”HIPPIES,” “YIPPIES,” “SCHMIPPIES”: BEAT COPS SAY THEY’RE PREPARED

DOCUMENT INSERT: 8/21/68. Las Vegas Sun article:

Janice Tedrow was laid to rest at Wisteria Cemetery Monday morning. The flags at every country club in Las Vegas were lowered to half-staff in honor of the woman who was the Thunderbird ladies’ club champion 9 times, the Sands ladies’ club champion 6 times, the Riviera ladies’ club champion 14 times and the winner of the Clark County Polio Drive Scramble every year from 1954 on.

“Janice Tedrow played near-scratch golf even as she suffered from terminal cancer,” her physician, Dr. Steve Mandel, said. “That’s talent and willpower.” And when the mourning ranks at her funeral service swelled to the seams with local caddies, you know that they came because the woman was a true champion with the common touch.

Janice Lukens hailed from small-town Indiana. She married investor/real estate entrepreneur Wayne Tedrow in 1947 and soon made her way to the Queen City of the Desert, where she served on numerous charitable committees and played the meanest woman’s golf game the state of Nevada has ever seen. 1968 has been a tragic year for the Tedrow clan. Wayne Tedrow died of a heart attack in June, and now the 46-year-old Janice’s untimely death.

“God works in mysterious ways,” the Reverend G. Davis Kaltenborn told this reporter after the funeral service. “That’s why I chose golf as the central theme of my tribute. Life is an unpredictable trek toward an uncertain conclusion. I shared this insight with Mrs. Tedrow’s stepson after the service, and he told me he understood that very well.”

R.I.P., Janice. The starter at the Dunes told me you got six birdies the very last time you played golf on this earth. I see lots of sub-par rounds up there in the clouds for you, as well.

DOCUMENT INSERT: 8/21/68. Las Vegas Sun article

Sylvester “Pappy” Dawkins was 48 years old, a two-time convicted burglar and a reputed drug addict. The Reverend Cedric D. Hazzard was 52 years old and was the pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church in North Las Vegas. A stalwart of the Negro community in the Queen City of the Desert, he was as respected as Pappy Dawkins was disdained.

Yet the two men were friends of sorts. They would often meet at Dawkins’ unkempt little house in West Las Vegas and talk until the wee hours about all manner of things. Now, in its grief, Las Vegas Negroes are wondering what the topic of conversation was right before it all went so terribly wrong on the night of August 10.

“We don’t really know what precipitated this horrible tragedy,” Lieutenant Byron Fritsch of the Las Vegas Police Department told reporters. “We only know that Pappy shot the Reverend Hazzard and then turned the gun on himself.”

Horrible tragedy indeed. For many members of the Reverend Hazzard’s congregation have movingly described their late pastor’s diligent efforts to bring the word of God to Pappy Dawkins and to help him restore his moral equilibrium. “Ced was just that kind of a guy,” Kenneth S. Wilson, a deacon at New Bethel Baptist Church, said. “Ask anyone who knew him.”

“My late husband was a brave and true man who led with his heart,” the Reverend Hazzard’s widow, Mary Beth, said. “He was committed to goodness and social justice.” Mrs. Hazzard, 44, is the lead steward for the Las Vegas Hotel Workers’ Union, and has spearheaded many charitable drives in the local Negro community. She is doubly bereft now. In December of 1963, her son Reginald, then 19, vanished and was never seen again. Reginald was a former straight-A student at Seminole High School and had won science-fair awards in chemistry. The trials of Job have visited themselves upon Mrs. Hazzard, but she remains optimistic. “Yes, my son is long missing and my husband is dead,” she said. “I considered Cedric’s mission to reform Pappy Dawkins to be rash and imprudent, however heartfelt, but he died in the act of dispensing compassion. I revere him for that. As for me, no, I will not succumb to defeat or despair. I have duties to discharge, and I will not be deterred.”

The Reverend Hazzard’s funeral drew over 300 mourners. An estimated $10,000 in floral tributes was received at Wisteria Cemetery. Mrs. Hazzard and members of the New Bethel congregation distributed them to patients at local hospitals.

The Reverend Cedric Douglass Hazzard: 1916-1968. Rest in peace.

DOCUMENT INSERT: 8/22/68. Las Vegas Sun headline and subhead:

WILL ANTI-TRUST LAWS THWART THE KING O’ THE STRIP?

DOCUMENT INSERT: 8/23/68. Las Vegas Sun headline and subhead:

BILLIONNAIRE RECLUSE TO CLARK COUNTY: “I WANT TO BUY

YOU!”

HUGHES SEEKS TO CONTINUE HOTEL-BUYING SPREE

DOCUMENT INSERT: 8/23/68. Telex communiquй. From: Supervisory Unit, St. Louis Office, Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. To: Field Unit #1 12, all personnel. Topic: Grapevine Tavern surveillance.

Gentlemen,

Continue 24-hour surveillance of location, per all precedingly filed directives.

Thomas T. Wiltsie, Agent-in-Charge.

DOCUMENT INSERT: 8/24/68. Office-filed memorandum. From: Fred Turentine. To: Clyde Duber Associates (Attn: Clyde Duber, Buzz Duber, Don Crutchfield). Topic: Electronic surveillance of Suite 308, Golden Cavern Hotel-Casino, Las Vegas (Ref: Dr. F. Hiltz-Gretchen Fair investigation).

I got almost nil from yesterday’s wire at the Cavern. I’ll be frank: it was nothing but rich Mormons amp; hookers 8e chitchat about the Dem. conv. in Chicago. Farlan Brown was talking up his plans to be there (the Hughes org. is covering their pol. bets by sucking up to the Humphrey org). Nothing pert, to Dr. Hiltz amp; G Farr was discussed. I picked up a 1-way partial of Fred Otash talking on phone about a 8/30/68 meet with Wayne Tedrow amp; “perhaps others,” but that was it. All in all, a bust. D.C. will be in Chi. for conv., so he can follow up there. The bug is now deactivated, but is still in place. I’ll pull it when I get a shot at the suite vacated.

Best,

DOCUMENT INSERT: 8/25/68. Verbatim FBI telephone call transcript. Marked: “Recorded at the Director’s Request/Classified Confidential 1-A: Director’s Eyes Only.” Speaking: Director Hoover, Special Agent Dwight C. Holly.

JEH: Good morning, Dwight.

DH: Good morning, Sir.

JEH: It’s been too long.

DH: I agree, Sir.

JEH: Wayne Tedrow Jr. Give me the upshot of his latest Congolese misadventure.

DH: It’s covered, Sir. The coroner’s inquest ruled homicide-suicide, and the papers have reported it as such.

JEH: I’m gratified. And the Grapevine Tavern? Is it still a Pandora’s box of anti-Bureau chatter?

DH: Yes, Sir.

JEH: And ATF? Are they still perching?

DH: For now, Sir.

JEH: They cannot perch forever.

DH: I’m aware of that, Sir.

JEH: Let’s discuss OPERATION BAAAAD BROTHER. Wayne Junior’s dead Negroes have whet my appetite.