St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 1

On Today1, Editorial Page Credit To Algeria Uiliiriiil T.LQUI FINAL 2:50 P.M. New York Stocki Pagei 15D ond 16D Vol. 103, No. 27 pyrijtfct lMI, Hi. Uk Part-UhpMrk WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 1981 20 nn POST DISPATCH fFl "SIS si I til Sickmann reportedly has accepted an invitation from New York Mayor Edward Koch to ride in a ticker-tape parade there Friday, so his stay in Missouri may be short.

But friends, neighbors and public officials in Jhe bistate area laid plans to make it a memorable one. In Illinois, school officials decided to cancel all public school classes tomorrow, which President Ronald Reagan has declared a national day of thanksgiving for the return of the hostages. Illinois Gov. James R. See ROCKY, Page 12 From Tehran to Algiers to Wiesbaden to West Point to Washington to St.

Louis. Rocky Sickmann's long trip home ended today. Marine Sgt. Rodney V. Sickmann called "Rocky" by those who know him and those who know him only through the newspapers and nightly television news stepped off an Ozark Air Lines jet at Lambert Field this afternoon to yet another tumultuous welcome.

Bands played and thousands of people cheered as the former hostage and his family walked through signs and banners and hundreds of yellow ribbons. As Rocky entered the jammed terminal at Lambert Field about 1:50 p.m. today, he told the crowd of well-wishers and reporters, "You're beautiful. I love you all." Rocky then moved to a podium at a less-congested area for some impromptu remarks. Of the reception, he said, "It's unbelievable all of the people here and everything." He added, "I want to thank you.

I love you all. I want to thank everyone for taking care of my family It's so good to see you all again." Rocky, dressed in his Marine blues and flanked by his parents and his grandmother, Josephine Lampson, met about 80 of his relatives at the terminal door. They had come in chartered buses. The Washington, High School band played the theme "Gonna Fly Now" from the movie "Rocky" and "The Marine Corps Hymn" at the terminal. David Stafford, 63, a maintenance supervisor at McDonnell Douglas was holding one of the largest signs at the terminal.

"They lost 444 days out of their lives, so I think they deserve recognition," he said. The arrival was to be followed by a news conference at the Airport Marriott Hotel and then a triumphant 50-mile motorcade to the little Franklin County farming hamlet of Krakow, about five miles from Washington, 4 JKV Buses carrying the former hostages being mobbed Tuesday by well-wishers un reimsyivama venue in vvasmngion. Former Hostages Start Return To Hometowns Oil Controls Lifted; Price Rise Expected I .4 VSi Compiled From New Service WASHINGTON The former hostages started returning to their hometowns today, to the friends and neighbors who had prayed, rung bells and tied yellow ribbons for them during their 444 days of captivity. It was small-town America's attempt to match the tumultuous welcome in the nation's capital that included a warning from President Ronald Reagan that any future action' like Iran's hostage-taking would bring "swift and effective retribution." At the Scranton, airport, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov.

William Scranton III said, "A native son has returned home to us, to the people who love him most," in welcoming Michael J. Metrinko, 34, of Olyphant, Pa. Across the country, similar ceremonies were prepared. Military bands and color guards were at the ready at airports; shoulder-to-shoulder crowds ringed tarmacs and lined motorcade routes. Two of the 52 released hostages returned home Tuesday night after White House ceremonies.

John E. Graves, 53, went to his home in Reston, just outside Washington, where neighborhood children provided a candlelight welcome, and Jerry J. Miele, 42, of Mount Pleasant, flew to Pittsburgh, saying that he planned a WASHINGTON (AP) President Ronald Reagan today lifted the remaining price and allocation controls on petroleum, a step sure to lead to higher gasoline and heating oil prices. Reagan said the controls had hampered U.S. oil production, "artificially" led to increased energy consumption, aggravated the nation's balance of payments problem and stifled technological breakthroughs.

"Price controls have also made us more energy-dependent on the OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) nations a development that has jeopardized our economic security and undermined price stability at home," Reagan said in a statement. "Fears that the planned phase-out of controls would not be carried out for political reasons have also hampered production. Ending these controls now will erase this uncertainty." Angry consumer groups charge that gasoline and heating oil prices could rise by 8 to 12 cents per gallon over the next few weeks as a result of the decision, but administration officials said the increase would be more like 3 to 5 cents over the next two months. The order, effective immediately, decontrols crude oil, gasoline and propane the only petroleum products still under price controls. Reagan said the elimination of 'r i jrv Capital Opens Hearts To 52 By Thomas W.

Ottenad Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau WASHINGTON The nation's capital wore a yellow ribbon for its love fioni far away. When its love those 52 Americans who had been held hostage so long finally came by, the crowd cheered happily, exuberantly. They surged toward the buses carrying the freed Americans to the White House for their official welcome home. The police lines dissolved, and the thousands who had lined the sidewalks poured into Pennsylvania Avenue, following the buses like happy children. There have been big and impressive crowds in Washington many times in the last 20 years.

The two Kennedy funerals. The first peace demonstrations, which later became the See WELCOME, Page 11 controls "will also stimulate energy conservation." "Ending price controls is a positive first step toward a balanced energy program a program free of arbitrary and counterproductive constraints one designed to promote prudent conservation and vigorous domestic production," he said. Energy Secretary James B. Edwards told a White House briefing that the price increases will inevitably lead to a cut in petroleum use estimated at 50,000 to 100,000 barrels a day. But he said he had no estimate of how much oil production might climb with the additional incentive provided by decontrol.

Edwards, who at one point said he was confused about the impact, told reporters: "The people in the statistics department have told me one (figure relating to decontrol) and they haven't told me the other. I don't know the other, really." Asked whether the department had studied the impact of decontrol or whether prices were being decontrolled merely because the president promised the action during the campaign, Edwards said: "Well, we did it because the See OIL, Page 7 I.MJiMM.lWj 1 1 r- Maybe you won't win a lot, much. Page 3E of Everyday Cloudy And Cold Home COMING Official fore- cast for St. Louis I t0 vicinity: Increasing cloud-ines tonight with a low around considerable 4 cloudiness tomorrow with a -high in the upper 3s; chance of rain or snow Friday or Saturday; lows In the 26s, highs around onm-WMNMr liMornwHM wi Pan I si; Poir.atPATCM WRATHKRBIRD Ma mt or i three- or four-month vacation before going back to work. Gary E.

Lee, 37, was escorted from Washington to his suburban Falls Church, home today by neighbors who formed a minimotorcade. "This is incredible," Lee said. His street was decked with yellow ribbons; his house bore a huge "Welcome Home Gary" sign. Bruce W. German, 43, and his wife also found yellow ribbons and welcome signs when they reached their home in Rockville, Md.

"I couldn't feel better," German said. Reagan's warning of retribution came at a lavish homecoming ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House Tuesday afternoon. The day for the hostages began with a news conference in West Point, N.Y., and ended with a display of fireworks on the Mall in Washington in their honor. In between, the ex-hostages whose 444 days of captivity in Iran ended eight days ago were reunited with family and friends at Andrews Air Force Base, rode an emotional motorcade down Pennsylvania Avenue and were greeted at the White House by a beaming Reagan and other top officials. Also at the event was Richard Queen, the 53rd hostage, who was See HOSTAGES, Page 11 U.S.

AUTOMAKERS attack Clean Air Act. Page 2A MIXED REACTIONS on Carter Carburetor closings. Page SA said that other members would include Murray L. Weidenbaum, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers; Treasury Secretary Donald T. Regan; Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige; Secretary of Labor-designate Raymond Donovan; and Bill prock, special trade representative.

Lewis said he hoped to present President Ronald Reagan with the task force recommendations within six weeks. Noting that unemployment in the automobile industry now totals around 200,000, he said that redressing Scott DlnePot-DIpatch Lambert Field control tower. Wednesday Panel Set Up To Address Auto Industry Ills 4 i A yellow ribbon adorning the industry's ills would be one of the new administration's major goals. Lewis said he plans to travel to Detroit next week to meet with company and union leaders. Government's job, he said, "is to foster industry's recovery efforts, and its return to competitiveness." Safety and environmental regulations will not be immune from possible elimination or change, Lewis warned, but he also said, "We're not going to walk away from safety.

We are trying to eliminate regulations that tie people up in red tape." Although Lewis stressed that "basically, the philosophy of this administration is not to subsidize businesses," he hinted that Reagan Merrell's bills also would raise all car and truck license fees, title fees, and would raise a drivers license to $9, from $3. Both bills would be submitted to a statewide vote before becoming law. A 3-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax increase was defeated soundly in a statewide vote in 1978. But lobbyists for highway contractors, bus and truck firms, oil dealers and service station operators said they believed the Merrell plan had a chance of passage by voters: They said that voters had seen See GASOLINE, Page 4 the features CHINESE NEW YEAR: Welcome the lunar new year on Feb. 5 with a Mongolian hot pot dinner (right).

Or read all about a snake dinner in Canton. Page ID of Food- Recipes A QUICK COUNT: A blackjack expert explains how keeping close track of cards will help you in the game, but you may not lose so inside 60 Pages would look favorably on continued federal loan guarantees for the Chrysler Corp. so long as that company demonstrates improvements in its financial condition. "If we can see Chrysler surviving, we're going to be supportive," he said. "If not, we'll have to look at other solutions." Asked about the possible imposition of federal restraints on automobile imports, Lewis suggested that they were a possibility albeit unlikely.

"We have left the door open, but it's not President Reagan's intention to go to Congress" with any such proposal, he said. "It should be very clear that this administration believes in free trade." Weinberger Urges Drastic Rearming WASHINGTON (UPI) Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger called today for a drastic rearming of America, warning that the current world situation raised chances that the United States might may have to use its armed forces to protect U.S. interests. "The international political climate continues to deteriorate and the prospects of our having to employ military force directly or indirectly to safeguard our interests cannot be dismissed," Weinberger told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"The current condition of our armed forces is less than satisfactory (and) this state of affairs could not have come at a more inappropriate time." Earlier today, Gen. David C. See WEINBERGER, Page 12 By Jon Sawyer Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau WASHINGTON Secretary of Transportation Drew L. Lewis Jr. announced formation today of a high-level task force to address the problems of the American automobile industry.

"The task before us is enormous," Lewis said at a news conference at the Department of Transportation. "We are challenged by burdensome tax rates, bloated federal spending, high interest rates and overbearing federal regulations that are causing havoc not only in the auto industry but in other industries as well. We must attack these problems zealously and simultaneously." Lewis, who will head the task force. Strikes, Protests Grow In Poland Compiled From New Service WARSAW, Poland The Polish government today called for an end to confrontation, and labor leaders traversed the nation in efforts to mediate wildcat strikes in hundreds of factories and in rural regions. It was the second day of the most massive work stoppage since last summer.

In Gdansk, the leadership of the independent union coalition Solidarity today announced a nationwide, one-hour warning strike for Tuesday in an apparent attempt to reassert its leadership in the face of seemingly uncontrollable local protests. The Solidarity national presidium also Baid it would begin negotiations with the government to avoid further See POLAND, Page! 2-Cent Gas-Tax Increase Proposed By Senate Panel Business 14-16D Classified Advertising 1-8B Editorials 14A Everyday 1-8E Food Section 1-7D News Analysis 15A Obituaries IB People JA Reviews 4E St. Louis JA Sports 1-6C State Capitol 4A TV-Radio tE Pot-OIpatch Jefferton City Bureau JEFFERSON CITY The Senate Roads Committee on Tuesday night recommended passage of a 2-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax increase and a $250 million highway bond issue sponsored by Sen. Norman L. Merrell, D-Monticello, president pro tern of the Senate.

The state highway construction lobby presented a united position behind the Merrell road-building plan. Besides raising the gas tax to 9 cents a gallon, from 7, Merrell's plan calls for a one-eighth cent sales tax increase to pay off the $250 million bond Issue. st it.