February 26, 1975

The State Court of Appeals found there was “overwhelming proof” that Alice Crimmins killed her daughter nearly 10 years ago, but ruled there was not enough, evidence to charge her with the death of her son. Page 34.

Carey illus briefing reporters on Urban Development Corp insolvency

Dr and Mrs Henry P Van Dusen swallowed overdoses of sleeping pills last month in bedroom of their Princeton, NJ, home in effort to carry out suicide pact; Mrs Van Dusen died and husband died 15 days later; Van Dusens were members of Euthanasia Soc and advocated individual's right to terminate his or her own life; had entered into pact rather than face prospect of debilitating old age; friends and associates had known of couple's suicide effort, but details about incident did not become widely known until Feb 25 (L)

Soviet Govt announces death of former Premier Nikolai A Bulganin; he was 79 yrs old; was member of Soviet ruling group from '48 to '58, spanning last yrs of Stalin period and first of Khrushchev era; was ousted from leadership by Khrushchev for having sided in '57 with pol opponents known as ‘antiparty group’; career and biog sketch; illus (L)

US Sup Ct, dividing 5‐4 over issue, holds that school officials who discipline pupils unfairly cannot defend themselves against civil rights suits by claiming ignorance of pupils' basic const rights; dispute arose when two 16‐yr old Arkansas hs students were expelled by local school bd for spiking punch at home econ party for parents; Fed Dist Ct ruled for school bd, but US Dist Ct reversed decision, largely on grounds that punch had never been alcoholic enough to be intoxicating and that expulsion had thus been unfair; Sup Ct sent case back to Appeals Ct, rejecting that ct's reason and asking it to consider whether expulsion procedures had violated pupils' right to due process of law; Ct also split over standard of conduct to be imposed on school officials; ruling is somewhat unusual in that Justices enunciated new and controversial legal principle without settling case; Justice B White writes ‘an act violating student's const rights can no more be justified by ignorance or disregard of settled indisputable law on part of one entrusted with supervision of students’ daily lives than by presence of actual malice; Chief Justice Warren E Burger, Assoc Justices Harry Blackmun, William H Rehnquist and Lewis F Powell Jr dissent (M)