Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 1

1A Mettfrv Monday and UU July 4. 1983 4 Sections 250 Single copy Volume lNumbw 78 Copyright 1983 Minneapolis Star and Tribune Company Minneapolis Star Sit Hoards path tf dtestocifcin) wmm mm mum I'l'in imun iijihiuhuijijiii miijini mijuamnn wimii)Ciiwi i)i i ti up i 1 1 11 gmi i uj.i ij i ujii ii mm .1 n. iMiiiii.i, Staff Photo by John Croft Child dies near Taylors Falls A powerful thunderstorm swept north through the Twin Cities area Sunday, spawning 70 m.p.h. winds that led to the death of a 14-month-old girl near Taylors Falls, destroyed two dozen homes and wrecked part of a shopping center in the northern suburbs. The child, Karen Schnell, died when a tree crashed into a trailer home, pinning her beneath her grandmother.

Mary Ann Schnell of Plymouth, who had picked up the baby and taken shelter in the trailer when rain and high wind hit their campsite, suffered a concussion. At least 30 other people in the metropolitan area were treated for injuries, all of them minor. Three people were admitted to Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, two with chest pains and one with a head injury. Damage was estimated In the millions of dollars In the northern suburbs. Winds battered the-, Champlln Plaza shopping center on Hwy.

52, west of Coon Rapids, tossing parked cars around like paperweights. In nearby Andover, the wind tore a path through the Red Oaks housing development, leveling 18 single-family homes and five duplexes. At one point, 110,000 homes in the metropolitan area were without power, according to Northern-States Power Co. (NSP). By 10:45 p.m., power was still out for about 36,000 customers, the utility said, though everyone should have power sometime today.

Many northern and, western suburbs reported downed trees temporarily blocking roadways. Intersections In Minneapolis were flooded and traffic lights were out "Straight-line winds" were responsible for the destruction, the National Service said. "A tornado has rotation, whereas straight-line winds are just that, they are blowing in one direction," said Rich Naistat of the weather service. More showers and thunderstorms are expected today in the Twin Cities area. But the likelihood of more Storm continued on page 7A Staff Writers Steve Grots, Dennis Cassano, Jim Parsons, BUI McAuliffe and Randy Furst contributed to this article; It was written by Furst.

Unda Johnson, left, stood with friends In what formerly was her home at 14031 Nightingale In Andover. Anoka Andover Andover 16 Refuge turned info trap for 1 4-month-old baby siologist in the camp," Lynch said, "and they tried to save Karen. They more or less figured out that she suffocated." Karen's brother, 3-year-old Matthew, also was trapped in the trailer. "He was pinned by one arm and we had to go in a back window to get him out," Lynch said. "They took him to the hospital but he is OK.

Just some bruises." Karen and Matthew's parents are John and Laurie Schnell of Crystal. Mary Ann Schnell, 54, suffered a concussion and was in satisfactory condition last night at St Croix Falls (Wis.) Memorial Hospital. She lives in Plymouth. Another family member, Carol Schnell of Milwaukee was 0 More storm photos and articles are on Pages 6A and 7A. "But Mary Ann couldn't move.

When 1 crawled in there, I could see that she. couldn't move at all." Lynch, who lives near the campsite on the St Croix River near Taylors Falls, got a chain saw. He and other relatives worked frantically in the driving rain to move the tree. "We had to cut the back side so that the tree would pop up and relieve the pressure. "It worked, but the whole thing probably took us 20 or 30 minutes." By then, 1 4-month-old Karen Schnell was no longer breathing.

By Jim Parsons Staff Writer Mary Ann Schnell reacted like any grandmother when the high winds and sheets of rain hit the campgrounds where her family was having a reunion. She grabbed two of her little grandchildren and headed for cover. A few moments later a huge tree was toppled by the wind, nearly cutting their house trailer in half. "We're not sure, but (Schnell) may have instinctively tried to protect the baby," said her brother, Harold Lynch. "Everything in the trailer crushed on top of her.

She was hurt but she was conscious and could feel the baby moving underneath her for a while. Champlin 152 N. 1 Champlin Plaza 2Mercy Hospital 3Menard lumber COsseo nS i Mississippi 169 RiV6r I 4Red Oaks development 116. than half were still there, augmented by late arrivals, when the skies turned congenial in late afternoon and the Rockin Bollywoods started beating it out from the bandstand. In all, the organizers said, 40,000 came as many as on Saturday, when the weather was better.

The moral was clear: In Minnesota, where the summer never dawdles, it usually takes more than an act of God to break up a picnic. It was enough, however, to force the cancellation of the day's principal musical act The Association, a popular group in the 1960s, bowed out Taste continued on page 7A Minneapolis Miles Thousands licked the storm at Taste of Minnesota gala "There was a nurse and an anesthe- 17 ,1 ft By Jim Klobuchar Staff Writer Pursued by lightning bolts, gales and horizontal sheets of rain, armies of carnival-lovers swept in sodden retreat toward the biggest storm shelter In Minnesota Sunday afternoon. "I couldn't believe the scene," said Dick Myklebust of the state capltol security forces, specially detailed for the weekend's Taste of Minnesota gala on the capltol "There must have been 10,000 of them in here after the storm hit. I've been at this job for seven years, and I've never seen the capitol mobbed like this. They Jammed the rotunda and went three stories high.

"The miracle was that nobody got hurt. They just poured through the doors In streams. They were orderly but they were scared about tornadoes and worried about getting hit by lightning. Somebody said she heard a roaring overhead and swore it was'a tornado. They asked a million questions, but the one they asked most was 'Where's the In crisis or calm, mankind's priorities don't deviate very much.

And yet most of them weathered the uproar cheerfully. Of the 25,000 to 30,000 estimated by Myklebust to have been on the grounds when the storm struck at about 1 p.m., more Death continued on page 7A grandchildren to protect them. Almanac Monday, July 4, 1983 1 85th day; 1 80 to go this year Sunrise: 5:32. Sunset: 9:03 Today's weather No brighter Cloudy skies, a chance of rain and a high around 70 are forecast. Business 4-5B Calendar 5B Comics 5C Corrections 3A Crossword 10D Classified ads Editorial Obituaries Theaters TV, Radio Weather 8-9A 6B 2-3C 7C 2B Telephones 372-4U1New General 3724242ClAS8itied 372-4343 'Circulation Photo for the Minneapolis Star and Tribune by Kurt Condie A tree crushed the trailer where Mary Ann Schnell had taken two of her Memories of peaceful summers temper Belfast man's world It's the Fourth of July What does American independence mean today? Several weeks ago Star and Tribune readers were asked to reflect on that question and write the editorial pages with their thoughts.

Their dreams for America, their hopes and their fears can be found on Pages 8A and 9A. Minnesotans believe success through hard work Is harder to attain this Fourth of July than previously and believe that not only are Americans less proud, but the nation's freedoms aren't always the right kinds. Results from the Minnesota Poll. Page 1B. A list of Independence Day fireworks displays.

Page 1 C. Americans celebrated the Fourth of July weekend at beaches, parks, parades, fairs, festivals, concerts, contests, speeches and protests. Page 3A. summer with families from Minnesota and Wisconsin. Today he Is an apprentice plumber who volunteers for night patrols with the British army in troubled areas of Belfast His mother, Sarah, who started the airlift of Irish children, has ended her connection with the program, but the children keep coming.

The latest group of 150 children, ages 10 and 11, was welcomed by more than 500 people Wednesday night at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport By Mike Kaszuba Staff Writer David Hughes was 9 when he got off the plane In Fargo, N.D., in the summer of 1973. He was a day late and carried a shillelagh. He spent that summer, the next and a couple of others with Roy and Ruth Lerud on their SGO-acre beef-cattle farm In Twin Valley, Minn. Hughes was the first of the hundreds of children from Northern Ireland who come every year to spend the "We are trying to do more and more," said Dennis Gustafson, vice president of The Children's Program of Northern Ireland, Inc.

"Some day we'd like to get up to 200, 250 if we could. We have branched out considerably." David Hughes, 19, works from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. every third night as part of a British army security force that patrols the Catholic -sectors of Belfast. He and his older brother, Nigel, volunteered for the Job more than a Irish continued on page 5A 4.