This Day In 1970's History: Friday February 16, 1979
- As many as 17 children placed in People's Temple foster care homes by the California authorities may have died in the mass suicides and murders at the sect's Jonestown settlement in Guyana, according to a report given to Senator Alan Cranston by the General Accounting Office. Mr. Cranston, chairman of the Senate Human Resources Committee, emphasized that the G.A.O. report was preliminary. He has said that perhaps 150 foster care children died at Jonestown. [New York Times]
- A runway accident in Chicago that badly damaged a cargo jumbo jet is being investigated by federal officials. The plane veered off the runway when its pilot tried to avoid another airliner taxiing across the strip. [New York Times]
- Mardi Gras parades were canceled for Saturday, Sunday and Monday by Mayor Ernest Morial of New Orleans in an appeal to the city to remain calm during the policemen's strike that resumed this evening. He assured residents that National Guardsmen and state policemen would assume police duties. Striking police officers appear to be ignoring a court order enjoining the strike. [New York Times]
- Florida may have been buying swamps and other wetlands in deals involving inflated prices, bribery and kickbacks -- all in the name of protecting its environment -- and an investigation by the Justice Department is underway. It has also been charged that some persons have profited from the sale to the state of ecologically important lands endangered by Florida's building boom. [New York Times]
- Four of Iran's high-ranking generals were reported to have been executed by a firing squad after an "extraordinary court of the Islamic revolution" had found them guilty of "betrayal of the people, torture and murder." The generals had been loyal to the Shah. Meanwhile, some shooting continued in Teheran and the United States and Britain prepared to evacuate their nationals.
Normal diplomatic relations with Iran's new government will be maintained, the United States said, as it sought an early meeting between Ambassador William Sullivan and Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan. The request for the meeting had the practical effect of establishing ties between Washington and Prime Minister Bazargan's government. [New York Times]
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