A tornado skipped across the north part of Allen County last night, barely missing Iola but causing considerable tree and roof damage in Moran. It did its first damage to the northwest of Iola when it ripped apart a sign at Dale Wichman Ford and picked up two camper covers from pickup trucks. One cover vaulted 75 feet, landing just in front of Wichman’s showroom window and the other swept through the parking lot, causing considerable damage to vehicles along the way. It came to rest against an old baseball backstop behind the John Womack residence. The funnel dropped down again beside the Majestic Motor Inn where the roofs of five units on the west side of the motel were blown away. It then hit the Ivan Strickler dairy farm, destroying two large barns. It then lifted and continued east to Moran where it did quite a bit of damage to roofs and trees as well as shattering the plate glass front window at the Talley Chevrolet dealership and did severe damage to a building owned by Alden and Dave Ensminger used for seed storage.
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The newly formed Allen County 4-H Rough Riders will hold its first horse show at the recently completed arena at the fairgrounds in Riverside Park. Nancy Womack, president of the club, said anyone interested is welcome to attend. Brian Lawrence, Jean Sutherland, Don Nichols, Bud Sifers and Tom Maxwell were the adult leaders who helped form the organization. The club now has more than 50 members. Other officers are Stephanie Purdon, vice president, Steve Dreher, secretary, Delbert Nelson, treasurer, and Ralph Biggs, reporter.
