The Times from Shreveport, Louisiana • Page 1

Cloudy, cold Ark-La-Tex Edition Monday, December 1, 1978 1 A Member of the Gannett Group Shreveporl-Bosfcier City. La. Telephone 421-0373 Twenty Cents Tornado cut i i. tJhuroiiigili Mty9 killing two hV "vlx 'uv a' 1 a-w- -w v-'-. 7 iMTiMriiiiaiMiMiMwiiMiimii devastation like this Street reflect the fury of the tornado in Bossier City Cuirfew r1 1 -1 4 (Times photo bv Lloyd StiUev) section ing Pearce, injuring six others and damaging at least 25 homes.

T.C. Bloxom chief investigator for Webster Parish Sheriff O.H. Haynes Jr. said Pearce was killed when the twister struck his mobile home about 3:45 a.m., turning the structure on its side, doors down. Rescue workers had to cut a section from the bottom of the trailer before freeing Pearce's body and rescuing his family.

Pearce's wife and children suffered only minor injuries, Bloxom said. Bloxom the twister cut a path about 500 feet wide and two miles long through a predominately wooded area in the Tillman Community. At least six homes were destroyed, Bloxom said. The injured, who were not identified, were taken to the LSU Hospital in Shreveport. All but one, 94-year- (Continued on Page 18-A) ft Special The havoc caused by Sunday's savage tornado is detailed today in a six-page special section produced as a team effort by the entire Times staff.

See Section C. See other stories, photos and map on Pages 5-A, 18-A and 20-A, and editorial on Page 8-A. torms hii urn Scenes of Weather The Ark-La-Tex forecast calls for partly cloudy and cold today and tonight with near or slightly below freezing temperatures most of area by Tuesday morning. Increasing cloudiness and continued cool Tuesday. Highs today from upper 40s to low 50s, lows tonight from upper 20s to mid 30s, and highs Tuesday in 50s.

More weather on Page 14-A 7n God We Trust' In den 140th Year. Vol. 108, No. 7 Four Sections 48 Pages Copyright 7f Tinw Pa bkahing Company 1978 Classified 6-D Wendell Coltin 14-D Comics S-B Deaths 17-A Editorials 8-A Entertainment 7-B Billy Graham 11-A Hints from Heloise 3-B Ann Landers 3-B Senior Forum 14-D Sheinwold on Bridge 10-A Sports 1-D TV-Radio 6-B Tell the Times 6-A Weather 14-A Today's chuckle When you eat dinner out, and dessert is included in the price of the meal, it's hard to decide whether to lose the money or gain the weight. Circulation Complaints: Ph.

424-0373 Before 10:30 a.m. wreckage on Deidra emieu sible head injuries after part of an antenna fell on her head while she was directing traffic. Gayle Miller, 25, of Bossier City was listed in critical condition at Bossier General Hospital with multiple lacerations. In area disasters, a twister ripped through the Tillman Community just north of Heflin in rural Southern Webster Parish, killing 35-year-old Clarence Pearce Jr. at 3:45 a.m.

Pearce, his wife and three children were trapped when the storm blew their mobile home on its side, doors down. Rescue workers spent about an hour cutting a portion from the Pearce trailer before freeing the survivors and pulling Pearce's body from the wreckage. Six others were injured, only one seriously. Near El Dorado, 53-year-old Lurlene Helms was killed when she was thrown from her mobile home as a tornado struck about seven miles west of El Dorado. Tornado and thunderstorm damage was reported in East Texas and elsewhere in Northeast and North-central Louisiana and Southcentral Arkansas.

Ernest Ethridge, chief of the Shreveport office of the National Weather Service, said the three North Louisiana tornadoes were more severe in force than most that occur across the nation. The storms were spawned from thunderstorm fronts originating in East Texas. The twisters all moved from southwest to northeast. Weather officials began monitoring the storm system just past midnight as they developed in East Texas. The first twister hit the ground in Bossier City at about 1:50 a.m.

and travelled five to eight miles on the ground. The tornado travelled some 50 miles through North Louisiana before dissipating in South Arkan- sas. over A second twister hit in the vicinity of Bodcau Lake at about 2:30 a.m. It passed near Homer and Junction City and returned to the clouds in South Arkansas. It inflicted damage primarily to rural wooded areas.

The third twister hit about 15 miles south of Minden shortly before 4 a.m., causing damage near Sibley and Heflin. The Bossier tornado caused the most damage and injuries. Bossier police traced the path of the twister. A list of some of the buildings and areas that fell victim to the tornado and the order they were hit were: Central Park Subdivision; Bossier Center; old Troop communication tower; Omelet Shoppe, 1003 Gould Port Au Prince Apartments, 400 Preston Best Western Bossier Inn, 1009 Gould Drive; Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers, 1985 Airline Drive; an Airline Drive Pizza Inn under construction; Pizza Hut, 1981 Airline Drive; Thrifty Liquor, 3000 E. Texas Master Host Inn, 1S84 Airline Drive; Giant service station, 3058 E.

Texas St; Lounge, 3061 E. Texas a new city swimming pool; Lampkin Street; Swan Lake Apartments, 4632 Ruff in Palmer and Joey streets; La Don Drive; and the National Guard Armory. Telephone poles and trees were snapped like match sticks. Many of the poles were lifted up by the high winds and then driven back into the ground or into buildings. A small stand of trees behind the Don Drive-in were all clipped with the broken half of the trees bent down, forming a tent of branches and leaves.

Service station roofs were collapsed on top of cars that had been waiting for fuel the night before. Motorists cautiously eased through blank traffic lights. Patrol cars with (Continued on Page 20-A) A tornado touched down early Sunday and tore through eight miles of Bossier City, killing two young sisters asleep in their home, injuring more than 2001 people and causing approximately $100 million worth of damage. Bossier City Mayor Marvin Anding said all the missing have been accounted for and that about 1,500 people were displaced from their homes. A Webster Parish man and an El Dorado, woman were also killed as twisters and thunderstorms slammed through other areas of the Gov.

Edwin Edwards proclaimed a state of emergency in Bossier City and Anding has promulgated five orders including a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. (' The Bossier tornado touched down at about 50 a.m. near the Central Park Subdivision and leveled apartment complexes and businesses as it traveled down Airline Drive.

Bossier Parish Coroner Dr. Michael Ellis identified the local victims as iAlisa Currington, 13, and Jana Currington, 8, daughters of Mr. and Mrsi Kenneth W. Currington of 1508 La Don Drive. Ellis jsaid the girls were pronounced dead on arrival at Bossier City General Hospital and died from trauma; "something hit or fell on them." There were unconfirmed reports that a car was lifted up by the tornado and dropped through the sisters' bedroom.

Local hospital officials said 220 persons were brought in for Twenty-six persons were hospitalized and the rest were treated for minor injuries and released. Included in the seriously injured was a Bossier City police officer, Patrolman Karla Holt. She was fisted in "guarded" condition at Schumpert Medical Center with pos- rt Predawn tornadoes and thunderstorms slammed the Ark-La-Tex Sunday, killing at least two, injuring several and inconveniencing hundreds more outside the Shreveport-Bossier City area. Heavy thunderstorms struck in East Texas, forcing down power fines and blocking roads, but it was in Northeast Louisiana and Southern Arkansas where at least three separate tornadoes took their toll. Deaths were reported near Heflin in rural southern Webster Parish and in Southern Arkansas near El Dorado.

Injuries and heavy property damage were reported from Bossier City to the Ouachita River in south central Arkansas. The dead were identified as 35-year-old Clarence Pearce Jr. of Tillman, a rural community north of Heflin in rural southern Webster Parish, and 53-year-old Lurlene Helms cf El Dorado. One tornado cut a swath about two miles long just north of Heflin, kill.