Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
On this date ...
1973: President Richard Nixon asked Americans to voluntarily to drive slower and lower home thermostats to stave off what he called the worst fuel shortage since World War II.
Nixon said a long-forming fuel shortage, plus crisis in the Middle East, will leave the United States short of 2 million to 3 million barrels of oil per day. Nixon asked Congress for more power and asked citizens to sacrifice energy luxuries until the pinch is over.
If that does not work, Nixon warned Americans they may have the first direct consumer rationing of gasoline since the 1940s.
In a broadcast speech, the president said he is ordering power plants to stop switching from coal to oil, directed that aircraft get less fuel, asked Americans to turn down thermostats to 68 degrees and that federal agencies use less light and heat and drive its vehicles more slowly.
— A local man was hospitalized in a two-car collision in 300 block of West Campbell Avenue with another vehicle driven by a juvenile. Also, a Texas trucker was hospitalized when his rig crashed after a tire blowout on Interstate 40.
— The Tucumcari FFA won a state and national award for farm safety. Officers of the chapter were Douglas Newby, Lyn Plummer, Dallas Dowell, Tommy Riddle, Dennis Farrow, Glen Norris, Lee Plummer, Bud Laymon and Mike Christian.
— Gibson’s Discount Center was selling Swift premium bacon for 99 cents a pound, 12 Sylvania Blue Dot flash cubes for 99 cents and 8-track tapes for $1.89 that included recent hits by Neil Diamond and the Moody Blues.