Titusville Herald (Newspaper) - March 1, 1980, Titusville, Pennsylvania TWENTYFIVE CENTS News and Advertising Pipeline Into the Oil Creek Valley TITUSVILLE PA SATURDAY MORNING MARCH 11980 Like i Lamb GOOD MORNING Sunny today with high Low Cloudy Sunday with high 25 TMI Owners To Seek Huge Rate Increase HARRISBURG AP The three utilities that own Three Mile will seek a collective rate hike of at least million to offset inflation and resume services that were cut after the nuclear accident last March a utility executive said Friday Essentially we are asking for an increase dealing with of in upon all the operations of the company without regard to TMI John Graham treasurer of General Public Utilities said in a telephone interview Graham said Metropolitan Edison the nuclear plants operator will need million to cope with inflation Barely three weeks ago Met Ed received a million rate hike on an interim basis CPUs subsidiaries Penn sylvania Electric of Johnstown and Jersey Central Power Light of Par NJ will need million apiece Met Ed and are expected to file their requests within the next several weeks so that the higher rates if ap proved can start Jan 1 1981 However Graham said the requests of all three companies wilt be significantly higher than the amount needed to offset inflation which he called the minimal situation rather than the optimal situation I dont think it will benefit the com pany or the customers if we are skimmed down too tight he said Its better if more cash resources are available so well be asking for more Graham was unable to pin down a specific figure At this point we havent sat down and calculated what will be our asking point It will be a substantially higher num ber he said ArchEnemy Of Mao Gets Rehabilitated PEKING AP Chinas Communist Party acted Friday to break completely from the legacy of Mao reha his archenemy the late Liu ousting four Maoists from top positions and demanding unswerving discipline The historic Central Committee meeting at which the decisions were made was a political triumph for Deng Xiaoping the resilient senior vice pre mier who was twice purged under Mao but has come back to take charge of Chinas modernization once the righthand man of Liu the former chief of state who died in disgrace in 1969 At a weeklong meeting that ended Friday the committee also promoted two of the 75yearold Dengs proteges Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang to the Standing Committee of the partys ruling Politburo and Hu was named to head a revived party Secretariat a powerful body that has been dormant for years Hu has been the partys propaganda chief and Zhao is governor of Dengs native Sichuan province Special Day In Leap Year By The Prett The odds against being born on Feb 29 are 1461 to one as compared with 365 to one on any day in a normal year So Friday was a special day for one elite group the Leap Year babies The most fun Leap Year offers moat of us is playing a numbers game made in by Julias Caesars precise Julian calendar Did you know for example that it takes 3652422 days for the earth to travel around the sun which accounts for the extra day every fouryears That every year divisible by four is a Leap Year The odds against triplets being born on Leap Day are not easily calculated but there are some born that day The King triplets of Clinton Mass born in 1964 celebrated their 16th 4th actually birthday by dining out FIREFIGHTERS AWAIT KENNEDY Striking Chicago firefighters await the arrival of presidential hopeful Sen Edward Kennedy at a downtown hotel Friday Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne has endorsed Kennedys bid for the Democratic nomination AP ILN Commission Members Unable To Visit Hostages By the Associated Press Members of the U N commission in Iran did not have their promised visit with the American hostages in Tehran on Friday and the militants holding the U S Embassy repeated in several telephone interviews that such a visit had not yet been approved We do not believe that a meeting between the panel and the hostages is necessary but we are considering it under certain conditions said a spokesman for the militants Four members of the panel met late in the day with a leading Iranian human rights official to go over docu ments concerning Irans grievances against the regime of deposed Shah Mohammad Reza But there was no official an at the end of the day from UN spokesman Sam bar of when the meeting with the hostages would take place Sam bar only referred reporters to a promise delivered Thursday night by Foreign Minister Sadegh that the commission would be allowed to visit the hostages In New York confirmation of the permission came from a UN spokesman who said the panel members were in formed yesterday that they will see the hostages No date has been fixed yet no ap pointment has been set Sambar said in Tehran It was believed the commission was awaiting the return of its fifth member cochairman Andres Aguilar of Venezuela who was expected back in Tehran on Saturday after attending to a previous commitment in Caracas An official statement said the com mission devoted its sixth full day in Tehran to evaluating the work it has undertaken so far and to planning its next move Sambar said the commission intended to stay in Iran as long as required to fulfill its mandate to hear Irans griev ances and to attempt to resolve the US Iran crisis He rejected suggestions that a visit with the hostages would wind up the work of the commission saying the group was bound to evaluate what it had done and write a report for UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim Despite the militants denials Sambar left little doubt the commission expected to see the hostages He referred to as the official rep of the Iranian government and said his promise should be taken seriously Ayatollah Khomeini Irans revolutionary leader has put the fate of the hostages in the hands of the Majlis or Parliament which is to be elected in voting March 14 and April 3 Afghan Executions Continue Russ May Discuss Pullout NEW DELHI India AP Afghanistans young Revolutionary Guardsmen are arresting and executing Shiite Moslems in Kabul the capital for eign and Afghan sources said Friday Elsewhere there were signs the Soviet Union might be willing to discuss neutralization of Afghanistan and the withdrawal of Russian troops A militia of the ruling Khalq Peoples Party composed of 17 25yearolds was reported to be con ducting searches of several predominantly Shiite neigh in Kabul The number of slain members of the sect a minority in Afghanistan was not known But reports received in New Delhi from Kabul cited many individual cases of one or two family members shot to death outside their houses In Washington Secretary of State Cyrus R Vance met with Soviet Ambassador Anatoly F Dobrynin to discuss the Afghan situation State Department officials made clear that any initiative to set up negotiations on Afghanistan must come from Americas Western European allies The officials said there are no plans now for a meeting between Vance and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei A Gromyko In London the Foreign Office an Britain has formally handed the Soviets an outline of its proposal for a neutral Afghanistan and a quick with of Russian troops This follows a number of signals from the Soviets in recent days indicating they might be genuinely interested in the British senior Foreign Office sources said The Soviet attitude is far from discouraging one official said In fact 1 would say we are rather encouraged by it But there has been no direct response from Moscow so far sources said Tension Still High In Embassy Siege BOGOTA Colombia AP Leftist guerrillas holding up to 40 hostages in the Dominican Republic Embassy spoke of killing two of the diplomatic prisoners Friday night but withdrew the threat when the government agreed to negotia tion according to a Bogota radio station US Ambassador Diego C Asencio is among the captives A guerrilla leader reached by telephone at the embassy by Radio Caracol accused the government of refusing to negotiate and said two un named diplomats would be killed at pm EST Ninety minutes before that deadline the office of President Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala broadcast an urgent message over Colombian radio networks offering to open talks immediately with the guerrillas It said the negotiations could be conducted in a station wagon that would be parked in front of the embassy where it could be watched by the guerrillas Radio Caracol succeeded in getting another call through to the embassy after the government announcement and reported that a guerrilla who refused to State First To Outlaw Slavery PHILADELPHIA AP On March t 1780 exactly 200 years ago Pennsylvania became the first state in America to outlaw slavery largely through the efforts of quiet Quaker abolitionists We should always honor those pioneers who helped lay the foun dation for what exists today We should remind our offspring of the heritage for tolerance in this state said historian Charles L Blocks on Blockson helped plan ceremonies to mark the bicentennial of the beginning of the end for the nations peculiar institution The city and the National Park Service plan a noon program Saturday at Independence Square including a dramatic presentation to trace the movement Homemaker Help HARRISBURG AP Gov Dick on Friday appointed a task force to coordinate state services for homemakers who have lost their incomes through divorce widowhood or a husbands unemployment The action was recommended last month by the state Commission for Women in a report on displaced homemakers in Pennsylvania Besides coordinating programs for displaced homemakers the task force will set goals for such services set standards for evaluating them gather data on existing programs recommend legislation and other policy changes to improve services and encourage par of the private sector in offering such services Widespread Scheme HARRISBURG AP Threats of murder and perhaps murder itself were part of a widespread scheme to fix horse races across the United States star witness Anthony Ciulla testified Friday Ending his croso examination m the trial of 12 men charged with fixing 1974 races al Pocono Downs told how he ordered two men beaten and threatened the lives of two others during the alleged plot Sperm Bank Rekindles Moral Controversy LOS ANGELES AP Disclosure of an exclusive sperm bank that offers the sperm of Nobel Prize winners to carefully selected women has rekindled the scientific and moral controversy sparked by genetic engineering movements before World War II Robert K Graham a 74yearold retired Escondido businessman said he set up the sperm bank probably the worlds most exclusive to produce exceptionally bright children But some scientists questioned Friday were skeptical of Grahams methods I think there are such serious in this kind of social manipulation that there are serious dangers involved said Luigi genetics professor at Stanford University Naive enthusiasm in this area has very often in the past caused some major tragedies He said even the best of humans carry some bad genes and legal problems are possible if an offspring of the program turns out to deficient which is entirely possible Graham said at least five Nobel laureates donated sperm to be used to ar inseminate women preferably those with infertile husbands I dont want a whole flock of ordinary women Graham said Graham said there is no payment for donors nor charge to recipients He said about two dozen women have contacted his Repository for Germinal Choice Three all on the East Coast have become pregnant he said The principles of this may not be popular Graham said Thursday but they are sound Were trying to take advantage of the possibilities of genetics So far we have refused to apply to humans what we already know and apply to animals and plants he said Its crazy I just dont know what to say about it said Princeton University psychologist Leo J Kamin author of The Science and Politics of IQ Some scientists and others question whether selective breeding will guarantee smarter or better humans One acknowledged donor to Grahams program is Stanford William B Schockley 70 winner of the 1956 Nobel Prize in physics Shockley has long held that intelligence is based on genes and that some races are inferior to others I welcome this opportunity to be identified with this important cause Shockley said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times I am endorsing Grahams concept of increasing the people at the top of the population said Its just another episode in the eugenics movement identify himself said the threat had been lifted because of the government action The government statement made no mention of the death threat Broadcasts on all Colombian radio stations were in by the message which said the government had accepted appeals from the ambassadors held hostage and was ready to begin negotiations immediately Earlier Friday the guerrillas freed the last five women hostages The embassy invaders demand million in ransom freedom for 311 political prisoners publication of an antigovernment manifesto in foreign newspapers and safe passage out of the country Their threat to kill two hostages if the government didnt open negotiations was made to Radio Caracol and the RCN ra dio network in telephone calls at about 7 pm In one a woman guerrilla who iden herself as Comandante Numero Cinco Commander No 5 said the diplo mats to be killed had been selected but refused to identify them She had an swered a telephone call placed to the embassy by Radio Caracol according to Amat a Caracol director Orlando Cadavid news director of the RCN network said he received a similar message from a male who called the sta tion and identified himself as one of the guerrillas in the embassy Earlier Friday the guerrillas demanded the government open negotiations and the government issued a terse saying the guerrillas had been informed of conditions for a dialogue It did not disclose the con ditions Guerrilla snipers fired shots at reporters and others near a house behind the embassy that was being evacuated Soldiers said the guerrillas had de manded nearby homes be emptied but apparently were upset because so many journalists No casualties were reported The estimated 30 guerrillas of the stormed into the embassy Wednesday during a reception packed with ambassadors and other diplomats One guerrilla was killed and a policemen and hostages ware wounded The terrorists demanded million in ransom freedom for 311 political prisoners and publication of an anti government manifesto in foreign news papers The heavily armed band continued to hold as many as 18 ambassadors or acting ambassadors and at least 23 other hostages President Julio Cesar Turbay Ayalas government had told the terrorists they would not negotiate with them until they released the three wounded hostages and the 15 women TAKING COVER Newsmen and police scramble for cover as firing breaks out on Friday afternoon outside the Dominican Republic embassy in Bogota Columbia where leftists are holding diplomats from many countries hostage inside No injuries were reported in the firing AP LongA waited Recession Finally May Be Arriving WASHINGTON AP That long awaited recession finally may be arriving according to new government statistics though several economists say the figures may be misleading since the economy still shows surprising resilience The drop of 07 percent in the Com merce Departments Index of Leading Indicators last month follows declines of 02 percent in December 19 percent in November and 11 percent in October And in other economic news interest rates moved another notch higher as Citibank raised its prime lending rate on business loans to a record 1634 percent from percent a rate it set just a week ago Several other banks promptly matched the increase In a related development the ad ministration continued its efforts to find ways to trim the fiscal 1981 federal budget A directive from the White House Office of Management and Budget Friday asked all major federal agencies to report on where they could cut or trim programs One OMB source who asked not to be identified said the agency heads whose departments account for about 90 percent of the federal budget were told to report back by Monday They were given targets on how much to cut but they vary from agency to agency the source said They were each told to let us know where they may make reductions and report back quickly he said The successive declines in the index of economic indicators would seem to signal a recession The conventional rule among economists is that three con monthly declines in the index indicates a recession is imminent The index is designed to predict monthly movements in total economic activity Decembers reading initially was reported as unchanged but was revised downward to reflect a falloff in liquid assets items that can be converted to cash quickly The recession is not far off These numbers are consistent with the view thai economic activity is at best flat and possibly declining in the future said Commerce Department economist William Cox The show enough yet said Robert Gough an economist at Data Resources Inc a Massachusetts forecasting firm Another economist Michael Evans has called off his longheld prediction of a recession pointing to increased capital spending higher defense expenditures and higher consumption triggered by peoples belief that inflation will get worse Gough and Evans pointed out that the prime cause of Januarys decline was i drop in the nations money supply This variable they said is not as important as it once was because it remains so difficult to measure ac what money is today Nobel Winner Blasts Soviet Repression PITTSBURGH AP Nobel Prize winner Herbert A Simon says he doesnt want any further cultural contact with the Soviet Union charging that govern ment with oppression of dissidents No human values are more important than the right of every man and woman to think their own thoughts and speak freely what they think Simon said in a letter to a Soviet official The University psychology professor rejected an offer to publish an article in a Soviet psychological journal He also said he would not visit Russia engage in sci exchanges with Soviet resear chers or accept visitors from that country In a letter dated Monday to Boris F Lomov director of the Institute of Psychology of the Soviet Academy of Sciences Simon accused the Russian government of severely punishing citizens who spoke their minds
