Sun Herald from Biloxi, Mississippi • 1

By BILLY RAY QUAVE Daily Herald Staff Writer Oil-Polluted Beaches Ruin Tourist Trade SANTA BARBARA MAYOR TELLS HIS EXPERIENCE public hearings on future oil drilling off their coastline Eventually Mayor Firestone believes the Supreme Court will have to make the final decision on the constitutional question The mayor of the city of 70000 says the real irony of the oil problem is the Santa Barbara city charter prohibits such oil drilling In addition he points out that presently there is now a moratorium on further state activities in the area only ac- tivity of any consequence is in the federal he notes The Santa Barbara city limits extends three miles off shore and from that point on is the continental shelf owned by the federal government Besides being a city which derives much of its economic wealth from tourism the Santa Barbara area is much like the Mississippi Gulf Coast in one geographical sense Between the Mississippi Coast mainland and the Gulf of Mexico there is a chain of islands and the Mississippi Sound is -partially enclosed between the islands and the mainland Between the Santa Barbara main- land and the Pacific Ocean there is a chain of islands and the water between them is known as the Santa Barbara Channel When the Santa Barbara oil spill occurred in January 1969 -Mayor Firestone said that the currents and winds carried the black spillage into the waterfront Then there was the problem of cleaning up the mess (Continued On Page 2) An objection was issued by officials of Santa Barbara County but as Mayor Firestone puts it the final analysis they (county officials) had no say The citizens were given assurance that there was no reason why an offshore oil industry at least three miles away from the mainland could not be compatible with a tourist industry Then three years later Santa Barbara residents found their beaches blackened with oil and tourists going elsewhere Today the people of Santa Barbara as apathetic as they were five years ago according to Mayor Firestone lot of times it takes a catastrophe like this to get the people behind a he said1 The victims took their case to court attempting to enjoin drill- lng of new wells and construction of a drilling platform until a public hearing had been held Monday the US Supreme Court upheld a lower federal court ruling that hearings were not required under the Interior Department and Corps of Engineers regulations However Mayor Firestone says the residents of Santa Barbara given up their fight are really two matters as far as legal action being he points out are also in the District Court of Appeals taking another hie said in a telephone interview with The Daily Herald Wednesday Santa Barbara citizens have before the court for its consideration whether the constitutional rights of the citizens are being denied by failure to hold And the mayor says economic benefits resulting from offshore oil production anywhere equal to the tourist dollar Five years ago the Santa Barbara area was in a position very similar to one which now confronts the Mississippi Coast The federal government announced its intentions to lease water bottoms in the Santa Barbara Channel for exploration and drilling of oil cites the reasons why he would be opposed He has experienced the exodus of tourists away from the Santa Barbara beaches which were blackened with oil two years ago during an accidental offshore spill If Mayor Gerald Firestone of Santa Barbara Calif were mayor of a city on the Mississippi Gulf Coast he would be opposed to an offshore oil hi- dustry The California mayor can speak from experience when he i i i i err WEATHER Partly cloudy through Slight chance of showers Cooler tonight and Low tonight in the 40s on Page 12 JUU Serving Biloxi-Gulfport and the Mississippi Coast Since 1884 INSIDE Page Pg 6 Business Financial Pg 10 Coast Entertainments Pg 10 TV Listings Pg 11 Local -Sports Pg 13 Classified Ad Pg 16 2 Sections 20 Pages Single Copy 10c Served By Associated Press Volume 87 Number 103 Mississippi Coast Friday Afternoon January 15 1971 ixon chants soon drowned in a chorus of boos when he was introduced Nixon was well received-better in fact than on any campus since he took office The President who stopped in Lincoln on a flight back to Washington from Southern California told five newsmen traveling aboard his jet he feels his and faculty members at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln Thursday Nixon said: can be no generation gap in America The destiny of tiiis nation is not divided into yours and it is one destiny We share it together We are responsible for it Apart from a flurry of By FRANK CORMIER Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) In his most conciliatory speech to American youth President Nixon has urged the young to try out the system in alliance of the Speaking before 8500 students Israel Troops Hit Secret Guerrilla Harbor Base By ELIAS ANTAR Associated Press Writer SARAFAND Lebanon (AP) Israeli troops flying in ever the sea by helicopter today raided a secret harbor base used by Palestinian guerrillas to smuggle men and weapons to Arabs in the occupied Gaza Strip An estimated 120 Israeli commandos swept through this little fishing village in South Lebanon to blow up two shoreside guerrilla strongpoints But the guerrillas and the Lebanese army claimed they fought off the raiders before they reached the main base Government and guerrilla communiques said two guerrillas were killed and seven wounded in the three-hour fight The guerrillas claimed they there was no sea landing Guerrilla and Lebanese army communiques reported the Israelies launched two attacks the second three hours after the first The raiders landed on the beach and fired bazookas into a house by the roadside in which "a guerrilla leader lived villagers reported The Israelis also dynamited a guerrilla command post on a nearby headland No other houses on the waterfront or in the main part of the village half a mile inland were fired upon The main guerrilla base is about a mile south of the village A muddy track leading toward it was blocked by armed guerrillas who politely but firmly turned newsmen away Ambulances were in the area but most of the casualties were evacuated to hospitals shortly after dawn officials said killed or wounded at least 15 Israelis The Lebanese Cabinet met in emergency session with President Suleiman Franjeh to decide whether to request a meeting of the UN Security Council Two army tanks arrived after the Israelies pulled out and took station on the beach flanking little harbor The area was thick with armed guerrillas Newsmen were barred from the guerrilla base and it was impossible to verity the guerrilla claim that it was undamaged The Israelies came in at midnight with two helicopters putting down on the beach and two farther inland The A1 Fatah guerrilla organization claimed some raiders landed by boat and that the attack was preceded by a naval bombardment However army officers on the spot reported audience listened carefully to his words Alluding to the fact he was interrupted only once by applause he talked about seeking full generation of Nixon said his address was not written with applause lines in mind be interrupted 35 times when I give my State of the Un- ion" he said referring to an address to the new Congress Jan 22 it mean a Obviously pleased by his reception on the Nebraska campus which has been relatively free of student unrest Nixon said he kept looking as he talked at a bearded young man in the crowd was a said the President explaining the mah had bobbed his head approvingly at key points am sure I got through to that After paying tribute to the university's undefeated football team and presenting to the coach a bronze plaque commemorating the fact Nebraska was The Associated 1970 gridiron champion Nixon talked at length about his conception of the roie of young people in the nation Proposing alliance of the he said: us together seek out those ways by which the commitment and the compassion of one generation can be linked to the will and the experience of another so that together we can better serve America and America can better serve Referring to extension of federal voting rights to all those 18 and older Nixon said: much is in your hands now To those who have believed the system could not be moved I say try it To those who have thought the system was impenetrable I say there is no longer a need to that Nixon acknowledged that the young might not always prevail however is in the very nature of a free society that no one can win all the he said one can have his own way all the time and no one is right all the Nixon said he probably will spend part of the weekend at his Camp David retreat near Thur-mont Md Narcotics Find (Story on Page 12) In the photograph above Is some of the paraphemilia found by Gulfport narcotics agents at 2149 Hillrie Lane Gulfport during an early morning raid Friday The beakers and tubes constitute homemade agents said The narcotic hashish is placed in the top of the beaker while the bottom of the beaker contains water The smoke goes down into the water through a tube from the top of the beaker then goes back up through a tube inserted in the beaker in the air space above the waterline It then is inhaled by the smoker The two regular smoking pipes at the bottom of the photo are the type normally used for smoking marijuana agents said The paraphernalia along with the empty matchbox and incense burner at right will be sent to a crime lab for detection and analysis of residue (Staff Photo by Ron Elias) South Viet Task Force Trys Opening New Orleans Link Completion Seen Oil Pours Into Gulf NEW ORLEANS (AP) An undetermined amount of oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico today from one of a cluster of Shell Oil Co wells at a platform which has been burning out of control since Dec 1 A Shell spokesman said the well had over into the water because of the terrific The company prepared a 125 foot boom through which sand and water will be pumped at high pressure to blast the steel casing until the oil escapes and catches fire again thus halting the water A four-lane highway route between the Mississippi Coast and New Orleans is expected to be a reality by late February or early March according to the Louisiana Highway Department Salam assistant interstate engineer said Thursday the final link connecting Mississippi with Interstate Highway 10 into New Orleans is expected to be completed by that time Salam said most of 1-10 from the 1-59 junction near Slidell eastward to the Mississippi line is complete The only remaining segment is the 1-10 and 1-59 interchange itself due for completion in about six weeks A 23 mile stretch of 1-10 has been completed in Mississippi between the state line and Mississippi Highway 607 in Hancock County This short section of interstate connects with 607 which has been four-laned from that point eastward to US Highway 90 Highway 90 is four-laned from that point eastward to Kreole in Jackson County By GEORGE ESPER Associated Press Writer SAIGON A South Vietnamese task force trying to reopen Phnom highway to the sea battled North Vietnamese forces today around a key mountain pass 95 miles southwest of the Cambodian capital The US Command announced that an American plane was shot down in another sector of Cambodia South Vietnamese military headquarters said the task force smashed into more than 200 North Vietnamese at Stung Chhay one of two key mountain passes controlled by the enemy on Highway 4 Fighting raged until dusk Thursday as South Vietnamese fighter-bombers and artillery pummelled the North Vietnamese positions on the heights overlookng the road Reports from the area said the fighting resumed today A South Vietnamese spokesman said 41 North Vietnamese and five government troops had been killed and 28 South Vietnamese wounded is not clear who controls the the spokesman said enemy is still in the vicinity of the While the southern task force tried to push north the Saigon government said a force of South Vietnamese marines was moving south toward the Pich Nil pass the other enemy stronghold on the highway about 60 miles southwest of Phnom Penh marines have not arrived there the spokesman said He added that he did not know how far the marines were from the pass However the Cambodian commander in the area said Thursday that his troops were advancing on Pich Nil and would retake it from the North Vietnamese and that he was keeping the South Vietnamese marines in reserve A total force of 5300 South Vietnamese and 8000 Cambodian soldiers launched the two-ended drive Wednesday to reopen Highway 4 which has been closed by North Vietnamese troops since Nov 21 Phnom Penh has been cut Off from its seaport Kompong Som creating shortages of oil gas and other imports in the capital litt Senate Out For Weekend Bill Would Aid In Protection rr'V V3fr? Pittman of Hattiesburg proposed a constitutional amendment to put justices of the peace and constables on salaries and distribute them on a population basis Under his proposal each peace judge would get $7200 a year and each constable $5400 There would be one per 20000 population At present each of the five districts in a county has at least one constable and judge and the offices are financed by retention of a percentage of fees collected Pittman said his proposals were in harmony with those of the Mississippi Judiciary Commission last year but went further Sen Theo Smith of Corinth offered a bill to boost from one cent to one and one-half cents the share of the five-cent sales JACKSON Miss (AP) Sen Bill Caraway of Leland introduced a bill today to give municipalities $4 million a year from fire insurance premium taxes to help upgrade their fire and police work The measure referred to the Senate finance committee for study carries the backing of the Mississippi Municipal Association Caraway who Is also execu- five bead of the MMA said his bill was necessary so the financially-pressed cities child provide adequate fire and police protection He said cities footed the bill for most fire and police protection without adequate help Thirty-eight members of the Senate signed the bill Before the senate adjourned until 2 pm Monday Sen Ed taxes a city may retain Smith said this would give the cities about $15 million a year Sen Bill McKinley of Jackson offered a bill to prohibit unreasonable geographical assignment of pupils to schools He said it protects the neighborhod concept by allowing a transfer to a school closer home if space is available and called the measure Sen Roy Perdue of Pearl offered a bill to appropriate $12 million to the Veterans Farm and Home Board to finance additional home loans to returning servicemen He said this was the amount of money taken from the board during the Ross Barnett administration and put into the general fund It was now needed again Perdue said because about 40 loans were not being made to veteran due to a money short age is the only thing Mississippi does for its he said veteran wiL save $8340 on a $16000 home or farm by using this fund instead of an FHA loan The senate met only briefly before adjourning for the weekend Lawmakers passed a bill to enlarge the Interagency Commission on Mental Health and Mental Retardation to give mental hospitals representation and gave the agency authority to receive federal funds for the mental hospitals Sen Joe Mosby of Merdian said responsiblity for securing federal funds for the institutions was fragmented and the move would bring this authority together and mean more fedreal funds for the hospitals at Whitfield and Meridian vr Vi- 1 -i Unusual Friends Ignoring the danger presented by his big teeth three turtles known as red-eared sliders took a ride on the back of an alligator at Memphis Tenn Overton Park Zoo Thursday Their apparent philosophy is why swim -t yourself when you can get somebody else to do it for you The incident is also rare because turtles are usually in hibernation at this time of the year but balmy weather in Memphis has brought them out (AP Wirephotj).