The Greenville News from Greenville, South Carolina • Page 1

Newberry: New city budget passes first hurdle, Greenivood: County budget gets final OK. Spartanburg: Teen charged in slaying. Page 2B. Page 2B. Page 2B.

Rmlbuu wSDD (qI (S0(o(l it vV f' .1 A Multimedia Inc. newspaper Five sections 56 pages Second Edition Senate OKs measure to put issue on ballot Greenville, South Carolina WEDNESDAY, June 20, 1984 COLUMBIA Voters will decide in November whether they want to curb the General Assembly's spending power with a constitutional amendment that won the Legislature's final stamp of approval on Tuesday. With Florence Sen. Tom Smith warning the Legislature's action would "come back and haunt us," and Greenville Sen. Verne Smith predicting it would "bless us, year after year," the Senate voted 38-5 to endorse proposing the spending limitation on the ballot in November.

The House already has approved the measure, and the Legislature also has approved a companion bill spelling out how the amendment would be put into effect. In November, voters will be asked whether the state constitution should tie increases in state spending to increases in personal income, and whether increases in the number of state employees should be tied to increases in population. The state already had a spending limit written into the law, but some legislators said it was meaningless because it could be overridden by a majority vote of the Legislature. If a constitutional Flit Photo Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga.

presses for amendment Pressure on NATO Defense bill amendment sparks Senate debate WASHINGTON (AP) The Senate entered the final round of its deliberations on a $291 billion defense bill Tuesday, debating whether to limit U.S. troop strength in Europe unless the NATO allies start doing more for their own defense. Sen. Sam Nunn, tired of unappreciated U.S. expenditures of billions of dollars for deterrence, pressed for an amendment to withdraw up to 90,000 U.S.

troops from Western Europe by 1990 unless other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization fulfill longstanding pledges to bolster their own forces. A Reagan administration official strongly opposed what one White House official called Nunn's "sledgehammer approach to dealing with our allies." This official, who spoke on condition he not be identified, quoted Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger as telling Republican leaders at the White House that the proposal would "do something the Soviets haven't been able to do for three years" divide the alliance. President Reagan was quoted by this same official as saying the legislation would "send the wrong signal." The House, meanwhile, tentatively agreed to allow illegal aliens who have lived and worked in the United States since 1982 to become legal residents, eligible for eventual citizenship. But that decision, by a 245-181 vote, could still be reversed. An attempt was to be made See Amnesty, Page 2A amendment is put into Bv Cllsbv Williams effect, limits could be overridden only by a (The Nnw Capital bureau two-thirds vote of both houses.

While some supporters have said a constitutional spending limit would put the brakes on runaway state spending, Marlboro Sen. John Lindsay said he does not see the proposed limit as any indictment of legislative actions so tar. Rather, it will give people "confidence in the future course of South Carolina," he said. Sen. Tom Smith, who said the Legislature was "dancing to the tune of the state chamber (of commerce)" in passing the measure, called on the memory of the late Sen.

Marion Gressette, a staunch opponent of putting a spending limit in the state constitution. The last thing Gressette told him, Smith said, was, "Hold that damnable thing until I get back." "I've held it as long as I could, Senator," he said, conceding he did not have the support he needed to kill the measure. Smith, who has said a constitutional amendment conceivably could tie the hands of legislators trying to provide for public needs and put more burdens on local govern- See Amendment, Page 2A United Pren International Helicopter crash nffirink PYnminp thf wrerkaoe of a helicon- ahnarrl were killed. The Monmouth Countv. ter that crashed in the surf at Island Beach N.J.-based craft was traveling from Atlantic State Park, N.

on Tuesday. Three people City to New York City. Personal Income National institute criticizes state officials, Dan River for brown lung experiment Figures show construction of houses decreased Seasonally adjusted annual mm rates in trillions of dollars I By Chris Weston lUif mm wasningion oureau IN THE WORLD Iraqis vow to crush offensive Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has vowed to crush any Iranian offensive, and King Hussein of Jordan arrived in the Iraqi capital for talks with the president. Page 7A. Drinking age bill before Senate The Senate has been urged to approve raising the legal drinking age to 21 and wiping out "blood borders" between states.

The drinking age bill, which cleared the House overwhelmingly on June 7, was opposed by student groups and owners of taverns and restaurants who said that if teen-agers want to drink, they will find a way. Page 6A. inside Rain may visit area Tuesday's high temperature of 97 tied the record for that day set in 1970, and forecasters are predicting more hot weather mixed with a little rainfall for the Upstate. For details, see Page 2A. WASHINGTON The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health has criticized moves by South Carolina labor officials and Dan River Inc.

to expose textile workers to high levels of cotton dust as part of an experiment. The institute, a research arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has a critical role to play in the Dan River experiment. The textile manufacturer is seeking a $300,000 grant from the federal institute to pay for the research into the causes of byssinosis, a debilitating disease known as brown lung. Dan River won temporary exemptions from labor officials in South Carolina and Virginia to allow two plants to continue operating with cotton dust levels above those set by health standards that went into effect in March.

The exemptions for the Liberty plant in Pickens County and a facility in Danville, said Dan River officials, were sought to allow the company to study workers exposed to the dust. The plan was approved by South Carolina Labor Commissioner Edgar McGowan and Virginia officials. Both states are among 22 states empowered by the U.S. Department of Labor to administer the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration programs. The Labor Department, which oversees OSHA, said earlier this month that it would not seek to overturn the state decisions, even though a spokesman said experimental variances from health rules are rare.

New staff, wire reports New home construction dropped 10.5 percent last month, the federal government reported Tuesday, in a decline that industry spokesmen said could be the start of a long downward slide caused by rising mortgage rates. Commerce Secretary Malcolm Bal-drige acknowledged that higher interest rates have at least partly stifled home building, but he held out hope that mortgage rates would stabilize and keep housing construction relatively strong. The figures on housing starts were issued by the Commerce Department, which also reported that Americans' personal income and spending increased moderately in May, a result generally in line with other recent reports that seemed to show the economic recovery is slowing down. A home-construction decline had been expected because fixed-rate, long-term home loan rates had risen to over 14 percent during the past two months, a level at which many prospective home buyers are unable to qualify for loans. In Greenville, Ed Teasley, executive vice president of the Greenville Home Builders Association, said 86 permits for new homes were issued in May the second worst month behind traditionally slow February, and 33 fewer than were issued in April.

Teasley also forecast another slow month for June. "With the (bleak) inan- In a June 8 letter to acting OSHA director Patrick Tyson, the director of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Dr. J. Donald Millar, said: "I do not consider it appropriate to permit workers to be subjected to unnecessary hazards while the merits of this research project are considered in the grant review process." Millar added that "the study could be done successfully without exposing subjects to cotton dust levels above the new permissable exposure level." Diane Duncan, an institute spokeswoman, said Tuesday that no decision has been made on whether to grant Dan River's grant request. She said it was possible the company could win research money into the causes of byssinosis if it first brought its plants into compliance with cotton dust standards.

She said the Institute requires extensive evidence that the health of workers will not be endangered in any experiment with human subjects. The letter from Millar to Tyson was See Experiment, Page 8A cial picture, I think you'll continue to see a drop," he said. "People are frightened a little bit about the total economy. Interest rates are high and they look like they're going higher. It's hard to see interest rates going down until they do something about the (federal budget) deficit." The national report said the building drop in May was accompanied by a 1.3 percent decrease in applications for permits for future construction.

Jack Carlson, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors, said that decline "indicates little hope for improving See Housing, Page 2A Dan Foster 1D Billy Graham 3C Jim McAllister 1C Obituaries 5B.7B Puzzle 10C Sports 1 Television 4B Theaters 6B Abby 3C Bridge 9C Business 8B Carolina Style 1C Classified ads 40 Comics 10C Donohue 12C Editorial 4A.