March 16, 1973

Mar 16-31: Pres Nixon says on March 15 that his chief legal counsel J W Dean 3d is protected by 'double privilege, the lawyer-client relationship as well as the Pres privilege' in view of fact that Dean also served as 'counsel to number of people on White House staff,' news conf; says he will not allow Dean to appear before Cong coms; says Adm has not 'drawn a curtain down' and that Dean will furnish information when any of it is requested provided it is pertinent to investigation; characterizes Watergate bugging case as 'espionage by 1 pol orgn against another'; reprs for White House and re-election com have previously said that 7 men indicted for bugging were acting independently; Sen Baker says appearance by Dean 'would be essential to full investigation' of Watergate; Sen Weicker says he would vote to subpoena White House officials before Watergate panel; Nixon illus

1 woman is killed and at least 26 persons injured on Mar 15 when 4-car LIRR passenger train overshoots station in Lake Ronkonkoma, LI, and crashes into freight locomotive parked in staging yd; police ambulances and rescue units converge on site from 6 surrounding towns; eyewitnesses assert train's brakes failed as it entered station, but rr spokesman says cause of accident has not been determined; 1st 2 cars of train were derailed by impact but none were overturned; injuries were apparently caused when passengers were thrown from seats by force of crash; map of crash site

Delafield Comm, apptd by Gov Rockefeller to study future of thoroughbred and harness racing and OTB, on Mar 15 recommends that NYS take over and sharply limit activities of NYC's Offtrack Betting Corp on ground that OTB may 'kill' horse racing indus in NYS; proposes that OTB operations be taken over by new State Horse Racing Bd and that its revenues be channeled through NYS Govt; comm, taking view that attendance and betting action at state's race tracks must be increased, recommends sizable pkg of tax breaks for ontrack bettor and higher costs, including 5% betting surtax, for offtrack bettor; Mayor Lindsay's office and OTB Corp denounce proposals as boon to illegal bookmakers and vow to fight proposals in Albany, where legis battle is certain; proposals outlined; comm chmn C B Delafield emphasizes that govt has viewed racing too much as revenue source, news conf; contends that if OTB is restructured to 'complement, not compete with' the tracks, effect will be to increase revenues for both state and city govt; H J Samuels, pres and chmn of NYC OTB, says he is 'shocked' by some of the proposals, particularly recommendation for state takeover; rept does not break down fiscal effects of separate proposals, but offers net estimate of enactment of complete pkg; predicts revenues would drop from expected total of $206-.8-million to $202.2-million in '73, including estimated loss of $11.9-million at the tracks; estimates that effect of 5% surtax would be to increase ontrack handle 5% and decrease offtrack handle 15%; study comm members listed; illus; charts

Conn Sen votes, 27 to 9, to ratify Equal Rights amendment to US Const; Conn House also votes for ratification, reversing its '72 vote for rejection; approval of 38 states needed for amendment to become part of US Const; action of Conn Legis balances action taken by Nebraska Legis to reverse its ratification vote; number of states voting for ratification so far remains unchanged at 28

US mil sources reveal that at least 8 of the Amer enlisted men scheduled to return Mar 16 from Hanoi POW camps are known to be bitter critics of the Vietnam war whose refusal to participate in camp life in N Vietnam provoked hostility among their fellow POWs; 8 reptdly formed a 'Peace Com' in N Vietnam and refused all orders given by sr officers of the highly organized POW camps; mil sources say they expect ct-martial charges to be filed by some returning officers against the men as soon as the remaining Amer POWs are freed by Hanoi; under the Mil Code of Conduct, any officer or enlisted man can file charges against a mil colleague; the 8 men reptdly were captured in S Vietnam, but then were marched north to a separate camp near Hanoi some time in '70; all the 27 POWs to be returned Mar 16 were captured in the South; at various times, as many as 15 enlisted men and officers captured in the South have signed the same antiwar statement; many of the returning pilots are known to be especially furious at the 8 men; antiwar statements made in '68 and '71 by Sp/4 M P Branch and S/Sgt J Young cited; comment on antiwar attitudes and change in attitudes of some officers noted