Miss America gives up
By RICK HAMPSON
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK Miss America
1984, Vanessa Williams, gave up her
title yesterday at pageant officials'
request because she had posed nude
for sexually explicit photos with
another woman. She became the
first of 57 Miss Americas to be
forced to resign.
Williams, 21, the first black Miss
America, said she wanted to keep
her title but "the potential harm to
the pageant, and the deep division
that a bitter fight may cause, has
convinced me that I must relinquish
my title."
"It is apparent to me that because
of all that has happened during the
past week, it would be difficult for
me to make an appearance as Miss
America," she said at a news
conference.
"It is not my desire to injure in
any way the Miss America title or
pageant," she added, and asked
"sponsors and the public . . . to
continue all their support" of the
event.
Albert Marks, pageant executive
director, said pageant officials
"regret that circumstances . . .
have caused Miss Williams to
relinquish her title." In a statement
issued in Atlantic City, N.J., he said
she had "fulfilled all of the duties
and responsibilities of her position
in exemplary fashion."
Suzette Charles of Mays Landing,
N.J., the first runner-up at last
September's pageant, will become
the 58th Miss America. "I'm
excited," she said upon learning of
One killed, scores injured in
Amtrak passenger train crash
By MARJORIE ANDERS
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK Two Amtrak
passenger trains collided head-on
and derailed on an elevated track
yesterday after the Boston-bound
Zip failed to wait for the
southbound Shoreliner to pass on a
stretch of track under repair,
officials said. One person was
killed and scores were hurt.
It was the fourth fatal accident
this month involving an Amtrak
train.
Rescuers said they treated 112
people, most for minor injuries,
after the collision in the New York
City borough of Queens. An
Amtrak official said the Zip had
failed to wait for the Shoreliner to
pass.
"I first thought we were braking,
and then in less than a second, the
seats were uprooted and people
were thrown out of their seats,"
said Ernest Boyer, 33, who was
traveling on the Washington-to-
Boston Zip. "A lot of people were
screaming. People were lying on
the floor, saying, 'Let's try to get
out.' "
Some people were "covered with
blood, some with gashes," Boyer
said.
The trains in yesterday
morning's crash collided on an
approach to the Hell Gate Bridge,
just across the East River from
Manhattan at about 110th Street.
All Amtrak trains to and from New
England use the route.
Amtrak spokesman Clifford
Black said the southbound track on
Two engines from Amtrak's Zip and Shoreliner trains lay against each other after colliding yesterday on an elevated
track in the Astoria section of New York's borough of Queens. The crash, the fourth this month, killed one passenger
and injured scores of others.
the
daily
Vanessa Williams and her mother, Helen
Williams' decision. "It's
unfortunate it had to be under these
circumstances."
"We will move on and we will try
to uplift the image of Miss
America," said Charles.
Williams said she would devote
herself to her career. She had
reported receiving offers for
various show business projects.
As the painted portrait of
Williams that had hung in pageant
offices was taken down, Marks said
no deal was struck with Williams to
get her to resign.
the line was closed for regular
maintenance, and The Shoreliner,
coming in from Boston, had
received written instructions to use
the northbound track.
"Whether it was dispatcher
failure, an engineer failure or a
signal failure we do not know at
this point," he said. "The
northbound train was to have held
for the southbound train. That did
not happen."
Ambulances rushed the injured
to hospitals, including five people
who were seriously hurt, said Ellen
Weiman, spokeswoman for the
Emergency Medical Service.
The EMS treated 112 people in
all, she said, including 72 who were
taken to seven hospitals 35 of
Amtrak has 4 accidents this month
By The Associated Press
Yesterday's collision of two
Amtrak trains in New York City
was the fourth serious accident
involving the national passenger
system in July. Here is a list of
recent incidents:
• Two people were killed on.
July 11 when Amtrak's Silver Star
hit a tanker truck at a grade
crossing in Mcßee, S.C. The
train's engineer and the truck
driver were killed.
• Five people were killed and
137 were injured on July 7 when
nine cars of the Montrealer
derailed at Williston, Vt.
e Two people sitting in a truck
were killed on July 4 when the
one • ian
Bob Guccione, publisher of
Penthouse, which published the
photos this month, said "I think it's
a mistake that she elected not to
fight to keep her crown. I think the
pageant is getting away with
something, which I think is very
unfortunate."
Williams said she did not recall
signing any form approving release
or general distribution of the photos.
Asked about that, Guccione said,
"Obviously she did consent because
she signed a model release, which is
a de facto consent for the photos to
them by bus and 40 who were
treated at the scene. Those 40 and
another 96 who said they were
unhurt were taken to Pennsylvania
Station.
Enrique Gilarranz, 53, identified
as a Spanish diplomat from
Madrid, died at 3:35 p.m. at Booth
Memorial Medical Center of chest
and abdominal injuries suffered in
the crash, said hospital
spokeswoman Nancy Simington
Amtrak employee John
Fitzpatrick, about 39, of New
Haven, Conn., was in critical
condition at Booth Memorial with
internal injuries, Simington said.
The engineer on the Shoreliner,
Bob Hurley, was admitted to a
hospital with head injuries.
parked truck was hit by an
Amtrak train in Elgin, S.C.
• A woman and her three
children were killed on May 4
when their car crashed through a
railroad crossing an hit and
Amtrak train in El Monte, Calif.
• Amtrak's Empire Builder hit
a gravel truck near Bainville,
Mont., on March 15, killing the
truck driver.
• Four passengers were killed
Nov. 12, 1983 when the Amtrak
Eagle derailed near Marshall,
Texas.
The worst accident involving
Amtrak, which began operations
May 1, 1971, occurred on June 10,
1971, near Salem, 111. Eleven
people were killed.
title at official request
be published."
Meanwhile, lines formed and
telephones rang at newsstands
across the country as customers
clamored for copies of Penthouse's
September issue, featuring pictures
of Williams taken in 1982 by a
photographer in the Mount Kisco,
N.Y., studio where she worked for
one summer.
The photographer, Tom Chiapel,
has not been available for comment
since Penthouse's publishing plans
were disclosed on Thursday.
At the news conference', Williams
Guccione says
By RICHARD T. PIENCIAK
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK Penthouse Publisher Bob Guccione
said yesterday he is sorry that Vanessa Williams has
resigned as Miss America but doesn't feel he's to
blame even though his magazine published nude
photos of the former beauty queen.
"I don't feel that I'm responsible for it," Guccione
said in an interview with The Associated Press
moments after Miss Williams became the first Miss
America to prematurely retire her crown. "As far as
I'm concerned, my obligation was to my readers. This
was an interesting bit of highly newsworthy
information and photographs."
Guccione said he "feels sorry for anything that
happens" to Miss Williams, "but if I had to do it over
again, of course, I would."
An offer to help Miss Williams financially if she
chooses to take legal action against the Miss America
Pageant still stands, Guccione said, as well as his offer
to provide her employment
"If she wants to come to work for us she's hired
tomorrow or today. And if she wants to bring an
action against the pageant if she has second thoughts
• - `4 • ri!:
Israelis favor Labor Party
By MARCUS ELIASON
Associated Press Writer
TEL AVIV, Israel The Labor
Party strengthened its lead over
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's
conservative Likud bloc in
incomplete returns from
Monday's general elections, but
both sought the first chance to
form a new government.
Israel Radio said early today
that with 87 percent of the votes
counted, it appeared that Shimon
Peres' Labor Party would have 45
seats in the 120-member
Parliament and Likud 40.
But 61 seats are needed for a
majority, and anaylists predicted
a lengthy stalemate in
negotiations to organize a ruling
coalition because of the record 15
parties that were expected to win
seats.
There were calls for Shamir and
Peres to join in a national unity
administration to deal with with
Israel's severe economic
problems and the issue of peace
with the Arabs. Both expressed
willingness, but Peres said such a
Tuesday, July 24, 1984
Vol. 85, No. 24 12 pages University Park, Pa. 18802
Published by students of The Pennsylvania State University
01984 Collegian Inc.
reiterated that she does not recall
signing a model release form. At
any rate, she said, the photographer
assured her the photos would show
her only in an unrecognizable black
and-white silhouette and they were
not for distribution.
Williams' legal adviser, Dennis
Dowdell, said Williams would not
answer any questions. He would not
say if any legal action is planned
against Penthouse.
Roy Grutman, the magazine's
lawyer, said he would not show its
copy of the release form to Williams
Penthouse not responsible
about it, we stand ready to finance that action fully."
"I think it's a mistake that she elected not to fight to
keep her crown," said Guccione. "I do think she's
letting the pageant off a little too easily."
Guccione. said that while Miss Williams may not
remember signing a standard model release form, his
lawyers have paperwork authorizing publication of the
photos that appear in the September issue of
Penthouse, the magazine's 15th anniversary edition.
"She should remember, and I'm sure in her heart she
does remember, that she signed the release. This is not
the sort of thing that a girl does every day," he said in
his midtown townhouse.
"We, of course, have a release, absolutely
authenticated by handwriting experts who have
compared the signature on the release to other
documents we have bearing her signature. So we're
satisfied that we have every legal right to publish the
pictures," said Gficcione.
Miss Williams signed two release forms, according
to Guccione. "One is a model release form, which
anticipates publication and gives all rights in the
photographs to the photographer to do with what he
will.
pact would have to be based on
"an agreed program."
The nearly complete vote count
and an exit poll organized for
Israel Television by pollster
Hanoch Smith indicated Labor
would win more seats than Likud,
but with neither of the major
parties coming close to a
majority.
The exit poll projected 45 or 46
seats for Labor and 42 for Likud.
In the outgoing Parliament,
Likud held 46 seats to Labor's 50,
while in the 1981 election Likud
won 48 and Labor 47. Likud has
ruled for seven years through
alliances with smaller parties, and
Shamir called the early election
when four defections reduced the
number of seats he could
command to 60.
Twenty-six parties entered
candidates, and several minor
parties gained at the expense of
the two main rivals. That posed
enormous problems for either one
to form a coalition.
Likud appeared to have the
upper hand.
or her lawyers voluntarily.
"If she wants to see it, let her say
that in a lawsuit," Grutman said.
Pageant promoters said the
photographs, published in
September's Penthouse, violated
her contractual obligations. One
deals with morals, and is believed to
cover past conduct, the other with
upholding the pageant's image.
In an interview Sunday with The
Associated Press, Williams termed
publication of the photos "a
violation of my rights."
Wagon trails
Kathleen Murphy, 16% months, in
front, and Kristen Palmgren, 20
months, take a break from the Discov
ery Day Care Center to enjoy the sun
and take in the sights along the Univer-
sity mall from the comfort of a wagon
being pulled by day care center em•
ployee Debbie Long yesterday.
Photo by BM Cramer
inside
• Salvadoran President Jose
Napoleon Duarte charged yes
terday that Nicaragua is supply
ing arms to leftist guerrillas
fighting his government... Page 2
• Scott Bruce and the Comedy
Company gave a free show at
the HUB Fishbowl Sunday night
to an appreciative audience.
index
Arts
Sports
State/nation/world
weather
Partly sunny today with a scat
tered shower or thunderstorm
possible this morning. High of
83. Mostly clear and cool to
night. Low of 57. Partly to
mostly sunny tomorrow with a
high near 77 by Glenn Rolph
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