The Anniston Star from Anniston, Alabama • Page 1

Cantantt ctpyrigMtal ws CantalWaM FvMiiMna C. Vol. 96, No. 56 Anniston, Ala. Monday, Feb.

24, Price: 10 Cents -Alabama 's largest home-owned newspaper- HAVE "A GOOD DAY! News in fy 14 J1 (stateLocaQ 3 1 1 1 Ljkr A YOUNG FT. McCLELLAN soldier was among 10 persons killed in weekend accidents across Alabama. Details Page 3. DEATHS: Wiley Mancil Sprayberry, Blossom Parker and Mrs. Earlie Teague, all of Anniston; Mrs.

Maude Davis Landers of Jacksonville; Mrs. Berdie Beatrice Keasler Bone of Centre, and Garry Wendell Graham of Talladega. Details Page 5. AP Wlrtphotot Tornado damaged Scottish Inn Motel, left, and home in Tuscaloosa residential section person was killed Sunday when storm cut path of destruction kills woman Tornado rips up motel, Six persons die in tornadoes. Story Page 2 TUSCALOOSA, Ala.

(AP) -A tornado slammed into a motel and restaurant Sunday killing one person and injuring scores of others, and what's beginning to look like a monthly chore of cleaning up after severe storms got under'way today across Alabama. Druid City Hospital Administrator D.O. McClusky said Thelma Hill, 23, of Tuscaloosa died when the twister slammed into the motel Sunday, afternoon. The building was extensively damaged, opening second-floor rooms to the sky. McClusky said three persons were admitted to the hospital.

Two of the victims, Georgia McAniach, 17, of Erie, and W. D. Ethridge of Tuscaloosa, were reported in fair condition. The third victim, Jeannie the Civil Defense in Tuscaloosa County, said the area's "number finally came up. Sunday's twisters were the second in Alabama in as many months.

Last month, tornadic winds pelted areas east of Birmingham, Ala. Despite dozens of injuries, no deaths were reported in those storms. However, neither Sunday's or January's storm system rivaled twisters that pounded Alabama in April, 1974. During those storms, more than 80 persons died and thousands were injured, Tuscaloosa had been spared mostly, from the earlier, storms. Sam Sloan, the area director of the Civil Defense, said' of Sunday's storm "our number (See Storm, Page 2) Nearly 50 persons were treated at the hospital, McClusky added, mostly suffering from minor cuts and bruises.

The Red Cross said more than 200 homes and 20 mobile homes were damaged here. In rural areas of Tuscaloosa County, telephone and power lines were downed, some sparking fires'. And Sam Sloan, director of Kuhl, was in the hospital's intensive care unit Sunday night after surgery during the day. Her condition was not immediately known, a hospital spokesman said. THE NATION'S NEW POSTMASTER general says he will go ahead with a controversial delivery system if it makes service more efficient, despite a strike threat by letter carriers.

Details Page 10 THE PENTAGON'S MANPOWER CHIEF says there is "very small risk" that recruiting for the all-volunteer force will be set back by a new order increasing minimum service enlistments from two to three years. Details Page 3. AT LEAST THREE PERSONS were killed and a 3-year-old girl was missing after a one-lane bridge collapsed Sunday night in Siloam, N.C., sending their vehicles into the Yadkin River 30 feet below. Details Page 7. THE NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION Safety Board says improperly packaged hazardous cargo probably started a series of events which caused a jet crash.

Details Page 5. WHEN THE, ENERGY CRISIS hit three years ago, Americans were using 30 per cent of the world's energy and that figure remains the same today. Details Page 2. THE SELECTION OF A JURY begins in Tampa for the trial of ex-Sen. Edward Gurney on charges of bribery and conspiracy.

Details Page 12. A CRUDE PIPE BOMB, apparently planted in protest over a scheduled program on Cuban history, exploded in the film editing room at public television station KCET in Los Angeles, police said. There were no injuries in the Saturday night blast. Investigators said an anonymous caller telephoned at least two radio stations and a newspaper to warn that two bombs had been planted at the station. The second bomb was removed by the police bomb squad.

THE PENN CENTRAL TRUSTEES meet today to discuss the status of the bankrupt railroad amid reports that the line could be shut down unless it receives more federal monney. The latest threatened closure is prompted by $16.4 million in bills due Tuesday, including some payroll checks. WHILE ATTENTION IS FOCUSED on President Ford's battle with Congress over oil tariffs, two Senate committees are nearing approval of their own substitutes for the President's energy program. As Congress awaits Ford's promised veto of a bill suspending the President's $3-a-barrel oil tariff, the Senate Interior Committee plans to approve early this week a gasoline rationing bill. The measure would give the President standby authority, with congressional consent, to impose gasoline rationing or take other emergency conservation measures during any future fuel shortage.

A NEW EFFORT IS ON THE WAY in the Senate to make it easier to halt filibusters. Details Page 7. Harris Survey fear up Unemployment 16 9 1971 July, 1970 immediate family been laid off from work, lost overtime or had your work week cut back in the past few years, or hasn't that happened to you or to anyone in your family?" IMPACT OF LAY-OFFS, LOSS OF OVERTIME OR WORK CUT-BACKS ON OWN FAMILY The number of those who have observed unemployment rising in their community has also risen sharply. The cross section was asked: "Compared to a year ago, do you feel the number of people unemployed around here has increased, decreased or stayed (See Harris Survey, Page 2) Laid Lott Off Overtlma Work Week Cut Back 13 5 I 9 3 30 20 23 January, 197S 1973 March, 1971 Old law is used in prison death BAY MINETTE, Ala. (AP) A black prisoner charged with murdering a prison guard was summoned today for trial under a seldom used state law which makes the death penalty mandatory upon conviction.

Counsel estimated most of the opening day would be devoted to striking a jury to hear the case against Johnny Harris, 28. Presiding over the trial was Circuit Judge Leigh M. Clark of Birmingham. He was appointed to the case after Circuit Judge Telfair J. Mashburn of Bay Minette was removed by the Alabama Court of Crinimal Appeals earier this month.

Civil rights attorneys had charged Mashburn with bias and voicing a racial slur against the defendant during a preliminary hearing. "They contended he had said to a lawyer, "I don't want you to help free that nigger." Mashburn denied that he had used the expression "nigger." The trial originally had been scheduled at Brewton but Judge Douglas S. Webb granted a defense motion in November for a change of venue on grounds Harris could not get a fair trial in Escambia County because residents were emotionally involved with prison escapes and disturbances. Harris was charged with the fatal stabbing of guard Luell Barrow, 55, during an outbreak of violence at Fountain Correctional Center near Atmore, Jan. 18, 1974.

A prisoner also was killed; a guard was wounded critically and more than a dozen inmates were injured in the rioting. Harris was indicted under the little used state statute which makes the death sentence mandatory for any person convicted of a murder charge while serving a life term. At the time of the slaying, the defendant was serving four life terms on 1971 convictions in Jefferson (Birmingham) County for rape and robbery. The statute has been a part of the Alabama Code since well before the turn of the century but attorneys said it rarely has been used. They said most murder charges were filed under a companion state statute that does not make the death penalty mandatory but leaves it at the option of the jury.

The law has not been fully tested although Judge Webb upheld its constitutionality in a ruling last July at Brewton preliminary to the Harris trial. Fewer are gloomy on economic future By LOUIS HARRIS Fears about unemployment and bankruptcy are sharply rising and are the highest ever recorded in a Harris Survey. The survey showed 74 per cent reported unemployment in their own communities is growing, compared to 58 per cent who thought so last November. A substantial 52 per cent of the nation's families have been directly affected by the rising unemployment rate. Thirty per cent said they or another family member had been laid off, 9 per cent had lost overtime and 13 per cent had had their work week cut back.

The previous high of those directly affected by a recession, 36 per cent, was recorded in 1971, when 23 per cent said they had faced lay-off problems, 5 per cent had lost overtime and 8 per cent had had their work week cut back. The 30 per cent lay-off figure adds another, more troubling dimension to the problem of unemployment. Although the present unemployment rate is only 8 per cent, nearly one-third of the country's families are directly affected by it. Hardest hit by the recession have been industrial workers, followed by white collar workers. Fifty-five per cent report that "the number of people and companies around here that are going into bankruptcy is increasing," which reflects majority concern over thegrim prospect of national financial insolvency.

In January, the Harris Survey asked a cross section of 1,543 families nationwide: "Have you or has anyone in your QnternationqQ' opinion. A decline was also measured in the percentage of Americans who believe the economy is headed for a depression. In the latest surveyr43 per cent predicted a 1930-Iike depression, compared to last October's 57 per cent. Fifty per cent of those interviewed in the most recent survey said there would not be a depression, while 7 per cent had no opinion. Last October, 35 per cent said there would be no depression, while 8 per cent had no opinion.

The downtrend in pessimism was most pronounced in higher income brackets and those with college background, according to a Gallup spokesman. PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) Although most Americans still believe the economy will get worse in the next six months, the proportion who feel so has declined sharply since last November, according to the Gallup Poll. In the latest Gallup survey, 56 per cent said the economic situation in the United States would get worse in the next six months, while 30 per cent predicted it would get better. Ten per cent said the situation would remain the same, while 4 per cent had no opinion.

Last November, 71 per cent predicted a turn for the worse, while 16 per cent said the economic picture would brighten. In that survey, 10 per cent said things would remain the same, while 3 per cent had no A U.S. VOLUNTARY RELIEF agency today pulled its 19-man helicopter team, including an American, out of the besieged naval base town of Neak Luong, under heavy rebel fire. It was the first such evacuation of the Cambodian war. Details Page 3.

OPPONENTS OF PRESIDENT Chung Hee Park defied government warnings today and renewed their demands for political reform in South Korea including revision of the constitution. Kim Yong-sam, leader of the New Democratic party, told a news conference that a revised constitution was the "only and final" solution to political unrest. TWO GREEK COMMUNIST PARTISANS who spent 26 years hiding in the mountain caves of Crete told newsmen their ideals kept them alive. George Tzimbanakis, 55, and Spyros Blazakis, 59, ended their fugitive existence Sunday following the Athens government's announcement last week that it was dropping all charges against them. These included murder and antistate activities.

TEN MORE PRISONERS have started a hunger strike at the Curragh military camp southwest of Dublin, relatives reported today. But they said the men were not linked with the 12 members of the Irish Republican Army who abandoned a fast a week ago after the government granted some of their demands for treatment as political prisoners. Hearing near end in Walker case itft-h witn-'h'niiiip Braaoerry oi years. The sudden dump closings actually increased danger to park visitors and campers, the plaintiffs claim. They say the danger was heightened because the park service did not inform visitors of the new dump policy nor of the danger they might face at the claws of the grizzlies.

survival in the United Last January the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommended that the grizzly be officially designated a "threatened" species. This, threatened status would mean the grizzly is considered by the federal government to be in danger of extinction "within the forseeable future thrniiphinit ail (Weather) CLEARING AND COM) TONIGHT- Mostly sunny and cool Tuesday. Details Page 12. By TOM GORDON Star Staff Writer LOS ANGELES A hearing on a $500,000 civil damage suit filed in federal District Court here on behalf of a Choccolocco man killed by a grizzly bear is nearly finished.

A spokesman close to the case says the presiding judge will likely receive" concluding arguments from both sides todaf and may issue a ruling from the bench on the suit, filed in December, 1972 on behalf of the estate of Harry Eugene Walker. i Walker, who was killed and partially devoured by a grizzly bear in 1972 in Yellowstone National Park, was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Wallace R. Walker of Choccolocco.

The hearing began Jan. 9, was recessed in mid-January and was resumed last Tuesday. The suit charges the National Park Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior under the "wrongful death" section of the Federal Tort Claim Act. The' plaintiffs charge that park service negligence- led to -the Walker's death on June 25, 1972.

The charge of government negligence in connection with the bear's killing of Walker is entwined with the issue of whether government bear management policies will ensure the survival of grizzlies. AT THE time of his death, Walker was on a camping trip Oxford near the site of the Old Faithful geyser. Walker was killed by the attacking female grizzly shortly after midnight when the two men were returning to their three-day old campsite. Attorneys for Walker's estate charge the government's closing pj park garbage dumps, a policy which began in 1968, forced many 'grizzlies, especially older and more dangreous ones, to seek food at campsites and other areas of human activity. The plaintiffs say the dumps were closed too rapidly to allow bears to adjust and change their feeding habits.

They say the bears had been accustomed to feeding at the dumps for 80 Also Inside) i tlx or a significant portion of its range." Less than 1,000 grizzlies, largely rorifined to small areas in- Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, are believed to remain in the 48 contiguous states. If given threatened status under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the bear could be given (See Hearing, Page 2) I v. Editorials 4 Jeane Dixon 6 Movies 12 Sports Television 12 A PROMINENT critic of the dump policy, Dr. Frank Craighead, has attended the hearing sessions and has testified for the plaintiffs. Craighead and his brother, Dr.

John Craighead, have studied grizzly bears for many years and have charged the garbage dump closings have actually threatened the grizzlies' Calendar 5 Comics ,....6 Classified Ads 10-11 Crossword Puzzle 6 Dear Abby 12 B. 12 pages in ont lection By mall, 12 pajei In on section HARRY E. WALKER.