June of ’71: Death, Taxes and Vandalism

Among the news items in the June 10, 1971 edition of the Duluth Herald:

  • Longtime labor and civic leader Morgan J. Blankush died at the age of 57. He had been a machinist at U.S. Steel Duluth Works since 1936.
  • Duluth industrialist Jeno Paulucci defended his recommendation for a hike from 11-1/2 cents to 50 cents per ton for the taconite production tax. Area steelworkers lent their support to his proposal.
  • Vandals broke an estimated 30 windows at Piedmont Elementary School. On the same night, the Duluth Civic Center fountain was filled with detergent and the initials MS 71 painted on the side. Several similar incidents were reported throughout the city.
  • A rock music festival called Concert Under the Sun was being promoted by DEK Entertainment, to take place “in an open area east of Pattison State Park.”
  • Giuseppe Greco was hired as a copy editor at the Duluth News Tribune after becoming the first person to obtain a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
  • The University of Minnesota Duluth was set to confer 858 degrees to the class of 1971. Expected to attend the June 11 commencement in the school’s physical education building were 507 of those graduates.

Caption: Pollution Progress … U.S. Steel Corp.’s Duluth Works is constructing improved oil skimmers to entrap oils from waters discharged into the St. Louis River. The facilities are part of the plant’s water quality improvement program developed with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency last June. Work on the skimmers is expected to be completed next month.

Caption: Viewing Damage … Nearly 30 windows were broken Wednesday night at Piedmont Elementary School on Chambersburg Ave. Westley Partridge, school custodian, checks three that vandals broke about 9 p.m. Many of those windows broken were double-layer insulated panes. No estimate of damage was given. — (Herald Photo)

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