In the aftermath of the twisters ...
The cleanup begins — so does looting
United Press International
WICHITA FALLS— Residents struggl-
ng to recover from the ruins of the state’s
rorst tornado in a quarter century Thurs-
ll|leared city streets of twisted autos
nd the mangled remains of their homes
,'hile trying to protect their property from
ooters.
Sojne city officials predicted it would
ake la decade to recover from Terrible
_|lay — the day five tornadoes killed at
east 56 people in Texas and Oklahoma,
njured 600 others and caused perhaps as
nuch as $300 million in damage.
iForty-two of the victims died in Wichita
? alls| Eleven others were killed in nearby
/emon and Harrold. Three more people
lied an Lawton, Okla., an hour’s drive to
he north.
With many city officials fearing more
lodips might be hidden beneath the
nounds of debris, the final death toll
night not be known for days.
For the first time since the vicious twis-
er struck, most residents had power and
rater in their homes Thursday, lessening
the danger that fire would sweep through
the rubble.
Looting had been reported citywide,
most of it immediately after the twister
struck, and authorities hoped patrolling
National Guardsmen and curfews until
6:30 a.m. would help. Scattered traffic was
reported on the streets until midnight but
the promised sentries at each intersection
were nowhere in sight.
After the dark funnel was gone the black
night descended on the ravaged city, and
with it dark figures that lurked outside de
stroyed homes — hanging back until they
could tell if anyone was alive within.
“I stayed here the first night and there
were people walking around who didn’t
belong,” said Randolph Duke, sitting with
a shotgun in the rubble of his home to
protect what little was left of it.
“Wednesday night the police came by
and told me the Guard was walking the
streets, patroling the whole area. My
neighbor thought that was all right and he
left. Then sometime last night somebody
came and got his boat trailer.”
Duke said he vyould stay at the house as
long as necessary because he lacked confi
dence in local security.
City officials said looting began within
minutes of when the tornado lifted back off
the ground Tuesday. Emergency ordi
nances were passed and extra police pa
trols were put on duty. The National
Guard was mobilized to walked the dam
aged areas.
Even those patrols, however, didn’t
stop all the looting.
Down the street in his hard-hit middle
class neighborhood, Duke said one man
searched the rubble of his home and found
a priceless gun collection. He said he left
the collection and a television outside his
home and walked up the street to get a
pickup.
While families guarded their homes
from the immediate problem of looters,
the city already was warning citizens of the
next band of thiefs they could expect.
“Citizens in the disaster area should be
aware that persons from outside Wichita
Falls will be coming into the city shortly,”
an official statement said. “They will offer
all kinds of assistance, from minor roof re
pair to buying property and settling with
insure companies.
“All people should deal with people
they know or with people with creden
tials.”
The mammoth storm — which weather
forecasters said measured a half mile at its
base — likely will become the state’s most
severe tornado in terms of dollars. Gov.
Bill Clements toured the devastated area
Wednesday and proclaimed the damage
exceeded all his expectations.
“Clements has estimated the damage at
$200 million to $300 million,” said Jim
Stewart, regional director for the Insur
ance Information Institute. “I can’t attest
to the credibility of that figure, but I’m
sure that it’s close.”
The National Weather Service reported
48 tornadoes were spotted Wednesday in
“tornado alley,” stretching from Texas to
the Great Plains and the midwest. The
NWS said the area was likely to experi
ence more violent weather.
Donations accepted
for ravaged cities
Aggies have a chance to help tornado victims in Wichita Falls.
KTAM-AM and KORA-FM, two local radio stations, are accepting donations to
help the victims of the tornado that struck North Texas Tuesday.
Lynn Nemec, secretary at KTAM and KORA, said the stations are trying to
gather goods for a shipment to Wichita Falls early Sunday morning. They are
working in conjunction with the Red Cross and the First Baptist Church of Wichita
Falls.
Canned food, bottled water, clothes, blankets, sleeping bags and other essential
items are needed there, she said.
Items can be dropped off at Fort Shiloh, Ken Martin’s Steak House, Pepe’s
Mexican Food, the Ridgecrest Shopping Center on Texas Avenue, Rother’s Book
Store in the Southside Shopping Center, Absolute Advertising at E. 209 University
Dr. and at the KTAM-KORA studios, 1240 Villa Maria.
Goods may be left at the radio studios and restaurants until 8 p.m., at the
shopping centers until 5 p.m. and at Absolute Advertising until 6:30 p.m.
Nemec said cash donations may be made at Citizens Bank in Bryan. Checks
should be made payable to Wichita Falls Relief Fund. University National Bank in
College Station also has a box for donations, she said.
First State Bank of Hearne also is a drop-off point for goods and is accepting cash
for the relief fund.
Nemec said a pick-up truck left for Wichita Falls Thursday afternoon with some
supplies.
Ben Downs, operations manager of KORA, and Louis Nemec, station manager
of KTAM and KORA began the relief effort Thursday morning, she said.
Battalion
News Dept. 845-2611
Business Dept. 845-2611
Ag to run at Boston
Scott Myers, a 20-year-old pre-
vet student at Texas A&M Univer
sity, will join 3,000 other official
entrants and about 1,000 other run
ners Monday in the Boston
Marathon. A serious runner for only
a year, Myers has run a 2:56:19
marathon. See page 5.
South Africa expels
3 U.S. embassy officials
United Press International
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — South
Africa expelled three U.S. Air Force per
sonnel on charges they were spying with
the ambassador’s plane. Washington did
not deny the charges, but suggested the
South Africans needed a “scapegoat” to
draw attention from its own explosive
domestic scandal.
Prime Minister Pieter W. Botha, in a
special television address apparently de
signed to embarrass the United States,
said Ambassador William B. Edmondson’s
personal Beechcraft plane was fitted with a
high-speed camera for spying sweeps over
“strategically” important areas of the coun
try.
Botha ordered the expulsion of Air
Force Col. Alvan M. Crews, the defense
attache; U.S. Air Force Maj. Bernard
McConnell, the assistant U.S. air attache,
and crew chief Master Sgt. Horace E.
Wyatt.
In Washington, the State Department
was officially mum on the charges, but one
senior official said, “With the current
domestic scandals, the South African gov
ernment needed a scapegoat, and it chose
the biggest one around.”
The official was referring to what South
Africans have corrie to call the Muldergate
scandal, after former Information and
Interior Minister Connie Mulder, accused
of masterminding a $73 million slush fund
to buy foreign support for South Africa and
its racial policies.
“You can figure out several reasons for
the timing,” a senior State Department of
ficial said, “but the one that seems to make
the most sense is that this is domestic poli
tics. The South African government is in
real trouble because of their scandal, and
they need a foreign scapegoat.”
Botha said Edmondon’s $900,000
Beechcraft Super King Air, a twin turbop
rop plane with a maximum range of 1,250
miles, had a high-speed aerial camera fit
ted under the copilot’s seat for the spy
missions.
Citing unnamed sources and evidence,
the United States had voiced its suspicion
in 1977 that the South African government
was moving toward testing nuclear
weapons in the Kalahari Desert.
The South African government denied
the nuclear test charges and assured the
United States in an exchange of notes that
it did not intend to produce nuclear
weapons.
Davis trial moved back
to its source. Fort Worth
Tank worker Craig Sutton surveys his handiwork as
I he supports himself on two small pegs 160 feet up.
He does have a safety rope, however, tied to the
Battalion photo by Lane Williams
ladder. Sutton has been working on water towers
since he was 16. This photo was taken last December
in the earlier stages of construction.
Building job on water tower
challenge’ for young worker
By BECKY LEAKE
Battalion Reporter
In the dim light of early morning the
incompleted water tower stands as a silent
( stator to the approaching day’s ac-
ies.
ar doors slam and sleepy voices mingle
with yawns as work belts are buckled, hard
Ns secured, and work gloves are pulled
°n in preparation for hard work,
ipie welders climb the ladder for their
Mgh-wire welding performance while the
crane operator and the ground crew take
iteir places. The dull ring of a hammer on
We side of the water tower signals the
Welders’ readiness for another day’s work
* Bryan’s new water tower.
Construction on the water tower, lo
cated on Luza street in Bryan, began last
September and was scheduled to have
jteen completed near the end of January,
Rording to construction supervisor John
yeltenre.
jDeltenre said that bad weather and a
Bortage of skilled labor accounted for the
Jj|lay. Construction should be complete
R und the first of next week.
he water tower is being built by Hy-
Tistorage, Inc., and when completed
stand 185 feet tall, measure 105 feet
i| diameter and have a capacity of two
llion gallons.
Working 160 feet in the air is not a job
r just anyone.
>r 24-year-old Lane Williams it’s
challenge.
■ It’s neat to talk with a person and tell
Bern what you do and watch the expression
on their face,” said Williams.
“It makes me feel like I’m doing some
thing a lot of people can’t do.”
Williams had been welding commer
cially for five years before applying for a
job with Hydrostorage building water
towers. He said it took him about two
months to get accustomed to the height
and feel comfortable with the job.
“Although many people try out for the
job, few have the nerve to stick it out,”
Williams said.
Unlike Williams, 21-year-old Craig Sut
ton is part of a family that has been in
volved in the construction of water towers
for three generations.
Seven of Sutton’s uncles are still in
volved in construction of water tanks and
his father is presently vice president in
charge of construction for W.E.B. Co.
Sutton took time off from college for a
year to help finance the rest of his educa
tion and plans to continue his studies in
pre-law this fall.
According to Williams, the main reason
for being a “tankie” are the good pay and
the opportunity to travel. The pay for a
good construction worker averages from
$9-13 an hour, but though the pay is high
so are the risks.
Most tankers are single men in their
20s, though there are a few women work
ing as welders now.
“It’s a very demanding job physically
and it definitely keeps you in shape,” said
Williams.
So far, there have been no serious in
juries or accidents during the construction
of Bryan’s water tower.
“We have a very safety-conscious fore
man and that helps,” said Williams, speak
ing of construction supervisor Deltenre.
Deltenre, who has held that job for 17
years, holds a safety meeting every
Monday morning to check equipment and
give the crew an opportunity to talk about
any improvements or changes they feel
should be made.
Williams said the best way to ensure
safety is to think ahead and keep your
mind on the job.
“You can’t really be safe if you have your
mind on being scared,” said Williams.
He said that scared people are danger
ous because they endanger others’ lives as
well as their own.
Though he says he has no real fear of
falling, Williams does have great respect
for his working conditions.
“When you’re up there and just an inch
away are thousands of inches of nothing,
you just can’t be careless,” said Williams.
Depending on how difficult a job is, the
crew moves to different locations through
out the state and nation about every four
or five months to construct water towers.
One of the problems that face tank work
ers is finding places to stay while they are
in town.
“The cost of living for someone as tran
sient as we are is really high,” said Sutton.
Despite the hard work, disadvantages,
and the risk involved, for the most part the
tankers say they like what they are doing
and are looking forward to their next job in
Chickasha, Okla.
United Press International
HOUSTON — Unable to find another
jurist to take over the T. Cullen Davis
murder-for-hire case, the presiding jurist
is shipping it back to where it began,nTar-
rant County.
For weeks, state District Judge Wallace
Moore has been trying to find another
Auto insurance
rates may drop
by 7-8 percent
United Press International
AUSTIN — A new rate formula could
cut auto insurance rates by 7 to 8 percent,
the staff of the State Insurance Board re
ports, and industry representatives aren’t
overly happy with the idea.
The state agency’s staff said if actual ex
penses were used to figure rates instead of
• so-called “budgetary allowances” for what
it costs to sell policies and operate a com
pany, auto insurance rates could be re
duced.
But industry representatives bristled
over the prospect of changing the set al
lowance in the rate formula for so-called
“acquisition costs” such as agents’ commis
sions. They did, however, agree the set
figures for “general expenses” are too
high.
Doyce Lee, general counsel to the
three-man insurance board, outlined ar
guments for and against the way the board
has calculated rates in the past.
New member Lyndon Olson said he
wants more information about how the
rate setting formula works before he
makes any decisions on what numbers to
use.
“It’s an extremely complicated equation
that you put together to determine rates,”
Olson said. “I just want to know what’s
in the equation.”
David Irons of Dallas, attorney for the
Texas Automobile Insurance Service of
fice, questioned the legality of substituting
actual data for a budgetary allowance in
the formula for acquisition costs if figures
are included on companies that sell
policies directly and do not pay commis
sions to agents.
Gaylon Daniel, staff actuary, said using
actual figures for both expense items in the
ratesetting formula would have saved
consumers 7 to 8 percent on current auto
insurance premiums.
judge to preside in the retrial of the mur
der solicitation case, but judges in several
areas have said they want no part of it.
Corpus Christi District Judge George
Hamilton said Thursday he’d take the case
later in the year, but defense and prose
cution lawyers couldn’t agree on the move.
So Moore announced he was going to
return the case to Tarrant County —
where the millionaire industrialist resides
and where he was arrested last August for
allegedly trying to hire the murder of his
divorce judge.
The case was moved to Houston after it
was decided Davis could not receive a fair
trial in Fort Worth, the county seat, but a
Houston jury was unable to reach a verdict
and a mistrial was declared in January.
“I’m going to change the venue on the
court’s own motion and I’m going to trans
fer venue back to the 213th District Court
in Tarrant County, Texas,” Moore said.
“In all probability, it (the case) will be
moved again,” Moore told reporters. “But
I’ve tried to move it and I can’t. I’d rather
send it back where it came from and let
them do their own thing.”
The move back to Tarrant County satis
fied defense lawyers Phil Burleson and
Mike Gibson, but Assistant District Attor
ney Jack Strickland objected strenuously.
Monarchs begin
4-month journey
United Press International
UVALDE, Texas — Scientists in
south Texas have spotted the first adult
monarch butterflies of spring now that
the majestic species has begun its
four-month trek from Mexico to as far
north as Canada.
“South Texas is just one of the many
stops on a four-month exodus that
ranges from Central Mexico into the
northernmost regions of the United
States,’’ said Dr. J.W. Stewart, an
entomologist for the Texas Agricultural
Extension Service.
Stewart is among scientists who have
been intrigued by the ability of the
beautiful international wanderer to mi
grate from the tropics to North
America.
The regal monarchs began appearing
in the Rio Grande Valley last month,
appeared in the Winter Garden area of
south Texas last week and are expected
to be moving through Texas the rest of
this month.
Stewart said their movement
through the state each spring coincides
with the south-to-north emergence of
the lowly milkwood, whose 108 species
each year offers a movable feast for the
nomadic butterflies.
“The challenge for this tiny tropical
dweller has been to rack the climatic
barrier,” the scientist said. “Only the
monarch among milkweed butterflies
has succeeded so far.”
The butterflies lay their eggs only on
milkweed, and in Texas there are 30
species of the weed from which to
choose, Stewart said. After the eggs
hatch, the caterpillars feed insatiably
on the milkweed leaf while passing
through five larvae stages in two weeks.
Stewart said scientists have studied
the migration of the monarchs for a half
century, and have developed a feath-
erweight tag which can be stuck to the
butterflies’ fore wings, does not inter
fere with their flight and withstands all
types of weather conditions.
He said the longest known flights by
an adult monarch was 1,870 miles be
tween Ontario, Canada, and the winter
nesting grounds in Mexico. A butterfly
was recaptured 129 days after it was
tagged, showing it averaged 14% miles
a day on the flight across three nations.
“In the Wintergarden area now, the
monarch will continue its northward
movement through the area until late
April,” Stewart said.
He said if Texans miss seeing the
flocks of monarchs this spring, they can
begin looking again during October and
November because that’s when the
butterflies will be passing back through
south Texas on their way to their winter
home in Mexico.