June 16, 1974

A news report on these pages May 29 described the plight of a potential home buyer who made a clown payment on a $60,000 house that Golan. Heights Development, Inc., was building in Rockland County. Because of the builder's financial problems, foreclosure proceedings were begun by the holder of the construction mortgage. The head of Golan Heights, Ovadia Porat, said he had insufficient funds to return such deposits. At least a score of buyert fear that. they have lost their homes and deposits. They appear to have no legal remedy.

June 16-30: Sup Ct agrees to decide whether Watergate grand jury had right to name Pres Nixon as participant in conspiracy to cover up '72 pol burglary without indicting him for a crime; Ct, in effect, makes White House's challenge to grand jury's action part of dispute between Nixon and Watergate prosecutor Leon Jaworski over access to 64 White House tapes that Nixon has refused to surrender; Ct refuses to unseal record of tapes case as it unfolded in closed sessions before Judge John J Sirica except for single sentence officially reptg for 1st time accusation that grand jurors unanimously leveled at Nixon; sentence quoted; Ct asks Nixon's attys and Jaworski to consider 2 jurisdictional questions in their briefs and oral arguments: whether Sirica's May 20 order requiring Nixon to surrender tape recordings to him for later submission of relevant portions to Jaworski was appealable at all and whether Sup Ct would have jurisdiction over White House request that Sirica's order be overturned by US Appeals Ct; arguments by Nixon's atty James D St Clair noted; list of defendants in cover-up case; illus of prosecution atty Charles R Breyer (L)

Article on LI mansions which have been sold or razed to make way for housing developments; notes some of demolished mansions formerly belonging to Francis P Garvan, Ogden Phipps and Mrs G Macculloch Miller; principal reason owners demolish such mansions is tax burden but Selig Burrows, who recently razed former Lehman mansion, says he was unable to rent or sell it; at its peak LI's 'Gold Coast' had over 500 estates of 50 or more acres but only about 25 survive; largest estate belonged to Marshall Field, 1,700 acre property which is now Caumsett State Park; illus of Robert Praver, developer of former Garvan estate; map showing location of Garvan estate and illus of estate grounds (L)

illus of NJ Gov Byrne, NJ Bicentennial Comm official David Earling and Trenton, NJ, Mayor Arthur Holland observing plantation of Calif redwood tree, gift from Calif Gov Reagan, Jc 15,68:4; Michael Burton travel article on bristlecone pines of California's White Mts; map; illus (L)

Comment on First American Congress of Theater (FACT), held in Princeton, NJ, and attended by reprs of legitimate Bway theater as well as members of noninstitutional theater, including Alexander Cohen, Richard Schechner, Julian Beck and Bernard Jacobs; cong topics include discussion of ways to bring Bway theater and repertory theater closer together; illus and drawing (L)