The Michigan Daily
Vol. LXXXVI, No. 56-S
Ann Arbor, Michigan-Thursday, July 29, 1976
Ten Cents
Twelve Pages
Counci person: Mayor backed
Austin to block sewer plan
By PHILLIP BOKOVOY
A member of City Council has charged
that Mayor Albert Wheeler told Wayne
County officials he would endorse U. S.
Senate candidate Richard Austin if the
officials, who reportedly are supporting
Austin, would help block Ann Arbor's
inclusion in a controversial regional
sewer plan.
The plan, nicknamed "Super Sewer,"
would include Ann Arbor in a huge
"k drainage system through Wayne and
Washtenaw counties. Wheeler and the
Council have opposed the plan from its
inception. The Michigan Water Re-
sources Commission has now excluded
Ann Arbor from the plan, but Wayne
County officials are still contesting the
matter in court.
WHEELER endorsed Austin, Michi-
gin's Secretary of State, last Monday.
The mayor said he had merely been
telling the Council member in question
"one of the ways of operating politically
to serve your constituents," and added
that the role of the sewer issue in the
endorsement was relatively minor.
On Monday, Wheeler called Austin "a
man of integrity," and added, "He will
be vigorous in working to get things
done.
BUT THE Council member who spoke
to the Daily has alleged that Wheeler
originally indicated support for Rep.
Donald Riegle, but could not endorse
him because of "pressure" being ap-
plied by "old friends."
Wheeler admitted that he had "a lot
of respect for Riegle," and that a num-
her of his old friends had indeed been
urging him to support Austin because
he would be the first black Democratic
Senator.
Council menber Carol Jones (D.-2nd
Ward) suggested that perhaps the coun-
cilperson had misconstrued what the
mayor had said. She speculated that
Wheeler had been giving 'f'rinstances'
Daily Photo by SCOTT tCCKFR while explaining the most useful way to
Rushing the rapids give political endorsements.
COUNCIL MEMBER Jamie Ken-
Take a couple of old inner tubes, add two adventurous souls, put them in the worthy (D.-4th Ward) also thought there
swirling waters of the Huron River, and what do you have? A perfect way to was another explanation. He maintained
cool off on a hot and humid summer day that if Wheeler had wanted political
Quakes take toll in China
Wheeler
favors in exchange for an endorsement
he would have sought them in the May
presidential primary. He explained that
Detroit Mayor Coleman Young had been
supporting Jimmy Carter and that if
Wheeler had wanted political help with
'Super Sewer' he could have backed
Carter at that time instead of Morris
Udall.
Wheeler stated that in making a po-
litical endorsement he asks himself cer-
tain questions. "I want to know 'which
is going to do the best for us;' 'How am
I beholden to this person', and 'Will they
give us some help on this, that or the
other'."
lie said he had considered all these
questions in making his endorsement of
Austin.
KENWORTIHY remarked that the sew-
er controversy had been going on for a
long time and "Al's been the first person
to resolve it successfully."
Jones could not understand why Wheel-
er would have taken the sewer issue into
consideration in making his endorsement.
"If Al really said that, and if he meant
it in regard to our local sewage treat-
ment question, then I believe he is read-
ing the political intricacies and the judi-
cial intricacies erroneously; unless he
knows something I don't know," she ex-
plained.
TOYKO (A')-The streets of Peking
were crowded yesterday with frightened
residents, plastic tents and makeshift
hospitals after two major earthquakes
rocked China's heavily populated north-
eastern corner, reports from the Chinese
capital said.
In the giant port city of Tientsin, 80
miles to the southeast, witnesses said
there was widespread destruction.
JAPANESE PRESS reports from Pe-
king said the first quake, which struck
before dawn, collapsed old brick build-
ings in Peking, sent residents fleeing
into rainswept avenues, and cut off
electricity in many sections.
Reports on casualties in the stricken
area were sketchy and inconclusive.
"There were some people killed, but we
were told not many," said former Aus-
tralian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam,
who was visiting Tientsin and whose nine-
story hotel "split in half, down the middle
in two halves." His wife was slightly
injured.
IN WASHINGTON, the White House
said the U.S. liaison office in- Peking
reported all Americans in Peking and
Tientsin were safe. U.S. Ambassador
Thomas Gates offered any American aid
the Chinese might want.
The Canadian ambassador to Peking,
C. J. Small, told Canadian Press by tele-
phone that the quakes were a "great
tragedy" 'and that the Chinese people
had not yet been told the full extent of
the damage.
China's official Hsinhua news agency
made its first mention of the quakes 20
hours after the first tremor and said
"damage of varying degrees was re-
ported." It gave no casualty figures.
THERE WERE vague reports of cas-
ualties in Peking, and Japanese press
reports from the capital said emergency
tents were set up to treat the injured.
The first shock hit at about 3:40 a.m.
Peking time (3:40 p.m. Tuesday EDT).
See QUAKES, Page 5
Senate
Candidate
Profiles
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