The Charlotte News

Saturday, April 20, 1957

TWO EDITORIALS

Site Ed. Note: The front page reports that by order of Army chief of staff, General Maxwell Taylor, the Army had grounded airplane pilots who were using new tranquilizing drugs, General Taylor indicating that pilots using the drugs could not fly until four weeks after they had stopped using them.

In Tehran, the Iranian Government had promised Russia that Iran would not permit the U.S. or any other foreign country to establish military bases in Iran, though it would continue to accept American military aid.

In Tokyo, 2,000 students, women, trade unionists and civic club members had marched on the British Embassy this date in a protest against hydrogen bomb tests in the South Pacific.

In Paris, the French Cabinet, after a five-hour meeting, agreed on ways to cut the equivalent of 714 million dollars from the budget, through reductions in both civilian and military expenditures.

In Augusta, Ga., the President this date signed a 320 million dollar deficiency appropriation bill, of which 275 million was for welfare grants to the states, and the remaining 45 million for small business loans.

In Cove, Ark., moments after a 20-year old woman had left a choir and had gone to a pew in a church the previous night, six pistol shots had interrupted the service, killing the woman, the shots having been fired through the window of the church. Another member of the congregation, a 61-year old man, had been wounded in the left leg. Several persons rushed to the door in time to see a man leap into a pickup truck and flee the scene. About an hour later, police officers were notified that a 28-year old man from Oklahoma, a rejected suitor of the dead woman, had killed himself in the front of his brother's house in Oklahoma, 20 miles across the border from Cove.

In Roswell, N.M., two young men and their father were being held this date in the death of a young New York airman who, according to an official, had left his guard post and gone on a shooting spree. The district attorney said that the 22-year old airman, stationed at Walker Air Force Base, had apparently climbed over a fence where he was posted as a guard, carrying his military rifle with him. He had definitely been drinking and liquor was found in his canteen. He wound up dead after being struck by two heavy rifle slugs and two shotgun blasts, with it being undetermined who had fired at him. The airman had climbed onto the property of a man and then shot at his dog, left, broke some windows in an old barracks building and fired more shots, eventually returning to the original property, where the airman and the owner apparently exchanged remarks and the fatal shots ensued. The two young men and their father, who owned the property where the shooting occurred and had argued with the airman, were being held without charge.

In Burbank, Calif., police said that a bathtub of scalding water had been a death trap for a pair of two-year old playmates at nearby Sun Valley, the two girls having been burned to death when they crawled into the tub which the 19-year old mother of one of the children had filled for scrubbing floors.

In Dallas, Tex., a crippled Braniff Airways passenger plane floated to a landing the previous night, with all 41 persons aboard having escaped injury. The pilot emerged from the craft smiling and the hostess wept with relief, while a passenger from Oklahoma City said that everyone aboard was happy. The plane had come from Corpus Christi the previous evening, making stops at San Antonio, Dallas and Oklahoma City, with the problem having arisen just after takeoff from Oklahoma City, as the nose landing gear jammed. The pilot was given instructions then to return to Love Field in Dallas and attempt a landing there. There was no panic among the passengers, with three having even gone to sleep prior to the eventual safe landing. The plane made two passes over Love Field to allow ground personnel a chance to take a look at the craft, which then landed in the darkness without mishap after the pilot cut all engine power and switched off all lights to decrease the possibility of fire. The plane rolled on two wheels for several thousand feet as ambulances and fire trucks pursued it, until it nosed over, with its tail tilted toward the sky.

Julian Scheer of The News reports that mountain water and mountain dew were subjects at a committee meeting in Raleigh during the week, as well as reporting other snippets from Raleigh.

John Jamison of The News reports of an illicit traffic among truck drivers in "wake-up" pills spreading across the Piedmont. Federal drug agents said that peddling of "bennies" was the worst problem presently facing them. Federal court convictions for sellers of the drugs averaged one per month in the Piedmont area, and those cases which actually came to court were only a small part of the illicit trade. Truck drivers purchased the tablets to help them remain awake during long night runs, with repeated use of the pills often leading to addiction and addiction often leading to highway death, crime and broken families. The pills served a legitimate medical need when prescribed by a doctor, but caused trouble when they entered the black market through a few unscrupulous retailers or individuals who misrepresented themselves to manufacturers or distributors. Some veteran truck drivers estimated that as high as 50 percent of the long-haul drivers used the pills to some extent, and some of them lost control of their minds and bodies. The amphetamines acted as an artificial stimulant to the mind, but the body remained still fatigued and reflexes of the individual were as slow as ever. The pills played tricks on the mind and soon the mind began to play deadly tricks on the individual. In a fatal truck accident investigated by the ICC, part of the evidence uncovered was a letter from the deceased driver to his brother which read that he was sleepy because he had been driving 42.5 hours without sleep, only stopping to eat and take on fuel, and then away he went, indicating he was taking a lot of pills to stay awake. He had driven for days with just a fraction of the rest he needed and had finally succumbed to fatigue which the bennies would not relieve. A veteran driver of many years and later a terminal manager for a Charlotte trucking firm, told the newspaper that he was convinced that any driver could purchase bennies in nearly any town in the state. That fact was not surprising to the FDA, who reported that they could obtain more convictions if they had more manpower for investigation. The FDA inspector in Charlotte received between 15 and 20 complaints per month, usually from wives of family men who had become addicted and could not hold jobs. With orders to spend only about 5 to 10 percent of the inspector's working hours on over-the-counter drug violations, the inspector was obliged to develop just a fraction of the complaints he received. Estimating that a conviction required about a week of work, the inspector showed records of about 15 convictions since the previous April, most of which were related to drug stores.

Violent storms, with destructive winds, heavy rainfall and tornadoes had struck sections of the Southern Plains and the Midwest the previous night and this date, as showery weather continued across wide areas of the nation. At least six persons had been killed by the weather which had hit southern Wisconsin the previous day and continued during the night. Texas had been hit with spring storms and seven tornadoes had crossed the state the previous day, with one twister hitting the ground in the Dallas area early this date and heavy thunderstorms sweeping across the Dallas-Fort Worth area. No injuries had been reported in the Texas tornadoes.

In Grand Rapids, Mich., a speeding ticket was dismissed against a man because he was "going to a fire" as a member of the Grand Rapids Township Volunteer Fire Department.

In Raleigh, a Duke University student, dribbling a basketball, was on the way back to Durham during the afternoon, having arrived at the Capitol in Raleigh shortly after noon, ending a six-hour trek from Durham, during which he had not stopped dribbling, though he had stopped once for water. While dribbling around the Capitol, he had run into Governor Luther Hodges, who asked him if he was going to dribble back to Durham, and he replied that he had come that far and saw no reason for stopping.

On the editorial page, "The Easter Story" imparts from the Book of John, chapter 20, verses 1 through 17, the story of the Crucifixion and the news that Jesus had died on the cross, followed by examination of the sepulchre by the disciples, finding it empty.