News stories from Sunday June 26, 1977

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

About 3,000 people, mostly construction workers, rallied in Manchester, N.H., in support of the Seabrook nuclear power plant. The participants said the gathering was a response to an anti-Seabrook demonstration on May 1 in which 1,414 environmentalists were arrested. Gov. Meldrim Thomson, a strong supporter of the plant, received an ovation when he spoke at the demonstration. [New York Times] The killer who calls himself "Son of Sam" wounded a young couple early this morning as they sat in a car parked on a residential street in Bayside, Queens. Detectives said the bullets that wounded Judy Placido, 17 years old, and Salvatore Lupo, 20, were fired from the same .44-calibre "bulldog" revolver that was used by the gunman in the killing of four young women and a young man and the wounding of four other persons. [New York Times] Thousands of homosexual men and women marched up Fifth Avenue in what many called the largest homosexual rights demonstration ever held in New York City. It was one of numerous huge demonstrations organized by homosexuals over the weekend in cities across the country and in Europe. [New York Times] A fire during visiting hours in Maury County jail in Columbia, Tenn., killed at least 43 persons. Most of the victims were inmates locked in their cells or behind a security screen in the visiting area. Deputies rushing to free the prisoners collided with fleeing visitors and lost the keys to the cellblock and the locked portion of the visiting area. The sheriff said the fire had been set by a 16-year-old boy who had occupied one of the cells. He survived. [New York Times] A lawyer for Huey Newton, the former Black Panther leader who is being held in a jail near Toronto following his arrest by Canadian immigration authorities, said that the United States Department of Justice had approved the stopover on his way back to California to face charges of assault and murder. But the lawyer said that he expected the Canadian authorities to refuse his client's request for permission to confer with his counsel in Canada before going to Oakland. [New York Times] Consumer buying has lagged this June, the pivotal month in the merchandising industry's second fiscal quarter. The price markdowns that are expected to follow might have a material effect on the quarter's earnings. Sales are off mainly in apparel and other soft goods, while sales of durable goods, like household appliances, seem to have been comparatively stable. [New York Times] Bill Harrah, multimillionaire operator of big gambling operations in Reno and Lake Tahoe, is investing heavily in Idaho real estate and businesses. He has also bought about half the town of Stanley, whose population is officially given as 47, but may be closer to 160. His intentions are a mystery, although some people believe that he intends to turn Stanley, in central Idaho, into a gambling town. A Chamber of Commerce official said that "all of the businesses are benefiting from Mr. Harrah's presence. One thing is certain though: You don't know what he is going to do until he does it." [New York Times] Disclosures of corporate slush funds have led to the investigation by the United States Customs Service of more than 100 multinational corporations suspected of, or admitting to, secretly transporting large amounts of cash in or out of the country. About a dozen cases are already being presented to grand juries, the Customs Service said. It refused to identify the companies. It is known, however, that among the companies under investigation are Lockheed, McDonnell Douglas and Northrop, three of the world's largest aerospace companies; Exxon and Ashland Oil, and G. D. Searle, the drug concern. [New York Times] Thousands of Philadelphians attended an outdoor mass and concert held in honor of St. John Neumann, "the Little Bishop of Philadelphia," who was canonized in Rome by Pope Paul VI a week ago. A crowd estimated at more than 50,000 filled the Logan Circle and lined Benjamin Franklin Parkway. [New York Times] The Spanish Communist Party rejected the recent harsh attack by Moscow on Santiago Carrillo, the Spanish Communist leader, and vowed that it would maintain its independence from the Soviet Union. [New York Times] Senator Jacob Javits, in a speech he plans to deliver in the Senate tomorrow, says the Carter administration's peace proposals for the Middle East are "unrealistic" and likely to heighten rather than lessen the danger of renewed war. He released advance copies of the text. Another Republican Senator, Charles Percy of Illinois, made similar remarks tonight in a speech to the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith of Chicago. [New York Times] Israel has given refuge to 66 Vietnamese who fled their country in a leaking fishing boat without a fixed destination. They were rescued 30 miles off the coast between Vietnam and Cambodia by an Israeli freighter and were flown to Israel when no Asian country would give them asylum. [New York Times]