Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
On this date ...
1971: In Los Angeles, rescuers using jackhammers, acetylene torches and cranes pulled more bodies from a three-story veterans hospital that collapsed during what became known as the San Fernando Earthquake. Twenty-three of the 40 dead found so far had died in the hospital. About 120,000 people were evacuated after a crack was seen in the Van Norman Dam after the tremblor. The quake, which was the worst in Southern California since 1933, injured more than 1,000 people and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. The quake was measured at 6.5-magnitude.
• Tucumcari City Library worker Annabelle Wignall discovered a jar containing $2 to $3 in change had been stolen where it had been kept in a refrigerator in the library’s kitchen.
• The Odeon Theatre in Tucumcari advertised a monster double feature of “War of the Gargantuas” and “Monster Zero.”