Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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_wi re, Court overturns libel award (AP). - An appeals court decision that Penthouse magazine had a right to publish a story - even though the court said it had "no redeeming features whatsoever" - has implications for all authors, the magazines's lawyer says. "This i? first' PfiSA (hof Hoc nn<uiniunn<>klu twiiutniva^ ? ? ~ mm* - w *mw? v?m#v v? WIV^IU WWMIJ * VVUglU^M that the First Amendment precludes recovery of libel from an author who does not intend to depict real events," Tom Kelley said of Friday's decision from the 10th District Court of Appeals. "Heretofore, authors have been in an extraordinary state of uncertainty." The appeals court overturned a $14 million libel judgement awarded to former Wyoming beauty queen Kimerli Pring by a U.S. District Court in Wyoming in 1981. She had claimed she was defamed by a fictional story in the magazine's August 1979 issue. The story - titled "Miss Wyoming Saves The World, But She Blew The Contest With Her Talents" - portrayed a young woman who, like Miss Pring, was a baton twirler who held ' the title of Miss Wyoming. A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit ruled 2-1 that the story, although offensive, was a "complete fantasy" that could not be taken literally. The judges dismissed both the $14 million verdict against Penthouse and a $35,000 verdict against author Philip Cioffari, a college English professor. In their appeal, Penthouse lawyers argued that the story, describing a beauty queen's sexual feats during a Miss America pageant, was an attempt at humor depicting events that would be impossible in real life and thus could not be libelous. The appeals court described the Penthouse story as "a gross, unpleasant, crude, distorted attempt to ridicule the Miss America contest and contestants. It has no redeeming features whatever." However, the court said the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech extended to such stories. Reagan aide returns to work WASHINGTON (AP) - White House Press Secretary James S. Brady, saying it felt "awfully good" to be back, returned to part-time work Friday for the first time since he was gravely wounded in the March 30,1981 assassination attempt against President Reagan. *-> a s L- I ? _ 1 r? 1__ II 1 1. i_ ?rr: r orsaKing nis wiieeicnair, israuy wameu uuu ?u> umct; with a crutch under his right arm, a nurse holding his left arm and a brace on his partially paralyzed left leg. His sense of humor was much in evidence as he joined the usual staff meeting in preparation for the daily press briefing conducted by Larry Speakes, the deputy who has assumed many of the press secretary's duties in Brady's absence. Brady's wheelchair was parked in a hallway outside. When White House chief of staff James A. Baker III asked about how the unemployment story should be handled at the briefing, held a few hours after the government reported the jobless rate rose to 10.4 percent in October, Brady quipped: "Your resignation will knock it off the front page." Later, while Speakes was conducting the briefing, Brad) remained in his office in the West Wing with secretary Sail} McElroy, who helped him answer some of the mail he con tinues to receive from thousands of admirers. Statue closes for restoration NEW YORK (AP) - The Statue of Liberty will be closed t( tourists for up to a year beginning in 1984 while repairs an made to the rusting framework under Miss Liberty's cop pe skin, the National Park Service has announced. "We'll try to keep it closed for as short a time as possible,' said David Moffitt, superintendent of the Liberty Islam statue that stands at the gateway to New York harbor. "But i year is what we've been talking about." ml 1 1* A. _ A. i.1. _ A _1_ 4* *1 ine restoration is necessary to get me statue reaay ior iu 1986 centennial celebration. Last May, President Reagan named Lee Iacocca, chair man of the Chrysler Corp., to head a commission to raise th< money from voluntary contributions to repair the statue an< Ellis Island . Women become N.Y.'firemen NEW YORK (AP) - Braving a last-minute court fight, j program that called them "firemen" and a vulgar T-shirl women joined the ranks of New York City firefighters for th first time Friday. ni. S ? AA - 1 i 1 # xi? Eleven women ana iiw men graauaiea iroin me nr Academy in a ceremony on Randall's Island after the 2m U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals failed to rule on a request by th firefighters union to stop the graduation. The Fire Department, in an effort to save money, used a old cover for the printed program. It called graduates "pre bationary firemen." Male graduates, some of whom said women should not b firefighters, snapped up bootleg commemorative T-shirt showing a woman on a fire pole along with a bawdy sexui reference. The women graduates' hair was cut short for safety, an all the graduates wore the same blue uniforms. After th ceremony, some women donned yellow slickers to hel demonstrate now to scaie a Duuamg. USC todouj i RH film: "Forty Second Street" starring Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell, 7 and 9 p.m., FREE. Baruch Institute Aquaculture Seminar: Reginal Narrell, S,C. Water and Marine Resources Dept., "South Carolina's Striped Bass Program: Present and Future," 1:30 p.m., 202 Coker Life Sciences Building. Soviets mark Boh 1 !AL J fl _ nn^ MOSCOW (AP) - Moscow was aDiaze wiui reu aim patriotic banners Saturday and shoppers stocked up on food and vodka in anticipation of the military parade marking the 65th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. President Leonid I. Brezhnev's portrait disappeared from a key boulevard for several hours, prompting speculation of a major political upheaval. But a new poster of Brezhnev was put up and the rumors quickly subsided. Brezhnev and other Kremlin officials were expected to review troops, artillery and missiles Sunday from atop the red marble tomb of Vladimir I. Lenin, mastermind of the world's first Communist state. More than 3,000 troops and several hundred weapons were to be shown in the 45-minute military review, which traditionally includes a short speech by Defense Minister Dmitri Ustinov. 4 ?: J in(nnfnr irohipio that is western suuitca stuu an anuuicu nuauuj ?v.uv.w ?? the workhorse of Soviet troops in Afghanistan will be displayed in the parade for the first time. Armed with two machine guns and an anti-tank missile, the amphibious vehicle is rated one of the world's best troop carriers. Ambassadors of at least seven Western countries - the United States, Britain, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the KV X f ^ C I c j?yEflr' ;J|g|g \ He I Sad Sack Fans brown-baa it to Carolina football names in manv wav: feelings ebout the Gemecocks' 50-26 loss to Floride Stste. New energy secretai WASHINGTON (AP) - President Reagan picked Donald Hodel, a close friend of Interior Secretary James Watt, to be the rniintrv's n#?w pnprffv R*H?r*?t.arv nn FriHnv Hodel has often come under fire from environmentalists, but unlike preceding energy secretaries, he is unquestionably an expert on the subjects the agency handles. Hodel, a 47-year-old lawyer now in the No. 2 job at the Interior Department, served for six years as head of the giant Bonneville Power Admiristration, the federal agency which markets electricity in Western states. * Hodel's appointment was announced without fanfare by White House spokesman Larry Speakes. Neither Reagan nor Hodel were present. Aides said Hodel was too busy finishing up work at Interior to meet with reporters Friday. His first day in the new job will be today. The administration wants the 5-year-old Energy Depart, ment abolished and has already trimmed it drastically. Speakes denied that Hodel will simply be a caretaker ; secretary while Congress debates the agency's future, but he said Reagan remained committed to getting rid of the x Cabinet agency. Hodel succeeds James Edwards, a former South Carolina governor wno nad pledged to become the first Cabinet ? secretary in history to abolish his own job - a goal he failed to j accomplish. < Legislator questions * LONDON (AP) - An opposition Labour Party legislator is pressing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's government I to say whether ships in Britain's Falklands task force carried nuclear weapons. Tam Dalyell, member of Parliament^ for West Lothian, i scouana, an ouispoKen opponent of the Falkland campaign, has filed written questions demanding a House of Commons statement on the matter. In the Commons Thursday night, Dayell urged the Conservative government to "come clean" on whether HMS Sheffield, the destroyer hit by an Argentine Exocet missile on May 4, was carrying nuclear depth charges when it sank. He asked why naval commanders asked the crews to risk their lives by boarding the burning, melting ship if it was not carrying nuclear weapons. It was kept afloat for three days before finally sinking to the bottom. Indications that some British ships carried fully charged nuclear devices broke last week when the letters of Royal V ^hoifSI# roifnlutifin IHU V IRl Netherlands and Luxembourg-were planning to boycott the parade to underline their governments' disapproval of the Soviet military intervention in Afghanistan. According to Western estimates, more than 100,000 Soviet troops have been sent to the neighboring country to battle Moslem insurgents opposed to the Marxist government of Kabul. The intervention began in December 1979. Tens of thousands of Muscovites will also march across Red Square carrying placards and banners hailing Soviet rnmmunism and the Kremlin leadership and condemning "Western imperialism." The weather forecast called for snow and gusty winds. High winds swept Moscow early Saturday, and there was some speculation this is what knocked Brezhnev's 5-by-iOfoot portrait off a billboard on Kutusovsky Prospekt, the route he normally takes to and from the Kremlin. The poster was replaced later. Portraits of Lenin, Brezhnev and other Communist luminaries were put up earlier in the week along the main streets around Moscow, but Brezhnev's long-time heir apparent, Andrei P. Kirilenko, was absent. Soviet sources said this was a confirmation that Kirilenko, 76 and reportedly in failing health, had retired from the ruling Politburo. Photo by Capers Hammond . TL' II m if i . . . s. mis umuiown ran piaimy snows his ry already under fire Edwards is returning home to become president of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. He told reporters this week that he got rid of the "most objectionable" parts of the agency. Employment at the department has been cut by 17 percent from the 20,000 positions built up under the Carter administrationand the budget over three years has been trimmed by $10.4 billion. Reagan's action while Congress is in recess allows Hodel to take office immediately without waiting for Senate confirmation. Speakes said the nomination would be submitted to the senate during the lame-duck sesion beginning Nov. 29. Environmentalists vowed to fight the appointment. "Ronald Reagan lias continued to fill his Cabinet with antienvironmental zealots," said Rafe Pomerance, president of Friends of the Earth. "The symbolism of giving Watt's deputy a seat on the Cabinet is absolutely incredible." Sierra Club President Denny Shaffer said, "America does not need a second James Watt in the Cabinet." Some administration officials had questioned whether Hodel should be selected for the energy position because of his commitment * A- 'x~ ^ vunjfiiig uui lunciiunsiu me uommercc Department, said administration sources who asked not to be named. Falklands task force Navy Lt. David Tinker, killed aboard the cruiser Glamorgan off the Falklands, were published. Tinker claimed he saw a dummy nuclear depth charge used for training aboard the British support ship Fort Austin. London's Guardian newspaper reported Tuesday that the Fort Austin may have been used to collect nuclear weapons from British ships and take them out of the Falklands war zone. ine ships, dispatched from their North Atlantic and Mediterranean duties at short notice, would normally carry nuclear weapons and might not have had time to unload them, the newspaper said. Douglas Hurd, minister of state at the Foreign Office, refused to say whether the Sheffield was carrying nuclear weapons or answer the other specific questions. He said the British government has always refused to confirm or deny the presence of nuclear weapons in any particular place or at any time.