1e Mr ign Batt Vol. LXXXII, No. 62-S Ann Arbor, Michigan-Saturday, August 12, 1972 Ten Cents Twelve Pages N. Viets launch scattered attacks i Saigon region HAPPY SOUTH VIETNAMESE troops carry a North Vietnamese heavy machinegun from a bunker they had just knocked out yesterday. Their assault on the North Vietnamese bunker line cost the Saigon troops at least two armored personnel carriers and they retreated to a roadside ditch. Their second assault was beaten back by withering small mortar fire directed at them from the hills and brush around Highway 1. LAST MINUTE EFFORT: HRP turns in signatures for mayoral preference balloting SAIGON (A - Communist forces harrassed the Saigon area yesterday with shelling and sapper attacks against several military bases and outposts, the South Viet- namese military command announced. North Vietnamese troops on the central coast, mov- ing behind rocket and mortar barrages, overran part of the city of Cam Ranh, inflicting more than 100 mili- tary and civilian casualties, field reports said. Other Communist-led units penetrated the defenses of a government military base at Lai Khe, 30 miles north of Saigon, and again cut Highway 13, which links the capital with An Loc. A South Vietnamese military spokesman said 38 Communist sappers were killed in the fighting and two prisoners - were taken before the base was cleared. Governmento - n e casualties were put at four dead and 28 wounded. North Vietnamese shellfire rip- pdthrough four district towns, - three army outposts, and the big Cu Chi military base in the Sai- gon region. The army reported 27 persons were wounded in the lnavepou r shelling that hit the southern, northern, and northwestern ap- proaches to the capital. WASHINGTON (OP) - Housing Heated tombat was reported and Urban Development (HUD) throughout the day along High- Secretary George Romney said way 13, less than two miles from yesterday he plansto leave his the Lai Khe army base. Cabinet post but has not asked Officers said they engaged rem- President Nixon to accept his nants of a North Vietnamese sap- resignation.fmer per squad which had penetrated The Amer Michigan governor the base. Propeller-driven U.S. and American Motors president th de s bastPrafe-draneneU.y.made the statement shortly af- Skyrider strfed n fenm ter he met with the President to hunker line only 38 yards fo ics U' fot ofn the highway, but South Vietnam- housig sfor fortimso in ese infantry were driven back in housing for flood victims in Pennsylvania. two attempts to storm the posi- "I discussedgwith the Presi- lion, dent months ago my desire t President Nguyen Van Thieu devote myself in the years just has predicted a new Communist ahead in a private capacity offensive aimed at isolating Sai- rather than a public capacity," gon, and field reports indicated Romney said. North Vietnamese units are mov- 'The President asked me to ins in on the capital. stay on and deal with the prob- On the northern front, South lers of housing and the cities. Vietnamese marines were pound- I have done that. ed by long-range artillery fire in "He has asked me to help the battle-torn Quang Tri. Fresh secure the federal leadership fighting was reported near five required to mount an effective recaptured hamlets southeast of effort in Luzerne County, Pa. Hue, were North Vietnamese in- I have agreed to do that." fantry apparently slipped back The HUD secretary said he into the area after being driven felt the United States was pass- out earlier in the week. ing through its gravest crisis In the air war, the U.S. Com- in history and that he could mand announced eight B52 mis- better serve in a private capa- sions were flown Thursday city. He said he would work for against alleged Communist troop Nixon's re-election in the com- positions about 50 miles from ing months. Saigon. An undisclosed number Romney declined to say when See SCATTERED, Page 12 he plans to leave his post. By CHRIS PARKS A two and one half month drive by the Human Rights Party (HRP) to establish pref- erential balloting in mayoral elections cleared its first hurdle this. week when the party filed petitions bearing the signatures of over 3700 persons calling for the question to be placed on the ballot. Now, if the petitions are vali- dated by the city clerk, and if the proposal is approved by the governor, the matter will be put * before the voters in November. For a while it looked like the campaign would be over before it started. The petition drive had been limping along since early June and on Tuesday, with one day to go, only about half the neces- sary signatures had been col- lected. An 11th hour effort on Wed- nesday saved the day, however, and the completed petitions were hustled down to city hall and filed a bare five minutes before the deadline. Under the HRP proposal, voters would indicate a first and second preference for mayor, If no candidate received a majority of the first choice votes an automatic runoff procedure would go into effect. In the runoff, the candidate receiving the least first choice votes would be eliminated and today's weather It will be partly cloudy today with the high near 80. There is a 30 per cent chance of showers which will decrease to a 10 per cent chance later tonight. The skies will clear up later tonight with the low in the high 50s On Sunday it will be sunny and warm with the high in the upper 80s. his or her second choice votes would be distributed among the top two contenders thus giving one a majority. All signatures on the petitions must now be checked against the city voting rolls--a process which will begin Monday ac- cording to City Clerk Harold Saunders. "The law gives me 45 days to certify the petitions, but I hope to have it done sooner than that," he said. If the petitions are validated, the City Council must decide how to word the proposal for the November ballot. The final draft then goes to Lansing for review by the Gov- ernor and the state Attorney General. No problem is expected in getting state approval. Accord- ing to City Attorney Jerold Lax, the state Home Rule Act gives the city authority to establish such a system. If approved by the voters in November, preferential balloting would be in effect for the April, 1973 mayoral election. Looking at returns from past elections, most observers agree chat the plan is likely to benefit the Democrats. In last spring's contest-a non-mayoral election-the Re- publican candidates received about 11,700 votes city-wide while Democrats got roughly 10,600 and HRP 7,300. See PETITIONS, Page 7 si meters go on strike By RALPH VARTABEDIAN A Cool Hand has taken over Ypsilanti's parking system, leaving the city-with rows of decapitated parking meters. Is it an outlandish maverick prank that will land the culprit in a chain gang, only to gain noteriety by eating fifty eggs? Hardly! Ypsilanti's City Manager Peter Caputo ordered that the City's parking meters should be shut down for an ex- perimental period of sixty days begin- ning last month. The move was directed at improving business in the downtown area where parking space is critical and costly for the leisurely shopper. The action has produced mixed feel- ings from the merchants it was intended to benefit. Some reluctantly admit that free parking has helped them while others insist that it hasn't made any difference. Max Peran, who refused to disclose his name until he was told that the name of his store (Peran's Clothing store) would appear in The Daily, suggests that you can never tell about how business is do- ing. He said "I don't run the store, the store runs me." Down the block on Michigan, Ypsi- lanti's main avenue, the bartender at the Tap Room said free parking has helped business. According to his casual obser- vation, people stay at the bar longer now that they do not have to feed a hungry meter. Harry Shaefer, of Shaefer's Hardware, apparently was expecting to be visited soon by a reporter. Not a man of hearsay opinions, Shaefer produced composite sales records for the past several months which indicated that business has slump- ed since the parking meters were put out of commission.