Andrel A. Gromyko said in the U.N. that the Reagan Administration had to produce “concrete deeds and not verbal assurances” before it could count on improved relations with the Soviet Union. In a 75-minute speech to the General Assembly, the Foreign Minister blamed the United States for virtually all world tensions since 1946, but he did not appear to close the door to the development of more constructive future ties.
Specialists in diplomacy, the military and intelligence put in weeks of work preparing President Reagan and Secretary of State George P. Shultz for their meetings with Foreign Minister Gromyko.
Walter F. Mondale conferred for 90 minutes with Andrei Gromyko and said later he believed there was “an opportunity for significant progress” when the Soviet Foreign Minister meets with President Reagan today in Washington.
Moscow is prepared to be an “honest and well-wishing partner” in cooperation with the West if Western countries are ready to respond, according to the Soviet leader, Konstantin U. Chernenko.
The long-running talks on reducing conventional forces in Europe, the only current East-West arms control negotiations, resumed in Vienna. Spokesmen for the Atlantic Alliance and the Warsaw Pact traded charges at the reopening of the 11-year-old mutual and balanced force reduction talks after a summer recess. The talks, aimed at lowering troop strength to 900,000 per side, have been deadlocked over two main issues: the West’s insistence on tight standards of verification and its refusal to accept East Bloc figures on troop strength in Central Europe.
Former California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., on a visit to Moscow, said Soviet officials he met have expressed a desire for renewed arms negotiations with the United States if President Reagan sends the right signal. A freeze in defense spending, Brown said, was mentioned as one step the President might take to reassure the Kremlin. The former governor, now chairman of the Institute for National Strategy, a think tank in Los Angeles, was in Moscow this week as a guest of the Soviet Institute for the United States and Canada.
Poland’s Communist government, citing a continuing oil shortage, announced a 20% cut in the monthly gasoline ration for motorists. The action, which takes effect October 1 for the fourth quarter of the year, will affect all vehicle owners. The monthly gas allowance will be cut from 7.8 gallons to 6.24 gallons for drivers of small cars and from 11.7 gallons to 9.36 for drivers of large cars, the official Polish news agency PAP said. Gasoline has been rationed since 1981 in Poland, which imports more than 95% of its petroleum products from the Soviet Union.
Three Basque separatists extradited from France on charges of killing nine people arrived in Madrid early today and were hospitalized because of the effects of a hunger strike. France’s highest court refused Wednesday to block the extradition of the three, believed to be members of the outlawed Basque separatist organization E.T.A. It was the first time France had agreed to extradite Basques to Spain, and the decision set off protests in the Basque regions of both nations. Previously France had expelled more than 20 Spanish Basques to third nations.
President Reagan meets with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Ahmed Esmat Abdel Meguid.
The United States, citing a continuing pattern of Iranian support for terrorism, imposed new restrictions, effective today, on exports to Iran. The State Department said the restrictions apply to aircraft, aircraft spare parts and outboard motors of 45 horsepower or more, items that previously had been exempt from a ban on the sale of military or other goods to Iran. A State Department spokesman said the new curbs had been under consideration well before last week’s bombing of a U. S. Embassy facility in Beirut by a terrorist group believed to have links with Iran.
The Iranian ambassador to the Netherlands, Hossein Tajgardoon, and members of his staff were attacked and beaten by about 20 people, believed to be Iranian Kurds, who invaded the Iranian Embassy in The Hague, police reported. Police arrested the intruders about 20 minutes after they entered the building, and the ambassador was taken to a hospital for treatment of a head injury. Police said the clash erupted from a protest against the regime of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
President Zail Singh returned control of the Golden Temple, the holiest Sikh shrine, to the sect’s high priests today after nearly four months of army occupation, the United News of India reported. The priests, meanwhile, called off plans to mount a major protest march to “liberate” the temple, the news agency reported. A battle in June to drive armed Sikh militants out of the temple and continued army occupation of the temple since then had kept a crisis festering in Punjab. President Singh, who is a Sikh, made his unscheduled trip a day after the five Sikh high priests reversed their finding that he was guilty of anti-Sikh activity for cooperating with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s program to end the violence of the Sikh militants.
At least five people were killed and hundreds were hurt throughout Bangladesh today during a national strike called by political groups opposed to the military Government, politicians and hospital officials said. Staff members at a Dhaka hospital said one person died after a scuffle between supporters and opponents of the Government at a rally marking the end of the dawn-to-dusk protest strike. Opposition leaders said one of their politicians, Mohammed Moizuddin, died of knife and gunshot wounds at Kaliganj, 20 miles from Dhaka, and another died in clashes in the southern town of Madaripur. The pro-Government Janadal Party said one of its political workers was killed in the southern town of Chandina. In Chittagong, the country’s second-largest city, witnesses said at least one person died.
Islamic radicalism could pose a threat to the stability of the rapidly developing countries of Southeast Asia, according to some political leaders in the region. Two of the larger nations in the region, Indonesia and Malaysia, have Muslim majorities or pluralities and the rest have Muslim minorities.
President Jean-Claude Duvalier has ordered the release of an opposition leader and a human rights advocate who were put under house arrest more than two months ago, the police said Wednesday. The authorities said the two men, Hubert De Ronceray and Grégoire Eugène, were released Sunday. Mr. Deronceray is a member of Unesco’s executive board and of a special United Nations human rights committee. Mr. Eugène is the leader of the small Social Christian Party. He was arrested June 19 after the party newspaper, Fraternité, published articles deemed critical of the government. Mr. De Ronceray, a former Social Affairs Minister and Under Secretary of State in the Duvalier Government, was placed under house arrest on July 4. He had returned to the Caribbean nation to teach during the summer session at Haiti’s State University. The reason for his arrest was not clear, but it came after he was quoted in a Haitian exile newspaper in New York, The Haiti Tribune, as having said a presidential election here would be a step forward.
Foreign ministers from Western Europe and Central America open a two-day meeting in San Jose, Costa Rica today that is expected to underline European support for peace efforts in the troubled region. Ministers from the European Economic Community as well as Spain and Portugal are expected to announce a program of economic aid for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua while at the same time stressing peace agreements. On the eve of the meeting, Costa Rica made public a draft agreement calling for removal of all foreign military trainers and advisers and the cutting off of aid to rebel movements in the region.
President Reagan meets with President of the Republic of Peru, Fernando Belaunde Terry.
A senior Latin America analyst resigned in May after William J. Casey, the Director of Central Intelligence, insisted he revise a report on Mexico so it would support Reagan Administration policy, intelligence officials asserted. They said that Mr. Casey wanted the intelligence report to portray Mexico’s economic and political problems as a threat to its internal stability and an indirect danger to the overall security of Central America and the United States.
Walter F. Mondale accused President Reagan of an “inexcusable” attempt to shift the blame for last week’s bombing of the United States Embassy in Lebanon. Earlier, the White House sought to soften Mr. Reagan’s implication that the fault lay with the “near destruction of our intelligence capability” before his Administration took office.
President Reagan discusses the current domestic and international economic climate with Secretary of the Treasury, Donald T. Regan.
The Senate got enmeshed in a debate over a proposal designed to reverse the Supreme Court’s decision that narrowed the scope of Federal laws against discrimination. The Senate voted 51 to 48 to allow the plan to be considered as an amendment to an appropriations bill to keep Government agencies running that must be on President Reagan’s desk by Monday night.
The sponsors of an immigration bill said they hoped to rescue the comprehensive legislation, but opponents said it was dead. The Senate and the House of Representatives approved different versions of the legislation. Lawmakers failed to resolve all their of differences in nine days of negotiations, making final passage of the bill unlikely. The conferees did manage to resolve most of the major differences in the two bills. Senator Alan K. Simpson, Republican of Wyoming, the chief Senate negotiator, said in an interview: “There is still honestly an opportunity. We all know what we are looking for, but it is tough to get there. Time is short.” Congress is tentatively scheduled to adjourn October 4 or 5.
No clemency will be granted to a North Carolina woman by Governor James B. Hunt Jr., he announced. Governor Hunt had been asked to block the execution of Margie Velma Barfield, a 51-year-old woman convicted in 1978 of killing her fiancé with arsenic.
Talks to settle a tax evasion case arising from charges against the commodity trader Marc Rich are nearing completion under terms that would bring the Government $100 million to $150 million, according to officials familiar with the case, which is the largest such case in the nation’s history. The proposed settlement would not affect criminal charges pending against Mr. Rich and his partner, Pincus Green.
In balloting that gives the soft coal industry its first strike-free contract settlement in two decades, members of the United Mine Workers voted overwhelmingly to accept a new 40-month pact, the union announced. With 484 of 800 locals reporting, the contract containing improved job security guarantees and modest wage gains was being approved by a better than 5-1 margin, union President Richard Trumka said, and rejection is mathematically impossible. The pact gives miners a 10.25% hike in wages and some job security improvements.
Justice Department attorneys have decided not to seek criminal charges against the International Assn. of Chiefs of Police for allegedly misusing federal grant funds and are negotiating an out-of-court settlement instead, department officials said. The settlement calls for the association to repay $170,000 to the National Institute of Justice plus a like amount to the U.S. Treasury. It also requires the group to adopt management changes before it could work for the federal government again.
Alabama Governor George C. Wallace was taken to a hospital in Birmingham for treatment of a fever, said Billy Joe Camp, the governor’s press secretary. Camp said Wallace, 65, did not feel well when he awoke Thursday and had a fever of about 102 degrees. Camp said state troopers took Wallace to University Hospitals and the governor’s physician, Dr. Hamilton Hutchison, was in attendance.
The Environmental Protection Agency, a day after one of its top officials ruled out seeking additional money for removing asbestos from the nation’s schools, said that no such decision has been made.. Dave Ryan, an EPA spokesman, telephoned reporters to state that the agency might ask Congress for extra money after evaluating how the earliest part of the program was working. Ryan read a prepared statement that said in part, “EPA feels it is simply too early to know what funds will be needed in the future.”
A gunman wounded a fifth-grade Texas pupil who was raising the American flag at his school, then fired at a student who was late for classes at a nearby junior high school, the authorities said today. Josh Littell, 10 years old, was shot in the arm by a high-powered rifle this morning at 8:40 AM at the Millsap Elementary School northwest of Houston, said Assistant Superintendent Don Thornton. The boy is in fair condition at a hospital. About 15 minutes later, sheriff’s deputies said two shots were fired at a seventh grade boy who was walking Bleyl Junior High School, five miles from Millsap. He was unharmed, deputies said.
Two Hispanic firefighters in Miami have refused possible promotions because they scored lower on a test than several white collegues. Henry Harrison, a 30-year-old Mexican-American, the highest-ranking Hispanic firefighter on a department list of 10 candidates for two lieutenant’s positions, was the first to turn down the promotion. Nelson Lissabet, 35 years old, a Cuban-American, who is next on the list, also declined. Five non-Hispanic people on the list had higher test scores than either of the Hispanic applicants. The potential promotions would have meant a $3,000 raise to $33,000 a year. “I don’t hold anything against those who do take affirmative action promotions,” Mr. Lissabet said Wednesday. “But I don’t want to be promoted out of line.” On Tuesday, Mr. Harrison expressed similar sentiments.
Teachers in a Pittsburgh area school district returned to work yesterday, ending a three-day strike, but more than 40,000 students across the country remained out of classrooms because of labor disputes. A tentative agreement with teachers in the Butler Area School District was reached Wednesday night, sending 500 teachers and about 9,000 students back to school. Contract details were not disclosed pending a ratification vote set for October 8. Teachers remained on strike in nine other Pennsylvania school districts, idling about 22,000 students. In addition, strikes affected more than 9,000 students in four Illinois districts, 3,200 in a Michigan district and 6,200 in a Louisiana district.
The Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, the site of televised Christian services by the Rev. Robert Schuller, got back more than half the $473,185 in property taxes it paid under protest a year ago, church officials say. The church building, made of 10,900 glass panes, received a tax refund Wednesday of $247,922, less than had been estimated after the Board of Equalization ruled for the church in February, but more than had been expected after the Orange County Assessor reappraised property values for the years of the tax dispute. The 10,000-member church, founded by Mr. Schuller, lost its property tax exemption in 1982 for holding commercial concerts and other profitable activities in the church’s sanctuary. The church, which said the loss of the exemption violated the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of religion, was then billed $473,185 for back taxes from 1979 to 1982.
The prosecutor who filed charges of sexual abuse of children against 24 people in Shakopee, Minnesota has withdrawn from the second trial in the case, saying the defense had made her an issue. “What I am concerned about is that we are trying to protect children.” Kathleen Morris, the Scott County Attorney, said Wednesday. “When people trying to make me the issue is more important than protecting children, then I should not be involved.” Robert and Lois Bentz were acquitted last week. The defense said the prosecutor had brainwashed and coerced children who were witnesses. She replied that the defense was trying make her the issue because it had no other case. The Bentzes were accused of sexually abusing their 6-year-old son and four other children. Assistant County Attorney Gehl Tucker will take over the prosecution of Don and Cindy Buchan, accused with the Bentzes and others of operating two rings involving sexual abuse of children, in a trial to begin Monday.
A team of investigators was sent to the Wyoming site where a Pennsylvania hunter was mauled by a grizzly bear, Bridger-Teton National Forest officials said. The hunter, whose name was withheld, was hospitalized in stable condition. It was the fourth serious attack by bears in the Yellowstone National Park area in the last two months.
If David Bergland finds himself in the White House in January, a lot of federal employees will have to start searching for other jobs. The fundamental proposition of the party he represents, as Mr. Bergland defined it on a recent visit to New York City, is that Government has no business doing most of what it now does. He is the candidate of the Libertarian Party, one of several small parties with Presidential nominees that will appear on the ballot in a number of states in November. Mr. Bergland would, among other things, bring back American troops and weapons from wherever they may be, turn the public schools into private schools, eliminate Social Security and stop trying to enforce laws on such matters as drugs, pornography, abortion and gun ownership.
The use of alcoholic beverages is at a 15-year low point, with 64% of adult Americans saying they use beer, wine or liquor, according to the Gallup Poll. The decline has been most pronounced among down-scale population groups, women and older persons. While the percentage of adult drinkers has headed downward over the last decade and a half, the number of new drinkers among teen-agers has climbed from 4 in 10 just two years ago to nearly 6 in 10 in the most recent Gallup Youth Survey. The most popular beverage is beer (43% say they drink it “most often”), followed by wine (33%) and liquor (27%).
A 12-year-old boy died of rabies, becoming the second person in the country to die of the disease in 1984 and Pennsylvania’s first victim in 32 years, health officials said. Officials said they did not know how Ernest C. Cochran Jr., of Williamsport, contracted rabies, although the source may have been a stray cat that bit him and later disappeared, said epidemiologist Stephen Bowen. Seventy persons were being given a series of five rabies shots as a precaution, Bowen said. A 12-year-old girl in Houston died August 8 in the only other confirmed human rabies case in the country this year.
Ellsworth Bunker, a high-ranking United States diplomat for three decades, died tonight at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital in Vermont. He was 90 years old and lived in Dummerston, Vermont. Mr. Bunker was admitted to the hospital with a general viral infection on September 13 and, according to a hospital spokesman, died of complications attributable to his advanced age. Mr. Bunker, a skilled and patient negotiator who had been a businessman for 30 years before becoming a diplomat, served as Ambassador to South Vietnam during the six years in which the United States became most deeply embroiled in the Vietnam War.
In an early move in what is shaping up as another end-of-season round of musical dugouts involving managers and former managers, Rene Lachemann was dismissed as manager of the Milwaukee Brewers and George Bamberger was named to succeed him at the end of the season. The dismissal of the 39-year-old Lachemann, who took over the Brewers last October after the dismissal of Harvey Kuenn and his own midseason dismissal by Seattle, was not unexpected. With three games to go, Lachemann’s injury-riddled team has the worst record in baseball only two years after appearing in the World Series.
The Cleveland Indians top the Minnesota Twins, 4–3, on a two-out pinch solo homer in the 9th by Jamie Quirk. Ron Davis serves up the game-winner to Quirk, whose contract was purchased 3 days ago from the Chicago White Sox. For Quirk, it will be his only at bat in a Cleveland uniform during his one-week stint: the Tribe will release him on October 1 when the season ends. Ernie Camacho (5–9) pitched a scoreless ninth for the victory. The loss dropped the Twins two games behind first-place Kansas City in the American League West. The Royals, who did not play today, close the season with three games against the Oakland A’s. One more victory for the Royals or another Twins loss would clinch at least a tie for the division lead for Kansas City. The Twins have three more games in Cleveland.
Ned Yost’s two-out bases-empty homer in the sixth inning broke a 1–1 tie to lead the Texas Rangers over California, 2–1, eliminating the Angels from the pennant race. The Angels fell four games back of the Kansas City Royals, who were idle. With only three games left for each team, the Angels are mathematically out of the race. Dickie Noles (2–3) earned the victory in relief of Ricky Wright. Tommy John (7–13) was the loser. Reggie Jackson led off the fourth for California with his 25th home run, the 503rd of his career. The homer, which was well over the 400-foot mark in center, broke a 1-for-24 slump for Jackson.
Don Mattingly and Dave Winfield, without swinging a bat, helped build an eighth-inning run that gave the Yankees a 2–1 victory over the Tigers and maintained the margin in the American League batting race at less than a percentage point with only three games remaining. Mattingly, after twice relinquishing the lead during the game at Yankee Stadium, moved back ahead after getting one single in three official times at bat, with one walk. Mattingly is now hitting .341809. Winfield was at .341155 after going 0-for-1 with two walks, one intentional, and a sacrifice fly for the Yankees’ first run. Winfield complained mildly that he didn’t get his swings, but the winning run, singled in by Don Baylor, pinch- hitting in the eighth against Willie Hernandez, was constructed when Mattingly did not swing, either.
The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4–3. Mike Easler’s two-out single in the bottom of the eighth scored Tony Armas with the deciding run. Cal Ripken, Jr. hit his 27th homer for the Orioles. Mark Clear (8–3) got the victory.
The Seattle Mariners exploded for seven runs in the sixth innings and downed the Chicago White Sox, 7–2. Dave Valle’s three-run homer was the major blow. Matt Young (6–8) got the victory; LaMarr Hoyt (13–18) took the loss.
Cub fever is sweeping Chicago. The conquering heroes of the National League’s Eastern Division were welcomed home by thousands of rabid fans at O’Hare Airport.
Before a crowd of 2,803, the smallest crowd in Montreal history, the Expos trim the St. Louis Cardinals, 6–3. Paced by back-to-back homers by Carter and Driessen, the Expos score 6 in the 4th. The Expos will draw 3,613 on September 4, 2001, their next smallest crowd. In Joey Hesketh’s 7–0 shutout over the Mets, tomorrow, the crowd will be 12,164.
The Cincinnati Reds edged the Atlanta Braves, 2–1, in ten innings. Dave Parker’s one-out walk-off double scored Tom Foley with the winning run. John Franco (6–2) won it in relief.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1216.76 (+4.64).
Born:
Avril Lavigne, Canadian singer-songwriter (“Complicated”, “Sk8er Boi”), in Belleville, Ontario, Canada.
Cyrille Dubois, French operatic tenor and lieder singer, in Ouistreham, France.
John Lannan, MLB pitcher (Washington Nationals, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets), in Long Beach, New York.
Died:
Ellsworth Bunker, 90, American diplomat, former U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam.
John Facenda, 72, American sportscaster and narrator (NFL Films).
[Ed: I remember watching this. It had a shocking ending. Sharon Stone, of course, quickly went on to bigger and better roles.]
History Diaries 