President Reagan, marking the first anniversary of the invasion of Grenada, today hailed the “courage and love of country” of the Americans who died in that invasion and at the explosion at the military headquarters in Beirut. Speaking to 85 American medical students who were on the island at the time of the invasion, which began last October 25, two days after the bombing of the Marine garrison in Beirut, Mr. Reagan said he felt that in general a “period of self-doubt is over” in American history. “History will record that one of the turning points came on a small island in the Caribbean where America went to take care of her own and to rescue a neighboring nation from a growing tyranny,” he added. “Our brave military personnel displayed that same love of liberty and personal courage which has made our nation great and kept her free,” Mr. Reagan said. “This courage and love of country is also what we saw in Beirut at virtually the same time, and we will aways honor those brave Americans. ‘Let no one doubt that those brave men were heroes every bit as much in their peacekeeping mission, as were our men in the rescue mission in Grenada,” he said.
Britain’s coal-mine foremen called off participation in the nation’s lengthy coal strike, 12 hours before they were scheduled to start a walkout that could have shut down the industry. Details of the agreement were not made public. The decision by the 17,000-man National Association of Colliery Overmen, Deputies and Shotfirers represented a signal victory for Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and a setback for Arthur Scargill, the radical leader of the National Union of Mineworkers. About three-quarters of the miners have been on strike for almost eight months. With supervisors on the job, miners who have defied Mr. Scargill’s strike call will be able to continue working, and they should be able to produce enough coal to keep key power stations working through the winter. The prospect of blackouts is now more remote, Government officials said.
In a speech to both Houses of Parliament today, President Francois Mitterrand urged the United States and the Soviet Union to resume arms talks at once. “The real objective is not to go on endlessly correcting the imbalances by the introduction of increasingly numerous and advanced weapons,” Mr. Mitterrand said, “but, on the contrary, to bring back those balances to progressively more reasonable levels – in short, to the lowest possible levels.” Speaking in French to a joint meeting of the House of Lords and the House of Commons in the magnificently gilded Royal Gallery, Mr. Mitterrand said France had tried to contribute its bit to arms control. But, he added, “It is for the most powerful nations first of all to make a clear and considerable reduction in their forces.”
A Warsaw policeman was arrested today in connection with the kidnapping of a pro- Solidarity priest, Polish television said. He was placed under arrest for “willfully absenting himself from his job” and failing to provide an adequate explanation for missing work on Friday, the day the Rev. Jerzy Popiełuszko of Warsaw was abducted, the television report said. In Rome, Pope John Paul II appealed for the release of the priest and described himself as “deeply shaken” by the abduction. Earlier today, Lech Walesa, the Solidarity founder, and leaders of the underground said in a statement that the authorities bore responsibility for the abduction.
Prime Minister Mario Soares of Portugal and Prime Minister Garret FitzGerald of Ireland, president of the European Economic Community, issued a joint statement tonight calling Portugal’s progress toward entry in the Common Market irreversible and setting January 1, 1986, as the date. There can be no slippage on this date, Mr. FitzGerald said. Mr. Soares said in a news conference afterward that it was possible that Portugal might enter the Common Market before Spain, although both nations still plan and want to enter at the same time.
The 17th game of the world chess championship in Moscow ended in another draw. Anatoly Karpov held onto his 4–0 lead in the match, two victories away from retaining his world championship. It was the eighth consecutive draw in the contest between Karpov, 32, and challenger Gary Kasparov, 21, but draws do not count in the official scoring.
Four Associated Press employees vanished in Beirut. The chief Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press, Terry Anderson, said they are believed to have been abducted. He said they had failed to come to work at the A.P. office in West Beirut after one of them, a driver, had been sent out to pick up the three others. The A.P. notified the police as well as the Shiite militia and the Druse militia, the two forces that control West Beirut. The militias promised to organize search operations. Prime Minister Rashid Karami expressed regret over the disappearance.
The State Department expressed new concern today over the safety of Americans in Lebanon and other countries. John Hughes, the department spokesman, said, “I think there is new information concerning the threat, across the board, to Americans, including newspaper correspondents.” He declined to elaborate on what the information was, but, in response to a question, he said that he was referring to information received “over the past couple of weeks.”
Syria denied that it is willing to take part in either direct or indirect talks with Israel on troop withdrawals from Lebanon, Damascus radio said. In Tel Aviv, Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who had said Tuesday that he thought the Syrians had reasons for seeking an agreement, declared that he still believes Syria will negotiate indirectly with Israel. Rabin said Israel has asked Washington to act as an intermediary with the Syrians and Lebanese on a withdrawal agreement. The Damascus broadcast dismissed Rabin’s earlier statement as “part of a psychological war” against Syria.
Ethiopia said it will move a quarter of a million people from drought-stricken areas to fertile regions in the west in an effort to save them from famine. It appealed for an airlift of food to help millions more, warning that “a catastrophe of the highest magnitude is imminent.” Officials said the resettlement of drought victims will be voluntary. They expressed gratitude to the United States for its food assistance, amounting to about 80,000 tons this year at a cost of $43 million.
The Philippines’ Chief of Staff gave up his command temporarily after he was named in the majority report of a panel investigating the murder of Benigno S. Aquino Jr. as being involved in a military plot to kill the opposition leader. The armed forces’ leader, General Fabian C. Ver, is a cousin and close associate of President Ferdinand E. Marcos.
More than 6,000 South Korean plainclothes and anti-riot policemen entered the campus of Seoul National University and arrested 17 students identified as ringleaders of a weeklong boycott of classes and examinations. A police spokesman said those held will be set free after the exam period ends today. The boycotting students have, for more than a week, been protesting the expulsion of student leaders opposed to the school administration and the government of President Chun Doo Hwan. South Korean university students have a long tradition of opposing the government. A police spokesman said the 16 were detained, at their homes, to prevent them from inciting a boycott of midterm examinations. Witnesses said plainclothes officers dispersed a group of about 50 students on the campus. No other clashes were reported.
An impasse that stalled talks between striking United Auto Workers and the Canadian subsidiary of General Motors Corp. has been broken, a union leader said in Toronto. “It’s fair to describe it as a breakthrough in terms of getting the talks started,” UAW leader Robert White said of discussions with GM negotiator Rob Andrew. The weeklong strike by 36,000 Canadian GM workers has forced layoffs of about 21,000 American workers at 18 plants in six states.
American soldiers in Grenada are still patrolling the streets and helping to run the police stations and are enjoying the same kind of popularity they had when they invaded the island a year ago. The United States has allocated about $50 million in economic aid for Grenada but, so far, not much has changed.
Nicaraguan leaders were criticized by a leading Roman Catholic bishop, who said they were not sincerely seeking peace and were imposing “new oppressions.” The prelate, Bishop Pablo Antonio Vega, said Sandinista ideology “promotes and institutionalizes violence.” At a news conference, he said the 16- page statement represented his personal views and did not have the status of a pastoral letter since five of the 10 Nicaraguan bishops were out of the country. An aide to the primate, Archbishop Miguel Obando y Bravo of Managua, who is in Rome, said he had read the statement and supported it.
A Pentagon official said today that military equipment from a Bulgarian freighter was being unloaded amid tight security at the port of Bluefields, on the east coast of Nicaragua. The official said the freighter, the Christo Dotev, was the latest of a series of Soviet-bloc ships to deliver military equipment to Nicaragua. He said the United States did not know what kind of equipment was involved in the shipment. Security measures have been imposed when other military shipments have been unloaded. There has been American concern in recent months that the Soviet Union may provide Nicaragua with jet fighters. The United States has said that Nicaragua’s acquisition of such planes would upset the balance of power in the region and would not be tolerated. The Pentagon official said there was no indication so far that the Bulgarian freighter was carrying fighter planes.
Chile’s military government issued a decree restricting media coverage of guerrilla attacks and banned a radio station owned by the Roman Catholic Church from broadcasting news of any kind. The decree said that news of guerrilla raids must be published only on inside pages of magazines and newspapers, using only photos supplied by the government. The decree was issued after a rash of bombings in Santiago and in the south. The ban on all news was applied to Radio Chilena, the Catholic station in the capital.
Unidentified gunmen believed to be guerrillas opposed to President Milton Obote fired into a crowd in the village of Bubuubi, 40 miles north of Kampala, killing 10 people, a Catholic newspaper reported today.
One day after South African troops and policemen raided three black townships, renewed stone-throwing and arson broke out in other black communities, a police spokesman said today. New violence broke out in townships near Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth, while black areas subjected to a large- scale crackdown Tuesday remained quiet, the spokesman said. Troop convoys moved out of the Sharpeville area, but people living there said the military operation Tuesday, including some 360 arrests and searches of thousands of homes, would not bring an end to violent protest. In the Transkei, a nominally independent “homeland,” authorities banned the United Democratic Front, and leaders of the front said they feared this was a prelude to a nationwide clampdown on their organization, the largest legal black opposition group in the country.
The first automatic adjustment of the income tax for inflation, starting in 1985, will be an increase of 4.1 percent. With the Consumer Price Index up 0.4 percent in September, the rise for the last 12 months was 4.2 percent. As a result, income tax exemptions, the standard deduction and tax brackets will all be raised by 4.1 percent. That will result in lower taxes for some people, compared with what they owe for 1984.
More than any other President in nearly 50 years, Ronald Reagan has changed the terms of the national debate over domestic policy. In February 1981, one month after taking office, Mr. Reagan made 84 proposals for reducing or eliminating federal programs. More than half of the proposals were enacted by Congress in one form or another.
President Reagan enjoys lunch at his old fraternity’s house (Teke House) at the Ohio State University campus.
President Reagan addresses a rally of Ohio State University students.
President Reagan participates in a ceremony in recognition of the First Anniversary of the Rescue Mission in Grenada.
Lawyers for CBS introduced as evidence a cable from General William C. Westmoreland’s intelligence chief during the Vietnam War ordering a subordinate to keep estimates of enemy troop strength to 299,000. The cable from General Phillip Davidson was introduced during the second week of Westmoreland’s $120-million libel suit in Manhattan against CBS. The retired general is suing the network over a 1982 documentary, “The Uncounted Enemy: A Vietnam Deception,” which accused Westmoreland of lying about the strength of the enemy.
The chairman of a House subcommittee released documents that he said suggested “an extensive pattern of misconduct and mismanagement at the highest levels” of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Rep. Albert Gore Jr. (D-Tennessee) said the documents — many obtained under subpoena — indicate that millions of dollars may have been lost through mismanagement and mishandling of contracts at FEMA, the federal agency that coordinates disaster relief. Republican members of Gore’s subcommittee boycotted the session, charging Gore was attempting to boost his Senate campaign in Tennessee.
Colombo family chiefs were indicted on a wide “pattern of racketeering activity” that included extortion, theft, loansharking, gambling, bribery and drug trafficking in New York City. A 51-count Federal indictment made the charges against 11 men, including Carmine Persico, who was described as the boss of the Colombo group. At a news conference in Manhattan, Attorney General William French Smith said the Colombo organization “strongly influences both the construction and restaurant industries in this city” by controlling several unions identified in the indictment. Two Undercover Operations The indictment focused on the group named for Joseph Colombo, who was a major crime boss until he was seriously wounded in a 1971 shooting. He died in 1978. For more than 50 years, the group has operated as one of the city’s crime “families.”
The names of white-collar crime suspects and their associates would be available within two years to criminal justice agencies around the country by means of a computerized file that may be tested by the FBI. Development of the file was first recommended by the Economic Crime Council, formed by Attorney General William French Smith, and the Fraud Section of the Department of Justice. The recommended Federal use, which could come within a few years, has not been formally approved by the Attorney General or the F.B.I. Director, William H. Webster. An F.B.I. staff paper presented to the advisory panel said the file, the Economic Crime Index, would permit a “more efficient and effective field-wide coordination of major white-collar crime investigations, particularly those involving financial crimes.”
Locked in a three-month contract bargaining stalemate, representatives of the United States Postal Service and its two largest unions have agreed to meet with Federal mediators Thursday to explore possible solutions to the problem. Moe Biller, president of the American Postal Workers Union, and Vincent R. Sombrotto, head of the National Association of Letter Carriers, will represent their unions at the meeting arranged by Kay McMurray, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. It was not clear today who would represent the Postal Service. The Postal Service demanded that existing workers accept a freeze on basic wage rates for three years and a two-tier pay system which would compensate new employees at rates averaging 23 percent a year less than that what current employees make. The unions refused.
Threats to water systems beneath many waste disposal and storage sites were cited in a report drafted by officials of the Environmental Protection Agency. The report said the key Government program to monitor the contamination of underground water supplies by toxic waste was not working.
Soaring television costs now account for more than half the Presidential campaign spending, a greater share than in any previous election. Television time for most commercial advertisers has risen 56 percent in the last four years. For political advertisers, who pay the lowest possible rates, the percentage increase has been about 110 percent.
Reports of sexual abuse of children have chilled the little town of Jordan, Minnesota, where 25 of the 2,700 residents were charged with molesting dozens of local youngsters. The charges were dropped last week, but now the town is stunned by rumors of possible child murders. The scandal originated with testimony that children gave to the authorities over the last year. A senior state official said, “These kids have seen something. What it is we are not sure of.” Young victims of an alleged child abuse ring claim they witnessed torture-slayings committed by the adults who abused them, a therapist said in Jordan, Minnesota. The therapist, Susan Phipps-Yonas, confirmed newspaper reports that several Jordan children claimed they witnessed the killings after being forced to pose for pornographic pictures and to engage in sex games with adults. An unnamed source told the St. Paul Pioneer Press that the children were forced to take part in the killings, “so that everybody in the group would be equally guilty.” The FBI began investigating the murder reports last week, after Scott County Attorney Kathleen Morris dismissed charges of child sexual abuse against 21 of 24 adults who faced trial.
[Ed: What there was, was manipulation of child witnesses that turned one abuse case into a witch hunt that ultimately collapsed as the claims became ever more outlandish. Like the McMartin Debacle in California, this is another case of parental hysteria that ripped a community apart, fed by the prosecutorial misconduct of the county attormey and the sensationalism of an amoral media.]
A Texas nurse was convicted today of injuring a child with an overdose of a blood-thinning drug, and a state district judge sentenced her to 60 years in prison. The verdict against the nurse, Genene Jones, who is already serving a 99-year sentence for murdering another child with injections of muscle relaxant, came minutes after final arguments in the nonjury trial before Judge Pat Priest. The sentences will be served concurrently. Miss Jones, 34 years old, faces seven other child-injury charges in nearby Kerr County. “She took it stoically,” said her defense attorney, Royal Griffin. He said he would appeal the decision. Miss Jones was found guilty of injuring Rolando Santos, one month old, with an overdose of heparin on January 9, 1982, while the baby was being treated for pneumonia in the pediatric intensive care unit at Medical Center Hospital. The child recovered and has been released.
One teacher strike began as three others ended, and walkouts dragged on in Pennsylvania, Illinois and Ohio, keeping more than 25,000 students idle. In Pennsylvania, 9,700 students are affected by five strikes. In Illinois, three strikes are idling 7,400 students. In Toledo, Ohio, 8,000 students are idle. But teachers for more than 20,000 students resumed work in Waukegan, Illinois; Roselle, New Jersey, and Twin Falls, Idaho.
Nearly $6 million in cash, gold and platinum has been found in the trunk of a rented Ford seemingly abandoned in the long-term parking lot of San Francisco International Airport, Federal agents reported today. The airport reported the automobile to the owner, the Budget auto rental concern, whose employees discovered the treasure Tuesday night. The Federal authorities are investigating. There were four suitcases containing $5.5 million in bundles of mostly $100 bills, 450 Canadian gold coins worth $157,500 and 500 bars of platinum worth an estimated $162,500.
The Los Angeles City Council passed its third smoking measure in three weeks Tuesday, this one saying employers in the nation’s second-largest city must accommodate both smokers and nonsmokers in the work place and may not harass workers who complain about smoking in the office. The measure, approved on a 10-to-5 vote, is a weakened version of the original bill that would have banned smoking if one person objected. After the council approved the first proposal two weeks ago, the tobacco industry and other groups began an intense and successful lobbying effort to water down the measure. The latest version, which strengthens part of the measure once more, must be approved again by the council and signed by Mayor Tom Bradley before becoming law.
Heavy thunderstorms pounded north-central Texas with nearly four inches of rain, causing flooding in some streets and low-lying areas, while sunny skies shone over Louisiana, where floodwaters began receding. Elsewhere, fog shrouded parts of northern Texas and a freight train collided with three automobiles at crossings in thick fog in northern Colorado.
Intelsat 5 re-enters Earth’s atmosphere 5 months after it failed.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1216.43 (+3.42)
Born:
Jonas Gustavsson, Swedish National Team and NHL goaltender (Olympics, 5th, 2010, silver medal, 2014; Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, Edmonton Oilers), in Danderyd, Sweden.
Lucas May, MLB catcher (Kansas City Royals), in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Kaela Kimura, Japanese model and singer (Rirura Riruha), born in Adachi, Tokyo, Japan.
Died:
Edith Massey, 66, American actress (“Polyester”, “Pink Flamingos”).
Walter Woolf King, 84, American stage and screen baritone, character actor (“Golden Dawn”; “A Night at the Opera”; “Swiss Miss”), and actor’s agent, of a heart attack.
History Diaries 