Cri 4ir4gan aisj Eighty-Seven Years of Editorial Freedom 420 Moynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Beicher responds on airport issue Vol. LXXVII, Not 146 .News Phone: 764-0552 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan Ann AroHahBash ain't, what it used to be J oNCE AGAIN the campus area has survived the onslaught of 'the Tri- State Invitational Dope-In. The Diag is resiliant terrain, and the Vniver- sity population is fairly resiliant as well. We can put up with all this nonsense. The question is why we should have to. The Hash Bash was initiated as a political act, an expression of com- munity opinion. At a time when dope laws were idiotically repressive-and often selectively enforced-mass- pub- lic marijuana use was a form of civil disobedience, and a minor act of cour- age. Sub rosa organizers issued some low-key local publicity. But media co- optation and word-of-mouth distor- tion have changed all that. It's obvious that no one is willing to take responsibility for this esthetic eyesore and public nuisance. Nobody publicizes, nobody organizes, nobody sets up Porto-Pots or issues ven ing permits. The city as a whole, a&d' the University community and campus town in particular, have to take the rap for a semi-spontaneous infltix of disgusting' non - local non - students who leave their brains and their man- ners elsewhere. THE TICKETS, dog crap, litter, leer- ing, arrests, and crowding are an TODAY'S STAFF: News: Ken Chotiner, Lani Jordan, Jay Levin, Martha lRetallick, Jim Tobin, Shelley Wolson, Margaret Yao Editorial: Ken Parsigian Photo: Alan Bilinsky Sports: Cindy Gatziolis, Mike Halpin, Geoffrey Olans, Patrick Rode, Jamie Turner affront to all self-respecting dope smokers, area residents, and thinking people everywhere. This is Woodstock without the music and good feelings. Either some group must take a firm grip on the reins of this quasi-insti- tution (although why anybody should want either credit or blame for this rout is beyond us), or the Hash Bash should relocate, immediately and per- manently. Goodbye to all that. Phoirgraphy Staff ALAN BILINSKY ANDY FREEBERG Co-Photographers-in-Chief BRAD BENJAMIN-......-.-Staff Photographer JOHN KNOX Staff Photographer CHRISTINA SCHNEIDER Staff Photographer Editorial Staff By LOUIS BELICHER OVER THE PAST TWO YEARS I have consistently and publicly stated my views on the airport and that is for a no expansion policy.' I have always fa- vored realigning the existing runways. The airport has two runways now and if realignment took place would still have two runways. This view has been expressed on Council floor beginning with Sept., Oct. and Novem- ber of 1975 and was last stated in public at "Meet the Candidates Night" at Bryant School on February 10, 1977. Moderating that public meeting was none other than Ms. Perkins, a partner of Ms. Chessler in the recent smear attacks on my integrity. My public record is obvious and absolutely consistent with my .private opinion that the runways should be re- aligned to relieve the air traffic over Stoneybrook, Forest Hills, University Townhouses, Pheasant Run, Georgetown and Mill Creek. Designing a master plan around the present run- way pattern by no means implies that it is the best configuration relative to noise and safety of residential areas. I object to the current runway alignment only for safety reasons as it makes more sense to guide aircraft over open farm land ,than residential areas. The February 24, 1977 vote on the airport was to clarify the November 17, 1975' concept resolution with the master plan. Council member Henry stated spe- cifically before the vote was taken that the resolution was not a vote on airport configuration but rather a vote to bring the master plan in conformance with the November 17; 1975 no growth resolution. This inter- pretation was confirmed by the Acting City Attorney. No attempt was made to, alter the runways as this was not the issue at hand. Realigning a runway should not be taken lightly and involves a great deal of citizen input and technical considerations., MY SO-CALLED "PRIVATE" letter was in re- sponse to Commissioner Bent Nielsen's concerns of a lack of communications between City, County and Township officials that encompassed a broad range of mutual problems, particularly airport annexation. I promised nothing more than to cooperate with town- ship officials in solving mutual problems. I did not need to reverse my public airport position as it al- ways favored realignment. The reference to the Mayor's seat and a possible Council majority referred to my intention to improve relationships and communications with the Pittsfield township area planning process. Hav- ing seen my entire letter to the GOP County Commis- sioners, Ms. Chessler conveniently overlooks the multi- tude of issues discussed including super sewer, the 83D plan, airport annexation, township islands within the city,' police powers, water supplies, the proposed county/city court house, the old jail site, the old post office site, drains and GOP council/GOP. commissioner communications. If Ms. Chessler reads only "airport" in my letter she is missing the point my letter ad- dressed itself 'to and that is the fact that I will make every effort to improve our relationships with all town- ship governments., As to the taxpayer's subsidizing the airport one must note that the majority of debt incurred and now being paid was incurred by Democrat Robert Harris and his Democrat/HRP Council majority in March of 1972. Currently the airport debt repayment is $236,175 per year and of this amount $151,875 goes to retire the 1972 1.6 Iillion dollar bond issue (It should also be noted that $875,000 of the 1972 bond issue remains un- spent and in the bank drawing interest). " There are no plans to spend any of the remaining $875,000 and this sum plus- interest accrued will be used to pay off the bonds at the earliest permitted momnt sometime after 1981. The $87,000 Ms. Chessler refers to for repairing runway 6-24 is not coming from local taxes but from a State approved rebate to the airport of 1.2 million dollars which includes a fourth- coming $200,000 rebate for previous airport land ac- quisitions that could be used for'the $87,000 local match. The remaining $113,000 could be used for the local match to pave the sod 12-30 runway or the $80,000 needed to realign 12-30 into a 10-28 runway. So in fact Ms. Chessler is wrong. Also included in the annual debt, retirement of $236,175 is $72,540 for airport land pur- chases and $11,750 for the administration building debt. All but $29,000 of the $72,540 land debt disappears after next year and the remaining $29,000 terminates after the next year. The other important point is that the airport will have an operational surplus of around $5,000 this current fiscal year. port as' an irritant and at all the benefits from airpark land contains: " Four major city water wells providing 1 5 of our total usable water supply. " A ten-acre tree farm that provides all new tree plantings for the city. " Income producing farm land that is leased to area farmers. * An important green belt buffer zone and open space. The "additional" runway that I am said to favor building is already there! It is unpaved and dangerous to pilots and passengers. I have no intention of adding any runways as implied. I only favor' realigning the current sod (12-30) runway into a paved east-west (10-28) runway when financially and technically feasi- ble. We would end up with two runways 6-24 and 10-28 instead of the present 6-24sand 12-30. This is not ex- pansion! It must be stressed that while the prevail- ing winds on runway 10-28 might not be as advantage- ous to aircraft, the approach over the dump would be safer for area residents. Regardless of what motives Ms. Chessler attributes to me, my main concern has been and will continue to be safety! If Ms. Chessler has indeed attended countless meet- ings, public hearings, etc., etc., one wonders why she hasn't been able to get it straight. The timing of these personal attacks on my integrity by Ms. Chessler and Ms. Perkins is purely political and is intended to side- track my campaign. Mr. Wheeler and I have agreed to run an issue-orientedfcampaign and we, have. The only "Red Herring" so far seems to have come from those who consider themselves above issues. Editor's note: Mr. Belcher has been publicly attacked for taking -two' different stands on the expansion of the City Airport. One of those critics was Ms. Chessler: to whom this response .-was written. Since we have also attacked Mr. Belcher on this issue, we are print- ing his reply to Ms. Chessler as a response to our charges also. Ms. Chessler views the air- nuisance, but we must look this 650 acres of land. The L. ANN MARIE LIPINSKI Editors-in-Chief JIM TOBIN MSA NOTES: KEN PARSIGIAN---------....-Editorial Director LOIS JOSIMOVICH......-......---..Arts Editor JAY LEVIN -Managing Editor GEORGE LOBSENZ------------.Managing Editor MIKE NORTON---------Managing Editor MARGARET YAO--------------.Managing Editor Weater Forecasters MARK ANDREWS and MIKE GILFORD SUSAN ADES nELAINE FLETCHER Magazine Editors S AFFW WEII'ERS: Owen Barr. Susan Barry. Brian Blanchard, - Mlchael Beckman, Phillip Bokovoy, Linda Brenners, Lor Carruthers, Ken Cl-otiner. Eileen Dale : Ron DleKet, Lisa Fish- er, David Goodman, .Marnie Fleyn, Robb Halm- es, Michael Jones, Lnni Jordan, Janet Klein. U: egg Kruppa, Steve Kursman, Dobilas Matu- iis, Stu McConnell Tom MeyerJenny Mil- er, Patti Montewurri, Tom O'Connell, Jon Panasius, Karen Paul Stephen Pickover, Kim Potter. Martha Retallick, Keith Richburg, Bob Rorenbaurn, Denis o,. umreSha Elizabeth Slowik, Ton Stevens, Jim Stimpson, ?.like Taylor. Pauline Toole, Mark Wagner, Sue Warner, Shelley Wowin, Mike Yellin, Laurie Young and Barb zahs. The" lowdown on By IRVING FREEMAN THIS COMING Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday; April 4-6; is the All-Cam-, pus Election conducted by the Michigan Student Assembly (MSA). In addition to choosing among twenty-nine candidates for nine vacancies on the Assembly, the students also have the opportunity to vote on numerous ballot questions. There are four proposed amendments- to the All-Campus Constitution. The first amendment would add sexual preference. as one of the unreasonable, discrimina- toy considerations that are prohibited by the Bill of Rights. The section would then prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, social class, political views, national origin, -religious creed, and sexual preference. Another amend- ment clarifies the duties of the MSA Steering Committee and its members and makes the committee more accountable to the full Assembly. The third procedur- al type amendment changes the Pream- ble and Article I of the constitution. It asserts the right of students to partic- ipate in University decision making and sets up some safeguards to ensure that student governments are democratically constituted. THE FINAL constitutional amend- ment is designed to make it more diffi- cult for outside groups to take student money by the use of an initiative peti- tion. Currently, any group which receives ' a certain number of petition signatures can put a question on the ballot which then requires a majority for passage. This amendment would increase the vote needed to 75 per cent whenever the bal- lot question would give student money to an outside group. \ There' are two ballot questions that ask the students to temporarily assess themselves small sums to be used for specific MSA projects. One would au- the MSA thorize the Assembly to collect twenty- five cents per student per term to con- tinue the MSA Housing Law Reform Pro- ject and for related housing oriented is- sues. This highly successful program was originally funded from surplus monies left over from the Student Legal Advo- cate Program which the students abol- ished in a previous election, but now needs this funding in order to continue. The other proposal asks for fifteen cents per student per term for a comprehen- sive University wide course evaluation project. Both fees would last for one year beginning in September 1977. / THE CHILD CARE ACTION CENTER put an initiative on the ballot (by peti- tion) to allocate themselves $7,500 of stu- dent money. This sum represents ap- proximately 90 per cent of MSA's an- nual budget for allocations to outside groups. The Child Care Action Center takes care of approximately thirty chil- elections dren some of whom are not the children of University of Michigan students. The $7,500 is equavalent to the MSA fee of 10,000 students for. one semester. Need- less to say, the Assembly does not feel that the money of so many students should go to benefit so few and encour- ages a "NO".vote. Also on the ballot are two survey type questions from which the Assem- bly hopes to gauge the sentiments of its constituents. One asks the students' opinions of various types of priority sys- tems for,CRISP. The results of this will be used in negotiations with the admin- istration for better registration proce- dures. The fnal queston on the ballot asks student opinion of allocations such as the one proposed by the Child Care 'Action Center. For further information concerning the election or MSA in general, please call our office at 76.-3241. Also, please vote on April 4-6. i i l l r'/ .. l ; i r / i H/ // Urn/ vL r rd p ti'A 4 S' 4 Yard U / u v q v / v i i i i i i i i i i n i i ii i t% i i i i i i r i i i r i i ii i 5 .. _ f ' 3 _ / a, f y,;, ,, ,,,,,,,,,/ ~rrrr,,,r , ... -- _ -- _ /l h ,., , .. - , .' ' . ' ' s,.rr..rr,.r.,., . h1 - Letters to the Daily To The Daily: Yur article concerning the Tenants' Union application f o r CDBG funding which was print- ed March 22 contained some in- accuracies that should be re- tracted. First, your article stat- ed that the Tenants' Union had applied and been granted CDBG funds previous to the application that came up March21. This is not true. The application which was voted down was our first try at CDBG funding. Secondly, your article, by stating that the "T.U.'s current CDBG contract expires August 21", implies or at least leaves open to question the possibility, that we may be having financial difficulties at that time. This also is not true. We were unsure about receiving CDBG funding and therefore never depended on this poten- tial funding source to meet our costs. The CDBG money would have gone to expanding o u r services in the most needed areas of the City, not to fund- ing activities already - existing. The Tenants' Union will not suf- fer organizationally from not re- ceiving CDBG money, the in- creased number of tenants we could have aided. will. -Kim Keller, TU Legal coordinator Belcher To the Daily:_ In your March 31 issue, you recounted some charges and countercharges concerning mis- leading literature in the mayoral campaign. You quoted several remarks I made. However, you did not quote my response to the major accusation by Mr. Bel- cher's camp, and this made the article incomplete. Belcher claims that we mis- lead by comparing his pot stance. on campus with his vote on city council. He says he changed his mind and admitted that. The point is, he had admitted it only one place; on campus, where the admission will- get him votes. Mr. Belcher has had hundreds of lines of ads and literature on dozens of issues going out to nonstudent voters. Not once has the pot law .issue been mention- ed!. Thus people in town natur- ally assume that his position is the same it always was - against the $5 fine. This is what he wants. He is saying one thing to students and letting the rest of Ann Arbor think the oppos- ite. If this isn't misleading, then Richard Nihon was St. Francis of Assissi. This sort of thing summarizes Mr. Belcher's whole campaign. His student literature is design- ed to portray him as ' a fighting liberal, only coincidentally a Re- publican. This is not the man the rest of Ann Arbor knows. We have simply been trying to place these two images side by side, for everyoneto see, so that they know about both Belchers when making up their minds. -Dave Ettinger correction To the Daily: In Elizabeth Slowik's report on the LSA Faculty meeting of March 28 I was accurately quot- ed, but I was inaccurately de- scribed as an "opponent of the plan" offered by Professor Fad- er. I urged the faculty to seek, in the long term, means of improv- ing student writing skills via in- creased effort at the secondary school level. At the same time. I expressed my support for the Fader plan as a significant step for the present, and I voted in favor of the plan.. -Martin Stiles THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL / -j / DIST 4ILDIWSPA P PSYMDICATE.1977 / ,/ 'K///4/////lj 'Why don't we discuss your campgn to eliminate government frills'over hire, Mr. President? personal $12,763 a year cook makes a marvelous standingrib roast!' Editorials and cartoons that appear on the riqht sidehof the Editorial Paqe are the opinion of the a utior or artist, and not necessarily the opinion of the paper. J Spoiledath I'VE ALWAYS BEEN an avid sports fan; both as a spectator and a participant. I still love to participate, but I'm rap- idly becoming soured towards the spectator side of athletics. Professional dnd collegiate athletics have ceased to be fun and games - they're now purely big business operations, and the owners and players just don't give a damn about the fans. Up until recently, I always attended athletic events. When I lived in Detroit I'd .get to as many Tiger, Lion and Wing games as I could. When I moved to New Jersey, I'd always go to Yankee Stadium or Madison Square Garden when the Detroit teams rolled into town. A favorite sports memory is of my first trip to Yankee Stadium -- the old Yankee Stadium - to see the Tigers in a twin-bill. My friend and, I got lost on the New York sub- ways, and we ended up at Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn be- fore we realized that the Bronx was tptown. We missed four innings of a Les Cain almost no-hitter. A friend of my mother's had gotten us seqts in the president of Seagrams Liquor's pri- vate box - front row mezzanine. We got kicked out of the s'eats by two different ushers,. who couldn't believe that we weren't ticketed for the bleachers. To this day, Seven and Seven's are one of my favorite drinks. Anywa-y, the Tigers etes,high t Time was when I could name every player on every roster of all the major sports, and probably give you his number, batting average, yards-per-carry or free-throw percentage. But since expansion, I probably couldn't even name half the All-. Stars in the National Hockey League. But now I won't go to a pro game anymore. I hardly ever watch sports on TV or listen to games on the radio. When I turn to the sports page of the paper, more often than not, I thing I'm reading the business and finance section, or the front page. fcket prices game or, about the fans that come to watch them and pay their dividends and salaries. All pretenses have ended. The rich owners decided that if they couldn't produce a winning team through trading and drafting, then they would buy a winner. The players used this owner greed to their best advantage and salaries have sky- rocketed beyond all reasonable bounds. As salaries, rise, own- er expenses rise, and guess who pays the difference? Now that the courts have declared sports a free market, players can auction off their services to the highest bidder. ,The first annual baseball free-agent derby held this past win- ter made millionaires out of some very meagerly talented ath letes. And who pays these millionaires? IT IS NO LONGER FINANCIALLY FEASIBLE to attend a sporting event. It's no longer fun to attend either. I person- ally have no desire to whip out twenty bucks to cheer for a "team" of individual prima donnas who probably won't be on the team next year anyway. The feeling is that these people are entitled to get all they can out of a relatively short career, and that if the owners are willing to pay, its okay. But its not the owners who are paying, its the fans. And soon, they won't be able to afford ruin"sports AND EVEN THE ARENAS that sports are played in are changing. It seems that athletics have moved into the court room. Instead of discussing the Super Bowl or the Masters, major topics for sports discussion center around Finley ver- sus Kuhn, Rudi versus Finley, National football League Play- ers Association versus the Rozelle rule and the reserve clause. If this keeps up all sports fans will have to become well versed in constitutional history, and legal procedure just to keep abreast with the pro sports world. It's no different in college athletics either. College sports are no longer for fun, they're big business also. Schools are going to any lengths to put out a winner, including cheating on recruiting and begging for super conferences. Here at Michigan, we have one of the best (our teams win, win, win) sports programs in the country. The fans are among the most loyal in the country. How does the athletic department, re- ward the students for their loyalty? In all probability students will have to pay $4 a game for home football tickets, next year - up from $3 - and $3 a game for basketball - up from $1, In effect, what they're saying to us with these price in- creases is "we've given you the privilege of a winner, now THE OWNERS AND I sports out of me. Once it team play and loyalty ar PLAYERS have taken all love for mportant ideals like sportsmanship, re very difficult to find in sports 'l( Uir'1F7o If *AL