The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, August 9, 1978-Page 7
Carter signs bill to aid New York City
NEW YORK (AP) - President Car-
ter signed legislation yesterday aimed
at helping save New York City from
bankruptcy, declaring that the
measure wasn't a federal "hand out."
Those who thought that the United
States was going to stand by while its
greatest city went under were wrong,"
Carter said at a City Hall ceremony.
Carter, who told New Yorkers during
his presidential campaign that their
city was "not about to drop dead," flew
here yesterday to sign the legislation
and spend a night on the town.
"LET THERE BE no mistake about
what this bill does. It is not a hand out,"
Carter said. "New York has asked for
no handouts and has received none.
"Nor is it a band-aid approach that
simply postpones the problem," he
said. "Instead, through long-term loan
guarantees, the bill opens up enough
breathing space for New Yorkers to
complete the difficult task of restoring
yourselves to financial and economic
self-sufficiency."
The legislation, which Carter said
reflected "a spirit of mutual concern
and of cooperation," permits the U.S.
Treasury to guarantee up to $1.65
billion in long-term city bonds sold to
the city and state pension funds through
June 30, 1982.
CARTER AND his wife, Rosalynn,
arrived at mid-afternoon at John F.
Kennedy Airport, then took a helicopter
to the Wall Street heliport, passing over
Coney Island and the Statue of Liberty
on the way.
By the time the President greeted
New York Gov. Hugh Carey and Mayor
Edward Koch, he was wearing a button
that proclaimed, "I Love New York" -
a spinoff of an advertising campaign
pegged at improving the city's image.
Several members of the presidential
party sported similar buttons.
During his 17-hour stay here, Carter
also planned to take in a Tony Award-
winning Broadway show, ,"Ain't
Misbehavin'," dine at a New York
restaurant and spend the night at
Gracie Mansion, the mayor's residen-
ce. Carter was scheduled to leave New
York at 9:30 a.m. today to return to
Washington.
IN HIS CITY Hall remarks, Carter
said that as long as New York "keeps
its commitments - as I'm sure it will -
then this bill will not cost the American
taxpayer a cent.
"This bill represents a crucial step in
New York's long and difficult climb
back towards solvency and indepen-
dence," he said..
Carter said that both southerners and
New Yorkers have had to deal with
regional prejudice, "but in the final
analysis, this country of ours stands
together."
Referring to Koch, Carter said, "I
know that Ed likes to go up to people on
the street and ask, 'How'm I doing?' If
you ask me, Ed, you're doing fine."
In his prepared remarks, Koch said,
"from the beginning, President Carter
made it consistently clear that he would
never let New York City down. And he
kept his word, even though federal aid
to New York was not a popular
issue . . ."
For the bill-singing ceremony, in
which some 1,700 dignitaries were in-
vited, the city lent Carter a mahogany
writing table that President George
Washington used when Federal Hall in
lower Manhattan was the nation's
capitol.
Policeman dead after
clash with radicals
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A bloody
gun battle between specially trained
city policemen and a band of mop-
haired radicals holed up in a dirty,
ramshackle house ended yesterday
with one policeman dead and 13 persons
wounded.
Six police officers, five firemen and
two MOVE members were injured in
the exchange of gunfire that erupted af-
ter helmeted SWAT team officers mar-
ched into the three-story house.
POLICE OFFICER James Ramp, 52,
died of gunshot wounds to the chest.
The gunbattle broke out after police
and firemen using a bulldozer and a
crane began demolishing the three-
story dwelling near the University of
Pennsylvania campus.
Police staged the pre-dawn raid with
warrants for the arrest of 22 persons,
some of whom were known to have left
the house prior to yesterday's incident.
It was unclear how many MOVE mem-
bers were in the house at the time, but
police at one point estimated that five of
them were inside.
"You have chosen not to surrender.
Come out with your hands over your
heads," a policeman shouted through a
bullhorn as a bulldozer slammed
through a crude wooden barricade in
front of the house.
THE FIREFIGHTERS had used a
water cannon and high-pressure hoses
to try to flush out the MOVE members,
including children, from the rat-
infested basement. .
Babies wailed and dogs yapped inside
the compound as the yellow earth-
mover, manned by a policeman,
chewed up the splintering wood.
"The door is open," shouted a man in
the house. "After you spill the blood of
MOVE men, women and children,;
you're going to have to keep on spilling
the blood of MOVE supporters all over
thecountry."
the dilapidated house for 15 months,
saying they were dedicated to a simple
life uncluttered by laws and technology.
The name MOVE has no known
significance.
At least 22 members of the whole
"family" are wanted on criminal
charges, many of them stemming from
an armed confrontation with police in
May 1977. The police had gone to the
house after city health inspectors had
been physically blocked in attempts to
inspect the property.
The inspectors had spotted large rats,
about 40 dogs, and human excrement in
the dusty, debris-strewn yard. Neigh-
bors had complained of a foul odor.
IN YESTERDAY'S confrontation,
which involved some 100 policemen
altogether, more than 14 SWAT of-
ficers, including three explosives ex-
perts, marched into the house and for
the next hour helmeted officers came
and went, and a knot of photographers
and reporters watched.
Then a woman screamed and a
policeman shouted, "One of them has a
gun."
"THROW OUT the gun, throw out the
gun," yelled another officer. There was
a "pop, pop, pop," followed by a stac-
cato roarof gunfire.
After the shooting stopped, MOVE
members thrust a little girl out of a
basement window, apparently as a
shield.
She stood ina tattered.dress shaking,
her body soaked with the firemen's
spray. She sobbed, "Don't shoot. Please
don't shoot" as she stared into the muz-
zles of sharpshooters' rifles poised 20
yards away. A plainclothes officer
snatched her to safety and police said
they confiscated ammunition and
weapons including a .45-caliber