ixon announces peace pact
WASHINGTON UPI — President Nixon Tuesday
night announced agreement on a Vietnam cease-fire to
begin at 7 p.m. EST Saturday, and the return of all US.
troops and prisoners of war from Vietnam within 60
days.
Nixon announced the end of America’s tormenting,
12-year involvement in the war in a nationwide radio and
television address from the White House after special
negotiator Henry Kissinger concluded the agreement
with North Vietnamese representatives in Paris earlier
in the day.
Kissinger will make public details of the accord,
achieved after four full years of formal and secret
negotiations, today. Secretary of State William Rogers
will sign the agreement in Paris on Saturday, along with
foreign ministers of North and South Vietnam and the
Viet Cong.
The President told the nation that the agreement
would “end the war and bring peace with honor in
Vietnam and in east Asia.”
He added that the accord had the “full support” of
South Vietnam President Nguyen Van Thieu and his
government, and that it met all the conditions for a
peace settlement that Nixon laid down on May 8, in
cluding provision for South Vietnam to determine its
own future.
Simultaneous announcements of the cease-fire were
made by Thieu in Saigon and by the North Vietnamese
foreign ministry in Hanoi.
Nixon did not mention either Laos or Cambodia by
name but his statement that the agreement would bring
peace “in Southeast Asia” seemed to include Vietnam’s
two neighboring nations.
If the 60-day timetable works, the remaining 23,700
U S. troops in Vietnam will be withdrawn by March 28,
as will the 587 Americans which the Defense Department
says are held prisoner by the Vietnamese Communists.
Nixon said the Communists had promised “the
fullest possible accounting” for U.S. servicemen missing
in action. The Pentagon lists 1,335 Americans in this
category.
Diplomatic sources said the United States already
has begun alerting the governments of Indonesia,
Canada, Poland and Hungary to be ready to dispatch
troops into Vietnam immediately to serve as an in
ternational team to supervise the cease-fire as soon as it
is established.
In his speech, Nixon defended the late President
Lyndon Johnson, whose own futile search for peace
forced him to end his political career, and said Johnson
supported Nixon’s negotiating position in a conversation
between the two last Jan. 2.
The President defended his own secrecy in the last
weeks of negotiations, when he and Kissinger came
under critical fire for Kissinger’s assertion last Oct. 26
that “peace is at hand.”
Defense Secretary Melvin Laird said the Pentagon
was ready to make arrangements for the return of
American POWs “as soon as possible after the formal
signing of the agreement in Paris” on Saturday.
Nearly 6,000 doctors, nurses and psychiatrists were
standing by to handle the prisoner release, with many
destined for assignment at such probable release paints
as Vientiane, Laos.
Laird indicated there would be no reduction in
present UJS. air and naval support forces in Southeast
Asia until the last prisoner is safely returned.
Similarly, the President made clear that the United
States would continue to aid the Saigon government
militarily within the terms of the cease-fire agreement.
“Let us now build a peace of reconciliation,” Nixon
added, pledging the United States’ readiness to make a
“major effort” to achieve a reconciliation of all sides.
Nixon said the agreement was initialed in Paris by
Kissinger and special adviser Le Due Tho of North
Vietnam at 12:30 p.m. Paris time, 6:30 a.m. EST, and
will be formally signed at the International Conference
Cento-—the Hotel Majestic—in the French capital at 7
p.m. EST Saturday.
Although Nixon gave no details in his 10-minute, late
evening address, the basic draft agreement reached last
October provided for accompanying cease-fires in Laos
and Cambodia. It also called for creation of a National
Council of Reconciliation and Concord—composed of
representatives of the Saigon government, file Com
munists and neutralists—to make arrangements for
future elections. /
--—— i
Oregon daily _
emerald
An Independent Student Newspaper
_ _4
Vol. 74, No. 102 Wednesday, January 24,1973
EWEB discusses
Trojan, wind power
By DREX HEIKES
Of the Emerald
The further construction of the Trojan nuclear plant without a full
scale test of the emergency core coding system was questioned by
John Reynolds in the regular meeting of the Eugene Water and
Electric Board Monday. The board also heard a presentation on
“Wind Power as a Supplementary source of Electrical Energy for
Oregon.”
Reynold’s questioning of the safety of the Columbia River nuclear
plant stemmed from a comment by A. K. Peterson, a representative of
EWEB’s independant engineering firm, Ford, Bacon, and Davis Inc.,
who was reporting to EWEB about the status of the Trojan plant.
Peterson’s remark concerned a series of sixtestsrecently c onducted
by research engineers in Idaho. Thetestswere made on the emergency
core cooling system of a scaled down nuclear plant. The emergency
cooling system is designed to prevent core overheating in the event of
a reactor malfunction.
In all six of the tests, the water caning in to cool the core was
turned into steam at such a rate that the pressure created by its
escape prevented the entry of any more cooling water. As a result,
there was nothing to prevent the core from overheating. Should this
ever happen to a full scale reactor, the core would overheat to the
point that it would melt its way through the foundation of the plant and
would begin burning its way down through the earth.
Peterson said that the test “had no real relationship with the
Trojan project. They were not really indicative o* what would happen
in a plant of the trojan design.”
Reynolds asked Peterson if any tests had been made on a plant
of the Trojan design.
“There have not been tests along the line of the Idaho tests that
would apply to Trojan,” said Petersoi.
“When will tests of this nature be done?” asked Reynolds.
Peterson replied that he didn 't know when they would be done, but
did know “that the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) is
planning tests like it in the future,” Peterson went on to say that even
though no complete tests have been made, numerous seperate ones
have been conducted on the system.
At this point Reynolds said, “you’ve been using the word system,
but the fact is that we don’t know exactly how a system will work until
the entire system has been tested, as a system. ”
Peterson’s response was that “if all possible precautions are
made, it is not necessary to build a full scale plant. The AEC
precautions have taken into account all possible mishaps.” Peterson
further explained the precautions taken by the AEC in establishing
requirements for Emergency cooling systems. “Plants have to be
designed to contain the worst possible situation, the worst possible
temperature plus 20 degrees.”
Peterson also told the board of the progress made in the project.
Ken Kesey relaxes at his brother’s Springfield
farm. For a spacey interview by the Emerald’s
George Buddy, see pages six and seven.
Photo by Steve Twedt
From clergy, civic leaders
Reaction to abortion ruling mixed
By DAVID HANSON
Of the Emerald
Monday’s Supreme Court decision guaranteeing
American women the right to have medical abor
tions during the first six months of pregnancy drew
immediate reaction today from area civic and
religious leaders.
Lee Johnson made a statement to the press saying
that the Court decision will likely eliminate most
restrictions on Oregon’s already liberal abortion
law.
Johnson listed four parts of the Oregon law which,
he said, the decision apparently makes un
constitutional. They are: requirement of con
currence by two physicians; restriction of the right
of abortion (hiring the first three months of
pregnancy to cases involving the mother’s life or
health; requirements that termination be per
formed in a hospital; and restrictions on residency.
Assistant Attorney General Michael Gillette said,
“I suspect it will call for new enactment of abortion
legislation.” He cautioned that since the full text of
the ruling has not been released yet, its implications
concerning spouse approval and out-patient
abortion services are still in question.
Gillette, who has been defending two abortion
cases in state court, said it was his “informed
surmise” that an abortion could be performed at a
clinic such as the campus health center here in the
near future.
Civic reaction to the ruling was mixed. Clearly
the controversy surrounding the abortion issue did
not abate with the ruling.
The Roman Catholic church, whose highest
ranking American prelate called the decision “an
unspeakable tragedy” Tuesday was in the same
spirit of shock and anger here.
“We’re really upset,” said Father Cassian
Lewinski of the Newman Center. “We can’t justify
abortion at any stage of the game. We’re not taking
into consideration the third party, the child. We’re
letting society make up our mind for us and giving it
more and more of our individual responsibilities.”
•“I’m very proud,” he said, “that here is one
instance where the church has not waivered at all.”
Sister Katherine O’Neil was also shaken by the
ruling. “I hope we realize that just because it’s
legal, that doesn’t make it right. We’re still
responsible for the decision we make,” she said.
Sacred Heart Hospital administration, Sister
Fredrick Sullivan, declined to comment on the
ruling’s effect on that institution saying that an
official policy statement will come after a thorough
deliberation on the offical text.
The decision came as a surprise to many civic
leaders involved in the liberalization of abortion
laws.
Attorney Charles Porter said he was pleased with
the decision, but that it probably wouldn’t affect a