Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • 1

I 97th YEAR, NO. S3 SC SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 970 35 SUNDAY, $3.23 A MONTH rrr i -v Nixon Advised 4 i i To Draft II Volunteer Army Urged By 1971 i WASHINGTON (LTD A presidential task force recom-mended Saturday that the draft be abandoned in mid-1971 and replaced by an all-volunteer armed force at traded to service by higher pay and improved conditions. The added first-year cost: $3.) billion. A standby draft system would be maintained for use in a national emergency, to be activated by Congress at the Presidents request so that a chief executive could not embroil the Nation in military actions with a minimum of public debate and popular support. V- A wrenches homes from The relentless landslide in Wilshire Heights TrrtMl that, to i tort picture, page 16) Laos Forces Fall Back as WEEPING WOMAN AWAITS WORD ON PASSENGER Learns finally that all were killed (AP) Reds Arabs Blamed as 4 U- i Air Crash i block expected North Vietnamese thrusts toward the separate royal and administrative capitals of this neutral Asian country.

In an effort to blunt the North Vietnamese advance, American B52 stratofortresses were diverted from their night- ly raids over South Vietnam for -the fourth time in five nights Saturday to bomb suspected North Vietnamese positions on die Plain. A force of up to 6,000 North Vietnamese troops spearheaded by a tank column had scattered military defenses early Saturday to seize the Plain of Jars, a 25-mile-long jungle plateau that is the key to control of northwestern Laos. Military sources in Vientiane, the administrative capital, said skies were clear over the Plata Saturday and Saturday night, permitting round-the-clock bombing, if necessary. (In Washington, U.S. Senate -Democratic Leader Mike Mansfield said American bombing of the Plain of Jars was an escalation of the Lao- tian war that would enable the North Vietnamese to tighten control on that part of the country they now occupy.

Escalation usually begets escalation, he said. The State Department ex- So the Civil Service Board has dealt amicably with a number of community-type organizations which have demanded changes in the testing for police recruits, charged they are culturally biased. The board, after holding two executive, sessions to review the examinations, ordered its staff to seek professional help in redesigning them. City Personnel Director James Newman says the board has no intention to Iow-v er the basic standards A requirements for above-average intelligence and a high school education will remain, he said. He said die board feels that the examinations have a poor image rightfully or wrongfully in the Tninds of the minority community and that some of the testing language is archaic in the minds of todays young people.

The board also is considering whether, it should some of its members present during oral examination panel testing of police candidates, if Blast pressed regret there had been no response to the Laotian governments proposal for a political settlement with North Vietnam over the disputed Plain.) i Maj. Ouane Rathikoun, commander in chief of Laotian armed forces, said about 1,400 government soldiers were assigned to the airfield and base In the center of the Plain near Xieng Khouang. Only about two thirds of these forces could be accounted for by Saturday night, he said, indicating government losses of 400 to 500 men. The advance across the Plain gave the North Vietnamese control not only of the entire plateau and the airfield but also of highway 7, which leads into Laos from North Vietnam. Military intelligence officers In Vientiane said they expect the North Vietnamese, following a period for reinforcement of their troops in Laos, to continue the thrust, west toward Moung Soui town and' airbase and on toward the royal capital of.

Luang Prabang where King Souvanna Phouma maintains his court. Communist Pathet Lao guerrillas had controlled the Plain of Jars for five years before government troops won it back in fighting last year. Laotian military forces fell back from the Plain of Jars Saturday night and set up defensive positions on its western ana southern edges to Assembly to Get Tax Bill On March 2 SACRAMENTO (AP)-Gov. Ronald Reagans proper-tyTtax relief proposal will be introduced to the Assembly on March 2, Assemblyman William T. Bagley of San Rafael announced Saturday.

the governors program, about two-thirds of all Californians would pay less overall taxes to state and lo- cal governments, Bagley 6aid. Only about 15 per cent would pay $10 or more in additional state and local taxes over the course of an entire year, he said. Bagley said the average homeowner with an income of $10,000 per year and home valued at $20,000 would revive a net tax reduction of t' V- LANDSLIP Hillside Shifting Continues The Wilshire Heights land- slide continues itsjlaaUess movement dodnwara into Peralta Creek. Houses have moe4ght to ten feet in the past week. The G.

D. Slemmons home at 2907 Jordan Road has been abandoned. The slide gradually crept up on the property, and, early in the week, began to erode the foundation. The Richard Beheil home, the first to topple from its perch on London Road, fell with its foundation intact. But the concrete finally collapsed under the strain, and the home slid into the creek.

The massive earth movement continues unabated, and has now blocked Peralta Creek. On Friday flood control crews dragged 36-inch culvert pipe to the creek and built an emergency drainage channel they hope will withstand the continuous movement of dirt into the creek. A small lake has been formed behind the slide. It reeks with the smell of fuel oil, accidentally spilled when the Shell Oil pipeline, supposedly empty after being abandoned when the slide began, broke and poured the kerosene-like liquid into the creek. The Alan McKenzie home, at the corner of Frye Road and London Road, is being moved to another lot as its original property slips further down the hill.

Homes on Kitchen' Court, above London Road, have settled markedly the past week. Some are apparently broken beyond repair, but others, shored up by a moving firm which hopes to save them, appear to be riding out the slide with minimal structural data-age. Bill Would Hike Pension Benefits The plan was presented to resident Nixon at a 90- minute meeting at the White House by a 15-member commission, headed by former defense secretary Thomas S. Gates, which Nixon appointed list March to study force. The nations Interest will be better served by an allvolunteer force, supported by an effective standby draft, than by a mixed force of volunteers -and conscripts, the commission concluded.

Steps should be taken promptly to move in this direction and the first indispensable step is to remove the present inequity in the pay of men serving their first term in the armed forces. Much of the added cost would result from pay raises the force recommended, starting this July 1, for all first-term officers and enlisted men, active and reserve, as well as proficiency bonuses. The plan is sure to encounter stiff resistance in Congress, particularly from several powerful members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees who oppose the all-volunteer concept. Its costs, too, would endanger See Back Page, Col. 4 Soviets Aim To Excel in Nuclear Arms MOSCOW (UPI) Defense Minister Andrei I.

Grechko said Saturday the Soviet Union is increasing its nuclear missile and other defense capabilities to counter, growing aggressiveness of the United States. Grechko made the asserta-tion in a signed article in the theoretical journal, Communist. Publication of the journal Saturday followed by one day the claim by U.S. Defense Secretary Melvin R. Laird in Washington that the pace of the current Soviet missile buildup could leave the United States in a second-place strategic position by the middle of the decade.

Grechko also accused West Germany, Israel and Greece of contributing to world tensions, but he cited the United States as the principal threat to. Russia and the Soviet sys- every step for the defensive capacity of our country and the combat preparedness of our army and navy to match the tasks confronting them. their foundations (Another KnoxSeeks ReS'nal Bay Rule By ED SALZMAN Tribune Capital Bureau SACRAMENTO Assembly a John Knox, -Richmond, is about to launch a twin-barrelled campaign to bring about regional government in the Bay Area. Knox saidvhe will introduce two bills, one to give more power to the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, and the other to create a new agency with broad jurisdiction within the nine-county area. The assemblyman, chair-man of the Joint Legislative Committee on Bay Area Regional Organization, revealed that he is attempting to negotiate a compromise plan with the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAC).

Against ABAG opposition, Knox last year proposed creation of a powerful organization directed by 36 trustees elected directly by the public. Under thejroposed compromise, the regional government would be ruled by representatives of cities and counties. Knox said he would agree to such a plan only if the agency is given "significant power and See Back Page, Col. 1 organizations must supply 40 per cent of the grant, either in services or cash, he explained. Baskin said the funds would be used to hire a small staff of researchers and to hire a professional consultant to revie present examinations and recruitment practices.

Such a 'grant could be made only if the city administration agrees to become a party in the transaction, he said. 'Baskin said the community organizations maintain that races pre underrepresented on the, police force. Blacks compose only 4.3 per cent of the citys 650 police officers, he said. He said the citys present testing and screening methods are insensitive to the pecul- iar characteristics-of the mi-: nority group This, he says, results in the exclusion of applicants, often on a basis irrelevant to 1 the question of whether or not he is qualified to become a police officer. 47 Die in WUERENLINGEN.

Switzerland (AP) An Israel-bound Swissair jetliner, torn by an explosion shortly after takeoff, plunged flaming into the woods near here Saturday. All 47 persons aboard, including 13 Israelis, were killed. Israeli Premier Golda Meir charged the plane was blown jip a criminal and murderous act. A top leader of a splinter group of Arab guerrillas indicated his organization was involved but would not confirm or deny anything. A similar explosion Saturday blew a hole in an Austrian jetliner with 38 persons aboard, which was carrying' mail for Israel.

The blast, in -the baggage department, hurt no one. The plane was bound for Vienna but was forced to land at Frankfurt An Arab guerrilla organization claimed credit for that explosion, but later retracted the claim. Roger transportation minister, said-the explosion in' the Swissair craft also occurred in the baggage compartment and caused the pilot to lose control. The major Arab guerrilla organizations said reports that they were responsible for the crash-' were totally untrue. A statement by the newly formed unified command of guerrillas in Amman, Jordan including the Palestine Liberation Organization led by -Yasir Arafat claimed the reports were meant to cast a slur oil the guerrilla movement.

Mrs. Meir did not lay the blame directly on Arab guerrillas, but said reported guerrilla claims serve as yet another illustration of the murderous character and aims of these groups. She said the explosion was a deed which must shock everyone. prominent Israeli heart specialist was listed among the dead. The guerrilla leader who in-dicated, his group -was involved said at least' eight Israeli chemical and bacteriological experts also were aboard.

The splinter group, not affiliated with any other organiza- tion, is called Popular Front-General Command. The spokesman, reached by telephone in Amman, would not let his name be used. The band is led by Ahmed Jebril, a Palestine officer formerly in the Syrian army. Although the spokesman would not confirm or deny responsibility, he said his headquarters had issued a statement a week ago say mg it would soon strike at Israeli civilians in retaliation for Israeli bombing of a factory Feb. 12 near Cairo.

I draw your attention to the word soon in our he added. Albert deputy director of Switzerlands federal air office, said 50 experts had been assigned to invest gate the crash site. The investigating commission impounded the tapes of the planes radio messages. The Swiss airliner, a four-jet Convair Coronado, plunged into a wooded area 20 miles northwest of Zurich with an explosion that shattered windows in nearby homes. Shortly after it took off from Zurich for Tel Aviv, the pilot reported that there had been an explosion in the baggage compartment and received radio instructions to return to.

Zurich. He was on his way back when the plane went down. Some witnesses said the jet fell into the forest in flames and 1 about 1,000 yards from Switzerlands first atomic research reactor Others said they heard an explosion as the plane approached Wuerenlingen at low altitutde. One witness said the airliners engines were screaming, like those of a jet fighter as it plunged toward the ground, Spectators crowded around the crash scene as policemen and Swiss investigators combed the; wreckage for the bodies of the 38 passengers and nine crew members. The bodies were strewn over the ground and wedged between the branches of, trees! Muench, interviewed by telephone, said the pilot radioed about three minutes takeoff that there was fire See Back Page, Col: I Police Puiimioiritties such a step would encourage more local residents to apply for police posts.

Meanwhile, the East Oakland-Fruitvale Planning Council has invited 150 organizations to send representatives to a meeting at 3 p.m. Wednesday- to -organize the task force. The will be held in the planning center, J411 Fruitvale Ave. Lawrence A. Baskin, a legal assistant to the council, said the commitee would study the police testing procedures and seek ways of improving recruitment methods in the local community.

The Civil Service Board already has stated that it will welcome help in these areas from such an advisory committee. A-letter of intent to apply for a $150,000 grant for the advisory committee- has been sent to the California Council for Criminal 'Justice, a state agency which dispenses funds from the federal street-crime omnibus bill. The community By BILL MARTIN Tribuna Staff Writer Oakland police examinations almost certainly will be to encourage lagging police recruitment from among minority races. The Civil Service Board already has ordered its staff to seek professional advice on ways the examinations can be changed, without lowering basic standards. At the same time, the East Oakland-Fruitvale Planning Council and other community organizations will meet next Wednesday to form a' task force? which could become an advisory committee to the Civil Service Board, Such a committee would advise the board on making changes in the examinations and also assistin an intensive recruitment campaign among minorities.

These organizations also will seek a $150,000 grant in federal funds from the California Council for Criminal Justice to finance small staff and to hire a consultant. -A The aggressiveness of the United States, the biggest im- WASHINGTON (AP) Two perialist power, has iii-sehators have introduced a creased, he wrote. To dount-' bill to boost pension benefits er the threat, he continued, for elderly widows, veterans the Soviet Union is taking and orphans. Sens. Alan- Cranston, and Herman E.

Tal-madge, the bill would boost compensation rates for veterans witlrserv- Strategic roexet troops are ice-connected disabilities by today basis of the defen-an average of 11 per cent. sive might of the Soviet Un- The bill, they added, would iorli Grechko wrote. But in hike total benefits by some $160 million a year. 0. A 1 i i..