The Bellingham Herald from Bellingham, Washington • 1

I 10 Cents a Gannett newspaper Bellingham Washington 98225 THURSDAY April 61972 Volume 83 No 83 I i eave in Vancouver six I gathering in the restaurant at the Sunrise lanes when the wind hit Mrs Graser was working in the nursery at the bowling alley and was crushed under the south wall of the building The wind recorded in Portland just across the Columbia River at 63 miles an hour cut a swath two- to- three blocks wide and about five miles long Some persons were trapped in cars a number of homes were damaged and trees were blown down by the wind described by a civil defense official as a The storm hit a wide area of Northwest Oregon and southwest Washington with high gusts extending as far north as Seattle and beyond A 100-mile-per-hour gust was recorded at Mt Hebo on the Oregon coast (Continued on Page 2 CoL 3) two- major hospitals treated 304 patients 54 of whom remained overnight The dead identified by the Clark county medical officer Dr Arch Hamilton were: Sharon Graser 30 Vancouver employe in the bowling alley Mrs Clifton Clevidence 2 5 Vancouver her 5- year- old daughter Denise and her one-week old infant son Mrs Wilbur Leroy Adams Vancouver and her son Brian Keith Adams about 3 The elementary school a kindergarten through sixth grade school was demolished The roofs also caved in were at Waremart Sunrise Bowling Alley and Bergeron Lumber and Hardware Co Tournament finished About 40 bowling league members had just finished a tournament and were the howling -wind and hail stones the size of golf balls according to a school teacher hit Army Spec 4 Thomas Fuller 25 Vancouver was shopping at the Waremart store lights went out That was the only warning I thought we had been hit by lightning Then all hell -broke loose The roof began to peel off and stuff began to fall all around I screamed for everyone to run to the rear of the buiding But the 20 or 30 shoppers in the store aH ran for the front door when the front wall blew down trapping a half dozen people A National Weather Service spokesman described the sudden storm as a thunderstorm that suddenly went berserk just suddenly went Philip Peck of the Portland office said VACOUVER Wash (UPI) freak windstorm packing the -wallop of a tornado i p-ped through a school and shopping center on the north-eastern edge of this southwest Washington city Wednesday -leaving six -persons dead 304 injured Among the victims were a mother and her two small children who died when the six-inch concrete walls of a supermarket collapsed Two of the other victims a woman and child also were in the Waremart store on the northeastern edge of Vancouver The other victim a woman died when the roof of a bowling alley collapsed Escape deaths None of the fatalities occurred at Peter Ogden Grade School where hundreds of children were just returning to class rooms from lunch when i I i i I wind lifted the roof from the building enrollment was S41 children and 21 teachers The students will be assigned to other classrooms next week officials said AP Wirephoto WHAT WAS ONCE A SCHOOL-Wind storm described by some eyewitnesses as a tornado destroyed Peter Ogden elementary school in Vancouver Wash yesterday resulting in hospitalization of more than 40 pupils The Bombers strike Whole thing collapsed' North Vietnam I was standing at the first checkout counter ready to leave with my back to the windows It started to hail like I remember hearing the hailstones hit the windows Windows went Then a man yelled out! And then the windows went The lights went out and then the windows went everywhere I just dove for the checkout stand looked up and saw the beams falling down I know how that building was put together but the whole' thing collapsed It caved in like a toy box i Editors Note: Lois Severson 27 Vancouver set out Wednesday morning to get her hair done and to buy a gallon of milk Two hours later she was pinned in the wreckage of a grocery store leveled by a savage windstorm Six persons died in the storm five of them in the store She talked to AP reporter Melinda Eden at St Community Hospital several hours after the storm Here is her story: VANCOUVER Wash (AP) I had my hair done and came out about noon I went to have a burger of all things and then went to the store for a lousy gallon of milk Lightning By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Damages were reported throughout the Pacific Northwest Wednesday in the wake of a storm front preceding the disastrous windstorm which kil'ed six persons in Vancouver Wash The Space Needle in Seattle was struck by lightning stalling a service elevator with one person trapped inside On the Seattle waterfront four cargo containers were blown from Terminal 18 on Harbor Island into the East Waterway Boats destroyed In northeast Port'and four pleasure boat moorages along SAIGON The United States today carried out heavy retaliatory air and naval bombardments of North Vietnam In the south four Communist divisions were reported moving into areas north and northwest of Saigon in the most serious threat to the capital since the 1968 Tet offensive Hanoi Radio said 10 American p'anes were shot down in the first hours of a bombing attack north of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) UPI field reports said three F4 Phantoms an unidentified jet fighter plane and a HHS3 Super Jolly Green Giant rescue helicopter were known to have been shot down on both sides of the DMZ The US command reserved comment Four divisions Military sources said four full divisions of 40000 to 50000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops were in Tay Ninh Binh Long and Binh Duong provinces just above Saigon and that heavy fighting was raging in regions 60 to 71 miles from Saigon Some of the Communist troops moved in from Cambodia The US command said the bombardment of North Vietnam by fleets of Air Force and US Navy up to 100 in and by five US 7th Fleet destroyers equipped with missiles and five-inch rifles was in retaliation for the North Vietnamese invasion of South Vietnam The command said the strikes were being carried out STUDENTS LEND A High school students from Fort Vancouver High in Washington rushed to Peter Ogden elementary school which was destroyed in freak wind storm Older students gave aid and comfort to youngsters The two schools were less than a quarter of a mile AP Wirephoto Seattle busing back in effect There was another woman there who was moving around I started screaming at her that I wanted to get I couldn't I stand being cooped up in this hole She held my hands and wiped my forehead and kept telling me know how you She was an older woman and so grateful I know who she is or what happened to her I certainly wish I did I was in this tiny space with my legs behind me and only my head and shoulders sticking out She grabbed my arms and tugged like mad and pulled me out of that hole' Then they took us across the street to the bank and laid us out on the floor The bank building been touched Those bank people were such a help And then they brought me here I know where my husband is When they brought me to the hospital they called his shop but he there They just left a message that his wife had been in an tell anybody where they were taking me He know where I am or if all right Jury deadlocks over Berrigan trial charges HARRISBURG Pa (AP) The attempt to prove that antiwar priest Philip Berrigan and six others formed a conspiracy that included a plot to kidnap presidential aide Henry A Kissinger has resulted in a deadlocked jury The jury found Berrigan and a nun who worked with him guilty on seven counts involving letters smuggled in and out of prison but failed to agree on the 1500-word conspiracy count that was the key element in the federal case That count charged that the seven unlawfully wilfully and knowingly to kidnap Kissinger blow up heating tunnels under federal buildings in Washington and vandalize draft board offices Berrigan remains in prison on other charges while bail has been continued for the remaining defendants until the government decides whether to seek a new trial Chief prosecutor William Lynch declined to specu'ate on what further action might be taken although before the jury came in he had said would never drop these The US District Court jury of nine women and three men added sue guilty verdicts Wednesday to the one it had returned Sunday but said it could not agree on the other three counts in the 10-count indictment Left unresolved were the general conspiracy charge in-and two other charges that said volving all seven defendants two letters involved in the case were mailed in violation of US contained kidnap threats which postal regulations The beams came crashing down everywhere There was one across the top of the checkout counter and another one fell on top of that one the other way I ended up in this little space I was afraid to move my feet back because I thought the rubble would shift rather have my legs crushed than be dead under all that stuff I was very cool calm Then the workmen came in and said they get me out until they cleared the debris away I get panicky until they told me I was pinnecLAnd then they just went away and left me Needle ton as dust storms reduced visibility to nearly zero Rig overturned At Burbank Wash a tractor-trailer rig overturned on a US 12 bridge over the Snake River and blocked both lanes of traffic Swirls of dust in the Prine-ville area of north central Oregon resulted in a four-vehicle accident and injuries to five persons Rain and hailstorms were reported in areas of Washington High wind also damaged an airplane hangar at Boring Ore and the Curry County Jail under construction at Gold Beach Ore The President renewed his pledge to develop alternate tax sources to finance public schools and thus relieve the burden on property taxes For the first time however Nixon said he would include in that program specific proposals for aid to private schools He has -never spelled out the alternative tax he has in mind but other officials have said the administration is giving serious consideration to a value-added a sort of national sales tax rise perhaps as much as 216 billion a year The President cautioned that it would take time to develop his program fully probably indicating no relief either for property taxes or for private schools until next year at the earliest Nixon planning visit to Iran WASHINGTON (AP) The President and Mrs Nixon will visit Iran on May 30-31 following an eight-day stay in the Soviet Union the White House announced today because the invasion had endangered the lives of the diminishing American troops in South Vietnam It was the first time since the 1968 bomb halt ordered by President Lyndon Johnson that the bombings were not called strikes Military sources said Communists troops were closing in on three sides on the district town of Loc Ninh 75 miles north of Saigon and that casualties on both sides were as the outnumbered South Vietnamese fought back Egypt breaking Jordanian ties WASHINGTON (AP) Egypt is breaking off diplomatic relations with Jordan according to a Cairo announcement heard by US radio monitors today The Cairo broadcast said the deputy prime minister and minister of information announced after a Cabinet meeting today that off diplomatic relations with Jordan has become a necessity of the No further explanation was immediately available King Hussein has been accused by Arab enemies of being too friendly toward Israel Hussett was in Washington last week where he talked with US leaders and underwent a medical checkup He was then said to have left for a Florida vacation pact If the Consumer Price Index of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics for April 15 1973 shows an increase over toe index for this April 15 all rates are to be increased by such a percentage Die union had sought 2425 an hour retroactive to Jan 1 and a 40-hour week in a one-year contract Likes two years Transit Commission member Stockton who handled the contract negotiations for -the three-member commission said transit was to get a two-year He said the increases mean are still within our The drivers will get seven paid holidays something they have not had They are New Day Memorial Day Independence Day Labor Day Thanksgiving Day and Christmas The first paid holiday under the new contract will be Memorial Day Stockton commented that (Continued on Page 2 Col 2) Nixon promises support for private schools Bus drivers strikes Space the south shore of the Columbia River were destroyed by high wind causing an estimated 2500000 damage A boat repair service operator and an employe escaped injury in the collapse of their drydock building An estimated 50 cabin cruisers were buried in debris and several small sailboats were smashed against each other High wind was reported in eastern sections of Washington and Oregon Two trailers at a Creston park were destroyed and the occupant of one was injured Several minor traffic accidents were reported in the lower Yakima Valley in Washing educators from nursery school through college The President also touched briefly in his text on school busing reviewing his recent proposals to Congress to declare a moratorium until the middle of next year on court busing degrees and to approve new legislation to curb excessive busing Nixon said: reliance on cross-city busing of school children has failed to meet either of its intended purposes promote quality education for all and to end the racial isolation which we all agree must be ended Instead busing has disrupted and divided increasing numbers of schools and communities Alternate taxes the strongest proponents of busing recognize it is impossible to transport pupils on a scale large enough to solve the most pressing problem of all For even the most massive busing imaginable would still leave the vast majority of black and poor children in the inferior schools of the inner city lost generation deprived of file educational opportunity which they like all Americans are OLYMPIA (UPI) The State Supreme Court today overturned a King County Superior Court injunction which placed a one-year ban on implementation of an integration program for Seattle schools The high court unanimously said the Seattle School Board had the right to adopt a plan to end de facto segregation in 1970 The plan had been challenged by a group called Citizens Against Mandatory Busing (CAMB) However the Supreme Court said the school integration plan an exercise of honest and conscientious No principle know of no principle of law upon which a court would be justified in setting it the opinion by Justice Frank Hale said While the court upheld the action of the Seattle School Board on an administrative standpoint the ruling did not dir rectly deal with the over-all issue of mandatory busing The court said that the issues of this case we are not called upon to resolve the wisdom of mandatory busing and therefore we express no opinion at this In upholding the action of the Seattle School Board the court said the plaintiffs (CAMB) not propose here' nor can we 4lm4 4kow liovrA MvmABA4 elsewhere a practical effective alternative to the plan which was adopted by the think the procedure followed by the board was a reasonable one by any definition of that the Supreme Court said fact that the trial court thought that the board was unwise in deciding to implement the plan immediately after its adoption was not a basis for ordering a In another area the court rejected the idea that parents have the right to send their children to neighborhood schools CAMB attorneys had insisted there was such a right and that it was a property right However the high court said the right only because it was given to them (the parents) by school the authority which gives the right may take it the court said Herald today Aim Landers 15 Classified: 23-28 Comics' 22 Editorial 14 Entertainment 22 Horoscope 4 Good Health 11 Northwest Outdoors 7 Obituaries 2 Sports 6 Stocks 9 Weather 2 Women 15-16 PHILADELPHIA (UPI) -President Nixon promised the Catholic schoolmasters today that his long-promised education finance reform plan will include measures designed to preserve the nonpublic school Die President said the nation's private schools educate 52 million children 83 per cent of them in Catholic schools facing a financial of the first am irrevocably committed to the proposition that America needs her nonpublic schoolsthat those nonpublic schools need help and that therefore we must and will find ways to provide that Nixon said The President made the statements in a prepared speech to the 69th annual convention of the National Catholic Education Association a group which includes Catholic State traffic toll OLYMPIA Wash (AP) Washington highway fatalities as reported Thursday by the State Patrol: 1972 to date: 180 1971 to date: 205 Last 24 hours: 2 accept By GLENN LARSON Of Die Bellingham Herald Bus drivers and Bellingham Transit Commission have signed a two year union contract that gives the drivers an 18-cent hourly pay increase now It ties future wages to the federal cost of living index Drivers represented by Division 843 Amalgamated Transit Union accepted the contract last night local President John Dempster said Transit Commission members signed the pact yesterday Die terms: Retroactive pay will get 23-43 an hour for a 48-hour work week The increase from about 5 per will be retroactive to Jan 1 of April 1 1973 the rate will be 2412 an hour but the work week will go to 40 hours with less than one year of service will get 15 cents an hour less than toe regular rate VJ I i Jfc- A ji vi A A A- A A.