. . . or click on the link here for Audio Player – CBS Hourly News – December 10, 1981 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection
News regarding the continuing odyssey of Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov and the tribulations and drama surrounding him. On this December 10th in 1981 it was news from Sakharov’s daughter-in-law Liza Alexeyeva, who said the KGB summoned her again and claimed a KGB agent lied to her. On this day the 26 year-old wife of Sakharov’s son Alexei was summoned to KGB headquarters in Moscow for unknown reasons. The previous day, a KGB agent told Alexeyeva that her father-in-law and his wife Yelena Bonner ended their hunger strike in order for her to leave for the U.S. to join her husband. Since the KGB were so busy making up stories, she was doubtful Sakharov and Bonner were safe, and she was waiting until her promised visit with them the following week to make any determination. In the meantime she had to be content to be angry and nervous.
Meanwhile, news the FBI was investigating allegations Secretary of Labor Raymond Donovan was involved in the payment of kickbacks when he was a construction company executive in New Jersey. According to the Washington Post report, the FBI was trying to determine whether or not a special Prosecutor needed to be appointed. The report went on the say the allegations were specific but did not involved the payment of several hundred thousand dollars.
And the IRS was looking at Las Vegas gambling – specifically, dealers who received tokens from players as a sort of “thank you”. The IRS contended too little of this income was reported to the tune of some $1 billion and the Dealers were especially remiss in reporting this source of income. However, the courts have already ruled against the Dealers who claimed the tokens were not taxable as they were considered gifts. The court said tokens were tips and tips were taxable – so there.
President Reagan was scheduled to meet with his National Security Adviser on this day, but the subject was not expected to be the Assassination threats from purported Libyan Hit Teams. Sources claimed a five-man Libyan hit team were in Mexico on a recruiting mission with radical groups in the U.S.
And the Billie Jean King versus Marilyn Barnett Lawsuit trial was lurching forward. King was trying to evict former lover Barnett from a Malibu beach house the two shared. Barnett contended King had agreed to take care of her for life, including providing her shelter. But King claimed no such thing ever happened. The lawsuit was loosely based on the recent Marvin vs. Marvin Palimony lawsuit that grabbed recent headlines. Only in L.A.
And that’s just a sample of what went on during this somewhat fractured December 10th in 1981, as viewed by CBS Radio’s Hourly News.
