Tulsa World: Way back when: Today in history

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Way back when: Today in history

Vanessa Williams in 1998

By GENE CURTIS
Published: 7/23/2009 2:24 AM
Last Modified: 7/23/2009 4:28 AM

1973

Lightning caused an Ozark Air Lines plane with 45 people aboard to crash and burst into flames while landing at St. Louis, killing 36. Pilot Harvey Link told an airline official that the plane was hit by lightning and he may have flown into a tornado.

1984

Vanessa Williams resigned her title as Miss America 1984 at the request of pageant officials because of nude photographs of her published in Penthouse magazine's September issue that was selling rapidly. "They lasted about 10 minutes," the manager of a Tulsa drug store said of his supply. Other sellers reported similar brisk sales although Penthouse had raised its price from $3 to $4. Williams, 21, of Millwood, N.Y., said "the potential harm to the pageant" convinced her she should resign. She was the first black Miss America and the first to resign.

1999

Many of Oklahoma's more than 2,000 watershed dams were 50 or more years old and, if not repaired, could crumble and flood downstream, said U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla. He introduced a bill to fix the country's 10,000 watershed dams.

1980

President Jimmy Carter's brother, Billy, admitted he was being paid as a foreign agent by Libya. The president said he did not believe it "appropriate for a close relative of the president to undertake any assignment on behalf of a foreign government."

Gene Curtis, 581-8304
gene.curtis@tulsaworld.com

To purchase "Only in Oklahoma," a book of collected columns by Gene Curtis, visit, tulsaworld.com/OnlyinOklahoma By GENE CURTIS

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