The Michigan Daily
Vo LXXXVII, No. 48-S Ann Arbor, Michigan-Thursday, July 21, 1977 Ten Cents Twelve Pages
Flood rips Johnstown Pa.
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. OP)-A new
Johnstown flood, triggered by
an eight-hour rainfall, isolated
41,000 . residents yesterday and
left death, destruction and mud-
dy debris in its wake.
Roads washed away, commu-
nication lines fell, and at least
13 people were known dead as
flood waters began to recede
yesterday afternoon.
JOHNSTOWN remained virtu-
ally isolated, and state police
said 10 of the known dead were
from outlying areas where the
storm and flooding were less
severe. Four died in the West-
moreland County town of Se-
ward, where 35 mobile homes
slid into the Conemaugh River
as flood water gushed over the
river banks.
Johnstown M a y o r Herbert
Pfuhl said earlier that three per-
sons were dead and five were
missing in his city, where the
Johnstown Flood of 1889 claimed
2,200 lives and nearly wiped out
the town.
"This is just total hell," said
Ryan Bocher, a volunteer fire-
man, who watched the flood-
waters lift a van and smash it
into a house here.
"THERE WERE people on
the roof, but we couldn't rescue
them because of high tension
wires."
A photographer who made it
out of downtown Johnstown as
the waters receded said, "There
are cars on top of cars. There
are cars with their rear ends
stacked up on parking meters.
See FLOOD, Page 6
AP Photo
A WORKER searches the wreckage of Johnstown, Pa., yesterday after early morning rains caused the Conemaugh River to over-
flow its banks at Johnstown, site of a devastating flood in 1889.
MURRAY, PLANNERS SEEK ELUSIVE REPORT
City dept. charged with race bias
By GREGG KRUPA
The State Department of Civil
Rights (DCR) has completed
an investigation of the city's
Planning Department following,
complaints of racial discrimi-
nation by former city employes.
The complaints were filed by
employes E. L. Weathers and
James Blake, and former Plan-
ning Department worker John
Morton.
THE CITY, through Adminis-
trator Sylvester Murray and
Assistant City AttOrney Melvin
Muskovitz, is currently nego-
tiating a settlement with DCR.
Yesterday Murray said the
negotiation have been going on
for a month, and Muskovitz
said he expects the settlement
to be finalized "possibly by the
end of the month."
According to Murray, "The
department (DCR) said they
thought they had a case against
the city, but would not pursue
the case if they could iron out
a settlement with the city."
The terms of the settlement
are expected to 'be monetary
reparations for Morton, who
was laid off by the city in Oc-
tober,'1976, extra leave time for
one of the other employes and
the erasing of. all disciplinary
actions from the records of the
employes.
IN ADDITION, DCR sug-
gested that Morton, who wants
his job back with the city, be
given good references for fu-
ture employment.
DCR completed its investiga-
tion one month ago, and com-
piled, in the words of Adlea Val
Verde of DCR, "a rather leng-
thy report" on its findings. Val
Verde said the report was giv-
en to the city.
But several city employes,
both in and out of the Planning
Department, said although they
have heard of the 30-page re-
port, they have not seen it.
MURRAY denied receiving
the report, and has filed a re-
quest under the Freedom of
Information Act, hoping to get
a look at it.
"They (DCR) refused to give
me the report on their find-
ings." he said. Muscovitz also
said he has no knowledge of the
,report.
It was Murray who asked
DCR to step in after he had
been presented with a petition
signed by 33 employes protest-
me the handling of Morton's
job situation.
JEAN KING, a local attorney
who is handling the complaint
for Morton, Weathers and
Blake, said, according to her
information, "somebody in the
city has seen the report." King
also filed a request under the
Freedom of Information Act on
July 8 to receive the report.
King was told by Clifford Ros-
enberg, Director of the Hear-
ings Section of the Enforce-
ment Division of DCR, that the
"complaints are at present still
active but we expect them to
be closed and satisfactorily ad-
justpd soon."
KING THEN sent a letter to
State Rep. Perry Bullard who
pursued the release of the in-
formation. Bullard said yester-
day the report may be released
as soon as next Tuesday.
King said the complaint she
filed with the commission al-
leges "harassment, salary dis-
crimination, discrimination in
the assignment of work, and
working conditions." King said
if the agreement reached by
the city and DCR is not ap-
proved by the complainants,
she would probably pursue a
lawsuit. .
When Murray was asked to
give his assessment of the situ-
ation in the Planning Depart-
ment, he said: "It is a situation
where work supervisors are de-
See CITY, Page 7
'Har Ties'now playing at
your neighborhood film co-op
By SUE WARNER film groups have been forced to make changes
in their operation for the fall. All three have now
Traditionally, Ann Arbor has been a virtual film raised the admission price per showing from
enthusisst's paradise. In the past, obscure and $1.25 to $1.50 and the Ann Arbor Film Co-op has
unique films could be viewed daily primarily due decided to eliminate its Sunday and Monday night
to the efforts of the three campus film groups- showings.
Cinema 1, Cinema Guild and the Ann Arbor Film Perhaps the most noticable change in campus
Co-op. films will be the type of film offered. Basically,
However, the film co-ops have recently fallen the film co-ops will steer away from the more
on hard times. According to Lony Ruhmann, Ann obscure, experimental genre, opting for the
Arbor Film Co-op president, the four major film moneymaking. commercial fare.
groups f(including Mediatrics) have lost over Ruhmann estimated roughly 70 per cent of the
$15,000 in the last year. Ann Arbor Film Co-op's fall offerings will be
AS A RESULT of this financial situation the See FILIM, Page 19