N.C.
State
upsets
Houston
See story,
Page 10
Ninety-Three Years * tit Sk Weak
Of t :43Skies will be overcast again
of ___ II5 1 ~ 1 IItoday with a 30 percent chance of-
Editorial Freedom r rain. Expect a high around 46.
Vol. XCIII, No. 146 Copyright 1983, The Michigan Daily Ann Arbor, Michigan - Tuesday, April 5, 1983 Ten Cents Ten Pages
Toxic sites cause / 4 f§
fear and confusion x _K r
S
By JACKIE YOUNG
Residents living around two hazar-
dous waste dumps located about a half-
hour's drive from campus say
bureaucratic red tape and "buck
passing" are frustrating their efforts to
get the health hazards cleaned up.
High concentrations of PCBs
(polychlorinated biphenyls), a toxic
chemical that can cause cancer and
birth defects in laboratory animals,
have been found in one of the sites and
residents suspect health defects they
have noted over the last few years may
be attributable to chemical wastes
seeping from both dumps.
THE RASMUSSEN and Spiegelberg
chemical dumps are located on the
south side of Spicer Road less than one
mile west of U.S. 23 in Brighton, a small
town in Livingston County. Both sites
are listed on the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency's Superfund list, which was
created to provide money for hazardous
waste cleanup.
But since the sites were targeted in
December of 1980, residents say neither
state nor county officials have been
willing to take responsibility for
gathering the data necessary to apply
for Superfund money.
"They (county health officials and
state Department of Natural Resource
officials) send a total stranger to the
area periodically," said one 30-year
resident of the area. "The official is
met with hostility by the dump owners
... they conduct their tests and then
draw conclusions. But these con-
clusions are more expedient than fac-
tual."
AREA RESIDENTS who have ban-
ded together to compile a health history
of the people living near the dumps said
they have noted strange health
problems in their cattle, including
blood clots of the lung and birth defects.
The residents say at least one woman
in the area is suffering from a thyroid
condition, three area residents have con-
tracted cancer and another had to have
a colon operation.
Two women living in the area have
.had mastectomies in the past year and
several other residents have been suf-
fering from inexplicable skin rashes
which began shortly after they moved
into the area surrounding the dumps.
RESIDENTS WHO have tried to
present their health findings to officials
say they have become discouraged.
See NEARBY, Page 6
Daily Photo by DOUG McMAHON
Black chemicals seep from old barrels at the Rasmussen Bros. dump in Brighton. High concentrations of PCBs have
been found at the dump which was closed in 1974.
$5 p
By RITA GIRARDI
and THOMAS MILLER
Ann Arbor's $5 marijuana law sur-
vived last night's city elections intact
with all five wards voting against a
proposal to repeal the law.
An unofficial tally showed that the
proposal went down by a three to two
margin - 13,897 voted against the
proposed repeal, while 8,933 cast their
ballots in favor of repeal.
THE PROPOSAL was expected to
face stiffer opposition, but a heavier-
than-usual student turnout in the 1st
and 3rd Wards helped to defet the
proposed repeal.
The proposal was also defeated soun-
dly by more than 500 votes in the
heavily Republican 2nd and 4th Wards.
The repeal plan was placed on the
ballot by the Republican dominated
city council in November after a
petition drive to place the proposal on
the ballot failed:
Had the pot law been repealed, a
backup proposal passed by city council
in February would have made the fine
for use of marijuana $25.
Those who opposed the repeal ar-
gued that once the pot law returned to
the books as a city ordinance, the city
it law.
council could easily stiffen t
penalties.
Proposal A, the "weatherizatio
charter amendment, also went down
defeat last night. The amendmei
which would have required mandato
energy conservation measures in rent
housing, captured only the heav
student-populated 1st Ward.
THE PROPOSAL won only 9,2
saved
he votes for 42 percent of the total, while
12,771 votes were cast against it for 58
,, percent, based on the unofficial tally.
to The charter amendment was one of
to the most hotly debated issues of the
nt, campaign. Support from students and
ry other renters had been expected to help
Lal the plan succeed, but the efforts of
ily student and tenants' rights
05 See FIVE, Page 5
Beicher wins,
mayoral race-,-
By RITA GIRARDI
and THOMAS MILLER
Republican incumbent Louis Belcher
slipped into his third term as mayor of
Ann Arbor last night, . narrowly
defeating Democratic challenger Leslie
Morris.
Independent Party candidate Paul
Jensen finished a distant third, cap-
turing less than 1 percent of the vote.
IN COUNCIL RACES, Democrats
Jeff Epton and Kathy Edgren upset
Republicans Virginia Johansen and
Lou Velker in the 3rd and 5th Wards,
respectively. The elections left city
council with six Republicans (including
Belcher) and five Democrats.
Belcher took four of the city's five
wards, tallying 11,900 votes, against
See BELCHER, Page 5
Daily Photo by DAVID FRANKEL
Lou Belcher gives his victory speech at the Holiday Inn on Jackson Rd. last night, after winning his third battle for mayor.
Voting begins today
in MSA elections
By LAURIE DELATER
Students who are at dinner, classes,
and even waiting for the North Campus
bus can vote today and tomorrow for
next year's Michigan Student Assembly
members.
Students can cast ballots for
president and vice-president as well as
school representatives at 25 polling
places across campus. The poll sites
will be located in classroom buildings,
most large dorms, and other campus
gathering places.
ACCORDING TO Election Director
Bruce Goldman, voting hours at the
sites have been adjusted this year to
accomodate more students. Polling
places will be open in the Fishbowl
from 8:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.; the Un-
dergraduate Library from 7 to 11 p.m.;
and at CRISP from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Voters must present a validated
student identification card at polling
locations in order to vote.
Competing for presidential and vice
presidential posts are: Marc Dann and
Kim Fridkin of ACT; Duane Kuizema
and Laurie Clement of the British
Humour Party; Steve Schaumberger
and Lynn Desenberg of Improve
Michigan's Policies, Academics, and
Communications Today (IMPACT);
and Mary Rowland and Jono Soglin of
It's Our University (IOU).
Students will also have the oppor-
tunity to vote on five ballot proposals.
The results of the proposals are not bin-
ding to MSA, but could be used to help
influence the Regents' decisions on
issues such as renewing and increasing
the mandatory fees for student gover-
nments, allowing the assembly's
minority affairs coordinator a vote on
the steering committee.
Challenger
launched
S in to final
fron tier
From AP and UPI
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The
space shuttle Challenger rocketed
flawlessly into orbit yesterday, setting
out to launch the world's largest and
most powerful communications
satellite during the hectic first day of its
maiden flight.
Veteran commander Paul Weitz, 50,
and space rookies Karol Bobko, 45,
Story Musgrave, 47, and Donald Peter-
son, 49, sped into a perfect orbit 177
miles up. They quickly settled into the
busiest workday ever assigned to men
AP Photo in space.
See CHALLENGER, Page 5
The space shuttle Challenger blasts into orbit yesterday after a trouble-free launching.
TODAY
The very bestest
How to not make do
APRIL IS THE cruelest month of all, says Marni Vos,
because it brings long weeks of egg salad and egg soup
to those unemployed people fortunate enough to hit pay dirt
in their Easter egg hunts. Vos, a student at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln who recently lost her job, has put
together the Second Quarterly Unemployment Calendar, a
daily guide for the jobless. Her survival tips run from
Overheated and over exposed
A62-YEAR-OLD British Columbian woman was so
heated up after she set fire to a museum that she sat
through her trial nude. She also stripped at the scene of the
fire when firefighters attempted to extinguish the blaze.
Mary Braun, who is reportedly still weak from a recent 87-
day hunger strike she undertook while in jail, had to be
carried to court by a sheriff's deputy. She says God told her
tn hurn the museum. The woman has two prior arson con-
of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. the day before.
Also on this date in history:
" 1933 - Several area stores began stocking special
tobacco for women after several women were sighted puffing
on pipes.
* 1972 - Ann Arbor's pot law, which set a maximum $100
fine and/or 90 days in jail for possesion of small amounts,
was declared unconstitutional by a local, district court
judge.
" 1980 - A group of thirty demonstrators from the Coin-
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