The Courier News from Blytheville, Arkansas • Page 1

NEWS VOL. 81 NO. 333 10 CENTS 30 PAGES WEDNESDAY, MAY 5,1976 Speaking at Stevens' Cafeteria in Osceola, the Wayne Corporation building in Blytheville, and at the meeting of the American Association of Retired Persons in Blytheville, Gov. David Pryor brought his reelection campaign to Mississippi County yesterday. Pictured making the governor's acquaintance is Mark Silverfield, an Osceola High School student.

(Courier News Photo) Pryor Lists His Issues of 1976 ROUNDUP--May 5 I By KAREN NORED-SUtf Writer Unemployment, crime, the Brussells June 1, which will rising importance of local benefit Arkansas' farmers by government, and youth giving them access to overseas migration from the state are the markets and by providing more issues in this year's guber- jobs for agriculturalists, natorial election, Gov. David "My administration has done Pryor told Mississippi County more to prevent crime than any residents who attended political other administration in rallies in Blytheville and state of Arkansas," Pryor Osceola yesterday. declared with regard to that Pryor stated that his past 15 issue. Crime will continue to be months In the governor's office one of great concern to his of- had been "the hardest job I've fice, he pledged, ever undertaken," partially Pryor noted that his ad- because his administration was ministration had procured an introduced with the peak of a extended session of the recessionary period in the economy that he called the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930's. Things have begun to look promising, however, Pryor lion and detection of crime, noted, because unemployment Many of the decisions made in the past by the federal government have been handed over to state governments, Pryor continued.

He projected that within 20 years these will fall under the jurisdiction of county and local governing bodies. "We're going.to have to find a way to support our counties and cities because this is where the action is," he stated. State government is becoming more streamlined, Pryor noted, but still has a long road to efficiency. He called for abolition of government programs that have failed and revamping of those that have not done well. he said, calling youth the state's "most valuable He PRYOR.

Page 14 Clinton Says Grass Plants Destroyed Mississippi County Sheriff's Department is investigating the finding of approximately 450 marijuana plants yesterday north of Gosnell. The plants were destroyed, deputies said. No other information is available at this time. ROUNDUP. Page 14 a 9 a By WALTER R.

MEARS AP Special Correspondent Ronald Reagan has seized star billing in the Republican presidential contest, and President Ford, suddenly second, may have to rewrite his campaign script. But there are likely to be new twists in the GOP plot before it is out this summer. There are, after alt, 16 Republican presidential primaries to go. And there could be new faces in the campaign cast before convention time. Nonetheless, Reagan has for the first time established himself as a challenger who can convince the Republican hierarchy that he has a real chance of denying nomination to an incumbent president.

Even Ford's campaign manager had to acknowledge that Reagan had the advantage after making the President a three-time loser on a single primary election day. It was evident in the numbers that made Reagan for the first time the leader in committed Republican nominating delegates and, perhaps as important, in the momentum and credibility the conservative challenger gained with two Southern victories and an unexpected triumph in Indiana. Jimmy Carter, the dominant Democrat, won overwhelmingly in Indiana and in his Georgia home. He led in partial returns in the District of Columbia. Alabama Gov.

George C. Wallace won his home-state primary, too. Wallace offered testament to Carter's claim that as the likely nominee he can rally Democrats around him. "I could support him," Wallace said. While Carter was speeding his bandwagon among Democrats, Reagan was cementing a remarkable comeback by gaining 51 per cent of the Indiana vote to defeat Ford by about 15,000 ballots.

The former California gover- nor once was on the verge of elimination as a presidential candidate, with money running short after a succession of early primary election defeats by Ford. He held on and turned it around for a second time. Ford's allies thought they had finished Reagan in the early primaries, but he upset the President in the North Carolina primary on March 23, gained strength in Southern and Southwestern GOP state conventions, and scored a remarkable, 96- delegate sweep over Ford in Texas on Saturday. Now it is the President who is skidding, although a spokesman said Ford remains determined and convinced he will win the Republican nomination. But an outcome that had seemed inevitable to many Republican leaders no longer looks like a sure thing.

And unless Ford can quickly repair the damage by dealing setbacks to Reagan the coming primaries, the race could begin to look inviting to some men now on the sidelines. Should Reagan build on his current advantage, Republicans like John B. Connally and Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller may see openings that didn't exist before. And that could draw more after the primary election season, which ends nine weeks before the GOP convention begins.

For the moment, the arithmetic reads Reagan. He emerged from the Tuesday primaries with 360 committed GOP delegates in his column. Ford has 292. That has not happened to an incumbent President seeking election in modern times. Rogers C.B.

Morton, Ford's campaign manager, said events had given Reagan "a sudden, and I hope temporary, advantage." He said a major factor in that turn was the crossover vote of conservative Democrats who cast ballots in Republican PRIMARIES. Page 14 legislature in order to initiate a new drug investigation unit in the state, and plans for the. summer include announcing a new program for the preven- Law and Order More than Talk By PEGGY JOHNSON-Staff Writer in the state has dropped from about 9.6 per cent at the start of his term to about 6.2 per cent at present. Also good indicators of the economic standing of the state, he said, are the fact that auto sales are up 67 per cent over the same time last year, and state tax collections are setting "all- time records." Even though tax collections have risen since the depressed level at which they stood a year and a half ago, Pryor pointed out that the state is still 11 per cent below its corporate and individual income tax projections for the year. With luck, this figure will rise by the end of the year, he added.

The state's overall financial status is rising, Pryor said, estimating that about 3 million tourists will visit Arkansas in 1976, bringing with them about one billion dollars in tourist money. The state is opening an overseas trade office in Bill Clinton, a candidate for attorney general, gave forth with what he termed his "law and order speech" before members of the Blytheville Lion's Club yesterday. "Crime," he said, political issue this year," the 29- year old Democrat said, "and it is an easy issue for politicians to use in campaigns." But he said "We have managed to slow down the growth of state government," he added. "We have forced ourselves to tighten our belts." Studies have shown that 42 per cent of the young adults in the state of Arkansas leave the state in search of good employment, Pryor went on. The trend has to be reversed, Clinton explained, However, Clinton believes strong incentives should be offered for "folks to behave while serving the stiff mandatory sentence." He believes the "good time" program--the reduction of an inmate's term as a reward for good behavior--should be e) maintained.

"This good time the public should expect to hear gives the opportunity for in- clear thought-out knowledge- males to reduce their sentence able answers from candidates, by roughly one-sixth," Clinton Although Clinton said he does noted. not believe crime will ever be Clinton believes strongly in abolished, he believes there are the work release rehabilitation ways to improve the fight program for prisoners, he said, against crime. "And we can't do but there is room it with tough talk, it will take tax dollars," Clinton said. There is a need for more probation and parole officers to work with repeaters since it has been proven that where there are more officers the repeater rate is reduced, he said. Clinton said it is more costly to jail repeaters than it is to use tax dollars on salaries for additional probation and parole officers.

Too, he said, he, believes for improvement in this area. But although Clinton says he would like to see improvement in the criminal justice system pertaining to inmates, he said it is the "victims who are the forgotten people." "People are mugged, robbed, raped, and not provided for in this state," he maintains. Many times, Clinton said, property crime criminals get no sentence at all. He believes in many cases, restitution from of- Cloudy and Warm Partly cloudy and warm today with slight chance of thun- dersnowers by afternoon. Cloudy and warm tonight and Thursday with chance of thundershowers.

High today and Thursday upper 70s, low tonight near W. Precipitation probability: 20 per cent today, 40 per cent tonight, 50 per cent Thursday. definite minimum sentences fenders to victims should be should be established for those imposed in lieu of a jail sentence whenever possible. There are 17 states in the U.S. which provide to spend money" to help victims who cannot help themselves.

The establishment of such a program to provide com- who commit crimes of violence. This would mean criminal's who commit such violent acts would have to serve a mandatory minimum sentence without benefit of release before a certain sentence is served, pensation for victims of violent crime could be implemented in Arkansas, Clinton said. "A maximum amount of money could be allowed to such victims," he ventured. In the United States crime is up in rural areas and theft crimes are up also, Clinton informed. Seventy-five per cent of all crime is committed by those 15 to 25 years of age.

Therefore, Clinton says he believes there should be a massive effort by community groups to become involved in educating youth against crime. "Communities must become involved in cooperating with the public school systems to concentrate on preventing crime in early teenage years." "Teachers alone cannot do it," he emphasized. The public, too, needs to cooperate with law enforcement officers in the crime solving business, he said. Clinton noted that a new criminal code law passed Jan. 1 in Arkansas revised, rewrote, simplified, and clarified the criminal justice code.

Under the new code it is a crime to "cause'a catastrophe; Coercion is a crime, and to pass a burning building or automobile without reporting it to the proper officials is now a crime, he gave as examples. Clinton was introduced by Lion's member Brock Whisenhunt, program chairman. "There is a need for improvement in the criminal justice system in Arkansas," Bill Clinton, candidate for attorney general, told members of Blytheville Lions Club yesterday. Clinton, who was campaigning in Blytheville, was guest speaker during a noon luncheon at Holiday Inn. (Courier News Photo) TRACK RECORD Blytheville's Patty Smith sparked the Chickaaaw girls to fourth- place finish in Tuesday's state meet at Jacksonville with a record- breaking 61.4 clocking in the 440- yard dish.

Page 14 STRAPPED CAMPAIGNERS Presidential aspirants eager for the release of frozen matching federal campaign funds must wait a few more days to see if President Ford will sign or veto a bill which will open the cash tap. FOREIGN AID BILL Supporters of a foreign aid bill with strings attached are likely to clash with President Ford, who says today he will veto the measure because it will tie his hands in conducting foreign policy. Page 13 STOMACH CANCER Use of powerful anticancer drugs in combination for treatment of stomach malignancies have given sufferers a prolonged chance of survival, according to a recent scientific research report. Page 13 FBI MUSCLE A report by the Senate Intelligence Committee says during a 15-year period the FBI employed questionable tactics against domestic groups, with some of those sanctioned bordering on criminal violations. Page 2.