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Adirondack Expo section starts on Page 5
Serving Saranac Lake, Lake Placid and Tupper Lake
EIGHTY-FIRST YEAR VOL. LXXXII NO. 86
Bedsheet breaks,
Ray Brook girl hurt
RAY BROOK - Last night
at 11:25 p.m., a 19-year-old
Delaware County girl at Ray
Brook Rehabilitation Center
decided, according to the
Center's director, Joseph
Daly, "that she'd rather be
home than here."
As Daly recounts it, the girl
tied bedsheet s together,
secured the makeshift rope to
a radiator in her third-floor
room, and climbed out the
window. She was about 20 feet
above the lawn when the sheet
broke at the windowsill.
Ray Brook officials found
her in a heap, confused and in
pain, on what Daly described
as "fortunately rather soft
ground." Eleven members of
the Saranac Lake Rescue
Squad answered the call and
took the girl to the General
Hospital where she is reported
to be in satisfactory condition
with back injuries.
Charges against the girl
have not been filed, but the
case, as with all such cases,
will be referred to Albany.
"She isn't the kind of girl
who would hurt anybody,"
Daly said. "She just wanted to
run away."
Ambassador suggests
U.S. failed its ally
ABOARD THE USS BLUE
RIDGE (UPI) - The last U.S.
ambassador to South Vietnam
said today the American
evacuation of Saigon would
have been unnecessary if the
United States had kept its
commitments.
In his first news conference
since the llth hour helicopter
airlift of Americans and Vietnamese,
Ambassador
Graham Martin said, "if we
had done as a nation the things
I think we said we should do—
if we had kept our commitments—we wouldn't have
had to evacuate."
The 61-year-old diplomat
was one of the last to leave the
embassy, which was besieged
by panicky Saigon residents
seeking safety on U.S. Marine
helicopters.
Martin said he decided to
evacuate immediately after a
personal inspection of the Tan
Son Nhut Air air base which
was damaged by A37 bombers
Monday and then hit by a
rocket and artillery barrage.
He toured the airport Tuesday morning and immediately
ordered the airlift. Martin
said he also met at noon that
day with South Vietnam's
newly installed president,
Gen. Duong Van "Big" Minn.
"There was no reason to
have had to leave Vietnam
this way, if we had done as a
nation, I think, the things we
had said we would do and were
basically doing for the first
year
after
the
Paris
agreements," Martin said.
"But other things happened
TONIGHT
There will be a regular
meeting of the Saranac Lake
Chamber of Commerce at 7:30
in Room 6 of the Harrietstown
Town Hall.
There will be a special
meeting of the Lake Placid
* Board of Education at 8
o'clock in the school.
TBEB
(Observations from Bob
Kampf's official weather
station Ray Brook at 7
a.m., with data for last 24
hours.)
Barometer—30.28
and
falling
Temperature-High 64, low
37
Precipitation—None; 2-12"
snow remains in woods
Wind—East at 7 mph
Dewpoint—32 degrees
Sky—High, thin, broken
clouds
Vlsibility-25 miles, light
Humidity—56 per cent
Forecast: Considerable
cloudiness tonight with
chance of showers. Lows in
the 40B. Friday variable
cloudiness with highs in the
low 60s. Winds south or
southeast 8 to 15 miles per
hour
tonight.
The
precipitation probability is
50 per cent tonight and 20
per cent Friday.
with which all of us are
familiar."
(The Washington Post
reported today that Martin
was told by U.S. officials in
Washington to speed up the
evacuation of Americans from
Saigon.
(The wording of the cable
sent to Martin 12 hours after
the start of the operation, "left
very little to the imagination,"
the Post quoted a senior administration official
as
saying.
(In effect, the paper said,
the cable forced Martin to stop
{Hitting so many Vietnamese
aboard
the
evacuation
helicopters and to put the
remaining Americans on as
quickly as possible. It also
limited the number of
helicopter flights into the
embassy area and "politely
suggested to the ambassador
that he be on one of those," the
Post said.)
Parents
bitter
United Press International
"They talk about the movie
'Hearts and Minds,' said Mrs.
Dora Heisterhagen. "Well, my
heart is out there in Baltimore
National Cemetery."
Her son Jerry is buried
there. The 20-year-old combat
medic fell under enemy fire
seven years ago In Vietnam.
She referred to "Hearts and
Minds," an Academy Awardwinning documentary film
about the war.
"It was all in vain," the 62year-old mother said a day
after Saigon fell to the
Communists. "Why were we
there in the first place? No one
has ever really answered
that."
Jerry won the Silver Star
posthumously for his valor
while serving with the
America! Division. But the
medal is put away. "I used to
be bitter but not any more,"
said his mother. "I just don't
keep relics of Jerry out to see
—no pictures, no medals.
They're all put away."
Americans who gave the
most—the fighting men and
the families who lost them—
were angry, bitter and confused today over the fall of
Vietnam, and the more than
50,000 lives, $150 billion and 14
years spent there.
"I risked my life for a cause
I thought was just," said Ed
San born of Lansing, Mich.,
who fought with the 199th
Infantry in Vietnam. "Now I
see that it wasn't."
Mrs. Georgianna Krell of
Miami wears a gold-plated
dogtag around her neck. It is a
gift from the U.S. Marine
Corps. Her only son, Pfc.
Bruce W. Carter, threw his
body onto a sputtering Viet
Cong grenade and saved the
lives of five fellow Marines.
He received the Medal of
Honor posthumously.
"We're not pulling out of
Vietnam, we're slithering,"
Mrs. Krell said.
Thursday, May 1, 1975
Official
reveals
US. secret
Viet deal
Roundlip
International
U.S. dollar gains marginally
WASHINGTON (UPI) —
BRUSSELS (UPI) - The U.S. dollar gained marginally in
Nguyen Tien Hung, a member
Amsterdam Thursday and declined in London and Tokyo, the
of the South Vietnamese cabionly
three major world money markets open on May Day.
net, says former President
The dollar's loss in Tokyo totaled 2.45 yen since Wednesday's
Nixon secretly committed the
opening rate. It closed Thursday at 291.95 yen.
United States in writing to
In London, the pound fetched $2.3515, compared with Wednes"swift and severe retaliatory
day's $2.3505.
action" if North Vietnam
In Amsterdam, the dollar opened at 2.4225 guilders, up from
violated the Paris accords.
Tuesday's 2.421. Amsterdam money markets were closed
The White House said these
Wednesday on Queen Juliana's birthday.
commitments were publicly
announced at the time. Congress reversed whatever pro- Yitzhak Rabin faces the facts
mises existed in August, 1973,
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin Wednesday told
by banning U.S. combat acworkers in the Sinai the country is prepared to give up its vital,
tivities in Indochina.
desert oil fields fields because "we cannot have peace until we
On Wednesday,
Hung
leave Abu Rudeis."
released what he said were
Rabin said, "the government is ready to give up Abu Rudeis
copies of two letters from
for a significant move toward peace —never for anything less."
Nixon to former South Viet"You know the facts of life," Rabin said. "We cannot have
namese President Nguyen
peace until we leave Abu Rudeis, and we cannot even talk about
Van Thieu, written in an effort
peace until we accept this."
to convince Saigon to sign the
1973 peace agreement which
Viet Cong to pursue peace
allowed the United States to
PARIS (UPI) — The Viet Cong's Provisional Revolutionary
withdraw its soldiers.
Government mission in Paris issued a statement Wednesday
President Ford's press sethat said the new regime in South Vietnam "is ready to establish
cretary, Ron Nessen, said, "as
relations with all countries." The statement went on to say the
far as we can determine they
government will accept economic and technical aid as long as it
are genuine." One, dated Nov.
is not accompanied by political ties. The PRG said it "will
14, 1972, said:
pursue a foreign policy of peace and nonalignment." Viet Cong
"You have my absolute
officials said the statement raised the possibility of eventual
assurance that if Hanoi fails to
normal relations with the United States.
abide by the terms of this
agreement it is my intention to
take swift and severe Foreigners leave Phnom Penh embassy
retaliatory action."
ARANYAPRATHET, Thailand (UPI) - French, Swedish and
Another of Jan. 5,1973, said:
Thai doctors waited at the Cambodian border today to receive
"You have my assurance of
foreigners who have been sheltered in the French Embassy in
continued assistance in the
Phnom Penh since it fell to the Khmer Rouge April 17. Officials
post-settlement period and
had a list of 101 persons who could be in the first group to leave
that we will respond with full
the embassy. Three large airconditioned buses stood by to speed
force should the settlement be
the refugees to Bangkok when they arrived. A total of 610
violated by North Vietnam."
refugees are expected to be shipped in groups by truck over the
Nessen said, "I read the
300-mile road to the border.
letters and I reviewed the
public records in somewhat
more detail than I did before
and I'm convinced that what
Ford pressures on Congress
we said at the time still holds
today —that there is nothing in
WASHINGTON (UPI) - President Ford's latest energy
the letters to Thieu that differs
policy strategy calls for a June 1 deadline for Congress to come
in substance from what was
up with an acceptable conservation policy. If none is forsaid publicly."
thcoming by then, Ford threatened to raise the tariff on imOne of those public stateported oil to $2 per barrel. The President pushed his original
ments was a joint comminique
deadline for the raise back 90 days to give Congress a chance to
between Nixon and Thieu
_. act. His new strategy also sets the stage for a gradual lifting of
April 3, 1973, which said
controls on domestic oil prices, adding five cents per gallon to
violations of the agreement
the price of gasoline by mid-1977, but places final responsibility
"would call for appropriately
for that action on Congress.
vigorous reactions."
Ford said April 21 that he B.O. sprays investigated
had discussed the comWASHINGTON <UPI) — The sale of aerosol antiperspirant
mitments with Nixon and "he
reiterated what I have said, sprays with zirconium is an unwarranted human experiment
that the public record which could give American consumers hidden lung diseases,
corresponds with the private according to a new report.
The finding, part of a recommendation that such sprays be
correspondence in reference
to the commitments, moral or pulled off the market, is the final judgment of a panel of experts
assembled by the Food and Drug Administration.
legal or otherwise."
Hung acknowledged that it Tornadoes reported yesterday
can
be
argued
the
The National Weather Service said 23 tornadoes were
congressional ban negated the
reported Wednesday, including 9 in Louisiana, 7 in Texas, 4 in
promises. "However," he Illinois, 2 in Arkansas and one in Alabama.
said, "it is unfair to a foreign
country for the U.S. to make
^assurances in order to obtain
something tangible and then
later render the assurances Pill safe for most
moot.
NEW YORK (UPI) - The pill is a "highly effective and
"It can also be argued that
generally safe" method of birth control, but not for all women,
in voting against military
according to a new Rockefeller Foundation report.
action in Indochina, the
The report by Dr. Elizabeth Connell, based on a review of oral
Congress was not aware of
contraceptive research from medical centers worldwide, was
these assurances, nor of their
published Wednesday in Family Planning Perspectives, the
implication to the survival of
journal of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
South Vietnam. If Congress
had known, it would have had
to consider the consequences Buffalo boy arrested for robbery
of its action in relation to the
BUFFALO, NY. (UPI) — A Buffalo youth was arrested
pledges to South Vietnam"
shortly after a holdup Wednesday at a branch office of the
Marine Midland Bank—Western.
Sen. Henry M. Jackson, DThe FBI said Kevin Edwards, 16, was charged with violating
Wash., said April 9 that the
the federal bank robbery statute. He was arrested by FBI
United States made "secret
agents and city police.
agreements" with North VietBank officials said about $3,000 was taken in the holdup and
nam.
police said they recovered $712 in cash and a gun when Edwards
was arrested.
MEMORIAL SERVICE
Judge
attacks judicial proposals
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (UPI)
— Some 250 students and
ALBANY, NY. (UPI) - Chief Judge Charles D. BreTtel of the
faculty gathered on the Court of Appeals today strongly attacked current proposals to
University of Florida campus reform the judiciary and called instead for an entirely new
Wednesday night for a brief judiciary article in the state Constitution.
outdoor memorial service
Breitel, speaking to a Law Day audience in the Court of Aphonoring Ngo Dong, a former peals Hall, declared, "Haste and pressure for improvements do
student and karate instructor. not merit unsound proposals."
The state's top-ranking jurist then proceeded to rip apart
Dong, 39, who came to the
university in 1971 on a proposals for constitutional changes already approved once by
scholarship from the Agency the legislature.
of International Development,
was reportedly killed along Mattina reserves decision
with his family and parents
BUFFALO, NY. (UPI) - State Supreme Court Justice
during
the
Communist Joseph S. Mattina reserved decision Wednesday following a sixtakeover of Da Nang last day hearing to determine if a paid FBI informer turned over *
month, according to a family
information on defense strategy and tactics to federal and state
friend in Ml. Dora, Fla.
authorities.
.
*
National
State
PHONE: Saranac Lake 891-2900
TWENTY CENTS
Communists
consolidating
Vietnam hold
Triumphant North Vietnamese and Viet Cong
forces reported crushing the last pockets of
anti-Communist resistance in South Vietnam
today and vowed to smash any new outbreaks
of opposition.
The Communists, in a statement broadcast
by Radio Saigon, said the victorious army
defeated diehard South Vietnamese defenders
in the Mekong Delta, the last stronghold of the
fallen government.
"All provinces of the Mekong Delta have
been liberated," the Viet Cong said.
The new regime, in a broadcast monitored in
Bangkok, also confiscated all "industrial,
agricultural and commercial establishments"
— the first step in setting up a Communist
society in South Vietnam.
The Viet Cong, in a communique relayed by
the New China news agency in Peking, vowed
to "resolutely smash all acts of resistance
against the liberation army."
But the communique warned Communist
soldiers against touching "even a needle or
thread of the people" and promised to protect
"the lives and property" of foreigners.
International communications with Saigon
were erratic in the wake of the Communist
takeover of the city. The flight of trained civil
servants from South Vietnam heightened the
problem.
Communications between Saigon and the rest
of the world broke down for 3% hours soon after
the capture of the city. Service went out again
just before 8p.m. Wednesday (B a.m. EDT) and
remained down.
UPI correspondent Alan Dawson, in his last
reports from Saigon, said the Communist army
rode victoriously into the city Wednesday,
raised the Viet Cong flag over the presidential
palace and renamed the capital "Ho Chi Minn
City."
The occupation of Saigon came hours after
the South Vietnamese government surrendered
unconditionally to the Communists and the
United States completed the final evacuation of
Americans.
Dawson, one of a handful of Americans who
stayed behind, said the first day under Communist rule was comparatively calm, but there
seemed little joy among the populace.
Some of Saigon's residents waved to the
smiling North Vietnamese and Viet Cong
troops. Others just stared and wondered about
their fate under Communist rule.
A huge Viet Cong flag —red on top, blue on
the bottom, a gold star in the center — flapped
in triumph from a flagpole atop the presidential
pelaceT
Desperate refugees fled South Vietnam in
overcrowded gunboats, sampans, fishing
boats, cargo ships, spotter planes, jet fighters
and transport aircraft as well as the American
airlift.
In Paris, the Viet Cong's Provisional
Revolutionary Government said it would adopt
a policy of "peace and nonalignment" in world
affairs, accepting foreign aid only if "accompanied by no political ties."
The Viet Cong offered 'to establish relations
with all countries, irrespective of their political
and social regime, on the basis of mutual
respect of independence and sovereignty."
Communist officials said privately the
statement indicated the possibility of future diplomatic ties between the new Viet Cong
government and the United States.
China said the Communist victory "ushers in
a new era" and the Soviet Union said the fall of
Saigon proved "a regime that rests only on
foreign bayonets is utterly unviable."
Embattled Laos, the only remaining U.S.backed government in Indochina, recognized
the new regime. All the other nations of Indochina —Cambodia, South Vietnam and North
Vietnam —are under Communist control.
Graham Martin, the last U.S. ambassador in
Saigon, steamed through the South China Sea
today in a naval flotilla that evacuated some
900 Americans from South Vietnam.
"If we had dooe as a nation the things I think
we said we should do —if we had kept our
commitments —we wouldn't have had to
evacuate," he said aboard the communications
ship Blue Ridge.
At the University of California in Berkeley,
1,300 students chanting "Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh
has won" took part in a torchlight parade on the
eve of the Communist victory.
The demonstration wound up a decade of
anti-war protests that led to America's withdrawal from South Vietnam at the end of a
conflict that cost the United States $150 billion
and more than 50,000 lives.
In Washington, the fall of Saigon brought
sadness, resignation and —above all —relief.
"Let's start fresh," Senate Democratic
leader Mike Mansfield said.
But not all Americans were willing to forget.
Mrs. Barbara Fieszel, the wife of a pilot
missing in action for nearly seven years, sent a
telegram from her home in Tulsa to President
Ford.
"Vietnam will never be a closed issue as long
as 1,300 American men are unaccounted for,"
she said.
Charges Attica prisoners
died of inadequate care
State Sen. Robert Garcia is
calling for a complete investigation of allegations that
several inmates died at Attica
prison because of inadequate
medical care.
The Bronx Democrat said
today he has asked the state
Department of Corrections to
supply him with details of the
medical care administered in-
Schwartau term
on board expires
SARANAC LAKE — The
term of School Board
President William Schwartau
will expire this year and the
election to fill the vacancy as
well as the vote on the annual
budget will be on June 10.
The deadline to file petitions
to run for the school board
position is May 12. To date no
one has announced a desire to
run.
The board has not completed budget figures, but
copies of the budget will be
available to the public at the
High School, the Middle
School, the Bloomingdale,
Lake Gear and Lake Colby
schools during the seven days
preceding the election.
One proposition, to spend
$6,000 for library privileges at
the Saranac Lake Free
Library, will be on the ballot
this year.
mates who had died at the
western New York prison in
recent months.
The supervising, champlain
at Attica told UPI Wednesday
a purported inmate letter
containing the charges about
inmate death was "an
outrageous lie; a damned lie."
Dr. E.G. Rainer, who oversees chaplain services at the
maximum security prison,
stated, "at no time have I ever
seen that an inmate died of
neglect." He said it was "too
bad that people have to say
these things."
The allegations were made
in a letter written by an
anonymous Attica inmate and
reportedly smuggled out of
the prison. It was released to
the news media Tuesday in
New York by Bob Brown, a
vice president of the Fortune
Society, a group backing
prison reform.
Brown said the letter, dated
Jan. 25, was not received until
March 3 or 4.
A spokesman for the state
commissioner of correction in
Albany said a check of prison
records showed that there
were "no unusual circumstances" involved in the
deaths of two inmates named
specifically in the letter,
"Both had been hospitalized
tor an extended time beiore
death." the spokesman said.
The spokesman said live
inmates at Attica had died in
the six months preceeding the
date of the letter. An employe
of the prison said two more
deaths had occurred since the
date of the letter.
When a reporter eailed the
facility Wednesday to ask
about the charges, neither of
the two "full-time' doctors
employed at the western New
York facility were available.
The nursing administrator
said they were out, taking
care of their "private practices."
However, nursing administrator
Donald
Moynihan, who oversees the
staff of nine nurses at the
hospital within the walls of the
prison housing 1.947 inmates,
said the charges were "absolutely wrong " Deputy
Superintendent Everett Jones
backed him up in that
assessment.
Jones said of six inmates
who had died in the last six
months, four had expired at
the prison hospital and two at
Meyer Memorial Hospital
"Ml tell you this right
straight forward," Moynihan
said, "and keep in mind that
they are going to turn this
thing around to make it look
bad. all inmate deaths are
investigated;
all
have
autopsies at the Warsaw
I i^pi&l. and all died of
legitimate causes.