Fim-am artist stung by B
By GORDON ATCHESON ton hotel ran a standard check on the credit card the Washington, D.C. area.
* The six-week odyssey of University student Mi- Kubinski used to pay for the accommodations and Members of Kubinski's family, including his father
chael Kubinski, who was led across much of the found that the police had placed a hold on the and brother, flew from their Center Line, Mich.,
country by an extraordinary conwoman, ended yes- account. home late yesterday to Arlington as the FBI ex-
terday when the FBI apprehended the pair in Ar- AFTER THE hotel contacted the Arlington County t-lained to the young man that he has been the vic-
lington, Va. police, the local authorities and the FBI took the tim of a confidence game during the past month.
Trailing the 22-year-old senior since his disap- pair into custody. Merrella was immediately ar- SINCE ESCAPING from prison, Merrella has
pearance on March 25, federal agents had been un- rested for escaping from a federal prison in Colo- flim-flunmsed at least a dozen college students by
able to catch up with him because of the incredible rado more than a year ago. traveling around the country on wild goose chases
scheme con artist Barbara Merrella used to bilk the Kubinski was reported in "good physical condi- at the victims' expense. An overweight blonde, Mer-
honor student out of more than $2,000 in travel tion but emotionally upset" following the ordeal reltla, 27, has a string of 17 arrests and seven con-
expenses, which took him from Ann Arbor to St. Louis, and at victions on various fraud charges.
Authorities pinpointed the two when an Arling- least four other mid-west cities, ending finally in See CONFIDENCE, Page 9
TUE
Volume LXXXIV, No. 2-S Ann Arbor, Michigan-Thursday, May 9, 1974 Ten Cents Twelve Pages
Mia t. falls;
new electionsplanne
Prime Minister Trudeau jokes with photographers soon after taking office in 1968
Trudeau receives 'no confidence' vote
OTTAWA 1TPh - Angered by inflation and dissatisfied
with a proposed government budget, the opposition
brought down Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau's
minority Liberal government yesterday and opened
the way for new elections in July.
The vote of 137-123 was only the third time a govern-
ment has been defeated on the floor of the House of
Commons. It meant the handsome and progressive-
minded Trudeau, who replaced Lester Pearson as
prime minister in 1968, will face a new contest for
political survival.
Trudeau's government had survived 19 no-confidence
votes in the one and a half years preceeding yester-
day's vote, usually with the help of the left-leaning
New Democratic Party (NDP). The latest no-confi-
dence vote carried because the NDP - which held
the balance of power in the 29th parliament - decided
to join the main opposition Conservatives in attacking
the administration's budget.
THE CRITICAL vote came on an NDP .resolution-
actually an amendment to a Conservative measure-
that condemned the government for its "failure to ap-
ply any measures to help pensioners, or others on
fixed incomes, to deal with the housing crisis and to
remove the glaring inequalities of the tax system."
It was the first time a Canadian government suffered
a Commons defeat on its budget. The budget proposal
was presented on Monday.
Trudeau had no immediate comment on the vote,
except to say he will dissolve Parliament and seek
a formal election order today from Governor-General
Jules Leger, the representative of Queen Elizabeth II
in Canada. The election is expected to be July 8, and
Trudeau will remain prime minister until then.
CONSERVATIVE leader Robert Stanfield declared
promptly after the vote that after the new elections "I
will return as prime minister." He said "I feel we
have an excellent chance of achieving a majority,"
and predicted the cost of living will be the key issue
in the coming campaign. Inflation in Canada has
reached 10 per cent this year.
NDP leader David Lewis appeared jubilant and said
the party machinery, for a new election is "rolling
already, everything's moving along well."
The Liberals were vulnerable to a joint NDP-Con-
servative attack because they hold only 109 seats in
the 264-seat House of Commons. The Conservatives
have 106, the NDP 31, and the right-wing Social Credit
party - which supported Trudeau-IS. There is one
independent member, the House speaker, and two seats
are vacant.
CANADA HAS a parliamentary system of govern-
ment, and ordinarily the leader of the party that elects
the most members to Parliament becomes prime
minister and leader of the government. The govern-
ment can be defeated any time a majority of members
votes no confidence on an important matter of govern-
ment policy-for example, yesterday night's budget
vote.
The united opposition move had been expected to
succeed, although Trudeau maintained until the end
that the issue hadn't been settled and he could not call
an election "until the ninth inning is ended."
The imminent defeat of the government became
apparent on Tuesday when Lewis announced, in ef-
fect, that his NDP had decided it was time to throw
out the government. The Conservatives pledged their
support to the NDP's amendment with desk-thumping
approval at a meeting earlier yesterday.