Independent Record (Newspaper) - November 27, 1972, Helena, Montana Romney makes formal his resignation plans WASHINGTON AP George Romney an- today he will leave the Department of Housing and ban Development as soon as his successor is confirmed by Con- gress Romney said he plans to create a coalition of concerned citizens which will define what he called issues Romney released at a news conference his letter of nation to President Nixon and the While House response in it In a Dear George letter Nixon said tion is a source of special re- gret to me even though we have discussed your desire to leave the Cabinet for several months enormously Nixon said that Romney had contributed enormously not only of your time and energies but also of that profound con- cern for the public good that has been the mark of your life and your career At the news conference ney gave scant detail of his ture saying that he would hold more meetings with the as HUD secretary and would announce the details of the posed citizens organization when he had resolved them in his own mind Romney 56 a former igan governor came to in the business world as head of American Motors He said in his statement thore is a growing need for adequate citizen participation in the national decision process During the past nine months Romney has expressed in speeches his desire to lead a concerned citizens organization giving rise to speculation that it would be a Republican Com- mon comparable to the citizens lobby headed by John Gardner Romney refused to discuss who might succeed him in the Cabinet He came to the Nixon in the President's inal Cabinet four years ago Romney's relations with the White House have not been as good as some in the ine although Romney said day he had had five meetings with the President during the past year at four of which the formation of his citizens group was discussed rift One rift between and the White House came into the open last August in the after- math of Tropical Storm Agnes in which Romney was directed to go to Wilkes-Barre Pa to take personal charge of a flood relief program and report in writing to the President The memorandum was re- leased to the While House press before Romney received a copy or was even advised of its tence During his trip to nia Romney got in arguments with Democratic Gov Milton Shapp as well as some of the persons seeking flood relief funds Shortly after his return from Pennsylvania Romney an- that he would be ing the Cabinet but told men he would remain on until after the election at the request of President Nixon FROM MONTANA'S CAPITAL CITY Established Dec 17 1865 Helena Montana Monday Evening November 27 1972 5 Viefs want direct talks with North TOUGH TRACKING Helena motorists on the way to work this morning found the going both slow and hazardous particularly on the steeper streets as indicated by this scene on Seventh Avenue A number of accidents were reported and Sixth Avenue from Last Chance Gulch to Warren was closed until the sanding tracks ar- rived after two accidents occurred within feet of each other Staff photo by don Warren SAIGON AP South nam was reported today to have taken the position that North Vietnam will have to negotiate with it directly in Paris before any break-through can be made in concluding a peace agreement South Vietnamese sources watching developments in Paris also said that both sides will have to make some con- The newspaper Tin Song con- trolled by the Presidential ace said the dispatch to Paris of Hoang Due Nha President Nguyen Van Thieu's closest ad- viser indicates that there will be significant developments in Paris in the coming days Sources said Nha will lie ad a team of South Vietnamese dealing with Henry A Kissinger when the secret talks President Nixon's curity adviser and Hanoi's Le Due Tho resume Dec 4 Nha also would be available to join the secret talks directly should North Vietnam agree the sources added Tin Song said it is widely known that the position of South Vietnam is hat North Vietnam must withdraw its troops from the South the de- militarized zone must be at Hie 17th Parallel demarcation line and the tion and responsibility of the so-called National Council of Reconciliation and Concord be clearly defined No more Nixon Kissinger meet for third straight day CAMP DAVID Md AP President Nixon scheduled his third meeting in as many days with Henry A Kissinger today possibly as a prelude to a down with the South ese on terms of a proposed Vietnam ceasefire Nixon who flew to his land mountain retreat here Sunday night after spending the weekend in New York City ar- ranged to confer during the afternoon with Kissinger his chief negotiator to the secret Vietnam peace talks in Paris The meetings came amid speculation by administration sources that an interruption in the Paris peace talks may mean the United States has de- to tell South Vietnam that no more concessions can be won from North Vietnam in a ceasefire agreement Resume Dec 4 The talks which adjourned Saturday are scheduled to re- sume Dec 4 U.S Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker met for 10 minutes day with South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu in Saigon There was no an- on what was dis- cussed but one source said Bunker may have delivered a private message to Thieu from President Nixon Thieu's senior foreign policy adviser Nguyen Phu Due was expected to arrive in ton from Paris today or day The White House said over the weekend that Nixon had agreed to a request from Thieu to receive Due for discussions of the ceasefire negotiations in Paris Administration officials had said as late as Friday that on would not meet Due and the apparent change of mind was regarded by other sources as significant The President met with singer twice while in New an hour late day night after Kissinger returned from Paris and again for an hour Sunday morning Main problem Some observers suspected that a decision by Le Due Tho Hanoi's chief negotiator to re- main in Paris while Kissinger returned here for consultations indicated the main negotiating problem is between the United Slates and Saigon Administration sources said that if the talks between ger and Tho had reached an in- surmountable barrier the would have been ken off indefinitely as in the past rather than being re- for Dec 4 Nixon is expected to spend most if not all of the week at Camp David dealing with the Vietnam negotiations and his plans for reorganizing the eral bureaucracy He scheduled a morning today with Atty Gen Richard G Kleindienst The last member of the Cabinet to discuss reorganization with the chief executive Kleindienst has been rumored to be on the verge of leaving his Justice De- post Cabinet shuffle Tuesday By FRANK CORMIER Associated Press Writer CAMP DAVID Md AP President Nixon said today an- of sweeping net changes will begin Tuesday He also said Secretary of De- fense Melvin n Laird will leave government service The chief executive ing briefly before a dozen men at his mountain retreat said his aim in reorganizing the federal government is to find ways to do a better job with fewer people largest personnel cuts ho would he made in the White House staff which he said has grown like Topsy Eliminated speculation The President who spoke after George announced his as the secretary of Housing and Urban Development eliminated from speculation about future appointments the names two prominent political figures for- mer Democratic Gov John B Connally of Texas and can Gov Nelson A of New York Nixon said either man would have made a very valuable ad- dition to the Cabinet but said each has told him that he would prefer not to take a permanent job at this time No secret Laird had made no secret of his desire to resign as tary of Defense However there had been some tion he might take some other federal past Nixon said Laird wanted to leave government service The President who told re- porters he will be spending in- creasing amounts of time at Camp David during his second term also disclosed that Caspar ger will be leaving his post as director of the Office of agement and Budget He said Weinberger would get another top level assignment The executive said the first Cabinet change will be an- ly referred to his choices for Cabinet rather than nations of all Cabinet changes would be announced by Dec 15 Navy opens arson trial NORFOLK Va AP A Navy prosecutor opened the court-martial of Jeffrey Allison today by promising to introduce a totally corroborated con- in which the old sailor allegedly admitted setting a aboard the aircraft carrier Lt Kenneth M Greene said Navy investigators elicited the confession and that evidence would show Allison was the only person with access to the area where the fire began July 10 Stanley Sacks Allison's ian lawyer disputed the tence of the confession saying it was a verbal statement made under duress Although the Navy settled on Allison as its prime suspect Sacks said there had been a report that one of the fires aboard the carrier was started by a black sailor Allison is white The Oakland Calif seaman is charged wilh arson wilfully hazarding a vessel sabotage and possession and distribution of drugs SNOWMAN The light snow which fell on Helena early this morning aroused the anticipation of these three youngsters and they anxiously looked out a front window of their home waiting for enough snow for their first snowman But at noon the outlook of such activity looked dim Staff photo by Dave Shors Light snow is factor in 9 accidents Although the snowfall was light in Helena this morning enough sifted onto the streets to play a contributing role in nine accidents during a two-hour period from to Two accidents reported to Helena police occurred at the same location in front of St Paul's Methodist Church on Lawrence within two minutes of each other at about First a truck hit a parked car and then a car hit the parked car There were no injuries other than to pocketbooks according to investigating Helena policemen The remaining fender benders a car hit a stop sign at the corner of Eleventh and Davis 8 a car hit a parked car at 155 E Sixth two vehicles collided at the intersection of Euclid and Benton a car hit a parked car at 825 Dearborn a city truck hit an army vehicle at the intersection of Sixth and Jackson a car and truck collided on Eleventh between Ewing and Warren a car hit a car at the intersection of Boulder and Cooke Only about 03 of an inch of snow was recorded at the Helena airport this morning according to the National Weather Service The forecast is it will remain mostly cloudy Continued on page 2 Highway toll 651 for holiday By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The n a t i o n s death toll for the four-day Thanksgiving holiday was 651 Rain snow fog and high winds in various parts of the country made driving hazardous Sunday Up to 3 inches of snow across the Great Lakes region snarled traffic and gale force winds blew from Massachusetts to Maine For purposes of counting traffic fatalities The Associated Press considered the holiday period to have extended from 6 p.m Wednesday to midnight Sunday in each time zone The 1972 count was slightly higher than the 1971 toll of 607 deaths but less than the 764 in 1968 The National Safety Council which does not keep a weekend tally had estimated that 680 to 680 persons would die in traffic accidents over the holidays
