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

FINAL 2:30 P.M. New York Stocks Pages 2E and 3E Vol. 100, o. 46 15 cCopyrlgM 1171, St Unit Ma-Dtapuct THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1978 SW -VI On Today's Editorial Page TtM MidMtt Fighter Dal Editorial And Cartoon Tn Years Aftr Th Riots Editorial a i Energy-Saving Move City To Dim Its Lights LAID-OFF WORKERS at an aluminum plant in New Madrid, support striking miners. Page 14A downtown.

On arterial streets, only one side of the street will be lighted. Conway estimated the reduction would save 20 tons of coal a day or enough to light 4,000 residences. Lighting on residential streets will remain unchanged, the mayor said. Conway ordered exterior decorative lighting at buildings such as City Hall be US in i 'i I mil I THE WINNAH: Leon Spinks is mobbed by ter his upset boxing victory over Muhammad well-wishers "in the ring Wednesday night af- Ali in Las Vegas, Nev. (UPI Telephoto) Spinks Beats Ali For Title 4- "5 Olympian and Liston was 31.

"You proved the people all wrong." "I wasn't robbed," Ali said of the split decision. "He landed some of the best punches I've ever been hit with." Spinks, a refugee from the trouble-infested Pruitt-Igoe housing development, had begun boxing when he was 14 years old just to stop neighborhood bullies from "messin' over me." But last night he was on the offense all night long. While Ali seemed content to lie on the ropes for the early rounds, as was his famous "rope-a-dope" custom, Spinks, who fights as if a red blanket is being waved in his face, piled up points with a relentless assault to Ali's shoulders, head and kidneys. After six rounds, Spinks, who became world champion after only seven professional bouts for the fastest heavyweight See FIGHT, Page 12 Related Ali-Spinks fight stories and pictures in Sports section. will be stepping down.

Brezhnev has shown a willingness to cooperate in many areas with the United States, But what about his successor? Will he be a hardliner? No one knows with any degree of certainty outside that tight little group within the Kremlin walls. These questions produce one of the great uncertainties in the deadlock between the United States and the Soviet Union over a strategic arms agreement. Nothing is being said publicly within the Carter Administration about the deadlock on arms. President Jimmy Carter recently predicted that a new agreement would be signed within two months. But privately, the Post-Dispatch has Barclay Plager Barclay Plager today was named new coach of the slumping St.

Louis hockey Blues, replacing Leo Boivin, who resigned but will remain with the club as a scout. Plager, who had a long career as a Blues defenseman, has been player-coach of the Salt Lake City Golden Eagles, the Blues' farm team in the Central Hockey League for the last two seasons. Bob Plager, Barclay's brother, will replace him as player-coach of Salt Lake. By RICK HUMMEL Of the Post-Dispatch Staff LAS VEGAS, Nev. "The joke's on you," Leon Spinks said.

"The man upstairs made it come true." The St. Louisan was speaking to reporters after one of the most stunning sports upsets in history. He' had just snatched away Muhammad Ali's world heavyweight boxing crown Wednesday night at the Hilton Pavilion. In the capital of gambling, there had been no official odds posted on such a possibility. It would have been tantamount to Poland beating Germany in World War II or to the cost of living receding.

Besides Divine Providence, Spinks had an indomitable spirit, furiously flying fists and absolute confidence. Muhammad Ali had been a champion for all ages. This was the 20th title defense for the 36-year-old Ali. local St. Louis will reduce the use of street lights downtown and on arterial streets starting this evening as part of an effort to conserve electricity.

The reduction is one of several steps Mayor Jim Conway ordered today at the request of Union Electric Co. The firm told the mayor that it had a limited supply of coal and that it was not likely that a new supply would be received until 20 days after settlement of the coal strike. The mayor ordered that one bulb be turned off in every two-bulb street light rn LfU Jl By MARQUIS W.CHILDS Contributing Editor of the Post-Dispatch IWl St. Louis Pml'DlspotcK WASHINGTON President Leonid I. Brezhnev of the Soviet Union is suffering from leukemia, the Post-Dispatch has learned.

According to a reliable source in Washington with access to high-level government intelligence, Brezhnev has had the disease for at least two years, which explains his long absences from public life. Leukemia is considered fatal, except in recent cases of medical progress with younger people. When foreign dignitaries visit the Soviet Union, Brezhnev is "dusted off and poses for photographs," the source said. Increasingly, however, Brezhnev has looked frail and lacking the vigor that characterized his rise to power after the downfall of Nikita S. Khrushchev.

The Kremlin is expected to denv reports of his serious illness, as it has in the past, if only because of the continuing uncertainty about Brezhnev's 'successor. Brezhnev is 71. All the members of the ruling Politburo are in their 60s or early 70s. This means there could be a wholesale change in the near future. There can only be speculation as to who will succeed Brezhnev and who else said that officials were working through the night to clean up the oil-soaked snow.

He said crews had contained the oil within a four-acre area and prevented it from flowing into the Chena River, about a mile away. "We put a temporary sleeve on the hole, and they're determining now how they're going to repair it," Mierzejewski said. Fired State A federal judge has ordered the Missouri Department of Revenue to reinstate four employees who had said they were dismissed solely for political reasons. Chief U.S. District Judge James H.

Meredith issued a preliminary injunction late Wednesday ordering oti turned off. Night hours at recreation centers will be reduced. Cuts in electrical use may be made at the hospitals if they do not impair patient care, Conway said. City supervisory employees were given responsibility for making sure the office lights are out when they leave for the day. Conway urged city residents to adhere to a request by Union Electric that they See LIGHTS, Page 15 nn learned, leading figures in the negotiat- ing process believe that an agreement is unlikely this year.

If an agreement is signed it probably will not be in time to submit for ratification in a congressional election year. As one of the leading negotiators put it: "We have made all the concessions that we can make. Now some movement from their side is essential. Eut we do not know whether they are capable of making the kind of concessions that would move us off of dead center." Brezhnev has been reported in poor health periodically for the last three years. As recently as last April, the London See BREZHNEV, Page 12 To Coach Blues The announcement was made today at the Checkerdome.

The Blues have not won in their last 12 games. Boivin was in his second stint as the Blues' coach. He was coach for the last part of the 1975-76 season before Emile Francis became general manager of the Blues and appointed himself coach. This season Boivin, who had been scouting for the Blues, was renemed coach. The $9 billion pipeline had been pumping 700,00 barrels of Prudhoe Bay oil each day to tankers at the southern Alaska port of Valdez.

It has been shut down at least three times since it began operating last summer the most serious interruption caused by a July 8 explosion and fire at Pump Station No. 8. That explosion left one worker dead and several injured. that their dismissals violated both their First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and Revenue Department regulations. Their attorney, Leland B.

Curtis, said the employees were seeking back wages and punitive damages, as well as reinstatement and that See WORKERS, Page 4 SLAVIN SCRUTINY: A state Senate committee is looking into the way Mrs. Alberta Slavin spends her time as a member of the Public Service Commission and asking her whether she would accept an $8,000 pay raise proposed for commissioners. Page 3A $1 MILLION REVERSAL: A Texas Court of Civil Appeals has reversed a $1 million judgment that had been awarded a dismissed Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. employee. Page 4A WRONG 'RITHMETIC: Attorneys in the St.

Louis school desegregation case spent most of yesterday arguing over whether a consulting firm had made a mathematical error. The firm, Sverdrup Parcel and Associates admitted that it goofed. Page IB Think of it. Muhammad Ali an ex-champion again. "You're still my champion," Spinks said to Ali in a press conference after the nationally televised match.

It was a press conference to remember because Ali, the people's choice, instead of sulking because the championship he values so much had been lost, magnanimously gave Spinks the credit he deserved. The 24-year-old challenger seemed almost sorry he had put an old man out to pasture. "I'm glad for you because you did what I did," said Ali, referring to his startling upset of then-champion Sonny Liston in 1964, when Ali (then Cassius Clay) was 22 years old and a recent in today's southwest area news in sections inside lihri $1 '111 -uSH- a Ivi business HEARING GRANTED: The Federal Reserve Board Wednesday granted a hearing to opponents of a proposed merger of bank holding companies in St. Louis and Kansas City. The protesters are testing a new anti-redlining law in the case.

Page IE features HEAVENLY IMAGE: The rock group Angel brings its very earthy sounds to St. Louis, the city from which it was launched. Angel is the subject of CALENDAR'S cover story. Page 2C ENERGY SABOTAGE: Flood lights reflecting from pools of crude oil that spilled from a hole in the trans-Alaska pipeline. Police said an explosive charge blew a 2-inch gash in the line.

In the background is a truck used to take away the spilled oil after it was vacuumed from the ground. Police said a saboteur placed the charge against the pipe. (AP Laserphoto) Alaska Pipeline Shut Down By Sabotage The pilot of a private plane reported the leak about 2 p.m. Alaska time after he sighted a 160-square-foot patch of oil under the pipeline. The pipeline was shut down a short time later when an Alyeska helicopter confirmed the report.

Authorities said that the oil gushed out of the leak at the rate of two to three gallons a second for more than six hours. AMHERST TO relationship of the new FBI Director William Webster and CIA Director Stansfield Turner goes back to 1941 when the two were freshmen at Amherst College in Massachusetts. Page 3F Chance Of Snow Official forecast for St. Louis and vicinity: Continued cold with a chance of snow tonight and 'tomorrow, Low tonight will be in teens; high tomorrow 20 to 25. Slight chance of snow Saturday -and "continued cold through Monday.

Highs 'will be nar 30 "and lows in the teens. PCST D'SPATCH WEATNtRBinD Older WMttar infermotion en Pom IA ALT OOPS; FAIRBANKS, Alaska (UPI) An explosive charge deliberately placed under the Alaska oil pipeline blew a two-inch hole in the pipe Wednesday, shutting down the entire 800-mile system and spewing thousands of gallons of oil over four acres of isolated forest just east of Fairbanks. The leak was plugged late Wednesday night and Alyeska Pipeline Co. officials said oil could be flowing again through the pipeline within 24 hours. "They've got the oil stopped.

It's not leaking any more," Sgt. Larry Mix of the Alaska State Troopers said. Mix said that 20 feet of safety fuse was found lying near the leak about three hours after the pipeline was shut off. Troopers and federal authorities were investigating, he said. "Somebody deliberately went in there and set off an explosion," Mix said.

"The fuse has been identified as a safety fuse. They hook it up, and then get off to a safe distance and set it off." Alyeska spokesman Ron Mierzejewski Workers Reinstated 60 Pages Business 1-4E Calendar 1-16C Classified Advertising 10-15D Editorials 2B Everyday 1-8F Metro Report HA News Analysis 3B Obituaries 10D People 5A Review 4F St. Louis IB Sports 1-9D State Capital 13A TV-Radio 6F Weeders and Seeders 5F Gov. Joseph P. Teasdale and Revenue Department officials to reinstate the four no later than March 7.

A permanent injunction will be sought, the attorney for the employees said. Meredith ruled that the employees could not be fired solely because they were Republicans. He found.