Walla Walla Union*Bulletiii Walla Walla, Wash. 99362
Our 102nd Year, No. 309 10«
Tuesday, April 13, 1971
Evening
4 Sections—48 Pages
South Viets Drive to Aid Base
By GEORGE ESPER A*Mdste4Pmi Writer SAIGON (AP) - Some 2,000 S o u t h Vietnamese troops launched a drive today to hit the two-week-old siege of Fire Base 6 in the central highlands after U.S. B52 bombers prepared the way with 600 tons of bombs. The big bombers attacked North Vietnamese positions within a mile of the eastern side of the base close to the Laotian and Cambodian borders. It was the heaviest B52 attack in the central highlands in nearly a year. Four battalions from South Vietnam's 22nd Infantry Division moved up for the drive to relieve the less than two battalions hanging on at Fire Base 6. But no ground contact with the enemy was reported. With elements of two North Vietnamese infantry regiments and one artillery regiment reported in the area, some South Vietnamese paratroop units which participated in the Laotian invasion were flown from Quang Tri to the central highlands as a ready reserve force. U.S. C130 cargo planes dropped two more 15,000-pound blockbuster bombs on North Vietnamese troop concentrations on the western side of the base. Two of the big bombs were dropped on enemy positions Monday, the first time in the war that 15,000-pounders had been used against troops. Heretofore, the bombs had been used to blast out landing zones for helicopters in the jungles; the biggest bomb used against enemy positions had been 3,000 pounds. U.S. officials were reassessing the progress of the Vietnamization program in light of the disappointing South Vietnamese performance in Laos and the current enemy of-
fensive in the highlands. Informed sources said as a result, reduction of the 40,500 U.S Air Force personnel, still in Vietnam will likely be kept to a minimum during the 100,000* man cutback President Nixon has programmed for May 1Dec. 1. They said that perhaps only one air wing would be pulled out. To increase the effectiveness of its support for the South Vietnamese and its production for the diminishing American forces, the U.S. 7th Air Force is planning a reorganization and
consolidation of its squadrons in South Vietnam. Certain types of aircraft will be grouped at central points instead of being spread over the country. The sources said this should result in speedier maintenance, keep more planes in the air and help offset the reduction in American strength. Both the Laotian operation and the defense against the current enemy offensive in the central highlands point up one major weakness in the Vietnamization program: the continuing South Vietnamese de-
pendence on American air power. U.S. officials say the South Vietnamese air force does not yet have enough planes or firepower to do the job by itself. U.S. B52 bombers and tactical fighter-bombers have helped contain the offensive in the highlands and apparently have kept Fire Base 6 from being overrun a second time. While South Vietnamese fighter-bombers fly some missions in support of the base, U.S. bombers do the bulk of the job. U.S. helicopters also have played a prominent role in the
Final Budget Vote By Senate Wears OLYMPIA (AP) - A $2.36 billion General Fund budget, approved Monday by the Senate Ways and Means Committee, should be acted on by Wednesday, Sen. Martin J. Durkan, DIssaquah, says. Durkan, the Ways and Means chairman, said two companion measures would be sent with the spending document to balance it. One would amount to approval of Gov. Dan Evans's revenue package, and the other involves two bookeeping changes delaying to fall from summer distribution of state school funds and shifting payday for state employes from June 30 to July 1. The budget calls for $26.75 million more in state spending than asked by Evans, but Durkan said "it is not an inflationary budget in any sense of the word." In action Monday, the committee reinstated $6 million for state employe pay hikes in the coming biennium, reversing an earlier decision. It also left intact percentage cuts in pay for state employes making more than $15,000 a year. Senators also approved a 2.5 per cent cut in faculty for state two and four-year schools, but
added a floor to prevent community colleges from receiving less than they received last year. Durkan said the budget's future depends on what the Republicans do in floor debate. Newsmen, lobbyists and other spectators showed up to attend Monday's committee meeting under the Senate's new "open meeting" rule, but were forced to leave when the committee voted to go into executive session. The rule permits committees to do this by majority vote of the members present. Newsmen estimated about 12 of the 38laember committee voted for the motion by Sen. August Mardesich, D-Everett. Ten or 11 raised their hands to vote against it. Apparently not all members present voted. It was one of the first times a Senate committee meeting had been closed under the new rules. The Senate Natural Resources Committee held a closed meeting earlier in the day to discuss the shoreline management bill which has passed the House. Sen. Lowell Peterson, DConcrete, chairman, said members voted for the closed session at a previous meeting. Members said Monday's talks on the bill were preliminary.
defense of the base, providing gunship support and supplying the base under heavy fire. The U.S. Command said American helicopters also flew 460 missions in eastern Cambodia Monday, nearly all of them gunship raids in support of seven South Vietnamese task forces operating across the border. The helicopter gunships and American fighter-bombers helped repulse one predawn attack near the town of Suong, on Highway Seven, 105 miles northwest of Saigon. South Vietnamese military headquarters said 148 North Vietnamese soldiers were killed and 10 weapons were captured. Sixteen South Vietnamese were killed and 38 wounded.
EWSC Shortage Found
OLYMPIA (AP) — The State Auditors office reported Tuesday it has uncovered approximately 850 separate acts of embezzlement at Eastern Washington State College involving $74,339. The auditor said the embezzlements occurred between February 1966 and February of last year. The report said the embezzlements were confined to operations within the cashier's office at the Cheney institution. It said they were accomplished by "deliberate misuse and manipulation of machines used for validating cash receipts, destruction of certain receipting records and withholding records from the receipting accounting cycle." The auditor said criminal responsibility for the misappropriations has not been established. The report said the Spokane County prosecuting attorney is continuing to investigate the matter. It said the auditor, the attorney general and Eastern Washington State College administrators are assisting in the clearly in excess of any realistic assessment of long-term investigation. productivity growth prospects," the White House said. The inflation alert said the can industry settlement usually is a pacesetter for wage negotiations in the basic metals industries, including steel. The inflation alert on other matters also hit hard at taxicab fare increases in New York City. It said the problem stems from a legal restriction on the NEW YORK (AP) - Two number of taxicabs which may masked holdup men escaped serve the public. The report said taxicab fares with 1250,000 from a branch in New York increased recently bank in Brooklyn today while a by an average of 48 per cent, third companion held 12 perand it noted that the number of sons hostage in a Staten Island cabs permitted to operate in home, police said. Police said some of the hosthe city has not been increased since 1937. As a result, it said, tages, held all night, were recab fares in New York are lated to the bank's manager, more than twice the level of Charles A. Di Sogra, who also Washington, D.C., where no re- was held captive and forced to open the bank's vault. All were strictions are in effect. "Such restriction of taxicab released unharmed, police said. Police said the three armed service to the public helps maintain high fare levels and men invaded Di Sogra's home reduces employment opportu- on Staten Island Monday night nities for those with little for- and took him to his sister-inmal education," the alert said. law's home where a total of 12 The alert also focused on people were held hostage. While one bandit remained wage and price increases in railroad freight rates, lumber with the hostages, two of the and plywood prices, petroleum, men forced Di Sogra to drive meat prices and construction. them to the Ft. Hamilton But the key part of the report branch of Community National dealt with the steel industry, Bank and Trust Company in where a contract with the Brooklyn at about 7:30 a.m. United Steel workers is due to and ordered him to open the bank's safe. expire August 1.
Third Nixon Inflation Alert' Warns Against Steel Wage Hike By BILL NEIK1RK Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House said today employment in the steel industry will be sharply reduced if it is faced with a large wage increase later this year. In its third "inflation alert," the Nixon administration said the steel industry is confronted with strong international com-
PUD Hearing Scheduled April 26 A public hearing on a request by a group of Burbank residents to hold an election for forming a Public Utility District has been scheduled for 1:30 p.m. April 26 in the county commissioners' office in the courthouse. County Auditor Gladys Gilman said Monday that 66 of the 71 signatures calling for the Burbank election were valid. This number of signatures is enough for the county to call an election on the PUD issue. A group of Burbank residents has been campaigning for the PUD. The county commissioners indicated Monday that they would have to decide whether to hold the PUD election during the next general election in 1972 or hold a special election earlier, which would cost the county more money.
petition and added that increases in wage costs would significantly erode its competitive position. "Protection of the steel industry from the full consequences of a deteriorating po- • sition in international competition, on the other hand, would reduce the ability to meet foreign competition for industries which are major users of steel, with a consequent reduction in employment opportunities in those industries," the inflation alert said.
The White House said that comment referred to voluntary import quotas in the steel industry which protect it from lower-priced foreign steel. The alert avoided direct comment on wage demands by the United Steel Workers Union, totalling 32 per cent over the three-year life of the contract, but it focused on a recent wage increase in the can industry averaging 9 per cent a year over the life of the contract. "The terms of the agreement reached in the can industry are
New Fire District Formed for Region The formation of a rural fire protection district to serve the area between Milton-Freewater and the state boundary was approved Monday by voters in the area. Voters approved the formation of the East Umatilla Rural Fire Protection District by a vote of 14342. The new district includes the area from MiltonFreewater to Stateline between the Walla Walla River and Edwards Road. It will serve about 1,200 families in the approximately 20 square mile area. BUI Lambert, Claude McElrath, Frank Artz, Bob Fredricks and Juston DeBroeck were elected as directors of the district. Lambert said the first meeting of the board of directors will probably be scheduled later this week.
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Docco Ruins baltfctt
Troops on bus are returning to capital after roadclearing military operation. (AP)
Team Awaits Meeting With Chou-En-lai PEKING (AP) — Members of the U.S. table tennis team are excitedly looking forward to what promises to be the high point of their week's visit to China, a meeting Wednesday with Premier Chou En-lai. The prospect of talking with the Communist Chinese leader outweighed the team's anticipation of its first matches this afternoon with Chinese table tennis stars. The 15 Americans were told this morning of the meeting with Chou as they left their hotel to practice for today's matches. The American-Chinese table tennis bouts were expected to attract a capacity stadium crowd of 20,000 spectators. U.S. team member John Tannehill, a university student from Middleport, Ohio, returned to the hotel after becoming ill this morning, raising the prospect that the American team may be one man short in the exhibition matches. The other members of the U S. team were in high spirits and eager for their first meetings with Chinese players. Besides their meeting with Chou, the Americans on Wednesday will visit the Summer Palace on Peking's outskirts and attend a preformance of a Chinese opera. They fly to Shanghai Thursday morning, where they will spend the night before going on to Canton. They are scheduled to return to Hong Kong Saturday. The Americans also visited Chinghua University and met a
The Stroller Jody must be about six years old and doesn't understand complicated things like box numbers and zip codes. But she knows her grandmother lives in Milton-Freewater and has a cat and a stream, both of which are among Jody's favorite things. Jody's letter to her grandmother arrived in the Milton-Freewater Post Office, but probably would have gone no further had it not been for an extra measure of service by Clarence Grant, the letter carrier on Route 3. Jody's letter was addressed to "Grandma Cook, Rural Route, Milton-Freewater, Ore." It bore a one-cent stamp and a Riverside, Calif., postmark, but no return address.
TALLMAN'S Features A Complete
M & R D R fU G Plaza Shopping Cwnttr
Robbers Take Hostages
Two Eras Commandeered bus speeds past the Roman Catholic basilica in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The church survives from French colonial period.
Grant delivered the letter to its intended recipient, Mrs. Lee Cook, apparently paying the lartra five cents postage himself. For his extra effort in conveying a little bit of love from a little girl far away in a bif land, Grant has been nominated by Mr. and Mrs. Cook for the Stroller •ward. Grant may pkk up his tickets to the Liberty Theater in the Union-Bulletin newsroom. The AP current feature at the Liberty is "Airport," starring Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jean Sebargand
shy jet propulsion expert who taught at the California Institute of Technology and returned to China in 1946. The scientist, Chen Weichang, reported that his students criticized his teaching methods during the 1968 Cultural Revolution and "my eyes were opened."
The university was the scene of a bitter struggle between rival factions at that time and reopened only six months ago. It's enrollment has been cut from 20,000 to 2,800 and the students now are selected by workers, peasants and soldiers after they have worked in factories or on farms.
Laird: North Viets Weakening By ROBERT A. DOBKIN AP Military Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird said today the North Vietnamese have lost the capability of mounting a sustained offensive in South Vietnam despite their attacks in the central highlands. Laird said Communist forces battling in the highlands were not involved in the Laotian operation. "Any attack is a serious attack," he said, "but the capability for serious attacks in that area is not great." The defense chief made his remarks at a news conference. Laird stated flatly, "That is not true," when asked if the administration's Vietnamization program was being reassessed in view of the results of the Laotian campaign which ended earlier this month. On the Middle East, Laird confirmed reports the Soviet Union has stepped up shipment of sophisticated weapons to Egypt. He said the United States was keeping a close watch on the situation and repeated President Nixon's pledge that "the administration will see that a proper military balance is maintained" in the Mideast area.
Inmate Charged in Stabbing
The Weather
Mostly cloudy tonight and Wednesday, bat occasionally sunny Wednesday. Sonthwesf wind Wednesday 1M7 mph, occasionally stronger. Low tonight 42. High Wednesday 7t. No chance of rain tonight. II A charge of second degree per cent Wednesday.
murder has been filed against a 52-year-old penitentiary inmate, accused of the Monday stabbing death of another prisoner. Arraignment has been set at 9:30 Wednesday morning in Superior Court for James R. Harris, charged with inflicting three fatal puncture wounds on Albert G. Boquette, 55. Boquette died a short time after the stabbing, which allegedly occurred during a brief fight between the two men at breakfast in the prison's dining hall, according to police. Over 300 prisoners were in the hall when an argument began between Boquette and Harris police said. They indicated no weapons had been found.
Harris was committed to the prison in 1967 after he was convicted of taking a motor vehicle without perminkx) in Pierce County, police reported. A sabaeqvent chaife of first degree murder wns also filed from Spokane Count;, officials
Dttectrm said Harris tas been confined In the prim'ii
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