THE
Summer Daily
Vol. LXXXI 11, No. 69-S Ann Arbor, Michigan-Friday, August 24, 1973 Ten Cents Twelve Pages
FBI sources dispu te
.Nixon break-incharge
Call Ellsberg burglary unjustified
Better than school
Getting as close to the action as she can, Kim May watches an airplane land at the Ann Arbor Airport. Kim was one of a
group of kids from the Corntree Child Care Center who spent yesterday morning on a field trip to the airport.
WASHINGTON (U) - President
Nixon's contention that burglary has
long been a common government
practice was challenged yesterday
by FBI and Justice Department
sources who called the Ellsberg
break-in unusual in intent and
method.
Burglaries committed by the FBI
under the Johnson, Kennedy and
Eisenhower administrations w e r e
undertaken for the purpose of steal-
ing code books and other cryptogra-
phic information from inside the
embassies of foreign nations, the
sources said.
THE PRESIDENT pointed to burglaries
committed under other administrations
Wednesday to defend the 1971 attempt by
White House agents to steal the confi-
dential psychiatric records of Daniel Ells-
berg, who was accused of giving away
the Pentagon's top-secret history of the
Indochina war.
Nixon said break-ins by government
agents were widespread, well known and
authorized during the preceding two Dem-
ocratic administrations.
He said he did not authorize the Ells-
berg break-in and deplored it. But he
claimed a recent Supreme Court ruling
indicates that he has the inherent power
to authorize such an illegal act, and
added:
"I SHOULD ALSO point to you that in
the three Kennedy years and the three
Johnson years through 1966, when bur-
glarizing of this type did take place, when
it was authorized on a very large scale,
there was no talk of impeachment. And
it was quite well known."
FBI sources, however, said the codes
sought in embassy break-ins were of ob-
vious national security value, whereas the
Ellsberg psychiatric records were of dip-
lomatic importance.
"According to the FBI standards there
is no way the Ellsberg job could be called
a national security operation," one former
bureau official said.
FURTHER, OFFICIALS denied the em-
bassy break-ins were widespread and
dated the practice back roughly 15 or 20
years, which would place its origin in the
Eisenhower or even the Truman adminis-
tration.
Former Atty. Gen. Nicholas Katzen-
bach, who served under President John-
See FBI, Page 10
Bye-bye
Today's paper marks the end of the
Summer Daily season. With its publica-
tion, our staff members depart for vari-
ous vacation spots on the globe to regain
their sanity in time for the fall campaign.
We should be back on your breakfast
tables on Friday, September 7.
collects
By GORDON ATCHESON
Trony Associates, a local rental man-
agement company, has apparently been
violating state law since April 1 by
charging tenants excessive damage de-
posits.
Following up several complaints, a
Daily investigation revealed that tenants
in Trony operated apartments have been
required to pay their last month's rent
and a damage deposit equivalent to one
month's rent in advance.
THE PRACTICE violates a state statute
enacted April 1 which allows landlords
to charge no more than one and a half
month's rent as a security deposit, in-
cluding any pre-paid rent with the excep-
tion of the first month's rent.
Anthony Hoffman, a partner in Trony,
denied his company has been collecting
the last month's rent in advance, since
the new law went into effect.
"No sir, it's totally incorrect that we
receive the last month rent in advance,"
Hoffman claimed. "That has been against
the law since April."
ts allege
Ilegal
PRIOR TO APRIL, Trony did require
pre-payment of a damage deposit and the
last month's rent, Hoffman said.
Several persons renting from ~Trony,
however, said they had to pay the money
in advance.
One woman who signed a renewal lease
this month commented, "Of course they
collected the last month's rent in ad-
vance." She also prepaid a damage de-
posit equivalent to one month's rent.
"No question about it," another ten-
ant said, "I had to pay last month's rent
in advance plus a damage deposit of the
same amount." He had also just signed
a renewal lease but Trony made no ef-
fort to return any portion of the money
they had received when the renter signed
his original lease.
UNDER THE NEW law Trony would
be required to return at least a half
month's rent unless the money were being
withheld to cover damages. The tenants
said the company has not charged them
for any damages.
Trony
eposits
.A third tenant reported he had been
asked for a sum equal to three months
rent in advance. The money collected was
the first month's rent, a damage deposit,
and rent for an unspecified month.
But Trony said the unspecified rent
would be used to cover the money due
in the last rental period, the tenant com-
mented.
"SURE THEY CHARGE that much," a
tenant added. "But I didn't know it was
illegal."
Trony manages about 30 buildings in the
Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti area, according to
Hoffman. They are all older homes com-
prising 140 rental units.
Trony charges $170 per month for a
single bedroom apartment. Hoffman said
all the units but one had been rented
and only about a third of the people had
signed leases prior to April.
FROM THESE FIGURES Trony m a y
have collected up to $8,500 in illegal dam-
age deposits.
See TRONY, Page 10