The News Journal from Wilmington, Delaware • 1

BMNG JQUIRM WILMINGTON, DELAWARE WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1973 VOLUME 41, NUMBER 292 FIFTEEN CENTS Senator Hears Hundreds on 536-Mile Ride to Ohio Biden Says Truckers Believe Crisis a Snow Job Sen Joseph Biden D-Del, member of a Senate subcommittee which has been' hearing complaints of truckers about the energy crisis, rode a big rig from Delaware to Ohio to observe for himself. Here is his report, written for United Press International. get into high gear at 50 mph and waste fuel at that speed. One trucker claimed he gets 3.2 miles a gallon at 50 mph and 4.6 miles at 60 mph. A big truck's gears, he said, operate so that driving at 50 mph is like driving in a passenger car in second gear.

They don't want in in-crease in freight rates, although there is talk within the Nixon Administration of permitting an increase to cov- See BIDEN Page 8, Col. 1 "Buffalo Bill," "Big 12," etc. At the Shiloh stop, I found the beginnings of a massive blocking whereby a cordon of trucks would block access to diesel-fuel stations that truck drivers use. It took some negotiations to get in: the truckers didn't want me if I wouldn't stay and listen, and I didn't want in if they wouldn't let my truck out so I could complete my trip and get back in time for Senate votes on Monday. The result taught us both something.

I talked to the truckers in a large room. They were orderly but blunt in their criticisms. They made these points: Some drivers were hauling full tanks of motor fuel. They reported seeing fuel ships in Delaware Bay and along other coastal areas waiting to unload. Their question: Was there really a fuel crisis? The proposed speed limits are unfair.

Big rigs can't from Bear, to Hamilton, Ohio. The distance was a chilly 536 miles. It snowed the last 150 miles of the trip covering five states, but this was nothing compared to the snow-job truck drivers I met be-lieve the government is handing them. They may be right; they may be wrong. I made the trip because I wanted; a firsthand account from the truckers, who say they carry 50 per cent of all the goods shipped within the United States.

They make a case worth listening to. Along the way, I talked to more than 300 drivers, most of them self-employed "independents," as the mammoth truck I was riding in stopped for fuel at five stations during the 15-hour trip. At a major fuel and rest stop along Interstate 70 at the Shiloh truck stop in Ohio. I talked to a spontaneous meeting of 200 drivers. They're both angry and frustrated, as is Spencer Malcom of Bear, the inde pendent whose rig I rode in.

The trip was also a fascinating glimpse at an aspect of life-on-the-road little known to most Americans, including myself until I made the trip. The truck drivers are burly, plain-speaking laboring men who seek fair shares in the America they fought in our wars to protect. They pass along gossip and highway information to each other over the citizen band radios each driver has in his cab. They give themselves code names By SEN. JOSEPH R.

BIDEN JR. I rode all night in a cargo truck carrying hollow-shell pipe 1 9 Cutib Gas ac me 00 lillllillllil Provided. uel Plan an WASHINGTON (UPI)-The federal government served notice today that it plans to order a 25-per-cent cut in gasoline production wiDh the aim of further increasing supplies of such fuels as heating oil. William E. Simon, the Administration's new energy chief, said the new proposal "does not include Unded the mandatory allocations, supplementing an incentive program announced such as fire and police departments, public transportation, agriculture and fuel production will get 100 per cent of their requirements.

Other users wil get about 90 per cent. Other elements of the plan: Electric utilities will have to bear the shortages in heavy heating oils, possibly necessitating power cutbacks, especially in the Northeast. Big domestic air carriers dual fuel oil that is used by power plants. The proposed rules are scheduled to take effect Dec. 27.

They were prepared for publication in the Federal Register. The proposals are not final but probably will take this general form when put into effect after allowing time for public comment. Under the proposals, a priority of users will be established. Emergency services last week, refineries would be allowed to produce only 75 per cent of last year's quuota. But Simon said the allocation could be revised on a quarterly basis.

The new program is certain to increase gasoline and other fuel prices. The program calls for an increase in production of distillates such as home heating oil, petrochemicals and resi 1 ft V' X- I I z- I mL CI i Sift mm AP Wireplioto 'Lean the Other Way, Sam Grain elevator which outlived its usefulness after 60 years was moved 21 utiles recently from Kolin, to Moore, where it could be incorporated into fertilizer plant. AP Wirephoto 250 trucks stop at Bartonsville, Pa. Slowdown is in protest of high fuel cost, lowered speed limits A 1 to rucker A.l. Driving would be allotted 95 per cent of their 1972 use until Jan.

7 and 85 per cent after that. Small regional airlines would get 95 per cent until Jan. 7 and 90 per cent afterwards and international carriers would receive 100 per cent until Jan. 7 and 85 per cent after. An equitable sharing of all available fuel with requirements that prices charged be uniform for all users.

Simon stressed the allocations "were not rationing but a system to assure equitable distribution at the wholesale level." He said the program was designed to "keep food on the table, people at work and maintain the health of the nation." Simon called for public comments by 5 p.m. Dec. 20. The proposed regulations would take effect Dec. 27 unless changes are ordered by Simon.

City, Trash Crews Spar Over Pace Each Blames Other For Slower Pickups By BOB FRUMP Union officials soy the administration of Mayor Thomas C. Maloney is harassing the new three-man garbage crews, while a Maloney spokesman says the garbage-men are dragging their feet. The garbagemen were working again today, finishing collections not finished yesterday morning. A Maloney spokesman says yesterday's routes the first covered by the slimmed-down crews were not completed because the garbagemen were dragging their feet. The union representing the garbagemen says the slower collection was due to the smaller crew sizes and harassment.

Timothy W. Hyatt, director of Council 81, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employes, said garbage supervisors are requiring crews to start the work day when they reach their route starting points rather than when they begin driving the trucks. "The city is agitating them, (the crews)" Hyatt said this morning. "They want them to go on strike." The garbagemen were scheduled to work routes located east of Interstate 93 today after finishing West Side routes. A Maloney spokesman denied the charges of harassment and said the issue on starting times turned on whether the work day would be counted from the time the workers reach the truck yard or the time they leave the truck yard.

The Wilmington Branch of the NAACP, after a meeting last night, said it will temporarily suspend demonstration while new "legal and labor make deliveries any time after midnight last night to stay off the road and not make any new pickups today. That slowdown was supposed to have been the prelude to a strike scheduled to strike beginning at midnight tonight. John Sassi of Glasgow, who made an appearance before a Senate subcommittee yesterday in Washington, asked drivers who were going to Compiled From Dispatches A call to start a trucking slowdown at midnight last night appears to have received only scattered support, but there's still a possibility of a two-day national trucking IN TODAY'S JOURNAL INDEX Ouster Call Second for Road Chief Demand is Made By Sen. Zimmerman DOVER Secretary of Highways Clifton E. Morris' resignation was demanded again at the close of a second day of hearings by the Senate Highways and Transportation Committee.

Morris' chief inquisitor during his 2 hours on the stand yesterday, Sen. Jacob W. Zim-merman, said Morris demonstrated by his testimony that "he doesn't know a hell of a lot about the department." Morris had his aides answer many of the questions during the hearings on problems in the department. Zimmerman had asked that Morris resign earlier this fall when he became embroiled in a reorganization plan that backfired. He said then he would ask Gov.

Sherman W. Tribbitt to fire Morris for incompetency if he didn't resign. Morris said more than a month ago that he actually did quit but Tribbitt told him to "forget it." Yesterday, more tactfully than his colleague, committee chairman Sen. Charles E. (Pete) Hughes, R-Silverside Heights, advised Morris to ask Tribbitt to relieve him of his job as chairman of the Delaware Emergency Energy Board so he could devote more time to departmental problems.

During his sharp questioning, Morris did: Acknowledge he by-See ROAD-Page 2, Col. 1 Police Say Cedeno Free Of Blame SANTO DOMINGO (UPD Houston Astros star eenterfielder Cesar Cedeno underwent questioning by a judge today in connection with the fatal predawn shooting yesterday of a 19-year-old girl in a Santo Domingo motel room. Judge Socrates Diaz Curiel began interrogating the 22-year-old ball player during the morning after Cedano was taken to the 4th circuit court from police headquarters where he had been held since he turned himself in yesterday at 10 a.m. Cedeno, 22, was charged with voluntary manslaughter, which legal experts in San Juan said was the equivalent of charge of second-degree murder in the United States. Police, however, have already absolved him of any blame in the shooting of Miss Alta-gracia de la Crux and district attorney Maximo Henriquez Saladin, who filed the charge, indicated it was simply a formality to get the matter before the courts and clear the air.

A police statement issued after Cedeno was questioned said the two apparently had wrestled over Cedeno's pistol and "no blame could be attached" to Cedeno that a bullet was fired through Miss de la Cruz' head. Grenade Hits 8 in Israel TEL AVIV (UPD An Arab guerilla threw a hand grenade into a crow-d in Hebron, on the west bank of the Jordan River today, wounding eight persons, the army command said. It was the second grenade incident in a week in the area. Military sources said Israeli security forces are in the process of rounding up "subversive elements" in the area. A spokesman in Tel Aviv said one of the wounded was a resident Arab policeman.

He said no Israeli soldiers were hurt, according to his reports. The grenade was thrown in the central market of the town, not far from where someone had fired at Israeli forces on Friday. The command said one guerilla was killed by Israeli troops returning the fire. Astrological Forecast GO Area Date Book 55 Bridge 60 Business 11-12 Comics 60 Crossword Puzzle 63 Daily Record 47 Editorials 34 Food 42-43 Obituaries 13-14 Sports 25-31 Television, Radio 58 Theater, Arts 15-17 start at midnight tonight. That strike has been touted by Overdrive magazine, a widely circulated trade publication, atnd a number of trucking groups.

The proposed strike is the latest effort by drivers, mainly independents, to protest lack of government action on complaints they have about high fuel costs and lowered speeds. The Associated Press and United Press International, in a check with truck lines, truck stops and truck union officials across the country, reported only scattered stoppages to-d a Delaware Memorial Bridge officials said there appeared to be no lessening of truck traffic. At Bartonsville, dissident truck drivers broke up a mini work stoppage today and pulled back onto Interstate 80, but they vowed a massive work stoppage would go into effect at midnight. Some 200 truckers rolled to a halt at the "Stop 76" truck stop in Bartonsville yesterday afternoon, saying they were shutting down in protest of high diesel fuel prices and reduced highway speed limits. However, the truckers decided this morning to break up, saying they had decided to comply with the national goal of either getting home before midnight tonight or pulling off the highway at 12:01 a.m.

tomorrow. A group of drivers in Cor-dele, blocked the WEATHER Longwood Gardens drops out-s i Christmas lighting display. Page 41 Investigators receive reports former Atty. Gen. John Mitchell blocked antitrust probe of giant dairy cooperative.

Page 45 President Nixon may have given impetus to tax reform in Congres with disclosure of his financial records. Page 50 FCC proposes states study idea of switch from flat telephone rates to individual charges for calls from home phones. Page 56 Soviet Jew, jailed two years for teaching Hebrew and Jewish history, urges continued American protests to Moscow. Page 57 Texas legislator, trying to live on his $4,800 annual staie income, applies for food stamps. Page 59 Spirit of Christmas-giving invades state prison near Smyrna.

Page 59 Library employe, fired in 1972, sues for $110,000 in damages and reinstatement. Page 5 Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger adds stop in Algeria tomorrow to his Middle East peace tour. Page 8 Judge Sirica gives Watergate prosecutor Leon Jaworski copies of two more tapes. Page 10 Landlords will be allowed to rent vandalized houses in Wilmington.

Page 19 Legislation advances in Senate to create huge Eastern railroad from the best of seven lines. Page 24 Delaware Citizens for Clean Air complain that pollution hearings are scheduled for daylight hours. Page 32 Sole survivor of DC9 crash in Boston loses 19-week battle to stay alive. Page 40 TONIGHT TOMORROW TONIGHT: Clear, cold, low near 30. TOMORROW: Warmer, cloudy, possible showers, highs near 50.

Weather map detail on page 1 See TRUCKERS-P. 2, C. 1 See MAYOR-Page 3, Col. 4.