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Vol. 1XXXVIII, No.'18 Ann Arbor, Michigan-Wednesday, September 28, 977 Ten Cents Ten Pages
Getting high in the
Goodyear blimp
By JAY LEVIN
It was a Goodday to ride in the
Goodyear blimp.
Bobbing and bending with the
breeze, Capt. John Moran guided our
bullet-shaped airship, America, like
an errant feather over vast farm-
land, lush woods and the busy heart
of campus. People waved at us as we
floated noisily over the Diag. It was
like getting high on helium.
ACTUALLY, . THE famous diri-
gible isn't here to dole out joyrides to
lucky reporters. N e x t Saturday,
when Texas A & M meets the
Wolverines on the gridiron, the
blimp's gondola will be ghock full of
video equipment set to broadcast the
game to a national television audi-
ence.
But for the time being, the blimp's
been a frequent fixture in the day-
time heavens above Ann Arbor - an
atmospheric point of reference for
professors, kiddies, shopkeepers and
students alike. It's nice to drop
everything, crane your neck and
follow the lazy path of what looks like
a giant, silver cigar.
It's also nice to sit in the tiny
gondola as the dirigible makes its
rounds. The gondola is a cozy,
six-passenger compartment which is
connected to the base of the airship.
It has cushiony, upholstered seats,
panoramic windows and ashtrays.
Capt. Moran sits up front, guiding the
blimp right and left with pedals, and
up and down with a wheel. He also
operates a mass of levers, switches
and buttons.
THE PERSON on the ground, how-
ever, seldom catches a good glimpse
of the gondola or the people inside.
Rather, landlubbers follow the giant
dirigible with its black Goodyear
emblem - 207,000 cubic feet of
weightless helium contained in a
dacron shell.
"It's no heavier than your jacket,"
Moran told me 1,000 feet above the
Arb.
Moran, who piloted the airship
effortlessly throughout our half-hour
ride, has piloted airships for almost
nine years. He had to obtain a special
"lighter than air" license before
Goodyear would let him get off the
ground.
NOW 33, HE has logged 4,000 hours
of blimp time in this country and in
Europe. Goodyear maintains three
blimps in the U.S. - the only blimps
in the country - and one in Europe.
, Flying a blimp is fun, said the
crisply attired, blond-haired Moran.
Safe, too.
"This is really a safe mdchine," he
said as we glided easily over the city,
occasionally dipping at uncomfort-
able angles. There are no seatbelts in
the gondola, so passengers have to
clutch onto their armrests if they
wish to avoid crashing through the
windshield.
UNFORTUNATELY FOR blimp
See HIGH, Page 2
Daily Photo by ALAN BILINSKY
ABOVE, THE GOODYEAR blimp hovers over the Law Quad. At right,
workers hold the tethers as the blimp prepares for takeoff from Ann
Arbor's Airport. The famous dirigible is in town for Saturday's nation-
ally televised football game against Texas A&M.
GROMYKO BLASTS CARTER'S FOREIGN POLICY
Soviets
UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. (AP) -
The Soviet Union, in a surprise move,
offered yesterday to join with the
United States and Britain in a suspen-
sion of all underground nuclear weap-
ons tests for an unspecified period.
"The prohibition of all nuclear
weapon tests would be a major step
conducive to lessening the threat of nu-
clear war and deepening detente," So-
viet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko
told the U.N. General Assembly.
SECRETARY of State Cyrus Vance,
who is also in New York, withheld com-
ment on Gromyko's test ban proposals.
His spokesperson said Vancew
pied with a series of meeti
other foreign ministers and
read a text of Gromyko's speec
The spokesperson emphasi
the two superpowers have not3
to an agreement.
NEGOTIATIONS on a con
sive test ban agreement, incl
plosions for such peaceful pur
river diversions, are sched
Geneva next week.
Meanwhile, Gromyko was m;
unexpected return visit to th
House yesterday night to res
initiate
was occu- vate arms limitation talks with Presi-
ngs with dent Carter.
had not The White House announced that
h. Gromko and Secretary of State Cyrus
zed that Vance were flying to Washington sepa-
yet come rately for the renewed talks, scheduled
for8 p.m. EDT,.
mprehen- GROMYKO HELD two days of talks
uding ex- with top administration officials last
rposes as week, including a White House session
uled for with Carter. Carter's press secretary,
Jody Powell, said yesterday the Presi-
iaking an dent told Gromyko at their meeting last
he White Friday that "he would be willing to con-
ume pri- tinue tie discussions if the Soviets
thought that would be worthwhile."
U.S. officials were not notified in ad-
vance of the Soviet gesture on under-
ground nuclear tests. To them it ap-
peared to represent serious intent to
complete a weapons test ban.
Beyond that, the Russians did not
condition their offer to reach an agree-
ment on compliance by China and
France, the two other major nuclear
powers. In the past Moscow has said a
testing agreement must have global
application in order to be meaningful.
EVEN WHILE taking this concilia-
tory approach Gromyko sharply criti-
cized the Carter administration on sev-
eral fronts.
He suggested with evident sarcasm
that "those who clamor for 'human
rights' could best apply their efforts" in
southern Africa.
"But for some reason or other,"
Gromyko said, "they shut their eyes to
the intolerable plight of millions of
people."
AND, IN ANOTHER gibe at Presi-
dent Carter, who has charged the Soviet
Union with violating elemental human
rights, Gromyko declared:
sting
"Any attempts at sermonizing us
still worse, at interfering in our inter
affairs under contrived pretexts, ha
encountered and will encourage a re.
lute rebuff."
Gromyko also took issue with t
Carter administration in the arms fie
ban
or, such as the neutron bomb?"
nal Gromyko derided the suggestions
ye that the bomb, which Carter has auth-
so- orized, is somehow more humane than
other nuclear weapons because it would
.he not, over a large area, level buildings
ld. and cause other physical havoc.
'Can one really propose with one hand various
drastic reductions in nuclear arms while with the
other authorize the development of new and, bluntly
speaking, merciless types of weapons such as the
neutron bomb?'
-Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko
Block back after suspension;
fears scrutiny by ' officials
By SUE WARNER
Joel Block went to work yesterday
morning just like 2,300 other campus
service workers.
But unlike the rest, the former presi-
dent of the American Federation of
State, County and Municipal Employes
(AFSCME, Local 1583) had been off the
job for over five months.
BLOCK WAS suspended by the Uni-
versity last spring when Ann Arbor po-
lice named him as a suspect in an al-
leged bomb threat on the Administra-
tion Building. The threat was reported-
ly phoned in to police headquarters.
After completing his first day on the
job as a West Quad custodian, Block
Block
e
commented, "Everything was fine - a
lot of union people were happy to see
me back." r
Early this summer, police handed
Block a special search warrant order-
ing him to produce a recording of his
voice to be matched against the record-
ed bomb threat.
BLOCK REFUSED, and went before
15th District Court Judge S.J. Elden
who upheld the police order.
Elden's ruling is now being appealed
by Block's attorney, Donald Koster, in
the State Circuit Court.
Block said he thinks the University's
decision to end his suspension was the
result of a Michigan Supreme Court
ruling last Tuesday which stated voice-
prints cannot be used as evidence in
criminal trials unless their scientific
validity is clearly established.
"I THINK THEIR (the University's)'
whole case disappeared when the court
made its ruling," Block said. "Their
whole key point of contention was
whether I should be compelled to make
a voiceprint."
However, University Chief Negotia-
tor William Neff yesterday denied that
the University's decision to reinstate
Block was a result of the Supreme
Court decision.
"We were ready to make our decision
without that case," Neff said. "It was
made after an analysis of the case itself
and on the advice of the General Coun-
'U'to discuss S. Africaj
By PATTY MONTEMURRI Brinkerhoff told about 50 lunchers at
A committee to organize campus the International Center yesterday.
discussion on the University's $40
million corporate investments in
racially-torn South Africa will be set up
within theweek, announced James
Brinkerhoff, University vice-president
and chief financial officer.
"I DON'T KNOW what the University
is going to do," said Brinkerhoff about
the two-thirds of its total common stock
invested in multinationals that have
anywhere from "one man tohmassive
operations in South Africa."
Calling for "dialogue on the issues,"
Brinkerhoff told listeners, who downed
sandwiches and jello salad, that infor-
mation amassed through a campus
forum would be used by his office and
the Senate Advisory Committee for
Financial Affairs to make recommen-
dations to the Regents for handling the
"
n interests
University's stock protfolio.
In a brief presentation before an-
swering questions,nBrinkerhoffrnoted
how Ford Motor Co. stockholders ap-
proved guidelines governing Ford af-
filiate operations in South Africa.
FIRST DEVELOPED by a General
Motors Corp. board member, the
guidelines have received approvalfrom
South Africa's white government,
though they are n "direct violation of
South Africa's" apartheid law,"
Brinkerhoff said.
South Africa's apartheid laws,
devised by the country's white minority
See BRINKERHOFF, Page7
A A -
Noting the President's proposal earlier
in the year to the Russians to make
deep cuts in existing U.S. and Soviet
weapons stockpiles, he asked:
"CAN ONE REALLY propose with
one hand various 'drastic reductions'
while with the other authorize the
development of new and, bluntly
speaking, merciless types of weapons
"After all," Gromyko said, "it is in-
tended to be used directly against hu-
man beings and is in the same category
with such cruel and barbaric means of
warfare as bacteriological or chemical
weapons."
Carter will speak to the assembly
next week.
Low-income residents
swarm to new clinic~
By ELIZABETH SLOWIK
Long-awaited by low-income resi-
dents since the closing of the Ann Arbor
Free Clinic last December, Bryant
Neighborhood Clinic finally opened its
doors yesterday as dozens streamed in.
The Bryant facilities, located at 2201
Hemlock Court, about two and a half
miles southeast of campus, offer more
nvnneivoeorv n - thna rPlni,
ily treatment like giving shots or pro-
viding general check-ups.
"Can you hear it?" asked Bryant
Neighborhood Clinic's Health Educator
Marcy Bohm-Waldinger. "It's a
madhouse!" Though things got off to a
slow start yesterday, the small staff
was swamped with clients by the end of
the afternoon.
"We're booked solid through Thurs-
day," said Director Betsy Lieberman.
Killer ofI
'
doctor
gets life imprisonment
By DENISE FOX
Gordon Wingard, the prison con-
vict who pleaded guilty to the July.
accordihg to Brooks Patterson, Oak-
land County prosecutor.
ns,;" L-AO I"h f