A bombing scare in the Midwest, 34 years ago

People in La Crosse were nervous in late May of 1984, when pipe bombs were being found throughout the city.  At least six of the devices were found by La Crosse police in just two days.  One was accidentally set off by a power company employee outside St. Joseph the Workman Cathedral, while Aquinas High School was holding its graduation mass inside.  Somebody claimed credit for the bombs in the name of “The North Central Gay Strike Force Against Public Oppression.’  A few days later, a Minnesota man, Earl Karr, was arrested when his rental car blew up in Iowa.  Karr was sentenced to 10 years in prison for planting about two dozen pipe bombs in four states.

 

A flame that people in La Crosse wanted to see in ’84 was the Olympic torch, being carried across the U.S. on the way to the summer games in Los Angeles.  Deak Swanson of La Crosse was chosen to run 1K of the 19,000K torch relay.  Deak would run on behalf of the La Crosse Boys and Girls Club. 

 

Some of the songs topping the record charts in early 1984 were “Footloose” by Kenny Loggins…”Against All Odds,” by Phil Collins…and Boy George and Culture Club singing “Karma Chameleon.”  In 1984, yesterday in La Crosse.