Walter Reuther killed in plane crash
By MICHAEL J. KAESER PELLSTON, Mich. (UPI) Walter P. Reuther, one of the century's great labor leaders and president of the United Auto Workers for 24 years, was killed Saturday night when his chartered jet plane crashed into a Northern Michigan forest.
The crash which occurred as the chartered Lear Executive jet tried to land in heavy fog at the Emmet County Airport. The crash also took the lives of Reuther's wife Mae and the four other persons aboard.
A light rain was falling and lightning pierced the sky as the jet hit the ground about two miles southwest of here and exploded at 9:33 p.m. Michigan time, witnesses said.
The 62 year-old Reuther, one of the labor movement's most forceful voices for social reform, was flying from Detroit to visit the union's Walter P. Reuther Family Education Center at Black Lake. A UAW car was waiting at the airport to drive the party the 25 miles to Black Lake.
Reuther was elected less than three weeks ago to his 13th consecutive term as head of the 1.6 million member UAW. Secretary Treasurer Emil Mazey assumed the post of acting president Sunday until the union's International Executive Board could
choose a successor to complete Reuther's term and lead the union into contract negotiations only two months away.
The remaining 25 members of the UAW's international executive board will not pick a successor until after Reuther's funeral.
The labor leader, who according to associates was fond of quick trips around the country in private jets, had planned to inspect the center recently named for him prior to its formal dedication this summer.
All that was left of the plane after it burned was a barely recognizable tail section and a piece of the fuselage. The bodies of the six victims were so badly burned that authorities said positive identification could be made only through dental records.
It was established, however,
that Reuther, his wife and pilot George Evans were aboard the plane. Authorities said they believed the others were copilot G. Karlaffa, Bill Wolfman, Reuther's bodyguard, and Oscar Stonorove, a Philadelphia architect who designed Solidarity House, the UAW's international headquarters in Detroit and facilities at the family education center.
Tributes flowed in from auto company executives, civic and political officials and fellow labor leaders, including George Meany, President of the AFL-CIO, from
which Reuther severed all ties in 1968 after a long and bitter feud over the social direction of the labor movement.
"Walter Reuther made a unique and lasting contribution to the auto workers, the American labor movement and the nation," Meany said, when awakened with the news of Reuther's death early Sunday at his home in Washington.
"We had disagreements but we worked together as well—and this morning it is the latter that stands out in my memory."
President Nixon said in a statement issued at the White House that Reuther's death was "a deep loss not only for organized labor but also for the cause of collective bargaining and the entire American process."
Secretary General U Thant said in a telegram to the Reuther family that "the world has lost a wise, courageous and statesmanlike humanitarian."
Among possible successors are Leonard Woodoick, director of the UAW's largest department, General Motors, representing more than 40,000 GM workers; Ken Bannon, director of the Ford department with 160,000 workers; Douglas Fraser, director of the Chrysler department with about 100,000 workers; and Pat
Flash floods damage northeast Oklahoma
By United Press International Flash flooding extensively damaged property in Tulsa and northeast Oklahoma Saturday when more than $4 \frac{1}{2}$ inches of rain fell within an hour and Broken Arrow was pelted with golf ball sized hail.
Two persons suffered heart attacks and seven others received minor injuries. No deaths were reported.
In the Rosewood Shopping Center 15 businesses were damaged by high water and floating debris broke out several shop windows.
The Mingo Creek area on Tulsa's far east side suffered the most severe damage with 330 homes inundated by murky flood waters and as much as two inches of thick mud remained on floors when water receded Sunday.
House trailers were lifted off their foundations and tipped on their sides—15 sustaining extensive flood damage.
The large hail pelted numerous cars and damage estimates were thought to be high.
Highway patrol trooper Bob Ord swam to a stranded car floating in high water on the Broken Arrow Expressway.
May 11
1970 KANSAN 7
One family on South Sandusky, near Joe Creek, scurried to their flooded garage and boarded their boat to make a hasty exit but the water logged motor failed to start. The water continued to rise and the boat floated to the garage ceiling trapping the four people. Firemen tied ropes to trees and then around themselves and swam under water to the garage door opening, rescuing the family. The woman was treated for shock and released from a Tulsa hospital. Her husband and two children were unharmed.
Telephone service to the affected areas was cut off for several hours, but restored early Sunday.
Sunday afternoon police set up road blocks in a 10 square mile area around the flooded areas to keep a swarm of curious people away and to protect the property in damaged homes. Only residents were allowed into the area and persons wanting to help in the massive cleanup.
Tulsa radio stations broadcast requests for help and many volunteers went into the area. One Tulsa University fraternity of 40 men answered the call for help. The weather bureau said flooding was expected late Sunday at Watts and Tahlequah in northeastern Oklahoma.
Tricia Nixon 'distressed'
WASHINGTON (UPI) — Tricia Nixon, preferring "more constructive methods of dissent, said Sunday that students who demonstrate in the streets are taking "the easy way out."
President Nixon's 24-year-old daughter also told reporters that she was "a little distressed" with two Finch College students.
"I was very interested to see they were doing it for publicity," she said.
"I did most of the listening," she added. "They closed their ears."
Tricia complained that she did not have a chance to put "My two cents in."
Tricia's view of antiwar rallies: "I always think there are much better ways to demonstrate. It's much better to talk to congressmen, to try to get on TV shows, write pamphlets, write letters to the editor.
"There is a much more constructive way to express dissent," she said, calling protest rallies "the easy way out."
Shoper confused
KATMANDU, Nepal (UPI) The Rising Nepal, a daily newspaper published in Katmandu, warns its customers in a column on advertising rates:
"Ordinary printing mistakes shall not oblige any free make good."
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Greathouse, in charge of the American Motors department. The man chosen will have to make good on Reuther's promise two months ago to the membership to win "substantial" gains in the new contract despite the industry's economic problems.
A seven man investigating team from the Federal Aviation Administration visited the crash scene in the early morning hours, checking the still smoldering wreckage for the cause of the accident.
The pilot had been cleared for a visual landing by the air traffic center controlling the area and was approaching on a visual approach runway. It appeared the plane pancaked, shearing off trees for about 100 feet.
The FAA had one of its airplanes check the two radio beacons on the approach to the airport, a standard practice, and the pilot radioed the two beacons "appear to be normal. I see no reason why the facilities would be involved."
Russell Abbott, heading the FAA investigating team, refused to speculate on the cause of the crash as investigators scoured the area while a light fog still blanketed the area. An FAA spokesman said the pilot of the Lear jet reported no malfunctions in his last radio contact with airport officials.
Visibility was about five miles following a thunderstorm which swept the area only an hour earlier and lightning was visible northeast of the airport, Abbott said.
The bodies were taken to a makeshift morgue set up in a barn on the Emmet County Fairgrounds in nearby Petoskey.
Symington advocates weapons sale to Israel
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (UPI) — Sen.
Stuart Symington (D-Mo.) Sunday criticized the Nixon Administration for holding up the sale of military weapons to Israel.
"The French and Russians are now getting planes to the Arab countries and the only place left in the world which can supply Israel the weapons it needs for survival is the United States," Symington said.
In a speech prepared for delivery to the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, Symington called attention to a March 23 announcement by Defense Secretary William Rogers that President Nixon had decided to withhold the shipment of planes to Israel previously promised on the grounds that there was a military balance
between Israel and the Arab states.
"A few days ago," Symington continued, "we received irrefutable evidence that Soviet pilots are now flying MIG 21's in Egypt. I can report to you this afternoon that there is no question whatsoever about the accuracy of that evidence. In his press conference of May 5, Premier Kosygin confirmed this to be true."
"If the refusal of March 23 was based on a balance of forces that was correct, how can there be any further delay in selling these planes to Israel?" Symington asked. "Clearly this latest Soviet action must now have created a heavy imbalance in favor of the radical Arab states as against any previous position."
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