The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 85

Bank Job: 'Mission Impossible, James Bond Mixed Together ByJIMQULNLAN it was done as it did criticism of the problems it has caused. Benjamin, who founded the bank six years ago, called the robbery, "one of the most daring, technically proficient, and professional" operations he had ever seen. The "modus operandi," Benjamin said, was "no jewelry, only cash, no bonds, even negotiable ones, only cash." And cash, perhaps $200,000 of it, they got. The burglars came on Sunday, it is theorized. There were surely more than two because the equipment used, torches, tools, explosives, sandbags, a power hammer, weighed hundreds of pounds.

One of the thieves was either an expert in both electronics and demolition or there were separate specialists. Outside, behind the bank in the area of the drive-in teller's window was a truck. Inside at the wheel, as is the case of professional bank robberies, was another specialist, a combination look-out and driver. Late Sunday evening" they came. They parked their truck and moved silently along the side of the one-story building.

Climbing up to the roof they forced open the air conditioning vent either with an explosive device or special tools. Once inside the modern bank, they neutralized the triple warning system in the room directly below their entry point. With careful precision they cut a neat square, enough for a man to drop through, into the ceiling of the men's washroom. Turn to BANKER, A8, Col. 1 PMt Staff Writer LANTANA William Benjamin, chairman of the First State Bank of Lantana, describes the bank robbery last weekend as "Mission Impossible and James Bond mixed together." The theft of more than $160,000 from the bank vault and an undetermined amount of cash in 450 safety deposit boxes received almost as much com-ment from bank officials for "the professional wav" WEATHER Partly cloudy and warmer through Saturday.

High 75, low 63. Details, D4 3alni Beach Post -KM Awards 1 he Pyle Kennedy Pulitzer VOL. LXII, NO. 261 WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA, FRIDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 12, 1971 84 PAGES-: -PRICE TEN CENTS 11 uiihiiim i mi ii mii i. mm i-i ii iii School Mix St.

Lucie Schools In Strife jwp ji 7-i Contemp J- I Mi Jrf Om I aul Sought Attorney William Holland said schools on the fringe of black areas will be integrated but those farther au ay will remain all-white. South Viets AreN earing Laos Goal By BILL SCHMTT AND DEAN JONES Post Staff Writers FORT PIERCE Schools in St. Lucie County closed their doors today following a rash of fights yesterday between white and black students. School Board members declared the closing at an emergency meeting last night. They hoped tempers will cool over the three-day weekend, so classes can resume Monday.

Their meeting came in response to disorders yesterday at Fort Pierce Central High School. After a melee involving whites and blacks, the school closed and students were sent home. Lincoln Park Academy was also shut down, though no incidents were reported there. Fort Pierce Central is a new high school, attended this year for the first time, and houses all 10th, 11th and 12th grade classes in St. Lucie County.

Lincoln Park, formerly the county's predominantly black high school, now serves all ninth graders. Dan McCarty Middle School, which used to be the predominantly white high school, is now used by seventh and eighth graders. Two white students at Fort Pierce Central were treated for minor injuries at Fort Pierce Memorial Hospital and released. No arrests were reported. Meanwhile, the entire Fort Pierce Police Department and the St.

Lucie County Sheriff's Department remain on alert. The Indian River Sheriff's Department and Florida Highway Patrol troopers were also on standby last night. However, officers reported the Fort Pierce area "very quiet" last night. Turn To STRIFE, A7, Col. 1 By TOM SAWYER Post Staft Writer Attorney William Holland yesterday asked the U.S.

District Court in Miami to cite the Palm Beach County School Board for contempt of court. Holland, appearing before Judge Joe Eaton, urged the contempt action for the board's alleged violation of the majority-to-minority transfer rule contained in the county's school desegregation plan. Holland said the School Board should be found in contempt of court because it has placed illegal limits on the rule under which a student can transfer from a school in which his race is in a majority to one in which it is in a minority. The school system, he said, has agreed only to bus students to the nearest school and not one requested by the student or his parents. Holland said this means schools on the fringe of black areas will be integrated but those further away will remain all-white.

Holland also asked the court to schedule new hearings on proposed changes in the desegregation plan. Most of Holland's proposals were the same as those recommended by the county Biracial Committee in its report to the court in December. However, Holland also asked for a minority-to-minority transfer rule whereby a student could transfer from a school in which his race was in a minority to another school where his race was even in more of a minority. Holland said this would increase integration of all county schools. Turn to COUNTY, A8, Col.

4 i ffJ' fTt-' It ff hi lis. lf I 1 llkf 'i From Post Wire Services SAIGON South Vietnamese forces closing in from three sides yesterday pushed to positions just outside the Communist base at Se-fpone in Laos, military sources reported. It is the main objective of Saigon's offensive with U.S. support on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. A special South Vietnamese team led the assault against Sepone, a town 27 miles inside Laos where many parts of the trail converge.

The South Vietnamese landed in positions north and south of the town, but by nightfall had not entered the town itself. A major battle was in the offing if North Vietnamese defenders chose to stand and fight In other major developments in the war zones: CBS News said Green Berets, some dressed as South Vietnamese, are operating in Laos. The U.S. command in Saigon had "no comment" on reports a U.S. Marine landing force was aboard ships off the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in case of a North Vietnamese drive through the DMZ into South Vietnam.

Military sources in Saigon said only about 1,500 Marines were involved and the maneuver was merely a routine contingency plan. In northern Laos on the Plain of Jars, an 18.000-man North Vietnamese force overran four positions protecting Laotian army headquarters at Long Cheng. Turn to OFFENSIVE, A17, Col. 1 Staff Photo by Joe Valbuena Blacks Mill Around Scene of Meeting Yesterday In Fort Pierce Nixon Unveils Regulatory Agency Revamp diction over nearly all but anti-trust and broadcast matters. There was no initial reaction either from Congress, which long has regarded the regulatory bodies as its own creatures, or from veteran agency bureaucrats whose authority might be curtailed by the plan.

Mr. Nixon invited their comments, as well as those of the regulated industries, but hinted he wants to proceed with some kind of reform in the current session of substantila improvement" in operation of the regulatory agencies, Mr. Nixon appeared eager to witness the expected public controversy before adopting the council's recommendations. The key recommendation in the 125-page report and the likely focus for debate was a plan to abolish most of the multi-member commissions in favor of one-man administrators of new agencies. These administrators, appointed by the President without fixed terms, and subject to Senate confirmation, would assume juris After delaying seven months in making public the advisory council's recommendations, the President set an April 20 deadline for reactions from interested parties.

He said he then will recommend, "as may be appropriate, those reforms that appear desirable and in the public interest." Mr. Nixon's caution was in contrast to his hearty embrace of an earlier advisory council program to reform the executive branch, folding seven departments into four. (c) New York Times WASHINGTON President Nixon stepped gingerly toward reform of the federal regulatory agencies yesterday, calling for "vigorous public discussion" of a plan to streamline five major commissions. The President released but reserved judgment on a proposal by his Advisory Council on Executive Organization to overhaul independent commissions that govern the securites, transportation and power industries and the nation's consumer trade. Acknowledging there was "room for Quake Victim Survives Under Rubble Inside Today Bridge Column D8 Classified Ads D10-19 Comics D8 Crossword Puzzle D8 Editorials, Columnists A18-19 Horoscope D8 Obituaries B6 People Speak A17 Sports Cl-5 Stocks C9-11 Theaters D7 TV Column D9 Weather Map, Table D4 Women's News Bl-3 These Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies may be decked out in riot gear, but apparently one of them has peaceful intentions.

Of course, there's always the chance he's signalling "victory" instead of "peace." The deputies were taking part in routine riot control training yesterday at the Sheriff's Department road patrol headquarters on Southern Boulevard. Staff Photo by Joe Valbuena From Post Wire Services LOS ANGELES A 68-year-old man trapped 58 hours beneath the rubble of a veterans' hospital which collapsed in Tuesday's earthquake was brought out alive yesterday, in apparent good condition except for a broken wrist. Frank Carbonara, a dietician, was found huddled underneath a sink in the facility's kitchen, where he could gulp enough oxygen to stay alive. The quake death toll stood at 57, with 38 of the victims found at the veterans' hospital. At least eight persons still were missing in the rubble.

About four miles from the hospital, the lake behind an earthquake-cracked dam was lowered 2-3 inches an hour, steadily easing the threat of new catastrophe should an aftershock jolt the earthen levee. Engineers said the level of the Van Norman Reservoir should have dropped sufficiently by today, to end the danger, enabling 120,000 residents of the valley below to return to their homes. Turn to QUAKE, A5, Col. 1 ivli (H SMI iriiinn rii inn Tnr- i.J I -i i ---nui wri- 1 1" a i.