Valley Morning Star from Harlingen, Texas • Page 1

Opportunity rarely knocks until you are ready. And few people have ever been really ready without receding opportunity's qoll." Chonmng Polloch alley orning Your Freedom Newspaper 65th Year -No. 268 Copyright 1977 Freedom Newspapers Harlingen, Texas, Friday, April 22,1977 28 Pages NEWS DIGEST ATLANTA association representing the Coca-Cola Co and some 150 other industrial users of saccharin said Thursday it would seek a temporary suspension of a proposed ban on saccharin pending new tests David Dunning, spokesman for the Calorie Control Council said 80 years of safe use of saccharin ought to be enough. He said his organization is convinced that tests being conducted now will vindicate saccharin as a safe sweetener. The Federal Food and Drug Administration announced last month a proposed ban on the use of saccharin on the grounds it could cause cancer.

WASHINGTON (UPI) Only about 4 per cent of Vietnam era draft dodgers, deserters and others eligible to apply for President discharge upgrade program made inquiries during its first two weeks, according to Defense Department figures. The figures show that since Carter announced the program April 5, a total of 16,972 persons have called toll-free numbers at a liaison office in St. Louis set up to handle inquiries. An additional 240 military deserters who never received discharges have also inquired, a spokesman said. WASHINGTON been called everything from inconvenient to unnatural to unholy, but here it comes again; daylight saving time.

So, if you won't to be to work an hour late Monday, set your clocks ahead an hour before you go to bed Sunday night Daylight saving time officially begins at 2 a Sunday. Department of Transportation, which administers the law governing the matter, suggests you set your timepieces before you go to bed Saturday night. WASHINGTON Senate Judiciary Committee approved President nomination of Leonel J. Castillo, Houston city controller, to be immigration and naturalization commissioner. The committee gave the approval Thursday by voice vote.

It will now go before the full Senate for confirmation. AUSTIN Senate voted unanimously Thursday to approve construction of a $50 million prison hospital in Galveston The medical facility will serve inmates of prison system and will be operated by the University of Texas Medical School. Sen William T. Moore, D-Bryan, said the building is going to be needed and prisons officials are under court order to furnish convicts hospital care, the facility will also be used as a teaching hospital. WASHINGTON UPI and union leaders angrily denounced the Postal Service Thursday for considering reduction of mail deliveries from six to five days a week without getting authority from Congress or the White House.

Charles H. Wilson, chairman of a House post office subcommittee has offered legislation to block the move. He said the precipitous action could well lead to the destruction of the Postal Service as the people have known it. FORT WORTH League of Women Voters of Texas endorsed legislation Thursday consolidating county elections offices, contending it would give voters more confidence in the elections system. The organization said the proposal would allow county commissioners to maintain the tax assessor collector as registrar and the county clerk conducting elections; to transfer all the duties to the county clerk, or to create a new office to oversee registration and conduct of elections Betty Anderson, president of the league, said passage of the bill would make possible, for the first time, a single office of elections in any county in the state A USTIN (AP Senate passed and sent to the House a bill Thursday that would raise maximum unemployment benefits from $63 to $84 a week and would provide automatic increases in the future keyed to average wage increases.

Also approved by the senate, and sent to the governor, was a bill levying a $1 charge on every criminal conviction with the money to be used for administration of the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education. The measure would bring the state $1.9 million the first year, and local authorities $100,000. TORONTO therapist with the Aid Society here says free hairdos for mothers who beat their children has reduced their aggressive tendencies. The therapist, who said she did not wish to be identified, said five women child beaters given the treatment had improved since the program began last September. child-abusing parents are themselves victims of a lack of love and she said.

Teacher Pay Rate Might Be Highest AUSTIN, Tex. (AP) Teach- work load to their staff for the ers may get higher pay raises weekend. The staff must dissect than other state employes, the five Senate bills on public school chairman of the Senate Educa- financing, tion Committee said Thursday. Approximately $820 million is want it to be com- available for schools, according to Mauzy. A teacher pay raise is Sen.

Oscar Mauzy, D- Dallas, said But it could be higher, he said in answer to a question, depending on how much money is available. Mauzy and the education subcommittee assigned a heavy CRAfTITr expected to fall between $250 million and $320 million. The House Public Education Committee has approved salary increases totaling $263 million over the next two vears. House members finally passed and sent to the Senate this week a comprehensive school finance bill excluding teacher pay raises costing $695 million over the coming two years. The staff is to report back on the financial impact of adding two years to teacher longevity increases that now stop at 10 years.

It also must determine the impact of: to replace student fees knocked out by an attorney opinion, including driver education and purchase of band uniforms by $10 or $20 or $30 the current maintenance and operation allotment from $105 per pupil per year. Social Security Hike Takes Effect In July Living Cost Increase WASHINGTON (AP) The nearly 35.5 million Americans who receive Social Security or Supplemental Security Income will get a 5.9 per cent increase ii benefits starting July 1. The size ot the automatic increase, announced Thursday by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, reflects the rise in the cost of living during the 12 months that ended March 31. Larger checks will be going to 33.4 million Social Security recipients and 4.3 million aged and disabled recipients of federal Supplemental Security Income payments. About 2.5 million persons receive checks under both programs.

This means the average Social Security monthly benefit for an elderly couple, both of whom are ot Social Security, will go from $377 to $400 The average retired worker living alone will get a $13 increase, raising the monthly benefit to $234. The maximum benefit for a working woman retiring at age 65 this year will go from $422.40 to $447.40, and the maximum benefit for a working man retiring this year at the same age will gofrom $412.70 to $437.10. The minimum benefit for either worker increases from $107.90 to $114.30. Federal payments for an elderly or disabled individual receiving Supplemental Security Income will rise to a maximum of $177.80, a $10 increase. The maximum SSI payment for a couple will go from $251.80 to $266.70, Most states supplement the federal SSI payments, and their contributions must remain at generally the same level and may not be reduced because of the increased federal payment.

The increase will cost the financially troubled Social Security trust funds $5 3 billion during the year that aids Sept. 30,1978. This means the trust funds will pay out about $92 billion in the next fiscal year. Senate Ignores Carter City Officials Hear Astronaut Describe Plans By JIM RAMSAY Edward G. Gibson (PhD), a National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronaut, described the manned space program Thursday night during the quarterly meeting of the Lower Rio Grande Valley City Officials Association, Region 12 Texas Municipal League.

The meeting was held in the Harlingen Tourist Center. Gibson was introduced by Harlingen Mayor Bob Youker, who said the astronaut will go to Germany Monday to help 10 European countries put together a space program The astronaut said to really understand the nation's manned space program, one had to go back 15 years He said it began with Project Mercury, which at first posed the question as to whether man could survive in space. He told the city officials the next phase of the manned space program. Project Gemini, was similar in nature to Project Mercury, and Project Apollo (which put man on the moon) was prompted by international conditions. the Russians, we went from international competition to international Gibson said He was a crew member of Skylab 4.

which was Texas House Approves Plan For Executions launched Nov 16,1973, and concluded Feb 8,1974 This was the longest manned flight (84 days, 1 hour and 15 minutes) in the history of manned space exploration todate. Gibson was accompanied on the record-setting 34 5 million mile flight by Gerald Carr, commander, and William Pogue, pilot They successfully completed 56 experiments, 26 science demonstrations, 15 subsystem detailed objectives and 13 student investigations during their 1,214 revolutions of the earth. They also acquired a wide variety of earth resources observations data using earth resources experiment package camera and sensor array. Gibson was the crewman primarily responsible for the 338 hours of Apollo Telescope Mount operation which made extensive observations of solar processes. A movie was shown mi the Skylab 4 operation.

Describing the distance traveled while he was aboard, Gibson laughed and said, only traveled three light minutes, or the distance light travels in three minutes." Light travels 186,275 miles per second. The movie depicited various experiments performed during the Skylab 4 operation, and gave WASHINGTON (UPI)-The Senate Thursday ignored President request to cut business tax cuts from a pending tax bill then voted to increase the incentives by $800 million over the next two years. Business would gain $4 1 billion during the remainder of fiscal 1977 and 1978 as a result of an amendment by Sen. Floyd Haskell, to double the credit for hiring new employes over what was already in the bil. motion passed 48 to 41 shortly after the Senate voted 74 to 20 against a motion by Sens.

Dale Bumpers, and Edward Kennedy, to accede to request to delete the business tax cuts just as it had agreed to kill the $50 per person individual tax rebate two days earlier. A second Haskell amendment, to limit to $100,000 the maximum credit any company could receive, passed 58 to 29. The business provisions would let businesses choose between an extra 2 per cent investment tax credit or tax credits of up to $2,100 each for every new employe hired above last employment levels. Prior to amendment, the maximum credit was $1,050. Rather than the $000 million cut in fiscal 1977 and the $2 4 billion cut in 1978 under the original bill, the legislation now would yield $1.1 billion in the remainder of 1977 and 93 billion in 1978.

AUSTIN, Tex (AP) Condemned killers would die by the needle under a bill passed Thursday by the Texas House in a rusn of activity that also saw approval of a property tax bill. Senators also acted on several pieces of major business before the two chambers quit for the weekend, including an unemployment compensation bill designed to save employers $600 million a year. House members passed, 90-37, with 16 present but not voting, a bill changing Texas method of execution from the electric chair to injection with a lethal substance. It now goes to the Senate. will give some people an easy out for sentencing someone to objected black Rep Ron Wilson, D-Houston But Rep.

Bob Close, R-Perryton, said injection was "a better, more dignified, humane way of putting people to than the electric chair. An 88-58 vote passed to the Senate Rep. Wayne bill setting up countywide offices to appraise property for taxation by cities and special districts, which now do their own appraising. Counties would retain their own appraisal offices unless they chose to join the new appraisal districts. Three state agencies would be created to certify appraisers, hear appeals and make sure each district evaluates property the same way, based on current values.

Rep. John Wilson, D-La Grange, failed 112-31 with an amendment he said he thought up in the bathroom before coming to work. proposal would have required ad valaorem taxation of an estimated $75 billion in corporate stock, just as bank stock is now taxed Peveto is not serious about property tax reform His bill doesn do anything about intangible property in the State of said Wilson, an opponent of the measure only corporation they had in La Grange that they could have taxed and raised some money on, the governor closed said Peveto, referring to the late bordello. Senators passed and sent to the House a bill bringing unemployment compensation act into line with new federal legislation. Failure to enact it would cost Texas employers $600 million a year in penalties.

Clearing Skies Predicted About 1.22 inches of rain mandated Harlingen early Thursday afternoon and Brownsville radar indicated possibility of a tornado about two mites 9outh of town about 2:15 p.m., however there were no sightings of a twister in the area reported. Clearing skies are in the forecast today with high peratures in the low to mid- 'die 80s. the viewer an insight into a zero gravity environment, where food floated around the spacecraft, and crew members performed acrobatics without the inhibit ing effects of gravity Following the Skylab4 portion of the movie, viewers were shown a preview of the space shuttle, or orbiter as it is now called Gibson said there will be a flight of the orbiter in about a month as it is attached to a Boeing 47 anplane which will be a systems check The next phase will take place at 30,000 feet, when the orbiter will be flown, the systems tested and a landing performed on a runway, as distinct from the splashdowns of earlier space vehicles. Still later, there will be orbital flights of the orbiter. will select approximately 30 people who will be chosen in about a year for the orbiter Gibson said will be he added.

The speaker said the zero gravity environment of space will enhance technology in medical and other fields Gibson said energy needs on earth can be met by space technology He told the city officials funding has not been forthcoming for working to solve energy needs through the application of space know, how. He said solar collectors can be installed, which would beam the rays to earth space energy program would be on the magnitude of Project he said, would beam energy down instead of bringing down For the future, Gibson envisioned space stations which would provide living accommodations for people working above the earth, and still later, space colonization will travel through the solar system, and eventually, he said. Asked about the effects space travel has had on his religious beliefs, Gibson said he was speaking for himself, and told the audience it has made him more appreciative of things the earth and the people who could think of a project such as Skylab and other things and he has wondered how much of the universe is alive and how much is dead. think of the vastness of the universe and how many stars there are and how many of the planets around these stars might have conditions conducive to continued Gibson. He said there is some military application of space which has already been used, because rockets can be seen from a spacecraft as they are launched by different countries.

Gibson said a space station can be destroyed by a rocket from another country. forecasting has benefited from the space program, he said, we have learned something of the air flow in hurricanes, and forecasting has improved Gibson said the orbiter will be a workhorse in space by 1983-84, with approximately one flight per week. "It will be more like an he added. will have approximately 46 flights per year, instead of one or two, as was the case when we used previous space vehicles. The meeting was still in session at the press time.

Any action taken by the city officials will be reported in issue. GUEST quarterly meeting of the Lower Rio Grande Valley City Officials Association, Region XII was held Thursday evening in the Tourist Center in Harlingen with guest speaker Edward G. Gibson, NASA Astronaut Bob Youker, left. Mayor of Harlingen, and Gibson listen as JuaNita Brodecky, Mayor of Rio Hondo goes over the evening schedules. (Star Photo) Starr Drug Sweep Manhunt Continues BROWNSVILLE With 46 suspected drug traffickers in custody, the largest narcotics crackdown in the history of Starr County continued Thursday as 50 federal and state narcotics officers searched for 16 remaining defendants lusted in sealed federal indictments At the federal courthouse here, Marshals were busy arranging transportation of persons arrested from the Hidalgo County jail in Edinburg to county jail here Jail officials here said that 19 federal prisoners from Hudalgo had been booked Wednesday and they expected 15 more.

Assistant U. Attorney John Smith said that his telephone had been off the hook all day with calls from attorneys who to get in on some of these legal fees Smith estimated that legal services for the large number of defendants would total $500,000 to $750,000, and said lawyers from were scram- bl i ng to get some of the business. The huge operaUon was launched at dawn Wednesday after a federal grand jury here handed down 16 sealed indictments listing 62 defendants in Starr County, San Antonio, Galveston, California, Georgia and Tennessee According to a press release issued by the McAllen office of the Drug Enforcement Administration, 22 of the persons arrested Wednesday listed as Class 1, or major violators. Federal authorities explained that Class 1 violators are those capable of transporting a kilo (2,2 pounds i of heroin or 500 pounds erf marijuana a week The release said that Wed roundup was the latest phase of a four-month investigation on (code named The DEA said that the operation had netted a total of 94 arrests of narcotics traffickers and included seizures of 35 tons of marijuana, three kilos of heroin, one kilo of cocaine and 6,500 doses of dangerous drugs Federal prosecutor Smith and Special Agent in Charge of McAllen office. Don Smith, estimated that each of the major smuggling rings that is aimed at capable of supplying multi-ton quantities of marijuana and large amounts of heroin on short notice." Attorney Smith said that the international smuggling rings operating in Starr County are responsible for crossing at least 20 tons of marijuana and 10 kilos of heroin into the United States every two weeks.

Although 46 suspected traffickers have been arrested, only the following have been arraigned, all before U.S Magistrate Cruz Tijerina in McAllen Jaime G. Longoria, 28, Mission, possession of four ounces of cocaine, $50,000 bond Bitalito Villarreal Jr, 36, Premont, 2,779 pounds marijuana, $500,000 Eugenio Flores 27, Rio Grande City, 2,253 pounds of marijuana, $200,000. Martin Casas, Rio Grande City, 575 pounds of marijuana, $500,000 Julio Pena 30, Roma, 2,253 pounds of marijuana. $200,000 Roland Bowyer, McAllen, 575 pounds 40. of of of Cuba Plan Studied WASHINGTON (AP) The Carter administration is considering the assignment of American diplomats in Cuba for the first time since the 1961 break in relations between the two nations At the same time, sources here said Thursday that U.S.- Cuban maritime talks will be resumed shortly in Havana with Terence Todman, the assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs, heading the U.S.

delegation. These developments suggest acceleration toward the restoration of relations with Cuba after a break of more than 16 years. However, one official here said, premature to expect that we would have someone down there next Todman would be the highest- ranked American diplomat to go to Cuba since the United States broke with the Castro regime Delegates from the two estranged countries held face-to- face talks last month on settling maritime boundaries. Both the United States and Cuba have a 200-mile fishing zone but are only 90 miles apart. Hodding Carter, the State Department spokesman, said no time or place has been set for the next round of talks He told reporters it was "logical" that Todman would head the U.S.

delegation since he presided at the first round At present, Switzerland represents Americans in Cuba and Czechoslovakia looks after Cubans here In the diplomatic lexicon, that is called third-country representation. marijuana, $500,000 Juan de Dios Garza, Garciaville, 3,390 pounds marijuana. $500,000 Coma Trevino, 34, Rio Grande City, 800 pounds of marijuana. $200 000 Celestino Cavazos Quintero, 37, San Juan, 214 pounds of marijuana, $200,000 Onof re Guerra Jr 19. Fronton.

314 pounds of marijuana, $150,000 Ove Olivarez, 34, Rio Grande City, 709 pounds of marijuana, $500,000 Adan Moreno, 39, Premont, 409 pounds ot marijuana, $150,000 Enrique Cano, 41, McAllen, 2.1 grams of heroin and 53.8 grams of cocaine, $50,000 Armando Mirales, 20, Rio Grande City, 2,253 pounds of marijuana. $500,000 Lazaro Garza III, 29, Gar- seno, 847 pounds of marijuana, $250.000 Jose Noel Cruz, 25, Rio Grande City. 2.253 pounds ot marijuana, $200,000 Tomas Alberto Ramos. 22. Roma.

2,253 pounds of marijuana, $200,000 Attorney Smith said that most of the high bonds had been placed on what he termed suspected to insure that the defendants do flee the country office was jammed Thursday with attorneys who requested that the high bonds be reduced so their clients could be released from jail. At one point in a heated exchange between Smith and an angry lawyer, the federal prosecutor said, is a reasonable bond your client is a major trafficker, has two prior narcotic convictions, and 1 think he will take off to At a press conference, Agent Smith said that the narcotics roundup would hurt drug traf fickers in the Valley and said, "this will show the people of Starr County that nobody can break the law and not get arrested I Index ITEM PAGE Bridge Crossword 4 Food, Hospital Records Horoscope Jumbles Puzzle Life Begins At Fortv Sports Will.