Bennington Banner (Newspaper) - March 1, 1966, Bennington, Vermont Partly Cloudy Fair to partly cloudy and little ture change tonight and Wednesday Low tonight will be in the middle to low 30s Yesterday's high 44 low 38 Today at 7 44 Total precipitation last 24 hours 22 inch Sunset p.m sunrise Vermont Tuesday March 1 aimer Weekly founded in 1841 Daily 1903 No 10 Cents Road Tax Grand List Pep up Town Meeting By BOB HAGERMAN town highway tax a traditionally confusing ter and the publication of the 1966 Grand List were the two key matters on which Bennington ers focused most of their tion at the first portion of the town's annual masting held last night at the Bennington tary School The floor meeting as It Is referred to dealt with eight of the 13 articles on the warning for the annual meeting with tion of officers and balloting on four other special articles to take place at the polls today At the session last night ers did set the highway tax rate at the same as It was last year and the rate that was by town selectmen Voters also set the town's eral fund tax rate at the amount recommended by men and the budget for which also Includes some additional lowance for highway expenses not covered by the highway tax The discussion that did develop on the highway tax rate was ly related to the general fund budget and that tax recommended general fund rate was based on a budget which required 000 in tax revenues was the total of estimated ex- penses less in estimated The rate itself was Regional Planning If votes Monday evening In three small towns of the county are any Indication Bennington County may be the second area of the state to adopt a wide regional planning com- mission Most towns in the county are voting on the regional planning proposition by ballot today But last night by voice vote Sunderland Woodford boro voted appropriations for the plan No town voting on the proposal last night turned it down Windham County last year formed a regional planning then calculated on the basis of an anticipated major increase in the Grand List resulting from an across the board reappraisal of residential properties con- ducted over the past two years by listers While the budget it- self was actually some higher than the 1965 budget the reduced general fund tax rate proposed by selectmen and proved by voters resulted from the changed Grand List Listers believe this will go from the figure of million to about million One question to selectmen was posed by a Banner reporter After noting that fathers recommended reduced general fund rate was related to the in- creased Grand List the reporter asked If there shouldn't be some comparable reduction in the town highway tax for the same reason Selectman Richard Van voord subsequently replied that selectmen had set their highway budget on the basis of average highway expenditures over the past few years but that when it came to tax revenues they were a bit on the conservative side and did not figure on a full of the anticipated 25 per cent Grand List increase in establishing the needed highway tax He thought that Ms board might in fact end up with some surplus in the highway budget account But the strongest support for approval of the highway tax came from the chief governing of- of the Villages of ton and North Bennington Bennington Village dent Sal that the rate would bring in more highway money be- cause of the increased Grand List but he felt the increase would not be all that much and that what there would be was ly ments to the village street sys te in A similar argument was offer ed by Fred Welling chairman of the North Bennington board of trustees who felt that if the highway tax rate were not proved the two villages way budgets are going to be all shot He noted and this is where the highway tax gets confusing that while It Is the town that sets this tax rate the villages within Its boundaries are the ones that have to live with it and can't themselves change It after the town meeting This was a reference to the fact that after the highway tax is set by the town it is applied to the Grand List of each of the arate villages and to the ing outside town with the monies collected going to each of the ties in direct proportion to their Grand Lists In any case the highway tax of was approved but the dis- cussion on the matter continued when the general fund rate next came up for action John J DeVito noted that the highway tax of would bring in about on the increased Grand List in the outside town Added to this he continued would be the which selectmen had Included for highways in their general fund budget The total DeVito said appeared to be far more than was ly needed He noted that aside from 1959 when highway es had been the out- lays for this purpose in recent years had not gone above He thus suggested at one point that selectmen could reduce their general fund highway item from to and in turn decrease the recommended eral fund rate But he did not press the point though he was one of the few who did vote no when the rate was moved for adoption and approved by voice vote DeVito also questioned the Russians First Unmanned Venus Landing National Geographic Camera Professional photographer Ivan Massar zeroes in with one of his cameras on action at the floor session Monday evening of the annual Bennington Town Meeting Massar over the past year has been taking pictures of a wide variety of Bennington scenes and activities for use with an article to be published about Bennington in the National Geographic magazine House Republicans Seek Selective Service Probe WASHINGTON UPI group of House Republicans citing what they termed mounting evidence of gross today called for a congressional investigation of the Selective Service System The search to provide manpower to fight the war in Viet Nam should be equitable and efficient We are concerned proximate figure which that it is the 30 GOP selectmen had allowed for anti- representatives said In a See TOWN MEETING statement issued in advance of Page 12 Col 3 a news conference LBJ Sends Congress Education Program not making maximum efficient use of the trained personnel It already the GOP ment said Considers Voting Age ALBANY A ed constitutional amendment nei lowering the voting age in New does not appear to York to 18 was passed be a clear order of priority in by the which the administration is Assembly and considering calling the various sent to an uncertain fate in the manpower groups for service designed to aid local in deciding The Republicans cited several points they said warranted an investigation Among administration of the draft is inefficient The papers of thousands of men are bottled up in the bureaucratic line physically and mentally qualified men will be available through June 30 Why then they ask is it necessary to re-examine pre- disqualified men a step draft director Lt Gen Lewis B Hershey recently announced UPI ident Johnson sent to Congress today a broad program to insure full education and Arr Death Plane All that remains of the Louis killing Astronauts is this form covered shell jet trainer which crashed Monday in St M See Jr and Charles A Bassett II UPI Astronaut Alan Shepard Heads Team Investigating Fatal Crash ST LOUIS Mo UPI Astronaut Alan Shepard Jr today headed an investigation into the crash of a jei trainer which claimed the lives of two fellow astronauts scheduled to try America's longest walk in space this spring Elliot M See Jr and Charles A Bassett II both crash test pilots were killed instantly Monday when their jet trainer crashed in rain and fog while attempting an instrument landing See whose voice was known to millions of television viewers as capsule communicator on previous Gemini nights was at the controls He was to have been the command pilot and Bassett the co-pilot on the Gemini 9 orbital flight during which Bassett was to have taken a stroll through space Shepard's Investigative team Includes officials from the National and Space Administration night center in Houston and other Federal Aviation Authorities Paul ney public Information director for NASA said the tion may take six weeks How a relatively simple jet trainer plane carrying two experienced test pilots could have crashed remained a mystery Witnesses said the plane appeared to be more than a half mile off course when it banked steeply at an altitude of feet sort of skidded in the air and clipped a corner of a building at the McDonnell Aircraft Corp complex here before hitting the ground and bursting into names Bassett and See were en route here to begin night training in simulators at McDonnell which tures the Gemini spacecraft Their Gemini 9 back-up crew astronauts Thomas p Stafford and Eugene A safely landed another trainer at the McDonnell field minutes after the crash Haney said the final cation from the doomed plane came when See advised ford he was going to make an instrument landing Fifteen McDonnell employes were treated at the company's first aid station and two were hospitalized not in condition Board Chairman James S McDonnell expressed deep and heartfelt sympathy to the astronauts families Space agency officials said Stafford and Cernan would likely take over as prime pilots for the Gemini 9 night with a new backup team to be chosen They could not say whether the accident would cause a delay in the space program The Gemini 8 night for later this month was not expected to be affected good health for every citizen His message set forth sals to reorganize the health functions of the Department of Health Education and Welfare to provide grants for comprehensive health planning and services on the state and community level and to push legislation to revitalize obsolete hospitals Johnson also recommended a program to redirect school lunch efforts to provide food for those who need it most Specifically he asked provide adequate nutrition for disadvantaged children He did not spell this out but the funds probably would be used to give the children hot breakfasts This would be in addition to million in cash and commodities already In the budget for school lunch grams He said the total of million is a major redirection of our school nutrition efforts so that no child in an America would be without an adequate diet He also directed HEW Secretary John W Gardner to initiate a special food service program at community centers for the elderly The President suggested that local tions would be able to offer balanced nutritious meals without charge or at reduced prices to elderly needy The President also announced he has directed Gardner to set up a center for research on the cause prevention control and treatment of alcoholism Much can he done to reduce the untold suffering and uncounted waste caused by this he told Congress Johnson recommended an increase of funds for federal research on birth control Most of his proposals were first outlined in a Feb 16 speech to the convention of the American Association of School Administrators FCC Outlaws Listening Devices WASHINGTON UPI In a ruling aimed at eavesdroppers the Federal Communications Commission has outlawed the use of listening devices such as wired olives In martinis and bugged packs of cigarettes FCC Chairman E William Henry said the rules which go into effect April 8 were designed to protect the little man from the big ear draft boards ther a college student should receive a deferment the admission of easier for science students than those taking liberal arts ses two years ago President Johnson directed Defense Secretary Robert S McNamara to make a study of the Selective Service System and offer recommendations for improving It According to the Pentagon the study has been completed but it has not yet been made public and Hershey says he has never seen it recent report by the General Accounting Office dis- closed that the services were employing about enlisted men in such activities as clerking In super- markets and bowling alleys and tending bar and waiting on tables in officers clubs It Is ridiculous for the Department of Defense to Insist upon drafting young men to be hurried Into combat when it is Confesses Killing Malcolm X NEW YORK UPI madge Hayer confessed from the witness stand Monday that he pumped about four shots into black Malcolm X He Insisted his two defendants had nothing to do with the killing The admission shocked the state Supreme Court where for seven weeks a jury of nine men and three women have been hearing evidence against the year-old Hayer also known as Thomas Hagen Norman 3X Butler 27 and Thomas Johnson 30 I just want to testify that Butler and Johnson had nothing to do with Hayer said I was there I know what happened and I know the people who were there Malcolm was gunned down as he prepared to address 400 of his followers In Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom on Feb 21 1965 The prosecution contends there was a prearranged plot to kill Malcolm From ths hour-long cross examination of Hayer following his confession it appeared the prosecution would continue its efforts to convict all three defendants despite insistence that Butler and Johnson were Innocent MOSCOW UPI unmanned Russian space ship landed today on the planet Venus and planted the Soviet coat of arms in an historic breakthrough in man's conquest of space The automatic space ship Venus 3 covered the mile distance in three and a half months giving the sians another major first over the United States Venus 3 was the first such Possible Venus Contamination JODRELL BANK England UPI Sir Bernard Lovell Britain's leading radio mer charged the sians endangered future dies of possible life on Venus by possibly contaminating its surface with organisms from earth Lovell director of the giant radio telescope here also said he hoped the Russians would produce further scientific evidence to prove their Venus 3 space probe reached the surface of the planet as claimed vehicle to make a landing on a cosmic body other than the moon It followed another Soviet first of Feb 3 when the Russians made the first soft landing on the Moon The official news agency Tass said the station fired last Nov 16 reached the surface of Venus at Moscow time It said the flight covered approximately 24 million The Russians also disclosed another space probe Venus 2 passed within miles of Venus on Sunday and went into orbit around the sun This was miles closer than dominated Senate Proponents of the contend that today young people mature more quickly while its opponents assert it is unfair to give youths under 21 the right to vote while exempting them from financial responsibilities such as contract ca's nearest approach to Venus obligations by Mariner H How the will fare in the It was believed Venus 2 was the will fare in the Senate cannot be predicted as Senate Majority Leader Earl W Brydges said he has some about it and that it more properly should be left for action by the constitutional con- vention Before it would become tive the resolution must pass both houses this year and again in 1967 or 1968 then be put on the lot for final voter approval The Russians were believed to have suffered a number of setbacks In earlier attempts to land space vehicles on the planet but did not announce their failures The failures were reported by the U.S National Aeronautics and Space tration Tass indicated that cation between earth and the historic space probe failed at the Throughout the flight lar communication was with the probe and information was Tass said During the proach of the probe to the planet the communication iod at the final stage did not take place The feat of the American Mariner H In passing within nearly miles from the planet was hailed at the time as a navigational breakthrough in man's dream of sending a manned flight to the moon to the planets and perhaps to space beyond The lack of communication in the final stage of Venus 3 may have left unsolved the mystery of the planet's surface which is cloaked In a dense atmosphere which makes it the brightest of the planets a blue white shimmer in the sky at night Western scientific sources said the Russian probe may first have succeeded in radioing back details so far unknown on the atmosphere Reconsideration Of Housing Seen Unlikely FAIRLEE UPI mont House Speaker Richard Mallary says it is very unlikely that the House will reconsider its decision last week to kill the fair housing The lawmakers refused to ad- vance the to final reading on a vote A three-fourths vote is needed to revive the Mallary said and the motion for reconsideration must come planned so it could take preliminary soundings for the arrival of Venus 3 today The United States sent an from someone who originally unmanned space craft within voted against tiie legislation 21 954 miles of the cloud- The speaker adds that the shrouded planet on Dec 14 rules would then have to be 1962 An earlier scheduled suspended to make the de- Venus fly-by in American August 1962 failed because of a malfunction of the booster rocket and this would also re- quire a three-fourths vote The legislature does not meet again until Wednesday U.S Air Cavalrymen Attack North Viet Battalion SAIGON UPI -U S air of the 18th North Vietnamese of the 173 Airborne Brigade cavalrymen swarmed down Regiment was reported holed suffered casualties when U.S cavalrymen planes supporting their ground mountain chain which encircles coastal valley and overlooks from helicopters through bomb holes blasted in a tangled jungle today in an assault aimed at trapping and killing a North Vietnamese battalion Hundreds of U.S Marines who used the same tactics Monday to gain the strategic advantage of assaulting from high ground of a swept down from the hills today toward a peninsula in the South China Sea driving 400 trapped Communist troops before them A U.S official said they had killed 115 of the enemy in bloody fighting South Vietnamese troops ing in a blocking action to support the Marine assault near the ancient imperial capital of Hue 400 miles northeast of Saigon reported killing 145 Viet Cong in their phase of the operation The 1st Cavalry troops hit a Viet Cong area further south near Bong Son about 320 miles northeast of Saigon In a new operation called Black Horse the latest phase of the continuing tion White Wing One battalion of cavalrymen landed on the top of Cay Giap Mountain and two other batta- lions pressed into the tains from the sputh and east in a massive squeeze play A South Vietnamese force moved down from the north forcing the North Vietnamese against the South China Sea The Communist battalion believed to be the 9th Battalion a the sea U.S Air Force fighter bombers kicked off the assault by dumping bombs with delayed fuses in the area The bombs blasted huge holes in the dense jungle large enough for helicopters to hover over and disgorge their troops on long ladders and ropes Waves of helicopters dropping tear gas grenades came in before the troops to clear the area The cavalrymen reported only light contact initially They killed three snipers and cap- tured three others Communist casualties bly were In the hundreds since Marine Corps swept down on a Viet Cong junk fleet trying to slip out of the region this morning under cover of pre-dawn darkness The trapped guerrillas were bombed and strafed with rocket and fire Elsewhere U.S paratroopers On the Inside News of the legislature page 2 Columnist Carlo Wolter comments on dog show page 4 Slick quick town meeting at Manchester page 6 planes supporting their action mistakenly bombed the American positions A military spokesman said fighting between the and the paratroopers was so close and Intense Sunday that the Americans were unable to pull back and let the air strikes in U.S Navy and Air Force pilots today continued to bomb military and communications targets in the North mese panhandle along the south coast The Air Force pilots struck bridges a military barracks and road segments the Navy airmen hit bridges a ferry landing and other U.S Air Force FlOOs and two Navy raiding Viet Cong supply lines northeast of Saigon today reported intense ground fire from dreaded 50 caliber All of the planes returned safely and pilots said at least 10 Viet Cong manning one of the deadly guns were believed killed The pilots said it was the first time they had run into anything in South Viet Nam as heavy as quad fifties though there have been reports in recent months of a Communist buildup in heavy antl aircraft weapons Ground fighting in most of South Viet Nam Monday and early today was light the U.S command in Saigon reported
