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Show Riot Rumors Reportedly Rediculous By MIKE HEYWOOD Chronicle Staff Writer Rumors that Salt Lake City would be faced with Watts-type violence and armed intervention by the National Guard have proved mostly groundless. A SPOKESMAN for the Guard said Tuesday that recent riot control training was conducted as a part of a continuing program pro-gram to keep the units ready for any emergency that might come up. Sgt. Richard K. VanZomeron of the 625th Military Police company, com-pany, the man who conducted last weekend's training in the Salt Lake area, said Monday that from the standpoint of his training, the riot rumors were a lucky coincidence that injected a motivating spirit of emergency and reality into the training. He said that while rumors are bad, this one had a useful aspect. THE LOCAL chapter of the NAACP said it knew nothing of any impending riot and that he personally knew of no other or- (Continued on Page 2) Riot Rumors Reportedly Rediculous (Continued from Page 1) ganization planning to cause trouble. The organization said it would continue to oppose the Mormon position in regard to the race question. "But we do not now, nor have we ever, advocated violence vio-lence as a way of solving problems." prob-lems." NEITHER THE police nor any local newspaper has been able to find any truth in the rumors. A Salt Lake City policeman said Tuesday that if transients were going to invade the town, they would have to have started by now, "and the town has seldom been quieter." The rumors apparently started during the Watts riot. There was speculation in some quarters that having started in Watts, whoever was behind the riots would begin working east, picking pick-ing crucial times in each town when the most damage could be done. IT APPARENTLY occurred to the rumor mongers that the conference con-ference weekend would be the ideal time for Salt Lake City to be attacked. Las Vegas and Phoenix apparently appar-ently felt variations of the riot rumor. Las Vegas reported some influx of Negroes from the Los Angeles aTea, but they were not causing any trouble at last report. re-port. Phoenix has remained as quiet as Salt Lake City. THE NAACP said the organization organ-ization feels the rumors "started with certain right-wing societies that make a practice of scaring people." The main effect of the rumors and riots on this area will be to update somewhat the State disaster dis-aster control plan so as to take into acount the tactics of the Watts mobs. Mr. VanZomeron of the miltary police said that specific information will soon be forthcoming from the California Cali-fornia National Guard. |