Cumberland Evening Times from Cumberland, Maryland • Page 1

The Weather Fair tonight, lowest in (he upper 30s to around 40. Increasing cloudiness and warmer tomorrow, highest in the low Ms. Chance of rain is zero tonight, 10 per cent tomorrow. luming (Himes Gas Company's! Testimony Ends Vol. CVI.

No. 105 Awn idtfj Nca- Yurk 1 itnc-i Nrwi Lniuu AH Cumberland, Wednesday. April 16, 1975 'urnln-rliiij. MJ. Sttoiid jt CumU-rbnil.

Md. 48 Pages--15 Cents Congress Studying S. Viet Aid BROWN-BAGGING TO MIAMI An unidentified National Airlines' passenger, who turned down free food and drink for a ride in the "no frills" rear cabin and a 35 per cent cut in her fare munches her way from New York to Miami. Passengers flying under the new plan, offered by Delta, Eastern, Continental, American and National Airlines, board their flights with food ranging from fried chicken and corned heef sandwiches to animal crackers. It will be weeks before the airlines know whether or not the plan is a success.

Beirut Clash Seen Endin; BEIRUT (UPI) Warring Palestinian guerrillas and rightwing militiamen battled for the fourth day today but by a appeared to be heeding appeals to end four a of clashes which left -Jmnrireds dead and wounded, i a i Solh an- nounced. said the situation in the Lebanese capital, which had been paralyzed by bomb, rocket and a attacks, was beginning to return to normal. In a statement broadcast by Beirut radio, Solh said, "All sides have shown response to appeals for calm and security forces are continuing to ap- prehend wanted persons and are applying the law. hope that discipline will continue in all areas and that the gradual improvement in conditions will also continue." A Palestinian spokesman said heavy shelling and sniping still a i a Palestinian refugee camps on Beirut's outskirts. But he said a ceasefire appeared to be near.

''We want a cease-fire and the fact that it hasn't come about yet is because the Phalangists have refused to respect it. This will be a good first step towards calming the situation," he said. An estimated 105 persons were killed and 200 others in- jured in the fighting which began when militia units of the right-wing Phalangist party attacked a Palestinian bus Sunday. Lhe Phalangists, a strongly a i i i a i i a a feel Palestinians have too much control over sections of Lebanon bordering on Israel. Although the Phalangists are predominantly Christian and the Palestinians are nominally Moslem, officials have rejected any religious motivation in the fighting.

a followed particularly severe attacks throughout the night and early morning. Mortar and rocket fire mingled with the crackle of machine guns and rifles around the Taf Zaater refugee camp northeast of Beirut, the front line of the fighting. But at noon newsmen at the scene could hear only a few sporadic shots from snipers. Solh said he planned meetings with leaders from both sides after attending an emergency session of Parliament. Solh's efforts to arrange a permanent truce apparently hinge on the Phalangists tur- ning over to authorities seven men allegedly responsible for a bus attack in which 27 persons died." WASHINGTON (AP) With most Americans in the process of leaving South Vietnam, Congress is considering a $200 million fund to assist in the i a a and to provide a i a i a aid for the Vietnamese.

The $200 million figure was a a i Tuesday by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Final decision was deferred until late today amid an indication that the panel wanted a final assurance that Americans were indeed leaving Vietnam. Defense Secretary James R. Schlesinger said Tuesday there were 3,850 Americans there. Last week, the total was more a i i a say privately the total will be cut to about 1,000 within two weeks so they can be evacuated quickly any emergency.

Schlesinger said Americans are "trickling out" of Saigon, and Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger said the U.S. Em- bassy there has been instructed to reduce the number of Americans in the country to an essential minimum. The S200 million fund is separate from President Ford's request last week for S250 i i i a i a i a assistance for South Vietnam and $722 million in military aid. Those requests were supported separately before Senate and House panels Tuesday by Kissinger and Schlesinger.

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John J. Sparkman, said the tentative draft bill in the committee is aimed at "getting the Americans out" of South Vietnam safely if their lives become endangered as the result of North Vietnamese military advances. He said the President would be authorized to use part of the $200 million to provide U.S. troop protection for the safe evacuation of Americans, if necessary. He said nothing in the bill would bar the incidental evacuation of South Vietnamese endangered because of their association with the American and South Vietnamese govern- ments.

But he said weapons aid to the South Vietnamese is not contemplated. Kissinger told the Senate Appropriations Committee that the United States has no legal obligation to assist South Vietnam. "We base our case on moral obligation," he asserted. Asked if there were any promises to President Nguyen Van Thieu that the United States would use armed force or resume bombing in the event of a massive North Vietnamese violation of the 1973 Paris peace agreement, Kissinger said Thieu was promised that the United States "would not take violations iightly," but "we did not say specifically what we would do in those cases." Communist-Led Insurgents Inside Phnom Penh Today Diehard Armored Force Defending Cambodia Capital FUNERAL OF A LEADER Straight and with great dignity, Mme. Chiang, held by Lt.

Gen. Chiang Wei-kuo (left) and Premier Chiang Ching-kuo (right), holds back tears walking behind a hearse bearing the casket of President Chiang Kai-shek in a funeral procession this morning kra Taipei street. The body of Generalissimo Chiang was placed in a marbel catafalque in the rustic silence of a mountain retreat after an emotional farewell from the Republic of Chma he led for nearly half a century. (APPhotofax) South Viets Suffer Military Setbacks SAIGON (UPI) Tank-led Communist forces captured another provincial a i a today, shut down Bien Hoa air base for nearly six hours with an artillery barrage and routed a South Vietnamese regimental base outside the province capital of Xuan Loc. The series of military set- backs shook the morale of war-weary government troops fighting to keep the remnants of a dwindling South Vietnam from falling into Communist hands.

They coincided with reports the Communists had established an air base at Pleiku in the Central Highlands. The Communists, i under a barrage of more than 1.000 shells, a the 2.000-man regiment of the 18th Division at Gia Kicm, eight miles northwest of Xuan Loc. which is 3R miles northeast of Saigon. By nightfall, field reporters said, the batlcred i had retreated to Trang Bom, only 23 miles from the capital. The regiment, which some field reports said appeared to be 80 per cent destroyed, blew up eight American-supplied 105mm and 155mm howitzer artillery pieces before fleeing, i i a sources said.

Sources said other govern- ment troops today abandoned the province capital of Phan Rang, on the south China Sea coast 165 miles northeast of Saigon, when it was attacked by a 5.000-man Communist force moving with tank support. It was the IBth provincial capital lost to the Communists in the current offensive and left the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong in full control of Ninh Thuan Province. The Com- munists now control 18 of South Vietnam's 44 provinces and two-thirds of the a i territory. Associated With Gangster Holes Actor Richard Conte Dies Maryland Lottery 50c Tickets Winner: 931778 Finalist: 30934 LOS ANGELES (UPI) Actor Richard Conte, who brought the smooth menace of a coiled cobra to movie por- trayals of gangster chiefs, in- cluding Marlon Brando's Mafia rival in the "The Godfather," died Tuesday at age 65, the fourth Hollywood star to die in six days. Conte.

who appeared in more than 100 films, had been in a coma for 12 days since suffering a massive heart attack followed by a stroke. His death followed by one day that of Academy-award win- ning stage and screen actor Frederic March, 77. Larry Parks, 60, who lip-synched the titie role in "The Al Jolson Story" and then faded into obscurity with the admission he was a Communist, died Sunday, a a i a i as, mountain matriarch of the "Ma and Pa Kettle" series, died Thursday. Conte's last major role was as Don Barzini in "The God- father." appearing again in the gangster role most closely- associated with him. Conte's mobsters did not snarl or bluster in the tradition of James Cagney or Edward G.

Robin- son. He portrayed them as slick and quietly businesslike, but cold heartedly ruthless when need be. Off screen he was quiet and introspective man who liked to draw and play the piano. In "I'll Cry Tomorrow" he played the sadistic husband of alcoholic singer Lillian Roth, portrayed by Susan Hayward, and once remarked that when he saw the finished film, "I actually hated myself on the screen." Conte was to be buried a a i Memorial Park near the tomb of Marilyn Monroe, whose first screen test involved acting opposite Conte. He was born Nicholas Peter Conte on March 24.

1910. to an Italian family in Jersey City, Industrial Output Offers Economists Hopeful Sign N.J. When he became an actor, he dropped "Nicholas" because he feared the a would confine him to "foreign" roles, but his Latin looks channeled him into Italian-background a for most of his movies. In the last several years, even Italian producers brought him to Rome to appear in Mafiosi roles in movies there, although in his final film, completed only four weeks ago. he played a priest.

He appeared in "Blue Gar- denia." "Call Northside 777," "Walk in the Sun," "Thieves i a 1 3 a i "New Confidential," and "Guad- alcanal Diarv." i i a said government warplanes bombed the Phan Rang air base after the city's 2.500 defenders fled to ships waiting offshore. Two South Vietnamese generals were feared trapped in the city, and Commmunist tanks were reported cruising thestreets. Intelligence sources said the Korth Vietnamese and Viet Cong had established what they considered their main air base in the fallen Centra! Highlands province capital of Pleiku, 230 miles north of Saigon. The sources said at least one Korean War-vintage MIG19 jet a i i i helicopters were on the-ground at the Pleiku airfield. Communist troops meanwhile today fired more than 30 rounds of artillery into the government's major airbase at Bien Hoa, 14 miles northeast of Saigon and headquarters for South i a i i a Region III.

Military sources said the barrage destroyed at least four F5 jet fighter-bombers on the ground and the base was closed for nearly six hours. The sources said at least two airmen were killed and three injured in the 7 a.m. shelling. The 130mm gun is the biggest and most feared weapon in the Com- munist arsenal with a range of 17 miles. PHNOM PENH Black-shirted guerrillas battled their way into Phnom Penh today, i i back diehard armored troops ordered to defend the Cambodian capital at all costs.

Reporters at the scene said the Communist-led insurgents crossed the United Nations Bridge at the southern edge of the city this morning, a i i the first rebel foothold inside Phnom Penh. The Khmer Rouge insurgents --firing rifles, machine guns a a a i grenades --drove a government armored force back to a traffic circle near the bridge. Reporters near the bridge said dive-bombing government a a a guerrillas again and again but failed to halt the advance across the span. An estimated 1,000 homes on devastated streets around the bridge burned down, trapping thousands of terrified civilians hiding from the bombs and bullets. The rebels captured a major marketplace on the suburban side of the bridge early this morning and then pushed across the Bassac River span into Phnom Penh.

Government armored cars guarding the bridge, considered the southern gate to Phnom Penh, pulled back in the face of the fierce insurgent fire. The beleaguered government ordered troops to fight to the end but the capital's defenses were crumbling. The fall of Phnom Penh appeared only a matter of time. The government called for volunteers to replace police sent to the front lines to rein- force war-weary troops trying to stop the guerrilla advance. Reds 'Relieve' Ex-Police Head MOSCOW (AP) Alexander N.

Shelepin. former head of the Soviet secret police and the youngest member of the ruling Politburo, has been "relieved" of his post at his own request, Moscow radio said today. A trip he made to Britain last month a strations. Moscow radio was reporting on a plenary meeting of the i party Central Committee. The announcement said "the plenum has relieved comrade Shelepin of his duties as a member of the Politburo at his own request." The plenum also decided that the 25th congress of the Soviet Communist party will be held Feb.

24.1976. Shelepin was also head of the a Soviet a i movement. The guerrillas, bandoliers of a i i wrapped around their chests and Chinese-made rifles in their hands, were only a a i from the presidential palace and Phnom Penh's main power generators. Rebel radio broadcasts said the i also seized Penh's lifeline airport west of the a i a but reporters in the area said the installation was still in government hands. The insurgents captured the provincial capital of Takhmau, five miles soulh of Phnom Penh, on Tuesday and forced the government's best fighting unit --the 7th Division --to retreat in disarray.

One rebel column came from the north down Route 5 and another across the marshy plains to the northwest of Phnom Penh. A third came from the west and ringed the i A i two miles west of the city. Beef Grade Standards Questioned OMAHA, Neb. AP) A government attorney says he intends to seek a trial as soon as possible to determine the fate of new beef grading standards proposed by the U.S. Depart- ment of Agriculture.

Stephen Meuhlberg. assistant U.S. district attorney, made the comment Tuesday night after a three-judge panel from the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a a i i preventing the department from implementing the new standards. The appeals judges sent the case back to U.S. District Court Judge Robert V.

Denney for trial within 45 days. They rejected a government request to stay Denney's injunction, issued last Friday at the request of the Independent Meat Packers Association of Omaha. The standards had been scheduled to go into effect Monday of this week. During a hearing which preceded the decision, the judges appeared chiefly con- cerned about whether the proposed grading system might hinder the consumer in judging the qualityof meat in thestore. The new grading standards would lower the a of "marbling" fat which affects the tenderness nf meat in cattle aged 30 months or less, sold as choice grade beef.

a a choice grade beef from cattle aged 12 to 30 months has In have more marbling than meat from younger cattle. Detroit Police Fight High Homicide Rate On Page Two By The Associated Press The nation's industrial output was still a i in March but, mostly because of automobiles, the March drop was (he smallest since last October and government economists saw this as a hopeful sign. An automobile development was also cited as one reason the stock market continued its climb Tuesday, but at the same "lime the four major auto makers reported sales in early April were 29 per cent below a year ago. Tuesday's upswing of 8.i3 in the Dow Jones i i a average to 815.08 put the Dow at its highest point since last June 26. It was the sixth straight session of upswing, meaning the Dow is up 72.20 since a week ago Monday.

In ether economic develop- ments: President Ford was ex- pected to invoke emergency action to block a national railroad i threatened Friday by the Brotherhood of Railway and Airline Clerks. --A circuit court in Omaha, ruled the Agriculture Department will have to wait at least 45 days to implement new beef grading standards that critics say will mean higher prices for lesser grades of beef. --A White House spokesman said the Ford administration opposes a House-passed bill for loans to protect the unemployed from losing their homes through mortgage foreclosures. The Federal Reserve Board reported Tuesday that the output of the nation's industry fell I per cent in March, the sixth straight month of decline but the smallest drop since six-tenths of i per cent last October, when the current production decline began. Henry Wallich, a Federal Reserve Board member, said the March figures may be the starting point of a turnaround in the recession.

"This may very well be the beginning of the end of the said. Government economists have said that the worst of the recession may have occurred in the first three months of 1975 and that a turnaround in the economy may begin a midyear. Despite the over-all decline in production in March, output of consumer goods rose for the first time since Jast summer. Economists laid this and the slowing of the decline in overall production to an increase in automobile production during the month. The auto development cited in Tuesday's stock market climb, along with a report Monday of a drop in industry's backlog of inventories, was Chairman Lynn Townsend's announcement to stockholders that the company would resume dividends promptly once it began makingprofitsagain.

Car Sales Light Car sales in early April failed to signal the spring upturn which auto executives hoped would put the industry back on its feet. Computers Heat Building Next winter when other i a i buildings with oil, natural gas. coal or electricity, employes of Data Systems in Rich- mond, will work in comfortable a i a generated by a bank of com- puters. Volunteer Fire Chief George Billet Deer, near Vi is pleased with the way seven women are handling their duties as "fire- people." By WILLIAM K. STEVENS C- JP7.j Ynrfc Service DETROIT Last year, in an a to lower the highest big-city homicide rate in the country, the Detroit police a a i a of detectives, named them -Squad 6 and Squad 7, and directed them to con- a i a preventing two a i a malevolent types of murder.

Squad 6 was to concentrate on many of them involving i victims and many related to the underworld drug trade. The province of Squad was felony murders killings in con- i i other a crimes such as robbery and rape. So far as is known, there was and is nothing quite like the two groups in any other city. Now there is strong evidence that the effort is succeeding, at least over (he short term. For the first time in a decade, the police say, the homicide rate in Detroit "Murder City, U.S.A." has shown an un- mistakable downward trend.

And it so happens that the drop is more than accounted for by a decline in the varied categories of murder in which Squad 6 and 7 are operating. It is news of a kind almost ton good to be (rue in a city as buffeted by social and economic storms as this one. Law- i i a therefore, are holding their breath and refusing to forecast what might happen i the rest of the year. But as of April 2 with 1075 slightly more than a quarter gone, homicides for the year were reported 19 per cent from the comparable period in 1974. The actual decline was from 181 killings to Eight people were killed here in i execution-style or drug-related murders i (he first three months of 1975.

During the first quarter of 1974 there were such killings. Known felony murders dropped less dramatically, but dropped nevertheless, from 3.1 in the first quarter of 1974 to 25 (his year. There were three during March, as compared with II in March of i974. Each of the two squads consists of specialists in various areas of criminal investigation who operate as a concentrated group, as many as a dozen at a time, in trying to attack and solve one murder at a time. They are provided liberally With money to pay informers, a a a a a prosecuting attorney assigned to it i to assure that legalities are observed, to a i search warrants i dispatch, and to help shape the case a a i a suspected murderer from a Since it was former! a year Squad 8 has arrested suspected killers and charged them with slayings.

Squad 7 has charged 3fl people 33 i i since it went into operation lasi December. A those in custody are a i to be a of i a rs-for- hire. as well as two panes nf young i i a "centralists" who roamed the i a area, robbing and raping in- discriminately, often i i their victims to avoid iden- tification. One of 'the gangs is said to have been responsible for 200 felonies. Twelve of ihe suspected killers have been brought to trial, and 10 have been con- victed and imprisoned.

Charges against the rest are pending. This year's over-all drop in killings is being attributed at least partly to the fact a some of the habitual i i a are no longer in circulation. (Continuedon Page 2).