Pensacola News Journal from Pensacola, Florida • 18

tllxPfwwraUHMri-JiHirral Sunday, June 26,1977 -1 -Zi From 1 A Power Urban I ate smorgasbord package of raxes or face the possibility of losing hard-won When the "smorgasbord" appeared to be in danger because the cigarette tax had been defeated, Brown went to work turning around votes. When the second vote was taken, 19 House members who voted against the tax the first time changed their votes and the bill passed. It was a last hurrah for this year's urban coalition. as indicative of the inability of any coaltion to stick together in the long run. Members of the coalition were free to support any source of revenue they desired, according to Kutun.

In the end, that may have been the coalition's fatal flaw. After the House rejected the half-cent sales tax, Brown and his coalition stalwarts were forced to settle for the Sen Couple's Slayer RUSSELLVILLE, Ala. (AP) A Russellville man has died in a hospital af-ter shooting his former wife and her husband, setting fire to their bodies and turning a gun on himself. Authorities said the man, Jimmy Harmon, died in a Florence hospital a few hours after the Friday night incident. Officers quoted witnesses as saying The coalition couldnl celebrate total victory.

It started out seeking more money for education than it eventually got. But a funny thing happened on the way to the compromise. In what turned out to be the final week of the final special session, Askew inter vened in the stalemate between the House and the Senate. He proposed a compromise based on the Senate's tax package, plus a one-cent per bottle soda pop tax. The Senate seemed poised to accept the compromise.

House Speaker Donald Tucker, D-Tallahassee, and Speaker Pro Tem John Ryals, D-Brandon, were ready to buy It. Even Kutun was on board. But it was "no sell" with the coalition. They rejected Kutun's advice and turned thumbs down on the deal behind the leadership of Rep. Hyatt Brown, D-Daytona Beach, the Speaker-Elect for 1979-80.

The coalition, it appeared, was out of control. In a surprising display of power, the coalition handed Tucker a stinging 88-28 defeat on the soda pop tax, after Tucker had asked it be increased to four cents on the bottle. 4 But just a few hours later, in an equally awesome display of confusion, the coalition butchered the rest of the tax package and eventually defeated a half-cent sales tax that Brown wanted to use to force House-Senate negotiations on budget funding. It was a reversal that Senate President Lew Brantley, D-Jacksonville, pointed to i I LET US PRICE AND FtLl YOUR NEXT PRESCRIPTION OR REFILL! PEOPLE TRUST ECKERCPS FOR QUALITY PffESCWPTlON OVERSIZED SPARE One of the world's heaviest loaders. It weighs 12,500 pounds and costs about $50,000, tires dwarfs this automobile with its 11-and-one-half The loader it rolls under can lift 36 tons of dirt in a foot diameter.

The tire, developed by the Goodyear Co. single scoop. As for changing flats, forget the tire irons. of Arkron, Ohio, is for a new generation of giant It takes another machine to do it. SERVICE a ww, DePREE BEACH STAYFREE Mllil Drought Tour i meet with them tonight when we return from Gainesville.

"The governor is preparing to issue a disaster call," he assured the farmers who could face financial ruin without some relief in the form of tow-interest loans to help them meet their obligations. Stone, a member of the Senate Agricul-; hire Committee, passed the buck to the senior senator by reminding the farmers that disaster-relief legislation doesn't do one bit of good unless its funded by Congress. "And Lawton is on the Senate Appropri-- ations Committee," said Stone. Stone views the farmers' current plight, which has resulted from freakish weather conditions since early this year and below-; normal rainfall since February, as a short- term problem. "I also see a long-term problem," he said.

"Florida is rich In water resources, but the water Is often at the wrong place at the wrong time," he said. "Do you mean tow-interest loans for Irrigation equipment?" asked Gloice Ard, whose crop dusting operation depends entirely on farming for survival. Yes, the senator did mean trying to push low-interst irrigation loans through Congress with the agricultural legislative package as well as low-interest operational loans which would not reflect on farmers' balance sheets if they should want to i borrow high-interest money for a new combine or tractor from commercial banks or lending agencies. Under the farm-loan system, farmers can't get cheap money If they are eligible to borrow on the open market. I Dies of Wounds Harmon entered the convenience store operated by his former wife and her husband, Mr.

and Mrs. James Hubert Nesbitt, shot the Nesbitts and poured gasoline on them from two plastic bottles. Police said the witnesses told officers that Harmon emerged from the store after starting the fire, told them to leave, then shot himself in the head with a pistol. low prices! ELSIE SQUARES ICE CREAM GAL LAVS POTATO CHIPS OLDDIZ CHARCOAL Fast 2M00 CHARCOAL FOR I 11-INCH TABLE TOP GRILL Detachable legs. J-position heal bracket Model No 3 MEN'S OR LADIES' GRECIAN -FORMULA fl BAND-AID BRAND SHEER OR PLASTIC BANDAGES 4-ounce sae.

-Bij Pkg ol Medium: 3u sneer or plastic etnpsit jia, 67! CLAIROL SHORT 'N SASSY ECKERO'S ALCOHOl 18-ounce tor normal, dry or oily 23 limn 88' GERITOL MILK $-r Scented or Unecented TABLETS Packsfle a) 40 tablets i 99 cream Limit 1 KlINYflN'S MIRACLE EARTH POTTING SOIL 4-Qurt size for all planting 4b Won't burn. odorleM, aierile. ICOOLRAV SUNGLASSES Anorted frames and styles to ctMoae from jot men and ladntt 59 OFF, jciipsf mil rxDDiz wnntu i WW f- PoniNOii I Cnil JB, I mm u- Uncommon Marriage AP Laserphoto From I A and soybeans which they planted in the plowed cotton fields. That doesn't counting the devasting losses in corn, which has been hurt the worst. Okaloosa County's 20,000 acres of corn have been estimated at an 80 per cent loss in yield, totaling $2.5 million.

Adding $3.5 million in pastureland losses, almost $1.5 million lost in hay, $600,000 in soybeans and slight peanut losses, the county is out more than $8 million. The story is about the same in Santa Rosa where in an average year, 22,000 -acres of corn bring $4.4 million. Escambia County's 17,000 acres of com, worth about $6.6 million in an average year, has suffered 75 per cent damage. "Representing an average year, our com last year brought $100,000. This year we might get $20,000 for it.

That leaves us $80,000 short," said John Creel of Allentown. "We're not asking for a handout. We're just asking for a way to prorate our losses out over three or four years," he said. Creel and the other farmers have invested about $125 per acre in their corn crops and, according to Lewie F. Smith of Jay, "Lots of the banks are going to have to put them down." "What happens to cattle?" asked Ruth Godwin of Davisville.

"You can let beans die and replant but you can't do that with cattle." The North Escambia County pastures aren't any different from Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties' grassland. People now are feeding the stock the hay they normally reserve for October, according to Fred Schneider, who was among approximately 100 farmers From 1A He said the charge "sticks to a person like the murkiest river slime," Higginbotham told the panel Sode never believed she had done anything wrong or she would have quietly taken a discharge without going through the agony of a hearing. Higginbotham contended that Sode and von Hoffburg's marriage was "in no way a homosexual relationship." The issue of trassexualism is not covered by Army regulations. Higginbotham reaffirmed. "It's a phenomenon the Army has not even addressed," he said.

Capt. Philip Glasser, the Army's attorney, indicated after the proceeding that the Army may formulate a service-wide policy on transsexuality. The board's recommendation to discharge Sode was by a majority vote. The recommendation that she be given an honorable discharge was unanimous. The worst she could have received was a "general" discharge.

The fragile Sode, in a tight-fitting uniform and wearing her hair in a bun, sat through the entire proceeding beside von Hoffburg, who wore a tie and sport coat. They spent the time listening to testimony, doodling and, on occasion, quietly holding hands. During recesses, the couple spoke freely of their love for one another and the problems it has brought them. Sode said she was justified in fighting the Army's attempts to oust her because, she believed, "If they investigated further, they could have seen they didn't have grounds for a discharge." She complained that it was not simply a "straight homosexual case." "I would have liked to have been retained to fulfill my committment. My performance has never been a problem and it is not an issue," Sode said.

Ven Hoffburg was unhappy about the entire proceeding. "I didn't marry her to hurt her and yet, sometimes I feel like I've been used as a club to hit her over the head. "It's been very difficult. Marie and 1 are private people who like our anonymity and now we've lost it," von Hoffburg said. Von Hoffburg and Sode agreed that if Sode was discharged, they would look for a place to live in the South.

"We've got offers of places to go from good friends and family," von Hoffburg said. "I've got to get a job, and I know I'd never get one here. "We've gotten some interesting mail from people who think we must be heathens and want to save our souls," von Hoffburg said. "I don't need It because I've been saved for years." I If 'I I GLO LOTION Oft OH. e-aunc totem or Oil for untn -protection.

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Use them 1 1 for jour houjotioW I 1 R'i viillACwiillK AV DISCOUNTED i-k meeting the senators' helicopters in Baker at Bob McLendon's flying service. There the senators learned more about the antiquated com allotments which were parcelled out years ago under the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service. Since that time the government has been encouraging farmers to plant more grain yet disaster relief is predicated on the number of acres in a grain allotment. The antiquated policy puts the young farmers, who have no allotments; farmers who lease land, and farmers who overplant their allotments: up the proverbial creek without a paddle and that's just about everybody. "The disaster declaration wont solve our problems," said Rep.

Don Fuqua, who joined Stone and Chiles at Marianna. "Our disaster procedures have become a disaster and we're trying to update and rearrange the program," he said. North Florida farmers hope the senators and congressman can do it in time. Earth Movers Explode Mine Closes BIRMINGHAM, Ala, (AP) Fuel tanks on a pair of two-day-old giant earth movers were ignited early Saturday, causing more than $1 million in damage and shutting down a strip mining operation, authorities said. Jefferson County deputies said the resulting fire was reported when nearby res-identssmelled smoke and burning rubber.

A series of explosions, officers said, apparently was huge rubber tires bursting on the burning equipment. Sgt. H. H. Brooks said when deputies arrived at the Mineral Springs Mining Co.

"they found the equipment engulfed In flames and the night watchman was missing. He said it later was found that the watchman had become ill and gone home, Brooks said officers found that rags had been stuffed into the fuel tanks of the equipment and set afire. Three tires went flat on the first patrol car to arrive. Brooks said nail-studded boards had been buried in the mine site's entrance road. He said most of the mine's heavy equipment, parked in one area, was de stroyed or heavily damaged.

The two earth movers were valued at $260,000 each and two lost drills were priced at $250,000 apiece. Brooks said. He said area residents thought the explosions were strip-mine blasting. Private Sector Investing Urged In New York i -j NEW YORK (AP) The Temporary Commission on City Finances concluded Its 18-month study Saturday by saying that New York City must do much more to promote private investment, which the commission called "the key to the city's future. The commission said New York City cannot count on either a major recovery by the private economic sector or substantial fiscal relief from the state or federal governments bi the next few years.

And since stabilization of municipal finances ultimately depends on economic development, the commission said, New York City must fundamentally reform its public policies and managerial practices to Invigorate, rather than private Divestment. "Private Investments will ensue only If rent, taxes, labor, cost or living and the costs of doing business here" are favorable, the commission said itt 398- That's just one problem farmers face while they try to outwit nature, compete in an international market and keep up with fast-changing technology. "We've gotten the Small Business Administration to call a drought a physical disaster," said Stone, reporting the progress he and Chiles have made with federal agencies on the farmers' behalf. Traditionally, too much water from floods, hurricane damage and tornadoes have been considered disasters. "What about grants?" asked 71-year-old N.

B. McBride of Bymville. "A grant like they send overseas or give to airlines and railroads? Some of us who lease farming land can't put up the land to secure loans." "It's easier to legislate a disaster loan," Stone answered. "We can give foreign aid to countries and let the President cancel it." Getting agriculture bills through the Senate Is no monumental task for the Florida senators, Stone added. "All states have some farming of some kind," he said.

Getting agricultural legislation through the House is a horse of a different color. "Lots of congressional districts have farming at all," Stone said. While McBride said he would like an out-. and-out grant, Preston Solomon of Walnut Hill didn't like the idea. "Farming's a challenge," said Solomon.

He suggested that any government grants be given to others because good farmers can make it on their own with a little help over the rough spots in the form of loans and easier credit. By now some farmers have lost two crops cotton, which they plowed under, Hoffburg described the marriage in old-fashioned terms: "I view it like any man who loves his wife." Sode reiterated that view when she said, "He's my husband and I'm his wife." Sode expressed her displeasure with the Army's reaction to her marriage, a case that may result in a service-wide policy on transexuality. "They say our being married is a sign of homosexual tendencies, but I don't see it as Sode said. "They don't have any policies or regulations to cover a relationship like ours." An expert defense witness, Dr. Paul Walker, director of the Gender Indentlty Clinic at the University of Texas at Galveston, interviewed Sode and von Hoffburg before giving his testimony.

Walker testified von Hoffburg has always wanted to be a man. Walker said von Hoffburg likes heterosexual women and is repulsed by lesbians. Walker described the sexual aspect of the marriage as "cognitive heterosexuality." Calling the charge of "homosexual tendencies" too vague, Walker said Sode is a heterosexual woman, not a homosexual, who feels von Hoffburg is a man. Walker said the psychological factors outweighed the biological factors in the case. But an expert witness for the Army, Col.

Mahlon Freeman of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, disagreed. Freeman testified that the biological factors are more Important, as far as the Army is concerned, than the psychological factors. The board of Army officers agreed with Freeman and with Army regulations that define the sex of a person In the biological sense and "therefore makes no provisions for a husband-wife relationship between biological females." The board's decision is row subject to military review." Col. George Powers, brigade commander, will study the board's recommendation and may take more than a week to decide if he will let the decision stand. Sode, who Is forbidden any appeal under Army rules, Indicated she may seek a federal injunction on constitutional grounds against the Army's actions.

Sode did not fault Hlggmbotham's defense. "I got as solid a defense as possible," she said. Higginbotham contended in his final argue ment that the charge was "so hazy and murky that not even the most scrupulously innocent service member could be sure he could beat controversial case the post's weekly newspaper, which came out on the final day of the hearing. But there were plenty of comments from the two involved after the board rendered its decision. "They've destroyed a very good soldier," von Hoffburg said.

Sode was more adamant on that point. "I feel it was an adequate cop-out. They can say our marriage is a nullity, but we know it's not," she said. "Aside from all that, I'm glad to be getting out of the Army. I'm relieved its over." Von Hoflburg, who remained at Sode's side throughout the entire hearing, contended he was on trial for being a male transsexual a man trapped in a woman's body.

Von Hoffburg said he hopes to be able to afford a genital sex change operation soon. Despite a brilliant defense formulated by Capt. Robert Higginbotham, Sode lost out in her bid to complete a four-year enlistment, which would terminated at the end of this year. Three-and-one-half years ago today, Sode entered basic training and made friends with another WAC, Linda Bowers. Bowers received a voluntary discharge in December 1975 and began undergoing a series of hormone treatments aimed at turning her into a man.

The treatments gave Bowers male characteristics, she legally changed her name to Kristian von Hoffburg and began dressing like a man. Von Hoffburg was so successful in the "sexual reassignment" that an Alabama probate judge was fooled into marrying von Hoffburg and Sode last November. The couple apparently lived happily secret until von Hoffburg decided lo apply for Army dependant status and base privi-' leges as Sode's husband. Von Hoffburg probably would have 1 fooled the Army too. But a clerk recognised von Hoffburg as former WAC Linda Bowers, who had served at Fort Rucker before being discharged.

That's when Sode's troubles began, i Sode's unit commander, Capt. Charles D. Goldman, had always considered Sode an above-average soldier until he heard of her marriage to von Hoffburg. Goldman Initiated the Army's action against Sode when he recognized a negative and disruptive attitude among his soldiers toward Sode's marriage. Sode was subsequently charged with having "homosexual tendencies," which "seriously impairs the discipline, good order, morale and security of a military unit," according to Army regulations.

During a recess in Hit hearing, von -I A. L3JXiL3J MJ ITTTTTTTTTT-' page final report..