BERLIN, Monday--West Berlin voters early Monday solidly rejected the Soviet Union's bid to make West Berlin a neutral city by swamping the Communists in the election of a new city parliament.

Defying Communist threats to the isolated city, West Berliners turned out in record numbers to bar the Reds completely from the 133-seat parliament.

Unofficial final returns from Sunday's vote showed the Communists had picked up only 1.96 per cent of the vote.

Pioneer III Falls

WASHINGTON--The Army's goldplated Pioneer III plunged to a fiery death 55 miles above North Africa at 2:51 p.m. EST Sunday.

The two-foot-long, 13-pound nose cone was tracked to a height of 66,654 miles before the force of the earth's gravity whisked it back from its probe of outer space.

At the high point, about 9 p.m. EST Saturday night, it had slowed to a few hundred miles per hour. But once arced downward, its speed revved to an estimated 23,300 m.p.h. as it dived on the jungles of north-central Africa.

Rights Group Stymied

MONTGOMERY, Ala.--Alabama officials and grand juries are weaving a barrier of legal red tape around voting records the federal Civil Rights Commission has subpoenaed for its first public hearing Monday.

Records or no records, the commission planned to go ahead as scheduled with its investigation.