Coronado High School - Trail Yearbook (Scottsdale, AZ)

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State News Prison controversy: Tison, Greenawalt escape causes commotion in legislature By Jim Durkin Gary Tison's body was found, hidden under a tree, on August 22, 1978, thus ending one of the biggest manhunts in the history of Arizona. Despite the massive search that followed his escape from prison, it was the desert that killed him. He had eluded all that the state of Arizona could throw at him. It all started July 30, when Tison's sons, Donald, Raymond and Ricky smuggled several shotguns hidden in an ice chest into Tison and his fellow prisoner Randy Greenawalt. Heading west towards Yuma, they are believed to have killed four members of Marine Sgt. John Lyons' family. They then turned north to avoid capture. When in Colorado they stole a van from a Texas honeymooning couple. The couple was later found dead. Reports said they were heading back towards the Phoenix area. This had Casa Grande residents barricading doors and getting their guns ready. Just outside Casa Grande, the escapees ran into a police roadblock. In the ensuing shootout, Donald, 20, the oldest of Tison's sons, was killed, while Ricky, 18, Raymond 19, and Greenwalt, 29, were captured. The 42- year-old Tison headed for the mountains and watched the search from there. He later came down in search of water and was killed by the desert heat. His body was found four days later by Ray Thomas, a few 100 feet away from the Papago Chemical Company where he was employed. Prison Site Undecided A very controversial story of the year was that of the proposed prison site. Government officials decided to construct a medium security prison in Litchfield Park, but residents claimed it was too close to residential areas and a nearby school. The legislature originally planned to build one medium security prison for young male first offenders in Phoenix and another in Tucson, but that was voted down. lt was argued that if only one institution was to be built, it should be in Florence, where the state's maximum security prison is already located. More than 30 sites in Maricopa county were considered, but all were rejected because of stiff local resistance. For more than four years officials have been looking for a site inside the Phoenix area that was acceptable to local residents, but without success. The only place without local resistance was Tucson, but Litchfield Park was chosen anyway. In January, site selection came before the legislature again: strong consideration was given to building the new facility at Florence. The escape of Gary Tison and, more recently his son Ricky, caused the Department of Corrections to completely revamp the leadership of the prison at Florence. The breakout has been partially blamed on incompetence on the part of prison security officials. Tison had made several escape attempts but was never put in tighter security. The ease with which his sons spirited Tison and his fellow prisoner Randy Greenawalt from the prison hinted at a conspiracy among prison officials. s . i . ,,. - .... . .. ,i ,Q ONE Photo by Bateman

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Tragedies: cult suicide claims 912 lives By Karyn d'Eon, Maureen McSpadden Wide World Photos The most horrible news story of 1978 was the report of the mass suicide of 912 American citizens in Georgetown, Guyana. Men, women and children of all ages were members of a cult called The People's Temple and had been living in South America for nearly two years. The leaders of the cult was a man who called himself Reverend Jim Jones and claimed at first he was a messenger of God. Ultimately, he announced to his members that he was God himself. The Temple members obeyed him and gave to him all their material wealth. Jones quickly amassed a fortune and came under investigation of various United States agencies. Representative Leo Ryan of California was asked by relatives of Temple members to check on the well- being of family members who they felt were being held against their will. Other reports were filtering to the media of torture and beatings. Rep. Ryan and a news team left for Guyana in November to check the reports. On Nov. 18, upon completion of their investigation Rep. Ryan and two newsmen were brutally murdered at an airfield near the Jonestown compound. After the murders, Jones ordered the cult members to drink a punch mix loaded with cyanide. Armed guards forced anyone who refused. Jones, himself, was found with a shot in the head. Few people escaped the holocaust. Among those who did escape were some of the guards who participated in the mass murder. They may stand trial in the U.S. The U.S. government paid to transport all the bodies of the victims to the United States but afterwards attemped to force the People's Temple to pay the cost. Untold millions of the People's Temple are reputed to be in banks across the world in numbered accounts. All this happened in a 'Civilized World' in 1978. lllfhgq .wg-y THREE llvvruiwp. .ls San Diego Crash Tower, we're going down. This is PSA. Pacific Southwest Airlines Captain James McFeron and 135 souls on board the 66- ton Boeing 727 jetliner were hurtling at 280 mph towards San Diego's residential North Park neighborhood. Sept. 25, 1978 Kazy and Boswell, two experienced pilots, were flying a Cessna 172 on a training flight. At 8:55 a.m. the Cessna pulled up from Runway 9 of Lindbergh Field. PSA, now heading east, slowed to 170 mph, dropped landing gear and pulled the nose up slightly. The Cessna's radio could only receive Miramar Tower. Then came the following radio communications: 08:59:30. Miramar to PSA: Traffic 12 o'clock Cdead aheadh. One mile, northboundf' PSA: We're looking. 08:59:40. Miramar to PSA: Additional traffic 12 o'clock 3 miles north of field, northeast-bound. Cessna 172 climbing out of 1400 Caltitude in feetJ PSA: O.K. We got that one. 09:00:15. Miramar to PSA: Traffic 12 o'clock 3 miles out of 1700. PSA: Traffic in sight. 09:00:30. Miramar to Cessna: Traffic 6'oclock Cdirectly to rear of Cessnaj 2 miles eastbound. PSA jet inbound to Linbergh out of 3200. Has you in sight. Cessna: Response unintelligible. 09:00:40. Lindbergh to PSA: Traffic 12 o'clock one mile. A Cessna. PSA: O.K. We had him a minute ago. Lindbergh: Roger. PSA: I think he passed off to our right. 09:01:45. Miramar to Cessna: Traffic in your vicinity is a PSA jet. Has you in sight. He is descending toward Lindbergh. Cessna: No response. The planes had just collied. The PSA plummeted to the earth killing all. The Cessna fell 6 blocks away, its occupants dead. 150 were killed in all. The crash was the worst in U.S. aviation history and caused great controversy over having such a busy airport in a heavily populated area.

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TWO THREE Photo by Athmer ONE Each weekend for a month preceding the Parada del Sol Scottsdale Jaycees arranged an old fashioned shoot-out on the corner of Main St. and Brown in Old Town Scottsdale. TWO On a promotional tour, British Airways - Braniff Airlines flew the Concorde into the Phoenix Airport Dec. 11, 1978. The controversial Super Sonic Transport stayed at Sky Harbor for a few hours, then returned to Dallas. rl-TREE ln the parking area of Arcosanti, over 75 cars were burned during their annual festival. Photo by Blott ln the fall of '78 and early into '79 the health department discovered various problems with Arizona produced milk. A higher percentage of aflatoxin was found than the national limitation allowed. Controversy arose among various state officials-dairymen, the health department, the agricultural department-as to whether or not the higher percentage of alfatoxin could actually endanger the health of Arizonans. Alfatoxin is a mold on the cotton seed fed to cows. Milk supplies were dumped soon after discovery and production began again. But in early January, another alien ingredient, DDT, was discovered in the milk. Fire swept across the brush-ridden parking area of an ecological city, Arcosanti, last September during the community's annual festival. The fire destroyed over 75 cars, trucks, and vans. The village, designed by Italian architect Paolo Soleri, has no need for pollution promoting inventions such as cars. Arcosanti is located at Cordes Junction, Arizona.