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38 pages, 2 sections
Tupelo, Mississippi, Wednesday Morning, July 30, 1980
Vol. 107 No . 103
S. Green St., East of Hospit al
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Lee Officials Race To Set Up Fire Departments By REBECCA BOWERS
county board . The supervisors are "working as fast as we can to activate the . Belden and Mooreville fire departments and hope to have them operational by the first of October ," county board president Al Rice said in a letter to the aldermen. Bill Mercer, training officer for the county volunteer fire
Staff.Writer Efforts are being made to establish volunteer fire d_epartments in key Lee County areas before the City of Tupelo stops out-of - town fire department runs Sept. 30. Tupelo aldermen voted Thursday to extend an Aug. 1 cutoff date at the request of the
departments, is working with the Council of Governments and District 3 Supervisor J.E . Marcy to fo{m volunteer fire departments in the county's " danger zones,." Belden and Moore ville. City officials have said most of the · fire department's · out-oftown calls ha ve come from those two unincorporated
communities. · Mercer also is helping Plantersville officials set up a volunteer fire department. A meeting will be 7:30 p .m. Thursday in the Plantersville Town Hall to gather public support for the department. "Anybody from the Plantersville area who ' s interested in forming a fire
Shah.Laid ':airo Grave: CAIRO, Egypt . (UPI) - Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who once proclaimed himself the king of kings, went to an exile's grave Tuesday, mourned by just a handful' of former leaders . Spectators were sparse and appeared unmoved. Former President Richard Nixon and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, the only world leader to stand by the shah during AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI delayed a decision on the 52 American hostages again Tuesday as new reports of turmoil from within the government surfaced. Page 2. UPI Telephoto
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LAST RESPECTS - The Iranian flagdraped casket bearing the body of the e.x -shah of Iran lies in state in the Abdin Palace in
Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday prior to the journey to the mosque where he was laid to rest.
Two Seamen Killed
Midway, Merchant Ship Collide WASHINGTON (UPI) ,- Two seamen were killed Tuesday and three injured when the aircraft carr.ier USS Midway collided with a Panamanian merchant ship south of the P hilippines, the Pentagon announced . The Navy withheld names of the two dead seamen, pending notification of next of kin. The Midway s ustained no structural dama ge below the water line but· its port aircraft elevator was jammed, and six of its aircraft received "moderate
damage," Navy sources said. The sources said the carrier also sustained damage to catwalks and gunnery platforms on its port sCde. The accident is a blow to the Navy's sea power which already is stretched . thin by n e w responsibilities for maintaining a major naval force in the Indian Ocean. . However, Navy officials could not im m ediately say what effect th e collision will · have on operations in the Indian or Pacific
oceans. An investigating tea m will conduct an inquiry on the ca use of the accident. The Midway, which has its home port at Yokosuka, Japan, was on its way to a four-day port call at Singapore. was accompanied by a cruiser, two frigates and an oiler when the accident occurred at 7: 20 a.m. EDT in the Palawan Passage about 450 nautical miles southwest of the Philippines. It
School Prayer Testimony Begins WASHING.TON (UPI) - The It is · the la test effort by government and religious groups supporters of prayer in public told Congress Tuesday that schools to get around Supreme efforts to take away the Supreme Court decisions in 1962 and 1963 Court's jurisdiction over school that banned state-sponsored prayer defy the Constitution and school prayers and Bible-reading do a disservice to " true religlon." in the public schools. The testimony came on the first While both government a nd of two days . of hea rings by a · religious opponents told the House judiciary subcommittee on subcommittee they believe the proposed legislation to remove all proposed legislation would be federal court jurisdiction over held unconstitutional, they also any state laws "which relate to expressed concern that if passed voluntary prayers in public and upheld, it could erode other schools and buildings.'' fundamental protections of the Written by Sen. J esse Helms, RBill of Rights. N.C ., the proposal already has "If Congress can eliminate passed the Senate a nd is being from the purview of the Supreme pushed by a coalition of · Court any issues on which its fundamentalist religious and decisions displease a portion of conservative political groups. the electorate, what implications
will this have for the entire Bill of Rights?" asked the Rev. M. William Howard, president of the National Council of Churches. Howard said the council opposes any state-supported or required prayers in the public · schools as an "injustice to those children and ·their fa milies who belong to minority religions or to no religious groups " as well as a " disservice to true religion." Pra yer, · Howard said, "is too im portan.t, too sacred , too intimate to be scheduled or administered by government." Assistant Attorney General John M. Harmon of the Justice Department's Office · of Legal Continued on Page 22
WASHINGTON ( UPI) President Carter said Tuesday he will prepare. and make public a "complete report" that shows his brother Billy had no influence over his or the administration's decisions regarding Libya. "The sooner the better," Carter told reporters in .the White House press room, describing his wish that all the facts be made public . The president said he will send the report to the Senate panel investigating Billy's relations with the Libyan government, and then make the report public and submit to questions about it by the news media. Carter gave the first outright indication he is willing to go to the Senate to testify about what he knows of Billy's $220,000 loan from the Libyans. "I'm willing to respond and I'm eager to respond in · person to further questions from member s of that subcommitee in an m anner consistent with the responsibilities of my office at any time in the future," he said. "I have no doubt that complete disclosure of the facts will clearly demQnstrate that at no time did my brother influence me in my decisions toward · Libya or the policies of t his government concerning Libya," Carter said. "And I'm convinced that the facts will make clear that neither I nor anyone acti.!!g in m~ehalf ever sought to influence or to interfere in the investigation of my brother by the Department of Justice. "The Americ a n people deserve complete answers in regard to my actions, " Ca rter said in the brief televised statement. "I'm eager to use whatever legitimate forum is available to answer any questjons and to lay all those concerns to rest." He added that he has ordered everyone in government to "cooperate fully " with the probe . "I have insisted for the last two weeks relevant facts be made public, even when those facts might prov e em b arrassin g, " Carter said. "I will complete and present to the Senate subcommittee early next week · the report it has requested." White House press secretar y Jody Powell said later the White House had "in no way excluded" the possibility that Carter would be summoned by the Senate panel ConHnued on Page 22
ambassador recalled
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volunteer fire departments before state money is released to finance them, said Chuck Holliday of the Lee Council of Go·v ernments. About $21,000 collected from state fire insurance premium rebates is being held for each of Continued on Page 22
Carter Says Facts Coming On Billygate
To Rest 1·n
18 months of sickness and scorn, led the former imperial family in a solemn procession past curious bu t undemonstrative Cairo crowds. The shah succumbed to cancer Sunday, dying a bitter and broken man, his dream of a new Persian empire built on oil and arms swept asunder by the Islamic revolution that still holds 52 Americans hostage in Iran. , Drawn by six black horses toiling under a bliste;ring sun, the shah's coffin draped with the flag of former imperial Iran was taken to the 19th century AlRifaie Mosque and laid to rest in a perfumed grave with full military honors. Nixon and deposed King Cons t antine of Greece were among the few foreign mourners . Notably absent were the heads of st a te of the shah's one-time allies, who Sadat bluntly told not to come. The United States was represented by its am bassasdor to Egypt, Alfred Atherton. Reporters estimated that no more than 5,000 Egyptians turned out to line the two-mile funeral route. At the head of the procession strode Sadat, dressed in a smoky · blue field marshal's uniform soaked with s weat. Time and ; again he removed his goldbraided cap .to mop .his brow under the blazing sun . The shah's widow Empress Farah walked at his side, clad in mourning black and missing not a step. Between her and the shah's 19year~old son Reza walked Nixon, his step also firm but his face plainly showing the toll of the years that have passed since his presidency, when he counted on the shah to defend American interests in the Middle East. But the saddest figure of all was the shah's 60-year-old twin sister Continued on Page 22
department is invited to come," said Judy Borden, chairman of the Plantersville Planning Commission. "We've been looking at the need for a good while. If we have too many folks at the town hall, we'll move to the school cafeteria." Mooreville and Belden, both separate fire districts , must ha· v e 1e g a 11 y organized
The United States recalled Frederic L. C h a-pi n, ambassador to Ethiopia, Tuesday because of worsening relations with the socialist governme nt. Page 21.
license request seen TV A may request a full operating license for Sequoyah Nuclear P lant in Soddy-Daisy, Tenn., which is operating at 5 percent ca p ac ity, offici al s announced Tuesday. Page 20.
Frederic L. ,Chapin
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PRESIDENT CARTER promised Tuesday to submit a full report on his brother's activities with Libya.
Muskie Back! Boss' Election
'All The Way' WASHINGTON (UPI) Secretary of State Edm und Muskie, mentioned as a possible alternative to President Carter, said Tuesday he supports his boss "all the way ," and the White House repeated that Carter ha ~ no plans to release his delegates. At the same time, Connecticu1 Guv. E lla Grasso, a strong Carte1 ally, called for an ope r co n ve n tion, and Democratic . congressmen with the same goa said the idea is getting "fantastic" response across t h1 country. But White Hous e pres: secretary Jody Powell said th( president will still push for , convention rule requirin1 delegates to vote for the man thei ar e pledged to on the first ballot. "We dqn't plan to release om delegates," he said. "We have nc plans to change our position 01 this matter.'' As for Mrs. Gra s so' : suggestion, Powell sai,d , "Man: Continued on Page 22