The News Journal from Wilmington, Delaware • Page 2

Friday. March 1970 City Council Delays of Parks 3 Evening Journal. Wilmington, Del. Merger UlT' At! 7 -A r4- limits ae worth as much as $7 By FRANCES H. BEACH give priority to the city's Wilmington city councilmen needs and problems." last night delayed the merger of UNDER the proposal, the city the city and county park except for Valley partments so they can have; Garden Park and Rock Manor more time to discuss the pro-jGolf Course, would be leased to posal.

I the county for a 40-year period. Councilman Gerald J. Nagle D-7th, chairman of the council's parks committee, stalled the ordinance providing for the transfer of all functions, of the city Department of Parks and Recreation to the county, effective July 1. THE merger of the parks departments, as well as mergers of several other city and Stall photo by Ron Dubick take a rest after Evanjiel Temple, which vill heroine the Martin l.nther Center for cultural county goverment agencies, hasiparks," Conner said CHlTUlt TODAY, CENTER TOMORROW Mr. Kay Cole (left) and Mrs.

Eleanor Mellon, two staff workers for the South Price Run Service Center, ant roinmunilv affairs. Title to the land would remain with the city. County Executive William J. Conner said today, "We're not interested in doing anything responsible city officials don't want done we only want to be helpful. We're not trying to be grabby.

If it goes through, we would want to do everything we could to accommodate the needs of people who use the city Mayor Harry G. Haskell Jr. "made it quite plain he considers the parks a very important factor in serving the people of the city," Conner said. "He's not in favor of further merger steps unless it is clear that he could deal directly with the park people in putting across his ideas. I don't see why it couldn't be put right in the resolution." RALPH S.

Cryder, county parks director, said today that a little more than half the county's capital budget for Dr. King to Get Memorial In Black Cultural Center (Continum From pigt on 1 0f pjerre S. du Pont High tor of Evangel Temple, for board of trustees are James School; Earl C. Jackson, princi-j $125,000. Haskell aided the Baker, deputy director of the pal of William P.

Bancroft 'group in raising the down pay- in fiscal 1970 went to revitalize the four parks the county took over last year. Haskell said this morning, "I am confident the merger will go through as soon as it's fully understood by all the council-men." The mayor's administrative assistant, Allan C. Rusten, outlined the advantages to the city of transferring its park operation to the county. Professional and administrative leaders of both city and county are convinced that a far more comprehensive and effec tive program can be made available to city and county citizens through the merger, he said. "IT will end some duplication of efforts, effect some econo mies and at the same time do a more effective job.

It will relieve us of $1.3 million in operating" costs next year. Freeing us of that will enable us to put that money to other services in the city the same kind that Sills and the others 1 1 i are concerned aooui, nusien said. Sills said last night the city's land holdings outside the city The jobless rate for factory workers in the durable goods industry rose to 4.7 per cent in February, nearly double the post-Korean War low of 2.5 per cent in February a year ago. The bureau said the number of unemployed workers rose from 3.4 million in January to 3.8 million in February. Adjusted on a seasonal formula, the actual increase was set at 250,000 workers.

OTHER signs of an economic slowdown were these: 'parks Junior High School; John Coop-j mem ot jao.oou. he remainder er, executive director of the-of the debt will be paid off Christina Community Center; through musical and theatrical Mrs Liila Conner, and Mrsevents, Evans said. Model Cities agency; Mitch Thomas, a Philadelphia disc jockey who lives in Wilmington, and two police officers, Inspea tor Andrew Turner and Lt. Shipp ON the board of directors will be Joseph E. Johnson, principal Peterson Rejects 2 Convicts (Continued From Pst On) considered to be 45 years in computing parole eligibility.

The pardon board recommen dations approved by Peterson liivuivea lamon n. jacKSon and Louis H. Gardner, both serving life sentences for second-degree murder. Jackson's sentence is commuted to 40 years and Gardner's to 43 years. Jackson was convicted of stabbing his best friend to death in May, 1959 during a drinking spree in Newark.

Gardner was involved in the November, 1962, shooting death of a young woman in Wilmington. Authorities said she was struck by a bullet intended for another person. IN a letter to the board on Longoria and Wilson, the governor wrote: "I have carefully reviewed Unemployment Rate Highest In Four Years Mary Wheeler, a secretary in Haskell's office The building was purchased from the Rev. Bert Hare. pas- At the city police station, a one-room red brick building, five oldtimers and a couple of others sat inside on benches and chat- S.C.

Town Fears Race Strife Effect (Continue From F9t Oni) keep our student freedom of choice. Hare, who has been attempt- inS se th for he is moving his interdenominational church to a 12-acre tract on Delaware 7 off Interstate 95, where a religious center called Faith City will be built. HARE said he is moving from Wilmington after 15 years because his 400-memncr congregation has already moved to the suburbs, and because of park ing problems along Market street Wilmington does not now have an auditorium, e-cpt The Playhouse, that is suitable for musical productions, "md there's a real need, for something like this here," he savs. "THERE'S nothing like this anywhere in Delaware," he said. "The only community cen- "BUT when the federal court ted with a young policeman.

The King foundation plans to issued this order, we realized 'spend about $20,000 on renova- that the law must be observed. "We never had no trouble," tion of the building, most of We have been criticized for send- one oldtimer said, "when things which will go to build a theatri-ing our children to school after. were llke they should be. ca s(afie on the platform at the integration and refusing to go front of the auditorium. Evans along with the student boycott." "WE hild some of he best said.

iWraa white folks and some of the best! The Browns have three the information forwarded to me school-age children. by the Board of Pardons." The "As the board is aware, I store and paid their bills sought additional information I and said they no longer would through the commissioners siness with a I nom mixing. We don't believe was bubbling with enthu- people d0' Ijasm about the future of the A Policeman said, "What Center during yesterday can't stand is all those state preview tour. million, and suggested it might be better for the city to sell the land than lease it to the county without charge. Revenue from such a sale could be used for such pressing problems as housing, education and fixing up the Marine Terminal, he said.

Of the port, Sills said, "We're so poor we can't afford to fix it up. There are longshoremen working there under unsafe conditions." RUSTEN said if the merger does not go through, "the council will have to cut back drastically in a number of areas where we had hoped to improve next year." The budget the mayor will present on or before March 31 anticipates that various mergers will be accomplished, Rusten said. "If it's the decision of city council to reject them, then it will be their responsibility to determine where else to find additional revenue or cut back to balance the budget." The $1.3 million budget in the citv represents more than 30 cents in property tax for city residents, Rusten estimated "When transferred to the coun tv and spread over the entire citizenry (this would include city residents) it reduces to bout 8 cents per person, as I understand it." Now, Rusten said, "many of our recreation facilities are used by residents of the county outside the city," who are not paying for operational costs. Cryder expressed no surprise at the Councilmen's delaying the merger. "That's understandable, it's a big move," he said.

IF the council wants more assurance that Wilmington's park and recreation needs will not be forgotten by the county, "I suppose there can be a letter of understanding." Under the proposal, Cryder pointed out, William L. Kapa, who will become deputy director of the county department, also will retain his title as director of Wilmington's parks and recreation. There will be no salary along with the title, Cryder said, but the city has to have a parks trust fund. Kapa's job in the county will be to coordinate services, "so the mayor can go straight to Bill" if he needs to, Cryder said. THE merger really means that administrative and clerical services will be combined, Cryder said.

City parks will become a district of the county's operation, and most of the city parks personnel will stay right where they are. "You have to take people on faith. The department is profes sional, and trying to give service. The only thing that would intervene is politics I'm sure that's what they're worried about," Cryder said. Kapa said, "As I understand it, Nagle is going to introduce it next -Thursday, and they'll have a public hearing.

"I'll welcome a public hearing. I think it'll be a good opportunity for them to see the merits of the merger." Last night, Kapa and City Solicitor Victor F. Battaglia defended the merger proposal. BATTAGLIA told the council that the agreement is nothing more than a lease which the city could break if it were unhappy with the county's handling of the parks. He likened it to the relationship between tenant' and the landlord where, he said, the landlord always wins.

"Do you follow me?" Battaglia asked Councilman B. Napoleon Gupton, D-4th District. "No," Gupton replied. "You're just playing with words." Kapa told the council that in the first stage of the merger, the county government "agreed to do everything we asked for." "You're going to have to trust us," Kapa said, referring to the present city parks staff. "We've been residents of Wilmington all our lives, and we're not about to leave the city high and dry." The transfer of city parklands and functions would be complete except for Valley Garden and Rock Manor Golf Course.

Valley Garden is operated un der a trust fund, and the golf course currently is involved in litigation. The jobless rate for adultirector to administer the park Jninighway patrolmen taking over; WASHINGTON (UPI) Joblessness mounted to 4.2 per cent of the nation's labor force in February, highest level in more than four years, Jhe government announced today. The unemployment figure for January was 3.9 per cent and the February percentage was the highest since it stood at 4.2 per cent in October, 1967. IN addition, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the average factory work week dipped to the lowest level since January, 1962, and overtime earnings fell from an average of 3.3 hours in January to 3.2 hours for February. The monthly statement summarized: "A slowdown in the demand for labor has become particularly evident in the manufacturing industries.

Manfac-turing employment has been declining steadily since August, 1969, and the jobless rate for factory workers has risen sharply." The BLS said the entire increase in joblessness in February occurred among adult workers, with one-third of it occurring in the bellwether auto industry. I been discussed for more than two years as an economy and efficiency measure. Four major city parks Canby, Rockford, and Brandy-wine Parks and Greenhill Golf Course were transferred to county jurisdiction last summer as the first step in the merger. Nagle and Councilman James H. Sills D-at large, balked at completing the merger last night, and asked for a public hearing.

Sills said the city's parkland is too valuable to be turned over to the county without assurance that the county Eclipse Was Fatal To Hi, Ho (Continued From Pugt On) astronomers used to shoot arrows at total eclipses. A constant reminder to this generation of astronomers is the fate of the ones who got drunk before the earliest recorded one. This was Oct. 22, 2137 B.C., and the Chinese royal astronomers, Hi and Ho (this is no joke,) imbibed too deeply of wine and failed to shoot arrows and beat drums to drive away the dragon that was devouring the sun. Hi and Ho were good enough astronomers to predict this eclipse so they had no excuse for drinking because Chung K'ang.

fourth emperor of the Haai Dynasty, had this thing about dragons, and, even though the sun reappeared, he had Hi and Ho beheaded. THEY had to work at their celestial mathematics in those days because it was important to be accurate about the times of eclipses. In the Chinese classic, Shu Ching, there is recorded an imperial rule, "Being before the time, the astronomers are to be killed without respite; and being behind the time, they are to be hind the time, they are to be slain without respite." Ancient astronomers had to keep track of the seasons for agricultural and religious reasons so they spent a lot of time tracking the sun and moon. Recently, three mathematicians fed all known data about the sun and moon into a computer and came up with dates and places for all eclipses back and forth in time and were able to establish the date of a battle in 585 that ended a war that was settled1 when the Medes and Lydians became frightened during an eclipse and sealed the peace with a double marriage to make it more binding. 'More than 500 professional scientists and technicians from all over the world have come to North America to stand in the path of the 100-mile-round dark spot that will race in from the Pacific and strike Mexico, then Florida and end off Greenland.

Food Slam ps OK At Commissaries WASHINGTON (UPI) The Defense Department has reversed itself and will permit military commissaries to accept food stamps from service personnel, Rep. Leonard Farbstein, said today. A recent survey, according to Farbstein disclosed that 12,589 military families were receiving welfare assistance. Farbstein had asked the Pentagon to retract a 1965 poliey which banned the 315 commissaries from handling food stamps. Commissaries generally offer food and other goods at prices lower than the commercial market.

that the black community can identify with now is the the town. And I don't know how', they could hit back at our here can you imagjnp wL "mi- ii ten inning another Southern white Tom Hill is the mayor of Lamar. My wife and we prayed," said. We prayed that this jcouldn happen to our town "THE whole world heard about 100 to 200 people who went over to the Lamar school and turned over two buses. But the world wasn't told that only a third of those people lived in Lamar, (tie others were outsiders." State highway patrolmen have been on duty for 14 to 16 Jnours a day.

An attractive miauie-agea woman brought them home-cooked hot dogs and iced tea while they stood guard! on the perimeter of the school campus. "I'll f. thing else tomorrow," she said, two ii ui hik yuu uuva in e. nicejter to mental health and corrections! and their staff," he continued. -ine proiessionai evaiuauons sent to me and the recommen dations made by these individu.

als, in addition to further facts! that they have developed, indi-j cate to me that commutation is unwise. Newark Hurt in Man Md. EASTON, Md. Clayton W. Collison 23, of 304 Brown-leaf Road, Newark, is in Easton Memorial Hospital today after a 2 a.m.

automobile accident in which he was thrown from his car. He is under observation for possible back injuries and is reported in satisfactory condi-ton. State Police at Easton said Collision was driving along a narrow country road, Maryland 662, when his car crossed the center of the road, traversed an embankment, and hit several mail boxes before coming to a halt. He was charged with failure to keep to the right, police said. "I ask my if they are abused.

I know they aie, uui ihas been hard, very hard, for; my wife and for my children. But a man must do wnat ne must do." LOWERY, the black, believes the Negro community would, have been happy with totally segregated schools. "But when the law to integrate' was made," he said, "it was necessary to abide by that law." Lowery said, "If any of those black' children aboard those two school buses had been really hurt, like losing an eye maybe, then there would have been some shooting and killing in this town. 'We love our children, love them just as much as any white man loves his." DOWN at Carl's Cafe, a young white man named Jerry dropped in for two hamburgers to go. "I don't blame these people for being upset," he said, "but there was no reason to hurt little children." Jerry ventured this guess: "If they reopen Lamar High School, there's going to be more trouble." I Mission in Moscow Delaware Group Meets Nesterov men increased from z.a per cent to 28 per cent, the highest level since October, 1965.

The unemployment rate for aduit men between 20 and 24 jumped from 6.1 per cent to 6.7 per cent The jobless rate for blue collar workers rose from 4.6 per cent in January to 5 per cent last month. The bureau said about 60 per cent of the unemployment rise this year had. resulted from workers losing their jobs rather than new workers entering the labor force being unable to find work. The spokesman said Nesterov and Pronsky both brought up the old Soviet complaint that the United States restricts its exports too tightly by prohibit- ing the sale to Communist coun- tries of many strategic goods Nesterov and Pronsky attended a lunch for the Delaware delegation at a plush govern ment dach on the outskirts of Moscow. The group has come to Moscow to explore the possibilities of expanding U.S.-Soviet trade, especially in the field of chemicals.

The weekend schedule calls for a sight-seeing trip to Leningrad, the old czarist capital on the Baltic Sea. On Monday the delegation will meet Dzermen Gvishiani, deputy chairman of the State Committee on Science and Technology. Gvishiani is the son-in-law of Premier Alexei N. Kosygin. Britain Bans Pets LONDON (UPI) Britain today banned entry of cats and dogs into the country as a precaution against rabies.

oic a iui us wnoitaiprj Walnut Street YMCA, and this is far better than that." Evans sees the time when the auditorium will be filled several nights a week for musical groups, local theater groups, conventions and festivals, and is already making plans for inviting Mrs. Coretta King, the widow of Dr. King, to attend a formal dedication this fall. A full-time staff will be hired run and maintain the center. Said' and to st.ate.

and Hiivcuc swim agencies inviting them to use the center as a base for their neighborhood op- nt; 1L are ne man. ijsinir thp nlH years- but no real action was until early this year, said that the old Wil Ptnnc mington Youth Emergency Action Council (WYEAC) attempted to buy the building, but couldn't raise the money. EVANS first heard about the availability of the building at an Action task Force meeting and came away from a tour of the temple impressed by its size and modern interior- most of the floors are carpeted, most walls are either paneled or freshly painted. He persuaded Haskell to visit the building, and the mayor agreed to help a community group to finance the building and set up the foundation to run it. "The best thing about this is its location," Evans said.

"This is the first black operation in the city that's not in the ghetto, on some street nobody ever visits. This is something that everybody white and black can see and be Droud MOSCOW MV-A trade mission of Delawarecjiejnical jndus.try officials, headed by Pierre S. du Pont IV, began a busy schedule of meetings with Soviet officials today by conferring with Mikhail Nesterov, chairman of the Soviet Chamber of Commerce. A spokesman for the group said the Russians have been "verv forthcoming" and have arranged an "excellent schedule" for the 10-day visit. The delegation arrived in Picture on Page 36 Moscow last night, 24 hours late because its London-Moscow flight was canceled.

The group includes Du Pont, Edwin Golin of Kenneth Wattman of Atlas Chemical Industrial, Curtis Hinsley of Hercules, and Paul H. Mayo of Chemical Construction Co. (Chemico). Following the meeting with Nesterov, the delegation met with Dr. D.

N. Pronsky of the State Committee on Science and Technology. icaHci.l llic law anu We KNOW what you're going through." AP Wlreoholo Laurence Lowery ot Lamar, S.C. "We love our children, just as much as any white man loves his' of.".