Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 51, Ed. 1 Friday, February 29, 1980 Page: 1 of 26
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Sulphur Springs
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VOL. 102—NO. 51
ant
Friday
FEBRUARY 29 1980.
: U 3:
15 Cenfs
TWO SECTIONS
Cold front zooms
into local area
Winter is alive and well and moving
southward through Texas Friday, bringing
sleet, snow and cold northern air following
sWeral days of unseasonably warm, dry
weather.
A rather strong Arctic cold front,
frequently called a “blue norther" moved
southward into Texas Thursday night
bringing rapidly dropping temperatures
and the threat of freezing precipitation as
far south as the Hill Country.
Drizzle, fog and clouds followed the
front. The drizzle is expected to change to
freezing drizzle and snow in some parts of
Texas by Friday night.
The National Weather Service is putting
a travelers advisory into effect late Friday
night for the Hopkins County area,
although Hopkins County will probably
miss the center of the storm as it moves
across Texas.
,At 8 a.m Friday the mercury stood at 56
degrees in Sulphur Springs. But shortly
before noon, as the front pushed into the
area, the temperature had dropped to. 50
degrees.
TheVvernight low tonight is expected to
be in the lower 80s to upper 20s and the
high temperature Saturday is expected to
be only in the upper 40s to lower 50s.
The front should have passed through
the area by Sunday and another warming
trend should begin. Forecasters are
calling for partly cloudy skies and warmer
temperatures Sunday with the daytime
high temperature reading in the lower 60s.
Before the front began a march across
the state the weather had been pleasant.
The high reading in Sulphur Springs
Thursday was 79 degrees and the mercury
fell to 52 degrees early Friday morning for
an overnight low.
House searches
lead to Shiites
Balloons ready
A new program at Travis School, called Up with Reading, is drawing the at-
tention ot the students and by Friday or Saturday will have attracted to the
attention nt several county residents When a students read 10 books in a week
they get to release a helium tilled balloon with their name on it, Whoever finds
the spent balloon and card can send it back to the school noting where the
balloon was found. Students Shelly McKinney (left) and Charles McGill were
ready Friday morning for the 1 p.m. launch ol the balloons. *
Sfafl Photo by John Gore
Terrorists free women hostages
By JOE FRAZIER
Associated Press Writer
BOGOTA, Colombia (API - The
guerrillas holding the Dominican
Republic’s embassy freed five more
women hostages this morning but con-
tinued to hold at least 40 other captives, 18
of them ambassadors, including Diego C.
Asencio of the United States.
Reporters watched while four
automobiles, one of them riddled with
bullet holes, drove the women to safety .
One of those released was Costa Rican
Ambassador Elena Chassoul Monge.
The guerrillas have now freed all 15
women held in the embassy since it was
seized in a blaze of gunfire Wednesday
during a Dominieain independence day
reception. -On Thursday they released 10
women, three wounded men, including
Paraguayan Ambassador Oscar Gostiaga,
and a 1 ('year-old boy.
The 29 armed members of the leftist
organization called M-19 say they are
ready for a long siege.
Six of the women freed Thursday were
Colombians, four were the wives of foreign
diplomats, and the other two wounded men
were employees,of the embassy. President
Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala said in a com-
munique his government would negotiate
with the guerrillas after thevireed all the
women.
The leader of the guerrillas, who called
himself Commandante Numero Uno, said
in a telephone interview that he and his
band were "prepared to stay here one or
two months if necessary" to force the
government to meet their demands.
These included $50 million, freedom for
211 political prisoners and safe conduct out
of the country.
The Colombian Red Cross delivered
mattresses, food and cigarettes to the
embassy, removed the body of a guerrilla
shot when the embassy was taken over and
supplied two doctors to treat a woman
guerrilla wounded in the to' cover The
doctors said she did not require
hospitalization and could remain in the
embassy.
Ambassadors Galan, Asencio, Virgilio
Lovera of Venezuela and Diogenes Mayil
Burgos of the Dominican Republic con-
ducted the negotiations with the guerrillas
that led to the freeing of the first group of
hostages, Galan said. The women freed
were the wives of the Guatemalan and
Israeli ambassadors and those of the
Jamaican and Dominican consuls.
Commandante Numero Uno accused
some of the 500 security men ringing the
embassy of firing at the building, and
governments of the captured ambassadors
urged President Turbay Ayala to take no
action that might endanger the hostages.
Clements drops plans for special session
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Gov. Bill
Clements said today there definitely will
not be a special legislative session in
August because of Speaker Bill Clayton's
involvement in an FBI sting investigation.
The governor has said previously he was
considering doing away with plans for the
session where he planned to submit
legislation for initiative and referendum,
wiretapping in drug control and tax relief.
‘‘I will not call a special session," he told
a news conference. ‘‘The counsel and
advice I have received is that it would be
ill-advised to have such a session. I am
disappointed but I also agree that it is
correct because of the special cir-
cumstances of Speaker Clayton s
problems.”
Clayton is scheduled to appear before a
Houston federal grand jury the latter part
of March concerning his
acknowledgement that he accepted $5,000
from two men after talking with them
about an insurance contract covering state
employees..
Clements said he would work “as hard
as I know how” to get legislation on
initiative and Referendum and ori
wiretapping in drug control passed during
the 1981 regular legislative session.
He said he also expected up to $1 billion
to’ be available for return to voters in the
form of tax relief.
He has said previously he expected $700
to $800 million available for tax relief by
the planned August session.
"Now thaftthe comptroller has raised his
estimates of state revenue frorn the state
sales tax, I think I’ll go back to my $1
billion figure for tax relief," he said.
Clements said comptroller’s reports
show sales tax revenues through January
of this year total $828 8 million, an increase
of 16.5 over a year ago.
Outlook
By BARRY SHLACHTER
Associated Press Writer
NEW DELHI, India (AF) — A newly-
organized militia led by Afghanistan’s
deputy prime minister was arresting arid
executing members of the minority Shiite
Moslem sect following house-to-house
searches in their neighborhoods in Kabul,
Afghan and foreign sources said today.
The number of Shiites killed by Deputy
Prime Minister Assadullah Sarwari's
Revolutionary Guard was not known. But
reports received in New Delhi from the
Afghan capital cited many individual
cases of one or two family members shot to
death outside their houses.
The official Afghan agency Bakhtar said
today that "not one person was executed”
during the violent anti-Soviet protests last
week, Tass reported. The official Soviet
news agency quoted Bakhtar as saying
"the reports alleging that 1,000 people
were executed during the latest counter-
revolutionary disturbances" were spread
by “some imperialist mass media."
One well-placed informant quoted a
senior police official as saying nearly 2,000
persons have been jailed at Pul-i-Charkhi
prison, east of Kabul, since last week's
violent protests against the Soviet military
intervention in Afghanistan and the
Marxist regime of President Babrak
Karmal,
The Shiites, mainly members of the
Hazara and Iranian-descended Qili bash
tribes, were suspected of instigating the
anti-communist street demonstrations, in
which at least 200 persons were reported
killed and an estimated 1,000 others in-
jured.
Kabul was tense this morning following
a night of sporadic machinegun fire,
travelers arriving at Delhi Airport said.
Afghan and Soviet troops were placed on
alert because of a possible repetition of
disturbances which followed Friday
prayers at the capital's mosques last
week.
The Shiites may also have been singled
out because of potential links with Iranian
leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a
Shiite, who has voiced support for the
Moslem rebels in Afghanistan, observers
said.
The rebels Thursday promised new anti-
Soviet demonstrations today, but some
Western diplomats were skeptical the
guerrillas could mount another citywide
offensive so soon after last week's street
battles.
The Afghan government blamed the
fighting, which began Friday and con-
tinued through Saturday on "Imperialist
agents and saboteurs" aided by the United
States, China and Pakistan.
Military observers said they believed
the rebels suffered heavy casualities when
they were' fired on by Soviet tanks and
helicopters but that most survivors went
into hiding with their weapons and were
undoubtedly planning a new offensive.
In other developments, the Pakistani
news agency PPI said Afghan rebels shot
down two Soviet helicopters Sunday in the
provinces of Ghazni, in the east, and
Kandhar, iri the southeast.
Charlie did it
Tonight is opening night for the 18-
member cast of "You’re a Good Man
Charlie Brown." The Sulphur Springs
High School choir and drama
departments hope to raise the curtain
of the auditorium in the Ad-
ministration Building to a full house
at 8 p.m.
The show is directed by Karen
Mdntire, speech teacher, and David
Jones, assistant music director, and is
based on the comic strip "Peanuts."
The musical is a first for the school
system in many years, according to
Mrs. Mclntire. “But, with good
reception it will be the first of many
more, she said.”
Three performances are scheduled
beginning with the one tonight at 8.
Saturday night’s show is also at 8 p.m.
with the Sunday matinee slated for 2
p.m. Tickets are $2 at the door on a
first come—first serve basis.
State of nation's finances show fluctuation
economy J
prime f
dollar f
WASHINGTON lAP) — A govern-
ment index designed to forecast
economic activity fell in January for
the fourth consecutive month,
suggesting that a recession could be in
the offing.
January’s drop of 0.7 percent in the
Index of leading Indicators followed
declines of 0.2 percent in December,
1.9 percent in November,.and 1.1
percent in October, the Commerce
Department reported today.' *
The December reading initially had
been reported as unchanged, but the
figure was revised downward to
reflect a fall-off in liquid assets, items
that can quickly be converted to cash.
The rule of thumb usually used in
analysing the index is that three
consecutive months of decline in-
dicate a recession is on the way.
Many government and private
analysts had forecast that the nation’s
economy would fall into recession last
year. But output as measured by the
gross national product, the value of all
goods and services, remained strong.
Economic growth occurred, the
analysts say, because consumers
continued to spend despite the pinch
inflation and higher taxes were
putting on their income.
NEW YORK (AP) - Interest rates
moved another notch higher today as
Citibank raised its prime lending rate on
business loans to a record 16 3-4 percent.
Several other banks.promptly matched the
increase.
Citibank, the nation’s second-largest
bank, raised its rate from 161-4 percent, a
rate it set just a week ago. Many other
major banks had already moved to 16 1-2
percent.
The rapid increases reflect the Federal
Reserve's attempts to stifle inflation by
making it more costly for banks to extend
credit. The Fed has raised its discount
rate, the rate it charges on loans to
member banks, from 12 percent to a
record 13 percent.
By restraining lending, the Fed hopes to
slow the growth of the nation’s basic
money supply. An excessive rate of growth
feeds inflation by putting more money into
circulation than can be absorbed by the
economy’s output of goods and services.
The rising prime also reflects strong
demand for credit from businesses in
recent weeks.
Among the banks that moved to 16 3-4
percent today were Manufacturers
Hanover Trust, ranked fourth by deposits,
No. 5 Morgan Guaranty Trust and No. 6
Chemical Bank.
IXJNDON (AP) - Despite news of a
mammoth United States trade deficit,
the dollar soared in lively European
trading today, hitting its highest level
against the West German mark in
over three months.
“The whole market ran crazy,”
said a Frankfurt foreign exchange
dealer amid hectic dollar trading.
By mid-afterioon, the dollar had
also gained 1.5 cents against the
powerful Swiss franc and one cent
against the British pound. It was up
everywhere.
Dealers explained the rush by
saying Thursday’s announcement of a
January trade deficit of $4.76 billion —
highest in the last two years — was
offset by “euphoria" over the high
level of U.S. interest rates.
As the dollar was rising, major U.S.
banks raised their prime lending
rates to 16 3-4 percent. High rates help
a currency by encouraging in-
vestments in it.
Gold prices dipped. At mid-
afternoon, the metal sold in Ixindon
for $635.50 a Troy ounce, down from
$641.50 late Thursday. The Zurich
price was $639.50, down $8.
Silver was little changed at $35.52
an ounce, upfrom$35,125.
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Keys, Clarke. Sulphur Springs News-Telegram (Sulphur Springs, Tex.), Vol. 102, No. 51, Ed. 1 Friday, February 29, 1980, newspaper, February 29, 1980; Sulphur Springs, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth824935/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hopkins County Genealogical Society.