Titusville Herald (Newspaper) - May 31, 1978, Titusville, Pennsylvania Thundershowers GOOD MORNING A few thundershowers are expected today in the Oil Creek Valley Partly cloudy tonight and Thurs day Highs both days 80 Low tonight 55 TWENTY CENTS News and Advertising Pipeline Into the Oil Creek Valley TITUSVILLE PA WEDNESDAY MORNING MAY 311978 TIIK President Assails Cubans in Africa WASHINGTON AP Pres ident Carter on Tuesday assailed Cubas massive placement of troops in Africa and Secretary of State Cyrus R Vance held open the possibility of Western aid for building a PanAfrican security force Carter emerged from a secret summit session of North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders saying to reporters The general feeling inside NATO is that the Cubans have exceeded any bounds of propriety in having massive placement of troops in Africa and this certainly makes their claim to be a nonaligned country ridiculous Western authorities estimate that Cuba has between 38000 and 40000 troops in various African countries Later Vance answering questions at a news conference labeled the formation of a Pan African force as an interesting idea that we would like to consider I certainly would not rule out the possibility of some sort of economic assistance to such a force but its much too early to draw any conclusions on it Vance added Key Western nations will meet in Paris on Monday for preliminary talks that would serve as a prelude to a broader conference on African security to Iwo Hero Fired CONCORD NH AP A Marine who helped raise the American flag on Iwo Jima in what became a symbol of World War II was fired during the Memorial Day weekend as the night manager of a Manchester motel Rene Gagnon 53 is one of two survivors the only Marine survivor of the flag raising captured in a Pulitzer Prize winning photograph by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal Three of the six men in the picture were killed during 35 days of savage fighting for the island Gagnon said he was fired Monday by James Gleason co owner of the Queen City Motel He said Gleason complained about an interview with Gagnon in Saturdays Concord Monitor The newspaper said Gagnon closed the motel before it was full one night last week The article also said Gagnon rented a room to a couple obviously having an affair I wasnt given a chance to point out that what I said and what he the reporter observed on his own were different things Gagnon said All he Gleason said was Youre all through Gleason who won three Distinguished Flying Crosses and eight Air Medals in World War II combat as a Navy flier said Gagnons employment at the motel had been stormy He said the interview was the last straw I did everything I could for the guy Gleason said But its just come to an end He said Gagnon has had drinking problems which Gagnon acknowledged The historic flag was raised four days after a bloody am assault by the Marines on Feb 191945 The island was one of a dwindling number defended by the Japanese with suicidal determination to delay the American advance On Feb 23 12 days before his 20th birthday Gagnon was among Marines and a Navy corpsman who climbed Mount Suribachi I wos highest point and raised the flag The scene is immortalized in a huge sculpture the Iwo Jima memorial near Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia be held in Brussels on June 13 and 14 he said Vance said the government of Zaire will attend the Brussels meeting which will focus on the central African eco nomic problems resulting from the recent invasion of Shaba province by rebels based in An gola Besides the United States the Paris and Brussels talks will be attended by France Great Brit ain West Germany and Belgium Vance said Both Cuba and the Soviet Union have disavowed responsibility for the invasion of Shaba formerly known as Katanga by exiled separatists Carter however dismissed these denials when he emerged from the NATO conference room He said Cuba knew about it and encouraged it and were responsible for the training and of course the military weapons used were the same ones that the Cubans used supplied by the Soviet Union Although the African situation was a major focus of the NATO discussions alliance leaders also talked about other aspects of EastWest relations including the buildup of Soviet military power in Europe and Soviet political activity around the world At the opening of the NATO DA Raps Fineman Grant PHILADELPHIA AP District Attorney Edward Ren dell said Tuesday he was not very impressed with a City Council grant to a foundation to help convicted whitecollar criminals which was founded by former House Speaker Herbert Fineman convicted a year ago of obstructing justice There is a need for job training for offenders but it needs to be done for other than white collar criminals first Rendell said White collar criminals usually have a skill Its the street offender who needs job training Furthermore Rendell said he disapproves of Fineman once one of most powerful lawmakers being allowed to work for the founda tion instead of going to prison Fineman ought to go to jail Rendell said He ought to be punished The appropria tion approved by City Council and supported by Mayor Frank Rizzo is for the Foundation for Responsible Efforts for fenders Fineman has said he hoped his work with the foundation will keep him out of jail He also has applied for a federal grant through the Governors Justice Commission with the backing of the Rizzo ad ministration Fineman was convicted in Sadat Sets July Deadline On Mideast Peace Drive conference Carter said the al federal court of obstructing jus liance cannot be to Russian and Cuban involvement in Africa tice in the investigation of a scheme to sell admissions to medical schools Police Seeking Six Prison Escapees PHILADELPHIA police some with dogs and others on horseback painstakingly searched woods and fields Tuesday while other officers in jeeps cars and heli copters watched nearby roads in a massive hunt for six men who scaled a wail and escaped from State Prison Prison Superintendent Ed mund Lyons described the es Discovery Stirs Sad Memories JOHNSTOWN Pa AP A childs body stirred sad memo ries of a grim 1977 flood disaster Tuesday as the citys oldest folks prepared to commemorate a darker tragedy that has haunted Johnstown for 89 years Cynthia Louise Gibson was identified as the known victim in the flood of July 1977 one day after two men looking for salvageable debris found her body The young girls mother sister and brother also perished when a small dam burst above their Tannery ville home The churning water swept her body two miles down the Conemaugh River The discovery provided a grim human link between the com third major recovery and floods that made Johnstown a name synonymous with disaster On May 311889 a wall of water roared down the Little Conemaugh River valley and nearly wiped the city off the map Some 2209 people were killed or lost I dont think people here will ever forget the floods said Cambria County Coroner John W Barron Its something thats always in the back of head One hundred survivors of the first flood are known to be still living Twentyfive are to meet at a local restaurant Wednesday evening for the seventh annual dinner commemorating the disaster Several have been through all three of the citys major dis asters including a 1936 flood that prompted authorities to un capees as dangerous very dangerous Whenever anyone escapes from custody they are dangerous A seventh escapee was caught before dawn about a half mile from the prison after getting separated from the others The break from the jail in northeast Philadelphia occurred Monday night The prisoners used rope or braided sheets with metal hooks to get over the wall When the morning search proved fruitless police widened the manhunt to cover the rest of the city and suburbs We dont know where they are and we are not searching in any one particular location said Chief Police Inspector Joseph Golden They selected the best pos sible place to negotiate an es cape Lyons said reporting the public works projects to broke through a make Johnstown flood free HI their cell block made I pray to the Lord every day to the roof where tney for all the good care hes given aped to the From me said Joseph 0 Evans a survivor whose senior citizens apartment Alimony Lawyers On Court Agenda there they went over the wall at a spot 300 feet from the nearest guard tower It was the most spectacular Evans family moved to higher Breakout in the prisons ground just two weeks before the and 1947 when bank robber Willie Sutton fled with four others He wasnt building was last July WASHINGTON AP The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will decide whether laws pro viding alimony payments only for divorced women discriminate against divorced men The justices also ruled that lawyers generally may not drum up business by personally con potential clients but that lawyers for nonprofit groups may do so when seeking litigation as a vehicle for ef political expression In the alimony case the court will study the validity of an Court Nixes Mans Appeal WASHINGTON AP The Supreme Court refused Tuesday in hear me appeal of a Lancaster Haman who contends that a law dealing with imported allegedly obscene material violates some Americans First Amendment rights The court left untouched the law that provides for hearings over such material only in those cities where US customs agents work The court voted 63 with Jus tices William J Brennan Jr Thurgood Marshall and Potter Stewart dissenting Alabama law making only women potential recipients of alimony William Orr a San Francisco business executive charged with being behind in alimony payments to his an Alabama resident charges that the law fosters sex dis crimination It violates the Constitution because it denies him and all other divorced men equal pro under the law attorneys for Orr said Eleven other states have laws providing alimony only for women and those laws hang in the balance of the high courts eventual decision The states are Arkansas Georgia Idaho Louisiana Mis Nevada New York South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee and Wyoming In a pair of decisions the jus tices drew a distinction between lawyers who solicit clients for pecuniary gain and those who volunteer free legal help to further the goals of an association such as the American Civil Liberties Union The court unanimously refused to back down from traditional bans on socalled ambulance chasing by lawyers as it upheld the disbarment of Cleveland attorney Albert 1889 flood He was a child of at the time If we hadnt moved I wouldnt be here he said In terms of dollars the citys most recent flood ranks as the most expensive Losses were estimated at more than 1300 million compared with mil lion 88 years earlier The devastation was worse this time I think because there was more to be destroyed said Mareva Hershberger vice president of the Johnstown Flood Museum But in terms of human suffer ing there are few parallels The flood of 1889 remains the worst disaster by dam failure in world history said J Scott Roberts the museums curator caught until five years later CAIRO Egypt AP dent Anwar Sadat for the first time setting a deadline for action in his Mideast peace drive said Tuesday that within two months either the peace process gains momentum again or it proves to be a failure Speaking at a news conference at his villa Sadat hinted that if the peace effort fails he might refuse to renew the accord governing the troop disengagement in the Sinai Desert The pact negotiated by former Secretary of State Henry A Kissinger expires in October I hope on the next 23rd of July Campaign Reduced Deaths AP The Pennsylvania Stale Police said Tuesday that a holiday weekend campaign by several eastern states may have helped reduce the number of accidents and deaths on the states highways In Pennsylvania 19 persons were killed and 694 traffic acci dents reported to state police over the Memorial Day weekend said spokesman James Cox Over the same weekend last year there were 729 accidents in which 22 persons were killed and 544 were injured On the interstates where the enforcement effort was con there were 40 acci dents in which 30 persons were injured and three persons killed year there were 60 ac 36 injured but no fa State police put on extra pa and handed out 2491 traffic citations and 1392 written warnings That was double the number last year Cox said He said the most flagrant vio lation involved a New Jersey motorist who was stopped on Interstate 80 near Milesburg after being clocked al 107 miles per hour Derailment Evacuates 300 MOSSY HEAD Fla AP About 300 people were evacuated from their homes in this sleepy Florida Panhandle town Tuesday after a Louisville Nashville train carrying thousands of gallons of deadly ammonia derailed Work crews began righting 11 derailed tank cars four of which ruptured later Tuesday Each of the cars carried 33000 gallons of the noxious liquid Six other cars of the Irain also jumped the tracks No injuries were reported Traffic along US 90 near the derailment scene in this rural area was rerouted there will be a surprise he said indicating he might reach a decision on his next move by that date the anniversary of the 1952 revolution that brought down Egypts monarchy Vague as it was the limit was the first deadline set by Sadat since he launched the peace crusade six months ago by traveling to Jerusalem and spelling out his terms before the Israeli Parliament Reacting lo the Sadat deadline a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Jerusalem said Obviously we reject ultimatums But officials declined further comment until they could study the full lext of the Egyptian leaders remarks Direct nego that followed the Sadat visit broke off in January The Israelis refused Cairos demands for an independent slate and return of all occupied Arab lands A US mediated exchange of proposals and since January has failed to break the stalemate Sadat said he had almost daily exchanges with President Carter bul chided United States saying Washington has yet lo undertake the role of full part ner in the peace talks The momentum of the peace process now is slackening Sa dat said But it is not stopped For now there is a stalemate of sorts It is nol frozen but going in slow motion If his overtures fail to bring a settlement Sadat said its not the end of the world Lei us Iry another way lei us try system He said il was up to Israel to make new proposals or provide new elements We will be and to receive these new elements and start direct negotiations 4 Killed 11 Injured as Blasts Rip Through Oil Refining Plant ANWAR SADAT TEXAS CITY Texas AP A series of spec explosions ripped through an oil refinery Tuesday killing four persons injuring 11 others and blowing up two 55000 gallon gasoline tanks Blast after blast from the re finery of Texas City Refining Inc rocked the area for about 35 minutes starting at about 2 am unleashing a balloon of fire with flames 200 feet high that lit up the sky as bright as noon Some residents said they counted at least 12 blasts others said there were nine The heal was so intense it was difficult to get close to those injured said Fred Gross an ambulance service supervisor who was one of the first on the scene II was like an inferno around you We managed to get three persons out and then went back and got a few more Once in there a wall of flame blocked the route in and we had to find an other way out Gross said he felt the first ex plosion from his bed in his Government Braces For Inflation News Cant Remember ATLANTA AP The former FBI official named in reports that the FBI used a prominent black leader to try to oust Martin Luther King Jr as head of the civil rights movement said Tuesday that he remembers talking with a black leader but does not remember anything more I have a vague recollection of some black leader coming to see me I dont remember who he was I have no idea what we talked about said Cartha DeLoach former head of rBIs crime records bureau The said a confidential memo in 1964 from former FBI Director J Edgar Hoover to his assistant William C Sullivan alluded lo a discussion between a black leader and DeLoach The memo obtained under Freedom of Information Acl indicated that the FBI worked during the with a black leader whose name was deleted from the memo lo try to replace King WASHINGTON AP The Carter administration Tuesday braced for the latest inflation figures which one official pre would be a disaster Barry Bosworth chairman of the Council on Wage and Price Stability has said the April and May Consumer Price Index fig ures to be released Wednesday Walus Loses His Citizenship CHICAGO AP Federal Judge Julius J Hoffman stripped Frank Walus of his US citizenship Tuesday on grounds that Walus concealed from im migration authorities his past as a teenage Gestapo agent who murdered Polish Jews during World War II Hoffman ordered Walus to turn over his certificate of nat to Justice Depart ment by June 9 The US Immigration and Natural Service could then begin deportation proceedings but David Vandersall regional INS director said no decision had been made on that Hoffman told a packed court room lhat evidence in the civil trial in US District Court was consistent horrible and generally unshakeable that Walus committed wartime atrocities Frank Walus was a Gestapo agent operating in and around and Kielce Poland in World War II and committed criminal acts of unjustified violence Hoffman said Walus a retired factory worker was absent from the courtroom He was represented by his wife Celina and his old son Paul will probably look pretty bad He said they would probably match the 93 percent annual inflation rate lhat stirred alarm in the first months of the year The figures he said would be a disaster Although he agreed the May price report will be bad one government economist said he didnt think il would cause the administration to do anything it isnt already doing We are already expecting it to be bad we are already doing as much as we can I dont see how the could be more aware of it said the economist who did not want to be identified He said food prices probably will be up again sharply in May but that prices are also rising generally throughout the economy because of rising pro duction costs both in labor and raw materials Its a thing thats got lo work itself out he added Any improvement should not show up until June but for the entire year inflation should be about 7 percent Bosworth said The Labor Department com piles the figures but Bosworth often gets figures on price trends early as he plans strategy to control inflation quarters near the refinery I thought at first it might be a tornado Then I looked out the window and it was as if it were daylight I thought I was engulfed in a fireball The bodies of two refinery workers Carl K Cope 34 and Joseph M Bertrand 59 and a security guard Aaron A Browning were pulled from the plant Another worker Daniel R Dore 23 died in a Houston hospital where he had been taken by helicopter Two of the injured were in critical condition Rick Sherman industrial re lations manager for Texas City Refining Inc said fire was brought under control shortly after sunrise He said the had been running normally when a tank erupted We dont know what caused the explosion We have no estimate of the damage Sherman said the tanks con kerosene and fuel oil would be allowed to burn out A black funnel of smoke swirled over most of Texas City during the day at times blotting out the sun and changing white clouds to ashen gray The blasts were felt in a radius Kucinich Recall Looming e CLEVELAND APi land officials were to checking petitions Tuesday eve nmg to determine whether Mayor Dennis Kucinich will face A recall election in the first year of his term Mercedes Cotner city clerk said she should complete her scrutiny ul the 7066 signa lures on additional recall pet lions well before the Jun deadline Kucinich lold reporters Mo day thai if he receives a fair anr honest count bid to remove him from office wilt ail I dunl like it when he my honesty and ly saui Mrs Cotner whi i responsible lor certifying petitions Kucinich s adamant altit towards the recall whk n called illegal fraudulent r morally wrong was sharply Tuesday in the trf editorial of The Plain Dealer A paper which endorsed his dec tuin last fall lh Mi 2 Russ Indicted Due to Espionage NEWARK NJ AP Two Russian employees of the United Nations were indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday on charges of obtaining LS defense secrets and conspiring lo pass them to the Soviet Union They face possible life im prisonment if Rudolf Petrovich yev 43 a personnel officer al the UN Secretariat and Enger 39 an assistant lo the UN under secretary general were charged 810 Percent Food Price Hike Viewed WASHINGTON AP Con sumer food prices now are ex to climb 8 percent to 10 percent this year the steepest rise since 1974 Department said Tuesday The sharp advance in retail food prices which began to ac last winter has contin ued this spring the depart ments outlook board said First Hedge Bets on Hurricanes MIAMI AP The East Coasts chief hurricane watcher is marking the start of the hurricane season with a warning to Atlantic City lo hedge its bets on the weather The Eastern Seaboard hasnt had a serious hurricane since Donna in 1960 and New Jersey hasnt seen a bad hurricane in the past cen tury says Dr Neil Frank director of the National Hurricane Center here When i was up in Atlantic City last year the standard pitch was We dont have a hurricane problem But thats wrong Every body has a potential hurricane problem and some places along the East Coast have more of a problem because the population is so great in some areas we might not be able to get all the people out in time Preparing for the official opening of the hurricane season Thursday Frank alluded to the opening this month of Atlantic Citys first gambling casino and to the hordes of tourists that gam bling could bring to the New Jersey resort and com nearby Director of the Hurricane Center since 1974 Frank begins the hurricane season each year with pessimism a role he says is necessary because of the general ignorance of potential disaster lurking in the sub tropics from June to November The ignorance has been fur ther cultivated by a dearth of storms he says No major de storm has visited the East Coast in the and 1970s and more and more people have moved into oceanfront condominiums and lowlying coastal areas Under a list drawn a decade ago the first hurri cane will go by the name of Amelia The other 1978 Atlantic storms will be named Bess Cora Debra Ella Flossie Greta Hope Irma Juliet Kendra Louise Martha Noreen Ora Paula Rosalie Susan Tanya Vanessa Wanda In he Eastern Pacific equality of the sexes begins making inroads with the first four storms named Aletta Bud Carletta and Daniel but male names are not scheduled to be used for Atlantic storms until 1981 half retail food prices are rising and continue to run around 8 percent above a year ago Officials said the food price boost is due in part to smaller supplies of red meat from whal had been expected a few months ago and weather damage to some fresh vegetable crops Other contributing factors are thriving exports of farm com to foreign countries and a brisk American consumer demand for food Last fall department pre that retail food prices for all of 1978 would average 4 per cent to 6 percent more than in 1977 But on March 28 the department revised its estimate upward lo show a gain of 6 per cent to 8 percent As measured by the ture Department food prices in 1977 gained about 62 percent 31 percent in 1976 and 85 percent in 1975 Retail food prices climbed an average of about 145 percent annually in 1973 and 1974 A report had good news for farmers however projecting their net income at billion to billion this year the third highest on record and up sharply from billion in 1977 in a handed down about ar hour before were to face a federal magistrate for a preliminary hearing on the charges Their appearance wi cried because of the and they remained in a the Metropolitan Corn Center in Manhattan in lici of million hail If convicted a maximum sentence of life in prison on conspiracy charges or each of Iwo counts of information they could ic years in prison and a tine Vladimir Petrovich third secretary of Soviet Mission lo the United Nations was named as an m conspirator but not a defendant because he has diplomatic im munity He left the country about a week ago All three were accused of try ing o induce a commissioned Navy officer who was not iden to provide with several classified documents in exchange for the in said They were May 20 in near the Garden Stale Parkway Consul Faces Fraud Charge PHILADELPHIA AP A federal grand jury has indicted the consulate general of the Do minican Republic along with Iwo other men on charges of wire fraud aiding and abetting and conspiracy The US Attorneys office on Tuesday released a in impounded since April 12 charging Consulate General Manuel Alvarez 38 and Carlos Vidal 35 Alvarezs assistant wilh making calls through a blue box A blue box is a device which lets the caller circumvent the telephone company
