Year9 iNlew un C Library Sorials Dpt. Box 870 German Exchange O pens Interviews for the Goetting en Exchange will be held on Monday and Tuesday. Appli cations are available in Y Court. Book Co-op Reminded All members of the Campus Affairs Commitee who have not signed up to work on the Student Government Used Book Co-Op are reminded to call Alan Albright or Andy Gordon at 923-2822. To Write Well Is Better Than To Rule9 Volume 74, Number 77 CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA, WEDNESDAY. JANUARY 4. 1967 Founded February 23. 1893 .Belated Happy All 111? U fr 1 VS Sent To LB J Powel Telling Student Body President Bob Powell was one of 100 student leaders who signed a letter sent to President Johnson last Thursday expressing doubt and concern about U. S. in volvement in the Vietnamese war. The signers, all student body presidents or editors, are from 100 colleges and universities throughout the country. Referring to the New Year's truce, the students wrote: "The truce seems a suitable occasion to report to you that significant and growing num bers of our contemporaries are deeply troubled about the posture of their Government in Vietnam. We believe the state of mind of these people, though largely unreported, is' of great importance, because there are many who are deep ly troubled for every one who has been outspoken in dis sent." In rather reserved criticism of the draft, the letter stated, "Unless this conflict can be eased, the United States will Tomorrow's DTH will con tain an interview with Student Body President Bob Powell about the controversial letter. find some of her most loyal and courageous young people choosing to go to jail rather than to bear their country's arms.. - , "Contributing to this situa tion is the almost universal conviction that the present Se lective Service law operates unfairly." "We write," the letter con tinues, "in the hope that this letter will encourage a frank discussion of these problems. "To this end, we submit for your consideration some of the questions now agitating the academic community: "There is doubt that Ameri ca's vital interests are suf ficiently threatened in Viet nam to necessitate the grow ing committment there. "There is doubt that such vital interests as may be threatened are best protected by this growing committment. "There is doubt that a war which may devastate much of the countryside can lead to Oswald Killer Jack Ruby Dies Of Cancer DALLAS, Tex., (AP) Jack Ruby, the volatile strip joint boss who yearned for "class" but found instead notoriety as the killer of President John F. Kennedy's accused assas sin, died yesterday of cancer. He insisted until the end that he was part of no plot, that he acted alone, that an accident of timing and a surge of pas sion caused him to shoot Lee Harvey Oswald. Ruby, a sawed-off, pudgy tough from Chicago's South Side, died after more than three years in jail and only a month or so short of a sec ond trial. But because of his death, Dist. Atty. Henry Wade said he would dismiss the murder charge against Ruby. "Of course Jack died not a convicted man," said his Dal las Attorney, Phil Burleson. He had been convicted of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald and given a death sentence in his first trial in Dallas in March, 1964. His body will be sent to Chi cago for funeral services. A sister, Mrs. Eva Grant, said Ruby died peacefully. A lawyer, Elmer Gcryz of Chicago, said Ruby looked 80 years old in his last days. He was 55. Ruby stepped from a crowd of newsmen and officers, jab bed a snubnose .32 caliber re volver to Oswald's abdomen and killed him with one shot on Nov. 24, 1963, two days after Signs W ar Doubts the stable and prosperous Viet nam we once hoped our presence would help create. "There is considerable con cern about apparent contra dictions in the American po sition on certain points basic to any efforts to negotiate a settlement . . ." The letter concluded by say ing, "The rising confusion about national purpose can undermine mutual trust and respect among our people. Anti- Viet Vigil Planned At Noon An hour-long silent vigil pro testing the war in Vietnam will be held in front of the Post Office beginning at noon today. A group of 59 area residents announced the vigil through newspaper advertisements and said that the protest ses sions will continue on a week ly basis until the Vietnam war ends. The participants do not rep resent any organization though the action has been endorsed by t h e Chapel Hill Friends Meeting. An advertisement announc-" ing the vigil appeared in the Sunday Chapel Hill Weekly read as follows: "Until Americans, stop kill ing and being killed in Viet nam beginning Wednesday January 4, there will be a si lent vigil every Wednesday noon, 12:00 to 1:00, in front of the post office to express our sorrow and protest. We invite all who are concerned to join us." The vigil today will be one of 67 across the nation, all be ing locally organized. The organizers of the vigil explained their reasons for the action in a prepared state ment: "The Weekly Vigil for Peace is a recurrent, visible witness, silently asking American lead ers and others: 'Are you will- Oswald was accused of as sassinating President Kenne dy. Ruby shot Oswald as the ac cused assassin was being led through the basement of the Dallas City Jail for Transfer to the county jail. Oswald died in Parkland Hospital, the city - county hos pital where President Kennedy had been pronounced dead two days earlier. Ruby was taken to the coun ty jail and had remained there until he was taken to Parkland, where he, too, died at 10:30 a.m. (CST) yesterday. Chief Justice Earl Warren personally interviewed Ruby as Chairman of the Commis sion which investigated the as sassination. Ruby insisted there was no conspiracy. He said he killed Oswald to spare Mrs. Jac quelin Kennedy the anguish of having to come to Dallas to testify. At other times, he said he killed Oswald "to show the world that Jews nave guts." It was reported that dur ing his time in jail Ruby had hallucinations that Jews were being persecuted because of what he had done. Ruby denied knowing Oswald and denied knowing Dallas po liceman J. D. Tippit, whom Oswald also was charged with shooting to death on an Oak Cliff Street soon after the as assination. One of his last requests in Continued On Page" 6 letter "This seems to us as urgent a problem as any that con fronts the nation today" The idea of writing the let ter to the President arose at the annual congress of the Na tional Student Association last summer at the University of Illinois. After a lengthy debate, in which the exact wording of the letter was hotly debated, some 200 of the students met and made plans to draft the letter. ing to stop this week?' And asking this question week aft er week, until we get an hon est and loving answer. Our official decision makers . can file away the letters that we write, concealing their exis tence and their numbers from the general public view. But they cannot file away recur rent visible expression of our concern. Observers of the Vig il, those who do not partici pate, find little overt physi cal action or symbolic con tent that they can seize upon to criticize. . .dismiss. . .and forgetr Since" the Vigil is re current, persons possessed by initial doubts have an oppor tunity to observe our witness, to reflect upon it, and when they reach their own stage of readiness to join it. When they reach that point, they have no difficulty in finding out when and where the Vigil takes place; and they under stand its purposes and me thod. "The Vigil, being silent, cri ticizes actions rather than men. It leaves the way open for supporters of unfortunate policies to change their stand, without overt and hostile criticism which they might feel impelled to rebut. And it may help to provide a step ping stone, with no hostile re proach, to which our policy makers can gracefully move." The Vigil is to be conducted entirely in silence. The parti cipants indicated they will discuss issues and answer questions only after the Vigil ends at 1 p.m. In a note to newsmen, the sponsors said: "The participants in the Vigil insist on spending the full hour in complete silence. Therefore, newsmen wishing to interview any of the parti cipants should be prepared to talk with them after 1 p.m. Since the Vigil is a collection of individuals who all have their own ideas as to how the Vietnam war should be ended, no one is prepared to speak for the whole group. Any statements made would repre sent the feeling of the individ ual and not all of the partici pants." Literary Heads Talk Problems This Evening A roundtable discussion en titled; "The Small Magazine:. Its Problems and Purposes," will be featured on WUNC Radio at 7 tonight. Program guests will be Rus sell Banks, a senior English student and editor of LILLA BULERO; and Michael Paull, English instructor and editor of THE CAROLINA QUAR TERLY. Serving as moderators will be Dr. Dougald MacMillan of the English faculty and Ralph Dennis of the Department of Radio, Television and Motion Pictures pprr ' " 7., B .V', - - . I . ..f - i v . THIRD-RANKED TAR HEELS, flying on a nine game whining streak, came to a crashing halt against precision shooting by Princeton, 31-81, here Monday evening. What Happened In 966? See Page 3 Climbers UNC's Mexican Alpine Ex pedition rolled back into Chap el Hill Monday after a suc cessful Christmas vacation as sault of two of North Ameri ca's highest mountains. The six climbers staged their first climb on 17,800 foot Popocatepetl on the 22nd and started the three day assault of 18,900 ft. Orizaba on Christ mas day, reaching the sum mit on the 27th. The only accident of the trip occurred on the steep ice slope of "Popo" where ex pedition photographer Jock Lauterer slipped and tumbled 600 feet down the inclined ice field, stopping himself with his ice axe. He sustained only a sprained ankle. On Popo, John Thome, a UNC international relations major, and Gordon Strickler, former Outing Club president, were the two climbers to reach the summit. Of the six climbers on Ori zaba, Thorne and Expedition Leader Hugh Owens and his younger brother, Barry, were the men to make it to the top. Altitude sickness kept Gor don Strickler and Robin Wright from reaching the summit on Orizaba, while Lauterer remained in base camp on the dusty flanks of Orizaba with a bad ankle. The high mountains of the Sierra Madre Oriental are quite different from the friend ly ranges of North Carolina's Smokies. These dormant vol canoes are young mountains, covered with volcanic ashes and dust that makes for treacherous footing on steep grades. Both Popo and Orizaba have fields of permanent snow and ice that fill the still steam ing craters and cover the de scending slopes for thousands of feet. The climb to Popo was pre ceded by three days of con ditioning and acclimatization to the thin mountain air. The climbers left the hut at 13, 000 feet and each day went higher, permitting their bod ies to adjust to the rarified air that robs the blood of precious hemoglobin. The pace at the shoulder i Find by the summit consisted of almost four to six breaths per step, then resting every 10 steps. The six climbers struck out for the summit of Popo 3:30 in the pale moonlit morning of the 22nd. They stepped out into the night like clumsy creatures of another dim world, hunch backed with mountain packs that jutted up above their goggled heads. For hours the small party plodded up the cinder trail in to the starry night. To the west Mexico City glowed like a candle in a pillow case. The lesser towns miles below in the foggy valley glowed like blue-green fox fire. f' L. , r-, , , . . 1 """ - r ' r GASPING FOR BREATH the UNC Mexican Alpine Expedition team plods laboriously up the north cinder slope of 17,000 foot Popocatepetel with Orizaba peeping over the clouds 100 miles away to the east. The six-man team climbed to Orizaba's summit rimer era A 21-year-old former Uni versity student who described himself as a poet was being sought by military police in Georgia yesterday after he re fused to wear a uniform, say ing he considered himself a "paid murderer." Spec. 4 J. H. Muir was in his second enlistment training for service in Vietnam when he asked the Army to dis- Apartment Fire Cause Unknown Fire department officials and insurance adjusters have not decided what caused a fire which gutted a 10 - unit apartment building in the Col ony Woods development last Wednesday. The second floor of the unit, called Building F, was gutted while the first floor was flood ed by water. Two or three of the apartments in the build ing have been reported to be in fair condition. Whid Powell, agent for the apartments, c o u 1 d not be reached for comment yester day afternoon. There were no personal in juries, since most of the ten ants, primarily married stu dents and nurses, were ap parently out of town for the holidays. Estimates of -damages to the buildings have ranged from $35,000 and $85,000. Little per sonal property was left un damaged. Witnesses said the blaze was preceded by thick, rolling 'Mountains Don The crisp air was like fresh lettuce. To breathe you literal- ly had to pant like a dog and take your steps slow, as if you had lead on your boots. The ice-axes chuncked me talically in the pebbles and cinders as the column inched upwards into the growing morning. The sun shoved over the ash slope and a vicious wind began to bite and finger its way over the snowy ridges. The party picked up Hugh and Barry Owens on a 14,000 foot shoulder where they had spent the night to conserve energy. The wind gathered force and soon became a ma jor nuisance, spitting tiny particles of volcanic ash, dust Un charge him because he was a consciencious objector. The army refused to dis charge Muir, but offered to place him with a medical unit. Muir refused to wear a uni form Friday and was con fined to quarters. AWOL charges were filed against him when he failed to report for duty yesterday. smoke from the top of the apartment building. Minutes after the smoke appeared a window exploded and almost simultaneously- the roof was enveloped in flames. The roof was a "mass of flames" when the three fire trucks arrived shortly after 9 a.m. The firemen, working in the 31-degree weather, had the blaze under control in about half an hour. The Red Cross chapter has asked that persons wishing to donate clothing or household items to the victims to call 942-4471 or 942-4862. Investigators from the gas company that served the building said they had not found any evidence that fur nace equipment was faulty. No definite conclusions on ..the cause havewbeen reaehed, Fire Chief Baldwin said. The-fire was the second ma jor fire in Chapel Hill in two months. The Varsity Theatre building was damaged $300, 000 on Nov. 16. and ice through the air. The. climbing of Popo re sembled scaling a steep moun tain in a Saharan sand storm. The wind was estimated to be gusting up to 50 m.p.h. The climbers put on their spiked crampons when they came to the foot of the ice field. For the next two hours, they cut their way up the loose, deep snow and solid ice. It was at about 16,900 feet, almost to the top of the first ice shoulder, that Laut erer lost his balance momen tarily and went silently shoot ing down the side of the mountain. "He went by quick, just like that, it happened so fast. . ." commented Hugh on the 27th after a three-day assault that began Christmas day. 'Popo' was scaled on the 22nd and was used to condition the team to the climate' and the terrain. DTH Photo by Jock Lauterer iiorm According to the UNC Rec ords office, Muir attended the University the fall semester of 1963 and dropped out during the following semester. He served 17 months in ar tillery units in the United States and Germany, mostly on administrative duty. Muir received an honorable dis charge in 1965 and reenlisted, applying for officer candidate school, with the intention of becoming an officer in the Corps of Engineers. "The engineer OCS is far more academic than the oth ers," Muir said in a state ment, "And I spent more time studying the ways of war and more time thinking. Sixteen weeks and many poems and letters later, I quit the OCS." He said he finally declared himself a conscientious objec tor in August and asked for a discharge. The Army declined, and offerd him duty in the medical corps. He is the great, great nep hew of the late Josephus Dan- ieis, iormer secretary of the Navy under Woodrow Wilson and edito of the News and Observer of Raleigh, N. C Muir said he considers him self a poet and that one of his original reasons for entering the Army "was to erase paci ficist leanings so common in poets and artistic people in general." The Army said no final de cision has been made whether Muir will face a military court because the charges still are on his company level. The spokesman said Muir is charg ed specifically with refusing to wear his uniform when or dered to do so by his com manding officer. 't Care Owens. "He fell with his head down the mountain for a cou ple of hundred feet, then flip ped over, snow and ice spewed up, and he had stopped him self 600 feet down the moun tain with his ice axe." Upon seeing Lauterer fall, Barry Owens also slipped and slid some 20 feet down the slope, but arrested himself quickly. Robin Wright helped Laut erer off the ice and down to the cinder slope while the rest of the party regained its composure and pushed ahead to the crater's summit by mid afternoon. Leaving Popo, the club spent two days in Mexico (Continued On Page 6)