News stories from Saturday August 13, 1977
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- One day before it was announced that Bert Lance would become director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Atlanta regional director of the United States Comptroller's office rescinded a potentially embarrassing agreement between the Comptroller and the Georgia bank that Mr. Lance headed. This action enabled the Comptroller of the Currency to give Mr. Lance a clean bill of health on his management of the bank, thereby removing the mismanagement issue from Mr. Lance's confirmation hearings in January. [New York Times]
- Nathan Berkowitz, the 68-year-old father of the accused .44-caliber killer, tearfully expressed his sympathy for the families of the killer's victims. In a brief news conference which he had called to express his feelings, Mr. Berkowitz said, addressing the families, "I deeply grieve for you with all my heart. If David did these things, I don't expect you to forgive him, as this would be too much to ask of you." He then went to Kings County Hospital to visit David Berkowitz, whom the policemen believe to be "Son of Sam." The accused killer is undergoing mental tests. [New York Times]
- President Carter's son, Chip, is moving out of the White House, leaving his wife and six-month-old son behind, a presidential spokesman said, as reports of domestic difficulties in the family circulated in Washington. "Chip is going to Plains," the spokesman said, "Caron and the baby will remain in the White House for a while. It is expected that Carol and James will join Chip later." Meanwhile, Billy Carter, the President's brother, announced that he would leave the family's peanut business in Plains. [New York Times]
- A comprehensive study of suspects seized in the looting that accompanied New York City's blackout last month found that 45 percent of the adults arrested had jobs -- an employment rate half again as high as the rate among those normally arrested for crimes in the city. The survey of the 2,706 adults also found that only 10 percent were on welfare, compared with a rate of 15 percent in the population of those arrested generally. The study was made by the New York City Criminal Justice Agency, an independent group that interviews defendants before arraignment in order to make recommendations on bail to the court. The people who gathered the statistics cautioned against drawing sweeping conclusions. [New York Times]
- About 20,000 young people have been placed in institutions outside their home states in a growing trend that has caused concern among child-interest organizations and some welfare officials. The institutions in which the children are placed are seldom monitored by the states responsible for their care and some of them have been found by courts and government investigators to be incapable of meeting the needs of the children. [New York Times]
- The final details of a plan have been agreed on by Britain and the United States for the transfer some time next year of government in Rhodesia from white to black control, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance said. Mr. Vance returned to Washington from the Middle East and Britain. [New York Times]
- Thousands of right-wing and left-wing extremists in London fought each other with bottles, cans, stones and knives, while a small army of policemen wearing riot gear struggled to keep them apart. The trouble started when members of a small extreme right-wing group, the National Front, attempted to march through a predominantly black district to protest what it said was an increasing number of muggings by blacks. [New York Times]