Walla Walla Union*Bulletin Tuesday, June 22, 1976
108th Year
15 Cents
Soaring food costs push up prices WASHINGTON (AP) - The largest increase in food costs in 10 months helped push consumer prices up sixtenths of a per cent during May. the biggest monthly jump since last November. the government said today. The Labor Department said the May figures mean that inflation now is running at an annual rate of 7.2 per cent. The May performance compared with a consumer price increase of four-tenths of a per cent in Aprjl. The 7.2 per cent inflation rate is higher
than the 6 per cent rate which administration economists consider to be the underlying inflation rate in the economy. But the effect was to compensate for lower than normal increases in earlier months. Among the influences likely to be pushing prices up in the near future are food and fuel, the same items responsible for the increases of more than 10 per cent in some recent years. Food prices jumped in April for the first time in four months and the
Stabbing trial jury still mulls final decision ByJOMORELAND Of the Union-Bulletin Curtis Lee Johnson was still waiting this morning for a jury verdict. Johnson, a 31-year-old Washington State Penitentiary inmate, was being patient about the outcome of his trial on a first-degree murder charge, a prison official said. The prisoner is accused of the Jan. 7 stabbing death of a fellow inmate, Stephen James McCoy, 48. McCoy was knifed in an outdoor prison breezeway that morning in what prosecution witnesses in the Walla Walla County Superior Court trial said was a dispute about drugs. They said Johnson committed the stabbing after McCoy said he was afraid Johnson was trying to rob him of a drug delivery. Defense witnesses, including Johnson, said the defendant was having breakfast in a penitentiary dining hall when the murder happened. After a week of testimony, the jury received the case about 1 p.m. Monday for deliberation. Taking about two hours after that for lunch and dinner, the nine women and three men still hadn't reached a decision by 12:30 a.m. today. Judge John C. Tuttle had the jury held overnight at the Black Angus Motor Inn. 107 N. Second Ave. Deliberation began again at 9 a.m. today.
It's an unusually long time for a Walla Walla jury to be out. Decisions are usually reached the day the case is turned over to a panel. Meanwhile Johnson waited in his cell in the penitentiary's segregation unit in maximum custody. "The thing I can't get is he seems to be just quiet and waiting for the decision," said James Cummins, the prison's associate superintendent of treatment. The jury learned Monday it could find Johnson guilty of a lesser charge of second-degree murder. That charge doesn't require proof of premeditation, as a first-degree count does. Defense counsel Donald Schacht of Walla Walla objected when the seconddegree jury instructions were included. He said Walla Walla County Prosecutor Arthur Eggers asked for them. Such a request was an admission by the prosecution that the state had failed to prove the first-degree murder charge. Schacht said. This morning he said those instructions might be an influence in the jury's lengthy deliberations. "I would just imagine that if there wasn't a second-degree instruction," the verdict might have been returned sooner, he said. Eggers was out of town today, attending a prosecutors' convention at Lake Chelan, Wash. Deputy Prosecutor Carl Johnson was expected to receive the jury verdict for the prosecution.
Ford names initial envoy to Lebanon INDIANAPOLIS. Ind. (AP) President Ford announced here today that Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Talcott Seelye will temporarily take charge of the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon following the murder of Ambassador Francis E. Meloy. Ford designated Seelye as his special representative and said the former ambassador to Tunisia would take charge of the embassy in Beirut on a temporary basis. The White House press office issued a statement that said: "In view of the present situation in Lebanon, the President and Secretary (of State Henry A. Kissinger) consider it essential to have as their representative a senior man with long experience." Seelye. who recently became deputy assistant secretary for African affairs, once served in the Beirut embassy and formerly directed the State Department office handling relations with Lebanon and nearby Arab countries.
The announcement said Ford, in Indianapolis to address the national convention of the Jaycees. had an unannounced meeting Monday with Seelye in Washington and that the new special representative "will depart for Beirut at the earliest possible date." At the time of the announcement. Seelye already had begun his journey to the Middle East and was meeting today in Paris with Kissinger and some of the U.S. ambassadors to other Middle East countries. Meloy. Robert 0. Waring, an economic attache in Lebanon, and their driver were shot to death last Wednesday after being kidnaped in Beirut. Meloy and Waring were eulogized Monday at the National Cathedral in Washington by Philip C- Habib, undersecretary of state designate. He said their legacy strengthens "our commitment to our country and to peace." (Related story, page 18)
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Agriculture Department has reported that the prices received by farmers over the last two months have been going up. That means higher prices are in prospect eventually for pork, beef and other items, even if those increases don't show up at the consumer level in May. Despite the faster pace of inflation, however, workers managed to improve the amount of their disposable incomes. The Labor Department said real spendable earnings climbed by 1.2 per cent in May after decreasing for two
consecutive months. Spendable earnings for May stood seven-tenths of a per cent ahead of a year ago. Consumer prices in May were 6.2 per cent more than a year ago. Over-all food prices were up one per cent in May. the sharpest advance since the 1.8 per cent increase last July. Food price declines in the first three months of this year had been responsible for holding over-all consumer prices below an annual increase of three per cent.
For the month, the consumer price index stood at 169.2. That means that a sampling of goods which cost $100 in 1967 cost $169.20 last month. Beef prices, which had declined for four consecutive months, shot up 5.2 per cent in May. Prices of pork and poultry nearly tripled the rate of their April increases Cereal and bakery prices rose seventenths of a per cent, the first increase in four months. Coffee prices moved up 4.8 per cent to
Communist vote gains
Ex-inmate's wife says it with song
in Italy
By DICK COCKLE Of the Union-Bulletin In the song "Yellow Ribbon," an exprison inmate returns home to 100 yellow ribbons tied 'round an old oak tree, proving his love is still true. When Larry Heath is released today from the Washington State Penitentiary, it will be "after three long years," as in the song. He'll come in a taxi instead of a bus. and the tree will be a maple, not an oak. But the 100 yellow ribbons will be there. Heath's wife. Donna, 23, 818 Catherine St., tied them to the tree "to prove to him that I really do love him." The couple was married in a ceremony in the prison chapel in February, 1975. When Heath, 25, was sentenced in Spokane County for delivery of a controlled substance, they hadn't met. They were "introduced" through the mail by his mother while Donna was living in Rathdrum, Idaho. They corresponded six or seven months before their first meeting, she said. "He proposed to me through the mail, and then I came down and met him. I didn't care about looks. Love works in mysterious ways." After they were married. Heath legally adopted her three-year-old son Corey. Donna made the yellow ribbons from three bed sheets. It took more than three hours to tie them to the tree, she said. She plans to leave them there at least a month. "I've been married to this man for over a year, but I've never lived with him. He's scared and I'm scared." She joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church last April arid plans to make "our ties. , .those of the church," she said. "I'm trying to keep him out of that place, and I'm going to do it any way I know how." The song "Yellow Ribbon" by Tony Orlando and Dawn will be playing when Heath arrives home, she said. "Oh, tie a yellow ribbon 'Round the old oak tree. It's been three long years Do you still want me? If I don't see a ribbon round the old oak tree I'll stay on the bus. forget about us. Put the blame on me. If I don't see A ribbon 'round the old oak tree."
t'-B pholo b> Dick Cwklc
Donna Heath and her 100 yellow ribbons.
Ford, Reagan to fall short of needed votes Bv The Associated Press President Ford and Ronald Reagan will both fall short of the delegates needed for the Republican nomination when the last delegates are chosen in seven states, party leaders and campaign officials in those states say. The nomination would then hinge on 159 uncommitted delegates now being courted and cajoled by both camps. Ford was off today for Indiana on his second "nonpolitical trip" in eight days while Reagan was at home in California. Ford was to deliver a speech at the annual convention of the Jaycees in Indianapolis today. He was due Jo return to the White House in (lie afternoon. The cost of the trip will be paid out of federal funds. Ford's trip last Tuesday lo Norfolk. Va., Jo address the National Baptist Convention also was paid by federal funds. A Ford aide said he knows of no plans for Ford to make any specifically political trip before the Republican convention in August. Betty Fords press slaff announced Monday that the first lady will mate an appearance Friday at the Minnesota Republican convention in St. Paul as a stand in for the President. Mrs. Ford attended the Iowa GOP slate convention DCS Moines last Friday when Ford canceled his appearance because aides said he
35 per cent above where they were a year ago. The increases overcame declines in prices for both fresh and processed fruits and vegetables. But food wasn't the only area where inflation picked up. While the cost of services increased bv the same four-tenths of a per cent logged in April, commodities other than food went up six-tenths of a per cent in Mav compared to three-tenths of 1 per cent in April.
was involved in the evacuation of Americans from Lebanon. Jimmy Carter, probable winner of the Democratic presidential nomination, planned to leave his home town of Plains. Ga., today for a two-day northem excursion. Carter was scheduled to attend two fundraisers in Boston today and five in New York on Wednesday to help erase what his campaign treasurer. Bob LipshuU. savs is a debt of about $600.000. In Washington. Gov. Robert D. Ray of Iowa, chairman of the temporary Republican platform committee, told reporters Monday that both Ford and Reagan have indicated they will try to avoid open fights over the party's 1976 platform. "We will start from the premise thai the platform should be short, concise, but with enough detail to have meaning," he said According to an Associated Press count. Ford held a 72-delegate lead lodaj with 3,006 to Reagan's 934. 11 will takt 3J30 delegates to capture th< nommatxm. There arc 157 delegates slil to be chosen at Republican convention? and caucuses in Minnesota, Montana New Mexico. North Dakota, Colorado and Utah. By the estimate of his own campaigners in those slates. Ford will
pick up 90 of the remaining delegates and Reagan 67. That would leave the tally at 'l.0% for Ford and 1.001 for Reagan. The Reagan camp has a different view of the remaining states, seeing the former California governor winning 101 delegates to 56 for Ford That count would leave the totals at 1.062 for Ford and 1.035 for Reagan The Reagan tally would put the President only 27 delegates ahead after the last delegates arc chosen July 36 in Connecticut and UJah The Ford count would put the President ahead by 95 delegates, but still 34 voles short of the nomination. Associated J'rcss reporters on Monday surveyed state GOP oificials and leaders of both the Ford and Reagan campaigns in the slates siill to choose delegates Their reports indicated bitter political infighting m some slates, especially in Minnesota. Montana and New Mexico where 59 delegates will be chosen this weekend. According to his supporters m those stales. Reagan will pick up 47 of those delegates to 12 ior Ford. Ford's supporters see it going 32 ior Reagan and 27 for Ford, slill a net loss for Ihc President iRclatcd stories, page 10)
ROME (AP) - Italy's Christian Democrats beat back a Communist bid for power in national elections Sunday and Monday but failed to win the parliamentary majority needed to deal firmly with the nation's deep-seated political and economic crises. The Communists made strong gains, moreover, at the expense of smaller center parties whose support the Christian Democrats have needed to govern in the past. The ruling Christian Democrats are faced with the same choices as before as they try to form their 35th government since World War II. They can try to rebuild the center-left coalition with the Socialists. Social Democrats and Republicans which collapsed in January. But the Socialists said during the election that was a dead issue. The Christian Democrats can also try to govern alone, but without a majority in the Chamber of Deputies there would be a constant scramble for votes. Finally, they can agree to share power with the Communists, who have not been in a national government since 1947. The Christian Democrats have said they will not form a partnership with the Communists, despite the party's insistence that it is independent of Moscow. Moreover. Washington strongly opposes such a government in this NATO nation. More than one out of three Italian voters cast a Communist ballot for the Democrats got 38.7 per cent, the same showing they made four years ago. Despite the prospect of continuing political and economic instability, the stock market and the lira rallied because of the Communists' failure to displace the Christian Democrats as the dominant party. Gains in early trading on the Milan stock exchange averaged 2.5 per cent while the lira rose from 854 to the dollar to close at 847 Realization of the uncertain future overcame the initial stock market enthusiasm and most blue chips closed below their Monday level. Former President Giuseppe Saragat announced he would resign as secretarygeneral of the Social Democratic party after its election losses. Saragat said the Christian Democrats picked up some of his party's support because they succeeded in blaming the Lockheed payoff scandal in Italy on Social Democrat Mario Tanassi. a former defense minister. Giovanni Mosca. deputy chief of the Socialist party, a Marxist group, also announced his resignation. He asked for "self-criticism" for" the party's setbacks in both the Senate and the Chamber. In foreign reaction. Spanish politicians of the right and left said they feared the election results would only draw out Italy's musical-chair government. The official Soviet news agency Tass referred to the "great successes" of the Italian Communists At the Vatican, however, spokesman the Rev. Romeo Pancroli said the results confirmed the voters" "fundamental choice in favor of democracy and ubertv."
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the weather Forecast for Walla Walla ValleyFair and cool tonight; mostly sunny and a little -warmer Wednesday; lows tonight in the 40s; high Wednesday near ÂŤ0; chance of rain 10 per cent tonight and Wednesday. Extended outlook Thursday through Saturday: Slight chance of showers Friday hot otherwise dry; a litUe cooler toward the weekend; highs in the 70s and low 80s coding to the upper 60s and 70s by Saturday; lows 45 to 55. Weather report, page 9)
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