Lawton Constitution And Morning Press, The (Newspaper) - July 8, 1973, Lawton, Oklahoma Fuel Shortage Product Of Anticompetitive Practices Study Indicates By C DAVID WALLACE WASHINGTON AP A Federal Commission staff study says nation's petroleum shortage is the uct of anticompetitive practices fostered by government lations and manipulated by the major oil companies to protect profits In the many levels in which interrelate lie majors demonstrate a clear preference for avoiding competition through mutual cooperation and the use of exclusionary the study said The oil companies have be- haved in a similar fashion as would a classical they have attempted to in- crease profits by restricting The only effective com- petition to survive hai come from independent gasoline tions said the staff The study estimated thai ent stations closed in the first five months of this year What has happened here is thai majors have used die shortage as an occasion lo at- tempt to debilitate if not cate the independent ing sector If the majors attempt is at all successful in diminishing the market shares of ents the consumer will pay dearly for tills the study said The study is the result of nearly two years of work The staff obtained la de- tailed questionnaires on between the majors and independents Attorneys and economists searched the files of more than 50 cooperating companies Federal and stale regulators provided Executives of major oil companies have been called before nonpublic ings The study was at the request of Congress and to the commission last Monday The commission lias not taken any action nor made the document public The Associated Press ed a copy from sources outside the FTC Also under study by the com- missioners is a legal analysis of possible tions aimed nt spurring com- petition in the industry In- dustry sources have said the analysis recommends a con- antitrust attack on the biggest companies control over pipelines refining operations and marketing The report noted that Arco Exxon Gulf Mobil Texaco Shell Standard Oil Co of fornia and Standard Oil Co of Indiana are across the board in the petroleum in- dustry As of 1070 the eight held per cent of the nation's proved crude oil counted for 58 per cent of the crude refining capacity and sold 55 per cent of the gasoline that the nation's motorists bought The petroleum refining in- dustry is the pivotal point in the petroleum the study said A shortage of refining ity has been cited as Uie root cause of present luel shortages The FTC staff argued that the refinery level is where industry cooperation and government policies have granted tlie most Sec FUEL Col 5 Have A GOOD THE LAWTON CONSTITUTION MORNING PRESS Temperature Chart 73 night ao n p.m N 77 p.m tt p.m VI 99 p.m M p.m n p.m U M p.m 12 Courtesy public Cf 24-Hour Ending Saturday 75 71 14 Volume 23 AP AP WIREPHOTO THIRD AND A AVL LAWTON OKLA SUNDAY JULY 8 1973 78 PAGES SINGLE COPY PRICE Nixon Says Separation Of Powers Would Be Jeopardized President Flatly Refuses To Testify On Watergate COOL JOB Willy Rodriguez 19 finds a way lo beat the near heat at Doe Doe Park where he is a lifeguard Even hotter weather is ed today with temperatures due to climb into the low Staff Photo Wilbur D Mills House Ways Means Chairman May Quit At End 01 Term WASHINGTON AP Rep Mills who entered the D Mills j race last year but man of the House Ways and i dropped out after failing to Means Committee and for years a congressional leader in gain support in the Democratic primaries said he would make economic matters final decision at a later date Saturday he would resign at the llis of his current term campaign began last year after s his health I he permitted his name to In a real by on primary ballots I've said reached the conclusion that i less I can be relieved of 1 0 flit pain incidental to a ated disc my present term of loo much about the presidency really to want it as some seem to want he said be- fore beginning to campaign Long a proponent of lax re- of Mills as Means Committee has been a ir passage Fuel Crisis To Worsen Steed Says SHAWNEE i America will have fuel and food shortages but they will be temporary U.S Rep Tom Steed said here Saturday ing that I am up to my ears in optimism about tlie situations The fuel shortage is far more serious than the food shortages he indicated and will get worse The domestic oil industry has been severely crippled in past 10 years the veteran I Democrat said and we are rapidly approaching the point j j where we are going to be at the I mercy of foreigners Becoming Helpless We are becoming alarmingly helpless I Steed added It has to get before it can be better j and people are going to suffer a lot because won't listen meet people every day who think it's a myth Steed talked about the fuel and food shortages the my Watergate and a variety of other subjects in a long view with Mike McCormick of the Shawnee hometown newspaper We don't have enough ing he said of the fuel crisis Even if we did have the oil we would still Interest Hike Won't Harm City Housing Market Experts Claim By DAVE TJOME LOAN authorities aad builders agree that currently steady ing market in the Lawton area will not be affected by the announcement that interest rates on home loans will soon 30 up The Department of Housing and Urban De- velopment HUD said Thursday that it plans to increase the interest ceiling on Federal Housing Authority FHA and Veterans Ad- ministration VA home loans from 7 to per cent Congress is expected to extend power to insure and guarantee home mortgages next week mating the raise It's something that had to one Lawton home builder said Friday ers have been looking for this to hoping that it would a long time Feeling the brunt of the increase will be the home buyer As an example of what the interest rate hike will mean the er On a home mortgage the payment will be 515 per month more to the buyer Although Uie cost homes will be higher to the consumer with the increase in interest rales on FHA and VA loans the builder said he did not expect to see a change in the home buying market here The ket has been strong to steady here I don't look for a he said The mortgage department manager of a city company that handles FHA VA and conventional home loans also said he pates little change in the home buying ket here I don't see much ol a change at all The increase on mortgage interest will make ple think he said but people ing a home will still buy The manager pointed out that FHA loans require per cent mortgage ance charge in addition to the lending rate This win boost FHA mortgage rates to per cent He said the per cent mortgage insurance charge does not apply to VA loans The new per cent rote is the highest for home loans since 1970 when the rate climbed lo S per cent on VA loans and a subsequent per cent on FHA INTEREST page IA Col Letter Sent To Chairman Of Probers service in the House of will be my last Fair lo partly cloudy skies and hot temperatures are ex- li ias become Increasingly I peeled to continue in Lawton at while I may be Southwest Oklahoma io continue actively in public I least Monday life for some years 1 cannot The U.S Weather physical reasons presently said readings here would range history of Social Security legis- lation Elected to Congress when lie to maintain the from highs today and Monday was 99 Mills and his wife have standards of service which I Uie low to a low tonight lived in the same apartment have temporary have always set for helot about 75 High Saturday was they moved to in 1939 but it will adjust itself said MILLS coi s We eat too much We would Chairman of the committee since 1958 he was controlled legislation on taxes Social curity health insurance and welfare re- getting form He is known to be able to cite sections of complex tax laws from memory and recall the PENSACOLA Fia AP A federal judge Saturday fined contempt of court for violating a ban against making sketches of the inside of his courtroom Tlie sketches were made lowing a hearing for eight sons charged with conspiring to it distributed Magnitude Great Tlie magnitude of this thing is great It's not any fairy tale T It's a deadly serious the 1972 Republican Na that could have been avoided Convention with violence When the balance stricken between the rights free press and fair trial a fair and impartial and orderly trial must come U.S District Judge Winston handing down finding Amow days pay the fine or appeal the case to a higher court He Of the food shortages he We have a better picture than with the fuel crisis This something we can do something about We're not going to starve doesn't mean we SAN CLEMENTE Calif i AP President Nixon flatly I refused Saturday to testify be- the Senate Select gate Committee under any circumstances or to permit access to his presidential pers I have concluded lhat if I were to testify before the com- irreparable damage would be done to the con- principle of tion of Nixon said Remarks In Letter His remarks were in a letter from the Western White House Watergate committee man Sen Sam J Errin D- in response to from some committee memberi that he appear I must and shall resist any requests which would ize the separation of powers said From his home in Morganton N C Errin I think that it is very unfortunate that the President of the United States is unwilling to make s full disclosure to the American people of all that he knows The President said he had agreed to permit unrestricted testimony of present and Ray I Garrett 52 and Sommer White House staff Jr of Chicago and both specialists in before the But he ruled out access to compiled by the President or and Exchange Commission He i the nation's stock ex- his immediate staff lo preserve changes and other securities indispensable principle of confidentiality of presidential CBS TV News Chooses Garrett By Judge Smmer for SK Posts CBS Television News s deviate Garrett AP President Nixon Saturday he is commission chairman Sommer Jr of Cleveland to rill I laws would sit on the two vacancies on the Securities member commission that markets is a Republican Sommer is a Democrat If their nominations are confirmed by Senate Republicans would hold a majority on the com ia j mission The SEC was shaken in May Decision On Industry Expected Soon MICK TAYLOR LOCAL industrial ters a decision sometime this week from the unidentified manufacturing firm that announced last month its interest in locating a new plant in Lawton Officials from the firm con- ducted a three-day survey in June to determine if the local labor force could support a major industry Some persons responded by sub- their job applications to company representatives J T Neal president of the Lawton Industrial tion which helped coordinate the survey said he anticipates a decision from the firm's board of directors sometime this week They told us when they were here that it would be two to three Neal said I feel that we will hear something from them this week The response to the labor market survey held June 20 drew words of ment and satisfaction from company officials reported ert Head LIF director said at the close of the survey that he was confident the in- firm would locate in Lawton Over 700 jobs would be created here and perhaps more in tlie surrounding area does locate in Lawton representatives said At least one other firm expressed strong interest in the survey outcome Neal said under way between LIF officials and tives of that Jinn he said probably be better off if we had j a little less to eat He said America is the blessed country on earth when it comes to having enough food We arc Uie most modern producing civilization We will have fuel and food shortages but we will get by They will be temporary types and I am up to my ears in op- that we will pull through i He said he hopes Phase 4 of tlie economic controls won't last loo long He said the method is dis- agreeable but I don't know anything that beats it on a basis He said he would not be critical of the price con- SH STEED Poet Col 7 by the resignation of chairman amid controversy over his role handling a commission com- Robert L Vesco Vesco papers Explains Press Secretary Ronald L Ziegler said Nixon's refusal to appear was a decision made by the President to defend the office of the presidency Nixon cited as precedent for his action the refusal ol former President Harry S Truman to comply with a subpoena lo House Com- More Power Recommended For Lake Patrolmen By SKIP GIBSON LAKE patrolmen have extremely limited authority to enforce city ordinances but power if they were sworn in as peace officers City Attorney Jerry Cude has concluded in a legal opinion to the city manager The report completed this week is in city hands Some aldermen have recently called attention to lack of authority to deal effectively with ordinance violations at Lake and Lake Ellsworth Both reservoirs have been experiencing high recreational use With high use the problem of law enforcement also has been heightened After reviewing state and city laws dealing with municipal regulation of water districts Cude found that the local lake patrolmen under existing laws have no specific power to enforce the ordinances He traced the lack of authority to the fact that patrolmen are not commissioned peace officers This leaves them much less authority than say Lawton police State law further requires that police or peace officers have a certificate of completion in a basic police less than 120 hours of accredited instruction II allows persons appointed as peace officers one year in which to obtain their course instruction Cude recommended that patrolmen be commissioned if city want city fully enforced at the lakes The law would allow them up to one year to complete their educational requirements
