Ninety-One Years
Of
Editorial Freedom
4iga
41v
at
COLD
Partly cloudy and very
cold today with scattered
snow flurries.
Vol. XCI, No. 107 Copyright 1981, The Michigan Daily Ann Arbor, Michigan-Wednesday, February 4, 1981 Ten Cents Ten Page
Ex-hostage
files
Iran
suit
against
despite
treaty
From UPI and AP
The liberated hostages marked their
second week of freedom yesterday un-
doubtedly eyeing a $420,000 lawsuit
filed against the Iranian government by
one of their fellow prisoners in defiance
of the agreement between the United
States and Iran. ,
The suit, filed Monday in
Washington's U.S. District Court by
Marine Sgt. Gregory Persinger, alleges
that Persinger's diplomatic privileges,
immunities and civil rights were
violated when the embassy was seized.
It further states that he and his
family suffered when he was
"threatened with execution before a
firing squad," and "subjected to
numerous instances of assault and bat-
tery, physical abuse, and severe
emotional and psychological
pressures."
Also named as plaintiffs are Per-
singer's parents, Mr. and Mrs.
Lawrence Persinger of Seaford, Del.
Meanwhile, Detroit's freed hostages
Charles Jones Jr. and Joseph Subic Jr.
were honored yesterday in a packed
Ford Auditorium in a "Celebration of
Freedom."
Though they insisted they were not
heroes, Jones, 40, of Detroit, the only
black among the 52 ex-hostages and
Subic, 24, of Redford Township, were
given a standing ovation as they ap-
proached the podium for brief remarks
at the special welcome-home
ceremony.
"I personally do not consider myself
a hero. The eight men who lost their
lives in the failed rescue mission last
April are the heroes and their families
are the heroes," Jones said.
"You took the words from me," said
Subic, an Army staff sergeant. "We're
not heroes ... We just want to be nor-
mal again. Thank you, Detroit."
Michigan's two liberated hostages
were presented with Distinguished
Recognition Awards, the city's highest
honor-a silver medallion on a red;
white and blue ribbon. They also
received plaques on behalf of the people
of Detroit and numerous gifts from
merchants.
Appearing on the rostrum with the
two were Jones' wife Mattie and four
daughters and Subic'sfiance.,,
Police estimated as many as 1,800-a
capacity crowd-filled the auditorium
for the ceremony, which was open to
the public without charge on a first-
come, first-served basis.
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra.,
played "When Johnny Comes Marching,
Home Again" and jazz singer Kim,
Weston sang "Lift Ev'ry Voice anid'
Sing," the black national anthem.
At a champagne reception followinlg
the public ceremony, Jones and Subic
were treated to a four-foot-tall cale
which said "From captivity to liberty.:
Welcome home Charles and Joseph.;
Daily Photo by MAUREEN O'MALLEY
William Holmes, a former halfway house resident, sits in his room at 506 West William Street. He has been transferred
to a corrections center in Flint, Michigan. The William Street halfway house is scheduled to close March 1.
Fon r residents air viWS
onhalwa hoseclosings,
By DEBI DAVIS
After the closing of three Ann Arbor halfway houses in
December, and the scheduled closing of a fourth in March,
several state prisoners, in an interview yesterday, ex-
pressed concern that the controversial halfway house
program might shut down.
The Community Residential Program allows certain
"low-risk" prisoners to live in community homes, called
halfway houses, as a rehabilitation program, aimed at
easing the transition back to society. The program has
come under fire by city and University officials after
several halfway house residents were charged with recent
crimes.
OPPONENTS OF THE houses have said severe over-
crowding of state prisons has resulted in an influx of more
serious criminals into the special program.
Yet, in interviews yesterday, most current and former
residents of local halfway houses defended the program
against recent demands- that the program be revised or
eliminated.
One former resident of an Ann Arbor halfway house,
Jackie Lyons, said scrapping the entire program would be a
mistake. "It would be a shame if something happened and
they stopped the program," Lyons said.
"THE PUBLICITY WE'RE getting now isn't helping,"
Lyons said, referring to news coverage of the December
murder of a local cab driver and last month's restaurant
robbery. Both crimes were allegedly committed by halfway
house residents.;
A 29-year-old prisoner, who asked not be identified, said
he didn't like living in the halfway house at 1124 East Ann
St., one of the houses closed after the December murder. He
said, "People stand over you all the time and tell you what
to do."
"It's just another form of incarceration, but just a little
lighter," the prisoner said. "If I were renting a room, I
wouldn't rent there," he said, adding, but "there's a hell of
a difference between a room in a halfway house and a cell
block at Jackson prison."
ACCORDING TO THE former residents, living con-
ditions varied from house to house.
Levers Suber, who lived in one of three halfway houses
owned by local landlord Louis Rome, said the houses were
"filthy, rat-infested and allirun down." He also said thefts
by outsiders were frequent.
Suber, who asked for a transfer from the Rome complex,
was placed in a halfway house on William Street owned by a
local minister, the Rev. Esque Wells. He said the Wells
facility was "really nice," with "carpet all over the place -
just like home."
BUT, TOM SMITH, who also lived in both the Rome and
Wells homes, described the Rome house on Ann Street as
"clean and nice." He said he had a good room and more
See CONVICTS, Page 2
Hess case prompts
threats on Jews
KARLSRUHE, West Germany (UPI)
- Neo-Nazis set a Valentine's Day
deadline to kill two Jews at random
unless they get nearly $7 million for a
fund to free Hitler's right-hand man,
Rudolf Hess, a government spokesman
said yesterday.
A group calling itself the Rudolf Hess
Restitution Commando made the
demand in letters to the governments of
the four Allied powers - the United
States, Britain, France and the Soviet
Union - which jointly control Berlin's
Spandau jail, where the 86-year-old
convicted Nazi war criminal is im-
prisoned.
A SPOKESMAN for the West German
Federal Prosecutor's Office said the
demands also were sent to the West
German, Italian and Austrian gover-
nments and the West German media.
The group said payment of the money
would be "a gesture of good will."
The group threatened "bloody
retaliation" in what it called an
ultimatum if the money was not paid by
Feb. 14 to the "Freedom for Rudolf
Hess Committee," an organization
formed by Hess' son, Wolf-Ruediger'
Hess, 43, a Munich architect.
The younger Hess made no comment
on the threats and there was no in-
dication he was implicated.
THE LETTERS, dated Jan. 30 and
mailed in Salzburg, Austria, threatened
that the previously unknown Nazi group
would make an example of two Jews
chosen at random and kill them, the
spokesman said.
In addition to the money, the com-
mando group demanded Hess be given
the immediate right to consult a lawyer
of his own choice in Spandau, where he
is serving a life sentence handed down
by the International Military Tribun.
at Nuremberg in 1946. The spokesman
said Federal Prosecutor Kurt Reb-
mann is investigating.and, has4rteady
opened legal proceedings to prosecute
in the event the group is uncovered.
Hess, deputy to Adolf Hitler, was cap-
tured by the British in 1941 after he
parachuted into Scotland on a secret
mission. He spent the rest of the war
imprisoned in the Tower of London.
The spokesman said the money
demand was not quite clear, but ap-
parently the commando wanted the
seven nations receiving the letter to
pay.
The commando group said the money
also would be used to support the case
of Maj. Walter Reder, 65, who was sen-
tenced to life by an Italian court for the
massacre of 1,830 civilians in the town
of Marzabotto.
The state's prison
population has almost
doubled in six years,
placing a greater burden
on the halfway house
program, according to
Community Residential
Program Supervisor John
Gellick. "In some cases
overcrowding has
affected the kind of people
we are getting," he notes.
...............
Corporate
chairman
warns of
S. African
revolution
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
(AP)-Industrialist Harry Op-
penheimer, chairman of the giant
Anglo American Corp., has warned of
possible revolution in South Africa in
five years unless blacks get major con-
cessions.
Oppenheimer's remarks, delivered in
the 72-year-old industrialist's typical
low-key style at a luncheon with foreign
journalists on Monday, were in line
with a long-held political philosophy he
terms "radical conservatism."
But with a national election
scheduled for April 29, Oppenheimer's
warning was considered the clearest so
far to Prime Minister P.W. Botha that
the new five-year mandate he seeks
could be the most important in South
African history.
AS CHAIRMAN of Anglo American,
Oppenheimer's remarks carry some
weight.
The South African-based
multinational corporation produces
some 48 percent of the country's gold,
about a third of its coal and a like
amount of its uranium.
Oppenheimer told the journalists that
Botha and previous National party
governments, following the official
policy of apartheid or racial
segregation, have squandered too much
time in trying to reach an accom-
modation between South Africa's 4.5
million whites and 2 million blacks.
He said the during his two years as
prime minister, Botha had raised the
hopes of blacks with promises of a new
deal, at the same time telling whites
they must "adapt or die."
Most South African blacks view the
upcoming election as irrelevant
because they don't have the right to
vote. They tend to see Botha's reforms
as window-dressing for the outside
world and say they won't be satisfied
until the entire apartheid system is
dismantled.
John Gellick, supervisor of the controversial. Ann Arbor resident home
program, handles phone calls from concerned citizens and city officials, af-
ter recent crimes allegedly committed by halfway house residents.
.:::::::::::..:: :.:..:;. : :"" .: ": :. . :. :::::::
TODAY
Wind it up
F YOU NORMALLY rely on the clock in Burton
Tower to attend class on time, you may have been a
few hours late yesterday. The clock stopped at
11:55 a.m. In fact, due to mechanical problems,
almost all of the University clocks on Central Campus stop-
ped shortly after 8:00 a.m. Hudson Ladd, the tower
carillonneur. said that this kind of thing happens oc-
boot. But Fred kept coming back, eventually winning over
both staff and inmates. "He's great to have around," one
inmate said, "He's a real mellow cat." Fred is kicked out
each night to avoid potential conflicts with regulations
against keeping animals at correctional facilities, but he
always comes back the next day. He's the one inmate who
doesn't seem to mind being a jailbird.
Repentant thief
With the crime rate what it is these days, it's nice to know
that at least one criminal is repentant. Last week, a man
used a knife to threaten a clerk at Stacey's Variety Store in
Bonehead of the year
John Connally may not have won the 1980 Republican
presidential nomination, but he still has a chance at
"Bonehead of the year." The former Governor, who spent
14 months and $11 million for one delegate to the
Republican National Convention, is one of several can-
didates under consideration for the award, given annually
by the Bonehead Club of Dallas. The club, which last year
gave its award to the Susan B. Anthony dollar, said Monday
that actor Larry Hagman, the villain in the "Dallas" TV
series on CBS, was nominated "for proving that getting
hnt can he nrofitahi " The awarrien each vartn a nsr-
something of a jokester, told NBC "Today" show host Jane-
Pauley that he felt jilted by her."I was just always wanting:
to meet Jane Pauley. I was really crushed when I found out-
while I was languishing in prison that she had in fact gotten
married and would not wait for me," Cooke said. A bit em-
barrassed, Pauley, who recently married "Doonesbury"
cartoonist Garry Trudeau, stuttered: "Well, Donald, ... T
would have written, but I didn't know your address." D.
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