FRATS DESERVE PUNISHMENT See Editorial Page V' SicP :43 ati WOMB-LIKE High-60 Low-46 See Today for details Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 49 Ann Arbor, Michigan-Thursday, November 3, 1977 Ten Cents 12 Pages Plus Supplement VA defense lambast By KEITH RICHBURG Special to The Daily DETROIT - In their last ditch effort to gain a new trial for the two nurses convicted of the 1975 Veterans Administration (VA) hospital poison- ings, defense lawyers yesterday delivered their strongest attack to date on the government's case. Arguing in the courtroom of Feder- al District: Judge Philip Pratt, attorneys for Filipina Narciso and Leonora Perez charged federal pros- ecutors with violating the U.S. Con- stitution and "polluting the case" so badly that "the defendants could not possibly receive a fair trial." AFTER HEARING the eleventh- hour arguments for a new trial pre- sented by the defense - and the prosecution's rebuttal - Pratt only said, "I will take the matter under advisement." He gave no indication as to when he would render a decision on the fate of the Filipino nurses. Speaking to Pratt, defense lawyer Michael Moran took more than an hour and a half to tell of prosecutors subjecting the indictment to "a snip and paste episode" to covertly add in and shift around charges, withhold- ing relevant information from the defense, and failing to provide a witness list far enough in advance to enable the nurses to prepare a de- fense. Moran also claimed the jury reached its verdict because of gov- ernment misconduct, telling the courtroom that "viewing the evi- dence in the light most favorable to the government does not support the verdict." PIECE BY piece, Moran dis- mantled the government case from the very beginnings of the VA nurses saga, blasting first the federal grand jury that originally handed down the indictments, calling the proceedings "outrageous." The grand jury proceedings "in- volved complete misrepresentation of scientific fact," Moran charged. es prosecution Moran complained that the govern- must have sufficient notice of what ing!" M ment never told the defense "exactly they have to defend against. The 1'Moran what it was we'd have to defend these prosecution did in fact give us a the evid women against. witness list," Moran said. "But two way, say "During the pretrial hearing, the days before the opening statement of cient an prosecution excised relevant mater- the trial, the government provided us verdict.' ial," Moran said, and "failed to - no motion or anything, they just Moran comply with each and every court handed us - a new list that dropped cutot's p order." 50 witnesses and added 19." "had the case Oran exclaimed. questioned the validity of dence presented along the ying, "The facts were insuffi- d do not support the jury's asserted that all the prose- roved was Narciso and Perez means and had the oppor- to poison the patients at the 'he evidence did not show e means and exclusive op- :y. RAL Prosecutor Richard in a briefer rebuttal argu- efended the government's See VA, Page 6 "AT THIS point," Moran said, "the case had not been so polluted the de- fendants could not have received a fair trial. But they (the prosecutors) did not cease, they did not desist, and further violations occurred." Referring to the list of prosecution witnesses, Moran said, "Defendants MORAN SAID Federal Prosecutor Richard Yanko at that time apolo- gized for added new witnesses with- out warning by explaining that "they couldn't give us a witness list because they were unprepared. "They (the prosecution) didn't know who was going to be testify- tunity"t VA. "TI exclusiv( portunit' FEDE Delonis, ment, d Pol.SCi. with a guy who knows By BRIAN BLANCHARD,. Prof. Gerald Ford - stolid body- uards and curious spectators in tow - will drop in on four more classes today, the second of his three days as a University adjunct professor. The former President's lectures for political science, law and busi- ness students .at his alma mater are part of an academic swing across the country which began with the Uni- versity of Nebraska in September and ends at the University of Southern California next month. IT WAS generally agreed that Ford had little new information to reveal, but that his lectures were interesting because of the job he once held. It was exactly one year ago yesterday that Ford lost his job. Students taking Political Science 415, "The American Chief Execu- tive," began their classes yesterday t 8:30 in the Physics and Astronomy building with a lecture and question session with Ford. The American See PROFESSOR, Page 7 Firm subcontracted for housekeeping at University H By SUE WARNER Over the objections of campus union officials, the University has signed a two-year contract with Service Master Industries, a nationwide hospital management firm, to provide housekeeping services a University Hospital. The sub-contracting plan, which hospital administrators claim will result in cheaper and more efficient services, has drawn complaints from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employes (AF- SCME, Local 1583), who fear the arrangement will lead to a reduction of AFSCME jobs and increased workloads. HOWEVER, SANDY Williams, associate director of hospital operations, said the agreement provides that no supervisors or workers will be laid off.: Williams said Service Master will abide by all Hospital and University policies in addition to the University's current AFSCME contract Hospital administrators expect the new sub-contract to save more than $1.7 million over the two-year period, and the cost is not expected to exceed $400,000 each year. Williams predicted, "Efficiencies will be achieved through the use of bet- ter management techniques, more ef- fective utilization of the work force and the use of better equipment and sup- plies." HE ADDED that recent studies have shown the University Hospital's housekeeping unit to be overstaffed in comparis' with other university hospitals. Service ster representatives have estimate' ,'y will be able to reduce houseke- g employes from " the current leY =, of 273 to 196. Williams said the decrease may take place over a year and stressed the reduction would be through attrition, the normal em- plove turnover rate. AFSCME bargaining chairman Art Anderson said the union is not ()sptl planning to take any job action against the University decision right now, but will probably "go through the usual grievance procedures" once the con- trackgoes into effect. "We're just going to wait and see until they get their little program started," he said. "WE HAVE MET with the University and we've assured them that we with deal with any funny business," he ad- ded, referring to any violations of the AFSCME agreement. Anderson contends the outside con See'U', Page 6 Bomb threat emptiOes two city buildings . oiy Photo by CHRISTINA SCHNEIDER The way this guy runs around campus with Secret Service types on his tail, you'd think he used to be the President. Whoever he is, he talked to several classes yesterday, including this one in Mason Hall. Audit says tenant gru mismanaged finances By RICHARD BERKE mitted "potential criminal viola- comment until he had read the The Public Housing Tenants Or- tions" in getting credit from the document more thoroughly. The anization (PHTO) has committed Kelly Girl Company for temporary Daily could not reach either Johnson potential criminal violations" in its office help. or other PHTO officials yesterday. Some Ann Arbor and Washtenaw county employees had a short working day yesterday when police emptied City Hall and the neighboring county of- fice building, both threatened by a bomb scare. At 1:30 yesterday, an unidentified man called the Ypsilanti Press and told a switchboard operator that there was a bomb in City Hall. A staff member reported that the caller did not give any reason for the bomb threat. Authorities evacuated some 500 workers from the county building and another 1,100 from City Hall, then searched for the bomb with sniffing dogs. City Hall employees later returned to their jobs when no bomb was found, but the county facility was shut down for the day. g The buildings are on separated by a block. Huron Street, use of $49,500 in federal funds, City Councilman Ken Latta (D - First Ward) has charged. A special audit of the organization, which has represented Ann Arbor tenants with an on-again, off-again style, has revealed that poor fiscal management of Community Devel- opment Block Grant (CDBG) funds may have rolled up $15,000 in debt by the group - an amount the city may have to pay. BUT WZ ILE the CDBG report, to be presented to City Council at next Monday's meeting, did not suggest any foul play, Latta charged that actions of the PHTO could be classi- fied as "criminal." Latta said last night PHTO Execu- tive Director Albert Johnson com- "JOHNSON represented himself as a city department head to get credit from Kelly Girl . . . that's obviously a violation of law and not sloppy management, and the city may get socked for that," he charged. However, Laurie Wargelin, direc- tor of the city's CDBG program, said of the auditing report, "We found no instances of any funds missing or fraud . . . just poor organizational procedures." The audit showed man- agement discrepancies ranging from ineligible use of CDBG funds to unauthorized hirings. The Ann Arbor News reported in yesterday's edition that Johnson said, "there are disputes" about the audit, but that he declined further WARGELIN SAID the audit- was ordered in September after her office received letters telling of unpaid bills by the PHTO. Those letters came from the Housing Commission, which rents office space to PHTO, and the Kelly Girl company. Financial reports filed by the PHTO falsely indicated those bills had already been paid, according to; the audit report.; The audit report showed the PHTO with debts totaling more than $15,600, and only $3,100 in cash to cover those bills. INCLUDED IN the unpaid bills is PEACEFUL BLASTS INCLUDED: Brezhnev: Ban N-tests MOSCOW '(AP) - President Leon- id Brezhnev proposed a halt in nuclear explosions for both military and peaceful purposes yesterday in a speech marking the 60th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. The Soviet leader also reported the 1977 grain harvest was well below the target fixed by Soviet planners and even less than U.S. experts had anti- cipated. willing to include peaceful blasts in nuclear test ban talks. The speech text carried by the official Tass news agency also in- cluded a proposal that "the nuclear powers could undertake to start the gradual reduction of existing stock- piles of such atomic weapons, and move towards their complete, total destruction." Brezhnev omitted this point when delivering the speech, and Western observers said later they did not know whether the omission resulted $2,373 owed to the Internal Revenue Service and the state of Michigan for THE NUCLEAR proposal marked See AUDIT, Page 6 the first time the Kremlin had been Forte is priesthood but Fly is a clown from a last-minute revision or from" an inadvertent slip-up in reading ,the text. WASHINGTON'S initial reaction to Brezhnev's nuclear suggestions was favorable, but State Department officials said he was ambiguous on several points. In-Washington, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance welcomed Brezhnev's proposal for a moratorium on all nuclear 'explosions, calling it "a major step toward a comprehensive test ban agreement." Vance told a news conference "the proposal he (Brezhnev) made is in the direction of what we have been talking about for several months on the need to include all kinds of nuclear explosions, including so- called peaceful nuclear explosions in a comprehensive test ban." BOTH THE United States and the Soviet Union staged test explosions underground just last week. Western monitors reported the Soviets set off a double explosion in Siberia on Friday and the United States explod- ed a nuclear device with a 20-kiloton> blast last Wednesday. The proposal in the text to reduce stockpiles of nuclear weapons matches a goal of U-.S. President Carter, who last month told the United Nations General Assembly the United States was "willing now" By BARBARA ZAHS David Fly likes to clown around. But 15 years ago he packed up his baggy pants and floppy shoes and decided that he wanted to become an Episcopal priest. "BEING A PRIEST is serious business;" he told a group at Can- terbury House last night. "But being a clown doesn't die easily. Once WITH HIS CLERICAL collar and full beard, Fly hardly looks the part of the clown. But he insisted, "We're all sort of closet clowns' The ques- tion is whether we're going to come out or not." Fly decided to "go public" in Aug- ust, 1975 during registration day at Kansas State University, where he now serves as a campus chaplain. "I saw hundreds of students stand- :: .+^. ' . } 4 .t. ,. ..