July 25, 1973

US Defense Dept spokesman concedes, July 24, that 81 Amer servicemen have been killed in Laos and Cambodia since '65 while on secret missions and their deaths were falsely reptd to their families and Cong as having occurred in S Vietnam

Agents of Manhattan Dist Atty and NYC's Corp Counsel on July 23 sieze 7 films, make arrests and file actions against 11 theaters; films seized include The Whistle Blowers, The Newcomers, Behind the Green Door, The Innocent Abroad, Monica, Daughter of Mona, Lecher and High Rise; 2 theater mgrs, J Amero and R Fernandez and 1 owner R Sumner are arrested and charged with promoting obscenity; warrants are being prepared for arrest of other mgrs; Asst Dist Atty W Purcell describes stepped-up campaign as 'strengthened renewal' of prosecutions of pornographic film houses and their operators based on Sup Ct decisions which affirmed right of judges to order seizure of films and holds there is no const right to see pornographic films; some of theaters from which films were seized were showing duplicate copies of films; raids came after 4 Criminal Ct judges, G Roberts, R M Haft, E Rosenberger and N J Felig, had paid their way into different theaters last wk and viewed films without announcement; admission fees were paid for by Manhattan Dist Atty's office

ex-White House aide J D Ehrlichman testifies on July 24 before Sen Watergate com that Pres Nixon was thwarted in his 'continued effort' to give US 'full, factual acct' of Watergate conspiracy; asserts that ex-White House counsel J W Dean 3d misled White House about burglary and its cover-up; says he himself 'did not cover up anything to do with Watergate'; concedes initiating natl security wiretaps in addition to those already disclosed but maintains that he cannot discuss them; concedes being aware, soon after burglary, that funds were being assembled for criminal defendants but insists that his understanding was that fund-raising effort was no more unusual that public subscription campaigns for defendants in other celebrated conspiracy cases; accuses Sens of suffering 'shrinkage of perspective'; news media for spreading 'falsehoods and misunderstandings'; much of hearing is taken up with examination of Ehrlichman's role and motives in supervising White House 'plumbers' unit set up in '71 to try to plug leaks of Govt secrets; Ehrlichman, in his opening statement, refutes Dean's explanation of atmosphere in White House in which Watergate had its genesis; discusses duties and burdens of Presidency to counter Dean's statement that Watergate 'was probably the major thing that was occurring' in White House in 3 mos following break-in; counters Dean's charge that he was blocked from access to Pres by wall erected by H R Haldeman and Ehrlichman; says Dean well knew best route to Nixon was by memo; says that 55-min meeting he had with Nixon on June 20 '72 was devoted almost solely to discussion of various proposals then before Cong; says he is 'just morally certain' he never told H W Kalmbach, Nixon's former personal atty who was initial fund-raiser involved in payments to Watergate defendants, that there was nothing wrong in raising cash; says there was 'no vouching' on his part for payments to defendants and their attys; says he cannot recall making telephone call to CIA seeking support for E H Hunt Jr; illus of Ervin, chief counsel Dash, Erhlichman and his atty J J Wilson

NYC's Chief Med Examiner Dr Milton Helpern on July 24 re-opens case of Dafna V Malka, 16-yr-old Queens, NYC, resident who died in Elmhurst Gen Hosp in Dec '72 after receiving 70 grams of methadone; parents are suing hospital for $600,000 on grounds of negligence; circumstances surrounding death of Malka detailed

Canada Development Corp (CDC), which is wholly owned by Govt, announces on July 24 that it is offering to buy 10-million shares of Texasgulf stock; shares, which would amount to 1/3 of co's common stock together with the 748,800 it already has, would give CDC effective control of Texasgulf; offer, which is made after market closed and which will expire on Aug 10, is viewed as likely to win approval on Wall Street; Loeb, Rhoades & Co will act as dealer-manager; Texasgulf sec D H Crawford says co is stunned but there were expectations that CDC would make some such move this year; move seen as signal of Canadian intentions to pursue a more aggressive policy in protecting and, to some extent, reclaiming its natural resources from foreigners; CDC says Texasgulf repts show 68% of its operating income comes from its Canadian operations