Indiana Evening Gazette (Newspaper) - October 20, 1971, Indiana, Pennsylvania TEDDY The Indiana County Newspaper That Serves Every Member of the Family Nowadays kids recall with fondness the pies mother used to defrost Volume 94 Four Sections Indiana Pennsylvania Wednesday October 20 1971 Thirtysix Pages City County EDITION Fifteen Cents 15 Dead In Nursing Home Fire Firemen fight blaze that snuffed out 15 lives at Honesdale Pa Wayne County Coroner Robert F Jennings checks bodies of 15 victims Policeman Slain Suspect Held In Shootings Another Patrolman Seriously Wounded On Street Corner BELLEFONTE Pa AP A 48yearold Belle fonte man was to be arraigned today on a charge of murder in the fatal shooting of one local policeman and the serious wounding of another Tuesday State police identified the suspect as John J Tres sler Sr Killed while standing on a downtown street corner was Patrolman Robert Seymore 29 a father of five He was shot four times with a rifle from a passing car police said The wounded officer was identified as Clarence Sea ward father of four and a parttime member of the Belle fonte police force Tressler was arrested about 50 miles east of here in Teachers Appealing Labor Ruling HARRISBURG AP A statewide teachers organiza tion is appealing a State Labor Relations Board decision that a school board need not bar gain collectively on certain noneconomic items Clarence Morrison staff at torney for the Pennsylvania State Education Association said Tuesday he was filing formal papers with the Labor Board The board must hold a hearing on the appeal In addition to announcement two inter esting facets of the case in State College teachers and their school board have surfaced While teachers and school board members have talked of the decision as prec it may only be so in a narrow sense In other words the Labor Relations Board made no sweeping in See Page 5 Column 4 Obituaries on page 34 MITCHELL Harry 51 formerly of Indiana Mrs Es ther 59 Marion Cen ter RD 2 Mrs Helen 71 Saltsburg RD 1 Now RIDENOUR John 70 Apollo RD 3 Joseph 76 404 Me Arthur Blairs ville LATE DEATH DOUGLASS Vera Randall 76 Indiana open Monday Thurs and Fit nites till 9 Wed Th tfx a wooded area near where he reportedly abandoned his car along Interstate 80 after a po lice chase Police said he had three 22 caliber rifles in his possession but gave up with out resistance Police said the original re ports indicated the shots came from a brown late model se dan possibly containing three men Police said the reports that others were involved were still unconfirmed The officers fired back at the car emptying their service revolvers the report said According to the state attor ney generals office Tressler had been notified earlier in the day that the state was seeking a court order to close a dump he owned because of alleged open burning viola See Page 5 Column 4 I Blairsville Shooting f Murder Case I j Hearing Slated f I BLAIRSVILLE A murder charge hearing slated for 11 today before District Magistrate James P Lam fj I bert in Blairsville has been continued upon request of fj the defense attorney for Hans P Unruh 28 of Blairs 1 ville accused in the fatal shooting Unruh apprehended by state and Blairsville i following the fatal shooting of Blairsville Taxi Co oper 1 Clifford L McAdams 58 of Blairsville on Oct 14 i has been in Indiana County Jail since the night of the i I shooting No date has been set for the hearing according to Mr Lambert McAdams was shot in the right side while driving his 1 fj taxi and nearby residents identified Unruh as the pan s seen fleeing the taxi and carrying a rifle or i When arrested at that night in the i 1 Central Railroad yards in Blairsville Unruh was carry i I ing a millimeter rifle SHOOTING SUSPECT Handcuffed and surrounded by State Police John R Tressler of Coal ville RD 1 Pa is led to a police car last night after police apprehended him near Interstate 80 and the Jersey Shore exit Police returned Tressler to Bellefonte Pa in connection with the snooting of two policemen AP Wirephoto Nice Weather Brenizer Man Will Continue Chief Tommy Hawk once more urges residents to get their outdoor projects com while the venerable Chief keeps the weather warm and comfortable The Chief says it will be fair and mild again tonight with the lows in the mid 40s to low 50s Thursday will be partly cloudy and warm with highs in the 70s Police Chase BLAIRSVILLE A 22year old Brenizer man narrowly es caped serious injury early to day after twice failing to heed a signal to stop by two uni formed Blairsville police cers Forced off Route 217 just south of the borough line and arrested was William S Dixon Police planned to file charges of assault and battery and fail ure to stop on command by a uniformed police officer The incident took place at when Patrolman Vince Zummo signaled Dixon to stop in the 100block of E Market St Patrolman Zummo said Dixon forced him to jump the curb to avoid being hit He then used his portable radio to alert Patrolman James Gar land in the police cruiser Patrolman Garland stopped the cruiser on S Walnut St and with the red light flashing attempted to flag down Dixon who allegedly attempted to run down officer Garland Garland fired several shots at the fleeing car and then jumped into the police cruiser forcing Dixon off the road about onehalf mile away and making the arrest One bullet penetrated the rear of the car almost directly behind the driver while the second bullet struck just below the bumper on the right rear Dixon was to appear before District Magistrate James P Lambert this morning See photo on page 5 Violence Reported In Strike CHARLESTON W Va AP The 20day old strike against the na tions soft coal industry which begin with a marked lack of picketing is producing increasing reports of picketing and violence and the ripples of unemployment contin ue to spread A roving band of several hundred men reportedly mine workers raced along the Ohio Valley Tuesday shutting down loading operations at a ion strip mine operation and reportedly setting fires at an other mine operation In Indiana where miners are striking as they await settlement on a new threeyear contract the In diana Coal Producers Associ ations reported some elec generating plants have as little as 15 days supply of coal left Welfare offices in southern West Virginia reported Tues day that more than indi vidual applications had been filed for federal food stamp benefits The quietly walked off their jobs at mid night Sept 30 when the unions old contract with the Bituminous Coal Operators Association expired The shut down now affects an esti mated coal miners in 20 states Contract negotiations re Tuesday after a four day hiatus as United Mine Workers President W A Tony Boyle warned the striking men wouldnt return to work until they win an ac contract Boyle said coal operators had yet to make a serious of fer and charged that huge fuel conglomerates and big steel companies are dominat ing the bargaining and refus ing to reach a settlement The union wants a wage increase to a day doubl ing of the 40cent per ton of coal royalty paid into the unions welfare and retire ment fund and other benefits Meanwhile the lack of new ly mined coal is resulting in increasing layoffs among rail road and steel workers The Chesapeake Ohio Railroad reported Tuesday it had laid off 75 accounting de personnel in Rich mond and furloughed 95 per cent of its work force at its yards at Peach Creek in Logan County These layoffs and others in the Ohio system are in addition to persons laid off by the rail road as of Oct 11 Tom Euston Trio at the Holiday Inn 94x Farmers Bank Christmas Club Closes Today 94x Fanners Bank Christmas Club Closes Today 94x No Vandalism In Indiana Police Warn Halloween vandalism will not be tolerated by Indiana Borough Police and police have enlisted the aid of the Pine Wave Citizens Band Ra dio Club to help reduce in during the remainder of the month Police Chief Harry H Owens warns parents children and young adults that all will be re sponsible for their actions The radio club has installed a base transmitter in the police sta tion and 12 cars will be on the streets at all times during the Halloween pe riod to guard against van Red Premier Harassed In Canada Tour OTTAWA AP Premier Alexei N Rosy gin seems to be bearing up well under the strain of constant harassment by demonstrators So appar ently is the public in Ca nadas capital Despite the uproar pro by protesters the people of Ottawa have man aged to appear completely in different to it all But surely there would have been no such indifference if Kosygin were the same sort of diplo matic barnstormer as his pre decessor the late Nikita S See Page 5 Column 8 Probe In Tragedy At Honesdale Pa HONESDALE Pa AP Fifteen elderly per sons most in their 80s and 90s and many of them bedridden perished Tuesday night in a smoky fire that swept rapidly through a private nursing home near this tiny northeastern Pennsylvania community A coroner said he would ask for a state in into the deaths If Couldnt Happen But It Did All of the victims trapped in their rooms on either side of a corridor were believed to have died of smoke inhalation Robert Jennings Wayne County coroner said Only a licensed practical nurse on duty alone at the time escaped the blaze as it filled the residential wing of the Geiger Nursing Home with thick black smoke 1 intend to request the State Department of Labor and Industry and the Depart ment of Welfare to conduct an immediate investigation at the state Jennings said If there is any criminal negligence involved here it will be brought out in the in he said Jennings identified the dead as Horace Taylor 96 and his wife Susan 93 of Tyler Hill Wilma Schieber 88 Phila delphia Linnie Little 86 Sophie Moran 81 Emma Bruckner 84 William Davey 92 and his wife Grace 84 Anna Schmuck 85 all of Ho See Page 5 Column 2 Hawbaker To Annual Banquet Slated By GOP The Indiana County Republi can Committee will hold its an preelection fundraising dinner at oclock Tuesday Oct 26 at Rustic Lodge State Sen D Elmer ker of Mercersburg Franklin County Senate Minority Caucus Chairman will be fea tured speaker Elected to the State Sen ate in 1960 1964 1966 and 1968 Sen Hawbaker is cur rently chairman of the Senate Committee to Study the Use of Pesticides in the Com of Pennsylvania and cochairman of the Joint Legislative Committee to In Milk Industry in Pennsylvania The senators legislative background includes chairman ship of the Senate Committee on Agriculture 1966 and 1970 Senate Labor and Industry Committee 1963 and 1966 and Senate Committee on Execu tive Nominations 1963 and 1964 Sen Hawbaker served as Majority Caucus Secretary in 1969 and 1970 He is a member of state Planning Board Com Priorities sion Joint Legislative Air and Water Pollution Control and Conservation Committee board of directors of the Penn sylvania Higher Education As sistance Agency Senate Com to Study Atomic Gener ating Plants in Pennsylvania and numerous other legislative bodies D ELMER HAWBAKER HONESDALE Pa AP Some of the shocked and curious people of Wayne County made a detour on their way to work today and drove slowly down Shady Lane They nosed their cars into the driveway where the name Geiger is written on the mail box and they gazed at the charred white frame ruins where 15 aged people perished in a fire Tuesday night Most of the people then back out and drive away But one man more curious than most parked his car and walked up to Patrick Step hens a barber standing guard as a volunteer fireman You wouldnt think a thing like this would happen would he asked No but it Stephens said The man shook his head and walked back down the driveway between the neat lines of young pine trees AS he drove back towards Honesdale he passed the house where Harvey and Joyce Geiger the owners and operators of the nursing honie were secluded with daughters family The Geigers had had their world tumble down around them and their daughter Mrs Gardas said a lawyer do their talking from on When Mrs Gardas closed thti door a paper skeleton taped up as a Halloween deco ration flapped threateningly Rack in Honesdale the were taking away the of the victims And across the street a whjte haired lady who runs a said with finality Its really terrible what hap but it happens all the time doesnt A P Settles With Employes PITTSBURGH AP A tentative contract agreement has been reached between the Food chain and Food Handlers Local 590 which represents some employ Terms of the settlement not released They are to be mailed to the rank and file for a ratification vote
