The Courier News from Blytheville, Arkansas • Page 1

Dr. May Seek Funds for Syria By JEFFREY MILLS Aiiocla led Preii Writer WASHINGTON (AP) Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger says he told Syrian leaden he would ask Congress for $100 million in foreign aid for Syria if a disengagement agreement was reached with Israel. No commitments "either implied or expressed" were made to Syria during his 34-day peacemaking trip to the Middle East, Kissinger told the House Foreign Affairs Committee Tuesday. The $100 of billion in economic assistance contained in the foreign aid bill, "a special requirements fund" for use "to reinforce the peace process" in the Middle East, he said.

Kissinger made it clear he felt that U.S. financial aid is essential in continuing evolution of Syria and other Arab governments toward moderate policies. The bill sets out $900 million for aid to the Middle East, including Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Syria. In Syria, Foreign Minister Abdul Halim Khaddam predicted that U.S.-Syrian diplomatic relations will be restored "very soon." Diplomatic ties were broken during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Asked if Syria is doing anything to prevent Palestinian guerrilla activity against Israel, Khaddam replied: "I assure you no Arab government is capable of preventing the Palestinians from struggling to restore their legitimate rights, no matter what guarantees may be given to Israel by other nations." NEWS BLYTHEVILLE, ARK.

72315 VOL. 80- NO. 20 10CENTS 34 PAGES WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5,1974 Demo Raps GOP For Scare Tactics By CARL P. LEUBSDORF AP PoUtkal Writer SEATTLE (AP) The chairman of the nation's Democratic governors has accused Republicans of scare tactics in warning that Democrats could gain a "veto-proof Congress" in the November elections. "The term 'veto-proof Congress' is merely a cynical ploy to detract from the most important issues of 1974," Gov.

Wendell H. Ford, said Tuesday as sharp partisanship broke out at the 66th National Governors' Conference. The conference ends today with the annual business session at which the governors are expected to adopt a broad resolution urging campaign reform and other measures to deal with Watergate-type abuses, steps already taken by many states. The conference also is expected to elect Gov. Calvin L.

Hampton, D-Utah, as next year's chairman, succeeding Gov. Daniel J. Evans, R-Wash. The partisan verbal battle began when Kenneth R. Cole President Nixon's top domestic policy aide, said during a panel discussion Tuesday morning that election of a "veto-proof Congress" might doom the revenue-sharing program.

Then Gov. Winfield Dunn, R- chairman of the Republican Governors Association, said in an interview he was frightened by the thought of a Congress so heavily Democratic it "would give George McGovem and" Hubert Humphrey the opportunity to run our country which they didn't get in the 1968 and 1972 presidential races." "I take strong exception to a thread of political propaganda which has run through this 'conference from invited members of the present national administration," Ford told a news conference. He said he considered it "no DEMO Page Nixon's Milk Price Hike Next Probe Item By JOHN BECKLER Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) The House Judiciary Committee is turning to President Nixon's 1971 decision to raise milk prices to see if it was linked to a $2 million campaign pledge from dairy co-ops. The investigation, to start today, involves bribery, which the Constitution lists as an impeachable offense. Moving more swiftly now that it has passed the tangled Watergate scandal, the committee completed on Tuesday the presentation of evidence on the settlement of antitrust litigation against International Telephone Telegraph Corp.

It also decided to have its staff question Charles W. Colson but postponed a decision on whether the former White House counsel would be called as a witness before the committee. Chairman Peter W. Rodino who overrode strong objections from members who want Colson called now, said he would wait for the staff's report on what Colson says before deciding whether to have him as a witness. Colson played a major role in the White House's dealings with the dairy industry, outlined in a summary prepared by the Judiciary Committee's staff of the case it will present.

The staff memorandum identifies Colson as the White House contact for the Associated Milk Producers and says in the spring or summer of 1970 AMPI promised him $2 million for Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign. On March 12, 1971, former Secretary of Agriculture Clifford Hardin set milk price supports lower than the dairy industry wanted. Industry representatives called on Colson and other administration officials to set Hardin's order aside and fix a higher support level, the memorandum says. The crucial part of the staff's presentation centers on March 23,1971, when Nixon, who had previously been informed of the $2 million pledge, met at the White House with industry representatives and thanked them for their support. Later that afternoon, says the memorandum, Nixon met with key advisers and decided to increase milk price supports.

Nixon has said his decision was influenced by heavy pressure from Congress for an increase. The committee memorandum says no announcement of Nixon's decision was made and that immediately after the meeting Colson got in touch with the late Murray M. Chotiner. He had left the White House a few weeks earlier after serving as an aide to Nixon, and was then representing the dairy industry. "Later in the night of March 23, AMPI officials and other dairy representatives engaged in all night meetings at which they agreed to make political contributions to the President's re-election campaign and to contribute $25,000 by the evening of March 24," the memorandum says.

During the evening of March 24 Chotiner told several dairymen that former White House aide John D. Ehrlichman ex- pected the dairy industry to reaffirm its $2 million commitment in light of the forthcoming increase in milk prices, which they did, the memorandum says. "Thereafter an increase in the price support level for milk was officially announced." The increase reportedly added hundreds of millions of dollars to dairy industry profits. Most of the evidence bearing on the dairy industry phase of the inquiry came from the Senate Watergate Committee, but the Judiciary Committee also has tapes of some of the key White House conversations around March 23, 1971. The committee has asked the White House for 66 taped conversations dealing with the ITT and dairy cases, and may issue subpoenas for them later in the week.

has a subpoena outstanding ordering delivery on June 10 of 45 Watergate tapes. After hearing the ITT evidence some members said they felt no link had been established between the company's pledge of $400,000 for the Republican National Convention in San Diego and a settlement of the antitrust suit favorable to ITT. In other Watergate-related developments: Interior Secretary Rogers C.B. Morton said Watergate probably has undermined Nixon's ability to speed public acceptance of major new energy problems. -Sen.

Harold Hughes, D- lowa, said Monday's guilty plea by former White House aide Charles W. Colson came after a long and tearful prayer session at Colson's home the previous night. --Sen. Joseph M. Montoya, D- N.M., disclosed confidential White House documents that he said reveal a scheme to reward friends and punish enemies in the awarding of federal grants.

(See additional story Page2) Bl Bomber Faces Senate Challenge By HARRISON HUMPHRIES Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) The Air Force Bl bomber is facing the next challenge in the Senate continuing debate on the billion military weapons procurement bill. Sen. Geiorge McGovern, S.D., called for a Senate vote today on his amendment to slow down Bl development by cutting funding to $200 million from the $499 million the Defense Department requested. That would defer a production decision on the Bl from the fall of 1976 to 1980. Meanwhile, the McGovern amendment would require an independent study of less expensive alternatives, such as modified versions of the existing B52 and FB111 bombers, or the complete reliance on land and sea-launched ballistic missiles without manned bombers.

The Senate agreed to consid- er on Thursday amendments by Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, and.others to require reductions in U.S. military forces overseas. By voice vote Tuesday, the Senate adopted an amendment by Sen. Joseph H. Biden D- Del.j' declaring 'that defense budgets should not be padded to stimulate the domestic economy.

Rejected by a 55-27 vote was a McGovern amendment to authorize a $100 million grant and loan fund to help defense contractors convert their plants and labor force to high-priority civilian production in such fields as transportation and housing when they lose substantial defense business. An amendment by Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey, adopted 76 to 12 would deny the armed forces money to use dogs in testing poison gas, germ and chemical warfare agents and radioactive materials. The Senate defeated 55 to 33 an amendment to require public disclosure of the Central Intelligence Agency's annual budget.

Sponsor William Proxmire, the CIA escapes effective congressional control because its funds are hidden in the budgets of other agencies and are known only to a few congressmen. A special committee of 22 senior members of the Senate and House Armed Services and Appropriations Committees reviews CIA budgets. One such member, Chairman John C. Stennis, of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the disclosure of annual trends in the funding of intelligence activities "would provide invaluable assistance to our potential enemies." Vote Totals Certified LITTLE ROCK (AP) Official vote totals certified with the secretary of state on Tuesday showed Gov. Dale Bumpers with 64.39 per cent of the vote in the Democratic nomination for the U.S.

Senate over J. W. Fulbright. Bumpers polled 376,973 votes to Fulbright's 208,405. A primary vote record apparently was set in the Senate race with 585,378 votes cast.

Slate Auditor Jimmie "Red" Jones had forecast a vote of 505,000. David Pryor of Little Rock captured the Democratic gubernatorial nomination without a runoff. He received 51.02 per cent of the vote. His nearest opponent was former Gov. Orval E.

Faubus of Huntsville, who had 193,105, or 33.10 per cent of the total. Lt. Gov. Bob Riley's 92,612 votes amounted to 15.88 per cent. Pryor had 297,673 votes.

There were 583,390 votes cast in that contest. Faubus said he would have a statement today concerning the vote totals. Faubus, a former six-term governor, had hoped to be in a runoff with Pryor and has refused to concede defeat. Joe Purcell of Benton collected 326,531 votes in the lieutenant governor's race. Doug Brandon of Little Rock had 195,908 votes, while Kenneth Coffelt of Jacksonville had 33,565 of the total 556,004 votes cast in the race.

State Sen. Gene Rainwater of Greenwood and Bill Clinton of Fayetteville are in a June 11 runoff for the Democratic nomination for 3rd District congressman, Clinton managed 43.60 per cent of the vote, while Rainwater polled 26.39 per cent and David Stewart of Danville had 25.53 per cent. James Scanlon of Greenland had 4.48 per cent of the vote. Clinton had 59,697 votes, while Rainwater had 36,145. There were 136,922 votes cast in the race.

Bill Valentine of the state Republican party said Tuesday the GOP hoped to have its primary vote totals certified by Friday. Eight other Democratic runoff races will be decided June 11. Election Highlights By LEE GOULD Associated Press Writer California voters will choose between the liberal son of a past governor and a Princeton- educated former college government professor when they elect a governor in November. Democrat Edmund G. Brown the 36-year-old son and namesake of the man defeated by Ronald Reagan in 1966, and Republican Houston I.

Flournoy won party nominations in California's primary election Tuesday. Voters in the nation's most populous state also approved a tough and far-reaching political reform law. There were these other election day highlights: -Liberal, Republican Rep. Paul N. McCloskey of California, who has called for the impeachment of President Nixon, was locked in a tight primary fight with conservative Gordon Knapp.

--South Dakota Republicans nominated former prisoner of war Leo Thorsness to challenge Sen. George McGovern's bid for a third term. --James H. Meredith, who broke down racial barriers at the University of Mississippi a decade' ago, was a surprise leader in a five-way Democratic congressional primary in Mississippi. He faces a run-off election June 25.

--Congressmen seeking reelection in the eight states holding primaries Tuesday had little difficulty securing renomi- nation by their parties. Many faced no--or token--primary opposition. Flournoy, 44, now state controller and a former state legislator, won the GOP gubernatorial nomination in a landslide victory over Lt. Gov. Ed Reinecke.

Flournoy, who holds a Ph.D from Princeton, is considered a moderate Republican. Reinecke, once considered a favorite, suffered a blow April 3 when a Watergate grand Jury indicted him on a perjury charge in the ITT case. Brown, 36, was one of 18 Democrats, including San Francisco Mayor Joseph L. Altoto and State Assembly Speaker Bob Moretti, who sought the Democratic nomination. He had based his campaign on support for Proposition 9, a Watergate-inspired initiative that would reform campaign practices.

The proposition was approved. In South Dakota, Thorsness, 42, who spent six years in a North Vietnam prison camp and who holds the Medal of Honor, said he did not see the war as a major election issue. Thorsness, who had announced his intentions to seek McGovern's seat shortly after returning to the United States last year, said, "The war is ELECTION Page 8 ROUNDUP-- Junes to Speak A public meeting sponsored by the Big Lake Hunting and Fishing Club will be held tomorrow night at 8 in the Manila High School cafetorium, according to a spokesman for the club. Featured speaker at the gathering will be Andrew H. Hulsey, director of the Arkansas Game Fish cCommission.

The topic to be discussed concerns a drainage project planned by the U. S. Corps of Engineers involving Big Lake, the spokesman said. The project has drawn criticism both from members of the hunting and fishing club and the commission, the spokesman Base Notes 'Firsts' A father and daughter graduated at spring commencement exercises at Blytheville Air Force Base (BAFB) Resident Center. "We had several 'firsts' out here this spring," Dean J.

F. Chambers reported. Among them was the father-daughter graduating duo: Sm. Sgt. Glynn Sheffield, who received a bachelor's degree, and his daughter Wanda, who received an associate in arts (two- year) degree.

Other base education center firsts: The number of graduates exceeded 40 with 24 getting bachelor's and 17 AA's. One student--Robert Porter of Osceol a--graduated after earning every hour at BAFB. Most students there have credits they've earned elsewhere. Three graduates--Sheffield, Margaret Abbott and Harry Wilson of Blytheville--received AA and BA degrees simultaneously. One student--Mrs.

Helen Martin--received a "magna cum laude" citation with her BA degree. This was the eighth commencement exercise for the base center where several colleges sponsor work, mostly through night classes, which can result in degrees. The classes are open to civilians and the first term of summer school now is in progress. Swim Classes Forming Registration is in progress through Friday for free Red Cross swimming lessons to be held from June 10 to June 21 at Coalter's Clearpool in Walker Park, a Red Cross official said this morning. There is no maximum age limit for people interested in the program, however, children must have completed the first grade or have reached the age of seven.

Beginners' through senior life-saving skills will be taught. And cards showing completion of swimming skills will be given at each stage. Registration hours at the Red Cross Building at 224 N. Second will be from 9 a.m. until noon and from 1 p.m.

until 4:30 p.m. Cycle Workshop Set The first in a series of workshops on Bicycle Safety will be held Saturday beginning at 9 a. m. at the American Legion Arena, Sgt. Jerry Arnold of the Blytheville Police Department announced.

Arnold said the purpose of the workshops will be to inspect all bicycles for safety devices and to inform riders of traffic rules governing cyclists. He expressed the desire all children and adults will participate in the workshops "to make bike riding safer both for the rider and the auto driver." All bicycle owners are invited to attend the workshop and the bicycle rodeo which will follow, he stated. Arnold said he will be assisted by a member of the Arkansas State Police. (Sec related photo, Page 8.) iTape Study Left Questions Dangling By MIKE SHANAHAN Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) After seven months of work, a court- appointed panel of sound specialists has left undetermined who is responsible for an 1814- minute erasure in an important Write House tape, recording, "Questions of who made the buzz or when, or why, did not come within the scope of our investigation," the group said in releasing its inch-thick report Tuesday. Instead, the panel focused largely on the tape itself.

The report repeated the panel's earlier conclusion that the erasure was the result of manual operation of the record and stop buttons on the machine. That conclusion was by the White House and its own tape report. White House lawyer James D. St. Clair charged that the panel's report "creates the false impression that all portions of the erasure were done manually and deliberately." the tape, which included a conversation between the President and his former chief of staff H.R.

Haldeman on June 20, 1972, three days after, the Watergate break-in. The panel's seven major con- The White House-sponsored elusions, the same as those de- report says the gap could.have Uveredin a Jan. 15 preliminary up this resulted from mechanical mal function. Nonetheless, the White House-sponsored report prepared by the Stanford Research Institute said it was in "general agreement" with the court-appointed group. President Nixon's secretary, Rose Mary Woods has testified that she accidentally caused four to five minutes of the erasure by keeping the recorder on through the use of a foot pedal.

Miss Woods was transcribing report, were backed time with more than SO'pages of technical documentation. The six members selected jointly by the White House and the special Watergate prosecutor said they had considered several challenges to the original conclusions, but had not changed their minds. Miss Woods' attorney, Charles S. Rhyne, declared the six members of the court-appointed panel to be unqualified. Subversive List Gets Axed by Nixon WASHINGTON (AP) The government's list of subversive organizations, born of the post- World War II Red scare, has been killed as serving no useful purpose.

President Nixon issued an executive order Tuesday declaring that the list "is hereby abolished and shall not be used for any purpose." The action prevents government officials from routinely asking job applicants whether they have ever belonged to any of the 300 groups designated subversive. Though most government agencies gradually have dropped such questions, the Defense Department had continued to use the list in screening job applicants, said Kevin Maroney, head of the Justice Department's internal security section. Nixon's order does allow government officials to ask job ap- plicants whether they have ever belonged to the Communist party and to inquire in general terms about membership in "any foreign or domestic organization which unlawfully advocates" violence to overthrow the government or deprive others of their constitutional rights. Maroney said the new standard heightens the burden of proof for rejecting a job applicant as a potential security risk. But he noted that the order does little more than formalize standards laid down by the Supreme Court from 1951 on.

Ally. Gen. William B. Saxbe said Nixon's order allows government personnel security programs to continue with "adequate safeguards for the rights of all individuals." Saxbe said he recommended doing away with the list created by the Justice Depart- ment at President Harry S. Truman's order in 1947.

He said Truman was wrong to allow the department "to assemble the list without the considerations for due process But he said Truman had some justification for his action because of "a bewildering series of problems in the upheavals of the post-war period." Saxbe said the designated groups, ranging from the Com- munist party USA and the Ku Klux Klan to such obscure organizations as the National Blue Star Mothers of America, "were of substantial concern to the government before, during and after the war years." The Supreme Court in 1951 said no organization could be designated subversive without a hearing. It subsequently has held that applicants cannot be denied jobs solely because they once belonged to a so-called subversive group. Gunplay Brings Fine A 40-year-old Blytheville man charged with disturbing the peace and discharging firearms within the city limits in connection with Saturday night's shooting incident at a pool hall on West Ash pled guilty in Municipal court today and was fined $250 and court costs and given a 30-day suspended sentence, Detective Lt. Mike Richardson said this morning. Willie Jones who surrendered himself to police Monday morning was accused of entering the rear of the pool hall about 10 p.

m. and firing a shotgun three times, slightly wounding two men, Richardson said. ROUNDUP Page I Mild with Showers Considerable cloudiness and mild with showers and thunderstorms. A few locally heavy likely today and tonight decreasing Thursday. Highs today near 80.

Lows tonight near low 60s. Highs Tours. midSO's. Precipitation probability --60 per cent today and tonight, 30 per cent on Thurs. Earl, Wife Seized As IRA Hostages? By COLIN FROST Associated Press Writer (AP)-Police spokesmen speculated today that the kidnapers of an elderly Irish peer and his wife were holding them hostage for five members of the Irish Republican Army on hunger strikes in British jails.

Three gunmen seized the 71- year-old Earl of Donoughmore and his wife early today when they returned to their 600-acrc estate in County Tipperary after a visit to friends. The kidnapers bundled the couple into a car and drove off in the direction of Dublin, 120 mites lo the northeast. A senior police officer said Lord Donoughmore may have been wounded. A fresh bloodstain was found on the driveway, and the son of the earl's chauffeur said he heard a shot fired, The police launched a search and set up roadblocks for a 30- mile radius. Police speculated that the kidnapers were spurred by the death Monday night in a British member Michael Gaughan, who had been on a hunger strike since March 31 demanding that he be classified a political prisoner and transferred to a jail in Northern Ireland.

Gaughan was serving a seven-year term for bank robbery. Five other IRA members serving life terms in British Jail for bombings in London also are fasting to press the same demands Gaughan made. If the kidnaping of the Do noughmores was politically EARL Page 8.