The Michigan Daily
Vol. LXXXVI, No. 66-S Ann Arbor, Michigan-Thursday, August 12, 1976 Ten Cents Twelve Pages
Clericals vote to decertify
By GEORGE LOBSENZ
By the scant margin of 55 votes,
University clericals voted to disband
their year-old union, United Auto Work-
ers (UAW) local 2001, in a five day
election which ended yesterday.
Out of some 3,300 clericals on the Ann
Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses,
1,167 votes were cast to decertify and
1,112 votes were for retaining the union.
A total of 2,298 ballots were cast, avoter
turn-out which substantially exceeded
the June union officer elections.
THE ELECTION culminated a decerti-
fication drive orchestrated by a clerical
group called the Committee for Decerti-
fication.
Last May, the group filed a decertifi-
cation petition with 1,131 signatures-a
number exceeding the required 30 per
cent of the bargaining unit-with the
Michigan Employment Relations Com-
mission (MERC). After an early June
meeting between union officials and de-
certification representatives, the August
election date was set.
In the weeks prior to the election, de-
certification leaders said the motivation
behind the move was chiefly disillusion-
ment with the contract negotiated last
summer by a union bargaining team.
Compounding the problem was consider-
able dissension within the union between
two clerical factions grappling for con-
trol of the local.
Decertification organizers were under-
standably satisfied by the results but had
only kind words for their opponents.
"I'm very happy," said spokeswoman
Irene Smith. "At the same time, I empa-
thize with the other side-it was a battle
of beliefs and principles."
As for the future of clericals at the
University, Smith said she was "very
positive."
"I think that they (the University)
will be very fair, just as they have al-
ways been. They'll give clericals a fair
deal."
MEANWHILE, Union President Debbie
Moorehead said she felt that the de-
certification of the union was "a big
mistake."
"There's no reason for tis (clericals)
to believe that gains made in (last sum-
mer's) c o n t r a c t will continue-and
there's certainly no reason to believe
any improvements will be made," she
added. "And if there are any more prob-
lems with the budget-we might be fac-
ing layoffs and that'll be tough."
Asked whether she felt any bitterness
t o w a r d s decertification organizers,
Moorehead said, "No, I guess I really
don't-I think some of their concerns
were valid ones-and they're ones the
union didn't meet."
Testimony conflicts
confuse Postill trial
By LANI JORDAN
CHELSEA - Two conflicting
testimonies yesterday added to
the confusion during the third
day of Sheriff Fred Postill's pre-
liminary hearing on felonious
assault charges.
County J a i 1 Administrator
Frank Donley and suspended
sheriff's deputy Basil Baysinger,
both participants in a July 11
w e d d i n g reception brawl in
Chelsea, each offered a differ-
ent version of events leading up
to and following the incident.
DONLEY'S testimony w a s
consistant with that of most
prosecution witnesses, implying
that Postill had acted only in
his capacity as sheriff to break
up the fight which began at
1:30 a.m. in the parking lot of
the Chelsea fairgrounds.
As the people he was attend-
ing the reception with began to
leave, Donley stated, he looked
for the sheriff inside the hall
and then went outside where he
saw Postill talking with Bay-
singer.
"The sheriff was talking to
Baysinger about some problems
at the jail," Donley said. "I
heard him say 'Mike (Baysing-
er's nickname) you're going to
have to clean up your act (at
the jail) or you may find your-
self suspended'."
DONLEY testified that he
(Donley) then called Baysinger
a "goddamn liar." Baysinger
retorted with a similar com-
ment and the two continued to
argue, poking each other in the
chest. Postill pushed Donley
away and Baysinger hit the
sheriff on the back of his head.
Donley then struck Baysinger,
who turned and ran toward the
reception hall.
Although Baysinger's w if e
Shirley was a witness to the
brawl neither County Prosecu-
tor Lynwood Noah nor Postill's
attorney, Neal Bush questioned
Donley about her role in the in-
cident.
During his two and a half
hours on the witness stand, Bay-
singer testified that the brawl
began when Postill and Donley
invited him outside to discuss
some problems at the jail.
"DONLEY (THEN) accused
me of campaigning against Pos-
till," said Baysinger.
Baysinger contends that Don-
ley continued to accuse him,
saying that he had given infor-
mation about jail occorances to
Ann Arbor News reporter Wil-
liam Treml.
"I denied it and asked for
proof," Baysinger said.
HE ADDED that his wife had
joined the three in the parking
lot, when Donley began cursing
at him. Baysinger turned to his
wife, saying, "Shirley let's go."
"Postill and Donley grabbed
me and threw me up against a
car," he continued. "Then Don-
ley said 'You son of a bitch,
you're not leaving'."
From this point the testimon-
ies of both Donley and Baysing-
er contain accounts of events
occuring after the fight moved
into the hall. Although Donley
and other witnesses state that
the three fought briefly three
times in the hall Baysinger con-
tends that violence broke out in
two additional instances.
BAYSINGER added that Pos-
till had attempted to stab and
choke him with a pair of hand-
cuffs. "I couldn't breath; my
partial plate had become loose
and was lodged in my throat,"
he said.
No other witnesses testified
See CONFLICTING, Page 5
Doily Photo by SCOTT ECCKER
WASHTENAW COUNTY Sheriff Fred Postill makes a point
during a break in a preliminary hearing on felonious assault
charges being considered against him. The charges resulted
from a fight last month involving Postill, Deputy Basil Bay-
singer and Jail Administrator Frank Donley.
Attack on Israeli airliner thwarted
ISTANBUL, Turkey (P) - A grenade
explosion ripped through a line of pas-
sengers waiting to board a Tel Aviv-
bound Israeli El Al jetliner last night,
and Turkish police shot it out with a
group of terrorists apparently trying to
attack the aircraft.
Four persons were killed in the ex-
plosion and 10 to 15 were wounded, the
radio -said. The semiofficial Anatolia
news agency said two terrorists were
captured and identified themselves as
Palestinians.
THE STATE RAIO said Turkish se-
curity police stationed at the airport
thwarted the terrorists' attempt to reach
the Israeli plane, parked 100 yards from
the terminal. The aircraft was undam-
aged and flew on to Israel.
The flight originated in Istanbul:
The radio said the casualties occurred
when the terrorists threw a grenade
into a line of passengers in the terminal
building, but a passenger told newsmen
when the plane landed at Tel Aviv that
the explosion may have been accidental.
"The terrorists waited in line with the
other passengers until the baggage check
station, when one of their suitcases blew
up," the passenger said.
ANOTHER passenger said, "I was de-
scending a stairway to a boarding bus
when I heard an explosion."
The Anatolia news agency said the two
captured terrorists told police they were
members of the "Dr. George Habash
Organization," presumably a reference
to the Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine (PFLP). Habash heads this
group, one of many splinter Palestinian
organizations.
The PFLP has been responsible for a
number of hijackings, including a spec-
tacular one in 1970 in which four planes
were taken in coordinated attacks and
later blown up. A Pan Am Boeing 747
was blown up in Cairo Sept. 6, 1970, and
five days later a Trans World Airlines
707, a Swissair DC8 and a VC10 of Brit-
ish Overseas Airways Corp. were blown
up in Amman, Jordan. An attempt to
hijack an El Al plane at the same time
was unsuccessful and one terrorist was
killed.
THE STATE RADIO said the two cap-
tured men, identified as Mahdi Muham-
med, 22, and Hussein Muhammed al
Rashid, 27, said Libya financed them.
They were carrying Kuwaiti passports,
the radio said.
Anatolia said the terrorists were armed
with grenades, pistols and a submachine
gun. It said they took a Turkish police-
woman hostage and bargained with
authorities for more than an hour after
See ISRAELI, Page 5