Contra Costa Times from Walnut Creek, California • 1

197 fNIl WINNINl WSl'AI'f Ut THI (AllfOkNIA Nl WALNUT CREEK CALIFORNIA THURSDAY JULY 13 1978 VOL 68 NO 37 IA III 52 PAGES Federal Study Proposed East Bay Ridgelands In ational Parks? By DAVID HUFFMAN Times Washington Bureau A federal study to determine the feasibility of including the East Bay ridgelands in the Nation-al Parks System cleared the House Wednesday as part of the multimillion dollar omnibus parks and recreation bill (Related story Page 7) The bill approved 311-til also includes Tunds for continued historic preservation and restoration of the John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez The ridgelands project would study the possibilitv of including 8-13000 acres in Contra Costa Alameda Santa Clara counties in the National Park System studv cxpeeled to cost about $100000 would be conducted by the Interior Department in consultation with other federal stale and local agencies including the East Bay Regional Parks District Rep Fortney Stark D-Oakland whose district includes valleys at the foot of the ridgelands said the area should be protected from "massive metropolitan regions in the nation have the opportunity to create such a vast urban park" he said Stark has pushed the ridgelands park idea since entering Congress in 1973 when he first got the US Bureau of Outdoor Recreation to participate in a study along with KBRPD and the three counties A advisory committee was also established The Ridgelands Study" as it became known provided a battleground for conservationists and developers as they fought over the East Bay backbone stretching from Richmond to San Jose In 197-C Stark introduced legislation fora federal study but the bill was stalled until its inclusion in the omnibus House bill that passed Wednesday The bill also increases spending al the John Muir site by $12 million The funds will be spent by the National Parks Service over a number of years to permit further historic preservation restore the Carriage House and windmill expand the visitors' center and improve the grounds The bill would also expand the Golden Gate National Recreation area and the Point Reyes National Seashore Other provisions call for additional fundng for the Redwood National Park and for acquisition of the Santa Monica Mountains as well as adding the Mineral King Valley to Sequoia National Park The bill would also protect the north fork of the Auburn River above the proposed Auburn Dam as part of the National System of wild and scenic rivers Carter Charges Soviets Violate Helsinki Pact The Russians9 Gamble on Trials directed by its founder and choreographer Amalia Hernandez is dancing in an exclusive Northern California engagement at the Concord Pavilion at 8 tonight Friday and performance will also start at 8 pi Sunday at 3 and 8 pm he 75-member troupe's repertoire includes haunting religious rituals the revolutionary songs and dances from the conquest and the world-famous Dance" whk-h pays tribute to the religious and economic existence of Mexico aqui Indians For ticket information call the Pavilion box office at 798-3311 For the pleasure or picnickers gales open two hours before the dances begin Details Page 33 A Wheelchair Protest Snarls SF Commute SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Wheelchair protesters demanding ea-sy-access transportation blocked buses in downtown San Francisco Wednesday and stalled thousands of homebound commuters who sometimes shouted and slapped each other shall not be the protesters chanted as thev lined up their wheelchairs across the paths of buses at the East Bay Terminal (Photo Page 2) Carol Jenkins 22 of Berkeley said about 100 handicapped and disabled persons would keep blocking the buses until local transit officials agreed to support an oa-sy-access vehicle with ramps lifts and wide doors No arrests were initially reported Transit spokesmen said state police had been asked to break up the demonstration Mike Curry Alameda-Contra Costa Transit system spokesman said an estimated 15000 commuters were affected by the protest "It's probably going to get worse before it geLs Joe Haughey of the Municipal Railway said of the huge logjam of bodies and buses The demonstration is part of a national protest sponsored by the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities demonstrators said "We passed a resolution last year that all buses purchased in the future would be equipped with facilities providing accessibility for the handicapped'' Curry said in defending AC's record Some angry commuters shouted at the demonstrators or demanded that they end the protest Commuters lined up at phone booths where two women began slapping each other in apparently divided sympathies over the protest Jury Is Told Jarvis Couldn Say ABCs GENEVA Switzerland (AP) President Carter accused the Soviet Union Wednesday of violating the 1975 Helsinki human rights accords in the trials of Anatoly Sncharansky Alexander Ginzburg and other prominent Soviet dissidents Carter made the accusation in a message to Soviet President Leonid I Brezhnev a Slate Department spokesman said Secretary of Stale Cyrus Vance delivered the message to Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei A Gromyko in a private meeting with no other officials present following day-long arms-control negotiations US spokesman Hodding Carter said the message outlined the US position on the dissident trials and charged Soviet authorities with disregarding proper legal procedures Hodding Carter said the administration was still linking" its displeasure over the trials to an effort to complete a treaty limiting strategic nuclear the purpose of the Vance-Gromyko talks He added however that are reviewing other aspects of our relationship" One possible course of action known to be under consideration is blocking shipment of oil drilling equipment from American firms to the Soviet Union US officials privately question whether economic sanctions of this sort could have a major impact on Soviet behaviour Spokesman Carter said the president Vance and other administration officials shared about the trials The human rights provisions President Carter referred to were part of the agreement signed by the United States the Soviet Union and 33 other nations at the 1975 conference on European security and cooperation at Helsinki Finland Shcharansky is on trial for his life in Moscow charged with espionage and treason Ginzburg is being tried for agitation and propaganda" and could go to prison The controversy has cast a shadow over Vance's weapons negotiations with Gromyko but the two sides traded proposals to try to break the deadlock blocking agreement on a new treaty The SALT II talks opened without mention of the Soviet dissidents' trial and Gromyko said of his talks with Vance on a new arms accord: "We agreed to consider it No 1" He was clearly irritated when asked whether the dissident trials were impeding the progress of the SALT negotiations and declined to reply beyond saying: what trials? I do not wish to speak on the subject Do yuu understand me correctly?" Vance tried to play down the human rights issue was touched he said at the end of the deliberations Aspirin a Day Keeps Stroke Away for Men BOSTON (AP) Moderate daily doses of aspirin greatly reduce the risk of stroke in men who are in danger of having the crippling often fatal attacks Canadian researchers say The doctors found that when these men took the popular pain killer the rate of stroke and death was 18 percent lower than usual However for reasons they could not explain aspirin does not prevent strokes in women Fighting stroke is only the latest of several newly discovered uses for aspirin which has long defied scientists' ability to explain just why it eases minor aches and pains reduces fever and calms inflammation of the joints Last fall Boston doctors reported that aspirin prevents blood eloLs in patients who undergo hip operations edf OXNARD (AP) The deputy who arrested Howard Jarvis for investigation of drunken driving in March testified Wednesday that Jarvis was unable to recite tnc alphabet and failed three other easy sobriety tests after being pulled over Jarvis on trial for misdemeanor drunken driving had no visible reaction as Ventura County Deputy Sheriff Michael Kipp told the Municipal Court jury what happened when he stoppped Jarvis on March 15 at 12:15 am car may have merely been changing lanes rather than weaving his attorney said Later in the day criminal laboratory experts testified that Jarvis' blood alcohol level the night of his arrest measured 06 California law says that 10 is the level where a driver is automatically presumed to be under the influence of alcohol Kipp said he stopped Jarvis because he noticed the car was traveling a very high rate of speed" and was weaving across two lanes of US 101 near Thousand Oaks Kipp said Jarvis at first denied driving the automobile and then warned the officer that he had friends in high places Kipp said he observed Jarvis behind the wheel and watched as both he and his wife slid out the passenger side of the car Kipp testified that when he asked Jarvis for his driver's license Jarvis said for? I wasn't driving the goddamned Kipp added that when he examined the license Jarvis said right I'm Howard Jarvis and you realize what you've done to mav protect men from heart attacks Schoolmate Tells of Confession bv Geha ana now the National Heart and Lung crying and had to be removed from the witness stand Fingerprints found in the home matched Geha's and led to his arrest 36 hours after the bodv was discovered Defense attorney Edward Merrill of Danville said Tuesday the evidence against Geha was overwhelming but that he would try and argue against a first-degree murder verdict on grounds the slaying was not premeditated The prosecution rested Wednesday and Merrill is scheduled to open his defense today The jury is expected to begin its deliberations Friday Institute is conducting a major project to find out whether this is true A report on the stroke research conducted by the Canadian Cooperative Study Group was published in issue or the New England Journal of Medicine The patients who participated in the seven-year study took an aspirin tablet four times a day However Dr Henry JM Barnett of the University of Western Ontario who directed the study said a smaller dosage will probably prove to be just as effective An editorial in the prestigious medical journal said this "might easily lead to the adage that an aspirin a day keeps a stroke away" Geha who worked as Travis's gardner is being tried as an adult for first-degree murder of the wealthy Orinda woman She was found bloodied and beaten on the patio of her Acacia Drive home last Sept 28 The day after the murder Miles testified Geha told him he had gone to house the night before to discuss the thefts but that she began yelling at him Miles told the jurors Geha said he hit her with the receiver of the kitchen phone was screaming" Miles said he just kept hitting her while she was running around the house Then she fell out on the patio and he started hitting her with a brick as she was squirming around" By RUSS YARROW liesher News Bureau A star prosecution witness broke into tears and had to be led from the witness stand Wednesday when she was asked directly if Jay Geha had confessed to last September's brutal beating death of Or-inda matron Elizabeth Travis But young Cindy Preston was quickly followed by yet another of Geha's school chums who said the 17-year-old former Campolindo High School student admitted bludgeoning the woman to death Geha told Tim Miles he killed Travis to keep her from revealing a series of jewelry thefts from her home Miles told the jury Geha gave a stolen ring to Preston who worked with him at the Travis house according to testimony But Preston inadvertently wore the ring to work one day and when Travis spotted it the young girl said that Miles who also worked for Travis had found it on the front lawn Preston testified that when she later told Geha of Travis's discovery he panicked and threatened to kill his employer Geha indicated that he got busted again he'd have to go to Juvenile Preston said But when deputy district attorney Jim Nelson asked Preston ir Geha had actually confessed the slaying to her later the youngster broke down (FI 1A Page 2 Geha Times at a Glance Index group of friends to drive 700-pound yearlings down from the hills Page 51 of a small conservative town of 2931 who regard the only native to become famous as more of a scoundrel than a hero Page 22 Weather I aw clouds (his morning then variable clouds through Friday A little warmer Lows in the 50s I lighs today in the mid 70s to low 80s Westerly winds to 20 mph in the afternoon I ligh in Concord Wedncsdav 88 low 56 Opinion Ann Landers Business Classified Comics Community Calendar Entertainment Fashion Funeral Notiees Marcy Bachmunn Opinion People Sports Stoeks IN 31-37 11-51 11 51 39-10 13-16 51 13 10 17-20 27-32 36 PS Informational pickets ringed post offices throughout the country Wednesday including Concord and Walnut Creek in an attempt to speed negotiations being held in Washington I)C Page 4 Nation The boyhood home of Woody Guthrie is disappearing but not bccauscW the wind or weeds or even the weather It is the fear Contra Costa "The snaps his buffing rag signaling the man in the chair that the shoe shine is complete The man looks down al his glistening shoes climbs down and walks to a countertop and places (2 in a small cardboard box Page 5 A policy to benefit alcoholics wljiie helping solve the J-Ward crisis is about tojie implemented Page 21 A former superintendent of schools in Antioch examines the effects of Proposition 13 on the schools and concludes the basic message is: Damn the children particularly the poor Page 10 Herb and Bert El worthy had a busy schedule last week It was market time for 300 of (heir Angus-Hereford cattle and it look tyo long hectic days for the Pittsburg ranchers and a.