The Michigan9T l
Vol. LXXXV, No. 10-S Ann Arbor, Michigan--Tuesday, May 20, 1975 Ten Cents Twelve Pages

Thailand seeks
better terms
ith U.S.govt.
BANGKOK, Thailand (P) - Thai-
land accepted U. S. regrets yester-
day, healing a rift over the Mayaguez
affair, and moved diplomatically
closer to Cambodia and North Viet-
nam. But a hardline Viet Cong state-
ment dimmed prospects for early
Thai rapprochement with South Viet-
nam.
About 400 student demonstrators
left the U. S. Embassy gates where
they had torn off the U. S. eagle sym-
bol and replaced it with a poster of
a vulture. Premier Kukrit Pramoj
said, "We shouldn't have any more
trouble."
KUKRIT accepted a U. S. note as
an apology for disregarding his re-
quests and using Thai bases to stage
the armed rescue of the Mayaguez,
but he said Ambassador Anand Pa-
nyarachun would still be called home
from Washington briefly and Thailand
still would "renegotiate all our trea-
ties with the United States."
The note handed to Foreign Min-
ister Chatichai Choonhavan by U. S.
Charge d'Affaires Edward Masters
actually offered only "regrets" for a
"misunderstanding" and said "the
"unique circumstances that have led
to the recent turn of events . . . are
not going to be repeated."
But government and student lead-
ers interpreted that as an apology
and a promise not to violate Thai
sovereignty again, and the public and
political furor that erupted when U.
S. Marines landed at the U.S.-run
Thai base at Utapao on Wednesday
began to die away.

Confusion continues over
toll in Mayaguez incident
WASHINGTON (P) - Confusion over the
toll of the Mayaguez rescue operation contin-
.ued yesterday as the Pentagon reduced its
estimate of the number wounded to 49. Five
were still listed as killed and 16 missing, but
the casualty statistics from three different
sources now contradict each other.
Defense Department spokesman Joseph "
Laitin said the number of wounded was be-
ing dropped "for the time being" from the 70 d
toa estimated Sunday by Defense Secretary . . f r
James Schlesinger.a

HOWEVER, the captain of the Mayaguez,
Charles Miller, had said Sunday that seven
dead Marines were already "on ice" when he
was taken aboard the destroyer USS Wilson
during the rescue-two more than the figures
from Schlesinger and the Pentagon.
Meanwhile, the commander of the Maya-
guez assault forces said at Subic Naval Base
in the Philippines yesterday that U.S. Marines
involved in the ship's rescue are in the final
stages of narrowing down exactly where the
missing and are-in another contradiction of
Pentagon spokesmen - indicated efforts are
under way to retrieve the Marines' bodies.
"We have interviewed everybody with per-
sonal knowledge where they might have been
and which helicopter they were riding," Lt.
Col. Randall Austin said. But he refused to
comment further on grounds the retrieval was
in the operational phase.
However, in Washington Laitin said there
were no plans to look for any of the bodies.
LAITIN ALSO named three of the five killed
in the incident last week off the Cambodian
coast. They were identified as Air Force 2nd
Lt. Richard Vandegeer of Buckland, Mass.,
Air Force Sgt. Elwood Rumbaugh of Dothan,
See CONFUSION, Page 5

A CAMBODIAN gunboat flying a plain red flag lies alongside the
American container ship SS. Mayaguez off Koh Tang Island, as its
Khmer Rouge crew take over the U. S. freighter here. This photo
was taken by a crew member of the SS. Mayaguez. Yesterday, con-
fusion still continued over the number of U.S. casualties incurred as a
result of last week's Marine assault on Koh Tang.
GOP offers city
budget revision
By ANN MARIE LIPINSKI
Chiding City Council Democrats for their "intellectually
dishonest and misleading" city budget revisons, Council
Republicans last night announced their proposed revamp-
ing of City Adminsitrator Sylvester Murray's general fund
budget.
While the GOP proposal did not alter the balance of
Murray's budget, it did call for reallocation of $341,431 in
city expenditures. The largest alteration made by the Repub-
licans is their $178,930 addition to the police department
budget.
THE REPUBLICAN revision, which follows Human Rights
Party (HRP) and Democrat proposals, was prepared by tW
five GOP councilmen as an alternative to the $18.6 million
budget furnished by Murray. However, unless the Council
Republicans can muster support from at least two other Coun-
cil members, Murray's budget will go into effect May 27.
In accordance with the city charter, seven votes are needed
in order to institute any changes into the administrator's
budget proposal.
Calling the Democrats proposal "disturbing," the Repub-
licans announced in a statement tcnd by Councilman Robert
Henry (R-Third Ward) that they "will not suuport the Demo-
cratic budget proposal . . . or any other Democratic pork
barrelling scheme ..."
The GOP's major objection to the Democratic proposal,
Henry said was its suggested three per cent budget cut
See COUNCIL, Page 10

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