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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 20, 1978)
Torrijos prepared to ruin canal IMA riTV . PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) — Panamanians expressed as tonishment Wednesday at Gen. Omar Torrijos’ statement that he was prepared to sabotage the Panama Canal had the treaty turn ing it over to Panama beer re jected by the U.S. Senate. “This is crazy, he must have been on drugs,” said Guillermo Endara, a leader of the Panamenista Party, one of the country's largest political groups. His comments were irresponsi ble. The canal is our greatest asset. To even think about de stroying it is inconceivable.” After the Senate ratified the pact Tuesday ' ght, Torrijos de clared at a news conference that Panama's “armed forces had de cided that if the treaty were not ratified, or if it were amended in an unacceptable manner, then we would not negotiate. We would have started a struggle for libera tion.” He also said Panama had the capability "to destroy the canal” and that had the treaty been re jected "-'ossibly by Wednesday the canal would not have been in operation.” Col. Tony Lopez, spokesman for the U.S. Southern Command, said American forces "were pre pared to defend the canal against all contingencies” and that "we feel very confident we have the capability to prevent the destruc tion of the canal.” About 9,000 U.S. military per sonnel are stationed at several bases in the 500-square-mile canal zone. The U.S. Embassy declined to comment on the general’s remark. rworld at a glance From AMoclatod Proas raports U.S. ready for canal defense WASHINGTON — The United States was prepared to de fend the Panama Canal if the Panamanian military had tried to take the waterway by force, Pres. Carter’s chief spokesman said Wednesday. "It is safe for you to assume we would be prepared to defend American interests and the canal, as we have been,” White House press secretary Jody Powell said. The White House statement was prompted after Panama nian leader Gen. Omar Torrijos declared that his regime was ready to sabotage the canal had the Senate defeated the second of the two Panama Canal treaties on Tuesday night. The treaties relinquish U.S. control of the international waterway by the end of the century. Stock market takes hike again NEW YORK — The stock market forged ahead again Wed nesday, unfazed by news of a first-quarter decline in economic activity and an apparent tightening of credit by the Federal Re serve. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials, which had fallen 6.85 Tuesday after an upsurge of nearly 44 points in the three previous sessions, posted a 4.77 gain to 808.04. Advances outnumbered declines by close to a 3-2 margin on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading continued to taper off gradually from its record pace at the start of the week. Asylum granted defector NEW YORK — The U.S. Immigration Service announced Wednesday it has granted political asylum to Pytor Grigorenko, former major-general in the Russian army. Grigorenko, 70, formally applied for asylum Tuesday. Since leaving the Soviet Union several months ago to undergo surgery here, the Soviet government had stripped him of citizenship, saying his open criticism of the USSR had damaged its prestige. V. J Neutron bomb blast reported on test base PARIS (AP) — A Paris news paper reported Wednesday that France has exploded an experi mental neutron bomb at its Sific test base, but French researchers are believed far behind the United States in developing any deploy able neutron warhead. The Foreign and Defense Ministries refused to comment on the front-page story in France Soir, a mass-circulation daily, ac cording to a longstanding French policy of refusing to disclose in formation on nuclear tests at the Mururoa Atoll range in the South Pacific. Well-informed observers be lieve the France-Soir story, which followed similar reports in the weekly magazine Le Point and two West German newspapers, stemmed from an underground nuclear test last month. The test, widely reported but never officially confirmed, was part of a series of French efforts to improve its nudear arsenal. De fense Minister Yvon Bourges, asked last fall about neutron bomb research, said testing covered all kinds of weaponry but declined specifics. The respected newspaper Le Monde quoted “informed circles” Wednesday as saying neutron weapons seemed within the grasp of a medium power like France but that research was not far enough Court dismisses R-G libel suit “Un i lainu, (AK) — a $14 million libel suit filed by Peter Licavoli Jr. of Tucson, Ariz. against The Eugene Register-Guard has been dismissed in U.S. District Court. Licavoli filed the suit in May 1977 after publica tion of the Arizona Project series prepared by Inves tigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. The investigation involved the bombing death in June 1976 of Don Bolles, reporter for the Arizona Republic in Phoenix. The suit was the second such libel suit to be dismissed this year. It was one of 21 suits filed around the nation by Licavoli after publication of the series on organized crime and political corruption in Arizona. U.S. Magistrate Edward Leavy granted the dis missal without prejudice Monday after being assured that Licavoli did not intent to refile a suit against the newspaper in some other jurisdiction. The plaintiff’s motion asking for dismissal of the libel suit came after Licavoli was ordered to appear in Eugene to give a deposition under oath to the news paper. He also was ordered to produce a number of documents and business records under the civil suits discovery process. Dismissal of the suit against the Register-Guard was sought by Stephen Lovejoy of Lincoln City, Licavoli's attorney in Oregon. BENEFIT 7 BREAKFAST For GRETCHEN MILLER Candidate for City Counc il y Ward 4 y Monday, April 24 8:00 A.M. to 11:30 A.M. at T+iE RBMEFRIED TRL1EKST0P 790 t AST I4TH along for experiments. France-Soir said a “senior military officer” also pointed out that France was still three or four years away from any deployable neutron weapons, but that he re portedly described the recent Mururoa test as a “full-scale laboratory experiment.” Drug overdoses tied to Darvon PORTLAND (AP) — The number one cause of drug over doses in Oregon last year was abuse of a pain-killing drug known commonly as Darvon, a deputy state medical examiner said Wednesday. Dr. Larry Lewman said about 35 to 40 deaths reported in 1977 were caused by propoxyphene, the generic name for Darvon. “If you go back a few years, you didn’t see many overdoses of this type. Barbiturates were the main cause,” said Lewman. “Now the trend has been so dramatic that last year propox yphene overdoses outnumbered barbiturates three to one.” He said roughly half of the deaths were in Multnomah County. He said last week medical examiners performed autopsies on six persons who died from overdoses of the pain killer—two of them in one day. THE FACULTY CLUB* Announces Extended Hours NOW OPEN FOR LUNCH 11:30-2 | To Serve Faculty. Students. 6 Staff ^ For Banquet Rooms with Lunch Service ® Telephone E.M.U.: 3705 i 4 REGISTER NOW! UPCOMING UO YWCA WORKSHOPS Women’s Support Group - Six Tuesday afternoon sessions beginning April 25, led by Marti Goodban, S15/YW members, $18/non-members Assertiveness Training for Women - Four Thursday evening sessions beginning April 27, led by Sue Bettis and Marti Goodban, $12/YW members, $18/non-members An Introduction to Polarity Yoga - Wednesday, April 26, one session, led by Judith Lindsay, massage and polarity therapist, S2.50/YW members, $3/oihers ADVANCED REGISTRATION NECESSARY CALL THE YWCA - 686-4439 ....i Come in and see our beautiful spring collection of batiked blouses and sundresses ranging from $8.50 to $28.00. We also carry women’s Kung Fu shoes plain $6.50 and embroidered at $7.60 44 W. Broadway • Centre Court Mon. - Thurs. and Sat. 9:30 - 5:30 Fri. 9:30 - 9:00 Closed Sun.
