The Daily Oklahoman from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma • Page 97

THE DAILY OKLAHOMAN The State Newspaper Since 1907 OKLAHOMA CITY, OK FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 1979 48 PAGES 20c Death Trial Ordered for Stafford By Kevin Donovan Roger Dale Stafford was ordered Thursday to stand trial on six counts of first-degree murder in last massacre at a southwest Oklahoma City restaurant. Oklahoma County Special District Judge Leonard Geb made the ruling at the end of two-day preliminary hearing and scheduled a 2 p.m. Tuesday arraignment on the charges. The hearing ended in mid-afternoon after defense lawyers called three policemen to the witness stand and then rested their case. But chief defense counsel J.

Malone Brewer spent much of the day hammering at inconsistencies between written statements estranged wife gave police and her testimony Wednesday. Verna Stafford, who admitted Wednesday she had lied to detectives about the extent of her involvement in the slaying of six employees of the Sirloin Stockade, 1620 SW 74, repeated the admission to Brewer. "I want the Police Department to know how involved I was so I told them it was Roger who planned the Mrs Stafford said. Wednesday she testified that she, Roger and late brother, Harold, planned the July 16, 1978, holdup in which six employees of the steak house were herded into a walk-in freezer and gunned down. Mrs.

Stafford admitted to Brewer that she had lied in earlier written statements about not being armed and about the description of the station wagon the trio had driven to lahoma City from their temporary residence in Tulsa. told the police that I had just come down with them without knowing about the Mrs. Stafford said. When Brewer asked if Mrs. Stafford had changed her story because she flunked a lie detector test, District Attorney Andrew M.

Coats and First Assistant District Attorney James R. McKinney jumped up to object. Geb sustained the objection and Brewer asked Mrs. Stafford, did you decide to tell the Oklahoma City Police Department the She answered, two and a half or three months ago after I talked to Mr. McKinney and he told me there was nothing to be afraid of and the truth would come Mrs.

Stafford denied she had been promised immunity or other consideration for her testimony, remarking to Brewer, take whatever comes to me, Seeming tired and appearing to control a See STAFFORD, Page 2 New Ruling Strips Trusts of 'In Lieu' Tax Divvying Reins Stafl Photo by Bob Albright A member of the Rogues gives Prober a goodbye kiss as other members wait to file past. Boren Plans Moscow Trip By Allan Cromley Washington Bureau Washington U.S. Sen. David Boren is one of a half-dozen senators who later this month will confer with top Soviet leaders in Moscow on the SALT II treaty, his office disclosed Thursday. All six are uncommitted on ratification of the treaty, signed June 18 in Vienna by President Jimmy Carter and Soviet President Leonid I.

Brezhnev. Officials Involved They will meet with Brezhnev, Premier Alexei N. Kosygin' Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko, top Soviet negotiators of the treaty and other Soviet officials. They will leave Aug.

23 on an Air Force plane and return Sept. 1. Mrs. Boren will accompany her husband but will not go at government expense, said Barbara Webb, Boren press secretary. The purpose of the trip, sponsored by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is to gain information otherwise not available to the senators, Miss Webb said.

Others Listed Other senators making the trip will be Joseph R. Biden D- Bill Bradley, D- N.J.; Carl Levin, D- Richard G. Lugar, and David H. Pryor, D-Ark. Two unidentified senators are considering the trip.

Miss Webb said the delegation will sound out the Soviets on various amendments to the treaty that have been or will be proposed in an attempt to make it more palatable to senators who think it favors the Soviet Union. On the return trip, they will meet with prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, to sound out sentiments toward SALT. 300 Grieving Bikers Bury Leader By John Hefner He was laid out in his coffin in Rogues motorcycle club regalia a knife and liquor bottle were strapped to his side and a hand-rolled cigarette was lying on his chest. He wore a short- brimmed motorcycle cap, studded gloves and an emblem-bearing vest covered with medals and pendants. As weeping Rogue members filed past his body, some touched him, some kissed him and some ripped off part of iheir clothing to place in the open et.

About 300 members from half a dozen stales came to Midwest City Thursday to pay their last respects to Rogues president Terry Lee Prober, 30, NW 40. Prober died Sunday following a motorcycle TODAY Munson Dies in Airplane Crash Thurman Munson, catcher for the York Yankees, is killed in a plane crash at Canton-Akron Airport in Ohio. The Federal Aviation Administration says Munson and a flight instructor were engaged in practice takeoffs and landings when the plane crashed. The FAA also says number of persons" weie hospitalized. Details, Page 25.

Thurman Munson Gasoline Dealers Get New Rules New regulations go into effect for gasoline dealers but some apparently are dawdling in rolling back prices to bring their profit margins in line with the new federal ceiling. On the other hand, others below the limit are quickly raising prices. Details, Page 15. The Weather Oklahoma had fair to partly cloudy skies and a few scattered showers Thursday. Highs ranged from 86 (30 C) at McAlester to 95 (35 C) at Guymon.

Today, fair to partly skies and widely scattered showers and thunderstorms are forecast. Highs will be in the 90s. Details, Page 11. Inside Features TV Log ............9 20,21 274,174 Daily Paid Circulation Morning-Evening Average for Last Week Delivery Service 239-71V i Want Ads 235-6722 Calls 232-33 Entire contents copyright 1979, The Oklahoma Publishing Box 25125, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73125, Vol. 88, No.

210. Amusements Ann Landers Classified Ads Horoscope .14,32,33 Obituaries ...........31 Ration Plan Bogs Down WASHINGTON (AP) Congress formally abandoned on Thursday the attempt to send President Carter a standby gasoline-rationing bill before the August congressional recess. Instead, a House-Senate conference committee was named to produce a compromise rationing bill that leaders said they hoped could go to the president desk in September. was very clear there was no way in which we could get the House package completed today," said Sen. Henry M.

Jackson, D- chairman of the Senate Energy Committee. had to weigh symbolism against practicality," said Sen. Bennett Johnston, D- La. we had to say, the The decision to put the matter over until September came after House Speaker Thomas P. said he intended to stick to his plan of recessing the House at 5 p.m.

CDT. The House passed its version of the rationing bill by a 263-159 vote late Wednesday, but saddled it with so many amendments that Senate leaders said there was no way they could deal with it on the last day before the recess. Thus Congress headed for its August recess without approving any pieces of the new energy plan the president unveiled on July 15. race in Texas Saturday in which he flipped his Harley-Davidson and struck his head on the pavement. A Midwest City police escort led about 150 rumbling motorcycles in a nearly mile-long procession from the funeral home to the Arlington Memory Gardens, NE 36 and Midwest where Prober was laid in the ground.

was one of a said Rook, Wichita Falls, who was racing Prober when the accident happened. Beal, Bethany, said, was the kind of guy who could hold an All-American uptight job, have a wife and family and be in the club too. He could do it all." Another said, was one of the most respected bikers. You can look around and see the patches from the other clubs: Hangmen, Outlaws, Scorpions." Rick Smith, manager of Paylor's funeral home, which conducted the services, said gang members were very specific on how they wanted it done. "They're very loyal.

You have to respect them for he said. Many of the bearded, tattoo-bearing bikers, dressed in the soiled, patched demin that has become part of their trademark, openly wept. They hugged and kissed each other in their grief. The crying women, many with long, black streams of make-up running down their faces, clung to each other or to their men as the members passed by the open casket. Then a member named shoveled in the dirt.

No one left until the last of the flowers was laid on the fresh grave. With the widow, Jankey, on the back of the lead bike, the procession followed a police escort out of the cemetery. By John Greiner Attorney General Jan Cartwright issued another public trust opinion Thursday, ruling that public trusts have no authority to decide where to distribute tax payments from tax-exempt industries. The opinion actually is an extension or companion opinion to Wednesday's ruling which said profit-making businesses on public trust land must pay ad valorem taxes unless they are used for charitable purposes. The opinion Thursday was in answer to a question asked by Dr.

Leslie Fisher, state Superintendent of Public Instruction. assistant. John Percival, who drafted that opinion as well as Wednesday's opinion, said the lieu" question was handled in a separate opinion although Wednesday's opinion held unconstitutional a that authorized trusts to distribute lieu" tax payments as the trusts saw fit. Under the trust financing system in Oklahoma, some tax-exempt industries have made "in lieu" payments for taxes to the trusts which determined where to distribute the money. Paul Strasbaugh, executive vice president of the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, said General Motors planning to make an lieu" payment of $500,000 which the trust was going to divide among school districts in Midwest City, Moore and Oklahoma City.

He said the theory on distributing "in lieu" tax payments was that it was more fair to distribute those payments among several areas which are impacted by a particular industry. Cartwright's opinion said that lieu" payments are in fact ad valorem tax receipts must be assessed, levied, collect- ed and paid in conformance with the specific statutory provisions controlling ad valorem taxation. Ad valorem taxes collected from industries on the tax rolls go to the school district and city or cities in which the industry is located. A portion also goes to the county in which the industry is located. Strasbaugh is a member of the Southeastern Oklahoma See RULING, Page 2 Balking Neighbors Freeze Nixon Out NEW YORK (AP) In the face of dissension among tenants, former President Richard Nixon will not buy a penthouse apartment in an exclusive cooperative in Manhattan, sources said Thursday.

Tenants in the building at 19 E. 72nd at the corner of Madison Avenue, received a letter Thursday that said: "Please be advised that former President Nixon and Mr. Becker (the current owner of the apartment) have agreed to cancel the contract relating to Mr. Becker's apartment. Mr.

apartment is once again on the The letter was signed by Minot Milliken, the president of the cooperative. It was not immedi- Oil Spill Nears Texas Beaches CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) Crude oil from a runaway Mexican oil well will probably cross into U.S. waters on Sunday, may wash ashore two days later, and could threaten Gulf Coast beaches until November, a government scientist predicted Thursday. John Robinson of the national Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said a computer was used to project oil movement. The oil is gushing from a well in the Bay of Campeche that blew out June 3.

Robinson said the first oil in U.S. waters will probably be seen 10 to 15 miles offshore Sunday. The Coast Guard has mobilized heavy equipment including nearly two miles of a rubberized to collect the oil. Capt. Jose Orozco, of the Mexican navy, said oil is now rushing to the surface at the rate of 20,000 barrels a day.

It had been as high as 50,000. Robinson said the oil now threatening U.S. waters was probably emitted shortly after the well blew out. If that is true, oil may continue heading toward the U.S. for two months after the well is capped estimated about Sept.

16. The first major area of concern is the Brazos Santiago Pass at the southern tip of Texas. ately known whether Nixon had bowed out of the $750,000 purchase voluntarily, or whether the board, jarred by complaints from tenants worried about security and other problems they said could accompany Nixon, had rejected the former president. Jane Maynard, a coop resident, had taken a poll earlier in the week and said half of the 34 residents were opposed to Nixon's moving into the building. have no ax to grind politically or morally, but he is very controversial," she said.

is an enormous number of people who hate him, and I think it would change the ambiance of the building if he lived here. There would be news people and curiosity seekers around, potential bomb scares and a great number of Secret Service men around." Other famous persons have been denied entrance to co-ops in the past two years, mostly due to some tenants' aversion to publicity. Entertainer oey Heat herton, Prince Saud al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia and comedian David Brenner all have been rejected. Taxes Rocking the Canoe By Judy Fossett Staff Writer TAHLEQUAH Angered at what they say is unfair taxation that could drive them out of business, some canoe rental firms on the Illinois are refusing to pay rental fees to the Oklahoma Scenic River Commission despite threatened court action. Carl Ragsdale, owner of Hanging Rock Camp, is one of the holdouts.

He owes $2,200 in fees on his 220 canoes due July 15. Last year when the $10 per canoe fee went into effect, he balked at paying and was ordered to post a $4,200 bond. just think Ragsdale said. already paying five different taxes on these things, and that's enough. "I've got to buy a license tag, pay excise tax, sales tax and state and federal income taxes.

"If you owned your own canoe and floated the Illinois 365 days a year, no one would expect you to pay a fee. Is it fair for me to have to and not you?" He said been told it would be illegal for him to pass along the fee charge to the tourists who rent his canoes for the scenic float trip down the river. Mrs. Virginia Peyton, who has operated a canoe firm for 12 years, said she resents the use of fee money to pay the salaries of commission employees. And she suspects the imposition of the fees is designed to drive her and others out of business.

(commission) is a group of local people set up to utilize our hard work," Mrs. Peyton said. are already paying taxes and we certainly don't need any more bureaus to ride our She said she and her husband, who own Place, had to put $3,000 in escrow last fall when they refused to make their 1978 fee payment. was our winter she said, explaining that figure is about what it takes to stay in business during winter months when canoers are few and business at their restaurant drops off. Mrs.

Peyton said she and her husband had to the money they put in escrow. the fee goes from $10 a canoe to $25 a canoe like they've been talking, it would be a way of running us out of business," she said. expect that's what's already Mrs. Peyton said been told the fee is to be used to keep the river clean, we have not in any destroyed the beauty of the river or tried to destroy it. We've benefit- ted the She said the canoe rental firms have also helped the economy of Tahlequah by drawing tourists to the area.

at the grocery stores say that See CANOE, Page 2.