CBS World News Roundup – September 10,1977.
Another day loaded with intrigues, scandal and proclamations.
Starting with the Burt Lance affair – Sen. Charles H. Percy said Friday he will question Budget Director Bert Lance about why he wrote checks totaling $193,000 when his checking account held only $27,000 at the end of 1976. Percy suggested that Lance may have backdated the checks to allow him to take income tax deductions for 1976. A spokesman for Lance denied that the checks had been deliberately backdated.
Earlier, Comptroller of the Currency John Heimann told a Senate committee that banking regulators usually are alarmed at overdrafts of the kind Lance’s : family had at the Calhoun First National Bank, which Lance formerly headed. And a former U.S. attorney in Georgia charged that Carter administration officials concealed FBI information about Lance. Percy, in his remarks at a hearing of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, did not say he had evidence of any income tax violation. A spokesman for the Illinois Republican said later the senator did not know Lance’s motive but said that Lance must have either backdated the checks or written them without knowing where the money would come from to cover them.
“People do overdraft their accounts by accident. That is not what we are concerned with. We are concerned about an overdraft by an insider, an officer, director or major shareholder,” Heimann said. “After all, an overdraft is a loan,” he said. “There is nothing wrong if the borrowers are creditworthy and the rate of interest charged is competitive.” No interest was charged Lance and his family until banking examiners questioned the practice in 1974.
But Heimann said other people who overdrew their accounts were not penalized, either.
Meanwhile: Thousands of people were expected to jam the streets of Chambersburg to watch President Jimmy Carter lay his political blessing on Gov. Brendan T. Byrne’s re-election campaign. That is, if they can get near the Butler and Hudson Streets podium where Carter, Byrne and a host of local dignitaries will speak during the President’s brief visit to the city’s Italian-American community. Streets around the area were blocked off beginning at 5 a.m. today, and Trenton police planned to tow away cars illegally parked there after 6 a.m. The best advice, according to those in charge of arranging a U.S. President’s first visit to the ‘Burg’, is to come early and park far away. That leaves one problem with the visit – the weather. “Bring a raincoat,” warned a Byrne aide last’ night after scanning the weather reports.
THE NATIONAL Weather Service forecast for called for cloudy skies, with some rain and the possibility of a thunderstorm. Highs will be in the mid 70s, and the clouds won’t clear until late in the evening. Carter was due to arrive at McGuire Air Force Base about 1 p.m., and then motorcade to Trenton – probably up Route 206, although, for security reasons, the Secret Service has not disclosed the route he’ll be taking.
Earlier in the day Carter and Byrne campaigned in Newark, with the President addressing a $600- a-plate Byrne fund raising breakfast at Newark Airport.’ The pair then toured the College of Medicine and Dentistry there. When he arrived in Trenton, the President’s stay was to be short – just enough time to make a speech praising Byrne, hear some supporting oratory from Byrne and several other local politicians, and perhaps there’s time – a tour of Chambersburg’s Festival of Lights.
And finally – Thousands of Panamanians danced through the night in the streets of their capital to celebrate the return Gen. Omar Torrijos, the head government, from Washington with a newly signed Panama Canal treaty. The government-sponsored celebration continued into the early hours today as Caribbean music blared from scores of bars and d from loudspeakers mounted on trucks. Automobiles weaved among revelers with horns blaring. instant “It was an carnival,” said a Panamanian standing in the middle of trash-strewn Central Avenue.
“It’s the biggest fiesta this city’s ever had.” Police reported no incidents. A spokesman said American employes of the Panama Canal Co. had been warned against venturing into Panama City during the celebration, and U.S. soldiers were ordered to stay out of the capital.
All that, and a lot more along with the developing story around Bert Lance for this September 10, 1977 as reported by The CBS World News Roundup.
