Abilene Reporter-News, The (Newspaper) - August 23, 1966, Abilene, Texas OR WITH OFFENSE TO FRIENDS OR FOES WE SKETCH YOUR WORLD EXACTLY AS IT i tut 86TH NO. 68 79604, TUESDAY AUGUST 23, PAGES IN FOUR SECTIONS 5 CENTS DAILY 15 CENTS SUNDAY Associated Press RESCUERS SEARCH CHURCH are shown digging through rubble of the Church of God in Christ Negro church at Plainview Monday night after an apparent natural gas explosion sent the building tumbling down on an estimated 200 One woman was killed and more than 50 Tex. A thundering explosion sent the roof crashing down last night on 200 worshipers in the Church of God in Christ debris killed a woman and injured 53 other Twelve persons were trapped time as a small fire broke and was quickly quenched in the concrete block and frame After preliminary tion Plainview's director lic Hoyt natural gas apparently was to are that a gas possibly set off an electric Curry re- 'The United Baptist choir was singing when it said elder Henry 32. lights went then there was an explosion that blew the floor out of the building and then the top caved in. blew me up in the then I fell back in the chair where I had been sitting and turned over Mrs. E. N. wife of the Negro said a capacity crowd of 200 or more filled the church for an service opening a weeklong and there were 65 in the loft The Rev. Mr. hurled across the church and against a was His wife had stepped next door shortly before the Rescuers plodded through mud left by two days of rain to sift said the using a truck crane to hoist big pieces of the They found the body of Mrs. A. about 45, of beneath timbers which crashed down on the rostrum where she was She was district president of the church's women's Motorists in hundreds of cars flocked to the church on the north side of a West Texas farming center for Many helped remove the To help get them to ambulances came from at least five other towns in this vicinity Hale Lockney and Doctors kept 28 of the injured in hospitals The rest were treated and A falling beam pinned David Lewis of Lubbock and his who were sitting near the back of the church at LIST OF INJURED Tex. Hospitals admitted 28 persons for treatment of injuries as an explosion wrecked the Church of God in Christ here Monday They listed these At Plainview Hospital Plainview unless otherwise 1. Calvin E. 2. Texie Riggins 3. The Rev. Ollie Hines 4. Larry Williams 5 and 6. Johnny Jackson and his wife 7 The Rev. E. N. Givens 8. Virginia Fowler 9. Ruth le 10. Willie Floydada 11 Thomas Riggins 13. Floydada 14. Vera Lubbock 16. Gladys 19. 20. 21. 17. Sanson 18. Shellman Ethel Shellman Ruby Minner Thelma Carter 22. Elizabeth Phillips 23. Willie Lockney At Medical Center Hospital from Plainview unless otherwise 24. Doris Rails 25. Louise Ray 26. Gracey McAdoo 27. T. McAdoo 28. Eva Ballenton end from the but they apparently escaped serious in- Lewis said many persons escaped because the toppling roof lodged about five feet above the floor on the side including the front Odell 70, a church had been for the first I knew Duncan was up in the I was right near three or four feet in the and when T came down there were people piled right on wiggled out from under a door and picked up three dren and carried them Then I went back and helped three women get The blast occurred about p.m. during a song ending the Firemen found Lois of one of the dozen trapped in the shattered beneath part of the She was the last to be removed and taken to a Seven Crewmen Ki When U.S. Ship Mined Ky Willing To Exchange made no contact with the Viet South Viet Nam Cong units believed to be A Communist mine ex- jng jn the jungle swampland in plosion ripped today into the American freighter Baton Rouge laden with war supplies for the fighting forces in Viet and sank her to main deck level in the Saigon River 22 miles southeast of this Seven of the 45 American crewmen were killed and er suffered a fractured arm as water flooded the ship's engine room from a gaping hole in the port The Baton Rouge tory grounded beside the south where salvage crews Another Marine force had landed a week earlier 50 miles east of Both were signed a blocking role in tion a combined sweep against the Viet Cong 5th quickly started work under As a security precaution the Vietnamese navy temporarily closed the one of ths two main channels of the river between Saigon and the South China though the ship was off to one swamps line the river South Vietnamese troops worked and U.S. patrol boats and helicopter gun crews kept watch over river as a salvage ship and four tugs worked to transship the supplies and rig the Baton Rouge Victory for Elsewhere in the the U.S. military command dis- closed that a U.S. Marine force strong ed on beaches 50 miles southeast of Saigon early and in the 36 hours that followed the landings had E IT ABILENE Municipal Airport Total for Year Normal for Year 1410 Oldham 582 E. N. 23 682 E. N. 15 Dyess AFB Lake Kirby Lake Phantom ALBANY ANSON BAIRD BALLINGER COLORADO CITY HASKELL KNOX CITY LORAINE MERKEL OLD GLORY 13.33 15.67 Tr Tr. 1.75 tr. Tr. 1.00 2.30 Tr. 1.85 No other major ground action was In the air war over North Viet four U.S. Air Force Thunder chiefs tangled with four Monday in a minute aerial battle 20 miles north of attacked the while they bombing a road 10 miles north of the Both sides ex- changed cannon a U. S. spokesman and then gaged without damage to either The MIG encounter came while American pilots flew 80 missions over the Communist striking at 12 storage de- pots and three surface-to-air missile among other Pilots reported they severely STITH Tr. oil depots and set off numerous secondary Among other pilots claimed South Viet Nam Nguyen Cao Ky old a New York rabbi today he s willing to exchange North Vietnamese prisoners for U.S. pilots held in I would even make an en Ky told Rabbi Schulem spiritual leader of Young Israel who spent an hour with the ese Rabbi Rubin took Ky's re- marks to mean that he would exchange more North ese prisoners than North Viet rn would The rabbi quoted Ky as know the issue s an emotional and could bring on World War And I know the prisoners are suffering humiliation and I would do everything in my power to get them Several hundred North prisoners are held in South 40 American known to have captured in North Viet 9 16 storage buildings and 5 antiaircraft The Air Force said destroyed or damaged 20 guns in one of the antiaircraft sites 95 miles northwest of Floating South Hit For a third straight U.S. bombers staged two raids today on South Viet One formation of the bombers struck at a Viet Cong stronghold 65 miles northwest of Saigon near the Cambodian Another wave hit a Viet Cong troop concentration 45 miles southeast of where a regiment of Communist troops had been sighted j The mining of the Baton i Rouge Victory capped a week of stepped-up Viet Cong terrorism See U. S. Pg. 2-A, Col. 7 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS foot and a half of water rushed through the hamlet of Dell City in far West Texas and major highways around Van Horn and Sierra Blanca still were closed after downpours of unusual for far West Muddy water overflowed road tracks and highways and knocked over telephone cutting off communications ex- cept by radio to the usually arid West Texas showers continued to fall in the Abilene area day after rains Monday night ranged up to 2.30 the amount gauged at further rain existed 30 per cent tonight and 20 per cent said forecaster Dennis Noble at the U. S. ther Bureau State police at Pecos said Dell City 5 miles from the New Mexico border was marooned with water rush ing in the No injuries Motorists looking for an open oute between El Paso and Odessa and leading eventually to must detour far south to Marfa and Alpine on U.S. 90, now open at Van All traffic from far West as into the Carlsbad Caverns area of New Mexico was also cut where U.S. 62-180 is y flooded with many portions still under the Highway Department Highway officials said U.S. 0 closed at a threatened three miles east of Van 3orn, and Texas 54 north ol Van would not be Motorists had overnight in Van Horn waiting for the waters in the usually bone dry creeks to There were similar delays for train travelers because of water covering the Texas Pacific tracks at Wild Horse in the same and also the Southern Pacific tracks in the area to the south near Sierra U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ESSA WEATHER BUREAU Map Pg. 3-A) ABILENE AND VICINITY Mostly cloudy and mild with scattered showers through Probability ot measurable rain today per tonight 30 per day 50 per cent. High temperature day 85, overnight 45-70, Wednesday W. NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST Cloudy and mild In partly cloudy and warm in south and widely scattered ers and a few thunderstorms in centra and north Low tonight 65 to 75 High Wednesday M to NORTHWEST Mostly scattered showers a few storms tonight and A little warmer Low tonight 50 to it. High Wednesday 72 to 88. SOUTHWEST Cloudy to ly cloudy and Wednesday with decreasing A little warmer in north Low 10- night 66 to p.m. to 74. High Wednesday 78 71 78 78 75 W 75 2; 00 am 74 74 72 71 70 tft 70 72 72 72 75 High tow for V hours ending ami low umc lait year 75. sunset Barometer reading at 3I.W. Dyess Unit Rated The 96th Combat Defense at Dyess has been rated the best CDS group in ond Air By 2nd AF Headquarters the squadron will be by the Strategic Air Command Headquarters at a date to be announced to estimate whether it is also the best in The 2nd AF evaluation of the 96th carried on from 30, 1965, through July 1, The evaluation was based on a class number one That a rating which is con- cerned with a CDS group on a SAC operated Amarillo CDS won the class number two for being the best CDS on a base not ed by but with a SAC unit Rationed The evaluation consisted of observing and rating all phases of operations including law en- forcement confinement and In all phases the 96th was noted for exceptional ability and outstanding The evaluation at SAC levei will be almost the same with a few ad- aspects to be taken into An emergency procedures operation may be- This operation is very similar to the operational readiness in- conducted on the base Industrials Rise In Heavy Trading Industrials were up 2.51, rails off and utilities up at the end of fifth hour trading Tuesday on the New York Stock according to Abilene office of Co. was shares Rejected Men Due NEW YORK tary of Defense Robert S. Namara disclosed today Penta- gon plans to accept for military raining in the next 10 months men ordinarily ied because of education and health He said the number would to in the next year and ia succeeding The men would undergo sive training using facilities of Defense Department argest single educational com- plex the world has ever to become satisfactory McNamara said in a speech prepared for delivery to convention of the Veterans of Foreign Aides in Washington de- scribed the training effort as unique and said men taken into program like draftees and be under military authority of the Men for the program will come from those among both volunteers and draftees who fail to measure up to acceptance Pentagon spokesmen said 85 per cent or more of such ees are expected to qualify for military Those who do not See Pg. 2-A, Col. 3 54 Due In October day by the Taylor Callahan uff d Selective Service The same number of men will be confined to bed with an injured BEATLES BRING THEM TO THE BRINK New York City police two teenage girls from a 21st floor setback of the Americana Hotel Monday after the girls threatened to jump we get to see the The British pop singing group was quartered in the Warwick right a block Antiwar Activity Termed No Threat By CARL P. LEUBSDORF undesirable for more HOLLYWOOD cis whose virile handsomeness made him one of the first great died today at 83 after a fall in his who entered films A draft quota of 54 men for in 1911 and was scheduled to October was announced a new next f n Sund and was J drafted in Board clerk Mrs. Capitola Meyerdirk said that the men will be inducted Oct. 20 and 24. No number was given on the October call physical ex- aminations that precede The statewide October draft call will be and will be the highest since May 1953 ward close of the Korean War when Texans were ed into the armed The September and October lahan County men are the est since the United States in- volvement in Viet Mrs. Meyerdirk right shoulder and Another j this morning proved The actor cherished the ing he earned at the San Diego World's Fair in of the He retained the title through his though he had not starred in since the 1920s. Bushman's heyday in came in the first decade of the when he shared the limelight with such stars as Mary Charlie Chaplin and William S. Bushman was the most romantic of the new a towering figure with classic profile WASHINGTON ty Atty. Gen. Ramsey Clark told the House Committee on Un- American Activities today that current antiwar activity hardly be considered a and no need for new because a panoply of state and ly protects the national inter- In a Clark said legislation aimed at Americans who try to block shipment of troops or to Viet Nam or seek to send supplies to the Viet SECTION A SECTION 3 J 7 SECTION C TV V. 7 V. 7 D sons than lack of Committee members planned to question Clark about whether Che Justice Department had prosecuted Americans who have solicited or sent supplies or money to the Viet Cong and North Clark said the whose chief sponsor is the acting com- Joe R. would inject federal law into state and local He said there is indication that state and local law enforcement is not doing the necessary he said that proposed prohibitions against urging or soliciting activity against the Viet Nam war not add any protection and 6-7 jeopardize the purposes of fundamental rights ot j Americans by rising j ment of constitutional rights of 4-5 instances of vain acts by a handful of extremists to aid the enemy or obstruct our i armed forces have he
