—The Daily Collegian Thursday, November 10, 1977
Hope strength will carry into governor race
Democrats savor state judicial election victories
PHILADELPHIA (AP) Pennsylvania's
Democratic leaders yesterday relished their
statewide election of Supreme and Superior
Court judges, and hoped the signs of increased
party strength would carry into next year's
battle for governor.
Maverick Democrats won the top offices in
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, while party
backed candidates captured 14 of the 24 mayoral
battles in third class citieb, and two of the three
contested House seats.
Voters also overwhelmingly approved con
stitutional amendments providing relief for flood
victims and disabled war veterans.
Brezhnev says U.S. relations better
MOSCOW (AP) Soviet President
Leonid 1. Brezhnev received a message
from President Carter yesterday and
said ;U.S.-Soviet relations have shown
"a definite change for the better."
U.S. Ambassador Malcolm Toon
handed Carter's message to Brezhnev
during a meeting in the Soviet leader's
Kremlin office that lasted just more than
an hour.
A State Department spokesman in
Washington said I message was a
private letter relating to the 60th an
niversary of the Bolshevik revolution,
celebrated Monday. But American, of
ficials here and in Washington declined
to give its contents.
The, Soviet news agency Tass said
Brezhnev pointed to "a definite change
for the better in relations between the
U.S.S.R.'s consistent course toward a
steady and constructive development of
relations.
"Specially emphasized was the
urgency of finalizing the drafting of a
The victory of Allegheny County Judge Rolf
Larsen in the Supreme Court race gives the
Democrats their first majority in the 250-year
history of the state's highest tribunal. They will
have a 4-3 edge with the chief justice, Michael J.
Eagen of Scranton, also a Democrat.
Larsen, who had ousted the party's choice in
the primary, defeated Philadelphia Republican
Frank J. Montemuro, Jr. by nearly 220,000 votes
and immediately pledged to work for changes
that will toughen the court's image.
"I think the whole judicial system is too
lenient," 43-year-old Larsen said; He was con
sidered unqualified for judge by the Pittsburgh
new agreement on limiting strategic
offensive arms on the basis of principled
accords reached as a result of the recent
talks," Tass said.
Carter has said a second SALT
agreement can be expected "within
weeks." Both sides have indicated
progress in arms negotiations.
Western diplomats here say a Carter-
Brezhnev meeting is a possibility early
next year after an accord is concluded,
or even later this year before an
agreement is reached.
Carter has said he would like to meet
Brezhnev before the end of this year, and
the diplomats say a meeting in a neutral
country is possible when Brezhnev
travels to - West Germany at a still
undisclosed date next month.
In a recent visit to Washington,
Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko
showed a new Soviet willingness to
consider the sort of informal "get
acquainted" summit meeting Carter has
been hoping for:
bar when he first ran for the Family Court five
years ago
John P. Hester, 61, also an Allegheny county
judge, was an easy winner in the Superior Court
race. He beat Robert I. Shadle, president judge
of the York County Common Pleas Court, by
more than 128,000 votes.
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Democratic State Chairman Harvey
Thiemann hailed the results, crediting the hard
working candidates, the big Democratic
registration edge of more than 700,000 and party
loyalty in discouraging ticket splitting.
Richard Filling, the GOP chairman,
.said the
results raise organization problems for 1978
The U.S. embassy would not say
whether Brezhnev and Toon discussed
such a possibility.
Observers here suggested Toon may
have discussed with Brezhnev the
American concern about upcoming
trials of Soviet dissidents. Last week,
Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance said
new Soviet moves against dissidents
could create anti-Soviet feeling in the
United States.
Toon may also have sought further
details on Brezhnev's proposal last week
for a ban on all testing of nuclear
weapons, together with a moratorium on
peaceful atomic explosions.
The Carter message and Brezhnev's
comment came at a time of war nling
U.S.-Soviet relations, when Soviet
propaganda attacks against the United
States have' fallen off markedly, and
Jewish emigration from the U.S.S.R. has
increased from an average of 250 a week
to 400 a week.
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Mel Practise
Pre-med Student
Can't miss him on campus, always wears white. ,
Constantly being sought after by freshmen and transfer students who mistake him for ice-cream man.
Mel drinks Lite Beer from Miller because it's less filling. Can't afford to get filled up.
At last count he was in charge of 114 mice, 137 frogs and 240, uh... 480 rabbits.
Spends spare time in library analyzing stitching on medical books.
Lim Beer from Miller .
•
Everythinto you always wanted In a beer. And less.
Settlement urged in utility suit
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) The
federal judge hearing a uranium
lawsuit involving a number of electric
utilities and Westinghouse Electric
Corp. pressed yesterday for
negotiated settlements.
Judge Robert R. Merhige Jr.
directed lawyers for Westinghouse
and seven of the utilities involved to
submit to a court-appointed master a
proposal that would form the basis for
fair and equitable settlements.
During Tuesday's session, Lewis T.
Booker, lead counsel for the utilities,
told Judge Merhige that six of them
had agreed to a 'statement that it is in
the best interests of the public and the
litigants to negotiate settlements.
A seventh utility said this is
"usually" the case. The remaining
utilities refused to take any position.
None of the utilities was identified in
court.
when a successor to Gov. Milton Shapp will be
elected.
"We continue to lose in Philadelphia and
Pittsburgh," Filling said. "We're going to have
to zero in on those two areas."
Democrats won every race in 'Philadelphia,
electing a new district attorney, returning the
city controller for a second term and choosing a
successor to former House Speaker Herbert
Fineman who quit after he was convicted in
federal court of obstructing justice.
"It's been a great victory," 'said Mayor Frank
L. Rizzo congratulated winners Edward Rendell
for D.A. and controller William Klenk.
The contract disputes' led to suits
by 10 electric utilities against
Westinghouse totaling $2.5 billion.
The outcome could affect the utility
rates of some 33 million consumers
and have enormous financial impact
on one of the nation's largest cor
porations.
While the suits of the 10 utilities
were consolidated into one case, each
has been given an opportunity to
present its own evidence in the trial.
The utilities involved are Houston
Lighting &. Power Co., Long Island
Lighting Co., Texas Utilities,
Wisconsin Electric, South Carolina
Electric, Alabama Power,Northeast
Utilities, Virginia Electric & Power
Co., Tennessee Valley Authority and
Florida Light & Power.
Alabama Power and Westinghouse
have reached agreement in principle
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In Pittsburgh, acting Mayor Richard Caliguiri
won the job fulltime. Caliguiri ran as an in
dependent against the Democratic-endorsed
Thomas Foerster and Republican Joseph
Cosetti, who switched his Democratic
registration to make the race.
Caliguiri won by less than 5,000 votes out of
150,000 cast. He was backed by Peter Flaherty,
another Democratic maverick, whom he suc
ceeded when Flaherty joined the Carter
Administratioh as the No. 2 man in the U.S.'
Justice Department.
Caliguiri is the first non-Irish mayor elected
Pittsburgh in 40 years.
on an out-of-court settlement, but
details still are being worked out and
require approval by the court and by
the boards of both Alabama Power
and Westinghouse.
Merhige said yesterday he was
"disturbed" that not all the utilities
would accept the proposition that a
negotiated settlement was in the best
interests of all parties and the public.
Merhige told the lawyers he would
not see and did not want to see the
settlement proposals. They are to be
submitted to Dean William B. Spong,
master of the law school at the
College of William & Mary in
Williamsburg.
Earlier in the lengthy trial Spong
was named special master to explore
negotiated settlements.
Merhige gave the lawyers 15 to 20
days to submit position papers to
Spong on the settlement proposals.
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