THE
Summer Daily
Vol. LXXXIII, No. 46-S Ann Arbor, Michigan-Tuesday, July 24, 1973 Ten Cents Eight Pages
Ervin sends subpoena
of tapes to President
Action prompted by Nixon refusal
By CHRIS PARKS
Special To The Daily
WASHINGTON - In what may
amount to the gravest constitutional
confrontation in recent history, the
Ervin committee yesterday voted
unanimously to subpoena private
presidential tapes and documents
relating to the Watergate affair.
The move came in response to a
letter from President Richard Nixon
announcing his decision not to re-
lease the tapes to either the com-
mittee or special prosecutor Archi-
bald Cox. Cox - also announced his
intention to subpoena the evidence.
NIXON ALSO STATED that he is call-
ing off a scheduled meeting with commit-
tee chairman Sen. Ervin (D-N.C.), com-
menting that such a conference would
serve "no useful purpose" at this time.
In his letter, Nixon said the principle
behind his earlier refusal to release presi-
dential documents - executive privilege
and separation of mowers - also applies
to tapes of presideutial conversations.
The tapes sought by the committee are
of conversations between the President
and his farmer couinsel John Dean.
pg AN IfAS TESTIFIED before the com-
mittee that On s 'ver- loccasions - one
,s rly as I st S"temnber - Nixon re-
"' wl dge -of th 'W atergate cover-
up ttempt i private conversations.
The President's letter, dated yesterday,
stated that he had listened tothe tapesain
question and is satisfied that they are
"entirely consistent" with his contention
that he had no knowledge of the cover-up
prior to April 21 of this year.
He admitted, however, that persons with
"a different perspective or motivation
might interpret the tipes in a different
way."
THE WATERGATE committee's regu-
lar afternoon-session, scheduled for 2 p.
in., was deluyed while the senators met in
exe-tie session to consider the Nixon
l-tter.
The standing room only crowd gathered
in the Senate Caucus Room rose in an
ovation when chairman Ervin strode in
at around 3:30 p.m.
Ervin read the letter and delivered a
statement challenging Nixon's right to
withhold evidence in the case.
See NIXON, Page 5
Cesar Chavez
speaks on United
Farm -Workers
-See*Story
Page 3.
WATERGATE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN Sen. Sam Ervin (D-N.C.) announces the committee's decision yesterday to subpoena
White House tapes and documents related to the Watergate affair. In one of his most strongly worded denunciation of corrup-
tion in high places, Ervin asserted he saw no redeeming features in the Watergate story,
Tes-wtimo-ny conflictsi
Pun Pilm o n Case"
n -o ae
By DAVID STOLL
Special To The Daily
CADILLAC, Mi. -- In courtroom action
yesterday which occasionally measured up
to the standards of TV melodrama, prose-
cution witness Bruce Peterson took the
stand in the trial of Rainbow People's
Party members Pun Plamondon and Craig
Blazier.
The two are being tried on charges of
extortion, conspiracy and usury in con-
nection with an incident which occured
last January near Traverse City. -
AS ANTICIPATED, Peterson flatly con-
tradicted major points of Uwe Wagner's
testimony. Wagner is the man the two
defendants allegedly threatened.
He has testified that the two brandished
a knife and a derringer, threatened him
with bodily harm and took his personal
possessions as collateral on a $3500 drug
debt.
Peterson, Wagner's roommate at the
time, testified yesterday that he had not
seen either a gun or a knife. He further
testified that Wagner himself had sug-
gested his possessions be taken as col-
lateral.
ACCORDING TO Peterson, Plamondon
and Blazier had warned off others who
were planning to use "icepacks and bat-
tery acid" on Wagner if he did not pay up.
Threats made by the two, Peterson tes-
tified, included a vow to print Wagner's
picture in the Ann Arbor Sun-a paper
closely linked to the Rainbow People's
Party-and a threat to tell 'immigration
officials about Wagner's activities. Wag-
ner is a German citizen.
The only time Plamondon b e c a ni e
-angry, Petersen added, was when "he dis-
covered a syringe and three bottles con-
taining morphine, methadone and ridelin-
a hard drug,"
"HE TOOK THE syringe," Peterson
testified, "and threw it on 'the floor and
stomped on it with his foot. Then he took
the bottles. and flushed them down the
toilet."
Wagner has testified that Plamondon
flushed two of the bottles and pocketed
the third.
One particular bit of histrionics that
that occurred during this phase of the
testimony came w h e n defense counsel
Buck Davis asked, "If I. described Uwe
W a gn e r as an egotistical, lying, slimy
double-dealing little punk, would you agree
with me?"
See PETERSON, Page S