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Show THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE 16 Fcb64 Boom Times "Athena' Still Darling of Green River By Harold R. Williams Associated Press Writer GREEN RIVER - Residents of Durango, Colo.-, might not] think much of the wayward j Athena missile, but Green River j still thinks she is a doll. THE SECOND stage and pay-i load of the first four-stage, ex-j perimental rocket smashed into! Durango's back yard Monday' instead of hitting inside White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. A disgrace or not, the Athena still is the sweetheart of Green; River. . I • THE COMMUNITY-never had it so good, at least as far as a boom goes. While the surrounding area is worrying over the cutback in uranium and no rain, the missile age's magic finger has touched Green River and 'brought the success that usually accompanies this new field. "It's just like the uranium boom in the '50s," said a whiskered service station attendant, "only a lot bigger. I sold as much gas last year as I did before in two years." MOST OF THE residents have been affected by the Athena. Many work at the base and many more work for businesses that have sprung up. "You used to carry on a con-; versation talking across the! highway," said a store owner.] "But now, we are thinking about! putting up a traffic light. You can hardly walk across the street, let alone talk to someone on the other side." THE ATLANTIC -Research Corp., the Air Force and White Sands Missile Range moved men into Green River about a year and a half ago. The company,; which has been plagued by internal problems and skirmishes with the federal government about its stock, set up shop in a large abandoned uranium mill |on the outskirts of town. I Motels sprouted and additions Vvere needed before the paint was dry. \ RAY'S POOL hall has become Inewri as "The Conference' i loom." > I The sign at the edge of town ' fsjys "Population 500", but W..: IF, Hatt. rancher and one of the! was more like l.OOT before th| boom. 1 "NOW WE ' HAVE a bo u|fc 1,750," he said. "The Athena has helped us immensely." Monday's launch was the climax of the activity of a year. HIGH SCHOOL students buili a float with a crepe-paper Athena sitting in a launch position. The gaily colored float was placed right in the middle of town. Signs in the stores read: \ "Good Luck Athena," "See you ! in White Sands, Athena," "Go South Athena" and "History is! being made today in Green j River - Watch the Athena go."j THE ATHENA did go. The reliable first stage castor and recruit motors, which their maker, Thiokol Corp., says have 100 (per cent performance records, blasted the slender Athena to the fringe of space. \ The huge, white streamer leftj trailing behind was characteris-j tic of solid fuel rocket motors.; The winds played havoc with! the „ long contrail, twisting,! spiraling and turning it. THE TROUBLE didn't start! until after the second stage ig-j nited. Veteran missile watchers] . said they saw the missile tumble! about two seconds after the motor fired. , Safely officers, watching the! flight with instruments in / block house, were caught on guard with an unexpected and) swift change of direction. < THEY HAD A choice of blow-| ing the Athena to bits and show-! ering the countryside with flam-1 ing debris, or determining where the missile might hit and let it go its way. They chose the latter. The tumbling set up terrific pressures and the missile broke into several parts, landing over the countryside near Durango. COLORADO and Arizona were skipped by an Army team from White Sands that toured NeWi | Mexico and Utah assuring the [residents there was no danger from the missiles flying over-! head. W:hen it was first determined that; the Athena had decided to have her own way and land in Colorado, Maj. Gen. Frederick ThOTlin, commanding general at WJflite Sands, 'called to Colorado GCf*v. John Love to inform him th/e missile had strayed. -••: A WHITE SANDS spokesman" ?Jaid all scheduled firings of the Athena would be postponed un-/ til reasons for the malfunction' could be ferreted out and corrected.; -.: •;••' •-•; No date has been set for tali next shot. It was to have been In two weeks. But whenever !it!! might be, Green River will be a; booster, hoping the next attempt" will make it to White Sands, i Legion Award On Employment 22 Oct 6k, Moab, Utah Bendix Field Engineering Corporation, at the Green River Missile Base, was named this week as winner of the annual National American Legion Aword for outstanding employment policy, according to information released by Manly B. Lincoln, manager of the Utah State Employment Service in Moab. Recommendations for the award are made each year by employment security offices throughout the United States. The Bendix citation marks the first time in ten years a Utah corporation has won the American Legion Award, Mr. Lincoln said. Recommendations for the Bendix award were made by the Moab Employment Service offices, and were based on the Bendix policy of employing workers on an ability and. performance oasis, with no age limit. Approximately 45 per cent of the company's employees are war veterans and older workers, acording to a report by manager Roy Morley. A bronze plaque will be presented to representatives j of the company at a Chamber j of Commerce luncheon at the Towne and Country Club on Wednesday, November 17th. Presentation will b'g made by Ted Johnson, Utali State CommaMer of the American Legion 'organization. Officials; , irom the Bendix company j i. headquarters, and their re-j -spective Green River offices, } "will attend. Bendix holds the contract I at the Green River Missile I Base for maintenance and facilities for the entire missile ] base, which includes housing ; and feeding personnel on the i complex, maintenance of-roads, buildings etes |
