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October 24, 1976 - Image 5

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Publication:
Michigan Daily, 1976-10-24

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Sunday, October 24, 1976

THE MICHIGAN DA1L"r

Page Five

Sundoy, October 24, 1976 THE MICHIGAN DAIL~r Pege Five

SUNDAY MAGAZINE

BOOKS

Fictional treatment

hurts murder

THE MICHIGAN
DERS, by Edward
New York: Reader's
Press, 370 pp. $9.95.

MUR-
Keyes.
Digest

By JEFF RISTINE
IF YOU LIVED around here
between July, 1967 and
July, 1969, you remember them.
Seven ghastly killings in two
Jeff Ris tine is the Daily's'
Managing Editor.
Unifying
(Continued r
Marguerite Lundgren, sh
of Steiner and worked
dance form, learning to
her body and to choose
veil to suit the mood of
was expressing.
This last is not so easy.
tors involved in the' colo
piece - what Steiner t
'feeling' and 'character'
The 'movement' is sup
'experience' which woul
dress. For example, in
Sheila felt a deep turquo
"w" sound...
Represented by the co
the dress, the 'feeling' is.
around a fire or the pe
feeling for "Wild- are t
paje lilac.
The 'character' of a
hardest aspect to sugges
of the three colors, sinc
dress. 'Character' is inter
tention of the muscles"

years - and all of the victims the early 1950's. Violent crime
were young female students at belotiged in.Detroit and the oth-
the University of Michigan, er big cities, not in the Huron
Eastern Michigan University in Valley. The public was incred-
Ypsilanti or two local public" ulous.
schools. The tension and fear Remember? Remember John
grew exponentially with each Norman Collins, the EMU stu-
slaying, and it wasn't long be- dent who was finally appre-
fore the public adopted a con- hended and convicted for the
venient, shorthand term: "the ;final murder? Remember Kar-
coed murders". en Sue Beineman, his victim?
There hadn't been a major Mary Flezar, Joan Schell, Jane
homicide in Ann Arbor since Mixer, Maralyn Skelton, Dawn'
Basom, Alice Kalom? Every-
one assumed he killed them,'
too, although he was never for-'
mally accused or tried in those
O V cases.
bod yf For those inclined to read
, The Michigan Murders to re-
kindle their memory of those
and spirit awful months, Edward Keyes'
book will be a disappointment.
His six months of legwork and
from Page 3) interviews in Michigan could
e studied the philosophy have produced the only straight
documentary account of the
six hours a day on her Ann Arbor - Ypsilanti area
shape the sounds with $ murders and their aftermath.
the colors of gown and He could have offered a taste-
the poem or music she ful report on the subject, a ref-
erence point to replace news-
paper clippings and footnotes in
for there are three fac- other volumes.
r sense of a Eurythmic Instead, Keyes chickened out
termed the 'movement', and joined the worst Jack Webb
of the sounds. tradition. While keeping public
rposd t sugesta clor figures such as arch-conserva-
posed to suggest a color tive Washtenaw County Sheriff
Id be indicated in the Doug Harvey, County Prosecu.
the de la Mare poem, tor William Delhey and Ann
Oise because of the quiet Arbor Police Chief Walter
Krasny - men humiliated by
their own incompetence in the
lor of the veil covering case - under his microscope,
something like the glow Keyes deliberately fictional-

izes the names of the -Ictims,.
their families and friends, and,
certain police officers. Collins
himself is renamed "James
Armstrong". Whatever "text-
book" value his work may have
had is lost. The book simply,
isn't factual.
This stylistic decision gave
Keyes, co-author of The French
Connection, all the freedom of
fiction to write The Michigan
Murders. It reads like a pretty
good crime thriller laid out
chronologically with an omnis-
cient narrator and liberal doses
of dialogue. The murderer,
Collins / Armstrong, is "intro-
duced" in an early chapter -
but the reader learns nothing
before the police do.
The writing style was appar-
ently intended to broaden the'
appeal of the book to the vast
majority of potential readers
unfamiliar with the case. But,
it fails to raise the material
even to the level of the better-
than - average murder mystery,

and Keyes is left far outclassed sistant prosecutor, Booker Wil-
by other efforts in both the fic- liams, at times a more valu-
tion and non-fiction categories. able investigator than his boss;
In fairness to Keyes, the fac-_ self - styled psychic Peter Hur-
tual portion of his book does kos, flown into Michigan as a
capture some of the trauma and desperate last resort by frus-
much of the undreported minu- trated citizens, whose "leads"
tiae which surrounded the kill- in the murders were, without
ings. Many of the scenes hit exception, utterly wrong; and
uncomfortably close to home- Col. Frederick Davids, com-
two of the victims were Uni-
versity of Michigan students, mandant of the State Police and
one of whom apparently unwit- now a University security of-
tingly sealed her fate by leav- ficial, who yanked the case
ing her name and address on from local authorities just asl
the Michigan Union's ride the spotlight began hitting Col-;
board. Keyes recreates the ter-
ror and anger the campus felt lins, the nephew of an officer
as the body count climbed. at the State Police's Ypsi post.#

story
Such detail fails to compen-
sate for the weak points of
Keyes' 'history book.' The dia-
logue adds considerably to the
readability, but lacks credibil-
ity. Certain sections border on
sensationalism, particularly one
vivid morgue scene detailing
the emotional state of a dead
woman's parents. The book's
suspense is all too real, but
with the ending relatively well
known (Collins was sentenced
to life imprisonment), it comes
off as something like a cheap
striptease.

And while The Michigan Mur-
ders focuses, for the most part,
on the victims, their families,
and the cops, it also offers
glimpses of minor characters
in the two-year drama: an en-
terprising reporter for The Yp-
silanti Press, John Cobb, who
came under suspicion briefly
for turning up in the right place
too many times; Delhey's as-

NAME THIS ELEPHANT

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
WASHINGTON SUMMER INTERN PROGRAM
in WASHINGTON, D.C.
MAS MEETING
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27
7:30 P.M.
NAT. SCI. AUD.

0 ;

A new feature }of
to be coming soon-
FAT FIGHTERS'
FORUM
But first we need a
name for our elephant!! 1
The person With the winning
entry will receive 2 passes to
a local movie of his or her
choice.

rfume of a flower. The
he waves" might be a
poem or a tune is the
st. It is the least visible
e it is not shown in the
nded to express the "in-.
of the Eurythmist.

_.__._

L 7

THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN BANDS
PRESEN T
BANDORAMA '76
FEATURING THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN:
" MARCHING BAND
SYMPHONY BAND
CONCERT BAND
" VARSITY BAND
" JAZZ BAND
featuring guest soloist DONALD SINTA, Saxophone
FRIDAY, NOV. 5, 1976-8:00 P.M.
SUNDAY, NOV. 7, 1976-2:00 P.M.
HILL AUDITORIUM
ADMISSION $2.00, $3.00 AND $4.00
MAIL ORDERS ACCEPTED THROUGH OCT. 28
Send Self-Addressed, Stamped BANDORAMA '76
Envelope With Requests andT 1273 SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Payment (Pay "U. of M. Bends") ANN ARBOR, MICH. 48109
HILL BOX OFFICE OPENS OCT. 29j

SEND OR BRING YOUR SUGGESTIONS TO;

FAT FIGHTERS' FORUM
BOX 909
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
ANN ARBOR, MI 48109
Enter as often as you wish
Deadline is November 3rd

ammowm Wmmommmmmmw="mUUUWmWm m #"
NAME THIS ELEPHANT #
'I think the name should be:
I 4 I
* Your Name - a v
Address _----___-_
0 U
!Phone mt
m m m m u m m m m m mmm m mu - m mm

TODAY
BAR.B-Q RIBS,
and Cole Slew ............ $2.99
No evening cover tonight

AI

I'

MONDAY
JUICY GROUND ROUND BURGER
Topped with Muhrcorrms
Onions, Boccn 6r Chee-...................$1.49
MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL ON OUR 7 TV
Supper at the E lue Frogge is served in a quiet,
'candlelight atmophere until 9 p.m. Then the music
is turned up ad th dancing starts. Come over for
o satisfying and funl-filled Cvtririg.

' w
I
{
i
E
.
I

UNITED STATES READING LAB
OFFERS SPEED READING COURSE
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

0

611 CHURCH ST.--995-595$5
1on the lower level of the Campus ArcadeI
} HOMECOMING '76
OCT. 28-30
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28
PEP RALLY
7:30 p.m. at Sigma Chi, 548 S. State (next to the Union)
Bo, the Team, & the Marching Band!
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29
MICHIGAN DAY!
Wear something Maize, Blue, or with Michigan on it!
WUOM OPEN HOUSE
10 a.m.-7 p.m.-5th floor LSA Bldg.
Tours of the studio, meet favorite radio personalities,
free cider & donuts
DIAG DAZE
Check it out! 3-5 p.m. on the Diag
JUDY COLLINS
In concert 8 p.m. Hill Auditorium. Tickets $4, $5, $6
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30-Homecoming Day
WELCOME HOME!
To all alumni and to the best football team in the country!
MUDBOWL '76
SAE vs. Phi Delta Theta, 10:30 a.m. in the Mudbowl at the
corner of S. University and Washtenaw
WUOM OPEN HOUSE
10 a.m.- p.m., 5th floor LSA Bldg.
UAC'S HOMECOMING PARADE!
Parade leaves the Union at 12:00 noon and will pro-

' Iowmany people
dyouknow who have
been cured of cancer?"

Almost everybody knows someone who
has died of cancer. But the fact is about two
million living Americans have been cured.
Not only cured but leading active, normal
lives. Another fact is millions more could be.
By getting to the doctor in time.
By.availing themselves of the most effec-
tive methods of treatment today.
By advances made through cancer research.
Research made possible with the help of the
American Cancer Society.
However, there's
much more to be.
done. To help save
more people, theY
American Cancers
Society needs more
money. So, please,
give. We want to
wipe out cancer

United States Reading Lab will
offer a 4 week course in speed
reading to a limited number of
qualified people at U-M.
This recently developed method
of instruction is the most innovative
and effective program available in
the United States.
Not only does this famous course
reduce your time in the classroom to
just one class per week for 4 short
weeks but it also includes an ad-
vanced speed reading course on
cassette tape so that you can con-
tinue to improve for the rest of your
life. In just 4 weeks the average
student should be reading 4-5 times
faster. In a few months some stu-
dents are r e a d i n g 20-30 times
faster attaining s p e e d s that ap-
proach 6000 words per minute. In
rare instances s p e e d s of up to
13,000 wpm have been documented.
Our average graduate student
should read 7-10 times faster upon
completion of the c o u r s e with
marked improvement in comprehen-
sion and concentration.
For those who would like addi-
tional information, a series of free,
one hour, orientation lectures have
been scheduled. At these free lec-
tures the course will be explained
in complete detail, including class-
room procedures, instruction meth-
ods, class schedule and a special 1
time only introductory tuition that
is less than one-half the cost of
similar courses. You mus t attend
any of the free meetings for infor-
mation about U-M classes.
These orientations are open to

4 short weeks you can read 7 to 10
times f a s t e r, concentrate better
and comprehend more.
If you are a student who would
like to make A's instead of B's or
C's or if you are a business person
who wants to stay abreast of
today's everchanging accelerating
world then this course is an abso-
lute necessity.
These free special one-hour lec-
tures will be held at the following
times and places.

U-M MEETINGS
Wednesday, October
6:30 and 8:30

20

Thursday, October 21
6:30 and 8:30

Friday, October
7:30

22

TWO FINAL MEETINGS

Suhday,
2: 30
Monday,
6:30

October 24
and 7:30

October'
and 8:30

25

THESE MEETINGS WILL
BE HELD AT
ANN ARBOR INN
100 SOUTH FOURTH AVE.
If you are a businessman, stu-
dent, housewife or executive this
course, which took 5 years of in-
tensive research to develop, is a
must. You can read 7-10 times
faster, comprehend more, concen-

!I

l

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