The Michigan Daily
Vol. LXXXVI, No. 31-S Ann Arbor, Michigan-Thursday, June 17, 1976 Ten Cents Twelve Pages
GRAND JURY INDICTS 2 NURSES:
2 charged in VAdeaths

By GEORGE LOBSENZ
The FBI yesterday culminated an exhaustive 10-
month investigation into last summer's mysterious
breathing ' failure deaths at Ann Arbor's Veteran's
Administration (VA) Hospital with the arrest of two
nurses on charges of first degree murder.
Filipina Narciso, 30, of Ypsilanti, and Leonora
Perez, 31, of Evanston, Ill., were the two women nam-
ed by FBI acting special agent Jay Bailey at a press
conference in downtown Detroit.
ACCORDING TO Bailey, the two nurses were ar-
rested at VA hospitals in both Ann Arbor and Chicago,
based on a 16-count indictment handed down yesterday
by a federal grand jury.
Both Narciso and Perez were charged with 5 counts
of first-degree murder, one count of conspiracy to com-
mit murder and 10 counts of injecting poison into the
intravenous medicine of patients in the intensive care
unit at the VA hospital.
Bailey said the women were expected to be arraign-
ed today before a U. S. magistrate. He added that the

nurses were charged under federal law since the al-
leged crimes were committed on federal property.
BOTH NARCISO and Perez worked at the Ann Arbor
VA Hospital last July and August when a rash of
respiratory failures hit the facility. There had been
some 40 unexplained breathing failures in the period
between July 1 and August 15 when the FBI was
called in. Eleven of the patients who suffered respira-
tory attacks died immediately or a short while later.
At least six of the eleven deaths were considered
murders by investigators.
Investigators later attributed some of the breathing
failures to the muscle-relaxant pancuronium bromide
(commercially known as Pavulon), a drug that acts
much like curare. Pavulon was eventually found in
urine and blood samples taken from two respiratory-
attack survivors. It was also detected in an intrave-
neous tube.
Last month it was reported that traces of the same
drug had been discovered in the exhumed bodies of
breathing-failure victims.

THE TWO NURSES were first connected with the
case March 1 when Federal prosecutors filed an affi-
davit in U. S. District Court. Narciso and Perez were
later named as suspects by a 23-member federal grand
jury.
In a telephone interview, Bailey confirmed the ar-
rests, but refused to elaborate on the case.
"I won't go any further than giving out information
concerning the arrests made this afternoon," said
Bailey.
HE ADDED, "There'll be no pre-trial comments on
this case one way or another."
Bailey did say that there were no problems in the
actual arrest of the two women, and that the two
were now in custody.
VA Hospital officials in Ann Arbor professed ignor-
ance of the case and accordingly had few comments.
Assistant U. S. attorney Richard Delonis was not
available yesterday to comment on the arrests, but
is expected to hold a news conference today to pro-
vide further details.

U.S. Ambassador
murdered in Beirut

BEIRUT, Lebanon (A)-The U.S. ambassador to
Lebanon and his economic counselor were shot to
death yesterday while crossing the no-man's land
that divides war-torn Beirut. They were en route
to peace talks with the nation's president-elect.
In Washington, President Ford termed the
deaths an assassination during a "mission of
peace."
AMBASSADOR Francis Meloy Jr., 59, coun-
selor Robert Waring, 58, and their Lebanese
chauffeur, Zoheir Maghrabi, were last seen alive
late yesterday morning as they headed for the
dangerous crossing-on their way from the U.S.
Embassy in the Moslem sector to the Christian-
held territory and the office of president-elect
Elias Sarkis.
Neither Ford nor the U.S. Embassy here gave
details of why the two diplomats were going to
see Sarkis. The Syrian-backed candidate was
elected May 8 over heavy leftist opposition.
Palestinian officials said the three bodies were
found near a Beirut beach more than two miles

away from the crossing point, which is used to
move from one side of the city to the other.
A SOURCE at American University Hospital in
Beirut said the two diplomats' bodies and that of
their driver had been taken there for identifica-
tion by the embassy.
Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat's official news
agency WAFA said neither Palestinian guerrillas
nor their leftist Lebanese allies had anything to
do with the killings.
An embassy spokesman refused to give details
of the two diplomats' journey, citing security
reasons. He said the visit to Sarkis had not been
made public and the bullet-proof Chevrolet was
not flying an American flag to identify it as a
diplomatic vehicle, although its license plate
identified it as an American embassy car.
STATE DEPARTMENT spokesman Robert
Funseth in Washington said the three men were
"executed. They had been shot." He said he had
See U.S., Page 7

Ambassador Meloy

Women's gains crave recognition

By LAURIE YOUNG
Third in a Five-Part Series
Women encounter a variety of disad-
vantages at the University due to the
meager gains they have made under af-
firmative action. As a result, they ex-
perience many unique pressures in their
professional lives.
Perhaps the most striking problem on
campus is the lack of "role models". All
women - students, faculty, and staff -
suffer because they lack other women
to whom they can look for support and
comraderie. Likewise, lack of role mod-
els slows down the replacement of old
attitudes.

"To have role models is an important
means through which to help people fo-
cus in on their attitudes," states Regent
Sarah Power. "A good example of the
kind of woman we need to bring in is
Madame Giroud, who spoke at com-
mencement; she is a highly influential
and respected person. She is someone
who talks with commitment, compas-
sion, and integrity."
Though women students in general
need female role models - women pro-
fessors, for instance - that they can
look to for both inspiration and advice,
women in non-traditional areas such
an engineering face a particular dilem-
ma.

"There is a constant conflict to try
to retain your feminity and to be an
engineer," says Ann Stenbeck, an en-
gineer who runs the Office for Women
in the School of Engineering. "There is
never any peace. Your self-doubts are
prodded and magnified. You are an ex-
ample -- and generalized."
While there are more fellow women
students to share similar experiences
with now than in the past, there is a
real dearth of female professors who
can be looked to for support. And the
torment, the chiding, remain; the ten-
sions build up - without proper outlet.
"Some (male) professors treat you
differently. There's always a need to

justify yourself - about 5000 times," ex-
plains Jenny, an engineering student.
"With professors growing older, you're
often the same age as their daughters."
"When there are no role models,"
says Dorothy McGuigan, Program Coor-
dinator for the Center for Continuing
Education "women have to have twice
as much self-confidence to succeed."
"In particular, a woman who comes
back to college after many years at
home raising a family is usually poig-
nantly lacking in self-confidence. She
needs a role model. If there is none, it
is a double hazard to find the courage
and confidence to succeed."
See WOMEN, Page 10