uedo r, 3une 10, 1 975 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Three City okays controversial sign ordinance revisions 1j By ANN MARIE LIPINSKI and DAVID WHITING City Council last night'revised a controversial sign ordinance which has sparked years of heated court battles. The new sign ordinance, how- ever, is not expected to squelch the infighting between local mer- chants, environmentalists, and the city. "No matter what we pass here tonight," predicted Councilman Jamie Kenworthy (D-Fourth Ward) "it's bound to be taken to court by someone." THE NEW ordinance is hoped to be more flexible and work- able than the last which was thrown out by the courts for be- ing "too restrictive." The ordi- nance is also an attempt by Council to improve the appear- ance of the city by having store signs conform with existing storefront style, and to prevent a massive influex of "non-aes- thetic" sign advertising. The m o s t hotly - contested amendment to the ordinance is a section regarding "message units" - word syllables, sur- names, abbreviations, and num- bers. The number of message units on a sign are limited by city law. Jim Hume, of the Ann Arbor Bank and Trust, attacked the message unit amendment dur- ing a public hearing two weeks earlier, for being "discrimina- tory" towards longer corporate or private names. Former City Attorney Edwin Pear, before leaving his post several weeks ago, expressed hope that the revisions would save the city some of the thou- sands of dollars spent fighting various law suits the city has faced since the ordinance passed in the late sixties. Morning taxi fare cut set by AATA Dr. Kangaroo Robert Keeshan, better known as television's Captain Kangaroo, is awarded an honorary doctor- ate of humane letters at Dartmouth College Sunday in Hanover, N.H. Dartmouth's president, John Kemeny, is at the left with Professor Robert Huke, Ya ssoo fest draws enthusiastic crowds for wine, dance, song By SUSAN ADES The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (AATA) is completing plans to cut private taxi fares in half in an effort to reduce the incidence of crime between midnight and 5 a.m. "What the Authority has de- cided to do," said Jim Robin- son, AATA operations manager, "is find out how many people will respond to a late night sers- ice by providing a 50 per cent across the board subsidy for rides within the Ann Arbor city tsuts." THE AATA has calculated the average cab fare to be $1.70. Whvthe subsidy, the 1-cent fe will make safe transporta- tion available to "people like nurses and waitresses who have to work the late shifts." The service would be avail- able for any city cab ride origi- nating and terminating in Ann Arbor, providing the call for the taxi is placed before 5 a.m. The AATA has formally offer- ed Yellow Cab and Veteran Cab Services the subsidy plan. In- dicating a cut in fare should in- crease the ride demand signifi- cantly, Robinson said, "I think it wold be to their (the cab eompanies') advantage to ac- cept the offer." BOTH TAX services have yet to reply to the proposal. But, the AATA intends to implement the plan even if only one of the companies signs the contract. Several AATA board members expressed concern at a meeting last week over possibly depriv- ing their own Transportation E iplo' Union drivers of addi- tio~ath ors with she subsidy pLt-n, saidt Roubinson. However, realizing the sum- ter months are reportedly high- crirne periods (with rape fig- tires reaching a peak), the A TA was interested primarily in effecting a system at the ear- liest possible date. Rearranging driver schedules would have See MORNING, Page 6 By BETH NISSEN Thousands of city residents and visitors enjoyed the sights, sounds and spirit of the fourth annual Yassoo Greek Festival in Ann Arbor this past weekend. The Ya'ssoo (Greek for "here's to you!") was held under a block-long canopy adjacent to the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, on Main St. The Festival is organized and staffed by mem- bers of the congregation, the proceeds from their efforts going to the church's building fund. VISITORS TO the weekend "Little Athens" sampled authentic Greek food, clapped their hands to the sounds of a live bouzouki band, toasted their health to the point of infirmity with potent, clear ouzo, and were even pulled into the serpentine lines of Greek folk dancers. Tables were laden with Grecian cuisine as teropita (cheesy triangles), paximathea (a sort of Greek Zwieback), the popular diamonds of baklava pastry, and tsourski, a Greek sweet- bread. Diners were given the choice of seasoned Greek sausage, or souvlaki, a Greec-y lamb shishkabob served over fragrant rice. MISSING FROM this year's Greek table was the strong goatsmilk feta cheese, cut because of high cost. "We eliminated it, even though it is traditional, because it would have raised the prices," ex- plained the Festival co-chairman, Martha Bowie. "But we expanded last year's menu, and we sold 10,000 pieces of pastry in three days." The women in the congregation bake the less fancy pastries in the church kitchen. "TIEY BEGIN baking about the second week in May," said Festival coordinator James Doug- lass. "It isn't unusual on some days to find them there from 7 in the morning to 11 at night. It becomes alnost a commercial operation." An See YA'SSOO, Page 6 wo progress on affir ative action Smuts travels from Tanzania to London By TIM SCHICK I A recent report from the University's Af- firmative Action Office concluded that, de- spite goals to increase minority representa- tion among employes, there has actually been a slight decrease in the University's minor- ity work force. The report notes that between April 1973- March 1974 - the period the study surveys- there was a .1 per cent drop in University minority employes. The report also contended that: *"Little if any progress" was made to- ward the achievement of numerical affirma- tive action objectives; * Overall, the pattern of utilizing minori- ties and women did not change dramatically during the period of the study; and . Minority employes continue to be pri- marily employed as custodians, and secre- taries, while males are predominantly em- ployed as instructors. The study noted that while the University's total work force increased by 1.51 per cent, the number of minority employes increased by only 1.04 per cent - causing minority per- centages to drop from 14.4 to 14.3. Instructors, according to. the report, have the lowest minority percentage of any Univer- sity classification. Eighty per cent are white males, 13.8 per cent white women, and only 6.18 per cent are minorities. During the per- iod in which the study was compiled, one minority instructor was added to the staff. MINORITY employment is disproportionate in the service/maintenance classification, the report said. Over 35 per cent of these posi- tions are held by minorities, 19.9 per cent held by white women, and 44.7 per cent are occu- pied by white males. Secretarial positions are most commonly held, the report states, by white women. They comprise 84.7 per cent of the work force in this area, while white men are only five per cent of this group. Minorities occupy 10.63 per cent of the secretarial positions. The report also notes "data does not show' that there has been a relaxation of sex-role See AFFIRMATIVE, Page 6 By ELAINE FLETCHER Barbara Smuts, a local wo- man kidnapped. last monoth by African guerrillas and later re- leased, flew with her mother from Tanzania to London Sat- urday for treatment of a liver disease, family friends con- firmed yesterday. . Smuts' friends also reported that Barbara's father, Robert Smuts, left Ann Arbor Saturday for a week-long visit with his daughter whom he has not seen for some months. THE REMAINING three hos- tages, captured in a raid on a Tanzanian wildlife research center, are being held by the Zairian Marxist guerrilla in ex- change for their comrades, who are allegedly held by the Tan- zanian government. Although bedridden with her liver illness which was con- tracted before her capture, Bar- bara Smuts remained in the Tanzanian capitol of Dar es Sal- lam uutil Saturday to work for the release of her three cap- tured companions. However, Robert Smuts' trip tO London "was not anything connected with the hostages' rescue" effort, contended close family friend, Marjorie Lan- sing. "HE (Smuts) was just going to join his wife and Barbara be- cause he feels concerned about her health," Lansing explained. Medications for Barbara Smuts' liver have apparently done little. "It was something she was not recovering from," stated Lansing. LANSING added that she had no idea how serious the liver condition was, nor if University professor Peter Steiner is still in the African country of Bur- undi.