Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 31, No. 47, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 27, 1973 Page: 15 of 20
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THE RIO GRANDE CITY HERALD PAGE IS THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1973
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ONE DAYS KILL - A hunters paradise, that's what hunters on the J.M. Yzaguirre Ranch
say when they hunt on the spread. The ranch is located in Jim Hogg County but Yzaguirre is
from Rio Grande City. Here a group of hunters show off the days ill, while Yzaguirre poses
with five of ten deer shot in one day. (Herald Photo)
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Story Of
Crisis
Casualty
Before the energy shortage,
Charles Huffstutler made $2.80
an hour as a shipper for an
Ohio plastics processing com-
pany.
Now Huffstutler, 38, is out of
work, a victim of the energy .
crisis.
His former employer. Meri-
dian Plastics of nearby Byes-
ville in central Ohio, cut its
work force from 200 to 100 in a
matter of days.
When General Motors cut
back large car production be-
cause of tight fuel supplies, Me-
ridian lost its biggest customer.
The Byesville factory made
plastic parts for big GM cars.
Even if General Motors was
still buying, Meridian would
have trouble filling orders be-
cause raw material is in short
supply.
"The material shortage is
what's hitting us," said Huff-
stutler.
"They put on the bulletin
board that if the government
doesn't do something about
shipping all the raw material
overseas, that they're going to
have to shut the factory down
completely in February, that
they'll run out of stock of what
material tlr* have on hand."
Governcnciic statistics show
3 Bullets Fail To Keep
Devoted Baker From Job
NEW YORK - "In 15
years, he was late only twice
and he never missed a day,"
says the owner of a bakery
where 53-year-old George Kel-
ler was known as a very de-
voted worker.
Keller's devotion to his bak-
that petrochemicals used in
plastics are being exported at
levels above 1972 because of at-
tractively high prices overseas.
But Huffstutler's mind wasn't
on his job. His wife was in
Guernsey Memorial Hospital in
Cambridge suffering from
double pneumonia.
Huffstutler, standing outside
the door of his wife's room,
talked about what losing his job
will mean.
"I'm concerned about my
wife, not my job," he said.
"You can't hold a grudge
against a factory when it's not
their fault. All you can blame
is the government, and you
don't know who to blame in
that."
He moved his heavy body
restlessly, one ear tuned to the
hospital door.
"I don't think there is a
shortage. During this Vietnam
war they used billions of gal-
lons a month, and there never
was a shortage.
er's job climaxed after he was
attacked and shot three times
by a band of young muggers
before dawn Sunday while en
route to work.
Police said Keller — despite
wouncis in the chest, stomach
and buttocks — managed to
board a bus, reach the bakery
and light his ovens, as he al-
ways did, before walking 12
blocks to a police station to re-
port the crime.
An ambulance took him then
to Queens General Hospital for
emergency surgery. He was
listed in critical condition early
today.
I>eo Silverman, the bakery
owner, said he arrived for work
to find Keller missing, some
bloodied clothes left behind and
a note from a policeman about
the mugging. But the lights
were on and Keller's prepara-
tion work had been done.
•BACHELOR LIVING'
FAIRFAX, Va - At
the George C. Marshall High
School here, a course called
"home economics for boys" got
very little attention. Retitled
"bachelor living," it has at-
tracted 120 students.
They are instructed in cook-
ing, sewing, care of clothes,
laundry, pressing and "as
much money management as
they can take."
Auto Industry Sees
Rough Road In 1974
DETROIT _ The U.S.
auto industry built and sold a
recordbreaking number of cars
in 1973, but saw a rough road
ahead for 1974.
The energy crisis loomed as
the biggest problem for the
U.S. car makers, as well as for
imported cars. It was reflected
mair.ly in an increasing trend
towards smaller cars, while de-
mand for standardsized cars
dropped considerably.
An easing in demand for new
cars became evident right after
the 1974 models were in-|
troduced, at a time when mo-
torists were expressing increas-
ing concern about gasoline
shortages.
Sales figures showed some
weakness in the final weeks of
1973. But indications were that
new car sales — including im-
ports — would wind up at about
11.5 million units, about 5 per
cent ahead of the old record of
10.94 million set in 1972.
Looking ahead to the coming
year, Richard C. Gerstenberg,
chairman of General Motors,
pointed out that when GM
came up with its first pre-
dictions in September, it fore-
saw a drop of about 6 per cent
in auto sales in '74.
Gerstenberg revised his esti-
mates on Dec. 6, this time
seeing a possible drop of be-
tween 8 and 12 per cent, with
car sales falling to between 10
million and 10.5 million units —
including imports.
At about the same time, GM
and other automakers — for-
eign and domestic — were an-
nouncing a variety of produc-
tion cutbacks in face of the
slackening demand.
Domestic automakers were
pleased on one hand with a
recordbreaking 1973 production
of about 9.3 million new cars,
topping the old high of 8.8 mil-
lion set a year ago.
But there also was some has-
ty reassessment of future de-
mand and a reshuffling of pro-
duction schedules for the first
quarter of 1974 to get produc-
tion in line with customer de-
mand.
GM led off the cutback pa-
ade as it closed 15 of its U.S.
assembly plants for the week of
Dec. 17, thus taking 79,000 cars
out of its production schedules.
Chrysler and Ford also came
up with production trims.
One industry observer fore-
cast the cutbacks would carry
through the first quarter of 1974
with the industry turning out
between 2.2 and 2.4 million
cars, compared with 2.7 in the
opening three months a year
ago.
Auto executives were quick to
point out that even though the
late 1973-early 1974 sales pic-
ture showed some weak spots,
it still ranked as one of the
strongest in industry history.
One unexpected factor was
continuing strong demand in
most segments of the top of the
market — Cadillac, Continental
and Mark IV, all of which ran
ahead of their 1973 model sales
pace. The Chrysler Imperial,
the other entry in the big, big
car field, ran behind 1973 model
totals, but Chrysler officials
said the sales weakness was
only temporary.
Imported cars also had sales
problems late in 1973, although
it appeared their total would
wind up at a record 1.7 million
— about 300,000 units ahead of
last year. The imports faced an
increasing list of problems, in-
cluding devaluation of the dol-
lar, the necessity of meeting
tough U.S. safety standards and
labor and materials problems.
The VW Beetle, for example,
which had long undersold
American small cars, began
the 1974 model year with higher
price tags than its American
competition. For example, the
Beetle had a $2,625 base price.
By contrast, Gremlin was
$2,159; Vega $2,237 and Pinto
$2,292, as of November, 1973.
American car makers had a
months-long tussle with the
Cost of Living Council trying to
get price hikes okayed.
Ford asked the council for an
increase averaging $118 per ve-
hicle, while AMC sought $114,
GM $200 — and Chrysler $136.
GM told the council it would
put only $150 of the increase
into effect.
The council on Dec. 10 came
up with a surprise ruling, ex-
empting the auto industry from
wage and price controls. De-
troit sources immediately took
this to mean the government
had approved the new three-
year contracts just worked out
with GM, Ford, Chrysler and
the United Auto Workers.
The council's ruling said in
effect that GM and Ford could
raise their prices in the $150
area, while AMC could up them
$100. Chrysler Corp. rejected
the proposal, but council Chair-
man John Dunlop said he was
confident that the workings of
the marketplace would mean
that Chrysler would settle for
price increases comparable to
those of the other three auto
firms.
The autos and the Clean Air
Act of 1970 continued to make
news in 1973 as the auto firms
sought to clean up their engines
more to meet federal stan-
dards.
Automakers contended the
1975 standards posed consider-
able difficulties for them. One
of their suggestions was that
the '75 standard calling for use
of catalysts be put off for a
while, perhaps as long as two
years. There was considerable
opposition in Congress and in
the Environmental Protection
Agency to some of these pro-
posals for delays.
The auto industry met tough
federal standards for front and
rear bumper systems on the
1974 cars, which could stand a
5-mile-an-hour crash fore or aft
without damaging any of the vi-
tal components of the car.
The movement towards small
cars and the increased worries
about availability of fuel made
the industry's efforts toward al-
ternate power possibilities
more pressing.
The German-developed Wan-
kel rotary engine — familiar to
many Americans as an offering
in the Japanese Mazda car —
was set for its debut under a
Chevrolet hood in early 1975'.
And other automakers were in-
terested in everything from the
Wankel to steam engines, from
battery power to the turbine, as
the search for more economical
power plants continued in high
gear.
Air Force senior flanker
Frank Murphy of Chicago com-
peted as a sprinter on the Fal-
cons' indoor track team.
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Trejo, Raul. Rio Grande Herald (Rio Grande City, Tex.), Vol. 31, No. 47, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 27, 1973, newspaper, December 27, 1973; Rio Grande City, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth194439/m1/15/: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rio Grande City Public Library.