The Eighties: Friday, March 15, 1985

Photograph: A right side view of an SH-60B Sea Hawk helicopter from Light Helicopter Anti-submarine Squadron 43 (HSL-43) in flight near the stern of the guided missile frigate USS Crommelin (FFG-37), 15 March 1985. The helicopter is equipped with AN/ASQ-81 magnetic anomaly detection (MAD) gear.

Star Wars’ technical feasibility was questioned by Britain’s Foreign Secretary. Sir Geoffrey Howe asked in a speech at the Royal United Services Institute whether the space missile defense system envisioned in President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative could be put into operation “without generating dangerous uncertainty.” He described that as only one of the “complex and difficult questions” raised by the project , which is popularly known as “Star Wars.” While paying tribute to what he called “the enormous technological expertise and potential of the United States,” Sir Geoffrey asserted: “There would be no advantage in creating a new Maginot Line of the 21st century, liable to be outflanked by relatively simpler and demonstrably cheaper countermeasures.” The Maginot Line was a system of fortifications built before World War II by the French that proved almost useless when the Germans swept around its northern end into the heart of France. His public discussion of the problems of Star Wars was one of the first by a ranking politician in the Western alliance, where reservations have been expressed privately.

The director of a program to develop a defense against nuclear missiles predicted today that a “reasonably confident decision” on whether to make such weapons could be made by the end of the decade or in the early 1990’s. Lieutenant General James A. Abrahamson of the Air Force, who heads the Strategic Defense Initiative Office, created last year, said it was “an overestimation of the problem” to suggest that it would be the end of the century or later before it became clear whether the program was feasible. He said an earlier decision might be made “to be able to move into the initial portion” of what is now envisioned as a three-layer system to intercept and destroy nuclear missiles. Senators Hear Testimony General Abrahamson was testifying before the Subcommittee on Strategic and Theater Nuclear Forces of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Belgium has agreed to accept the deployment by NATO of medium-range nuclear missiles, ending months of uncertainty about its decision. Prime Minister Wilfried Martens formally announced the decision in Parliament while the opposition jeered. Belgium has joined Britain, West Germany and Italy in accepting American cruise and Pershing 2 missiles. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization had been concerned that opposition to the missiles here might lead Mr. Martens to postpone their deployment. An earlier NATO plan had set Saturday as a deadline for the beginning of the deployment in Belgium.

President Reagan attends a National Security Council meeting to discuss the President’s upcoming trip to Canada.

President Reagan meets with Secretary of State George Shultz to discuss the Secretary’s recent trip to the Soviet Union.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz today described Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the new Soviet leader, as energetic, strong, very capable and businesslike, but said it remained to be seen whether the Reagan Administration can do business with him. He said that Mr. Gorbachev, like President Reagan, had made clear he was “prepared to move forward” on arms control and other issues. But he cautioned that he did not expect to see Moscow’s policies “change sharply.”

Several labor strikes started in Italy today, shutting down airports, closing doctors’ offices and crippling hospitals and some national news organizations. Airport firefighters walked out, halting traffic at all Italian airports from 8 AM to 2:40 PM. The firefighters were protesting the outcome of talks between their unions and the Government on job protection and other changes they consider inadequate. A strike by 85,000 doctors left hospitals with only emergency staff and closed the offices of family physicians. The doctors were protesting a Government decision to force new doctors into a less lucrative state pension plan.

Greece rejected a proposal by the Turkish Prime Minister, Turgut Ozal, for talks on Greek-Turkish differences, calling it an insincere offer designed for an international audience. The Government spokesman, Dimitri Maroudas, said there could be no talks while Turkish troops occupied northern Cyprus and Turkey laid claim to disputed areas of the Aegean Sea. The Turkish Prime Minister said in an interview in Ankara on Tuesday that he was willing to meet with Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou “anywhere, anytime.”

Secretary of State George P. Shultz said today that the United States would send the State Department’s top Middle East official to the region later this month “to maintain momentum toward peace in the Middle East.” But in a news conference, Mr. Shultz again rebuffed the specific proposal made this week to President Reagan by President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt that the United States invite a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation to Washington as a possible first step toward eventual negotiations with Israel. “Mr. Mubarak’s suggestion is one suggestion,” he said. “There are others.” The Reagan Administration has said it wants direct talks and is wary of such preliminary discussions getting in the way of actual negotiations.

Rival Christian militias clashed in East Beirut today as Lebanese Government leaders held emergency talks on the fighting, a result of the first major split in the 50-year history of the Christian Phalange Party. Lebanese private radio stations said that rebels under the command of Samir Geagea had gained the upper hand in the fighting today against their rivals in the Phalange Party. The police said combat with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades broke out in the Beirut port and in Karantina. The port is an important link between the Christian and Muslim halves of the capital. The crossing point between the two parts was closed as the sound of bullets and explosions was heard on the Muslim side of the line. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Five gunmen dragged a British businessman from his car in West Beirut today and abducted him, the British Ambassador said.

Iran’s President escaped unhurt from an assassination attempt in Tehran after an unidentified assailant detonated a homemade bomb attached to his waist, the official Iranian press agency said. The agency said the assassin and five other people died in the blast, which came as the President, Hojatolislam Ali Khamenei, addressed a weekly prayer gathering at Teheran University. Ten people were reported wounded. Hojatolislam Khamenei attributed the attack to the Munafiqeen, a Koranic allusion to infidels and hypocrites, according to the broadcast. The government uses the word to describe the anti-government group that calls itself Mujahedeen.

Shortly after the prayer meeting ended, the Tehran radio, monitored here, broadcast the sound of air-raid sirens, urged residents to seek refuge from attacking planes and issued an alert that lasted 30 minutes early this afternoon. The Iranian press agency said two Iraqi planes tried to bomb Tehran residential areas, but were driven off by antiaircraft fire. There was no official suggestion that the assassination attempt and the reported air raid were linked. The two nations, at war since September 1980, have been attacking civilian targets deep inside each other’s territory for the last 12 days. On Thursday, an explosion in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, devastated the Government’s central bank. Iran said it had hit the bank with a missile, but Iraq called the explosion an act of sabotage.

Chinese and Western diplomats were cautiously hopeful today about improved relations between Moscow and Peking, after remarks by Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the new Soviet leader, to a visiting Chinese delegation. In a Kremlin meeting Thursday, Mr. Gorbachev “reaffirmed that the Soviet side would like to have a serious improvement of relations with the People’s Republic of China and that it considers this quite possible, provided there is reciprocity,” according to the official press agency Tass. The phrase is one he also used in his acceptance speech Monday just after he was named Soviet leader. Only the United States and China were mentioned by name in that speech.

Military prosecutors in Taiwan extended for two months today an investigative period to determine if three military intelligence officers were involved in the slaying of a Chinese-American writer, Henry Liu, who was shot dead at his home in Daly City, California, last October 15, official sources said. The three officers were implicated by an informer.

Kidnappers of a U.S. drug agent in Mexico last month included at least two Mexican policemen, the United States Ambassador said. Earlier, Mexican authorities acknowledged that there were “criminal links between narcotics traffickers and police agents” in Mexico. The American agent, Enrique Camarena Salazar, was kidnapped February 7 in Guadalajara. His body and that of a pilot who sometimes worked with him were found last week. Both showed signs of severe beating, according to forensic reports.

Fidel Castro says that Cuba’s relationship with the Soviet Union has never been better and that his absence from the funeral of Konstantin U. Chernenko, the Soviet leader, is not significant. The Cuban leader’s comments came in a six-hour interview in Havana with CBS News that concluded early yesterday, CBS said.

Three ministers of the Turks and Caicos Islands refused to enter pleas to drug trafficking charges today, asserting diplomatic immunity. Chief Minister Norman B. Saunders, Commerce Minister Stafford A. Missick, and Aulden Smith, a Minister of Works, were indicted Thursday on charges they had planned to allow drug smugglers headed for the United States to refuel in their islands. A fourth suspect, Andre Fournier, of Sherbrooke, Quebec, pleaded not guilty at the hearing before Federal Magistrate Peter Nimkoff. The others refused to enter pleas and the magistrate entered not guilty pleas for them.

Brazil returned to civilian rule for the first time since 1964. The 75-year-old President-elect, Tancredo Neves, underwent emergency surgery late Thursday and was unable to take the oath of office. His running mate, Jose Sarney, was designated as interim President.

The Rand Daily Mail, which crusaded against South Africa’s policy of racial segregation for 25 years, will cease publication April 30, the owners announced today. A statement by Clive Kinsley, managing director of South African Associated Newspapers, said The Mail lost $7.5 million in 1984 and nearly $23 million in the last 10 years. The statement said the newspaper’s business supplement, Business Day, would appear in an expanded format May 1 as a national daily intended for “an up-market readership.” It said the publication “can be expected to maintain a strong and independent political viewpoint.”


A vote against MX missile funds was urged on every member of Congress by the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops. Every member of Congress received a letter from the United States Catholic Conference, timed to reach them before the first of four votes, beginning Tuesday, on whether the intercontinental missile should be produced.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz said today that “we need a crackdown” within the Government to prevent the disclosure of highly classified information. Mr. Shultz, apppearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was questioned by two Democratic Senators, Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island and Paul S. Sarbanes of Maryland, about recent comments made by senior department officials about Leslie H. Gelb, national security correspondent of The New York Times. An article by Mr. Gelb, published in The Times last month, described American contingency plans to deploy nuclear depth charges in some countries that do not possess them. The article noted that information about the plans had been published and discussed in those countries.

A State Supreme Court Justice yesterday refused to dismiss larceny and fraud charges against Secretary of Labor Raymond J. Donovan and nine other men. “The evidence in this case, if proved and believed, demonstrates a carefully contrived scheme to steal property,” the justice, John P. Collins, said in ordering the men to stand trial. “There is no justification warranting this court to dismiss the indictment in the interests of justice.” Shortly after the ruling was issued at noon in State Supreme Court in the Bronx, Mr. Donovan announced his resignation in Washington. He had been on a leave of absence since shortly after his indictment last September. The charges involve events that took place before Mr. Donovan became Secretary of Labor.

Secretary of Labor Raymond J. Donovan resigned today after a New York State judge ordered him to stand trial on fraud and larceny charges. Mr. Donovan, who is the first sitting Cabinet member ever to be indicted, gave no specific reason for quitting. In a statement issued by his attorneys, he said, “I have not violated any law and I am confident that a jury will find me not guilty after hearing all the evidence.” He also said the charges against him, which do not relate to his tenure as Labor Secretary, were “totally unfounded and politically motivated.”

Edwin Meese 3d, in his first news conference as Attorney General, today criticized busing as a method of school integration and said that he viewed quotas as an “improper” means of seeking affirmative action. “I think it’s generally recognized in educational as well as legal circles that school busing has had a marginal effect as far as improvement is concerned,” he said, “and actually in some cases has added to the deterioration of the situation.” In rejecting quotas as a means of affirmative action, Mr. Meese outlined what he termed “permissible activities under the law” that should be expected, for example, of contractors awarded Government work. “We want them to widen the fields of hiring, we want them to go out and recruit as broadly as possible, we want them to go out and provide information among minority people of the opportunities that are available, we want them to have training programs,” Mr. Meese said. But he characterized quotas as “improper” under the law.

Health officials in the Allentown- Bethlehem area, where at least four cases of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS, have been reported, will soon begin screening blood donors for a virus that has been linked to the disorder, officials said today. Gary Gurian, director of the Allentown Health Bureau, said the move was in response to a Federal directive that blood banks screen potential donors for the virus HTLV-III, which scientists have linked to AIDS. The disorder can be transmitted through the blood. “This is not a diagnostic test for AIDS,” Mr. Gurian said. “It’s a test to see if you have the antibody, to see if at some point in your life you were exposed to the antibody.”

Ohio closed 71 state-chartered banks. Governor Richard Celeste ordered the three-day emergency closings, through Sunday, after efforts failed to cut off a multimillion-dollar run on deposits. The run began after the collapse last Saturday of one of Ohio’s largest thrift institutions, which threatened to wipe out the private deposit insurance fund covering state- chartered savings institutions.

Andrija Artukovic, awaiting extradition to Yugoslavia for a war crimes trial, was taken by ambulance plane today to a Federal prison in Missouri. “He left at about 5 AM, and he’s in Missouri now,” said Michael Dacquisto, an attorney representing Mr. Artukovic. “His wife and daughters were with him most of the night.” Mr. Artukovic 85 years old, lost a court bid Tuesday to block his transfer from California, Mr. Dacquisto said. Mr. Artukovic had been held at the Long Beach Naval Hospital for three months during extradition proceedings. A Federal magistrate ruled he could be returned to Yugoslavia to face trial. Yugoslavia says that Mr. Artukovic, as Interior Minister of the Nazi puppet state of Croatia, was responsible for the deaths of 750,000 Jews, Serbs and gypsies. Mr. Artukovic, through his attorney, has denied the charges.

Charges of favoritism in the Environmental Protection Agency toward one of the nation’s largest disposer of toxic wastes has come from two officials of the agency who have long been critics of E.P.A. efforts to clean up toxic wastes. The agency’s relationship with the company, Waste Management Inc., whose leadership and legal counsel include former officials of the E.P.A., the Justice Department and the White House, is becoming a matter of contention within the Government. But the E.P.A. says it is concentrating some of its strongest enforcement tools against Waste Management.

A convict who escaped from a Washington state prison in 1958, took a new name and lived undetected here for a quarter-century, was sent to Washington today to face the authorities. The convict, Mayland Eugene Groo, had taken the pseudonym Eugene Day after fleeing the Washington State Penitentiary, where he was serving time for an attempted robbery that netted him no money. He was taken into custody today after a hearing in Box Butte County Court. “It has to be done,” he said. “I’d like to thank neighbors and friends for standing by me. I’m going to miss the town, good town.” After telling Judge Glen Fiebig that he would not challenge his extradition, Mr. Groo said goodbye to his wife, who he had married after his escape, and a small group of friends, some in tears. A Washington corrections officer drove Mr. Groo to Scottsbluff, where they were to board a plane for Seattle. Mr. Groo’s identity was not discovered until January, when he was fingerprinted after an altercation for which he was not prosecuted. The officials would not say how long Mr. Groo would remain incarcerated.

A Houston man was convicted of murder today in a case in which the prosecution said he had forced a letter carrier into his home at gunpoint last June, slain her and then dumped her body in a field. Jurors deliberated for two and a half hours before deciding the case that drew national attention last fall when the defendant’s parents, Bernard and Odette Port, were jailed for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating their 18-year-old son, David Port. As a result of the publicity that followed their arrest, the trial was transferred from Houston. Mr. Port was released November 9 after he answered the grand jury’s questions, and Mrs. Port was released January 30 after the grand jury’s term expired.

With at least 20 new cases reported this week in its measles epidemic, Boston University today warned students to get vaccinations or face a ban on campus activities that could extend to classes. Officials said that students who had not been inoculated or had not proved by Thursday that they were immune to measles might be barred from the library, athletic center, computer center, dormitories, cafeterias and possibly classes. Since the epidemic broke out at the 28,000-student campus last month, 85 cases have been confirmed, including the 20 cases this week, said Fred Botting, assistant director of student health services. A university spokesman, Jon Keller, said: “Obviously there are going to be some people who will face dreaded disciplinary action before they get vaccinated. It’s still a very serious situation and the epidemic is by no means over.” He said the new order covered about 3,500 students who had not complied by today with the school’s previous request to be vaccinated or provide a statement of immunity.

The nation’s third-largest movie theater chain today announced it would begin a program to help find missing children through slide shows in theaters in 103 cities. American Multi-Cinema Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of AMC Entertainment Inc., operates 800 screens in 157 complexes located in 26 states. The program is being instituted in cooperation with Find the Children, a national organization based in Los Angeles that helps find missing children. The program is to begin March 22 and feature two children each month. Slides bearing photos of the children and their hometowns, ages and dates of disappearance are to appear at least four times before each screening in every AMC auditorium nationwide. The slides are to include a national hotline number to call with information on the children. “The greatest obstacle facing parents and authorities who are trying to locate missing children is lack of public awareness,” said Anne Kahane, of Find the Children.

A wildlife refuge was closed in California by the Interior Department after a long dispute over contaminated irrigation water. The agency closed the 6,000-acre Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge southeast of San Francisco and said it would halt the delivery of irrigation water to 42,000 acres of adjoining Central Valley farmland.

The U.S. performs a nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site.

The first Internet domain name, symbolics.com is registered.

Larry Holmes TKOs David Bey in 10 for heavyweight boxing title. Larry Holmes, creaking old bones and all, waved goodbye tonight with an injured right hand and a sore left arm and apparently exited boxing undefeated, untied and unquestionably one of the finest heavyweight champions in history. The 35-year-old former sparring partner who became champion almost seven years ago, paid little attention to the accumulation of aches and pains from 17 years in the ring and, in perhaps his best performance since knocking out Gerry Cooney in 1982, stopped previously unbeaten and dangerous David Bey at 2:58 of the 10th round. He thus retained his International Boxing Federation title. Referee Carlos Padilla stopped the scheduled 15-round bout with Bey upright but defenseless on the ropes of the makeshift arena on a Riviera Hotel parking lot.


Dow Jones Industrial Average: 1247.35 (-12.7)


Born:

Jon Jay, MLB outfielder (World Series Champions-Cardinals, 2011; St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Kansas City Royals, Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Angels), in Miami, Florida.

Jacob Tamme, NFL tight end (Indianapolis Colts, Denver Broncos, Atlanta Falcons), in Danville, Kentucky.

Antti Autti, Finnish snowboarder (Gold medal, Winter X Games, 2005), in Rovaniemi, Finland.

Tom Chilton, British racing driver, in Reigate, England, United Kingdom.

Eva Amurri, American actress (“Middle of Nowhere”), daughter of actress Susan Sarandon, in New York, New York.

James MacLurcan, Australian actor (“Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive”), in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Stefan Węgłowski, Polish composer, guitarist, and educator, in Warsaw, Poland.


Died:

Radha Krishna Choudhary, 64, Indian historian and writer.


Queen Elizabeth II on a visit to Matlock, Derbyshire on March 15, 1985. (Photo by David Levenson/Getty Images)

Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko visit the Expo ’85 sites ahead of the opening ceremony on March 15, 1985 in Yatabe, Ibaraki, Japan. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)

Portrait of Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak, Egypt’s first lady, visiting the Science Museum in London on March 15, 1985, while her husband, President Hosni Mubarak had talks with government ministers and party leaders. The Egyptian presidential couple arrived for a three-day visit, part of President Mubarak’s Middle East peace initiative. (AP Photo/Press Association)

Massachusetts Governor Michael S. Dukakis chats with Keizo Saji, right, President of Suntory as the governor visits the Tokyo office on Friday, March 15, 1985 of Japan’s leading whiskey maker. Governor Dukakis and his trade mission are currently in Japan on their seven-day tour. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

Kim Wilde back stage at the CCH Saal Hamburg on March 15, 1985 in Hamburg, Federal Republic of Germany. (Photo by FG/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images)

Helena Sukova won in the semi-final round of the Virginia Slims Tennis Tournament in Dallas, March 15, 1985. Sukova, from Czechoslovakia, scored 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 over her opponent Bettina Bunge of the U.S. (AP Photo/Jim Zerschling)

Boston Red Sox coach Ted Williams offers instruction during spring training, Fort Myers, Florida, March 15, 1985. (Photo by Chuck Solomon/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images/Getty Images) (SetNumber: X31239)

Larry Holmes (L) lands a punch against David Bey during the fight at Riviera Hotel & Casino, Outdoor Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Larry Holmes won the IBF heavyweight title by a TKO 10. (Photo by: The Ring Magazine via Getty Images)

An air-to-air right view of an F-14 Tomcat aircraft from Fighter Squadron 154 (VF-154) firing an AIM-54 Phoenix missile, 15 March 1985.