Eighty-Six Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Ml 48104
TENANTS UNION CORNER:
Rent strike reflections,
perspectives
Thursday, April 1, 1976
News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
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By ROBERT MILLER
HE PROPOSED AGREEMENT with
Trony Associates is a significant
step forward for tenants in Ann Arbor.
With the recognition of . the Tenants
Union as the sole bargaining agent
of all Trony tenants, and the estab-
lishment of a new grievance procedure
which works through the union, constant
pressure can now be applied on Trony
to reverse its maintenance policies of
the past and improve the quality of
its units.
Meanwhile, the theatrical million dol-
lar suit by Trony against the TU has
not been dismissed. It was filed over
a month ago but has yet come to
court. It changed the TU with con-
spiring to "break a contract but in
fact it was filed to intimidate tenants
and prevent them from organizing in
their own behalf. It has only increased
our resolve, however, and demonstrated
the poverty of the landlord position.
The suit itself states the TU caused
Trony $250,000 in damages and asks for
treble that back as a "punitive meas-
ure." Oddly enough, Tony Hoffman told
the Ann Arbor News he was not hurt
financially because of the strike. What's
going on? Any damages that Trony
may have suffered were do to their
policies, not ours. The suit should be
dismissed as warmed over rubbish.
As the Trony strike draws to an end,
however, the strike against Reliable
Realty, owned and managed by Edith
Epstein is gaining in strength. The
eighty tenants who have withheld their
rent for the last two months will be
joined by twenty more in April. The
conditions in these units are terrible
Protestors picket Sunrise Management
Arbor Tenants Union rent strike.
and the maintenance policies worse. The
complaints of these tenants include:
basements flooded with sewage, a kitch-
en ceiling which is about to fall in,
structural deficiencies in some houses,
and bug infested rooms.
The members of the TU who are
withholding their rent from "Reliable"
form a local within the Union structure.
They are demanding monetary compen-
sation and construction of a new pro-
cedure to ensure that the poor mainten-
ance policies come to an end. Because
they are a part of a union with col-
lective bargaining power, these tenants
can improve conditions for themselves
and future tenants as well. When the
Trony strike finally ends, the experience
and power gained will help bring the
Daily Photo by STEVE KAGAN
headquarters in support of the Ann
Reliable strike to a satisfactory con-
clusion.
The other strike now underway is at
Longshore apartments, in a non-student
area. There are about twenty units on
strike withholding their rent to end main-
tenance policies ' characterized by ne-
glect. They too are an independent
local using the resources of the Union
as a whole. The Tenants Union is striv-
ing toward the creation of a union which
both includes and represents the inter-
ests the interests of all tenants, student
or not. We have received the support
of AFSCME Local 1583 and plan to have
an organization drive soon, concentrat-
ing in low income and working class
areas.
Without unity between all sectors of
the city we will not have the power to
change the housing market., Besides, it
is the poor who bear the brunt of the
crisis and our goals are the same -
good housing that people can afford.
THEREFORE, IT IS necessary for
the TU to reemphasize its com-
mittment to counselling. For counselling
is the bridge between those with some
time and those in need. Though coun-
selling, the tenant can often be helped
while the counsellor gains a better ap-
preciation of the kinds of problems
which tenants face.
But it is important to take another
step. The tenant is encouraged to call
a meeting of other tenants who rent
from the same landlord. A TU repre-
sentative can speak there and a local
can be established. In that way, the
tenants can work on their own behalf,
with the help of others, to improve their
condition. Alone you can be picked off,
but in unity there is strength.
The TU needs more members, for
only people working together have the
power to alleviate the crisis and bet-
ter their own position. But we also need
counsellors and organizers to help us
branch out. We can establish task forces
to deal with problems of the elderly, the
unemployed, and those on welfare. We
can establish a union which brings stu-
dents and all tenants together to work
for common cause.
Robert Miller is a member of the
steering committee and the publicity co-
ordinator for the Ann Arbor Tenants
Union. Tenants Union Corner appears
regularly.
Quake prediction in China
Celebrating dope smoking
WEATHER PERMITTING, hundreds
of students from the University
and nearby high schools and colleges
will gather today with drifting street
people to celebrate the highly-touted
Ann Arbor Hash Bash, the fifth in an
annual April Fool Day event.
Editorial Staff
ROB MEACHUM EBILL TURQUE
Co-Editors-in-Chief
JEFF RISTINE . Managing Editor
TIM SCHICK .................. Executive Editor
STEPHEN HERSH . Editorial Director
JEFF SORENSEN ................... Arts Editor
CHERYL PILATE .. .. . Magazine Editor
STAFF WRITERS: Susan Ades, Tom Allen, Glen
Allerhand, Marc Basson, Dana Bauman, David
Blomquist, James Burns, Kevin Counihan,
Jodi Dimick, Mitch Dunitz, Elaine Fletcher,
Phil Foley, Mark Friedlander, David Garfinkel,
Tom Godell, Kurt Harju, Charlotte Heeg,
Richard James. Lois Josimovich, Tom Kettler,
Chris Kochmanski, Jay Levin, Andy Lilly, Ann
Marie Lipinski, George Lobsenz, Pauline Lu-
bens, Teri Maneau, Angelique Matney, Jim
Nicoll, Maureen Nolan, Mike Norton, Ken Par-
sigian, Kim Potter, Cathy Reutter, Anne
Marie Schiavi, Karen Schulkins, Jeff Selbet.
Rick Sobel, Tom Stevens, Steve Stojic, Cathi
Suyak, Jim Tobin, Jim Valk, Margaret Yao,
Andrew Zerman, David Whiting, Michael Beck-
man, Jon Pansius and Stephen Kursman.
Sports Staff
BILL STIEG
Sports Editor
RICH LERNER..........Executive Sports Editor
ANDY GLAZER ........Managing Sports Editor
RICK BONINO ..........Associate Sports Editor
NIGHT, EDITORS: Tom Cameron, Enid Gold-
man, Kathy Henneghan, Ed Lange, Scott
Lewis, Marcia Katz, John Niemeyer.
STAFF WRITERS: Dennis Bash, Paul Campbell,
Marybeth Dillon, Ernie Dunbar, Henry Engel-
hardt, Jeff Frank, Cindy Gatziolis, Jerome
Gilbert, Don MacLachlan, Rick Maddnck, Bob
Miller; Jim Powers, Patrick Rode, John
Schwartz, Mark Whitney.
Senior Business Staff
BETH FRIEDMAN .......... Business Manager
ANNE KWOK ............. Operations Manager
KATHY MULHERN .... .. Display Manager
DAN BLUGERMAN .............. Sales Manager
DAVE HARLAN.... ......... Finance Manager
As a massive non-violent act of
civil disobedience, the political im-
portance of this festival is signifi-
cant. It is still illegal to smoke mari-
juana in Ann Arbor, albeit with a
relatively lenient $5 fine. Today's
gathering is an act of peaceful dis-
sent as well as a party.
The Bash openly reminds everyone
that many persons partake of weed
every day. Mass movements do cause
change, as evidenced by the liberaliz-
ation of the stringent laws prohibit-
ing the sale and use of marijuana
and its by-products. To date eight
states have repealed archaic drug
laws.
WE TRUST THE police and city of-
ficials will show restraint in deal-
ing with the festival, as they have in
the past. Mass-or even selective-
ticketing would be an unwise, in-
equitable, and probably ineffective
move, further alienating students
from the enforcement of law.
At the same time, nonsmokers
should be tolerant of the admittedly
offbeat event.
The right to smoke dope with only
slight danger of legal hassle is unus-
ual in this country. It's worth cele-
brating.
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: Elaine Fletcher, George L o b-
senz, Rob Meachum, Jeff Ristine,
Bill Turque, Michael Yellin, Barb
Zahs
Editorial Page: Stephen Hersh, Mich-
ael Yellin, Tom Stevens
Arts Page: Kevin Counihan, Jeff Sor-
ensen
Photo Technician: Pauline Lubens
By MICHAEL CHINOY
HONG KONG (PNS) - When
the giant panda moans, the
Manchurian tiger rolls over and
the Tibetan yak falls down, the
Chinese put out an alert. They
know an earthquake may be
imminent.
Observing such strange ani-
mal behavior is one part of a
massive Chinese effort to pre-
dict earthquakes - an effort
that involves mobilizing thous-
ands of professional andaama-
teur seismologists and analyz-
ing data ranging from sophis-
ticated geological readings to
the experienced observations of
an old peasant to the bizarre
behavior of a swan.
The result is that today China
is the only country in the world
where earthquakes have been
successfully forecast.
THE MOVEMENT to develop
effective prediction techniques
began ten years ago, after 'a
major tremor caused serious
damage in the suburbs of Pe-
king. A network of 5,000 fore-
casting stations and 45,000 ob-
servation posts was then set up
throughout the country. About
!0,000 highly trained seismo-
logists and over 100,000 con-
cerned citizens joined to, as
the Chinese press put it, "keep
close watch on the movement
of the earth's crust day and
night."
The effort has paid off: In the
last decade, several major
earthquakes, including those
which struck the Pohai Gulf in
1969, southwestern Szechuan
province in 1971 and 1972 and
last year's massive quake in
northeastern Liaoning province,
were predicted well in advance.
'Observing
strange
aninal behavior is one
part of
a massive
Chinese effort to pre-
dict earthquakes - an
effort that involves
mobilizing thousands
of professional and
phenomena that alert them to
a possible earthquake. One is
strange behavior in animals
JUST BEFORE the earth-
quake in the Pohai Gulf in 1969,
observers at the Tientsin Zoo,
which lies west of the Gulf, no-
ticed that the giant panda kept
putting its head in its paws and
moaning, the Manchurian tiger
got dizzy and rolled over, swans
came out of the water and the
Tibetan yak was unable to
stand up. All of these actions
were apparently responses to
movements in the earth that.
humans were unable to detect.
Similarly, in the days prior
to the Liaoning quake last year,
hens stopped laying eggs, and
many hibernating animals
emerged into the open, many
of them freezing to death in the
cold Manchurian winter.
But the most important phe-,
nomena for predicting earth-
quakes, the Chinese say, involve
the earth and water. Observers
have noted a distinct correla-
tion between sudden changes
in water level and temperature
in wells and the occurence of
quakes.
The Chinese press claimed
recently that a peasant ama-
teur seismologist in Hopei pro-
vince had correctly predicted
both the day and the intensity
of a recent tremor in his home
town by monitoring the move-
ment of water in each of three
selected wells each evening af-
ter work.
i ss a e u r
,iss
seismolo-
The Liaoning earthquake in
February, 1975, for example,
measured 7.3 on the Richter
Scale, and damaged or de-
stroyed nearly 90 percent of the
buildings in the populous and
heavily industrialized province.
But due to the early predictions,
the Chinese claim that only
three people were killed.
Chinese seismologists say
there are a number of key
1
HEALTH SERVICE HANDBOOK:
Dealing with sex
QUESTION: In your past columns you have frequently al-
luded to issues relating to sexual identity, sexuality and relation-
ships, responsibility for contraception etc. Is there any place that
I can go (or available resources) that would enable me to ex-
plore these areas in greater depth?
ANSWER: We are so glad you ask! On the evenings of April
6, 7 and 8, at the Michigan Union, there will be a free conference
on "Sex and Sexuality" designed to explore the types of issues
you raise in your question as well as many other related con-
cerns. The conference, in honor of International Women's Year, is
being jointly sponsored and run by numerous University and com-
munity groups including U-M International Women's Year, Offices
of Ethics and Religion, Women's Advocate's Office, Health Ser-
vice, Commission for Women, Gay Advocate's Office, Ann Arbor
Women's Health Collective and Guild House.
The program on Tuesday, April 6th will open with a perform-
ance by Michael Filicsky's mimetroupe which will focus on sex-
role stereotyping. The performance will be followed by an infor-
mational fair covering a wide range of topics relevant to sexual-
ity. On Wednesday and Thursday nights a series of experiential
workshops will be offered which will allow participants to explore
such areas as: women and their sexual identity; ourselves in re-
lationships; expanding sensual andsexual awareness; the politics
of contraception; gayness; bioenergetics and women in relation to
their own health care.
If you wish further information on the conference you can
contact Rita Davies (UM-IWY) at 764-9287, but we do hope you
will be able to attend and we expect that it will be relevant to
many of the concerns that you raise.
QUESTION: Is there any place that a student can go for in-
expensive dental care? Can I come to Health Service for this?
ANSWER: Unfortunately, due to an administrative reorganiz-
ation (i.e., our dentist left,) the services offered by the Health
Service Dental Clinic have been temporarily suspended. You can,
however, arrange for treatment of dental emergencies between
8 a.m. and 5 p.m. by calling the University of Michigan Dental
School at 764-1516. For treatment of dental emergencies after s
p.m. and before 8 a.m. call the Health Service Emergency Clinic
at 764-8347. Non-emergency dental care can be arranged through
the University of Michigan School. However, because of their
attractive, substantially reduced fees, you may find that you have
to wait for an appointment. Also, as most treatment at the Dental
School is by dental students and is carefully supervised to main-
tain their high quality, your treatment here will probably take a
somewhat longer time than it might take elsewhere. Most stu-
dents (as well as others using this facility) seem to feel that the
low prices and high quality more than compensate for this extra
time and wait.
QUESTION: Sometime last Fall in the Michigan Daily there
was a note about a San Francisco researcher who was doing
vasectomy operations that were highly reversible. After reversal
the males had reasonable sperm counts and most were able to
impregnate their wives. As a young, single male, I would like
to know: what is the word on vasectomy and is anyone around
the University doing them with a high potential for reversibility?
ANSWER: The physician (as well as researcher) you mention
is a Urologist named Dr. Sherman J. Silber who we chauvinistic-
ally decided must be great because he's a graduate of our own
U. of M. Medical School. Also, he won a major Hopwood award
which might lend an artistic component to his surgical ability.
At any rate, his technique is very new and involves micro-
surgery which utilizes a high-powered microscope and very finely-
honed, small surgical instruments. These enable the surgeon to
rejoin, more exactly than before, the severed sparm ducts (vas
deferens) in men who had undergone vasectomies.
A vasectomy is a simple, quick and safe operation which is
highly effective. By cutting the tubes which carry sperm from
the testes, the male ejaculate remains as copious as before but
becomes free of sperm (sperm is actually only about 5 per cent
of he male ejaculate). Up until now attempts at reconnecting the
severed ends of the sperm ducts have been relatively unsuccess-
ful. The success rate for reversal has only been about 30 per cent.
Because of this, young single males have been generally discour-
aged from having the operation.
The new microsurgical techniques for reversal look very pro-
mising and may offer more hope for vasectomized men who
change their minds at some later date. However, a Urologist
whom we contacted at University Hospital, who does many vasec-
tomies and who has also used microsurgery for reversal, still
feels very strongly that vasectomy should be considered an es-
sentially irreversible procedure. As he said, even though tech-
niques will continue to improve, vasectomies in general reduce
fertility. Damage to the vas deferens (even when repaired) for
many physiological reasons cause a diminished sperm produc-
Letters to The Daily
To The Daily:
HAVE YOU GOT the Carter
Blues? A little too much love
and too little brains? Does lis-
tening to Scoop Jackson make
you want to buy stock in I.T.T.
otherwise known as the Ameri-
can Arms Corporation? Does
reading about George Wallace
cause immediate, uncontrolable,
and hysterical laughter?rWell,
there's a way to beat precon-
vention confusion, and the road
to political serenity leads to
Morris Udall. His teeth aren't
as great as Carters' but he has
a political ideology that a lot
of people can live with, includ-
ing Bella Abzug, Archibald Cox,
Julian Bond, the Americans for
Democratic Action, and the sup-
porters of the now defunct Bayh
and Shriver campaigns.
If you would like to support
Morris Udall grab your back
pack, suitcase, trunk or what-
ever and come with us to Wis-
consin this weekend, where as
the polls indicate, Udall is ex-
pected to achieve his first pri-
mary victory. We are going to
Wisconsin to insure that victory,
and probably drive ourselves
to fatigue in the process, by
passing out literature, canvas-
sing door-to-door, and various
other related activities. De-
parture time is set for Friday
beween 3 and 5 p.m., from the
Udall office located in Kerry-
town. There will probably be
another group leaving Saturday.
We will have you tucked into
bed, back in your quad, dorm,
apartment or whatever over-
priced structure you inhabit in
Ann Arbor by Sunday night.
For those of you who prefer
to delay your return to this
pillar of higher learning there
will be a group returning Tues-
day night. Expenses will be
paid. For more information con-
cerning lodging, etc. contact
(immediately) Carole Wallace
at 994-5429 or 994-3489.
Annette Higwy
March 29, 1976
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Letters should be
typed and limited
to 400 words.
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