The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 1

rents Crcj D2UI3 3 41 1. In DIMOJSSON 4i Shuffles Onetime Draft Resister Won't Evade Soviet Battle hi inn i irfiiil Inn in ii jj i in (UP II I By Bod Newman Cm Wiipinr WuMnfM RIVIERA BEACH Muhammad Ali, who once took his fight to refuse induction into the Army to the Supreme Court and won, is ready to go fight Russians in Afghanistan for Uncle Sam. "If I was drafted tomorrow, at my age, to go fight Russia, who's fighting in Afghanistan, I'd go tomorrow and die on the field for what's right," said the retired, three-time world heavyweight boxing champ. "If I was drafted, no, I wouldn't (refuse)," said Ali, 38, who was stripped of his heavyweight crown in 1967 for refusing induction during the Vietnam war. He claimed at the time that being drafted conflicted with his religious faith as a Black Muslim.

He subsequently was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined, but the VS. Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 1970. All, on the campaign trail here for President Carter and on the comeback trail nationwide to regain his heavyweight crown for the fourth time, said during an interview in Riviera Beach that he agrees with Carter's call for draft registration. "He's right," Ali said of Carter. "As long as America's in trouble we should fight Women should fight Men should fight" "The Greatest" a nickname Ali first gave himself, but which the world adopted, was mobbed by several hundred shouting, shoving, adoring fans when he arrived at the Tate Recreation Center shortly after 11:30 a.m., half an hour late.

The crowd surged toward him, trying to touch him, speak to him, get an autograph or just see him up close. He managed to push through the mass into the gymnasium where hundreds more awaited. Riviera Beach policemen, state troopers and All's aides tried to keep him moving toward the stage so he could make his pitch. Somehow, he arrived on stage in one piece. Turn to ALI, A15 mmhJ tome.

I mjfS A TIm AtMciaM Riviera Beach schoolgirl 'in clinch' of Ali Awards SERVING THE PALM BEACHES VOL. XLVII NO. 12 WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA 2 356 PAGES 50 CENTS Pyle Kennedy Pulitzer SUNDAY, MARCH 9, 1980 LoopooooooJ iNew Hitch '80 Ejllx in lransier Reagan Trounces Connally Republicans: 99 of Vote Recorded; Only Absentees Left fcf.N 1 I 21 Am Bush 21,413 15 Baker 744 1 Connally 42,996 30 Reagan 78,773 54 Reagan Chides Carter, A10 Kennedy Discusses Haitians, A7 Candidates in Florida, AS Post Endorses Carter, Bush, D2 Fit Wlr Swvtcn COLUMBIA, S.C. Ronald Reagan yesterday swept to runaway victory in South Carolina's Republican presidential primary, brushing aside a dogged challenge from John Connally. He said he was "cautiously ecstatic" with his Southern triumph as the region became the focus of the GOP campaign.

Reagan ran strongly in every part of South Carolina. Connally finished second, George Bush was a distant third and Howard Baker was fourth. In victory, the former California governor won South Carolina's 25 delegates to the Republican National Convention in July, and he will take precious momentum into Tuesday's primary voting in Alabama, Florida and Georgia. "I had been telling you that I have been cautiously optimistic," Reagan said late yesterday. "Now I'm cautiously ecstatic." At a fundraiser in Miami Beach, he added, "It's a long reach for him (Bush) now to regain" the momentum Bush established in January's Iowa caucuses.

Connally had counted on South Carolina to get his campaign off the ground. The former Texas governor spent more than $300,000 in the state, describing yesterday's contest as the "real start" of his campaign. "I am disappointed we didn't win," Connally said late yesterday. "We just didn't overtake the champ." He declined to answer reporters who asked if he might drop from the race but commented: "In light of what happened today, we're going to reassess this thing and see where we want to put our money and resources." Bush discounted his poor South Carolina showing, saying, "I spent only 2 ft days and much less money" in the state than his rivals. Like Reagan, he already was campaigning in Florida yesterday.

"I like what I feel here in Florida. I like the vibrations," Bush said. "I'm looking ahead to Tuesday," Bush said of the upcoming Florida primary. "You do well in some (primaries), not so well in others and I'm looking to the future." He downplayed suggestions his loss in South Carolina would hurt his chances in future primaries. "I guess what we're saying is that they don't affect each other.

I have gone into each one and haven't selectively dumped any of them, and I'm looking to the fu-Turn to S.C., A10 EoiiLh Carolina Primary At a i Glance Of Captives Militants Given A New Deadline Afghan Rebel Seeks Peace, A21 Past Wlr Srvkn Iran's ruling Revolutionary Council yesterday told the militants holding the U.S. Embassy they must let a U.N. commission interview the American hostages or turn them over to the Iranian Foreign Ministry. The militants earlier refused to turn over the hostages to Foreign Minister Sadegh Ghotbzadeh as scheduled, saying he had Led in asserting that the Aya-tollah Ruhollah Khomeini had approved the transfer. The council announced its order following a four-hour meeting last night after an arrangement collapsed for the transfer of the 50 of so Americans to the Iranian foreign minister.

Tehran Radio quoted the militants as saying that regardless of who guards the hostages, their fate must be decided by the new Iranian parliament to be established next month. The militants' conditions for surrendering the hostages remained unclear, and a spokesman said no decision was expected until today. Revolutionary Council spokesman Hassan Habibi, speaking after the late meeting, said the council agreed the best place for the hostages was inside the embassy, where they have been held by the militants for 127 days. But Habibi said the council decided the Foreign Ministry would take custody unless the militants obeyed the council's order to let the hostages meet the five-member U.N. commission investigating Iran's grievances against the former shah.

In Washington, President Carter was described as dejected over what the administration saw as continuing confusion in Iran. He also was said to be willing to consider making a public expression of concern over past events in Iran in an effort to end the crisis. Tehran Radio reported tens of thousands of Iranians demonstrated for the third straight day outside the embassy in support of the militants. The demonstrators chanted slogans and urged the militants not to transfer the Americans. They also demanded that the Iranian government not compromise with the United States.

The radio also reported demonstrations in support of the students in the cities of Tabriz, Shiraz and Arde-bil. A spokesman for the militants, contacted by telephone, said they might refuse to transfer the hostages altogether if support for their stand continued to build. But other statements from the militants said they had agreed to surrender the Americans. The major point of contention appeared to be the designation of Ghotbzadeh to receive the hostages. The militants said they would turn the Americans over to another representative of the council, but not to the foreign minister.

The confusion and conflicts appeared to be building toward another confrontation between the militants and President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr's government. Carter, in a White House briefing by a source who Turn to IRAN, A21 A High-Powered Test for the Laser Gun By Joseph Albright Cm Ntwtpapm WuMngttn Ihthii WASHINGTON The Air Force is getting ready to shoot a missile out of the sky with an enormous laser gun packed inside an experimental plane. The forthcoming "lethality test" near Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., is seen in the Pentagon as a step toward energy-beam weapons which may in the next decade change warfare as profoundly as did the machinegun or the ballistic missile. Research on the laser has been conducted at the Pratt Whitney plant in Palm Beach County. There is no question that at least at high altitude, a powerful beam of high-intensity light can burn holes in a target many miles away.

But it remains to be on laser weapons in Russia, the Pentagon is spending $230 million this year for research on at least four possible laser weapons for the late 1980s and 1990s. Most ambitious and far-out is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency idea for a satellite-based battle station to protect the country against nuclear attack. Turn to LASER, A14 shown whether any laser gun can be made small and accurate enough to become practical as a weapon. "If the difficult technical hurdles can be surmounted, the application of this technology to military needs may revolutionize both strategic and tactical warfare," Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Ruth Davis said last year. Stimulated by reports of intense work InsldeToday TERRORISTS UPSET -A masked woman terrorist, who has represented the Colombian guerrillas holding diplomats hostage in negotiations, flashes a victory sign outside the Dominican Republic Embassy in Bogota.

But the terrorists reportedly are frustrated by the talks' lack of progress and are considering cutting off further meetings. Story, A26 Sand Man Johnny Miller drives from a sand trap at the Jackie Gleason Inverrary Classic In Lauderhill on the way to a 66 and a two stroke lead after the third round of play. Second-round leader Mike Hill is two strokes back. Stories, El Index Amusements G7-12 Bridge Comics Classified Ads D7-28 Courses By Newspaper AA29 Crossword Comics Dear Abby C2 Editorials D2 Horoscope C8 How They Voed A6 Tom Kelly D2 Listening Post Steve Mitchell Bl Obituaries B12 The Season Stocks FF5-9 Theaters G10.U Weddings, Engagements C9 Ron Wiggins CI "I ,4 is.