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About Griffin daily news. (Griffin, Ga.) 1924-current | View Entire Issue (May 23, 1977)
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.”
