Rapid City Journal from Rapid City, South Dakota • 8

Tuesday. July 17, 1979 8 the Rapid City Journal Cheyenne tornado leaves one dead, 40 injured But guard administrators already were in the State Emergency Operations Center, preparing for the whirlwind disaster Cornelison and others saw coming. Cornelison said he glanced out his second-story window in the Wyoming Guard Building and saw the twister "clip the power lines behind the Game and Fish Building," Just across a meadow from the guard building. He said he and others "dove" for the basement and began "gearing up." By 10 p.m., some 300 Army and Air National Guard troops were on duty In the Cheyenne area, providing disaster relief for the homeless tornado victims. Cornelison said the assignments varied from search and rescue operations to anti-looting details, with some 118 men and women assigned to a security detail to curtlal looting In the damaged area.

Security persons were armed with M-16 rifles and pistols.Cornellson would not say what Instructions went with the weapons but did say those armed with (hem were following a state disaster plan that includes special instructions on weapons use. CHEYENNE, Wyo, (AP) Stunned by Cheyenne's (tret tornado in history, residents resumed sifting through the rubble of more than 200 homes In affluent sections of the city Tuesday morning. The twister Injured nearly 40 persons, five of whom were hospitalized. A 14-month old boy, David. McKlnnon, died instantly of head injuries when his family's mobile home was torn apart east of Cheyenne, authorities said, "No one ever thought we would ever have a tornado In Cheyenne, Mayor Don Erlckson said, "but we had one," The twister bounced across Cheyenne about 3:40 p.m.

Monday, departing the city about half an hour later and leaving what Erlckson said were at least 200 damaged homes in its wake. The mayor said the funnel cut across a two-block wide area for 4-5 miles within the city limits. "It hit more than once," he said. "It might have hit half a dozen times, Erlckson told reporters 37 persons were treated at Cheyenne's two hospitals for injuries they received. Many residents escaped injury by securing themselves in the basements of their homes.

leveled and the walls of others stood shakily. Numerous houses had windows blown out and roofs knocked off. Parts of walls and other remnants of the neighborhood were strewn across the prairie north of Cheyenne. Erlckson said he had no damage estimate. "It's going to be very, very expensive," he said.

The tornado also struck the National Guard Armory at the northern end of the city airport and narrowly missed the governor's mansion. Two C-130 cargo planes were destroyed and another was damaged when thrown about inside a hangar, Willis Larson, a spokesman for the state disaster agency, said one light plane on the ground at the airport was blown away. "It got sucked into the funnel and people saw it coming out of the clouds," Larson said. Three hours after the storm, traffic backed up, power lines were down and communications partially disrupted. Herschler's call mobilizing the Wyoming Air and Army National Guard units came Just before 4 p.m., Capt.

John Cornelison, a guard spokesman, said. ble that had been their home for 13 years. Three houses away, 11-year-old Jeffrey Coles said he was watching television and his 13-year-old sister Susart was asleep In her bedroom, when the TV screen went blank. Jeffrey said he ran to the bedroom and said, "Susan, the power Is off." The two children, alone at home while their parents were at work, looked "It looked like there was a big explosion," Jeffrey said. The two children ran downstairs, moments before a two-by-four shot through the wall of Susan's bedroom.

"The Lord was good to us," said their Tornado approaches Cheyerme's northern Wyoming news Wednesday-Friday SccndSnavlcn Right Many did not recognize twister for what it was Lee Catterall Associated Press Writer About the last thing most Cheyenne residents were thinking about Monday was a tornado, and when it came, many didn't know what It was. A woman on Cheyenne's West Side saw what she thought was a dust devil, and many other people thought it was a larger-than-normal plane at the airport. "It sounded like a whole bunch of Cheyenne tornado had an unusually lengthy lifespan DENVER (AP) The farther west you get from the Midwest's "Tornado Alley," the shorter the average cyclone's lifespan. The National Weather Service estimates that most western tornadoes last about three minutes. But the twister that rambled through Cheyenne, on Monday is believed to have been on the ground for about 2' hours.

It rolled slowly to the southeast across the Crow Creek basin at about 10 mph about one-third a tornado's normal speed of 25 to 35 mph, according to forecaster Tom Schwein of the. National Weather Service's Denver of-' flee. "It was that speed that both hurt and saved Cheyenne," Schwein said late, Monday. Seven hours after the tornado wiped out the Cheyenne weather office's phone lines, a direct emergency line In Schwein's office remained the only link with the service's Cheyenne office. "When a tornado stays on the ground P.MX TIIOMAS'wKh Knren fjjj Kiichninn tmnmi.

The Fabulous HOT SISTERS Open Daily 10 a m. Cent- Showinyt All Day late Shew M. ft Sat. Nitee free ladies Nite Thursday The Awakening vxeof jiVVanton If I lM 7i i 4VTON KAY PARKER Gov. Ed Herschler asked President Carter to declare the ravaged blocks disaster areas, qualifying residents for emergency federal relief, Erlckson said.

Erlckson said his estimate of more than 200 homes damaged was "a very wild estimate. It's not scientific in any regard." The mayor said after viewing over the area by airplane about half the homes hit were "significantly damaged" and about one In ten was destroyed. "So far, the Injuries have been phenomenally minimal," Erlckson said. Earlier, Capt. Mary Mydland of the Wyoming Disaster and Civil Defense Agency said 150 houses in the expensive Buffalo Ridge area were heavily damaged and 45-50 were destroyed, some with only fireplaces and chimneys left standing.

He said the Buffalo Ridge Grade School was "almost gone," but no children were there at the time, Erickson said the school "was not leveled, but it's certainly not useable." At the Cheyenne trailer court only debris could be seen. In several blocks of Buffalo Ridge and the nearby Nimmo Addition, some homes were jetliners going over," said 17-year-old Bart McClelland. Bart and his mother looked out the window and, Norma McClelland said, "We saw this cloud of brown stuff." She thought tornadoes were black, and didn't realize it was a twister until It came closer. "I said let's get In the car and outrun It," Mrs. McClelland said.

Bart disagreed, and he, his 16-year-old sister Lisa and Mrs. McClelland raced to the basement. "We held onto the water pipes," Mrs. McClelland said. When the sound of Jetliners disappeared, the three McClellands returned to the surface, and to the rub- Two Cheyenne residents gaze at car bumper and mattress that tornado sent hurtling into power pole.

Nearby homes were leveled by the twister. (AP Laserphoto) for a longer time, It affects a smaller area," Schwein explained. "But because they remain over an area longer, there's more time to do damage. They pretty well clean things up." But the delay also gave the city's residents some 10 to 15 minutes' warning, Schwein said. "It had been indicated by radar much earlier.

There had been reports of funnels around Laramie, to the west, then this one was sighted on the ground about 10 miles west of Cheyenne around 3:30 (p.m.). "It moved through the city, from the northwest, and kept on going. It must have been on the ground about 15 to 25 minutes in the city itself. "We traced it on down southeast to the Colorado border, then it dis-' appeared." A low-lying area like Cheyenne doesn't normally get a thunderstorm developed enough to spawn a tornado, Schwein said it is generally a flatter area. No one at the Denver weather service office could remember a tornado in Cheyenne for at least the last 30 years.

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But she said she had confidence her children were safe: "I knew they knew what to do." "I feel lucky because all that's gone Is some roof and windows, besides the garage," said their father James, a postal worker. About a mile east of the McClelland and Coles homes, Joe Griego was searching through the rubble of his home and feeling "pretty lucky, His wife and two children also had dashed to the basement to safety. Afterward, Mrs. Griego crawled over rubble to a second-floor bedroom. 1 "I've got to go get my diamond earrings," she said.

"They're the only thing I have left." Herschler proposes state energy board CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) Gov. Ed Herschler says he's considering setting up an Energy Mobilization Board similar to one proposed by President Carter. The governor told The Associated Press Monday such a board would help state officials deal with proposed energy projects and also would be help-ful in dealing with the federal government. "We need an energy board, or at least a contact point, so we can work with the federal government in this area," Herschler said.

Such a board could help insure that state environmental laws would not be overridden by energy development, he added. "We can't let them completely destroy our environment," he said. The governor praised Carter's Sunday night speech in an interview and later in an impromptu news conference and said, "I support him. "I thought it was a very good speech," he said. "It points out all of us have to do something to deal with the energy crisis.

We know sacrifices will have to be made." Herschler, a Democrat, said he hopes Carter's program will receive bipartisan support. Probe of woman's death to continue CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) Cheyenne Mayor Don Erickson said he intends to continue investigations of the death of a 70-year-old woman in a Cheyenne Housing Authority facility for the elderly last week. "I will personally continue to investigate the lady's death and look at ways in which we can make the facility more comfortable relative to the new heating system," Erickson said Friday. Jean Larson was found dead In her room at the old Frontier Hotel Friday morning and Laramie County Coronor Roger Radomsky said he believes she died from hypothermia, or heat prostration.

Radomsky said an autopsy done on her body revealed no other possible cause of death. 503 MAIN CICtiELGSiS LIBIAHY Adult Movies Privote Viewing 23e per fay ADULT MATERIAL CKIY js years mm 8 a 44 OTJPOOOeCet rH. V' ri ifi in ifenut A4il5i. edge AP Laserphoto) jyJ Ham) JLJ3U UU Gillette officer may race charges GILLETTE, Wyo. (AP) Campbell County Attorney Willis Geer said he would decide later this week whether to file charges against a Gillette policeman in connection with the shooting death of a Gillette man.

A coroner's jury ruled Monday night that 31-year-old Glenn Rhodes was shot and killed by bullets fired by Patrolman Bradley Bush, 27. The jury made no determination of whether Bush should be charged. Rhodes died of two gunshot wounds in the back last Thursday after a domestic scuffle at Rhodes' home, the jury reported. Witnesses testified at the inquest that Rhodes' wife Sarah had called police twice that evening to complain about her husband. Geer said he would determine whether to file charges after receiving a report from the state Criminal Investigation Division, which is investigating the case.

Geer said earlier Monday police were told Rhodes had a shotgun when they answered the call, and they found Rhodes with a shotgun in his kitchen with his wife and a neighbor, Larry Reimers. Geer said Bush asked him to put down the gun and then struggled with him over it. The county attorney said Rhodes then aimed the gun at his wife, and Bush shot him. The 12-gauge shotgun was unloaded but Rhodes was carrying shells, Geer said. Bush was accompanied on the call by Patrolman John Thomas, 24, who had joined the Gillette police force five days earlier.

Sturgis man faces timber-cutting charge CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) A South Dakota man was arrested Monday in Rapid City on a charge of cutting timber of federal land in Wyoming, the U.S. attorney's office in Cheyenne said. The attorney's office said William Molitor of Sturgis, S.D., was being held under $1,500 bond. Molitor was indicted by a federal grand jury in Cheyenne earlier this month.

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