Prime rate rises, productivity falls
Stockman: Recession lingering
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The eco
nomy is reeling from a triple
whammy — a rise in the prime
rate, a decrease in factory pro
duction and a drop in housing
starts — and the administration
now says it may take a bit longer
than expected to perk up.
Budget Director David Stock-
man gave the latest prognosis
Wednesday, saying the reces
sion may not end until summer
or fall. Previously, the adminis
tration said it would likely re
bound by spring or summer.
This prediction came atop
more bleak economic signs, the
most dismaying of which was the
increase in the prime rate to 17
E ercent. The prime rate is a
arometer of borrowing costs
Search continues
for prime suspect
F fin mass slayings
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United Press International
FARWELL, Mich. — Police
searched Thursday for the
estranged husband of a victim in
the shotgun slayings of seven
family members at a rural farm
house.
Robert Haggart, 31, is a
prime suspect in the killing of
his wife, Garnetta, 23, her
mother and father, a sister and
three of the sister’s children,
state police said.
The seven bodies were found
Tuesday night at the rural farm
house of George Post, Haggart’s
father-in-law. The body of
Helen Gaffney, Haggart’s sister-
in-law, was found in the cab of a
pickup truck crouched protec
tively over her youngest child,
Mandy, the lone survivor of the
spray of shotgun fire.
The slain bodies of Gaffney’s
other children were huddled
around her. Mandy, less than a
year old, was taken to a hospital
and released to an aunt.
Other victims were Post, 53;
his wife Vaudrey, 52; and three
of Gaffney’s children, Angela,
10, Tom, 8, and Amy, 7.
Officers mounted a con
tinuous search for Haggart, a
one-time hog auctioneer who
also is wanted on charges of writ
ing $17,000 in bad checks.
Haggart and his wife were to
have appeared in Clare County
Circuit Court Wednesday for di
vorce proceedings brought by
Mrs. Haggart, officials said.
However, Hagart did not ap
pear.
It is not known if the family
was taken by surprise, Clare
County Sheriff Ghazey Aleck
said.
Aleck said investigators
found the inside of home
“almost immaculate” with few
indications of a struggle. A cof
fee pot was boiling on the stove
when deputies arrived.
The shootings appeared to
have been quick but erratic, he
said. Some of the shotgun blasts
missed their mark.
“It was not like an execution,”
he said.
A neighbor, alerted by one of
the Posts’ daughters, who found
the bodies at the farmhouse, re
ported the slayings to police.
The Posts have five other chil
dren by their marriage and pre
vious marriages. All still live in
the Farwell area.
A shocked Farwell commun
ity phoned in 30 tips to state
police investigators who were
checking out every clue, Farwell
Village Police Chief Rick Miller
said.
“T his (mass murder) doesn’t
happen in Farwell,” village clerk
Pat Renner said.
“That’s a house of death
now,” one area resident said of
the red and white framed home
3 miles outide Farwell.
Clare County Prosecutor
Tom McLaughlin said he did
not anticipate issuing an arrest
warrant immediately “unless we
get very fortunate.”
Michigan authorities said the
slaying was the worst mass kill
ing in the state since eijjht De
troit residents were slam in a
drug dispute in 1971.
Xiaoping healthy,
still ruling China
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United Press International
PEKING — A smiling,
energetic Deng Xiaoping reap
peared Thursday and called for
a revolution in China’s gov
erning structure, putting an end
to speculation he was losing his
grip on power.
The vice chairman, 77, met
for three hours with Cambodian
Prince Norodom Sihanouk.
Cambodian spokesmen said
China’s dominant leader was in
good form and very happy.
The official Xinhua news
agency quoted Deng as refer
ring to speculation about his
one-month rest in other parts of
the country by saying the situa
tion in China was one of unpre
cedented stability.
Deng was reported to have
spent 10 days to two weeks in
southern Guangdong Province.
It was the first time Deng’s
movements have been disclosed
by the official Chinese media
since a Jan. 12 session with milit
ary leaders in Peking.
Deng and his allies have laun
ched a major campaign against
holdover officials from the era
of Mao Tse-tung and also
against corrupt, inefficient and
aging cadres.
The subject of Sihanouk’s
meeting with Deng was not offi
cially disclosed but the two men
presumably discussed China’s
attempt to form a coalition of
Cambodian rebel groups to
fight 200,000 Vietnamese
troops occupying Cambodia.
Old South
Restaurant
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9 a.m.-6 p.m.
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Parkway Square
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and the biggest roadblock to re
covery.
Factory production fell 3 per
cent last month, the biggest drop
since January 1975 and the
worst of six consecutive monthly
declines, the Federal Reserve re
ported.
The struggling housing in
dustry also slipped another
notch last month. The Com
merce Department reported
housing starts fell 0.6 percent.
Testifying at the opening of
congressional hearings on
Reagan’s budget, Stockman said
the recession will not be a per
manent condition.
“Built-in stabilizers ... will pull
us out this summer or this fall,”
he said.
Stockman called on skeptical
congressmen to support
Reagan’s $757.6 billion budget
with its $91.5 billion deficit.
“What we have to do is keep
this program on track until the
economy weathers this unfor
tunate recession,” Stockman
said.
Reagan and Federal Reserve
Board Chairman Paul Volcker
reportedly met Monday to dis
cuss interest rates. But the White
House waited until Wednesday
to confirm the meeting and gave
no inkling as to the conversa
tion.
High interest rates hit the
housing industry hard because
fewer people qualify for home
mortgages.
Mark Riedy, executive vice
president of the Mortgage
Bankers Association, said:
“Most people now are looking at
about 14 percent (mortgage
rates) as sort of the threshold for
buying. Unfortunately we are
now looking at rates of 17 to 18
percent again.”
Privately owned housing
starts in January were at an
annual rate of 894,000, the re
port said, marking the sixth con
secutive month that housing
starts were below the million
mark. But starts of new single
family homes improved 5.2 per
cent.
Chase Manhattan Bank was
first to announce an increase in
its prime rate to 17 percent
Wednesday, an increase that was
followed by other large banks.
The prime rate has gone up 1.25
percentage points this month as
the Federal Reserve tightened
the money supply.
Analysts expect another half
point increase soon.
Jerry Jasinowski, chief eco
nomist for the National Associa
tion of Manufacturers, said: “In
creasing the prime rate is simply
going to bring further pressure
to bear on capital goods produc
ers and make recovery more dif
ficult.”
On Wall Street, stocks skid
ded to a 4!/2-month low Wednes
day in active trading.
The Dow Jones industrial av
erage dropped 3.71 to 827.63,
the lowest level since it finished
at 824.01 Sept. 25.
Who’s
County Seat?
Why County Seat is the best doggone casual
clothes store for guys, gals and kids, this side of
anywhere. You’ll find all the jeans and casual
pants and shirts you love to live in, all in a
store you’ll feel comfortable shopping in. Come
to the new store in Post Oak Mall for Grand
Opening savings, Feb. 17-20.
COUNT? SEAT
STORES
For the best in casual clothes for guys, gals and kids,
just direct your feet to the County Seat.
© 1982 CSSI
TWO HEAVY WTTERSI
TOUCH BASES ON BATS,
BALLS, AND BEER.H
BOOG POWELL (Former American
Baseball Great): Koichi here has
been giving me a new angle on
baseball. It seems the game’s a
little different in Japan.
KOICHI NUMAZAWA (Former
Japanese Baseball Great):
9 , f^J X (£' 77 -f —K£'“'Jv£
TTtao
BOOG: That’s right. The field is
smaller over there.
KOICHI: o £ g , '> a - h T 'F £
4' 0 * A<7M*ted'g'ib-tt /i A, Tf cfc o
BOOG: Well, now that you men
tioned it, I guess you guys are
kinda smaller. Does that mean
you drink Lite Beer ’cause it’s less
filling?
KOICHI: C'^-, fcC'LC'Tb'BfXt;
^ T'l" cto
BOOG: Tastes great? That’s why I
drink it, too! I guess we have a lot
more in common than I thought.
KOICHI: *(7)iSg ! £' n T'T, B*
CD ^ — A to A t)'o
BOOG: Me? I’m too big to play on
a Japanese team.
KOICHI: */L4c £4^X1-<£, >
a - h icHilT-r <£o
BOOG: Shortstop?! Very funny.
©1981 Beer Brewed by Miller Brewing Co.. Milwaukee, Wis.