Fridciy, January 7, 1977 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Sever Frdy aur , 97TEMCIANDEYPs ee - ~ Stories you missed Bo will not (Continued from Page 1 Blanche Trerice; budget pri- orities director, Jim Browne; communications coordinator, Mike Taylor; program coordina- tor, Dan Browning; and parlia- mentarian, Ron Wilcox. GYMNASIUM The fate of the 82-year-old Barbour-Waterman gymnasium complex remains in limbo after a December Regents meeting in which the Board was deluged with pleas for the University to take another look at thefu- ture of the structure, which was earmarked for demolition last year. A contingent of stu- dents, faculty members, and representatives from state and community groups objected to a University "review" prepared by William Sturgis, an assistant to former Vice President and, Chief Financial Officer Wilbur Pierpont. The report rec- ommended- that the building be torn down. Opponents of the Sturgis re- port claim that only superficial attention was given to potentiall uses for the buildings, and that the structures' historic signifi- cance had not been considered. ECONOMICS PROF. William Shepherd argued that the cen- ter of student activity on cam- pus had shifted over the last decade - away from the Stu- dent Activities Building and the Union on the eastern edge of the campus and towards the Hill area dorms and North cam-' pus. Shepherd thinks Barbour- Waterman has considerable po- tential as a student center. In a long, methodical response, University President Robben Fleming, in effect, agreed with the groups, saying that there would be no problem in find- ing alternative uses for the building. He added, however, that the movement to save Bar- bour - Waterman has evolved outside normal decision-making, systems, which runs through the schools and colleges into the ad- ministration. There were, he concluded, other priorities for use of the land Barbour-Water- man, now occupies. But the presentation had an' effect. At least one Regent, Sarah Power (D-Ann Arbor), ex- pressed dissatisfaction with the Sturgis report, and 'Vice Presi- dent for Academic Affairs Frank Rhodes is apparently taking an- other look at possible reuse for the building. He will make his recommendations to the Regents' later this month. VA NURSESj Courtroom proceedings have begun in the Ann Arbor Veter- an's Administration (VA) Hos- pital mass murder case. De- fense attorneys for the two ac- cused Filipino nurses introduc- ed motions challenging evidence crucial to federal prosecutors. The two nurses, Filipina Nar- ciso, 30, and Leonora Perez, 32, are charged with murdering five patients at the hospital in the summer of 1975 by injecting them with deadly doses of Pavu- lon,, a powerful muscle relax- ant. They have also been in- dicted on one charge of con- spiracy to murder and ten counts of poisoning. DEFENSE ATTORNEYS arel expected to challenge the testi- mony 'of two patients who suf- believe McCrery suffered from amnesia brought on by open- heart surgery following his at- tack. U.S. District Court Judge Phil- ip Pratt must rule on these mo- tions, among others, before jury selection can begin. The trial is slated to begin February 1. FORD Gerald store his a library Ford has agreed to presidential papers in to be built on North Campus and funded by private donations. It will be operated by the federal government as part of the National Archives. Under the terms of an agree- ment between the University and the White House, the papers will remain the property of the U.S. government, although they will be housed on campus. Rich- ard Doolen, assistant director of the Bentley Historical library called the presidential papers "a very important addition" to the University's collections. IIE 1 f 1 C t ; i 1 I C 1 E substance suffer high rates of! brain damage and other serious health disorders. PB, which is marketed as a flame retardant, was accident- ally mixed with cattle feed thatI was widely distributed across Michigan in 1974. Large num- bers of animals became sick or died, and people who consumed or came in contact with them. began reporting health problems as well. THE PBB research team is' headed by Dr. Irving Selikoff of Mt. Sinai Hospital in New, York City and is being funded by a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health. The team studied 1,029 people who were heavily exposed to PBB and found: @ 25 per cent had central nervous system disorders, in- cluding loss of coordination and; memory; 0 25 per cent suffered skin disorders, including chloracne (a form of chemically-induced acne), boils, dry skin, rashes, and rapid nail and hair growth; 0 20 per cent had unusual swelling or pain in joints, sim- ilar to arthritis; @ 15 per cent had gastro-in- testinal disorders. The team will begin control samples soon to see if these health problems are directly linked to PBB consumption. The News Digest was icrit- h