2 Southern Univ. students killed
2 dead
IRS
investigating rents
Bv ELAINE HERSCHER
Collegian Senior Reporter
The Internal Revenue Service has
come up with a possible cure for the
apartment-complex blues For all those
who feel npped-off by their landlords,
the Pittsburgh district IRS is conducting
an investigation to determine who is
complying with the rent price freeze and
who is not
The district-wide investigation,
stretching from Harrisburg to the Ohio
border came about through concern for
the economy rather than individual
complaints But in State College, the IRS
welcomes complaints It will make the
I,ob of rooting out deviant landlords that
much easier
()ne such landlord has been discovered
m the borough, with IRS officials
predicting many more to follow
Although they will not release in
formation on who is being investigated
and who found guilty, they said the
landlord was required to pay back his
tenants to the tune of $9,900 involving 380
of his 500 units
A predicted seven or eight such
"rollbacks" will tollow soon, according
to investigators, with about 50 more
investigations occurring in the coming
For what reasons can a landlord be
called on the carpet'’ One way is to
Lomax faces assault charges
after Rec Hall concert incident
By BETH NLSSLEY
Collegian Staff Writer
A charge of assault and battery was
filed yesterday against James Lomax.
University Concert Committee member
and Black Caucus chairman, by a
student patrolman because of an in
cident a! the West, Bruce and Laing
concert Saturday
William G Snyder, a student
patrolman for Security Patrol, claimed
in his complaint that Lomax, while at
tempting to enter the concert Saturday
night without a ticket or written
authorization, pushed him to the floor,
tore his uniform jacket and inflicted a 2
and one half inch scratch on his right
wrist
Snyder further claimed that Lomax
removed a wooden board from the
handles of a set of doors and threatened
him as he raised the board above his
head.
Yorks released Lomax on nominal bail
and scheduled a hearing for Nov. 24.
Lomax said he reached the concert
late and realized that he should be inside
to assist in his capacity as UCC member.
"I went to a side door, told the officer
who I was and asked him if I could en
ter." he said.
"When he told me that I couldn’t come
in, I asked him to find his superior to
verify that what I was saying was true. I
Collegian
the
daily
•a-*
!«urr. v.l
EAST B ATON ROI'GE Parish lawmen and Southern University students stand by
two dead black students on the Southern University campus following the tear
gassing of the administration building to remove students protesting the ad
ministration. The events came as a climax to three weeks of disturbances.
misrepresent the tenant's base rent,
which is the market level rent in a
particular unit before the 90-day freeze
began Aug 15. 1971 If the lease was
signed before May 15. 1971, he either will
have to stick to the rent payed as of
August 15 or use the rent computation
method
The method which applies only to
leases before May. 71 consists of adding
the base rent ot the same percentage
increase the tenant was paying before
the freeze For example, if one payed
SlOO a month, and the average per cent
increase was 1 05. the two would be
multiplied, yielding SlO5 as the base
rent
A landlord is entitled to increase the
base rent by 2 5 percent each year. In
addition, he can beef up the rent with a
percentage of the increases in state and
local taxes and municipal services plus
capital improvements and increases in
property costs
Despite all these little additions en
titles to the landlord, some are suspected
of hiking rent 13 per cent above
maximum in State College
The 2 5 per cent goes for "operating
costs" such as gas, electricity, and labor
and can be tacked on to the previous rent
every 12 months The IRS warns rentors
to be wary of the landlord's ruse of
making a profit on maintenance cost
told him that rules can be circumvented
and it would only take about a minute to
check it out,’’ Lomax said.
Lomax said he told the officer he
would go in by himself to find someone to
verify his identity when the patrolman
again refused “He then pushed me and
as I reached out to steady myself, I tore
the material on the shoulder of his
uniform,” Lomax said.
"The other officer tried to hit me with
a flashlight, so I picked up a small
wooden doorstop and told him if he hurt
me, I could also hurt him," Lomax said.
"But I also told them that violence
wasn’t my intention and that he didn’t
have to try and push me back down the
steps After all, I’m no animal,” he
added.
Lomax said they then met Michael
Shields. Undergraduate Student
Government president. The officer knew
Mike Shields so I asked Mike to verify
who I was and he did. The officer then
allowed me to enter,” he said.
Lomax said that after he was out on
the floor, he received a message that Lt.
J Neil Grey, who was supervising
Campus Patrol that night, was looking
for him to pay for the damaged uniform.
“I found Lt. Grey and explained the
situation to him. He seemed to un
derstand and told me to forget it when I
told him I was considering filing a
complaint, as it was only case of a
r~ i 1
I 1
increases
If. for instance, the price of trash
collecting goes up $2O, the tenant’s rent
should not increase that much. A land
lord within the law will compute a
year's rent for one person, divide it by
the annual rent for all tenants and
multiply the result by $2O
How can you tell if you've been taken’
One thing the landlord must do is give
you 30 days before the increase plus a
detailed explanation of how he arrived at
it He must include the percentage of
increase, base rent computations, and
your share of additional taxes, fees and
services
A statement should be included
mentioning the landlord’s willingness to
discuss his increase, his compliance
with the Price Commission, and the IRS
office to be contacted if-the tenant is
suspicious of his computations
The Slate College office is at 444 E.
College Ave where more detailed in
formation can be obtained and com
plaints registered.
The tenant is to be cautioned that all
rents are not government controlled.
Included in these are buildings with no
more than four rental units and new
units completed after Aug 15, 1971.
Mobile homes and house boats, however,
are covered by federal rules and land
lords are subject to IRS examination.
patrolman being a little too aggressive,”
Lomax said.
Abby Konowitch, a concert committee
chairman, witnessed the conversation
between Grey and Lomax. ‘‘Grey
brushed off the incident and said
Lomax’s explanation was adequate,” he
said. “He showed no rage and never
mentioned the possibility of an arrest.”
“Basically, it’s a little underhanded
for Ut. Grey to tell me to forget about
tiling a complaint and then one is filed
against me,” Lomax said.
When questioned by The Daily
Collegian about the incident, Grey said
he “didn’t recall having a conversation
with Lomax. I just told him to keep it
cool because there were a lot more
serious incidents occurring,” he said.
Lomax said two men, in addition to his
woman companion witnessed the entire
incident.
When contacted by The Collegian
Snyder said he could not comment at this
time.
Weather
Cloudy and cold today with some light
snow this morning. Cold tonight, low 29.
Partly sunny and warmer tomorrow,
high 43. Snow on Sunday, high mid 30’s.
BATON ROUGE, La (AP) An area
state of emergency was declared here
yesterday after two blacks were killed
when law officers moved to clear out
students who had taken over the
Southern University administration
building
Gov Edwin Edwards said a state of
emergency for East Baton Rouge Parish
county was declared after Sheriff A 1
Amiss learned of stepped-up purchases
of guns and ammunition in the area.
Sale of firearms also was suspended
and the mayor was empowered to set a
curfew if necessary.
Coroner Hippolyte Landry said the
victims were killed by either buckshot or
shrapnel from exploding grenades or
bombs Both had head injuries, he said
One of the slain men was identified as
Denver A Smith, 20, of New Roads. The
other was unidentified.
Trouble continued on the campus
through the afternoon. Edwards said
fires extensively damaged two buildings
and a bomb exploded in another.
The campus was blocked by state
police and sheriff’s deputies. One
hundred National Guardsmen were on
the campus and 400 more were ordered
out as a bolster force.
The university was closed and all
students except those who live on
campus in dormitories were ordered
home
2nd' Ritenour hearings
evoke good, bad views
UPI Telephoto
The second session of the Ritenour
hearings was held yesterday and most
comments again were critical.
The meeting, held behind closed doors,
consisted of testimony from about eight
students. Ten members of the Un
dergraduate Student Government
Ritenour Hearings Committee
questioned students and recorded
testimony.
One woman said she testified to the
committee that Ritenour had given her a
prescription after what she thought was
an inadequate examination.
She said she complained of pain in her
knees and was given pills without a
physical examination. She returned two
weeks later with renewed pain and was
given the same prescription, again
without examination.
She later went to her home physician
who discovered the drug Ritenour had
prescribed was cortisone She said the
doctor did not feel cortisone was the
correct prescription because of possible
side effects.
Another coed both criticized and
praised Ritenour services. "This
Ritenour hearing thing is just trying to
turn into a witch hunt," she said. “Dr
(Alexander) Franco is a good guy,” she
added “All those guys are good doctors;
they’re just trying to do their jobs."
However, she also offered some
Bv MITCH CHERNOFF
and RICK SCHWARTZ
of the Collegian Staff
Making a point
Friday, November 17, l!)72
University Park Pennsylvania Vol. No 7(1 11) pages
Published by Students of The Pennsylvania State lniver-,ilv
Newsmen who tried to talk to students
were rebuffed throughout the afternoon
and telephone lines to dormitories were
cut off after the campus was closed
Shortly before the students were
routed from the building, one girl spoke
to a reporter by telephone from the
president's office “I’m going to give you
the accurate situation," she said.
"We came up here to talk to President
Leon Netterville this morning about the
students being arrested. Dr. Netterville
said he had a meeting at the state board
of education at 10 a.m. We stated we
would wait here until he returned and he
agreed . We have not taken over the
building. We had no idea that the
National Guard would be out there ac
cusing us of taking over the building.
Now they are out there shooting tear
gas "
H“r reference to the National Guard
apparently referred to state troopers
a .d sheriff’s officers in riot gear.
Accounts pieced together by
authorities indicated the trouble began
when students, who have been
demanding a greater voice in college
affairs, took over the administration
building Another crowd of students,
estimated by police at 2,000, gathered
outside the building.
Police ordered the students to move
and, according to officials, a tear gas
grenade was fired from the crowd at the
criticism. “The doctors there are good
doctors, but have no bedside manner,
none of them I’ve been kicked out of a
couple of offices,” she said.
She reported she testified about poor
service on weekends. She claimed two
people were in the waiting room for an
hour one Sunday. One woman was white
as a sheet, she said, and a man hurt in a
rugby game was lying on a couch.
Another man said he testified Ritenour
misdiagnosed his condition. He said he
went to Ritenour with a pain in his
kidney. Ritenour told him he did not
have a kidney stone and gave him what
he said were muscle relaxing pills
The next day, still feeling pain, he said
he went to another hospital which
diagnosed his condition as a kidney
stone. "(Ritenour) didn’t do a complete
job for a kidney problem,” he said.
One woman came to the hearings in
defense of Ritenour She said, “This
whole thing has turned into a three-ring
circus" and blamed the media coverage
for most of it. She added, “With the
facilities Ritenour has, I think they do a
pretty damn good job."
She said she felt, however, the idea of
hearings was good. She said she hoped
they would result in lobbying in
Harrisburg or going to the University to
find out why more funds are not
available. “It's not Dr Hargleroad’s
fault or Dr. Franco’s that facilities are
not adequate enough,” she said.
Another woman said she was given
pills by a doctor at home and had the
UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT JOHN W. Oswald visited the of
fice of The Daily Collegian yesterday afternoon. He spoke off
the record with staff members about many current campus
issues.
officers The students started throwing
things and police responded with tear
gas
“Nobody shot one round " Sheriff A 1
Amiss of East Baton Rouge Parish
County told the governor who rushed to
the campus
“We didn't use any thing but tear gas
Amiss said
In an interview after the area around
the administration building had been
cleared, Amiss said, “We heard two
Distol shots, shots from a pistol that
came from the crowd "
“There would have been no violence
had not the students fired or thrown the
first tear gas," Edwards told a news
conference, noting he had seen film of
the incident showing a cannister hurled
toward officers as they approached the
occupied building
He said he would make more efforts to
solve student problems “it they do not
have enough confidence in me to go back
to classes peacefully and can give me
time to solve their problems '
The 9.000-student Baton Rouge
campus and the 2.900-student New
Orleans campus of the university the
nation's largest predominantly black
university have been embroiled in
boycotts since mid-October when they
began pressing their demands for more
student control of administrative af
fairs
prescription refilled twice by Ritenour
When she began to experience “bad
reactions" from the drug, she said
Ritenour denied any knowledge of giving
it to her
She reported, “My own doctor at home
told me unless I do something like fall
and break my leg. do not go in to
Ritenour again “
Committee member John Martonick
said the consensus the committee
reached from today’s hearings was that
understaffing was Ritenour’s biggest
problem. He noted that this leads to poor
emergency service on weekends
Chairman George Cernusca said
“Ritenour and USG will work hand m
hand, we’re not antagonistic." he con
tinued, “after we listen to the tapes we'll
go over and talk to Dr
Hargleroad
“If we don’t do this people will go
around campus again bitching to their
roommates about the treatment they're
getting at Ritenour," Cernusca added
“Dr. Hargleroad seems \ery happy
aoout what we're doing "
Ritenour Director Dr John
Hargleroad, when contacted after the
hearing, refused to comment “What a
doctor and patient do in his office is a
confidential matter." he said
Dr Hargleroad was asked whether
Dr Franco had resumed giving out birth
control pills “I don't know." he an-
swered