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Homer Republican BBtablisned ISII Weekly Standard Established 1S$T Daily SeitaiiliaJied 18$2. 1372 Daily No. 1 CORTLAND, N.Y., EVENING, JANUARY 1972

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West Pakistan Plans Release of Bangladesh Leader One Dead-ln Buffalo Explosion

BUFFALO (AP) - Buffalo fire officials think a welder's torch set off the explosions and fire that killed at least one man at the Pillsbury Co. flour mill here Sunday, but Pillsbury president Terrance Hanold dis­agreed. v

Safety regulations prohibit open flames and smoking in the vicinity of grain and flour.

As the investigation into the fire continued today, a large crane T«ras^jrSighl to the scene; to help pick apart the debris under which searchers feared two missing mill workers might be buried. Ten^ men were in­jured—five critically. The fire caused an estimated $3 million in damages at the giant com­plex on the waterfront here. *

^of the 28 men at work at the ^imesof the early morning blast was^inned alive under debris. As a physician adminis­tered pain-killing morphine and a Roman Catholic priest game him the last rites of the church. John Regos died. Firemen were working frantically trying to free him at the time.

Only one of the five buildings in the complex escaped dam­age. The girders of a four-story building buckled. Another build­ing containing railroad tracks collapsed on two lines of freight cars. The grain elevator and the warehouse next to it were heavily damaged.

Fire Commissioner Robert G. Howard Jr. contended that a welder's torch might have ig­nited grain dust, touching off the massive explosions that were heard as the fire began. So did two of. his deputies, Thomas Lahiff and Jeremiah J. Doherty.

"I saw an acetylene torch by the deacTfnuii'ij bod)1," Dulicily said. "At least I'm sure it was one. Anyway, our fire investi­gators believe a torch started it and that's what we're going on until we complete our in­vestigation." •Hanold, *ho flew here from Pillsbury .ieadquarters in Min­neapolis Sunday night, said he was told all welding equipment was in its proper storage place and had not been used.

A 35-year-employe who sur­vived the near holocaust called tfte-torcrr-tkeory ^ridiculous ~ "In a grain elevator or mill you never use a torch or anything with a flame." he said. "I've been here 35 years and I never

' saw a torch." The employe asked not to be identified.

Fire officials said the first blast originated in a 500-foot-long storage shed. More than

125 city firemen, using 30 pieces of apparatus, fought the flames, as did crews from the fire boat Edward M. Cotter and the Ctfast Guard \ u t t e r Ob-jibwa.

"I saw a lot of smoke and guys walking out covered with blood," said Battalion Fire Chief Paul J. Schmitz, first on the scene with his crew of fire­fighters. "By the time I got here, the long buHdtng already-had been leveled?""

Smoke and flames poured hundreds of feet into the air, with much smoke drifting across two lake freighters tied to a pier at the mill. Neither caught fire, but both suffered damage from the blasts, and their thousands of bushels of grain in winter storage were ruled unfit for use.

Gerald Newak, 31, who sur­vived by diving under a rail­road bulk car when he heard the first explosion, said he raced into the wrecked building

in an attempt to help three co­workers.

"I saw tiie roof of the build­ing caged in where Mel was," Mewak said. "Then I saw Mel walking around with one hand missing."

Newak referred to Melvin W. Schraeder, 51, who suffered burns over half of his body. His condition was critical.

Newak suffered a fracture of his left ankle. "TFall happened so fast," said the 35-year veteran who asked not to be identified. "I guess I didn't realize for a second that anything had happened. But it was an explosion—a hell of an. explosion."

Firemen battled the fire for 3'v hours before declaring it under control.

Flames—fanned by strong, gusty winds—flared up at mid-afternoon and continued off and on throughout the night.

Fire officials said dozens of firemen manned hoses into the

early hours today, trying to put out flames burning in huge piles of packaged cake flour and biscuit mix.

"It's like dump fire," one of­ficial said. "We knock off the flames at the top but can't get water to the bottom."

Hanold said Pillsbury plans "to make every effort to put this plant back into operation."

"After all," he said, "this is the largest flour mill in our company and" possibly in the nation."

The mill, built in 1924, turned out 700 million tp 800 million pounds of flour in 1971—about 25 per cent of Pillsbury's pro­duction. . .

Hanold said the company may have to temporarily lay off some of the mill's 275 work­ers until the plant is put back into shape.

He said he couldn't estimate how much it will cost to rebuild the mill.

•

Legislators Indicate Fiscal Compromise May fie Imminent

By HOWARD CLARK Associated Press Writer

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - The leaders of the New York legis­lature and Gov. Rockefeller looked today for a break in the impasse over a compromise fis­cal plan after indicating they had forged an agreement for a joint support.

In a brief announcement aft­er discussions Sunday night at the Executive Mansion, . they said- "It was a good meeting

leaders. Senate Majority Lead­er Earl W. Brydges and Assem­bly Speaker Perry B. Duryea, along with the Democratic mi­nority leaders. Sen. Joseph Za-retzki and Assemblyman Stan­ley Steingut.

Zaretzki and Steingut arrived at the mansion about 7 o'clock to meet with Rockefeller. Dur­yea and Brydges came a bit later.

The legislature reconvenes this afternoon at 2:30.

and the leaders will report back to their members."

Participating in the meeting which ended shortly after 11 o'clock, were Rockefeller and the legislature's Republican

The leaders had a tenative agreement among themselves last week during the special legislative session, but encoun­tered difficulty in lining up sup­port among the rank-and-file.

An uneasy coalition of sup­port was finally achieved on Friday after five days of nego­tiation. But Democratic assem­blymen suddenly withdrew their support, how,ever, saying that the final proposal did not contain the items they had been promised. The pullout« de­stroyed efforts to pass a fiscal plan by year's end as Rockefel­ler had demanded. y

Among other things, Steingut sought a letter of intent promis-

RELEASED — Sheik Mujibur Pakistan said President Rahman, East Pakis tani Zulfikar Ali Bhutto announced political leader imprisoned the release, which could pave since last March, was the way for a settlement re leased Monday. Radio between India and Pakistan.

CAPWirephoto)

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS President Zulfikar Ah Bhutto

announced today he plans the unponditional release of Sheik Mujibur Rahman after at least one more round of talks with him in Pakistan.

Radio Pakistan had reported earlier that the East Pakistani leader had been freed. He has been under house arrest since the ejST of the India-Pakistan war.

JJhutto and Sheik Mujib con­ferred last MondayNThe presi dent said then more^coiffeT-ences "would be heldT

Mujib was the dominant lead­er of East Pakistan before his arrest and imprisonment in March. Rebels there have pro­claimed him as president of Bangladesh, the new name for East Pakistan.

The earlier broadcast, which said Bhutto had announced the unconditional release of the sheik, reported that Bhutto spoke at a mammoth rally in Karachi. It said the crowd shouted its approval of the de­cision.

The release of Mojib could pave the way for a settlement between India and Pakistan fol­lowing their two-week war last month.

Mujib is the leader of the Awami League, now in power in an independent-Bangladesh.

Bhutto, said that "world opin­ion also favored Sheik Mujib's release."

"I hope India will similarly honor world opinion and leave occupied Pakistani territory," Bhutto added, according to the radio.

The radio did not say when Mujib would leave West Paki­stan or if he had already left.

Nixon Hints At Troop Withdrawal By November

WASHINGTON ( A F T - Say­ing he soon may order a spee­dup in U.S. troop withdrawal. President Nixon has indicated he is aiming to get down to a residual force of 25,000 to 35.000 men in Vietnam well before the November election.

Nixon's hint of a residual force of that size was the first

Digest- Top News of the Day

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hin­ting broadly he will seek re­election with Spiro T. Agnew as his running mate. President Nixon has given Americans a glimpse at a campaign-year _ platform built on his moves for M a r c n . Rebels there have peace abroad and a healthier proclaimed him president of

RAWALPINDI (AP) - Presi­dent Zulfikar Ali Bhutto an­nounced today the planned release of Sheik Mujibur Rah­man, Radio Pakistan an­nounced. Sheik Mujib was the dominant political leader of East Pakistan before his arrest in

- •«

time any senior U.S. official had used such figures in public, although plans in that range were reported unofficially more than two years ago.

The President linked the pos­sibility of a stepup in the troop-withdrawal rate to what he said were the "very, very effective" results of last week's bombings of "selected military targets and supply buildup areas" in North Vietnam.

"Well before the first of Feb­ruary I will make another with­drawal announcement," Nixon * said in a CBS interview Sunday-nigh t".

"Our withdrawal will contin­ue on schedule, at least at the present rate; possibly at some­what a larger rate."

Last November, Nixon or­dered another 45,000 men brought home during December and January, to reduce the to­tal U.S. troop commitment in Vietnam to about 139,000 by Feb. 1. At the war's peak, there were 543,500 American service­men there.

If4he DecembersJanuary av­erage withdrawal-rate of 22,500 men is maintained or increased in the months ahead, the resid­ual-force level indicated by Nixon could be reached by ear­ly summer.

Once again, the President emphasized he intends to keep some U.S. troops in Vietnam and airpower in Southeast Asia as long as the North Vietnam­ese hold American servicemen captive.

He put it this way: "rTDur goaTis to end the Amer-

ksan involvement in Vietnam before the end of this year, nd before the election . . .

"Our preference is to end it Jby negotiation. If that does not work, we will do it by with­drawal through Vietnamization. but if POWs are retained by North Vietnam, in order to have any bargaining position at all with . . . the North Vietnam-

^ ese. we will have to continue to retain a residual force in Viet­nam, and we will have to con-

NEW DELHI (AP) — Prime tinue the possibility of air Minister Indira Gandhi urged strikes on the 'North Vietnam-Asian countries today to build a ese."

economy at home. In . arr hour-long nationally

televised interview Sunday nighTr^Nixoir said he^^wnT an­nounce by Jan. 14 his decision on running for ^another term, and added he se& no reason at present to "break ,up a winning combination" by dumping Vice President Agnew.

MONROVIA^Liberia (AP) -Pat Nixon. Was the*top-ranking guest this morning at In­auguration Day ceremonies for William Tolberl, grandson of an American slave and the new president of Liberia.

Mrs. Nixon sat down Sunday-night for a half-hour private talk with Tolbert that she said would be "substantive." Aides did not -disclose what they talked about. -.

• N D f c A wounding one American and Births. 12 damaging three support planes Classifieds 22 and some ground equipment. Comics r. 21 the U.S. Command said. 4 Crossword • • - • • $ ,-Dear Abby Editorial.. Horoscope 6 Local ."...„. 12

Obi tuar ies . . . . . . strong and united force in thetr It was m this context that i ° c a ". region and end "domination by Nixon dropped the hint about

j . rich and S g nations." the size he has in mind for the

Bangladesh. "On Sunday. Bhutto nation-

alized^most of Pakistan's heavy industry. Bhutto said that the nationalization does not apply to foreign investments and for­eign credits. The government took over the management of 20 firms with assets of at least $200 million.

SAIGON (AP) - The Viet Cong, after threatening to retal­iate for U.S.. air attacks on North Vietnam, shelled the Da Nahg air "base early today for the first time in three months and. made a mortar attack along the*demiIitarized-zone.

The attack on Da Nang came less than an hour after a 72-hour Viet Cong cease-fire for-New Year's ended. Four 100-pound rockets hit the base.

• 1&17. Sports. . . . . , - , .

w Today's Owdde

YonS always stay young if you fived honestly, eat slowly, sleep sufficiently, work industriously.

farthfuDy - and Be Towage. _ - /

"The lea'ders of the Asian countries should realize that the big powers do not want Asian nations to become strong­er and -are trying to weaken

residual force. "I know sometimes you and

some of your colleagues have pointed out

ing-no further cuts in education and welfare. Rockefeller and the legislature's Republican leaders had to look to Demo­crats-for support, so as to over­come the defections of many u(,)P lav* l a se r s who are op­posed to any plan containing tax increases.

A simple majority is needed for passage in either house of the legislature which is con­trolled by * Republicans by a narrow margin —7q-71 i» the-Assembly and 32-25 in the Sen­ate.

For their part, Duryea and Brudges requested a rewording of certain sections of the com­promise. Brydges wanted as­surances that funds from the income tax surcharge would be subject for use in the state's, revenue-sharing program with) localities. r~r/

The main sectionS ,-"6Tlhe_ compromise were believed to be intact—a 2.5 percent sur-, charge on the state income tax, half the rate asked by Rock­efeller originally, and boosts in the levies on cigarettes, liquor a n d gasoline. Rockefeller dropped his proposal for in­creases in beer and wine taxes and accepted a recommenda­tion for a new 15 per cent tax bracket on incomes of more than $25,000 a year.

He also accepted a cha^e/ in another part of his- package that proposed to postpone the state aid payments to school districts, usually. made in January and February, until after ApfTF 1—the start of the new s ta te fiscal year

The revision would commit the state to pay the interest cost on the temporary borrow­ing by schools because of the postponement of state aid. This postponement was expected to save the state $400 million dur­ing the current fiscal year. *

The plan also would free state expenditures in certain state agencies to save $375 mil­lion, and counts on $400 million in federal aid to the state.

Governor Asks Full Disclosure of Terms

. ALBANY, N.Y. (AP> - Cit­ing the public's "right to know the full details of agreements reached with public employe groups." Gov. Rockefeller has asked the head of public em­ploye relations in the state to make full disclosure of contract negotiations.

Rockefeller said Sunday he had made the request to Robert D. Helsby. chairman of the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB). which adminis­ters the state's Taylor Law.

"More often than not." Rock­efeller said in a statement, "these agreements involve large sums of public funds."

"At the same time." he added, "every effort should be

Reduction of Controls Promised If Rate of Inflation Is Reduced By BILL NEIKIRK

Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP\ - Pres­

ident Nixon says he will drasti­cally reduce the coverage of his wage-price-rent controls this year if they prove successful in cutting the rate of inflation.

But Nixon acknowledged in a nationally televised interview Sunday night that some form of

He said other measures to improve the labor market, such as manpower training, will be necessary to cut the jobless rate below 5 per cent.

Nixon has moved to pump up the economy this year with a series of tax cuts, coupled with easier-money policies of the Federal Reserve Board

Asked if higher taxes would controls, although ieduced^ tlrr^je~"needed in the next two scope, still could be necessary beyond 1972. "•

He also pledged to cut the na­tional unemployment rate be­low 5.8 per cent, but went no further on how far or when that would be accomplished. The. jobless rate is now 6 per cent.

Nixon echoed his chief eco­nomic adviser, Herbert Stein, in saying it may be possible to Jcee the economy gradually as progress is made this year against inflation.

"We will keep controls on only as long as we need them, and we are going to decontrol just as fast-as we can, as the inflation psychology runs its course." Nixon said in the CBS Interview with newsman Dan Rather.

Nixon had been asked to re­spond to a forecast by his just-resigned chief economic ad­viser. Dr. Paul W. McCracken, that some type of controls would still have to be in place beyond 1972.

"Perhaps." Nixon said, "ex­cept that if the program of con­trols is successful, as suecess-

would hope

years. Stein said he eouldn*T look that far ahead and added: "We are not in immediate need of them. We have obviously just made a decision to reduce taxes."

Stein's statement appeared to foreclose any move by the ad­ministration to ask for new tax increases in the fiscal 1973

budget, which will be going to Congress soori\ . *

Stein gave the Price Commis­sion and the Pay Board good marks on the way they have administered wage-price con­trols.

But Harvard University pro­fessor John Kenneth Galbraith criticized both the Pay Board

he called weak .and-inequitable enforcement of the controls?-^

Galbraith said the public is willing to accept long-term con­trols. Given the choice of runa­way inflation "or reasonably stable prices and some con-, trols," Galbraith said, most people would choose the latter.

He was interviewed on NBC-TV's "Meet the Press."

> Holiday Fatalities

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Traffic accidents killed 446

persons over the New Year's holiday weekend.

The count extended from 6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday-midnight, a 78-hour period em­bracing the three-day obser­vance of the New Year holiday.

The National Safety Council had estimated before the holi­day period started that the death toll might run between 40Tand 500.

Two persons drowned, a Broome County man was fatal- Co ry injured-hy,_a faMing tree, and—waterfront

a Syracuse-area man died in a fall from a ladder while repair­ing a television antenna.

The fires included a trailer blaze that killed five .-children aged six and younger from an Oswego County family.

Three Buffalo men perished in their top floor rooms as flames swept the three-story frame house where they lived.

A millworkep succumbed un­der a pile of debris after ex­plosions and fires wrought heavy damage at the Pillsbury

jlour million the Buffalo

Sheik Mujib was jailed on treason charges by Gen. Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan, then the president, in the March crackdown on Mujib's East Pakistani autonomy movement.

It was Mujib's insistence on autonomy for Pakistan's East­ern province, which had 75 mil­lion of Pakistan's 130 million people, thaL^ fouled Yahya's plans for a constitutional as­sembly last year.

Running on Mujib's six-point autonomy program, the Awami l^agoe won 136 of East Pa-kisma's 138 National Assembly seats inl the 1970 election.

' Bhurto> National People's par­ty won a majority in the West but fell far short of a nation­wide majority.

With Mujib refusing to budge on autonomy or to accept the president's demands, Yahya postponed the scheduled open­ing of the assembly.

Mtrjib then began the inde­pendence movement, which the Pakistani army attempted to put down until the intervention of India and the 14-day war.

On Sunday, Bhutto announced the nationalization of most of Pakistan's heavy industry.

Bhutto said the nation­alization applied to iron and -steel, basic metals, heavy engi- -

(Continued on page 11)

SUNY Could Save Money Auditor Says

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - An auditor's report by the state comptroller's office has sug­gested that the State University of New York system could save upwards of $170 million in con­struction costs by making bet­ter use of the facilities"~tr>|tl-ready has. V

The report, released Sunday, recommends that SUNY extend the use of its facilities by add­ing more weekend and evening classes and by switching to the .trimester system to reduce the amount of space left idle (hiring summer vacations.

The review by Comptroller Arthur Levitt's office praix<<i the 10-year-old State University Construction Fund. The fund's objective was to double the en­rollment i n ^ h e state system, the report pointed out, and the number^f^tudenjts_inst£ad- h a s -Tripled in" the past 10 years.

The report's strongest recom­mendation was that university officials be more detailed in planning dormitory construc­tion and the purchase of equip­ment.

Auditors found that in some cases dormitory plans were based on old trends and that some rooms weren't needed be­cause more students were liv­ing off campus.

The report said some equip­ment purchases were pre­mature or unnecessary.

"At one campus we visited," the auditors wrote, "we found 1.000 unused lockers stored in one building. At this same campus costly equipment was installed, although we were told personnel trained in its oper­ation and maintenance were not available."

The report said the auditors discussed their findings with SUNY officials, who revised their space utilization stand­ards to save $100 million and eliminated dormitory plans that would have provided 30.000 ad-tit ionajbeds_hiLJ9Z5^

;that. it of con-

that if when we had 430,000 in Vietnam that had

them instead," Mrs. Gandhi no effect in getting the enemy made to avoid interference with told a rally during a tour, of In- to negotiate on POWs, why the collective negotiating pro-

^Hm border positions, t- (Continued on page III

s we would be. the amount trols^hat we have towards the end may be far less J h a n the s t a t e m e n t by" Chairman McCracken implied.

i see the decontrol coming perhaps at a faster pace, but we J*HH keep them on if they-are necessary." Nixon said.

Stein, interviewed on ABC's -Issues and Answer%" said "there is certainly a possi­bility" that the wage-price con­trols could end .before t h e t ^ vember election. "My own ex­pectation^ is that we- will see a gradual decontrol^' Stem said..

On * unemployment. Nixon said the jobless rate rose from 3.6 per cent when he took office to the current 6 per cent be­cause of his decision to wind down the war, which he sa id has brought 400,000 troops home and forced layoffs -of 2. million workers~^m defense plants. *•

"In all the years of the 1960s, unemployment averaged 5.8 per cent, except in the war y e a r s . " he said. "Now. we can do bet­ter than that, and as we move from war to peace i n t i j e year 1972. we are going to w t e g the unemployment rate 'bejow that."

Stein said the administration "cannot get down To a 5-per­cent, or below a . 5-per-cent unemployment rate rapidly simply by pumping up the economy."

RETURN FROM SNOW-CLAD MOUNTAIN -Vera Ckvenger of Oakland, kft, and BUI Dougherty of Berkeley, who. had been reported missing and fearjed dead during a hikipg ex­cursion on snow-clad Mt: Shasta, talk to reporters in McCloud after,, their safe return Thursday. On Dec. 18 the 16-year-olds equipped

-. v

with expedition-style, clothing, told ML Shasta city police of their planned climb on die 14,162-foot mountain. Sunday a search was started for the two when they failed to appear but bad to be called off Wednesday when dr King snow and bad weather conditions set in.

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