Wednesday, July 7, 1976

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Page Three

Elsman to file suit against Austin

By PHILLIP BOKOVOY
Democratic Senate candidate James Elsman an-
nounced yesterday that he will file suit against Sectm.
tary of State Richard Austin to recover campaign
funds collected by Austin through the state department
branch manager system.
Elsman said he will "challenge the legality" of the
practice of having branch managers donate campaign
funds to the Secretary of State they serve under.
"The traditional wisdom of politicians (in Mich-
igan) has been that there's nothing illegal about the
system," he said. "It is the duty of anybody in public
life to follow through on the issues. That is why I'm
filing suit."
ELSMAN ALSO said he would carry through the
suit if he does not win the August primary. "I'm go-
ing to take this issue and not let it drop . . . I have
a jugular issue here."
Austin is using public funds for private purposes
and that is illegal," he added.
The branch managers receive a commission from
the sale of licenses and other fees. The Secretary of
State then receives a percentage of the manager's
income from those sales.

AUSTIN HAS responded to other Elsman charges
by sending a letter to all the managers asking them to
demand their money back if they felt they were unduly
pressured. An Austin spokesman, Jack Casey, said
that no manager has asked for the money back he or
she contributed to Austin.
Casey seemed to put little credence in the Elsman
charges and said, "I don't see how he could be so
poorly informed."
"Elsman is'a lawyer and running for political office
and finds himself with one per cent of the people sup-
porting him with a month to go (until the primary)
and I can understand his frustration and need for pub-
licity," he added.
AUSTIN LAST week announced plans for an inde-
pendent auditing firm to look carefully at his finances
to determine if there was any wrong-doing in the col-
lection of campaign funds.
In addition, says Casey, "He (Austin) has asked the
Michigan Fair Campaign Practices Commission to do
an independent investigation to see if anyone was
coerced into donating."
He also pointed to Austin's actions as Secretary of
State to end the practice of patronage. He said that
the phase-out program is into its fifth year and the

practice will be abolished completely within another
two years.
ALTHOUGH MANY people in the Austin camp are
self-confident to the point of being cocky about their
candidate's chances, there seems to be a fear among
them that the media is playing up Elsman's charges
too much.
"He knows this is a publicity stunt," said Casey.
The Austin camp seems to think their candidate's
position is unassailable and point to a poll they re-
leased yesterday that shows Austin defeating any one
of the four Republican contenders for retiring Senator
Philip Hart's seat. He defeats them all by margins of
two or three to one.
The three other Democratic candidates, Elsman,
Flint Representative Donald Riegle, and Utica Rep.
James O'Hara do not do nearly as well, according to
tha Austin poll.
EVEN WITH some of the fears voiced by Austin
supporters, Casey said, "What it (the branch manager
issue) has done is to make a lot more people aware
that Mr. Austin is running for the Senate."
However, Elsman said "Dick Austin is in trouble on
this issue."

Judge expected to set
VA suspects' trial date

By GEORGE LOBSENZ presse
A trial date will probably be bail d
set tomorrow for the two nurses Pratt
charged with murdering and PEA
poisoning patients at Ann Ar-
bor's Veteran's Administration decisio
(VA) Hospital, when U.S. Dis- $ailcD
trict Court Judge Philip Pratt bail c
meets with defense and proseou- Prat
tion attorneys in a pre-trial. women
Laurence Burgess, attorney with a
for Leonora Perez, 31, said the
meeting would 'give him "a
better idea in terms of a time-
table for the trial."
PEREZ AND Filipina Nar- i
ciso, 30, former nurses in the
intensive care ward at the hos-
pital, are accused of murdering
five patients and poisoning ten
others with injections of Pavu-
1on, a powerful muscle relaxant. IpC
Narciso's counsel, Thomas scis
O'Brien, discounted the pos- few
sibility of a trial in the very
near future. He said December, dev
1976 or even later would be a fUt
more likely date.
The Ann Arbor attorney also tud
strongly hinted that the prosecu- droi
tion would push for as late a
date s sible, presumably to but
avoid adverse public opinion. ba
As
"THE GOVERNMENT is not gea
interested in getting to trial
quickly," said O'Brien, "I think ing.
they sense that public opinion and
is swinging over in support of bor
the nurses. I get the feeling they bot
want some of that to die off."
He added, "I don't think wait- sco
ing will help us - we wan a sh
trial as soon as we can be ach
adequately prepared. We want yea
this thing resolved."
Both O'Brien and Burgess ex-
Fujui come home
Fujui, a Siamese cat, has returned
home after inadvertenty taking a 2,079
mile trip across the country. The cat's
trip began two weeks ago when he
climbed inside a plumber's -truck. Own-
er George North of Greenville, Ohio

d satisfaction with the
ecision handed down by
last week.
TT reversed previous bail
ons that had set bond at
0 for Perez and refused
ompletely to Narcisco.
t ordered bail for the
n reset at $75,000 each,
stipulation that Narciso

and Perez would be released
from Washtenaw County Jail if
they could collect ten per cent
of that figure.
Pratt attached four conditions
to the bail ruling, ordering the
nurses to:
-surrender all passports and
travel documents;
-restrict travel and residency
See TRIAL, Page 14

0 boom predicted
By LANI JORDAN
Your future children could be geniuses, part of an
oming generation of intellectual giants created not by
entific breakthrough, but by the simple method of having
ver children and spacing them farther apart.
Robert Zajonc, a University professor of psychology. has
ised a formula which he says could raise the IQ's of
ure. generations.
IN RECENT YEARS, the scores of the Scholastic Apti-
e Test (SAT) given to high school students and have
pped significantly. Zajonc and other psychologists attri-
e the steady decline in scores to the post-World War II
y boom which produced large, closely-spaced families.
a result of this, Zajonc said, the average level of intelli-
ce in this country has dropped.
Zajonc believes his studies show that this trend is revers-
Since the early 1960's, families have become smaller
Icouples are spacing their children farther apart. Children
n since 1962 have shown higher test scores in studies in
I Iowa and New York.
The results of this trend are also seen in other test
res, says Zajonc. Aptitude test scores for junior high
ool students are the highest they have been in recent
rs.
See 'U', Page 14

Royal ap-peal
Queen Elizabeth II stands in front of the Liberty Bell in Phila-
delphia as she begins her visit to the United States to help
celebrate the Bicentennial. The Queen and her husband, Prince
Phillip, will visit nine U.S. cities before opening the Olympic
Games in Montreal July 17.

thought he had lost his pet, but then re-
ceived a call from a man in Spokane,
Wash. who said that he had found Fujui.
"I thought someone was pulling a hell
of a big joke at first," North said. "But
they finally convinced me that my cat
was in the state of Washington. You
know, a couple of thousand miles is un-
believable. He never went 30 feet out of
the yard before."
0
Bicentennial baby
It was neither an act of patriotism nor
another bicentennial gimmick, it was
merely a matter of necessity. Illinois
State Representative Sam McGrew told

his wife that the only way he could guar-
antee being home for the birth of their
child would be if she had the baby on
the Fourth of July. McGrew and the rest
of the Illinois legislators spent most of
the past two weeks in the state's capital
trying to finish their work before they
adjourned for the holiday. "I told her
the only day I could guarantee I would
not be in Springfield was the Fourth of
July," McGrew said. So, two weeks
overdue, his wife Sarah gave birth to an
eight-pound baby boy. n, you guessed it,
July 4.
Happenings...

. . . at 7:00 in Aud. A Angell, the A2
Film Co-op presents Billion Dollar Brain,
and at 9:00 they will show From Russia
with Love . . . PTP presents Jesus Christ
Superstar at the Power Center at 8:00
. . . the American Trio will perforts at
the Rackham aud. at 8:00 .. .
Weather or not
It'll be another good day for shopping
in an air conditioned mall or going to
the beach, as the mercury will flirt with
the 90 degree mark again today. Winds
will be light, and there is a 20 per cent
chance of rain. Tonight's low will be in
the low 60's.