Tuesday, August 2,, 1977 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Rage Three Tuesday, August 2, 1977 UHE MiCHIGAN DAILY Page Three Detroit police nab 19 connected with prostitution ring By PHILLIP BOKOVOY Special To The Daily DETROIT-The Detroit Police Department (DPD) conducted an early morning surprise raid on a suspected prostitution motel Saturday that would've made even Starsky and Huotch turn green with envy. The police, after, three weeks of undercover investigation, swept into the Goldenaire Motel, beat on doors, and arrested a total of nineteen people suspected of running a prostitution ring. THE MOTEL is situated on a two mile strip of Woodward Ave. between Six and Eight Mile roads that has become the Metropolitan area's most notorious center of porno and flesh peddling. The two mile stretch contains a dozen motels catering prim- arily to the hookers and their johns, numerous gay bars and a host of pornographic book and film stores. Sgt. Lee Caudill of the Organized Crime Division of the DPD said the action at the motel was "much bigger than I thought". Although Caudill said there were "no direct money payoffs" found during the investigation, police said five dollar bills were found in the mailboxes of room that had suspected prostitutes operating in them. THE INVESTIGATION and the subsequent raid were the result of community pressure brought to bear on the police de- partment over the past year. Last summer the president of the North Woodward-John R (NWJR) Community Association, Mary Ellis, organized a picket line designed to drive the prostitutes out of the neighborhood. The NWJR Community association also tried to drive away the customers by copying down the license numbers of cars stopping to proposition the prostitutes. THE PROTEST received widespread attention but little action from the city's political leaders, so the Association started its own undercover surveillance and turned the results over to the police. Ellis, a candidate in the upcoming Common Council primary, ladged a formal complaint on behalf of the NWJR and helped the police acquire a building next to the motel for surveillance. She was elated over the results of the raid but said, "When these boys (the police) make an arrest, the next morning they (the prostitutes) are back on the street before the police are finished with their paperwork." She blamed this on a judicial sys- tem that she claims has no regard for the people in the city's neighborhoods The area received widespread attention two months ago when it was found that many teenagers were plying their trade along the avenue and that some were part of a child pornography ring. Council tentatively OK's kf o !!y cab fare increase wudpythe re ar metered rate and additional pas- senger would becharged S0 cents. Council also acted to make Project Grow a line item in the citys Parks and Recreation Department. The community gardening project, which serves over 2,700 area residents, was also ap rtioned $5,000 to help cover this year's accu mlated deficit COUNCILMAN Louis Belcher (RFifth Ward) said making the organization a line item in the Parks and Recreation budget will "insure that it goes through the budget processK at the same time every year, so they can better plan their management. Project Grow has weathered the tests of sur vival and acceptane by the community" M ft: .... ,y5 E: ... .,. Mt .,'s.'r :?$W :':?:;.4 , DETROIT POLICE officers from the vice squad and organized crime division arrest a suspect- ed pimp during a surprise early morning raid on the most notorious porno and prostitution strip in the Detroit metro area. The police officers' faces have been blacked out to protect their iden- tities in continuing investigations. - cericals pushingo By SUE WARNER lhe Organizing Committee for Clericals (OCC) will meet tomorrow night to elect steering com- mittee officers and interim OCC officials. Site Ellen Hansen and Patty Schwartzman believe the committee will add new force to the OCC'a drive to establish a clericals union at the University. According to Hansen and Schwartzman, the OCC' has spent the past month working to complete a set of bylaws for the group and spreading infor- mation about the OCC's objectives to other cler- icals. "THE MAJOR STEP was getting a structure organized," says Hansen. "Focus will be pro- vided once the steering committee is in place." The clericals group is also working to attain signatures from at least 30 per cent of the Univer- sity's clericals authorizing a union to bargain collectively for them. If OCC is successful in attamiing the signatures, it wilt petition the Mich- igan Employment Relations Comrnission (MERC) for a union certification election. At this point University clericals will be able to vote on whether or not they want a union. According to Michigan law the clericals will not be able to certify before August 1--one year after members of the former clericals union UAW, local 2001 voted to decertify. PRIOR TO LAST summer's decertitication two opposing factions had developed in the union local. Hwever, Schwartzman contends the O('Ci has not met any serious opposition, "at least not in an organized way that we know about," she adds. According to Hansen, "Many clericals iwere un- happy about what happened with the last union, but, when they get information on the 1CC they're usually very satisfied." "One of the main things OCC is trying to get across," she continued, "is that factions can be healthy if there is a democratic structure. The structure we've set up will permit free flow of ideas and factions." HANSEN ALSO stresses that the OCC is pres- ently involved in simply inforiming clerical work- ers of the OCC's structure and the possible bene- fits of unionization. "Right now we're going over questions people have and arming organizers with the answers so they can effectively organize." "After the election there will be a list of people who clericals can contact for further informa- tion," Schwartzman adds. TODAY Commencement commences Saburo Okita, internationally known Japanese eco- nomist, will be the main speaker at the University's summer commencement Aug. 21 Some 2400 students' are expected to receive their degrees in the cere- mony that will begin at 1:45 p.m. in Hill Auditorium. Okita, president of the Overseas Economic Coopera- tion Fund, has long been an advocate of international cooperation in economic affairs. The Fund is the Japanese government's chosen instrument for pro- viding aid to Third World nations. Happenings ... ... begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Union Ballroom, when noted nuclear power foe Harvey Wasserman will speak on nuclear power in Michigan. There will also be a film on the protest at Seabrook . . . also at 7:30 there will be three free films shown at the MLB, Aud. 3. Soviet news agency. Furniture factory empltyes ap- parently like the diversions of the "rooms of good cheer." "Observations have shown that such rooms remove fatigue and improve the general sense of well-being, at the same time raising labor produc- tivity by 10 to 15 per cent," Tass commented bright- ly. If only they could book Star Wars Lithuania goes Hollywood On the outside Sure gets doll building furniture out in Lithuania, The beautiful weather will continue for at least and the Soviet authorities there have done something another day, as today's high will be a mild 79 under about it-they're letting the oppressed workers watch partly sunny skies. But clouds will move in by the films. Educational films, of course. All about the late afternoon, and there is a chance of showers by Baltic Sea and the Kursh Spit, or so says Tass, the evening. Tonight's low will be in the upper-S5s.