Page,18-Thursday, May 15, 1980-The Michigan Daily Rep. Diggs calls it quits 0 WASHINGTON (UPI) - Rep. Charles Diggs, the senior black mem- ber of Congress who was reelected in 1978 after his conviction on 29 fraud counts, announced yesterday he will retire at the end of this term in January. The Detroit Democrat became the second congressman this century to be disciplined by the House for misconduct when he was censured in July 1979 following his conviction for mail fraud and filing false pay vouchers. IN ANNOUNCING the end to his 30- year political career, Diggs, 57, said, "Although I remain hopeful that the United States Supreme Court will reverse the previous decision by the lower court in my case, the announ- cement I make today is final. "My conscience is clear," he added. The congressman said he is confident he would have been re-elected in November, but "personal problems of the past two years ... have been in- creasingly burdensome when placed alongside my regular congressional duties." A CROWDED slate already faces voters in the Democratic primary in Diggs' inner-city Detroit district this August, including two city council members, a former judge and a minister. The district is over- whelmingly Democratic and winning the primary is tantamount to election. Diggs said he chose this time to an- nounce his retirement to give other potential candidates enough time to run for his office. He said he expects to be consulted on the selection of his successor. "Anyone I would support would come from the ranks who have had previous experien- ce in an elected office," he said. HE CLAIMED his decision had nothing to do with his pending Supreme Court appeal or any hope of convincing the lower court trial judge to reduce his three-yesr sentence. "This is an -independent decision ... This is not a reaction," he said, referring to the timing of the an- nouncement before the high court's decision is handed down. The congressman's principle crime was inflating the salaries of five staff members and using the additional money to help pay his own office and personal debts. Diggs was sentenced to three years in prison, but was allowed to remain free TRA~ Make BIN COMPASSES SWISS ARMY KNIVES BACKPACKING STOVES from OPTIMUS, MSR, COLEMAN CAMPING EQUIPMENT from TRAILWISE, CAMP 7 WILDERNES EXPERIENCE IOUAC Your -} 0 SOFT LU ECLu LE SPOF and INTERNAL from WILDERNE pending appeal. - wrongdoing and agreed to repay $40,000 To avoid expulsion from Congress, to the government at the rate of at least Diggs formally apologized for his $500 a month. Libyan leader beg.ins nHew terror campaign From The Associated Press Since then he has sometimes seemed Libyan strongman Col. Moammar to relish his reputastion as a renegade Khadafy has never balked at using world leader and has expressed strong violence to achieve his goal of creating support for violent groups such as the a new society based on the "power of Palestine Liberation Organization the masses." (PLO) and the Irish Republican Army But nothing in the fiery-talking (IRA). revolutionary's past equals what ap- But Khadafy has repeatedly stressed pears to be a new campaign of terror his opposition to "terrorism," which he against his opponents overseas and the defines as violene against innocent reported execution and torture of hun- civilians. He says the PLO and the IRA dreds of dissidents at home. are struggling to liberate "oppressed IN 1969, KHADAFY was an unknown peoples." 27-year-old army captain when he and a KHADAFY IS TALL with piercing group of army officers seized power in brown eyes and is personally charming. the North African nation in a virtually Born in a Bedouin tent to a family that bloodless coup. As chairman of the raised livestock, he is married to his newly formed Revolutionary Command second wife and has six children. Council, the staunch Moslem banned Using the nation's huge oil revenues, liquor and nightclub acts. Khadfy has begun to develop the Libyan economy. The nation's oil in- come in 1979 totaled $27 billion, or more L' ] ]than $8,400 for each of the country's 3.2 million inhabitants. Until now one of the most serious ac- S cusations leveled against Khadafy was that he sent a murder squad to Egypt in March 1976 to try to kill Maj. Omar Meheishy, who had led an attempt to oust him in 1975. Egypt announced it had uncovered the plot and arrested 27 Libyans who were allegedly involved. IN THE PAST two months, six Khadafy opponents in Italy, Britain, and West Germany have been the vic- tims of what appear to be similar Libyan death teams. After surviving the attempted coup, Khadafy consolidated his power as Libya's only effective ruler. In 1976 he changed the name of the country to the "Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah," the last word meaning BOOK BAGS "massdom" or "mass power" in BIKE BAGS Arabic. Since then Khadafy has tried to in- DUFFLE BAGS troduce what he calls "direct democracy" to Libya. His famous "Green Book," which outlines his views and philosophy, proclaims that all parliamentary systems are tyranny. This philosophy seems to be behind the takeover of Libyan embassies by radical Libyan activists-many of them students-and their transformation into "People's Bureaus." Khadafy has said he wants people to exert firsthand con- trol over government, eliminating traditional diplomatic institutions and other "repressive" structures. Use Daily Classifieds IGGAGE PSE TONIGHT PSE ITS SAC d SECOND HA L FRAMES SS EXPERIENCE .. _. .., .., .- .a .s ri xt. a ,sY P. d .d # ~F !. t } # f t' .s , x:.. e.. n x h . 9 , , R i } ' d !