Wednesday, June 25, 19~/5 THE !MICHIGAN DAILY Page Three Wednesday, June 25, 1975 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Three GEO defense calls arrests By TIM SCHICK The prosecution in the pre-trial hear- ing for 44 Graduate Employes Organiz- ation (GEO) members was caught off. guard yesterday as the defense moved to dismiss charges against half of the group. The defense attorney claimed the University official requesting the arrests was not authorized to do so. The GEO members were arrested for trespassing in February during their month-long strike as they picketed out- side the University Plant Department. The 24 pickets arrested on the 27th were taken into custody at the request of Richard Wedge, Manager of Maintenance and Construction. DEFENSE Attorney Donald Koster during his closing arguments pointed out that in a list of stipulations introduced earlier, Wedge is not named as being authorized to -request arrests. The list was introduced to the court with the approval of Prosecuting Attor- ney David Schwartz and signed by the the General Council for the University. Apparently Schwartz allowed the in- troduction of the stipulations not realiz- ing Wedge lacked authority to request arrests. FOLLOWING the proceedings Koster told defendants: "The prosecutor thinks I knifed him in the back. It's not my fault that the General Council for the University and the prosecutor can't read legal papers." Koster - indicated that the University provided him with the vital information in the first place. Under state law the president of the University (Robben Fleming) can desig- nate people to act tinder his authority to order arrests. "Mr. Wedge . . . did not have the authority to invoke the trespass act under the authority of Rob- ben Fleming," Koster added. EARLIER, Fred Veigel, a field inves- tigator for the Michigan Building and Trades Council, testified that the picket. lines were orderly and did not break any law. Veigel, who occasionally instructs strikers on proper picket line activity, testified as an expert on labor disputes. He indicated the only good location to place a picket line at the plant depart- ment would be in the same driveway where the GEO members were arrested. He said strikers frequently picket on their employers land and that the GEO mproper case was the first time he has known pickets to be arrested for trespassing. He pointed to a Supreme Court ruling allowing strikers at shopping centers which are private property, to picket in- side enclosed malls if no one blocks the flow of traffic. THE DEFENSE has argued that tres- passing is an improper charge against the defendants. Veigel also testified that the GEO pickets followed a procedure which he would recommend to potential strikers. "You keep. moving, hold up your signs so that you can be identified, talk to drivers and let them through if they want to proceed," he stated. He added that that the GEO picket line was "orderly . . . did not break any law and was well behaved." See GEO, Page 7 Sheriff deputies defended in 'Blue Magic' incident By DAVID WHITING The union steward for two sheriff deputies who were fired for alleged brutality w h i 1 e searching a rock band last month defended the former offi- cers yesterday and blasted their dismissals as unjustified. Raymond Zakrzewski, an offi- cer and arbitrator for the depu- ties' union, Teamsters Local 214, declared that the fired men "are not a couple of rub-a-dub bad cops . . . the accusations against these guys are really into dreamland." THE BLUE Magic band was stopped May 10 by some 12 county sheriff deputies and city policemen, who had received reports that one member of the group was carrying a con- cealed long-barrelled gun. Six band members later filed a $12 million civil lawsuit, con- tending they suffered physical and verbal abuse from two deputies, Randy Evans and Wil- liam Tommelein, and two city police officers. However, the musicians could identify only the county deputies by name. Sheriff Fred Postill fired Evans a n d Tommelein two weeks ago after conducting an investigation into the incident which he f e 1lt substantiated charges that the deputies had "grossly and negligently mis- handled" both the band and its property. LIEUT. Laird Harris, who conducted the sheriff's investi- gation, has stated that Evans and Tommelein were also guilty of "submitting false reports .. . and withholding material and information from the Washte- naw County Sheriff Depart- ment." See SHERIFF, Page 11 Birdwatchers keep eye on conservation By CATHERINE REUTTER Imagine yourself waiting be- hind a bush somewhere, deep in the heart of the Arb. Suddenly, a scarlet tanager fliesby, hug- ging the ground. You dash mad- ly after him, clutching your high-powered binoculars in one hand, while your other sweaty palm grasps your camera with its special zoom lens. If this is your impression of what it's like to spend an aft- ernoon "in the field," watching for birds, you're wrong. THE WASHTENAW Audubon Society (WAS) sponsors a num- ber of field trips to area parks throughout the year, and few of the people who attend are little old men and women in pith helmets and walking shorts. Field trip crowds are composed of anybody from grade school kids to middle- aged couples. , WAS plans their next field trip to Oakwoods Metropark this Sunday, to be-led by the super- vising naturalist of the recent- ly -, opened park. A report in the most recent WAS newsletter includes the dry stereotypical tabulation of species sighted, including "a possible yellow - rumped warb- ler". Another report reveals the more sardonic side of "bird- ing", when it talks of "twenty- three rain-drenched fanatics." WAS, part of the Michigan Audubon Society and the na- tional organization, is also ac- tive in the political sphere. At present, the Audubon societies are opposing the appointments of two anti-conservationimen to key governmental posts. C O N S E R V A T I O N groups across the nation, in- cluding the Society, unsuccess- fully opposed the appointment of Stanley Hathaway as Secre- tary of the Interior. They con- tended the former Wyoming governor was an advocate of strip mining and predator poi- sons. Closer to home, WAS is also disenchanted with the selection of Upper Peninsula Senator Jo- seph Mack as chairman of the Michigan Senate's Conservation Committee. They contend Mack is no friend of the conservation movement. "Mack is not an environment- alist," says Doris Behling, a WAS member, adding, "he's been involved in many shady things, but he's slippery." Mack supports the mining interests in the U. P., hoping to improve that area's depressed economy. So the next time you go trek- ing into the woods with your Field Guide to Birds tucked under your arm, go with a group. But be careful - you; may find yourself in a political argument. AP Photo Gandhi pleased with court's ruling Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi receives well-wishers in New Delhi yesterday after learn- ing that the Indian Supreme Court gave her approval to remain as head of the government while appealing her conviction for corrupt elec toral practices. State senate to vote on l I a " U'budgetapropitons By BILL TURQUE Milliken's office and members of the Appro- The Senate Appropriations Committee yester- priations Committee, who originally recommended -day recommended $109.4 million in state funding a higher education budget $16 million in excess for the University in fiscal 1975-76. of the governor's projection. The figure represents a slight reduction from "We kind of got caught in the crossfire," said the expected $110.7 million allocation due to Kennedy. two last minute, across-the-board funding cuts for state colleges and universities. The appro- AMY SCHNETZLER, committee clerk, indi- priation is, in any event, a cut of nearly $16 cated that the bill "was rewritten to an extent." million from the University's original fiscal re- She said the committee membership had drafted quest to the lawmakers. a list of budgetary issues they wished to discuss with the governor, which they did. ACCORDING to Richard Kennedy, University The specific -provisions of the bill will not be vice president for state relations, the last minute made public until it is formally sent to the trimming resulted in a $1.1 million reduction in Senate, probably tomorrow. utilities funding for the Unversity. Kennedy added Kennedy estimated that it might be the last that an additional $200,000 in funds for the School week in July before the University's financial of Education was also slashed. picture jells. It will probably necessitate a spe- The final cuts, Kennedy said, are the out- cial Regents meeting to resolve financial issues, growth of an ongoing conflict between Governor including a probable fall tuition hike.