The Oneonta Star from Oneonta, New York • Page 1

weather Cloudy and sbowen, high la We. low tonight in Ms aod Ms. The Oneonta Star The good Moralaf of Delawue couitiM VOL. 76 NO. 388 OMdftta, 13820 Wednesday, September 27, 20 Paxes CcaU Convention sweeps to final adjournment Wheeler urges action against Haiphong port WASHINGTON (AP) Gen.

Earle G. Wheeler described as a "peanuts" largcl the one North Vielnamesc port raided by American warplanes and he called for action against the no-'-forbidden harbor of Hai- phong. Wheeler, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reported a difference in judgment wilhin Ihe administration on this and said: "I have come down on tho side that we could undertake ac- lions against Ihe port of Hai- phong." His suggestions on the nature of those aclions were de- leled by Penlagon censors. His Aug. 16 leslimony before the Scnale preparedness subcommittee, made public Tuesday acknowledged that raids on the harbor could hil Communisl bloc shipping and pose the danger of a wider Vietnam war.

"On (deleted) Iwo occasions," he noled, "our air strikes on target areas near the harbor areas have accidentally damaged Soviet shipping." But he said militarily, action against Haiphong is one of the most important steps the United Stales could lake. "The other two ports, Cam Pha and Hon Gai, are peanuls, Wheeler leslified. "They are nothing of any great importance. Haiphong, is the impor- lanl port." On Sept. 11, nearly a month afler Senale appear GEN.

WHEELER ance, U.S. navy bombers struck Cam Pha, a port used primarily for the export of coal. Dealing with other aspects, Wheeler said the Vietnam war would end in a relatively short lime if the Communists could be denied support from the Soviet Union, estimaled at about million in military aid this year. "There is no question but that lacking support in the Soviet Union -that is, getting the means of war-that any sizable conflict would be impossible for the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong, there is just no question aboul it," Wheeler said. He said the same thing is true, to a lesser degree, of Red Chinese support, estimated at about 2J per cent of North Vietnam's supplies.

Wheeler reported the Joint Chiefs of Staff believed that 70 targets which had not been approved by the administration on Aug. 16 should be authorized for strikes. "I confidently anlicipale approval of other targets which up until Ihis time have not been authorized for attack," Wheeler was not clear whether this anticipated action not yet taken, or referred to the early September approval of at least six previously restricted targets. Wheeler said "an awareness that the air campaign is worth, while" had led to target clearances which stepped up the pressure on North Vietnam. Lt.

Gen. William W. Momyer, commander of the 7th Air Force, said he would like a reinforced larget list and more flexibility to hit Communist targets of opportunity. would say thai any method that you can use to expand the current target systems will contribute to a reduction of casual- lies in the south," said Momyer, who appeared with Wheeler. 'Single package' voting approved by delegates Reds carry siege through 26th day SAIGON (AP) Communist batteries in and north of the demilitarized zone, though reported outgunned 10 to 1, earned into the 26th day Tuesday their artillery siege of Con Thien, potential prelude to a Red mva- U.S.

Marine losses in this most sustained such enemy attack of the war had mounted to 63 dead and 987 wounded since Sept. i at Con thien and related oulposls overlooking enemy infiltration routes. In the air war north of tne border, North Vietnam's official news agency said U.S. planes struck again Tuesday in the Ha- noi and Haiphong areas. It declared five planes were shot down, three of them over the port of Haiphong.

There was no immediate comment from American aulhori- lies. More lhan 1,000 rounds of artillery, mortar and rocket fire fell Monday on Con Thien a sandbagged outpost on high ground Iwo miles.soulh of the DMZ. The Marines reported two men killed and 202 wounded. A spokesman said 50 of the wounded were flown out by helicopters for hospitalization and the others were treated and returned to duty. Divorcee liiurdefied in court CHARRED RUINS The nearly consumed remains of a boy's tree house in which Jeffrey Yerdon, 4, (inset upper right) met his death Tuesday afternoon are scattered about the wooded ne-u- the child's home.

(Star staff photo by Mozolewski) Cherry Valley boy killed by blaze in 'tree house' Syracuse police seek clues in teen murder SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) Police questioned a'dozen persons Tuesday in their investigation of Ihe death of a "very bright," 17-year-old girl whose partly nude body was found Monday in tall weeds near a parking lot. Rose Ann Spina of Syracuse had been reported missing by her mother Saturday morning. The girl reportedly was lo have spent Friday night at Ihe home of a friend, Linda Jacobs. Mrs.

Anthony Spina told reporters Tuesday that she had gone to bed Friday night at aboul 10:30 p.m. believing Rose Ann and Linda would go lo the Jacobs' home. Police said the girls were seen at 3 a.m. Saturday talking to four collegiate-looking boys outside a nightspot near the downtown section, however today's news National, international Floodwaters smash levees and dam on both sides of the Rio Grande, ruining hundreds of homes. Page 1.

A ape recorder catches the drama nf courtroom shooing thai left Iwo dead and one wounded after a squabble over alimony. Page 1. Our cominuiiirv Kour year old Cherry Valley toy dies in tree-house fire. 8 Two arcd men beaten, robbed by Iwo assailants. Page 3.

Supervisory school districts revised. Page 3. Slate University College, Onconla, sets record ,3,770 enrollment. Registration officials expect college census lo reach 5,500 by 1974. Page 5.

Sports Minnesota lakes full iramc lead in American League race ns Boston loses. Page 16. American flags will turn up in Mica Madium Thursday in hopes Ilicy will spur Kmilc Griffith. Page 1G. Comment and opinion Hail transport industry battles to make bolli ends meet.

An editorial. Page 4. Resnlck continues probe Into American Farm Bureau Fedcralion. Drew Pearson column. Page 4.

Ann Landers Sports 16. 17 Comics 1- Slock LislinRS 10 Crossword Puzzle 7 Television 7 Dcalhs Theaters 16, 17 Heioist Women's News 14 RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP)-A wild courtroom shooting spree, touched of by a divorce settlement, was captured Monday on a court reporter's tape recorder left running as the reporter fled in terror. Shouted threats and screams accompanied the shooting in which Mrs. Ray fiivins, 53, the divorcee, and her lawyer, William Brady, 39, a father of live, were killed, and Ihe presiding judge, Thomas Parker, 48, suffered a wound in the abdomen.

Ray Bivins, 63, husband of the dead woman, was being held without charge. Judge Parker had just finished reading settlement of divorce action requiring Bivins, the plaintiff, to pay about $3,000 alimony when Bivins shouled: "You've had your say, now I'm going lo have mine. I'm going lo kill every S.O.B. in this courtroom." Bivins pulled a revolver from his pockel and opened fire as he stepped up to Brady, shooting him in the chesl from a distance of about two feet. Judge 1 Parker picked up his leather-upholstered 1 swivel chair and hurled il over the bench at Bivins.

-Mrs. Bivins, who had run from the counsel table lo Ihe jury box, was struck in Ihe neck by a 'bullet and apparently died within seconds. Judge Parker moved in on Bivins and the two grappled, R. James Brennan, Bivins' lawyer who load dived under Ihe lable, came out and joined the judge. Brennan wrenched the gun from Bivins' hand and Bivins was down.

The judge kicked him in Ihc head and slunncd him. A complete recording of Hie melee was made because Mrs. Frances Geyerman, court Icr, left her recorder running as she fled courlroom in fright, ignoring Bivins' warning not to leave as he started firing. In all, seven persons were in the courlroom at the lime of Ihc sbooling. By MOZOLEWSKF Cooperctown Bureau Chief CHERRY VALLEY An adventure into the woods by two four year olds ended in disaster early Tuesday afternoon when flames consumed a "tree house" and took the life of Jeffrey Yerdon, four-year-old son of Mr.

and Mrs. George Yerdon of old Roule 20. The child's body was re- covci-ed from Ihe ruins of the five fay five structure by State Police from Oneonta and Richfield Springs. Otsego County Coroner James T. Hurley of Oneonta ruled the death accidental.

Jeffrey last was seen by his father in Ihe yard at his home. Suddenly Ihe father, who was ill and home Irom work, discovered that Jeffrey had disappeared. He began lo call Ihe boy, he told police, when suddenly Raging river unleashes more havoc on Texas HARLINGEN, Tex. (AP) The Rio Grande, breaking every manmade obstacle in its path, toppled a levee north of Harlingen late Tuesday night and a new surge of floodwaters bore down on the already ravaged city. Communications with Harlmg- cn, in the middle of flood-ravaged Rio Grande Valley, were all but impossible.

A military radio message from Harlingen bumped all conventional traffic off the air for an urgent message. "The floodway levee near Farm Road 506 has broken," the message said. The area to the cast and west of Harlingen and LcFeria was taking more water. The Rio Grande, on a record rampage with its crest still above Harlingen, toppled emergency dikes as last as they could be put up Tuesday. KGBT television.went off the air, its facilities wracked by the flood.

The Rio Grande was a great inland sea studded with floating houses, dead cattle and other debris from Hurricane Beulah. Sandbagging crews lost a battle lo keep the floodwalers, which were coming mainly from a Iloodway diversion area called Arroyo Colorado, out of Harlingen. Unhampered by their efforts, the floodwaters surged into the heart of this city of 41,000. The police station stood in eight feet of water at one time. City officials said at least 800 houses were flooded.

Thousands evacuated their homes. A Rio Grande levcc burst on (he Mexican side of the river at Rcyiwsa, putting one-third of Hie city under water. Jeffrey's playmate, Jones, also four, came screaming out of a wooded area near the house, crying that his friend was on fire. "It wasn't even five minutes after I missed Jeffrey," Yerdon said, "before I saw the fire." Yerdon and his wife, Shirley, rushed to the spot to find the tree house enveloped in flames But, at first they could find no trace of their son. Gregory Jones, although terrified, told police that he and Jeffrey "lit a candle or something." The tree house, elevaled between six and seven feet above the ground, was built by Jeffrey's older brother, George, 14, and an older brother of Greg-ry Jones! Mrs.

Yerdon said the two older boys used a day off from school Monday lo sheathe the tree house in new tar paper. Yerdon told police that yesterday's trip to the tree house was Jeffrey's first without his older brother. Cherry a Volunteer Fire Department, headed by First Assistant Chief William Shipway, went to the scene with equipment and aboul 20 firemen. The first fireman at the scene was Elmer Baldwin. Fire Chief Edward Wilson was out of town.

(See obiluary on Page 8) ALIiANY, N.Y. (AP) The Constitutional Convention adjourned Tuesday night. 69 minutes before its midnight deadline, after voting to submit tho rcvamncd Slate Constitution to the voters as a single question on the Nov. 7 election ballot. The final gavel fell in Ihc Assembly chamber of the Capitol at 10:51 p.m.

In a last political skirmish, Hie Uemocratie majority beat back a determined bid by Republican delegates for a separate vole next November on tho question of repealing the present Constitution's so-c a i Blaine Amendment, which bars stale aid to parochial schools. Democrats needed support from the three-member Liberal Party delegation to muster the voles needed lo pass their "single-package" resolution. The vole was 94-81. Republican and Demoera i delegates then shifted from a combative posture to rounds of friendly farewell speeches mark- in the close of the conslilulional remodeling effort they began last April, financed by a $10 mil- ion appropriation of state funds, remodeling effort they began last April, financed by a $10 million appropriation of stale funds. For the convention's Dcmo- cralic leadership, the slrug 1 over Ihe presentation issue was much too close for comfort.

The GOP minority, led by Sen. Earl W. Brydges, warned that Ihe entire product of the nearly six-monlh-long convention might be rejected unless the more-controversial proposals were presented lo the elec- lorale separately. But Convention Presid Anthony J. Travia, backed by his Democratic colleagues, Insisted on a single-package presentation.

He was banking on voter support for proposed repeal of the Blaine Amendment ban on parochial-school aid to help carry the -rest of the Constitution lo victory. Travia marshalled his Democratic forces at a closed confer- ence before Tuesday's final session and reportedly found himself temporarily short of the 94 votes needed to put his plan across. Travia aides said the reason was that some delegates-whom they would not identify-had headed home early. They were summoned back lo the Capilol for the last showdown with the IMP. Meanwhile, Gov.

Rockefeller, who also favored separate ballot listings, sent emissaries through the Capitol lo try lo rally support for Ihe COP viewpoint. The presentation issue was the last of many Democratic- Republican fights during Ins sometimes stormy conclave that opened last April 4 amid mutual promises of hi-parlisan cooper- alien. The Democrats' superior voting power invariably prevailed. The result is a Constitution divided into 15 articles--a substantial paring of the present 20-arlicle, word charier. Republicans, backed strongly by Rockefeller, argued thai the Blaine repealed and the welfare, judiciary and bond-borrow i plans should be presented separately to the voters.

Rockefeller said he was "greatly distressed" by the Democrats' decision to send the revised Constitution to the voters on a "take-it-or-leave-il" basis. Apart from this final hassle, Democratic and i a leaders of the convention congratulated each olhcr on achieving their initial goal--lo conclude the convention by midnight Sept. 26. Their objective all along wai to submit the new charter lo the volers in flTe'general electlort of Nov. 7.

This meant they had to finish by Sept. 26, since Ihc pros- ent Conslilution requires a six- week interval before Ihe balloting, lo allow time for the voters to familiarize Ihemselvcs wilh it. Tijuana death toll skyrockets to 34 TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) Pedro Mirelcs Malplca, attorney general of Baja California, said the dcalh toll from a mysterious mass poisoning climbed to 34 by late Police said 110 others were hospitalized. Malplca announced 16 persons died Monday and 18 more succumbed Tuesday. He reported (lie situation to Mexico's Ally.

Gen. Julio Sanchez Vargas In Mexico City, There was no confirmation of Malplca's figures from other sources. Mayor Lopez Gutierrez said Ihere were only 14 dead. "Tlicvc were aboul 60 new cases today," he said, declaring llicre were no new dcalhs. The dead were moslly children between the ages of three months and 11 years.

No breakdown according to age or sex was made public. The Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, In reporting Malplca's statement, said authorities withheld word of Ihc new dcalhs In fear of "a mass rush of evacuees to the border." The outbreak began Monday when hundreds of children in this border city bf 265,000 were hit by vomiting and nausea. Hospitals quickly jammed with suffering tots and a few adults. Authorities in Tijuana said lliat in every case the stomachs of victims were found to contain milk. All milk and milk products were recalled from retail stores.

House votes to expand control of air pollution Ronmcy's Lid due nexl month DETROIT (AP) Michigan George Romncy will visit Kurone in November and plans lo announce his candidacy for Ihc 1968 Republican presidential nomination before leaving, The A Press has learned. A source close to Romnpy said the governor will declare formally his candidacy after he returns from a lour of urban centers in Ihc nalion this weekend, possibly soon alter. WASHINGTON (AP)-Scnatc passed legislation lo expand the federal government's authority to act against air pollution, especially in emergency situations, won bipartisan approval Tuesday from the House Com- 'mcrcc Committee. With only one dissent and that reportedly on procedural rather than substantive grounds '--the committee sent, on for action by the House, expected in about' two weeks, Ihc three- year, measure. Most of the provisions are similar In the Senate measure, but the House group cut out additional research funds added by the Senate Public Works Committee which would have swelled the three-year cost of the mcflsuic lo $700 million.

Thr iinlhorizalinns in Ihn House bill. which follow administration recommendations, include an extra $33 million on lop of $68 million already, authorized for this year. $H5 million for fiscal and $184.3 million for fiscal 1970. Like Ihc Senate measure, the bill rejects President Johnson's proposal for national emission standards of pollutants but authorizes a two-year study of llic health benefits, economic impact and costs of such regulations. Both bills would authorize Ihe secretary of welfare lo go lo court immediately if he finds Hint a particular sourer of pollution presents an "imminenl and substantial cndangerniml lo the hcnllli of persons." Federal courts would be empowered enjoin Ihc alleged pollulion by stopping emission of contaminants or by whatever other action is necessary.

Today's chiuckle Time is a great healer, hul a poor beautician. Where it Impjwmd Tracvy Slit-Hoy, his face halleml, siis on (side of his shuck on the West Davenport, iioail Tuesday afternoon and lolls how he and Frank Jlogan wero a and robbed earlier in the day. Sec story, 3. (Star staff, photo by Flerion)..