is universally accepted that lighting is a deterrent to crime and vandalism. The tennis court lights greatly illuminate the surrounding area and much less vandalism has occurred in this area than in any other section of Wollman Park. As long as there, are Leavenworth citizens who desire to play tennis during winter evenings, it is our responsibility to make sure a facility is available for this purpose. What's your point? The Times invites Needlepoints of 50 words or less on any topic of general interest. Writers are asked, but not required, to give their names, addresses and telephone numbers.

County Prosecutor Lee whose office was on the first floor of the Mitchell Building; said all of his files were destroyed. Hull estimated his personal losses at $7,000 to $10,000. Nothing Unusual Hull said he and his assistant prosecutor, Don Tharp, who is also Platte City's mayor, were in the Mitchell Building until about 7:30 p.m., about a half- hour before the fire was reported. They said-they noticed nothing unusual. Hull then left to eat dinner at a 'Platte Woods pizzaria where he later learned of the fire.

"I was sitting eating my pizza when a of mine camd in with another attorney. My friend, Abe Shafer, said, 'there's a helleva of a fire in Platte City. Do you know anything about called the sheriff's office and they paid 'your office is on fire'! 1 Hull said. Lack Space The prosecutor said the county prosecutor's office has not been housed in the Platte County Courthouse for about IS years 'because of lack of space. Hull said the county court records were kept in two filing cabinets fireproof.

which were not The prosecutor said he will attempt to reconstruct his court cases as best he can although he admitted Tuesday night "it's going to be damned near im possible." He said the most serious pending case was a possible homicide. Lt. Greg Heller, acting Platte City police chief, said he was in, 'city hall and a person who was in court earlier came running 1 in the building about 7:55 and said there was a fire, Notifies Fire Department Lt. Heller notified the Platte City Volunteer Fire Department and notified the sheriff's office. At one time during the night about 30 law enforcement officials assisted.

Heller said he and a deputy, Larry Clark, then went to the Mitchell Building where they saw smoke. They broke into the building and looked for flames but could see none. Heller said he, and Clark went up to the second floor the century-old building but were repelled by the smoke. Then they left until the volunteer fire department arrived. Interested Citizens The fire, largest in Platte City during the past 20 years, brought citizens scurrying for a better look.

Businessmen across the street carried goods from their stores which could then have been salvaged if the fire had spread. Business was brisk, however, at Wade's Lunch and Pool Hall where the bar area was lined with customers who had a front-row seat. A Platte City fire fighter. James Brown, said today about six fire fighters including one See PLATTE, 'Page 3 Sen. Reilly to Initiate Legislative Breakfasts State Sen.

Edward F. Reilly, R-Leavenworth, a today he will initiate a series of informal "Breakfasts with Reilly" to he held every few weeks during this year's session of the Kansas Lefiislature. The first of the breakfasts wUl be held at 8:30 a.m. Saturday in the Centennial Room at the Cody Motor Inn. "The purpose of these breakfasts will be to share with my constituents the activities in Topeka and to have the benefit of their views on issues and proposals before the legislature in which they have an interest." Reilly said.

The breakfasts will be open to anyone interested in attending and they will be rotated to different restaurants in the community during the session, he explained. Reilly said various women in the community have volunteered to serve as hostesses for (lie breakfasts. Persons attending may, if they desire, purchase breakfast from the menu or just attend to ask questions or share their views with Reilly, other members of the legislature or state officials. This week, the senator said, he lias asked Reps. Ambrose L.

Dempsey and Patrick J. entitled to $731,000 a year for three years, $561,000 for the following year and $260,000 the next before the program is phased out. Caldwell Speaks Out Two club owners appeared at the meeting to raise objections the commission. Lee Hurley who represent Leavenworth city and a portion of the county, to share the platfoi'tn at Saturday's breakfast. Revenues for Alcoholism Booze Tax Bill Introduced TOPEKA, Kan.

bill to increase the state liquor tax and use the added revenue to finance alcoholism and intoxication treatment programs was introduced today in the Kansas House. Rep. Marian Reynolds, D-Cimarron, sponsor of the measure, said it would raise aabcnit $2.40 million a year for the treatment program. "We're expanding the treatment program and should expand the resources for the program," said Mrs, Reynolds. She proposed that the -liquor tax, now $1.50 per gallon bo increased to $2 per gallon.

A to open up full office- holding rights to young persons was introduced by Rep. Joseph Hoagland, R-Overland Park. The bill would make any person 18 or older eligible for election or appointment to any state or local government office regardless of any other provisions of law setting minimum ages for various po.silon.s. A bill dealing with the same subject was introduced by Rep, David 1 Mikesic and other Wyan-1 dotte County representatives make persons 18 or older eligible for appointment to that city's hoard of public utilities. Existing law prescribes 4 minimum age of 30.

Rop. liugene Anderson, D- Wichilfl, headed a group of legislators introducing a bill calling for school districts, area vocational teehinical schools, community junior colleges and manpower training skill centers to join in providing a system of pre-employment training programs for economically advantaged persons. A bill by Rep. Roy Elir-lich. R- Heisington, would allow the Barton County Board of Commissioners to grant county treasurer, sheriff, clerk and probate judge up to 10 per cent extra compensation.

The House adopted a resolution paying tribute to the late Payne II. Ratner, former legislator and Kansas governor, who died in Wichita Dec. 37. businessman." Caldwell, owner of Gen's Bar-b- que, said, "I think you are personally discriminating against the black Caldwell later said he was willing to sell his business, but had wanted to speak his mind. Caldwell said there was more vacant ground at Fourth and Pawnee than there was around any of the businesses singled out by the city, yet the city had made no mention of that.

place is not a Caldwell said, "but just a restaurant." It is curious, he said, that four of the club owners singled out' were black and two white club owners in Northeast Leavenworth were not mentioned. Not Only Clubs "We didn't mean to say that those are the only four clubs that need attention," said Tom Downs, city manager. "We had to submit a list and we talked about those as specific examples of those that had a negative influence in the area. "In this proposal we rather rashly stated the clubs were a problem," Graham said. "But it was necessary because we have limited funds.

We have to get an impact get the northeast area moving toward so it is helping itself. We had to do something so we could say, 'Look, the area js starting to 'No Complaints' Bob Miller, 809 Ninth said lie had taken surveys in the area in the past and had never received one complaint about a private club. Miller said areas around the clubs were vacant because former residents had not been able to afford to rebuild there, "These' people didn't abandon the area. It wasn't because of private clubs. The people weren't economically able to build back," he said.

i 11 objected to the relocation for a number of reasons, one of them being that, "People are not going to allow blacks lo conw into their neighborhood for recreation." In addition. Miller said, blacks who sell their businesses won't be given enough money to reestablish one elsewhere and the new location is likely to be unsuitable. Thomas Miller, owner of Miller's Lounge, was concerned about where liis business would be relocated and was told by Mayor Day it would be a place where he would not be taken only a short while but it seemed wrong to him to relocate the private clubs. "To take down an institution in a neighborhood gives me a very uneasy and uncomfortable feeling," he said. "If you destroy the fabric of a neighborhood you may be killing the patient before you cure MacDougal asked Mayor Day a question about zoning in the northeast to allow for the construction of multiple dwellings there.

"What you don't know because of your short time here is that there are people who could have built in the northeast and built elsewhere," Day replied. Day asked if club owners would be satisfied if it were guaranteed to them, in writing that new locations would ba available to them within the Northeast area. Miller, who apparently acted as a spokesman for the club owners, told the mayor he could speak only for himself. bureau 13 minutes later. The State Department bomb exploded at 12:56 a.m.

AP newsmen in both cities notified tha FBI and local police after receiving the warnings. Times Sponsors Spelling Contest The Leavenworth Times again this year is pleased to sponsor the Leavenworth County Spelling Bee, with a $25 Savings Bond going the winner. The Leavenworth County champion speller will be eligible for the All-Kansas Spelling Bee. Alvin K. Banman will again tie coordinator for the county bee, to ba held in Leavenworth City Hail auditorium March 19 at 1:30 p.m.

The state contest will ba in Topeka May 3. Entry forms and sample word lists have been mailed to school principals. County and state champions participating hi championship finals must not have passed beyond the eighth grade the time of their individual school finals and (hey must not reach their 16th birthday on or before the date of tha national finals, June 4. Suitable prizes trill be awarded to the state winner, in addition to an expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., for the national finals. Today's Times Today's issue of The Times consists of 36 pages in three sections: Section A.

Local, state, national, international news, sports pages, women's page. This and That. Section Penney plement. Section Wal-Mart supplement, Dan Zeck Candidate For City Water by some sharpie ly. Daniel Zeck, 52 Westwood Drive, filed Monday as a candidate for the Leavenworth Waterworks Department board, City Clerk Marguerite B.

Strange announced today. Zeck said today he filed Monday and had been out of town Tuesday. "I feel that what we need to do is have planning for future development so Leavenworth can continue to grow," Zeck said. "Water is essential to this growth." Zeck, who decided to run only recently, said he thought he could contribute something to the Waterworks board. Auto Dealer He is owner of Zeck Motor Seventh and Delaware, member and past president of the Leavenworth Area Chamber of Commerce, in of the Kansas Association of Commerce and Industry, member- of the U.

S. Chamber of Commerce, member and uast president of the Kansas Motorcar Dealers, Association, and a member of the National Auto Dealer's Association. He and his wife Norda have three children, one married son and two daughters, one of whom is married. He is a member of the St George Eastern Orthodo: Church of Kansas City. Water Key to Growth "I've always worked for- the growth," Zeck said.

"Water Is ie key to that future." Zeck joins incumbents Ralph latzeder and Margaret foulden as candidates for two r- a terms on the vatenvorks board. Harley C. lussell is running to fill the nexpired term of J. Biringer 1 Miller, svho retired. Russell is currently serving in that capacity.

The election will held April betterment through of LjiavenworU orderly Wauiel.