NEUTRON REVERSAL See Editorial Page lbE LIEn . ti BALLMY High-.-66*C See Today for details a Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 148 Ann'Arbor; Michigan-Thursday, April 6, 1978, Ten Cents 12 Pages Plus Supplement NEW COUNTY FACILITY UNIQUE This prison has no bars By MARTHA RETALLICK Live plants flourish in several pots around the lobby,. thanks to the sunshine that pours in through the skylight. In the back of the carpeted room are three bright orange couches where a waiting visitor can sit and read the latest copy of Sports Illustrated. Only the sheriff's cadet uniform on the smiling young woman behind the desk gives any hint that this is the lobby in the new Washtenaw County Jail. It certainly doesn't look like a jail. Wall-to-wall carpeting covers the floors in the six cellblocks. In fact, just about the only place in the building that isn't carpeted is the gym- nasium floor. Bright supergraphics adorn the walls throughout the facility and each cellblock has its own theme colors, ranging from green and orange in one of the male prisoners' blocks to black and gray in maximum security. ANYONE LOOKING FOR bars on the windows will be disappointed-there aren't any. - Since the jail is air- conditioned, none of its outside windows can be opened and the glass itself is impact-resistant so a prisoner literally can- not break out of jail. Some consider the $10-million facility which features such amenities as a complete medical unit with X-ray and dental facilities, a nursery area for visiting children and a bathtub in the women's cellblock too lavish for a jail. But the building's ever-present surveillance system with its closed- circuit TV cameras and intercoms reminds the visitor that it is still a jail. And the prisoner in his or her single cell with its stainless steel-sink and toilet across from the small wooden desk finds that the electrically-operated door closes behind him with the same metallic "thunk" of any other cell door. Even though the jail was officialy dedicated on March 28, construction workers are still scurrying around the building, putting the finishing touches on the communications and electrical systems. Prisoners from the old county jail on West Ann St. currently occupy only one cellblock in the new facility. Jail Administrator Mike Montgomery says he doesn't know when the rest of the county's 180 prisoners can be transferred to the new building on Hogback Rd. in Pit- tsfield Township. LAST MONTH COUNTY officials expressed fears that the new jail would not be big enough to hold all the county's prisoners. The county was even planning to keep the old jail open tohandle the overflow from the new 230-inmate facility. But now Montgomery says the county's fears about over- crowding at the new jail are "a dead issue." The County Board of Commissioners wants to tear the old jail down and build a parking lot in its place, and Montgomery said the oft- overcrowded building will most likely "fall by fall." "We just didn't want the county to tear the jail down im- mediately," he said. The Board of Commissioners has yet to decide when it wants the old building razed. . - i WASHTENAW COUNTY JAIL Administrator Mike are out, but break-proof glass keeps the prisoners in. Daily Photo by JOHN KNO- Montgomneiy stands outside a cell 'in the new detention facility. Bars Don't scrap neutron bomb, committee members tell Carter WASHINGTON (AP) - Leaders of the House Armed Services Committee have drafted a letter to be sent to President Carter arguing against any decision to stop production of the neutron bomb, it was learned yester- day. Signers of the 1%'-page letter include Rep. Melvin Price .(D-Ill.), who is chairman of the committee, and Rep. Bob Wilson of California, the commit- tee's ranking Republican, sources said. MEANWHILE, THE West German government yesterday refused to publicly endorse the neutron bomb despite speculation that Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich. Genscher had urged President Carter not to reject the )x weapon. 25 Sources said Tuesday that President Carter tentatively had decided against producing neutron warheads. But congressional leaders attending a White House breakfast yesterday said Carter told them the weapon was still under consideration. Later, White House press secretary Jody Powell told reporters Carter has made no "final decision on the neutron bomb. Reports to the contrary are sim- ply erroneous." THE LETTER drafted by the leaders of the House committee "protests and urges the president not to make that decision" to scrap the bomb, Wilson said. Others who reportedly had signed the letter by late yesterday included Reps. Bob Carr (D-Mich.), Samuel Stratton (D-N.Y.), Charles Wilson (D-Cali.), Marjorie Holt (R-Md.) and G.V. Mont- gomery (D-Miss.). The neutron bomb is a nuclear weapon designed to inflict battlefield casualties with radiation while limiting blast damage. Although it is referred to as a bomb, the weapon is designed for use as a warhead for the 81-mile range Lance missile and for howitzer shells that can be fired a distance of 10 to 12 miles. THE U.S. MILITARY has called the neutron bomb weapon an equalizer against the possibility of a tank attack in central Europe, where the Russians have an estimated 3-to-2 tank advan- tage. The weapon would kill invading tank crews with radiation, while saving civilian lives and property on the periphery of the battlefield, itssuppor- ters say. Opponents of the weapon contend it could make it easier to use nuclear ar- ms in a European conflict. , Defense Secretary Harold Brown, in a speech yesterday, gave no hint as to the direction he expects Carter to take, but said that "from a purely military point of view, the neutron warhead wolald upgrade NATO's ability to defend against a Soviet tank attack." r AMONG THOSE attending the leadership breakfast was House Speaker Thomas O'Neill, who said nautron warhead production was discussed at the breakfast. O'Neill said Carter is waiting} to get the views of NATO countries where the weapon would be deployed before making a decision. Rep. Price urged Carter to use the neutron bomb as a bargaining chip in the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. "OUR FEELING is this is a very valuable asset to us and it should not be scrapped by us without a quid pro quo from the Soviets," the Armed Services Committee chairman said. "I don't think we should give it away." A similar sentiment was voiced by Sen. John Towersranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Commit- tee. "Any decision against production and deployment of this weapon is not only a See DON'T, Page 5 Daily Photo by JOHN KNO DETROIT RECORDER'S Court Judge Justin Ravitz spoke to a crowd of about 12 at MLB last night. "I wouldn't be here tonight if I didn't think we have the co lective capacity to build a socialist movement that will work," Ravitz said.' Marxist judge favors court system reform Senate: House can't By LEONARD BERNSTEIN Justin Ravitz, America's first elected Marxist judge, last night told aUniver- sity audience that fundamental social change is needed to reform the nation's legal system. Ravitz delivered this year's final Viewpoint lecture to some 125 people in the Modern Languages Building. "UNTIL WE ALTER fundamentally the nature of the system, we're not going to alter these problems," he said. Ravitz expressed doubt about the recent "euphoria on part of spokesper- sons analyzing the judiciary in Detroit." "We were I treated to masive headlines the other day about crime reduction in Detroit," he said. "But that doesn't mean a hell of a lot to the 487 corpses who were homicide victims in Detroit in 1977,",he added. IN A HUMOROUS but direct style, Ravitz criticized a recent Supreme Court ruling which granted a judge immunity from civil suit in a case where he ordered a young girl's sterilization without a hearing at her mother's request. Ravtiz said the judge should "suffer the consequences a fair and thinking society would allow. "Not so, says the United States Supreme Court, where five absurd jurists protected their colleague," he said. RAVITZ ALSO condemned recent See RAVITZ, Page 2 A Th ursday * A local man is trying to patent a new execution dev ice - the airbag. See story, Page 2. " A onetime campaign aide to a North Carolina congressman says she picked up $10,000 in cash for her boss from Korean rice dealer Tongsun Park. See story. Page 5. For happenings, weather and local briefs, see TODAY, page 3. WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate set a date for itg final showdown vote on the Panama Canal treaty yesterday, while dealing treaty foes an unexpec- tedly sharp defeat on a move to give the House priequal voice in the issue. Leaders of the pro and anti-treaty factions agreed to put the second of the two pacts to a vote on April 18. That means the Senate will have only nine working days to consider amendments and reservations before taking a final vote on the issue. PREVIOUSLY the Senate had set a deadline of April 26 for the ratification test. But with the debate already two, months old, Senate leaders and anti- treaty strategists acknowledged a need to bring the issue to a conclusion. ) On a surprisingly wide margin of 58 to vote on ca ntl treaty 37, the Senate killed an amendment by Sen. Orrin Hatch (RUtah) that would have allowed the House to vote on the treaty, on' grounds the Constitution requires the full Congress to approve any disposal of U.S. property. Later it rejected another amendment by Sen. James Allen (D-Ala.) to guarantee the jobs of U.S. employees of the Panama Canal Co. until retirement age. That vote was 56 to 37. The secret is out: Vice Pres- ident Walter Mondale will be the keynote speaker at corm- nencenent exercises on April 29 at Crisler A rena. DESPITE THE decisive edge by which his proposal lost, Hatch claimed a "major victory" on a test of strength for the treaty. Hatch said it showed that more than a third of the Senate recognized the "serious constitutional question" See HOUSE, Page 2 -...m/ Bursley board mnembers stand By DAVE RENBARGER At their regularly scheduled meeting last night, mem- bers of Bursley's Board of Governors openly admitted to the purchase of $200 of marijuana for use at an all-dorm par- ty last Friday night. Facing a gathering of about 60 predominantly disap- proving residents, the Board members, for the most part, stood behind their decision. One governor, Eric Wilson, cited the purchase as a "moral issue." "I DON'T believe that pot should be illegal," said Wilson. "I knew that I was breaking the law when I did it, but I feel that I should stand up for what I believe in even if I have to go to jail for 20 years." A major concern voiced by many residents was the likelihood of any future dorm parties. "THINGS ARE really going to be messed up for next I I II Program keeps dancers 4 an their .toe By JODI STOLOVE There are no chalkboards in this classroom, no cushioned chairs to doze in or desks to scribble on. In fact, there are no seats at all. The students in these rooms don't slouch back and absorb a professor's lecture. Instead, their instructors put them through 90 minutes of highly demanding par- ticipation which pushes them to the limits 9f physical and mental endurance. They are dance students, members of one of the smallest, most select departments at the University. In their home, the University Dance Building behind the Central Campus Recreation Building, group members not only discipline themselves in the rudiments of dan- ce technique, but also study and explore such fields as kinesiology, theater production, dance history, music, art and improvisation. THE DANCE program is highly concentrated. Students are generally on the dance floor about four hours a day and their creative training is woven into the fabric of more traditional University academics. Students leave the University with a degree from the' School of Art or Education. But despite the incentive of a degree, some of the v .a. ..-...'. ,',a. -