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THE JOtJRNAL, OGDENSBURG; N,Y.4WEDNESpAV, JFEBRUAJBtX 1$ i?77—I*A(GE 3 / WASHINGTON (AP) - Airline SK T&Sptoto* te record numbers o the Civil Aeronautics Board about delayed flights, baggage han- SngsTrf 1500 ^^ andolef short comings in service nn S 0N re ? eived a record 16,124 consumer complaints in vm, a 35 per ^J^eover vm. The' previous record was 15,720in 1974. Reservations-related problems led the : list of complaints with 2,504. Some 1,192 ger I came from ticket-holding passengers upset when they were denied seats •' because the airline had overbooked their 1 flights. * Baggage complaints to CAB totaled 1 .2*014 last .year, with 1,322 for. lost or damaged luggage and 441' for .delays. Some 1,519 complaints concerned confusion over different price plans and 1,229 letter-writers were Upset about late flights. But the agency said the volume of illations complaints it handles is not necessarily a valid gauge of any change in the quality of airline service or airline re- sponsiveness to passenger problems. For one thing, the board pointed out in a statement, it has not determined whether all the complaints were valid. A CAB spokesman noted most passenger grievances are made to airlines, not to the board. He attributed the increase in 1976 complaints to CAB primarily to \heightened public. miitee awareness of the existence of the board's consumer activities.\ A spokesman for the Air Transport Association, which represents the airlines, contended that the CAB complaints do not mean service has de- teriorated. , \-The CAB's office of consumer ad- vocate has been most active in the last year,,\hesaid. \It has beeir more publi- cized and has encouraged those who thought they were wronged to write letters:'' ; '. '.;'\ \ The AfA spokesman said another factor in the over-all; rise in complaints was that 10 million more passengers flew out of U.S. airports in 1976 than 1674, The complaints to the CAB represent fewer than three passengers per lOOiOOOiboardings, he said. \He rioted that in one category, service in general, complaints actually decreased26 per cent from 1975 to 1976, The complaihtsT about oyerbqoking result from the widespread industry practice of selling' •\confirmed .Reser- vations:\ oh aflight to more customers Mianthere are>seats, The ebrapames^say . they must da thi| to compensate for air travelers who make reservations they .don't keep. For Showdown On Sp WASHINGTON (AP) — The House assassinations committee is heading lor a showdown between its feuding chair- manand chief counsel amid reports that the panel is considering. dropping its probe of the 1963 slaying of President John F. Kennedy. s i The panel was scheduled to meet today for the first time since Chairman Henry B. Gonzalez, D-tex., tried to fire chief counsel Richard A. Sprague for allegedly trying to undermine Gonzalez' authority., The committee was created last year to investigate the slayings of Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., but the panel has been awash in controversy, primarily over Sprague's demand for a $6:5 million annual budget and his investigative techniques. . 1.' The committee's ranking Democrat, Richardson Preyer 61 North Carolina, said Tuesday that eliminating the Kennedy probe \would be one of the ob- vious possibilities\ in seeking to cut costs. Preyer added, \But certainly we're not even close to a decision on that yet.\ Preyer, who heads the subcommittee conducting the Kennedy investigation, emphasized,\ \I think it would be premature to limit the panel's options on what it's going to do.\ The Washington Post, citing informed' sources, said today that bypassing the Kennedy probe was one option being considered by Preyer and other panel members. Another option' would be \o depose both Gonzalez and Sprague and reconstitute the committee under a new chairman and chief counsel, the paper reported. • ' V Although Sprague technically has been replaced by an \acting staff director\ named by Gonzalez, com- mittee sources said Sprague was prepared to appear at today's meeting to present proposed budget and operating procedures for the coming year. , • In addition to the budget uproar, some Housemembers have criticised Sprague for proposing to use secret recorders, polygraphs and \stress evaluators\ in questioning witnesses. The latest crisis, which some \House observers believe could doom the, committee, arose when an angry Gonzalez fired Sprague last week, charging that the former Philadelphia prosecutor was a \prima donna\ who defied instructions to reduce the staff and make other changes. The committee's other 11 members subsequently endorsed a letter that said/ only the full panel, not Gonzalez alone, could oust Sprague. 38,000 Military People On Food WASHINGTON CAP) — As many as 38*000 hard-pressed members of the armed services are drawing, food stamps and thousands more would be eligible for the aid if they weren't moonlighting or didn't have working wives, a Pentagon study says. \The fact that military members are eligible and use food stamps implies the current military \pay arid allowances system may be inadequately -com- pensating some of its members,\ the study says. < The study found that a total of 62,000 Winter 'Coldest Since IC WASHINGTON (AP) - This winter's frigid weather in the eastern two-thirds of the country so f athas been the coldest \since the founding: of the Republic,\ the National Weather-Service sayfe. The Weather Service reached^that conclusion on'Tuesday, drawing from government records dating back to about 1800.and from earlier \diaries garden books, insurance records — wherever people wrote down the tem- perature,\ one forecaster said. The average temperatures last month in the East and Midwest were the\ lowest for arty January ongTCord^Thejayirage reading- ifWHe E¥s%#4%#ftp!es, slightly chillier than the previous record, 25.3, registered in 1857. Id the Midwest^last month's average was. 11.3 degrees, well below the 12.9 degrees in 1857. Meanwhile, another \government agency sard the severe, weather .helped push industrial production* down in January by the biggest margin in nearly two years. The Federal Reserve Board said output qf the nation's mines, factories and utilities slumped 1 per cent last mdnth, \reflecting lost production due to especially cold weather and natural gas shortages,-especiaUy in the latter half of the month.\ Industrial production is a key to creating jobs in the economy and the January drop interrupted what economists had, hoped would be a steady and healthy expansion of the economy from the doldrums that set in last summer and fall. Further declines, in industrial output are exp^ted'JnTfibrWrV becfuse of the cold 'weaither^lh^ward said. , ; : The Weather Sjervice. has forecast, colder than, normal temperatures in the East and Midwest for February. If that prediction holds up, the service said, this Winter Will clinch the title of coldest since1758, when an anonymous- clerk afc the^Philosophical =Spciety in Philadelphia began the nation's oldest continuous record of daily temperature „ readings. .members of the military, or 3 per cent of all personnel,' potentially would.be eh> gible for food stamps based on the present system of pay arid allowances. However, the study said that figure \would be. significantly reduced since some members receive, special or in- centive pay, some moonlight and some have working wives.\ About 32 per cent of servicemen have wives who hold jobs in an effort to make ehds meet, the study calculated. • The percentage of eligible military recipients is much lower than the 17 to 26 per cent of all U.S. households that the Pentagon analysts estimated are eligible. But the military study also noted that \some otherwise eligible members are prevented from participation in the pro- gram because they are stationed overseas.\ . Under present law, servicemen and others can draw food stamps if they live in the United States* Guam^ Puerto Rico or the Virgin islands. Some 17.4 .million persons received food stamps in December, according to the Agriculture Department. USDA determines eligibility for food stamps' primarily on family size and monthly net income. The analysis of food stamp usage by military personnel was ^conducted by staff specialists working on a review of the entire service compensation structure. ... Meanwhile, the Agriculture Depart- ment is planning to investigate snarls in the free distribution 1 , of food stamps during the winter emergency in the Buffalo, NX, area. Long lines, some arrests and hospitalization of people who fainted while waiting for the stamps this week also prompted the Senate nutrition committee to-launch an investigation. PITTSBURGH (AP) — Opponents of drilling oh Lake Erie say there's plenty of natural gas inland, but supporters ar- gue that energy needs demand the tapping of both sources. Gov. Milton Shapp has decided that, environmental concerns \not- withstanding, the 10-year ban on off? shore drilling is over. There is believed to be about 600 million cubic-feet of natural gas Under those waters. \We have plenty of gas inland.. These wells are drilled and tfiey are riot being used,\ protests Dave Dehaven, imme- diate' past president of the 204^000- member Pennsylvania Federation of. Sportsman's Clubs and an Erie native. \His order is absolutely ridiculous,'' : Rep. John Laudadio added: \We've got hundreds, of gas wells in Pernio sylvania that are capped... I'll show you 100 wells in Westmoreland County alone that are notproducing.\ The chairman of the state House Conservation \committee also said he has evidence ' gas companies are deliberately holding out oft the public. One gas producer conceded that some land wells -are capped' in -the 5 hoggs \gas prices will increase. ? . .Bernard O'Brien, chairman of the House Mines and Energy Management committee\ .which supported Shapp's action, said there are about 2,600 gas wells in the state, He said he does not know how many are capped. REGISTER IN ANY STuJIt TO WIN THE EXPO '77 BIKE YOUR OGDENSBURG MALL TWIN THEATRES estern ives FBI Probes Africans * V , • In Gar Export Racket BOSTON <AP) - The FBI is in- vestigating a suspected multimiliion dollar racket involving Ghanaian citizens who allegedly buy new cars in Massachusetts, then report them stolen and ship them through New York for inflated resale in Africa. The agency has warned one of the nation's largest car-credit firms to watch out for the purported scheme. The Ghanaians allegedly involved come to the United States as 'tourists,, businessmen and students, law en? forceflient and trade sources say. They allegedly: report the cars stolen to avoid. payment and collect insurance or skip out on Installment payments, according to the sources. • On the West African black market, ne\y, and recent vintage cars in the six- cylinder category can bring up to $40,Q00 in Ghanaian currency,; cedis, at official. exchange rates. - The FBI here confirmed it is in- vestigating the purported scheme\ but refused to- divulge details. The Associated Press learned the FBI' has warned the giant |ford Motor Credit Corp., finance wing : 6f the Ford Motor Co., of the purported scheme. That firm, in turn, has cautioned dealers in the Northeast to tighten procedures for selling cars- to Africans, according to Tom Foote, a company representative at FOrd headquarters in Dearborn, Mich. Tradesources, many of whom wished to remain unidentified, claim the pur- ported scheme has also surfaced: in California,' where cars are driven to Corpus Christi, Texas, for shipment to Africa.' t , - Some in the financing trade, said Massachusetts was-a target because its strict Consumer laws make, it difficult Ga& Company for agencies to refuse credit, Also, they said they fear the Ghanaians allegedly involved sin the purported scheme would say 1 they were refused credit because of race and invoke antidiscrimination laws. Persons who finance automobiles with intent to avoid payment violate federal banking regulations and face two years imprisonment and $5,000 fines if con- victed, the FBI said, \We ship 50 to. 60 cars^a month for Ghanaiain students,\ said Joseph O'Brien, assistant Ms manager of the Black Star Line, the Ghanaian-govern? ment-owned shipping line. O'Brien said the line tried to guard against shipping cars reported stolen and riot fully paid for by demanding title, registration and Auto serial numbers before departure. ALBION,-Calif. (AP) — Rich and Mima Sharp and their two children are preoccupied withiinding enough water for the essentials of life. Tliey try to make do with four gallons a day. \You don't wash much of anything like^vindows or floors. When the kids go to a house with water, it's hard to get them to Remember to flush the toilet,\ says Sharp, whose family is one of 19 in this Pacific coastal village of northern Califorfiia, 'Albion is about 150 miles from San Francisco up the rugged coast df drought-hit California, and its 70 residents have been without a firm water supply- for a year. The drought has been intensified because a privately owned waterworks that supplied the village was allowed to fall into disuse after the owner died two years ago. Local efforts are under way to reactivate it. The Sharps go to Mima's family home elsewhere three limes a week to bathe, and they never have anyone over for dinner. When something is cooked, the pan goes right to the table. As few dishes are used as possible. \Seems I haven't drunk Water for years,\ said Sharp. .\Can't waste it for drinking. Drink lots of beer and soda\ pop.\ Gloria Petrykowski finds herself in a similar fix: \You don't flush toilets, you can't clean your house, you shower at other people's homes where they have some water to spare, you'use bathwater to flush the toilet.\ Mrs. Petrykowski, who heads a committee to return a steady water supply to Albion^, said, \There's no water in the firehouse itself, They, have, to go a mile for water, and that's a 'one? shot.'\ The people of Albion have learned not to bother going to .Mendocino, 10 miles away. People there are also having, it rough and the laundries have long lines . aU the-time. ' ' 1 OGDENSBURG MALL Phone 393-6370 TONIGHT 7 & 9 P.M. The terrifying mntion picture from the terrifying So. 1 best .seller. nr, ...MAY BE TOO INTENSE * r \* EOR YOUNGER CHILDREN Coming Fri. Wilt Disney *s \Freslky Friday\ OGDENSBURG MALL Phone 393-8370 TONIGHT 7:^5 & 9:30 FMVI, PITTSBURGH (AP) — Consolidated Natural Gas Co. says higher rates and extremely cold Weather pushed profits up nearly 38 per cent in 1976. The utility, which supplies fueli.n New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, said net income applicable to common stock was $93.4 million, or $4.94 a share, up from $67.7 miilion, t 6r $3.58 a r share, in the previous year. Operating revenues totaled,,fUi billion, up from $070,0 million in 1975. Chairman Robert E. Seymour said Tuesday, th-3 increased jncome' will-be used to^ejipand the company's capital spending faudgely which is airiLed largely. at expaMntMturalRas resources. , OPENING Thursday f Feb. 17th SPLITS SHAKES CONES BURGERS FRIES Opening 1977 Season With 1976 Prices MM See You Soon WW HOURS 11:00 1.11.-11:00 P.M. TOO CMTOA $Ti *. -A- • ,•••1 COUPON HMMMI-n GARNS SUPPLY — OGDENSBURG, N.Y. • ZONOLITE ATTIC \ INSULATION J _ k WITH THIS COUPON • *2.89 WITH THIS COUPON GOOD THRU FEB. 21 H NO LIMIT. CASH 'N CARRY \ GARNS SUPPLY I YOUR ONE STOP DISCOUNT HOMt CENTER
