By BNlNIFI�R
LIZABE11I FRANK
c.pitol News Service
LANSING--Of the 1,704·
peop who died in car acci­
dents in Michigan in 1988, near­
ly SO percent d been drinking.
Tl-wis fall, state lawmakers will
send a message to Michi8an
drivers that drunken driving
and alcohol in cars will not be
tolerated.
Three bills currently in com­
mittee attack the dnmkcn driv­
ing problem on three �jor
is ue : 1) The admis ion in
court of the refu ·al of a
breathalyzer test; 2) The
cleanup of the system of dealing
with drunk driver; 3) The
. ability to revoke the drivers
licenses of first time offenders.
Bac ers of the three dif­
ferent bills are Rep. Micheal E.
Nye, R-Litchfi ld, Rep. W.
Perry Bullard, -Ann Arbor,
and Sen. Rudy J. Nichols, R­
Waterford.
"There's always a demand
take the test are the ones who
need the impact of punishment.
Michigan State Police Lt.
Dan Smith said, -rile advantage
of being able to say, C I offered
this person a breathalyzer and
they did not take it,' is in the
jury's mind or the judge's mind,
'Why didn't this person take the
test.' So I would say that
would be advantageous to us."
The state's lawbooks cur­
rently contain many different
drunken driving statutes. The
three bills introduced this ses­
sion outline what needs to be
done to make the laws work. For
instance the offense of open ·aI­
cohol in ·a car is currently a liq­
uor violation. The bills would
change .that offense to a motor
vehicle violation. The punish­
ment would no longer be just a
fine, but instead would affect
the violator's driving record.
Another important issue in
the bill is the penalty of license
suspension for the rust drunken
driving offense. No provisional
African American useum chair:
ew museum premature
ByFLOD
S. RI(fGS
Staff Reporter
DETROIT - Dr. Charles
Wright, chairman ·of the
African American History
Museum says he doesn't oppose
the mayor's proposal to open a
new museum three times the
size of the present 0 e, but the
recently propo ed move,
however, he feels is too soon.
Detroit Mayor Coleman
Young announced plans of a
ne museum and the closing of
the current one, located at 301
Frederick Douglass Drive
during a July interview with the
I .
ake s tackle drun
for anti-drunk driving biills be­
cause there's always dead
people on the highways," David
Cahill, aide to Bullard, said He
said that about 25 percent of
fatal ccidents are caused by
drunken driving.
People ho are stopped for
suspicion of drunken driving
may refuse to take a
breathalyzer test. Under cur­
rent la , that refusal may not be
admitted into court. Law­
makers are now moving to get
breathalyzer refusal admitted
into court as part of the chain of
evidence. Judges would have to
instruct juries that the refusal of
a breathalyzer should not be
used to determine guilt or in­
nocence.
Thomas Robertson of the
Michigan Prosecuting Attor­
neys Coordinating Council said,
"The biggest change for
prosecutors is being able to teU
the jury that a person refused to
take a chemical test." He said
often the people who refuse to
"Michigan Chronicle."
Commenting on the strong
possiblity of the museum
change, Wright said the present
museum itself is still under
development.
"I just think it's a little prema­
ture," Wright said. "I don't think
we're quite ready for that. The
present museum hasn't been
used to it's maximum efficien­
cy."
Wright said the Chronicle in­
terview was the rust time he had
heard of the new museum. He
heard of it again on Sept. 30
when the mayor publicly an­
nounced it a second time.
Right I ader
uccumb to
heart attack
ICALANAZOO - Duane
Roberts, a lifeloog champ' n of
African American freedom,
died of an apparent heart au ck
and found in his auto on
Oct. 18 outside hiS home in'
Kalamazoo Township.
Roberts, who wa 71, wa
president of the Kalamazoo
Chapter NAACP for 10 years
and a leader in the 1971
federal lawsuit that integrated
the Kalamazoo schools.
In June, Roberts was elected
to a four-year term on the
Kalamazoo Board of Educa­
tion.
Roberts w born Nov. 18,
1917, in Kalamazoo. He was a
graduate of Western Michigan
University. In 1986 he retired
from the U.S. Postal Service.
He is survived by a sister,
Barbara Roberts; two brothers,
Wilbur Roberts and Keith
Roberts.
A memorial service was held
Oct. 21 at People's Church in
Kalamazoo.
After that members of the
public and the iii um board
started asking him questions, he
said.
So during the museum's an­
nual meeting the mayor's
proposal will be an agenda item
for discussion, he said. The
meeting is scheduled for
Thursday O�. 26 starting at 6
p.m.
Though the. idea was public
rust in July and again in Sep­
tember the mayor has not
presented it to the museum
board. Wright said he has not
had any meetings with the
mayor.
"I've been trying to meet with
him for a year," he said.
During the interview the
mayor w reported as saying
that the current musuem will be
sold to the Center for Creative
Studies.
The museum board consists
of 15 members eight of whom
are mayoral appointees.
According to the Chronicle
interview the new museum's
budget currently is S6 million
while the present one cost S4
million.
Wright discounted attacks of
him having a "mother hen" com­
plex regarding the museum.
Wright started the museum -
25 years ago when he kept most
of the items in a building near
his home until the move to the
newly opened museum.
Wright termed his attitude as
caution rather than opposition.
"But looking at the current
situation, I'm just not sure that
we can't afford and operate a
museum three times the size of
this one," Wright said.
9
license would be allowed in
such cases.
"For a first time conviction of
drunk driving. (the bill) allows
the taking away of a driver's
license for 30 days in order to
send a mile though serious mes­
sage that if you're caught driv­
ing drunk your driver's license ls
going to be taken and you need
to see what hardship is for 30
days," Nichols said,
Nichols threw his bill into the
ring because of concern that the
House would pass" its legisla­
tion. "I'm told they were not
having very much success on
moving (the bill) through the
House. They wanted to go in a
direction that would- not have
. had the supportof 56 votes that
they needed to pass the House,"
Nichols said.
"The District Judges As­
sociation, through repre­
sentatives up here, came to me
and asked me if I thought we
could pass it in the Senate and
then move it over to the House
'top see if we could pass it up
there."
Rep. Micheal E. ye, R­
Litchfield, said, "It's always
bothered me that (a drunk) in­
dividual can drive an
automobile and hit someone
and crippled them for life and
it's only a 90 day misdemeanor."
Nyc said that the Legislative
bas ne c aken a total ap­
proach to the problem of
drunken driving. but has instead
passed laws that dealt with -
pieces of the problem.
Bullard aide Jonathan R.
Hansen said he expects that
next summer a package will
emerge which will encompass
the good, bad, or indifferent
pionts of all these sponsors .
"It's incumbent upon us to
. pull together' the better points
of all these bills and work
together with all the sponsors.
There's enough material her so
that everybody gets equal
credit," Hansen said.
SU student announce
. I
choice for Depar ment C i
By FLODEAN S. RIGGS
SI!l(f Reporter_
DETROIT - Wayne State
University African American
Study-In" students were ex­
pected to announce their
choice Thursday Oct. 26 for
chairperson of the proposed
new Department of Africana
Studies.
. Gloria House, a Wayne
State University associate
professorwith a background
in American Culture and
History, is the student's
choice for the top job.
The rally was called for
support of their decision, stu­
dents say.
Meanwhile university offi­
cials have re-formed a com­
mittee to select .a chair.
Previously Brenda Berrian
held the spot, but she
re igned during the after­
math of a board of governors
. meeting which voted her in.
Students opposed Berrian
on two main counts. rust,
students say, they were not
consulted during the selec­
tion prosess. Second, Berrian
with a strong background in
_ French and literature, stu­
dent complianed that she
was underqualified for the
job.
Other complaints in­
cluded Berrian's inacces­
siblity to students and the fact
that she wasn't from the area.
Some students met infor­
mally with Berrian on a few
occasions, but a forum was
never developed where the
students could sit down with
her and talk at length about
plans for til deoa ...... __ t
As a familar f
ing meetings d SUDlXwtill2
them from time to b
House has the dvant e
and is top candidate, stu­
dents said.
When Berrian resigned,
Clearing the post, "study-in"
students demanded that tu­
dent representatives be in­
volved in the next selection.
The university made at­
tempts to do so. A meeting
was called by university offi­
cials inviting a selected rep­
resentation of student
groups.
Former "study-iners"
were not allowed in the
meeting. The students in
return called a press con­
ference denouncing the
university's actions.
I The official reason given,
the students. di� not belong I
to any orgamzanon.
Some already-formed­
groups such as WSU's Pan
African Student Union,
which was invited to the
university meeting, have
supported the WSU "study­
iners" .saying that they will
not consult with the univer­
sity until officials include all
students including the
!oosely formed "study­
mers.
'Students have not met
with university officials to
discuss their choice for
department chair.
At "Michigan Citizen"
press time House would not
comment on whether she
would accept the student's
nomiriation as chair.