The Post-Standard from Syracuse, New York • Page 2

2 SYRACUSE POST STANDARD, December 31, 1974 HELP! HELP! Post Standard Public Service Need help? Write to Help! at The Post Standard, Clinton Square, Syracuse 13201. Your name, address and telephone number must be included in your letters. If you do not want your name used so indicate. Do not make telephone calls or office visits. Do not send records or documents, although photocopies are all right.

Q. Here is my problem: It's with Aldens. In April, I received a package from Aldens. Since it had my husband's name on it, I opened it, although I hadn't sent for anything. It was a pair of drapes and a bathroom set.

Inside, I found the order from a man in Wisconsin. I wrapped up the package and mailed it back to Aldens. I then wrote a letter and explained I hadn't sent for it and I was returning it. It cost $1.23 for postage. I was very stupid as I didn't get a receipt or copy the man's name.

I didn't think I'd need it. Well, ever since, they ignored my letter (3) I've written. They keep sending me a statement every month, adding on the $33 and some I owed interest. $49.42 plus finance charges before all this. I refuse to send any money until I get the corrrcted statement.

They just sent a letter, saying it's being investigated. Then, they do nothing. I went to the postmaster and he said I don't have to pay for anything I didn't order. In fact, I could have kept it, but I was honest and sent it back, paying for the postage. Aldens did send me the postage but I won't cash it 'til they make things right.

They just send these form letters. Mrs. R. Fulton. A.

We Wrote to Aldens. Ernestine Scott of customer correspondence mailed us a carbon copy of a letter she said she sent to you, stating, "Our customer relations department was unable reach you by telephone. "However, we are making an adjustment and crediting your account with $33.77. Finance charges also will be canceled on this amount from June. "You will receive a statement to this effect within the next two months." We then contacted you to confirm this.

And, you told us you were finally satisfied. HELP! Q. I have an 1889 U.S. Springfield military rifle. Ail the serial numbers are legible, and there is a government stamp that indicates that it was certified for use in 1891.

There also is a regiment number branded into the stock. Is there anyone I could write to either in the military or in government that could give me some information as to when the rifle was used originally, who had it originally, etc. I realize it will probably be extremely difficult to trace one piece of equipment among thousands that were in circulation, but I would appreciate any information or suggestions you may have. F.G., Elbridge. A.

In an effort to help you. we contacted a number of sources available to us. The best response we had was from the Office of the Chief of Information of the Department of the Army. U. Col.

Hugh G. Waite, chief of the news branch, wrote us, "It is. not clear as to exactly what type of information your reader is interested in, whether he is seeking information on the rifle itself, such as manufacturer, development, cost, or whether he is interested in the unit identified on the stock of the rifle. There are separate sources for information on either subject. "If your reader is interested in the rifle, he may write to the Information Office, U.S.

Army Armaments Command, Rock Island, 111. 71201. He should be specific as to what information he wishes. The National Archives is the repository for most historical military documents, including unit records. "Information regarding these records may be directed to the Old Military Branch, Military Archives Division, National Archives and Records Service, Washington, D.C.

20408." We forwarded this information to you, and you told us this was just the type of information for which you had been looking. HELP! Q. In July, we received a letter from Fingerhut Co. about an order they said was being delivered to us. But, we didn't order anything from them at that time.

AH the orders we ordered were received and paid in full. Now, all of a sudden, we are receiving notices of payments due. I have written to them about this and they pay no notice to my letters. The last we ordered from them was for shoes. I ordered them before Christmas, 1973, I did not receive them until March 30, and the bill was for $25.58.

I have not ordered from them since. But, I did pay for the shoes and they cashed the check as I have the canceled check paid in full. Mrs. F.W.M., Mattydale. A.

Help! wrote to Fingerhut. J.W. Beach, customer relations manager, wrote you a letter, mailing us a copy, stating, "In checking through your order, I see that the account was mishandled. "As you know, there was a significant delay in getting your order processed originally and, through a mixup in our computer, we inadvertently set up an extra account. "I am having this account canceled and I am having the account marked 'paid in We then contacted you and you told us that you were satisfied.

HELP! Q. On March 8, 1974, 1 sent an order to Burpee Seed Co. with my check for $10.30. This order was tor seeds and rhubarb roots. On April 10 1 received all of the seeds but a note that the rhubarb roots would be shipped at a later date.

A few weeks later I received two oi the four roots that I had ordered. Another note came with the Valentine roots stating the McDonald roots would be a little late in arriving. I have written to this company twice and have had no answer. I would rather have the rhubarb roots than the money, which was $3. But of course if the product cannot be had then I would like a refund.

A.B., Three Mile Bay. PL A. Customer service st Atlee told us a refund of $3 had been processed. "Due to an oversight on our part, we neglected to send the rhubarb. We would need to see the papers he holds to check it out completely.

Rhubarb is shipped in the spring only. We do not have it at this time of the year." BOODLE BAG MORE FOR ADULTS The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus has challenged an advertisement of Brown Shoe Co. which offered a boodle bag as a premium to children. Basis of the challenge was a television advertisement, featuring a premium offer called a boodle bag, which was directed to children who might reasonably expect that the item would be filled with cbild oriented premiums. The voice over stated, "Yon can get a free boodle bag with surprises inside." This accompanied a visual of a child opening the bag with a look of anticipation.

Actually, most of the bag's contents were adult oriented. The advertiser shared NAD's concern atwut the contents of the hoodie bag find has withdrawn both the offer and the advertising. Brezhnev Trip Off MOSCOW (AP) Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev's long heralded trip to the Middle East in January has been indefinitely postponed, Tass announced Monday. The main reason appeared to be that Brezhnev and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat could not see eye to eye on future moves toward a firm Middle East settlement.

Differences over terms for continued Soviet arms shipments to Egypt also were seen here and in Cairo as a major reason for calling off the visit, although none was given in the terse announcement by the official Soviet news agency. Tass said new dates for visits to Egypt Syria and Iraq would be agreed upon later. Later in the day Tass warned against any speculation regarding worsening Soviet Arab relations, which it insisted remained strong. The news agency did not single out Egypt. There had been Western reports after Brezhnev's trip to Paris earlier this month that he was ill and there was speculation that illness might be behind the postponed trip to the Middle East.

However, Brezhnev appeared well on his 68th birthday Dec. 19. The Israeli government had no immediate comment on the postponed visit. But a senior official in Jerusalem said "one positive element" of the postponement was that the American approach to a Middle East settlement "has a bit more time. But before we begin celebrating we would like to know more about the reason." Land Given To Indians By Brando AGOURA, Calif.

(AP) Amid Indian chants and the pounding of tom toms, actor Marlon Brando stood on a muddy, windswept hilltop Monday and handed over to Indian representatives the deed to 40 rolling acres he owned in the Santa Monica mountains. "I give you my deed and title to this land for your keeping and relinquish my claims forever," Brando said to Medicine Man Semu Huaurte of the 23 tribe Redwind association. "I also give you my sentiments and apologies for being 400 yesrs late." The document was then given to Hank Adams, of the Survival of American Indians Association, who Brando said once had been "shot in the stomach by a band of white vigilantes." Brando was late in arriving for the ceremonies. He and his party, which included a dozen Indians and Sen. John Tunney, had trouble finding the property, even though Brando has owned it for five years.

"It took the Indians to help me find it," the Oscar winning actor remarked. The property is situated next to a rural Los Angeles suburb named Liberty Canyon. Crane Falls in Downtown Miami A construction crane collapsed Monday in when they heard the sound of the crane, downtown Miami, on Flagler Street which was extended 25 stories, as it began and flattened five vehicles including a to buckle, so only one person was reported Postal Service mail truck. People in the injured. (AP Wirephoto) area started to run away from the spot II Veterans Dee Poliey Dividend Hike WASHINGTON (AP) Veterans of World Wars I and II will get higher GI insurance dividends in 1975 and Korean era veterans will receive dividends for the first time, the Veterans Administration announced Monday.

Almost 4V2 million veterans are affected. The payments will total $335.6 million, which is $31.8 million higher than last year and the eighth year in a row that the amount of the dividend has climbed. The 130,000 World War I veterans whose USGU policies bear the letter in front of their policy numbers will receive an average payment of $169, compared with in 1974 and $142 in 1973. The payments for these will total $22 million, VA Administrator Richard L. Roudebush said.

The 3.72 million World War II veterans whose NSLI policies bear the letter in front of their policy numbers will receive an average payment of $83, compared with $75 in 1974 and $72 in 1973. Payments for these will total $307.5 million, Roudebush said. Dividends will be paid for the first time to 566,000 Korean conflict Veterans Special Life Insurance (VSLI) policyholders. Their policies bear the prefixes "RS" and The Pa thc United in Dally Sunday Satisfact ion Guaranteed Replacement or Money Refunded The F. W.

Woolworth Co. has announced it will close its variety stores in Northern Lights, Shoppingtown and Baldwinsville on 12 31 74. Mr. W. C.

Pierce, Regional Vice President, said the company regrets closing the stores after so many years of service to the communities and the pleasant association it has had with riiGtorprr'i hrrr. Wnwfrrr. tho ments of efficiency and economic operation make the closing necessary. Woolworth" has no immediate plans to open a neu: store here, hut the eompany is eontinually investigating all areas for future expansion. Mr.

Pierre said personnel would he offered transfers to other Woolworth Mores. VA said they will get an average dividend of $11 and the payments will total $6.1 million. They were authorized by Congress last May. There are no dividends for Vietnam era veterans, since the only government sponsored policies for them expired shortly after they got out of service unless they converted the policies to regular civilian ones. Roudebush said the increased dividends for World War I and World War II veterans result chiefly from higher interest earnings on the funds.

The amount of the dividends vary for individuals, depending on the insurance plan, amount of the policy, age of the insured and the length of time the pol icy has been in force. Amounts may vary from slightly over a dollar to several hundred dollars, Roudebush said. In the past year the number of World War I veterans holding USGLI policies dropped from 138,000 to 130,000. The total for World War II NSLI policyholders dropped from 3.75 million to 3.72 million. The shrinkage of the World War I and World War II policies results from deaths, lapsed policies and cashed in policies.

The dividends are paid in cash unless the veteran asked the VA in advance to use the premiums for additional paid up insurance or to reduce debt on policy loans. Outlook for State (Concluded from Fage 1 is the real dark spot in the state economic picture. The city had "no upturn at all" from the 1969 recession and the employment decline "continues even now." Because industries in the state as a whole did not expand at the same rate as their national counterparts. New York had a loss of 99,000 jobs in "potential employment." The council said it forsees a decline in employment in the state in 1975 of between 2.2 and 3 per cent if there is "a more severe recession in New York State. Either figure, the council warned, "means a stringent year for New York families and businessmen, particularly in light of the New York state economy's failure to achieve much recovery from the preceding recession." The index of business activity in the state, the report said, is projected to fall from this year's 108 "at least to 107 and "more likely to 104 or even 101." "At the same time, prices are expected to continue rising rapidly, even in the face of re Toll of Quake Nears 5,000 PATTAN, Pakistan (AP) Grieving villagers carried the dead and injured shoulder high on wooden beds through the silent streets of Pattan on Monday as northern Pakistan dug out from an earthquake that officials estimated killed 4,700 persons and injured 15,000 in nine towns.

The casualty toll is expected to rise as runners make contact with regions farther north which have been cut off since the earthquake struck Saturday evening, then continued intermittently for the next 24 hours. The only way into the disaster area at present is by helicopter over the towering snow cappped peaks of the Karako ram Mountains. A full scale army operation based in Pattan is carrying out rescue work and mercy helicopter lifts of drugs, food, and clothing. The army says 500 people died in this village, 2,000 were injured and about 409 houses destroyed or badly damaged. Pattan is a picture of desolation.

Stone, mortar and wood houses lie collapsed in heaps of rubble. By day women and children pick their way through the ruins searching for loved ones and looking for a few meager possessions to salvage. At night, the majority of the village's 10,000 population sleep in the open as temperatures plunge to near zero "When the quake started at dusk I was saying my prayers with five other policemen in the police station mosque," said Constable Miana Zar, who suffered leg and chest injuries. Suddenly the whole building started shaking. The roof over the mosque collapsed.

Three of my colleagues were killed. Myself and two others survived to be rescued." Musha Koov, a farmer, said the quake struck just after he and two brothers went to cut wood in his yard. "Almost be cession," the report stated. Personal income in the state may rise "as little as 5.2 per cent in 1975, but might at the outside expand by as much as 10.2 per cent," according to the council. Inflation is likely to keep "money incomes," as differentiated from "real incomes," from falling, so an increase in state income tax and sales tax revenues is predicted.

While stopping short of forecasting a precise increase in state spending, the report forecasts an increase of 118,750 in welfare cases. fore I had time to turn around the whole house collapsed," he said. He and his brothers clawed at the wreckage but they were unable to save his mother and three nephews buried underneath. He said eight cousins in another part of the village also were killed. Sniper (Concluded from Pagel) a a unharmed, and brought him out handcuffed on a stretcher.

They said he was holed up in a student council room and had tied the door shut from inside. Police fired a shotgun blast through a window of the door, then shot tear gas inside the room before breaking in. Barbaro, they said, was lying on the floor wearing a tear gas mask. He was conscious and had not been injured, they said. Maj.

Anthony Bardossi of the State Police said they recovered three rifles and said more weapons may have been thrown out of the school windows. Youths who were acquainted with Barbaro described him as a quiet honor student who had won a scholarship and was on the school's rifle team. The shooting occurred in a quiet residential section of this southwestern New York city about 60 miles south of Buffalo. Mrs. Wright was shot while riding by the school in a car, and Pilon was gunned down on the street, both apparently after Metcaif had been shot inside the school.

Seven Olean firemen, responding to reports of a fire at the school, were wounded by gunfire and a youth riding with Mrs. Wright was hit by flying glass. One of the firemen, Herbert Elmore, was treated for a head wound then was rushed to Buffalo General Hospital in Buffalo for further treatment. Four others Albert Abdo, Joseph Snopkowski, Earl Weidt and George Williams were admitted in fair to good condition while another, William Fromme, was treated and released. Julius Wright, reportedly a brother to the slain Mrs.

Wright, was treated for an eye injury suffered when bullets hit the Wright auto. The shooting erupted in this city of 20,000 during a holiday period. Ian H.Y. STATE liOTTERT TICKETS WEGMAHS The N.Y. Lottery this week has a specially big jackpot $300,000.

Plus the usual $250,000 first prize. Plus prizes. And you have a chance at all of it for only 50C The drawing is Jan. 3. Happy New Year! The N.Y Weekly Lottery Still fVtscrf cr, vwWy sates S1.8WV Met proceeds.