Doily-Thursday, July 6, 1978-Page 3
Shapiro
warns of
cuts due
to budget
By MICHAEL ARKUSH
A University vice-president yester-
day warned that scheduled salary in-
creases for faculty members may be
sharply reduced to accommodate the
unexpectedly small slice allotted to the
University in last week's state-
approved higher education budget.
The legislature passed a $609.9
million budget - a $133.8 million
package to the University. The final
allocation to the University represented
a $11.69 million increase over the 1977-
78 fiscal year, buy nearly a $1.5 million
less than the Senate budget proposal.
HAROLD SHAPIRO, University vice-
president for academic affairs, said all
areas of the University will be affected
by the new budget, but identified salary
increases as the primary target for
cutbacks.
"We will not lower salaries to the
faculty but just reduce the level of
salary increases from what we had
hoped to give. It is a far amount from
what we think their increases should
be," said Shapiro.
Shapiro also said the number of books
and other school equipment may he
slightly decreased hut he failed to list
any specific reductions.
HE SAID THE legislature's vote was
another signal of the state's failure to
adequately fund the University.
"We realize the state has other needs
but given the huge size of the budget,
we see that the University is underfun-
ded just as we have been underfunded
before," said the school's vice-
president.
Shapiro cautioned the ramifications
of next year's budget will be greater in
the next decade unless the state begns
to allocate appropriate shares to the
University.
"IN ORDER TO maintain a high
See SHAPIRO, Page9

Daily Photo by ANDY FREEBERG
Sidewalk preacher
A sidewalk preacher takes advantage of the July 4 celebration to offer passersby a sermon on a California roadiside.
Tax slash could cut ren ts

By CUB SCHWARTZ
Backers of a proposed amendment to
reduce the state's property taxes say
enaction of the plan could result in
lower rental charges in the Ann Arbor
housing market.
The so-called Tisch Amendment calls
for a slash in Michigan property taxes
by 50 per cent and a limit on property
assessment increases to 2.5 per cent per
year. Backers need to submit 266,000
signatures by Monday to gain a spot for
the proposal on the November ballot.
CARLTON KISSNER, member of the
Coalition for Property Tax Reform and
chairman of the drive to put the amen-
dment on the ballot, pointed to the im-
r-today

mediate reduction in rent by a large
California rental agency following the
passage of Proposition 13 last month.
'All of this taxation is
pushing people off the
economic edge.'
-Carlton Kissner,
Coalition for
Property Tax
Reform
That agency reduced rent by $30 per
month, but the action was not widely
followed by other California rental

agents.
Kissner said the Ann Arbor housing
market in particular could benefit by a
similar reduction in Michigan's proper-
ty taxes.
Don Taylor of McKinley Properties,
the largest rental agent in the city,
agreed enactment of the amendment
would have an effect on local rental
rates. "But," he added, "I don't know
what the immediate effect would be."
IN A NORMAL housing market,
Taylor said, property taxes account for
eight or nine per cent of the rental ex-
pense, but in Ann Arbor's crowded
market the figure is significantly
higher. A spokesman for Wilson White
See BACKERS, Page 9

l"

Happenings ...
... begin late today, so you can catch up on some
slee until 7:30 p.m. when the public library presents
a free showing of John Ford's quintessential
western film Stagecoach, starring John
Wayne ... then you can head over to 311 W. Engine
at 7:45 for a meeting of the Sailing Club.
A big fish story
It seems as if Michigan residents are just as
susceptible to shark scares as are the residents of
New England beaches, where Jaws and Jaws iI
were shot. Edward Stowe, a taxidermist in
Ludington, had the whole community convinced he
caught a shark in Lake Michigan. A friend of Stowe
had caught a six-foot long shark off the California
shore several weeks ago and asked him to mount it.
Since he didn't have rrom in his store to deal
propertly with the creature, he performed the task
on a Lake Michigan beach near Ludington, telling
residents he caught the creature while fishing.
Stowe said people fell for the tale "hook, line and
sinker." All we're waiting for now is a manto get
his neighbors believing his pet crow is a messenger

of the devil. After all, isn't Omen II just as popular
as its Jaws counterpart?
What a bite
During 202 years of America's independence, the
nation's citizens have occasionally become carried
away wih celebrating the Fourth of July. But it's
doubtful that anything has ever happened like
the incident which occurred in the La-
goon amusement Park in Utah during the

disproved this superstition when he posthumously
earned his owner, Timothy Wilson, $5,040. Wilson
sued Dakota officials for neglecting to give his pet
due process of law. Cootus had run away from his
home, and was picked up by the animal warden and
shot three hours later. And in Eaga, Dakota, there is
a law that states animals must be kept in custody
for five days before they are exterminated. Of cour-
se, Cootus had allegedly caused Wilson's neighbor's
rabbit to die of fright, but whatever happened to
"irnocent until proven guilty?"

park's celebration. A watermelon eating contest On the outside . . .
was staged at the park - a simple enough sounding All weekend long you were complaining about the
event. Watermelon - which has become an cofd weather and you didn't think anyone was
American tradition. But one contestant got just a listening. But Mother Nature heard you, and is
little too excited during the event and began eating going to answer your prayers - and then some.
the melon passionately. It was later that he realized Today's high will be an uncomfortable 88* with
he had lost his upper plate of teeth. Luckily, he rising humidity and partly sunny skies. You may
found them at the park's lost and found department. not get much sleep either, as the humidity will con-
Oh, just a melon-cholic tale. tinue to rise at night while the mercury will drop in-
to the upper 60s. And for the coup de grace, we will
Lucky bla khave to suffer through a high of 93' with humidity to
back cat match on Friday. It's not nice to complain to Mother
So black cats are -unlucky? Cootus- the cat Nature ./ , ,,e,..,, ..,..,..

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