Thursday, August 9, 1973 TH (SUMMER DILY Page Nine Small towns tired of Waterga te EDITOR'S NOTE - In many ways, North Arlington, N. J., and Centralia, Ill., are typical of huodreds of Ameri- can towns. Last November, on Elec- tion Day, AP newsmen watched and listened as voters of the two com- munities went to the polls. The news- men returned in April befor the Wat- ergate hearings began. Following is a report on the most recent interviews. By TERRY RYAN NORTH ARLINGTON, N.J. UP) The evening news came on. "Watergate ..." said John Chan- cellor. For a moment glasses halted in midcourse, voices paus- ed in midsentence. Then Sunny the bartender headed for the tele- vision set. "I'm tired of hearing about it," 'he said. Rolling up the sleeves of his white shirt for the umpteenth :time, he reached up and flipped the channel. The Mets game, sec- ond inning. St. Louis 5, New York 1. "They are just out to get my friend Nixon," said Sonny Bed- ing, co-owner of Tom & Sonny's Lounge. "I voted for him. I'm proud of it. Nobody wants to hear any more of this. They're not go- ing to change my mind." AND SO IT GOES in North Ar- lington, N.J. Watergate drones on through the summer, but few people have changed their minds. Small plots of grass border the one-and two-family brick houses ,that line the streets here. Most of the 18,000 residents work else- where. New York is 40 minutes away, Newark half that far. Un- ion men and housewives who stay home with the kids make up the bulk of the population. North Arlington was solid Rich- ard Nixon when its people went to the polls last November. A re- porter then found few people in- terested in Watergate. It was too remote, too unsubstantial. No- body really knew. A return trip in April found the people no longer shrugging off Watergate questions. They talked about it down at Danny's Diner. But still nobody really knew what to make of it. It's summer now, and people know about Watergate, perhaps more than they ever wanted. But they again are hesitant to dis- cuss it. They would rather tell about paying 99 cents for a dozen eggs. A picture emerges from conver- sations with 30 people. Neverthe- less everyone a g r e e s Nixon should release the tapes. Some call his advisers incompetent or fools or worse. Among Nixon sup- porters, opinion is evenly divided on whether the press or the Dem- crats are out to get him more. Despite the hearings and the headlines, most people here say they have not changed their m i n d s about Richard Nixon. Avenue home. "I watch them sometimes on TV, but you can't tell anything from that. If any- body is guilty, they should be punished, but we'll never know. It's a waste of time." Drewnowski works in a ma- chine shop. He has six children and does the family shopping. He voted for Nixon. Would he do it again? "Never," he snapped, "but not because of Watergate. Do you know what's happened to chick- en? Chicken at 79 cents a pound! It was 49 six weeks ago. That's why!" Andrew Ypelaar, a white-hair- ed dispatcher for Texaco, lives across the street. He is a solid Republican, a solid Nixon man. "It's all politics," Ypelaar said as he stood beside the car parked at the curb. "The Democrats are doing it for '76. If it was some- body like Kennedy, you wouldn't be hearing all this. The press al- ways hated Nixon?" Ypelaar said he did not think much about Watergate last No- ed about begging Communists to sips a beer as the midday sun release war prisoners, was not begins to bear down on the street their man. outside. In April, as Watergate came I'd exercise executive privi- more and more into the news, lege," he said of the latest Wat- people here began talking about ergate development - the tapes. the Watergate case. The name "Even the most innocent state- popped up in a casual sort of ment might be misconstrued and way, but there were more words probably would be." about prices and the then slump- Like most ordinary citizens, ing St. Louis Cardinals. There Conner doesn't boast expertise on was questioning, but Nixon was the fine points of constitutional secure. law and the technicalities of a Interviews with more than two Senate investigation, but he has dozen people showed a change his own opinion. today. Watergate is right up "Everyone else seems to have there with talk about prices and some sort of immunity. I don't "I voted for him (Nixon). I'm proud of it. Nobody wants to hear anymore of this (Water- gate). They're not going to change my mind." -Sonny Heding the surging St. Louis Cardinals. see why the President shouldn't;" People are thinking about the he said. case, they have opinions. Nixon But all that aside, he went on, still appears to have the edge, the investigation is "foolish," but there is wavering. "a waste of money," and manip- Defenders of the presidency ulated by an "ultraliberal" press Defendrso the residency out to get the President. still abound, however. "That's a carnival up there," A block down Broadway from he said, "and Sam Ervin is a Mrs. Novak's store, Jim Conner, sanctimonious old SOB." 46, part owner of the Green Grill, Conner is hearing more Water- gate arguments in the Green Grill these days - very, very loud ones. "But people are a little bored with it. People are easily stirred up and easily forget," he said. Conner doesn't consider him- self a Nixon booster, however. "They may make a Democrat out of me, but not because of Watergate," he explained. "If the President has any problems, it's the economy, not Watergate." Through the window of a cab, Francis "Hoppy" Cassady, 51, has for 24 years philosophised about the world to his riders and anyone else who will listen. He has kept close track of Watergate, he said, and thinks Sen. Ervin is "a firm and hon- est man . . . doing a very won- derful job." President Nixon does not rate that kind of esteem from Cassa- dy. "Of course I believe, like most people I know, that there is such a thing as judging something before all the evidence is in," he said. "But in my opinion the fact that the President we have will not release the tapes is evidence to me that he's involved. I don't want that man leading me. I want that man behind me where I can watch him." Terry Ryan and Dennis Mont- gomery are writers for the As- sociated Press. JACOBSON'S OPEN THURSDAY AND FRIDAY UNTIL 9:00 P.M. Nixon: Sincere and honest? vember and still does not think much about it. Certainly not enough to change his mind about the President. "Maybe my attitude toward him has slumped a little, but not that much," he said. "I think he is a sincere and honest man who has done a lot of good things." He's a crook, that is what he is," said Thomas Capriot, a ware- houseman and party line Demo- crat. "I didn't need this Water- gate thing to tell me that. I al- ways knew he was a crook." By DENNIS MONTGOMERY CENTRALIA, Ill. UP) - Sen. Sam Ervin's (D-N.C.) disembod- ied voice slipped from the radio. It is essential, he was sayineg, that a court determine whether the President of the United States is above the law. Gentilina Novak, 54, looked up from her copy of Grit at the coun- ter of her record store, and said, "I just think its terrible that the government has brought the American people to this." "Uncle Sam" Ervin, as he is occasionally called here, was expounding on a letter from President Nixon refusing sub- poenas for White House tapes. "I think he should turn them over," Mrs. Novak said. "If he is sincere and not involved and as innocent as he claims to be he should turn them over." If he doesn't, she said, "it's be- cause he's got to be involved." Her willingness to discuss and give opinion on Watergate is be- coming more and more common .these days in this prairie town not far from the nation's popula- tion center. Centralia is Middle America, Nixon country, a stronghold of the so-called silent majority. Last November, voters here lis- tened to Democratic attempts to make Watergate a campaign is-. sue, then went out and voted overwhelmingly for Richard Nix- on. George McGovern, who talk- .._: ,. . i }}" ' ,. i; '. , , " ' # : ' ' '