Casper Star-Tribune from Casper, Wyoming • 1

Good Morning, It'i Monday, January 10, 1977 ta4. mm Casper NE Home Final 1 COPYRIGHT 1976-Howard Publlcallom. Inc. Statewide Coverage Wyomlng'slfgost Newspaper 86TH YEAR -No. 10 CASPER, WYOMING WORll EHERIY CAPITAL frk 15Cnts bomb plot results in two arrests 1 I Bauer's Super Service, 1131 W.

Lin-colnway. As the man told authorities he'd been instructed, he set down the luggage while pretending to make a call, then picked up nnnthor Hanlltal culMaca Hafra And, they said riding the bus or following by auto were authorities including Casper Police Chief Robert ZIpay, police In vestigations Commander Bill Claxton and Chief Investigator Bob Spencer of the Natrona County Sheriff's Office. Estes said O'Neal and Kruckenberg, whose names had been provided Casper police by an Informant, travelled from Casper to Cheyenne Saturday morning. Laramie County Sheriff Dennis Flynn said a third man, an apparently unwitting "Indigent-type" hired to claim the suitcase, took it in a cab to a phone booth near entering the cab. Kruckenberg was arrested as he retrieved the original suitcase, Flynn said.

Estes and Natrona County Undersherlff Ray Clark arrested O'Neal at the Husky Terminal, 2200 W. Lincolnway, authorities said. Boycott is feared By MARGUARET PETERSON Staff Writer CHEYENNE Two men were being held Sunday in connection with an attempt to extort $1 million by threatening to blow up a Casper refinery, authorities said. Being held In Laramie County Jail pending federal charges in the extortion attempt against Amoco Oil Co. were two Casper men, David O'Neal, 35, 146 S.

Kimball, and Wayne W. Kruckenberg, 23, 315S.Durbin. The two were arrested In Cheyenne late Saturday after Kruckenberg attempted to retrieve from a prearranged drop site a suitcase supposed to contain the money. "Beautiful" cooperation among five law enforcement agencies involved in the three-week investigation resulted In the arrests, authorities said. Involved were the FBI, Natrona and Laramie county sheriffs offices, and Casper and Cheyenne police departments.

Natrona County Sheriff Bill Estes said Amoco officials Dec. 21 reported receiving the first of several extortion letters purportedly from the American Liberation Front, a militant Indian organization. "But they didn't have anything to do with (the ALF)," Estes added. He said Amoco's replies to subsequent letters containing instructions for delivering the money were made in classified ads in the "Personals" section of the Casper Star-Tribune. Instructions called for Amoco to pack the money in a suitcase and ship it by bus to Cheyenne, while mailing the claim check to an address provided, he said.

The directions ostensibly were followed, Estes said, including placement of another classified Friday advising "ALF Ren-desvous Cheyenne." But authorities said the suitcase was packed, not with $1 million, but largely with crime prevention pamphlets. shortly alter the organization's executive board meets Jan. 24 and 25 to determine how much coffee will be available for UP workers UNION PACIFIC laborers work with hot rail in yard in Laramie. Despite the company's emphasis on safety, records show numerous accident coverups have occurred in Wyoming. export in the next s)x mo Tanker docks UP's safety failure noted BOGOTA, Colombia (UPI) Colombia and Brazil Sunday proposed the International Coffee Organization meet in London next month to stabilize coffee prices and head off a consumer boycott.

"A boycott against coffee, if it would be successful, would be a calamity," said Colombian President Lopez Michelsen. In a message to Brazilian President Ernesto Geisel, Michelsen proposed the' two nations "seek a stabilization of the prices at their present levels or at levels that we would judge to be more adequate. Geisel said the coffee-growing states should search for a policy to "guarantee tranquility In the coffee market" and consider the problems of supplying the market during 1977-78 at a meeting of the organization. The presidents' messages were made public here Sunday. The proposed meeting would come CAPE MAY, N.J.

(UPI) An oil tanker partially disabled In an explosion off the Virginia coast was forced by rough seas to change course and dock near Cape May Sunday, the Coast Guard reported. A Coast Guard spokesman said the ship's captain originally planned to dock in New York but that bad weather and complications from Friday's blast forced him to sail the 795-foot Liberian-registered tanker Mary Ann to the Harbor of Refuge in the Delaware Bay. The ship, carrying no oil, dropped anchor In the harbor at about 2 p.m., the spokesman said. Fox repeatedly referred to the situation as "embarrassing." He further stated that "Utah Division supervision is responsible for the efforts made to cover up" one of the cases. He also listed other supervisors who were responsible for other cover-ups.

In subsequent correspondence, Kenefick instructed Fox to "tighten up the reporting procedure." He also wrote to Dept. of Transportation officials and assured them UP "intended to report properly all accidents which should be reported." But contrary to this statement, the falsification continued. In January, 1974, UP switchman J.E. Sahlle was coupling air hoses between two railroad cars when the cars began to move. According to the accident report filed with the Federal Railroad Administration, Sahlle was unable to get Gas well fire out of control BY DAN PARTRIDGE SUte Editor and BILL SCOTT EDITOR'S NOTE: Thii Is the second in a series about safety In tbe Union Pacific Railroad and practices brought to light in a recent embezzlement trial.

LARAMIE When it comes to safety, the Union Pacific is a failure. By their own admission, top railroad officials have acknowledged they knew of accident cover-ups and In fact voluntarily withdrew the railroad from consideration for tbe coveted E.H. Harriman safety award. The railroad's failure to meet those standards espoused by safety-conscious executives was revealed in correspondence admitted as evidence In a recent embezzlement bearing which resulted in dismissal of charges against James Booras, former UP work equipment supervisor and William Hulme, owmer of Laramie Auto Parts. In a letter dated May 1972, from W.J.

Fox, UP vice president to J.C. Kenefick, UP president, Fox listed several Injuries that had not been reported to the Interstate Commerce Commission as required by federal law. These injuries had been uncovered by investigators of the VS. Dept. of Transportation and resulted In disqualification of the UP for the Harriman Award in 1971.

Fox wrote that "three of these citations (for failure to report accidents) are and the injuries should have Deen reported." field service company employe who was present as the crew was preparing the well for production. Initial reports indicate they were in the process of installing the final valve assembly, called a "Christmas tree, on the well when it exploded. Forest Oil Co. is the owner of the well, which is located some 37 miles east of Rock Springs on the south side of 1-80. explosion was still under way and he declined comment.

Vase said the outcome of the agency's investigation would probably have to wait until the fire was put out so the area around the drill hole could be inspected. Four men working for Signal Drilling Co. were on the drilling platform at the time of the explosion, In addition to an oil THE OLD clear and his boot was caught between the wheel and the rail. According to the report, Sahlie's Injury was a "hairline fracture to tip of small toe left foot." The report also states that Sahlle died of a heart attack, which was not attributable to the accident. However, the pathologist, Dr.

Galyn Stan, who performed the autopsy concluded that the switchman's death was due to a "multiple pulmonary In other words, tissue injured in Sahlie's foot entered the blood stream and vessels of the lung, causing his death.The pathologist concluded that Sahlle died as a result of the accident. Two months later, In March, 1974, a letter was sent to the Federal Railroad Administration Informing them of the error and requesting the report be corrected. Prior to this, on April 30, Kenefick had written a letter to Harold F. Hammond, chairman of the Harriman Awards selection Committee, asking them not to consider UP for the Harriman Award for 1975. Details of another accident cover-up were unveiled when Jack Moore, former Cheyenne Division engineer took the witness stand in the embezzlement hearing.

Employe Cecil Mars wrecked a "Hi-rail" (an automobile with railroad wheels). Mars was injured, but according to Moore filed no claim and his Injuries were never attributed, in a report, to the. accident. He also said things could happen to employes Involved In accidents "like being fired." Normally, "being fired" results In no more than a temporary layoff for employes blamed in an accident, as the railroad routinely rehires them after a few days or weeks. Moore told the court the UP aspires to a high safety record, and wants to win Harriman awards.

R.H. Urlch, former UP district engineer and Moore's former boss, said he knew Kenefick wanted the safety program improved. He said he had covered up some accidents in which no one was hurt. He also stated he knew his employes sometimes had to ignore regulations in order to get their jobs done. Urich also said that when you work for the railroad, you have to do what your boss tells you to do.

NEXT: A man killer? By PAUL KRZA POINT OF ROCKS A fire-fighting firm hopes to extinguish Monday a gas well fire which has been burning out of control since it exploded Friday evening. Sweetwater County Coroner Peter Vase said efforts to recover the body of one of the two explosion victims were futile Sunday because of its nearness to the flames. He said recovery may have to wait until the natural gas blaze is extinguished, and "they will try to get it out tommorrow (today)." A crew from the Houston firm Red Ac' ir, is on the scene working to put out the fire. Other crews at the scene Sunday succeeded In removing the scorched but still standing rig, said Vase. "The only thing left there now, is the drill hole," he said.

An official with the Wyoming Occupational Safety and Health Administration In Rock Springs said an investigation to explain the cause of the Wyoming should have played Minnesota in the-Stupor-Fiesta Bowl. State senator will probe bon uses for UW coaches WUkfB 1 that he disliked the bonuses, partially because Akers left and still received the award. "I question the human side of it when there are old people up here who need help, and to whom $100 would be a lot of money," Novotny said. 'This bothers me. I don't know how they can be that generous.

I guess it's where you place your values." Novotny said he knew of no organized effort In the state to investigate the bonuses. Editorials 4 Wyoming Living 7 Sports Big Wyoming 11 Comics 12 RIVERTON A Fremont County state senator plans to "check out" the bonuses given to the University of Wyoming football staff. Sen. Robert Novotny, R-Fremont, said he will check on the source of the money used for the $50,000 In bonuses recently given to former Wyoming coach Fred Akers and his staff. He said he would check while he is in Cheyenne for the upcoming legislative session.

If the bonuses came from Income funds, Novotny said, "then I don't think they can use it for bonuses." He added, however, that he must talk to the state attorney general before being sure that such use of income funds would be illegal. Novotny said the university justifies its authority by claiming that the bonuses came from "grants and gifts," over which the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees can exercise complete control. He said he does not wish "to stir up any trouble," and that he will withhold complete judgment until further Investigation. But he asserted that bonuses should be Hospital walkout discounted Included In contracts and not "just come out of the clear blue." Novotny admitted "minimum wage areas" cited recently as giving the hospital Its much higher than average employe turnover. Personnel director Dick Clarke last month told hospital trustees that turnover among employes climbed from 66 per cent In 1975 to 77.1 per cent during 1976.

The national average is about 55 per cent, he said. Clarke attributed the high turnover rate "in large part" to the local area's abundance of higher-paying jobs, and said "for the most part" It was confined to employes with less than one year's service. Clarke couldn't be reached late Sunday about the status of a wage survey he said last month had been Initiated within the county and "with health care In the rest of the state." Spencer disputed the caller's assertion that some hospital employes for years earn no more than the federal minimum By MARGUARET PETERSON Staff Writer CASPER Hospital administrator Lewis Spencer Sunday discounted reports of an impending walkout by some hospital departments. "Oh, I don't think so," Lewis said about the possibility of a one-day strike Wednesday by at least three departments. An anonymous caller claiming to be a hospital employe told the Casper Star-Tribune that representatives of the dietary, maintenance and housekeeping departments announced to Spencer they would walk out unless the hospital met their demands for higher pay Nurses' aides also "were pretty upset" and might join the strike, the caller reported.

A current employe contacted confirmed "they're gonna walk out." Those four departments were among wage. "For example, our minimum wage is higher (at $2.45 per hour) than the statuatory minimum (of and it increases each July for everybody," he said. Moreover, Spencer said the meeting between him and the three departments "never did take place." He attributed the reports to "a walking mass of misinformation," a "hallway bull session between two-three people with two-three people overhearing it. "We overheard (of the reported i walkout) In a round-about way; we never did pursue It," he said. Such a walkout would be illegal, he said in response to a question.

Moreover, hospital policy "so I understand, Is if anything like this happens, it means automatic termination." Li 'I Forecast J2. SNOW? See Page 10 FIREFIGHTERS hope today to control a gas well fire near Point of Rocks which has been burning since it exploded Friday night, killing two workers (Picture by Paul Krza). Burning.