1974, April 10 - Nixon

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THE WEATHER Northeast Mississippi partly cloudy and warmer Wedn es day through Thursday with a chance for showers. Highs in low 70s; lows in mid 50s.

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Telephone 842-2611 Price 10 Cents

Tupelo, Mississippi, Wednesday Morn ing , Ap ril 10, 1974

S. Green St .. East of Hospita l

· Vol. 101 No. 9

Tapes Will Be G 1ven Up • After Easter N 1xon Says Democrat On Judiciary Committee CaJls Action Contemptuous; Lawyer Says Will Give Up Evidence After Finishing Review·

TO_RNADO TOUR - President Richard Nixon pats the back of Frank Harner as he talks to people filling out disaster relief forms during his visit to Xenia, Ohio. -UPI Telephoto

Nixon Tours Ohio City Shattered By Tornado XENJA, Ohio (UPI) Pres ident Nixon Tuesday tour ed this s h a ttered southern Oh io city · where a tornado killed 35 persons last week, calling the dest ruction the wors t he has seen, but predicting the a rea ''will come back ." He promised to trim red ta pe a nd pul the full weight of th e gove rnment into a n e ffort to r e build and to aid victims. " The s pirit of this city is grea t ," Nixon told tornado victims lined up in a school gymnasium applying for aid. " It will come back. '' Thi s . i s th e wo rs t devastation I've seen in a sm a ll area and I've seen th e

earthquake in. Anchorage (Alaska ), the devastatio{l of Hurri ca ne Camille a nd Hurricane Agnes in Pennsy lv ani a." s aid th e P resident. A t or n a d o ki ll ed 35 persons, injured about 1,000, destroying 1,095 humt:!s in this city of 25 ,000 last week, cutting a l 5-mil e long path of destruction. Authorities -say up . to 30 persons arc still unaccounted for. Nixon fl ew her e with top aides a nd disast er officia ls for a· personal inspection, he sa id h e h oped would e mp·h asize lo fe d e r a l a ge ncies involved in disaster relie f of the need to cut out paperwork and speed aid for

th e victims. · Nixon's he licopter to"uched down about 1:45 p.m . at Shawnee Elementary School afte r a n a er ia l ins pection of the · !lamage.. Inside the s chool. Nixon tal ked to victim s standin g in line at tables where relief a gencies wer e t a king application s for unemployment bene fits , food stamps and other relief. The President was driven in a motorcade throug h a r eas of d estruction , concentrating on schools . Ni xon often stopped t o s hake ha nds with people a nd ask about their situation .

Embargo Seen As Blessing In Disguise WASHINGTON <U PI ) -Feder a l e n e r gy chie f Willia m E . s ·imon s aid Tu es d ay the Arab oil emba r go m ay ha ve been a blessing in disguise . . In testimony before the House Lega l and Monetary A ff air s s ub c ummittcc, Simon said the e ffect of the emba r go was to crysta llize concern for ener gy problem s ~~al. h a d been neglected for ye:rrs·. · The embargo came at prec i, e ly t he right t im e .. .at a ti'me when the seriousness ohthe e nergy problem was a m a tte r of d ebatc---and it m ade a ll of us r ealize tt:iat it 's1 fact, nut a question.,, Simon said . . · , ,i' A .fe w years eai-licr and we ·wou ld ha ve d.ismisscd it a s ' a n . unimp o r t a nt

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incon vcnie,nce . A few years later a nd its impact would have heen too large for a ny feder a l program to avoid or · a llevia t e." Simon d e f e nd e d th e ·a dministration 's ha ndling of the crisis , saying its actions we re "the right ones- and they resulted in the least total imp ac t on th e American public ." Ile sa id only one-half of 1 per cent of t he total · work force lost J·obs because of the ' · t th · · and th a. e ene r gy cn·s1s, fi gur e could have been much hi g h e r b ut for th e administration's decis ion to lulerate "ga s lines inst ead of unemployment lines.· · Simon conce de d t here we re problems , especia lly in a llocating _gasoline equita bly Continued on Page 18

WASHINGTON (UPI ) complete i t s inq uir y President Nixon Tuesday promptl y. " told the House Judiciar} Th e lette r seem ed to be a Committee its demands for sharp set back for t he 41 additional presidentia l co mm ittee, whi c h h as tapes for its impeachment indicated it wll subpoeona inquiry would have to wait the tapes if necessary. unt i l after t h e E aster Rep . .Jerome Wa ldie. Dcong ressional recess. Calif. , immediately urg ed A Democratic m ember of the tapes be subpeonaed . the committee immediately b ·d t had " th p denounced Nixon' s ac"t.ion as r!rcu~~ct\o co~pe~!~~ !fth the " contemptuous," of the im· committee ." p eac hme nt in vest igation, " We should no longer and said the tapes must be . tolerate Ins contemptuous subpoenaed. attitude tow ard those Th e committee, which had given the White House until seekin g the truth of his Tuesday to decide whether conduct of his office. We the tapes would be yielded must - now s u bpcona all voluntarily, says it m ust evidence we require." have the material if it is to White House sources said cond u c t . a th oro u g h that a lthough the committee investigation into whether ha d set Tuesday as the grounds exist to impeach deadline for resPQnse, the Nixon . committee had req uested The letter from Nixon's only th!lt Nixon state his Watergate lawyer, J ames D. 1ntcntions , not del iver the St. Clair, d elivered by ha nd m a t er ial. to the ·committee. did not say " The President wishes me whether the tapes would be turned ove r. In fact, . the to r.e iterate to yo u and the com m ittf'e his continuing l ett er did not sp ecify desire to ooperate so tha t tapes- on ly mentioning the pend ing inquiry can be " m aterials in 4uestion." brought t o a prompt The House will return from conclus ion,'' St. Clair wrote . Easte r recess on April 22. " If any problem s develop, St. Clair ' s lette r said that of course stand readv to Nixon " has directed m e to Imeet with you in an atte.mpt advise you that a review of to reso lve th em ." the m ateria ls in question is underway. We expect that T h e o ffi ce of th e the review can be completed committee chairman , Peter bv . the end of the Easter ,J. R odino Jr ., D-N.J .. recess, a nd th at th e confi r med the letter had ad diti o n a l m a t e rial s been receeived but said furn ished a t that time will Rodin o would not comment permit the committee tp on it T uesday ni ght

"' I ca n a ssure you in Xenia that it gives us, coming from W a s h i n g t o n , all en· cou r age m e nt , '' · he sa id. " The spirit of Xenia is , magnificent. . lt will come ba ck. It is on its feet spiritua lly.,. Nixon clenched his fi sts tightly in front of him a s he promised Dawn M. Hm·st , 41, a black m an who lives in nearby Wilberforce , t hat the gover nm e nt w ill do everything possible to help."

St. Clairalso calledonthe committee to determine his own role in its proceedings be fo~theEaste rrecess. " Regarding an important related issue , I hope that the committee will decide n on m )'. role in its proceedings b,elorc ~he upcommg recess. 1here 1s m uch work to be done 1f the committee 1s to meet its . timetable and !, o?ce ?gam , urge that this vita l issue .. be r esolved as soon a s poss1 ble. 1,h e De mocr a t s on the

The ne w a dditions including two more noors on the west wing of the hospital 'a nd one on the ea st .wing should be r eady for public use within two yea rs. At present, Mr. Wilfo rd said , the Medical Center is h aving to m ake use of sevent y-eight beds in the Be lle Vis ta extended ca re center ro·r regular hospital p atient s, along with putting p a tie nt s in the hos pita l h all ways at times. And even a fter completion of the currently planned 100-bed addition the hos pital will still need the 78 beds in Relle Vista , he said.

Nixon asked Hurst if he was a ll ri ght. Hurst said a tornado .took the walls a.nd roof of his house, but his fa mily not injured . " Y.ou will make it," Nixon said . " You will m ake it, as we ll as HenryAaronwhohit that home run last night. Wasn't tha t something. The st age was all set and he just Another 28 beds there arc a bout picked the inning and d d used te n e car e then he hit it over-the fence." patie ntsforandexseveral Belle Hurst tuld reporters later Vista be ds a rc allocated to " with a sna pofhis fingers he · nursin g home patients, Mr. (Nixon ) ought to be a ble to Wilford said. brin g tlie h e l p · t h at 's The new minimum wage need ed ." bill adding $27,000 to its Nixon sa id the four things monthly expenses effective needed most in the area a re Ma y 1 will ti ghten the budget hous ing, schools , food , a nd sq ueeze on . the . Medi ca l jobs. Center severely, he said .

And unless th e Cost of Livi ng Council grants an excep ti on to t he loca l hos pital bec aus e of its ex pan s ion pla ns. thP price ce ilin g bein g kept on hos pitals at a lime when their expenses a re rising twelve to fifteen pe r cent a yea r will cause a serious prob lem. Mr. Wilford addeq. At presen t the loc a l ho sp ita l r oom c h a r g e averages slightly less tha n eighty d ollars a day , which is lower tha n the Mississippi average a nd a bout twenty-five dolla rs below the nationa l ave r.age, assista nt a dmini strator Ge ra ld Wa ges told the gr oup. Mr. Wilford pointed out that in a ddition to being Tupelo '.·s largest em ployer with between 950 and 1,000 e mployes . the Me dical Center also has fa r m ore varie d acti \"iti t'~ lhan the typical business firn a. For example. he said : The hospital serves 545,000 mea ls a y ear --- mor e than a numb e r o f Tupe l o res la ura nts combined. It has 434 beds --- more th a n se v e ral mo t e l s combi ne d . It d oes two and a half-tons of laundr y daily to tup the work load of m any laundries .

.BY FEDERAL. FINANCING SUPPORTERS . .

'Election.Funding Debate Killed WAS HI NGTON (UP I ) Sena te supporte rs of public financing of fede ra l election . campa igns Tuesday won by a one-vote m a r gin the ir bid t o s hut off debate and s peed the measure to a vote. T he Senate voted 64 to 30 for cloture , the Senate's gag r ul e , w h i c h r e g"u ires ,,µpro,;a l nf two-thirds of th ose p resent a nd voli ng fo r passa ge. An earlier bid lo shut uff the filibuster which ha s kept ·-the Sena t e t ied up since ·March 27 . failed by four votes . U nd e r Sf' n a t e r u l es, a m endm e nt~ pending prior lo the invoking of cloture m ay be ca lled up and voted on , but not debated , priur to a fi na I vote on the bill itself. 1 The rules a lsu p rovide that ·~.c h m ember m ay speak on \ .Jle .bill for an hour , if he

, c hooses. prior to the final vote . This could m ean a possible 100 hour s more of de ba te, but it was expected tha t ver y few Senators would exercise th at right. Sena te Democrati c Leader Mike Ma ns field indicated the final vote could come a s ear ly a s Wednesday a nd ce rtain ly before the Senate reces s e s for the taster holiday. Mansfield, leader of the i a ntifilibuster forces, said th a t ,b eca u se of the br ea kt h r o u g h on . th e campa ign bill , the Senate proba bly could quit for East er on Thur sday instead of Fri d ay, a s originally scheduled. It was only the 17th time s ince the Senat e ena cted its ex t e nd ed debate rule 57 year s a go tha t the Senate ha d voted to invoke cloture .

The la st time was j ust a m onth ago whe n debate was ha lted March 6 on a bill lo pe rmit congressional pay raises . Sen. Geo1·ge D. Aiken, R· Vt. , h ad cha r ged tha t "dishonest y, cheating a nd law violations" would only ge t worse if the measure became law, and called for t h e m e a u 1; e to b e ·' cons igned to the lower r eg ion s a s q uic.k ly as possible ."

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Aik e n , who se l as t campa ign cost $17.09, said he would vote to shut'off de bate Tuesday so he could vote to kill the bill. Aike n voted aga inst cloture la st time . Opponents of the bill , which contains a provi s ion for fin a ncin g federal elections with tax dollars, have been fi libust ering ag~inst it since debate

FBI Sees Something Anytime In Hearst Case SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) - The FBI agent in charge of the P a tricia Hearst kidnapin g investigation said T u esd ay t he "something could happen at any t ime" in the case. · Special Agent Charles W. Bates said no r estrictions had · been placed on the FBI by Patricia's family. " Our investigation in t his case. a ., in any case where the re is a victim, a host a ge, our firs t concern is for that indi vid ua l's safe ty a n d welfare and it is in this case," said Bates. who has d i r eeled t he investigation since Patricia was kidnaped Feb . 4. " Now we are conducting

o ur i nv es t ig ati o n a s aggress ive ly as we can. cons idering all the fac ts we have. I don' t have any infor m ation that would indicate anything specific as of rig ht al the mome nt, but I know that with the ty pe of in Yes t i ga lion w e ' r e conducting, something could happen at a ny time." Bales · r em arks came after U .S Att o rn e y Genr al William Saxbe said in Washington : " Now the lid is off. I think we are guing to see some resu lts.·, Attorney Vincent Hallinan, who rep resents a convict he describes as the found er of the Symb ion ese Liber ation

100-Bed Hospital Addition Work Expected To Start Here In July Work on the addition of one hundred beds to the North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo shoul d begin in July, a ccording lo pr esent plans, Administra tor Da n Wilford told m embers of the local press Tuesday .

began 18 days ago. Its chief foe, Sen. James B. Allen , DAla ., s aid it was clear the coa lition supporting puhlic financing '' has s hown som e s ign of breaking up" so the filibus ter should continue . Aiken said he had changed his mind about c loture beca use he thinks the Senate should kill the bill and get on to other things. "To be sure, we have had dis honesty, cheating and la w violations in every election . campa ign since my earliest recollection ," said the 81 · year-old senator. "But , at nci time has there b ee n s o much en coura gem ent.. to ,continue su ch p racti ces as m ay be fo und in the bill before us as it now sta nds ... if it became la w m a tte r s wo ul d be infinitely worse . It is loo load ed with hypocri cy and

loopholes and I fear its a dopti o n would b e con sider ed by many as a refle ction on this Congress." He said he would be ''greatly surpr ised" if the House would accept the bill and "even more surprised"

if President Nixon signed it. Aiken said there were num ber of featu res tha t jus tify '·th rowing the whole thin g down the dra in without dela y." Among those , he said, we re provisions requiring the polls to open and close a t the same time throu ghout the co unt ry a nd forbi dding release of returns· until after midnight eastern time on election day . Furthe rmore, he said. the bi ll is so r idd le d with loophole s a bout camµaign fi n ancin ~ t ha t it m ay en coura ge rath er than end a buses .

counsel , as saying he would be ready lo start presenting evidence Mav 7. " The general feeling is t h at we will make a presenta t ion . . . in closed sessio n and we expect him (St. Clai1·) to be the re," said Rep . .John F . Seiberling, DOhiu. " l don ·t see an y necessity for Mr . St. Clair to be involved before May 7. " I stressed the fact that we d idn 't de f'ide anything, " SeiConlinued 0 11 Page 18

committee earlier Tuesday a pparently agreed to permit St. Clair to sit in during impeachm ent proceedings. B ut a l t h ough t h e Democrat s tentatively reached a consensus on the issue. th e fu ll committee still must dec ide wha t role in the inqui ry- -if a ny - St. Clair will have . rn respon se to a question d u rin g a caucu s o f c o mm i ttee Democrats . Dem ocrats quoted John Doa r , c h ie f comm itte e

ft has 250 stude nts enrolled in its tra ining p rograms . It oper ates a $1,400,000 annual pha rmacy business . lt c ondu c t s 600 ,000 la b ora t o ry proced ures a year a nd ma k es 34,000 x-rays . It treats 30,000 per sons a yea r in its em ergen cy ser vict:! . It conducts more s urger y th a n a ny other hospital in Mississippi. It admits 17,000 patients a yea r . And it has a $600,000 janit oria l bill caused in part by the quarter-million to half million visitors who pour into the hospital annually to see those pa t ie nt s . causin g sizeable problems tu the hospital a nd to the patients . Dr . An tonne · Tannehill , chc1 irma n of the hospital m edical staff, said that local d~cl or s work together as a unit far be tter than in m any communities .

A nd th ey · w e l co m e add itiona l doctors to t he city, r ecognizing tha t m ore are needed lo serve the people of this a r ea, he said. Ther e ar e sixty doctors on the hospital sta ff a nd eighty-five per cent a1·e spec ialists of one k ind or

a nother, enabling the local medical center to handle all but a few types of cases, Dr. Ta nnehill pointed out. Even h ca r t s u rgery, he sai d. pro bably will be done h ere reg ularly w ithin four or five years . Mr. Wa ges. who is in ch a rge of the medical center ·s fmances. said that ho s pit a l s upp li e s a r c increa si ng in cr,.,l ten lo fifte en per cent a year while the Cost of Living Council is letting the hospital raise its charges only abou t ha lf that amount. Mr. Wilford pointed out that the el even million dollar· income of the hospita l last ye a r was only about a qu a r ter of a million dollars over expenses and that the n ew minimum wage act would m ore than wipe out this m argin. F urthermore , he pointed out , the renovation work currently being done on two floors of the hospital will cost a bout a m illion and a half dolla r s. The medical center also will st art work soon on a $ 7 1 , o o o I a b o rat o r y . re n ovation program . And new a nd renovated x- ray fac iliti es will cost another · $250,000 in an improvement program now under way ..

A r my . called t he SLA kidna pers of the 20-yearold news pa per heiress " hard criminals .·· Hall inan , who also is a trustee of the $4 million H e a rs t f ood ransom , complained that s ince he offer ed his services as an inte rmediary with the SLA las t wet•k he has "not hea rd a word from them .' ' " If th ey had anyt hing to negotia te th ey would have made contact " he said. " Hea r st and I worked very hard tugcther to get the FBI to lay off so we could ·ne gotiate h e r re lea se ;'' Ha llina n said. ' · 1ow the lon ger it goes the more I feel the girl is not alive. I don 't believe ;.he joi ned th e SLA . or anyth ing like that." P a tr i cia 's f a ther , Randolph /\ . Hea rst, and her m ot her , Ca therine. have gone to ;\,Jexico fo r a rest after t w o m o n t hs of a tte mp ting Lo arrange the gi rl' s r elease th ruugh a $2 m illion fri:1' food program an d th e p l<'d gt· of a nother $4 mill ion once she is freed . Although Saxbc indicated he feel s the FB1 has an im plie d go-a head from t he Hearst f!lmily to go all out lo seize the abdu ctors. FBI Director Clarence M . Kelley sa id Tues day the agency is going Lo r em! inuc lo try to get Pa tric ia hom e unharmed . · Al'l11 r\l lv CJ \l r tacti c~ will not change·a hit,· · he said. In St. Pa ul, Minn., Dennis B a n ks , leader of the American Indian Movement, said he e xpects a break in the Hearst case soon. Ban ks ha s said he is attempt ing to bring about a face -to-face meeting with Pat ri.c ia through the SLA. He said he got in volved in the effort to r ea ch the girl through conta cts with her father. The I n dian l eader • c u rrently is on trial on charges arising from the occ u pation la st year. of Wounded Knee , S. D. Ha llinan. who once ran for president while serving a jail term, is altorne·y fo r Clifford Je fferson. California convict kn own as " Death Row ,Je ff ' ' whci was believed instrume ntal in form ing the SLA. Jefferson ha s asked the SLA to re le!lse Patricia .

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Employment Discrimination Suit Seen Against Corinth By JOE RUTHERFORD Journ al St arr Writer CORINTH - The Corinth chapter of the NAACP ma y fi l e an e mplo y m e nt disc rimination suit aga inst the cit y if an investigation by th e Equ a l E mploym e nt Opportunity Commissio n shows tha t blacks a re being discrim ina ted against in the city 's hi rin g pr actices . .R o b e r t Cop ela nd , president of the local chapter of the Nationa l Association fo r the Ad vancem ent of Co lore d P eople, told t he J ourna l Monday that the g r o up will request t h e federal commission to look into black e mployment in the· city 's fi re , police, street a nd sanita tion departments, and woul d ta ke action pending . the EEOC report. Th e reque st for· the in".esti gation stem s from a month-long dispute between l ea d ers of th e b l ack .community and the Cor inth

Board of Ald erm en over the board' s failure to a ppoint a black m ember to the city 's Board of Education . Black leaders submitted a number of na mes to the a lder men in late February when a vacan cy occun-ed on th e school board, but the s u gg e sti ons we re turned do wn in favor · of white businessman Robert Latta . Anger ed by the alderm en's refusa l to appoin t the board 's first black m em ber, the leaders subsequently c h arged the appointment was m ad e on the basis of race and pol i ti'cal fa voritism. Cor i nth Mayor John Mercier has denied the ,charges , st a ting · tha t the selection was m ade on the basis of finding the most qualifi ed p er son for the job . The cit y code· specifi es no r eq uirem ents for the post except tha t the person be a resident of Corinth .

Copeland . who ha s headed a coalitio n of blac k businessm en. clubs and civic leaders in the effort to gain a r eversal of the city father' s decision, said the EEOC in vestigation, if the request for it is gr a nted, will include appointiv e post s in the city. " If t he report shows dis crim ina tion ," Copeland said, "we will try to get funding cut off from various federal a gencies, such as Revenue Sharing and Urban Renewal. ' ' Copeland said · a letter c harging t he city with vio l atio n o.f · a sc hool de s e g re ga tion plan h as alr eady ·been submitted to t he U n ite d Sta t e s Departm ent of Justice , but indicat ed that no reply has been received. Copeland did not comment on when the investigation by E E OC mi ght begin.


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