cZre 4Ir ian it Vol. LXXXII, No. 50-S , n , m , m m , inshuinaillhulium i1.n in ,111.1. -""--'-'"'""".'""'"'-'-'-""'-- "- ""- - -m Ann Arbor, Michigan-Thursday, July 27, 1972 Ten Cents Eight Pages Doily Photo by JIM WALLACE CITY SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS listen to opinions of a community member on the controversial transfer of Fred Leonard, former black principal of Forsythe Junior High School. A letter signed by 55 city residents criticized the board for its "grossly arbitrary and capricious handling" of the Leon- ard case. MOURN BOMB VICTIMS: Protestant workers strike as death toll rises in iN. Ireland Black principal's transfer debated by school board By MARILYN RILEY Over 100 people jammed last night's Ann Arbor Board of Education meeting to hear discussion on a controversial motion to reinstate the principal of Forsythe Junior High School. The motion by board member Henry Johnson sought to reverse a previous board decision to transfer Fred Leonard, the black principal of Forsythe, to a position as director of field services for the Ann Arbor Public Schools. Johnson, who is University vice president for student services, criticized the board for its "differential consider- ation" of Leonard. He cited racial considerations as the motivating force behind Leonard's transfer, as w h ite principals of i. equally troubled schools, T rial halted according to Johnson, were not considered for removal from their positions. inPentagon Audience emotions ran high as concerned parents and com- munity m e m b e r s presented perso nare opinions both supportive and critical of the board's action. LOS ANGELES (P} - The The board voted to place the Pentagon Papers trial was halt- motion on next week's agenda. ed yesterday by the 9th Circuit Heated debate centered' on the Court of Appeals to give it time issue of due process in Leon- to review the trial judge's rul- ard's transfer. Johnson claimed ing on government wiretapping the board was "tampering with of a member of the defense dangerous precedents" by initi- team. ating and carrying out the deci- Defense attorneys, who chal- sion in executve session to lenged the legality of the ruling transfer Leonard, without the by U.S. District Court Judge recommendation of the superin- Matt Byrne, rushed to nearby tendent. Pasadena to obtain the 11th- The board's action was taken hour stay from the appeal without consulting Leonard, the judges. Principal Selection Committee, The Circuit's presiding judge, or the members of the com- Walter Ely, Circuit Judge James munity. Critics of the board's Browning and U.S. Supreme action also claimed there was Court Justice William Douglas, "no evidence of just and proper who presides over the 9th Cir- cause" for Leonard's removal, cuit issued the order staying according to Johnson. "further proceedings" in the Board president Ted Huesel trial pending the Circuit's re- called the action "a transfer like view of the issue. any other transfer of princi- The defense wants the court pals." When asked why it was to order the government to re- done in executive session, he re- veal which member of the de- plied, "You don't bring your fense team was "overheard" on dirty linen out into the public, a wiretap. You discuss it in executive ses- The government has refused sion." to tell the defense. While it had been- previously Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony believed Leonard would accept Russo, both former Rand Corp. the transfer, last night an at- researchers on government pro- torney told the board that his jects, are charged with espion- law firm had been retained to age, conspiracy and theft in represent Leonard in his efforts connection with the leak to to obtain a -fair hearing and to news media of top-secret docu- respond to any charges which ments detailing origins of the prompted the board's action. Vietnam War. BELFAST (kP) - British troops and guerrilla gunmen battled near Belfast's city cen- ter yesterday, and Protestant workers virtually closed down Northern Ireland's industry and commerce, mourning the dead of last week's bombing. A Royal Marine commando was killed by sniper fire in Un- ity Flats, a modern Roman Catholic housing development in Belfast. He was the 473rd person to die since violence erupted in Ulster three years ago. Three young men. identified by the British army as gunmen, were hospitalized with bullet wounds. The, army claimed at least two others were hit. Earlier a rope factory and a fashion store were badly dam- aged by fires believed set by ar- sonists. Bombs wrecked two sup- ermarkets in the Protestant Waterside area of Londonderry and 10 buses in a depot at Bal- lynohinch, a small town south of Belfast. Strikes called by Protestant militants affected nearly all the province's industry. including Belfast's giant shipyards and aircraft factories. Workers streamed off their jobs at 11 a.m. in answer to calls by the Ulster Defense As- sociation and the Loyalist Asso- ciation of Workers. The action was a gesture of mourning for the dead of Friday's Irish Re- publican Army (IRA) bomb blitz on Belfast. Industrialists said few men answered appeals by employers and union leaders to stay at work 'and donate a day's pay to relatives of bomb victims. The walkout was, however, less disruptive than a two-day stoppage which the same or- ganizations called three months ago in protest against Britain's dissolution of the provincial Parliament. Power supplies were unaffect- ed this time and Belfast still had buses. But the main rail- road to Dublin was closed. In the afternoon thousands of the strikers walked to parks throughout the province for ser- vices in memory of the dead. Onithe political front, the Catholic - based Social Demo- cratic and Labor party-ended a two-day caucus by agreeing to talk with William Whitelaw, Britain's administrator in Nor- thern Ireland, on plans for a new administrative system in the province. The party, Ulster's largest op- position group, has for the past year refused to engage in any negotiations with the British or with other Northern Ireland political groups. It abandoned this boycott as a direct conse- quence of the IRA's bombing campaign against civilian tar- gets. The party said it will meet not only Whitelaw but repre- sentatives of other groups, in- cluding the Protestant - based Unionist party, to set up a Nor- thern conference at which all political groups would be represented. From this conference White- law hopes to obtain agreement on a new democratic structure to replace the dissolved Parlia- ment and give the Catholic mi- nority a guaranteed share in decision - making. AMNESTY NOW! Save those tickets for a while By PAUL TRAVIS Your dream of unloading the wads of overdue parking tickets which are sitting in your car's glove compartment may never come to pass. Despite a City Council resolution urging a two-month parking ticket amnesty period, no real action has been taken by the city- or the judges to implement the idea. The resolution urges the Fifteenth Dis- trict Court to declare "a least a two- month" period during which citizens may pay the original fineso n their overdue pyrk- ing tickets without the late penalties. The resolution was introduced by Councilmem- bers Nancy Wechsler (HRP-2nd ward) and Jerry DeGrieck (HRP-1st ward) and pass- ed by council on July 17. The decision to institute an amnesty per- iod rests with District Court Judges Sandorf Elden and Pieter Thomassen. According to Elden. however, in the ten days since the resolution was passed "We haven't been contacted by anyone about it, we haven't seen the resolution." The job of contacting the judges was assigned by the City Council to the City Administrator Guy Larcom. According to Larcom's secretary, "Mr. Larcom has as- signed it to one of his assistants. It may take another week to ten days before anything is done on it." The resolution's chance of becoming policy is not good, however. Judge Elden says that he has "serious reservations" about the resolution. "We have already lots of phone calls from people asking for refunds for the fines they have already paid," said Elden.