MARCH 24 - 30. 1985 THE CITIZEN
MlCoae.1 r
ST. JOSEPH - Final al
location of 19 federal revenue
ring fund wer m de by the
Berrien County Board of Com
missioner Thur ay morning
rch 21.
The bo rd g ve half of the
nton Harbor' Rec programs
reques for 40 000 in federal
revenu aring funds. The
board pproved SlO,OOO for the
P LS p gram, d another
S10,000 for the Char e Gray
Rec Center.
The board also gave 60 000
to the county' 6 nior citizens
centers; 20,000 to the Expand
ed utrition Program; S20,000
to Planned Parenthood; 10000
to Community Action leg 1 aid:
SIO 000 to th Housing Coun
ling Center; and 60 000 to
the Ju enile Center.
The bo rd also approved
S 170 000 in federal revenue
ring fund for th Par
and Recreation department.
uch of that money will go to
improvin Rockey G p County
P r in Benton To ip.
pre-application ' being
bmitted to the Land and
ater Conservation Fund, asking
for 56,000 in federal matching
funds for Roc y Gap. A pre
pplication for 25,000 i being
bmitted to the Michigan Co -
tal an ment program, for
fed r matching dollar also.
u
or
or
c
The coun ty alloc ted the
remainder of its 1,431 ,488
in federal revenue aring to:
the county road commi ion,
Gateway R habilitation, Family
Crisis Center Volunteer ction
Center, Th Link-Crisi Inter-
ntion Center, 4-H Summer
Program, ile Airport, handi
cap ramp and h I for the
county courthou the sheriff'
marine division, with th r
mainder going into th
re eve fund.
ting SaturdayjCo-ops
Ch nee for better housing?
Do co-operative hou ing
hold an an er to improving
Benton Harbor' housin stoc 1
Bern rd Schaefer of the ad
i n Square Co-operative (MSC)
of Grand Rapid thinks Co
op housing might provide t
city's re 'dents ith decent,
afforab housing while giving
them a chance at ownership.
Th Citizens Coalition are
bringing Schaefer to the city
on Saturday, arch 30, . t
10:00 a.m. at Progre ive Bap-
, Church, 245 Pi one St.,
Benton Harbor.
The public is invited to
thi meeting to hear bout
cooperati s and their po . iIi
ti s for the city, according to
Rev. illiam oore, P tor of
the Congregational Church and
Ho ing Chairperson of the
Citizens Coalition.
Scha fer ill relate the sue-
of dison Square Co-
operati , Inc., If-help
organization e tablished by re '
dent of the ad' on-Hall area,
in order to pur that neighbor
hood's economic development.
MSC want to educate the
public abut the benefits of
economic co-operation, nd de
velop Model Co-operative which
demonstr se how the pr tical
application of the Co-operative
principle can benefit con
sumers, producers, and the
general public.
Ronni Clar is the Econom
ic Development Chairperson,
and Jame F.A. Turner' the
Acting Chairperson of the Ben
ton Harbor and Vicinity Citizens
Coalition.
trar's 0 lee.
In numbers, Blac tudent
enrollment went from 297 1 t
year to 270 thi year. For
Hispanics the drop wa from
88 to 87; A ians from 73 to 67;
merican Indian from 33 to 27.
By contrast, white enrollment
ro from 5,887 to 6,363
, ce last year.
To explain the drop, Dean
of c demic Service, Robert
Fletcher, said GVSC im t
ttracting many tudents from
th De roit area it once did.
o. H gave a number of rea on
for th t, Ii ting housing short
ge, GVSC location, and in
ere d financial ' d t other
school.
hip
Gr t, accordin� to ie n.
Ielsen added that th con
tract was not put out for bids,
becau professi onal contracts
are required to b bidded out
only once every 3 years.
. A recommendation from the
Planning commi ion, to rezone
158 Grand Bl d., from F
heavy industry to A2-single
residential, wa approved by the
board. The owners of th
property intend to build hou
on the 'teo
The pecial u permit re-
que t from Highland Develop
ment Corporation for 2015
Highland w approved. High
land' Development wants to
build a 40 unit, low-income
nior housing center. ielsen
. d the special u permi t
d not change the zoning
of th area, and gives Highland
Development 1 year to construct
f cilitie .
52 properties in Benton
Township, acquired by the De-
partment of tural Re ource
for non-p yment of taxe , were
bought by the township bo rd
for S520. Tru tee ora Jeffer
son said the properti s, and
other not old in the 1 t e,
would be put up for public
bid .
The board a 12
open
entertainment.
STATE
By Harold Lester
USKEGO t ndin
room only crowd ed th
commission chamger of th
uskegon County Buildin
the first of three t t
hearing on Rep. Juani
kin's Ho Bill 41 11.
The Hou Labor Committ
gathered testimony on or er'
and the public's ' right t
kno " about chemi d
toxic b ance in the co -
munity.
Testimony rang d far d
wide from busine , industry,
public and private citizen .
Hou Labor Committee
members and local state repre
ntatives Edgar A. Geerlings
- orton Shores) and Mic ey
Knight (R-Muskegon) heard the
testimony led by the bill's
sponsor, Juanita Watkins (D
Detroit). Two other hearings
are scheduled for Lansing and
Detroit.
Hou Bill 4111 would adopt
tandards propo d by the
Federal Occupational Safety
Health Administration which are
due to take effect in ovem
ber. Supporters of the bill
argued that OSHA tandards
apply mainly to chemical manu
factures and transporters and
only apply to about a fourth
of the wor force expo d to
hazardous chemicals.
Rep. atkins said her bill
would expand the OSHA stan
dard to provide citizens, police,
firefighters and local health
officials with information about
chemicals in their communitie .
It would prohibit employer
from discriminating against
workers who refu to handle
containers not properly identi
fied. She said the bill also
allow ch mical manufactures to
uppre ' legitimate trade
cret ."
"The information is not for
everyone, and anyone ho ay
it is, is using that smoke-
creen", Rep. atkin said.
ost of tho t tifying were
in favor of the bill.
A few testified in favor
of aiting for OSHA stan
dards to take effect and eing
how they work. They included
u ke on Area Chamber of
Comm rce Pre 'dent Tom orri
and Daniel Girvin, an environ
mental and en rgy engineer from
the Sealed Power Co. Girvin
The board 0 dopted bud
get amendment to the i 984-
85 budget, which end rch
31. The board dded SIO,OOO
to the building fund, S2,000
to the treetlighting fund,
$4,000 to road maintainance,
and 15,000 to the police fund.
Tre urer Jame Boothby
explained that the township is
coming clo to going over
budget for this fiscal year.
Boothby said the dollars were
tac ed on to in ure that the
to ip did not go over
budget, making the audit for
86-85 ea ier for the uditors.
Th bo rd approved t 0
audit contracts with Bri 01,
Lei ring, Kerkner '" Company.
One udit will be for the 15 or
16 perate township fund,
The first budget meeting ill ccording to Boothby, and th
be reb 30, 1 p.m. at Hull other will be for the township
School. Community De elopment Bloc
Grand Valley minori y
enroll ment dro s
1WP - As of
ednesday, March 20, Ben
ton Township I functioning
charter township. Unanimou
pproval by the township board
t it arch 19 meeting of a
re lution to create a charter
to nship has made that a
reality.
Supervisor Larry ielsen and
other members explained that
b a it done by board
re lution, the board cannot
r e without general
election. "Had e done this by
referendum," . lsen id, ''we
ould ha a limit to which e
could have raised millage ith
out approv , but we did it by
re lution, so e can't '
ALLENDALE - Minority
enrollment t Grand Vall y
State College h d clin d while
enrollment ' up 6.6 overall and
bite enrol1m nt ' up 8 per
cent.
GV Pre ident Arend D.
Lubb r announced the college
hopes to correct the ituation
by improving student rvice
and adding more Blac faculty
mber.
inority decline wer cro
th board. De line by group
ere: Black down 9 percent;
Hispanic, 1 percent; ian ,
percent: and ativ meri-
, 18 perc nt; ccordin to
fi ure rele d by th regis-
id Sealed Power already had
a training porgram for 80 to
o empl ees who are routine
ly in direc ontact with chemi
cal .
Sheri 'Aspey Pre ident of
the tJ. �gon Labor Council
FL-CIO, te tified in favor of
th bill an . 0 did Don Jac on
Pre 'dent' of A Local 539
t C Textron.
Jack id CWC had m de
gre t 'de in envirom ntal
concern in the days his
father had oiked there when
"you cou d only see four or
five feet' front of you,"
J c on d the problem of
contaminat on remained.' y
do you ha e to have a major
dis ter or catastrople before
pa eng a hou bill like 41111"
Jackson ed.
Rep. Geerlings as ed Jackson
hi opinion of the attitude
of labor and management at
C Textron today about
health and safety.
, ithout a third party like
MIOSHA (the ichigan em of
OSHA), we'ed be set bac 20
year or more, Jac on aid.
ith that I don't thin any
thing would happen."
George ikoriu, Safety
Chairman for the D troit Fire
fighter A ociation, related two
incidents in which firefighters
responded to emergencies in.
factorie , without any idea of
what they ere g tting into.
In one incident, 10 firefighters
were injured by FCBS leading
from transformer .
Rick ewberry of the e t
Michigan Environmental Action
Council, said 19 other states
have alre dy p d right to
kno legislation that exceed
the oon-to-be- dopted federal
and rd.
UA International Repre n
tative Richard onSC3 said that
worker "a guinea pigs and in
another five years you're going
to e re ult of test that are
going on right now." He ex
pre d further concern that
non-legitimate trade crets
might be claimed, but Hou
Bill 4111 h a fe ture that
would permit authorized
wor er repre n tative to chal
lenge trade cret claims, I
If you would li e to testify
or have more informati n call
S ott T bey t 17 355:
5070 Lansin i.