The Star Press from Muncie, Indiana • Page 1

Edwards Denies All Charges of Extortion, Bail Bond Bribes media. He said other issues included the reDeal of the direct primary, the into. "This is the culmination of a long conversation where on one hand I think I am talking to someone looking for legal advice and on the other hand where I have an impression of someone trying to involve me with something illegal," Edwards testified. He described it as someone being kicked in the teeth so often he becomes suspicious. Edwards said the bail bond issue was just one of several with which he had been involved for which he has received unfavorable publicity in the He also highlighted eight bail bond bills before the 1979 Legislature and the outcome of each.

Edwards refuted prosecution arguments that a telephone conversation between himself and Cline on May 12 was evidence of his involvement in a conspiracy. He said his first impression was that Cline was calling him for legal advise because he had been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury. However, he said he realized during the long talk that Cline was involved in something which he didn't want to say and was trying to draw Edwards INDIANAPOLIS (UPI) Sen. Martin K. Edwards, R-New Castle, denied Thursday all charges he took bribes or extorted money to influr-nece bail bond legislation.

Edwards, former president pro tempore of the Indiana Senate, repeatedly responded "No, sir" to questions from his lawyer about whether Edwards was part of a conspiracy to extort money or take bribes in an attempt to look favorably on the legislation before the 1979 Indiana Legislature. Edwards was on the stand for five hours to testify on his own behalf in Edwards denied ever talking to Cline about money except for one occasion when Cline sought his advise on how much to charge a client for his services as a lobbyist during the 1979 legislativesession. He also testified the first time he met Kendall was last July 29 when they appeared before a U.S. magistrate for a hearing on the indictment. Edwards spent a large part of his time on the stand Thursday outlining his career, including his first election to the state senate in 1968, and detailing legislative operations and procedures.

the trial before Chief U.S. District Judge William Steckler for the Southern District of Indiana. The lawmaker also said he did not try to interfere with a federal investigation or to influence testimony before a grand jury. He also said he at no time ever was paid $8,000 from lobbyist John Cline or from president Francis B. Kendall of Capitol Business Systems.

Cline and Kendall were indicted as coconspirators in the plot, but charges against Cline were dropped in exchange for his testimony at the trial. Chrysler loan, legalizing bank holding companies, control of the alcoholic beverage industry and the ERA. Only other witness to testify Thursday was Thomas Babbitt, a former investigator for Morris Securities. He said he met July 3 with various principals in the case, including Cline, to discuss the investigation of whether Cline gave money to Edwards. Babbitt said Cline denied verbally and by shaking his head "no" that he ever gave money to Edwards.

The Muncie Star "Where the Spirit of the Lord Is, There Is Cor. 3:17 Poles Nix Threat of Intervention PHONE 747-5700 TWENTY-FIVE CENTS VOL. 104-NO. 247 MUNCIE, INDIANA, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1980 '1 71 I. I 1 1 5 ago accompanying party boss Stanis-law Kania) made this conviction strong." Klasa also attacked Western reports of possible Soviet intervention, saying they were aimed at splitting Socialist countries.

At the same time, the Polish media for the first time carried the Western reports in an apparent attempt to scare the nation into order. "We showed this to the people so that the people could learn the news not only from Radio Free Europe," Klasa said, but to show Poles "what the people in the West think" about Poland. Klasa also said the situation within Poland where strikes and worker demands challenged the communist rule was "not explosive" but he stressed the country had not yet "crossed the threshold out of both political and economic crisis." "I believe that nobody will indiscriminately ask for the defense of socialism by means of the Klasa said Polish officials had been in contact with the Soviets and East German leaders on economic and political issues but not military issues and he rejected any comparison to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. "In Czechoslovakia, the renewal process was turned into a counterrevolution and the process was led by centers who actually were against it. In Poland, the renewal process came from the workers," he said.

WARSAW, Poland (LTD A high-ranking Communist Party official Thursday said he was convinced the Soviets did not want to intervene in Poland but added it might become necessary to ask Moscow for help "to save the country from tragedy." "I believe that the Polish nation's leaders will do their best not to put the Soviet Union in that most difficult situation," said Jozef Klasa, a member of the party's central committee who is in charge of the media. But, he told a crowded news conference, if the state were threatened by unrest or open insurrection, "then Polish communists would have the duty to seek all means to save the country from tragedy by asking their close neighbors for help." In Washington, State Department spokesman John Trattner said "there is no indication that the Soviets have reached a decision to intervene in Poland." He also rejected a charge by the Soviet foreign ministry that the administration was inflaming the Polish situation. It took President Carter to task for saying there had been "an unprecedented Soviet military buildup" on Poland's borders. Klasa told the news conference "I am convinced that there is something that our friends do not want and that is to give us aid in the defense of power and socialism in Poland." "It is not a conviction of an intuitional character," Klasa said, "but my stay in Moscow (several weeks 1- i 4 Flash Fire Kills 26 Executives at N.Y. Hotel By RANDALL V.

BERLAGE United Press International HARRISON, N.Y. A flash fire broke out during an electronic equipment demonstration Thursday, killing 26 corporate executives at a new hotel-conference center, many of them trapped in blazing, smoke-filled meeting rooms. At least 24 others were treated at hospitals for injuries and nine were admitted in serious condi-. tion. Survivors escaped by smashing plate glass windows with tables and jumping from the second-story conference rooms to the ground 35 feet below.

Hotel guests still in their rooms fled through corridors and down stairways. Most of the those killed died of smoke inhalation. Others burned to death including five men found trapped in a closet and another five whose bodies were stacked up against a locked emergency exit door in a conference room. The fire broke out about 10:20 a.m. in a conference room at the four-story Stouffer's Inn of Westchester, 20 miles northeast of New York City, where Arrow Electronic Corp.

was demonstrating new electronic equipment. It was not known how many of the executives killed worked for Arrow, but some of the victims were believed to be members of the firm's board of directors. Executives of several other firms, including International Business Machine General Foods Corp. and Nestles also were meeting at the hotel when the fire broke out. Thomas Goodrum, assistant accounting manager for General Foods, said he and 10 colleagues escaped the choking smoke in the room where they were meeting by smashing a window with a conference table and leaping to the ground.

The exact cause of the fire would not be known for several days, said County Police Commissioner Thomas Delaney. sat I lw, JL I I 41 Mil I I 4 I ill High Alcohol Levels Found in Roberts Pair Scene of Tragedy A fireman can be seen through the businessmen. Beneath the fire fighter broken window of the conference room may be seen the dining room of the new, where a flash fire erupted Thursday, suburban hotel-conference center, killing a reported 26 people, all of them (UPI). Carter to Veto 'With Anti- Busing Rider from one individual to the next. State Fire Marshal William Goodwin said the fire clearly was set but there was no indication who set it.

"We've definitely determined from the burn patterns' that it was a set fire. We do not have the results from the laboratory back and probably will not for a week or so," he said. "We mav never be able to prove who set The charred remains of a man Mrs. Roberts maintained was her husband were found after a November 1970 fire in a garage next to a previous Roberts home, Mrs. Roberts fought for a decade to obtain the more than $1 million in life insurance her husband had taken out, but lost her court battles: Warming Trend Mostly cloudy today and tonight with a slight chance for showers.

Highs today in the high 40s. Lows tonight will" level at 40. Details on Page 12. BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (UPI) The burned bodies of Clarence and Geneva Roberts contained the highest alcohol levels he ever saw, the Brown County coroner said Thursday.

Police still had no comment on what touched off the weekend fire that destroyed Geneva Roberts' borrowed house and killed her and the man she had claimed died in a previous fire 10 years ago. Coroner Earl Bond said autopsies showed the alcohol content in Clarence Roberts' body was .2 of a percent, and .3 of a percent in Geneva Roberts' body. He said the alcohol content was determined by-examination of fluid in the eyes, and not blood alcohol levels. He called the alcohol levels "the highest I have ever seen." Bond said even for an alcoholic, a ,3 level would have meant Geneva Roberts was "pretty well impaired" when fire swept the house. He said the degree to which a given amount of alcohol impairs a person varies prohibition on the ability of the president and the attorney general to use the federal courts to ensure that our Constitution and laws are faith- fully executed." The president's letter was released a few hours after he held a private lunch at the White House with a group of black leaders who pressed him to veto the antibusing amendment.

Emerging from that session, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, president of Operation Push, contended that if the legislation was not vetoed it would encourage "extremist elements" in the incoming Reagan administration. plans in school desegregation cases. The anti-busing amendment is attached to a $9.1 billion appropriation bill providing funding for the Justice, State and Commerce Departments and to a House-passed resolution that would provide stopgap spending authority for the departments if the appropriation bill was not enacted because of a presidential veto. The amendment, Carter wrote in his letter, "would effectively allow the Congress to tell a president that there are certain constitutional remedies that he cannot ask the courts to apply." This, he said, "would impose an unprecedented By TERENCE SMITH i lstki Y.

Times News Service WASHINGTON Setting the stage for what could be his final clash with Congress, President Carter announced Thursday that he will veto any appropriations bill containing a controversial anti-busing rider already approved by the House and Senate. In a letter to the congressional leadership released by the White House Thursday afternoon, Carter denounced as a "dangerous" precedent an amendment that would block Justice Department attorneys from pursuing court-ordered busing New City Fire Station May Go to Airport and the cost of a new station would increase with the distance from that east-west road, the main boundary for the north city limits. Another problem is the location of a main railroad line that divides most of the airport property from other parts of northwest Muncie. Lucas said it must be determined how much the track is used and if serious delay would be caused in moving firefighting equipment across it. Another consideration under study is available funding and how the two government agencies would split the cost of such a station.

Lucas said use of federal monies is being studied, but he claimed it may be two-three years before such funding is available. "We would hope to have this station during this administration and as soon as possible. I don't (See FIRE on Page 8) Fire chief Carl Lucas said the airport is one of several sites being considered for the new station by city and fire department officials. Other recent studies included commercial and residential properties near McGalliard Road and Wheeling Avenue. Locating a new station along Riggin Road or Center Pike would cover existing city limits on the northside and also provide protection for other adjacent residential additions that could be annexed in the future, officials said.

The station could either be a new structure built somewhere on airport property or an existing building or facility near the terminal and hanger complex, officials added. Lucas said there are some problems with an airport location, depending on whether the station is constructed near the terminal area. The chief said most city utilities extend only to Riggin Road By RICK YENCER Star Staff Reporter City officials are investigating the possibility of locating a new northwest fire station at the Delaware County Airport. Municipal officials met with Delaware County Airport Authority board members and representatives earlier this week to discuss a possible agreement which would provide additional fire protection to the airport and surrounding commercial and residential areas in northwest Muncie. While no decisions were made, officials agreed to pursue funding alternatives and investigate needs associated with a new station.

Mayor Alan "Wilson said recently that operation of a new-station is expected to start next year. Airport authority officials also have been studying the need to increase fire protection for expanded airport. Indiana Legislature Area Reps in Key Assembly Slots Rep. Dave Hoover, R-Ridgeville, will be the ranking member of the agriculture committee. Democrats, too, will have a voice, according to Inside Today 1 Muncie Xorth ended a four-game losing streak with a 63-57 victory over Winchester Thursday.

Story and picture on Page 19. Dailey. Hurley Goodall of Muncie will be the ranking minority member of Espich's labor committee, and Craig Campbell of Anderson will be the ranking minority member of the rules committee. "These appointments weren't made because the representatives are from Central Indiana," said Dailey, "but, on the other hand, I did want to make sure that our local representatives didn't get left out." In addition to the committee on the environment, two other "E's" are represented among committees created by Dailey energy and ethics. He said the new committees will remain as select committees until Jan.

7 when the legislature reconvenes and can ratify his decision. Dailey also utilized subcommittees to existing committees, including a total of six subcommittees to Ways and Means. (See AREA on Page 8) STAK LEGISLATIVE REPORT INDIANAPOLIS House Speaker J. Roberts Dailey, R-Muncie, said area legislators will have a lot of responsibility for what happens in the coming session of the General Assembly. "We have representatives in a number of responsible positions," he said.

"I think this underscores the experience and performance our area legislators have shown in the past." Rep. Jeffrey K. Espich, R-Uniondale, will retain his position as chairman of the Labor Committee, and Rep. Tom Coleman, R-New Castle, will retain his chairmanship of the roads and transportation committee. Rep.

Ralph Duckwall, R-Van Buren, will be chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, 1 and Rep. Mac Love, R-Fairmount, will chair the committee on environmental affairs, a committee created by Dailey. Rep. Pat Kiely, R-Anderson, will be the chairman of school finance, a subcommittee of the Wavs and Means Committee. A Point of Law David Dennis, former 10th District congressman and attorney for Republican candidate Shirley A.

Wright seeking a recount of ballots cast in the Nov. 4 Randolph County clerk's race, refers to statutes governing a recount as John Cook, attorney for Democrat winner Carl O. Gettinger looks on. See story on Page 10. (Star Photo by John Crozier) On Record 22 Puzzle 35 Sirens Sports Talk of Tow 9 Television 25 Theaters 24-25 Week Ahead 15 Bridge 35 Classified 29-34 Comics 35 Deaths Editorials 6 Landers 9 Markets 22-23 Metro ......17.