cent boys by turning them toward homosexual interests.

Judge Hart supported the PO ban, insisting that the magazines are aimed to the homosexual market and are "obscene to the Nth degree," and sentenced Womack to 1-3 years (bail pending appeal). "Somebody else may put them in the mails," he said, in apparent recognition that his ruling ran contrary to the opinions of higher courts, "but it is not going to be

me.

Defense attorney Stanley Deitz, who'd argued that homosexuals had just as much right to buy magazines depicting attractive men as heterosexuals have to comparable pictures, promised he would appeal.

PO spokesmen crowed, saying the decision "gives us greater lattitude in dealing with the obscenity problem" including magazines intended for homosexuals, lesbians, sadists, masochists and other deviates.

Herbert Warburton, Gen. Council for the Dept., who'd been misquoted apparently as saying the PO had gone too far in its drive against obscenity, wrote to the Wash. POST taking credit for starting and pushing the PO crusade. He complained about new floods of obscenity from Europe, complained that Collectors of Customs aren't allowed to open first class mail without permission of intended recipients yet they often do it anyhow, in criminal defiance of the law they are paid to uphold.

Bobbie Van Over, 21-yr-old carnival worker, 6 ft. 4, sat stolidly and vacantly in court as it was described how he was picked up in a cafe by a Calif. Chamber of Commerce official (formerly prexy of Illinois' Bradley University), had drinks with the man, who gave him money for a room where they met and he beat the man-as requested, but too much. Van Over left the man

dead in the room, went for a haircut, later was picked up by police. No witnesses could corroborate or deny his version ...

Months-long Bd. of Education hearings on case of principal acquitted in court of sex acts with boys (April tangents"). Answering charges he'd bribed boys to testify, Detective Mitchell Darnell admitted he'd promised to help some (who faced truancy, delinquency charges) into Phelps Vocational Hi School, but didn't consider that a bribe. Mrs. Julia Ryan, now teaching at Woodson Junior Hi, said faculty members at Randall thought the principal effeminate and his reputation for morality and decency is questionable. Verdict: dismissal.

A 20-yr-old clerk in Sen. Mike Mansfield's office was robbed by a hitchhiking Marine, who told him: "Don't worry, we do this all the time." True enough. Victim went to police, and Marine was shortly picked up back at same stand . . .

MATTACHINE SOCIETY

For the first time in Mattachine history, a public discussion group has been raided. One August nite, cops burst into a Mainline Philadelphia home and seized over 80 persons, including several married couples and noted professional people. Most were released after a few hours at the police station, with a few held for longer questioning. Police were astonished that only a few of those present "looked like homosexuals" and before the night was over, police and city officials apparently wished the whole thing had never happened. The host and a NY Mattachine officer were arrested for showing "obscene" movies and literature (including "Fireworks," a film about homosexuality which had previously been