Vol. LXXXVIlI, No. 40-S
m DTuesday, July 11, 1978
Sixteen Poges
Ann Arbor, Michigan Ten Cents
Referendums stack all
By MICHAEL ARKUSH question before the electorate. Most of yesterday:
This fall's election ballot will be the nine proposals contained more than . A move to raise the state's drinking
stacked with nine referendums, in- 300,000 signatures. age to 21. Supporters claim they will
cluding proposals designed to revamp The most publicized proposal, the win an easy victory in November. If the
the state's tax and criminal justice Tisch Amendment, which would cut proposal passes, it will override the
systems. property taxes significantly, received legislature's bill to raise the drinking
A spokesman for the Elections enough signatures to qualify for the age to 19.
Division of the State Department ballot. The amendment would also limit " A referendum that would require
yesterday said nine petitions had been the amount of state income taxes that persons convicted of certain serious
filed before the 5 p.m. deadline. He said could be levied. felonies to serve minimum sentences'
the division would check the validity of Another tax limitation amendment to without getting time off for good
the petitions before officially placing be placed on the ballot would limit the behavior.
them on the ballot. total of state and local taxes to the - A proposal to grant collective
APPROXIMATELY266,000 signa-
tures are needed to put a constitutional
present ratio of taxes to total personal
income.
AMONG THE other petitions filed
bargaining rights to the state police.
" A move by the Citizens for More
Sensible Financing of Education to for-
ballot
ce the legislature to adopt a system
whereby parents would be given cer-
tificates for the cost of educating their
children. The amendment would also
remove almost all property taxes for
school financing.
" A proposal whereby voters will
decide this year if they want to have a
constitutional convention meet and
propose a revised constitution.
" A referendum initiated by the
legislature to deny bail to anybody
arrested for a violent felony if they had
already been convicted of two or more
See VOTERS, Page 11
Soviet
dissidents
go before
court
MOSCOW (AP) - Climaxing an 18-
month Kremlin crackdown on dissiden-
ts, Anatoly Shcharansky and Alexander
Ginzburg went before Soviet courts
yesterday in trials that have drawn the
United States into a volatile confron-
tation with Moscow over human rights.
Shcharansky's wife, in Paris, ap-
pealed to the United States to intercede
anew to help free her husband, who
faces a possible death penalty if convic-
ted of espionage.
IN WASHINGTON, President Car-
ter's press secretary Jody Powell, said,
"This sort of repressive action, which
strikes at the conscience of the entire
world, is a defeat not for those who ad-
vocate and work for human rights and
dignity, but rather it is a defeat and a
sign of weakness on the part of those
very forces of oppression and injustice
which we protest."
Shcharansky, appearing before a
three-judge panel in a central Moscow
courthouse, pleaded innocent to the
treason charge, rejecting as "absurd"
allegations that he spied for the CIA, his
brother Leonid said.
"I consider all that I did was right,"
Leonid quoted his brother as telling the
court in an hour-long defense. "I think
they will give him the death sentence,"
he added.
IN THE CITY of Kaluga, 100 miles
south of here, Ginzburg, accused of an-
ti-Soviet agitation and propaganda,
also denied the charges against him.
Irina Ginzburg said her husband, who
could get up to 10 years at hard labor,
told the three judges he might modify
his plea if his guilt is proved at the trial.
U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance
said the trials of the two Jewish
dissidents "raise serious questions"
about Soviet compliance with the 1975
Helsinki human rights accords, but he
See SHCHARANSKY, Page 14
Daily Photo by JOHN KNOX
AFTER HER SPEECH yesterday in the Michigan League ballroom, National Highway Traffic Safety Adminis-
trator Joan Claybrook is greeted by members of the American Association for Automotive Medicine and the International
Ac intin fn Arridont Tr ffic Medicine_
Association or Accuei ralc necl.
Speakers push
By RICHARD BERKE
Joan Claybrook, administrator of the National High-
way Traffic Administration, (NHTA) yesterday criticized
the medical profession for not taking enough initiative in
dealing with highway deaths.
At a noon luncheon launching an international con-
ference on automotive safety, Claybrook told several
hundred: participants in the Michigan League Ballroom
that "only a unique cadre of doctors have dedicated their
lives and careers to the prevention of automotive injury."
THE WEEK-LONG conference, jointly sponsored by
the American Association for Automotive Medicine and
the International Association for Accident and Traffic
Medicine, marks one of the first times national and inter-
nationalsafety groups 'ave met.
Cl-aybrook, a longtime auto safety advocate who has
worked for consumer advocate Ralph Nader, said
General Motors did not hire a doctor until last year to
work on automotive medicine. She said her agency has no
doctors on its staff, a deficiency she plans to correct.
Using 'seat belts is by far the safest precaution a
dar ra. tnkp nronrdino n r.ars-a.whn da.. a 1 0A
I
traffic safety
airbags, which she considers critical safety devices.
CLAYBROOK, WHO SOME auto company executives
have dubbed "the dragon lady," had no bad words for
Consumers Union, the group which recently called
Chrysler Corporation's Omni and Horizon models unsafe
because of poor steering mechanisms. NHTA refuted
Consumers Union's warning against driving those cars,
saying the group found faults in the car which weren't ap-
plicable to real life situations.
"We have always worked close with Consumers
Union," Claybrook told the doctors, scientists, and
automotive safety industry representatives present.
"They are entitled to their opinion. We just have to make
the best judgements we can."
Another featured speaker at the luncheon was
Michigan Secretary of State Richard Austin, who said in-
creased use of seat belts must become a major social
priority.
"MOST EFFORTS (to get people wearing safety
belts) have been poorly designed, underfunded, of too
short a duration, or uncoordinated with related activities
See CLAYBROOK, Page 10