The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 21

section News of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware metropolitan Sunday, July 22, 1979 By TOM FOX Tomorrow, another chapter of the Ethel Kravitz murder case begins in Montgomery County Court a $3 million libel suit filed by Morris Passon, who Mrs. Kravitz says killed her husband, against F. Lee Bailey, the widely known criminal attorney. Bailey took the case, he said, after Mrs. Kravitz passed two lie-detector tests that indicated her innocence and pointed to the "real" killer.

He sought a new trial to clear Mrs. Kravitz and gain access to Max Kravitz' half-million dollar estate. Iq) Sensational sequel to a sensational trial By Linda Loyd Inquirer Stall Writer It was 21 years ago, but almost everyone who was old enough then to read Philadelphia-area newspapers or watch television news remembers Ethel Kravitz. She was the seemingly devoted Main Line housewife convicted of shooting and bludgeoning to death her husband, wealthy real estate broker Max Kravitz, in the bedroom of their Wynnewood home on a sultry July 4, 1958. Ethel Kravitz was convicted of second-degree murder on Dec.

17, 1958, after the most heavily publicized trial in Montgomery County history. But the Kravitz case is still not over. Tomorrow, another chapter begins in Montgomery County Court a $3 million libel suit against F. Lee Bailey, the widely known criminal attorney. Bailey represented Ethel Kravitz after her parole from the State Correctional Institution at Muncy, in an attempt to overturn her conviction and to unlock the doors to her late husband's estate, from which she is barred by the conviction.

The estate was valued at $591,126 in 1963. Bailey took the case in 1967 after Mrs. Kravitz passed two lie detector tests that not only indicated her innocence, but also pointed to the "real" killer, the lawyer maintained in court petitions for a new trial. The real murderer, Ethel Kravitz alleged in 1968 in an affidavit accompanying Bailey's petition, was her brother-in-law, Philadelphia lawyer Morris Passon, who had been at her side when Max Kravitz' body was discovered and later testified as a prosecution witness at her trial. Passon countered by suing Mrs.

Kravitz and Bailey for libel and for "conspiring" with others, including reporters, to frame him in order to win Ethel Kravitz a new trial. -r In the suit, Passon accused them of "planting" (See KRAVITZ on 4-B) "I Eihel Kraviiz F. Lee Bailey Consumer Boxed in New buildings to answer the demand for office space Party: It's Blackwell Crowd cheers him at airport By Thomas Hine Inquirer Staft Writer The Philadelphia skyline is about to be remade. The city is experiencing an office building boom. And even though such long-heralded development areas as Franklin Town and Market Street East are well under way, the new offices are being built in the same place that they have been built for the last three decades Penn Center and Market Street West from City Hall to the Schuylkill.

At least four new office buildings are either under construction or considered extremely likely to be built in the area. As many more are being talked about seriously; some have even had tentative designs made. "I think you are going to see as much development in the Market West-Penn Center area as during the original development," Joseph E. Egan, the city's deputy director of commerce, said. The new buildings will fill in many of the spaces that remain in the area, the parking lots and car-rental lots.

They will very likely push the frontier of activity westward on Market Street, a trend that will probably be accelerated if the city gets federal funding to build a new subway station near 20th Street. Esthetically, the development will, for the most part, continue the area's somewhat depressing tendency toward becoming a collection of boxes in a row. One building, to be developed by a subsidiary of the Reliance Group, which owns the Reliance Insurance Co. and Commonwealth Land Title Insurance will make use of a piece of open space that many people probably thought would be permanent the skating rink at 17th Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard in Penn Center.

Although it has not yet been officially announced, a 19-story, $15 million building is to be built on this small site. Construction will probably start by the end of the summer. About a block away, at the corner of 18th and Market Streets, the Sun Co 's real estate subsidiary has begun construction of a 27-story, $40 million building that will house two of Sun's operating divisions and a number of other tenants. Across the street from Sun at 1760 Market is the site of a small high-rise building to be developed by Evans-Pitcairn Corp. for tenants requiring less space.

And the Atrium, a nine-story, $30 million office complex organized around a half-acre enclosed court, is to be built between 19th and 20th Streets on Market by suburban office developer Willard Rouse. Building a building is an optimistic act, and the developers of these are looking on the bright side of things, even though a recession is predicted. "A building that is connected to a commuter station has a tremendous advantage over every other locate BUILDING on 3-B) Forced busing forces attention The time has come for a vote on the controversial Mottl amendment in Congress the touchy bill that proposes an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to outlaw the forced busing of school children that the U. S.

courts have ordered. A vote on the volatile bill comes up on Tuesday, and one Philadelphia congressman, young Michael (Ozzie) Myers, is going to support it. "The people of my district don't want forced busing," Ozzie Myers, who succeeded William Aloysius Barrett on Capitol Hill, said the other night. "I've canvassed my district on the question, and 95 percent of the people I've talked to are against forced busing. And that includes a majority of the blacks.

My district is 46 percent black, but the majority of the blacks are opposed to forced busing, too." Explosive issue The Mottl amendment first introduced in the 95th Congress by a young Democrat from suburban Cleveland named Ron Mottl strikes at the very heart of the federal government's school integration policies and the U.S. Supreme Court's rulings on forced busing over the last quarter-century. And if it ever clears the House and the Senate, and wins ratification in 38 states, it will scuttle the power of the federal courts, including the U. S. Supreme Court, to issue court orders to achieve racial balance in the public schools of America through forced busing.

It's a political bombshell that has aroused the passions of millions of American voters on both sides of the proposition. The amendment died in the House Judiciary Committee in the 95th Congress, a committee headed by Peter Rodino, the Newark Democrat who skewered Richard M. Nixon and the Watergate mob. Rodino's Newark district is predominantly black. However, Ron Mottl re-introduced the amendment in the 96th Congress this year as a "discharge resolution," a move calling for the bill to be discharged from committee and brought to the House floor for a vote.

Gambling on cotes It was a bold and daring move, because to swing the discharge resolution Ron Mottl needed the signatures of a majority of the House on the resolution 218 votes, or 50 percent of the House membership of 435, plus one. But on a second time around Ron Mottl won the ball game. He got the 218 signatures, beheading the powerful Peter Rodino and forcing the amendment to the House floor for a vote on Tuesday. This, of course, was doing it the hard way, but these are desperate times. Now that the amendment has been discharged from committee, it needs a two-thirds vote (290) in the House, plus concurrence in the Senate (67 votes) and, ultimately, a ratification vote in 38 states.

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) has traveled the same route and still lacks the support of three or four states for ratification. However, the ERA has been granted a 39-month extension by Peter Rodino's House Judiciary Committee, which held prompt hearings and sent the extension proposal to the House floor for a vote. But the backlash to forced busing is so strong across America that some congressmen who read their mail were more than willing to take a strong stand to appease their restless constituencies. Thus the big showdown in Washington on Tuesday. Serving notice "What are the amendment's chances?" I asked Ozzie Myers.

"I don't think it will get a two-thirds vote in the House," he said. "A lot of congressmen don't want to amend the Constitution. They would rather do something about forced busing legislatively. "But this is the only means we have of getting the amendment out of committee and on the floor for a vote. We're putting the Hduse Judiciary Committee on notice that a majority of Congress and, therefore, a majority of the voters, are opposed to forced busing.

"After all, this is a representative government, not a government by committee. "I just hope the committee gets the message so we can hold hearings and debates and come up with some sensible legislation. "A majority of Americans are against forced busing. And so am I. "I never heard of a kid getting an education on a bus yet." By Acel Moore Inquirer Staff Writer City Councilman Lucien Blackwell cleared the last hurdle to running as a candidate for mayor in the November election yesterday when members of the Consumer Party voted to accept him as its choice for the top spot on the ballot.

The formal acceptance of Black-well as Consumer Party mayoral candidate took place during the independent political organization's annual convention in the basement of the First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St. "Mr. Blackwell is a man of tremendous integrity. He is a candidate of the people, a man who will represent black and all poor people of the city," said Max Weiner, a director of the Consumer Party, after the delegates unanimously voted in favor of Black-well. Yesterday's Consumer Party action followed that of the Black Political Convention, whose members overwhelming had drafted Blackwell to run for mayor as an independent last week.

All that Blackwell, a Democrat representing West Philadelphia's 3d District, must do now is formally accept the Consumer Party's offer. Blackwell, who also is president Oi Local 1332 of the International Longshoreman's Association OLA), was in Miami attending his union's national convention while the Consumer Party was endorsing his candidacy. He had been scheduled to appear at the Unitarian Church, but his airline flight was delayed for more than two hours. A delegation of Consumer Party members went to Philadelphia International Airport to await Blackwell's arrival from Miami. They were joined by about 140 other supporters.

A surprised Blackwell emerged from the delayed airliner to be greeted by a cheering crowd of about 150. "Swing low, Sweet Chariot. Lou's the one we are voting for," chanted the crowd. "I am not ready to say that I am going to accept the endorsement," (See BLACKWELL on 2-B) Philadelphia Inquirer SHARON J. WOHLMUTH Two ironworkers work on Sun's 27-story, $40 million structure Banker pleads for kidnaped wife AuocialeiPreu WEST MILFORD, N.J.

FBI officials said yesterday they were holding back on a search for the kidnaped wife of a Paterson, N. bank executive after the banker pleaded publicly yesterday for his wife's safe return, promising to pay her abductors at least $300,000 in ransom money. Franklin Bank Executive Vice President William Dedrick read a statement to reporters outside the bank's main office, saying, "I have been contacted by the FBI, and, at my public telephone booths throughout Paterson, but an FBI spokesman said further directions still were being awaited concerning where to drop the money. Mrs. Dedrick, 46, was watching television about 11 a.m.

Friday when the intruders abducted her from her West Milford home, authorities said. The couple's two sons, ages 19 and 16, were yactioning, police said. Her husband is an executive vice president at the bank's main office in Paterson. He joined Franklin National in 1966. request, they and all other law-enforcement agencies have assured me they will not interfere in any way.

"To the person or persons holding my wife, I am following the instructions I received earlier, and I am awaiting your contact. I have all the money as demanded, and I only want to deliver it wherever instructed and have my wife returned safely to me." Dedrick read the statement with Bank Audtitor Joseph Koodray at his side. "The FBI, at the request of Mr. Dedrick, is not conducting an active investigation at this time," FBI spokesman Art Meister said. "Our primary concern is for the safety of the victim.

We have assured Mr. Dedrick there will be no law-enforcement interference unless there is an indication the victim has been or may be harmed." He said Dedrick was at the Paterson bank awaiting further instructions from the kidnapers. He said Dedrick had received one call after the initial one informing him of the kidnaping. Earlier reports indicated that Dedrick had paid the money through an intricate series of phone calls to U.S. dispute blocks aid for Pineiands Quarry plan menaces Serpentine Barrens "V' "For a law that has so much potential, it is the most confusing situation I've ever seen," said Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary David Hales, who is the federal official most closely involved with the Pineiands.

Hales said that part of the problem arises because the conservation approach being tried in the Pineiands has never been tried before on a national level. The U. S. Interior Department hopes that the strategy will be a model for future programs to preserve populated but environmentally important areas threatened by development areas such as Lake Tahoe, parts of Cape Cod, and the Catskills. The plan involves, for the first time, a federal, state and local partnership, combining governmental (See PINELANDS on 8-B) By Dale Mezzacappa ftuiuiwStof Writer TRENTON The Carter Administration and Congress are battling over the best way to pay for the preservation of the South Jersey Pine-lands, a dispute that could jeopardize the program's success as a prototype for protection of other wilderness areas around the nation.

Ten months ago, Congress passed legislation designating the Pine Barrens the first "national reserve," and earmarking $26 million in National Reserve Act funds to New Jersey once the state adopts a conservation plan. But last week the House Appropriations subcommittee on the interior released its appropriation request for 1980 with no funds set aside for the Pineiands. By Tom Belden Inquirer Stall Writer Two Wilmington highway contractors have asked officials of a rural Chester County township to amend their zoning laws and allow construction of a stone quarry within the Serpentine Barrens, an area that residents and conservationists think should be preserved. The contractors, Frank and Joseph Corrado in a recent private meeting, briefed the supervisors and zoning officer of West Nottingham Township on their plans to invest $3 million to open the quarry on a 223-acre tract in the Goat Hill area of the Barrens. In their request for a zoning change, the Corrados challenged the township's current code as being unconstitutionally exclusionary.

The barrens area, a unique geologi cal formation stretching across southeastern Pennsylvania, is home for two endangered plant species. The area has remained in its pristine state largely because the rocky soil makes it unsuitable for farming or homebuilding. The challenge to the township's zoning ordinance, which now does not specifically allow for a quarry, has brought redoubled efforts to prevent the project. The area, presently zoned for residential and agricultural use. is dotted with small farms and homes surrounding the 600-acre Goat Hill section.

Township officials and leaders of the Concerned Citizens of West Nottingham, a group formed to oppose the quarry, said last week that they expect an Aug. 23 hearing on the request for a (See QUARRY on 6-B) Long hairy field chickweed one 0 two endangered species.