Civil rights chief quits
Panetta succumbs to pressure
WASHINGTON (UPI) — Leon A. Panetta, young civil rights chief in the Health, Education and Welfare department, resigned Tuesday and said congressional pressure on the White House cost him his job.
In a choked voice, the 31-year-old lawyer from Monterey, Calif., read a letter he had written his boss, HEW Secretary Robert H. Finch, at a late afternoon news conference.
"Despite the achievements of
City clerks school here
The 20th annual City Clerks School and the 3rd annual Municipal Finance Officers School will meet today through Friday to discuss problems of city officials. City clerks as "the operational cog in city government" will also be discussed.
David M. Welborn, acting director, Institute of Public Affairs, said there will be five main areas of discussion: accounting in Kansas, accounting procedures, public relations, bond market alternatives, and how city clerks can effect change.
The program is sponsored by the Kansas Association of City Clerks, the Kansas Municipal Finance Officers Association, the League of Kansas Municipalities, University Extension, Institute of Public Affairs, and the University of Kansas. All sessions will meet in the Kansas Union.
This is the second year the schools have met jointly. Present at the seminar will be city clerks, finance officers, mayors, commissioners, personnel officers, city managers and other interested city officials from Kansas.
Emphasis will be placed on the small-group discussion sessions. These groups, Welborn said, will talk about problems they run into in specific areas. He said he hopes they will be able to accomplish two things, relating to similar problems and identifying unsolved problems in city government.
Members present will be assigned to discussion groups based upon the size of the city represented and its geographical location in the state.
Nearly 120 city clerks and staff personnel are expected to attend.
the office and your courageous support, it is my reluctant conclusion that such pressures have been brought to bear on my position . . . that my resignation is the inevitable result."
Code for students need questioned
"The predominant pressures came from congressional sources and were reflected in the White House," Panetta said.
White House Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler announced about midday that Panetta had resigned "some time ago." Panetta told reporters he had submitted an unsigned resignation about six months ago when he was under pressure, but did not sign it until Tuesday.
"I think we are working with the best policy on student records," Bickford said. The present policy, he said, is both protective to the student and fair.
Max Bickford, chairman of the State Board of Regents, said he does not believe legislation is needed to establish a code of student behavior. "Each state institution," Bickford said, "has rules to regulate student behavior which are adequate and fair."
Panetta took over enforcement of civil rights laws and regulations under HEW's jurisdiction, including administration of the highly controversial school desegregation guidelines for the South, on March 30. He had encountered criticism almost from the start that he was too liberal in the job.
The Legislature Bills 417, 418, and 421 introduced by Sen. Reynolds Shultz, R-Lawrence, call for the Board of Regents to establish a code of student behavior and to release student records and disciplinary action against students of faculty members convicted of a crime arising out of campus disturbance.
Bickford said he is completely in favor of another bill to clarify existing laws. The Bill, number 398, is being sponsored by the Board of Regents, Bickford said.
Panetta said he believed that President Nixon was sincerely dedicated to carrying out his campaign slogan of "bring us together."
Motor trucks make up 15 per cent of the vehicles registered in California.
Discussing pressures he said had forced him out, Panetta commented: "They were maybe equally divided, but the pressures on the Republican side were a lot stronger because it is a Republican administration."
but I do not believe that those around the President and others whose principal goal is not to bring us together but to win the next election are the ones that are primarily responsible for the policies that have resulted in this area civil rights," Panetta said.
"I think the President still is.
in, and that's where it stands.” Finch told UPI. “I’ve been en-deavoring to keep him around. I’m sorry to see him go.”
He said he was "particularly disturbed" on Lincoln's Birthday. Not only did the White House disclose a memo that day opposing busing to achieve racial balance, but Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew attacked the idea of allowing minority groups a certain percentage of available college enrollments, he said.
Feb. 18 1970 KANSAN 15
He discussed his decision with Finch, Panetta said.
Panetta is a former aide to former Sen. Thomas H. Kuchel, R-Calif.
"Regretfully, his resignation is
Retardation grant given
The research center in mental retardation at KU received a $127,105 grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to provide support for staff and facilities. The project is under the direction of Richard L. Schiefelbusch, director of the Bureau of Child Research at KU.