Mexico Ledger from Mexico, Missouri • Page 1

16 PAGES PARTLY SUNNY SATURDAY Gas Blast Burns Abel John Abel, 26, of Route 3, Mexico, was admitted to Audrain Medical Center this morning with first and second degree burns over most of his body after an explosion which destroyed the interior of his home about 7:30 a.m. The home is located on Highway 54 four miles south of Mexico. His wife, Rhonda and their children, Shannon, 4, and Aaron, months, escaped injury in the blast. The Little Dixie Rural Fire Department was called to the scene but Richard Womack, fire chief, said there was actually little fire. He said it appeared that the explosion was caused by an accumulation of bottled gas from the furnace, and added that the furnace was the only source in the house.

"Everything else was elec- Officials May Duck Open Law WASHINGTON (AP)-Government officials will find new ways to keep their decisionmaking private despite a Senate-passed bill requiring their meetings to be public, a Federal Power Commission official says. "They'll start making the real decisions in washrooms and elevators, then come into the public meeting, rap the gavel and announce what they've decided," the official said. The Senate approved the bill Thursday by a vote of 94 to 0 and one of its cosponsors hailed it as the first of nearly 100 proposed Watergate- related reform bills to win passage. While the Senate voted, a similar measure was under scrutiny in a House subcommittee, where the chairman of one of the commissions to be covered said his agency promulgated its own rules that went beyond those in the so- called "government-in-the- sunshine" bill. "While rules on openness are not always easy to live with, our experience shows that the difficulties become trivial when compared to the benefits of increased public confidence," Richard 0.

Simpson, chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, told the House Government Operations subcommittee on information and individual rights. trie," he said. Womack said the explosion blew out the east and west sides of the house and "apparently it just snuffed itself out, not causing much fire. We extinguished small blazes between the floors and in the mattresses," he said. The fire chief said the explosion is believed to have originated in the northwest room, a bedroom, and according to Mrs.

Abel, her husband was in that room at the time of the explosion. She drove her husband to the hospital here, while neighbors cared for their children. Mrs. Abel said she and her husband had smelled gas last night and again when they awakened this morning. She and the children were getting dressed and her husband was trying to find the source of the gas they smelled, she said.

The Abels have owned the home for the past three years. Mr. Abel is employed by the Kingdom Telephone and before the birth of their month-old son, Mrs. Abel was employed at The Ledger. Mrs.

Abel is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs Harold Meeks of Centralia. Mr. Abel's father is deceased, his mother lives in Wisconsin. Hospital authorities reported Mr.

Abel's condition as satisfactory. Rush Hill Gets New Postmaster RUSH the first time in almost 19 years somebody else other than Mrs. Helen Schulte will be in charge of the Rush Hill Post Office Saturday. Jim Davidson, orginally from Rush Hill, now living in Laddonia, has been appointed the officer in charge of the fourth class post office until his appointment is confirmed. Mr.

Davidson's grandfather, Robert James, was postmaster at Rush Hill before Mrs. Schulte. Mr. Davidson has been with the postal service since Sept. 27.

He and his wife Peggy have two young daughters. The Rush Hill post office serves 148 rural boxes and 50 boxes inside of the post office. The 84-mile rural route, which includes Benton City, is carried each day by Harold Maxwell, who knows the territory well. He's been carrying the route for almost 30 years. The new postmaster's father, Marvin Davidson, is Mr.

Maxwell's substitute. Mrs. Schulte said she was retiring with plans to "take things easy." Mexico, Friday, November 7, 1975 Phone Year No. Fifteen Cents Rail Unions Asked To Delay Strike WASHINGTON (AP) Four railroad shop craft unions announced today they will strike the nation's railroads at 6 a.m. Tuesday in a lengthy contract dispute with the industry.

Although the unions represent only about 15 per cent of the nation's half- million railway workers, a walkout could effectively shut down the major rail lines. Shortly after the unions' announcement, federal mediators requested a one- week delay in the strike deadline in an effort to resolve the dispute. There was no immediate response from the unions. The four unions involved, members of the AFL-CIO Moroccans Spend Cold Desert Night KILOMETER EIGHT, Inside Spanish Sahara (AP) More than 100,000 Moroccans spent a cold night on the desert 2Vz miles from the Spanish army's front line of barbed wire and armored cars barring their way further into the Spanish Sahara. The Spanish army claimed it had planted 20,000 mines behind the barbed wire but many Moroccan officials thought the Spanish were bluffing.

An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 Spanish troops were deployed throughout the territory, and Spanish military sources said Spain today put 15,000 troops on military alert in the Spanish Canary Islands, 25 minutes by air from the Sahara. It was not known when or if the march would resume. Spain's representative at United Nations headquarters in New York told the Security Council the Moroccan information minister had warned the Spanish ambassador in Rabat that the march would continue at the risk of high casualties and a "situation of belligerency" unless Spain agreed immediately to negotiations to transfer the territory to Morocco. But Moroccan Ambassador Dris Slaoui told the council his government informed him King Hassan II "solemnly affirms" his intention to avoid any incidents with Spain and seek a solution in the U.N. framework.

Slaoui said negotiations earlier this week between the Moroccan and Spanish prime ministers were "simply suspended," and Morocco was willing to resume them. The 15-member council, which had appealed early Thursday to Hassan to call off the march, unanimously adopted another resolution calling on the Moroccans to withdraw behind their frontier. The marchers entered the Spanish Sahara Thursday morning and walked about five miles across the no man's land evacuated by Spanish forces last week. "We have been instructed to stop them, and we will do so at any price," said a Spanish Foreign Legion colonel on the other side of the 15-mile-long Spanish "dissuasion line." "The prestige of Spain and its army is at stake." Algeria, backing Spain's proposal to hold a self- determination referendum in the phosphate-rich territory, also threatened to intervene with its army, concentrated around Tindouf, some 300 miles east of the marchers. Hassan, seeking to strengthen Morocco's claim to the northern part of the Colorado-size territory, messaged the Security Council that the march "will at no time deviate from the peaceful character which underlies this action and which will be maintained throughout its course." The king sent his prime minister, Ahmed Osman, and several ministers to lead the march, but he himself remained in his command post in Agadir, 300 miles to the northeast.

There was no official count of the number of marchers who crossed the border Thursday. provide for domestic jobs and to meet commitments in the Middle East. The House Budget Committee has approved a resolution calling for a billion limit on appropriations for the year ending next June 30 and a lid on actual spending. The figures differ because appropriations overlap fiscal years. The Senate committee, explaining the increases that have pushed estimates up since May, said expenditures include additional interest of $1 billion on the public debt; $1.2 billion for unemployment compensation; $1.7 billion for Medicare and Medicaid; $870 million for losses on housing subsidies; and $700 million for education benefits.

President Ford originally estimated a deficit for fiscal 1976. Now his budget office places it above $72 billion. Landfill To Close On Veterans Day Mexico's landfill on Route will be closed Tuesday for Veteran's Day, according to Jim Henderson, superintendent of refuse collection. The city crews will keep their usual Tuesday collection schedule, however, he said. Today's Today your dream house will cost you twice as much as you ever dreamed it Ford invoked emergency action two months ago by appointing a fact-finding board to study the dispute and recommend a settlement.

However, both sides were unable to agree on terms during negotiations with the National Mediation Board. James E. Yost, president of the Railway Employees Department, announced the strike deadline in telegrams to the four unions, instructing them "to withdraw the membership" from work next week. Yost charged that the carriers rejected a recommendation by the presidential emergency board involving subcontracting, an issue important to the unions involved in the talks which have been under way since last January. Most of the other railway unions settled their contracts with the industry earlier this year.

The new three-year agreements that were put into effect provided for wage and benefit increases totaling 41 per cent. Jobless Rate Up, Reversing Four Months Of Improvement Railways Department, Brotherhood Carmen, the Brotherhood of Employees are the of Railway International Boilermakers BIKE Young of Plymouth, Mass, and his dog, Sassy, passed through Mexico on Highway 54 heading south in their cross- country bicycle journey to California. Mr. Young said he had traveled 80,000 miles on his bike since 1962 and his weight has dropped from 400 pounds to a slim-and-trim 260. He left Plymouth on Sept.

8 bound for Los Angeles and the Rose Bowl on Jan.l, sleeping out in the open each night of his trip. He plans to pedal his 15-year-old fen speed bike back east by April. Mr. Young is a bicycle repairman in Plymouth. (Ledger Photo by Richard Vance) Senate Bill Would Lift Spending Lid $8 Billion WASHINGTON (AP) The Senate Budget Committee is recommending that the government spending ceiling be raised to $375.1 billion for the current fiscal year, an increase of about $8.1 billion over the panel's May figures.

The committee adopted a resolution Thursday to revise the spending lid which also increases the proposed federal deficit $5.5 billion to $74.3 billion. Committee members indicated the increase in the ceiling was forced by uncontrollable spending increases in recent months. Meanwhile, House Democratic leaders were reportedly planning to ask for a increase in a proposed lid on government appropriations. The funds would be used to and Blacksmiths, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers. Under a federal railway law, the unions are legally free to walk out anytime after 12:01 a.m.

Monday. President Epperson Hearing Set For Nov. 17 Russell Lee Epperson, 25, appeared before Judge James R. Reinhard in Hannibal this morning at i which time the judge set Nov. 17 at 10 a.m.

as the time he will hear arguments on motions by the state and defendant to have Epperson undergo psychiatric examinations by doctors of their own choice. Epperson underwent; psychiatric examination at State Hospital No. 1 in Fulton from Aug. 20 to Sept. 26 this year upon order of Judge George P.

Adams. The trial of Epperson, charged in three counts with first degree murder, was taken to the Hannibal Court of Common Pleas on a change of venue from the 12th judicial circuit which includes Audrain, Montgomery and Warren Counties. Epperson remains in custody of the Marion County sheriff in the jail at Palmyra, where he was transferred from Audrain. Thomas I. Osborne, prosecuting attorney, appeared in behalf of the state this morning.

Epperson is represented by David V. Bear III. Epperson is charged with the murders of his wife, Viola Fern, and their two children, Richard Lee, 6, and DeAnn, 4, last March 26 at their home in Mexico. WASHINGTON (AP) The nation's unemployment rate rose from 8.3 to 8.6 per cent of the labor force in October, reversing a four month decline, the government reported today. The bleak job report following Thursday's announcement of a new spurt of inflation last month was a double blow to the Ford administration, which is certain to face new questions over its efforts to pull the economy from the worst recession since the 1930s.

In its report, the Labor Department said the number of unemployed in October increased by 230,000 to 8 million. The number of Americans with jobs stood at 85.4 million, about the same as in September. The size of the nation's labor force increased, rising by about 250,000 to 93.4 million last month. The increase in joblessness last month was the first since the unemployment rate reached its recession peak of 9.2 per cent last May. Since then, unemployment had dropped gradually as the nation began its recovery from the recession, falling to 8.6 per cent in June and dropping further to 8.4 per cent during the summer and finally to 8.3 per cent in September.

Labor Department officials attributed most of the increased jobless in October to persons re-entering the labor force, apparently in the hope of finding work as production in the nation's factories picked up. Some economists have expressed concern over the strength of the economic recovery, particularly over fears that renewed inflation could abort new growth. Inflation as measured by the wholesale price index jumped 1.8 per cent in October, the sharpest rise in a year, the government reported Thursday. At the White House Press Secretary Ron Nessen said the price news caused some concern among the President's economic advisers but that they wanted to "see evidence over a somewhat longer period of any the time" before reaching new conclusions on economy's direction. Despite the new upturn in unemployment, not all of the job report was bad.

The government noted that the number of unemployed seeking jobs for 27 weeks or more the so-called hardcore unemployed declined, as did the average length of unemployment. A drop from 16.2 to 15.4 weeks in the average duration of unemployment last month was the first decline since the beginning of the year. The number of hardcore unemployed dropped by about 200,000 to nearly 1.4 million. There was little change in the jobless rate among the major groups in the labor force. Unemployment rates for adult men rose from 7 to 7.1 per cent; teenagers from 19.3 to 19.9 per cent, and adult women, up from 7.5 to 7.8 per cent.

The jobless rate for married men edged down from 5.3 to 5.2 per cent, but the rate for (Continued on Page 5) Poll On Ford Says 'Nice Guy, But- NEW YORK (AP) A sizable majority of Americans think President Ford is an allround "nice guy" but most also doubt his abilities according to a Harris Poll. "Taken as a whole, the President's reputation suffers by what the public views as his closeness to big business, his lack of experience in foreign affairs and his obtuseness about the key issues," the pollster said Thursday. "Offsetting these is the public's faith in Gerald Ford's openness and integrity." A 74 to 13 per majority views Ford as a man of high integrity and a 78 to 8 per cent majority has no doubt that he is "a nice guy," Harris said. However, a 58 to 24 per cent majority feels that Ford is not very experienced in foreign at- fairs. He got a 62 to 27 negative rating on his ability to keep federal spending in line.

A 58 to 31 majority believes that Ford is wrong to "take chances with assassination by mingling among crowds in the streets." By 43 to 42 per cent, those polled rejected the notion that the President "does not seem to be very smart" about the issues facing the country. In Ford's favor, a 64 to 20 per cent majority support his firm stand against Congress on spending. By 59 to 26 per cent, they credit him with running an open administration; and by 40 to 29 per cent they believe he has appointed "good people" to administration positions. Lynette Spars With Judge Over Jurors NO GHOSTS? Last year's Halloween "haunted house" on E. Liberty st.

collapses in a heap under the impact of heavy machinery being used to raze the building. The house was used by Mexico Jaycees a year ago for their Halloween week home of haunts, but was not available this year due to condemnation and razing, and the Halloween project moved to larger quarters in the old shoe factory. Observers of the razing said no bats, ghosts, or other phenomena were seen as the walls collapsed. (Ledger Photo by Richard Vance) SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) Lynette Fromme, on trial for attempted assassination of President Ford, has spent three days in some unorthodox sparring with the judge over selection of a jury to decide her fate.

But the judge says he expects to get the jury seated and opening arguments underway before the end of today's court session. U.S. District Court Judge Thomas MacBride halted the questioning of prospective jurors Thursday after 40 persons had qualified as potential jurors. Miss Fromme, 27 and a follower of mass murderer Charles Manson, is acting as her own attorney. She is charged with attempted murder of a president in the first case under the federal law passed after the 1963 assassination of President John F.

Kennedy. She could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted. She was arrested in a park outside the state Capitol Sept. 5 after pointing a loaded pistol at Ford from two feet away. Miss Fromme displayed unorthodox legal tactics Thursday in questioning prospective jurors.

She tried to empanel one juror who said he was prejudiced against her, gave a tongue-lashing to a state engineer, made numerous unsuccessful challenges and clashed ver- (Continued on Page 5).