Firm rejects
By SARA ANSPACH "RIGHT NOW we think of television
A Colorado firm planning topurchase as entertainment. In the next decade
Ann Arbor's bankrupt cable television it's going to be a lot more important
station indicated it is no longer in- than that," said White.
terested after the cable television or- Leslie Morris (D-Second Ward), said
dinance revision it had helped prepare the city would have been giving the
was defeated by a 6-5 vote at Monday's buyer of the cable television system an
City Council meeting. important monopoly. "In return, you
The proposed revision would have (the City) ought to get some rights to
reduced the franchise fee for the cable regulate the system and the rates," she
television station, and would have said.
required the new buyer to provide only Mayor Louis Belcher and four
two public access channels instead of Republican City Councilmen voted in
the four the original ordinance favor of the revision. Belcher said he
requires. had planned to support the ordinance
IN ADDITION, the proposed or- amendment at the first hearing and
dinance stated that fable television then iron out "small differences" with
rates would not be regulated by the city the Denver company before the second
until over 90 per cent of the residents hearing.
were subscribers. COUNCILMEMBER Edward Hood
opposing the amendment were four (F-Fourth Ward) described the coun-
Democratic and two Republican City cil's action Monday as "very foolish."
Councilmembers. Many were influen- A Cablecasting commissioner for three
ced by local attorney Elmer White, who years, Hood called Ann Arbor's Cable
is involved currently in a court case on System a "super loser," and said the
whether cable television should be city needs a good company to make
defined and regulated as a public cable television worthwhile for Ann Ar-
utility. bor.
White argues that the cable television Hood also said he regreted the Den-
franchise is too valuable for the city to ver company's withdrawal from the
give away its right to regulate rates and deal becausae they had offered to pay
said he felt that the proposed revision the $390,000 tax bill the bankrupt station
would not have required the purchaser left. "There just aren't that many
to serve the public, people willing to come to Ann Arbor and
Vote on discharge of
abortion bill delayed
The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, May 9, 1979-Page 5
cable TV deal
buy the cable television station," he had recommended the revised ordinan-
said. ce because of recent deregulation
Mark Ouimet, chairman of the policy of the Federal Communications
Cablecasting Commission declined to Commission and in order to attract
comment, except to say that he was stable potential buyers of the cable
"disappointed" the council had rejec- system to Ann Arbor.
ted the amendment. The Commission
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By BETH PERSKY
The vote on forcefully discharging,
from a state Senate committee a bill to
cut Medicaid funding for abortions,
scheduled to be taken up by the Senate
yesterday, was postponed until
sometime next week, according to
aides to Sen. Edward Pierce (D-Ann
Arbor).
Discussion on the controversial
Wetlands bill in the state Senate lasted
until 3 a.m. yesterday, and so yester-
day's debate on the abortion issue was
cancelled. The
schedule was set back several days,
and yesterday's calendar became
today's, said Terry Redford, an aide to
Pierce.
"WE'VE HEARD that they are going
to postpone it (the bill) for a week," ad-
ded Redford. "If this is true, I can guess
they're postponing it because they don't
have the vote."
The discharge motion, made by Sen.
Ed Fredricks (R-Holland), was post-
poned by Sen. David Piawecki (D-
Dearborn Heights), who schedules bills
to be presented to the Senate.
Senate Bill 157, now in the Senate
Committee on Health and Social Ser-
vices, which is chaired by Pierce,
requires 20 senators to vote for removal
(discharge) from committee. The bill
has been in committee only six weeks,
and many bills take up to a few months
to leave the committee stage.
THE BILL WAS originally sponsored
by 22 senators, but spokespersons for
pro-choice groups said they believe
recent lobbying aimed at persuading
senators to vote negatively on
discharge of the bill from committee
may have caused senators to recon-
sider.
"We feel that it (the lobbying effort)
has had an impact because we were
able to get word out very quickly," said
Pat Leuzzy of the Michigan Women's
Commission in Lansing.
Supporting both the bill and the
discharge of the bill from committee
are not necessarily synonymous.
"MANY SENATORS feel it's just too
soon to discharge (the bill from com-
mittee)." said Leuzzy.
Ellen Leonard, President of the
Washtenaw County Abortion Rights
Coalition, said that Pierce's tactic was
to gain the support of the other
legislators, especially majority leader
William Faust (D-Ypsilanti), because a
vote to discharge a bill from committee
against a chairman's will is "likea slap
in the face to a chairman - because
you can't do your job right," said
Leonard.
Co-sponsor of the bill, Sen. John
Welborn, (R-Kalamazoo), disagrees
that the bill should stay in committee,
claiming that Pierce made a commit-
ment to put the bill out of committee.
"If we bring it out before the full
Senate, the Senate will make a full
determination - if the committee calls
for a hearing, there will be opportunity
for input."
IF THE BILL stays in committee, it
may die in committee and never be
brought before the full Senate - which
is just what the bill's opponents seem to
want.
"If they're not going to calendar
discharge again, it may not be
necessary to continue lobbying," said
Leuzzy.
She said, however, "whenever the
next thing comes up, we will be
prepared to take effective action."
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