Caught Dead to Rights on Not Voting, He Vows to Help

Instead of appearing before their usual audience of “Deadheads”--loyal fans of their band the Grateful Dead--Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir and Mickey Hart were the headliners at the Congressional Human Rights Caucus on Capitol Hill. The veteran rockers spoke about the need to make people more aware of the dangers of rain forest destruction. “I’m an earthling on this planet and it’s my problem as much as anybody else’s,” Garcia said. Rep. Claudine Schneider (R-R.I.), saying that perhaps 90% of “Deadheads” don’t vote, praised Garcia’s efforts to draw attention to important issues. Replied Garcia: “I’m one of them. It would be nice if there were something to vote for. For me, voting is way down on the list.” But he added that the band’s fans take issues seriously. “Deadheads will chain themselves to a tree,” he said.

--The proceeds from unrefunded tickets to an Elvis Presley concert canceled because of the singer’s death should not be turned over to Nassau County in New York, a judge ruled. State Supreme Court Justice Eli Wager said the $85,930 might be construed as abandoned property, which could be claimed by the state. The suit to recover the money was brought by co-executors of the singer’s estate. Concert promoter Jerry Weintraub joined in the suit. Presley died six days before the scheduled 1977 concert. Some fans kept the tickets as souvenirs. Wager ordered that if Comptroller Edward Regan rejects state intervention in the disposition of the funds, the money would go to the Presley estate.

--The Soviet Union’s most famous spy novelist, Julian Semyonov, is relying on fact, not fiction, for “Top Secret,” a journal with true stories of murder, mayhem and intrigue. Semyonov said the journal will be produced by the first non-governmental publishing house in Soviet history--the Moscow branch of the International Assn. of Crime Writers, of which he is president. The debut issue includes articles on the murder of a Soviet actress, the FBI and excerpts from the Warren Commission’s report on President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Semyonov gained fame in 1969 with “Seventeen Moments of Spring,” about a Soviet agent in Nazi Germany.