The Times Herald from Port Huron, Michigan • Page 1

Final Edition SwHfay.Moy2l.l97a CtoyrioM. Tfc TimiroMj Ckmmv IWt PORT HURON, MICHIGAN A Gannett Newspaper Po9n Tdeplfooime vimddisinfi) hte Thummb Partly cloudy service most of Saturday. Also hit by cable cuttings were Avoca. Capac, Em-mett. Jeddo.

Yale and Imlay C-ty. The company had reports by late Saturday afternoon of at least 14 new incidents where vandals cut phone cables, shutting off local or long distance service and. in some cases, both, said Lowell Kinney, company spokesman. Cables also were cut in the central Michigan communities of Alma, Mount Pleasant and Owosso. and in Hart, on the western side of the state.

Maintaining service in the Thumb area is becoming very difficult because of the amount of vandalism and the limited number of repair crews available, Kinney said. The strike-bound company has been receiving an average of a dozen vandalism reports daily since last Monday, when To publicize the reward program, the company has started buying newspaper ads listing a telephone number for persons to use to report vandalism. The company also is asking that all damage be reported to the nearest police agency, Kinney said. Meanwhile a settlement in the strike appears distant. No new talks were schedled in the nearly week-old strike by 2.900 members of Local 116, Kinney said.

Diver dies of injuries from cruiser CLAY TOWNSHIP A Detroit pobce officer, undergoing advanced scuba diving instruction in the North Channel of the St. Clair River, died Saturday from injuries he suffered after being struck by a passing pleasure boat. Richard Marshall. 28, died about 3:45 p.m. in the emergency room at River District Hospital, East China Township, of severe head and neck injuries.

Marshall and a diving partner, John F. Donovan St. Clair Shores, were surfacing in the river about 2:30 p.m. when an 18-to-20-foot outboard craft passed over Marshall, striking him with the prop. The boat, which did not stop, is being sought by Clay Township police.

"There were four or five persons in the boat," said Patrolman Gary Bru-sate. "I doubt if they knew they hit him. The witnesses said the boat didn't stop or attempt to slow down." Donovan was not injured although he was attached by a six-foot buddy line to Marshall as they swam through 30-foot deep water, Brusate said. The two men were certified divers in a group of six undergoing training to become diving instructors. The group was working on a dock at 10439 St.

John's Drive when the accident occurred. A diving flag to warn passing boaters of the men's presence was flying from the dock, but the men were in the water 50 to 75 feet from the dock, Brusate said. The channel used by the swimmers has heavy boat traffic, and the diving flag may not have been properly placed, Brusate said. The accident remains under investigation, he said. 1H the electrical workers walked off their jobs after rejecting a contract offer.

Company officials, however, have not pointed a finger at the striking workers, and Local 1106. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers officials have condemned the incidents as "willful destruction of property." A $5,000 reward offer has failed to produce any tips toward catching the culprits, Kinney said. The Times Herald STEVE BOERNER derailed Friday afternoon near partially derailed, a quarter-mile from the rest of damaged cars. The damaged box cars will remain beside the repaired track for a week or more until repair crews can return to the scene, Walker said. Chessie System officials do not know what caused the derailment, said Ronald Taylor, railroad superintendent at Saginaw Saturday.

"The strange thing is we had our rail inspection car go over that track last week and nothing was wrong," Taylor said. massacred The French Defense Ministry said the French opperation could be considered "terminated," but there was no indication the 600 legionnaires were being withdrawn. No casualties were reported among some 1,000 Belgian paratroopers sent into Kolwezi early Saturday. The airborne assaults were launched to save some 2,500 foreigners in the Kolwezi area. By The Ttaes Hen 14 The Associated Presf MUSKEGON, Mich.

Hundreds of General Telephone Co. customers, most of them in the Thumb area, lost local and long distance service Saturday as vandals continued to plague the company's phone lines. Hardest hit was the Almont exchange where six cables were sliced in four incidents leaving 500 customers without Derailed tank cars righted By JOHN A. MacDONALD Times Herald Reporter KENOCKEE TOWNSHIP Swift moving railroad repair crews early Saturday righted and removed two tank cars containing volatile gases from a pile of twisted railroad wreckage at a Fargo Road crossing three miles south of Avoca. The tank cars were among 16 Chessie System rail cars that derailed from a 55-car train about 1 p.m.

Friday while bound from Port Huron to Saginaw. One tank car was filled with 73,000 gallons of combustible butane gas, and the other held a small of amount of a butane derivative, butadiene, mostly in fumes, railroad officials said. "The tanker with the fumes is at least as dangerous or even more dangerous than the loaded tanker," said Lt. George E. McKenzie, a state police fire mar-shall.

Work clearing the wreckage to reach the upended tankers moved quickly Friday night after flammables experts determined the tank cars were sound and not leaking gas, said Edward Walker, a superintendent for the Hul-cher Co. of Indiana. The Hulcher a railroad repair specialty firm, was called to the scene by Chessie officials. The company brought special heavy-duty repair equipment and supplied the flammables experts who were flown in from Ohio. The tank cars were in a cluster of 15 rail cars piled up a half-mile from the Bryce and Fargo roads intersection.

Both tankers overturned, losing their undercarriages. The tankers were ruled safe about 9 p.m. Friday, said Deputy James Van-Conant, St. Clair County Sheriff Department and acting county civil defense director. Hulcher and Chessie crews began clearing and repairing track.

By 4 a.m. workers had cleared the tank cars. The cars were uprighted and new carriages placed underneath about 6 a.m. Work on the tankers was completed by 8 a.m., and an engine began pulling the cars to a repair facility at Saginaw about 8:30 a.m. "Last night they said they'd be done Rebels lose KOLWEZI, Zaire (AP) French and Belgian paratroopers seized control of Kolwezi from rebels Saturday and reported about 100 foreigners had been massacred in this copper mining center.

Some of the 1,500 white residents waiting to be flown to safety told reporters they witnessed widespread murder, bloodshed and looting by the rebels who captured Kolwezi from government forces a week ago. 25 years Editor's Note: As If Mother Nature wanted to make sure Blue Water Area residents remembered the tornado of 1)53, St. Clair County was placed under a tornado warning at 9:37 p.m. until 10:11 p.m. Saturday.

But there was only rain and black sky. By TIM WELLER Times Herald Reporter Even today, 25 years later, Russell SOFT TOUCH A special "sidewinder" crane adjusts a tank car loaded with butane as workers was one of 16 slide a new wheel carriage underneath. The car Avoca. The weather for the Rlue Watpr Area is forecast as partly cloudy today with the hi oh exnected to be in the mid 60s to near 70. More on Page ZA.

Deaths reported Mrs. Herman Schmerman John Francis Raymond Charles F. Lehman 11 Samuel T. Kaesemeyer Eldridge L. Bassett Mrs.

John J. Neis Mrs. Bertha Sparr Williams Archie Simmons Frank T. Cyman, OD Iner C. Erickson Frederick T.

Willard Obituary information: Page 4B Flags beat Diggers to tie Turner series The Port Huron Flags tied the Turner Cup series 3-3 with the Toledo tioaldiggers Saturday night at McMorran Sports Arena with a 6-3 in over Toledo The seventh and final game of the series will be played Wednesday in Toledo. For complete story and picture cov erage, see Sport Page ID. America's faltering marriages The divorce rate among American marriages continues to rise, but those marriages that don't end in divorce seem to be faltering. Is it social pressures? Is it eco nomic pressures? Is it sexual pressures? Beginning today in The Times Her Hid (I'age 1C), six excerpts will be published from the book "Honest Questions, Honest Answers," by George and Margaret Hardisty. Head this special series in The Times Herald and then take a look at your own marriage.

Index Ann Landers 2C DDlause 1-MF Books 5C Builders 8C News 5C Crossword 7C Dr. Thosteson 6C Editorials I-2E Krma Bombeck 3C Horoscope 5C Huron Happenings Local News I-8B Michigan Briefs 5A Obituaries 6B Oliver White 7C Ontario Briefs 5A People 1-4C People Talk 4C Senior illens Sports 1-6D Stocks 9C Theaters 5C Want Ads 2-8E Working World 1C lottery Daily winner DETROIT (AP) The winning number in Saturday's daily Michigan Lottery game is 87. Chuckle Two customers at the check-out counter were discussing the recession. "It came at such a bad time," said one, "just when everybody was out of work. NOTICE! New Classified Advertising Hours con 985-81 11 5-7 PM SAT.

(hMtNitiM Only) Hi NOON During ktg. Builnm Moure, 8-5 P.M. call 985-7171. by 10 a.m. today, and we didn't believe them," said Sgt.

John Wiechert, a state police fire marshal! at the scene Saturday. "But they were way ahead of that schedule." "It would have been a bad situation only if one of the cars ruptured, or if we had dropped it and it split," Walker said. An explosion of the butane probably would have created a fire ball about 1,000 feet in diameter, McKenzie said. The accompanying heat and shock wave would have produced devastation over at least a half-mile area, he said. Zaire town; French and Belgian army officers said their troops controlled the city and were mopping up small bands of rebels.

Reporters counted at least 58 bodies in the streets. French miliary commander Yves Graves, who led a paratroop assault on Kolwezi Friday, said he estimated 100 whites had been slaughtered by the rebels and some 200 rebels were killed in the fighting Friday night and Saturday. Protesters don't stop airport opening NARITA, Japan (AP) Radical protesters hurling firebombs and using flaming trucks as battering rams staged hit-and-run attacks Saturday night at Tokyo's new international airport after the iong-delayed, violence-plagued facility was finally declared officially open. In the most serious violence, 150 demonstrators tried to crash two burning trucks through an airport gate and were repulsed by riot police firing tear gas canisters. "Police said 21 officers were injured and 49 demonstrators arrested, including 17 women.

It was not known how many, if any, protesters were injured. Authorities said 13,000 riot police would protect the airport, 41 miles northeast of Tokyo, when the first 23 flights begin arriving today. 4 later, big tornado isn't forgotten To prevent such a disaster, Van-Conant ordered a six-square mile area sealed, providing a buffer of a half-mile in all directions. Road blocks were manned by deputy sheriffs, Kenockee Township firefighters and members of the St. Clair County Aero Club, a CB radio club: The area is sparsely populated and only the Warren Cribbins family, 4091 Fargo Road, was evacuated, VanConant said.

Nearly all 13 box cars in the wreck were empty. A third tank car filled with latex paint remained upright and only 100 found In the ruins of one house, the bodies 34 men, women and children were frozen in postures of terror. A woman's face was twisted and her fingers were still plugging her ears against the noise of the machine gun fire that killed her and her companions. French military sources said seven paratroopers of the French Foreign Legion were killed and several others were wounded. opened up like a book turned upside down.

"And then we were dumped outside lying in the front yard and it was gone." Surline remembers vividly, 25 years ago this afternoon, when the funnel cloud dipped down from the sky at about 4:20 p.m. near Smiths Creek to begin its devastating journey toward Port Huron and Samia. He was lucky and so was Port Huron. Surline's wife and five children suffered only minor injuries. Much of Port Huron's south side was devastated.

One person was killed here, four were killed in Sarnia. But those who remember wonder why more weren't killed. The area's worst natural disaster left Port Huron and Samia paralyzed, its residents stunned. More than 100 persons were injured. The tornado was erratic.

It demolished homes, buildings, trains and trees in some areas while leaving nearby structures untouched. The areas hardest hit were Smiths Creek and homes along Dove Road. The twister then smashed into Port Huron's south side, crushing buildings and uprooting hundreds of huge trees before it skipped across the St. Clair River to Sarnia to vent its full force. Hubert Lucas, a Port Huron funeral home director, worked though the night driving an ambulance.

He was attending a picnic on Hursens Island earlier that afternoon. "It was a spooky day, more spooky than I've ever seen," he says. "When I got back we took 18 people to the hospital before getting a break Trees were down on houses and roofs, and the roads were completely blocked. We had an awful lime just getting a couple of blocks to pick up patients." Port Huron Hospital was without Continued On Page 4A, Col. 1 t1 Surline can't explain why he glanced out the west window at that particular moment on that dark Monday afternoon.

"It was coming, "says Surline, now 73, of 1117 N. Allen Road. "I saw stuff flying through the air. But it was quiet; we never heard it coming. "We only had a few seconds, just enough time to get the kids under tables and chairs.

I saw the walls wiggling like a piece of paper, and then the roof .7 nr. 0 ft t. I lt i -ill fir-rfrift i The Time Herald RALPH POIOVICH 25 YEARS AGO The tornado filled with water as it crossed the St. Clair River, This photo was taken from the corner of 4lh and Water streets. The Timet Herald THEY REMEMBER Mr.

and Mrs, Russell Surline. 1117 N. Allen Road, stand In front of their tornado shelter, built after their 1953 experience..