North Adams Transcript (Newspaper) - May 1, 1975, North Adams, Massachusetts YEAR No 199 transcript NORTH ADAMS ADAMS WILLIAMSTOWN MASSACHUSETTS THURSDAY MAY 1 1975 20 PAGES 15 CENTS Saigon's rulers decree an end to U.S influence May Day lineup Soviet leaders stand at the rostrum of the Lenin Mausoleum in Moscow today to review the traditional procession of Russian military might From left are Defense Minister Andrei Grechko President Nikolai Podgorny party chairman Leonid Brezhnev Premier Alexei Kosygin and Mikhail Suslov a prominent Politburo member AP Wirephoto Mosf refugees hot your formers CAMP PENDLETON Calif Who are these emigrants this first big wave of Vietnamese refugees arriving in the United And what is going to happen to them? Many officials fear they couldn't have arrived at a worse time in the middle of a recession An estimated 70 per cent of the persons living in tin can quonset huts and tents at this sprawling Marine base are dependents of Americans who worked in South Vietnam as con- tractors engineers employes of Agency for International Development AID and other U.S agencies They include wives children and in- laws The rest are mostly people who worked for us or associated with an immigration official here said risk cases prime targets for by the VC lie explained he meant Embassy and consular personnel teachers politicians journalists and employes of with military contracts -3 ones from of Vietnamese way aboard American mercy and have few if any of the proper im- migration papers are not expected to be here for several he said Preparations have been made to house up to persons each at Pendleton Ft Chaffee Ark and Eglin Air Force Base Fla This largest and longest emergency airlift of humans in aviation history began Tuesday Other than the American dependents the Vietnamese arrivals so far are not farmem official at to help process the refugees guess we have a few of those too But mostly these people here are were wealthy middle-class types Rebuffs Ford House turns down refugee WASHINGTON AP A aid that President Ford said was desperately needed to take care of approximately Indochina refugees was rejected today by the House Ford said House approval of the would be the fastest way to get the money and said the authority still contained in the legislation for him to use military evacuation forces in Saigon no longer has meaning The evacuation has been com- Ford said The Congress may be assured that I do not intend to send the armed forces of the United States back into Vietnamese territory But opponents including House Democratic Leader Thomas P O'Neill Jr of Massachusetts said Congress should act quickly on a new and not approve use of military troops that could set a precedent for the future The was defeated 246 to 162 drawing cheers and applause from opponents Rep Donald W Riegle RMich said Congress does not know how much money will be needed to take care of some refugees This doesn't address Riegle said This just gives the President a blank check But House International Relations Committee chairman Thomas E Morgan said the evacuation authority was moot because it applied only to evacuating Americans from Saigon and those Americans are out There is nothing in this report that gives the President any authority tomorrow the day after tomorrow or any time in the future to send one Marine back into Morgan said The authority in this report died the day the last American was Morgan said The issue here is money to take care of these poor people Speaker Carl Albert had said earlier he expected interruptions before the vote because of opposition in the House to considering the measure since It still contains authorization for the military evacuation of Saigon A stall began immediately after the House went into session Rep Philip L Burton forced a consuming roll-call vote on whether to read the previous day's journal Ford said in a letter to Congress that provisions for him to use military forces for an evacuation still contained in the have been overtaken by events and have no further utility He said the cost of caring for and processing the evacuees and con- to international organizations and volunteer agencies assisting in this effort will exceed million Further all available funds already appropriated to aid Vietnam will be programmed and utilized to the maximum extent possible for the gees Ford said He gave no estimate how much money this would be But the additional authority of million will be required to fully meet immediate the President said Morgan said the million used to transport refugees to the United States and provide clothing food and medicine for them But Morgan said it cannot be used for resettlement of refugees in permanent homes This is all emergency Morgan said We've got to pick all these people up What are we going to Throw from back into the We have to take care of them Assistant Secretary of State Philip C Habib testified Wednesday that the refugee program will cost about million over the next six months and million over the next year Secretary of State Henry A Kissinger said South Vietnamese were removed from their country and that the total could reach An earlier version of the was approved by the House two weeks ago by a vote The then went to a conference committee where differences were ironed out The final version now before the House already has been approved by the Senate Supporters of refugee aid sought to use the measure as the vehicle to authorize funds quickly because the will not have to go through the committee process that an entirely new request would Right town wrong states Paul Robbins of Ide Road told The Transcript the postal service recently went to great lengths to see that Sally Simonds who is staying with them received her letter from a young man in India The letter was addressed with the name street and town no state First it went to Williamstown then Williamstown Williamstown and Williamstown Ky until it landed here yesterday The journey from India through the five states took only a month Williamstown Vt could have been its next stop A few could even be called rich Well very few of them will be rich now It's going to be a different world for them Most are merely happy to have escaped I am said Rene Ngo 29 former professor of French at the University of Saigon My law is an American and was sponsor for my wife and I to come to the United everything One refugee arriving on a on Gen 53 former South defense and retired chairman of Hie joint general staff He was taken to an undisclosed destination A free-lance photographer from Washington brought out 12 members of his wife's family American officials in Saigon issued exit documents to dependents in the fireside relative category spouses parents and un- married children Most of the refugees are dressed in Western fashions and appeared in good health At least half of the evacuees are older women and their children age girls and elderly people A few had gold jewelry but little else other than a few suitcases The refugees are being treated as prospective immigrants They are being paroled into the United States until Congress passes legislation making them citizens Parole power was used in the to admit Hungarian refugees and in the to admit Cubans By The Associated Press The new government in Saigon an- today that it had completed the conquest of South Vietnam while North Vietnam demanded that U.S warships withdraw from coastal areas and cease what it called the forcible evacuation of the population Wasting no time after its takeover of Saigon Wednesday the Provisional Revolutionary issued a series of policy decrees aimed at building a new nation and stamping out 15 years os American influence Saigon radio said Acting like an American in such ways as operating night clubs or prostitution was now forbidden Another Viet Cong broadcast said the PRG forces had taken over the entire rice-growing delta and had dismantled the headquarters of four South army divisions at the mouth of the Mekong River There was no mention of any fighting A Viet Cong broadcast Wednesday night said eight provinces south and west of Saigon were not yet but it too said nothing about fighting in those areas Associated Press correspondents Peter Arnett George Esper and Matt Franjola sent a brief message through the Japanese Embassy in Saigon relayed to the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo that they were able to move freely around Viet Saigon Direct AP communications with Saigon have been out since Wednesday A North Vietnamese statement broadcast from Hanoi said the presence of U.S Navy ships off the coast and the evacuation constituted interference in the affairs of South Vietnam It referred to a Pentagon statement that some of the U.S warships remain more than three miles off the coast for perhaps a day to pick up any more South Mil out to them The Pentagon said Wednesday that the Navy rescue fleet in the South China Sea had picked up about South Vietnamese who escaped in sampans rafts and other small craft The North Vietnamese statement said the evacuation and the presence of the ships constituted interference in the fairs of South Vietnam South Vietnam's new rulers renamed Saigon Ho Chi Minn City in honor of the Communist leader of the Vietnamese revolution and in a series of 20 decrees warned that anyone acting like Americans or participating in such activities as opening i nightclubs brothels and other places of entertainment will be punished The decrees were broadcast by the government radio station in Saigon today Another decree promised severe punishment to anyone creating a dis- in Saigon spying carrying arms for the purpose of rioting plotting to destroy the revolutionary ment spreading propaganda and mors creating disunity or disobeying orders Thousands of soldiers and civilians marched alongside military trucks and howitzers decorated with flowers in May Day parades today through Saigon's streets Japanese newsmen reported from the South Vietnamese capital Communications for Western newsmen in the city have been cut since 7 EDT Wednesday some nine hours after President Duong Van Minn's broadcast surrendering unconditionally to the Viet Cong But Japanese newsmen sent this pooled account through the Japanese Embassy to The streets were festooned with the tricolor flag of the Viet Cong's Provisional Revolutionary Government and vith excited people The May Day parade started from three points in the center of the city Thousands of workers and students marched carrying banners and signs saying Welcome the Day of Liberation of the Motherland Many soldiers including members of the women's corps followed the military vehicles in the parades Viet Cong and North Vietnamese infantrymen began arriving in the city this morning joining the armored troops who were the first arrivals Wednesday Women on the streets were wearing the traditional ao dai overdress with pantaloons beneath or pantaloon suits Miniskirts and heavy makeup were no longer seen About workers and students visited the presidential palace The Ministries of Defense and Interior and other government offices reopened and many employes of the former ment were reported back at work A large military unit was deployed around the former presidential palace A number of PT76 tanks rocket chers and field guns were drawn up before the palace like an arms exhibition Soldiers patrolled the streets in groups of two or three and talked with the people as they patrolled Looting was halted and no firing was heard They urged soldiers of the former government to surrender and bring all weapons and aircraft to Viet Cong military headquarters and all ships to Qui Nhon and Da Nang Dukakis asks Inside Editorial II If 12 4 i I 90 State court puts limit oh violent self-defense BOSTON AP A man's home may be his castle but he may be obliged to retreat from it in some circumstances rather than kill in self-defense the state Supreme Court has ruled We hold that one assaulted in his own home does not have the unlimited right to react with deadly force without any attempt at the court said in the Wednesday ruling on three cases considered together Killing in self-defense can be justified only after one has exhausted all available means for escape and it is up to juries to decide in each case whether the homeowner had a reasonable way out the court said court Mid there was no absolute duty to escape regardless of con- siderations of personal safety and it would not require an innocent victim to increase his own peril out of regard for the safety murderous assailant Most follow the rule that one assaulted in his own home has no duty to retreat The court's principal ruling upheld the manslaughter conviction of Roberto E Staffer of who killed her fiance John with a rule shot after to her basement when he allegedly threatened her and her children There was testimony at her trial that a basement door opened to the v The murder Richard J Gagne of who killed an at kfc drug store and Kenneth L Barton who shot a woman to death In Mt home after the allegedly threatened him atoo Casual class A lone student at North Adams State College studies the sky as a more formal class in the background considers something academic Yesterday's balmy weather brought several classes at State out into the open cigarette taxes BOSTON AP Gov Michael S Dukakis confirmed today he will break his pledge and raise cigarette and gasoline taxes to pay interest on an unprecedented bond issue that will balance the state books Dukakis disclosed his plans to members of the Senate today and terwards Senate President Kevin B Harrington said the Senate will probably go along with the ernor Harrington said Dukakis has no alternative but to seek legislative permission to borrow some million to cover the state's present deficit Dukakis will seek to raise the gasoline tax by four cents a gallon and the cigarette tax by five cents a pack to pay the bond interest over five years Harrington said legislators are likely to seek budget cuts rather than taxes over and above what Dukakis has ready proposed He said the Senate will probably approve the cigarette and gas tax proposals by a comfortable majority but the bond issue request requiring a two- thirds approval will get through after a tougher struggle The governor said he told senators they have no choice but to approve his program to borrow state money and then raise taxes to pay the interest on the bonds Unless the legislature accepts his program Dukakis said the finances and paying will grind to a halt at the end of May Hospitals pharmacists doctors nursing homes won't be he said and welfare checks will cease on May 31 I gave them the senators a very sober message Dukakis was scheduled to brief members of the House later today and officially announce his finance program Friday morning Dukakis said in the campaign he would not raise taxes but later aides said that pledge was based on a projected deficit of million The weather Showers likely tonight and tomorrow Low near U U Us Details Page n
