Spokane, Idaho Histories

Historic Merrygoroud Now at Downtown Park

Lloyd Vogel, the inebriated owner of Natatorium Park, said he was planning on moving the merry go round  to Pasco, when I interviewed him in November 1962.  This article for UPI News Service didn’t get released until I was on Coast Guard Reserve training in Oakland, Calif.

TRAGIC '62 PLANE CRASH

SPOKANE — All 44 persons aboard a Strategic Air Command jet tanker plane apparently were killed when the C135 plowed into a fog-shrouded ravine on 5,271-foot Mt. Kit Carson about 20 miles northeast of here Monday.

Thirty-three bodies had been recovered when nightfall halted the search of the 500-yard deep ravine.

"It's the worst sight I've ever seen," said a highway patrolman.

Aboard the plane were 39 Air Force men, all members of the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D.; one civilian and four crewmen.

The tanker, based at Ellsworth, was carrying the airmen to Fairchild Air Force Base near here, where they were to stay while Ellsworth runways were repaired. The jet was only 10 minutes from its destination when it crashed.

BOY SCOUT WORLD JAMBOREE, FARRAGUT STATE PARK

Clipping from Idaho Statesman

I was a news reporter for the Idaho Statesman and assigned to report on the 12th World Scout Jamboree, which was held July 31 to August 9, 1967, and was hosted by the United States at Farragut State Park.

I slept on the ground in a tent and mailed my film and stories every day to Boise.  The following year I covered the national jamboree and stayed in a hotel.  It was fun.  Lady Baden Powell, widow of Lord Baden Powell, Scout founder, attended one of those events. 
Farrgut was a Navy base and had been closed for many years.  The press HQs were in the brig for the Jamboree.