The Bismarck Tribune from Bismarck, North Dakota • 1

THE BISMARCK TRIBUNE North Dakota's Oldest Newspaper Established 1873 Bismarck North Dakota, Thursday, July 6, 1978 VOLUME! 05 NUMBER 157 Price Fifteen Cents 9 Feared Dead Downpour Hits Minnesota City ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) Seven inches of rain in less than six hours sent flood waters six feet deep swirling through southeast Rochester. Police at least nine persons were believed drowned and several others were missing. The bodies of three wheelchair patients and a nurse's aide were recovered from an elevator in the flooded basement of the National Health Enterprises nursing home. The four had been included in the count of nine feared dead.

Three cars believed to be carrying several persons plunged into the swollen Zumbro River and the occupants were feared drowned. Two boaters were reported missing. The body of a woman whose car went off County Road 15 about 10 miles southwest of Rochester was recovered Thursday morning, authorities said. She was identified as Bonnie Carol Keller, 38, rural Stewartville. Her body was found by sheriff's deputies outside of her car, 300 yards east of the road.

Mrs. Keller had been driving over a hill and did not see that the road ahead of her had been washed out, authorities said. Her husband, who had been following her in a second car, saw the car go off the road and called authorities. Flash-flooding knocked out power and telephone service to parts of Rochester, blocked roads to the city and forced the evacuation of more than 4,000 persons. The famed Mayo Clinic in downtown Rochester was not affected, however.

"We have some real concern about how many we're going to find dead," said Olmsted County Sheriff Charles VonWald. Minnesota Gov. Rudy Perpich called out the National Guard to assist in rescue operations. Names of the victims whose bodies were recovered from the nursing home elevator were withheld until relatives could be notified. Witnesses told police the four were trying to go to higher floors to escape rising water.

County Deputy Coroner Paul Belau quoted witnesses as saying the nurse's aide pushed the button to go up but the elevator went down to the flooded basement instead. The swollen Zumbro continued to rise at the rate of one foot an hour Thursday as volunteers and police used boats to search house to house for people still stranded. Private homes and hotels were reported filled with evacuees. As rain continued to fall, although not as heavily as Wednesday night, the National Weather Service said the Zumbro stood at 20 feet Thursday, 8 feet over flood stage. Forecastersaid the river would continue rising today, (See ROCHESTER, Page 3) of how tornado churned a grim Tribune pholo bv Pat Miller swath through Elgin.

fy i tA, i t.fyMK-P i Teen-ager Huddled With Children as Twister Took Home Special to The Tribune CARSON The July 4 twister that roared through Elgin also struck eight farms in the area, generally along state Highway 21, according to the Grant County Sheriff's office. No one was hurt a statistic probably due in part to the precautions taken by a 14-year-old girl. Pam Schriock was babysitting four children, aged 4 to 14, at her family's (See photo, Page 14) farm about three miles southwest of Carson when the tornado struck. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs.

Kenneth Schriock, were attending a rodeo in Raleigh. Pam said she herded the youngsters to the basement because of threatening skies and her fear of tornadoes. She then returned upstairs to watch the skies. When she noticed a massive black cloud, she said, she went to the basement and huddled with the children under an old, heavy table. Then the winds came.

"Everything was just shaking," she said. "The stairs fell on top of the table and we thought the table was going to collapse. "When I looked up, there was no house." Aerial view gives idea Browsing -Around With Jack E. Case The question for today "Whom would you choose for a companion if you were stuck in an elevator for an hour and a half?" The answers Pam McCormick, Route 2, Bismarck "Probably a boyfriend? Carrilee Mattern, 1008 Summit Blvd. "My fiance, Bill Belcher." Peter Daniolos, 224 E.

Divide "My Dad (Dn. James Daniolos)." John Liefso, Virden, Manitoba "Farah Fawcett-Majors. IRONIC INCIDENT The morning after the tragic Elgin tornado Mrs. Lyle Riveland, 306 W. Turnpike glanced out the window to see a street sweeper cleaning the street.

Lettered on the side was the brand name "Elgin Whirlwind." ERRATA Verlin M. Wann, of 514 Sixth St. N.W., Mandan, was the first reader to spot the mathematical error in Monday's column regarding the amount of water required to cover a 50-by-140-foot lot to a depth of 1 inch. The correct figure is 4,363.6 gallons. MATERNITREE WARD In the back yard of the Calvin Henry residence at 1214 17th is a tree house that was abandoned after the children grew up but since then has been used as a bedroom for cats on chilly nights.

Mr. Henry was trimming the tree this weekend and stuck his head in the house as a cat Jumped to the ground. A closer check found six baby kittens in his "cat house." RESIDENT RATIO In the wake of pay increases for state hospital employees a reader asks the number of employees and patients at the institution. We are told that at the present time there are 606 patients and about 750 employees including secretaries, maintenance and all other workers medical and non-medical. Because of eight-hour shifts, 40-hour weeks and the close supervision such patients require, a ratio of one employee or more per patient is said both necessary and common in institutions of this type.

(See BROWSING, Page 3) Rain and hail continued to pour into the basement after the twister leveled the one-story home. Pam said she calmed the children by making them singsongs. "They were cold and scared," she said, admitting she was frightened too. The five youths remained under the table until neighbors came. "We were pretty happy then," Pam said.

Neighbors saw the twister had piled the remains of the house generally in the southwest corner of the basement, partly on top of the table that saved the children from serious injury. Pam had suffered some minor cuts from glass. Kenneth Schriock said Wednesday one horse had to be shot and others, as well as some buffalo, were in bad condition. Damage varied on other farms. At least two farm homes were swept away.

Tops of silos were ripped off and the remains of buildings were scattered along the highway. A flattened truck was seen standing alone in one field. Clumps of hay hung from power lines. The Walt Huber farm about four miles south of Carson was "completely gone" after the storm, a sheriff's (See BABY SITTER, Page3) ly accepted the disaster and calmly went about setting straight the mess their homes had suddenly become. National Guard units, utility companies and emergency services reacted (See related photos, Page 15) quickly and by early Wednesday already had the cleanup well under way.

Power was restored to Carson about 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, according to Dick Jacobson at Montana Dakota Utilities, and to Elgin at 10 p.m. With electricity at Elgin came restored water pressure, even though the town's water tower was a twisted wreck. Currently Elgin is operating on a forced-pressure system using pumps to provide water. Lynn White picks through debris at what was his grandmother's house in Elgin.

Final Tornado Toll Five Storm Areas' Cleanuo Tnbune Photo by Bob Reichmutrt Bell Held In Civil Contempt NEW YORK (AP) U.S. Attorney General Griffin Bell was held in civil contempt Thursday for his refusal to obey a judge's order to disclose files of 18 FBI informers. Judge Thomas Griesa of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan said he would hold the nation's highest law-enforcement officer In contempt "until and unless he purges his contempt by compliance with the order. Bell could be fined or imprisoned, but an appeal was expected.

Griesa issued his contempt order via a long-distance telephone call from California, where he is vacationing. Earlier in the day, Bell had notified Griesa that he was prepared to face the civil contempt decree by refusing to surrender the FBI files. I Reports indicate the tornado, which killed five persons and injured approximately 35, struck Elgin at about 8:35 p.m. Tuesday and completed its destruction within five minutes. According to Doug Friesz at the state division of disaster emergency services, the storm then continued on east, damaging 10 to 12 farms before it dissipated 45 minutes to an hour later.

Eight of the farms were extensively damaged. Killed in the storm were Henry Neher, 77, Mott; J.J. Nicklaus, Elgin; Martha Nicklaus, 72, Elgin; Odell Hauck, 69, Elgin; and Martha Hauck, 68, Elgin. The Nlcklauses were killed when the twister blew apart their pickup truck. The Haucks were killed when their residence at the senior citizens hous Beains ing was destroyed.

Dr. Hugo Cole, Grant County coroner, said all five of the victims suffered chest and abdomen Injuries and concussions. One of the injured persons transferred to St. Alexius Hospital, Bismarck, was released from the hospital Wednesday. Hospital spokesman Don Miller said Mrs.

Bruce Parsons, 49, Mott, was released. Those remaining in satisfactory condition are Julia Schulz, 64, Elgin; Stacy Parsons, 14, and Shane Parsons, 7, both of Mott; and Mrs. Sheila Parson Jones, 22, and her husband Larry Jones, 23, both of San Antonio, Texas. According to Miller, all but Mrs. Schulz were in a motor home which was turned over by winds near Hell as (See TORNADO, Page 3) Two Locations 2nd Main 223-7392 Kirkwood Plaza 223-8156 Bismarck By RANDY BRADBURY Tribune Staff Writer It seemed distant, the message crackling over police frequencies Tuesday night: "Half of the town of Elgin, North Dakota, has just been wiped out by a tornado." Electrical storms accounted for the distant-sounding radio transmission, but the meaning of the message remained distant, too.

How could a large portion of a town be reduced to shambles in such a short time? The tornado's reality was evident Wednesday morning, but even to those caught in the middle of it, the destruction was hard to comprehend. Elgin and rural Carson residents didn't spend much time worrying over why fate had chosen them to be in the tornado's path, however. They stoical the sight and sound of fine music, BAL ETWITsT Discontinued Piano Organ SeeWylie NOW music ccomoany.