World News Laird says Laotian drive will hasten withdrawal W ASHINGTON Al’—Secretary of State William Rogers ami Secretary of Is*fenw- Melvin Laird said Tuesday South Vietnamese drive* in Laos and Cambodia will speed th«- end of the U S ground combat role in Vietnam But they left in doubt tlie question of when all l) S force* would be withdrawn I-aird told the House and Senate Armed Ser vice* Committees in separate, closed sessions that the new toleration* are on schedule and will enable the United State* to meet or beat plans to bring home 50,000 more troops by May 1 Hotter*. s|>enking to newsmen after a closed hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said "the fact is we will have Americans by and large out of combat roles by the middle of this year " lie declined to give a more precise date Rogers said also U S policy "contemplates a withdrawal of all of our forces eventually from South Vietnam ” But m response to a nig lie r question from newsmen alxrtit residual forces tliat might lie left t>chind indefinitely, lie said "let's wait until we get to that " The twin appearances by the Cabinet officers, both armed with maps and charts, came two days after several thousand South Vietnamese troops borne by American piloted helicopters and backed by U S air and artillery firepower moved against supply routes in lams Another 20,000 South Viet naiiiese have t>een o|M*ratmg in Cambodia for the l>u*l two weeks Both men also assurtd tire committees that no U S ground troops were involved in either operation l>aird added, however, that some 10,000 U S ground troops are being used for “backup responsibilities" in South Vietnam Rogers said the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos, target of the latest thrust, is the “choke point’’ or the last major supply route available to the enemy Rogers, who promised new troop withdrawal announcement by President Nixon in April, said "when people talk about war escalation it just isn't true ” He said that over the past two years casualties are down, air sorties are down and the cost of the war has been halved “There is practically no combat in Vietnam now,” he said “The only conclusion I can draw is the President made clear we are operating in l-aos in a way we consider in the national interest,” said Foreign Relations Chairman J W Fulbright, D Ark "I have grave questions about it.” "I don't know that I could say I am reassured,” said Sen Frank Church, I) Idaho “This new operation is new evidence this continues to be a war without end.” He called on the administration to support a joint congressional resolution stating that it is national policy to withdraw all forces from Vietnam as quickly as possible Asked about that proposal, Rogers said "I don't think the resolution is necessary The President has already said it ” News Roundup from AP reports LOS ANGELES—Tail, slender Susan Atkins, her voice husky, testified Tuesday that she killed actress Sharon Tate. "I killed her, 1 stabbed her and she fell And I stabbed her again 1 don’t know how many times I stabbed her and I don’t know why ! stabbed her,” the long-haired brunette told a jury NEW YORK—Premier Golda Meir responded Tuesday to Egypt’s call for a partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from % the Suez Canal area with a counterproposal that both sides reduce their armed strength along the waterway. The Israeli leader also urged talks with Egypt aimed at reopening the canal, blocked by vessels sunk in the 1967 war, but said her government was not willing to tie such a move to an Israeli x troop pullback in the area WASHINGTON—The Defense Department said Tuesday v the Army has been told to continue development of a sup plementary antimissile system to bolster the Safeguard missile defense program The system, called Hardsite Defense, is built around use of modified Sprint interceptor missiles and smaller and less expensive radars than currently used in Safeguard WASHINGTON—The railway clerks union Tuesday ¥ threatened to renew a nationwide rail shutdown at 12:01 $ a tn. March 1 at the expiration of an emergency 80-day ¥ postponement ordered by Congress Union President C.I. ¥ Dennis said his 200,000 ticket sellers and other clerical 3 workers would walk out then unless a new agreement is § reached Such a walkout would mean a total shutdown of the •$ nation's railroads if other unions honor the clerks’ picket lines, as they did during a 24-hour, four-union strike last December :¥ Hising death toll — cracked dams — fires Los Angeles struck by massive quake LOS ANGELES Al* A powerful eartlxpiake staggered Southern California Tumdiy, leaving at least XI dead atxl trapping vimic io persons in tlx rubble of a i ol!it|«sod hospital Their lale was in doubt Eighty thousand persons in a 20 sijuare mile area near a ijuake weakened dam in the San Fernando Valley w ere ordered to evacuate tin* area or lie forcibly removed Authorities, in making the evacuation "mandatory." said they feared a strong new tremor might cause a flood Fvlrnsli r da mange Properly damage was ev tensive as wall* collapsed sfreels buckled and caved m bridges (ell and windows slut! teres I in heavily populated area* around lavs Angeles, (hr nation's third most populous city Thr sheriff's office estimated that more than R50 persons were injured in the quake area In Washington. President Nuon issued a forma) declaration of a major disaster, opening the way for help from more than a dozen government agencies Vice President Spiro Agnrw was due in the quake area Wednesday for consultations Nine of tl*e deaths were at tribuled to heart attacks \ A Hospital Heaviest loss of life was at the Veterans Administration Hospital at Sylmar in (he west end of the San Fernando Valiev some 10 miles from the quake's center There 17 Ixxiies were found, and about 100 persons were in jured Ten hours after the first shock an estimated :u> persons, mostly patients, were reported still trapped "We still have live people in there," said a spokesman. “Rescue workers hear voices Nobody s been able to get into the basement area People could be alive in there Screams of "Help me! Help me!" could lx* heard as workers moved gingerly to remove rubble without endangering those trapped Officials at the hospital said it could lx* two days before they get to the bottom of the rubble Tall buildings swayed in downtown law Angeles when the tpiake hit at 6 01 a m Windows shattered and walls fell out or Apollo 14 ends successfully ABOARD I’SS NKW ORl.KANS Al* Apollo 14 astronauts splashed doMn safely right or target in the South Pacific and Mere brought aboard this tamer Turedas after completing mans nioat succoaaful moon missnm Astrxmauts Alan Shepard Jr Stuart Kooaa anti Kdgar Mitchell droptwsl mlo llse Stsuth Pacific at 4 05 p m KS'T ending a nine tew of the earner The spacecraft splashed into the warm l*ol\nr a scan waters helicopters hovered over head and swimmers leaped into the sea to secure the craft with a flotation collar so that it wouldn't sink The astronauts scrambled into an orange life raft 1 irst Koosa then Mtuhell and finally Shepard were taken up mto a helicopter and flown to the earner deck roofs fell in on some older structures The city estimated that 427 buildings received structural damage. 42 suf ficiently to force evacuation The county estimated damage to its buildings alone at $125 million Quake center Seismologists placed the quake's center 26 miles north west of downtown Lais Angeles in the rugged San Gabriel Moun tains and assigned it a magnitude of 6.5 on the Richter scale The scale grades anything over 7 as a major quake The first shook was followed by hundreds of aftershocks, one registering 5 5 on the scale Residents of the San Fernando Valley, with a population of 13 million, had a tense day as police warned them by the thousands to move out of the path of possible water flow from Van Norman Lake dam, the city's largest reservoir The initial shock shattered the concrete facing and caused wide fissures in its 1,500-foot main wall of compressed earth There was some leaking and pari of the dam fell into the lake Officials began draining it and said it should reach a safe level by late Wed nesday The evacuations were ordered as a precautionary measure in the event of a strong new shock The dam s two fake* can hofd 6 7 billion gallons of water Both were being emptied into river beds and catch basins The mandatory evacuation order officials said came because some families refused to leave Police equipped with loudspeakers rolled through neighborhoods passing the word ard said any persons refusing to leave would be removed forcibly Authorities estimated that 75 per cent of the 80,000 people in the area had left voluntarily Earlier Gov. Ronald Reagan had asked for evacuation of 250,000 residents of a w ider section of the valley before he flew from Sacramento fora first hand view At Granada Hills in the valley's west end some 4,000 persons who fled areas near the Van Norman Lakes came by car, bus and police vehicle to a high school refugee center ‘ I d like to go back," said one, "but I'm not that dumb It's just a house ” Most of the homes evacuated were in the $40,000 and up class Mrs Fred Grunek said she left her two-story $75,000 home after seeing every window broken and furniture tossed about Business continued Despite the quake it was business almost as usual in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, with some exceptions At the central library, for example, they offered free parking to anyone who would come in and help restore to shelves 100.000 books scrambled on floors Except for a few buildings closed for inspection, most were open for business, shattered windows and all There was heavy absenteeism as many workers stayed home to clean up quake damage Employees arriving early heard scores of burglar alarms still ringing the shriek of fire sirens and found sidewalks lit lered with glass