Tuesday, July 29, 1975
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Three
Officer testifies in
Littl emurder trial
UaIv Photo byS TVE KAGAN
MANAGER Dave Sparks welcomed some 300 visitors at his ribbon-cutting ceremony last night
celebrating their newest McDonalds. Champagne and hors d'oeuvres, while not a permanent
part of the menu, were served to the businessmen, hamburger executives and their wives.
New co naps
with fashionable party
By AP and UPI
RALEIGH, N.C. - Testimony
began in the Joan Little murder
trial yesterday with a member
of the Washington, N.C., police
department describing how he
found the bloody, partially nude
body of a 62-year-old white jailer
in the young black woman's cell.
Police officer Jerry Helms
was called to the stand at the
conclusion of arguments on va-
rious defense motions.
Wake County Superior Court
Judge Hamilton Hobgood denied
a defense request to dismiss
charges against Little, 21, who
contends she was fighting off a
rape attempt.
BEAUFORT C o u n t y jailer
Clarence Alligood was found
stabbed to death with an icepick
Aug. 27, 1974. Helms said he
was the first to see the body at
about 3:55 a.m.
Little fled the jail, leaving
Allieoods halfnude body in her
c;-1. She surrendered to authori-
ties eight days later. She said
sh¢ fled in fear for her life.
The state has contended that
Alligood was killed during an
escape attempt by Little, who
was awaiting an appeal on a
breaking and entering convic-
tion. Little has said she killed
Alligood in selfdefense to ward
of a sexual attack.
HELMS testified that he and
another oficer, Johnny Rose,
discovered Alligood when they
took another female prisoner to
the jail. Alligood's body was on
the bunk in what had been
Little's cell, he said.
"Mr. Alligood was lying on his
left side. He wan naked from
the waist down, except for his
socks," Helms said.
Helms testified that Alligood
was holding his slacks in his
left hand and an icepick in his
right hand. A medical report
released after the slaying indi-
cated that Alligood had been
stabbed 11 times with an ice-
pick.
THE OFFICERS found a set
of eyeglasses and a pair of
men's undershorts on the floor
beside the cell bunk, Helms
said.
An overnight adjournment was
called when the state completed
its questioning of Rose, who
was told to return for cross-
examination today.
Spectators in the courtroom
yesterday incloded several of
Alligood's family members, and
Georgia state Sen. Julian Bond,
head of the Southern Poverty
Lasw Cent'r Inc. of Montgomery,
Ala., which is helping finance
Little's defense.
HOBGOOD rejected without
comment a defense motion to
dismiss the mrder indictment
on grounds Little had taken two
private lie detector tests that
indicated she told the truth
when she said jailer Clarence
Alligood was stabbed in self-
defense.
The defense contended that
District Attorney William Grif-
fin earlier had agreed to drop
the charges if Little passed
three lie detector tests. But a
test that was to be administer-
ed by the state was never
given.
The crsurt delayed its ruling
sn another motion that would
prohibit the use of a diary Little
left in her cell. Hobgood said he
would rule on the motion if and
when the state attempts to sub-
mit the diary as evidence.
LITTLE'S attorneys contended
that the use of the diary as
evidence would have the same
efect as forcing her to testify.
Defense attorney Marvin Mil-
ler, one of seven representing
Little, also argued that the diary
and ether belongings taken from
Little's cell, where Alligood was
found dead, were seized illegal-
ly. The diary reportedly con-
tains notes written by Little on
plans after her release from
jail, where she was awaiting
appeal of a breaking and enter-
ing conviction.
The prosecution has insisted
there are no witnesses to the
slaying and that the case would
be based on circumstantial evi-
dence.
TERRY BELL, an 18-year-old
white trustie at the jail, is on
the list bf possible witnesses.
Defense lawyers say he once
made a statement indicating he
helped arrange Alligood's body
after he was killed to help Little.
He since has repudiated the
statement.
By JEFF RISTINE
"This organization is like a
military organization," explain-
ed the smiling, smartly-dressed
businessman. "They always go
by the book."
"I think it's beautifully done,"
gushed a woman, surveying her
surroundings. "It's very well
done"
"COMPARED to the one in
London, this is an improve-
ment," remarked an English-
accented observer.
And so, in a special ceremony
for local merchants, Michigan
business types and everyone
who is anyone in the world of
hamburgers, McDonalds 1 a s t
night celebrated the opening of
their 3,010th store-one of only
a handful which have no golden
arches.
Some 300 persons attended the
champagne and hors d'oeuvre
party as Dave Sparks, manager
of Maynard Street's newest en-
terprise, posed for pictures hold-
ing a roll of 50 $1 bills he is
donating to a local charity.
Sparks brushed aside criti-
cism that the new fast-food
chophouse will 'engender mas-
sive piles of paper bags and
plastic cups along the streets
and campus. "It's not us," he
asserted, placing the blame di-
rectly upon impenitent custom-
ers. "We try to take care of as
much of the waste that we
can."
ANOTHER hamburger execu-
tive with the unlikely name of
Mickey MacDonald acknowl-
edged- the criticism of last year,
when angry protestors tried to
persuade the City Council to
give the corporation a thumbs-
down vote. "I would presume
that there is still some adverse
feeling," he confessed.
Decked with brownish pictures
of Ann Arbor in years past, the
new McDonalds is a brick, two-
story structure where once stood
the proud old home of Bee
Nickels Hall.dMore than 6,800
persons signed petitions to keep
the building away, which has
only a pink, stained-glass win-
dow to advertise the corpora-
tion's name.
"I think it looks like a
church," concluded one observ-
er who had slipped in from the
lautndromat across the street by
identifying himself as a "dis-
trict manager." He said he
See NEWEST, Page 5
Wheeler to submit rent control
Bullard proposes
new grass law
' By ROBERT WALT
A bill that .would decriminalize the possession of marijuana
will be introduced to the state House of Representatives in the
next three weeks.
Although the specifics of the bill are not yet available, its
sponsor, Perry Bullard (fl-Ann Arbor), has revealed some of its
main points.
"THE BILL will reduce the penalty for possession of mari-
juana from a criminal to a civil offense, with a $100 maximum
fine for offenders," Bullard explained. "The new law would be
much like that of a traffic citation, with destruction of records
after a two-year period."
If passed, Michigan would be the sixth state in the nation
to have decriminalized possession of marijuana following the lead
of California, Oregon, Alaska, Colorado, and Maine.
The bill would permit what is already common practice in
many areas, Bullard claimed. This "de facto decriminalization"
is common in most law enforcement circles (as is evident with
Ann Arbor's $5 pot law). Rarely will a first offender get punish-
ment more severe than probation, 'he added.
THE BILL would also relieve the courts of many marijuana
See BULLARD, Page 5
cOmmittee
By ANN MARIE LIPINSKI
Calling rent control "one of
the most crucial issues to come
before this Council in a while,"
Mayor Albert Wheeler told City
Council members last night that
he would hand them a proposal
for a fair rental practices com-
mittee by Aug. 11.
Wheeler told Council he has
"honestly worked hard" on the
proposal and that he would offer
them a list of 13 potential can-
didates for a committee as well
as a committee charge.
A HUMAN Rights P a r t y
(HRP)-writtenr e n t control
amendment was defeated by
city voters in last April's gen-
eral election. However, Wheeler
and several other Democratic
Council candidates pledged dur-
ing their campaigns that they
would, if elected, actively work
on some form of a rent control
ordinance if the HRP amend-
ment failed.'
Responding to recent citizens'
charges. that Wheeler has been
dragging his feet on the rent
plan by early August
control issue, he said, "I apolo-
gize, but I refuse to move into
something so serious precipi-
tously."
"I am not interested in play-
ing games as far as fair rental
practices are concerned," said
Wheeler. "I want to seek meth-
ods to make housing in Ann
Arbor cheaper."
SARCASTICALLY refering to
Wheeler's proposed committee
as the "alias fair rental prac-
tices committee," Councilwo-
man Kathy Kozachenko (HRP-
Second Ward) demanded that
Councilhmove more expiditious-
ly on the matter. "Because if
we (the ,HRP) don't see some-
thin gsubstantial within a month,
we're just going to come in (to
Council) every week with a res-
olution of our own," she said.
Saying he, didn't "just want
something symbolic," Wheeler
told'.Kozashenko, "I would hope
that by October we would have
a report from the committee
and I think it would take an-
other month to (act on an ordi-
nance)."
Without, elaborating on the
exact charge of the committee,
Wheeler did say that he would
ask that it make recommenda-
tions for an ordinance "to deal
with exhorbitant rents in the
city."
COUNCILWOMAN Elizabeth
Keogh (D-First Ward), while
siding with Kozachenko's plea
to speed up the rent control ac-
tion, cautioned against a "slop-
py" proposal, suggesting that a
rent "rollback" program could
be instituted in an ordinance
to cover those renters who have
already signed fall leases.
In other action, Councilman
J a m i e Kenworthy (D-Fourth
Ward) presented a financial an-
alysis of the Ann Arbor Airport
expansion plan as outlined in a
report by Transplan Inc. Ken-
worthy's report raised questions
concerning the financial feasi-
bility of Transplan's various al-
ternative plans for the future
of the city airport.