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.