The Michigan Doily-Wednesday July 23, 1980-,-Page 5
Showers cool
areas plagued
by relentless
killer heat wave

PRESIDENT CARTER HOLDS a head of grain sorghum and discusses the
- drought-related problems of Justin, Texas farmers-on the farm of Olen Range.
A roving band of storms yesterday broke the back of the heat wave blamed
for more than 1200 deaths in 24 states.
Gov 't reveals Billy
Carter involved in
hostage release try
WASHINGTON (AP) - Billy Carter three weeks after the hostages were
arranged a meeting between President seized in the takeover of the U.S. Em-
Carter's national security adviser and a bassy in Iran and less than a week
Libyan official last November in an at- before the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli was
tempt to gain Libya's support for sacked.
release of the American hostages in Powell said Brzezinski was informed
Iran, White House officials said yester- a few weeks later that Col. Moammar
day. Khadafy, leader of Libya's leftist Arab
White House press secretary Jody government, had sent a message to
Powell said the president's brother, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Iran
who registered as a foreign agent for "urging the release of the American
Libya under protest last week and hostages. Obviously that message had
acknowledged accepting $220,000 from little effect."
the Libyan government, was asked to THE MEETING came to light when
set up the meeting on short notice by the younger Carter recently asked Br-
national security adviser Zbigniew Br- zezinski if he could disclose it to Justice
zezinski. Department investigators and was told
"AT THE TIME, we were engaged in it would not violate national security,
exploring every possible avenue to ob- Powell said.
tain assistance in getting our people
S released," Powell said, adding, "Some President Carter, in a two-paragraph
of them were unlikely at the time and statement on the controversy surroun-
are even more unlikely in retrospect." ding his brother's ties with Libya, said
"Brzezinski, given the rather cool he did not believe it "appropriate for a
nature of the relationship between this close relative of the president to under-
government and the Libyan gover- take any assignment on behalf of a
nment ... asked Billy if he could foreign government."
arrange a contact that might prove
productive. He did," Powell said. In his first formal statement on the
He said he did not know whether the matter, Carter said he wanted a full
president was consulted beforehand or public disclosure of the "facts relating
had approved the.contact. to the existence of any such relation-
THE MEETING with Ali el Houderi, ship" and had urged Billy "to register
chief Libyan representative in as a foreign agent and make a full
Washington, took place Nov. 27, 1979, disclosure."

A roving band of storms yesterday
broke the back of a heat wave blamed
for more than 1,200 deaths in 24 states.
A record run of 100-degree heat ended
in Dallas and rain answered the
prayers of drought-plagued Arkansas
farmers.
But crops and rangelands in much of
the nation's midsection lay in ruins -
some still in desperate need of rain,
others beyond help. Billions of dollars
in crops, cattle and poultry have been
wiped out by the blistering heat. Food
industry officials said prices would rise
substantially.
AND FORECASTERS disagreed on
whether the nation had seen the last of
the killing heat.
A judge in Texas on Monday interrup-
ted a murder trial to announce that it
was raining outside. That brought ap-
plause from the courtroom.
A group that staged a rain dance in
Dallas claimed the credit. So did 200
Baptists who gathered for prayer at a
Fort Worth school.
REGARDLESS OF the rain that
cooled the hottest July on record in
many areas, the heat continued to take
its toll in lives. The heat wave so far has
contributed to at least 1,213 deaths in 24
states, according to an unofficial count
by The Associated Press.
But an indication that the heat wave
may be waning was reflected in
forecasts for today from the National
Weather Service. Except for the desert
regions of the Southwest, no area was
expected to top 100 degrees.
Scattered showers fell yesterday in
all parts of Texas, but they were light.
"TO HAVE any kind of relief from
the drought, we'll need a rainfall of an'
inch and a half to two inches," said
Virgil Helm of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Soil Conservation Service
in Dallas. "Some of the areas are so
dried out that you have such huge
cracks that it might take three to four
inches."
Helm said much of Monday's rainfall
- the first since June 22 - evaporated
quickly, with the rest soaking into the

parched earth. Consequently, he said,
there was little runoff to replenish the
area's abnormally low lakes.
Dr. Woody Miley, a soil specialist for
the Arkansas Cooperative Extension
Service, called the rain "just a shot in
the arm." But he said that about 80 per
cent of the cotton crop could bounce
back if more rain falls in the next few
weeks.
PRESIDENT CARTER says he will
hasten federal aid to farmers in the
Southwest and urge federal agencies to
"do everything possible to alleviate the
drought and intense heat wave."
When the rain began to fall Monday in
downtown Dallas, State District Judge
Richard Mays halted questioning of
prospective jurors ina murder trial and
said, "I have an important announ-
cement.
"It's raining."
THE 40 prospective.jurors burst into
applause.
A Dallas group of about 100 people
held a rain dance Sunday night at a
park and Debra Denton, one of the
organizers, claimed it got results.
"It rained, didn't it?" she said.
"It was incredible," she added.
"There was so much energy there. Ab-
solutely, the people of Dallas created
that rain."
About 200 people gathered at the Azle
High School stadium Saturday night to
pray for rain, according to Bill Trapp,
pastor of the West Parkway Baptist
Church in Azle, a Fort Worth suburb.
THE PROSPECT FOR
REVOLUTION IN THE
UNDERDEVELOPED
COUNTRIES: AN
EXAMINATION OF
THE ROLE OF
AGRICULTURAL WORKERS
IN
GUADALUPE-MARTINIQUE
Given by The Spark
Sponsored by Ann Arbor
Science for the People
July 23, 7:30 Pendleton Room
Michigan Union

RERIGT
Turn out
the light!
(and save electricity)