The Michigan Daily-Friday, December 5, 1980-Page 5 WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. fire investigators search through the rubble of what was the meeting room of the Stouffer's Inn of Westchester. They were searching for clues to the cause of a fire there yesterday that claimed 26 lives. Fire in N.Y.i clams 26lives From AP and UPI WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - An electrical fire flashed through the conference rooms of a suburban inn yesterday, killing 26 people and injuring 40. *Authorities said the area where the fire spread was not equipped with sprinklers. "It appears it flashed up suddenly and these people didn't have a chance," said Purchase Fire Chief Robert Makowski at the scene of the fire at Stouffer's Inn of Westchester, about 20 miles north of mid- Manhattan. WESTCHESTER COUNTY Executive Alfred DelBello said there was computer equipment in the room where the fire started, but he said there was "no foundation" to reports that the fire may have been caused by an explosion of that equipment. Rescue workers said five men were trapped and died when they apparently ran into a closet they mistook for a fire exit. Five more died piled in a heap against an emergency exit which had been dead- bolteI shut. County fire investigator Joseph Butler disclosed that one of the emergency exits from the conference center had been deadbolted shut. IT WAS THE nation's second hotel fire with a heavy death toll- in two weeks, coming 13 days after 84 died and more than 700 were injured at the MGM Grand Hotel-casino in Las Vegas, Nev. Makowski said he could tell the fire was electrical because "the partitions in the walls melted. It was a very hot, hot fire." "We could hear noises in the hallway. I heard someone say, 'Oh my God,' "said Thomas Goodrum, of Danbury, Conn., a General Foods employee who was meeting next door to where the fire started. "Smoke started coming over the top of our door . . . we couldn't open the windows," he said. Someone managed to break the sealed windows with a table, Goodrum said, and "people were pulling drapes down to start making ropes. The room was half full of smoke. . . one guy jumped. I dropped out, but I think somebody broke my fall." He said all 11 people in the room escaped. In the Las Vegas fire, safety codes did not require sprinklers in the casino, where the flames caused the most destruction. In the Westchester fire, sprinklers were required in guest areas, but not in public meeting rooms. Carter plans to veto anti-busing measure Ro4se Bow1 Spec"ia1 Make the Hacienda Hotel your base for all the fun and activities Special Rose Bowl Rates* $32 per night, Single or Double Occupancy Minimum stay 4 nights 'valid 12/19/80- 1/7/81 Rate Incdudes . Welcome cocktail . 24-hour courtesy transportation to/from airport . Courtesy transportation to/from Fox Hills Shopping Mall Convenience and Fun! " Just one mile from L.A. International . 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"It would effectively allow the Congress to tell a president that there are certain constitutional remedies that he cannot ask the courts to apply." The amendment, which was passed easily by both the House and Senate, was attached to a funding bill for the Justice Department and several other agencies. It would have barred gover- nment lawyers from asking courts for desegregation plans that call for busing children beyond the closest school to their homes. Carter's decision to veto the measure jeopardizes money to the departments of Justice, State, and Commerce, and the federal court system. IT WAS NOT clear whether Congress would attempt to override Carter's veto. Both the House and Senate are scheduled to hold their last sessions today. Carter's decision was announced af- ter he met at the White House yester- day with black leaders who urged him to veto the bill. Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti also had said he would urge a veto, and press secretary Jody Powell said the bill actually will be vetoed when it arrives at the White House, probably today. "I think we would have a good chance of sustaining our position" if Congress sought to override the veto, Powell ad- ded. Cancer fight forces Gov. Grasso to resign From AP and UPI HARTFORD, Conn. - Gov. Ella Grasso, declaring that her battle with cancer had robbed her of the stamina needed for the job, yesterday announ- ced "with a heavy heart" that she was. resigning at the end of the year. Her resignation takes effect Dec. 31 and Lt. Gov. William O'Neill, 50, a for- mer legislative leader, will be sworn in as governor Jan. 1, 1981. . GRASSO, WHOSE official, resignation letter said she was leaving " by reason of physical disability," learned last week she had cancer of the liver. She underwent a hysterectomy in April for ovarian cancer. The 61-year-old Democrat was released from Hartford Hospital earlier this week after completing the first phase of chemotherapy for liver can- cer. Grasso met with O'Neill and other state leaders before releasing her an- nouncement to reporters. "IT TOOK A lot of courage and guts to do what she did," said State Democratic Chairman James Fit- zgerald. Grasso, first elected to the state chief executive post in 1974, was the nation's 5 first woman to be elected governor without having had her husband precede her in office. The only other current female gover- nor is Dixy Lee Ray of Washington. Since she was defeated in recent elec- tions, there will be no women governors in office after January. "In her quarter century of public ser- vice to the people of Connecticut and the nation, Ella Grasso has demon- strated, and fulfilled, the great poten- tial of democratic government - in- tegrity, compassion, and respon- sibility," President Carter said in a statement from the White House. 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