Each week, we’ll being you a selection of notable stories that happened this week in Dayton history, chronicled by the same newspaper that continues to serve the community today.
Here are some headlines from the shortened week of Jan. 1 - Jan. 3, 1976.
Jan. 1, 1976: Optimistic words to greet Bicentennial
Dayton Daily News columnist Jim Fain penned a piece about the New Year. Here are some excerpts...
Ready or not — and you may count me among those who weren’t — this Bicentennial year of 1976 cannot be longer postponed.
We are no longer wallowing in Watergate. Nor are our troops engaged in any wars. The Middle East looks a bit more stable. Disarmament is not exactly booming, but there are talks and things are certainly no worse. To those of us with an old-fashioned view of the world the prospects for peace hinge mainly on how the Soviet Union goes about attempting to fulfill its ambitions, but that may not be the case.
We may be sufficiently appalled by war that we would not accept it on any terms and thus will be guaranteed peace. If so, our prospects for maintaining our freedom hinge on how the Soviet Union goes about attempting to fulfill its ambitions.
To get a stable economy in a static population without damage to the environment, we probably will have to accept less in material riches than the dazzling prospects painted a few years ago.
The Bicentennial thing will be mainly a hype, I suppose. A lot of well meaning, earnest people are tied up in it but, by definition, most of them are folks who attach a lot of importance to slogans, symbols and pageants.
Before the year is over, all this will test our patriotism almost as severely as an old John Wayne movie.
There is much that is good here. We are almost incredibly blessed when compared with others.
Happy New Year.
Jan. 1, 1976: Wagner family sells Henny Penny Corp.
The Wagner family sold its interest in Henny Penny Corp. to executives of the company, George C. Pruett and Jack L. Cobb, for an undisclosed figure.
Pruett and Cobb each acquired a half interest in the firm from Mrs. Mary E. Wagner, chairman of the company founded in 1956, and her son, Michael G. Wagner, president. Both were to continue with Henny Penny in consulting capacities.
Cobb was a resident of Eaton who joined Henny Penny in 1959 and had served in various administrative posts for the manufacturer of food service equipment for restaurants, delicatessen departments, and fast food chains. Pruett joined the company in 1967 as southeastern sales manager and held other sales posts.
Annual sales were in the area of $7 million at the time. Its principal product was the Henny Penny pressure fryer for chicken, ribs, seafood and other meats and vegetables.
The products are assembled at the Eaton plant, which employed around 40 persons. Henny Penny also exported to Japan, England, Holland, S. Africa, France and South American countries.
A growing number of fast food chain operations, such as Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald’s, had been instrumental in expanding sales, a company source said.
Jan. 1, 1976: Yep, it’s Dayton, general
Man who named city might be amazed at 200th birthday’s problems, successes
Gen. Jonathan Dayton, who battled the British at Yorktown and was the youngest signer of the Constitution at age 27, might flip his powdered wig if he could see the city that bears his name enter the nation’s Bicentennial year.
Dayton would see the folks in his town racing to keep up with rising energy costs and breakneck inflation, expected to run between 8 and 10 per cent in the coming year.
He’d watch as the school board grapples for a fifth — and possibly final — year over desegregation.
As one of the nation’s earliest politicians (he served as a representative in Congress, speaker of the House and senator from New Jersey), he’d probably look on in bemusement as his modern-day counterparts joust for nearly every elective post imaginable.
He’d no doubt blink as cable television flickers on in the city and go wide-eyed at the sight of Courthouse Square’s high-rise buildings being completed.
And, come July 4, he’d probably join the crowds lining the downtown streets, with their fire hydrants painted red, white and blue to look like little people, to see what’s expected to be the biggest parade in city history.
Jan. 2, 1976: Man, 32, survives shot between eyes
Tommy Wilson, 32, was shot between the eyes — apparently by someone celebrating the New Year with gunfire — while Wilson was attending a New Year’s morning prayer service in a friend’s home.
And it appears Wilson will live to tell about it. He was later listed in fair condition at St. Elizabeth Medical center.
“It was a miracle,” said Genevieve DeVoe, “to be shot the way he was and for the bullet not to do any more damage that it did.”
A hospital spokesman said Wilson was resting comfortably and was expected to undergo surgery later that day. The bullet, which police believe came from a .38 caliber handgun, traveled downward and lodged at the base of his neck.
DeVoe said a group of friends, including Wilson, were gathered at her home for the prayer service early Thursday morning when they heard shooting outside.
“There was quite a bit of shooting,” DeVoe said. Wilson and the others looked toward the large picture window when the shooting started, she said, and the bullet passed through the window, shattering the glass and striking Wilson. He was the only one injured.
Dayton police had made no arrests in the incident.
Jan. 3, 1976: Batmobile and Lil Redd Wrecker feature of Hara car show
Redd Foxx is the owner of the most lavish wrecker-truck ever built — complete with chrome plated towing mechanism and midengine — and it could be seen at the car show at Hara arena.
Not only that, but one of the Batmobiles built for the television series Batman was on display there in Carl Casper’s 15th Annual International Speed and Custom Auto show.
Show spokesman Ted Meljac said the show has more than 160 vehicles that year, over half of them built by Dayton area car buffs who enter vehicles in the contest every winter.
“You won’t find too many of these around,” Meljac said of the “Lil Redd Wrecker” built by George Barris of California for Foxx after he requested a vehicle be built to represent him and his television show, “Sanford and Son.” Foxx operates a junk yard on the show.
The Batmobile, claimed to be the most famous custom car ever created, was of special interest too fans of the television series.
Meljac said patrons who paid the $3.50 entrance price could vote for cars in various competition categories and help the owners win prizes locally and nationally at the end of the showing season.
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