Wednesday, June 15, 1977 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Three Cityad s istabs in mayoral'election y REGERP T By GREGG KRUPA An investigation of last Ap- .5s il's city election directed by r City Administrator Sylvester Murray has turned up several irregularities in voting proce- dure. But in the opinion of the City Administrator "the inves- tigation did not show criminal intent" The report released by Mur- ray yesterday said, "The inves- ligation exposed a number of instances of a lack of adequate procedure being followed, in- adequate record keeping, and the need for additional training by the City Clerk's office staff, precinct workers and political party challengers at the plls." HOWEVER, THE REPORT goes on to say, "In many cases where a question arose, the City Clerk gave benefit of doubt in favor of the voter. This was a P LAN L loudable position by the Clerk. i'Phato by A N ILNSKY lIn those cases criticism is ren- W isUhfu thinking dered for not requiring those questionable voters to vote by School is out, and these two young men waste no time finding paper ballot rather than on the other subjects to study-namely which confectionary delight machine." to purchase at Drake's candy store. The April 4 election resulted Perez denies changing story to defenad Nrciso in a one vote victory for incum- bent Mayor Albert Wheeler over Republican challenger Louis Belcher. Belcher is attempting to get the'4ecision of the Board of Canvassers overturned in the courtroom of Monroe County Circuit Court Judge James Kel- ley. The investigation resulted from a list of "questionable ir- regularities" brought to the City Administrator by Belch- er's attorney, former City Councilman Robert Henry, Jr. Henry said the results of the in- vestigation were "not unexpect- ed." "WE WERE A LITTLE dis- turbed about the procedures fol- lowed in some of the things that See CITY, Page 7 Explosion rips local sewage wafer plant By GREGG KRUPA Anti Arbor's Waste Water Treatment Plant apparently is jinxed. Monday morning at 10:20 an explosion ripped the entire top off the number five sewage sludge digestor. No injuries were reported as a result of the blast, although a crew of 12 persons was work- ing at the plant during the ex- plosion. THE PLANT has been the subject of recent controversy over state Department of Nat- strut Resources standards fosr permsissible amounts of pollut- tion allowed to enter the Huron River. The city has recently taken several steps to cturb the ansount of pollution treated by the plant. In March when a district judge ordered a ban on new tap-ins to the sewer system, construction in the city came to a virtual standstill. City officials are-at aloss to explain the cause of the blast, although it may be possible it was caused by collecting meth- ane gas. "THE DIGESTION process forms methane gas," explained Fred Mammel, Superintendent of Ann Arbor's Public Works Department. "This is vented to the exterior and is burned in the atmosphere in a con trolled methane burner. The gas line from the digestor has several flame checks to pre- vent the flame from creeping back into the gas pipe. 'We don't know if there was a malfunction Monday norn- ing. No fire resulted front the explosion. A fire should have resulted if indeed the flamie did meet the methane gas. No fire or smoke damage was found at the explosion site.' A Washtenaw County Sher- iff's investigator said a isethane gas explosion is 'kind of tin- tsual in coot weather." Mammel, however has said the city "does not anticipate a cutback in the ability to handle pollution. The effect of digestor number five being out of serv- ice will have a minitnuissmeais- urable effect on operationss." Soviets call U.S. reporterI an agent MOSCOW Ut'-The Soviet Union alleged yesterday that Los Angeles 'toimes corresluon- dent Robert Toth has been gath ering secret information and barred him fron leaving the country. Toth was interro ttied for mssore than foutr hutirs and told 1 treturn today. In a note to the U. S. Em- bassy, the Soviet itoreign Min- istry said the 48-year-old Toth "has been engaged is . . . the See SOVIETS, Page 6 By KEITH B. RICHBURG Special To The Daily DETROIT -Veterans Administration (VA) de- fendant Leonora Perez denied trying to protect her co-defendant Filipina Narciso when Perez changed her answer during the course of the trial yesterday. Perez had been asked by Assistant U.S. Astor- ney Richard Delonis abost the breathing failure of patient Lennie Blaine, and about a nurse who one doctor said stood at Blaine's bedside and would not help. DELONIS READ the doctor's description of that nurse, and asked Perez whether the description would "fit Miss Narciso?' Perez anst.ered, "No." Delonis then asked Perez hat swas significantly different between the description of the nurse at the bedside and defendant Narciso, and Perez could cite no distinction. When asked agiin, how- ever, if the description fit Narciso, Perez said it did not. WHEN QUESTIONED by her own lawyer, de- fense attorney Lawrence Burgess, Perez said the description could fit Narciso. On redirect Delonis asked Perez why she changed her story. Perez answered, "I said no becasise she (Nar- ciso) is my friend, and I ktws' she would not do anything wrong." 'Are you sure that was ot to protect her?" D~elonis asked, Perez replied, "No." PEREZ AND Narciso are accused of causiig the rash of breathing failures that swept the Ann Arbor VA hospital during the summer of 1975 See PEREZ, Page 6 Robber barren The thief in Pittsburgh had read the script, he just forgot one of the hand props. Bus ticket agent Rai Peacce told police the man walked up to his window and announced "This is a holdup." "Where's your gun?" Peacoe asked. "My buddy has it," the man said. "Well, I can't give you any money if you don't have a gun," Peacoe said, to which the man re- plied, "Okay, I'll go get one." John King was ar- rested outside the bus terminal and charged with attempted robbery. Coffee, hold the sugar. First you stopped drinking sugar in your coffee because it was too expensive. Then you stopped drinking cream because it was too fattening. Then you stopped drinking coffee because that was too expensive too. But as you contemplate that appetiz- ing cup of boiling water this morning, be reassured on at least one count - coffee prices may be going back down again. The Agriculture Department re- TODAY ported yesterday that coffee drinkers can expect increased supplies of the bean to follow a sharp recovery in world production this season, even though the 1977-78 crop remains 9 per cent below average. Wholesale and retail coffee prices are still rising, but the increase in supplies could mean re- lief for coffee drinkers from wholesale prices which hit a record $3.90 a pound last month. Undue process The young couple sat in the living room of their secluded San Diego beach home. Suddenly they heard furious pounding onythe front door and the voice of a man screaming. His wife had been hurt in an auto accident and needed help, he said. Shades of A Clockwork Orange! Ah, but when they opened the door and phoned for an ambulance, the two men outside turned out to be process servers Howard Mason and Jerome Lancelle, who had invented the ruse in order to serve papers on the hard-to-find couple. Mason and Lancelle served the papers - and were promptly cited by police for causing a false emergency report. * Happenings ... lead off today with a plug for VISTA, the federal anti-poverty program. VISTA is looking for economists, attorneys, law grads and media people to get involved in a local group to protect hous- ing consumers. If you're interested, send a resume to the Center for National Housing Law Reform, 4310 Michigan Union ... Continuing Engineering Edu- cation sponsors a program on Corrosion Engineering in the Chrysler Center, 8:30 am. ... George Engel of the University of Rochester Medical School speaks on "Psychosomatic Approaches to Individual Sus- ceptibility to Disease" at 9:30 a.m. in the CPH audi- torium ... and at 7:30 p.m., the Birdman cometh as CMU Professor Emeritus of Ornithology Nicholas Cuthbert speaks to a meeting of the Washtenaw Audobon Society in the Botanical Gardens. On the outside Summer just keeps on coming. It'll be partly sunny and warm today with a high of 80 and an overnight low of 60. Tomorrow should be likewise, but with a high of 82.