March 31, 1975

White House press sec Ron Nessen says US naval ships being sent to Danang will not become involved in hostilities; US officials in Saigon say ships will arrive within 2 days; ships are: transport dock Dubuque, amphibious command vessel Blue Ridge, landing ship Frederick and cargo ship Durham; Defense Dept spokesman Capt Sidney Wright comments on evacuation efforts; Nessen contends War Powers Act and Paris peace accords do not prevent US from evacuating refugees with US naval power; says Ford discussed matter earlier in wk with Sees Kissinger and Schlesinger (M)

Agr Dept, in what is believed to be most accurate statistics on Fed food stamp program, repts that errors and deceptions are costing program about $740-million a yr; program, which covers $18-million recipients, costs $4.3-billion annually; examples of error and deception cases cited; dept's Food Stamp Div's quality-control system, covering 9.8-million people that must be qualified individually, has found that participating families in food stamp program receive 23.2% more benefits than they are entitled to in 6 mos ended June 30 '74; overissuance is estimated to cost $575-million; div Dir Royal K Shipp comments; HEW, which covers 8.2-million individuals who are classed as public assistance, has found ineligibility rate of 9.3%, at estimated annual cost of $165-million; Investigations Office dir John V Graziano and Audits Office dir Leonard H Grees comment; other errors and frauds noted (L)

HAMILTON, Ohio, Monday, March 31—Eight children, their parents and a grandmother were shot to death Easter Sunday in the grandmother's house, where the family had gathered for a holiday dinner the police said.

St. Paul said that without the Easter proclamation of Christ's resurrection from the dead the Christian faith would be “futile.” Indeed, the church from the beginning based its life on that conviction. Yet mingled with this certainty are persistent ambiguities about the nature and meaning of that resurrection event. Such questions as whether there was a physical rising from the grave and the authenticity of several reported sightings of the risen Christ make Easter perhaps the most speculative day of the Christian year.

Linden General Hosp, private facility in rundown part of Bklyn, which has lost accreditation and been declared hazardous, unneeded and obsolete by govt inspectors, continues to function because of unabated flow of Govt Medicaid payments that are its main source of support; probe by NY Times of officials files and ints with govt officials indicate uncertainty in govt about who should act about Linden situation and about which agency is responsible for passing information on to those who are supposed to act; Donald Rubin, pres of Consumer Comm on Accreditation of Hosps, says govt handling of Linden case indicates breakdown of inspection process; says govt money is being paid to unapproved insts; health inspector Dr Leon R Lezer, on May 14, '74, reptd 'virtually an irremediable situation' at Linden; instead of being closed by NYS Health Dept, Linden was given a full 1-yr renewal of its operating ctf on Aug 1, '74; project rev coordinator Robert Dougherty says ctf was issued because of lack of information on actual status of affairs at the hosp; comment on other findings in probe of hosp situation; map of hosp location (L)