HTA-0658: WKBW Compilation Tape — Multiple Segments Including Long Night

Metadata

Summary

A compilation tape from Henry's WKBW era containing multiple segments. The tape opens with Dave Morghanti working the late shift — a 39-year-old Buffalo native who has been at the same job for 11 years, living with his wife and four children. The compilation includes police ride-along material, crime reporting, and concludes with breaking news coverage of two homicides within an eight-hour period (fatal stabbing at 283 Abbey Street). The "Long Night on a Tough Street" segment (already documented as HTA-0397) is included within this compilation.

Notes

This is a raw compilation tape containing multiple segments that may overlap with existing records. The full 47-minute transcript is preserved below for future segmentation and cross-referencing.

Full Transcript

00:50
Dave Morghanti works the late shift.

00:54
39 years old, he's been at the same job for 11 years now.

00:58
He was born and lives in Buffalo with his wife and four children.

01:04
Morganti attends church regularly, worries about the war, racial problems, and the high cost of

01:10
living. He played high school football, fought in the Korean War, and is involved in veterans

01:16
organizations. In short, Dave Morganti could be your next door neighbor. He could be the friend

01:22
who buys you a beer, or he could be the guy who puts you behind bars. Dave

01:27
Morghanti is a cop. The lightning bolt insignia that he wears labels him as a

01:37
member of the Buffalo Police Tactical Patrol Unit, and his night begins with a

01:41
briefing in the crowded TPU squad room at the Seneca Street Police Garage.

01:47
Today's duty officer is Lieutenant Tom Higgins.

01:52
General information from the New York State Police, attention Buffalo PD,

01:59
information received unconfirmed source. The following two vehicles are traveling

02:03
from Rochester to Niagara Falls and a New York State Thruway every two or three

02:10
days, supposed to be carrying heroin. The men of the TPU patrol the city.

02:16
all of it. Not for them the routine precinct duties of dog bites and block driveways. They

02:23
are assigned three general precincts to cruise. But when there's trouble or a serious crime in any

02:28
section of town, the men of the lightning bolt insignia are on the scene. The TPU is a highly

02:35
mobile force of tough aggressive men who cruise the city after dark enforcing the law. Their roster

02:42
of 35 officers, includes Polish, Irish, and Italians. Although much of their time is spent

02:48
in the inner city, there are no blacks now on the squad. The work of the TPU has been

02:54
commended as highly effective, and it has been criticized as rough and overzealous. The squad

03:00
has both friends and enemies.

03:02
Ransford and Fay stopped two suspects on Genesee and Spring last night, and while they were

03:07
question him one eased out a 22 automatic and Tommy Faye spotted it and put his gun on him and made a

03:15
good pinch that could have turned into a disaster so be careful when you're talking to these guys

03:22
take your post they call the city the street it's a tough street not just in the so-called high crime

03:31
areas. For a police officer, tension, danger, and hostility can accompany him

03:37
anywhere at any time. We rode with tactical patrol unit car number 34 on

03:45
several tours of duty. The view from a police cruiser can distort the city of

03:50
night into a bedlam of violence, crime, and hate. Or it can provide a valuable

03:56
insight into a policeman's vision of his job and the community around him. Join us

04:00
now for a long night on a tough street. This is Here and Now, a weekly report on timely social

04:09
issues. Tonight, long night, tough street. A behind-the-badge look at the men of the Buffalo

04:17
Police Tactical Patrol Unit, their job, and the controversies that surround it. Here is eyewitness

04:25
news reporter, Henry Lawrence. For the next eight hours, patrolman Dave Morganti will cruise the

04:32
street with his partner, Kevin Suto. A four-year veteran of the police force, Suto is 28 years old.

04:39
He has a wife and three children and lives in a Buffalo suburb, as do about half of the squad

04:44
members. He's the quieter member of the team, a cop with an index file for a memory. He's gifted

04:51
with the ability to almost instantly match up a name, a face, or a car license number

04:55
from his store of street experience.

04:58
As they cruise, he and Morganti will exchange recollections about the people they see,

05:03
a sort of gossip drawn from past incidents,

05:06
always with an ear on the steady chatter of the police radio.

05:11
But most of all, they're watching,

05:13
observing for subtle hints that most people would never even notice.

05:20
Dave Morganti is the more outgoing, outspoken member of the CAR 34 team.

05:25
He is streetwise.

05:27
A veteran of the narcotics department,

05:29
Morganti was transferred to the TPU during the sweeping shakeup of the drug squad.

05:33
He looks forward to the day when he can return to that job,

05:36
if only to clear his name of any connection in the recent scandal.

05:39
In the meantime, he makes valuable use of his narcotics experience on the street.

05:44
This is Jefferson Avenue.

05:45
Some call it junkie heaven.

05:46
This is the only place.

05:48
What are you looking for?

05:49
Well, we're looking for people we know, junkies, dealers, pushers, faces we recognize, people

05:55
we had experience with.

05:58
They're 5'10".

05:59
Do them walk away?

06:00
Do them start booking down the street?

06:02
When the narcotics squad pulls up, they fear them because they know that the narcotics

06:09
squad knows who they are, see?

06:11
But in most cases, they don't realize that guys like Kevin and myself and other patrolmen

06:17
that's been around a little bit know who they are also because they don't remember us.

06:20
But once you get the plainclothes car to pull up with some junkies, they're standing on the corner,

06:24
they'll start moving before they get up and they'll be starting to drop it on the side.

06:28
They better run down their paneling or something like that.

06:31
Where those guys in the patrol force, they don't know us that well,

06:35
so they figure we don't know them that well.

06:37
And they'll hang on to it. They'll take a chance and hold back.

06:41
Drugs set the tempo for much of the criminal activity which the TPU sees on the street.

06:46
The flash call comes over the radio, man stabbed.

06:49
Car 34 is first to arrive, and an ambulance is ordered to the scene.

07:00
What happened to him is he sold somebody a burnt bag and they shipped him.

07:04
A burnt bag.

07:06
Sold him some quiet night or a burnt bag, something maybe bacon powder or something,

07:10
a bag of heroin, supposed to be a bag of heroin.

07:13
So they shipped him.

07:15
But he knows who stabbed him, he'll never tell you.

07:18
Because he's a dealer and he's a junkie himself.

07:20
The wound is not critical and Car 34 is soon back on the street.

07:25
During a subsequent lull, Morganti and Sudo take a coffee break.

07:29
It's a reflection of their aggressive nature that TPU men almost never eat a meal during their tour of duty.

07:35
They drink their coffee in the car and they park at a key intersection

07:39
so they can be on the move instantly if trouble should break.

07:44
Tonight, they park on Chippewa Street, watching and waiting.

07:48
We call it the street of broken dreams, really.

07:52
You see all kinds of people in all walks of life.

07:57
You see derelicts, streetwalkers, you see junkies, burglars, hustlers, pickpockets.

08:04
There's a lot of people that you know, and you know who and what's what when they're walking down the street.

08:09
You know, when there's a girl that's here walking down, you know she's hustling.

08:12
Well, you know, she's just one of the shoppers walking down the street, or a guy down there's walking in the place, in and out of the place, hitting door to door.

08:19
If he's going to pop a car, if we know he's a junkie, he's hanging around, cutting through the lots, coming out between the alleyways,

08:25
we'll swing around and we'll pop him, we'll grab him, we'll take the screwdriver away from the can opener to something, pop the side window.

08:32
We have to be suspicious in the first place.

08:36
And look at it that way, you know, we think, well, he's doing something.

08:40
And then with this in your mind, and you're looking for something, then you use this.

08:45
It's not always what the courts say is right, but it's streetwise.

08:52
Like I told you before, when the calls come out, it has a lot to do with your responding.

09:00
Coffee finished, car 34 is back on the street, and within a few minutes, the work begins.

09:08
The police radio flashes a holdup call only three blocks from Car 34's location.

09:20
But by the time Car 34 arrives, the swift bandits have fled into the darkness.

09:25
As the first crew on the scene, Suto and Morganti take a brief description from the store clerk.

09:34
Okay, any of them show a gun or a weapon?

09:37
No, he had like in his coat, you know, like that.

09:39
What did a tall dark-skinned one have on?

09:42
He had on a long leather coat, and the other one had on a short brown jacket.

09:50
About how old would you say they would be?

09:52
About 20, 21.

09:54
In their 20s. Which way did they go when they ran out of the door?

09:56
Towards Jefferson.

09:57
Towards Jefferson.

09:59
Morganti calls the description in to the police dispatcher, who relays the information to other cars in the area.

10:06
Car 34 hits the street again searching for suspects.

10:09
But as in so many other cases, the hunt is fruitless

10:12
and the holdup men elude them.

10:14
- Precinct table.

10:15
- It's going to precinct like this,

10:16
this four, eight, 12, six.

10:19
- Nine, three.

10:21
- You get holdups, you get muggings,

10:23
you get purse snatches and stuff like that,

10:24
they'll run any out of somebody's house

10:26
and nobody will tell you a word.

10:28
They'll go around the block and completely disappear

10:30
like they're squirtin' on them.

10:32
- Nobody will tell you anything.

10:33
Because you're a cop, they don't want no part of it.

10:35
2422.

10:37
You're the man.

10:39
When they spot someone matching the suspect's description, they will shake him down to see

10:43
if he is dirty.

10:44
That's police jargon for a person carrying contraband, a gun, or narcotics.

10:49
But a shakedown is an unpleasant experience and often breeds resentment against police.

10:53
What for?

10:54
We want to know who you are.

10:55
What you got to know who I am for?

10:57
I never tell you who I am.

10:59
You don't?

10:59
Well, I got to tell you who I am for.

11:00
But you could get smart, man.

11:02
We requested to find out who you are and you will give us identification when we request it.

11:07
Routine checks of suspicious persons are a controversial matter.

11:12
Technically, an officer must have what the courts call "probable cause" before a citizen

11:17
can be stopped and searched.

11:18
In other words, he might match the description of a suspect or be acting in an obviously suspicious

11:24
manner.

11:25
But many checks are made on a policeman's hunch and that isn't probable cause.

11:30
In such a case, if something like a gun or drugs is found on the suspect, and he is arrested,

11:36
the case may be thrown out of court because the evidence was obtained during a technically

11:40
illegal search.

11:42
Like their fellow officers, Morganti and Sudo spend many mornings in court giving testimony

11:46
for cases in which they are involved.

11:48
They are paid for their time, but it means that an officer who works nights and spends

11:52
his mornings in court has little time for family and friends, and the courts are a source of

11:57
considerable frustration for the police officer.

12:04
- Myself, my personal opinion, I think the courts are too liberal with the criminal element.

12:11
And I think they should be harder, give out stiffer sentences, take a firmer hand in a lot of things,

12:20
whether especially in hold-ups, robberies, narcotics, muggings, purse snatches.

12:29
These are crimes against poor individual people in the street that take place.

12:37
A guy may be out on bail on one felony, and you lock him up for another felony,

12:43
and the next thing you know, a month later he's out on bail on the second felony,

12:46
he didn't even come to trial for the first one yet.

12:50
And he'll wind up doing the same thing all over you.

12:53
They have no ponds.

12:54
And they know they can get away with this stuff.

12:56
They know the courts are easy to tell you.

12:59
You get angry with a lot of things,

13:01
but there isn't much you can do because you're not the power.

13:05
You don't have much authority in this field.

13:07
All you do is try to do your job and let the courts

13:09
handle it the way they see fit.

13:12
Of course, you can get a bellyache over it.

13:13
But like I say, there isn't too much you can do about it.

13:17
Cops quickly learn that those bellyaches must not be taken home with them.

13:21
The long night on a tough street means frustrations, tensions, and bad hours.

13:26
Divorce is not uncommon among police officers.

13:29
The problems of a policeman's job are best left on the street.

13:33
Sudo says he almost never talks about work when he is at home with his family.

13:37
His attractive wife, Carol, doesn't seem to mind her husband's silence concerning his job.

13:42
The mother of three children, she and Kevin have been married for seven years.

13:46
She says she's glad Kevin is a cop because he loves his work, but it does have its disadvantages.

13:53
Well, in his particular job, the hours are strange.

13:59
So you have a husband that's going to work at quarter five at night,

14:06
so your whole day centers around when he goes to work,

14:09
and the children being in school don't get to see him that much.

14:14
My daughter comes home, sees him for an hour, and that's it,

14:18
because in the morning when she goes to school, he's sleeping.

14:21
So we eat dinner. It's very important that we eat dinner together.

14:25
Do you worry about him sometimes when he's gone?

14:28
I couldn't function around the house.

14:30
All I did was worry about him and what he was going to do that night.

14:35
There's a lot of things that I'll read about in the paper the next day,

14:39
where he'll come home and won't say a word, and then you read about it,

14:42
And then you get that after, you know, that, oh boy, you know, I'm glad I didn't know about it last night.

14:48
I wouldn't have slept.

14:52
The special problems of being a police officer mean a special camaraderie for the men who share long nights on a tough street.

15:00
Every Saturday, a South Buffalo bowling alley is filled with members of the police department bowling league.

15:06
Dave Morghanti can roll them pretty well.

15:09
And he enjoys his Saturdays with his friends.

15:12
But Dave Marganti also realizes that the social side of a TPU man's life is a restrictive one.

15:18
There's more to it than just socializing with policemen. There's more to life than that.

15:22
I would say anyone myself. I would like to see a little bit more about other life,

15:25
but I don't get the chance to, and none of these other fellows do either.

15:29
Because they have the same problem, work nights, court days, and when they're home for a couple

15:34
hours, they don't even get a chance to sit with their family or sleep, catch up with some rest.

15:38
Do you think that maybe that's a problem in a way you're a little bit isolated from the rest of the world around you?

15:43
I think that's part of the main problem, right, because the policemen don't get a chance to get around to meet and socialize with anyone other than policemen.

15:53
In theory, the tactical patrol unit is just another squad in the police department.

15:58
But because of its aggressive nature, it does attract a relatively high percentage of citizen complaints.

16:04
As a result, the TPU has adopted a lower profile.

16:08
Their cars no longer sport the lightning bolt insignia, and the squad is more closely supervised.

16:14
Lieutenant Al McDonald is one of five street lieutenants for the Tactical Task Force Bureau.

16:19
As he sees it, the TPU is filled with men who want to be where the action is.

16:23
Years ago, it might have been the action, it might have been out in the military, where it's very unpleasant today.

16:29
Being in the military today is more perhaps glamorous for the young men to go out to have some sort of purpose in their life, to do a service for the people, service right among their own people.

16:43
Well, you say among their own people, but they're really patrolling mostly the inner city, and you don't have any blacks on the force. Don't you think that's a problem?

16:51
Well, the problem is this way.

16:55
They're doing a service for the black community.

16:57
The people who are being mugged are being mugged by black people.

17:03
The problem is perhaps there isn't enough black people into the police departments throughout this country.

17:11
But there are opportunities for black people who want to do work, who want to be policemen,

17:17
who want to go out in the field to do a service for their community,

17:20
to join the police forces if they so desire,

17:24
we welcome any individual who wants to be a police officer.

17:30
Patrolman Ted Kirkland is a former member of the Tactical Patrol Unit.

17:35
Today he works out of Precinct 6 and is president of the Afro-American

17:39
Policemen's Association.

17:42
Well, I can see that the job that the TPU does could very well be necessary

17:47
in the city of Buffalo.

17:49
But one of the major problems with the TPU

17:51
and the other sections of the Buffalo Police Department

17:54
is the fact that we do not have enough minority group members,

17:57
including blacks, Puerto Ricans, Indians,

17:59
on the police department to represent

18:01
these particular groups.

18:02
And when the TPU, as well as other policemen,

18:05
go into certain communities, they have a tendency

18:08
not to be able to understand the problems

18:10
of that particular culture group of people.

18:12
We feel that we must get more minority group members

18:14
in the department to represent these particular groups.

18:18
In some quarters of the black community, outright hostility surrounds the TPU.

18:23
L.E. Pierce is a member of the law enforcement committee of the organization BUILD,

18:27
and he is seeking changes in the squad.

18:31
I would like to see the TPU unit replaced by a unit composed of, at the minimum,

18:41
50% white and 50% black to be commanded by a black commander.

18:46
That way I think it'd be able to relate to the community and do the job it's designed for.

18:51
Don't you think that the TPU as it's presently constituted has had a pretty good record in terms of keeping down criminal activity both in and out of the inner city?

18:59
I do not.

19:00
On what basis?

19:02
Well, the TPU unit, there's a great deal of complaints that come into the bill organization.

19:07
They're not followed through because of the threat of violence and brutality and retaliation against the individuals making the complaint.

19:15
So the record, the TPU unit does not speak for itself.

19:19
Have you been able to document charges like this of retaliation?

19:24
We've been not too successful in the bill organization with this due to the fear that's put into the community by the TPU unit.

19:34
But the University at Buffalo lecturer Bob Ford, the animosity between the TPU and some members of the community comes as no surprise.

19:42
He teaches courses in criminology and penology. Many of his students are

19:46
themselves members of the police force. He says the TPU is necessary and has a

19:51
good record, but there will naturally be some friction.

19:54
Their tactics, the various methods they use, do tend to produce a great deal of

19:59
citizen resentment in certain areas. They tend to make a lot of car stops. People

20:03
get insulted when they're stopped by the police. They go through neighborhoods

20:07
rapidly. The people don't know who they are. They're uncertain of them. They tend

20:11
to be brusque in their manner very often because they are rushed there may tend to deal in situations

20:16
where more likely than not there is a crisis situation where people are angry so they do tend

20:21
to develop a great deal of hostility couldn't they develop some kind of report with the people around

20:26
them they're never anywhere long enough to develop rapport see their their whole direction is not

20:32
towards rapport but to fight certain crimes to meet certain crisis situations to develop rapport

20:38
takes time. They're never in an area long enough. Now some of them do, but usually not. There's

20:44
something where you kind of pay for what you get. You get a lot of arrest, but you pay for it

20:51
in a certain amount of citizen hostility. Are the charges of police brutality accurate?

20:58
We can't answer that after simply riding with the TPU for a few nights on the street.

21:03
But the observer quickly learns that brutality is a relative term, which has a very different

21:07
meaning from the other side of the policeman's badge. This call came in as a

21:11
burglary in progress. When car 34 arrives at the scene, the suspect is already in

21:18
custody. He is not a burglar, but a local resident says he smashed a window. The

21:23
arresting officers report that he is berserk. Suddenly he breaks out of the

21:27
police wagon and heads for freedom. Kevin Sudo wrestles him to the ground, but not

21:31
before the officer is punched in the mouth, and several other officers join in

21:35
the fray. The suspect is taken to Meyer Memorial Hospital for psychiatric

21:39
observation. Later, Sudow reflects on the incident.

21:44
Number one, when I took this job, I didn't take this job to get hurt. Of course, that's one of the things that you have to...

21:53
It's part of the job. You do the best of your ability not to get hurt.

21:59
and turned back out of the van.

22:01
And I wasn't supposed to go into him.

22:03
When I grabbed him, he turned around and gave me a whack.

22:07
And--

22:09
What did you do to him?

22:10
Whacked him back.

22:12
Knocked him down.

22:12
And the other officers were there by then

22:16
and took four of us to handcuff him.

22:19
And we had to carry him back to the van.

22:22
Even after he was handcuffed, he was still fighting, screaming,

22:26
fighting in the station house.

22:29
We had to put him in the cell block.

22:31
Still handcuffed.

22:33
Do you believe in police brutality?

22:34
17 South?

22:35
Do I know?

22:38
I don't know.

22:40
Is there a case where an officer might use more force

22:42
than necessary?

22:45
Who's to say how much force is needed?

22:48
When you're out there, you got to win.

22:51
Because if you lose, you're gone.

22:55
So are you talking about how hard you're supposed to hit a guy?

22:59
How many times?

23:01
The incident itself is prevalent.

23:06
It seems like the end of another long night,

23:09
but as Car 34 heads for the garage,

23:12
there is to be one more reminder of the dangers that lurk on the tough street.

23:17
A youth is spotted running from the car as it approaches.

23:20
Before he can be apprehended, he disappears over backyard fences.

23:27
But the reason for his flight soon becomes clear. During the chase he has jettisoned a sawed-off rifle.

23:34
Here's the gun, Cav.

23:50
could have one of them long, mad coats on.

23:52
He had it open.

23:55
It was sticking out, the coat.

23:57
So we figured we'd give him a check.

23:58
And when we turned around, he started running.

24:02
The streets were pretty icy.

24:05
We couldn't get going fast enough.

24:06
We got in the yards down around Murrow Street down there.

24:11
And we know where he went, but we didn't have enough

24:14
to go in the house after him because we didn't have the gun

24:17
yet.

24:18
And after we looked around a little bit and found the gun, we knew we got stinked again, Dave.

24:26
We got stinked again.

24:27
And here's something else.

24:28
Look, you flatten the heads of the bullets.

24:31
Hollow points?

24:31
Dumb-dumbs.

24:33
This, when it hits, it makes a bigger hole.

24:37
He wants to make sure he kills you when he hits you.

24:41
It's the end of a long night on a tough street and the end of another week for car 34.

24:48
After filling out their paperwork back at the squad room, Sudo, Morganti, and some other officers retired to a nearby bar, frequented almost entirely by policemen.

24:57
Presided over by gruff resident proprietor philosopher Duffy, there's an atmosphere of bantering joviality, much like any other bar.

25:06
But beneath it all, there's also a sense of relief.

25:12
Yeah, a few drinks, a little crap at the bar and whatever,

25:17
and you relax, have a good time.

25:20
You do whatever, anyplace else you go.

25:23
- You feel like you're getting back

25:24
in a civilian life when you come out here?

25:26
- You have to.

25:27
With Duffy around, he'll put you in your place.

25:32
- Feels wonderful to be able to relax a little bit.

25:36
As you cruise around, you're always looking for something.

25:40
You feel nervous.

25:41
You got a little tension.

25:43
And when the night is over with, you're glad that you're all

25:46
through and everything is OK.

25:48
None of yourself didn't get hurt, or maybe one of your

25:50
buddies didn't get hurt doing a job.

25:52
And things like that, you know, this sort of thing.

25:56
Listen, why did you become a cop?

25:58
Why?

26:00
Well, I guess I've always wanted to become a cop.

26:02
Really.

26:04
Since I was a little kid, I've always liked the policeman,

26:07
respected him.

26:09
I've always wanted to be one myself, as far as I can remember.

26:14
As far as being one, why I really wanted to be one is because I like to help people, I guess.

26:21
This is my nature, and I feel as though I'm being useful, and I'm being useful toward my community and my family, as well as other people around me.

26:31
Yeah, but you've got to know most of the night you spend, well, you're actually hassling people, you know?

26:36
You're bugging people, be they criminals or just honest citizens.

26:41
Don't you ever feel that it kind of wears on you a little bit?

26:44
Sometimes it does. Sometimes it does.

26:46
You feel as though that everybody's against you.

26:49
You get this feeling that when people start,

26:52
especially this famous crying of police brutality and stuff like that,

26:56
it gets to you after a while.

26:58
But then you shock it off.

27:01
Your feeling comes back on what you really want to be

27:03
and what you're really doing in your job.

27:06
Really doing your job.

27:08
For a cop, that's a task that combines the restraint, wisdom, cunning, and courage of a saint.

27:14
And alas, these are just men.

27:17
On and off the street, they have their faults and their biases.

27:21
Some are too quick to anger, others too slow to compassion.

27:25
But every time men like Suto or Morganti step out of their patrol car,

27:29
they are forced to confront a mountain of emotions and tensions within themselves and those around them.

27:35
Social, economic, and racial problems that the best minds of our society have yet failed to solve.

27:41
As we said, these are just men.

27:43
A few months in a police academy cannot change that.

27:47
The role of police in our society is an issue that deserves careful scrutiny.

27:51
In the meantime, we believe most of these men are sincerely trying to do the job they've been told to do as they've been taught to do it.

27:59
A job that's getting harder during the long night on a tough street.

28:29
- Yes.

28:34
Next Saturday at 7:00, Here and Now presents the first of a two-part searching inquiry into the factors responsible for the suburban wall built around our major American cities, including Buffalo.

28:47
The suburbs exist as a place where people in their sense of status and how they view themselves as a place where they feel they can get away from blacks and poor.

28:56
When my seven-year-old was five, she looked at me and she said, "Mama, you have to be white to live in this town, don't you?"

29:04
We can't afford it.

29:05
Young people my age, they really want a house that's hard to afford.

29:09
Have the suburbs shut out the rest of America?

29:12
See The Suburban Wall.

29:14
Part 1, next Saturday night at...

29:49
My valley was a peaceful place to live, where a man had time to think and time to pray.

30:01
These musicians are recording a song about a tragedy that has been virtually forgotten.

30:06
The local summer floods have dimmed the memory of the Buffalo Creek, West Virginia disaster

30:11
for most Western New Yorkers, except for Mrs. June Wyckoff of Williamsville.

30:15
On February 26th, she heard of the disaster,

30:18
and the giant slag heap in that mining area gave way.

30:22
Waters roared through the valley,

30:23
wiping out towns and sweeping away residents.

30:26
Since then, 134 bodies have been recovered,

30:30
and 27 are still missing.

30:32
Mrs. Wyckoff, an amateur musician,

30:34
composed this song about the disaster,

30:36
Lonely Laredo Pine.

30:38
It's been pressed into a record

30:39
with talent donated by a group called Narrow Bridge.

30:42
Proceeds will be used to rebuild the town of Laredo,

30:45
which was transformed from a small Appalachian mining community into a rubble heap and graveyard.

30:51
Mrs. Wyckoff has visited the flood area and raised $400 in a local benefit concert.

30:56
But it's through her song, provoking the tragedy of Laredo,

30:59
that she would like the nation to remember the people of Buffalo Creek.

31:08
I wanted to do something for my fellow man, and that's what it's all about in this world.

31:14
love of the answer I think and I was hoping to help the people and put Laredo

31:19
back on the map again and help the people in Buffalo Valley.

31:26
Lonely Laredo Pine is being sold in local department stores and Mrs. Wyckoff is

31:31
hopeful that Buffalo radio stations will start the song on its way as a national

31:35
hit. It will be no small job to put Laredo back on the map but it's a task that

31:39
Mrs. Wyckoff believes can be bought for a song. This is Henry Lawrence Eyewitness News.

31:44
Sail, bury me with you, beneath our lovely lawn, the rain of pine.

32:11
The day was here, the signs were out, the customers were waiting, the entertainers eager.

32:16
Yes, burlesque is back.

32:24
After a stripless stretch of four years, the Palace Burlesque opened its stage to the bumpin' grind girls again.

32:30
It was 56 years ago that such shows started staggering audiences at the old palace,

32:34
and Good Fridays were always the traditional opening day because bars in Canada were closed,

32:38
so our northern neighbors packed into the palace.

32:41
Then as now, there were jokes along with the g-strings, but the dames brought in the dollars.

32:47
The palace became famous when one beauty's brassiere accidentally fell off 30 years ago.

32:52
It didn't happen again, but by then, the palace's reputation was made.

32:56
The palace moved into its new Main Street home six years ago,

33:00
but ironically, it was X-rated movies, where everything goes and shows,

33:04
that drove the strippers from the stage and replaced them with skin flicks.

33:08
But the man whose name is synonymous with the palace, Dewey Michaels, believes that Buffalo is again ready for the relatively clean-cut burlesque, and that's why he brought back the acts.

33:18
Because I think they're sick of the violence in pictures, they're sick of the over-sex pictures, and I think the people want to laugh.

33:29
You know, baby, I'd like to take you home with me tonight.

33:32
Why do you want to take me home, Bert?

33:34
Well, I like to take home sophisticated girls.

33:36
Oh, but I'm not sophisticated.

33:38
Ha ha, you're not home yet.

33:59
Irv Weinstein always told me,

34:01
Henry, don't go to the Palace Burlesque.

34:03
You'll see things that you shouldn't.

34:05
So I went to the palace burlesque today, and he was right.

34:07
I did see things I shouldn't.

34:09
Like Irv Weinstein sitting in the front row.

34:11
Huh?

34:12
Well, if you don't like the comedy, you can always watch The Stripper.

34:15
This is Henry Lawrence, Eyewitness.

34:17
News.

34:39
He later estimated a rise of 10 to 15% in gasoline prices.

34:43
A federal advisory commission has issued a police reform plan that calls for better pay,

34:47
a ban on strikes, and a requirement that all policemen hired by 1982 have college degrees.

34:53
Eight persons died when a twin-engine plane crashed near the central Montana town of Utica,

34:57
and searchers have finally located a Texas International airliner that crashed in Arkansas

35:01
with these three crew members and eight passengers aboard.

35:04
There are those who still dream of the days when railroad was king,

35:07
and in some places they're making a comeback, but they're having their problems.

35:10
John Drury reports.

35:11
For three years now, turbo trains exactly like this one have been streaking across the French countryside

35:17
that speeds up to 125 miles an hour.

35:20
The turbo train was purchased from the French National Railways

35:23
almost exclusively for its speed.

35:25
They were built to flash between cities

35:26
and to be competitive with the airlines.

35:28
But on this run, the first regularly scheduled in the United States,

35:32
no one seems to know or even estimate

35:34
when the train will be ready for maximum speed.

35:40
Holding the train back is the roadbed,

35:42
even though Amtrak considers the Illinois Central Gulf tracks

35:44
over which it will travel to be in reasonably good shape.

35:47
But there are other factors.

35:49
The signal system.

35:50
Can it accommodate speeds of over 100 miles per hour?

35:53
And what about the unprotected crossings?

35:55
And is the track really good enough?

35:57
In France, where it ran on conventional tracks at high speeds

36:00
between Paris and Cherbourg,

36:02
there were long stretches without curves and few crossings,

36:05
conditions not found between Chicago and St. Louis.

36:08
So during what Amtrak calls a familiarization period

36:10
of undetermined length,

36:12
this low-center-of-gravity, lightweight train

36:14
will make the trip at the standard United States railroad speed of 79 miles an hour.

36:19
It will thus take five hours to get to St. Louis,

36:21
and that is not competitive with the automobile, let alone the airplane.

36:25
The government has announced a major vaccination campaign aimed at thwarting possible epidemics of polio,

36:31
measles, and diphtheria.

36:32
A spokesman said the public has become complacent about these diseases,

36:35
and preschoolers will be inoculated.

36:37
And the National Cancer Institute says it will try to determine

36:39
why the cancer rate among Seventh-day Adventists is about half that of the general population.

36:44
They neither smoke nor drink, and that might be part of the answer.

36:47
Cardinal Josef Minsenti, the exiled primate of Hungary, is on a visit to the U.S.,

36:51
and he's being greeted warmly. Charles Burke reports.

36:55
At 81, Cardinal Minsenti is pale and fragile, but his eyes and mind remain alert.

37:01
This one-time leader of the so-called Church of Silence survived imprisonment under both the Nazis and Communists.

37:07
He was jailed during World War II by offering sanctuary in Hungary to persecuted Jews.

37:13
After the war, he was thought to have been brainwashed when he feebly confessed guilt to communist charges of treason.

37:19
Later, he would spend 15 years of solitary refuge at the U.S. Embassy in Budapest,

37:24
where he found sanctuary during the Hungarian uprising of 1956.

37:29
Some of the freedom fighters who survived those bloody times were in the crowd.

37:33
This section of New Brunswick, New Jersey,

37:35
became the new homeland for thousands of Hungarian refugees

37:38
who were processed at nearby Camp Kilmer.

37:44
When he spoke to them, Incenti was the blunt conservative

37:47
churchman they remembered.

37:48
He warned them to resist the tendency in this country

37:51
to limit the size of families.

37:53
The church and the home, he said, must remain strong.

37:57
It was only through those institutions

37:59
that their culture and heritage could survive.

38:04
Like his speech, the cardinal's mass was delivered in Hungarian, and use of the mother tongue seemed

38:09
appropriate, because it was clear that these were still his people, and he still their spiritual

38:16
leader. And a dark horse, well a dark turkey, has won the Texas heat of the great gobbler gallop in

38:23
Quero, Texas. Tomfoolery, a late substitution for Minnesota Fast II, did the 150-yard trot in 32

38:29
seconds and that is nothing to clock about.

38:36
Teachers in an 11th hour effort to avoid a school strike tomorrow morning.

38:40
President Donald Holt says negotiations have been fruitless, but they are continuing.

38:44
The teachers have been working without a contract since the school year started.

38:47
They vowed to strike tomorrow morning if no agreement is reached.

38:50
It was a happy and a lucky landing in the town of Niagara.

38:53
That story on Channel 7 Eyewitness News Film.

38:59
Marcy's pretty good with those shaggy dog stories.

39:02
Labor peace has settled upon the Hooker Chemical Plant in Niagara Falls, New York.

39:05
1,200 workers approved a one-year pact with a company that includes a 6.5% pay boost plus fringe benefits.

39:10
The agreement affects workers in the Hooker Industrial Division.

39:17
More fan mail, Mr. Perdue.

39:19
Material was stored, but officials insist that there were no leaks.

39:22
It was in this historic building that the radioactive element plutonium was first isolated.

39:27
A nationwide search is underway for 200 persons who were guests at a motel in Port Lavico, Texas during the past month.

39:33
The water in that establishment was tainted with germs that could cause cholera.

39:37
In New York City, policewoman Anne-Marie Butler put in a good day's work.

39:40
She stumbled onto an alleged bank robber struggling with a guard.

39:44
Anne-Marie pulled out her pistol, broke up the fight, subdued the suspect, and put him behind bars.

39:48
And in Chicago, there are those who see another role for women on the police force.

39:52
Pat Brown reports.

39:58
This hearing is the first step in Chicago's efforts to deal with the fastest growing crime in the city.

40:03
30,000 rapes committed last year, 10% reported, and a conviction rate of less than 1%.

40:10
Rape victims say all of that is because predominantly male police and court systems put them through an ordeal few are willing to face.

40:18
The reluctance of women to report the crime is based on the feeling she has, that she will not be believed, that she will be embarrassed.

40:26
Studies have shown that in the crime of rape, the motivation of the attacker is primarily to humiliate and debase the victim.

40:33
The sexual nature of the crime is secondary.

40:36
So here you see a woman who has been humiliated by a man, now having to go and tell her story to another man who might humiliate her more, knowingly or unknowingly.

40:46
If she has a woman to tell her story to now instead of a man, she might very likely be more apt to report the crime and promptly.

40:54
Chicago is looking at New York City's special female rape squad as one answer,

40:59
where in six months the number of reported rapes went up 19% and arrests 39%.

41:06
The largest haul since the French Connection.

41:10
That's what police are calling the $5 million in hashish that was seized in Las Vegas along with one suspect.

41:14
The stuff was shipped from Amsterdam in Speakers, but a drug-sniffing dog at the New York airport nosed out the hash.

41:20
And while some are trying to catch the drug dealers, others are trying to help the drug user.

41:24
Bill Rice reports on one method that's recently been launched.

41:28
The schooner pioneers cargo these days as people, 13 members of the crew, all of whom are ex-drug addicts.

41:35
A floating rehabilitation center, the schooner has made six New England cruises since 1971.

41:41
The schooner's master, Joe Madison, explains.

41:43
The Pioneer, being about 64 feet long, maybe 21 feet wide, would act as kind of an island where a group of people would get on board and they'd have to look at problems, get into problems.

41:57
It's a kind of situation where there's no back door and if there's something that's pressing you, it's going to come out there.

42:03
If you're bored, you have to find something to do. The scenery's not going to change.

42:07
The Pioneer is one of several historic ships owned by New York City's Southport Sea Museum.

42:12
Most of the former addicts who have sailed on the Pioneer come from the New York metropolitan area,

42:17
and for many of them, it is their first opportunity to escape the street environment.

42:21
They're usually surprised by the alternatives that life aboard a ship offers.

42:29
The Skylab astronauts aimed their cameras at the Earth today looking for ecological effects of strip mining,

42:34
and a pilot survived four freezing nights in the highlands of western Colorado by refusing to sleep

42:39
by eating raw frogs, grass, berries, and roots.

42:41
He crashed in an antique open cockpit World War II plane that he was flying.

42:46
Now, he might not have had to go through that ordeal

42:47
if he'd been flying the plane that Chuck Henry now reports on.

42:57
Thank you.

42:59
Well, here it is.

43:01
The largest, the most luxurious, privately owned jetliner in the world today.

43:06
It used to be a Boeing 707, but today it is a starship,

43:10
And one look inside will tell you why.

43:13
Ordinary air travel, this most assuredly is not.

43:17
Boarding the plane, one first encounters the club room.

43:20
A thick maroon carpet lines the floor, large suede-covered divan,

43:24
real leather chairs, and the first of several closed-circuit color videotape machines.

43:29
Here, one can select any number of films, everything from Mary Poppins to Deep Throat.

43:35
Then there is the Grand Salon, a room dominated by this massive 15-foot bar,

43:40
accessorized by brass inlays and fittings.

43:43
At the end of the bar, one can either pour a drink

43:45
or sit down to nothing less than a stereo organ.

43:49
This room is also complemented by a seven-placed van.

43:52
This time, it's covered in velvet.

43:54
There are two bedrooms aboard the aircraft,

43:57
one with a fireplace,

43:58
although it's not advisable to light it up during flight,

44:01
and the second, our master suite as it's called,

44:04
is dominated by this queen-size bed,

44:06
and the adjoining dressing room here

44:08
has everything one could ask for,

44:10
including a full-size shower.

44:12
The plane is available to almost anyone on a charter basis.

44:17
That's one case we're getting.

44:18
There really is half the fun.

44:24
Don't buy that.

44:25
But this is First to Last pantyhose.

44:27
They're terrific.

44:28
They're durable.

44:29
They're only 99 cents a pair.

44:32
But don't buy that package.

44:34
But I love the way First to Last lasts.

44:36
But don't buy that package today.

44:38
Today, buy the first-to-last economy six-pack.

44:41
Six pair for the price of five.

44:43
Then mail in the special coupon and get a dollar back.

44:45
I'll buy that.

44:47
Don't buy that.

44:48
First-to-last economy six-pack.

44:50
Six pair for the price of five plus a dollar refund.

44:52
I don't know if it's a cold or sinus.

44:54
Hey, what's wrong?

44:55
Oh, Jim, I feel all headachy and feverish.

44:58
Uh-uh. You ought to take some Dristan tablets.

45:00
They work on aches and fever.

45:02
And Dristan works on the critical sinus areas

45:05
where colds infection can breed when they fill with congestion.

45:09
Dristan opens stuffy sinuses, helps drain congestion in minutes.

45:14
Hey, how's that cold today?

45:16
I almost forgot it.

45:17
Dristan tablets when you need strong medicine for sinus colds miseries.

45:24
Come on!

45:25
Get a bucket of chicken.

45:27
Licking, licking, good.

45:28
Have a barrel of fun.

45:30
Goodbye, go home.

45:32
Kids love my hot Kentucky Fried Chicken and Fixin,

45:35
So come on and break up that old dinner time routine.

45:38
America loves what the Colonel does.

45:41
A finger licking good time.

45:43
Barrel of fun.

45:45
Delicious Kentucky Fried Chicken is now available in two finger licking good ways.

45:49
Regular or new extra crispy.

45:51
Try them both today.

45:53
These are two great performance cars.

45:58
This one has a top speed of over 120.

46:01
It will do the quarter mile in 18.4 seconds.

46:04
This one with its rotary engine also does 120.

46:08
And in a quarter mile race, wins.

46:11
And for the price of this Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC,

46:14
you can have this Mazda, and this Mazda, and this Mazda.

46:19
The thrill is back.

46:21
Mazda performs at Buffalo Mazda.

46:24
The Queen City recorded two homicides within an eight hour period today.

46:27
Buffalo police and the medical examiner at the scene of a fatal stabbing of a man late tonight at 283 Abbey Street.

47:02
.