C I be Ir1it il anp Ninety-six years of editorial freedom Ann Arbor, Michigan - Wednesday, November 27, 1985 lEatlQ Vol. XCVI - No. 60 Eight Pages Copyright 1985, The Michigan Daily Hoopsters to battle Ga. Tech for Fame By TOM KEANEY What happened to that "cream puff" schedule we heard so much about? Where are the Youngstown States, the Northern Michigans and the Illinois-Chicagos when you really need them? If the Michigan basketball team is looking for one of those patsies to beat up on, it sure isn't going to find it this weekend. THE WOLVERINES take on Associated Press' pre-season num- ber-one Georgia Tech in the Hall of Fame Game Saturday at Springfield, Mass. Game time is 1:30 EST and vacationing students can view the ac- tion on CBS, which will be televising the game live. Michigan enters the game with a 2-0 record, barely. The Wolverines had to stage second-half comebacks in their games against Virginia Tech and Kansas State en route to the Chaminade Silversword Tournament championship last weekend. The Yellow Jackets (or Ramblin' Wreck, whichever you prefer) are also 2-0, but have had a much easier time of it thus far. AFTER beating up on the Australian National Team two weeks ago, Tech had to face something called South Carolina-Aiken on Monday, coming away with a casual PARKING PROBLEMS CITED Panel stalls on hotel plan _ 9 ' 4 By JOE PIGOTT The Ann Arbor Planning com- mission last night tabled developer's revised plan for Huron Plaza con- ference center and hotel. After lengthy debate, the com- mission voted unanimously to post- pone their decision on whether to ap- prove the plan until members, along with representatives from the city's transportation department and other agencies, can meet to discuss the; plan's controversial parking allot- ment. THE PROPOSED conference cen- ter and hotel fits within city construc- tion requirements, but area merchan- ts and local residents expressed con- cern last night that there wouldn't be enough parking space available downtown to support the needs of the new structure. They said the parking spaces called for in the developer's plan still would not solve the parking problem. The plan provided for 82 space. The developer, Dick Berger of Huron Plaza Limited Partnership,, submitted a proposal to the Ann Arbor City Council last month for 389 parking spaces. In order to provide that space, however, Berger asked the council to change building orid- 'There are some citizens out there who want Ann Arbor to stay as it is. Some people see this issue as growth versus non-growth.' - Allan Feldt Planning Commission member a nances to parking. permit below grade Georgia Tech senior Mark Price takes his patented jumper to Springfield, Mass. this weekend to face Michigan in the Hall of Fame game. Price, a second team All-American guard, led the Yellow Jackets in scoring assists, steals, and free-throw percentage last year. In October, the city council rejected the ordinance change by a 7-4 vote. At issue, however, wasn't the parking problem but whether the city really wants the conference/hotel complex. THE ISSUE came up again at last night's planning commission meeting, although no members said outright They didn't want the complex. Allan Feldt, a member of the com- Mission, said, "There are some .citizens out there who want Ann Arbor to stay as it is. Some people see this issue as growth versus non-growth. If that's true, maybe we need to review zoning ordinances." Felt Wondered if the commission voted to table the plan not because of concern about parking, but because of mixed feelings about building another high rise structure downtown. This plan calls for 13 stories and a pen- thouse. All of the members agreed the plan submitted to them wouldn't solve the parking problem. "It's the (parking space) size that is creating many of the problems for us to put (the plan) through now," said member Gwen Nystuen. "We have to find some way to work this out with the petitioner and appropriate city agencies." Berger told the commission before its vote he thought tax revenue the complex could generate would be enough to allow a new parking struc- ture to be built downtown in a few years. 119-60 victory. So Saturday's game stands to be an interesting matchup. The Yellow Jackets might very well be Michigan's toughest opponent this year. "Georgia Tech, no matter what you say about Michigan, is rated ahead of us in most of the polls," said Wolverine head coach Bill Frieder. "and rightly so." "THE MAIN strength we have is a lot of players coming back from a See 'M,' Page 8 Homeless Americans face bleak From The Associated Press For tens of thousands of homeless Americans, Thanksgiving dinner will be turkey on a paper plate dished out by charity workers and seasoned by the bitter contrast between cozy holiday images and their own grim prospects as winter sets in. Arid with the numbers of homeless on the rise in many cities, shelter workers are worried about how they will accommodate them, particularly if the winter is very Scold. IN NEW YORK, the city is housing more people now than it did during the coldest part of last winter, said Suzanne Trazoff, spokeswoman for the municipal Human Resources Administration. The city's 19 shelters currently are housing 7,783 men and women, and there are 3,959 families in hotels and other temporary housing, she said. Numbers of 'new poor' rise Last year at this time, the city had 6,781 individuals in 16 shelters and 3,227 families in temporary housing, she said, and at winter's worst, there were 7,600 people in shelters. "I would say in the past few years there has been a significant increase," said Jackie Edens, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Human Services, which coordinates about 40 shelters. "THE TERM 'new poor' is not a figment of someone's imagination. A lot of people are a paycheck away from being homeless." Those who work with the homeless cite a number of reasons for the increase, including a shortage of low- cost housing, deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill, and high unemployment among many groups. They also note that they are seeing more and more single women with children. In San Francisco, where the number of homeless appears to have stabilized, "the usual find. . . is the dramatic increase in the number of women and children seeking refuge or a hot meal. It's the feminization of poverty," said Jim Buick, deputy director of the mayor's criminal justice council. "A FEW YEARS ago, we would serve about 50 women and children" with meals, he said. "Now we serve about 500. We're also seeing lots of women looking for a place anksgiving to spend the night." A report last month by the Massachusetts Department of Human Services said there are more than 10,000 homeless people in the state, with families, mainly headed by low-income women, making up 75 percent of the total. The report blamed a lack of affordable housing on a rush toward condominium conversions. In Boston, where the problem is most acute, a report issued by the mayor's office this month, showed the number of homeless in the city has nearly doubled in two years. "IN NASHVILLE, Tenn., "the lack of low-rent housing also has removed all of the hotels (where the city's homeless often stayed). It has put people on the See NUMBERS, Page 2 .Mubarak blames Libya, PLO for hijacking Fire chief calls it quits after 34 years From AP and UPI CAIRO, Egypt - President Hosni Mubarak said yesterday there is a "clear" link between Libya and the hijackers of an Egyptian airliner and indicated he would retaliate against those responsible. Mubarak, in his first public com- ments since the commando raid Sun- day on the hijacked plane in Malta killed 59 people, refused to rule out military action against his Western neighbor, Libya. Mubarak also pointed an accusing finger at a radical, pro-Libyan Palestine Liberation Organization faction led by Abu Nidal for the hijacking of the EgyptAir Boeing 737 to Malta on Saturday. In an apparent reference to Nidal, Mubarak said the leader of the terrorists was staying at a hotel in Tripoli, Libya. 0MUBARAK was asked by reporters about Egypt's next moves and whether they included a military op- tion. "I cannot comment on a military option, because we are not war- mongers but the champions of peace," Mubarak said. Mubarak accused Libya of spon- soring the gunmen who seized the plane and told reporters he sent the soldiers to Malta to storm the jetliner only after the pilot reported: "They're going to kill us all." Mubarak blamed the deaths on the hijackers, who he said were the first ever to detonate phosphorus grenades during a hijacking. "Not a single Egyptian bullet killed anybody" among the passengers and crew, the president said. THE FIRE grenades set the interior of the Boeing 737 ablaze. See EGYPTIAN, Page 6 By DEBORAH RETZKY On Nov. 30, after 34 years of service, Ann Arbor Fire Chief Fred Schmid is retiring to fulfill an unusual lifelong dream: working in a hardware store. Although the work will be nothing like what he's accustomed to, Schmid is excited about the move. "You have to move when oppor- tunity knocks, and opportunity knocked," he said. "I've always wan- ted to work in a hardware store." SCHMID, WHO began working for the fire department in 1951 after ser- ving on auxiliary squads, was appoin- ted to assistant fire chief in 1967, and in 1974, he became fire chief. And during the 34 years with the department, Schmid only missed one day of work, and that was when his daughter was in the hospital. The retiring chief calls firefighters "a special breed." When a firefighter goes to work, Schmid says, it's usually in a life or death situation where they have to remain calm when Part of the chief's job is to evaluate - or, as Schmid says, "size up" - a fire. The chief has to determine how a fire will be handled and which firefighters should perform each duty. ALTHOUGH evaluating a fire is not an "exact science," Schmid says, there is still a "feeling about what a building will do." Schmid believes that each fire is different, and each fire teaches a lesson. For him, firefighting was a rewarding experience. He was on hand when the Economics Building burned to the ground on Christmas Eve 1981. Sch- mid called the blaze, which was the work of an arsonist, a "miserable.- mess." Arsonists, Schmid says, are respon- sible for four fires; each month in Ann Arbor. Assistant fire chief John Thompson has been appointed acting fire chief. everyone else is panicking. Daily Photo by DAN HABIB Ann Arbor Fire Chief Fred Schmid poses next to an Ann Arbor fire engine. Schmid is retiring at the end of this month after 34 years of service. TODAY Gentleman's gentleman, er, woman 'HEN GARFIELD the butler serves the port, traditionalists may choke on it. Gar- who will retire in July after a posting in Britainand she want to ply her new profession in the United States. She appears to be in her early 40s, but when asked her age, she took the reply straight from the butler's manual: "I really couldn't say, sir." store and needed a quick lunch. He called his wife, Mary, and asked her to bring him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Thus, Old Town was conceived. After picking up the necessary permits - and a few chuckles - at city hall, the Soibels converted the front half of the waterbed store into a deli-style restaurant. The water- beds were moved to the back of the 3,600-square-foot h.,ldinrr ati n1,;nhn-. n! nIhnr n.and tia ran fnr INSIDE- THANKS: Opinion looks at Thanksgiving from two perspectives. See Page 4. i