The Michigan Daily-Friday, June 9, 1978-Page 3 Dems. sue GOP over closed caucuses By DAN OBERDORFER The Ann Arbor chapter of the League of Women Voters and two private in- dividuals have joined three Democratic City Council .members in suing the city's Republican caucus for holding private meeting at which $328,500 worth of budget reapportionments were discussed. The plaintiffs claim that the closed meeting violates the Michigan Open Meetings Act. Attorney Jerold Lax said yesterday he expects to file the complaint in Ann Arbor Circuit Court today. The suit will ask the court to overturn the budget reallocations which were discussed privately by the Republicans at a May 23 caucus meeting, and were adopted by the full council the following night. Last month state Attorney General Frank Kelley interpretted the Open Meetings Act to include caucus meetings of local governments when such sessions constitute a quorum. There are seven Republicans on Ann Arbor's 11-member Council, which con-- stitutes a quorum. However, Kelley's view must be supported by the courts before it becomes law. University Economics Professor William Shepherd and second year Law student Paul Pratt are the two private individuals merging forces with Democratic councilmembers Leslie Morris (Second Ward), Susan Green- berg (First Ward) and Ken Latta (First Ward). The Ecology Center of Ann Ar- bor might join also. THE LEAGUE of Women Voters decided at a board meeting earlier this week to join in the suit. Myrtle Cox, President of the Ann Arbor branch of the non-partisan group said the decision was made because the Republican's meeting was in "clear" violtion of the Open Meetings Act. She said she would fight the case all the way to the Supreme Court if need be.- "If the law is to have any meaning," she said in an official statement, "the meetings at which the majority of the city council deliberated, and for all practical purposes decided on the FIoday heesamoral here some budget, should have been held in public." Cox said the League monitors the budget making process every year and this year a representative was present at each of about a half-dozen working sessions at which City Council disc- cused the budget. "We have no interest in the budget itself; we are interested in the process," she said. BUT REPUBLICAN Mayor Louis Belcher is equally confident of victory. He said the Act is unconstitutional because it regulates local government caucus meeting, but specifically ex- cludes caucus meetings at the state level. "I want them to keep pursuing this thing because I want to take it to the Supreme Court and win," he said. In addition, Belcher pointed out only five council Republicans were present at the meeting in question, so it did not constitute a quorum. "No one at that meeting had an idea of what the final budget would be," Belcher proclaimed. "That wasn't decided until the next morning. . . It's not a public meeting because there are no votes taken." ANOTHER organization, the Ecology Center of Ann Arbor, is considering joining the suit. According to Beth Greenberg, the resource coordinator for the center, its board of directors was to meet last night to decide finally if they would join the suit. The ecology center would have a par- ticular interest in seeing that the $55,000 cut from the forestry budget be rein- stated. The cut has resulted in a drastic cutback in the number of trees to be planted this year and in tree trimming operations. Invididuals joining the suit said they were interested in both setting a precedent for open meetings and over- turning the budget. Shepherd said he opposes closed meetings by government bodies. But he said he is especially upset at the $55,000 slash to the forestry division. T'en, nine, eight... AP Photo The sculpture "Endless Force" can ae seen (harldy in repose) right outside the living room of ex-President Gerald Ford in Rancho Mirage. Cal. V ?where In Montgomery, Alabama, once upon a time, there was a woman named Melba Till Allen. She was a politician who campaigned for state treasurer under a banner that proclaimed the clean-up of all shady dealings, conflict-of-interest, and general crookedness among state politicians. This lady was quite a crusader. She helped push through tough new laws against this sort of naughty wheeling and dealing, and she was successful. Tough new legislation passed, including Alabama's first code of ethics for officials holding state posts. On May 24, Melbe Till Allen was cought with her hand in her middle name, so to speak, and yesterday she was sentenced to three years in prison for using her of- fice to obtain "personal financial gain" from the National Bank of Commerce in Birmingham, Ala. She was the first person to be convicted under the relatively new statutes. Hoist, as it were, by her own/... well, you know. Panda poundage Remember the two pandas the Chinese sent as a gift to America several years ago, before Richard Nixon ever wrote a bestseller? In the six years since the U.S. arrival of Ling-Ling and her friend Hsing-Hsing, there has been no pitter-patter of little panda feet, despite encouragement from interested homo sapeins. Officials at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. are going to try to solve that problem by putting 276-pound Ling-Ling and 274- pound Hsing-Hsing on diets. It seems that every time the crucial moment approaches, Ling-Ling falls over. Besides using a diet to prod the pair into a little hanky-panky, zoo officials will keep the bears separated more often, in an attempt to make the heart grow fonder. Reproduction zoologist Dr. Devra Kleiman said the bears will simply have to cut down from their usual diets of apples, carrots, tablespoons, of honey, two cups of hot water and 20 pounds of bamboo twice a day. Perhaps next spring the zoo officials will have to consult Masters and Johnson. Happenings-... Today begin at twelve noon with not one but two (count 'em!) events - the "Witless Wheelies" give street theater in the piag about issues concerning the handicapped, and the Ford Factory tour leaves the International Center also at that time. There is a $2 registration fee-bring it along. . . at 7:30 p.m., the University of Michigan Astronomical Film Festival's program will be devoted to the Space Shuttle. Aud. 3, MLB ... At 8:00 p.m., the American Friends Service Committee sponsors a talk by Joe Volk, entitled, "Middle East Peace: An Open Moment or Dead Hope?" That's at the Ann Arbor Fiends Meetinghouse, 1420 Hill St. . .. and also at 8, the Socialist Party is showing "Eugene Debs and the American Movement" in Conference Room 6 in the Union. . . and more space stuff at 8:30. Astronomy Dept. Visitor's Night presents Gunther Elste and "Spiral Galaxies"; also a film, The Universe from Palomar, in Angell Auditorium B. On the outside .. . The silver gunk in the glass tubes will huff and puff up the scale today, achingly, slowly reaching ahigh of 68'.The sky will be partly sunny, according to the weather folks, which presumably means par- tly-un-sunny as well. This appears to be the case of the Excluded Middle. Either there is sun or there is not. Yet we know that the sun is there, whether ob- scured by clouds or uninhibited by gloom. Bishop Berkeley (1685-1753) proposed that we cannot know the existence of something we cannot sense. So if we cannot see the sun, is it really there? There are two objections to this: First, that we may sense the sun without seeing it, for we feel its warmth, and second, that it will only be PARTLY un-sunny today, so we will likely see the damn thing anyway. Besides, who said Berkeley was right? Descartes would take the contrary position .