Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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WORLD Pardons for trade MOSCOW ? Soviet dissidents say President Leonid I. Brezhnev's surprise pardons for five Jews jailed for a 1970 hijacking attempt is part of a plan to win better trade terms with the United States. Wolf Zalmanson, one of those freed, disclosed the pardons in a telephone interview Friday from his home in Riga. He said he and the four others hed been told thev also will receive exit visas to leave the Soviet. Union by the end of the month. They each had 14 months to go on their 10-year prison sentences. The five were among 26 persons convicted of attempting to comandeer a plane from Leningrad to Sweden on June 17, 1970. Five others are still in jail serving terms of from 12 to 15 years. Dissidents said the pardons, along with the granting of exit visas to several Jews in Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev, were timed to coincide with a visit here by a U.S. congressional delegation. /-v :ll i I guerrillas weaKenea BANGKOK, Thailand ? Major Vietnamese military thrusts have seriously weakened ousted Cambodian Premier Pol Pot's guerrillas and some analysts believe they are making their last stand along the border with Thailand. Thousands of Pol Pot loyalists, soldiers and civilians have fled into Thailand in recent days in the face of pressure from Vietnamese troops and Cambodian soldiers of the new government. Fighting along the Thai frontier has been con centratea along Hignway 5 ana south ot the key border town of Poipet, areas from which most of the Pol Pot loyalists have fled into Thailand. Still to be subdued is the region south of Poipet ? around the gem mining town of Pailin and the Cardamon Mountains, but Thai military analysts said most of the fighting in Cambodia's central provinces appears to be over. k A II .1 . Mondale at last stop THE HAGUE, Netherlands ? Vice President Walter F. Mondale arrived in the Netherlands Saturday for the last stop on a 12-day mission to six smaller Western allies and neutral nations. He arrived from Finland following talks with President Urho Kekkonen and other Finnish leaders. He had earlier visited Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Mondale is the highest-ranking American leader to visit this country since Lyndon Johnson came as vice president in 1963. Family Picnic MB Under the shade of a tree, Whitney, Jennifer and Paui 1? Haines find the Horseshoe f| provides an ideal setting for NOTION Record interest rate WASHINGTON ? The maximum interest rate of government-insured mortgages is rising to a record 10 percent, but the move could help many lower and middle-income families trying to buy homes. Thn hnlf.nprppnt inproaeo pffoptiuo frtflav inimlvou * liuu VVIIV IIIV1 VUUV/, VI IVV.VI f IWIU J y 111 V VI VVO single-family houses covered by Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Administration insurance programs. ;? ' \j* i' ^:Jr* ^?/ %;,/f. ; -fv * - Bavas resigns post CHICAGO ? The federal employee who tried to turn down a $1,272 pay boost from Uncie Sam says he's had .1- Tf . 1_ ??_ enougn. tie s resigning. Andrew Bavas, who was earning $40,000 a year in his job with the Department of Health Education and Welfare, said Friday that on May 1, he'll be looking for a new job. This past November, Bavas, who has been with HEW since 1971, learned he would receive the pay boost, which is largely automatic if a supervisor finds an employee's work acceptable. But, Bavas decided his pre-raise salary was enough, and wrote Christopher Cohen, regional director of HEW, that he didn't want the extra money. But Cohen telephoned Bavas and told him Civil Service regulations say an employee can't refuse a raise, but that he could contribute it to the government. New SCLC director ATLANTA ? The Rev. C.T. Vivian of Decatur, Ga., has been named acting executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, replacing ousted director Hosea Williams, officials of the civil rights organization announced Friday. SCLC PResident Joseph Lowery fired Williams from his $20,000-a-year post earlier this month, and Williams j has vigorously protested his ouster. Vivian is a former member of the SCLC executive staff and was director of local chapters and affiliates under the group's founder, the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Lowery said Vivian told him he would not be a candidate for permanent executive director. The SCLC hopes to fill the position with a permanent director within 30 to 90 days, Lowery said. BEpp*> ?. i^K4Wi^ r i ^ 'v i it I jlBSKBP y 5THTE Edwards may run Former Gov. James B. Edwards is testing the political waters to see if he can get enough support ? and money ? to wage a bid for the Republican presidential nomination next year, a South Carolina GOP official has said. John E. Courson, secretary to the state party, said Friday a published report that a "Jim Edwards for President" committee is being formed is premature. "This whole thing is in an embryo stage," said Courson. "He (Edwards) has said if the support is there in South Carolina and throughout the Southern states and if f ho tvi Anotr i c tirhinh ic f hn nrimonr f Uinn U ^ ti i.i10 uiti v, to nit pi iiuai ^ tiling, lie: would seriously consider" seeking the nomination. Courson said at the 1976 Republican national convention, Edwards "was extremely popular with the rank-and-f i le GOP.'' GOP studies primary A nine-member committee has been named by state Republican Party chairman Dan I. Ross to look into the advisability of holding a GOP presidential primary in South Carolina next year. State Attorney General Daniel R. McLeod has told the party to use its discretion in deciding whether to hold a primary, since one is not required by law, Ross said. Farmers like gasohol A ~ L_1 1-1 1 n mciiiiidiui y ^asunui program wuuiu reuuue America's reliance on foreign petroleum and give U.S. farmers a market for their surplus grain, a South Carolina farm leader says. "We're delighted to see our state choose to use gasohol in state vehicles," Harry S. Bell, president of the South Carolina Farm Bureau, said in a prepared statement Friday. "We urge our state leaders to do everything possible to encourage the development of gasohol." A blend of 90 percent gasoline and 10 percent alcohol, gasohol will be burned in some 125 Department of Highways and Public Transportation vehicles in a pilot program endorsed by the agency's commission this week. Proponents of the experimental fuel say in other states, studies have shown that gasohol reduces fuel consumption ana tne amount ol pollutant emissions, since it burns cleaner than plain gasoline.