n048  1402  26 Jul 76
 
BC-BECK COLUMN 1stadd
HOLLYWOOD: star.
    A New Love
    BEHIND THE SCENES: Jack Jones hasn't attached himself to
any one gal since he and attachee Susan George dissolved
their lengthy liaison - but he does have two new loves in
his life: catamaran sailing and CB radio. The singing star
rented a 16-foot Hobie Cat during his recent concert stand
at Orlando's Disney World, and became so enamoured of the
sport, he's now ordered a Cat to use in the Pacific waters.
That's where he'll be spending most of his time - when he
isn't cruising around in his car with its personalized ''OCTAVE''
license plate. Which happens to spell out his CB call letters.
    THE REEL WORLD: Swiss beauty Marthe Keller decided she looked
too healthy for her role as a chronically ill jetsetter in
''Bobby Deerfield'' - and has gone to great pains to do something
about the matter. She started arising at six in the morning,
playinor an hour, hiking mountain trails at top
speed, submitting to underwater massages, swimming in thermal
baths, limiting her intake to lettuce leaves and carrot juice.
And within a week had melted off 10 pounds - and succeeded
in looking as wan and weak as other inmates of the sanitarium
in which she appears in the Al Pacino starrer. Says Marthe,
when audiences see the film and hear her ordered by doctors
to rest, she hopes they'll be thinking, ''God, yes - and
give her something to eat!''
    THE REAL WORLD: CBS' coverage of the American Bicentennial
Everest expedition should be something special to see - because
the team's assault on the world's tallest mountain is being
planned as something special, indeed. The mountain-climbing
group includes several doctors, and part of their mission
will be compiling data on the psychological effects such
an ordeal has on those who attempt it.
    Ed Goren, coproducer of the coverage which CBS will bring
to viewers in three 10-minutes preliminary reports (the first
to air August 14), plus an hour-long special, points out
that as the 11-member team sets off for Nepal on Saturday
(7-24), they were a happy, close-knit group. Yet, when the
climb mountain actually gets under way,
adverse conditions can bring personality clashes and a breakdown
of the happy team concept.
    Effects of such stress is one of the things Dr. Dee Crouch
intends to study during the three-month adventure - and he
will supply his findings to NASA. He tells me that other
explorers of Everest - with its extraordinary winds, subzero
temperatures, and lack of oxygen - have experienced the same
psychological problems that many of our astronauts have suffered.
Thus far, no one's sure exactly why.
    ''They come home, and there's great depression, and a high
incidence of diorce,'' says Crouch. ''We do know that extended
exposure to extremely high altitudes does affect the brain
- and we're hoping to come back with findings about the whys
and wherefores of such effects.
    THE STREET SCENE: Producer Robert Radnitz, best known for
such family films as ''Sounder,'' starts filming next month
of ''A Hero Ain't Nothing But a Sandwich,'' in the Watts
section of L.A. The production, which will relate a graphic
picture of ghetto life, will include such graphic language
that Radnitz is expecting the film to get slapped with an
''R.''
    c.1976 Marilyn Beck
Special Features
    
(To purchase the above material call John Osenenko or Peter
Willett in New York (212) 556-1721 or 556-1114. In Europe
or Middle East contact Paul Gendelman in Paris, 073-9513
(Telex 230650). In the Far East contact Ray Falk in Tokyo
at Telex 2226717.)
    
0726 1701ped
***************

a009  2214  28 Jul 76
PM-Sikes, Bjt, 470
By JIM ADAMS
Associated Press Writer
    WASHINGTON (AP) - The House of Representatives, which hasn't
punished one of its members since the days of the late Adam Clayton
Powell, is preparing to vote on a proposal to reprimand Rep. Robert
L.F. Sikes of Florida.
    The House ethics committee recommended earlier this week that the
full House take action against Sikes today, urging that he be
reprimanded on two counts of financial misconduct.
    The last time a member was punished was in 1969 when the flamboyant
Powell, a Harlem Democrat, was stripped of his seniority and fined
for misuse of funds.
    In a 498-page report, the ethics committee called for Sikes, D-Fla.,
chairman of the House military construction appropriations
subcommittee, to be reprimanded for:
    -Buying 2,500 shares of stock in the First Navy Bank after he used
his office to help establish the bank at the Pensacola, Fla., Naval
Air Station.
    -Failing to report in financial statements to the House both the
bank stock and 1,000
shares of stock Sikes owned in Fairchild
Industries, Inc., a major defense contractor.
    A reprimand is the mildest form of punishment the ethics panel could
have recommended short of exoneration. At the other end of the scale,
it could have recommended that Sikes be expelled from the House.
    The committee also said Sikes created ''an obvious and significant
conflict of interest'' by sponsoring a bill in 1961 to clear
commercial development of Florida land owned by a company he
controlled.
    But the panel recommended no punishment for the land deal, saying it
happened 15 years ago and that Sikes' constituents continued to
re-elect him, even though they knew about the deal to some extent.
    Sikes, replying to the charges, said he acted as a congressman to
benefit his contituents and not himself.
    As for failing to report the stock, he said he didn't know he was
required to do so. He said he immediately filed reports on the stock
when he found out he was supposed to do so.
    The committee cleared Sikes of an additional charge of violating
House rules by voting on a bill in 1974 that would have benefited his
Fairchild stock by appropriating $73 million for Navy planes built by
the firm.
    In doing so, the panel agreed with Sikes' contention that House
rules prohibit members from voting on bills that financially benefit
them directly, but do not prohibit votes on bills that benefit a
congressman only as one of many shareholders.
    The committee said Sikes los,173.19 on the Fairchild stock
because the price declined during the five years he held it.
    The ethics committee recommended the reprimand after a three-mont
investigation of charges filed by 44 House members and by Common
Cause, a public affairs lobby organization.
    
0113aED 07-29
 - - - - - -

a020  2343  28 Jul 76
PM-Sikes, Bjt - Insert, a009, 20
WASH: to provide further details of the committee report, insert
after 6th graf: defense contractor.
    The committee said he made a $14,000 profit on the land company and
$8,200 profit on his bank stock.
    A reprimand, 7th graf
    
0242aED 07-29
 - - - - - -

a089  0752  29 Jul 76
PM-Sikes, 1st Ld, a009, 30
BULLETIN
    WASHINGTON (AP) - The House voted overwhelmingly today to reprimand
a subcommittee chairman, Rep. Robert L. F. Sikes, on two counts of
financial misconduct.
    
1052aED 07-29
 - - - - - -

a090  0759  29 Jul 76
PM-Sikes, 1st Add, a089, 100
URGENT
WASHN: financial misconduct.
 
    It was the House's first punishment of a member since 1969 when it
fined Harlem Democrat Adam Clayton Powell and stripped him of
seniority.
    There were only three speakers in the debate before the reprimand
against Sikes, a Florida Democrat.
    One of the speakers, Rep. Andrew McGuire, D-N.J., said the House
ethics committee should have recommended a stiffer punishment than
censure. He said members should consider whether to take away Sikes'
chairmanship of the House military construction appropriations
subcommittee next year.
    More
    
1059aED 07-29
 - - - - - -

a091  0809  29 Jul 76
PM-Sikes, 1st Ld-2nd Add, a090, 100
URGENT
WASHINGTON: next year.
 
    ''The committee has found conduct that cannot and should not be
tolerated by this House, or anybody or the American people,'' McGuire
said.
    The House approved the reprimand by a 381 to 3 vote, with five
members voting present. Voting against the reprimand were Reps. F.
Edward Hebert, D-La., Tom Steed, D-Okla., and Olin Teague, D-Tex.
    Sikes made no statement to the House in his own defense but received
permission to insert a statement later into the Congressional Record.
    In a 498-page report issued earlier this week, the ethics committee
called for Sikes to be reprimanded for:
    -Buying 2,500: 5th graf.
    ---    
By JIM ADAMS
Associated Press Writer
    
1109aED 07-29
 - - - - - -

a201  0921  29 Jul 76
PM-Sikes, 2nd Ld, a089, 360
URGENT
By JIM ADAMS
Associated Press Writer
    WASHINGTON (AP) - The House voted overwhelmingly today to reprimand
a subcommittee chairman, Rep. Robert L. F. Sikes, on two counts of
financial misconduct.
    It was the House's first punishment of a member since 1969 when it
fined Harlem Democrat Adam Clayton Powell and stripped him of
seniority.
    Sikes, a Florida Democrat, sat before a microphone in the chamber
during the 20-minute debate but spoke only once, to request permission
to insert a statement later into the Congressional Record. His
request was granted.
    One speaker, Rep. Andrew McGuire, D-N.J., said the House ethics
committee should have recommended a stiffer punishment of censure. He
said members should consider whether to take away Sikes' chairmanship
of the House military construction appropriations subcommittee next
year.
    ''The committee has found conduct that cannot and should not be
tolerated by this House, or anybody or the American people,'' McGuire
said.
    House Speaker Carl Albert, asked by reporters later if he thought a
reprimand was sufficient punishment, said: ''That's a pretty severe
thing to have in your record as a member of Congress.''
    The House approved the reprimand by a 381-to-3 vote, with five
members voting present. Voting against the reprimand were Reps. F.
Edward Hebert, D-La., Tom Steed, D-Okla., and Olin Teague, D-Tex.
    Ethics committee Chairman John Flynt, D-Ga., and the panel's ranking
Republican, Rep. Floyd Spence of South Carolina, presented the
committee's recommendations to the House floor and were the only other
speakers during the debate.
    After the proceedings, Flynt said he saw no real difference between
reprimand or censure and said committee members decided to use the
word reprimand.
    Asked if Sikes had gotten off easy, Flynt replied: ''As I told
another House member who asked that, if it happened to you, you
wouldn't think it was easy.''
    Flynt said the ethics committee did not consider whether Sikes
should be stripped of his subcommittee chairmanship because it is the
House Democratic Caucus that selects committee members and chairmen.
 
    In a: 8th graf.
    
1221pED 07-29
 - - - - - -

a215  1111  29 Jul 76
PM-Sikes, 3rd Ld, a201, 190
URGENT
By JIM ADAMS
Associated Press Writer
    WASHINGTON (AP) - The House voted overwhelmingly today to reprimand
a subcommittee chairman, Rep. Robert L. F. Sikes, on two counts of
financial misconduct.
    It was the House's first punishment of a member since 1969 when it
fined Harlem Democrat Adam Clayton Powell and stripped him of
seniority.
    Sikes, a Florida Democrat, sat before a microphone in the chamber
during the 20-minute debate but spoke only once, to request permission
to insert a statement later into the Congressional Record. His
request was granted.
    Afterward, Sikes told reporters, ''Of course I am disappointed. It
was not unanticipated because of the atmosphere regarding public
officials at this time.''
    He said he declined to address his colleagues on the House floor
because, ''I know a stacked deck when I see one.''
    Sikes said he expects the reprimand will help his reelection
chances. Speaking of his constituents, Sikes said, ''They're mad and
not mad with me. The prediction is that I'll get the biggest vote of
my life.''
 
    One speaker: 4th graf.
    
1411pED 07-29
 - - - - - -

a223  1204  29 Jul 76
AM-EVEREST, BJT, SUB, a215, 50
KATMANDU TO HOME TOWN, SUB for 4th graf: in 1953.
    The U.S. bicentennial expedition came about by chance. Phillip
Trimble, a 38-year-old State Department lawyer from Springfield, Ohio,
and leader of the team, had been thinking of scaling a 24,000-foot
peak in the Himalayas when he learned last December from a friend in
Nepal that the French had canceled their 1976 option to climb Mt.
Everest.
    At first, 5th graf.
    
1456pED 07-29
***************

a202  0931  29 Jul 76
AM-News Digest,
                      AP NEWS DIGEST
                        Friday AMs
 
    Here are the top stories in sight for AMs at this hour. The General
Desk night supervisor is G.G. LaBelle. He can be reached at 212
262-6093 if you have an urgent question about the spot news report.
 
                      POLITICS
 
    WASHINGTON - President Ford and Sen. Richard S. Schweiker try in
person to nail down votes among the 103 Pennsylvania Republican
convention delegates who were a principal target of Ronald Reagan when
he selected Schweiker as a running mate.
    New, political roundup, developing. Tops expectable in late
afternoon after delegation meets with Schweiker and in early evening
after delegation visits Ford. Wirephoto covering.
 
               HOUSE VOTES TO REPRIMAND
 
    WASHINGTON - The House votes to punish one of its members for the
first time since 1969. It reprimands Rep. Robert L.F. Sikes, D-Fla.,
on two counts of financial misconduct. New material, may stand.
Wirephoto NY20.
 
    With reaction from Florida.
 
                       EARTHQUAKE
 
    TOKYO - Survivors of China's great quakes tell of vast destruction
in Tangshan, a city of one million people, and of fears that coal
miners were trapped underground. A tent city springs up in Peking. New
material. Wirephoto TOK8.
 
                         CRIME
 
    CHOWCHILLA, Calif. - James Schoenfeld, subject of a nationwide
manhunt in the kidnaping of 26 school children and their bus driver,
is captured within 150 miles of the crime scene. His brother faces
arraignment in the crime; a third suspect remains at large.
Developing. Wirephotos NY21, FX2,3.
 
    LOS ANGELES - Lawyers and defendant Bill Harris deliver closing
arguments in the trial of Harris and his wife Emily on kidnaping and
robbery charges involving Patty Hearst. Developing. Wirephoto
covering.
 
    DETROIT - James R. Hoffa disappeared a year ago Friday and a federal
grand jury is still unable to unravel the circumstances of his
disappearance. Will stand. Wirephoto NY22.
 
                     INTERNATIONAL
 
    ROME - Premier designate Giulio Andreotti announces he is forming a
new all-Christian Democrat government. But it will depend on
Comm7nist support, giving the Communists unprecedented control over
the running of this NATO-member country. New material.
 
    KATMANDU, Nepal - An American expedition arrives in the mountain
kingdom of Nepal to attempt a second U.S. conquest of Everest, the
world's tallest peak.
 
    ATHENS - The U.S. Navy transport Coronado arrives with 155 Americans
and about 145 other evacuees from war-torn Lebanon. New material.
Wirephoto ATH1,2,4,6.
 
    With Beirut fighting separate.
 
                      NATIONAL
 
    LOS ANGELES - An artificial pancreas has been developed that
counteracts diabetes in dogs, and doctors say a similar device for
humans may be only 2 1/2 years away. New, will stand.
 
    WAYNESBURG, Pa. - As an annual event, Rain Day doesn't have quite
the reputation of Groundhog Day or the return of the swallows to
Capistrano. But it's the only festival local folks have and - even
with just a few drops - it'll have to do. New, will stand.
 
    With Labor Roundup.
 
    
1231pED 07-29
***************

a217  1124  29 Jul 76
AM-Everest, Bjt - 2 Takes, 460-640
By JURATE KAZICKAS
Associated Press Writer
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - An American Bicentennial expedition has
arrived in this mountain kingdom to attempt the ond American
conquest of Mt. Everest, the world's highest peak. If successful, the
climbers could put the first American women and the first
husband-and-wife team on the peak.
    The climbers are now in their final days of organizing and packing
14 tons of food, clothing and equipment before setting out on the
175-mile trek to the base camp at 29,028-foot Everest, known in Nepal
as Chomolungama, goddess mother of the earth.
    The 11 climbers will be the first Americans to tackle the mountain
since the successful 1963 United States expedition. Five members of
that group reached the peak first scaled by Sir Edmund Hillary of New
Zealand and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay in 1953.
    The U.S. Bicentennial expedition came about by chance. Phillip
Trimble, a 38-year-old State Department lawyer and leader of the team,
had been thinking of scaling a 24,000-foot peak in the Himalayas when
he lerned last December from a friend in Nepal that the French had
canceled their 1976 option to climb ,t. Everest.
    At first, Trimble said, he just chuckled at the thought, but then,
discussing it with his climbing friends, the idea of taking over the
French option proved irresistible.
    Normally two or three years are needed to organize an expedition for
Everest. This one was pulled together in less than seven months.
    Another unusual aspect of the expedition is its relatively small
size. The 1963 team had 20 members.
    Almost all members of the Bicentennial team are close friends.
Three, including Trimble, are Harvard Law School classmates.
    The team includes two women. Arlene Blum, a 31-year-old biochemist 
on the faculty of Stanford University, and Barbara Roach, 31, a
modern dance teacher from Boulder, Colo., hope to become the first
American women to climb Everest.
    And if Gerald Roach, Barbara's husband, reaches the summit too, the
couple will be the first husband-and-wife team at the top.
    The climbers will attempt the popular South Col route pioneered by
Hillary and Tenzing. But they will be battling their way up the
mountain during the difficult postmonsoon season with its shorter days
and bitter winds. The summit attempts are scheduled for the first
days of October when a ''window'' of generally clear weather is
expected.
    A Japanese team in on season.
    Altogether 54 climbers have reached the top of Mt. Everest,
identified in 1852 as the world's highest peak and named for the first
surveyor-general of India, Sir George Everest.
    Among successful climbers were two women, Junko Tabei of Japan who
made it in May 1975 and a Tibetan woman member of a Chinese expedition
that reached the top a few days after the Japanese.
    More
    
1423pED 07-29
 - - - - - -

a306  2028  29 Jul 76
AM-Everest, Correction, a217, 50
KATMANDU, to correct that these are first Americans on Everest since
1963, sub for 3rd graf: The 11 . . . in 1953.
 
    The 11 climbers will be the first Americans to tackle the mountain
since the unsuccessful 1971 International Everest Expedition headed by
Austrian Norman Deryenfurth. However, five members of a 1963 United
States expedition reached the peak first scaled by Sir Edmund Hillary
of New Zealand and Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay in 1953.k
    The U.S. bicentennial, 4th graf
    
2327pED 07-29
***************

a218  1127  29 Jul 76
AM-Everest, Bjt, 1st add, 180
KATMANDU add: Japanese.
    Trimble dreams of putting all 11 members of his team on the summit,
which would be yet another first in Everest's history.
    But for the moment, recalling these last frantic months filled with
20-hour days of planning and work, he's just happy the group has made
it at least as far as Katmandu.
    ''No one can ever appreciate the tremendous problems in organizing
an Everest expedition,'' Trimble said.
    The final permit for the climb was received only in March. Within
weeks, tons of food and equipment had to be assembled, along with 200
tanks of oxygen, vital to any Everest assault.
    The supplies had to be sent by air freight to Nepal, adding enormous
expense to an already costly proposition.
    Expenses are now well into six figures, and team members have had to
take out loans and invest their own money since wealthy benefactors
with a sense of adventure are in short supply. Mt. Everest has been
climbed already, hasn't it?
    ''People who say that have absolutely no understanding of
mountaineering, the motivation, the worth of such an experience'' said
Trimble. ''How can you say 'no' to Everest?''
    
1427pED 07-29
***************

n026  1030  02 Aug 76
 
BC-BIGFOOT 1stadd
PORTLAND: personal reaction.
    ''Please don't use my full name,'' he asked. ''I don't want
any more people to know who I am than do now. I didn't tell
anybody about my experience for a long time. I was kind of
worried about what people would say. Then, I was listening
to a radio talk show where they were discussing Bigfoot and
I called in. Somebody from Washington (State) got my name
shortly thereafter and nearly drove me crazy trying to find
out where I'd seen the animal so he could shoot it.
    ''That's my main concern - that someone will shoot it.''
    A hundred miles to the west of Portland along the Columbia
River Gorge lies the small town of The Dalles - the center
for the growing scientific hunt for Bigfoot. The town was
selected because of the concentration of sightings nearby.
    The search is being directed by Peter Byrne, a former professional
hunter in Nepal who has dropped a years-long effort to find
the Abominable Snowman, or Yeti, to devote his time to trying
to find Bigfoot.
    In The Dalles he operates out of the Bigfoot Information
Center, a trailer over which flies the search's official
flag - featuring a large footprint, of course.
    At the moment he is definitely operating on a shoestring,
and a short shoestring at that. The entire operation is financed
by admission fees to the Bigfoot display in the trailer and
a modest contribution from the Academy of Applied Science
in Boston, which is also helping to finance the major search
now under way for the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland.
    Although the academy's contribution now covers only payments
and liability insurance on the trailer, the Bigfoot search
will be promoted to the organization's main activity once
the Loch Ness operation is completed, at which time a great
deal more money should be available.
    The tale of Bigfoot goes back more than 100 years as far
as the white man is concerned, and a great deal further in
Indian legend.
    According to the Indians, the Bigfoot population was once
much greater than it now is. Legends handed down from father
to son tell of the Giant Men of Mt. Shasta, the Stwanitie
and the Sasquatch.
    Among local legends - and one of the few involving any aggressiveness
at all on the part of Bigfoot - is a story of the Nootka
Tribe that one of its members, a trapper named Muchalat Harry,
was kidnaped by a large tribe of Bigfeet on Vancouver Island
in 1928.
(MORE)
    
0802 1326ped
***************

a061  0441  03 Aug 76
PM-Everest, 420
By JURATE KAZICKAS
Associated Press Writer
    KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - The American Bicentennial Everest Expedition
set out today on its journey to the top of the world.
    Eleven climbers with backpacks, umbrellas and box lunches piled into
Land Rovers, vans and buses. They were accompanied by half a dozen
wives and friends, four Sherpa guides, and U.S. Ambassador Marquita
Maytag in shorts, white knee-socks and an expedition tee-shirt.
    Their first stop was Lamosangu, 52 miles away. There they were to
shift to the standard means of mountain transport - their feet - to
complete the 140 miles to their base camp on 29,028-foot Mt. Everest,
the highest mountain in the world.
    ''I am here because I love to hike and I wish the group well,'' said
the ambassador, who planned to trek with the group for a few miles.
''I do worry about them. I just hope they have thought of everything.
But I am very proud, too.''
    ''Let us get away from civilization. Let us go to the mountain,''
said Dan Emmett, 36, of Los Angeles, one of the chief organizers of
the expedition, who insisted on going on despite the pain of a recent
slipped 3sk.
    The climbers and 150 porters will march through river valleys,
terraced hillside ridges and pine forests toward the massive peaks of
the Himalayas.
    Camping under the trees, in pastures where yaks graze, in mountain
villages and on monastery grounds, the expedition hopes to reach the
base camp at 17,500 feet in about three weeks.
    The last few days in Katmandu were spent in repacking, getting
trekking permits and customs clearance for equipment and shopping for
such forgotten items as maps of Mt. Everest, sheets for sleeping bags
and umbrellas to guard against the monsoon rains.
    It is the first visit to Nepal for all but two of the American
members of the expedition so sightseeing tours were arranged.
    At the temples of Pashupatinath, where marching bands filled the
square, the climbers watched Buddhist monks in saffron-colored robes
throw bits of grain and flowers into a fire in a ceremony ''to avert a
national disaster.''
    Phillip Trimble, the expedition's 38-year-old leader from
Springfield, Ohio, ate a traditional farewell dinner with a group of
Sherpas, the mountain men essential to the success of any Everest
expedition.
    Everest was first conquered in 1953 by a British expedition which
put Sir Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and the Sherpa guide Tenzing
Norgay on the summit. There was a successful American expedition in
1963.
    
0742aED 08-03
***************

a201  0921  06 Aug 76
AM-News Digest,
                    AP NEWS DIGEST
                     Saturday AMs
 
    Here are the top stories in sight for AMs at this hour. The General
Desk night supervisor is G.G. LaBelle. He can be reached at 212
262-6093 if you have an urgent question about the spot news report
 
                 LEGIONNAIRE'S DISEASE
 
    PHILADELPHIA - Scientists say test results point to a toxic
substance as the likely cause of 25 deaths from the mysterious
''legionnaire's disease.'' They rule out influenza and any type of
fungus. New material, developing. Wirephotos AX2, HF1.
 
                    TAXES AND JOBS
 
    WASHINGTON - The Senate moves toward final action on a
multi-billion-dollar tax bill extending last year's tax cuts and
providing new benefits for individuals and businesses. New material,
developing. Mid-afternoon or evening vote expected.
 
    WASHINGTON - Unemployment rose from 7.5 to 7.8 per cent in July,
leaving more people out of work than at any time in the last seven
months, the government reports. New material, may stand. Wirephoto
Chart NY18.
 
                      POLITICS
 
    PHILADELPHIA - Republican challenger Ronald Reagan, with six new
Northeastern delegates in his hands, makes a bid for more in the home
state of his proposed running mate, Sen. Richard Schweiker of
Pennsyvania. New material, developing. Wirephoto covering.
 
    WASHINGTON - President Ford and Ronald Reagan will try to avoid
''fights for the sake of fights'' on platform issues at the Republican
National Convention, Ford aides say. New material, may stand.
                      AFRICA
 
    JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Racial rioting engulfs the black
township of Soweto for a third straight day. Police open fire on
demonstrators and at least three blacks are reported injured. New
material. Wirephoto JOH1.
 
    JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - An angry new generation of blacks
appears to have emerged in white-ruled South Africa to plunge the
nation into its worst racial crisis. An AP News Analysis, by Larry
Heinzerling.
 
                    INTERNATIONAL
 
    BEIRUT, Lebanon - Palestinians desperate to leave a besieged refugee
camp mob a Red Cross convoy evacuating wounded, forcing abandonment
of the rescue mission and bringing the convoy under Christian fire.
Four persons are wounded, the Red Cross says. New material.
 
    TOKYO - Bicycles jam Peking streets and some people begin cooking in
their homes as fears of new quake diminish. New.
 
    PHEDI, Nepal - Leeches make life miserable for American climbers on
the first stage of a Bicentennial expedition to Mt. Everest. New, by
Jurate Kazickas.
 
                  CONSUMER SCORECARD
 
    UNDATED - Controversy over generic vs. brand-name drugs flares
again. One legislator claiming use of generic drugs could save
consumers $2 billion a year. Consumer Scorecard, by Louise Cook, new
material, will stand.
 
                    LITTON FUNERAL
 
    CHILLICOTHE, Mo. - Chillicothe mourns a hometown boy who went to
Congress and was on his way to the Senate when he died in a fiery
airplane crash. Funeral services are held for Rep. Jerry Litton, whose
death came on the night he won the Senate Democratic primary.
Developing. Wirephoto covering.
    
1223pED 08-06
***************

a242  1329  06 Aug 76
AM-ABEE, Bjt - 2 takes, 480-770
    Editor's Note: A group of mountain climbers is on its way to the
base of Mt. Everest, hopeful of becoming the second American party to
reach its summit. AP Writer Jurate Kazickas is accompanying them on
their trek through the Himalayas. This dispatch was carried back to
Katmandu by a friend.
    ---    
By JURATE KAZICKAS
Associated Press Writer
    PHEDI, Nepal (AP) - On their way to the world's highest peak, the
members of the American Bicentennial Everest Expedition suffer in
silence the rain, the stifling heat and the slippery rock paths. But
the loathsome leeches have them talking.
    As they settled down for their first two nights on the trail, the
climbers compared leech statistics and stories, sympathizing with
unofficial high-count winner Arlene Blum of Menlo Park, Calif., and
with Dan Emmett of Santa Monica, Calif., who dug one out of his
shorts.
    The repulsive creatures are up to three inches long, with suckers at
both ends of their stringy bodies. They attach themselves to human
flesh and sate themselves on blood, and they cannot be pried off
except with a powerful insect repellent or a burning match.
    They are not poisonous or dangerous. ''They're just so
unaesthetic,'' complained Frank Morgan, a lawyer who lives in Jakarta,
Indonesia.
    The climbers intend that their American Bicentennial Everest
Expedition - which they call simply ABEE - will become the second
group of Americans to conquer the mountain. The 140-mile trip to
Everest Base Camp, which will take about three weeks, started out by
bus in the Nepalese capital of Katmandu.
    The first day out on the trail was a test.
    The morning heat made hearts pound as climbers trudged up the rocky,
narrow steep paths. The monsoon rain in the afternoon slicked the
trails so that even the most nimble-footed hikers fell.
    ''I never felt so miserable in my life,'' said the expedition
le, Phil Trimble of Washington. ''I thought I was going to get
sunstroke. My legs hurt. I had stomach problems. I couldn't have been
worse.''
    By midafternoon the colorful group of 12 climbers, two wives, two
girlfriends, two friends, 20 Sherpas (the tribesmen who traditionally
guide Everest expeditions), seven members of a television crew and
194 porters slogged wearily into camp, a pinpoint on the map called
Pirke, where the mists rolled over tiny, moss-covered temples,
Buddhist shrines in the memory of the dead.
    By the end of the second day, 4,000 feet higher and about a dozen
miles farther along, and despite 24 hours of continuous rain, Trimble
agreed with Arlene Blum, who said, ''I wish we could walk longer.
It's rather nice to walk in the rain.''
    U.S. Ambassador Marquita Maytag of Driggs, Idaho, hiked along with
the expedition for a few hours in her powder blue ABEE T-shirt. She
proved to be as adept at scrambling up the rocky trail as standing in
a receiving line. She grabbed a place on a ledge and snapped pictures
of panting climbers coming up the hill.
    Most wore sturdy climbing boots, shorts and T-shirts, but Rick
Ridgeway of Malibu, Calif., mounted the hills in rubber thong sandals
and a Hawaiian-print bathing suit with a 30-pound red pack on his
back.
    MORE
    
1631pED 08-06
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a245  1347  06 Aug 76
AM-ABEE, Bjt - 1st Add, 290
PHEDI, Nepal: his back.
    The rain teased the climbers, stopping occasionally so that the big
black umbrellas almost everyone carried could be converted to walking
sticks to help steady the way over trickling streams and mossy
boulders.
    Terraced hillsides surrounded the winding trail but the beautiful
panoramas disappeared into low, gray clouds.
    Red and blue tents were set up in a clearing near a pond and
exhausted climbers feasted on their first dinner on the trail -
chicken noodle soup and rice with chunks of ham and pineapple.
    ''The rain doesn't bother me because I was psyched up for it,'' said
Gerry Roach of Boulder, Colo. ''I knew it was going to rain every day
of this march. I'm having a ball. This is like a three-ring circus.
Nothing to do but take pictures.''
    Nibbling on a mixture of candy, nuts and raisins and drinking
mountain water laced with lemon flavoring and iodine, the hikers
passed tiny villages of thatched-roof and stone houses and fields of
yellow and red dahlias, and climbed up narrow rock trails dotted with
lavender orchid-shaped flowers.
    Each sets his or her own pace so that the more energetic, like
Roach, reached camp in about 3 1/2 hours. Emmett stayed right up in
front, even though strapped in a back brace, the result of a recent
slipped disc. The last of the porters, carrying 60-pound loads,
trickled in after about eight hours.
    The rain stopped when camp was set up on the side of a hill, with
cows as neighbors. Clouds wisped over the lush hills, slashed by
waterfalls and terraced with bright green rice paddies and yellow
fields of corn.
    Some of the group went down to the rushing river to bathe as
Nepalese children in tattered clothes stared and giggled at this
strange collection of travelers heading for Everest.
    
1649pED 08-06
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