ayn rd, Teola Hun er on list of
lieutenant governor contenders
J
CapiI!Il News Service
La . - a leading contender
for t e next Democr tic
nomination for lieutenant
governor ys she i available-­
if t current occupant decides
not to run again.
·1 think it would be a chal­
lenge that ould be worth
taking on," • d Olivia Maynard,
Democr tic St te chairperso
from 1979 to 1983 and curren
director of the te' Office of
Services to the Aging_
Two-term U. Gav. Martha
Griffit , ho turned 78 in
January, not said r
to I1IJl for re.electioo
n Gov. James J. Blanchard
officially anna • bid for
gove . Bu there been-
much peculation that Griffi
had her fill of politics.
aynard, 0 ran unsuc-
ce By for lie nant 80Yer­
DOr· 1978 . Democrat BiD
Fitzgerald, praised the
lieutenant governor for her
r over the ei years.
"She' been quite a role
model fo ,. said Maynard,
53, in Captial e Service in­
tervi .
Specul tion that Blanchard .
. select man running
m te because of the precedent
t by Griffi hould not be
t en too eriously, M ynard
might be part of it, but
it could De r be the absolute
determining f ctor. It ould
have to be OD .. a number of i -
ue to 100 t hen the
. ion i made, he said.
ep. Teola Hunter, 0-
Detroit, spe er pro tem of th
4 •
House also a possi e can-
• e for the position, . d that
. .. aood that there' are
q&&alificd WOlDen fo the posi­
tioaa,. will Dot be a detemiining
. factor.
AACP
ant
YPSILA TI. Mic:bi.aa -
African Americans make up 12
percent of Washtenaw
County' population.
But no per on of African
American descent has ever
served a judge, said repre­
ntative of the NAACP Wil-
10 Run Branch, .
"It i .important, equitable
and just that the racial makeup
of the Circuit Court-reflect the
racial makeup of the persons
living in the community it er­
ve ," ational Association for
the Advancement of Colored
People repre entative aid.
"The Yp ilanti- Willow Run
Br nch of the AACP urge
(Michigan) Governor (James)
Blanchard to remedy the
.. think we as omen always
wan to see n with strong
leadership .• . d. '
_ Hunter, 55, agreed with
Maynard that ile it is an
honor to be possible candida e,
it is prem ture to speculate in
the position. .
"At this point I Can only say I
am honored," said the fifth-term
Democrat.
Other po ible candidates
mentioned around the Capitol
include:
Macomb County Prosecutor
Carl Marlinga; State Treasurer
Robert Bowman; Hou e
Speaker Lewis Dodak, p­
Montrose; U.S. Rep. Dennis
Hertel, D-Harper Woods, and;
State Labor Director Elizabeth
Howe.
Furor over e ting
for elderly drivers
Capital News S
By La rop
I.ansing The issue of man­
datory in-office license testing
for people age 71 and older is
driving legislators, senior
citizen group and the Secretary
of State's 'Office to extremes of
opinion.
The option of drivers license
renewal by mail into effect in
1983 as a cost-cutting effort in
response to the early '8(Ys reces­
sion. Mandatory in-office .
license [or peop e ',I d older
also included if\ the legisla­
tion.
The Office of the Secretary
of State oringinally recom­
mended the restriction,
Elizabeth Boyd, director of
'media relations for the
secretary of state, said.
·W support it, we support it
originally and I understand it's
going to be very difficult to get
(a bill to reimpose the - restri c­
tion) passed, • Boyd . d.
Senior citize grou vehe­
mently opposed the rest which
. was consequently nullifaed in
1984 on the b . of age dis­
crimination.
Olivia Maynard, directo of
the Office of Services to the
Agmg , S . d e beli the
. to doa1 • ad-
dressing the preble , not
restricting older peop e
"Once you t ke someone's
I car away their fre dom,"
I Maynard said.
Two bills being considered
by the Legislature would reim­
" pose in-person testing f senior
citizens. Rep. Walter Delange,
R-Kentw� introduced' a bill
th t would reimpose the estric­
tion for driver 71 and 0 er and
would allow senior citi ns who
completed a driver afety
course every eight y at to
renew by maiL The r bill
w introduced by Rep. erome
T. Hart, D-Sagina , an ould
simply reimpose the r . ctioa,
The rationale behi d the
I restriction is transpo ration
di tha sh senior itizens
to
eat fir t African American 'ju ge
I
present iluation of the ab enee
of an African American person
Sitting a 'a judge in W htenaw
County by appo inring an
African American to fa II the
vacany being created by the
retirement of Judge Edward
Deake."
Deake announced his retire­
ment from the Wa hre naw
County Circuit Court effec ive
Feb. 10. 1990 and prior to. the
normal expiration of hi term
of Dec. 31, 1990.
Blanchard is obligated to ap­
point a person filling Deake.'s
unexpired term and the only
w y an African American will
. sit on the-bench will likely be
through a gubernatorial elec­
tion and then running in a sub-
sequent election s an
incumbent, NAACP sources
exp ained.
"The Yp ilanti- Willo Run
Branch of the NAACP go on
record a urging the Michigan
Democratic Party to vigorously
support the po ilion f the
Branch and make its p sition
known to Blanchard, they
said. "The Ypsilanti- ilIow
Run Branch of the N ACP
( I 0) go on record rging
the Wa htenaw C unty
Democratic Party to pport
the position of the Bran hand
make i l posi tion known to the
governor."
are involved in more accidents
per mile than other age groups
except for beginning drivers,
said Phyllis Mellon, director of
research and evaluation
di . . on of the secretary of state.
"On first glance it 100 like
they h ve few r accidents,"
Mello said, "But you COIl­
trol for number of miles driven -
- senior citizens tend to drive .
fewer miles -- they come out
having more ceiden .•
Mellon said that the office
investigates who h ve been
referred by relatives or the
police department and may
retest drivers.
"Ihis i a service (retesting)
for anybody, without bi to age
or whatever," Mellon -said.
A propsal to eliminate age
bias and require all drivers to be.
retested every three of four
years is concept Dr. Stewart
White, legislative director of
services on ging, would like to
see becom policy.
Michig n I w requires in­
per on retesting every eight
year smd the option to renew
licenses by mail provided the
driver had no traffic vio -
tio that resulted in points 0
his her lice within the
four years.
"our �tio . very clear:
Ste id, • dca't believe
it's good po .cy to disaiminate
on the • of age, •
Stewart said there are num­
ber of recommendatio com­
ing out of national dies that
suggest states increase their
road s fety by t king such
measures improving signs for
increased nigh visibvility.
"Clearly older drivers re
going to be with us for a long
time," Stew rt said: As the
popul tion incre se we're
going to See more of them on the
ro ds. Safety is _going to take
over the social prejudice fo
speed,"
Rep. Claude A. Trim, R­
W erford,· educed the bill
for mandatory in-person te .
of senior citizens in past years,
but withdrew the pro al be­
cause of complaints from hi
community.
"The i ue comes up for m
when omeone call me and
tells me people like his
grandf ther shouldn' be driv-
ing. • Trim said.
Trim said he would like to
see random in person testing for
all driver become policy.
"I'm 55 and looking 20 years
down road this might apply to
me," Trim said. "They could
t e my wheels away."
In Berrien County 10,241
drivers with valid licenses were
70 and older in 1989. This w
8.8 percent of the driv r in Ber­
rien County compared with 7.6
percent of drivers overall in
Michig I t y ar.