The Michigan Daily-Friday, November 19, 1982-Page 9 Joman di GRAND MARAIS, Minn. (AP)- Drawn by messages from "some higher power," Gerald Flach and Laverne Landis drove last month from St. Paul to the snowy, frozen wilderness of northeastern Min- nesota to wait for a flying saucer, authorities say. For more than four weeks they waited in their car, apparently eating vitamins and drinking water from nearby Loon Lake. ON MONDAY, a motorist found Flach, 38, an elec- trician from West St. Paul,, semiconscious on Gunflint Trail, 41 miles northwest of here. Rescue squad members found Ms. Landis, 48, dead in the front seat of the car a few hundred yards off the main road. An autopsy determined she died from a com- binatioi of hypothermia, dehydration, and star- - vation. Flach, described by a friend as having become ob- sessed with UFOs in recent months, was taken to Cook County North Shore Hospital in Grand Marais, where he remained yesterday. COOK COUNTY Deputy Sheriff Frank Redfield said there was no evidence of foul play and no criminal charges were filed. "Flach said he had been receiving messages State gas tax ?s waiting through Ms. Landis from some higher power," Red- field said. "The most recent message directed them to go to the end of the Gunflint Trail and await further messages. "These people kind of believed in flying saucers." Jack McDonnell of Grand Marais found Flach about 10:20 a.m. Monday, said Bruce Kerfoot of the Gunflint Trail Rescue Squad. Flach told him his friend in the car needed medical attention. MCDONNELL took Flach to the nearby Gunflint Lodge where he received first aid for hypothermia- lower than normal body temperature. The rescue squad used a four-wheel-drive vehicle to reach Ms. Landis, Kerfoot said. the car was snowed in on a small access road a few hundred yards from the main road. It was out of gasoline. "I believe they were parked there like four to six weeks, just living in the front seat of their compact car," said Kerfoot, who removed Ms. Landis' body from the car. "Flach told me he hadn't eaten in four weeks and they both looked very, very gaunt." KERFOOT said he saw vitamin bottles in the car, but no sleeping bags and no evidence of cooking. The couple apparently drank water from the lake. Dr. Michael DeBevec, who treated Flach, refused to comment on the case Wednesday. Flach could not be reached at the hospital. "They told people they were conducting an ex- periment on hypothermia for some university," Ker- foot said. "We were all skeptical, but they weren't breaking any laws, so what could we do?" THE SHERIFF'S deputies checked on them every week or 10 days, Kerfoot said. Larry Hogen, Flach's neighbor and longtime friend, described him as a very intelligent, gentle man who worked as an electrician. Flach was raised in a small town in the Dakotas and his family knew very little about his interest in the UFOs, Hogen said. "Gerry just changed his whole personality, his whole life in the past six to eight months," said Hogen, who has known Flach for 10 years. "He came on to this kind of obsession. . . purely with UFOs. I don't know why he did." Ms. Landis lived in St. Paul. Nothing further was immediately known about her. Police in St. Paul and West St. Paul said they knew nothing about the couple or any local UFO group. UFO ________ACALKA UOERSA . TRVEL R W '"4 r t n 4 %A f fees may rise SECONDCHANCE 4i~ 4... ]ITr _:.k;I~~ Tne BesTI Travel UVIe I Costs You Nothing! BUSINESS HOURS: Mon.-Fri. 9:00-5:30 Sat. 9:00-12:00 14 Nickels Arcade- Domestic 994-6200 12 Nickels Arcade-International 994-6204 - V LANSING (UPI)- The House Taxation Committee yesterday ap- proved the major elements of Gov. William Milliken's five-year $2 billion transportation funding proposal, in- cluding hikes in gasoline taxes and registration fees. Committee Chairman William Ryan (D-Detroit) said the package will probably be taken up by the full House Man dies playing rAcquetbali o at CCRB University Hospital employee " Thomas Murphy suffered a heart at- ffi tack and died yesterday while playing = racquetball at the Central Campus - & Recreation Center, University public safety department reported. Murphy, 55, was pronounced dead at University Hospital yesterday after- noon. Murphy was an accounting supervisor at the University Hospital. No information on Murphy's family or funeral services was available yester- day. z, Murphy was stricken at about 2 p.m. Murphy was playing racquetball with two friends when he suffered the fatal attack, 'according to Gale Stewart, 'a "assistant director of the CCRB. following lawmakers' return from the Thanksgiving vacation near the end of November. HE DECLINED to rate the proposal's chances of passage, but said legislative leaders-in a meeting with Milliken earlier in the day-"pretty much decided they would be supportive of the package and try to get it passed." The key bill approved by the commit- tee was legislation expected to raise the state's gasoline tax next year by 2 cen- ts-per-gallon. The bill cleared the tax committee on a 11-1 vote, with two abstentions. Subscribe to The Michigan Daily it i. it -4 'a« Ma ry S 4' *4 *4 w 4 9, rp 9 a 4, * 4 *' r' 4' I, . ' .p .4 .p .* 4 4w pt rp i p w * 4 * w r. sa a. rp w " R aw .r p r r a a " r' "0 'p SI A a P4 . i GEO picks negotiators (Continued from Page 1) election be tabled until the next meeting to give the candidates more time to speak and the voters more time to think about their choices. The main argument on the bargaining position centered on how to change the priority of a bargaining issue. It was decided that a two-thirds majority of those in attendance at a meeting is necessary to change the priority of an issue. Much debate also focused on how ac- countable the bargaining committee should be to the union membership. The union decided, as is in the existing guidelines, that input would be gathered at departmental and mem- bership meetings and that the bargaining team would report back to the membership at all membership meetings. The two students who tied for the fifth seat were Cay Horstmann, a mathematics TA, and Barbara Joos, a biology TA.. The two alternates are Jerry Shaw, an English TA, and Jane Holzka, an American studies TA. After the meeting, Tim Feemen, GEO steering committee member, said the organizatioin will today file a grievance against the University because research assistants were given a tuition waiver and teachings assistan- ts were not. John Forsyth, the University's chief GEO negotiator, said earlier this week that he was ready to arrange for the in- creased tuition waiver, but he had been unable to get in touch with GEO of- ficials. Forsyth also said the Univer- sity wants to grant TAs a 5.8 percent pay raise, as had been proposed in the defeated contract. Action Sports tar FACTORY CLOSEOUTS Black Burns Sporting Goods Detroit, MI. Kingsway Shoes Greater Detroit, Mi. Eastside Rnnrtinn (Goods Maumu Sporting Goods Sneakers 'n' Cleats Adrian, MI. Southfield, Ml. Sileley's Shoe Stores ' Greater Detroit, M1. Bita Bill's Superior Sports Holland, MI. Dunhams Phillip's Shoe Stores All Locations Greater Detroit, Ml. Imperial Sports All Locations WesternMI.