Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 103, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 30, 1980 Page: 1 of 28
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Sulphur Springs
Wednesday
APRIL 30. 1980
15 Cents
VOL, 102—NO. 103.
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As spring unfolds
The march of days across spring's calendar are signaled by
colorful blooms throughout Sulphur Springs — and particularly
by Tris plants, in various stages of unfurling from tight buds to
full bloom. The city boasts varied displays of flowering plants,
shrubs and trees, with iris and related plants offering perhaps
the most variety of colors currently on show.
—SUH Pr**e
Muskie: administration man
New secretary of state falls in step
By ROBERT B. CULLEN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - From the
Panama Canal to Iran, Edmund S.
Muskie’s Senate voting record shows few
deviations from White House foreign
policy positions.
Indeed, the man President Carter has
picked to be secretary of state says it is
important for the administration to project
an image of stability around the world.
And in Muskie, a 22-year senator from
Maine who first came to national
prominence as the Democratic vice
presidential candidate in 1968, Carter also
chose a man more of political than
diplomatic breeding.
Although Muskie, 66, has concentrated
on domestic affairs in the Senate and
acknowledged that “I am not a foreign
policy technician," Carter praised him
during Tuesday night’s nationally
televised news conference as “extremely
well qualified" because of hi3 broad ex-
perience, bipartisan esteem and “in-
ternational reputation."
He said Muskie’s political experience,
including an unsuccessful run for the 1972
Democratic presidential nomination,
made him familiar with the entire nation
and its aspirations.
The president said Muskie and Warren
Christopher, who will remain as deputy
secretary of state after being bypassed for
the top job, “will provide continuity for our
foreign policy.”
Muskie supported Carter's decision to
try to rescue the American hostages in
Iran, the bold but unsuccessful move that
prompted Cyrus R. Vance to resign in
protest Monday.
,“We do not regret the attempt (to free
the hostages). After all, it was a response
to kidnapping and blackmail,” Muskie
said. “We do not rule out the use of any
appropriate means which might end the
confrontation and bring sanity back to
Iran.”
Muskie told reporters he has no doubt of
Carter’s confidence in him. “The president
has left nd doubt in my mind...that I will be
the foreign policy spokesman,” Muskie
said when asked about his standing in view
of the frequent clashes between between
Vance and the president’s national
security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Muskie’s Senate record, including
service on the Foreign Relations Com-
mittee, is typical of a Democrat who offers
strong suppopr to a president from the
samepartjL i
He sided with Carter on most of the
president’s most controversial foreign
policy positions, including the Panama
Canal treaties, the decision tp scrap the B-
1 bomber, the sale of advanced fighters to
Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia and
maintaining economic sanctions against
Rhodesia. •»
Although he took no formal position on
the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union,
Muskie was counted as a strong proponent
of arms control and a virtually certain
vote in favor of the strategic arms
limitation agreement.
As chairman of the Senate Budget
Committee, Muskie argued against
proposals, also opposed by Carter, to raise
News briefs
VFW post honors deceased
Members of Veterans of Foreign
Wars Post 8560 and the auxiliary will
meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday to honor
deceased veterans of the organization
as part of Loyalty Day ceremonies.
Families of 29 deceased veterans
will be presented with gold keys that
will allow them to enter the Memorial
Chapel located in the VFW
Heqdquarters Building in Austin.
In that building is the gold finished
Chapel of Memories where a cross of
Malta is superimposed' over the
memorial shrine. There rests the
Book of Memories where the names of
the deceased are entered.
The legend, “Honor the Dead by
Helping the Living,” the motto of the
VFW, is at the top of the room.
The families honored Wednesday
night will also receive a citation to
indicate that the local post has made a
contribution to the upkeep of the
chapel in Austin in the name of the
deceased veteran.
Hopkins County Tax Assessor-
Collector Jeff Taylor will present the
citations to the families.
Taylor is a combat veteran of the
Vietnam War and holds several
decorations including the Silver Star
Jimmy Fite and Mary Lou Fite are
serving as co-chairpersons for the
Loyalty Day ceremonies.
Theater tryouts scheduled
Pre-production work has begun on
the next Community Players dinner-
theater show scheduled for June 20,
21, and 22 at the Civic Center.
The play “Bus Stop”, a comedy in
three acts, has been selected as the
next production of the local company.
There are roles for three men and four
women. Auditions for the play will be
held Monday and Tuesday, May 5 and
6, in the Sulphur Springs Schools
Administration Building, 361 Connally
St., beginning at 7 both nights.
Any community resident interested
in trying out for a part is urged to
attend the auditions.
“You don't have to be a member of
the Community Players to audition
for a part,” said Gene Poe, president
of the organization.
“We are doing these shows in an
effort to provide good quality en-
tertainment for the community and
anybody who wants to get involved is
more than welcome.”
Thunderstorms possible
Cloudy skies, cooler temperatures
and the possibility of thunderstorms
dominate the local weather scene for
the next two days.
The National Weather Service
forecast is calling for increasing
cloudiness with warm temperatures
and the chance of thunderstorms
Wednesday night.
Skies should remain cloudy
Thursday with the chance of showers
throughout the day along with slightly
cooler temperatures.
The high Wednesday was expected
to be in the upper 70s to mid 80s. On
Thursday the mercury is not expected
to climb much above the 75-degree
mark. ’
The high temperature reading
Tuesday was 83 degrees under mostly
clear skies. The official observation
station in Sulphur Springs recorded
an early morning low of 57 and by 8
a.m. Wednesday the temperature had
risen to 62 degrees under cloudy skies.
Arab gunmen hold
embassy hostages
the defense budget by 3 percent to 5-per-
cent, saying security "is not that simple."
Like Carter, Muskie changed his view of
the Soviet Union after its military in-
cursion into Afghanistan. ’ Betrayed, yes.
that’s the word,” he said. On detente, he
said, “We thought it was in this country’s
best interests. She (the Soviet Union) just
ran out on us.”
'LONDON iAP) — Three Iranian-Arab
gunmen invaded Iran’s London embassy
today and seized 21 hostages, including a
British police guard, Scotland Yard
reported. Unconfirmed reports said the
raiders threatened to kill their hostages
and blow up the building unless political
prisoners in Iran are released.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry in Tehran
blamed the attack on Iraq. <
Police said the gunmen identified v
themselves as Arabs from Iran’s south-1
western province of Khuzestan — which
they call Arabistan — who support Arab
autonomy from the Persian-dominated
revolutionary government of Tran. Iran
accuses Arab Iraq of fomenting unrest in
the region.' ’
Some witnesses reported having heard
shooting inside the building, but police
disputed this and said that as far as they
knew no one was hurt.
The top Iranian diplomat here, Charge
d’Affaires Gholam-Ali Afrouz, was
believed to be among the hostages, said
the British news agency Press
Association.
The mission has a staff of about 25
diplomaLs, as well as a number of non-
diplomatic personnel. Witnesses said they
saw a small number of men and .women
fleeing the building, in the prosperous,
embassy-filled Kensington district op-
posite Hyde Park, shortly before police
arrived at about 11:30 a.m. —,6:30 a m.
EDT.
Policemen, including sharpshooters and
flak-jacketed members of the crack anti-
terrorist squad, ringed the three-story
embassy.
•Negotiations with the intruders took
place by telephone and through an open
window at the front of the embassy, a
police spokesman said. With officers at the
window was a young dark-haired woman
in a floral-print dress and police-issue blue
flak jacket who appeared to be acting as
an interpreter.
A police spokesman at the scene said the
gunmen were “making certain demands
which are being investigated," but he
refused to elaborate. Scotland Yard
refused to comment on reports the in-
vaders were threatening to kill their
captives and blow up the embassy if
political prisoners are not freed in Iran.
But police said the gunmen had set no
deadline.
Deputy Assistant Police Commissioner
John Dellow said the trio, reportedly ar-
med with rifles and possibly other
weapons, apparently entered the embassy
through a back door and proceeded to the
front of the building, where they grabbed
the police guard, a member of,Ix)ndon’s
Diplomatic Protection Group.
A spokesman said "a number of shots"
were reported heard inside the embassy,
but there was no immediate indication of
any casualties.
The spokesman said the gunmen were
believed armed with rifles and possibly
other weapons.
"We know our officer is being held by at
least two nyen and there’s a possibility of a
third," said a Scotland Yard
spokeswoman.
She said it was not known immediately
how many staff members were inside the
embassy. Witnesses at the scene reported
some womenjand men fleeing.
TP&L gains rate hike;
bottom line still pends
(From Wire Reports)
Texas Power & Light ,,Co. has been
granted rate increases that mean its
customers will pay $83,371,920 more for
electricity over the next 12 months.
Increases granted by the state Public
Utility Commission on Tuesday will
average about 10 percent but have yet to
be broken, down among residential,
commercial and other customers.
TP&L, which serves 51 counties in
North, Central and East Texas, had sought
a $124 million increase, or 15.35 percent.
Sulphur Springs residents will have to
wait for further action by the PUC before
knowing exactly how much their rates will
increase.
Utility commissioners instructed TP&L
to submit specific increases for each class, .
of customers for approval by the PUC
staff.
Gary Goble, the PUC’s manager of
electric rates, said he believed TP&L
would be back with its rate proposal by
next week because "they have 83 million
good reasons” for doing so.
Rate increases may not take effect until
the rate structure has been approved, and
“the company is losing quite a bit of
money each day this is out," Goble said.
The commission indicated it wanted
each customer class to bear its fair share
of the total increase.
If the company does not appeal the
decision, it is expected that revised rate
schedules, based on the PUC order, will be
ready for approval by the commission and
cities within 10 days according to a TP&L
official.
The commission indicated it wanted
each customer class to bear its fair share
of the total increase.
However, late Tuesday, TP&L officials
said they disagreed with the amount of
rate increase in the PUC decision which
allows only about 10.1 percent boost.
Bob Campbell, TP&L president and a
native of I^mar County, emphasized that
the company’s original request was not an
inflated figure.
- "The original request was the amount
we felt we needed to be able to quetffeut-
obligations to our customers and to con-
tinue our construction schedule converting
from gas to lignite and nuclear,” he said,
“We will have to review the decision of the
Commission before deciding whether to
appeal.”
Campbell explained that statement by
pointing out that the data used for this rate
case, as ordered by the PUC, was based on
a test year starting with October, 1978.
“With inflation skyrocketing since that
date, those figures cannot accurately
reflect today’s business condition,”
Campbell said.
The commission approved TP&L’s
request to experiment . with peak load or
“time of day" pricing. For the 100
volunteers taking part in the experiment,
rates would be higher during periods of the
day when electrical consumption is at its
peack and lower during slack periods.
TP&L received a 10 percent increase
worth $40.6 million a year in May 1978.
Lance acquitted of bank fraud
ATLANTA (AP) — Former U.S. budget
director Bert loanee was acquitted today
on nine counts of bank fraud after a 16-
week trial. A mistrial was declared on
another three counts because the jury was
deadlocked.
Lance's attorneys asked U.S. District
Judge Charles A. Moye Jr. to declare
directed verdicts of acquittal on the three
remaining counts. Moye said he was not
ready to decide immediately, but called
attorneys for both sides into his chambers.
“We're delighted about the not guilty
verdicts," I^ince said. “It’s what we
thought all along it would be' We’re
terribly delighted and pleased.”
The jury also acquitted or failed to come
to a decision on charges against lance’s
three co-defendants, Thomas Mitchell,
Richard Carr, and Jack Mullins.
Mitchell was found innocent on all four
counts; Carr was acquitted on three counts
and Moye declared a mistrial on three
other counts against him; and Mullins was
acquitted on three counts and a mistrial
was declared on one.
Ixince was found innocent on nine
charges of misusing the funds of two
Georgia banks he headed to make loans to
his wife, son and three friends.
Despite more than 50 hours of
deliberations, the jurors could not reach a
decision on two counts charging Lance lied
in financial statements and one count
chargftig that a loan I^ince made to co-
defendant Carr through the National Bank
of Georgia was a misapplication of bank
funds.
As the jurors filed out, several of them
smiled and waved broadly to I,ance and
his co-defendants. The defendants, their
lawyers and relatives laughed and waved
back.
“I wish we had had time to thank the
jury,” I^ince said.
Prosecutor Edwin Tomko, who has
worked on the case for more than two
years, said the jury’s action was not a-
personal disappointment.
"How can you be disappointed when the
jury has spoken,” Tomko said. “The
government presented its case. If the
government was always right, we wouldn’t
need a jury.”
Tomko said he did not know whether the
Justice Department would seek a new trial
on the counts the jury could not decide.
Lance’s chief attorney, Nickolas
Chilivis, was exuberant, pointing out that
of 22 counts against Lance in the original
indictment, the jury acquitted on nine and
the judge dismissed 10.
“Justice has prevailed,” Chilivis said.
"It took a long time to get here, but it
finally did.”
One juror, Anthony Tigner, 25, of
Atlanta, said jurors were split sometimes
10-2 and on other occasions 8-4 in favor of
convicting Lance on the financial
disclosure counts of the indictment.
“I feel and the others feel like financial
statements have to be filled out correctly,”
he said.
Another juror, Eloise Hutchins of
Atlanta, said, “We all felt strongly that he
was a good man - a man of character. But
liking him didn’t have anything to do with
it. looking at the documents is what held
us up.”
Mullins, a former pharmacist from
Lance’s hometown of Calhoun, said, “I’ve
got a burden lifted off my head.”
Mitchell told reporters that it was his
case which was decided on Monday and
reported to the judge as a sealed verdict.
On Tuesday, prosecution and defense
lawyers met privately with Moye just
before the jurors were sent home, but
afterwards the attorneys said they had
been admonished not to reveal anything
about the discussion.
Lance is a close friend of President
Carter. His co-defendants are north
Georgia businessmen and have been
friends of loanee for years.
City okays insurance plans
Sulphur Springs City Commissioners
moved quickly through a one-item agenda
at their special session at noon Wednesday
as they awarded bids totaling $40,711 to
two local insurant companies.
Commissioners Vaden Richey and Dee
Mabe were absent, but in a split vote,
Commissioners Gerald Bowers and
Millard Glover voted to award a three-
year contract for fire and extended
coverage on city property to Baucom
Insurance Agency at a cost of $14,421 with
Chairman Lewis Helm voting against.
Helm had recommended letting the
contract for only one year as values of city-
owned property might increase before the
termination of a three-year contract but
Bowers said he felt that as long as City
Manager Travis Owens let the companies
know about increases in city-owned
property to obtain additional coverage, the
city would save money by taking the three-
year contract.
Glover agreed saying, "You can’t plan
on it getting any cheaper.”
Owens told the commissioners that the
city paid $13,075 for the three-year con-
tract last time and that the insurance
would expire on May 4.
Baucom was the low bidder on both one-
and three-year contracts with bids of
$5,060 and $14,421 respectively.
Maeker, Horn and Whitworth had bid
$7,743 on a one-year contract and $22,855 on
the three-year insurance plan.
Galyean insurance had bid $8,661 for a
one-year contract only.
Owens said that the city had re-
evaluated all of the city property and
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raised the coverages on almost all of it.
Maeker, Horn and Whitworth was the
only firm to bid for the comprehensive
general liability, comprehensive
automobile liability and airport liability
insurance coverages on an annual basis.
Owens said that the insurance expired at
midnight Wednesday and that bid in-
vitations had been sent to 15 local area
insurance agencies.
He said only four had responded to the
invitation with Maeker, Horn and Whit-
worth the only firm to place a bid with the
city for the annual insurance.
Maeker, Horn and Whitworth’s bid was
for $26,290. Owens said that the same firm
had the insurance last year and that the
1979 cost was $25,351.
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Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 103, Ed. 1 Wednesday, April 30, 1980, newspaper, April 30, 1980; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth824688/m1/1/: accessed June 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.