Newspaper Page Text
Talks about marriage, divorce,
family life, education,
lack of patience as he finds it
Griffin teacher faces
decision on citizenship
Griffin resident and Pakistan citizen
Aqeel Ahmad soon will be in a position
to choose another homeland.
Ahmad has been in the United States
now since 1968 and his green card or
immigration card is about to expire.
On its expiration date, Ahmad will be
eligible to become a United States
citizen.
Ahmad has a wealth of cultural
experiences to draw upon as he ponders
the decision to accept citizenship or not.
He was bom in India in 1939 in a
majority Hindu culture.
Ahmad is a Muslin and believes in the
Islamic teachings. He attended school
through the fourth grade in India and
moved to Pakistan at the age of 10.
He has since completed his formal
education and has so far earned a
master’s degree in physics.
Ahmad is presently teaching at
Spalding Unit n.
Prior to coming to the States, he
taught both high school and college
classes in Pakistan.
Ahmad, 38, said that life had taught
him so much he felt he had lived almost
80 years.
“I have lived in so many different
countries, in so many societies and
experienced so many cultures,” Ahmad
said.
Having to make up his mind soon
concerning accepting an even more
foreign way of life, Ahmad talked about
his first impressions of America.
A deeply religious man, Ahmad
offered the first impressions in relation
to what he felt and believed to be things
acceptable to Allah (God).
Ahmad was shocked at the
tremendously high rate of divorce in
the United States.
He explained how the selection of a
marriage partner in his county has
resulted in an almost unheard of low
Leak in tank
causes ‘City’
to evacuate
RAY CITY, Ga. (AP) - Residents of
this south Georgia farm community
were evacuated early today because of
a leak in a tank of liquid fertilizer
containing ammonia, authorities
reported.
No injuries were reported, however,
and residents began to return to their
homes about 45 minutes after the
emergency when the leak had been
repaired, according to Mrs. Juanelle
Wilson, city clerk.
Ray City, in Berrien County, has a
population of 716 persons, and
authorities said the leak was
discovered at the Ray City Farm
Service firm about 8:30 a.m.
Mrs. Wilson said all school children,
he elderly, and those within the
mmediate vicinity of the emergency
vere evacuated. She had no estimate of
'he number, but noted that the store is
* the middle of the community.
1 She said deputies from the Berrien
bounty sheriff’s office at Nashville and
iie Lanier County sheriffs office at
helped with the evacuation.
Forgotten women want vet benefits
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
‘forgotten women” of World Wars I
tnd n are launching a new battle in
Inngrem in an effort to gain veterans
lenefits the government has refused to
cypve them.
H The biggest campaign is being
onducted by former Womens Army
arvice Pilots, or WASPs — women
zho flew military planes over 60 million
during World War 11. A smaller
roup is made up of women who
nlisted in the Army Signal Corps in
GRIFFIN
Daily Since 1872
5 z i
...nWA
Ahmad makes point with hands.
divorce rate.
Ahmad explained that sacrifice is a
key word in the Islamic faith and young
wVI IKf r
World War I and often served just be
hind the front lines.
Witnesses supporting veterans
benefits for the women will testify
Wednesday before the Senate Veterans
Affairs Committee.
Rep. Ray Roberts, D-Tex., chairman
of the House Veterans Affairs Com
mittee, also plans hearings later for
those groups and for others seeking
similar recognition from the govern
ment. Others trying to win benefits
include women who served in the
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Monday Afternoon, May 23,1977
Celebrated
jump
Supreme Court upholds
Watergate trials of 3
men and young women learn sacrifice
from the very onset of marriage.
(Continued on page two.)
Dong Offenheiser of San Diego had a few words of encouragement and “Green Eyes” went
on the cover a winning distance of 19 feet and three-sixteenths of a inch to win the Calaveras
County Jumping Frog Jubilee at Angels Camp, Calif. (AP)
Merchant Marine, Red Cross and the
Women’s Auxiliary Corps, the original
WACs.
GI educational benefits have expired,
but the women could claim government
pensions and receive care at Veterans
Administration hospitals. They also
could apply for low-interest GI home
loans.
Rep. Mark Hannaford, D-Calif., who
backs the cause of the World War I
women, estimates that between 40 and
60 of them are still alive.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme
Court today upheld the Watergate
cover-up convictions of former Atty.
Gen. John D. Mitchell and one-time
White House aides H.R. Haldeman and
John D. Ehrlichman.
Mitchell and Haldeman have
remained free pending the outcome of
this appeal. Ehrlichman already is in
prison. The court’s action today means
Mitchell and Haldeman likely will be
imprisoned soon.
The justices rejected the claims by
the three powerful officials of former
President Richard M. Nixon’s adminis
tration that the three-month trial that
ended in their convictions Jan. 1,1975
was unfair.
The justices made no comment in
refusing to review the case. There were
no recorded dissents, but Justice
William H. Rehnquist noted that he took
no part in deciding the case.
On April 21, National Public Radio
reported that the court had voted 5-3 at
its private conference April 15 to turn
down the appeals but that Chief Justice
Warren E. Burger held up announcing
the decision in an attempt to muster
enough votes togrant review. The votes
of four justices are needed to grant
review of such cases.
Lawyers for the cover-up defendants
asked the court for permission to argue
that the justices should reverse the con
victions because of the news leak. The
attorneys said the report had tainted
the court’s deliberations, adversely
affecting the rights of their clients.
The court denied that request on May
2.
Mitchell and Haldeman were
sentenced to 30 months to eight years in
prison for conspiracy, obstruction of
justice and giving false testimony
under oath in what prosecutors said
There were more than 1,000 WASPs
during World War H and an estimated
850 are still alive.
The WASPs ferried fighter and
bomber planes to points of em
barkation, towed targets for combat
pilots to fire at and helped train other
pilots.
Thirty-eight of the women were killed
while on active duty.
As in the case of the World War I
women, the WASPs were subject to
Vol. 105 No. 121
was an attempt to conceal govern
mental misconduct in the Watergate
scandal.
Ehrlichman, also convicted of
conspiracy in connection with the 1971
“plumbers” burglary of the office of
Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist, last
October chose to begin serving his
prison terms pending appeals of both
convictions.
He also was sentenced to 30 months to
eight years for his role in the Watergate
cover-up, and drew a 20-month to five
year prison term for the burglary
conspiracy case, the sentences to be
served concurrently. Ehrlichman is
now a prisoner at the Swift Trail Fed
eral Prison camp at Safford, Ariz.
On Feb. 22, the Supreme Court turned
down his appeal of the burglary
conspiracy conviction.
In their appeals, Mitchell, Haldeman
aand Ehrlichman said their trial should
have been postponed to allow the
“massive and extraordinarily
extensive” publicity surrounding it to
die down.
The Country Parson
by Frank Clark
I
“More folks are trying to look
good than be good.”
Hair that fell, hands that shake,
and thirst for booze that quit
Blame it on ship duty
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Frank
Conway began to drink heavily.
Raymond Friedler had nightmares.
Albert Minichiello’s hair fell out.
Darryl Kastl couldn’t keep his hands
from shaking.
All four say their problems date from
May 12, 1975, when the merchant ship
Mayaguez was seized in the Gulf of
Thailand by Cambodian forces.
In a lawsuit on today’s schedule in
San Francisco Superior Court, the four
Mayaguez crewmen are asking $6.4
million in damages against Sea-Land
Service, Inc., owner of the ship. Similar
suits by two other Mayaguez crewmen
were settled by Sea-Land for $85,000
and $48,000.
Lawyers say the issues will include
what the ship was carrying and what its
mission was, but today was expected to
be limited to procedural wrangling and
jury selection.
The crewmen say in their suit that the
seizure of the Mayaguez and their own
three days of terror can be traced to
negligence on the part of the ship
Owner.
The suit also blames what their
lawyer calls Sea-Land’s “evil” scheme
military discipline and lived in military
barracks, but got smaller allowances
than men doing the same job.
They had been promised military
commissions, but were abruptly
disbanded after the war so they
wouldn’t take jobs away from men.
Past efforts by the two women’s
groups were opposed by the Veterans
Administration and some members of
Congress who fear similar privileges
would have to be given to members of
the other groups.
Weather
FORECAST FOR GRIFFIN AREA —
Mostly cloudy through Tuesday with
chance of showers.
LOCAL WEATHER — Low this
morning at the Spalding Forestry Unit
60, high Sunday 85.
People
...and things
Big pink bow on mailbox on Wesley
Drive where new daughter has just
arrived.
Steady line of customers at ice
vending place on a warm afternoon.
Early riser stopping for a moment to
enjoy bird greeting sunrise with
cheerful song.
Drug abuse
discussion
is tonight
A public meeting to discuss drugs will
be conducted tonight at 8 o’clock in the
meeting room of the Flint River
Regional Library.
The program, sponsored by the
Griffin-Spalding League of Women
Voters, is entitled, “Drugs, What
Happens If Caught?” and is designed to
give the public a better understanding
of local drug problems.
Law enforcement and judicial
proceedings for both adults and minors
caught with drugs will be explained.
Panelists include Atty. Howard
Wallace, Juvenile Probation Officer
Fernando Martin, and Sgt. David Head
of the Spalding Sheriff’s Department’s
narcotics division.
Rita Thurston, chairman of the
League’s court study, will moderate.
The public is invited. Written and oral
questions to the panelists will be
accepted.
to “reap excessive profits ... at the ex
pense of the health and safety of the
crew.”
Sea-Land’s lawyer calls the charge
“irrelevant mudslinging.”
The Mayaguez incident, coming
shortly after the Khmer Rouge
communists took power in Cambodia,
was regarded as an important test of
U.S. willingness to protect its interests
in the area. President Ford’s popularity
soared after he ordered U.S. forces to
intervene and the crew returned safely.
The Cambodians held the 39
Mayaguez crew members for three
days after seizing the boat on the
Thailand-Hong Kong run, then released
them as Marines launched an attack on
the Cambodian island of Koh Tang.
Forty-one U.S. soldiers were killed in
the operation.
In a statement filed with the court
during settlement negotiations, Martin
Jarvis, attorney for the four crewmen,
claimed the ship was carrying
“military cargo destined to be used
against the vital interests of the people
of Indochina, including Cambodia.”
Sea-Land concedes the ship was
carrying drug and toilet supplies for a
U.S. military installation in Thailand,
but insists there were no armaments
aboard.
Whether the ship was in international
waters and whether it was, as Sea-Land
says, “a merchant vessel in innocent
passage” also are debated in pretrial
legal naoers.
Sea-Land attorney Francis Tetreault
argues in his trial brief that “it is
insufficient to assert, as does plaintiffs
attorney, that defendant is a ‘bad guy’
without connecting that charge to some
reason for the vessel’s having been
seized.
“The evidence will show that the
vessel was seized for no purpose other
than that it was an unauthorized erratic
action of a local Cambodian com
mander.”
