Kissing says Burnett encounter was of 'ladylike' kind

Associated Press
Carol Burnett

leged encounter with Kissinger.

Kissing, speaking with reporters after giving a speech at the Century Plaza Hotel, said Miss Burnett came to his table that night and was introduced politely.

"We exchanged a few words, and she left," Kissinger said. He said he had "the highest regard for Miss Burnett," adding that she spoke in a "perfectly civilized manner."

He said he had no plans to testify at the trial.

Miss Burnett's libel suit is believed to be the first against the National Enquirer to come to trial and is being closely watched by many other Hollywood celebrities who have similar actions pending.

director of the restaurant.

"I was given the information orally to be checked out," Lyon said. "He (Walker) said there had been some sort of altercation and to check it out."

Lyon said Miss Stewart told him that Miss Burnett had had a good-natured talk with Kissinger and had shared her dessert with several people.

He said: "I didn't use the word 'traipsing,' and neither did she. She said she couldn't confirm anything about the spilled wine."

Asked by Miss Burnett's attorney whether Walker expressed concern about publishing the piece, Lyon said: "Yes. I told him what I could confirm and what I could not confirm. I got quite upset with him."

He was pushing me to tell him whether or not he should publish it."

Earlier, Andrew Wiessner and his wife, Charlotte, testified they had sat at a table near Miss Burnett and her party on the night in question.

Both testified that while there with Wiessner's parents for a celebration they had indeed shared Miss Burnett's baked Alaska and she had shared their souffle. But they said the swapping had been the idea of Wiessner's mother and not Miss Burnett. The exchange was made by the waiters and Miss Burnett did not get up with her dessert, they said.

They said they left before Miss Burnett did and did not see the al-

Greg Lyon, called as a witness at the Superior Court jury trial of Miss Burnett's suit, said he was working as a reporter for the Enquirer at its Lantana, Fla., headquarters in February 1976 when he was asked by Brian G. "Mike" Walker to check out an item for the gossip column Walker was writing.

The article, carried in a March 1976 issue, alleged that Miss Burnett had a noisy run-in with Kissinger at the Rive Gauche restaurant, traipsed around offering everyone a bite of her dessert, and knocked over a glass of wine.

"It was 10 a.m. on Wednesday and I had one hour before deadline to check it out," Lyon said.

He said he called Mary Jo Stewart, then public relations

LOS ANGELES (AP) — [Henry Kissinger says Carol Burnett acted in a "perfectly ladylike fashion" when they met at a Washington restaurant, but says he has no plans to testify in her $10 million libel suit against the National Enquirer.]

The Enquirer published a gossip item which said Miss Burnett and the former secretary of state had had a noisy row.

Kissing, who has given a deposition in the suit against the Enquirer, told reporters Friday that there was "no commotion of any kind going on" during their January 1976 encounter.

Earlier Friday, a former Enquirer reporter testified that he was unable to verify the item published in the tabloid.

from Vice President George Bush, resumes
today as hundreds of volunteers investi-
gate a new disappearance.

For the 22nd weekend, volunteers
planned to comb sections of the city in
search of bodies, evidence and clues. On
Friday, a 22nd name was added to the list
of black children slain and missing during
the past 20 months. Twenty bodies have
been found.

Commissioner Lee P. Brown officially
transferred the case of Joseph Bell, 15,
from the city's missing persons squad to
the 20-member task force.

Bell, reported missing March 3, was con-
sidered a streetwise, savvy youngster —
like many others whose cases are being
probed by the task force.

"He always thinks he's real up-to-date,
knows what's happening," said his moth-

said.

One other youngster remains on the
task force missing list — 10-year-old Dar-
ron Glass, last seen Sept. 14, 1980.

"I hope the children are alive. That is my
prayer," Brown said in transferring the
case.

In his White House press room an-
nouncement, Reagan said he was sending
Bush to Atlanta today to meet with Mayor

"This administration is doing, and will
continue to do, what we can do to bring an
end to this tragedy," Reagan said. "This
nightmare has continued for more than 19
months, and I am determined to continue
to assist the city of Atlanta in bringing it to
an end."

Reagan called the killings "one of the
most tragic situations that has ever con-
fronted an American community."

and to show "we're not going to
allow to happen to black children in
this generation what has happened
to scapegoats" throughout his-
tory.

The Rev. M. William Howard,
president of the National Council of
Churches, called on religious lead-
ers of all faiths to set aside a period
between March 27 and 29 to pray
for the people of Atlanta.

26 feared drowned off Alaska

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) —
searchers have found two empty
feboats in the frigid Bering Sea
near where a Japanese fishing boat
ank in a storm with 26 crewmen
on board, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
A Navy plane and 20 Japanese
ishing boats were looking again
today, but Coast Guard spokesman
William Boatman said, 'There's not
enough water for survivors.'

traveling with 10 other Japanese
vessels fishing for cod when it sud-
denly went down early Friday, the
Maritime Safety Agency of Japan
reported.

The boat sank about 380 miles
northwest of Adak Island, which is
part of Alaska's Aleutian Islands, as
the crew of another boat watched,
unable to help because of high
waves and strong winds, officials

Hinson resigns from Congress after arrest

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Rep.
Jon Hinson, R-Miss., calling it “the
most difficult and painful decision
of my life,” is resigning from Con-
gress following his arrest last
month in a Washington men’s
room on a charge of attempted sod-
omy.

Hinson said in a prepared state-
ment Friday that he had informed
Gov. William Winter and House
 SPEAKER THOMAS O’NEIL Jr. — U.S.

"weeks of medical care and self-in-
quiry."

"No statement by me could ever
convey the sense of regret and sad-
ness I feel in taking this step, but I
have faced the fact that, for a time, I
am emotionally unable to continue
my work and must concentrate the
total of my energies on my recov-
ery," he said.

Hinson had said after his arrest

don't really know what they're
doing."

Hinson won re-election to a sec-
ond term last November despite his
revelation that he had been arrest-
ed in 1976 on a charge of commit-
ting an obscene act at the Iwo Jima
Monument, and survived a 1977 fire
that killed nine people at a Wash-
ington theater that catered to ho-
mosexuals.