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Page 8-Saturday, September 11, 1982-The Michigan Daily
Sex-biased state laws under fire
LANSING (UPI)- It is illegal in Michigan for men
to use profanity in the presence of women-and that's
only one example of outdated, gender-biased laws
now in effect, legislators and members of a gover-
nor's task force said yesterday.
At a news conference, members of the Michigan
Women's Commission urged passage of 16 bills ap-'
proved recently by the House Women's Rights Com-
mittee, representing the first phase of a legislative
attack on sexual bias in state laws.
ALTHOUGH NOT among the first 16 bills, the 19th
century statute covering swearing in front of women
was cited by members of a special commission task
force as typical of the legislation that should be
repealed.
The task force was established by the women's
commission in 1977 after Gov. William Milliken or-
dered a thorough review of state laws that
discriminate against one sex.
Among the bills up before the full House for con-
sideration is one that would prohibit the marriage of
any person under age 16. Now, only females are
prohibited from marrying at that age.
THE COMMITTEE is also recommending passage
of a bill repealing a law preventing children from
being educated in "immorality."
The law prohibits children under 14 from being
"bound out, apprenticed or given away by its parents
... to ... the proprietor, keeper, or manager of a
house of prostitution, a saloon or other place where
intoxicating liquors or wine is sold." The commission
said the law has not been used.
Rep. H. Lynn Jondahl (D-East Lansing) said that
while most of the proposed changes essentially con-
cern "clean-up" of antiquated language, he said the
measures will have to be carefully explained to gain
passage. .
VIRGINIA NORDBY, director of the University's
Office of Affirmative Action and chairperson of the
task force, said most of the laws in which change is
sought are relatively old. She said the legislature in
recent years, since the state voted to ratify the
proposed Equal Rights Amendment, has been "more
careful" in enacting laws which do not discriminate.
Although commission members said more "sub-
stantive" changes in laws governing property rights
and crimes will be introduced next year, several of
the 16 bills currently under consideration may have
financial impacts.
For example, the legislatioti proposes changing
language which provides compensation for widows
but not widowers, of firefighters, police officers and
railroad employees killed on the job.
I
U.S. evacuation force
pulls out of Beirut
to board the 6th Fleet landing ship
Manitowoc.
The ship, blaring the country song
"On The Road Again" from its loud-
speakers, sailed from the dock at 8 a.m.
(2a.m. EDT).
A HUGE banner reading "Mission
Accomplished-Farewell," fluttering
between U.S. and Lebanese flags, hung
from a crane-like superstructure sup-
porting the ramp.
"The excitement is gone for the
Marines. They're ready to go," said the
Marines' commander, Col. James
Mead.
Reagan phoned Mead aboard the
amphibious ship Guam, thanking him
for the "splendid job" the 800 Marines
did, White House deputy press
spokesman Larry Speakes said.
SPEAKES quoted Reagan as telling
Mead: "The day you went ashore I sent
you a message that I expected you to
perform with the esprit and discipline
for which the Marine Corps is
renowned. Well, you and your men have
met the test, and our prayers have been
answered."
Speakes, with Reagan on the cam-
paign trail in Ogden, Utah, quoted
Mead as responding, "We stand ready
to do what we can for our president and
our country. Semper fidelis." Semper
fidelis, Latin for "always faithful," is
the Marine Corps motto.
After the Marines departed, French
paratroopers and Italian soldiers ser-
ving in the multinational force took up
positions in the port.
THE 532 Italian troops leave Beirut
today. France will withdraw its 800
paratroopers .Tuesday. The French
troops were the first of the
multinational force to arrive in the city,
on Aug. 21, and become the last to
leave.
Meanwhile, the leader of the pro-
Moscow Democratic Front for the
Liberation of Palestine-whose
evacuation was overseen by the
multinational force-made his second
defiant speech in as many days from
near the northern Lebanese port of
Tripoli.
The Christian rightist Voice of
Lebanon radio quoted Nayef Hawat-
meh as saying at a news conference at
an unidentified Palestinian refugee
camp near Tripoli that the PLO would
"continue its operations against Israel
from Lebanon.
Eat it up
Alice Lloyd dormitory residents gaze hungrily at a twenty foot long birthday
cake, presented at the residence hall's 20th anniversary party yesterday.
The party was held in Alice's Restaurant, the dormitory's cafeteria.
Attorney hints Arroyo
may use insanity defense,.
(Continued from Page 1)
he was very worried and that it was an
emergency," keller said. "When I saw
him he asked me to help him leave
town.
"HE TOLD me he was responsible for
the Economics Building fire," Keller
told the judge.
Early in February, Keller made an
anonymous call to Ann Arbor police and.
told them what Arroyo had said, and
where he had gone. Before Keller's call,
Arroyo was not a suspect in either
crime.
Washtenaw County District Court
Judge Henry Conlin sustained defender
Nelson's objection that Keller's
testimony was inadmissible. Nelson
said statements about the arson charge
should not be brought out in court until
the facts of the charge have been
established.
Keller's testimony was stricken from
the record, and further testimony was
restricted to the charge of breaking and
entering.
Michael O'Connor, another friend of
Arroyo, said the defendant admitted
breaking into the Economics Building
early Nov. 27 and stealing a typewriter.
ASKED BY Assistant Prosecuting
Attorney Robert Cooper why he didn't
question Arroyo about the theft, O'Con-
nor said Arroyo's actions "tend to be
very unpredictale."
"For instance," O'Connor said, "hey
publicly reprimanded the celebrant of
mass at church over, what he regarded
to be an inadequate ministry. During
the course of moss he rose and started
an argument, in front of five or six hun
dred people," he said.
Both Keller and O'Connor testified-
that Arroyo often was very emotional;
and that he overreacted to stressful
situations.
"He had a tendency to become very"
agitated emotionally," Keller said.
"That would happen with people not
liking him because of his religious
beliefs, politics, or sexual preferen-
ces." According to his attorney, Arroyo ,
is an admitted homosexual.
The defendant, wearing brown pants
and a white shirt, sat quietly with his
head down while his friends testified.
His parents attended the non-jury trial.
Testimony will resume Friday at 2
p.m., with witnesses from campus
security and the Ann Arbor Fire Depar-
tment.
Concert
ends the
summer on
a good note
What would The Wizard of
Oz have been without
"Over the Rainbow"?
a
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Ann Arbor just like anybody else," said
Z, a former local jazz jock himself:
"Nobody just listens to jazz or rock 'n
roll, especially here-except maybe for
a few kids. Diversity is important."
Z will be very visible Sunday in his;
role of master of ceremonies. Someone
else certain to be visible is Greg Lutz,
owner of Ann Arbor's Video Light and
Sound. Lutz will be videotaping the
show and producing an hour-long
documentary of the event to be broad-
cast on the local public-access cable
channel within the next two months.
Also visible Sunday will be represen-
tatives of the University's Residence
Hall Association, the Recreational
Sports Department, and Eclipse, all
ready to explain what they do to the
eager incoming hordes. Bram and the
Recreational Sports Department's Bill
Canning both talked about the
possibility, provided Sunday's results
are encouraging, of not only doing it
again but of also expanding the par-
ticipants in future years to include all of
the student groups around campus.
"It's something we would like to con-
tinue," said Canning, who said that
although large scale "welcome back"
events of this sort have tended to be less
than successful here in the past, he is
It's a fact: Louis B. Mayer almost cut "Over the
Rainbow" from the release print in an effort to shorten
the movie's black and white opening sequences. More
than four decades later, college students everywhere
are packing campus theaters to-see this and other
classic films like Psycho, Gone With The Wind, and
Casablanca.
Find out why in the all-new issue of
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