Alton Telegraph (Newspaper) - December 31, 1976, Alton, Illinois I M OJN TELEGRAPH Serving Madison Jersey Greene and Calhoun Counties Vol 141 No 207 IS lit Dec 31 1078 78 ffc in China points threat to new regime By JOHN RODERICK TOKYO AP New reports of violence In China suggest that though Mao widow and her three leading party allies are under arrest their radical followers still pose a powerful threat to the new Peking regime Maos successor Communist party Chairman Hua Kuofeng recognized this danger in a Dec 25 speech when he called on the masses to wage a peoples war in 1977 against the gang of four and their adherents The latest reports say armed radicals clashed with the ruling moderates in a key rail center 100 miles southwest of Peking It took a concerted effort by the army to put an end to great chaos in the city the official reports said They did not say when the violence occurred Hua said last weekend that a planned coup by radicals led by Maos widow Chiang Ching was put down without fir ing a single shot or shedding a drop of Did he need it for stolen car While forecasters were looking ahead to a subzero overnight low temperature one man in Alton made sure he could get his car started this morning he shoplifted two gallons of antifreeze from a State Street store Rain owner of the Rain Rain Market at 2521 State told police the man came in about grabbed the two jugs of antifreeze and ran out of the store heading east on Street The antifreeze was valued at per gallon a total of Cigarette smokers set record WASHINGTON AP A dozen years after the famous surgeon generals report on the hazards of smoking cigarette use is at an high with tobacco sales up by a billion dollars over last year the Agriculture Department says The said Thursday lhal people who smoke chew or sniff lobacco nearly billion on tobacco this year compared with billion in 1975 More than 90 per cent of the money for cigarettes The statistics released by the menl which subsidizes tobacco growing create a different picture lhan issued by antismoking groups showing a decreasing number of adult smokers The department said Americans smok ed an estimated 620 billion cigarettes this year a per cent increase over the billion a year ago With further gains expected next year in population and consumer spending cigarette consumption and output may rise the department report said The National Clearinghouse for Smok ing and Health said fall lhal Ihe percentage of adult smokers is lower now than five years ago The clearinghouse and the Agriculture Department did agree that there is a trend toward cigarettes Meanwhile the American Cancer Society is gearing up for a fiveyear cam cigarette smoking Allan K Jonas chairman of the societys National Task Force on Tobacco and Cancer has said that cigarette smoking is responsi ble for nearly cancer deaths a year practically one in every five deaths from this 1976 in perspective The top 10 Telegraph area stones of 1976 plus roundups on higher education state government and business are featured today examines the Top 10 stories selected by Telegraph editors and reporters Also colum nist Doug Thompson hands out his annual awards Dennis McMurray examines higher education in the area and spotlights the appointment of Ed native Bum to replace the late John S Rendleman as President of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville BUI Lambrecht of our Springfield bureau wraps up State government in 1976 with a look at the incoming administration of James Thompson And Dave Miles looks at area business in perspective on the Business page BU Hua insisted the situation was very stable In the of the ar rest of the four radicals In October on charges of treason Enough seems to have happened in Paoting however to cast doubt on Huas claims It may be surprising that more serious cases of unrest have not been reported given Chinas ils huge popula tion and the fact lhal Ihe radicals were strongly influential in the decade preceding Maos death last September In gaining power the moderates had the backing of the army the party elders and Ihe immense Chinese bureaucracy As long as these elements remain firm and as long as they continue to control the mass media they seem like ly lo prevail Against powerful Chiang Chings could count on some elements of the militia millions of as Red Guards during the 196669 Cultural Revolution and later In the universities and thousands of party cadres who owed their jobs to Madame Mao The moderate press claims lhat Chiang Chings efforts to subvert the militia in Shanghai and elsewhere were slopped by loyal militiamen and that Shanghais workers have turned against the four who had depended on that port city of 10 million as a power base Bui lillle has been said about the cur rent role of the students who only a few months ago were denouncing the moderate policies of Ihe late Premier Chou Enlai and if the moderates are to be believed never lo imprison or otherwise suppress their critics Told for years that they were the vanguards of the and that to rebel was many of these youths undoubtedly slill see Ihe new order as a of communism These trained in violence during the Revolution may now have gone underground New Years is expensive Associated Press Writer Carol and Norman are plan ning to ring in the New Year at a bash in Miami where Liza and Sammy will sing Thats Carol Channing Norman Mailer Liza Minelli Sammy Davis Jr The cost up to a couple Visitors to a restaurant in Sausalito will spend a bit less Dressed as if it were the 1920s theyll wash down their pizza with champagne The cost at the door When ends tonight Americans will usher In the first year of their third cen tury and close out their Bicentennial year with millions of celebrations noisy and quiet drunk and sober Somewhere over the Atlantic a super sonic Concorde jet will roar into the New Year as its passengers paying for the round trip roar through the second of three New Years Eve par in and in Washington And in Cherryville 30 or 40 men will fire off muskets outside their neighbors homes as they and their predecessors have done for two centuries and they will shout For the old years gone and the new years come And for good luck well fire our The man who will become president three weeks from now Jimmy Carter told the nation in a New Years greeting Thursday that he expects 1977 to show a national determination to put old divi sions behind us as the country pursues pur national goals of peace progress The Telegraph will not publish Satur day New Years and But New Years Eve was not just a lime for hope The National Safety Council predicted that traffic accidents would kill 350 to 450 Americans over the weekend By and large Americans were planning to gather in their traditional ways at private or at celebrations in and bars In New York for example the plans in cluded the timehonored celebration in Times Square where the familiar lighted globe will descend at midnight FATHER TIME GREETS Mrs Earl Brown 2022 Chapin Alton and her daughter Jeni Elizabeth in Alton Memorial Hospital Telegraph photo by L Allen Father Time wont slow down Telegraph Writer Christopher who will be three years old in April mistook Father Time for Santa Claus Bye Christopher chirped in the halls of Alton Memorial Hospital Thursday afternoon after chatting amiably with the bearded figure of Lloyd Robinson 261 Walnut Alton Christopher son of Mr and Mrs Terry fillE Delmar Alton was totally unafraid of the 70yearold Robinson who has been portraying the traditional New Years Eve symbol of Father Time complete with flowing beard and scythe for hospital patients since 1958 Robinson had stopped in the hall to talk with Christopher while on a picture taking session at Alton Memorial Robinsons visit was a day too soon because of the picture session and the hospital staff greeted him with cries of Hey youre early Robinson will begin his hospital visits about dark today cheering patients and hospital staffs at Alton Memorial St Josephs St Anthonys and Wood River Township hospitals It will take him about five hours He will enter the rooms of patients usually with a nurse or other hospital staff member and extend New Years greetings In all the years he has been portraying Father Time Robinson has missed only twice once when he was ill at home and once it was too icy to go out The indefatigable Robinson who un derwent heart surgery two years ago and wears a pacemaker has slowed down somewhat He used to visit nursing homes and some churches on New Years Eve in addition to hospitals but says his legs wont take it It began in 1958 when Robinson dressed up as Father Time and went to visit a sick friend in Alton Memorial The idea was to cheer him up While he was there the nurses asked him to visit other patients and so a tradition began He is now a familiar sight each year A hospital is a drab place to be on New Years says Robinson Father Time is a bit of cheer for patients and people made his visits as Father Time anonymously Nobody knew who he was until about 10 years ago somebody recognized his voice The costume he wears consists of a white nylon garment a straw hat a flowing beard used for Santa Claus and a scythe its cutting edge taped for safety Robinson is retired from construction work he built his own house out of massive stone He has no set speech when he visits patients in the hospitals as Father Time except to wish them all a happy New Year Robinson is a deacon at Cherry Street Baptist Church and says the majority of the people he has visited over the years have had a deep faith in God But now lime is catching up with Father Time himself and he hopes somebody younger will take over his task of New Years Eve visits People who are sick need somebody to give them a lift Robinson says who admits he is slowing down He used to go until midnight on his New Years Eve excursions but no more The halls get longer and I get he says On unionization of public bodies Op Ed AS Belly Ford Well miss you College era ended with death of John Airport board okays bond ordinance Sports Purple People Beaters do il again Chris Colman describes his bird room Warmer Low 10 below High 15 Suspects welcome police MIAMI AP Two teenagers who allegedly stole a womans purse welcom ed police afler an impromptu posse of 30 irate citizens chased down wilh a chain and sat on them authorities say The robbers were glad to see said Police Maj Philip Doherly afler he rescued Johnny Bailie 19 of Miami and a 14yearold boy whose name was nol released II was heartwarming to see the citizen added Doherty Young old black white everybody in Ihe neighborhood joined in In case they overwhelmed them with It all began Wednesday night when Rose Marie Verne 50 of Miami Beach was knocked down by two young men who took purse police said The vic tim described as having a good set of began yelling Blast of arctic air puts mercury in area at 10 THIS YOU Press reporter Anne Gold is shown during an experiment in which she consumed 14 ounces of 80 proof whiskey in q little more than three hours The idea was to show readers what could happen to them if they drink a little too much alcohol New Years Eve AP Telegraph Staff Writer A blast of air ushered New Years Eve inlo Ihe Telegraph area where Ihe dropped to a record 10 below zero early this morning Service stalions were swamped wilh phone calls for help from shivering motorists who struggled to start their frozen cars At the al Louis Airport fell to a of 10 below zero with a wind chill factor of nearly 30 below said Waldheuser supervising forecaster al Ihe St Louis Weather Bureau Weve already had 450 road service calls to start said George Casey of the Auto Club of Missouri Fifteen auto club telephone operators were busy answering trouble calls from motorists throughout the Metropolitan area Including Alton and Wood River We have a waiting list to start said Roller of Roller Shell Service in Alton Alton Towing and Freds were also busy answering calls At the Alton Locks and Dam the temperature dropped to 9 below zero The cold snap is also taking its toll in the Illinois and Mississippi rivers where ice is beginning to slow barge traffic New Years Eve revelers svill feel the cold snap tonight when the temperature is expected to drop again to nearly 10 below zero Furnaces are working overtime and consuming more fuel in the cold wave which has spread through the area Fuel oil companies are busy making home deliveries to customers as the temperature hovers just above the zero mark Robert W Schrimpf president of Piasa Motor Fuels Inc reported that sales for fuel oil are up 25 per cent in 1976 as compared to the 1975 heating season Crews of Piasa Motor Fuel are making approximately 150 deliveries a day to supply fuel oil to homes in the area Although sales of fuel are up customers are conserving more heat in an effort to save money on fuel bills Schrimpf said In 1973 when the price of fuel oil was increased cul of fuel by dropping their four lo six degrees he said R A Thomeczek of Thomeczek Oil i Allon reported an increase of 30 per cent in sales of fuel oil compared to the healing season lasl year Thomeczek said loo lhat consumers are attempting to conserve more fuel to save on fuel bills Officials of two area plumbing and heating firms said the cold weather has not in many calls because of frozen pipes or malfunctioning fur naces Walter of Modern Plumbing Heating in East Alton said winters havent been as cold in recent years as they were 25 years ago As a result he said the ground freezes to a depth of only a few inches Years ago Walter said the ground would freeze much deeper He said another reason for fewer ser vice calls because of cold wheather is in the betler furnaces in homes today Better equipment means fewer break downs he said Myles McCahill vice president of Alton Plumbing Heating said his firm has had no response lo Ihe cold weather He explained Ihe company has received no calls on frozen pipes or furnace troubles during the current cold snap McCahill said he believes real furnace troubles hit about three or four days after the start of a cold snap meaning troubles would be seen and over the weekend when business places such as plumbing and heating firms will be closed Another reason he said is people take care of themselves and do their own work on frozen pipes and make minor furnace repairs McCahill said one reason firms like his gel fewer routine calls is financial On Jan he said our rales go up to per WHO says its cold
