Banner Graphic, Volume 10, Number 11, Greencastle, Putnam County, 15 September 1979 — Page 5

Committee recommends Talmadge denouncement

Bv EDWARD T. POI ND c. 1979 N.Y. Times News Service WASHINGTON The Senate Select Committee on Ethics, after a 16-month inquiry, recommended Friday that Sen. Herman E. Talmadge. D-Ga.. be "denounced" by the Senate for engaging in financial misconduct In a unanimous vote, the six-member panel said it had concluded that Talmadge’s conduct was “reprehensible and tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute." The committee’s disciplinary resolution will now go before the Senate, which must decide whether to accept the recommendation The committee said in a brief statement accompanying the resolution that its investigation may have turned up violations of the law Accordingly, the panel said, it was turning over its files to the Department of Justice, which has been conducting a separate criminal investigation of Talmadge’s office and campaign finances. The committee’s decision was announced at a news conference after its members deliberated for more than three hours in closed sessions Friday morning and Friday afternoon. Although one member said he argued forcefully for “censure,” historically a damaging political rebuke, the committee rejected that recommendation by a vote of 5 to 1. Consequently, Talmadge told reporters

UAW,GM accord achieved DETROIT (AP) - The United Auto Workers and General Motors Corp. reached tentative agreement on a new contract Friday night, both sides announced, paving the way for a settlement without a strike for the first time in 15 years The agreement came about 2 1 '2 hours before a strike deadline, that would have idled about 95,350 GM workers, and followed a round-the-clock bargaining session that began about 27 hours earlier. The new contract covers 780,000 Big Three autoworkers, of them at GM. The union ;had threatened to strike 46 of'GM’s 130 installations, including plants making the No. 1 automaker’s most popular cars. GM said the new three-year agreement provided “substantial- increases” in wages, improved pensions, and more time off. Both the union and GM said they would withhold details of the wage and time off provisions until Tuesday. GM Vice President George B. Morris Jr., the chief negotiation, said of the settlement: “The country needed a shot of confidence. I don’t know if this is of that magnitude, but in our own little way it should serve to encourage people.” The UAW said the union’s General Motors Council officers of the 151 GM locals —- would review the tentative agreement Tuesday and local unions would schedule ratification votes after Sept. 22. The union statement said: “It is an excellent settlement,” adding the agreement will provide protection of pensions against inflation, the key issue in the talks since bargaining began July 16. GM said, “The fact that a settlement was reached without a strike is a credit to both parties and averts a situation which could have had a serious impact on our employees, the corporation and the national economy.” At a briefing, the UAW said the pension provisions of the contract call for two pension increases in the first year of the pact, and increases three times annually in the second and third years. A worker who will retire in the next year under the industry’s “30 and out” option would have received S7OO a month under the old contract until Social Security began at age 62. Under the new contract, the worker would receive SBOO a month after ratification, and as much as $915 monthly in the final year of the pact. The final figure represents an increase of 31 percent or 9.3 percent per year over the old pension benefits.

outside his office in the Russell Senate Office Building: “I feel my position has been borne out. There is no finding of intentional wrongdoing.” The 65-year-old senator, who is chairman of the Agriculture Committee and one of the most senior and influential members of the Senate, added, “In sum, I feel the result is a personal victory.” But one committee member. Sen. Mark 0. Hatfield, R-Ore., argued that the words chosen by the committee in rebuking Talmadge were "more harsh” than the word “censure.” Hatfield and other members of the committee, including its chairman, Sen. Adlai E. Stevenson 3d, D-lU., indicated that a unanimous vote was essential to avoid an acrimonious floor fight in the Senate. Talmadge did not indicate whether he intended to contest the committee resolution on the floor. He said he was “reserving judgement" until he had an opportunity to read the panel’s final report, which is expected to be submitted to the Senate by the end of the month. The committee had lodged five misconduct charges against the senator, and had held hearings early this summer. Members said Friday that they had dismissed as unsubstantiated one charge that Talmadge incorrectly reported taxes on gifts he made to his former wife. The four other charges, however, served as the basis of the committee’s conclusion

world

Indianapolis teachers hope to settle strike by Monday

By The Associated Press Even if weekend talks produce a contract, striking Indianapolis teachers probably won’t return to classrooms before a ratification vote is taken, says the head of their union. Kathleen Orrison, president of the Indianapolis Education Association, said Friday it is “doubtful that the teachers would return without a ratification vote by the membership and the school board.” Meanwhile, representatives for both sides remained at the bargaining table for court-or-dered talks aimed at settling

More legal maneuvering begins in Ford Pinto trial

WINAMAC, Ind. (AP) - A county prosecutor has turned to a more specific legal tool in his efforts to have Ford Motor Co. authenticate scores of documents before the automaker’s trial on reckless homicide charges. Elkhart County Prosecutor Michael Cosentino filed a motion Friday seeking to have Ford authenticate as corporate papers some 90 documents before the Nov. 5 trial in the Pinto deaths case gets underway. Ford is charged with reckless homicide in the 1978 deaths of three young women whose Pinto sedan exploded in flames when struck from behind on a

Frederic ranks as one of most destructive hurricanes ever

By WILLIAM K. STEVENS c. N.Y. Times News Service PASCAGOULA, Miss. As storm-stricken residents of the central Gulf Coast began a frustrating, uncomfortable recovery from the ravages of Hurricane Frederic, it appeared Friday that the storm would rank among the three most destructive hurricanes ever to hit the United States. Hurricane Camille in August 1969 was more deadly, a much worse killer of people. Hurricane Betsy in 1965 dealt a crippling blow to a major metropolis, New Orleans. Together, Camille and Betsy stand as the worst property destroyers among U.S. hurricanes. Each inflicted roughly $1.5 billion worth of damage on the Gulf Coast. Frederic, less intense than either of those monster storms, nevertheless afflicted a much wider area on Thursday night coast and uncounted square miles inland. And so Friday morning, while the shocked citizens of Pascagoula, Mobile and dozens of other cities and towns tried to put their shattered communities back

that Talmadge had engaged in conduct that tended to dishonor the Senate. The committee made the following conclusions: More than SIO,OOO in campaign contributions were deposited in a secret bank account in Washington and not publicly reported, as required by law. The account was set up in Talmadge’s name by his former administration assistant, Daniel Minchew, but the senator had vehemently denied knowing about or benefiting from the account. False expense claims totaling $43,435.83 were filed in Talmadge’s name from Jan. 1, 1973, through June 30, 1978. The senator repaid most of the money, but the committee said the Senate should require Talmadge to pay $12,894 that was funneled into the secret bank account. Talmadge filed “inaccurate” campaign spending reports with the Senate in 1974. cial disclosure reports with the Senate by failing to disclose gifts he received from 1972 through 1977. The vice chairman of the committee, Sen. Harrison Schmitt, R-N.M., told reporters that he believed the panel should have recommended censure, which is considered to be the harshest penalty that could be imposed short of expulsion.

the dispute by Monday. Marion Circuit Judge Frank Huse Jr. ordered teachers and school officials to appear in his courtroom at 9 a m. Monday with a new contract. Although Indianapolis was the only city where teachers were on strike by week’s end, non-teaching employees in the Michigan City school system continued their strike and also faced a Monday deadline. School officials there said they asked the school board to fire any of the custodians, bus drivers and cafeteria workers who stay off the job after the

northern Indiana highway. Cosentino’s action Friday came after Pulaski Circuit Judge Harold Staffeldt granted a discovery motion last month requiring the state and Ford to exchange witness lists, exhibits and scientific data in preparation for the trial. Discovery is a pretrial process under which the defense and prosecution open their case files to each other and disclose what they intend to use as evidence during the trial. In his ruling, Staffeldt stopped short of broadening the scope of discovery sought by Cosentino to include the authentication. The prosecutor said

beginning of the week. Around the state, the school contract situation remained more unsettled than at any time since a no-strike collective bargaining law was enacted in 1973. Brian Bosworth, executive assistant to Gov. Otis R. Bowen, said 121 of the state’s 304 school districts still are without contracts, compared with 91 a year ago and 89 at this lime in 1977. At Indianapolis, the school administration said about 2,250 or 67 percent of the 3,400 regularly assigned teachers were in school Friday.

without the documents, the state’s case will be drastically limited. Cosentino said earlier that the documents he has “indicate Ford had a knowledge of the Pinto problems.” After filing the motion Friday, he said he is not asking Ford to do anything “other than acknowledging what are their documents originally.” The papers include crash test results, correspondence regarding federal fuel integrity standards and a cost benefit analysis of adhering to the federal standards, Cosentino said.

together, President Carter toured the area and ratified the preliminary damage estimates that state and local officials had already begun generating: Frederic, he said, might surpass the $1.5 billion worth of devastation wrought by both Betsy and Camille. Even when a decade’s measure of inflation is taken into account, that was considered destructive enough to earn Frederic a place in infamy considerably more prominent than that of last month’s Hurricane David, at least insofar as the U.S. mainland is concerned. The death toll from Frederic remained hearteningly low, less than a dozen by anyone’s count. Camille, by comparison, killed some 250 people. The temporary evacuation of 500,000 residents from low-lying coastal areas during Frederic was largely credited with the saving of life. Camille was a much more vicious storm, with peak winds nearly double those of Frederic and a tidal surge twice as high (24 feet compared with 12). All along Camille’s 35-mile-wide path of destruction, she wiped everything clean. Buildings were obliterated. You couldn’t even tell they had ever been there.

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TED KENNEDY: Meeting the press one more time

Who's on first? Demo leaders lean toward Kennedy

By MILES BENSON Newhouse News Service WASHINGTON Congress is full of Kennedycrats. The real depth and breadth of support on Capitol Hill for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy as the preferred 1980 Democratic presidential nominee over Jimmy Carter, however, will not be fully evident until Kennedy formally announces his candidacy. But interviews with a cross-section of Senate and House Democrats indicate that many of the elected leaders of the Democratic party are ready to switch presidential horses. Dedicated Carter men are few and far between, and even those heard from are careful to avoid outright criticism of Kennedy. Even more remarkable is the scarcity of firm endorsements for Carter the party’s incumbent president from congressional leaders. The picture that emerges from conversations with congressional Democrats squares with Kennedy’s public assertion that he is being drawn toward the race by Democrats who are worried that Carter’s sagging popularity down to 19 percent in one recent national poll may drag them to defeat in 1980 when all House seats and 24 Democratic Senate seats will be at stake. “The time may be coming when a group may have to go down to the White House to talk to Carter,” said New York Rep. Tom Downey. “The message would be, ‘Not only do we feel you are unelectable, but if you are on the ballot it will cost the party 20 to 30 seats in the House.’” To Downey and other, such as Texas Rep. George T. “Mickey” Leland, a Kennedy ticket would turn out Democratic voters on election day, while another Carter race would leave them at home. The belief is widespread among Capitol Hill Democrats that if Kennedy enters the race, the Massachusetts senator will swamp the former Georgia peanut farmer in the primaries to capture the nomination. As House Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill put it last week, “I don’t think he could be denied the Democratic nomination if he were to run.” Even so, many of the Kennedycrats are insisting they will not take sides until Kennedy declares that he is in the race for sure. “It’s a judgment he has to make himself after considering how it will effect the party, the prospects that the president will be successful and how it might assist Democratic candidates for the House and Senate,” said Massachusetts Rep. Edward P. Boland. Boland, whose ties to Kennedy and his family extend back many years, said he will offer Kennedy no advice on the decision he faces. “If he runs, of course, I’ll support him," Boland said. “It’s a matter of leadership and ability. Kennedy is one of the best political packages I’ve ever seen.” In Illinois, Rep. Paul Simon says there is no doubt that Kennedy would win most of his state’s delegation to the Democratic National Convention. “Geographically, my district is closer to Mississippi than it is to Chicago and Kennedy is very strong,” Simon said. “Even the Kluxers are for Kennedy.” “If we could take a secret ballot in the House on Carter, Kennedy and Vice President Walter Mondale, I think Mondale would win,” Simon said. “But Mondale is in a box. In a

Frederic flattened and totally destroyed fewer buildings. It rendered many more uninhabitable, however, simply because it struck a swatch three times as wide as Camille’s. No one knows how many people are homeless, but officials in Jackson County, where Pascacougla is situated, estimated that 60 percent of the population outside the city could not live in their damaged houses. In at least one spot, the destruction appeared to rival that caused by Camille. This was the Alabama beach town of Gulf vShores, a growing resort community of motels, condominiums, vacation cottages and SIOO,OOO vacation retreats that is called the “Redneck Riviera.” It is frequented by such people as quarterbacks Richard Todd of the New York Jets and Ken Stabler of the Oakland Raiders. In the center of Gulf Shores, the shopping district and amusement park were virtually wiped out. To the east, where most of the town’s motels were situated, not a single hostelry was reported inhabitable. To the west, where Frederic’s storm surge did the most damage, one estimate said that only 10 to 20 percent of the struc-

September 15,1979, The Putnam County Banner Graphic

secret ballot between Carter and Kennedy, Kennedy would win,” he said. Even in the South, presumably Carter’s stronghold, congressional Democrats are full of doubt. Louisiana Sen. Bennett Johnston, an early Carter supporter in 1976, has been putting distance between himself and the president in recent months, and political observers have speculated he might be an attractive choice as a vice presidential candidate on a ticket headed by Kennedy. Johnston has been saying recently that he does not believe Carter can win the nomination again because of the condition of the economy and the disarray of his energy policy. “I don’t expect to take a position in advance of the convention,” Johnston said. In Alabama, Rep. Tom Bevill, sidestepped an opportunity to take a stand. “I don’t want to be put in the position to speculate,” Bevill said when asked who he preferred at the top of the Democratic ticket in 1980. One Pennsylvania Democrat, who did not want to be quoted by name, said, “I’m definitely a Kennedy supporter but I have to be practical. I have to get along with the administration for the next V/ 2 years in order to serve my constituents effectively. Somebody reads newspapers over at the White House.” Another Carter backer is Rep. James Corman of California, chairman of the House Democratic Campaign Committee, whose job is to re-elect a Democratic majority next year. Corman rejects the notion that Carter would be a drag on the Democratic ticket nationwide, and he questioned whether Kennedy as president would have any more success getting his program passed by Congress than Carter has had. “John F. Kennedy wasn’t able to get anything through Congress,” Corman recalled. “His accomplishments were as modest as Carter’s.” South Dakota Sen. George McGovern, who faces a tough re-election race next year, is one of the Senate Democrats who has been urging Kennedy to challenge Carter. Not because it would help McGovern in his own campaign “although that is true,” McGovern said but because "Kennedy will make a better leader. He can make the government work." Peter W. Rodino Jr., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is another Democrat facing a stiff re-election fight. Although the New Jersey congressman has been a Carter supporter, he is now avoiding any commitments. “The country’s in a very critical situation economically,” he said. “Everyone is affected and there’s a lack of confidence in government leaders to solve our problems. There is no question people are looking for a turnaround. “What the president is able to accomplish in the next few months to deal with the crucial problems of inflation and energy will have a significant bearing on the way he is perceived, Rodino said. “It is important that people believe the country is making progress.” Rep. Robert Garcia of New York welcomed both Kennedy and Carter to a dinner this past week honoring the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Later, explaining what he termed the “Kennedy mystique,” Garcia said. "In every Hispanic household in this country you can find two pictures on the wall: Jesus Christ and John F. Kennedy.”

tures were salvageable. That is where most of the modern restaurants, condominium units and most expensive new homes are. This area was inaccessible byland, but many of the SIOO,OOO retreats were reported destroyed. Most of Frederic’s damage elsewhere was caused by wind, but in Gulf Shores it was the tidal surge. That community happened to be on the side of the cyclonic circulation where southerly winds pushed the tides higher. Westward from there, toward Pascagoula, across the storm's “eye,” the winds came from the north and counteracted the tide. But the Gulf Shores Holiday Inn’s ground floor was gutted. Young's by the Sea. an older motel, was reduced to wreckage. The major condominium development, of 36 units, was demolished. The Tiki. Gulf Shore's biggest restaurant, disappeared. Nothing remained but the pilings Alabama Gov. Forrest James, w ho has a home in the community, Friday asked that no one return to Gulf Shores until noon Saturday. And even then, he said, onlv residents would be admitted

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