OPEN 'TIL 11 PM OPEN: MON.-THURS. 8:30-11 PM FRI., SAT. 8:30- PM in the Mid.. Union Pext to U-Cellar 665-8065 e ,e feb.16 & 17 8pm Slauson School 1019 Wl. Washington Tickets: 665-5129 also at the door Michigan Theater future at stake; city Considers manager4 By ALISON HIRSCHEL of the in The picture shows may stop but, city come according to concerned- Ann Arbor its shirt" residents, the Michigan Theater must theater. T go on. A current lease to W.S. Butter- by Butteri field, Inc. theater chain expires in Mar- into fours ch, and several commercial offers have reasons. already been made to change the THE C historic theater into a mini-mall. visions a Several groups in the city were in- Michigan' terested in preserving the theater and self-suppo approached Mayor Louis Belcher with tee plans their concerns. Belcher said, "They and cut c wanted some power behind this cause non-prof and they wanted to consolidate their ef- organizat forts." Belcher AS A RESULT, the City Council en- sity has dorsed a proposal last week to form a using the] non-profit corporation which would buy types ofp and rent the 1,800 seat theater. the Ann In addition, the Council appropriated scheduleY $2,000 from its general fund for legal groups m and administrative fees. Council does 'that spec not expect to make any further finan- Summer cial contributions. A five-member Festival, committee was also formed, which is facilities. responsible for all negotiations. The M The Michigan Theater was originally however, built by Angelo Poulos as a vaudeville would b house. Butterfield Enterprises has ren- Butterfie ted the theater since it was built in 1928. tly nego But, according to Richard Lotz, general determin t _ _ keeping of the Ann Arbor Inn and one corporating members of the mittee, Butterfield was "losing with the ornate and expensive The State Theater, also leased rfield, is now being converted smaller theaters for economic OMMITTEE, however, en- a profitable future for the Theater and believes it can be orting. Lotz said the commit-. to make some adjustments costs. In addition, it will be a it and tax-exempt ion. r commented that the Univer- expressed some interest in Michigan Theater for specific performances or lectures and Arbor Civic Theater may musicals there. Jazz and rock ay also appear. Belcher hopes ial events, like the Ann Arbor Festival and Old Film will be able to utilize the, [ichigan Theater will not, show any first-run films. This e, in direct competition with ld Enterprises. Lotz is curren- tiating with Butterfield to e what kinds of films would be 0 0rlW iad acceptable. and hopes to come to an agreement so that the Michigan Theater can host film festivals. JOHN HATHAWAY, another com- mittee member who is interested in historic preservation, feels the Michigan Theater fills a need which no other local auditorium can handle. It has several dressing rooms, a green room where performers can wait before their shows, an orchestra pit, and a large performing stage suitable for musical performances. Hathaway says the Michigan's organ, which was restored in 1974, is "irreplaceable and outstanding." John Swisher III, of Swisher Realty, is handling the sale of the theater for the owners, He refused to comment on the number of bids offered so fjar or on the city's plan because, he says, "it is very delicate as far as the city is con-. cerned." He added, "we don't want a bunch of people bidding now and stirring things up." Swisher conceded that the city's offer should be made in the very near future, probably before the Butterfield lease runs out. Lotz, who is responsible for the business aspects of the purchase.plan, met with Butterfield Enterprises yesterday. Lotz made it clear that the committee wants to buy the theater. "We'll lease the building," he commen- ted, "but only if we have the option to buy. We want to make a fair offer." The major problem now is time. Hathaway said, "We must act quickly. If the doors are locked andthe building is left vacant, it will deteriorate quickly. In addition, it will stop being used as a public theater so that the public no longer goes there or thinks of it for community entertainment." Daily Photo by CYRENA CHANG THIS SWEEPING STAIRCASE in the Michigan Theater may soon be incor- porated into a mini shopping mall unless the city's bid to buy the theater is accepted by the owners. The city hopes to preserve the historic theater in its present form and make it a center for community entertainment. I { ~Mountain.Leering#6. ountaineering' is an oral tradition. Over the years, it has been passed down from teacher to pupil, father to son, package store owner to customer. As a result, a folklore - a mythol- ogy, if you will - has formed around the mountains of Busch. You, being a, student of mountaineering, no doubt wish to acquaint yourself with these truths and half-truths, these stories both accurate and apocryphal.A wise deci- sion. And, as luck would have it, this ad is just the ticket. One of mountaineering's earliest legends is Bennington. Baxter-Beningto. Adventur, , international bon vivant and inventor of the phrase "your check is in the mail'it was he who perfected the finer points of expedition financing. While other mountaineers resorted to such bizarre extremes as gainful employment, Benning- ton subsidized assaults on the Busch mountaintop with cre- ative economics. An amalgam of paper schemes, franchised dreams, dummy corporations and corporate dummies kept him in clover for high on 20 fiscal years. Asked at th culmination of his ,. -apersciMfraaaIseddrear . S mry corporations ancorporate duaxm k kept him In coe -, yy ". ' .... - " _,dry Of ethe enngwasoves "I can make you a mathe- matical model, baby' Talk about your wildlife! ° But when looking for sheer courage, W Dexter Poole must rank in lore among the top mountain- eers. Fond of saying "The road to truth goes through bad neighborhoods;'Poole enjoyed skirting with danger and approached mountaineering as a test of - Survival SkillS. In his most famous challenge, Poole, equipped only with 30 water- proof matches and a major credit card, parachuted into a remote area known as Cleveland He was up to the task. Within 24 hours, Poole was bask- **v ing under the hot sun of Antibes, downing the smooth, cold, refreshing mountains of Busch Beer. A credit to his colleagues and a col- league on credit. Poe What' career to reflect upon the se- becomes n enes -a legend Card cret of success, Bennington a-legendr..udin revealed his first rule: "Keep mht all your assets liquid' Another frequent subject. of mountaineering lore is the wildlife. Numerous r tales abound, but perhaps' the most famous story is that of the 1973 Muncie Mathematics Convention. All Defaults on loans, discussed at meeting C9 (Continued from Page 1) - President for Academic Affairs Richard English, Assistant to the Vice- President Charles Allmand, and Policy Coordinator Virginia Nordby. "We're gathered here to' inform:i university presidents about what's going on in federal government programs and to hear from them as to what their problems are and what they think the ACE cdn do to get the job done," said Director of the ACE's Division of External' Relations Thomas Stauffer. - "We don't always agree with people in the federal government, and sometimes they make us mad," he ad-v ded, "but I want to make it quite clear that'I don't know of any group of people that are more receptive to represen- tatives of higher education than the present people in the federal gover nment." The federal issue which received a great deal of attention from those at- tending the conference involved the large student default rate on federal loans. "WE HAVE AN amazing number of defaults," said Peter Relic, deputy assistant Secretary of Education. "Up until recently, there was a great deal of HEW inactivity in this area." Relic said that in order to solve the default problem, the HEW, has now enacted a special computerized method of more efficiently finding and contac- ting those students who have avoided paying back the loans. "The HEW was collecting on defaults at a rate of $8 million per year, and now it's two-and-a-half times that amount," said Relic. "We are now, for the first time in history (of the 11 year-old finan- cial assistance program), decreasing the backlog of defaults." THE UNIVERSITY currently has 1,924 students in default status-amounting to $780,000 and a 10.4 per cent default rate-which is below the national average of 16 per cent. Relic said he expects the nationl backlog of all student defaults to be en- tirely cleared up by the end of 1980. He also said the biggest problem has been collecting those debts from National Student Direct Loans-those loans which the individual college campuses are responsible for distributing and collecting. On the other issues, Charles Saundes, ACE's vice-president for governmental relations, said that although there may be increases in the federal budget for general university research, serious cuts may take place in funding for: medical schools and nurse training programs-as well as the elimination of the College Libraries program. "It's going to be a difficult year," he 11 75 prodigies, whiz kids and befuddled geniuses initiated an after hours expedition. It beganharmlessly enough. But soon, the Busch moun- taineers reached the Mobius Strip, a racy nightspot catering to highbrow hij inks. Before the evening was over, several of them were bending the slide rules. Others were smoking big cigars and telling every woman in sight they were agents with a eye for figures, claiming, is (one) a matter of subjective judgment and (two) in a con- stant state of flux. Keep in mind legends are created every day. So when you flex your mountain- eering muscles, be true to the tradi-:. -0 tion. At best, - you'll be part of history. At least,r you'11 be a - near-myth- f ":. ::. K H-h dountaineering is the science and art of drinking Busch. The term originates due to the snowy, icy peaks sported by the abel outside and perpetuates due to the cold, naturally refreshing taste inside. The above mountaineers and these sceese f their exploits are legendary, any similarity to actual people, living or dead is purely coincidental. - YL. * I I