News-Journal from Mansfield, Ohio • 1

-tn't It .4 it 4' Sat I 41 44 Is4eNtfirogr, ,4 I 10 '4r40 0-1114044 IMURON wityd 50C Mansfield, Ohio CRAWFORD RiCHIAND I Crostiine Shelby igcylvs Galion DI maNSFIILD MORROW I LI KNOX GADed Ashland SUNDAY North Central Ohio's Foremost Newspaper August 1, 1982 522-3311 2, '6 6 6 -77-'I'l' Bailey Lakes' ill t-IIIII-11'14 0 11 1 ff" k-- 141(Z; 443Altiltil I 14 the newest town -0. I 1- 6 s-, Sunday magazine Clat'-- to-Ott 4.7-17,,,--- 4 50C Mansfield, Ohio i'. HURON ASHLAND CRAWRD RiCHLAND 1 Crostline Shelby Ault ligcpus 0 4'14 i i DI SUNDAY, 4 JO'' I s' FO Galion "m57AANSFIILD MORROW North Central Ohio's Foremost Newspaper 0 LI KNOX August 1, 1982 522-3311 'At Chlood mi Inside Weather 53 die as racing buses crash, burn (Additional story on Page 3-A) MERCEITIL, France (AP) Forty-four children and nine adults were killed in a fiery highway catastrophe Saturday when a pair of camp buses reportedly racing on a rain-slick highway crashed into a string of vehicles. The pileup was France's worst road accident. All of the children who perished were aboard one of the two buses bound for a summer camp in the Alps.

Seven cars and a German bus also were involved in the disaster. It occurred at a notoriously crowded highway interchange as millions of Europeans began their annual vacation exodus. daughters," Li liane Rol let said. "When I didn't find them, I still had a small hope who knows? Then I saw the death list." The children were aboard two buses traveling in convoy from Crepy-en-Valois to a three-week summer camp in the French Alps. A heroic counselor hustled 14 children to safety out the back door of one burning bus.

Smoke blocked rescuers from saving 44 other youngsters, two drivers and two counselors trapped in the flames. The vehicle's front door had been jammed shut in the crash. See Crash Page 6-A The newspaper France-Soir quoted witnesses as saying the bus drivers were "racing each other at 75-80 miles an hour, flashing their lights, in the rain." A relative of seven of the dead children said "the drivers were disputing among themselves, angry they were 45 minutes late and arguing over their loads" before the buses left a little town north of Paris. Mothers in the northern town, Crepy-enValois, wept as they read lists of names taped to the door of the town hall. "I looked first at the list of survivors for my two grand The respected Paris newspaper Le Monde called the pre-dawn accident a tragic example of "innocence killed by the irresponsibility of those who call themselves adults." Dijon public prosecutor Bernard Gauthier said the investigation was still at a preliminary stage and "it is impossible to say yet if anyone will be charged." He and an investigating magistrate questioned the surviving bus driver as well as witnesses and the buses' owner.

'144 Israeli guns quiet in Beirut Can't beat this Sunny skies and a near-zero chance of rain are expected today, with clear skies and a 10-percent chance of rain tonight. Partly cloudy skies are forecast for Monday. Page 3. Richard Cox tale baffling mystery By Jim Underwood The News Journal Region Day of reckoning Shelby and Galion school districts will find out in special elections Tuesday whether voters have changed their minds about levy requests. Page 1-C.

that Cox was sighted on at least two occasions after his disappearance once in Washington, D.C., in 1952 and again in Florida in 1960. Among the evidence left behind by Cox were several letters showing a troubled young man who was struggling with the idea of leaving West Point. In one letter, written four days before his disappearance, Cox wrote, the thought keeps entering my mind, and I've yet to discover exactly what I'll have lost by leaving the dear old corps." The News Journal, in the course of its research, located several key figures in the Cox investigation including the mysterious German woman to whom Cox had written just prior to his disappearance. Rosemarie Vogel Padgett, now a grandmother living in California, outlined her relationship with Cox In postwar Germany after telling the FBI in the early 1950s that she didn't remember him. Although the Cox story has been the focus of Life magazine, The Washington Post and other national publications, The News Journal is the first news organization to obtain an interview with Mrs.

Vogel Padgett. See Mystery Page 5-A I I I 1 I 1 I i 1 1 5i 1 1 I I 1 i 1 I 1 I I il i i 1 1 4 1., i. I i 1 14 1 i I 1 i 1,1 The FBI file is simply marked "Bureau File: 79-23729." On the surface, it is a routine missing persons file, not unlike thousands of other missing persons files. But this one is different, because this file, and a similar file with the U.S. Army, outline one of America's more baffling mysteries the disappearance of Richard Colvin Cox.

On Jan. 14, 1950, Cox, a West Point cadet and the son of a prominent Mansfield family, disappeared from' the U.S. Military Academy and joined the ranks of the permanently vanished. Now, more than 32 years later, The News Journal, through the Freedom of Information Act, has obtained government documents, some of which have been released for the first time, which shed new light on the mysterious disappearance of Cox and reveal a massive federal investigation that entailed the pursuit of hundreds of leads and hundreds of interviews in the U.S. and around the world.

The documents show evidence Touch of Class Mansfield's only all-black band, Touch of Class, which is making Inroads on the local club circuit, is proud of its versatility, and Its members are struggling not to be pigeonholed as a one-dimensional black music group. Page 1-E. Hot stock A "hot" speculative stock was promoted heavily to Mansfield investors in the late '70s even though the company was "foreign" to the area Some investors became winners, but two local stockbrokers said others got burned. Page 1-F. --veni 4h 4,,, I i ,11 0 1 cif po ca, 40-rzoNe i 1 ai s.

At I ''I-- 4, ti (: tIL: I 4 -I )--- 'Il. 1 7 It I I' 4' I I I I 4 Th 4 I Net 4 The Associated Press Palestinian guerrillas fearing an Israeli onslaught into west Beirut reinforced their defenses Saturday, but the invaders made no move to storm the PLO stronghold and resumed the flow of water after a six. day blockade. Guerrillas were seen sandbagging their fortifications after PLO leader Yasser Arafat ordered them to "upgrade and consolidate" defenses following Israel's "surprise saturation barbaric" air, sea and land bombardment Friday. The Palestine Liberation Organization said "the unprovoked enemy action is a very dangerous move with grave indications," which aims to "quench the rising hopes for a political solution." Israel, frustrated by what it calls PLO foot-dragging in leaving west Beirut, attacked on grounds the PLO had broken the cease-fire that went into effect Wednesday the seventh since Israel invaded June 6 to rput the guerrillas.

An eighth cease-fire went into effect Friday night, and the Tel Aviv command said the 35.000 Israeli troops ringing west Beirut were observing it despite PLO shelling that wounded two Israeli soldiers near the airport. Later Saturday, the command said some Israeli soldiers were fired upon near Mansouriye on the Beirut-Damascus highway. It said the soldiers did not return the fire and no casualties were reported. The Israelis turned on water supplies to west Beirut's dried-out reservoir that serves 600,000 residents, but maintained a blockade on electricity and fuel supplies. U.N.

officials said that with 10 generators running to pump the water, there was enough to meet the "minimum" drinking and hygiene needs of the mostly Moslem population of west Beirut. Lebanon's Moslem prime minister, Shafik Wazzan, said in a nationally televised statement that he has conveyed a proposal to U.S. presidential envoy Philip C. Habib that fuel, water and food supplies be brought in from donor countries by ships escorted by the U.S. 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean.

See Beirut Page 6-A Ohio Dinner companion's ed tity never traced Rare fossil find When Kevin Birchfield took a walk on his family farm near Seaman last spring, he didn't realize the experience could eventually make him famous. "I just looked down and there it was," the eighth-grader said of the 1012- inch fossil trilobite he found in a creek on the farm during Easter. vacation. Page 11-A Chapter 1 Nation The company logbook simply read, "Cox, MC, D.P. Hotel, 17:45." Translated, that means West Point Cadet Richard Colvin Cox signed out for "dining privileges" at the Thayer Hotel, located near the U.S.

Military Academy, at 5:45 p.m. The scrawled signature in the log, made in the late afternoon hours of Jan. 14, 1950, is the last tangible evidence left by Richard Cox. Thirty minutes later, Cox's roommate, Dean Welch, spoke briefly to Cox in their room. Cox was wearing full-dress uniform complete with the long, gray overcoat still worn by cadets at West Point.

Cox had a frequent civilian visitor at West Point in the week prior to his disappearance, and on Jan. 14, Cox told Welch that he had just spoken to the same man and the two of them were going to have dinner at the Thayer. Welch was the last person to see Cox prior to his disappearance. The week before, Cox complained to Welch that the man was interfering with his study time and said that the man, an old Army associate in Germany, had related bizarre stories about "castrating the German soldiers which he killed (and that) he had hanged a German girl See Companion Page 5-A African cloud A pall of hot dust from Africa's desert wastes has drifted across the Atlantic and settled over much of Florida, carried by what scientists call the "most significant outbreak" of Saharan air seen here in 10 years. Page 7-A World Enterprising teens sprout flourishing lawn service By Norma Steele The News Journal Airport bomb A bomb apparently hidden in a suitcase went off at the El Al terminal at Riem Airport in Munich Saturday, injuring at least six people.

Page 10-A i a 1 sgr 1 194 le .4.. 4,, o'''''' 1,,,.. 1044. A 4t moo. "4- 1 I.k -(" Index 108 Pages, 10 Sections summers ago with her best friend, Jacque Hupp, when they were both too young for conventional summer jobs.

Persistence which sprouted reliable service helped the company grow to the point today where they hire about nine of their friends to help cut grass, weed, do minor landsming and spray for inspects (the locusts helped increase business this year) and generally care for lawns and gardens in Richland County. They have all the elements of a well-organized company, including a pay scale based not only on hours worked but on productivity. The company, which is not formally incorporated with the state, holds regular company meetings, to keep all See Lawa Page S-A MANSFIELD Gem's Lawn Garden Service advertises free estimates on its smart beige and brown business card while enticing customers to "come to the gardening specialists." Richland County residents who have taken the 212-year-old business up on its word report that they have been iglore than satisfied with the service. That's not particularly startling news in the world of business. But what is startling about this company is that one of its co-presidents is 16 years old.

Sharing that is a 17-yearold who is the company's senior officer, at least age-wise. Sheila Johnstone, 16, started Gem's Lawn Garden Service two F' Antiques 7-B Grapevine 7-C Ask Beth 3-B Hospitals 2-A Business 1-F Obituaries 4-A Chatter 2-B Perspect. 1-C Datebook 11-E Sports 1-D Editorials 6-C Stocks Emerg. 2-A Sunday 1-H Entertain. 1-E Television 2-E Focus 1-B Write On 5-B Sheila Johnstone, 16-year-old co-president of Gem's and Garden Service, concentrates while trimming hedges for one of the company's 20 Richland County accounts.

(Photo by Dean Koepfler) 1P.v lag IL Pk 114 iaf MOW im4Amr. A A.