The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 64, No. 5, Ed. 1 Monday, August 30, 1976 Page: 3 of 8
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Developments on the Rhodesian racial conflict
I
(PNS) Ester Judicio, her
wizened black lace showing little
emotion, stood patiently beside
the graves of her sister and
nephew and answered reporter's
questions: The planes were
Rhodesian. They came in the
middle of the night. Besides her
sister and the child, three others of
the tiny hamlet died. They tried to
hide but couldn't. She herself was
wounded.
Were Zimbabwe guerillas
(Rhodesian black nationalists)
there?
No. She knew of only the
Mozambican soldiers. They
helped to drive off the Rhodesians
that night when her sister died.
She and a couple of others stayed
in the hamlet, but most of the
people had fled the border area to
the interior town of Mapai, where
there was a hospital, a school and
shops.
But mostly, Mapai was a safe
place—away from the frequent
border clashes between the
Mozambique-based guerillas and
the Rhodesian forces. That was
last spring.
It was not safe for long. Four
months later, Mapai, 60 miles
from the border, was bombarded
and assaulted by Rhodesian air
and ground troops in the first
deep penetration into Mozam-
bique in the course of the
widening war between
Rhodesia's white-minority
regime and black nationalists
fighting for majority rule.
Unlike the recent Rhodesian
assault cm an alleged guerilla base
in Mozambique, in which 340
soldiers and civilians died, Mapai
was not a military target. The
night it was attacked there were
only 12 Mozambican soldiers in
town, three of whom died
instantly as they slept in one of the
buildings first hit by bombs.
Mapai was the economic hub of
a large rural district. The attack
coincided with celebrations of
the first vear of Mozambican
(ZNS) The U.S. Justice
Department has confirmed
reports it has been looking into
the possibility that so called
"phone-phreaks" have been
wiretapping the F.B.I, and
other federal agencies.
Assistant U.S. Attorney
Floy Dawson in San Francisco
Says that federal investigators
have reached indications --
indications which Dawson
won't elaborate on -- that
amateur electronics wizards
have developed ingenius
methods to eavesdrop on
private government phone
calls.
The story first surfaced
when John Draiper, a
nationally known phone
phreak who has been
nicknamed "Captain Crunch"
reported he had been
extensivly questioned by the
F.B.I, about the alleged
interception of F.B.I, calls.
Draper said that private
individuals have been using
"blue boxes" to penatrate
government telephone switch-
boards and to listen in on
sensitive F.B.I, phone
conversations from outside
phone lines.
U.S. attorney Dawson
declines to say what, if
any, hard evidence has been
gathered about the alleged
wiretapping scheme. But he
says the reports of private
citizens evesdropping on
government lines has
become a "legitimate concern"
of federal investigators.
Draper, who was recently
convicted on telephone toll
fraud charges, says he made a
deal with the government to
tell the F.B.I, all he knew about
the evesdropping on govern-
ment phone lines in return for
a light prison sentence.
Draper reports that he spent
six long sessions in a
San Francisco hotel with
Bureau agents explaining how
phone phreaks and others
have been intercepting
confidential F.B.I, telephone
calls,often without the
bureau's knowledge.
(ZNS) A study of police com-
munication systems has found
that those codes used by cops
such as "10-4" or "10-98" are
not nearly as efficient as is
plain, old-fashioned English.
The Lakewood, Colorado,
Public Saftey Department
conducted an extensive study
of the so-called "Code-10
System," used by most police
departments in the U.S., and
found that the codes often
resulted in confusion and
errors.
According to the study, a
random sample of 200 police
calls using the code system
resulted in a whopping 113
errors. The same number of
police calls in which simple
English was employed instead
resulted in only 14 errors, the
survey found.
As a result of that study,
Lakewood has abandoned the
traditional code-10 system and
is teaching its officers to report
incidents over the radio in
English.
In most cities, Police might
say "10-95" to inform the
dispatcher that a suspect is in
custody. In Lakewood, the
equivalent report to head-
quarters is "We've got this
fellow in the back of the van."
(ZNS) You've heard of
talking to your plants, but how
about when your plants begin
talking back to you?
A Cleveland company has
come up with a talking plant
stand, so that your philo-
dendrum or fern can hold up
its end of the conversation
whenever you're jabbering
away at it.
The plant stand has a button
that activates a recorded tape,
which coos out such mushy
things as "This is your plant
speaking. I'm so happy with
my new home. I love you."
The campany is already
planning tapes with different
messages, including one X-
rated plant stand called a "sex-
pot." It will contain the voice
of "A dirty old plant."
independence, which had drawn
school children to the town from
outlying hamlets. Sane of them,
sleeping in the school in the center
of town, died in the onslaught.
The Ngala Transport Co., a
vital link between the town and
rural areas, was nearly wiped out
by the bombs. Garages, vehicles,
equipment, several canteens and
the clubhouse, all in the center of
town, were destroyed.
Shops were raided and looted.
People scrambled to the bomb
shelters and to the brush to try to
escape the nightmare of exploding
bombs and the ground forces.
Besides the three soldiers, 16
civilians died, making it the largest
angle civilian casualty reported to
date.
Still, the people have their feet.
Once again, they are harvesting,
hauling water, preparing food,
attempting to get back to the daily
routine. In Mapai, reconstruction
has begun, aided by funds from
the national Solidarity Bank, to
International briefs
which all Mozambicans regularly
contribute a portion of their
earnings.
To these pleasant people, the
damaged buses and trucks are a
great loss. Though small boats still
scuttle among the shoals to cross
the shallow Limpopo River, the
trucks that carried sacks of com
and other produce to market no
longer came. Nor are there trucks
to take the men to South Africa
to work on contract in the
mines. And the buses that
regularly shuttled people about
the rural areas are infrequent
now. ^ „
Support for Guerillas
Though the attack on Mapai
was deeper inside Mozambique
than previous attacks, it was not
unexpected. Back in March,
when Mozambique's President
Samora Machel announced the
closing of the Rhodeaa border in
support of the Zimbabwe
guerillas, the people cf Mapai
were already digging bomb
shelters.
In numerous interviews,
Mozambicans recalled that during
their own struggle for indepen-
dence—still fresh in their minds—
Zambian and Tknzanian borders
were also violated by colonial
Portuguese troops. Despite the
incursions, Tanzania and Zambia
remained firm in support of
Mozambique's FRELIMO
guerillas.
Now, they say, they too will
support the Zimbabwe guerillas-
whatever the cost. Just one week
after the raid on Mapai a support
rally was held in the capital city cf
Maputo and $250,000 was given
to the 2mbab we fighters from the
Solidarity Bank.
(ZNS) A legless veteran of
the Vietnam war has filed a
suit against his apartment
landlord contending he has
been told not to use his
apartment house swimming
pool because the sight of his
handicap is "distasteful" to
other tenants.
Ths suit has been filed by
Lawrence Mclntyre of North
Olmstead, Ohio, who claims
he has been ordered not to use
the pool by the operators of the
Bridlewood apartments.
Mclntyre's complaint states
he was instructed by the
apartment manager last
month to stay away from the
pool area because other
tenants were allegedly
complaining about the legless
man's appearance.
The suit asks for $125,000 in
damages and for an injunction
to prevent the management
from barring Mclntyre from
the pool.
* * *
(ZNS) A termite burglar has
been bugging residents of
Miami, Florida. Ordinarily, a
termite burglar might be
welcome, but in this case the
thief is not stealing the pesky
insects.
Police in Miami report that
the "Termite Robber" has
sneaked into some forty homes
and apartments which are
being fumigated, and has
made off with everything not
nailed to the floor.
The termite pilferer
apparently is armed only with
SCUBA diving gear to protect
her or him from poison gas
fumes-and is not considered
dangerous.
* * *
(ZNS) If you're tired of
dogs, cats, rocks, and all the
usual pets, you might want to
go out and catch yourself a
swarm of bees.
Louis Dubay, who is head o£
the San Francisco bee keepers
association, says that bees
make great companions for1
apartment dwellers. Dubay
says the buzzing insects don't
Ester Judicio at the grave of her sister and nephew following
Rhodesian raid on Mozambique.
scratch your furniture,
blunder into priceless antiques
or even wake up your
neighbors with barking. In
addition, Dubay says, the bees
can supply the city dweller
with an endless supply of
sweet honey.
★ ik ★
(ZNS) A study to be
released shortly by the
National Cancer Institute,
warns that a pesticide used
extensively in the South may
cause cancer.
The pesticide in question is
known as "mirex". It" is used
widely by state and federal
agencies to combat infesta-
tions of fire ants, a common
problem in many Southern
states.
Mirex is being used so
widely in the South that traces
of the chemical are being
found in body tissues of more
than one third of Southerners
that have been tested. The
—ruth minter, pns
pesticide has also been found
recently in fish along the
Atlantic coast and in the eggs
of gulls in upstate New York.
Doctor Robert Squire of the
National Cancer Institute
says that a study on rats found
that animals that were
administered doses of mirex
came down with liver cancer
more than control animals
which were not exposed to the
pesticide.
* * *
(ZNS) The Olympic Decath-
lon champion may follow the
Mark Spitz trail and try
movies and television.
According to the new
People magazine, Bruce
Jenner has been approached
for the lead in Superman, as
well as a TV series based on
Terry and the Pirates. The
magazine adds that Bertha
Lou, Jenner's Labrador, has
been asked to do a dog food
commercial.
the rice thresher, august 30, 1976 — page 3
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McFarland, Carla. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 64, No. 5, Ed. 1 Monday, August 30, 1976, newspaper, August 30, 1976; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245296/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.