Oklahoma City Times (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 78, No. 280, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 11, 1968 Page: 1 of 46
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Oklahoma Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Gateway to Oklahoma History by the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Bank at Bokchito Robbed; Gunman Escapes
By Jack Taylor
Of Uw Mato Waff
DURANT — A hooded gunman, waving a pistol and
yelling threat!, robbed the First Stale Bank of Bokchito
of an estimated $5,000 to $7,000 before noon Thursday. He
fled in a ear believed stolen 30 minutes earlier in Durant.
Authorities said the gunman somewhat resembles the
description of Vincent Paul Kucenski jr., a 24-year-old
bank robber from California who escaped Jail in Ard-
more two days ago.
The Bokchito holdup, 14 miles east of Durant in
southeastern Oklahoma, was the third bank robbery in
the slate in a week.
FBI agents swarmed into the farming community of
6‘JO persons while sheriffs deputies, highway patrolmen
and police officers in two slates posted roadblocks over a
wide area.
A highway patrol spokesman said the gunman was
last seen headed east on US-70 in a white 1965 Dodge
bearing a 1967 Oklahoma license plate, PC-388.
The getaway car was found abandoned a mile south
of Bokchito on a county road shortly after the robbery.
Bank President W. H. Frank said the gunman wore a
yellow stocking cap with eye holes and a blue, silk jack-
et with the word "coach" on the front.
“It was about 11:10 a m. when this man came walk-
ing into the bank, almost on a run," Frank said.
He said the robber brandished a revolver, an-
nounced. "This is a holdup!” and yanked the bank presi-
dent out of his chair.
"He told me if I just gave him some money, no one
would get hurt," Frank said. __
lie said the gunman caught one woman employe who
was trying to run out a rear door and told her he would
kill her if she didn't join others he was herding into the
vault.
The gunman forced tellers to empty money from
their cash drawers into a burlap sack. Frank told the
robber a safe inside the vault had a timeloek and thus
thwarted a larger haul.
"I kept talking to him and telling him 'this is all the
money we have, because the rest of the money in the
(See BOKCHITO—Page _
Quiz Pjggre Thrtw Thr—gh P—r ii New Orlwi
Enid Probe Witness Roughed Up in Motel
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -
James Frederick Hicks,
29. of Enid. Okla., was re-
ported roughed up in his
hotel room Thursday sev-
eral hours before he was
scheduled to testify in Dis-
trict Attorney Jim Garri-
son’s probe of the assassi-
nation of President Kenne-
dy.
Investigating officers
quoted Hicks as saying he
was asleep when two Ne-
gro men entered his room,
grabbed him and threw
him through a glass door
leading to a balcony. The
officers said the doors
were shattered.
Security offk-er Freddie
Rawles told the officers he
had been sent by the front
office to investigate a "dis-
turbance in room 650." He
said he met two Negroes
coming out of an elevator
leading to Hicks’ floor and
they told him they had
"been to see a parly in
room 650.” Raw les said he
did not make a note ol
their names.
Hicks, an instrument
technician with Serv-Air at
Vance Air Force Base at
Enid, was scheduled to ap-
pear before the Orleans
Parish grand jury.
Assistant District Attor-
ney Richard V. Burnes
said Hicks had been a wit-
ness to the Nov. 22. 1963,
assassination in Dallas,
and "may have pertinent
information about the plan-
ning and execution of the
assassination or of persons
involved in the conspira-
cy* ”
In an interview Wednes-
day night. Hicks said he
heard four shots at the
time of the assassination
and that he does not think
the shots came from the
Book Depository building
where the Warren Com-
mission said Oswald was.
Hicks, who has a lengthy
police record, told of
seeing a man in the trunk
of a car parked on a gras-
sy knoll in Dealey Plaza.
but said he did not see him
actually fire a shot.
According to Hicks, a
highway sign reading
"Caution-Slippery When
Wet" is one of the myster-
ies surrounding the assas-
sination. He said the sign
had a hole in it after the
shots were fired, but not
before. Then, he added, it
was gone about 30 minutes
later.
Paid Circulation 304.021 Evening-Morning Daily Average l)etember
Oklahoma City Times
SNTiae contents coeysiQHTEO if OKLAHOMA eueuSHino co. w n s»oaow«v
VOL. LXXV1II. NO. 280
36 PAGES-OKLAHOMA CITY. THURSDAY. JANUARY 11. 1%8
5c IN OKLAHOMA—10c ELSEWHERE
Sales Tax Hike Asked
Council Committee
Hearing
Ordered
On Strike
The house common educa-
tion committee Thursday or-
dered a public hearing in
Tulsa next week in the face
of a threatened strike by Tul-
sa's school teachers.
The announcement of the
hearing came in the midst of
t’.l
• }
f
■y
Reorganization,
Gty Salary Scale
Study Also Urged
By Kay Dyer
The city council finance committee recommended
Thursday that the city council seriously consider an addi-
tional 1 percent city sales tax.
The recommendation, approved at a committee meet-
ing, will go to the council Tuesday. The committee agreed
the measure, which would have to be approved by a vote of
the people, is the “most feasible and adequate" means of
meeting additional operating revenue needs.
It will also suggest Tuesday that the council consider
any other revenue measures which might be available.
’ The finance committee, composed of Mrs. Patience
Latting, Hank Moran and Dr. Harry Deupree, also agreed
to recommend that organiza
varied reaction from law-
makers to the threatened
January 29 strike if the legis-
lature has not satisfied de-
mands for higher salaries,
better working conditions
and increased retirement
benefits.
Rep. Curtis Lawson (D-
Tulsa). a member of the edu-
| cation c o m m 111 e e, said
Speaker Rex Privett will at
tend the public hearing at 7
p m. Tuesday at the Hutch-
Cl Mill a .«icrt.
Patience Asked
Lawson said 18 of the 21
members of the committee
also plan to attend.
Meanwhile. Privett told
newsmen It would "very dif-
ficulty for both houses to en-
act anything" in time to
meet the January 29 strike
deadline of the Tulsa Class-
room Teachers Association.
In the state senate, the
teachers’ threat brought
pleas for patience alternat-
ing with praise and condem-
nation.
Sen. A1 Terrill (D-Lawton),
chairman of the senate edu-
cation committee, started
Charles R. Bassett tell, shout encounter with
assailant. (Staff Photo by -lim Argo.)
Screams Answered
Hero Would
Do It Again
A young Oklahoma City woman
for he'- ’ - •’••u
didn't hesitate.
A
ALL WRAPPED UP la his work, Victor Tedeaco gets more publicity than he
bargained for as a 16>/a-foot python grips his neck at Como Park Zoo in St.
Pad Mina Thursday. Tedesco, St. Paul park commissioner, let the snake be
Death Toll
Of Enemy
Sets Mark
Room Added
Plane
Truth
tional changes proposed by
City Manager Robert Old-
land be approved.
Also to be recommended is
the hiring of a consultant
firm to do a job classifica-
tion-salary study of all city
employes and that the city
purchase additional police
vehicles to replace worn out
equipment.
Smith Opposes It
Three other members of
the council met with the fi-
nance committee, and with
the exception of John Smith,
Ward 5, appeared to agree
that an additional sales tax
for the city would be the best
method of meeling additional
revenue needs
Smith said he could not go
along with an additional
sales tax. "There are other
things that can be done to
save the city money."
In addition to Smith, non-
committee members present
were Dr. A. L. Dowell. Ward
7, and Ben Franklin, Ward 6.
Smith also argued the pro-
OKA Official Criticizes
Governor, Page 9
Wreckage
Of Plane
Is Found
Need help? Write to Oklahoma City Times, P. O.
Box 25125, Oklahoma City 73125 or telephone CE 2-3311
between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Our real estate taxes this year are $80.9$ and last
year they were only $4$. How caa we owe this much end
why? R* V. S.
Don Wilson, county assessor, says he has notified you
that in checking his record* he found that an aerial sur-
vey conducted in 1964-65 showed an additional room add-
ed to this property. This was not posted until 1966 and
Wilson says he has assigned a deputy assesor to check
your property for a resurvey.
New gravel put on BE I from the 6606 to the KW
block I* Midwest City hasaAard time wofhtag tatolBe
street la winter weather. There Is a lot of dust being
kicked up aad this Is hard oa people who have lung trou-
ble. F. A- F-
Morris McGee, Midwest City street superintendent,
(Bee ACTION LINE—Page $)
■ ,,. »,V1U’ViN"
SAIGON (AP) — Heavy
fighting during the first week
of 1968 kept allied casualties
at a near average level but
sent the number of enemy I _
killed soaring to a high for; . ***
the Vietnam war, the U. S.
command reported Thurs-
day.
In Its weekly summary. U.
5. headquarters reported 2,-
868 of the enemy were killed
in the week ending January
6.
“More enemy were killed
by free world forces during
the week than any compnra
ble period In the history of
the Vietnam conflict," head-
quarters reported.
The previous high for ene-
my killed in a similar period
was 2,774 during the week
ending last March 25.
Despite the New Year’s
(Bee TOLL—Page 8)
m m • » •*■ ■ A*» • • * * *
(See COUNCIL—Page 2)
<g@M
Local: Cloudy and cold
with chance of scattered
showers, possibly changing
to snow Thursday night
and Friday. Overnight low
35. High Friday 38. (De-
tails, Page 16.)
M0UBLV TBMSBSATUBS
IS'm
I'm
.ft
B
l
the long debate when he took
the floor on personal privi-
lege to urge teachers to be
patient.
"We're going to write a
good program for Education
In Oklahoma in spite of the
governor's starvation budg-
et," he said.
The Tulsa teachers' group,
by a vote of 1.192 to 1.076,
BATTLE MOUNTAIN, voted Wednesday to strike if
Nev. (AP) — The burned the legislature has not satis-
wreckage of a marine trans- fied Its demands by January
port plane was found Thurs- 29.
day in a steep canyon on the “At this time, I think the
rocky slope of a Nevada strike vote is premature,"
mountain where It crashed In Terrill said. "We are going
a blinding blizzard. to write a good program for
There was no sign of life in education. but none of the
the canyon. legislation^ even on the
The plane was various^ ^riT'sald gpnatp educa.
reported carrying or 20 comm|tlpp mPmbers arP
men on a Right Wednesday three salary
from Denver to Seattle. K _ 0*p )Q prov|dp
VViu ' no vi. -. raises for all teachers for
‘Vi« M Jla“ rATS
s w - “bl* HsTa r iTWE
y°"Nobody could have sur- ^ the first year and a
vived this," a search pilot ■maUer amount the second
rPThered were skid marks on \ Sanctions Mentioned
the" charred spot on the "I think this is realistic,"
mountain where the plane Terrill said, "and this can be
hit, less than an hour after accomplished ... In spite of
its pilot reported that Icing the governor’s starvation
conditions were forcing it budget,
down below the 12.000 foot Gov. Bartlett has proposed
TT . a $300 raise for teachers this
Mt’ Tobin towers 10,000 year as part of a three-year
feet in aparsely settled north- plan to provide a $1,000 pay
em Nevada | boost.
Scheriff George Schwln of Terrill also urged teachers
Lander County r e p o r t e d not to seek sanctions against
from the desolate, snow- the state, saying "sanctions
covered mountainside at 9 are hard to live down."
am. that his search party "We’ll write a good pro-
was trying to find a way gram," he said, "but don t
down Into the steep canyon, anger your good legislative
"I don’t know if we ran," friends and don t alienate
he said. “We may have to your near friends . . . Just
(Her PLANE—Page 2) (Bee BTRIKE—Page 2)
Dane Hacks
At Budget
was screaming
v-.ta,.«» ud.Kn
In his way of thinking, it was time to get involved.
Bassett, of 910 NW 44, had just arrixed home from
work shortly after 11 p.m. when he rushed to the aid
of a next door neighbor, who was fighting off an in-
truder.
He chased the man away, but was stabbed with a
switchblade knife.
Thursday, the 25-year-old oil company employe
was in satisfactory condition at Mercy Hospital. The
knife collapsed a lung and narrowly missed his heart.
"I'd do the same thing again ... I think anyone
with any scruples would help someone else if he
could." he said.
Bassett said when he ran next door, he saw a man
standing in the yard
“He told me. There's someone in there trying to
hurt her.' So I looked into the room and she looked so
relieved to see someone who had come to help her,"
he explained from his hospital bed.
“She told me. ’Don't let him get me.’ I then real-
ized she was talking about the man outside who had
already started running away.
“I took off after him and suddenly realized he
must have hidden behind a front porch. He then
(See HERO—Page 2)
By Hugh Hall
The state highway com-
mission took steps Thurs-
day to get out of the em-
barrassing position of tell-
ing Gov. Bartlett it ran get
along on an $8 million ap-
propriation while inform-
ing the legislature il needs
$20.7 million.
Highway Director Bill
Dane announced Thursday
— after a painful appear-
ance before the senate
roads and highways com-
mittee — the highway
commission will meet Jan-
uary 26 to scale down its
appropriation request to $8
million.
Dane was called before
the committee After the
governor presented a
budget containing only an
$8 million appropriation
for the highway depart-
ment.
Senators had before
them the commission’s re-
quest for $20.7 million.
They also had read that
the commission wns In ac-
cord with the governor’s
budget — even praised him
lor it.
"I was asked a direct
question by one of the sen-
ators present if I. personal-
ly, was altering the depart-
ment's budget rrquest . . .
from $20.7 million down to
(Her DANE—I’age 2)
What's Inside
Amusement* 4
Bridge 1$
Business New* 11. 18
Classified Section 18-88
Comics 18
National Affairs 4
Oil Reports 18
Our World Today 8
H ports 18-1$
TV Tidbits 8
Vital Statistics 1
Women's News 18, 11
Want Adi CE3-4H8
Other calls CE 2-3111
r »'•'')* 1
a- •
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Gaylord, E. K. Oklahoma City Times (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 78, No. 280, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 11, 1968, newspaper, January 11, 1968; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc993118/m1/1/: accessed April 24, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.