The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 9

Wednesday, February 25, 1981 Part I 9 Cos AngeUs (Times BILLBOARDS: Test Case us-Forces wrmMhmdto win war Reagan Honors a Hero, Thanks Vietnam-Era Veterans By RUDY ABRAMSON. Times Staff Writer was thinking how great it is to be an American soldier. "I'm no hero. The heroes are the ones that are buried, and the ones lying in the VA hospitals, and the wives my wife is the greatest hero of all." Benavidez said after the presentation that his thoughts during the ceremony had been about "my buddies, the ones left behind. "I thought about their children." he said, "the veterans in the hospitals, my commanders, the pilots.

I must be repaid for the costs of all the signs they are required to remove. So far they have won on this issue in the California courts. Wilson and other San Diego officials acknowledge that, in the tax-cutting era of California's Proposition 13. the city may not be able to afford to pay for removal of existing billboards. "As a priority, this would rank way behind things like providing essential services." the mayor said.

Billboard executives freely admit they consider San Diego the crucial battleground for their industry. "Frankly, we weren't very concerned when this happened in places like Carmel," Barrett explained. "But we felt we couldn't sit back and let this (a billboard ban) happen in a major metropolitan community with an industrial and commercial base." then put his arms around the stocky former Green Beret and hugged him. Benavidez received the medal nearly 14 years after he saved the lives of at least eight comrades, fighting off enemy soldiers even though he was severely wounded several times. Now retired in El Campo, as 100 disabled, Benavidez was twice considered for the medal and turned down because a sufficient number of witnesses to his heroism could not be located.

After the witnesses were found, the Joint Chiefs of Staff recommended unanimously to award Benavediz the country's highest military decoration. Jonas Miller Autosound ain't just for rich folks To get The Times at home: 213 626-2323 (LA County) 714 957-2361 (Orange County) Continued from 8th Page that the ban was aimed merely at getting rid of the unsightly billboards, not the messages they carry. Nevertheless, the contents of the messages have bothered some city officials. Said Louis M. Wolfsheimer.

the lawyer and former Planning Commission chairman who helped draft the billboard ordinance: "I have young children. The billboards were becoming more and more distastefulthere were unclad bodies, go-go dancers, whiskey ads." $1 Million in Fees Wolfsheimer admits he had no idea how tough and protracted a fight the billboard industry would wage over the ordinance. He says San Diego officials found themselves dealing with well-known figures, such as Herbert G. Klein, the former Nixon Administration official who served for a time as a Metromedia executive, and with Karl Eller, president of Combined Communications a firm that until recently had a large billboard subsidiary. Metromedia's Barrett says the billboard industry has spent more than $1 million in legal fees on the San Diego case already.

Most of the costs area being assumed by Metromedia and Gannett, Barrett says. Even if the high court rules against the industry on the free-speech issue, the firms plan to press a separate legal claim that they WASHINGTON-President Reagan praised veterans of the Vietnam War for both bravery and humani-tarianism Tuesday, saying "they came home without a victory because they had been denied permission to win." The remarks came as he presented the Medal of Honor to Roy Bena-videz, a 45-year-old retired Army sergeant, for heroism in Vietnam. The comment touched off loud applause from hundreds of military personnel and civilian employees of the Defense Department who gathered in the courtyard of the Pentagon for the ceremony. "Several years ago," Reagan said, "we brought home a group of American fighting men who had obeyed their country's call and had fought as bravely and as well as any Americans in history. "They were greeted by no parades, no bands, no waving of the flag they had so nobly served," he said.

"There's been no thank-you. There's been no effort to honor and thus give pride to the families of more than 57,000 young men who gave their lives in that faraway war." After making his comments, the President hung the gold Medal of Honor around Benavidez's neck, Boston to Close 27 Schools BOSTON CB-The Boston School Committee voted Tuesday night to close 27 schools as a cost-cutting measure to keep the system from shutting down for lack of money at the end of March, a spokesman said. Supt. Paul A. Kennedy said the closings would save about $8 million.

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