a032  0026  05 Aug 78
PM-Women-Climb,320
Laserphoto FX1
    SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - An adventurous band of women leaves Sunday for
far-off Nepal on the first leg of a journey they hope will end at the
icy top of towering Annapurna, the world's 10th tallest peak.
    If they succeed, they will have made history - the first all-woman
American team to conquer a mountain more than 8,000 meters high.
    ''In mountain climbing, 8,000 meters (more than 26,000 feet) is a
magic mark,'' said Christy Tews, who will manage the base camp this
fall while 10 women attempt the harrowing climb.
    Ms. Tews said that while Japanese, Chinese and Polish women have
climbed beyond 8,000 meters, American women have yet to reach that
mark.
    The climbers, ranging in age from 20 to 50, all are experienced
mountaineers, Ms. Tews said.
    The group flies from San Francisco to Hong Kong and will assemble in
Nepal. From a staging area at Pokhara, the women will set out on a
10-day walk to the mountain.
    Ms. Tews said they expect to establish the base camp in early
September.
    Then, depending on weather conditions, they will begin the four- to
six-week assault of Annapurna, a feat completed successfully by only
four other expeditions.
    The Sherpa guides will include several women, she said.
    Arlene Blum, a biochemist at the University of California at
Berkeley, will lead the climb. She has had 10 expeditions in Asia and
Africa and was a co-leader of the first all-woman assault on Mount
McKinley.
    Other climbers include Joan Firey, Seattle; Alison
Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz, England; Liz Klobusicky, Germany; Vera
Komarkova, Bolder, Colo.; Prio Kramar, Seattle; Irene Miller, Palo
Alto, Calif.; Margi Rusmore, Santa Cruz, Calif.; Vera Watson,
Stanford, Calif.; and Ann Whitehouse, Laramie, Wyo.
    Four of the women will be leaving husbands behind. Ms. Tews said
families generally have given the expedition full support.
    The climb is expected to cost $80,000. Donations will finance part
of the trip, and the women have raised $24,000 by selling T-shirts.
    
ap-ny-08-05 0327EDT
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a071  0355  05 Aug 78
PM-National Overview,550
    HACKENSACK, N.J. (AP) - New York Times reporter Myron A. Farber,
sitting in a cell next to a murder suspect for refusing to surrender
his files on the Dr.X murder case, ''is like any other inmate'' in the
Bergen County jail.
    Farber and his newspaper were convicted of contempt for defying a
court order to surrender their material on Dr. Mario Jascalevich, the
surgeon referred to as Dr. X in Farber's stories on a series of
mysterious deaths at a New Jersey hospital.
    Farber served seven hours in jail last week before his sentence was
stayed temporarily by a New Jersey Supreme Court Justice. A last
minute effort to keep the reporter out of jail until an appeal could
be argued was rejected Friday by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood
Marshall.
    ---
    SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Immanuel David, who spent more than $30,000 on
food and posh hotel rooms for his family in the past 14 months, will
be buried with his wife and six of their children at county expense,
relatives said.
    David, who claimed to have revelations and to be able to destroy the
world, committed suicide this week. After learning of his death
Wednesday, Rachel David helped the couple's seven children plunge from
the 11th floor balcony of their $90-a-day, three-room suite before
she jumped over the side to her death Thursday morning.
    Only a 13-year-old daughter, Elizbeth, survived. Friday night she
was reported in critical condition at LDS Hospital.
    David's brother, Dean Longo, a Vero Beach, Fla., police sergeant,
arrived Friday to handle funeral arrangments. He said he could not
afford to pay for the family's funeral. He said the county had already
been contacted for help. The family will be buried in Utah.
    ---
    SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - An adventurous band of women leaves Sunday for
far-off Nepal on the first leg of a journey they hope will end at the
icy top of towering Annapurna, the world's 10th tallest peak.
    If they succeed, they will have made history - the first all-woman
American team to conquer a mountain more than 8,000 meters high.
    ''In mountain climbing, 8,000 meters (more than 26,000 feet) is a
magic mark,'' said Christy Tews, who will manage the base camp this
fall while 10 women attempt the harrowing climb.
    Ms. Tews said that while Japanese, Chinese and Polish women have
climbed beyond 8,000 meters, American women have yet to reach that
mark.
    The climbers, ranging in age from 20 to 50, all are experienced
mountaineers, Ms. Tews said.
    ---
    ALBANY, Texas (AP) - Waterlogged residents of western Texas, already
inundated by up to 30 inches of rain in the last two days, braced for
more flooding today as the runoff sent rivers gushing from their
banks.
    Water poured over earthen dams and spillways, and creeks that barely
trickled a few days ago grew two miles wide across the rolling west
Texas prairies.
    The killer storm - remnants of Tropical Storm Amelia - has claimed
at least 20 lives while carving a 200-mile-long swath of destruction
from central to northwestern Texas.
    No rain was falling early today and skies were forecast to remain
partly cloudy.
    The Texas Department of Public Safety said 20 bodies had been
recovered across the state, including 16 in central Texas and four in
Albany, a farming town of 2,500 residents.
    
ap-ny-08-05 0656EDT
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