Banner Graphic, Volume 11, Number 73, Greencastle, Putnam County, 24 November 1980 — Page 2
A2
The Putnam County Banner Graphic, November 24,1980
7 Hoosiers in MGM hotel toll
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) - The bodies of a Carmel, lnd , .'ouple, burned beyond recogni ion in the MGM Grand fire at Las Vegas, have been identified 3V their sons throughjewelry ind dental charts. Five other Indiana residents were among more than 80 who died in Friday’s fire at the ho-tel-casino. and another Hoosier was still unaccounted for as of late Sunday. The bodies of Jack Keller. 61, and his wife, Blanche. 63. were identified earlier Sunday by their sons, who came to Las Vegas Saturday night after they Wjere unable to contact their parents. Randy Keller. 33, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said he and his brother suspected their parents had died in the hotel’s
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downstairs restaurant because when they had officials unlock their parents’ hotel room, “their bags were all packed, neatly arranged, and we knew for a fact at that time that they were downstairs.” The hotel officials “said there were eight burned beyond recognition. That means they had to be downstairs. We knew they were unidentified burn victims because we knew they were downstairs eating breakfast.” Keller said. He said hotel security officials at first refused to allow him and his brother, Brad, 31, of Indianapolis/ into the hotel because they did not have a room key. The brothers were among a handful of people who visited the Clark County coroner’s office on Sunday.
The Kellers said their parents had stopped in Las Vegas for a brief vacation on their way back to Indianapolis from Los Angeles. Other Hoosier victims identified earlier were David J. Asher Jr., 39, Indianapolis; John McQuithy, 63, and his wife, Elmira, 70, of Marion; and David F. Sanders, 39, and his wife, Barbara, 37. of Indianapolis. Still missing was Karen Andrews who had accompanied Asher and the Sanders to Las Vegas to attend a computer convention. Jackie Sherick, daughter of the McQuithys, said she was notified about 3 a m. Saturday that her parents were among the dead. But she said her hope had dwindled before the call came. “I know my mother would have called if they were alive. Even if she would have had to run 15 miles to a phone, she would have done it,” she said. “If they were alive, they would have found a way.” McQuithy was a supervisor at
Hotel officials mum about fate of $1 million in cash
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) - There should have been at least $1 million in cash on hand when fire swept through the MGM Grand Hotel’s casino, officials said Sunday, but nobody was saying how much if any was missing. Some money, witnesses say, was carried off by casino employees fleeing Friday’s fire that killed 83 people and injured more than 500 others. Some employees turned money over to their supervisors. Others may not have been so honest. Dan Harness of the Las Vegas Police Department expressed concern about the problem. “There’s some stealing going on up there,” he said. “There’s one lady who lost a $30,000 ring, and we don’t know who got it. We won’t know how much was lost until later when people go
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Owens-Illinois glass plant in Gas City, a job he had held for the last 49 years. His wife was retired from the same plant, where she had worked for the last 32 years. The couple vacationed in Las Vegas every year about this time, returning home at Thanksgiving, Mrs. Sherick said. This was the second year they had stayed at the MGM hotel. Mrs. Sherick said the family had received no official word on how her parents had died. The Sanders’ family was notified about 4:30 a m. that Sanders and his wife were dead, according to Mrs. Sanders’ brother, the Rev. Larry Crawford, a priest at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Indianapolis. “We were told the bodies would be shipped here, and that to go to Las Vegas would only delay the proceedings. So we are waiting,” Crawford said. “That is about all we can do.” Asher’s father said he was informed of his son’s death about 6 a.m. Saturday.
home, look in their suitcases and really see what’s missing.” One MGM Grand security guard still clad in his soot-cov-ered uniform was arrested Saturday at the nearby Barbary Coast Hotel. The retired New York police sergeant allegedly was observed dropping blackened coins into a slot machine. Harry Reid, the chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission, said Sunday he believed the hotel would have had at least $1 million on hand in the casino cage to pay off gamblers, many of them high-roll-ers who frequented the luxury resort. “I would imagine it would be over $1 million that would be a fair amount,” said Reid, who heads the state’s powerful gaming control apparatus. But what happened to the
“I was calling all night. I went to bed about 1:30 a.m. I called the convention center again about 4 a.m., and they said they would call me back,” the elder Asher said. Meanwhile, more than 30 of the Indiana residents staying at the hotel as part of a dance competition by an Indianapolis dance school were accounted for. They were staying at the MGMGrand for their first dance compeitition Friday night, according to Mary Lyon, a spokeswoman for the school. Ms. Lyon said four of the dance school group had been injured, but that all had survived the blaze. Hospitalized with injuries were Jane Hargitte, Sandy Jackson, Julie Moody and JimPatrick MacMahon, all students of the school and all of Indianapolis. Ms. Jackson was in stable condition and Mrs. Hargitte’s condition was listed as serious Friday night, but the condition o the other two was not immediately known, Ms. Lyon said.
money is, for the most part, not the state’s concern, he said. “While I’m curious and interested,” he said, “from a state standpoint, our concern is the collection of taxes. Our concern is to make sure no one cheats anyone at the games, either the house or the public. Protection of their own money is their concern, notours.” Harried hotel officials have not said how much money was recovered after the blaze, which destroyed the 140-yard long casino. “Five hotel staff died in the fire, but none of them died trying to save the money,” said Fred Benninger, chairman of the board of MGM Grand Inc. He said, however, “the casino staff was under instructions to secure the money” in the event of a disaster.
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Smoke billows from the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas Friday during the early stages of a fire that killed more than 80
Fire routs Harrah's Club guests
RENO, Nev. (AP) Operations at Harrah’s Club are nearly back to normal today after a kitchen fire Sunday forced about 1,500 patrons to flee the club in a reminder of the MGM
people. Hotel officials said over the ‘ weekend that the hotel would reopen by next July 1. (AP Laserphoto)
Grand Hotel’s fatal fire in Las Vegas. No injuries were reported in the fire that broke out at 10:19 PST Sunday in a kitchen at the 25-story, 324-room hotel casino, authorities said. The fire was extinguished in 10 minutes with most damage limited to the kitchen of the Steakhouse Restaurant in hotel’s basement, said Reno Fire Department Battalion Chief Jim Neil. About 500 lodgers and 1,000 gambling guests were evacuated from the building 15 min utes after the fire started, said hotel spokeswoman Candy Pearce. By this morning, all guests had returned to the hotel, she added.
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’Friday's fire at the MGM Grand killed 83 people and injured more than 500. “The smoke was pretty well funneled outside,” Neil said. “There was some smoke in the building but nothing that represented any danger.” But John Weiss of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in his room on the 18th floor, said he felt threatened and that there was' no warning. “A buddy of mine down the hall heard people screaming,” Weiss said. “He banged on my door for about five minutes until I woke up. There was no fire but' thesmokewas in the hall.” Guests huddled in robes and slippers in the freezing cold outside the hotel.