Article: Pravda rebukes sobriety zealots

MOSCOW (AP) The Communist Party newspaper Pravda said yesterday Soviet citizens must curb their drinking, but that authorities are going too far when they halt city buses to check passengers' breath and force teetotalers to join sobriety clubs.

The newspaper published excerpts from readers' letters complaining that some militiamen and industry officials have gone to extremes in the yearlong campaign to wean workers from vodka.

One writer, Vitaly Volkov of the Donetsk region in the Ukraine, said he was appalled when militiamen stopped a city bus in which he was riding and administered breath tests to all passengers.

He said when he com-plained, the militiamen threatened to give a ...