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Friday, October 2. 1970
University Daily Kansan
News Capsules
By United Press International
New York: Prison
Prisoners in the Queens House of Detention, including three Black Panthers, took seven hostages during a prison riot Thursday and threatened to kill them unless demands for prison changes are met. They had a long list of grievances, including over-crowded conditions and bad food. Corrections Commissioner George McGrath described the situation as "very serious" and said he was much concerned about the welfare of the hostages, identified only as six correction officers and a prison cook.
Honolulu: Drug Rampage
An estimated 150 to 200 students went on a drug-induced rampage at a rural high school last week, throwing the campus into chaos, revealed school authorities. The authorities said about 2,000 capsules believed to be a barbiturate were sold or given away to students as they arrived last Wednesday. Within an hour, teachers gave up trying to teach classes and restore order among the students brawling or wandering around the campus. The incident, described as the worst of its kind in Hawaii's history, became known after parents and school officials decided to make it public to prevent another occurrence.
New York: Busing Law
BUFFALO-A three-judge federal panel declared unconstitutional a New York law barring the busing of public school students to achieve racial integration. The law, which was widely copied in the South, had been seen by Southerners as evidence that the North can get away with segregation while integration was forced on the South. But in the ruling, the judges enjoined enforcement of the law, saying it was in violation of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which guarantees equal protection under the law.
Missouri: Ilus Davis
KANSAS CITY—Mayor Illus W. Davis, often mentioned as a possible Missouri gubernatorial candidate in 1972, announced he would not be a candidate for a third term as head of this city of nearly 500,000. The 53-year-old Democrat has been mayor of Kansas City since 1963. His term expires next April 10. "I expect to continue my active interest in the problems and affairs of this community," Davis said, but he questioned whether the city government could discharge its obligations.
Moscow: Soviet Protest
The Soviet Union sent a formal protest to the United States against anti-Soviet violence by "Zionist extremists" in America. The Soviets demanded U.S. authorities take steps to stop the violence or else risk "unfavorable consequences in relations between our two states." U.S. Embassy officials in Moscow said the note referred to attacks on Soviet trade and diplomatic offices and disruption of Soviet musical and dance performances by groups protesting Soviet refusal to permit Jews to emigrate to Israel or Soviet support for the Arab states in the Mideast.
Commission Blames Police at Jackson
WASHINGTON (UPI)—The Scranton Commission said Thursday that police gunfire at Jackson State College, which killed two black youths in May, was "unreasonable, unjustified overreaction," regardless of whether snipers shot first.
The commission blamed the shootings, which also wounded 12 persons, on poor police planning, communication, training and discipline and "the confidence of white officers" that they would not be punished for using their guns on a black campus.
Headed by former Gov. William W. Scranton of Pennsylvania, the commission released its main report on campus unrest last weekend, finding fault in all quarters for the widespread campus violence and calling for a cease-fire among students, police and politicians.
AMSTERDAM (UPI)—More Americans visited Amsterdam during the first six months of 1970 than any other foreign nationals. Hotels and guest houses in the city registered 593,279 visitors—126,256 of them American—in the first half of the year, compared with 554,592, including 112,703 Americans, during the corresponding period of 1969.
While the Jackson State report did not completely absolve students and other demonstrators, it clearly laid the responsibility for bloodshed at the feet of the Jackson City police and the Mississippi highway safety patrol.
"The commission concludes that the 28-second fusillade from police officers was an unreasonable, unjustified overreaction," the report said.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (UPI)—Two Teamsters Union members and the wife of one of them were held Thursday on $100,000 bond each in connection with Wednesday's snipping of a dynamite truck. The shots triggered an explosion which rocked the Ozark countryside for 20 miles around.
3 Held in Truck Explosion
The defendants pleaded innocent to charges of second degree murder in the death of the truck driver, John A. Galt, 48, Oklahoma City.
Gerald Lee Bowden, 27, his wife, Sharron Lynn, 27, and Bobby Shuler, 29, all of Joplin, Mo., were arraigned before Magistrate E. A. Burger. A preliminary hearing was set for Oct. 21.
Shuler was also charged on a federal warrant with destruction of interstate property. His bond on that charge was set at $50,000.
Bowden and Shuler, both employed by Tri-State Motor Transit Co., of Joplin, a firm struck by the Teamsters since mid-September, wore blue jeans and cowboy boots at their arraignment.
The only show of emotion was the Bowdens holding hands.
Tri-State, one of the nation's largest haulers of explosives, had leased the truck disintegrated in Wednesday's explosion on Interstate 44, about 10 miles west of downtown Springfield.
Brush Fires Renew Fury In High Wind
LOS ANGELES (UPI)—A smoldering brush fire that was all but contained broke loose again today driven by a warming Santa Ana wind in the Lytle Greek area north of San Bernardino. A forest service spokesman said there was a "slopover" this morning that swept over about 500 acres in the San Bernardino Mountains and pushed the total blackened area there to 9,000 acres.
The spokesman said the winds from the northeast were blowing at 30 miles an hour and pushing the fire downhill.
There was no immediate outlook for containment of the breakout which was being fought by 600 firefighters on a mile of open fireline.
In other fire areas, the state Division of Forestry said the 185,000-acre Laguna fire near the Mexico border was 100 per cent contained and "looking good."
The 12,000-acre Boulder fire near the Laguna burn was listed as 70 per cent contained, but rising winds could hamper full control by the 1,200 firefighters on the lines.
Fires that started in Southern California last Friday in similar hot Santa Ana winds caused blazes in Malibu, Newhall and other areas have consumed nearly half a million acres and taken the lives of 10 persons, including five in a firefighting helicopter in the San Gabriel blaze.
The truck was carrying a 21-ton cargo of dynamite from Colorado to a lead mine in Boss. Mo.
The blast ripped a crater 25 feet deep and 100 feet wide in the highway, destroyed a nearby farm house and shattered windows in Springfield. A highway engineer said it could be weeks before the highway was repaired.
Galt, the father of four and a veteran driver of more than 2 million miles without a trucking accident, was making his first
run for Tri-State.
Federal authorities Thursday also held a Carl Junction, Mo., woman on $50,000 bond as a material witness. She was identified as Lenora Ann Kimmel.
The Bowdens and Shuler were represented at their arraignment by Dan Leary, a Joplin attorney. Leary refused to say whether he had been retained by the teamsters or to discuss the case with newsmen.
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