The Oneonta Star from Oneonta, New York • Page 1

Storm extends State Government holiday to five days By CHARLES DUMAS Associated Press Writer ALBANY, N. Y. (AP) No stale government lor five days? Well, not really but that's the way it seemed on State Capitol Hill as the snow emergency stretched the Christmas Weekend into a prolonged holiday for state officials and em- ployes. Office lights in the Capitol and adjoining government edifices had blinked out late Wednesday afternoon as Christmas weekend began. GOT.

Rockefeller had declared Friday a non-working day io that state workers could enjoy a long weekend with their families. Then, as heavy snow. Inundated the Albany area, Rockefeller agreed to keep the state workers off Monday, as well, to minimize traffic problems during street-clearing operations in the city. Late Monday afternoon Rockefeller reported that he would keep the workers olf the job again on Tuesday, at the request of Mayor Erastus Corning, while snow-removal efforts Thus, the enforced holiday period will extend through six days. So the four-day weekend became a five-day hiatus for most of the approximately 17,000 people who work In state offices here.

The governor himself was in New York City. As usual, key personnel were expected to show up and did-people like building guards, maintenance men and a handful of the governor's own aides --those who weren't snowbound, that is. For the most part, however, the office lights stayed out, and the nerve center of the state government marked time for a fifth straight day, Among other things, there were: No important staff meetings to hammer out the critical policy decisions of the day. No news conferences to convey the message of these decisions to the wailing public. No press releases or other pronouncements from the gov- ernor's office, apart from matters involving the snow emergency.

One observer, noting that the state spends about $18 million a day, wondered whether the taxpayers had been spared $90 million or so by the five-day respite In activity. No such luck. Major spending, such as for state aid programs, is committed through the year. Buildings still must he heated and maintained and state employes must be paid for their time off since It wasn't their fault that they could not come to work. But, still, the situation stirred fanciful thoughts.

Surveying the tranquil scene at the Capitol, a reporter grinned and observed: "No state government for five days jand it looks like no one misses It." What's next Variable cloudiness today with high in 20s to low 30s, low upper teens and 20s. Precipitation probability 20 per cent. The Today's chuckle There Is a new doll on the market called the welfare doll. You wind It up and It doesn't work. VOL.

79 No. IfiO Oneonta, K.Y., 13820, Tuesday, December 30, 1969 Ten Cents 14 Pages U. S. weapons system billions over estimate WASHINGTON (AP) Major U.S. weapons systems are costing at least $20 billion more than original estimates--and no one man knows the total number of systems being acquired or their costs, Congress was told Monday.

One example cited was a new Navy deep-sea submarine rescue craft the estimated cost of which has jumped from $3 million to more than $77 million each. The estimate first was $36 million for 12 and Is now $463 million for six, the House-Senate economy subcommittee was told. The testimony by Congress' watchdog General Accounting Office launched three days of hearings that Sen. William Proxmire, subcommittee chairman, indicates will focus on Navy shipbuilding overruns and a $1.3 billion overrun Gunboats nearing Israel Tuss' may halt delivery ROME (AP) Five gunboats through the eastern Mediterranean toward Israel Monday night, but a spokesman for the company that bought them threatened to return the ships to France, if the "international Juss" over them goes on. "If it continues, we will return the boats to Cherbourg," Milda Brenner, director of the Israeli- owned Maritime Fruit Carriers Ltd.

told a reporter in Oslo. "I do not know who makes this fuss." As he spoke, the boats, which have won worldwide attention, neared the end of a clandestine Toyage that broke a French arms embargo. A well-informed naval source In Athens said the gunboats were steaming into the Sea of Crete and that they should reach Israel's port of Haifa on Tuesday. Maritime Fruit possesses a majority of the shares in the Panama-based Starboat A. S.

Oil Shipping Services which bought the five vessels from the Cherbourg shipyard where they were built. Brenner confirmed that the live vessels were heading for Israel and said they would be used as supply ships for oil drilling off Israel's coast. Asked why the company bought new gunboats instead of nonmilitary ships, Brenner said it is difficult to acquire vessels for this purpose because of the great demand for them. By sailing north of the island of Crete, the gunboats appeared to be keeping as far north as possible to avoid Egyptian planes. Crete is about 200 miles north of the hostile snores of Libya and Egypt.

An Italian trawler, the Anna Maria radioed that crewmen saw the gunboats off eastern Sicily early Monday escorted by "numerous other Israeli ships," including an oil tanker and what the captain thought were "the unmistakeable shapes" of two submarines. U.S. casualties drop after 9 years of war SAIGON (AP) The U.S. military machine marks nine years of fighting in Vietnam Wednesday, having reversed in the last year the trend of ever higher American casualties. Official sources feel that only a successful major Communist command i could change the pattern of declining American casualties and rising South Vietnamese losses as the Vietnamese take over more of the burden of defending their own country.

Adm. John S. McCain, commander-in-chief in the Pacific, told Vice President Spiro T. Agnew in Honolulu Saturday that he expected the North Vietnamese to launch a new offensive around Feb. 10.

Military spokesmen said the United States is closing out 1969 with roughly a 35 per cent decrease in American battlefield deaths over 1968. This is the first downward trend in nine years of American involvement in the Vietnam war, dating back to Jan. 1, 1961. The U.S. Command said that through Dec.

20, there had been 9,279 Americans killed in action this year. The toll is expected to rise by a few hundred when reports for the remaining days of the year are in and normal revisions are made. There were 14,592 Americans killed in action during 1968, the U.S. Command said. South Vietnamese battlefield deaths are on the rise as government forces grow to more than one million men under arms.

American troop strength has declined from a high of 543,009 to 475,000 with still 50,000 more men to be withdrawn by April 15. There have been 17,212 South Vietnamese troops killed this year. for the submarine-fired Poseidon missile. Proxmire announced that Atty. Gen.

John N. Mitchell has declined to testify Tuesday as scheduled on whether the Air Force intimidated the cost analyst who disclosed a $2 billion overrun in the C5A super cargo plane and has since lost his job. Mitchell declined to testify on grounds the Justice Department investigation into Proxmire's charge of intimidation against the Air Force cost analyst, A. E. Fitzgerald, has not been completed, the chairman said.

Asst. Comptroller General Robert F. Keller, the GAO's 2 man, told the subcommittee cost over-runs have jumped the estimated total cost for 38 major weapons systems to $62.9 billion, 49.8 per cent above initial planning estimates of $42. billion. Keller gave no estimate on how much of the over-run was attributable to "faulty planning, poor management, bad estimating or deliberate underestimating" which he said should be the subcommittee's main concern because much of the over-run is justifiable and in some cases desirable.

Allowing for contract changes to meet higher than originally expected production needs, he said, the over-run is $13 billion or 28.1 per cent above an original estimate of $49 billion. Extend deadline for license, registration ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) Because of the snow emergency, New York motorists will be allowed an extra 12 days to renew registrations and licenses that expire Wednesday, the state motor vehicle commissioner decided Monday. A spokesman for Commissioner Vincent L. Tofany said he had decided to extend the expiration deadline because the heavy snowfall had delayed the mails and had closed motor vehicle registration offices throughout the state.

The spokesman said motorists would have to maintain liability insurance on their vehicles during the additional 12-day period. Otherwise, registrations and licenses that would have expired at. midnight Dec. 31 will be valid to midnight Ian. 12.

ISSS3S3EG This Sdiortarle County farm eat off from and burled In drlfta, some 15 feet high, Monday after record-breaking snow full In Eastern New York. Air view Inkcn from Civil Air Patrol plane used to pinpoint stranded homes and travelers. Sec story on storm al right center of page. (AP wircpholo) and on through the night, snow clean-up tfent on in Oneonta (Staff photo by Blum) Storm rescue work begins By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS By the thousands Monday, rescue workers took to the skies and skimmed over mountainous snow drifts on snowmobiles in New York, searching for travelers and families stranded in cars and homes in the'aftermath of last week's record-breaking snow fall. As most of the state, from its central part east, wallowed in drifts that grew to more than 15 feet high, fuel, food and medicine ran out in hundreds of homes.

Snowmobiles hauled emergency supplies to dozens of homes as efforts continued to open roads. In rural areas of Central New York, the snow vehicles transported doctors and nurses to hospitals. Civil Air Patrol planes and helicopters undertook air to ground searches for distress signals--to pinpoint stranded homes and travelers needing emergency supplies. In Albany, Mayor Erastus Corning sharply restricted vehicular traffic into the city. He urged all vehicles to stay out, unless on emergency or other important business.

Policemen posted at all highway entrances asked motorists to stay out of the city. Food, fuel and medical related vehicles were permitted unrestricted access. A number of airports remained closed to all but emergency flights. The Albany County Air-. port allowed only CAP planes to take off on their search missions.

The CAP said it concentrated its efforts on neighboring Schoharie County, where some of the heaviest drifting was reported. Wind-whipped drifts isolated all or parts of. some rural communities. The Schoharie Countie Town of Carlisle, west of Albany, was completely cut off by drifts 10 to 15 feet high on all approach roads. At least six persons died since Friday in storm-related highway accidents and of heart attacks while shoveling snow.

In Syracuse, Louis F. DuBois, 72, was killed Monday when an icicle fell from the roof of his home and hit his head. Firemen in. Sherburne in northern Chenango County were kept by snow Saturday from reaching a barn fire and 15 head of stock perished. Snarled traffic on snow-clogged streets in several cities kept expectant mothers from reaching hospitals for delivery.

One baby was delivered by policemen in the Albany suburb of Delmar. Attendants delivered another when their ambulance was halted in Troy by a snowbound truck that blocked a street. Elsewhere, road conditions varied. All major roadi'- in sev- eral counties north of Albany were open, with no drifting snow. Albany and adjacent counties reported all roads covered with hard packed snow and ice, with hazardous drifting.

Snowmobiles proved the most versatile and almost indispensable means of travel. Throughout the state Monday they delivered food and medicine on mercy trips manned- by their volunteer owners. Horses and cows in one isolated areas were fed hay delivered by the snow vehicles. A teacher from Roctester, visiting in Albany, was pressed into service with her snowmobile. "I brought it with me on the off chance that I might have an opportunity to use it," Linda Camp, 23, said.

New England buried under 6 feet bet it's a crisis' Inside the Star GOOD MORNING! In the area: Three Cooperstown youths plead guilty to criminal mischief! in tiro rampage, await sentencing. Page 3. In the city: Fox Hospital properties zoned for commercial use by city's Zoning Board of Appeals. Page 5. In sports: Full report; on the holiday tournament activities will bo found on pages 10 and II.

Ann Landers omics Crossword Puzzle Deaths Farm Page 7 11 7 9 Horoscopo Sports Stock Listings Television Family Ncwa 7 10, 11 7 7 8 By M.W. M1NARCIN Associated Press Writer Cold, weary and down to its last two snowplows, North Adams, struggled Monday to dig out from one of its worst snowstorms in memory. In varying degrees, the same plight afflicted dozens of communities in the Northeast. "And now they're saying more snow may be on the way," snid North Adnms Mayor James F. Cloary.

"My God, I don't know what we're going to do with It We don't have any place to put It." The small northwest Massachusetts city wns buried under six feet of snow by the lime the storm tailed off to flurries Monday. New York and New England reported nt least 20 dentils from mito Occidents, heart attacks while snow shoveling and other onuses related to the storm that first hit the region last week. Wind whipped up drifts as high as ,10 feet In some areas of the Northeast Monday. Families were marooned in some communities ns well as in t'le countryside. Several ice-choKed New England rivers were at or near flood stage, but receding.

The new snow Cleary referred to could come from a storm gathering In the Midwest. "It's still too early to say how severely it's going to affect us," snld Oscar Tnnnenbaum, chief meteorologist nt the Boston Weather Bureau. "But If It follows the usual pattern, It could clobber us before midweek." North Adams had 20 Indies of snow on the ground when the holiday storm dumped on another 50. "Crisis?" said Clenry, "You bet it's a crisis. We're down to two plows--the rest have broken down.

Everybody's dead on Ilielr feet." The North Adams Fire PC- parlment rigged a toboggan to carry hose to locations fire trucks could not roach. In Vermont, where Gov. Deane C. Davis declared a state of emergency Sunday, National Guardsmen helped with plowing and rescue efforts. But it was frustrating.

"It seems like every time we get a. highway opened up It's tied up again with drift," said State Police dispatcher. "It's almost hopeless." "This equipment Is not able to cope with a storm of this size," said Public Work's Supt. Edward Crowley In Burlington, "We'vo had broken clutches and drive shafts and what's moro cnn't get spare parts." Dairy farmers In Vermont were especially hard hit. Some In the Newbury.arcn dumped their milk because tankers couldn't get In to pick It up.

Others noted ttwt because of power failures, they were having to do their milking by hand for thi first time In yonrs..