EightySevten Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109
.. .
Thursday, March 31, 1977
News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Ann Arbor Hash Bash:
A look back to the 60's
THEY SAY THAT when the smoke
finally clearedfrom the social un-
rest of the sixties, the youth of our
country was left in virtually the same
shape it was in at the end of the fif-
ties. Young people are now largely
conservative, they say, intent on get-
ting a good job and a fat bankroll
more than anything else. Just like
in the fifties.
Sure, there's some truth in that.
But you can take a comparison be-
tween today's youth and the youth
of the fifties too far.
One proof that you can take such
a comparison too far is that for one
day every year in Ann Arbor, some
of the smoke of the sixties comes
back - in the form of sweet-smelling
clouds rising from hash pipes and
reefers, at the annual Hash Bash
on the Diag.
It's kind of a nice thing to see
thousands of people turning out out-
doors every year in our fair city to
smoke marijuana together, because
the attitude of defiance toward the
law implicit in a public show of pot-
smoking brings to mind the heady
days of the sixties when people took
to the streets in large numbers to
complain. There was plenty to com-
plain about it this country then. And
there still is, although there's no
prominent issue in the public eye
to rally around.
IN THE SIXTIES, the pot-smoking
issue was widely associated with
all the other popular protest issues
of the period. It is one of the few
controversial issues of the sixties that
is still discussed a lot. It is no life-
or-death question. But the drug sure-
ly ought to be legal. The harrassment
of pot smokers is more trouble than
warranted by any possible dangers of
pot smoking, because prosecution of
marijuana offenders is exorbitantly
costly and totally ineffectual, be-
cause . . . but we've all heard the
reasons. They're convincing.
If people would get out and voice
their opinions on issues more vital
than marijuana smoking, we'd be bet-
ter off. But we shouldn't write off
the value of the Hash Bash as a dem-
onstration in favor of the worthy
cause of legalizing pot.
The University and the city police
have issued statements warning that
violations of the law, such as public
drunkenness, will be punished at the
Bash. Potential participators in the
event would probably do well to re-
strict their lawbreaking to marijuana
use.
But they shouldn't fail to show
up.
1OW y0..U ! :FEE VF ( AV
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O&
Council shc
By RICKY DUTKA ling of its severity
HOW IRONIC. The Ann Arbor News carries the head- MOREOVER, 1
line, "City Housing Called Among Worst in U.S.", needed all this dat
the $39,000 ISR study documents the housing crisis, as if the entrench
and the Michigan Student Assembly (MSA) Housing no head. Everyone
Law Reform Project releases its analysis which sup- it cannot be denie
plements the ISR data by showing that the crisis has be done to impro
been growing more severe over the past decade. Yet But, as City Counc
within the same few days, City Council rejects a is worth even les
$6;100 grant request from the Tenants Union (TU) originally anticipat
for tenants' rights counseling in the three poorest cen- education program
sus tracts. Somewhere between the common recogni- tion will be rejec
tion of the severity of the situation and the will to The TU reque
implement solutions, there are overwhelming obsta- on one of CDBG'
cles; in this case the obstacle seems to be the Coun- Grant) highest pri
cil majority and the landlord interests it represents. to hire attorneys, t
This not unexpected rejection is continuing proof ant workshops. Th
that it is not studies, but action that is needed for CDBG committee t
solutions. The MSA Housing Project protested the ex- cil chamers. The
penditure of such vast sums of money for a study which for a mere one-an
would only prove what every tenant already knows: was still too much
rents are too high, maintenance is low, landlords are We have surel
invading privacy, and the banks are milking the mar- back as 1968, theT
ket. In fact, the Housing Project was even forced to mediately after th
supplement the ISR data with reams of research so representatives of
as to place the data in an historical and meaningful union, and state st
context. Lacking this supplement, the data would have sive state-wide te
shown us only the present conditions, without any ink- mented. However,
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)rtchanges
TU
Conimittee saves Upper
Peninsula, ecans Seafarer
or general trend.
EVEN IF IT WERE TRUE that we
a, and now that we have it, it seems
ed interests in Council will pay it
now knows there is a housing crisis,
d or wished away; something must
we the lot of tenants in this town.
zil seems to be telling us, the data
ss than the MSA Housing Project
ed: Even the most minimal tenant
by an established tenant organiza-
ted.
st was originally for $28,000. Based
s (Community Development block
orities - housing - the TU planned
tenant counselors, and to create ten-
he budget was cut, however, ,by a
o $6,100 before it even reached Coun-
revised budget would have provided
d-a-half counseling positions, but this
for Council.
y taken a step backwards. As far
New Detroit Committee, created im-
e urban rebellions and composed of
the highest echelons of corporate,
ructures, recommended that a mas-
nant education program be imple-
tenants' awareness of their rights
has not significantly increased since that time, and the
housing situation has only deteriorated.
PRELIMINARY STUDIES by the MSA Housing
Project show that the more a tenant knows of his/her
rights, the less satisfied he/she becomes, and thus
the more prone to taking action to improve the hous-
ing. For some, this is reason enough not to inform
tenants of their rights; for others it means that edu-
cation is a prerequisite to altering this rapidly de-
generating situation. Any progressive legislation is
worthless if the public is not made aware of how to
implement it.
The Council vote also shows the tenant popula-
tion that their conditions will not be improved by sole-
ly relying on the city legislature. Popular referendums
are necessary in order to take the proposed legisla-
tion directly to the public; is are collective tenant
actions, including further rent strikes. Funding for
these projects will obviously have to come from al-
ternative sources.
And while there can no longer be any doubt about
the existence of this housing crisis, it seems as if it
will be continued, at least into the near future. None
of this year's CDBG money was directly allocated for
housing needs. Hence, tenants, on their own; will have
to support such organizations as the MSA Housing
Project and the Tenants Union; the landlords won't.
SEAFARER has become an endan- refusal to
gered species. And all of the tems as rep
ecology lovers in Michigan's Upper funding. T
Peninsula are preparing happily for ble ecologi
the day when it is declared extinct. nents of 1
A subcommittee of the U.S. House cause were
Armed Services Committee voted vote.
unanimously not to continue funding But the
Seafarer, the Navy's underground everyone el
submarine communications system gress has
planned to be built over 4,700 square much of th
miles of the UP. ty. For thi
The subcommittee's action doesn't gratulate t
automatically signal the end of Sea- for its acti
farer - legislative process contains reasons for
all sorts of possibilities for wheeling
and dealing funding back into exist-
ence - but Navy officials admit that
restoration of Seafarer will be a diffi- .
cult task. Anti-Seafarer factions in i
the House are already mobilizing to1
counteract probable Navy lobbying in
the Senate. ALAN BILIN
COMMITTEE members cited vulner- BRAD ENJA)
JOHN KNOX
ability to attack and the Navy's CHRISTINA S
-;
i
work on alternative sys-
asons for the cessation of
hey said that the possi-
1cal problems that oppo-
Seafarer believe it would
not a consideration in the
ey are our concern. And
se's that believe that pros
destroyed altogether too
is country's natural beau-
s reason we heartily con-
the House Sub-Committee
ions, whatever its primary
doing so.
Photography Staff
JSKY ANDY FREEBERG
5-Photographers-fn-Chief
IN ..........Staff Photographer
...........Staff Photographer
CHNEIDER . Staff Photographer
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Letters.to The Daily
I
TO THE RIGHT,
MARCH !
AFSCME
To The Daily:
Within the past week 31
AFSCME workers and at least
seven student workers have
been fired or suspended for their
participation in the strike. The
University claims that they had
1
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f"
arI-.
good cause in taking this ac-
tion. The suspended and fired
union workers were charged by
the ,University with "serious
misconduct" and "malicious de-
struction of property." One
striker was fired for getting a
ticket for littering during the
strike. Others were fired for
verbal abuse while the Univer-
sity paid their own personnel'
aaid the Ann Arbor police to pro.
voke people on the picket lines
by beating and shoving them.
Does this seem like malicious
intent on the part of the work-
ers to you? Furthermore, none
of these people as of yet have
been convicted of breaking the.
law! The University does not
create laws nor are they em-
ployed as official enforcers of
the law. Yet it is evident here
that they have taken the law
into their own hands by charg-
ing, trying and convicting the
AFSCME workers that they
would like to see fired for their
active union participation.
And still the University has
not seen fit to extend its iron
hand to its own supervisory
personnel who have committed
malicious and destructive acts.
William Neff, the University's
chief negotiator, after pushing
and shoving two women picket-
ers, threatening another with
his life and then running him
down with a scab laundry truck
escaped without even a repri-
mand!
Student workers have been
"terminated" for "excessive ab-
senteeism' according to the
University. Although there were
many students who had accum-
ulated more than the number
of absences necessary for dis-
missal, only those students who
had been active in the strike
and the Student AFSCME Sup-
port Committee have been fired.
This is a violation of the right
to free speech and freedom of
political belief! The University,
by depriving politically active
students of their much needed
ion and participate in the ef-
fort to reinstate all fired and
suspended workers. If you would
like to help circulate a petition
protesting the University's ac-
tions or want more informa-
tion, call:
Rick Rosenthal - 994-0952
Ilene Moskowitz -764-4650
Come to the Student AFSCME
Support Committee meeting on
Monday, April 4 at 7:30 p.m.
in Greene Lounge, East Quad.
The Student AFSCME
Support Committee
registration
To The Daily:
Early registration at the Uni-
versity of Michigan has a new
twist this year, random alpha-
betical order.
I am a senior in the School
of Natural Resources, with one
more semester of studies here.
Due to the unfortunate random
chance that my last name be-
gins with Hai-, I have been
presented with the final day,
April 19, as an appointment for
early registration.
After talking to a lady in the
Registrars office, I was inform-
ed that no exceptions are made
for upperclass level students.
This is ironic in the fact that
University officials are claiming
that eventually everyone will
have the chance to be first on
the appointment schedule. I.
won't be around long enough to
gain that benefit. Unless, that
is, the University forces me to
go another semester or two be-
cause I wasn'i. able to get the
classes I needed the first time
around. If such is the case, let
them pay the extra tuition.
I also question the fact that
the Deans of the various Uni-
versity schools have let the
LS&A department palm off their
problems onto the entire sys-
tem. The School of Natural Re-
sources apparently had no prob-
lems before this semester. Why
should LSA policy govern the
fi
I'
. CHUCK ANESI---
Well, Mayor Wheeler has been in office for two years now,
and he's done very little worth noting. In fact, in two years,
he's introduced only 6 pieces of legislation, four of these in the
last 2 months - just in time for the election. Four of these were
resolutions: one against capital punishment, one against the B-1
bomber, one urging the state legislature to enact a utility stamp
(a la food stamp) program and one urging the county to enact
a PBB and PCB testing program, which the state already does.
On the surface, it would appear that Mr. Wheeler thinks he's in
Congress.
But he has been active at the local level, especially in the'
area of pointless vetoes. He vetoed the Briarwood senior citizen's
project and various street resurfacing projects. In all, he has
vetoed 11 measures since April of 1976. Add to this his idle thumb-
jtwiddling on mass transit, and you will end up with a very fair
picture of Mayor Wheeler: a man deathly afraid of making bad
decisions, yet too slothful to inform himself on pressing matters
which require decisive action.
Fortunately, Ann Arbor has an alternative to Mayor Wheeler
in the excellent Republican candidate Lou Belcher, a third year
councilman from the 5th ward. Belcher is very well qualified
for the mayorship: aged 37, he has a BS in management and is
a partner in a management consulting firm. He has the analytical
and practical skills a good mayor will need.
He also has some very good ideas for Ann Arbor: downtown
revitalization, with high-density housing in the downtown area.
He led the fight to modify the housing code, allowing the second
and third floors of storefronts and office buildings to be used as
dwellings. He thinks that double-decker London busses on a regular
downtown loop, and a trolley system as well, would ease the
congestion and make for a more pleasant downtown district. And
he's probably right. Mayor Wheeler, however, disagrees.
Contrary to rumor, Belcher most certainly does not favor air-
port expansion. He does think that the direction of the currently
existing 2800 foot runway should be changed. Currently the landing
patterns of this runway come in over Stony Brook and George-
town; if changed, they would come in over the adjacent dump.
This too, sounds like a good idea; Wheeler doesn't like it, of
course.
If the campaign were run on the qualifications of the candi-
dates, their creativity and their character, Belcher would
win in a walk.
But Belcher has one stigma that automatically turns many
o
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