The Michigan Daily-Friday, January 7, 1983-Page 5
Record number
of auto workers
face layoffs
DETROIT (UPI) - Domestic
automakers yesterday started off the
new year by announcing record in-
} definite layoffs for next week of 269,400,,
the seventh consecutive week in which
a record will be set for the current
slump.
The new layoff figure is up by 40
,people from the 269,360 workers who
were on indefinite layoff at the end of
11982, which had been the previous high
for the slump that is entering its fourth
year.
THE ALL-TIME high is more than
300,000, set during the 1974-75 recession.
Temporary furloughs next week will
be 21,100, a. drop of more than 38,000
from the 59,525 workers temporarily
without jobs this week, when
automakers had 23 plants closed.
Most of those plants will reopen next
week.
GENERAL MOTORS Corp. will have
172,000 workers on indefinite layoff next
week, tying this week's record. The
automaker will have 4,300 workers on
temporary layoff at its Willow Run,
Mich., plant.
In addition, GM announced 60
workers will be recalled from indefinite
layoff next week at its Detroit special
truck assembly plant.
Ford Motor Co. said it will have 49,477
indefinite layoffs next week, down
about 400 from this week due to the
recall of 400 workers at its Lorain, Ohio
plant.
FORD WILL have 12,000 temporary
layoffs due to the closing of plants in
Atlanta, Edison, N.J., San Jose, Calif.,
Kansas City, Mo., Norfolk, Va., Twin
Cities, Minn., and Wayne, Mich. Its
Louisville, Ky. plant will operate one
shift only.
Chryselr Corp. said it will have 43,500
indefinite layoffs and 4,800 temporary
layoffs. Its Belvidere, Ill., and Warren,
Mich., plants will not operate next
week.
American Motors Corp. will have
1,100 workers on indefinite layoff at
Kenosha, Wis., and 1,350 laid off at
Toledo, Ohio, but will have not tem-
porary layoffs.
Volkswagen of America will have
1,650 workers on indefinite layoff at its
Westmoreland County, Pa., plant but
no temporary layoffs.
Meanwhile, automakers planned to
build 77,187 cars in the first week of the
year, up 51.62 percent from the dismal
50,908 cars they built during the first
week of January, 1982, the trade
publication Automotive News said.
Truck production was expected to be
19,974, down 1.5 percent from last
year's 20,286.
AP Photo
Seashore tragedy
A man disappeared while trying to rescue his dog from these waters in Blackpool, England, on Wednesday. One
policeman died trying to save the man, and two police officers are also missing amid the stormy waters.
50 may
have been
poisoned
by tainted
underwear
GRAND RAPIDS (UPI) - The num-
ber of people who may have suffered a
severe skin irritation from wearing
chemically contaminated underwear
grew to 50 yesterday, the Kent County
Health Department said.
Six health department employees
continued to work on the case although
the number of telephone calls coming in
from worried Kent County residents
was dropping, department
spokeswoman Pat Allen said.
THE DEPARTMENT has made an
initial investigation of at least 50 repor-
ts from people who believe their
children had contracted a severe skin
disorder on the buttocks and genital
area after wearing Fruit-of-the-Loom
cotton briefs, Mrs. Allen said.
The health department believes the
people may have developed the skin
problem after wearing underwear that
inexplicably was contaminated with
two chemicals - bis-Tributyltin oxide
and Tetrabutyl stannane - before being
sold at E&J Unclaimed Freight Co. in
Grand Rapids.
The chemicals are used in the
finishing and dying process in the tex-
tile industry, said Ms. Allen. The
Chicago-based Union Underwear Co.,
which makes the briefs, maintains the
contamination did not occur during the
manufacturing process.
The severe skin irritation is iden-
tifiable by reddening, blistering and
swelling of the buttocks and genitals,
she said. Washing the clothing will not
remove the irritants, she added.
Only two cases, both reported in
November, have positively been linked
to the chemicals found in underwear,
Ms. Allen said. Most of the new reports
came in after Christmas and the depar-
tment has yet to cpmplete laboratory
tests on underwear samples collected
from the victims, she said.
Bus driver
PEABODY, Mass. (AP) - The next
time the sweet scent of marijuana drif-
ts to the front of her school bus, Gloria
Arsenault knows exactly what she'll do.
"If I smell pot, back we'll go to the
police station," she says.
Thanks to Mrs. Arsenault's nose,
about 50 teen-agers had to walk or find
another ride to school for three days
this week.
MRS. ARSENAULT smelled the
marijuana smoke on Dec. 22 as she
drove her bus to Higgins Junior High
School and Peabody Vocational High
School.
It was the third time it had happened,
and she was fed up, she said.
"At least when we were kids, we used
to sneak behind the barn," said Mrs.
Arsenault, 58, of Saugus. "Now the
defiant kids just smoke in the school
bus. And it's a lot more than cigaret-
tes."
SO THIS time she headed the bus
toward the police station.
The students, aged 12 to 18, were or-
dered off the bus. Police found
turns on pot smokers
'At least when we were kids, we used to
sneak behind the barn. Now the defiant kids
just smoke in the school bus. And it's a lot
more than cigarettes.'
-school bus driver
Gloria Arsenault
Man gets five years
for letting
CHARLOTTE (UPI) - Kenneth
Sealy, ordered yesterday to spend a
year in a jail work-release program for
the death of his infant daughter, said he
still believes "trusting in Jesus" is the
best medical care for his children.
Eaton County Circuit Judge Hudson
Deming handed down a five-year sen-
tence of one year in the Eaton County
Jail's work program and four years of
probation for Sealy's Dec. 10 man-
slaughter conviction in his 11-day-old
daughter's death. He also ordered
medical supervision for a soon-to-be
born-Sealy child.
SEALY, 23, of Grand Ledge, could
have received up to 15 years in prison
for the offense. He was immediately
taken to jail and will begin the work
release program Jan. 17. He will be
allowed to leave each day for his job at a
warehouse, but must return each night.
"I did provide care for my children
by trusting in Jesus," the slight, soft-
spoken Sealy told Deming, quoting the
Bible often. "If that results in im-
prisonment, I am not the first and I
surely won't be the last."
"I believe that I'm going to go home
and my children will be returned unto
me''
CARIE SEALY, delivered at home by
her father, died March 11 of pneumonia
and its complications. Her father and
mother Bonnie, 23, were both charged
with involuntary manslaughter for
failing to take the girl for medical care.
During the trial, Sealy testified he did
not believe the infant was seriously ill
and felt she could be cared for at home
by praying family members.
The couple's other child - 18-month-
old Joshua - died nine days later of
malignant abdominal tumor. No
charges were filed in that death.
MRS. SEALY'S trial has been post-
poned indefinitely becuase of the pen-
ding birth of the couple's third child.
Attempts by Eaton County prosecutors
to gain legal control of the unborn child
failed.
But Deming included in his sentence
orders that Sealy comply with a
"program for the physical care and
well-being of any child you are the
infant die
marijuana cigarettes and two hashish
pipes hidden in the seats, but they did
not have warrants to search the pupils.
None of them would say who owned
the pot, so school officials revoked
everyone's transportation privileges
for three days this week.
"I'm 100 percent in agreement with
what the driver did," said Tom DeCoff,
vice president of Travel Time, which
operates the buses.
Some parents grumbled that they had
to drive their children to school. But
Mayor Peter Torigian had little sym-
pathy with that complaint.
"We're trying to highlight a problem
that probably every school system in
the state has," he said. "This wasn't
punishment but caution. If one parent
decides to shake his kid's trousers and
finds a marijuana joint, then that kid
will hopefully get parental attention
that the school system can't possibly
give."
Mrs. Arsenault, a bus driver for 12
years, says she is not bitter toward the
students.
"There's a lot of bright, very in-
telligent kids on the bus," she said.
Flint YMCA involved
in fight to retain name
Seal
... "trusted in Jesus"
parent of." There have been unconfir-
med reports that the new baby may
have blood incompatibility problems
which need immediate treatment.
He also ordered that Sealy undergo
counseling and pay $900 in court costs.
He refused, however, to let Sealy
remain free on bond pending his appeal.
Sealy's court-appointed attorney
Thomas Eveland of Lansing said he
was "very disappointed" and noted by
the time the appeal process is complete
Sealy likely will have served his full jail
sentence.
764-0558
764-0558
FLINT (UPI) - Would a YMCA by
any other name be the same? The Flint
YMCA thinks not, and is fighting in
federal court to keep its name.
The National YMCA Council has sued
the Flint YMCA, charging the local
group should not be allowed to call itself
a YMCA because it is no longer a mem-
ber of the national council.
ATTORNEYS for the two sides are
considering a proposed settlement, but
Ronald Thompson, general director of
the Flint YMCA, said it's not certain the
YMCA's board of directors will buy it.
Under the proposed settlement, the
YMCA in Flint would keep its name but
the local organization operating it
would be known as the Flint Youth and
Family Center.
The Flint YMCA pulled out of the
national council in July 1981, conten-
ding the dues structure was unfair and
that the local group didn't get its
money's worth for its annual $36,000
dues payment.
GUY HILL, attorney for the Flint
YMCA, said the national council claims
it has the exclusive right to take away
the privilege of using the names YMCA
and Young Men's Christian
Association.
"They are saying that because we are
not members, we ought not to be
allowed to use the names," Hill said.
But the Flint group is arguing that the
national council has no such rights of
control because the Flint organization
existed long before there was a national
council, Hill said.
Hill said the national council obtained
trademark rights in the late 1950s, but
questions remain over just what control
it has over the use of the name YMCA.
Thompson noted that YMCAs in Ann
Arbor, Jackson and Saginaw stopped
paying their dues and were dropped by
the national organization but continue to
use the name YMCA.
Flint's case is different, he said,
because the local group took specific
action to withdraw from the national
council.
"LAW SCHOOL
CONVERSATIONS"
With
UM Law School Admissions Dean
Allan Stillwagon
Small group discussions on preparation for law school, law
school expectations, how admissions decisions are made, and
how to select a law school.
Time: 9 to 12 and 1:30 to 3:30
(Hourly Discussions)
Place: 312 Hutchins Hall
(Law School Admissions Office)
Please sign up for time and date.
Dates: November 16, Tuesday
December 1, Wednesday
January 11, Tuesday
r "
The University of Michigan Hospitals announce
eltj
night The third in a series of lively presentations
and discussions on
0 t health-related topics of current concern
Stephen C. Cook, M.D. and Melvin J. Guyer, Ph.D., J.D.
U-M Children's Psychiatric Hospital
KIDS AND DIVORCE:
SURVIVING THE CUSTODY BATTLE
I
The designer, engineer or craftsman who has good qualitx toos has the edge:
such as a IolIy drafting table from Martin"
Thy7 .-- ---.I t-V.lrA-;.AI -,A;-IN1 I t " ti