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

T.LOUI OISPATC FINAL Vol. 103, No. 224 opvnuhl 1481, M. LmIp Poal-DbpUrk SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 1981 20' On Today's Editorial Page Dubious Cure For Crime tjlihtriiil The Reasonable Saudis POST Agency Urged To Decertify PATCO ultimately to the Supreme Court. Friday afternoon, Poli said the union had not been "decertified" and was still in business.

The union expected the judge's decision, he added. Meanwhile, federal authorities are investigating false radio commands and interference with communication between control towers and pilots. The authorities said there was no evidence that striking air traffic controllers are involved. Federal officials said Friday that there have been at least seven reports of fake instructions and 10 incidents of interference with ground-to-air If the full three-member board accepts that recommendation, it will put an immediate end to the union's right to represent more than 17,000 air traffic controllers in contract negotiations, grievance procedures and various appeals. The Reagan administration took steps to have the union stripped of its bargaining rights within hours after the strike began Aug.

3. President Ronald Reagan announced last week that all strikers who failed to return to work would be dismissed from their jobs. Transportation Secretary Drew L. Lewis Jr. has refused to negotiate with Robert E.

Poli, president of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization. At the hearing before the union did not present any evidence to counter the government's charge that it had called and condoned a strike in defiance of federal law. That failure "demonstrates that such evidence does not exist," Fenton concluded. The Federal Labor Relations Authority is supposed to revoke the union's exclusive recognition status or take "other appropriate disciplinary Compiled From Newt Services WASHINGTON A federal administrative law judge has recommended that the air traffic controllers union be stripped of its right to bargain on behalf of the controllers. John H.

Fenton, chief administrative law judge of the Federal Labor Relations Authority, said Friday that the union's strike was a flagrant violation of federal law. Fenton urged the labor relations agency, which oversees labor-management relations in the federal government, to revoke the union's "exclusive recognition status." Eagleton Verdicts action" if the union violates the ban on strikes. Fenton said he would not consider the less severe penalties because the union was a "two-time loser." Its right to represent air traffic controllers was suspended for five months In 1971 after the union staged a strike in 1970. The union normally would have 25 days to file a legal brief challenging the judge's decision. But the Federal Aviation Administration has asked the labor relations agency to limit the time to seven days.

After the agency makes a final decision, the union could appeal it to the U.S. Court of Appeals and rT3 3 tdOTireil -rigs Haiff To For Land-Based zsSSSl-JL Tnli pi MWSm MX Missile Plan 3 Vli.it'Jil vm is- Fruit Fly's Jam i r-r wr ALL AUTOS i i UPI VEHICLES SUBJECT TO INSPECTION CAMPERS RVS the controllers went on strike. The Federal Aviation Administration said all the phony commands were quickly countermanded by real controllers, and none of the incidents posed any threat to safety. Richard M. Smith, acting chief of the Federal Communications Commission's field operations bureau, said that except for the voice transmissions, most of the incidents were found to be inadvertent electronic See STRIKE, Page 2 Push Alexander M.

Haig Jr. among 4,600 shelters in an effort to prevent the Soviets from destroying the missiles in a surprise attack. On another defense matter, Speakes refused to confirm a New York Times report that Weinberger has prepared a proposal to expand the nation's strategic nuclear forces to regain superiority over the Soviet Union. While Speakes acknowledged that the administration's goal has been to deter Soviet aggression, he refused to say whether the United States was seeking superiority. Instead he referred to Reagan's previous call for a "margin of safety" over the Soviets, but he would not define what it meant.

"It is not a plan that will be laid on the table Monday morning," Speakes said, characterizing it instead as involving discussions. "It's a series of integrated decisions" of total weapons policies, he added. In another development Friday, Haig swore in retired Lt. Gen. Edward L.

Rowny, 64, as the new chief negotiator for arms control matters. At the ceremony, Rowny said an arms limitation agreement with the Soviets must include equality in the destructive potential of the nuclear missiles and be subject to verification two elements he found lacking in SALT II with the Soviet Union. nsaturday-! world SEARCH ENDS: A crew of anti-whaling environmentalists, who ventured Into Soviet waters looking for a Russian whaling ship in the Bering Sea, has given up and headed back to Canada. A spokeswoman for the group said the Soviet ship apparently had left. BOMBS DEFUSED: Police in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, said today that they had defused 800 pounds of explosives discovered in an apartment they called an Irish Republican Army bomb factory.

Cloudy And Warm FLY IN Official fore-ast for St. Louis and vicinity: Partly cloudy tonight with a low in the middle 60s; Sunday partly cloudy with a high In the low 80s. Continued warm Monday through Wednesday with little or no precipitation; highs in the 80s and lows In the 60s. OINTMENT OtMr WMtMr Inf ormattan Pott transmissions since almost 1 with TRAILERS MUST STOP Traffic was jammed at this highway checkpoint for the Mediterranean fruit fly near Livermore, in Alameda County, after the discovery of the pest in the area. Inspectors were checking for fruit.

Authorities have approved aerial spraying in the area because of the threat to the fertile San Joaquin Valley. Related story on Page 2A. By Edward H. Kohn Of the Post-Dispatch Staff The convictions of Elizabeth "Libby" Eagleton Weigand and her former attorney for trying to extort $220,000 from a company owned by the family of Sen. Thomas F.

Eagleton, have been upheld by a divided three-judge appellate panel here. Circuit Judge Richard S. Arnold of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, joined by Circuit Judge Donald R. Ross, on Friday rejected arguments that Mrs.

Weigand and Stephen E. Poludniak, hadn't received a fair trial in St. Louis. Mrs. Weigand is the senator's niece and Poludniak her co-defindant.

But Chief Circuit Judge Donald P. Lay argued in a dissent that the trial should have been moved out of Missouri because of "community prejudice to such an extent that the defendants could not be guaranteed a fair trial." In December, Chief District Judge H. Kenneth Wangelin gave Mrs. Weigand an indeterminate sentence under the Young Adult Offenders Act. Officials familiar with the U.S.

Parole Commission said Mrs. Weigand is Jikely to serve at least 20 months in prison. Wangelin sentenced Poludniak to four years in prison. Officials said that if the Parole Commission follows its guidelines, Poludniak will spend between 24 and 36 months in prison. He surrendered his law license after he was found guilty, and has been working for a company based in Florida.

Both are free on personal-recognizance bonds pending the outcome of their appeals. Their attorney, Leonard J. Frankel of Clayton, said, "The next step is to file a motion for rehearing or for transfer to the court en banc. That will be done in due course." Prosecutors seemed elated by the ruling. Michael W.

Reap, an assistant U.S. attorney who did much of the government's trial work, bear-hugged a reporter who told him of the decision. Mrs. Weigand and Poludniak were found guilty Oct. 24 of conspiracy and extortion for threatening to make public material they said would damage Eagteton's reputation.

They said they would disclose the material unless the Missouri Pipe Fittings Co. of St. Louis, which is owned by the senator's family, bought Mrs. Weigand's 6.25 percent See EAGLETON, Page Burglar Obeys Man's 'Bribe9 NEW ORLEANS (UPI) A retired seaman says a premonition inspired him to leave a note at his home before going on vacation and a burglar followed his instructions to the letter. Before leaving Aug.

6, Harry Chase, 80, placed a typewritten note, a bottle of whiskey and some cash on his kitchen table. The note read: "To the burglar: "Here's $51 and about 30 or 40 dollars worth of change. Also a bottle of whiskey. All yours. So there's no need to ransack the house looking for more money, as it's all here.

Don't be a jerk and steal anything. Be honest." Chase returned home this week to find his house had been broken into and the money tak- en. The whiskey was where he had left it, and so was every- thing else in the house. "Apparently, the note saved him from having his house ransacked," police officer Everett Coffman said Thursday. Chase said he had not been burglarized before, but had a premonition before his vacation.

"I thought it was a good trick," he said. "I put a bribe on the table for a thief." Honesty Compiled From News Services WASHINGTON Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig who opposes Defense Secretary Casper W. Weinberger's plan for basing the MX missile on aircraft, will meet with President Ronald Reagan this weekend to argue against the proposal, administration officials said Friday. The officials said Haig regards the forthcoming decisions by Reagan on new missile deployment as crucial not only for American defenses, but for maintaining allied unity.

He is expected to meet with Reagan tomorrow at the president's ranch near Santa Barbara, Calif. Reagan will interrupt his vacation Monday to convene the National Security Council in Los Angeles. The president, Haig, Weinberger and other top officials will discuss the MX missile, along with proposals for the B-1 bomber and sale of jet fighters to Israel. The president then will hold a week of staff meetings, make political appearances and visit the USS Constellation off the California coast on Thursday. Deputy White House press secretary Larry Speakes said Friday that the National Security Council probably will not make a final decision on the MX missile or B-l bomber, but is likely to decide whether to end an embargo against the sale of F-15 and F-16 planes to Israel.

The embargo was imposed after Israel bombed an Iraq nuclear reactor. Officials said that Haig, a former commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's armed forces, intends to argue that abandoning the land-based version of the MX would create political pressure in Europe that would make it more difficult to deploy new medium-range missiles there. Haig also would argue that the land-based MX missile is more efficient and militarily superior than an airborne system, the officials said, noting that there could be a long delay before a new plane could be designed and built to carry the MX, as Weinberger advocates. Proposals to base the MX on land have raised considerable opposition in the Western states where it would be situated. The land-based plan calls for about 200 MX missiles to be hidden would have been fatal.

Miss Fleming, however, managed to escape from her apartment after the assault and stagger about 150 feet across Mayer Drive to a neighbor's porch where she bled to death. Miss Fleming's parents, three of her five brothers and both of her sisters were present in the Warrenton courtroom when the verdict was brought in by the jury. LaRette was visiting a friend in St. Charles at the time of the killing. He was arrested later near his home in Kansas.

He was returned to the St. Charles County Jail under heavy security after the verdict was returned. president of the National Automobile Dealers Association, said the trade group was "pretty shocked and surprised it went through." McCarthy said the dealers association does not mind the warranty information requirement, but it opposes the "known defect" disclosure rule because it is too vague. He said the rule is "a real low blow to dealers at a time when they're suffering from depressed sales and high interest rates." Although he said it is uncertain whether tne rule will push up used-car prices, "If it gets to the point dealers feel they have to protect themselves, it (the cost) could be passed on to consumers." Ms. Ellison, however, said the FTC staff doubts whether the rule will cost very much.

The buyers guide idea initially was approved by the agency last spring. It was formally published Friday in the Federal Register. Death Recommended In Woman's Slaying granted LaRette's attorney 10 days to file a motion for a new trial before formal sentencing. Donald L. Kohl, St.

Charles County assistant prosecuting attorney, argued forcefully for the death penalty in closing arguments Friday afternoon. "I would never have asked for the death penalty if I thought it wasn't deserved in the this case," Kohl said after the verdict. LaRette was convicted of slashing Miss Fleming's neck and stabbing her twice in the chest about 11 a.m. July 25, 1980, in the woman's apartment at Yale Boulevard and Mayer Drive in St. Charles.

Medical testimony during the trial indicated that either chest wound Jim Dustln Of the Poet-Dispatch Staff WARRENTON, Mo. A death sentence for Anthony Joe LaRette Jr. has been recommended by a Warren County Circuit Court jury for the stabbing murder of 18-year-old Mary Fleming last year in St. Charles. The recommendation was returned Friday "by the jury that had found him guilty of capital murder in the case after deliberating only a little more than an hour.

In choosing the death penalty over an alternative sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of parole for 50 years, the jury determined Peach Or Lemon? Used Car Sticker May Tell that LaRette had tortured Miss Fleming. The jury deliberated only an hour in choosing the death penalty in separate deliberations required under the capital murder statute. The trial, moved to Warren County because of pretrial publicity, lasted four days. LaRette, of Topeka, accepted the guilty verdict impassively, but began to break down during the deliberations on sentencing. He was pale and evidently had been crying when the death sentence decision was announced.

An appeal of the verdict to the Missouri Supreme Court is automatic. Circuit Judge Edward D. Hodge repairs on any vehicle sold "as is." All cars and most pickup trucks and vans sold by dealers are covered by the rule. It would not apply to large recreational vehicles and motorcycles, or private sales. At-Large Election JEFFERSON CITY Statewide at- large election of Missouri congressmen, due to the Legislature's failure to redistdct the state based on the 1980 census, would be illegal, according to Attorney General John D.

Ashcroft. A federal law allowing at-large elections in such cases was effectively repealed in 1967 when Congress enacted a new section in the law saying U.S. representatives are to be elected only from single-member districts, he said. Ashcroft's viewpoint is contained in a 28-page legal brief filed in U.S. District Court in St.

Louis in response to a iuit file) by the Missouri Farm Dealers, defined as anyone who sells five or more used vehicles in 12 months, have said that complying with the rule will be difficult and may add to the cost of used cars. Frank McCarthy, executive I Called Illegal Bureau Federation. The suit is endorsed by the state's four incumbent Republican congressmen. It seeks to preserve rural representation. A separate suit has been filed in U.S.

District Court in Kansas City asking the court to do the redistricting. The latest census figures called for Missouri's congressional districts to be reduced to nine from 10. Federal law previously called for at-large election of congressmen until redistricting was completed, but the new section flatly prohibits at-large elections, Ashvoft said. WASHINGTON (UPI) Unless Congress objects, most used cars will have a new feature early next year a window sticker to give prospective buyers some clues about whether they're looking at a lemon. The sticker will list known defects of the car to warn prospective buyers, and that is making some car dealers unhappy.

The stickers are called for in a rule approved Friday by the Federal Trade Commission, which began investigating complaints about used car sales in 1973. "Hopefully, this will give consumers some information they don't always now get," said commission spokeswoman Dee Ellison. She said the rule will be sent to Congress, and unless both the House and Senate object to it within 90 days, it will take effect six months later. Besides disclosing defects known to the dealer, the sticker also will list any warranties offered on the car and state that buyers are responsible for all.