THE
Michigan Daily
Vol. LXXXIV, No. 25-S
Ann Arbor, Michigan-Wednesday, June 12, 1974
Ten Cents
Twelve Pages
Judge asks separate
trial for Ehrlichman
Says defendant denied legal rights
Tornado damage?
Collapse sets in at the Women's Athletic Building on Washtenaw near Stockwell Hall. The University is tearing down the
facility to construct a new multimillion dollar athletics center. From this view, however, it looks as though sports en-
thusiasts will have a wait ahead of them before the new facility opens its doors.
New Morning disclaims
connection to Newsreel
WASHINGTON (' - A federal
judge yesterday ordered a seperate
trial for John Ehrlichman in the
"plumbers" case because of per-
sistent refusal by President Nixon
to permit Ehrlichman unlimited
access to his White House files.
Three other defendants are to go
on trial next Monday, but there
were indications that Ehrlichman's
trial, if held at all, would be delay-
ed beyond the impeachment pro-
ceedings in Congress.
After two weeks of struggle on the
White House files issue, U.S. District
Court Judge Gerhard Gesell said con-
ditions laid down by Nixon would deny
Ehrlinhman his right to make full use
of a lawyer and therefore to a fair trial.
NTXON IAS repeatedly asserted that
only the President may finally determine
what White IHinse materials should be-
core evidence in Gesell's court.
Gesell said yesterday: "The President
flatly refuses to make documents avail-
able to the court in camera-at a closed
hearing- and thns makes it impossible
for the court to properly perform its
duty."
Of sever,nten originally indicted in the
plumbers case, only three are now
schediled to stand trial starting Monday
on charges that they conspired to bur-
glarize the office of Daniel Ellsberg's
psychiatrist in 1971. The three are Gor-
don Liddy, Bernard Barker, and Eugenio
Martinez.
AT ISSUE IN the pretrial proceedings
has been the insistence of Ehrlichman's
lawyers that they must accompany the
former domestic affairs adviser while
he reviews 28 months of hand-written
notes he left behind in White House files.
Under White House rules, Ehrlichman
may review the notes alone, without
taking notes or making any reproduc-
tions.
Under the most recent compromise
offered -by the White Hottse, Ehrlich-
man's lawyers wotuld have been per-
mitted to sit in a rooti adjacent to the
vault, but Nixon would have remained
the final arbiter over which material
could be released.
"THE PROPOSAL is unacceptable,"
Gesell said yesterday. "It denies the
right of counsel to Ehrlichman."
Assistant special Watergate prosecutor
William Merrill said after the hearing it
is possible the Ehrlichman trial might
be delayed beyond the end of the year.
Despite the continuing stalemate be-
tween Gesell and the White House, presi-
dential counsel Fred Buzhardt said, how-
ever, "I think the case will ultimately go
forward."
MERRILL AND Buzhardt agreed with
the argument that Ehrlichman's sub-
poenas are too broad.'
"The President is willing to respond
to any specific request for documents
but not a blanket request," Buzhardt
said.
By DAVID BLOMQUIST
The Student Organizations Board in-
vestigation into the financial affairs of
the student film group Friends of News-
reel turned last night to allegations by
one movie distributor that Newsreel and
the New Morning media cooperative
were fiscally connected.
Elliot Chikofsky, chairman of the
board, which is a unit of Student Govern-
ment Council, read a telegram from a
representative of the New Line Cinema
Co. charging that Newsreel treasurer
Glen Allvord "has been dealing with
us in the name of New Morning."
NEW LINE further .laimed that sev-
eral of the films for which bills remain-
ed unpaid had been booked by George
DePue, who is a senior member of the
New Morning collective.
New Morning, or Community Media
Projects, Inc., is a non-'profit organiza-
tion which operates a downtown book-.
store and publishes the Michigan Free
Press.
DePue vigorously denied the New Line
allegations. "I am not now, nor have I
ever been, a member of Friends of
Newsreel," he stated, adding that "you
can find any fool to say anything at any
time."
"DO YOU have any specific com-
plaint?" DePue asked the board.
"We're not out to find Newsreel
guilty," replied Calvin Luker, director
of student organizations.
In a related action, Newserel lawyer
Robert Powell asked the board to end
its ban prohibiting the group from rent-
ing University facilities after June 30.
"We view this action as a serious one
in that it is seriously affecting the
ability of this student organization to
function," Powell maintained.
THE BOARD agreed to pass on through
the University's scheduling procedure
most of Newsreel's summer program,
but reserved judgment on dates in con-
flict with showings proposed by other
groups.
The remainder of the meeting cen-
tered on a list of 23 procedural questions
about Newsreel financial operations that
the board had prepared and presented
to the organization last week.
Allvord consented to give the board
complete records of debts presently out-
standing, but requested that he be allow-
ed to do so in closed session to protect
distributor-exhibitor relationships. The
board agreed.
Allvord stated, however, that he would
be unable to provide the hoard with a
list of bills unpaid on Dec. 31 of last
year, as it had also requested. "We have
no way of knowing how much we owed
somebody at any past date and time,"
he explained.