Page 4-Wednesday, April 5, 1978-The Michigan Daily
Eighty-Eight Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 147
News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
loo eyond the vote tallies
An argument for abortion
T HE REPUBLICAN sweep in
Monday's city elections and the
decisive victory of the two tenants'
rights ballot issues were surprising,
particularly since they occurred at the
same time. There may be a message in
it.
Despite a relatively healthy turnout,
which normally aids Democratic can-
didates, Republican Louis Belcher
picked up enough votes to bring him-
self - and a decisive GOP Council
majority - into City Hall..
Clearly, the returns represent an
erosion of Democratic Mayor Albert
Wheeler's support among Ann Arbor
voters. The change was small, but in a
community with a close partisan
balance, it was all Belcher needed.
Just as Wheeler was losing his bid
for reelection, two housing-related City
Charter amendments were getting
overwhelming voter approval.
The first proposal will now make it
illegal for landlords to include decep-
tive or, unenforceable provisions in
leases. That bill passed 18,634 to 7,618.
The second issue will establish a
revised tenants' rights booklet to be
distributed to all tenants in the city. It
passed 17,346 to 8,850.
Although voter approval of the
housing proposals was expected, the
large margin of victory was not. Also
surprising was the number of voters
the issues drew to the polls.
That seems to be the only logical ex-
planation for the big jump in voter tur-
nout from a year ago,- when Wheeler
and Belcher last faced off.
From the beginning of its campaign,
the Coalition for Better Housing (CBH)
had clearly struck a responsive chord
among Ann Arbor tenants, who make
p a majority of th.e city's residents..
The coalition gathered the necessary
etition signatyres,to place the issues
on the ballot in a record three weeks. It
then managed to sign up thousands of
people to vote for the first time in an
Ann Arbor election.
CBH is now discussing what it wants
to do next. One move under con-
sideration would be to push for some
form of rent control in the April, 1979
city election.
Rent control, though twice defeated
at the polls, keeps coming up as an an-
swer to Ann Arbor's spiraling housing
costs. A carefully written rent control
plan, backed by a group with the
necessary funds to wage a strong cam-
paign, would have a decent chance of
getting local voter approval.
Previous rent control plans lost as a
result of massive campaign spending
by local housing moguls which rent
control backers couldn't match.
If CBH wants to push rent control, it
will have to mount an intensive fund-
raising effort to counter the inevitable
counter-campaign.
Meanwhile, incoming Mayor
Belcher has an excellent opportunity to
implement the housing and other
programs he espoused as a councilman
and as a candidate. Although The
Daily endorsed his opponent, we also
expressed support for Belcher's
programs to stimulate new housing
construction.
During his campaign, Belcher
projected an image of moderation and
openness, which contrasted greatly
with the hard-line conservatism
promoted by the last city Republican
administration under former Mayor
Jim Stephenson.
We hope the new mayor recognizes
his responsibility to represent the
needs of the entire community, poor
and rich, student and non-student. If he
does so, then his administration could
be a productive and effective one. If he
does not, he may learn what Al
Wheeler has just found out - Ann Ar-
bor voter mandates can be taken away
as easily as they are given.
In his recent article on abortions published
on this page,entitled "A deadly insurance pol-
icy," Mr. Gregory Lynne presents a very narrow
minded and ecclesiastical view of the abor-
tion issue.
The author states his opposition to all for-
ms of killing. In this, he ignores the possible
death of the mother during pregnancy. It is
known that in the first three months of
pregnancy, an abortion is less dangerous than
childbirth itself.
THE SUPREME Court recognized the
rights of the pregnant mother in 1972, in Roe
v. Wade. Apparently Mr. Lynne does not.
The Constitutioon guarantees every person
the right to privacy. Mr. Lynne, however,
does not seem to believe in this doctrine.
I am appalled by the author's wanton
disregard for the lives of people that are now
living. What is presented in the article is an
extremely chauvinistic view of the abortion
issue.
Should a woman be forced to bear a child
conceived as a result of incestous relations or
rape? What of conception in a retarded or
mentally disturbed woman? This fetus should
not necessarily be forced into being reared in
such an environment.
It is unreasonable to force an unborn child,
incapable of communication, to be brought in-
to a world of hatred, starvation and possible
neglect.
Where the abortion article defends tie
notion of life itself, and buttresses it with a
technically supported argument as to the
moment it begins, my focus is elsewhere. My
concern is not for "life," but rather for the
living, life in the every-day, non-abstract,
By Phil Merdinger
sense of the word. The lives disrupted by un-
wanted and unplanned pregnancies. The lives
unwanted and uncared for. These lives are a
burden on society, and a problem for them-
selves in a hungry, crowded world.
In short, the article focuses on the quantity
of life, and overlooks the consequence. In
contrast, I take the painful look at the con-
sequences of this moral argument - and wind
up seeing the quality of life. The priority
should be there. No one will dispute whether
life exists in a child born unwanted who does
not have enough to eat and wear - a child
that lacks the emotional well-being that a
wanted child is better afforded.
I will not debate the question of, "At what
stage of pre-natal . development does life
begin?" This question is akin to the medieval
debates on how many angels can dance on the
head of a pin.
One may extend the logic of the article on
abortion to the point of adamant objection to
contraception. Pending this, one might justify
the outlawing of contraceptives altogether.
One might also then want to pass legislation
My concern is
not for 'life,' but
rather for
the living.
requiring all women over age sixteen to bear
chilren-. This 'line of reasoning i4
preposterous, as is the reasoning in ths
aforementioned article.
When considering the question of abortion'
one cannot take a myopic view. Instead, th~
rights of both the living and the unborn, muse
be considered.t
The purpose of a group insurance progran
- the Michigan Student Assembly's Insuran4
ce program included - is to provide
maximum protection for a maximum numbeg
of people. Mr. Lynne feels that abortions
should be excluded from the MSA program's
coverage. This perspective defeats the entire
purpose of the group insurance.
Title IX of the anti-discrimination implie
that abortions are a viable alternative fo
pregnant women to consider. Such an inter-
pretation is already observed by the Insurand
ce Deparment of Michigan. The Department
has required insurance companies to treat
abortions as a normal surgical expense.
Excluding abortions from insurance'
coverage, then, is in direct opposition to state
law.
The fact that Mr. Lynne has disregarded;
the need for abortions in certain situations,;
and desires to deny insurance coverage to
those women, is certainly deplorable.
Phil Merdinger is chairman of the
Michigan Student Assembly 's insurance
committee and is a graduate student in
Actuarial Maths
LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
'Ramblings'didn'tgive diner a chance
Who should'purchase the pot?
T HE DORM government-
sponsored pot party at Bursley
last weekend raises a brood of conflic-
ting moral and legal questions.
The story goes that the Bursley
Board of Governors allocated some
$400 in student funds for a pre-Hash
Bash party Friday night, knowing that
half of that sum would go to purchase
three-quarters of a pound of
marijuana.
On first examination, there is no
more wrong being done by a gover-
nment's purchasing marijuana for a
party as by its purchasing liquor. It is
common for dorm governments to put
up funds for a mixer or happy hour.
There is nothing wrong with the idea as
long as students attending these fun-
ctions are not forced to partake of the
alcohol when they don't want to. Pot
should be treated the same way.
But underlying this argument is the
fact that pot is not yet recognized by
state and federal laws as a ''legal"
substance. For this reason, it may
have been unwise for the Bursley
Board of Governors to purchase pot for
Friday's party. Current laws being the
way they are, the discovery that a
student governing body has taken upon it-
self the task of supplying marijuana to
constituents will probably lead to a
crackdown on pot use in that dorm - if
not a campus-wide crackdown.
Pressure may be applied to RDs and
RAs to take note of pot smoking
where they may have closed their eyes
before. Cops could start hanging
around dorm lounges.
- A number of truly unfortunate even-
ts could take place. This simply points
up the absurdity of the marijuana laws
in this country. Current efforts should
not only serve to decrease penalties for
pot use, they should concentrate on
legalizing it altogether.
Soon, hopefully, the day will come
when a dorm government can order
pot for a party as easily as it orders a
few kegs of beer. It should really be
that way now.
To The Daily:
Regarding Ken Parsigian's
"Ramblings" column in the Mar-
ch 26 Sunday Magazine. Let me
start off by saying that I too, like
Mr. Parsigian, had my doubts
when I heard that the Lees had
"sold out," and there would be a
new couple running Steve's Lun-
ch - a tiny diner squeezed into
astorefront on S. University. I
had practically resigned myself
to the fact that I would never'
savor another bacon and cheesy
omelette again. This is where Mr.
Parsigian and myself part com-
pany. Unlike Mr. Parsigian, I
gave the new owners a week or so
to get settled, and then ventured
to Steve's one morning to give
them a chance to prove them-
selves.,
At this point it became quite
apparent that Mr. Parsigian was
not the connoisseur that he
professed to be in his Ramblings
column. For, Pete and Dorothy
Pappademetriou - to my unex-
pected surprise - are .not only
doing an outstanding job of main-
taining the high quality of food
that we have all grown ac-
customed to; but with all' due
respect to Mrs. Lee, I even
noticed a slight improvement in
the chili.
And if Mr. Parsigian was as
"tight" with the Lees as he in-
timated iri his Ramblings
column, he wouldtundoubtedly be
aware of the fact that the Lees
still frequent Steve's Lunch. In
their own words, "it's still the
best place in town, we don't know
where we can get a betterhmeal."
If Mr. Parsigian still has his
doubts, letahim ask the Lees if the
quality %has gone downhill at
Steve's Lunch. He can find them
at Steve's almost every morning
having breakfast.
Best of luck Pete and Dorothy!
Ken Parsigian, keep on "Ram-
bling."
- Jon Kottler
Neal E. Byrd,
Robert Spankel
Jeffrey Hyman
Jules S. Fine
Rod Kosann
(al/avidSteve's Lunch fans)
labor 's strategy to purs
To The Daily: there,
Over the last couple of years, especiall
the news media has taken great determin
pleasure in publicizing "signs of South, a]
a growing conservatism" on go. Ones
campuses and in cities. However, J. P. St
.there is one such trend that the have c
media has failed to cover: the in- Amalgan
creasingly aggressive antilabor tile Wor
stance of big business. This facet refuses t
of many current labor disputes and atte
has been ignored in coverage of ce worke
national issues, such as coal The ra
production, and local ones, such antilabor
as the AFSCME strike against widers
the U of M, GEO, and the strike tradition
against the Oakland Press, these a
Much of business's significa
agressiveness is undoubtedly a than the
reation to increased worker cleanenh
militancy and the process of sexual"
democratizing unions, but much housing.
of its strength comes from are also
having an antiworker base to fall- rights.T
back on. This base, the nonunion pany haN
south, not only gives material basic rigl
support to businesses with and ass
operations in the North, but also privacy.
serves as a "haven from union in- for all of
terference" and thus as a merely s
management trump card in con- this dis]
tract negotiations, and, when the consume
company does move, increasing out of it,
unemployment and competition in the nev
for jobs. -Pe
Labor's strategy for survival is An
Health Service Handbook
By Sylvia Hacker
and Nancy Plachik
ue businesses into the
and organize workers
A few struggles are
ly important and will
ne how the rest of the
nd perhaps the U.S., will
such struggle is with the
evens Co. Wokers there
voted to join the
mated Clothing and Tex-
ker's Union, but Stevens
to bargain in good faith,
mpts to harass and coer-
ers away from the Union.
rmifications of Stevens'
)r policy give the dispute
significance than the
nal labor issues (though
lone are of national
nce), and wider even.
associated issues of a
evironment, racial and
equality, and decent
J. P. Stevens workers
struggling for individual
[he actions of the corn-
ye denied workers such
;hts as freedom of speech
;embly, and rights of
The significance of these
us is obvious. These are
some of the reasons why
;pute, and the national
er boycott that has gron
deserves more attention
ws media.
ter Downs
nn Arbor
save legal aid
To The Daily:
While in law school these past
three years I have worked con-
tinuously in some capacity at the
Campus Legal Aid office. It is
dismaying to hear that the Office
of Student Services is talking
about cutting out a program that
has been so helpful to so many
students.
During my years at Legal Aid
our budget for an entire year was
about half of Pres. Fleming's,
salary. But each dollar spent on
Legal Aid has been able to ac-
complish so much for University
studentsdbecause it has been
multiplied many times by the
volunteer-efforts and work-study
jobs of numerous law students
and undergrads.
Cutting support for Legal Aid
will have only a minute effect on
the rest of, the University's
budget, but an enormous effect
on the services presently
available to stdents. If the OSS
doesn't fund Legal Aid, the
students themselves should vote
to fund it. Students should nio
more be left without adequate
legal services than adequate
health services.
-Bill'VanWyke
Law, 1977
Ann Arbor
QUESTION: I have enjoyed your columns on
sleep very much and have a related question
which I have been wondering about for a long
time. My husband usually wakes up in the mor-
ning with an erection which he says is related to
a full bladder. Is this common?
ANSWER: The idea that morning erections
were related to a full bladder was commonly
held at one time. Recent laboratory research on
sleep, however, suggests that penile erections
are a normal accompaniment of REM (rapid-
eye-movemient) sleep. As a part of REM sleep,
they may occur as many as four to six times
during the night, and their absence is sometimes
even an indication of disease. REM sleep, as you
may remember, is a stage in the sleep cycle oc-
curring approximately every 70-100 minutes
during the night, and is characterized, in
general, by a high level of arousal. Sometimes
bodily arousal during REM sleep may even be
greater than during an individual's normal
awake period.
QUESTION: How much physical activity is
dangerous? There seem to be differences of
opinion about this.
ANSWER: According to Dr. Lawrence Lamb,
M.D., Medical Columnist for Newspaper Enter-
prise Association, it appears that the lesson to be
learned about exercise is that it must be treated
with respect. It is just like any medicine you take
- it can help you or it can harm you. You
wouldn't take a whole bottle of aspirins for a
headache or a whole bottle of any medicine you
might need. You take the right amount as
prescribed for a specific purpose. The same is
true of exercise. The people who get into trouble
with exercise are often those who foolishly
disregard the proper use of it. No one can
guarantee that if you follow any set of rules that
you won't have a heart attack during or im-
mediately after exercise. But no one can guaran-
tee that you won't have one in your sleep either.
been shown to cause the tiny platelets in the
blood to clump, part of the process of starting the
formation of a clot. In addition, it increases the
amount of carbon monoxide gas in the blood.
This combines with the hemoglobin in red blood"
cells and decreases their ability to carry oxygen.
You can't afford this kind of reaction at the time
your heart muscle needs more oxygen because of
exercise, and so it is a mistake to light up after
the game or after the jog. If you must smoke,
wait until at least an hour after the exertion is
over and don't smoke before exercising.
3. Exercise before Eating. The heart must!
work to provide increased circulation to the
digestive organs, and oxygen to process the food
you eat. It is an added burden to the work the
heart must do with exertion. If you want to avoid
compounding the load on the heart, do your:
exercise before eating, or at least two hours after
eating. Never exercise vigorously after a heavy
meal.
4. Avoid Cold Beverages During or After Exer-
cise. Cold fluids in the stomach may set off
powerful reflexes that affect the heart, of may
cause "spasm" of the coronary arteries. If you
are thirsty, drink a moderate amount of a liquid
at nearly room temperature.
5. Get Rid of your Fat. You must work harder
and your heart must work harder if you have ex-
tra pounds of fat. Not only does getting rid of ex-1
cess fat lower your blood pressure, lower your
blood cholesterol and help correct diabetic-type
responses, but it takes the load off your heart
during exercise. If you are fat, it is important
that you exercise lightly while you are getting rid
of pounds - that means walling instead of run-
ning.
6. Get a Medical Exam. Exercise is great for
people who do not already have advanced heart
disease or other important medical problems. It
can be dangerous if you do. A good medical
examination which includes some form of exer-.
cise testing with an electrocardiogram after the'
exercise, can provide some useful information