Eighty-Seven Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109
A
tale
of
two
Wednesday, February 16, 1977
News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Spniol bl:'Urgent need
TIE PBB DISASTER has haunted
Michigan for nearly four years
now. It is time to put it to an end.
The highly toxic chemical was ac-
cidentally mixed with animal feed
and distributed throughout the state
in 1973. This led to the slaughter of
thousands of farm animals and the
destruction of millions of pounds of
farm produce.
Recent' reports show that not all
the contaminated animals were de-
stroyed. Many continue to be sold;
their meat continues to turn up on
supermarket shelves.
A state task-force report on the
PBB problem was released on May
24, 1976. The panel, headed by Dr.
Isatore Bernstein, a professor in the
University Biochemistry program,
concluded:
O PBB was at least a "potential
carcinogen;"
O The allowable limits of PBB in
meat and other produce should be
lowered. to the lowest levels detect-
able.
But federal and state standards
allow PBB-contaminated meat to be
sold if it contains no more than 0.3
parts per million of PBB, a signifi-
cant level. So far, the state Agricul-
ture Commission -has refused to low-
er the permissible level. The Commis-
sion's director, B. Dale Ball, has voic-
ed his opposition to any such move.
THERE IS NO justification for the
Agriculture Commission's - and
Ball's -- failure to take action. Thou-
sands of Michigan farmers, their fam-
ilies, and others who have eaten con-
taminated meats now show danger-
ously high concentrations of PBB
within their bodies. Many have be-
gun to show signs of serious illness
which can only be attributed to PBB,
Mothers who show signs of PBB con-
tamination have been recommended
not to breast feed their children.
In an attempt to do what the
Agriculture Commission will not, Rep.
Francis Spaniola, D-Corunna, has in-
troduced legislation which would low-
er the tolerable limits of PBB con-
tamination to 0.02 parts per million.
About 19,000 dairy cattle would have
to be destroyed; the Spaniola bill
would provide compensation to farm-
ers for the slaughtered animals.
We must take issue with the cal-
lousness with which the Agriculture
Commission has completely ignored
what can only be seen as the best
interests of the state's consumers. We
must also condemn Governor Milli-
ken for his inaction; though he has
urged Ball and the Commission to
take action, and though he has indi-
cated his support for the Spaniola{
bill, he has refused to exercise his
full power in the matter.
THE SPANIOLA BILL may not elim-
inate all PBB concentrations from
public produce, but it does go a long
way. There can only be a crisis in
confidence in the foods we eat right
now. It is urgent that the State Leg-
islature pass the Spaniola bill with
all due haste - and keep an open
ear should even more drastic meas-
ures become needed in the future.
By KEITH B. RICHBURG
IT MIGHT APTLY be called a tale of two cities; De-
troit and Ann Arbor, separated by a stretch of some
forty-odd miles of interstate 94. The problem-plagued
metropolis and the bohemian college town.
At the helm of the metropolis is Coleman A. Young.
Heading the college town is Albert H. Wheeler. Both
are up for reelection this year, Young in November,
Wheeler in early April. And both incumbents can also
expect a tough battle to hold onto their respective
mayorships.
Mayor Wheeler, like Mayor Young, is a Democrat.
Wheeler gets a scant $10,000 as Ann Arbor's top city
official, one-fourth of what Young gets as Detroit's
main man. A University of Michigan professor, Wheel-
er was a long time civil rights activist, until he de-
feated Republican Mayor James E. Stephenson in 1974.
WHEELER'S WIN came under the controversial
preferential voting system, under which Stephenson ac-
tually outpolled Wheeler by 2,600 votes on the first
choice ballot, but Wheeler edged out the GOP incum-
bent by 121 votes when the Human Rights Party vote
was redistributed. Ann Arbor has since voted to do
away with the preferential voting system, and the may-
oral contesthcan wefl be called a vote of confidence in
Mayor Wheeler.
Challenging the Mayor is Ann Arbor's Mayor Pro-
Tem Louis D. Belcher. The Wheeler-Belcher contest
has been long in the making, and as of now the ex-
perts are calling it a toss-up.
Belcher hopes to appeal to Ann Arbor's Republican
leanings while Wheeler -is vowing an issues campaign,
"with no time for crap issues." The truth of the mat-
ter is that Human Rights Party candidate Diane Lee
Slaughter, a °23-year-old clerk at the U of M Graduate
Library, may filter off enough liberal support from
Wheeler to throw the race to the Republican.
ISSUES ARE not lacking in the Ann Arbor race -
rent control, public parking, and the Ann Arbor rapist
have all split Wheeler and Belcher down the political,
Health
spectrum. Wheeler has the advantage of incumbency,
and Belcher makes no bones about recapturing the
throne for the GOP in this Washtenaw County bastion of
conservatism.
But by that token, Coleman Young would have no
trouble holding onto Detroit's Manoogian Mansion.
Young, the incumbent, is, like Wheeler, a civil rights
activist from way back, and Detroit has a solid liberal/
Black voting block that gave Young the'win over form-
er Police Commissioner John Nichols in 1973. Young's
Detroit, however, has its share of problems.
Since Young took office, a corruption-infested police
department has seen the firing of the top cop, the
"leave of absence" of the number two man, and the'
suicide of another high-up. Roving East Side hoodlums
have made crime- the summer headlines, forcing a cur-
few and a law-and-order crackdown that's still in effect.
ON THE ECONOMIC scene, unemployment in De-
troit is running rampant, while city budget squeezzes
and an eroding tax base have forced massive lay-offs
of city workers. And Young's pet project of residency -
forcing city workers to live in the city limits - has
built up an antagonism between Young and thepower-
ful Detroit Police Officers Association (DPOA), as well
as the Detroit Fire Fighters Association, sending these
two unions scrambling for opponents to take the mayor
on.
And opponents aren't hard to come by. Leading
the pack is Wayne State University Law Professor John
E. Mogk and Detroit City Councilman Earnest Browne.
Mogk came out of nowhere for 1973's mayoral primary
and placed fourth with 12 per cent of the vote. Browne
backed out of that race, and is coming back swinging,
vowing "never to do it again."
Both Mogk and Browne are planning on a more
conservative trend in Detroit as a response to the crime
and economic chaos. They plan to appeal to the con-
servative whites, the disenchanted Blacks, and the mod-
erates to off-set Young's liberal support.
THE TROUBLE is that in Detroit, the top two vote-
getters in the primary face each other in a run-off in
5ervice H
WIayors
November. The conservative whites may end up voting
for Mogk, who is white. while the disenchanted Blacks
may end up votging for Browne, who is Black. The re-
sult could be that neither Mogk nor Browne makes it
out of the primary.
The man best able to appeal to both whites and
Blacks is Detroit City Council President Carl Levin,
who swears thlat he is not a candidate. But"Levin's "Ted
Kennedy-I-Am-Not-A-Candidate" syndrome still has him
labelled as the front-runner and the only man who
could oust Young.
Young isn't exactly a sitting target for opponents
either. The Mayor can look forward to a better econ-
omicpicture about the time election day rolls -around.
And with the opening of the new Renaissance Center
downtown, complete with a new Ford Motor Company
division inside, a revitalized Detroit could serve as a
catalyst to economic upswing.
THE POLICE Department scandals are all but past
now, with the boys-in-blue behind a new competent, al-
beit low-key cop, William Hart. The latest statistics
show b'rglary, rave and robbery are down, thanks to
-mother nature, and B.K.'s and Erroll Flynns have been
keeping off the front pages of late.
Young has gotten the support of Detroit's most in-
fluential businessman Henry'Ford II and more import-
antly, the Mayor has connections in Washington, in the
form of Jimmy Carter himself. Now-President Carter
has promised Young an influx of federal funds in return
for the mayor's support during last year's campaign.
Coleman Young has a lot going for him. He also
has a lot going against him. And the state of-the city
.the day before the election could well determine if
Young is allowed to remain in that spacious office com-
plex in the City-County Building.
YOUNG ALSO has one other advantage - he can
look at the mayor's campaign in Ann Arbor before em-
barking on his own. Maybe the fifty-four year old
Young can learn something from the sixty-one year old
Wheeler about fighting a tough one for reelection.
rzn dbook
Moynihan seeks end to
February: Why stop there?
WE ARE ALL painfully aware that
this has been one of the most
severe winters in our nation's his-
tory, but just what have any of us
done about it? President Jimmy Car-
ter has been ordering various states
to transfer their stockpiles of nat-
ural gas to the cold-ravaged North-
east, and millions, of Americans have
turned their thermostats down. The
trouble with these efforts, though, is
they concede the algid temperatures
("There's nothing we can do about
Mother Nature"), and attempt only'
to weather the consequences as best
they can.
But New York's new junior Sena-
tor, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, is the
only person who is attacking the
real problem - how to eliminate this'
godawful weather. Moynihan's solu-
tion is simple - he is presently con-
sidering a bill that would do away
with the month of February.
Just think what progressive legis-
lation like this could do. We would
have only two months of winter, and
then bingo, right into spring. Every-
one likes spring anyway, so why not
have it one month earlier? Then, we
could take the four weeks in Febru-
ary (yes, it is the only month with
exactly four weeks, another good rea-
son to lay February to rest) and dis-
tribute them among the more pleas-
ant months. We all love June, so two
weeks clearly must' be transferred to
that month. Just think of what it
would mean to all the couples who
have always wanted a June wedding.
No longer will they have to settle
for early July: June 44 will do just
fine. And what of all the baseball
pitchers who finish the season with
19 wins, one shy of the magic num-
ber of 20 victories? With an extra
two weeks to the season, they'd be
sure to make it. Yes, everyone would
be happier with two extra weeks in
June.
THE REMAINING two weeks should
be tacked on to the end of De-
cember. That way we could have
three full weeks of Christmas vaca-
tion. True, the weather is usually
cold, but over the holiday season no
one seems to mind. Besides, you can
always head for warmer climates.
Wouldn't it be nice to spend three
or four weeks in sunny Florida with-
out missing any school - instead of
March 1 on your calendar and know-
ing that summer is just three months
away.
IWTHY, MR. MOYNIHAN has opened
a whole new world.'Before you
know it we progress from snuffing
out months to axing days of the
week as well. Certainly no one would
be opposed to killing off Mondays;
those are always wretched. And while
we are at it, why not get rid of
week days altogether?
Mr. Moynihan may have succeed-
ed where Thomas More and so many
others have failed. He may have set
us on the path to true Utopia. Not
bad for a man whose only been a
Senator for a month. But it will be
a tough act to follow. What can we
expect from you next, Daniel? We,
at The Daily, can't wait to find out.
1~4r~0,14r i4
EdVtraI Staff
Co-Editors-in -Chief
ANN MARIE LiW'NbKI and JIM TOBIN
KEN, PARCIGIAN . ... ..... Editorial Director
Managing Editors
IAY LEVIN. GVORGE LOBSENZ,
M!KE NORTON, MARGARET YAO
LOIS JO9SMOVICH Art Editor
Mgazlne Editors
SUSAN ADES and ELAINE FLETCHER
arAF W WITERS.:oven Barr. Susan Barry,
Brian Bianchard, .lichael Beckman, Philip
Bokovoy, Linda Brenners, Lori Carruthers, Ken
Chotiner, Eileen Dale Ron DeKett Lisa Fish-
er, David Goodman, Marnie Ileyn, Robb Halm-
es, Michael Jones, L.ni Jordan, Janet Klein,
G, egg Kruppa, Steve Kursman, Dabilas Matu-
i onls, Stu McConnell, Tom Meyer, Jenny Mil'-
ier, Patti Montem-rri, Torn O'Connell, Jon
Pansius, Karen Paul, Stephen Pickover, Kim
Potter, Martha Retallick, Keith Richburg, Bob
Rosenbaum, Dennis Sabo, Annmarle Schiavi,
Elizabeth Slowik, Torn Stevens, Jim Stimpson,
Mike Taylor, Pauline Toole, Mark Wagner, Sue
Warner, Shelley Wnlson, Mike Yellin, Laurie
Young and Barb Zahs.
Business Staff -
00 T3ORAH DREYFUSS .... Business Manager
KA rHLEEN MULHERN Asst. Adv. Coordinator
DAVID HARLAN. ...... ...... Finance Manager
DON SIMPSON .... .... Sales Manager
PETE PETERSEN .. Advertising Coordnator
CA3SlE ST. CLAIR.. Circulation Manager
BETH STRATFORD ... . Circulation Director
Photography Staff
By SYLVIA HACKER
and NANCY PALCHIK
QUESTION
I came to Health Service to
be treated yesterday and was
routed through a new procedure
in the lobby. I was told this was
because you were setting up a
new computerized record keep-
ing system. What I want to
know is. how this will affect us?
Will this result in another fee
increase? I'm also very con-
cerned about confidentiality in
a computerized system.
ANSWER:
A clarification is in order..
The new procedure in the lobby
is a patient registration system,
not a medical record keeping
system. The only information
that we gather is billing infor-
mation such as a patient's
name, I. D. number, where he/
she wants a statement of charg-
es sent to, and the name, ad-
dress, and account number of
his/her insurance company. The
data within the patients' medi-
cal record remains confidential
between the patient and physi-
cian and is not put into the com-
puter. Confidentiality is of pri-
mary concern to us too.
Patients need only go through
formal registration for Health
Service once. They will then be
issued a Health Service regis-
tration card which they need to
bring with them for all future
visits for prompt service. We
request that students also bring
for registration their validated
University I. D. card as well
as insurance information. If the
patient is registering as a
spouse of an enrolled student
he/she should bring the stu-
dent's University I.D. card with
him/her.
Under the old system, pa-
tients had to stop at our busi-
ness office each time they had
charges to be sent to their in-
surance company. With our new
system patients only need to
give their insurance information
when they register. The com-
puter will automatically sepa-
rate the charges to be sent to
the insurance company and bill
the student for only those charg-
es to be sent to their insurance
company. With our new system
patients only need to give their
insurance information when
they register. The computer will
automatically separate the
charges to be sent to the insur-
ance companytand bill the stu-
dent for only those charges -for,
which they are responsible. A
patient can change any of his/
her registration information at
any time (e.g., billing address,
insurance information, etc.) by
stopping at the registration desk
and notifying us of the neces-
sary change.
There will be no additional
cost to our patients because of
the installation of this system
this fiscal year since the pro-
jected expenses for this project
were included in the 1976-77
budget.
QUESTION:
I have had pierced ears now
for three years. Every so often
one of the lobes get red with a
little pus. Why should this still
happen after three years?
What's'the best thing to do?
ANSWER:
We have referred your ques-
tion to Dr. Barbara Adams, one
of our physicians who in ad-
dition to being well informed
about such matters, has some
of the finest earrings in Health
Service. Her reply is as fol-
lows:
"Ear lobes are essentially
'made of a thick layer of con-
nective tissue containing very
few blood vessels, sandwiched
between rather thin, delicate
layers of epithelium. (Epithel-
ium is the general name for the
covering of internal and exter-
nal surfaces of the body). When
you have your ears pierced, it
is everyone's hope that the lit-
tle tunnel into the connective.
tissue will become lined with
epithelium quickly and without
infection or excessive scar tis-
sue.
"BUT EVEN LONG after the
little tunnel is well-lined and
healed, the delicate epithelium
can be injured - scratched by
a sharp ear wire, stretched by
an over-ly-large post, abraded
(worn) by frequent changing of
earrings, or irritated by cer-
tain metals. Then the protective
I-
processes of the body come into
play, such as the- white blood
cells which "clean up" the area
causing redness and inflamma-
tion and pus (and pain!) of the
ear lobe. (Pus is good!)
"The best thing for you to
do when this happens is to
recognize that you have been
"over-indulging" as far as your
ear lobes are concerned. Shift to
plain, high quality earrings
(like your first pair of' gold
studs) which you should leave
in place for a few days. Swab
your lobes (front and back)
with alcohol a couple of times
a day to keep them clean and
dry.
nickel, but also some pure met-
as like sterling silver) may
cause a reaction every timp you
wear ,the earrings -- some peo-
ple are very sensitive to every-
thing but gold. If this is the
case, you're better off giving
the earrings to your best friend
so that you can both enjoy
them, without your having to
suffer from draining ears."
Send all health related ques-
tions to:
Health Educators
University Health
Service
Division of Office of
Student Services
207 Fletcher
Ann Arbor, Michigan
48109
"Note that
metal (most+
metals such
certain types of
often inexpensive
as chromium or
Pinball wizards! Try'
Sadie's Victory Garden
By Marnie Heyn
Letters:
conservation
To the Daily:
Students at the University of
Michigan are selfish. Evidence
from your article on Wednes-
day, January 26 reveals t h a t
students are overly concerned
with their personal comfort. The
skimpy interviews also suggest-
ed they are inconsiderate of the
working man and his faimly.
The article also indicated that
these students are not concern-
ed in the least with the total
fate of fossil fuel energy.
One student indicated his need
to take a shower with three oth-
er showers running. It has been
my experience that tenants try
to get as much heat as poisi-
ble. "The landlord pays for it"
is always a good reply to any
questions about their lack of
tent in policy to assume they
would oppose the construction of
nuclear power plants. Sure,
there will be gasoline and heat-
ing gas for as long as they .live.
But at the present rate of con-
sumption, how much of their
children's lives will be spent in'
alternative, costly and danger-
Ous fuels?
Several states across the Mid-
west and Northeast section of
the country have declared emer-
gency crises. [Ohio, our neigh-
bor to the south, is one such
state.] Plants have closed and
workers laid off. House thermo-
stats have been lowered to a
mandatory 55* in Erie, Pennsyl-
vania. People are cold and un-
employed, but the students at
the University of Michigan are
comfortable.
Instead of being the worldly
KNOW that symbolic behavior is an idea whose
time has went. Even those of us who have
logged the-FBI-knows-how-many hours leafletting
and demonstrating, those seasoned veterans of the
war for social change flee from strangers hand-
ing out little pieces of mimeographed paper; the
seeds of supercilious smiles sprout around our
lips when we see rumpled folks carrying picket
signs past gates in chain-link fences. Not only
is such behavior unfashionable, it is considered
unserious: the wheezing of broken teakettles.
Since arguments and analogies about symbolic
behavior, Gahndian principles, and moral witness
are passe, let me appeal to your prejudices: I
hate pinball, always have and always will. Peo-
ple who play the slots at least have the alibi
that they may win a bit of money, but pinball
freaks seem to play for the sheer sleaze of it
all.
TO BE SCRUPULOUSLY fair, I do know one
rather sane person who dotes on pinball, albeit
her motivation is suspiciously bloodthirsty. But
all the other pinball players in my acquaintance
- a deliberately finite sample - have been hor-
rible people, the sore who tipped over wheel
chairs and gave cats solder enemas and swerved
at slow pedestrians for fun. They used to hang
out at the run-down amusement park in my home
town, their beady little eyes growing beadier as
lights flashed and their negligible brows spurting
sweat as buzzers buzzed and bells dinged.
They've finally come into their own. Some en-
terprising arcade game manufacturer has mar-
keted a new quarter-hog called "Death Race," in
which the patron "wins" by whipping a steering
wheel around deftly enough to "run over" quail-
ing figures on a video screen. The machine keeps
score with headstones. Apparently, the earnest,
reforming kind of symbolic activity is gone, but
the nihilistic kind is (like the poor) always
with us. Could we invite this surrealism to move
to a different time warp?
IN THE MIDST of this perverse consumer
fiting fodder for cogitation. The official line is
that, even though the stock market and commod-
ity exchange may collapse, the FDIC and food
stamps will, pull us all through, somehow. And
we all believe in the Tooth Fairy, too. Those De-
pression horror stories that we have dismissed
as flukey anachronisms may become the wit
and wisdom of more than one toothy executive.
I have enough faith in the raw cunning of most
citizens and most entrepreneurs to expect that
projects will arise to feed and clothe most of us.
It is not that I am personally terrified by belt-
tightening in my life style or standard of con-
sumption - although there are hundreds of thous-
ands of Americans who cannot tolerate any 'fur-
ther deprivation, and these people must be pro-
tected by both neighbors and social welfare pro-
grams. What does frighten me is mny' certainty
that the notches in our great national belt are
labeled "civil rights," "free speech," "liberal
education," "emancipation of women," and so on.
ANY HOPE that John Steinbeck could point
to at the end, of The Grapes of Wrath has dis-
sipated: socialist programs seem merely to gen-
erate more rapid entropy patterns based on ,a
US model, and the few surviving domestic utopian
experiments will not have the capacity to im-
prove the lot of significant numbers of 'Ameri-
cans. Things are going to be just plain rough.
I'm not especially optimistic about a comfortable
future, but I am doggedly convinced that, given
some sane social and economic reorganization,
surviving and growing out of the coming discom-
fort is what we were talking about when we
dedicated ourselves to "bringing the war hore."
I trust that no one is seriously considering start-
ing a new brouhaha just to keep the old economy
ticking. Since part of the program for undoing
adventurist military thinking is eradicating war
toys for children, I move that we eradicate war
toys for grownups. too, and replace "Death Race"
with something like "Sadie's Victory Garden:"
players could rack up points by growing bumper