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

On Today's Editorial Pags Mr. Nixon, Tht Senate, And Defeat: Editorial The Same Mr. Editorial FINAL Stock Market Down Closing Prices Page 6C and 7C lUIn VOL. 92 ISO. 124 1070, St.

Louli Pott-Dlfpatch TUESDAY, MAY 5, 1970 18 PAGES 1 Horn OcliwtT 1UC J2.S0 Month Prir Protesters Burn ROTC Buildin U.S. Troops Open A Third Offensive In Cambodia ST. I POST SPAT Campus Rallies, Strikes Heavy Resistance Restricts Airlift SAIGON, South Vietnam, May 5 (AP) U.S. troops began today a third offensive into Cambodia from the central highlands. However, they came under such heavy fire and met such bad weather that helicopters could land only a fraction of the 6000 men committed to the operation.

On the Fishhook front, 200 miles to the south, U.S. troops met their first serious resistance as a column of tanks blasted its way into the town of Snuol in rubber plantation country eight miles inside Cambodia. ji -Jplt' 5 I asm maw? '-n 1 From Pleiku, correspondents covering the new offensive 50 miles to the west said that two companies of U.S. troops were hit by heavy small-arms fire from both sides of a clearing as helicopters tried to land them. They never made it in.

Sources said that due to the heavy ground fire and a morning haze, which set the operation back several hours, only one battalion of about 500 U.S. troops was landed. Plans had called for at least two battalions to be airlifted in by the helicopters. The troops that did land began building a semipermanent artillery and patrol base from which to fan out. A field officer said the greater part of a U.S.

infantry brigade and a South Vietnamese regiment estimated at 3000 or more American troops and an equal number of South Vietnamese were committed to the new offensive. He said it would be the largest air mobile operation in the central highlands of Pleiku in two years. This was the third offensive ordered by President Richard M. Nixon to destroy Communist command sanctuaries and base camps. Mr.

Nixon ordered an earlier offensive to the south in the Fishhook region of Cambodia. It was begun last Friday. The other offensive was open last Wednesday by South FIREMEN SILHOUETTED AGAINST the blazing Air Force ROTC build- early today. Firemen attempting to fight the ing at Washington University, after it was set afire by antiwar protesters thrown by shouting students. blaze were pelted with stones 1 II ill ma its 'A.

mm 1 4 nr 1 Antiwar rallies and demon strations were called today by student activists at colleges and universities here as tension mounted in the wake of the burning of the Washington University Air Force ROTC building last night. Incensed over the fatal shooting of four Kent State University students in Ohio yesterday, students conducted activities ranging from strikes to silent Vigils. Several hundred students from Washington and St. Louis universities assembled this morning outside the National Guard Armory at 3676 Market Street and demonstrated their opposition to expanded Amerir can fighting in Cambodia. One youth was arrested.

Set By Students The ROTC building was heavily damaged when it was set ablaze about 12:30 a.m. by a small band of men and women students leading a gathering of about 2500 antiwar protestors. While most of the crowd stood on a hill south of the building, about two dozen youths ran to the structure and began shattering windows. A glass in the side door was broken and the youths dashed inside singly and in pairs, emerging with papers, which they set afire. To shouts of "Kent State, Kent State," the demonstrators charged repeatedly into the building, ignoring three commercial photographers who were taking picturesofthe event.

The photographers had been hired by university attorneys after previous campus violence. The flames spread rapidly through the quonset-type structure as firemen were at first driven back by a barrage of stones. Ten campus policemen stood by and watched as the protesters ransacked the building before setting it on fire with lighted paper. At 12:45 a.m. St.

Louis County police issued ageneral alert and dispatched 15 policemen to the scene with 200 other officers placed on reserve at points near the university campus. Fire trucks from University City arrived, but the firemen were prevented from approaching the building by the rain of stones and bottles. Bottle Thrown A bottle believed filled with gasoline was thrown at one of the fire trucks, but failed to ignite. Windshields on some trucks were shattered by stones. As the fire trucks backed away from the area, Clayton firemen arrived and began removing hoses from their trucks.

They too, however, were quickly forced to retreat. The firemen stood by as the flames shot out of the windows and through the metal roof. Demonstrators cheered. "Let it burn, let it burn One, two three, four, stop the war," they shouted. Records taken from ROTC files by the rampaging demonstrators were stacked in piles against the building and set afire.

Finally, a squad of about 20 helmeted policemen, carrying nightsticks, began moving toward the protesters. Some of the demonstrators moved back to the edge of the parking lot near the university's field house. Most of them had gathered at the top of a hill overlooking the ROTC structure. A group of protesting students had raised a Viet Cong flag about half way up a flag pole near the Air Force building. John Hunkins, 19 years old, a student from the University of Missouri at St.

Louis, dashed into a group of demonstrators and grabbed an American flag that they had taken from the building. The protesters were beating the flag against a wall. Across the street, about 100 TURN TO PAGE 4, COL. 1 News Index Page Editorials 2C Everyday Magazine 1-8D Financial 5-7C: Obituaries 5B Sports 1-5B. Want Ads 5-13B Hearnes Truck Action Gov.

Warren E. Hearnes, declaring that it was time "to get the trucks back on the road," disclosed today that he had arranged a meeting between his aids and representatives of the striking Teamsters Union and the Motor Carriers Council. The Governor said the meeting would take place at 8 o'clock tonight at the Sheraton-Jefferson Hotel in St. Louis. Hearnes is in a Jefferson City hospital recovering from influenza.

For that reason, he said, he has delegated two top aids to represent him at the meeting. "This will not be a negotiating session as such," Hearnes said. "The State of Missouri has no legal jurisdiction in this dispute and I have no power as governor to compel either side to take any action. "This is a meeting of all interested parties to see if personal diplomacy can bring about an agreement that will be in the TURN TO PAGE COL. 1 GIs To Quit In 8 Weeks, By THOMAS W.

OTTENAD A Washington Correspondent of the Post-Dispatch WASHINGTON, May 5 -President i a M. Nixon gave an optimistic report today on progress of the American invasion of Cambodia, including a promise to withdraw United States troops in two months or less. Concern was expressed by both Senator Mike Mansfield of Montana, Senate Democratic majority leader, and Senator Stuart Symington Missouri, despite reports by top Administration officials that the Cambodian operation was progressing well. Members of Congress who attended the two-hour session at the White House this morning said Mr. Nixon virtually promised that American troops would be withdrawn quickly from Cambodia.

Asked whether the President had offered assurance that American forces would be out of Cambodia in three to six weeks, Senator John Tower Texas, replied, "Yes." The question arose after Rep- Thundershowers Official forecast for St. Louis and vicinity: Partly cloudy tonight, with chance of thun-dershowers, and' temperatures dropping to between 45 to 50; mostly sunny and a little cooler tomorrow with the high in the low to mid 70s. Long range outlook: Partly cloudy Thursday and Friday with a chance of showers and the high in the 80s, showers ending and turning cooler Saturday. Temperatures 3 a.m. 4 a.m.

5 a.m. 6 a.m. 7 a.m. 8 a.m. 9 a.m.

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'flthnr WMthw Information on Pm 2A NEW FRONTS RK3HT AND LEFT I WlATHiMIHD 76 I t- the windows and ransacked the Post-Dispatch Photos) ACTIVISTS RUSHING INTO the Air Force ROTC building to set it afire with flaming newspapers. The Washington University students broke Strike Planned At Washington U. TURN TO PAGE 14, COL. 1 Cambodia Nixon Says resentative L. Mendel Rivers South Carolina, said that the Cambodian invasion "can't last long and won't last long." He said American forces would finish their Cambodian mission "in six weeks at the latest." He noted that the rainy season would start in Cambodia in three weeks, limiting the movement of military forces.

A reporter then asked whether the President had offered a r-ance that American troops would be withdrawn in three to six weeks. Later, a dispute apparently developed over the exact time that Mr. Nixon had specified for the withdrawal of American forces from Cambodia. White House press secretary Ronald L. Ziegler told reporters that the President had referred to a period of six to eight weeks "at the outside." Mr.

Nixon, Ziegler said, had specifically used the phrase "at the outside." Other References Asked why Tower had indicated a period of only three to six weeks, Ziegler replied, "There were references to various outside periods of time. Perhaps It would be shorter time." Congressional members who were made available by the White House to report on their session with Mr. Nixon said the President estimated that Communist Vietnamese forces would require seven months to replenish their captured rice and other supplies and to restore communications systems destroyed by American and South Vietnamese forces in Cambodia. The members of Congress ducked all questions on whether U.S. troops would return to Cambodia once the enemy sup-ply and communications network was replaced.

Tower and Rivers, together with a third Representative made available to reporters, Representative Leslie C. Arends of Illinois, gave full endorsement to Mr. Nixon's decision, to invade Cambodia. They said that the move would save lives of American soldieTs fighting in South Vietnam. All three members of Congress who spoke with reporters are considered "hawks" on the war in Southeast Asia.

Those who took part in the TURty TO PAGE 12, COL. 1 rally public opposition against the nation's war policies. The meeting was scheduled for later today at Rebstock Hall to encourage as many teachers as possible to excuse students from final exams and other requirements this semester. A point of some debate at the Brookings Quadrangle rally today was whether striking students should try to discourage nonstrikers from attending classes. The gathering included about .300 University City High School students who left their school before noon, marched to the City Hall and then to the university campus.

Adding to the 0 ill I I confusion as speakers addressed the throng through a small bullhorn were numerous dog fights in the quadrangle. A noon convocation at the University of Missouri at St. Louis concluded with a decision to present Chancellor Glen R. Driscoll with an announcement of a student strike tomorrow. The student statement said that the strike was "to show our indignation at the murder of innocent bystanders at Kent State University this past Monday, and to show our disapproval of the expansion of the Southeast Asian war to Cambodia." A student strike leader said, A draft committee report to the Senate called Blackmun thoroughly qualified and found no impropriety in his participation in four cases in which he had s'tock interests.

No one testified in opposition to Blackmun during a three-hour hearing last Wednesday, but the committee put off a vote at the request of Senator Robert C. Byrd West Virginia, to allow members to study the record. "His opinions appear to reflect udicial a re-s for judicial precedent, and a recognition of the constitutional demarcation of authority between the judicial and legislative branches," Byrd said yesterday in supporting the out most of Page 3A. interior. (Another picture on demanding that he publicly condemn the invasion of Cambodia, the Kent State killings, and "the unjustified armed intervention by the National Guard and law enforcement agencies on campuses throughout the country." They demanded also that Air Force ROTC be removed from the campus.

The acting president of the university, the Rev. J. W. Padberg SJ, released a prepared statement deploring the violence "which can only lead to further polarization in this nation." At Webster College, students TURN TO PAGE 18, COL. 1 The Judiciary Committee's draft report said that in more than 11 years the judge had participated "in only four cases in which he had any financial connection whatsoever." "While holding minuscule interests, in Ford Motor Co.

and American Telephone Telegraph it said, "Judge Blackmun participated in two cases involving Ford and another in which a wholly owned subsidiary of was a party." In a fourth case, involving a patent dispute, the report said that Blackmun participated in the denial of a rehearing to the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing after he acquired 30 shares of 3-M stock. 3-Week Washingtn University students and faculty made plans today to extend their campus strike throufh the end of the school year. Other campuses in the Louis area were also scene demonstrations against the Kent State University killings and increased military activity in Cambodia. A A large crowd of students gathered this afternoon in the Brookings Quadrangle at Washington University. They to continue their strike, and to shift its emphasis from the university to the St.

Louis community- at large. Some faculty members told the students they would excuse strikers from final examinations, term paper and attendance requirements. In the ensuing weeks before the semester ends in about three weeks, they said strikers should try to Laird Ignores War Protesters WASHINGTON, May5 (UPI) A group Of American University students waving antiwar leaflets spotted the limousine of Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird at a traffic light near the campus today and attempted to hand him some of the leaflets. A witness said Laird refused to roll down the window of his car.

Some students stuck leaflets on the radio antenna frf the vehicle before it drove off. Senate Committee Approves Blackmun "We are asking that all classes be dismissed, all university offices be closed, and we arepro-hibiting all nonuniversity personnel, with the xeception of the U.S. mail and the news media, from coming onto our campus." The Rev. Francis Cleary SJ, a member of the philosophy department at St. Louis University, was the main celebrant of a noon Mass today at the University's Busch Memorial Center.

Another Mass was celebrate at Fontbonne College campus, in which there were prayers for peace on all college campuses, St. Louis University students distributed a letter to the Rev. Paul C. Reinert SJ, president, nomination. The AFL-CIO, whose opposition was instrumental in helping defeat the Supreme Court nominations of Clement F.

Haynsworth and G. a 1 Carswell, endorsed Blackmun yesterday. AFL-CIO president George Meany made it clear that the labor federation was not completely happy with Blackmun's record on labor cases but said President i a M. Nixon "has, on balance, made a responsible choice." Meany announced his support for Blackmun's nomination in a letter to Senator James O. Eastland chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

WASHINGTON, May 5 (AP) The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved President Richard M. Nixon's nomination of Judge Harry A. Blackmun, Rochester, to be a Supreme Court justice. The committee vote was 17 to 0. The judge, 61 years old, has been a member of the Eighth United States Circuit Court of Appeals since 1959.

He was nominated by Mr. Nixon after two Southern judges selected to fill a year-old vacancy on the Supreme Court were rejected by the Senate. Senator Robert P. Griffin Michigan, said he thought the nomination would be taken up in the Senate early next week. 4.