The Michigan Daily Vol. LXXXV, No. 21-S Ann Arbor, Michigan-Thursday, June 5, 1975 Ten Cents Twelve Pages PRESIDENT FORD, just back from his trip to Europe, is escorted by military personnel as he arrives at West Point, N.Y., yesterday for an address at graduation exercises. Congressional unit finds evidence of CIA plt s Senate declines to cut defense appropriation WASHINGTON (1P) - The Senate tary of the Air Force, said the defense backed a new plea from President Ford budget for fiscal 1976 would increase against defense budget cuts yesterday spending 20 per cent over the current by rejecting a $1.2-billion weapons reduc- fiscal year, representing the greatest an- tion and refusing to halt five "counter- nual increase since 1965-66 following force" programs, direct American entry into the Vietnam The $1.2-billion cut in a $30.3-billion war. weapons procurement authorization bill Symington said the $1.2-billion reduc- was defeated 59 to 36. Continued research tion he proposed to reduce the burden programs to improve accuracy and yield of arms in peace time "can be achieved of land and sea-based nuclear warhead at no damage to any vital weapons pro- missiles were approved 52 to 42. gram, at no reduction in defense man- power levels, and at no limitation on the SENS. THOMAS McIntyre (D-N.H.) strong defense posture required to en- and Edward Brooke (R-Mass) who pro- sure the security of our nation." posed to eliminate $143.4 million for the See SENATE, Page 6 accuracy programs, said they would edge the United States toward first-strike capability against Soviet missile silos. "These programs run counter to our S en . E rvin national security because they put a hair trigger on nuclear war and will draw Soviet fire by giving them an in- centive to strike first in a period of Opposing the amendment Sen.Henry Jackson (D-Wash.) said "it doesn't make s s e sense" to deny the U. S. government, s s s t r unilaterally, the opportunity to improve the accuracy of an Inter-Continental By SUSAN ADES Ballistic Missile force that is smaller and fewer than that of Russia, which is Copyright (c) 1975, The Miheigan naily also working on accuracy improve- Former Sen. Sam E r v i n re- ments. sponded with sharp disappointment yesterday to recent NBC News re- THE ISSUE was debated for an hour ports that claimed some 600,000 and 411 minutes in closed-door session, a classified files on Vietnam war pro- and 0 mnuts i clsed-oorsesion as testers had not been destroyed in well as in open session. The closed ses- 1970 after the Pentagon assured sion was the first since the same issue Er7i, at the dot o bescom- was debated on June 10, 1974. Erv that the data would be com- Other amendments to make specific "The Defense Department as- cuts in various weapons systems, such sured me then that they had de- as the B1 bomber, remained to be voted stroyed their files and that they upon before final action on the bill weren't engaging in this any Friday. more," the now-retired Democrat The $1.2-billion weapons cut was pro- told The Daily from his office in posed in an amendment sponsored by Morganton, NC. Sens. Stuart Symington (D-Mo.), Alan "BUT INSTEAD they resurrected Cranston (D-Calif.) and Edward Ken- it. It's a terrible thing to happen in nedy (D-Mass.). See SENATOR, Page 6 S Y M I N G T O N, a former secre- WASHINGTON /P% - The Senate Intel- ligence Committee has received convinc- ing evidence that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been involved in mur- der plots, Chairman Frank Church said yesterday. Church, (D-Idaho) said he believes the Rockefeller Commission has similar evi- dence. He accused Vice President Nelson Rockefeller of making misleading state- ments designed to downgrade the im- portance of CIA wrongdoing. "I DON'T regard murder plots as a minor matter," Church said. "The CIA has been implicated in this kind of activity. I have been concerned about the apparent attempt of certain members of the Rockefeller Commis- sion to lead the public to believe that any misdeeds of the CIA were minor and that the agency had been relatively with- out guilt." Church said he was referring specific- ally to statements by Rockefeller, the commission's chairman. "I HAVE reason to believe the com- mission has hard evidence, as my com- mittee has hard evidence, which indi- cates the CIA has been involved in mur- der plots," Church said. A spokesman for the vice president quoted Rockefeller as saying the com- mission's report to President Ford, scheduled to be released this weekend, deals with the issue of assassination and that it speaks for itself. Rockefeller will have no specific comments on CIA mat- ters until the commission's report is made public, the spokesman said. Rockefeller called Church's remarks See SENATE, Page 10 PROPOSED MILLAGE INCREASE QUESTIONED Budget controversy divides candidates 'I guarantee you that we can't offer t h e same programs next year as we are this year (without the pro- posed 1.5 millage in- crease.)' -Cecil Warner By JEFF RISTINE Last of a three-part series The issues of greatest concern to voters as they select three school board members on Mon- day will almost certainly involve money. The current economic conditions pose a stubborn obstacle for budget-planners, and most of the ten board candidates have in mind areas from either personnel or programs they think are ripe for cutbacks. Exactly what kinds of cutbacks are necessary will be determined by the way voters react to the three millage proposals. The Board of Edu- ,cation is asking for a 3 mill renewal for school expenses (Proposition B) and a 1 mill renewal for the public library system (Proposition C). THE CONTROVERSY is thickest, however, over Proposition A - a five-year, 1.5 mill property tax increase. Ann Arbor voters have not approv- ed a millage hike in six years, and hardly any- one today has more money than last year. Statistics help illustrate the school district's situation. The operating budget has jumped from less than $24 million in 1970 to nearly $28.5 mil- - lion last year. The projected budget for 1975-76 is $30.45 million - if Proposal A fails - and $31.76 million if the millage increase is approv- ed. Board officials say the additional $1.3 mil- lion is needed simply to maintain current pro- grams. But several factors, including inflation, have clouded the issue. Ann Arbor's tax base, accord- ing to state law, is too high to qualify for state aid. The school district lost $2-3 million as a result. THE TAX base itself, however, is steadily in- creasing and produces much greater local reve- nue than before. It is expected to be nearly $65 million higher next year than in 1974-75. The figures city residents are most interested in, though, are those representing their own pro- perty taxes. For a house assessed at $20,000 See BUDGET, Page 7 'The way to insure that our schools are run properly and the proper programs are funded is not by tax- ing o u r s e I v e s to death.' -Shelley Ettinger