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r? Mr The Tar Has I is published seml-wsskly cn Tuesday end Friday Editorials ......4 F '2 feL3 S S 0 CpcrU ...7,3 Wire..... ..2 v. y vv 82nd Year Of Editorial Freedom Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Tuesday, June 11, 1974 Vol. 01, Us. 7 Founded February 23, 1833 o mw rmj nnwsiL 7 : : x - mi n i I I - . lJ Li J LJ Vl v?'"7 filnnQornPn from tht wirts of United Press International -non a Wi::on claims authority over evidence WASHINGTON President Nixon,' apparently unworried he may be risking contempt action, Monday reasserted his claim to be the sole Judge of what evidence to produce for the criminal conspiracy trial of former aide John D. Ehrlichman. Bending a little from his earlier refusal to comply with broad defense subpoenas, Nixon offered to let Ehrlichman have documents Judged "relevant" by White House lawyers. But he insisted that any dispute over evidence would be decided by the President, not the courts. U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell, who is scheduled to begin the trial of Ehrlichman and four other men in the El!sberg break-in case next week, immediately scheduled a Tuesday morning meeting to find out if Ehrlichman will accept the presidential offer of compromise. Grand Jury report to be released WASHINGTON The Supreme Court was formally notified Monday that both the special prosecutor and President Nixon's lawyer want a secret grand Jury report naming President Nixon as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Watergate coverup unsealed and made public. The documents were ordered sealed by U.S. District Judge John J. Sirica May 13 and were turned over to the high court two weeks ago when it agreed to decide if Nixon can withhold tapes and documents relating to the coverup trial next September. . Sirica lifted his secrecy order Friday, one day after Nixon's Watergate lawyer, James D. St. Clair, acknowledged that his client was named by the grand Jury as an unindicted co-conspirator and asked that the report be unsealed. Talks begin in California nurses' strike BAN FRANCISCO With a growing health care crisis In the fourth day of a Northern California nurses' strike, state officials Monday summoned representatives of 40 hospitals and the California Nurses' Association to the first talks since the walkout began. The session was scheduled for this afternoon, and both sides said they would attend. "The impact of the nurses' strike on hospital patients and the. public is severe enough that all concerned, including the state Conciliation Service, are obliged to exert every effort to resolve it," said Ralph F. Duncan, head of the Mediation Service. Hundreds of hospital patients not on the critical list were sent home during the weekend as the hospitals tried to get along with supervisory nurses, aides and even doctors tending to nursing duties. . .. .. . Veteran's Administration reopens case BOSTON The Veterans Administration has reopened the case of a terminal cancer patient who is trying to get benefits for his family to help sustain them after he dies. Last Sept. 23 the Board of Veterans Appeals ruled that John A. Ellis, 28, Mattapan, was not eligible for family benefits. Ellis is dying of Hodgkin's Disease, a form of cancer, and is f irmly convinced that the initial ruling is wrong. With the help of many allies, among them the Boston City Council, he hopes to get a reversal. Egypt prepares rousing welcome CAIRO The Land of the Pharaohs was bringing forth Monday 100,000 cheerleaders, 30,C00 bodyguards, and a gentle camel at the foot of the Sphinx to welcome the President of the United States. At the order of President Anwar Sadat, 3,000 American flags fluttered up over Cairo and Alexandria in honor of President Nixon's three-day visit beginning Wednesday. Former theater queen dies at 81 Katherine Cornell, who as one of the nation's foremost actresses remained loyal to the legitimate theater when many of her contemporaries turned to Hollywood, died Sunday. The 81 -year-old actress died of pneumonia at her Vineyard Haven home. The theater world paid tribute to Cornell last month with the dedication of a Katherine Cornell room In the theater library of Lincoln Center In New York. Office space sought for center by Ellen Horowitz Staff Writer Despite citizen opposition and a negative recommendation last Thursday by the Chapel Hill Planning Board, the University is apparently going ahead with plans to convert some of its residential property on Cameron Avenue to office use. The University-owned house at 425 W. Cameron Ave. is the site of a proposed addition to the research offices of the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center. UNC has applied for a special use permit for the property, which is presently zoned for residential use only. The Chapel Hill Board of Aldermen, was scheduled to vote on the permit application Monday night. The-town Planning Board announced Thursday it Veather r r Partly cloudy . this morning, clearing thb sftsmoon. H!hs Izizy vdll ti In the low C03. The chsnce of rain 13 zero per cent today through toni-ht. will recommend the aldermen decide against granting the permit. . Neighbors and realtors present at the Planning Board hearing Thursday expressed opposition to University intrusion in the neighborhood, which is predominantly residential. Art Berger of the Chapel Hill Planning Department said Monday that town policy encouraged the preservation of residential areas close to the downtown central business district. "The high price of commercial land makes residential neighborhoods open game for UNC or anybody else who wants office space," Berger said. "Chapel Hill has to maintain a consistent policy to contain commercial and business uses within a definite area, or we'll be facing requests like this in every neighborhood every couple of months." UNC Property Office Legal Advisor Bob Williams said he understood the reluctance of the town to accept changes in residential areas. "But what we have in mind will not cause any qualitative change in the neighborhood," he said. Williams stressed that UNC planned no changes to the exterior of the house except for physical improvements such as painting and the construction of A o MUfl I. Beverly Lake Jr. Deputy Attorney General Lake Is serving as legal counsel for the Utiiities Study Commission. (Staff photo by Ted Mellnik) FennFtlh Dime its by Jim Bule Staff Writer An over-flow audience of UNC law students got an opportunity Friday to .observe firsthand the workings of a federal court and to see some judicial celebrities as the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held an unprecedented session in the model courtroom of the law school. Federal Appeals Judge James Braxton Craven of Asheville, who is teaching Constitutional Law at UNC this summer, arranged for judges Clement Haynesworth and John Butzner to meet him in Chapel Hill for ' the session. The court normally meets in Richmond. Chief Judge Haynesworth of South Carolina was nominated by President Nixon to the Supreme Court in 1969, but the Senate did not confirm his nomination. The session was an appellate proceeding in which attorneys face the judges and argue the legal and factual LL thirteen parking spaces in the yard. "Those parking spaces will all be in the back and they'll be screened off on all sides by landscaping improvements," he added. University Engineer Allen Waters, who presented the request for the special use permit to the aldermen and Planning Board, emphasized in his request that UNC had no plans for further non-residential development in the Cameron Avenue neighborhood. Williams confirmed this position Monday. .r "We already own this land, and it's our responsibility as a state agency to put it to state use," he said. "But we have no further plans for expansion in that area."- However, real estate appraiser Charles W. Smith, from the state real estate office in Raleigh, was at the site Monday to appraise the land abutting the rear of the disputed house. "I get called in to appraise property whenever the University is considering a land purchase," he explained. The University also owns a house at 427 W. Cameron, next door to the disputed property. The main research offices of the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center are at 625 f , ; by Joel Brinkley News Editor During what was scheduled to be the Utilities Study Commission's final meeting Monday, State Deputy Attorney General I. Beverly Lake Jr. distributed .a letter announcing to the committee that whatever recommendation it made would be invalid under state law. In the letter, marked "Personal and Confidential," Lake quoted from the state statutes which originally set up the Church Commission: "The commission shall consult with the State Utilities Commission during the course of negotiations concerning the ability and capacity of every prospective transferee to render proper service." Lake contested that the Church commission had not consulted with the state utilities commission and therefore could not legally make its recommendation. When Lake submitted the letter, "he requested it not be released to the public and only be discussed during a closed executive session. "As your legal counsel," he said, "there are points in the letter I would not wish to discuss with you in public." Ofoh'M A 1-4 aw Sdhiool. points raised in written briefs of earlier trial court records. The fourth circuit includes North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. A touch of national politics entered one of the five cases heard before the judges. Prosecuting attorneys Barnett Skolnick and T. Russell Baker were on the same team that charged former vice president Spiro T. Agnew with income tax evasion and accepting bribes. The Prince Georges County, Md. lawyers were asking for a hearing on a case involving the' alleged . use of interstate funds facilities to transmit a bribe. The prosecuters claim the new evidence has been discovered since the original trial. The case is an appeal of a district court judge's denial of a new hearing. Opposing Skolnick and Baker in the case was' Charles VVeiner, also a prosecuter against the former vice president. Two other criminal cases were heard. One was a question of whether the U.S. Attorney could treat one of its op A 11 W. Cameron, less than a block away. No neighbors were available for comment Monday, except one man who said he was born in the University owned house, but would not give his name. He said that neighbors objections centered on the part-time nature of office usage. "There wouldn't be anyone around at night or on weekends," he said. "This has always been a neighborhood, but these people wouldn't be neighbors." The house is presently inhabited by a UNC student who rents it from the University. His lease expired June 1, according to Williams. Williams said he knew nothing of the proposed purchase of the land behind the house, but he said he understood local developers were also interested in the property for possible construction of luxury condominiums. "Condominiums would also require a zoning exception," he maintained. "And that would be a drastic change in the character of the neighborhood. "That's something the people of Chapel Hill ought to consider would they rather have a residential development that is a drasti6 qualitative change in the neighborhood, ojr.the UNC offices which aren't really any T 1 Committee member Thomas Eller immediately objected, saying he thought it improper for the committee to hold private discussions. Chapel Hill Mayor Howard Lee said he, too, would return his copy to Lake. "I haven't read the letter," he said, "but I've scanned it and it makes me very uncomfortable." The committee members then adjourned for lunch and, upon their return, unanimously voted to make the letter public. Lee later commented he thought Lake's letter was simply an attempt to present a case against Consumers Utilities Corporation, one of the bidders for the utilities. The letter systematically outlines what information the commission is required to provide to the state utilities board to show that all bidders have "the ability and capacity to render proper service." Then it attempts to show that if all this information is provided about Consumers, it will show that Consumers does not have the ability and capacity to render proper service. "The commission, in my opinion, should not be satisfied with the information it now has available from Consumers," the letter Comnrtt witnesses, an unindicted co-conspirator, -as a hostile witness in a new case involving the distribution of heroin. The other was a routine bank robbery case in which the issue was whether the testimony of two convicted felons who had overheard conversations with the defendant after his arrest was of substantial weight to find him guilty. Two civil cases were also heard by the three judges. One involved an alleged violation of the Social Security Act in which the plaintiff was trying to establish the . right to payment for medical care given to his wife before her death. Student reaction to the proceeding was very favorable. Several students said they had never attended a federal court hearing before. "The proceeding emphasized the need to be well prepared. Some of the attorneys didn't seem to know what they were talking about," one student noted. "It was a fascinating experience," observed another. "1 hope the law, school will give us more opportunities like this." . . W 11 V . qualitative change at all?" Williams expressed concern that the aldermen might not approve the special use permit, but said he feit the matter was "stilljopen to speculation." To stay a good school, the University has to provide adequate space for its - ' J i " t Sit of the proposed Fran Porta , o 4 m says. It then questions Consumers' state tax status and its ability to give its employes proper retirement benefits. "I do not believe Consumers can qualify under present law as an agency eligible to give its employes the benefits of the State or Local Government Retirement Plans," it says. Despite these objections, Eller then submitted a motion to the committee recommending that the water and electric utilities be sold to Consumers, the telephone exchange be sold to Southern Bell and the sewers to the Town of Chapel Hill. This motion was tabled pending an investigation by Lake into the legal obligations to the state the committee must fulfill before its recommendation can be made. Earlier in the meeting, the committee questioned Douglas Booth, a Duke Power Company senior vice president. Booth said Duke Power had no predisposition not to build the Cane Creek Reservoir, as the University recommended. But Duke would not, he said, guarantee to retain the controversial reservoir trust fund for five years, as requested by Lee. Lee, concerned that returning the trust fund would mean higher utility rates, asked Booth why Duke Power felt it necessary to make this "generous contribution to the University." Booth denied that Duke was making a contribution, saying, "That's entirely incorrect. Return of the trust fund was simply a provision of our original bid to the commission." The committee Is scheduled to make its final decision next month. Aldermen have final word on utilities sale If the Utilities study commission eventually decides to sell Chapel H ill's electric and water utilities to Duke Power Company, Mayor Howard Lee and the Board of Aldermen might refuse to grant the company the town's utility franchise. According to Lee, the Aldermen have the final word on who will get the franchise for the town's electric and water plants. Lee said Friday he would look very closely at the wording of a contract for Duke Power. "We wouldn't just graciously hand the utilities over to them," he said. "I feel we have obligations to the employes of the utilities and to the people and the future of Chapel Hill." "It may be that I will have to cast the deciding vote," he said. "And I won't quickly hand the utilities over to anyone I feel is unqualified to operate them in the best interests of the town." Alderman Gerry Cohen said he could not predict how the Aldermen would vote on the Duke Power franchise question. "But I, for one, am not in favor of the utilities being owned by any private company," he said. A staff, he said. Last year, a UNC request for use of the same property as a child development research center was denied by the Board of Aldermen. The current request differs in that it specifies office use only, with no children present. v..;.v',.. r v. '' v-- v.' v '"wv.,''ly-.r''- Stiff photo by Gary Lebrefco r Graham child research cznUr
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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June 11, 1974, edition 1
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