The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 1

VU.U HKK TOim Partly Cloudy High, 87; Low, 65 Yesterday High, 84; Low, 66 he i Indianapolis "lOmS Ull'CkLh Optimism: The ability to say "my rar" in the fare of 21) more $lflO-a-month rar payments. Where the Spirit of the Lord is. there is Liberty" Cor 3 17 VOLUME 76, No. 54 SATURDAY, -JULY 29, 1978 Copyright 1978 The Indianapolis Star ft ft ft ft CMME DCUVEKCD Uc WK hotoo ocuveoco uKim Coo GUIDED STATE FROM 1945-49 ii i i ltK in- Ex-Go v. Ralph Gates Dies In Columbia City STAR STATE REPORT Columbia City, Ind.

Former Gov. Ralph Fesler Gates, Indiana's chief executive from 1945 until 1949, died Friday in Whitley County Hospital here. He was 85. Mr. Gates was admitted to the hospital Thursday after suffering from failing health for several months.

A successful attorney and a shrewd politician who had more than his share of political squabbles during his colorful career. Mr. Gates guided the state during the difficult post-World War II years when thousands of veterans were returning home seeking jobs, higher education and security. Mr. Gates was the state's 36th governor and the 15th Republican governor.

A family spokesman said Mr. Gates had continued to practice law until about He had attended meetings of boards of directors he served on until recent months when his health failed, the family spokesman said. A political craftsman. Mr. Gates was elected governor in 1944 after spending nearly three years as GOP state chairman during which time he rebuilt the ravaged Republican Party in Indiana The party had been rocked with defeat after defeat for more than a decade HE AS THE FIRST GOP governor elected in Indiana since 1928.

defeating the late Sen Samuel Jackson iD-Ind.) by about 50,000 votes. That was a banner Republican year in Indiana, with former U.S. Sens. Homer Capehart and William E. Jenner also elected to their first terms in the Senate Jenner was elected to fill out the remaining 50 days of a Senate term, and See GATES Page 20 Half Page Of Pictures.

Page 48 age 81 and in more recent years devoted much of his time with his family at his cottage on Crooked Lake. HE RECENTLY had attended the dedication of a section of land at the lake called the Ralph Gates Nature Preserve. Also in recent years he had enjoyed gardening and taking friends and relatives around the lake on his cruiser. RALPH F. GATES VS.

AGAIN PROTESTS EMBASSY INCIDENT oviett Restrain 2nd American Moscow (AP) A Soviet police guard manhandled a US diplomat outside the embassy and prevented him from entering in the second such incident in a week, American sources said Friday. The U.S. Embassy again has formally protested to the Soviet government over what the source described as an emerging pattern of "heavy-handed interference with access to our embassy" in violation of the Vienna convention on diplomatic conduct. WRECKAGE OF PLANE, CAR REST IN ALLISONVILLE NURSERY AND LANDSCAPING LOT Pilot Crashes Through Airport Fence Across Street, Hits Car On Allisonville Road I AM DEEPLY HURT O'Neill's Irish Up Over Carter's 'Shabby' Firing Of GSA Official Washington (L'PI) House Speaker Thomas O'Neill engaged the White House in a verbal duel Friday over what he called the "shabby" firing of Robert Griffin, his close friend ana protege, as deputy chief of the beleaguered General Services Administration. President Carter talked with O'Neill over breakfast, and met later with Griffin, 61, to offer him another job in government, the White House said.

But the speaker appeared anything but mollified, telling Capitol Hill reporters later: "I am deeply hurt." "Not only was he treated in a shabby manner, I was treated in a shabby manner." O'Neill said of Griffin's dismissal of Solomon, a former real-estate developer from Chattanooga, with no government experience. ON AT LEAST one point, all parties to the affair agreed: Griffin's firing was only peripheral to the scandals that have rocked the government's housekeeping agency to its foundations and prompted expressions of deep concern from the president. This was the sequence, GSA spokesman Richard Vawtcr said Friday in announcing the firing: Mr. Carter's permission, Solomon told Griffin Thursday he had a choice between taking early retirement or being dismissed, and gave him until 8 p.m. to decide.

Griffin neither showed up for a meeting with Solomon nor responded to a letter hand-delivered to his home, inform- See O'NEILL Page 6 Lefortovo prison Monday for questioning in his case. THE SOURCE SAID Crawford would be accompanied to the prison by a consular official. But if past practice prevails it is unlikely the official will be allowed to attend the interrogation. Besides Burman, recent protests to the Soviets on access to the embassy have been made over Second Secretary Raymond Smith, exchange professor Gabriel Kojoian of the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire and Mrs. Irina McClellan, Soviet wife of a University of Virginia professor Smith, a political officer at the embassy, was chased and grabbed by a police officer July 20 after he had already entered 10 feet on property The embassy made two protests here and one in Washington over the incident But the source said the Soviets responded it was Smith's fault and he molested the guard who was trying to carry out his function of protecting the embassy.

The day after Smith was grabbed and his jacket ripped police blocked Kojoian. who has just completed seven months of study at an institute near Yerevan in Soviet Armenia. MRS. McCLELLAN, who has been trying for four years to leave the Soviet Union to join her American husband, chained herself to the embassy fence April 21 during the visit of Secretary of State Cyrus Vance in an effort to call attention to her case The source said he could not remember the name of the person involved in the fifth incident but believed it was a tourist who was unable to present his passport because Soviet hotel authorities routinely take them from guests on arrival for police registration. Gas Leak In Florida Chemical the product's manufacturer.

THE WINDS were out of the southwest at the time the leak developed, and the cloud moved over a sparsely populated commercial-residential area. Later in the day the wind shifted toward the east and a police spokesman said more residents may be ordered out. Union Camp employee Rudy Walker said the accident occurred when another employee, Samuel W. Smith, 30, opened the lid on the tank and apparently broke a valve stem. Interviewed at Baptist Hospital De-See GAS Page 6 several alternative assignments to prepare for an unfavorable court ruling Under the plan, freshman classes in the city's 10 high schools are to be kept at levels no greater than 60 percent of either race Residents of newly drawn attendance areas are to attend the high schools in their areas.

Those wishing to go elsewhere may transfer to schools in which their race is in the minority or may participate in a lottery. More than 2,000 students placed their names in the lottery last spring There are some exceptions to the assignment formula. For example, brothers and sisters may attend school together, regardless of the effect on racial balance three persons, whose names had been mentioned prominently in the trial, had met different fates. Harry Aleman, a reputed syndicate hit man who set up the Messinger robbery was convicted earlier in a separate federal trial. He is in prison despite an appeal.

Leonard (Lennie) Foresta, an Aleman associate who joined Almeida in the actual robbery, also was convicted earlier, both in federal court here and in criminal court in Indianapolis. ROBERT W. HARDER of suburban Melrose Park, whose home Miroff See JURY Page The source said the embassy had made five such protests in the past month and a half, two involving diplomats, but had received no positive reponse from the Soviets. In the latest incident Thursday, a police guard put his hands to the shoulders of U.S. official Harold Burman on the sidewalk outside the building as he started to enter a driveway.

BURMAN, A member of a group planning construction of a new embassy, carries a diplomatic passport and has been here for a month. He was accompanied by a State Department interpreter who explained in Russian to the guard that Burman was an American and could not be barred from the building Despite the interpreter, the intervention of a Soviet employee of the embassy and one of his fellow guards who tried to push him away, the policeman persisted in restraining Burman before finally backing down. The source said Burman did not show any document to establish his identity The Vienna convention of 1961. signed by the Soviet Union, which calls for free access to embassies by a country's diplomat, says physical force cannot be used to deny entry and prohibits police from the host country to enter the ground to exercise their authority. The incident came amid growing strain in U.S.

-Soviet relations that has resulted in increased harassment of U.S citizens here In a related development, the source disclosed that Francis Jay Crawford, the International Harvester representative arrested last month on currency violation charges and then released from custody in a deal involving two accused spies in the United States, was told to be at Train Car Injures 34 Jacksonville. Fla. (UPIi A railroad tank car containing hydrogen chloride gas used in the manufacture of perfumes sprang a leak Friday, producing a towering gray cloud that injured at least 34 people and forced about 1,500 others to flee Jacksonville's west side The hydrogen chloride gas, or anhydrous hydrochloric acid, which was sealed in the refrigerated car at Union Camp Chemical vaporized on contact with the atmosphere. It produced "an overwhelming rotten smell you don't want to be near," said John Soghigian, a spokesman for Dow plemented by IPS during the 1978-1979 school year without conflict arising out of the transfer of students," the court said in its six-page opinion. "I'm not surprised at the decision," said John Wood, attorney for IPS.

"I thought we had a very good chance of getting that reversed Schools Superintendent Karl R. Kalp said the court's decision on the ninth-grade plan "relieves us of a lot of pressure from planning at different levels." ALTHOUGH STUDENTS were assigned to schools several months ago, school planners were forced to arrange new trial and appeal the case. During three days of testimony, Rotenberg sought a mistrial on four or five occasions, but was overruled by Judge John F. Grady. GRADY SAID MIROFF and Mrs Powers could remain free on $4,500 bond each pending a pre-sentence investigation.

Sentencing will be Aug. 30 They face up to 15 years in prison and substantial fines. After the verdicts were read by jury foreman Homer R. Anderson of Chicago, and the jurors were polled. Grady told them that he agreed with their findings.

He then revealed to the jurors that 'Noisy' Louise Gaining; Mother Is Exhausted Appeals Court OKs 9th-Grade Desegration (Stir Phot by Frar M. FitM) 3 Injured When Plane Strikes Car By GORDON WITKIN The pilot of a twin-engine Cessna aborted his takeoff Friday from Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport, crashed through a fence and struck a car on Allisonville Road just south of Noblesvil-le, witnesses said. The pilot and his son were injured seriously, as was the driver of the automobile. According to witnesses' reports, the pilot was taking off on Runway 32 when fie lost power in one engine and attempted to stop the plane, which was carrying two steel plates bound for a Tennessee firm. THE PLANE LEFT the runway, traveled about 100 yards on the grass and plowed through a 4-foot-high link fence along Allisonville Road, said the witnesses, ooth pilots at the airport.

Traveling between 70 and 100 mph and barely missing a semitrailer heading See PLANE Page 6 The order, stayed since 1975 because of appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court, had been reaffirmed by Dillin June 2. AT THE SAME time, Dillin rejected the IPS plan for desegregating approximately 6,000 students who will enroll in ninth grade in the fall. The judge said it would be premature and counterproductive to undertake any desegregation within IPS boundaries until the issue of city-suburban desegregation is resolved. The Appeals Court said Friday that Dillin had "abused his discretion" in forbidding IPS from taking the desegregation step.

"It is our best judgment that Phase I (the ninth-grade plan) can be im Smith, had no comment after the verdicts were read. Mrs. Powers, of Okeechobee, who seemed nervous and surprised, told a reporter, "I have something to say: Louie Almeida's a maggot." The reference was to 35-year-old Louis Almeida, a professional criminal who was a key prosecution witness under government protection. Almeida's testimony was the cement which bound a series of other events linking Miroff and Mrs. Powers to the Jan.

11. 1973, robbery of the Indianapolis home of Dr. and Mrs. Robert Messinger. Defense attorney Jerome Rotenberg of Chicago said he would file a motion for a by GSA administrator Jay Solomon, with the President's blessing.

THE WHITE HOUSE did not have the "common decency" to tell him in advance about the firing, O'Neill said "I found it out from the press." At the White House, a deputy press secretary responded, "To our satisfaction, we do not feel we misled the speaker." O'Neill, whose friendship with Griffin goes back to their early days in Massachusetts, sought last year to have Griffin installed as head of the agency, in light of his 35 years experience at GSA. But Mr. Carter passed nim over in favor All the excitement has tired her. She wishes to rest and will not be seeing visitors today. Baby Louise is doing very well.

She started to breastfeed. She has gained 2 ounces since birth and now weighs 5 pounds 14 ounces." The news that the 30-year-old Mrs. Brown was breastfeeding her daughter came as a surprise. Hospital sources had indicated after the birth late Tuesday that she probably would have to be bottle fed. Louise was moved into her mother's room after a stay in the premature unit, See LOUISE Page I The Weather Joe Crow Says: Postal workers are to be sent a ratification ballot for their new contract in the mails.

Wonder when they'll be delivered? Indianapolis Variable cloudiness and warm today with a chance of evening thunderstorms; high, 87. Low tonight, 65. Mostly sunny Sunday; high, 85. Indiana Variable cloudiness and warm today and tonight with a chance of afternoon and evening thunderstorms; highs, 82-90. Lows tonight.

60-70. Partly to mostly sunny Sunday; highs, 8047. Todays Prayer Teach us, we pray, Lord, to better understand ourselves. Thank You for enabling us to see what we are today can By DAN CARPENTER The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals Friday reversed Federal Judge S.

Hugh Dillin and allowed Indianapolis Public Schools to go ahead with its plan to desegregate ninth-grade (high school) classes this fall. the Appeals Court at Chicago deferred action on another Dillin order, under which some 6,500 black (grade school) pupils would be bused from IPS to eight suburban districts. The court said it could not rule on requests for a stay of the city-suburban busing order until Dillin himself has had the chance to grant or deny a stay. Oldham. England (UPIi Mrs.

Leslie Brown began breastfeeding the world's first test-tube baby Friday and doctors said that the noisy, 3-day-old infant already had gained 2 ounces. Health authorities issued a statement saying that the mother was doing well, but was exhausted by all the the excitement surrounding the birth of her daughter, Louise, and had barred visitors to her room at Oldham Hospital for the rest of the day. "Mrs. Brown was up and about since the first day," the news bulletin said. "SHE IS PROGRESSING very well.

Inside Today's Star 0 News Summary On Page 2 Amusement 29-31 Area Newi 17 Bridge IS 13-15 Comici 18 Crossword 15 Editorials 16 Finance 26-28 Obituaries 32 Sports 22-26 TV-Radio 19 Want 33-47 Weather 47 Werner 16 Women 8-10 Court News ond Statistics 47 Star Telephone Circulation 633-9211 Mam Office 633-1240 Want Ads 633-1212 Scores After 4 30 633-1200 CMJIE ALERT If You See A Crime Committed Or Spot Suspicious Activity Call This Number ACCUSED IN INTERSTATE ROBBERY Federal Jury Convicts Miroff, Mrs. Powers By RICHARD E. CADY Star Staff Reporter Chicago A federal jury deliberated for slightly more than an hour Friday before convicting two former Indianapolis residents of participating in a 1973 interstate robbery scheme sponsored by a reputed Chicago crime syndicate enforcer. Leo Louis Miroff, 74. was found guilty of conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property.

Jane Dickens Powers, 35, was convicted of transporting stolen property and found not guilty of conspiracy. MIROFF. A RESIDENT of Fort be a reflection of what we will be tomor row. Amen. 911 A 4..