The Michigan Daily-Friday, July 21, 1978-Page 9
Soviet attacks U.S. official
By AP and UPI
MOSCOW-A Soviet guard chased and grabbed
an American Embassy official as the diplomat was
walking on U.S. property on his way into the em-
bassy yesterday, diplomatic sources said.
An embassy spokesman later said "a strong
protest is being lodged with the Soviet Foreign
Ministry" over the incident, which involved em-
bassy Second Secretary Raymond Smith.
THE SOVIET policeman ran after Smith, jumped
him from behind and ripped his coat while grap-
pling with him, the sources said. Smith was not in-
jured.
"The entire incident occurred on embassy
property and therefore constituted an intrusion onto
embassy grounds," the embassy "said in a
statement.
In Washington, State Department spokesman
Thomas Reston said Soviet authorities told the em-
bassy the incident may have been the result of
mistaken identity and that the guard may have been
newly assigned to the area.
THE GUARDS often stop Soviet citizens who try
to enter. In some cases, they have been beaten and
hauled away.
The grounds of all foreign embassies in Moscow
are off limits to the Soviet militiamen who are
posted outside by the Soviet authorities.
Embassy sources said the Soviet guards have
become "nastier" over the past several weeks,
possibly in retaliation for attacks on Soviet business
properties in the United States
SMITH, 37 A specialist in internal Soviet politics
who has had various contacts with Soviet dissidents,
has been working at the embassy for two years and
has one more year left on his tour.
A Philadelphia native and a political officer at the
embassy, Smith served as official U.S. observer at
last week's trial of Jewish activist Anatoly sh-
charansky, who was sentenced to 13 years' im-
prisonment for allegedly spying for the United
States.
Smith later declined to discuss the incident in
detail with reporters.
The State Department spokesman cautioned
against speculation that the assault on Smith would
develop into a "major diplomatic incident."
Mitchell paroled
WASHINGTON (AP) - John Mitchell, the last Watergate
criminal to go to prison, was granted a parole yesterday, ef-
fective Jan. 19. He will have served 19 months of his one-to-
four year sentence, counting five months freedom on medical
furlough.
The U.S. Parole Commission apparently accorded little
weight to Mitchell's age and infirmities since the length of his
sentence is similar to that of his two co-defendants, H. R.
Haldeman and John Ehrlichman whose time in prison was
set at 18 months each.
THE DECISION follows an interview with Mitchell by
commission investigators July 5.
The former attorney general, a one-time law partner of
Richard Nixon and Nixon's manager in two winning
presidential campaigns, will be 65 in September. This year he
has undergone two major surgeries: for repair of a weakened
artery in his abdomen, and for replacement of an arthritic
right hip. The five months Mitchell was out of prison on
medical furlough counts as time served.
In recent weeks Mitchell has progressed from walking with
crutches to using a cane. He works in the institution's
education section and for a time was a clerk in the library.
Like many others involved in Watergate,,Mitchell has been
working on a book.
HE ENTERED the prison at Maxwell Air Force Base in
Alabama on June 22 last year after fighting his conviction to
the Supreme Court. Maxwell is a minimum security in-
stitution without walls or bars.
At the same time Mitchell was under a two-and-a-half to
eight-year sentence, the term also assessed co-defendants H.
R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman. But last October, U.S.
District Judge John Sirica ended his long association with the
Watergate cases by reducing all three sentences to one year
minimum, four years maximum.
"My reflections since the trial upon my acts and deeds and
the events in which I participated have led me to con-
siderable remorse and regret that they occurred," Mitchell
told Sirica in a tape-recorded statement
pleading for the cut in time.
"NO SET of circumstances,
whatever they might be, will ever again
lead me to take such actions or to per-
form such deeds."k
Mitchell thus became eligible for
parole on June 21. But he was nearing
the end of his medical furlough when
commission investigators made their
regular visit to Maxwell and his inter-
view was delayed.
Mitchell was the last of 25 men sen-
tenced to prison in Watergate to begin
serving his term. The parole com-
mission has already ordered a Dec. 20
release for Haldeman, who surren-
dered at a similar institution at Lom- Tickets now
poc, Calif. a day before Mitchell. At
that time Haldeman will have served 18 .
23 DEAD:
Texas continues to burn
DALLAS (AP) - A blistering, month-long heat or higher temperature.
wave continued to bake much of Texas yesterday, A FEW AREAS in the coastal region have
adding at least two victims to its death toll. received some rain in the past two days, but the
Heat stroke was listed as the cause of death of drought went on in most areas, such as Dallas
Sam Williams, 57, of Paris, who was found sitting in where there has been no officially measured rain
a chair at his un-airconditioned home. Heat also since June 7.
killed one-month-old Cecelia Sainz of Lubbock. Meteorologists say there is no clearcut reason for
THE LATEST deaths brough to at least 23 the the heat wave that has gripped the northern half of
number of heat-related fatalities in the state since Texas since late June. Even worse, added
the torrid temperatures began early this month. forecaster Billy Joe Cook, the region is only now ap-
The two reported yesterday were the first outside proaching what is usually the hottest part of the
the Dallas-Fort Worth area. year.
Afternoon temperatures yesterday were a few A Dallas County family counselor blamed the
degrees cooler across much of- northern Texas, heat for increased child abuse in the area.
where the heat has been most severe, but were still "It's too hot for children to play outside," said
headed for the upper 90s or low 100s. counselor Lee Russell. "They get underfoot. Paren-
Wichita Falls had reached 100 degrees by 1 p.m., ts are irritated by the heat. When you're uncomfor-
marking that city's 24th straight day of 100-degrees table and it's hot, tempers are going taget frayed."
Marxist rebuffed
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP)-The University of Maryland
refused yesterday to appoint Marxist professor Bertell Ollman to
head the Politics Department at the College Park campus.
Acting Gov. Blair Lee III had opposed Olman's appointment
and had warned that the university might budgetary probelems
with the Legislature if it were approved.
READING from a statement, Maryland President John Toll said
he was taking the action "only after careful review."
He said "appointment decisions will not and shall not be based
on political beliefs but shall be based on the qualifications of the
candidate and the duties of the position involved."
Toll conceded that "There has been considerable pressure for
this proposed appointment from outside the university, mostly
from people who have not carefully examined the qualifications
of the candidate." But he said he "viewed such pressure as
irrelevant."
Toll said a new task force eill be appointed to select a can-
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