Stevens Point Daily Journal (Newspaper) - January 28, 1977, Stevens Point, Wisconsin FRIDAY JANUARY 28 1977 journal STEVENS POINT WIS 54481 ASSOCIATED PRESS YEAR 2 SECTIONS 20 PAGES HOTEL FIRE An early morning fire in the Stratford Hotel at Breckenridge Minn has left 22 persons unaccounted for AP Wirephoto 22 missing in Minnesota hotel blaze BRECKENRIDGE Minn AP Twenty-two persons were unaccounted for after a fire swept an old four-story brick hotel in con- ditions before dawn today The wind chill factor at the time was 85 degrees below zero Mayor Hugh Mikkelson or of this small town on the Dakota der said a death count could not be made for several hours until a crane was brought in to clear up the debris of the ford Hotel Mikkelson said he had a list of 22 persons who were counted for but it was not known how many had been in the hotel The names he said included persons who had planned to stay overnight in the Breckenridge area Four bers of the hotel staff also were on the list Mikkelson said the fire of un- known cause apparently ed on the first floor and spread rapidly to the upper levels About six hours after the fire broke out only one person had been accounted for authorities said Douglas Johnson de- scribed as a veteran railroad worker was rescued from a second-floor window by man Jim Worner About 10 of the 80 firemen who fought the blaze were treated for frostbite The at the time was 23 be- low zero The wind was gusting to 40 miles an hour making a wind chill factor of 85 below zero Mikkelson said the building about 100 by 150 feet housed a coffee shop an insurance firm an auto parts shop and a beau- ty shop on the ground floor Order new trial for Tony Boyle PHILADELPHIA AP The Pennsylvania Supreme Court today ordered a new trial for W A Tony Boyle the former United Mine Workers president convicted of ing UMW insurgent Joseph Yablonski his wife and ter The court also reversed Boyle's prison sentence of three life terms It was not known immediately if this would result in freeing him Boyle 74 has been in a bed prison hospital ward in Western Penitentiary at burgh Doctors say he has a heart ailment that causes chest pains Authorities said he attempted suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills in 1973 shortly before his conviction In granting a new trial the high court said the trial court had convicted Boyle improperly ir April 1974 by refusing to ad- mit offered testimony of as Kane an auditor for the eral government In his appeal Boyle conceded that the commonwealth had that a conspiracy was formed to kill the but he argued the evidence did not establish that he was a member of that conspiracy He also argued that the trial court erred in refusing to quash the bills of indictment because of a failure of the state to vide him with a preliminary hearing The Del Monte Corp may build a million can plant employing 50 to 60 people in Plover A possible hitch is lack of sanitary sewer The cost of extending a line more than feet to serve the plant is estimated at and the Village of Plover already committed to another sewer project doesn't feel it can finance it alone However 70 to 80 per cent federal aid is a possibility Del Monte a firm has one of the largest green bean canning plants in the country at Plover northeast of the Highway Trunk B The can plant would be built next to it Jim Bailey Plover Del area manager said the plant would make a million cans a day nearly every day of the year for the company's three Wisconsin plants and two Minnesota plants The cans now come from Rochelle 111 and Bailey said the plant there is From a transportation point he said Plover is the logical place to put a new plant Del Monte has its own disposal system for wastes from the bean plant However Bailey said the wastes from the can plant should be treated in a municipal facility The wastes would be oils used as lubricants in an extrusion process and detergents used to wash cans Bailey Steven Nielsen manager of the Plover plant and Bob Rustad Village of Plover utility superintendent appeared Thursday afternoon at the Building before the executive committee of the Portage County Overall Economic Development Program Committee They asked and received the committee's support for a U.S Economic Development Ad- ministration EDA grant for Plover The grant could cover 50 per cent of the cost of the sewer extension and another 20 or 30 per cent might come from the Upper Great Lakes Regional Commission The rest would come from special assessments on property owners Rustad said Del Monte would pretreat the waste and it would cause no problems for the Plover sewage plant However he said the Village Board feels a commitment to sewer the northern part of Plover and doesn't believe it can finance the Del Monte project too without outside help Bailey said Del Monte would like to get the can plant operating by mid to late November If federal funding comes through on schedule said Rustad it might be possible to complete the sewer by then Plover has already had con- tacts with an EDA and his reaction was favorable said William Burke director of the Portage Planning Department The EDA makes grants to municipalities for projects The executive com- recommended to the full committee that it support EDA funding in 1977 for the Del te project The full committee is tentatively scheduled to meet Feb 24 Also recommended for the 1977 priority list was the proposed Patch Street bridge across McDill Pond connecting the Stevens Point industrial park with the rest of the city The city feels a better access route to the park would make it more attractive to industry David Medin Stevens Point inspection and coordination ad- ministrator said if the city could get EDA funding it would like to build the bridge next year No firm cost estimate is available Two other projects remain on the county's 1977 EDA priority list One is a business loan to help someone establish an agricultural machine shop and the other is a grant to study ter methods of treating or recycling the starch byproduct from potato processing and other food industries Not the only one: fired firefighter Consumer loan VP named by Lt Fabian Suchowski who resigned under pressure from the Stevens Point Fire ment because of related charges said today others in the department were also guilty Charges filed against Suchowski said he could not perform as a senior firefighter because he had no driver's that he is affected with an alcoholic condition which prevents him from properly carrying out his and that he has been intoxicated while on duty I drank on the job but who the hell he said today Whether it's one drink or 10 drinks is immaterial Those who didn't you could count on your fingers When you're on vacation and someone breaks into your locker and takes a case of beer are you going to report what's A story in Thursday's Journal said Suchowski had requested a hearing before the Police and Fire Commission but had ped it Actually the hearing had tually been scheduled by the commission Suchowski however confirmed that it was called off at his request though he said he now regretted it Last week after numerous house calls and telephone calls Fire Chief Victor protege Training Officer Bob Walczak suckered me into thinking the best outcome would be to resign instead of a hearing Suchowski said He submitted his resignation Jan 21 but actually was through Dec 31 he said How can you resign after you've been fired for 21 he asked This whole process was cut and dried in December he said charging that commission President Alfred Laszinski was overheard in a tavern saying he was through After yesterday's article in the paper my name is mud said Suchowski Let's see how much I can splash He charged that Fire ment personnel are poorly trained and that much time on duty is spent playing cards reading magazines and working on personal cars You've never seen a fireman with a ty car have you? he asked As for qualified fire he said one truck would be enough to carry all If you ride a truck you're posed to know where at You're not posed to open up every com- looking for it Gas electric rates ad justed MADISON Wis fAP Residential natural gas rates charged by the Wisconsin lic Service Corp Green Bay were lowered about 1 per cent Thursday by the Public Service Commission The PSC also ordered the utility's residential electric rates raised 4.5 per cent for the summer and lowered 1.2 per cent for winter The utility had sought a million annual electric rate in- crease and a million ral gas boost but received million and ly Wisconsin Public Service Corp has gas customers and electric customers Citizens Bank Donald T Johnson Jr was named vice president in charge of consumer loans Thursday directors of the Citizens National Bank after the annual shareholders meeting All other officers and tors were re-elected Johnson who had been an assistant vice president has been with Citizens since 1969 Other bank officers are Samuel G Kingston chairman of the Edwin H Karlen president and secretary of the board Barbara A Roenz ad- ministrative assistant to the Chester D Brilowski senior vice Edwin T Mrozinski vice president and James A vice president and trust officer David K chardt vice Kenneth M Schmidt assistant vice president James A Buenger Marilyn M Ebel Sara J Schrank and Mary E ski assistant cashiers Gerald J Karch data systems and Edward F Mallek internal auditor Directors are Donald W Copps Weldon C Leahy Raymond D Nass Vetter Karlen and Kingston Year-end assets were million and deposits were both all-time highs for the bank Karlen said the greatest growth was in consumer savings up million During 1976 he said about con- sumer loans were extended with a volume in excess of million Blizzard conditions add to energy woes Big Del Monte project depends on sewer line ASSOCIATED PRESS A major Texas supplier of natural gas asked its customer utilities along the East Coast today to immediately shut off deliveries to nonessential tomers as gas shortages caused by severe winter weather lated The action by Trans- continental Gas Pipe Line Corp affecting 69 utilities came as Ohio New York and New Jersey were already under declarations of energy Utilities in those and other states had already begun curtailing service to tial customers Meanwhile a severe storm bore down on the East with blowing snow and bitter cold that threatened to intensify the gas shortages In Washington White House energy adviser James R Schlesinger urged Congress to pass President Carter's gency energy proposals as a temporary safety net He said many natural gas systems already have largely depleted their gas storage fields and in many cases we are and have been using the gas that we ex- to use in February and March Transcontinental said the was necessary to en- sure that residences and other customers which lack alternate fuels would not suffer an interruption in ice The company's ment did not specify the ties involved or how many customers it might affect tin en imposed daily maximum delivery limits on all its larger customers since Jan 18 A company spokesman said the firm was arranging to buy emergency supplies but it was not known how much gas that would yield The fuel crisis in the east threatened to add more than new layoffs to the ranks of the estimated already energy unemployed A blizzard blew across the Midwest this morning halting ground and air traffic and ing numerous schools to close in Indiana and lower Michigan where visibility was down to zero at times due to blowing snow The temperature at In- dropped from 20 de- grees to 5 degrees in less than an hour Ohio and West Virginia braced for the storm's arrival later in the day and officials in West Virginia said it had the potential of paralyzing the state Temperatures plunged 20 and 30 degrees overnight as west winds guying between 40 and 50 miles per hour heaped snow into drifts across northern Illinois The mercury was expected to settle to 20 to 30 below zero from Minnesota to Illinois by day morning The advancing cold scattered snow from the northern ies to the Great Lakes Blowing snow reduced visibility in much of the area Snowplows were pulled off highways in the northern two- thirds of Illinois during the night because of zero visibility Blizzard conditions or blizzard warnings were in effect for tions of Missouri Illinois In- diana and Ohio Five inches of snow fell at Muskegon Mich overnight Two inches swirled into Peoria m Ohio Gov James A Rhodes who on Thursday declared an energy crisis in the state dered state employes to go home and asked all businesses and nonessential services in the state to close by noon as the storm approached Public Service Electric Gas Co New Jersey's largest ty shut off virtually all natural gas service today for in- and commercial tomers until at least Tuesday was the fourth and last of the state's major gas com- panies to stop service for its big customers The cutbacks have forced the layoffs of sands of factory workers Fuel shortages loom in state MADISON Wis AP An emergency rule allowing peratures in most public ings and places of employment in Wisconsin to be reduced to 63 degrees was approved today by the state Industry Labor and Human Relations sion The commission took the tion after hearing state energy director Stephen Born report that fuel shortages are ing critical Last week President Carter called for reducing tures to 65 degrees as a means of conserving fuel and Gov Patrick Lucey followed up this week with a request to cut peratures to 63 degrees in most state buildings However the state Code requires that peratures be kept at no lower than 67 degrees so the gency rule had to be adopted The action is not mandatory Excepted from the rule are hospitals ment buildings nursing homes day care centers elementary schools natatoriums and Born had said a rule a level might be advisable because of the severity of the fuel shortage that could result from ued cold weather Born said about sin people are currently out of work because of fuel shortages and that if the cold weather continues That number could readily escalate in just a couple of weeks to tens of sands He said that unless the weather improves the ployment situation due to fuel shortages will worsen Born said serious shortages are developing in kerosene and that shortages are also forseen for No 2 fuel oil and diesel fuel He said it is unlikely that residential heating will be by shortages of natural gas and fuel oil but that the possibility could not be ruled out Cutting temperature levels to 63 degrees would result io the saving of an equivalent of 1.7 million gallons of oil fuel in Wisconsin between now and the end of the heating season Born said He said that would be enough to heat 2.300 homes Born said that since electric utilities burn fuel oil to meet peak power demands it is also important for homeowners and businesses to conserve as well as other forms of energy Commission Chairman Virginia Hart urged a reduction in lighting as well as heat Deputy state school tendent Dwight Stevens said in Madison he does not expect Wisconsin to order schools to alter the present five-day a week schedule Some Minnesota schools have switched to a four-day week to conserve energy but Stevens said there is no evidence to in- there will not be enough fuel to heat Wisconsin schools Key economic indicators register sharp increase WASHINGTON AP The government index designed to anticipate the economy's future posted its largest gain in 17 months during December the Commerce Department said day The advance in the composite index of leading indicators was 1.6 per cent in December and followed a 1 per cent climb in November It was the biggest climb in the index since a 2.3 per cent rise in July 1975 The performance was con- with the expectations of most economists of a stronger healthier economy this year than last In a separate report Com- merce said the nation tered a billion trade deficit last year even though the ex- cess of imports over exports in December was the smallest in six months The December cit of million represented an improvement over the record deficit million in November The composite index which provides clues on future eco- nomic performance is made up of 12 individual statistics Of the II which were available in time for the December ation Commerce said eight pointed up two showed declines and one was unchanged The index has now advanced for three consecutive months following September's tenths of a per cent drop In a further signal of a strengthening economy Com- merce revised its July and gust index figures on the basis of new information to show in- creases of of a per cent and of a per cent respectively The index had originally dropped a com- of a per cent in those months Over the year the index showed an 8.5 per cent gain compared to an 8.9 per cent rise in 1975 The individual statistics pointing up in December were a slower layoff rate a faster increase in cash and other ily convertible assets held by business and consumers the pace of increase in key sale prices the volume of con- tracts and orders for new ness facilities new business formation stock prices the ume of new orders received by manufacturers of consumer products and their suppliers and the money supply after ad- justment for inflation A drop in the number of building permits issued and ter of goods by pliers were the downward in- Faster supplier is considered an in- dication of slower demand and thus decreased business ty The length of the average work week in manufacturing was unchanged A deterioration of the 1975 trade balance had been ex- this year as a result of the relatively quick recovery of the U.S economy compared to its trading partners That in- creased demand for foreign goods in the United States ter than demand for U.S ex- ports picked up Government officials ly had not expected a deficit as large as the one wnich tually developed but they have generally viewed the deficit as beneficial They reason that U.S imports have helped tain the economies of trading partners thus laying the dation for future expansion of U.S exports But the deficit also has been accompanied by pressure from organized labor and specific in- for trade protection from imports of cars electronic products shoes and other Over the year exports were up by billion or seven per cent to billion Imports climbed billion or 26 per cent to billion The December trade was marked by lower oil imports after adjustment for seasonal variations higher im- ports of coffee and other food products and stepped up export of U.S aircraft electrical equipment and other heavy in- products The volume of oil imported in December actually increased by about 20 million barrels but because the winter season is traditionally a time for heavy oil use the seasonal adjustment factors registered a Si 16.5 in the value of all imports For the year petroleum im- ports were up 21 per cent to a record barrels That eclipsed the record in 1973 and reversed two successive declines in oil imports during 1975 and 1974 of about six per cent combined A spokesman for also urged households to turn down heat saying We'll all be out of gas if the pipeline system loses pressure The crisis across the East and Midwest began last week when another wave of snow and record low tures moved as far south as Florida The governors of Florida Pennsylvania and Tennessee have asked President Carter to declare their states disaster areas In Washington Congress was scheduled today to take up emergency energy al that would give him power to redirect natural gas supplies to areas The unusually cold weather east of the Rocky Mountains has already closed some plants and caused the layoffs according to federal energy officials Officials in several states said they expect applications for unemployment benefits to soar because of the layoffs Elsewhere officials in delphia declared a state of See weather page 2 Curb gas usage asks Public Service Wisconsin Public Service Corp the natural gas distributor in the Stevens Point area is asking customers to curtail gas use as much as possible For some time we have been promoting dial down to 68 degrees during the day and lower temperatures at night as well as other conservation said Van Groll of Green Bay vice division operations we are asking that be turned down even lower to avoid the shutdown of business industry and he said We recognize that this will cause some discomfort but the situation has become serious enough to justify this has shut off gas to its customers who generally are large businesses with the ability to use alternate fuels Michigan Wisconsin Pipe Line Co the supplier of most of the gas used in Wisconsin has asked that the interruptible shutoff continue at least through February The firm said it has been unable to tain sufficient supplies in un- storage fields in Michigan because of the cold winter Michigan Wisconsin also asked gas distributors in the state to urge industrial customers to cut back gas con- to encourage in- to use alternate fuels where to survey schools to see how much gas could be saved by short closings and to keep customers informed of the problem and en- courage the lowest reasonable thermostat settings in homes offices stores schools and tories Roads drifting in rural areas Side roads were drifting badly today but the Portage County Sheriffs Department said this noon it knew of none thai were closed Drifting snow poor visibility and scattered slippery spots were problems statewide the department said The weather Mostly cloudy tonight and Saturday with a ce of light snow or flurries and continued cold Lows tonight 10 to 25 below Highs zero to 5 below Temperatures 24 hrs ending this noon High 3 Low -1.4 Noon 01 Sunrise tomorrow Sunset tomorrow
