Show Area Mourns Monday During Funeral The mainstream of traffic that usually roars through downtown Vernal early in the week was stilled Monday mor- mor morning morning ning as businesses were closed to 10 pay tribute during the fun fun- funeral funeral eral of the late President John Fitzgerald Kennedy Following the Presidents President's death services were held in inthe inthe the Catholic churches of Ver- Ver Vernal Vernal nal and Roosevelt other churches offered special pray ers era BUSINESSES opened duro dur ing the afternoon but schools the post office and municipal offices t ices remained closed for forthe the day Local reaction began Fri day shortly before noon as news of the first of what later became a series of incredible tragic and bizarre happenings arrived in Vernal by radio broadcast This writer was told the news of the shooting of the President at 1150 am as he was visiting the post Upon rushing back to The Vernal Express office he found the news had been call call- called ed in by an employees employee's wife Then as knowledge of the event flashed around the city activities began to slow as res- res residents stayed by radio and tel tel- television television to catch the latest newscasts LUNCH COUNTERS were filled with silent grim grim people obviously with little appetite as the news quickly circulated that the President had been struck down from ambush while riding in a motorcade in I downtown Dallas Texas and was fighting for his life in em emergency surgery A report came in that the President was dead Eyes fill fill- filled filled ed with tears dominated by a Hit it just cant can't happen in Amer Amer- Americ ic Ica expression in a number of faces The announcer carefully said that the report was un confirmed The tension eased a little Then the tragic news was out officially This writ writ- writer's writer's ers er's stomach knotted It had happened in for America the fourth time The year old Chief Executive was the fourth president to die at the hands of an assassin SHOCK bewilderment in- in incredulity incredulity credulity were mirrored in inthe inthe the expressions around the radio The anger was to come later Officials of Dallas which a month earlier had seen phy physical violence done to UN ambassador Adlai Adlaf stevenson by right wing extremists were at first inclined to blame the assassination on a similar same group Radio Moscow did the I THE BLAME was switched I to the other end of the political cal spectrum with the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald 24 a styled self Communist and supporter of Fidel idel Castro as a prime suspect Violence breeds violence and sudden death struck again when Jack alias Ruby 52 a Dallas nightclub operator gunned down Os Os- Os Oswald wald during a routine transfer from city hall detention head head- headquarters headquarters quarters to Dallas County jail The unique aspect of this killing kUling was that it was televised ed and shortly afterwards I viewed by millions of people OSWALD WAS fatally wounded about 48 hours after the shooting of the President He like the President was rushed to Parkland Hospital went through the same emergency gency entrance and was given also with with- without without emergency surgery out avail Police said they were con con- convinced convinced vinced that Oswald killed the President seriously wounded Texas Governor John Connal- Connal Connally Connally ly and also was responsible for policeman the slaying of Dallas pol- pol iceman J D Tippett luring during an attempt getaway Oswald denied any connection with any of the tho incidents District Attorney Henry Wade of Dallas said that the case of the Presidents President's death was closed with Oswalds Oswald's slayIng Now we have to get on with the Ruby case he said THE STATE will attempt to send to the elec chair just as it would have with Oswald Former Vice President Lyn Lyn- Continued on page 8 Area Arca Mourns e Continued from Page 1 don B Johnson took the oath of office as the new President of the United States within an anI I hour and a half of the President's si- si dents dent's death I Dallas Dalias had one more shock coming when as a plane was about to take off from the air air air- airport port Sunday with the mayor and other officials a report was received that a bomb had been planted on the plane Departure was delayed as the plane was searched but noth- noth nothing nothing ing was found and it shortly left netI I RADIO AND television net net- networks works works- all c E cial broadcasts shortly after the assassination Friday until Tuesday Programs were re- re restricted restricted to continual broad I broad broad- broadcasts casts of news events revolving around the tho Presidents President's death and an occasional local news news- newscast newscast cast and serious classical mus- mus musIc ic or choral selections mus-II mus Tuesday the nation began to return to its normal flow of comm and personal liv liv- living I ing I The aftermath will include trial THE FATE OF important and controversial natiOnal measures headed by the civil rights bill and the proposed income tax reduction remain I in question It is likely they will not be considered in this session of Congress I If they pass soon or eventually eventually ally their effect will be felt feltin in the Vernal area The sleeping never Com Com- Communist Communist I press particularly In InI I East German Germany says that Os- Os Oswald Oswald wald was shot to cover up an Communist anti plot The official cial news agency said the peo E pIe plc guilty of the shooting were to be found in the same sameI I I extreme wing right circles who ordered the murder of President John F Kennedy Investigators in Dallas say that the Presidents President's assassination assassination tion was conceived and carried car car- carried ried out in the mind of only one man the killer IT W WAS S REPORTED that committed his murder because he was heartsick over the dents dent's death and felt a sense of shame for Dallas |