In the late 1970s, Ford Pintos were popular, at least until a design flaw was exposed when the car would catch fire when involved in rear-end accidents. The fuel tank, set behind the rear axle, would explode, causing dangerous fiery accidents. It came to light the company had been aware for some time of the flaw, but didn’t act because a redesign was considered too costly.
In 1978, three teenage women died in one of these fiery crashes when their 1973 Pinto exploded when struck from behind by a van. It wasn’t the first time the company had been to court over the defect, but this time was different because it was “the first criminal prosecution of a manufacturer for an alleged product defect,” according to the Associated Press report in the March 13, 1980 Great Bend Tribune. Ford Motor Company was charged with three counts of reckless homicide because, prosecutors argued, Ford knew the Pinto’s fuel system was likely to leak in rear-end collisions but sold the cars anyway. But Ford argued the Pinto was as safe as other subcompacts of the time.
“Although it faced a maximum penalty of $30,000 if convicted, Ford reportedly spent $1 million to mount its defense, the March 13, 1980, Associated Press report in the Tribune stated. The Ford Motor Company was found innocent in the Pulaski Circuit Court in Winamac, Indiana. However, teens growing up in the 1980s were well aware of the dangers associated with Pintos and, despite their affordable price, they were not high on the list of coveted used cars for entry-level drivers, probably hovering barely above the AMC Gremlin .
That same day, one American man wasn’t so lucky — and thank goodness for that. While Ford Motor Co. executives went home to their families and spent the next six or seven years lobbying to delay the adoption of any NHTSA crash standard, John Wayne Gacy received the death sentence in Illinois for the murder of 12 people, all of which took place after the State of Illinois death penalty took affect in 1977, qualifying his later crimes. According to the Associated Press report in the Tribune on March 14, he also qualified by having committed a murder while taking indecent liberties with a minor and deviant sexual assault, both against one of his youngest victims.
Gacy was convicted of the sexual assault and murder of at least 33 teenage boys and young men in a series of killings committed between 1972 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.
GBHS Girls Basketball heads to State
Back in Great Bend, the city rallied around a handful of its teenage women who were proving to be pretty spectacular on the basketball court. The March 12 edition of the Tribune carried the report from sports editor Pat Costigan.
“It’s still survival time, but Thursday night represents the end of that aspect of the Kansas State High School Activities Association basketball playoffs. A common goal among teams remaining in the eight-team fields of the playoffs has been to make it to the ‘Final Four.’
“Things are no different at Great Bend High School, but (head coach) Steve Petty, (assistant) Don Atkinson and their Panthers have begun to realize that a State title is not beyond their grasp. The GBHS girls are taking the second best mark into the State tournament in Wichita.”
By March 14, they were still in the running. Costigan provided a riveting quarter by quarter report on the game between the Panthers and Kansas City Washington Wildcats. Seniors Jackie Reiter, Joy Locke and Carol Behr and junior Vikki Watson were heralded for their skills. Many Great Bend supporters turned out, as well as the Great Bend High School band, according to the report, “Large GBHS following gives Panthers boost.”
“The Panthers were the home team on Thursday night against Kansas City Washington, and it must have seemed to Steve Petty’s Great Bend High School girls as if they were playing in the friendly confines of GBHS gymnasium.”
The GBHS band made its appearance, apparently playing as they marched through the halls to the gym.
The next day, Costigan reported Great Bend High School Girls Win State!
“Anything’s possible. Even the State championship. And we proved that here tonight.”
“Those were the words of Coach Steve Petty following his Great Bend High School girls basketball team’s amazing victory over Wichita heights 62-50 in Henry Levitt Ariana on the Wichita State University campus on Saturday night.”
Costigan called Reiter “foremost among the stars for Great Bend throughout the quest for the 6A title, and the 6-2 post for Great Bend played her usual strong basketball to help the Panthers whip the Falcons.”
Fast forward to 2020, and Great Bend girls made history again. This time, it was the Great Bend Girls Wrestling team that made it all the way to State this year. Congratulations to our girls for always pushing limits!
Just for fun
Mrs. Carter flees Wichita hotel
In March, 1980, Republicans were sorting out presidential candidates, and President Jimmy Carter was beginning to campaign for reelection. First Lady Rosalyn Carter was on the road making appearances for her husband, and that’s why she was at the Royale Hotel in downtown Wichita. When a fire broke out one night that week in the Kansas State Bank & Trust Building next door, Mrs. Carter had only moments to escape.
“Mrs. Carter, wearing a nightgown and robe, was rushed down eight flights of a stairwell used as a fire exit by Secret Service agents. She was taken to the manager’s office, then walked through the hotel lobby to a car about 4:30 a.m. She and other members of her party were whisked to another hotel.”
It turns out, Mrs. Carter was hardly shaken up by the event. On the contrary, according to her press secretary, Mary Hoyt, when Secret Service agents awakened her, “Rosalynn called her secretary in the next room and they tried to make up their minds whether to get dressed. But the rooms were beginning to fill with smoke and at that point they both decided to put on their robes and Rosalynn grabbed her purse.” Hoyt went on to add, “She’s a very flexible person, and after we knew everybody was all right she told me she thought it was pretty exciting.”
