Evening Standard, The (Newspaper) - March 6, 1974, Uniontown, Pennsylvania OUR YEAR NO 67 FINAL The Paper That Goes Into The Home UNIONTOWN PENNSYLVANIA WEDNESDAY MARCH 6 1974 TEN CENTS Shapp Vetoes Tax Cut Plan By LARRY REIBSTEIN Associated Press Writer HARRISBURG AP Gov Shapp today vetoed a Republican tax cut package which he said would force a tax increase next year The million tax cut which in- cludes a permanent reduction in the in- come tax to 2 per cent received final proval Monday in a Senate vote Five Democrats deserted majority party ranks to join the solid block of 23 Republicans for passage In his veto message Shapp who is in Washington attending the National Governor's Conference said the State Sens William E Duffield of Uniontown and Austin J Murphy of nora were among the five Democrats who voted for the tax cut package Republican would create a deficit This deficit will be created at a time when every economic indicator points to an economic downturn this year with higher unemployment bringing al problems to our people and greater demands upon state government to serve the needs of our Shapp said This is especially unfortunate due to the energy crisis and the added costs forced upon state government to deal with it Shapp urged as an alternative that the legislature pass a sponsored tax relief package which is smaller than the Republican plan The governor also said a provision in the Republican to cut the withholding rate from April 1 to June 30 was unworkable There would not be time to print appropriate tions and provide withholding tion to all employers he said Administrative costs of the change would total Shapp predicted Aides said the package would produce up to a million deficit by July 1 1975 the start of the new fiscal year This was disputed by Republicans and the maverick Democrats Sen Thomas Nolan one of the five asserted There will not be a need for a tax increase next year or the following year An override attempt of veto is expected but the Senate vote Tuesday in- it would fall short of the re- quired two-thirds vote In anticipation of veto meanwhile Senate Democrats planned a vote today on their own tax cut which is about million smaller If passed it would go to the House where Republican leaders said they would in- sert their tax and send it back to the Senate again The House in other action approved a measure reinstating the death penalty for nine types of killings such as murder of a policeman The Senate must now vote on the conference committee report before it goes to Shapp The House also approved and sent the Senate a to allow drivers whose licenses are suspended for traffic violations to use a limited license if they establish they need their car for work or other reasons The GOP tax cut the first to pass both chambers in the year-long tax and budget fight would cut the 2.3 per cent income tax to 2 per cent on July 1 provide a million exemption for poor persons and reduce the corporate net income tax to 9.5 per cent from 11 Unlike the Democratic however the GOP measure also provides a 12 per cent credit on 1973 personal income es This is accomplished by cutting the 2.3 per cent withholding rate to tenths per cent from April 1 through June 30 Accident Or Probe Continues In Duggan Death GREENSBURG AP Authorities say it may be several days before they can determine whether Robert W Duggan's death was an dent or suicide Foul play was ruled out Duggan the district attorney of Allegheny County which includes Pittsburgh was found dead Tuesday at his summer home in nearby Ligonier just hours before a federal grand jury returned indictments charging him with income tax fraud State police said a gauge shotgun was found several feet from the body Word of the incident came just before a news conference called by U.S Atty Richard Thornburgh to discuss the in- Thornburgh who presided over an investigation of Duggan's financial affairs was obviously shaken by news of the death The terrible personal tragedy overshadows every aspect of this Thornburgh later said However he said he had no way of knowing whether Duggan was aware of the pending ment State Police at first said the death appeared to be suicide Other officials subsequently raised the possibility that the death could have been accidental Floyd Hoffer the caretaker who found Duggan's body along a fence about 75 yards from his home told police he had received a call from gan about Tuesday when the district attorney said he was planning to shoot some burrowing groundhogs or muskrats Allegheny County Coroner Cyril Wecht noted that four spent shotgun shells were found in the pocket of Duggan's coat indicating that the weapon had been fired before the fatal blast OK Maybe just maybe soon there will be some tax relief for Pennsylvanians State Senate has passed a tax which the House originally had proved and now it is before Gov Shapp who already had said he would veto it Shapp says the is fiscally ir- responsible and would mean a deficit next year We wonder how many of the state's taxpayers ran into their own sonal deficit last year because of the high state Tragic ending to a public career Allegheny County Dist Atty Robert Duggan was found shot to death in his home near Ligonier shortly before he was indicted by a federal grand jury on counts of tax fraud It is unfortunate that death should come this way to an individual for whom there was so much greatness promised Oil embargo may end and Kissinger home safe A couple of pleasant stories the one about Secretary of State Henry Kissinger escaping an apparent assassination attempt in Syria Now if the price of gasoline would not be so high Mystery continues about that Fort Necessity cannon Who took the replica and dropped it in a creek about 200 feet from where it was guarding the dals certainly must have sick ideas Newest fad on campus streaking The way we see it streaking or ning in the nude across a campus is ter than throwing bombs burning ings or fighting police So why not if no one is hurt Maybe the Main Street Brunette will ROBERT DUGGAN Allegheny Dead At the request of Westmoreland ty authorities the body was returned to Pittsburgh where Wecht performed a preliminary autopsy Tuesday evening Wecht said the autopsy showed the death resulted from a single gunshot wound of the chest However he said he could draw no conclusions about whether or not it was a suicide A final determination Wecht said will be forthcoming from the district attorney and the offices in Westmoreland County It's their and their responsibility Besides the medical evidence the in- includes an examination of the weapon to determine the amount of pressure on the trigger necessary to fire it and whether it could have been dis- charged accidentally and a tion of the shooting scene Wecht said He added that complete reports on these examinations could be expected to take several days Westmoreland County Coroner Step- phen Yoney said simply that he is still investigating the death The results won't be coming for a few he added Duggan a three-term Republican was also being gated by the state for alleged tion code violations during his 1971 Atty Gen Israel Packet upon ing of the death released the text of a letter sent to Duggan last week ing him that the state was initiating civil action to challenge his right to remain in office The state investigation grew out of a Crime Commission report which alleged that Duggan failed to report con- to the 1971 campaign The federal indictment charged him with failing to report more than in income from According to Thornburgh the federal prosecutor the indictment listed the source of the income as a series of protection payments from racketeers The indictment further alleges that Samuel G Ferraro former head of the county rackets squad under Duggan collected the payoffs for his boss Ferraro was convicted last November of accepting nearly in tion payoffs from gamblers and ing income taxes on the money He is currently appealing a six-year prison sentence Following his conviction while he was free on appeal bond Ferraro refused to appear before the grand jury in- Duggan Ferraro was then jailed for contempt State trooper stands guard outside Robert Duggan's summer home at Ligonier About two weeks ago Ferraro told Thornburgh that he had changed his mind about testifying He was making his first appearance before the grand jury under a grant of immunity from further prosecution at about the same time Duggan was found dead Duggan the flamboyant son of a to-do family maintained his voting residence at an apartment in Pittsburgh's Oakland section and a con- dominium in Naples Fla in addition to the home at Ligonier He was secretly married last fall to Cordelia Scaife May an heiress to the Mellon family fortune and a lifelong acquaintance whose family also tains a home near Ligonier Mrs Duggan reportedly was at her old home at the time of the shooting Acquaintances and ex- pressed shock at the news of the death and disbelief that it could have been suicide Bob was the sort of man least likely to run from trouble said Thomas Nied a personal friend He said he had seen the district attorney over the weekend and that he appeared happy at the time James McLaughlin Duggan's at- torney said he and Duggan had a con- ference scheduled for Tuesday after- noon Referring to the indictments he said We felt we had a perfectly good case I don't think the federal ment could have proved it The Republican clerk of courts in Allegheny County Robert Pierce Right now I'm more ed for the wife and family of Mr gan than for his legal problems or what kind of attorney he was A successor as district attorney will be named by the 36 Allegheny County judges President Judge Henry said their decision is ex- by the end of the month In the interim first assistant Dist Atty James C Dunn a cousin of Duggan will fill the post Funeral services will be held at 11 Thursday in St Paul's Cathedral Pittsburgh Nixon Offers Material WASHINGTON AP President Nixon informed the House Judiciary Committee today he will give it all the Frazier Arts Program Frazier School District is again of- fering without charge to the a ice series of programs Related Arts The series designed around gestions gained from a popular similar program last school year will begin a weekly schedule at Frazier Senior High School Wednesday March 13 at 7 p.m Some of the new highlights scheduled for the 2 sessions are Slavonic Culture and Music Fresco Painting Archeology in Southwestern sylvania and American Folk Music A limited number of spaces will also be available for two field trips now ned as part of the series to the opera and to the Fallingwater tate Each session will be conducted by in- from California State Col- lege the entire series being ordinated by Leonard Colleli associate professor of music there Residents of the area students ty members and administrators are ed to attend any or all sessions In- Nixon Energy WASHINGTON AP President Nixon today announced his promised veto of energy emergency legislation saying it would result in reduced energy supplies longer lines at the gasoline pumps minimal reduction in gasoline prices and worst of all serious damage to jobs in America Anticipating the veto the Senate scheduled a vote on overriding later in the day 606945 MONACA Pa AP The winning number in this week's state lottery is Millionaire finalist number is formation regarding the entire gram and registration forms may be ob- at any school office in the ier School District This program is funded through visions made by the late Mary Fuller Frazier Cooperating with the school district's in-service council in the program de- velopment also were staff members from the Educational Development ter at California State College college staff members and a representative from Intermediate Unit 1 material he has already turned over to the Watergate grand jury without limitation The President also offered to answer written questions and submit to an oral interview if the committee is not satisfied with the written answers Nixon's decision was announced by James D St Clair the President's chief Watergate lawyer at a hearing called to hear arguments on the disposition of a sealed grand jury report St Clair told U.S District Judge John J Sirica that the White House would offer no recommendation as to what the judge should do with the sealed report which sources have indicated contains Recalls Years Of Service Mrs Sykes Resigns As Y Program Head Mrs Estella Sykes of 232 Cleveland Ave Uniontown has resigned as gram director of the Uniontown Area YMCA She says she plans to become a time student majoring in business be- ginning March 25 This is something I have always wanted to do but rearing five children and educating those who wanted it required all the time and money she said Now that they have all grown up it is my she added She and her husband Leon now have three grandchildren Mrs Sykes began her career with the YMCA in 1955 as a volunteer advisor under the direction of Marie King who was the first women's and girls work secretary at the Y here She continued as a volunteer serving on the Camp Committee and Com- She served one term on the Board of Directors and held the office of women's and girls secretary in In 1968 she returned to the staff as program director While serving as program director she worked with three former executives Francis Compton Francis Benjamin F Haines and the present ex- Dwight Robison MRS ESTELLA SYKES To Be Full-time Student Mrs Sykes said that securing the first instructor trainer for Fayette County Aquatic Leadership Certification re- quired much work but provided a great deal of satisfaction for her She said a good aquatic program for the YMCA or the community is dependent on four levels of aquatic leadership They are the instructor trainer water safety in- WSI and the swimmers ing a junior or senior lifesaving Because Fayette County had never had an instructor trainer those mers who had not acquired the WSI at college were required to attend a sion in another county or state Mrs Sykes said She added that the saving program must be conducted by a WSI and only an instructor trainer is authorized to certify a WSI In 1970 after many phone calls veys and letters the Fayette County Chapter of Red Cross invited Bob Evans water safety director of the Chapter of Red Cross to come to Fayette County to conduct the first training session for instructors which was held in the YMCA pool according to Mrs Sykes Continued on Page 8 Col 1 grand jury findings on the President's role in Watergate St Clair disclosed that the report is IVz to 2 pages long that it is in addition to the briefcase containing grand jury evidence which was given the judge along with the sealed presentment Referring to news accounts about the sealed report St Clair said We con- sider there has been a serious breach of grand jury secrecy Cars Stored At Chrysler It may appear that the huge Chrysler plant at New Stanton is producing cars but it isn't More than a thousand cars in the plant parking lots may give the impression that the plant is operating finally Plant Comptroller Daniel Popa offered the explanation Chrysler products used by leasing companies throughout the east have been replaced by 1974 models and the old cars have been shipped here Their next stop is Barberton Ohio where they are prior to being sold at auction Mr Popa explained that trans- problems which cropped up last fall caused the backlog of cars in storage at one time here Weather It's to be partly cloudy and mild night and tomorrow with a chance of showers both days Low tonight will be in the upper 30s to mid 40s and high morrow in the mid 50s to low 60s er Observer Earl Bierer saW high was 58 and the low 30 which was also the temperature at 8 today Today's Index Hospital News 9 Class Sports Deaths 37 Star Dr Earl Wilson 38 Television 38
