Square dancer still
By SHAWN BUSIER
Collegian Staff Writer
Ina , - downtown bar,
students tap their feet to the
beat of a bluegrass banjo,
while a caller in the HUB
Ballroom instructs a room
full of breathless, • sweaty
square dancers: "Ladies to
the center and back to the
bar, gents to the center and
form a star . . ."
A Free U course advertises
clogging and square dance
lessons, and weekly folk and
square dance roundups are
held at White Building.
But if you really want to
learn about square dancing,
ask a man who's been doing it
since 1903 when square
dances !were held at the
neighbo'r's house; when the
"fella" jdown the road could
fiddle to the beat of his
stomping foot and his buddy's
guitar; and when five miles
over Tussey Mountain wasn't
too far to walk to a dance.
Wilbur Oaks "W. 0."
Lightner, 85, has been danc
ing since he was 13. He grew
up in the billage of Charter
Oaks, Huntington County,
where square dancing was a
way of life.
"We used to have what they
called 'Big Meeting' at
night," he recalled, "and we
held church in the
schoolhouse because there
was no church in Charter
Oaks. About three nights out
of a week, we'd have a square
dance after Big Meeting."
Budget
nearing
passage
HARRISBURG (AP)
With their ranks bolstered by
six new Democratic
legislators, House leaders
said they may try today to
win passage of a proposed
$4.7 billion general state
budget.
X 123 S. All
n St.
The dancers were 13 to 20 dances were held at neigh
years old, he said, and their boring homes.
The budget proposal now
before both the House and
Senate is about $49 million
below Gov. Shapp's original
request, and the Democrats
said it contains no new taxes.
It would be the fifth straight
year without a general tax
increase, Democrats
boasted. "It's my intent, if the
new members are sworn in at
1 o'clock, that I may attempt
to roll that bill at 3 in the
afternoon. If not Monday,
then no later than Tuesday,"
said Rep. Stephen Wojdak,
appropriations committee
chairman and chief sponsor
of the budget.
,"We have the votes. It's
just a question of attendance
DRAWSTRING
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It will be the fourth time the
House has tried to pass the
budget, which will finance
most state government
operations for the fiscal year
beginning July 1.
If successful, it will be the
first time in recent years that
the budget has cleared the
House without crowding the
June 30 deadline.
The Senate is not expected
to have as much trouble, but
can take action only after the
House votes.
Between March 31 and
April 8, the House voted down
the budget three times when a
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'swinging. his partner' at 85
These "neighboring
homes" were often miles
away, in Mooresville or Pine
Grove Mills, but the young
people would walk, or when
they were older, drive a horse
and buggy.
Music was supplied by a
guitar and fiddle. "W. 0."
few Democrats joined solid
Republican opposition.
On two of those occasions,
Democratic leaders managed
to come within three or four
votes of the 102-vote margin
required for passage.
The Senate took the first
whack at the budget back on
March 23, passing it 28-20.
The House made major
changes, but was unable to
pass it.
The main problem in the
House was the defection of
Delaware County Democrats,
angered because no limit was
placed on the Philadelphia
city wage tax on suburban
commuters.
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recalls one man who "could Four, and you don't call no
put that violin up back of his figure to that, you just dance
neck and play it just as good to the music," he said. "And
as he could with it in front of that's the way us kids was
him" learnt to dance; if we went on
Square dances, he said, had
definite rules and petterns.
"We used to always open
with a French Four just
two couples dance in a French
17 dead, some may be American
Iranian
MADRID, Spain (UPI)
An Iranian air force Boeing
747 cargo jet crashed in a
heavy rainstorm yesterday
while approaching Madrid
airport, killing all 17 persons
aboard; possibly including
some Americans, police said.
Witnesses said the plane
was flying at low altitude
when it appeared to be rocked
by an explosion and crashed
in the hilly wine and olive
country east of Madrid.
The control tower of
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the floor and started to act the
fool, we was put off the floor
right there. "We had to dance
to the music and listen to the
caller. We was only allowed to
jet crashes near Madrid
Madrid's Barajas airport said
the cause of the crash was not
known.
Three passports were found
by paramilitary police
searching in charred debris
scattered over almost two
miles near the small town of
Huete.
Police said two of the
passports carried the names
of Robert Wilson and Dorothy
Wilson. They gave no other
details.
The jumbo cargo jet
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swing ( our partners) twice
around that was all you
could do and keep up with the
music and the caller."
He continued to square
dance even after his youth,
although farming and selling
work horses took up much of
his time.
"I dealt in horses from the
time I was 17 years old till
draft horses went out, about
seven years ago," he said.
Many of his sales, he said,
were to farmers and lumber
camps, and later to the
stricter sects of Amish people
who wouldn't use machinery.
One incident with a bad
tempered bronco earned him
his nickname, "Mike". He
bought the horse from a
dealer who insisted it was
broken in, but after hitching it
to a buggy, "W. 0." said he
learned otherwise. Though
the horse ran away with him,
it was one of his best driving
horses, by the time W.O. had
it back to the barn. He so
impressed his friends that
they began to call him by the
horse's name, "Mike".
He also likes to talk about
his farm, 70 acres and a house
that he had bought fort $9OO
and sold for $2OOO. "I thought
I had a good bargain thee,"
he said. "Now you know what
they're asking for
it? —$90,000"
Lightner lives in a trailer
outside of Jackson Corner,
where he moved a few years
ago after his wife died.
tumbled from the sky during
a 'rainstorm and crashed 63
miles east of Madrid airport,
where it was scheduled to
make a refueling stop en
route from Teheran, Iran, to
the United States.
Police said all 17 persons
aboard died in the flaming
debris, their bodies charred
and mangled.
The crash was the second of
a Boeing 747 since the four
engine wide-bodied model
was introduced in 1970. A
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Attributing his vigor to hard
work, he does his own
cooking, cleaning, and gar
dening as well as carpentry
work for the neighbors and, of
course, square dancing.
Sometimes he goes dancing
with young students who've
just discovered the fun of a
square dance. His neighbor,
Mid Brown, said "There's a
group of kids comes up here
from State College and they
just love to get him dancing.
They'll stop for him before
they go to the dances and
bring him along."
But square dances, he said,
aren't what they used to be.
"There's nothing I like better
than a good square danCe,"
he said, "but they don't have
good square dances no more.
They've got all this later
stuff. They won't listen to the
caller any more."
He used to call at square
dances for many years, he
said. "Golden Slippers" and
"The Irish Washerwoman"
are his favorite dancing
tunes, and he recalls the
figure ( the steps called in a
square dance) for the latter:
"First couple lead to the right
and a-balance four . . Swing
yer right-hand corner . . Now
yer own . . . Eight hands
high, ladies make a bow and
gents bow under . . . "
Lightner, still young at 85,
taps his toes to the memory of
a fiddle and guitar, reeling
out good times across Tussey
Mountain.
Lufthansa 747 crashed on
takeoff from Nairobi, Kenya,
on Nov. 20, 1974, killing 59
persons.
Iranian air force transport
planes have been using
Madrid as a refueling point on
trips between Teheran and
the United States.
An Iranian embassy
spokesman said he did not
know immediately whether
the jumbo jet was carrying
any cargo.