February 19, 1972

Prime Min Heath cancels scheduled visit to London of Pres Pompidou because of Heath involvement in Brit coal strike negotiations

Temporary State (NYS) Comm to Study the State's Court System, set up by Legis in ‘70 to recommend ways to overhaul ct system, has made little progress and is just beginning to define system's problems and formulate gen goals that ct system must have; several discouraged comm members have resigned; NYS Gov and Legis have postponed enactment of any extensive ct reforms; claim they await comm's rept; Mrs C Hubbard, comm member who has considered resigning, says several members have felt comm had become ‘a delaying action against ct reform’; Assemblyman Costigan, comm member, repts members and staff are now more optimistic; others comment on outlook for some accomplishment soon; formation of comm and its activies since ‘70 revd

Navy, yielding to what it says is pressure from HR Armed Services Com, forbids its officers to take Govt‐financed grad courses at 15 colls and univs that are eliminating Naval ROTC programs; Sec Chafee confirms action in lr to Repr Drinan; says his decision was made in response to testimony by Repr Hebert; schools in question listed; com, in its rept on ROTC legis, said it is ‘morally wrong’ for mil to spend money sending students to coll which has chosen not to cooperate with mil service; comments of spokesmen at several insts involved noted; Hebert illus

Rept to US Cong by Natl Inst on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism estimates there are 95‐million drinkers in US, most of whom seem to imbibe alcohol without harm, but approximately 5% of adult Amers have serious drinking problem and are source of much personal grief and huge cost to nation; contends alcohol is cause, directly and indirectly, of almost 1/2 of all arrests in US and of 28,000 deaths on nation's streets and hwys; maintains alcohol abusers shorten their life spans by 10 to 12 yrs, adding that their lost work time costs approximately $10‐billion per yr and health problems and property damage $5‐billion more; holds ‘average drinker’ in ‘70 consumed 3.93 gallons of pure alcohol, equivalent of 44 fifths of whisky or 157 bottles of table wine or 928 bottles of beer; concludes that 12% of Amers are heavy drinkers, 41% light or moderate drinkers, 15% infrequent drinkers, and that 32% do not drink at all; gives definitions of heavy and moderate drinking; finds consumption of alcohol to be greatest in Pacific states, followed by New England and Middle Atlantic states, and that lowest consumption per person was in E Central states

Growing number of researchers involved in US Surgeon Gen rept on TV violence are beginning to challenge rept's accuracy; harshest criticism comes from Drs M M Lefkowitz, J Murray, R Liebert and Repr J M Murphy; critics maintain rept tends to support TV indus position that children are not significantly affected by TV violence; contend evidence clearly contradicts rept's finding; Dr S Chaffee criticizes press's handling of rept; Dr I Rubinstein holds rept was misinterpreted because it was written in ‘soc‐science language’; says rept was compromise; Dr A E Siegel says com feared Govt moves toward control or censorship; Sen Pastore, at whose request study was undertaken, plans to hold public hearings to explore what he calls rept's ltd conclusion