The Morning News from Wilmington, Delaware • Page 1

'arents 'know Au CopvrlsM 1979, The News-Journal Co. Third of five articles By MARGARET KIRK If a story is written about the Au Clair school, suggested Dr. Marc Richman, "take to heart what the parents have to say." "We are very 'pro' the school," said the Weston, opthomo-logist, who has a 14-year-old son at Au Clair. "We have watched our son develop. Those skills we only wondered about, he now has.

"No matter who says what, you better listen to the parents. For we are the ones who know that school best." A solid fortress of support for the now controversial Au Clair school was shown recently by the parents who place their autistic children inside its walls. Their support is evident in the endless stories they tell of how the school has helped their children and how its executive director, Kenneth M. Mazik, teaches them to become human beings. To some listeners, their stories might not sound so dramatic.

But to parents who have watched their child chew through window sills, throw food in restaurants, bang his head on super market floors, scratch his face until it bleeds, destroy Christmas presents and Christmas, too, it is a miracle to see the child learn to sit still, tie his shoe and go to the bathroom. And to parents who say they have had doors slammed in their faces because others would not or could not help their child, Au Clair means a home at last for a child they simply cannot live with. The state of Delaware, in a highly critical report written to the school on June 6, has denied the school its application for a new license. The report stated that the school had violated licensing requirements in areas of programming, staffing and organization. The most striking of those violations is the unprofessional use of punishment "aversive procedures" at the school, according to both the state's report and former staffers who were inter viewed by the News-Journal papers as part of a month-long investigation.

The state concluded that these procedures were used repeatedly without proper planning and monitoring to see if the they would work. At times, former staff members have said, the use of the procedures was violent and abusive. Mazik called the state report "scurrilous" and the "most unprofessional work I have soon." He was given 60 days to comply with the requirements or the school would be closed; and despite his criticisms he said the school is taking steps to meet the deadline. Parents say the licensing issue has them concerned but has not dampened their support for the school. The parents contacted by the News-Journal papers said they felt the state report was inaccurate and exaggerated, and that many of its conclusions were inappropriate.

When asked why, they argued that See A DAY Page 4, Col. I Class0' back it weather Cloudy, warm, and humid today. Chance of thundershowers late today. Highs in mid-80s, lows in the 70s. Details, Page 13.

A Gannett Newspaper, Wilmington, Monday, July 23, 1979 Vol. 180, No. 16 The Now Journal Co Co" Boat psople' ors say Vietnam to flee their country. Their voyage was uneventful until shortly after dusk on June 20 when their craft struck a reef about 150 yards from a small island. Flashlights were seen on the island and four men with a life preserver were sent to the island along with two sick children "to ask for help and medical care.

But suddenly, shots were heard, breaking the silence of the night." One of the four men swam back to the boat and said that men speaking Vietnamese had ordered the group to come closer and then opened fire, killing the other refugees. Attempts to float the boat failed, but at dawn "the communists did not make any move and we innocently thought that we could come in and ask for help." A man and his ailing mother started for shore with a life preserver but when they were halfway there the men on the island opened fire again, and "the two died in front of our eyes." The refugees raised their clasped hands, begging for mercy, and saw "some movements on the island, and big guns, mortars, grenade launchers were pointed to us. "Suddenly, one mortar shell fell right on the front part of our boat, killing 20 persons instantly and injuring many." Copyright 1979. rS, 5 Tfinlfftf hllfnc Off Awl IJ HI I 9 ff ii'i'thAin fff sat imwcmii said, he never could get the Army to route supplies to Europe through Wilmington. Babiarz, Mayor William T.

McLaughlin and City Councilman Thomas Quinn were among the civilians who went to sea on the Charleston Saturday night to observe the command operations over the minesweeping and destroyer activity that preceded the "vertical assault" on the guard encampment. About 850 vacationers parked their cars off Delaware 1 to cheer on the guard, doomed by the battle plan to lose. Of the 3.000 reservists in the exercise, 95 Marines from Philadelphia attacked Bethany Beach. Also on The Atlantic Empress continued to burn Saturday and into early yesterday in the wake of its collision on Thursday with another supertanker, the Aegean Captain, off the coast of Tobago in the Caribbean. Meanwhile, a giant oil slick resulting from the accident Bethany becomes Omaha Beach for a 20 cents 'I no longer a threat to the sandy Story, Page 3.

(UPI) encampment. All but one of them missed it. Two Phantom Marine jets developed problems at McGuire Air Force Base, N.J., and skipped a scheduled strafing run of the guard defenses. Then three CH53s landed with 90 Philadelphia Marines armed with M-16 automatic rifles, while National Guard sirens wailed though the resort. The guard defended itself with a dozen machine guns loaded with blanks, and flares to simulate mortar fire.

The Marines had melted into the woods behind them before launching the attack. But they all poked their heads out, and an objec Biden, Roth Senate shift By STEVEN V. ROBERTS Now York Times Service WASHINGTON For two weeks. Sen. Joseph R.

Biden has been attending the hearings on the strategic arms limitation treaty, asking questions, testing assumptions, evaluating answers. As a result, he is leaning heavily toward supporting the pact. "It's a modest achievement," said Biden over breakfast in the Senate dining room, "and passage might not fundamentally alter things with the Soviet Union. But failure of the treaty could fundamentally change things." Unlike Biden, Sen. William V.

Roth is not on the Foreign Relations Committee and has been spending most of his time on energy and economics. "Very frankly," he said, "Gas One is much more on the minds of the people of Delaware than SALT Two." Roth remains uncommitted on the treaty, but he has heard enough to start wondering what defeat of the agreement could mean. "It's a serious question," he said. "If there is no SALT treaty, how much more could the Soviet Union do?" bpijiJi survsv By WILLIAM C. MANN MANILA, Philippines (AP) A report by eight Vietnamese "boat people" states they were the only survivors of an attack on their crowded refugee ship by Vietnamese troops occupying a South China Sea island.

It said 85 refugees 20 men. 20 women and 45 children were killed in the rifle and mortar attack June 20-21 at Spratly Island. A copy of the report was obtained by The Associated Press and diplomatic sources confirmed there was such an attack. The Vietnamese Embassy said it had no knowledge of the incident. Spratly Island and a few small nearby islands are claimed by China.

Vietnam and the Philippines. They are about 400 miles east of the Vietnamese coast and nearly the same distance west of the Philippines' Palawan Island. Survivors of the attack said they managed to swim about three miles to tiny Parola Island, where they were rescued by members of a Philippine marine garrison. They are now being cared for at a Philippine military clinic on Palawan. The survivors' report gave this account: On June 18, the 93 Vietnamese boarded a fishing boat from an island off Nha Trang in southern Carter will expand his lower staff By JAMES GERSTENZANG WASHINGTON (AP) Faced with criticism that his inner circle is too tightly knit, President Carter is planning to broaden his staff in an effort to achieve greater diversity among his assistants.

But no new faces are expected among the inner circle of his advisers, comprised mostly of fellow Georgians. Hamilton Jordan, the president's new chief of staff, told NBC's "Meet the Press" yesterday that "one of my intentions and one of the president's objectives is to broaden the circle of advisers" both within and outside of government." At the same time, Jordan said, the perception that Carter has relied heavily on Georgian aides is "greatly exaggerated." "I cannot imagine an administra- See INNER Page 2, Col. 4 inside the news DC-10 probe grows House will also investigate Lockheed, Boeing and the FA A. P. 16.

Meningitis Researchers say the most common form is contagious. P. 12. began to break up and drift away beaches of the resort island-nation. the beach directing cannon fire from two destroyers was Naval Gunfire Liaison Unit No.

4 of Philadelphia, led by Lt. Cdr. John Davis of Newark. Among the targets supposedly demolished by Unit 4 commands was a National Guard building where a Navy TV crew was filming a reserve recruiting film. Leading the assault was a spunky 5-foot-4 Marine colonel, Ernest Brydon, who calls himself the "oldest active paratrooper in the Marines," at the age of 53.

He and five others flew from the fantail flightdeck of the Charleston in a Marine CH53 Boeing-Vertoi helicopter from Cherry Point, N.C., and dropped over the field behind the 1 weekend tive referee would have declared them all dead before the assault. They finally went on the offensive, running unharmed through a hail of blank machine gun fire until one of them fell on a roll of barbed wire and cut his hand. Both sides used smoke screens, a tactical ambiguity that sent sweet-smelling clouds over the spectators. First Sgt. James S.

"Steve" Messick of Company A of Seaford pulled the pin on a smoke grenade and it went off instantly perhaps the rarest kind of munitions malfuction and injured a finger on his left hand. He was admitted to Beebe Hospital, Lewes, where he was in satisfactory condition last night. symbolize on SALT When the arms treaty was signed two months ago, both Delaware senators were considered swing votes, key actors in the drama of Senate ratification. In different ways, both have started to accept the basic argument of treaty supporters: The agreement is far from perfect, but the country is better off with a treaty than without one. The treaty requires two-thirds vote of the Senate for ratification, and by most counts supporters are still far short of that goal.

But if the two Delaware senators a moderate Democrat and a conservative Republican are any indication, the momentum could be shifting in favor of the agreement. Both senators are concerned and disappointed that the treaty hearings have been overshadowed by other events. On a recent trip home. Roth had only three constituents even mention the issue. Biden feels strongly that any Senate judgement is likely to be controversial, and that the public should understand the basis for that judgement.

"They have to see we know what we're talking about," he said. See SALT Page 2, Col. 3 By HENRY DAVIDSON BETHANY BEACH The largest combined military reserves exercise ever held on the East Coast ended yesterday with two real minor casualties during a Marine helicopter assault on the Delaware National Guard encampment here. The Navy said its part of Liberty Four 79 "went beautifully," 'although it was fictional. A major part of Liberty Four was loading the U.S.S.

Charleston at the Port of Wilmington overnight Friday. John E. Babiarz, Wilmington director of commerce, said he hopes the Army Quartermaster Corps now realizes that Wilmington is a port. Even when he was mayor, Babiarz Kidnapping suspects held Arts 6 Events 19 Astrology 18 Living 17 Bridge 18 Obituaries 27 Business 9 People 5 Checkback 13 Record 28 Classified v. 28 Sports 21 Comics 18 Television 8 Editorials ..10 Weather 13 FBI agents in Paterson, N.J., hold Guillermo Jesus Caceres who, with Angel Humberto Cedano, was arrested yesterday morning in the kidnapping of Joan Dedrick.

Mrs. Dedrick, 46, was abducted Friday from her home in West Milford and was released yesterday hours after her husband William, an executive vice president of the Franklin Bank in Paterson, paid a ransom of $300,000. Story, Page 20. (AP) 'ftjidim! ill i.mi Jft.iu..