Indiana University - Arbutus Yearbook (Bloomington, IN)

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Ray escapes James Earl Roy, the convicted mur- derer of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., escaped from the Brushy Moun- tain State Prison in Tennessee on June 10. Ray, along with six other inmates, climbed a 14-foot stone wall with a makeshift ladder, slid underneath a 2,300 volt live wire, and then jumped to freedom on the other side of the prison wall. Chased in the rugged Cumberland Mountains by 150 men and a pack of bloodhounds, Ray was captured in less than 216 days within a ten-mile radius of the maximum-security prison. Two weeks prior to his escape, Ray said, They wouldn ' t have me in a maximum-security prison if I wasn ' t in- terested in getting out. Nanci Hellmich Jackson slaying Firemen answering a call to extinguish a house fire in Indianapolis discovered evidence of a bizarre robbery murder. After entering the mansion home of ec- centric millionairess Marjorie Jackson in May, fire-fighters found the woman dead of abdominal bullet wounds. Closer investigation of the home turned up over $5 million in $100 bills stuffed in toolboxes, drawers, garbage cans and a vacuum cleaner bag. Police discovered other oddities left by the 66- year-old widow of a grocery store chain president. They found washcloths, gift wrapped in aluminum foil, scattered around the mansion with the message From Marjorie to God. The police discovered that Mrs. Jackson hod withdrawn at least $8 mill- ion from her account after legal difficul- ties with her bank. They assumed that the missing $3 million was stolen by the burg- lars who killed Mrs. Jackson and set the fire in an attempt to conceal their crime. Five days after the murder, inves- tigators learned of a man who had re- cently purchased an $11,900 car with $100 bills. The police arrested several 14 free-spending suspects — Howard Wil- lord, his two-time former wife Marjorie Pollitt, her sister Robertina Harrell An- derson and Manuel Robinson. In December, Willard was convicted of murder, arson, burglary, robbery and conspiracy in the Jackson case. He was sentenced to life in prison. In July, Pollitt and her sister pleaded guilty to interstate transportation of sto- len money and conspiracy to transport stolen money. Robinson was expected to face murder, arson and robbery charges in March. Corolyn Cochran, Ketii Rowe Queen ' s Jubilee The month of June brought a glittering parade of pageantry to England in celeb- ration of Queen Elizabeth ll ' s twenty-fifth anniversary as monarch of the United Kingdom. The Queen ' s Silver Jubilee opened with her speech to Parliament. The British Isles were alight with a chain of bonfires while London glowed with an $85,000 fireworks display. Climaxing the fes- tivities was the traditional thanksgiving service at St. Paul ' s Cathedral. KaThy Sterling Seattle Slew The first undefeated Triple Crown win- ner in the history of thoroughbred racing, Seattle Slew, earned his distinction with victories in the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes. Many racing experts were quick to criticize Slew ' s light racing history and the expertise of his jockey, Jean Cruguet. His hard-earned but slow victory in the Derby only increased the remarks against him. But Slew quieted them all when he ran away from his fastest rival in the Preakness and survived a pre-race traffic jam in the Belmont to convincingly win the Triple Crown. Along the way. Slew amassed a sizable fan following, as did his owners, who were newcomers to the world of thoroughbred racing. Leigh Daeuble Guthrie qualifies The 61st running of the Indianapolis 500 featured several record breaking ac- complishments. A.J. Foyt won his fourth Indianapolis 500; Tom Sneva became the first driver to record a 200 m.p.h. qualify- ing lap at Indy, and Janet Guthrie became the first woman to compete in the previ- ously all male event. Before the race, there had been much speculation among race fans as to how Speedway owner Tony Hulman would start the race. Guthrie suggested Gentlefolks, but when it came time for the elderly Speedway owner to approach the microphone, his mind was made up . . . In company with the first lady to ever qualify at Indianapolis, gentlemen, start your engines. The race was on, and after 50 laps Gordon Johncock and Foyt were locked into a battle for first place. Johncock led most of the way and seemed headed for his second Indy 500 victory. But on lap 185 a valve spring broke, and the de- jected Johncock coasted to a stop at turn one. Foyt sped by and finished the re- maining 15 laps to claim an unpre- cedented fourth Indy 500 victory. The race had been somewhat of a dis- appointment to Guthrie, who spent most of the day in the pits. She did manage to finish 27 laps, however, despite numer- ous mechanical problems with her Light- ning special. And if nothing else, she did prove that the 30 days in May could be a coed event. A I Zimmerman

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Alaskan pipeline After a four-year delay and expendi- tures totaling more than $7.7 billion, oil finally began flowing through the Alas- kan pipeline in late June. The pipeline, which is 799 miles long and 48 inches in diameter, runs the length of the state of Alaska, from Pru- dhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean to Valdez on the Gulf of Alaska. From there, tan- kers carry the oil to Japanese and Ameri- can refineries. The pipeline was funded by eight major oil companies, making its construction the most ambitious privately-financed building project in history, A great deal of controversy sur- rounded the pipeline ' s construction due to the large number of environmentalists who opposed it. To prevent the hot oil from thawing the frozen tundra, thereby creating an environmental disaster, over half of the pipeline was elevated. The remainder was buried in a trench. Another source of controversy was the assortment of freak accidents which plagued the builders from the start. Welding irregulorities, cracks in the pipeline, explosions and the threat of vandalism gave rise to questions about the project ' s safety. Nonetheless, the first gallon of oil ar- rived in Valdez in early August. An esti- mated 600,000 barrels of oil now flow through the pipeline doily. Becky Robinson Nixon Frost The controversial Nixon Frost inter- views were shown on television during the spring and summer of 1977. For his four interviews with David Frost, Richard Nixon reportedly received over $600,000. The first interview dealt with Water- gate, and Nixon probably came as close as he ever will to admitting his guilt. I let down my friends. I let down the country ... I have to carry that burden, he told Frost. The second program covered the foreign policy aspect of Nixon ' s adminis- tration. Here Nixon was at his best, dis- cussing his favorite topic of foreign rela- tions. The third interview dealt with Cambodia and Vietnam, and the fourth, entitled The Final Days, discussed the last days of Nixon ' s presidency. Most Americans still believed Nixon was guilty at the end of the broadcasts, but were more sympathetic toward him. The former president was in the news again during the summer, as he battled Congress and the United States Supreme Court for possession of documents and topes made during his White House days. In July, the Supreme Court ruled that Nixon ' s papers were public property. De- spite this decision, more legal struggles and the lengthy job of processing the 42 million documents and 5,000 hours of taped conversations is expected to keep the information out of public view for at least a decade. Pony Word Kent State protest Many people well remember when Ohio State National Guardsmen opened fire on demonstrators at Kent State Uni- versity (KSU) in 1970, killing four stu- dents. Demonstrators were again on the KSU campus in 1977, protesting the construc- tion of a $6 million gymnasium annex near the site of the killings. Groups of protesters, including parents of several of the shooting victims, erected a Tent City and camped out on the site. They believed that a memorial to the dead students should be dedicated in this area. However, a court injunction against the protesters did not inhibit them; 1 92 demonstrators were arrested when they refused to leave the building site. Another court order stopped work on the gymnasium for a few months. But construction resumed in Septem- ber and continued with little interference from the protesters. Completion of the controversial gymnasium annex is ex- pected to be in 1979. Levinia Wright Judy Stein Gay liberation A heated battle over gay rights raged in Miami, Flo., this summer. Anita Bryant, former Miss America runner-up and present Florida orange juice booster, fought for and won a major victory in Dade County. There, voters rejected an ordinance banning employment and housing discrimination based on an indi- vidual ' s affectional or sexual prefer- ence. Bryant, who heads Save Our Chil- dren, Inc., met strong resistance from gay activists, especially Jack Campbell, a conservatively-dressed and wealthy owner of 40 gay bath houses. An unusually large voter turnout (45 percent) was influenced by what the Miami Herald described as a climate of hysteria more appropriate to the sev- enteenth century than the twentieth. The outcome of the vote is expected to discourage passage of antidiscrimination legislation, primarily a bill sponsored by Rep. Edward Koch of New York. After the battle, Bryant planned to go nationwide with the issue, which could cause hardships for the nation ' s 20 mill- ion homosexuals. However, sexual fundamentalists and gay activists were forming stronger or- ganizations and plans. Frank Kameny, District of Columbia Human Rights Commissioner and a board member of the National Gay Task Force argued, We have lost a battle, but we certainly have not lost the war. Loura Manske 13

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Son of Sam The tree-lined streets of New York City boroughs no longer offered young couples privacy. Instead, the neighbor- hoods served as shooting galleries for a crazed gunman. The gunman, who called himself Son of Sam, struck eight times, killing six people and wounding seven others. The victims were all in their teens or early 20s, and many of the females had long, dark hair. Residents of Queens and the Bronx, the murderer ' s prime target areas, walked fearfully through neighborhood streets. Women cut or lightened their heads of long, dork hair in efforts to throw Son of Sam off their tracks. Finally, after one of the largest police investigations in history, a possible Son of Sam was arrested in August of 1977. Police charged David Berkowitz with the bloody crimes. Berkowitz, a postal clerk, provided in- vestigators with details of his vicious at- tacks. He claimed that his shooting sprees were directed by voices he heard from a neighbor ' s dog. Son of Sam ' s capture was a bitter- sweet victory for police. They were re- lieved that the madman ' s days of killing had ended. Yet, police were also sad- dened by the fact that Berkowitz was not mentally competent to stand trial. Marianne Gleissner B-1 Bomber Commanders in the United States Air Force received an unpleasant shock when one of the proposed mainstays of strategic air warfare, the B-1 Bomber, was shot out from under them by Presi- dent Carter. The decision to halt production of the planes was mode by Carter on June 30. Research into the bombers and the con- struction of four sample planes had al- ready taken place, at a cost of $4 billion. Carter ' s decision prevented the construc- tion of 240 more bombers, estimated to cost $101 .7 million each. The President stated that his decision would be reconsidered if, at the end of a few years, relations with the Soviets should deteriorate drastically. In the meantime, he announced plans for the construction of a fleet of inexpensive cruise missies. Becky Robinson Haldemann Mitchell In June, H.R. (Bob) Haldemann, former White House Chief of Staff, and John Mitchell were sentenced to 2 ' 2-8-year terms for their crimes of perjury, obstruc- tion of justice and conspiracy in the Watergate scandal. Mitchell now has the distinct honor of being the first U.S. At- torney General to serve a prison term. He was taken to a Montgomery, Ala., penitentiary while Haldemann was sen- tenced to the Lompoc Prison Camp in California. These minimum-security prisons are unfenced, have no armed guards and do not accommodate violent convicts. Al- though officials endlessly stated that the men were not receiving any special treatment, Mitchell hod both a golf course and a river for fishing avilable to him. Both Mitchell and Haldemann plan- ned to write books during their stays in prison. M Michelle Gottwald Nightclub fire In the worst nightclub disaster in the United States since 1942, 161 people died in a fire at the Beverly Hills Supper Club on May 29. The fire started in a small, private di- ning room, the Zebra Room, and quickly spread throughout the rest of the South- gate, Ky., nightclub. Authorities attri- buted the cause of the blaze to a mal- function in the wall wiring of the Zebra Room. When first alerted of the fire by a bus- boy, many of the 700 guests in the Cabaret Room did not take the warning seriously. At first there was no rush for the exits; some people filed out while others remained at their tables waiting for singer John Davidson ' s warm-up act to finish. Flames and smoke spread quickly and as the lights went out, people began to panic and stampede for the exits. Once firemen arrived at the scene, overpower- ing flames and smoke prevented them from entering more than 20 feet i nside the building. Consequently, many of the victims died at their tables, and others perished while trying to escape. The tremendous loss of lives and ex- tensive damage easily could have been averted if the nightclub had installed a sprinkler system that would hove been capable of extinguishing, or at least con- taining, the fire, authorities said. Kothleen O ' Hore 15