APPLYING PRESSURE See Editorial Page t 4H tcht #a "n 5ati! BONAIRE High-28 Low-9 See TODAY for details Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 108 Ann Arbor, Michigan-Thursday, February 9, 1978 Ten Cents 10 Pages WHEELER, BELCHER ON APRIL 3 BALLOT Mayoral oes OK new election By JULIE ROVNER If you're a registered voter in Ann Arbor, get ready to vote for a mayor in the next few weeks. After 10 months of legal proceedings, including some required intervention by the Michigan Supreme Court, in- cumbent Mayor Albert Wheeler and Councilman Louis Belcher signed an agreement yesterday to add their names to the city's April 3 general city election ballot to decide who will be Ann Arbor's Mayor. The agreement, which is expected to be made official today by visiting judge James Kelley, would in effect end a suit by -Republican Belcher which claims that Democrat Wheeler is holding the mayor's post illegally after his one-vote victory last April. UNDER THE TERMS of the agreement, Wheeler will remain Mayor until the winner of the April 3 contest is certified by Ann Arbor Board of Can- vassers. The winner of the election will serve until the next scheduled mayoral election, in April 1979. Both sides also agreed not to appeal the judge's ruling for a new election. Belcher's suit was filed last May af- ter two recounts verified the closest election in the city's history. The Republican claimed that a number of votes, both paper and from machines, were improperly credited to Wheeler and that more Belcher votes should have been counted. In July, the city issued a report in- dicating that through the use of faulty street guides over 150 township residen- ts were mistakenly registered to vote in the city elections. Twenty of those registered actually voted. WHEN THE TRIAL resumed in Oc- tober, Belcher's attorney, former Councilman Robert Henry, asked for and received permission from Kelley to ask the voters to reveal for whom they had cast their ballots. University Junior Susan VanHattum refused to reveal her vote, claiming constitutional protection: She was cited for contempt, handcuffed, and held briefly in Kelley's chambers. Later, another University student, Diane Lazinsky, also refused to tell and was also cited for contempt. The trial adjourned as lawyers for VanHuttum and Lazinsky took their case to the Michigan Court of Appeals. In November the court ruled that illegal voters had no right to keep their votes secret. THE LAWYERS appealed to the "I'm not satisfied at all with the decision. I think the judge shoulfl have declared a winner..., -Wheeler Michigan Supreme Court, which ruled two weeks ago that the Constitution does protect vote secrecy unless voter fraud can be proven. The court then sent the case back to Kelley's court an'd yesterday's compromise was ham- mered out. "I'm delighted with the decision," said Belcher last night. "It's the only fair thing for both the electorate and the candidates." "Our intent was to settle this thing fairly without costing the taxpayers a lot of money and I think that's what we've done," said Belcher.- WHEELER, however, was. not pleased with the final outcome, although he did say that he felt it was the best proposal of the alternatives, which included having the election voided or possibly waiting months before a new election. "I'm not satisfied at all with the decision," Wheeler said. "I think the judge should have declared a winner from the information and testimony he was presented with. But if this makes the citizenry happy and gets rid of all the confusion, I'd just as soon do it." "I'm under a handicap," he said, "because the Republicans can raise campaign funds faster and better than I can, and because there's no race in the Second (highly Democratic) Ward this year. Our real problem is going to be "I'm delighted with the decision. It's the only fair thing for both the electorate and the can- didates." -Belcher arter aid plan could provide $1.2 billion to some students how to get the people registered and out to vote in so little time." BOTH WHEELER and Belcher said they had no real campaign plans yet, but would begin working on them later this week. "I'm sure that this race will be a lot lower key t an last year's," said Belcher. Wheeler, however, was not so sure. "Just think," he said, "If we come up with another one or two vote loss, we may have to go through this whole thing all over again." WASHINGTON (AP) - President Carter called upon Congress yesterday to provide a record of $1.2 billion in new aid to college students, including $250 grants to at least two million students from families with gross income bet- ween $16,000 and $25,000. "No one should be denied the oppor- tunity for a college education for finan- cial .reasons alone," the President declared as he unveiled an aid package designed to head off moves in Congress to provide tax credits of $250 or more to parents of all college students, regar- dless of income. IN ADDITION to making two million students from middle-income families eligible for direct federal grants for the first time, the Carter plan also would provide subsidized loans to students with family incomes as high as $45,000 before taxes, and expand federally sub- sidized work-study programs. The extra money would be available for the school year starting in the fall of 1979. Students in families with incomes below $25,000 would apply individually to the government for the grants as part of the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant Program. Grants are credited directly to students' accounts at the colleges. Carter wants to add $1 billion to the $2.16 billion basic grant program, which now aids 2.2 million students primarily from low-income families. THE PRESIDENT already proposed $250 million in extra student aid last month. The entire $1.46 billion package would boost federal spending on college student aid programs in fiscal 1979 to $5.2 billion, an increase of almost 40 per cent.' Carter said more than five million college students eould get federal aid in the school year starting in the fall of 1979, and increase of at least two million. Rep. William Ford (D-Mich.), who. heads the House Education and Labor subcommittee on higher education, called it "the biggest single infusion of funding for middle-income college students since the adoption of the GI bill at the end of World War II." FIVE OTHER leaders of House and Senate committees that handle education legislation joined Carter and Health, Education and Welfare Secretary Joseph Califano Jr. at the White House for the announcement of the program. The six lawmakers all hailed the ad- ministration's proposal, but some later expressed reservation about limiting the grants to $250 for all students in the $16,000-$25,000 range. On Capitol Hill, Sen. William Roth (R-Del. ), author of the $250 college tuition tax credit bill, said the Carter proposal was "a desperate, last ditch attempt to derail the college tax credit, but it won't work." THE SENATE has passed Roth's bill by wide margins three times in the past 18 months, but House Democratic leaders have blocked it from coming to a vote in their chamber. Roth said the administration was more interested in seizing a good political issue than in helping middle- income families. He released the first page of an undated Califano memo in which the secretary wrote: "We must move quickly if we are to seize the initiative on this very hot issue. . . . The congressional educational committees are so fearful of losing jurisdiction over education finances that they will - go without us-and at a very high price." ROTH'S BILL would cost $1.2 billion in its first year and $2 billion in four years, when his credit would rise to $500. The American Council on Education has estimated that 32 per cent of the benefits would go to students from families with income above $25,000. Carter warned that Congress must choose between the tax credit and his increased aid package. "This nation cannot afford the tax credit and I will not accept both," he said. The council also has estimated that only 12 per cent of federal aid now goes to college students from families with income above $15,000. THE COUNCIL president, J.W Peltason, sent Carter a telegram sup- porting Carter's aid package as an alternative to, tax credits, and endor- sing his plan to funnel the aid through existing aid programs. City-County sewage: dispute may result in health emergency By KEITH RICHBURG The sludge may be ready to hit the fan in the city's ongoing dispute with the townships over what to do with the thick, brown waste. Specifically, Washtenaw County public health officials are pleading for the city to help the townships handle their problem with septic disposal. The city, however, is wait- ing for the townships to offer to dis- pose of some of the Ann Arbor sewage treatment plant's sludge. Officeals propose Union revival; U' ass Regents to step aside By BRIAN BLANCHARD In a memo dated February 3, building. President Robben Fleming noted that At the January Regents meeting the In an effort to revive what was once "students are dissatisfied with the Alumni Association head Robert For- considered the model for campus present status of the Union" and man proposed construction of a new meeting-places, the University will ask recommended three changes: alumni activities center behind Lydia the Regents next week to relinquish " Shifting control from the Union Mendelssohn Theatre with money from control of the Union. Board to a University vice-president, several large donations. The Alumni If the Regents agree to rescind one "probably in this case Student Ser- Association now has an office in the section of their bylaws when they meet vices," with a new Director and Union. net Thursday, the University's vice Executive Committee. "IT MAKES VERY little difference presidents will take responsibility for e Adapting the Union Station to a 'whether you take pot-shots at the reorganizing operations in the four "rathskeller-type operation" similar to present system or not," said Henry story building at the foot of South the food service that has been suc- Johnson, vice-president for student University. cessful at the University of Wisconsin. services. THE UNION'S ten-member Board of . Converting all four floors of hotel "I've always thought we should have Directors now reports directly to the space, or just two of the four floors, into a central meeting place where students Regents. Seven faculty and alumni dorm rooms for students in the fall of could sit and relax, drink a soda and members and three students sit on the 1978 open a book and pretend to study, or to Board. Moving alumni activities to a new study." Johnson recalled that when he came. sf1"'to the University 15 years ago there was B such a place on the ground floor of the Union that was "student-oriented." In his general criticism of the Union, .. Fleming, on behalf of the University vice-presidents, said the University Club "has not drawn enough interest from most faculty or community mem- bers to be financially viable and there is " h no reason to think it will be." JOEL BERGER, President of the Board of Directors of the U Club admit- ted that "the Club has not been in a break-even situation in a long, long time," but he went on to say that the menu has been changed and prices dropped over the last few months to £ 31 A i4"lure new members. Because of a state liquor law, the U Club can only serve Club members and guests. Berger said he was "a bit surprised when I saw (the memo)" because of the U Club "has begun to appeal more to " students." Union Manager Stanfield Wells said .-' " t hat t hprpwpnn ninr hniprc to t he IT IS a situation of "We won't their septic disposal until they take take Sadat departs without fighters WASHINGTON (AP)-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat ended his talks here yesterday without an immediate decision by President Carter to sell him jet fighters. But Sadat said the United States would step up its drive for an Arab-Israeli peace settlement. "The United States is not an obser- ver, or a go-between, or a mediator," Sadat said. "No, the role of the United States now is complete partnership." WITH THAT statement to reporters, Sadat claimed success in one of the two principal objectives of his 5-and-one- half-day visit-more direct in- volvement by Washington in the on- again, off-again peace talks. However, disappointment loomed for Sadat as he prepared to take his lob- bying campaign to Europe when ad- ministration officials said no decision was imminent on selling him jet fighters and other weapons. Sadat's request, made to Carter on an urgent basis, "is under review and until the President has made up his mind there will be no announcement,".said one key U.S. official who declined to be identified. "It'll be a little bit longer," he said. CARTER, IN A brief farewell on the White House lawn, called Sadat the world's foremost peacemaker" and said that while the way to a settlement members of congress, Sadat had said he would "raise hell" if they did not ap- prove a weapons sale. "I am speaking as a partner apd I am threatening," he said. After a final talk with Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and following his visit to the White House, Sadat stressed the diplomatic aspect of his mission and pledged "much more perseverance for reaching peace. "I came really disheartened and discouraged, but I shall return with much more perseverance so that we can attain our goal," he said. SADAT SAID he could make a greater effort now that the United States was enlarging its role. In effect, he wants the administration to push Israel into concessions. Sadat planned to fly to New York and then on to London after a brief courtesy call on Carter. In asking for arms, Sadat specifically requested 12 F-5Es, a short-range jet fighter, and expressed interest in more sophisticated F-15s and F-16s, a second U.S official said. THE BEST BET is that he'll get some F-5Es," said the official, who also preferred to remain anonymous. But the official said he doubted that Congress, which can block arms sales, would approve supplying Egypt with our sludge." According to health officials, unless the townships find someplace, preferably Ann Arbor, to dispose of their septic waste, a health emergency could develop. Sludge is the thick brown mixture, made up mostly of human waste, that remains after the solid matter is removed from wastewater during treatment. There are few methods of disposing of sludge. Dumping the material into the ocean and burning are the most often-used methods. Neither of these can be used in the city. DR. JOHN ATWATER of the Health Department placed the sep- tage dumping dilemma before City Council Monday night, describing what he called "a very acute prob- lem. "It's not an emergency as of today, but it could become one," Atwater said. "More than one-fifth of the homes in Washtenaw County use septic tanks." Atwater told Council that the county, which must pump the tanks periodically, is currently hauling up to forty loads of the septic waste every day. If the waste is not removed, disease-causing bacteria. can multiply rapidly. "WHAT WE require from you is a willingness to return to a policy of accepting limited number of loads," Atwater said. Atwater suggestel that the City take two loads of the waste every day, instead of the previous six loads a day. The city had a policy of accepting septic disposal from anybody, any- where. A U.S. District Judge, how- ever, ruled last year that the city's local sewage treatment plant was violating its Environmental Protec- tion Agency license by dumping improperly treated sewage into the Huron River. AT THAT TIME, the city admitted to having dumped up to two million gallons of septic sewage into the river daily because of inability to dispose of it in other ways. Follow ing the court's order to make a good faith effort at limiting the daily dumpings. City Council voted unani- mously to prohibit commercial septic tank cleaners from dumping in the