The Lawton Constitution (Lawton, Okla.), Vol. 73, No. 188, Ed. 1 Friday, April 25, 1975 Page: 1 of 40
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THE LAWTON
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(Courtesy Public Service C® l
VOLUME 73—NO. 188
(AP) — (AP WIREPHOTO)
40 PAGES
SINGLE COPY 10c
Saigon Regime Contacts Hanoi; Peace Talks Near
8478
Co-Defendant Sentenced To 18 Months
Former Governor David Hall
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Draws 3-Year Prison Term
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Both Remain
Bank Holdup
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Free Under
Nets Bandits
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$7.2 Million
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west. There were no fatalities.
(AP Wirephoto)
Missouri, Oklahoma Areas Hit
Randi Hittie during one of the group work sessions.
(Staff Photo)
By Tornadoes; 3 Persons Die
Gambling Net Carnegie Needed To Save
Closes On 26
Branch, McClure Contends
News In Brief
Southwestern Renovation OK’d
See GAMBLING, Poge 4
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LONDON (AP) — Six hood-
id gunmen may have gotten
away with more than $7.2 mil-
lion in a robbery of the Bank
of America branch in Lon-
don's plush Mayfair district, -
making it Britain's biggest [
“THIS (the new wing) is the
most economical proposal that
we can have. McClure said
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bank heist, detectives said
today.
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Temperature Chart
10 Hour Ronge Ending Todov
However, the bank accounts
officer, 26-year-old Mike Fer-
nandez said the gang missed
the big baby" — more than
$2.4 million in travelers' &
checks — in the Thursday E.
night holdup EL.
Boxes Killed
Combined Paid Daily
Circulation
dition of a special procedures
room for radiology
The project is to be com-
pleted in two phases. The first
phase will entail construction
of the new intensive care unit
north of the hospital with relo-
cation of medical records, the
director of nurses’ office, and
the physical therapy center in
the same building
The second phase includes
demolition of the old east
wing and the erection of a new
33-bed patient wing on the
same location
Banowetz estimated that the
first phase should be com-
pleted by February 1976. with
By The Associated Press
rHUNDERSTORMS packing
1 wind, rain and hail
roamed the nation's midsec-
tion again today after hatch-
ing tornadoes that left five
dead and dozens injured in
Missouri and Tennessee
Tornado watches remained
in effect early today for sec-
tions of Oklahoma, Arkansas,
Missouri and Southern II-
•/
The tornado that caused an estimated $125,000 damage Thursday night at
Miami, Okla., is shown approaching the northeastern Oklahoma city from the
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -
Former Oklahoma Gov David
Hall was sentenced today to
three years in prison for his
part in a bribery-extortion
plet allegedly perpetrated dur-
t his term as the state's
chief executive
I S. District Court Judge
Fred Daugherty sentenced
Hall, in a 19-minute session
to three years on each of the
four counts on which the for-
mer governor was convicted
by a federal court jury last
month.
Judge Daugherty said the
four terms would run con
currently
Maintains Innocence
The former governor told
the judge he was innocent and
*‘
CAMERON UNIVERSITY PRESS DAY. About 100 area high school students
attended meetings and heard veteran journalists discuss newspaper careers
today at Cameron University $ Journalism Day. Sam Hoyle, seated center, of
Cameron s art department, works on a photography layout with Lawton High
School students Penny Salinas, seated left, John Easley, Marc McPherson and
Want Ads 353-0620
------------ 353 0626
Editorial Ml MK
McClure said if a new post
office building had to be con-
structed, it would be built by
See CARNEGIE Paw 4
SOCIEry
The high ranking official in Saigon said President Tran
Van Huong initiated the move toward North Vietnam and
was trying to send an envoy to Hanoi tn get the Commu-
nist side s views following the talks already held with
North Vietnamese on a lower level He said the United
States also was trying to promote the talks and had ap-
proved the envoy's flight on a U S. Air Force plane to
Hanoi
He said the cabinet minister tried to fly to Hanoi today
but was not given immediate permission, apparently be
cause authorities there had not received the required 24-
hour notice
Opposition political leaders said earlier that Huong
might turn over the presidency to neutralist den Duong
Van Big Minh as early as Saturday to allow Minh to
form a government acceptable to the Communist side for
a negotiated end to the war Their reports came as North
Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces made probing attacks 25
miles west of Saigon
In Aranyaprathet, Thailand, Associated Press corre-
spondent ( hhay Born Lay said Thai border police and
f ambodian refugees told him that Khmer Rouge author-
ities have ordered mass evacuations from Cambodian
towns near the Thai border and shot dozens of (am-
bodians trying to flee into Thailand
There was no confirmation from any other source The
refugees gave no indication why the Communist-backed
new leaders of ( ambodia wanted the towns empty, but re-
By PUL HART
IF THE Lawton Post Office
has to build a new building in-
stead of expanding its build-
ing downtown it would mean
the closing of the city s only
branch post office, the Sheri-
dan Station at 44th and Cache
Road, Postmaster Kinley
McClure said today
The postmaster said the
high cost of building at a new
site would require merger of
the two facilities according to
current guidelines of the U.S.
Postal Service
The postal service plans to
put a new wing on the present
post office at 102 S Fifth But
the addition would mean de-
molition of the old Carnegie
Library and several citizens'
groups have protested the
plan
the entire renovation sched-
uled to be finished by Septem-
ber 1976
Of the $1.7 million ex-
penditure, $400,000 will be de-
voted to updating intensive
care and x-ray equipment
The privately owned hospi-
tal opened in the present east
wing in 1907 with 12 beds. The
127 beds it presently has will
be reduced to 114 in the proj-
ect. a loss of 13 beds
Southwestern Clinic Hospital
is owned by American Medi-
cal International Inc. which
owns 46 hospitals throughout
the U.S.; one in England and
another in Switzerland
THIRD AND A AVE., LAWTON, OKLA., FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 1975
THE COST of the wing is es-
timated at $1,147,700 and
would be built by a local con-
tractor under the direction of
the trust authority
C AIGON (AP) — A South Vietnamese cabinet minister
• has made direct contact with North Vietnamese offi-
clals for a negotiated peace settlement. and is trying to
follow up the initiative with a trip to Hanoi, a high rank
ing government official said tonight
in Washington, Rep William S Broomfield of Mich
igan, the senior Republican on the House International
Relations Committee said he had learned from Ford ad-
ministration officials that there is a "tacit under-
standing" that Communist led forces will not attack Sai-
gon until at least Monday to permit evacuation of nones
sential" Americans
Broomfield said the arrangement was made through ne
gotiations involving unspecified third countries
74
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"Doc Taylor a Dallas finan-
cier. was sentenced to 19
months in prison on each of
the three counts on which he
was convicted
Taylor's terms also will run
concurrently
Both men were allowed to
remain free under bonds of
$10 000 each and each was
allowed tn sign his own bond
Notices of appeal were filed
by attorneys for Hall and Tay
lor immediately after the two
were sentenced
Hall could have received a
maximum of 35 years in pris-
on and $40,000 in fines if the
judge had ordered the sen-
tences to run consecutively
Taylor could have received a
maximum of 15 years in pris-
on and $30 000 in fines
I lected In 1970
A third man indicted by a
federal grand jury in the case
R Kevin Mooney of Fort
Worth, was to be sentenced
later today He pleaded guilty
to a single count of conspiracy
and testified as a prosecution
witness
Hall was elected Oklahoma's
20th governor in 1970 on a law
and order platform He pre-
viously was a district attorney
in Tulsa County
Hall lost the Democratic
party nomination for a second
term in the primary election
last year.
He was indicted only three
days after officially leaving of
fice in January
Hall was convicted on all
four counts brought against
him by the grand jury He
See HALL Page 4
5
Bv JI DY VAN REST
COUTHWESTERN Clinic
• Hospital, Inc's » 1 7 mil-
lion renovation plan has re-
ceived final approval from the
Oklahoma Health Planning
Commission, according to
Tom Banowetz. hospital ad-
numstrator.
The renovation project calls
for demoliton of the east wing
with a new patient wing to be
constructed on the site, and
for a new intensive care unit,
north of the hospital.
Also included in the $17
million plan are the renova-
tion of the esterior and interi-
or of the hospital and the ad-
M
By MIKE RAY
Twenty-six persons were ar-
rested here Thursday night
and early today in two sepa-
rate gambling raids
Police Task Forte officers
Tom Birdsong and Alvin Gat-
lin arrested eight suspects in
Verly’s Lounge, 1101 Summit,
about 11 p m Thursday
Sheriff's Department In-
vestigator Nick Alderson and
deputies Ray Anderson and
Bobby Hawkins picked up 18
in a raid on The African
Breeze, 122 S First, about 3
a m today.
Police said the raid on Ver-
ly’s Lounge occurred after the
building was checked because
windows were covered and the
bar was darker than usual
Charged in Municipal Court,
records show, with gambling
were Donald W Hill, 27,
Cache. Bryan K Nevins, 22, of
2406 Ave I; Theodore Deck-
ard 42, of 804 SW Park: Ed-
gar Odell Ingle, 31, of Hurst,
Tex . and William C Hays, 18,
of the Hotel Lawtonian
Charged in Municipal Court
with loitering around a gam-
bling game were Martha A.
Byrd, 51, of 1009 Park, the
manager, Sharon Kay McCoy,
28. of 1009 Park and Gary
Wayne Sanders, 30, of 1006
SW Jefferson
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MASTOR Ir*
OKUA BICAL
................... 6 Dear Abby
Markets 4 Saoris
Clossitied. . 33 Women .....
Bridge .............. Comics
Hospitais ------------- Crossword
Entertain........... Obltuorles
He pointed out the rent paid
by the post office to the Post
Office-City Hall Trust Author-
ity. which owns the property,
would jump from $46 496 a
year to about $200,000 a year
McClure said adding to the
present post office "is in line
with the future of Downtown
Lawton and the needs of the
people ”
"It is most feasible to ex-
pand this building and this
will help anchor downtown
Lawton regardless of whether
we get a covered shopping
mall or whatever here he
added
The gunmen are known to
have made off with $720,000 in
cash. But police said the total
"obviously runs into millions”
because the raiders also rifled
safety deposit boxes contain-
ing cash, bonds, jewelery,
gold coins and other valuables
belonging to clients
"We may never know the
full amount of what was in the
rifled boxes," a detective
said "Many people for vari-
ous reasons will not own up to
what's in these boxes But the
holdup certainly looks like
Britain’s biggest."
Police sources said it could
top the estimated $7 2 million
stolen in an elaborate raid on
another London bank in Sep-
tember 1971
linois Ten twisters were Gov Christopher S Bond Lot Of Bananas
sighted or had dipped down activated a National Guard one depositor, American
since early Thursday, four in unit and he was flying to the businessman John Pugliese,
northeastern Arkansas scene to inspect the damage said he had gold coins worth
Hardest hit by the violent today SiX figures” in his box. "I
spring storms was the south- “The twister was just like don 1 know exactly how much,
west Missouri community of the one in the Wizard of but it s a lot of bananas," he
Neosho Two tornadoes Oz," said one witness “You told newsmen
churned through the town could actually see window Another client was a sob-
Thursday night, killing three screens, chairs and everything bing woman still wearing her
persons and injuring dozens floating in a giant funnel nightdress.
more cloud." .....
A _______. c . . All my jewelery s in
A National Guard report . .. . . .n . „
tod.0 Ei .1 there, she said Practically
today said there were 13
serious injuries, and author- s” **** p°** *
ities reported two of them
were in critical condition Fron+ Rrinmc
Some of the injured were 1 11 -I "8”
WASHINGTON (AP) - (MI imparts dropped last month to an transferred to hospitals at c c.
even lower level than during the Arab oil embargo, giving the Joplin 00016 >Torms
I nited States a record surplus in its balanee of foreign trade, 1 here had been a report
the government reported today. The Commerce Department that a fourth person was A cold front which stalled in
said the surplus amounted to $1.4 billion in March, the second kiied1 but authorities said at northwest Oklahoma earlier
monthly surplus in a row February 's surplus was $917 million, mid-day that everyone has this week moved across the
The figures left the nation with a $2 billion surplus so far this been accounted for and there state Thursday night kicking
year. were only three fatalities off scattered thundershowers
A Tornado also struck e rur- before stopping again in the
BUFFALO. N. Y. (AP) - Three campus police were injured al community seven miles southeastern part of the state
and 10 students arrested during a student demonstration at the west of Miami Thursday early today
State University at Buffalo today, police said. The students night, damaging several As the front passed over the
were protesting a university decision to eat off funds for bus- homes. There were ne con state. thunderstorms formed
ing them to Albany on Monday for a protest demanding am- firmed injuries along the Red River and in
nesty for former Attica prison inmates indicted after the 1971 The Oklahoma Highway Pa- eastern parts of Oklahoma
prison revolt. trol said the community of and Western .Arkansas. Fun-
Mound Valley suffered nels were reported in the
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - Gov. George C. Wallace con- $125,000 in property damage Miami area in Ottawa County
firmed today that be plans to run for president in 1976. He de- when the tornado damaged and hail was reported around
dined to say when the formal announcement will be made, al- three mobile homes and six Wewoka, Stilwell and Strat-
though other sources said it probably will be early in June, houses, several outbuildings ford.
"As of now I intend to run,” Wallace told The Associated and killed and injured several McAlester received over two
Press. head of cattle inches of rain during a heavy
The damage was confined to thunderstorm
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. District Judge George Hart a three quarter mile parth The Lawton area will have
today set aside the jail sentence of Rep. George Hansen, R- near the Mound Valley slightly cooler weather tonight
Idaho, and fined the congressman $2,000 instead. Hart, who church, the patrol said with the mercury dropping
had ordered Hansen to serve two months in prison for mis- A Miami Police Lt Delmar into the 50s A chance of wide-
demeanor violations of campaign financing laws, said that Burris said he and his officers |y scattered thundershowers
upon re-examination it appeared Hansen had spotted two tornadoes coming could bring some rain tonight
ot acted with evil intent in from the Mound Valley Saturday the temperature
area but they lifted into the will once again go above 80
WASHINGTON (AP) - The administration said today about clouds before they reached the degrees and Saturday night
35 miilion Social Security and Supplemental Security income western edge of Miami the low will be in the 50s once
recipients will be due an eight per cent benefit increase in The tornado sirens were again
July, costing $5.7 billion in 1976. Casper W Weinberger, secre- blown in Miami but Burns The extended forecast calls
tary of health, education and welfare, coupled the announce- said no twisters touched down for cloudy and cooler weather
meat with a renewed plea to Congress to limit the increase to and there was no damage Sunday with rain likely Mon-
the five per cent requested by President Ford See TORNADOES. Pace « day and Tuesday
12′6 ,9.“
ports from (he capital of Phnom Penh told of the same
maneuver there last week Analysts believe that the
Khmer Rouge have organizational problems and fear re-
sistance from the population
Meanwhile, Hanoi said that any U S attempt to send
ships and Marines to evacuate Americans from South
Vietnam “is a serious military move which is ob-
viously not designed for evacuation at all but to serve its
evil schemes of intervention
The North Vietnamese commentary added that by at-
tempting to remove more than 10,000 Vietnamese from
their homeland, the Ford administration is hatching a
long term scheme against Vietnam This is a heinous
see SAIGON, Page 4
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Bentley, Bill F. The Lawton Constitution (Lawton, Okla.), Vol. 73, No. 188, Ed. 1 Friday, April 25, 1975, newspaper, April 25, 1975; Lawton, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2038283/m1/1/: accessed June 11, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.