Magruder to Head Ethics Panel

Jeb Stuart Magruder, who was among the Richard M. Nixon aides jailed as a result of the Watergate scandal, was named to head a 15-member mayoral commission in Columbus, Ohio, on values and ethics. Magruder is now executive minister at First Community Church in suburban Marble Cliff. “A lot of my time outside has been talking about these issues,” Magruder said. “I talk about these issues to the Kiwanises and the Rotaries around here, as well as deal with these issues through the church, so I would hope that my background would be helpful.” A citywide ethics debate was prompted last year after bags of money fell from an armored truck on a downtown freeway. Police said many of those who stopped to scoop up the cash never returned it to authorities. Magruder held several White House positions from 1969 to 1973, including deputy director of communications at the time of the 1972 Watergate break-in. He spent seven months in prison after pleading guilty to perjury and conspiracy to obstruct justice. After his release in 1976, he entered a seminary and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1981.

Audrey Hepburn arrived in Ethiopia as a special envoy of the U.N. Children’s Fund to tour famine relief projects. The actress, who is traveling with UNICEF President Larry Bruce, arrived a day late because she was delayed by an airline strike in Rome. Hepburn will be briefed by government officials about the drought, famine and fighting in Ethiopia. Then she is due to tour drought-stricken northern provinces to inspect food distribution to famine victims and development projects such as dam building and tree planting. Relief workers say about 7 million people risk starvation in Ethiopia after the failure of last year’s rains.

Stars of both classical and popular music will gather at Carnegie Hall on May 11 to pay tribute to Irving Berlin on his 100th birthday. Those expected to take part include Leonard Bernstein, Willie Nelson, Isaac Stern and Frank Sinatra. At Berlin’s request, the tribute will benefit the Carnegie Hall Society and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Foundation, ASCAP’s Ken Sunshine announced. Sunshine said the gala will be taped by CBS-TV. Berlin is the last surviving founding member of ASCAP, which began at a dinner at Luchow’s Restaurant on 14th Street in Manhattan in 1914. Composers present, including Berlin, Victor Herbert, Jerome Kern and John Philip Sousa, decided to form an organization to protect their copyrights.