The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 1

Circulation: Tuesday, March 30, 1982 MF 106 pages Copyright 1982, Los Angeles TimesDaily 25t Sentimental Favorites Honored Men JJ 'Chariots of Fire' Gets Award for Best Picture 9 Henry Fonda with his wife, Shirlee, By TED THACKREY Times Staff Writer Henry Fonda, Katharine Hepburn and "Chariots of Fire" won top awards Monday night at the 54th Annual Academy Awards ceremonies in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center. Oscars for best performances in supporting roles went to Maureen Staplelon and Sir John Gielgud, and Warren Beatty won a statuette as director of "Reds." Selection of "Chariots of Fire," the highly personal tale of young runners representing Great Britain in the 1924 Olympic Games came as a surprise the film had been considered a dark horse, running against such better-known efforts as "Reds," "On Golden Pond" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark." But there was little surprise at the victories of Hepburn and Fonda; both had been heavy sentimental favorites. Given Special Award Fonda, 76, who accepted a special statuette for his life achievement at last year's awards ceremonies, had never before won an Oscar as a performer. Hepburn, 72, already had won three Oscars. Monday night's victory made her the first performer in history to hold four statuettes for acting.

They were honored for their performances as the crochety husband and father and the tenderly supportive wife in "On Golden Pond." Neither was able to accept the awards in person. Friends said Hepburn was detained in the East where she is appearing in a Broadway play; Fonda, who has been ailing in recent months, was watching on television from his Bel -Air home, according to daughter Jane Fonda, who accepted the statuette for him. Burst Into Tears "My father," she said, "is so happy me and all the grandchildren are coming over with it (the Oscar statuette) right away!" At the Fonda home, the actor's wife, Shirlee, said her husband burst into tears when his victory was announced. "He's so emotional," she said. Gielgud, too, was unable to attend the ceremonies in which he was honored for his evocation of the snobbish, but secretly warm-centered butler, deadpanning one-liners in "Arthur." But Staplcton was onstage to accept the Oscar for her portrayal of turn-of-the-ccntury anarchist Emma Goldman in "Reds." "I'm thrilled, happy and sober," she said, and went on to thank, "everyone I ever met in my entire life." Please see OSCARS, Page 3 Singapore Cowpokes It's Country and Eastern, Old Buddy By BOB SECTER, Times Staff Writer SINGAPORE-By day, Philip Tay is a mild-mannered Chinese businessman.

But at night he snaps on his pearl-buttoned shirt, hitches up his denims, pulls on his fancy boots and becomes a Singapore cowboy. The popular country-and-West-ern trend in the United States has become a country-and-Eastern craze here at this crossroads of the Orient. As many as a dozen bars in Singapore swing to the sounds of country music performed by Chinese, Indian and Eurasian "good ol' boys," most of whom have never set foot in the United States, let alone Nashville. The lack of exposure does not faze guitar picker Don Thaver, who was born and raised here. "Shoot, there's only two kinds of music," he declared with authority, "country and Western." Bury Me Not.

Thaver grew up listening to the music of Chet Atkins and Buck Owens, and he feels just about as comfortable in Levis and saddle boots as a Texas Ranger. Surprisingly, he is not alone. A local hit called "Singapore Cowboy" laments the cruel trick of geography that stuck this postage stamp-size nation 12,000 miles from the center of country music: ivas born a half -world away jrom Nashville, Tennessee, Where all year long the summer breezes blow And while my sons were flying kites and planting bonsai trees, I got high on country radio. The inspiration for all this comes from the burgeoning oil business Please see SINGAPORE, Page 7 U.S Embassy in Tehran Guarded by Lone Sentry By J. MICHAEL KENNEDY, Times Stall Writer TEHRAN Only a single sentry, wearing rumpled olive-drab fatigues, stood guard inside the black steel gate of the U.S.

Embassy here Monday. Behind him loomed the embassy and its compound, deserted except for a few parked cars and two young men practicing their soccer footwork. Fourteen months after the release of the American hostages, the screaming, chanting crowds of Iranian militants outside the embassy are just a memory. The embassy, a focus of world attention for the 444 days of the hostage crisis, is now a desolate place. Please sec IRAN, Page 5 GEORGE ROSE Los Angeles Times after he received Oscar from daughter Jane at his Bel-Air home.

Katharine Hepburn, winner of the Oscar for best actress. 2 Twisters Rip Trees, Roofs; Cut Off Power By JACK JONES and LEONARD GREENWOOD, Times Staff Writers Two small tornadoes struck parts of the San Gabriel Valley late Monday, uprooting trees, damaging roofs and knocking out power to about 4,000 customers. No injuries were reported, but damage was estimated by authorities at more than $1 million. Some of the worst damage occurred in the vicinity of Mission Drive and San Gabriel Boulevard, where one twister cut through a car wash, ripping down metal signs, tearing at the roof and machinery and hurling debris across the road. Several signs were found wrapped like dishcloths around metal posts more than 100 yards away from their original location.

A dozen trees were uprooted along Gladys Street between Grand Avenue and Mission Boulevard in San Gabriel. Eileen Clapkin, who lives in the neighborhood said she knew exactly what the noise was when it started. "It sounded like a twister," she said. "There was a crash. And then, bang! And then bang again 1 was so frightened I got up and ran into my little closet.

I've seen twisters before and I didn't want to get hit by flying glass. "It seemed to go on for a long time and then suddenly it stopped and everything was still. I'm still shaking Please see TWISTERS, Page 3 Salvador Parties Begin Coalition Discussions By JUAN M. VASQUEZ, Times Staff Writer Shuttle Aloft for Extra Day, May Land in Florida By GEORGE ALEXANDER. Times Science Writer WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M.-Like mariners trying to reach a safe harbor ahead of a storm, astronauts Jack R.

Lous-ma and C. Gordon Fullerton will try to land their space shuttle Columbia on White Sands' gypsum runway today, but high winds could force them to divert the landing to Cape Canaveral, Fla. The landing, originally scheduled for Monday, was postponed a day by strong winds, gusting to 55 m.p.h., that whipped up a blinding dust-storm and swept sand onto the X-shaped runway here. Space agency officials called off the landing about 35 minutes before the Columbia, making its third flight, was to have dropped from orbit and headed for Earth. Mission Control decided that, even if the winds here had been less robust than they were, visibility was too poor to risk a landing.

First Prolonged Mission It was the first time in 20 years of manned space flight that a mission has been prolonged beyond its original schedule. Other spacecraft have splashed down at sea and so could simply be diverted to calmer waters if faced with bad weather. The mission's directors said late Monday that Northrup Strip, the hard -sand runway at White Sands, remains the prime site for the astronauts to end their 3-million-mile spaceflight, with the concrete runway at Cape Canaveral Please see SHUTTLE, Page 10 I i SAN SALVADOR-The delicate task of forming a political coalition began Monday after it became apparent that no party had captured a majority of the votes in Sunday's national election for a constituent assembly. "The next step is the smoke-filled room," said Jeremiah O'Leary, a spokesman for the official team of U.S. election observers.

With an estimated 30 of the vote counted, the centrist Christian Democrats remained in front with a plurality of 40.5. By the most optimistic forecast, however, this will translate into control of no more than 25 of the 60 seats in the new constituent assembly, which will name a provisional president and set up machinery for a new government for this embattled country. Despite the slow vote count, none of the contending parties nor any of the foreign poll-watchers have made any charges of election fraud. There has been no comment from the leftist Radio Vencercmos. The second-strongest force to emerge in the voting was the right-wing National Republican Alliance (Arena) of former army Maj.

Roberto D'Aubuisson. His party had 29.2 of the ballots. veyed the crowd. "It's bad," he said. "Good God, it's never been worse." It was largely to reduce those long unemployment lines that The East Los Angeles Community Union (TELACU) was founded 14 years ago.

In the last three years alone, TELACU has received more than $20 million in government funds to combat unemployment and provide a wide range of social services for the needy. Today, TELACU is a $50-mil I ion corporate conglomerate and one of the five largest anti-poverty agencies in the nation. Despite invest-Please see TELACU, Page 3 Representatives of Arena and the four other conservative parties that contested the election met privately late in the morning but apparently failed to reach an agreement. A spokesman said it was too early to speak of a coalition. No left-wing parties took part in the election.

Please seeEL SALVADOR, Page 9 President Tells of Housing Aid By WILLIAM J. EATON, Times Staff Writer WASHINGTON-President Reagan, declaring that the American dream of home ownership has turned into a nightmare, Monday announced a program of emergency aid for the depressed housing industry. Reagan said his program, described as "modest" by the White House, will provide short-term relief to some home buyers. Permanent improvement, he warned, depends on lowering interest rates and federal budget deficits. However, the President gave no public hint of compromise on the key areas of defense spending and the 1983 tax cut, despite renewed demands by congressional leaders for such concessions to a budget deadlock.

Privately, however, Reagan ap-Please see HOME, Page 12 THE WEATHER National Weather Service forecast: Partly cloudy and continued cool through Wednesday with a chance of showers today and increasing Wednesday. Highs both days in lower G0s; overnight lows in upper 40s. High Monday, 58; low. 44. High March 29 last year, f5: low, 55.

Record high March 29, 99 in 1879; record low, 41 in 1880. Complete weather details and smog forecast in Part IV, Page 18. Giant Anti-Poverty Agency Did Little to Create Jobs By CLAIRE SPIEGEL and ROBERT WELKOS, Times Staff Writers It was 7:30 a.m. and the employment office in the East Los Angeles barrio was not yet open, but a long line of job seekers had already formed outside. Rudy Villescas, 44, was there because he had been laid off from a job Last in a Series.

cleaning jail cells. Theresa Flores was looking for work to support her nine children. And there were many, many others. Inside the office, which counsels about 1.0XX) people a day, joh placement supervisor Frank Molina sur INDEX AslroliiKV Ml IRO i llook Kolcw VI i ll 6 Bridge VI VIIM' 8 Classified VII CI.ASSIIIII) 1-14 Comics VI VII 7 Crossword VII I.ASSII II I) 14 Dear Abhy MITRO 3 Mllorlals MITRO 4, I llms II CM.I.NDAR 1-9 IxKal News Ml IRO 1.6 Markets IV Ht'SINISS 1-20 Sports III SIVRIS Ml) things to lo )Hi IV-Radlo II (V1VV7MK 10, II Weather. Deaths IV IK (lAt'NT AliHi'lr Timr- Rescued Sidney Ellen Jones, 12, rests at San Gabriel Community Hospital after being rescued from a wash that carried nor six miles downstream.

With her is her mother, Rosali. (Story, Page 3.).