Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 1

4. u. CITY. Today's chuckle If you get the notion that the world is moving too fast, go over to the post office. Phoenix weather Mostly sunny through Sunday.

High in the 90s, low near 70, Friday's high 98, low 68. Humidity: high 57, low 24. Details, page C-5. The Arizona Republic Copyright 1978, The Arizona Republic 89th Year, No. 130 circulation 271-8381 Classified 271-9111 Other 271-8600 Phoenix, Arizona, 23, 1978 (4 Sections, 100 Pages) 20 cents I I I I ii 11,11 i in ittt rv 1 ir i "nr ri nil1; i vprnrrnnij 'iriwT-fyiflMt Kunes is freed on U.S.

counts of obstruction Working People Re. i i mt. Need A BretaK By RANDY COLLIER Arizona Republic GUESTS I istafC 1 HOTiayi mil" 9 1 At 5 Church) have stood behind us throughout this whole thing. People even called me at the hotel and told me they were praying for us." When Judge Warren Ferguson asked the jurors for comment, one woman replied, "With all due respect to the government, we felt that there was a slight doubt over whether he was guilty." The jury had deliberated for slightly more than three hours. Kunes had been charged with obstructing an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service of his tax returns for 1972 and 1973.

He had been accused of removing several pages from two depositions taken during his divorce proceeding in 1973. The government had contended the Continued on Page A-2 LOS ANGELES Maricopa County Assessor Ken R. Kunes was found innocent Friday of two federal charges of obstruction of justice. The verdict concluded a four-day trial in U.S. District Court.

As the decision was announced, Kunes' former wife, Mary Lou, broke into sobs. She had been at his side during appearances outside the courtroom. Kunes shouted, "Thank you," to the jurors as they filed from the courtroom, then walked to the end of a hallway where they were exiting and thanked each member. "I'm going to take a vacation now," Kunes said. "I don't know where I'm going yet, but I'm going to take a good vacation." His former wife said, "Our prayers have been answered.

The people at our church (North Phoenix Baptist i. i 1 AwcjMd frmt A limousine driver outside Chicago's O'Hare bers of the ''tax blitz" staff to a hotel after their International Airport waits for his passenger in arrival during a national tour to promote the front of a bus bearing a slogan for the Republi- bill. When the driver realized photos were being can Party's tax cut. The bus was taking mem- taken, he hastily moved the limousine. v4 Zmo every of? County board considers defying state's proposal on smog control 7- U.S.

troubles mount in selling peace pact; Syrians stall on talks Associated Press RIYADH, Saudi Arabia Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance's drive to sell Arab leaders on the Camp David accords stalled in this desert city Friday as Saudi Arabia withheld its support and Syria postponed the American's scheduled visit there for 24 hours, But Jordan's King Hussein gave the United States one small cause for hope, rejecting a personal appeal by Arab hard-liners Moammar Khadafy of Libya and Palestinian Yasser Arafat to join the anti-Camp David bloc. "The king will not respond to any appeals or pressures and his moderate stance remains the same," a Jordanian government official said after Hussein conferred with his longtime adversaries Khadafy and Arafat in an unusual meeting at a secluded Jordanian air base. In two days of talks with Saudi officials, Vance got no commitment from them to back the new Israeli-Egyptian agreements, just as he received none By LAURE WEGNER Maricopa County is seriously considering defying state and federal officials over proposed smog control regulations, Supervisor Tom Freestone said at a public meeting Friday. The proposal is part of a state plan to comply with the federal Clean Air Act, which is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency.

It would require petroleum dealers to reduce vapors released when gasoline is loaded into tanker trucks and gas station storage tanks. The Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, the Maricopa County Association of Governments and the state De R. Bruce Scott, assistant director of the state health department, said the supervisors must decide soon what they are going to do. The state has scheduled a public hearing for November and must submit tne entire proposal by Jan. 1, 1979.

"If this (vapor control) plan is not adopted, we're going to have a gaping hole in the state plan," Scott said. "We wouldn't have a prayer." He added that members of the county staff, who also support the vapor controls, considered 53 alterna-tives including a suggestion to Continued on Page A-2 partment of Health Services all have endorsed the proposal. If it is not approved, they say, the federal government will cut off as much as $800 million in grants for such projects as the Papago Freeway. But independent oil dealers say the proposal puts an unfair economic burden on them, and Freestone said county officials are bristling over the policy being dictated by Washington. "That's what really bothers me, and I don't know if the American people are going to tolerate it," Freestone said.

"I think if the Board of Supervisors does not feel this is the way to go, we will go to bat on it." Era ends in Mohave County Cutoff by interstate dooms Route 66 Mayor Frank Rizzo "Vote white" Page A-17 inside AX FALLS Nicaragua is cut off, drastically from U.S. aid in action voted by Senate. Page A-8. CAMPAIGN TRAIL President Carter stumps for Democratic candidates in Carolinas. Page A-14.

FLAMING OIL Losses are contained despite continued gush of burning fuel from U.S. oil-reserve vault in Louisiana. Page A-20. The 1-40 route will take motorists through some of the most scenic country in the state at elevations ranging from 4,000 to 6,000 feet. The new route passes near Fort Rock and through the Cottonwood Cliffs in terrain that changes from mountains to meadows.

The alignment roughly follows the northern stage route, heavily traveled during Arizona's territorial days. Earlier it was the trail cut by military survey teams, traders and prospectors. Interstate 40 cuts 20 miles from the Kingman-to-Selig-man route through Peach Springs via U.S. 66 and will save motorists time, gas, and money, McCarthy said. It also will cut them off from an 87-mile piece of Americana as rare as homemade ice cream.

Bypassed by the new 1-40 are Hackberry, Valentine, Truxton, Peach Springs and Hyde Park. Continued on Page A-2 By STEVE DANIELS Western Arizona Bureau KINGMAN When the ribbon was cut at noon Friday to open a 67-mile stretch of Interstate 40, the lights went out at the Chief Motel on historic Route 66. And so it will go for a handful of family owned businesses between here and Seligman on the last major section of U.S. 66 to be superseded by the four-lane interstate. About 100 onlookers, including officials from the city of Kingman, Mohave County, and the Arizona Department of Transportation watched the ribbon-cutting in what state transportation board member E.J.

"Charlie" McCarthy called "the beginning of an era and the end of an era." Kingman is among the last of a precious few American cities and towns through which motorists followed Route 66, the first link between Chicago and Los Angeles. Construction on the $94 million Seligman-to-Kingman interstate project began 25 years ago. 1 State wants U.S. to study track land sale By BILL KING U.S. Attorney Michael Hawkins will be asked if his office should contest the court-ordered sale of state land occupied by Black Canyon Greyhound Park Inc.

for $2,250 an acre. State Land Commissioner Andrew Bettwy said Friday he would put the question to Hawkins after notifying the governor of his intent. Bettwy said he will ask Hawkins to determine whether the 30-acre sale to the race track corporation is in the best interest of schools and institutions that receive state-land proceeds. Bettwy, who wants $5,000 an acre, fought the $2,250 sale earlier through the state court system. But the courts granted the dog track corporation an order forcing the commissioner to proceed with the land auction at a starling price of $2,250.

The dispute started several years ago when the greyhound park asked for a chance to purchase the state acreage originally developed by the firm under a lease. Bettwy approved auctioning it at a starting price of $5,000. The race track protested that price to the state Land Department appeals board. In a 1975 decision that it did not attempt to explain, the board de clared that the $5,000 price was "not in the best interest" of state schools and institutions. The board cut the price to $2,250.

Bettwy balked at selling at the lower figure. He maintained his department is bound by law to proceed with a sale only if it determines that the state's interests will not be prejudiced by the sale. But the courts held this year that the commissioner is bound by the appeals board's $2,250 decision and precluded from reconsidering his initial Continued on Page A-2 Today's prayer Often, Lord, you speak to us through the wisdom of another person. Let us receive your message with grace and kindness. We thank you for your constant readiness to answer our prayers.

Amen. Page Page Astrology B-22 Scrabble B-13 Movies D-18 Sports D-l Bridge B-15 Dear Abby B-23 Obituaries C-5 Thomas B-l Classified C-6 Editorials A-6 Comics D-17 Financial B-18 Radio D-22 TV Log D-23 Crossword B-3 Weather C-5 Religion C-l Forum B-21 It's official: California's high court rules Proposition 13 legal from Hussein in talks earlier this week. Vance had been scheduled to go to Syria today to try to persuade President Hafez Assad to soften his staunch opposition to the Camp David plan, but the Damascus government abruptly asked him to delay the visit until Sunday. Damascus is the third and final stop of the Vance trip. The Syrians said the postponement resulted from the continuation of a summit meeting of hard-line Arabs in Damascus into the weekend.

Observers in Damascus speculated that Assad may have wanted another day to try to rally Arab opinion, including Hussein's, to the anti-Camp David line. Khadafy and Arafat made their unexpected trip to Jordan after breaking away temporarily from the Damascus summit, where the "rejec-tionists" were planning steps to counter the U.S. peace initiative and further isolate Egypt's President Anwar Sadat. The two hard-line leaders have been hostile to Hussein since the king drove Palestinian guerrillas from Jordan in a bloody crackdown in 1970. Friday's talks represented the first time Arafat has met with Hussein on Jordanian soil since 1970.

Meanwhile, a White House report that Sadat has declared his willingness to negotiate peace for all the Arabs by himself signaled potentially serious new problems for the U.S. effort to win over broader Arab support for the peace plan. The White House released a letter from Sadat in which he said he would be willing to "assume the Arab role" in bargaining over the West Bank Continued on Page A-4 continued into the mid-60s, with Mafia figures aiding the CIA efforts. Helms said he had informed Johnson of the anti-Castro efforts on or about May 10, 1967. "He was told specifically?" asked Rep.

Christopher Dodd, D-Conn. "Yes, he was," Helms replied. "Was he told about the role of organized crime?" Dodd asked. "That's what we were talking about," Helms said. When Dodd said he still found it dif- Continued on Page A-22 United Press International SAN FRANCISCO The California Supreme Court ruled Friday that Proposition 13, the state's property tax-slashing initiative, is constitutional.

Six members of the court ruled that the measure, passed by California voters in June, meets constitutional provisions even though it changes the previous system of real property taxation. The court, which heard arguments from three opponents last month, said the issues "are 'of great public importance and should be resolved promptly." Therefore, the court said, it was ruling only on constitutionality, adding: "We do not consider or weigh the economic so cial wisdom or general propriety of the initiative. Our sole function is to evaluate (Proposition 13) legally in the light of established constitutional standards." We have concluded that, notwithstanding the existence of some unresolved uncertainties, as to which we reserve judgment, Proposition 13 survives each of the serious and substantial constitutional attacks made by petitioners." On Aug. 11 the court heard arguments from the Amador Valley Joint Union High School District and other petitioners attacking the constitutionality of the measure, which limited property-tax assessments to the 1975 standard. The measure dropped property taxes by as much as 50 percent and allowed only a small in crease in future years, thus drastically reducing income for local government, particularly school districts.

The court said a primary argument was that Proposition 13 was so drastic and far-reaching that it constitutes "a revision" of the state constitution rather than a mere amendment. The court held that on the contrary the initiative was "modest both in concept and effect and does not change our basic governmental plan." It dismissed another argument for unconstitutionality, that Proposition 13 dealt with more than one subject, by saying, "The initiative procedure itself was specifically intended to accomplish such kinds of reforms through its function as a 'legislative battering Plot to get Castro was open secret, ex CIA chief tells JFK panel "Then it was a mistake?" he was asked. "Absolutely," he replied, and added that, if he had the chance to do it again, "I would have taken all the documents and put them on the Warren Commission's desk." Helms, who was a deputy CIA chief involved in clandestine operations at the time of Kennedy's 1963 murder, said he would not take "sole blame" for keeping the Warren Commission in the dark, however. "They were known to the attorney general (Robert Kennedy), the secre have informed the Warren panel of a crucial background fact it never had in its deliberations that the U.S. government, under Dwight D.

Eisenhower and Kennedy, had plotted Castro's downfall and even his murder. It since has been learned that Castro knew about some of these efforts. Conspiracy theorists argue he may have had Kennedy killed in revenge, and that the Warren investigators at least should have been informed of this background. "It never occurred to me," Helms said in testimony before the House assassinations committee. tary of defense (Robert McNamara), the assistant to the president (presum-ably, national security adviser McGeorge Bundy), the National Security Council," Helms said.

"All kinds of people knew. It was a government-wide operation to get rid of Castro." Although the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded in 1975 that there was no proof any president knew of the assassination plots, Helms said Kennedy knew and later President Johnson knew as well. The Castro murder plots reportedly United Press International WASHINGTON Former CIA Director Richard Helms said Friday he now regrets he did not tell the Warren Commission about secret U.S. to get rid of Cuba's Fidel Castro. But Helms, addressing one of the most controversial issues in the John F.

Kennedy assassination probe, also testified that the anti-Castro plotting of the late 1950s and early 60s was "a government-wide operation" known to many top officials, including Kennedy himself. He said any of these men could 1.