The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, January 7, 1987 - Page 5
Terrace residents lose fight
Some housing to be destroyed for parking
By REBECCA BLUMENSTEIN
Despite continued protest from residents, the University's
Board of Regents last month authorized the destruction of
two University Terrace buildings to make room for an
additional parking structure on the medical campus.
"All of the students who will loose their housing will be
relocated either to other Terrace apartments or North Campus
housing," said James Brinkerhoff, University vice president
and chief financial advisor. "We have plenty of room."
'I don't know what sort of action we are going t
take, but I'm sure that we will not just sit ther
and watch two of our buildings be torn down'
-Angela Hinz, member of the Universit
Terrace Solidarity Committe
BUT residents of the University-owned housing complex
for graduate students do not agree. "There is no place to put
us, no place for our families to go," said Angela Hinz, a
member of the University Terrace Solidarity Committee.
"I simply don't understand how they can tear down good
housing when Ann Arbor is in the midst of such a housing
crisis," she added. Terrace residents have repeatedly expressed
concern that they will be unable to find such low-income
housing elsewhere.
According to Brinkerhoff, the 40 units will be destroyed
when leases terminate in July. Construction will begin soon
afterward.
' Arguments over the best use for the land have drawn
protest from Terrace residents, including threats to plan
militant opposition if the hospital attempts to expand into
the complex. "I don't know what sort of action we are going
to take, but I'm sure that we will not just sit there and watch
two of our buildings be torn down," said Hinz.
Terrace residents also complain that the regents' latest
a decision was made at a time when not enough students were
e on campus to protest it.
"We have done our best to keep the needs of the students
Y in consideration, but in accordance with the University's
master plan we needed to take action to proceed with the
growth of the medical center," said Regent Deane Baker (R-
Ann Arbor).
But residents of University Terrace claim that they were
unaware of such a master plan until they pressured the
hospital to release their future plans.
"We were the ones who informed the housing office of the
University's plans," said Hinz.
According to Brinkerhoff and Baker, the possibilities of
building additional student housing near Observatory Street
are being investigated.
University Terrace residents protested at the opening of the new University Hospitals com-
plex last June because 40 of the residents' parking spaces were given to hospital staff mem-
bers. Now, residents are protesting a proposal to tear down two apartment buildings to build
a parking garage for the hospital.
Abuse ordinance
approved
The Ann Arbor City Council
passed an ordinance last month
requiring the arrest of an assailant
in cases of domestic violence,
including cases of spouse abuse.
The ordinance, aimed at
providing assistance to women who
are battered by their husbands,
includes a section giving them
support in a program run by the
police department and SAFE
House, a women's assault
prevention center.
. The ordinance was changed from
the first time it appeared before
council two weeks earlier to require
.arrest "only if the assailant is
present or can be readily
apprehended."
The revised ordinance read: "A
threat with a weapon is covered by
'this section only if it is made at or
about the time of the assault, if the
weapon is present, and if ftlee p
apparent ability to use it."
The ordinance was also revised
Ato require police to "make a
reasonable effort" to alert SAFE
House volunteers of a domestic
violence situation so they can give
support to the battered wife after the
release of the assailant.
This clarification requires police
officers to try to notify SAFE
House and the victim, but does not
hold them legally liable if they
can't.
The council also established a
citizen's advisory committee to
-oversee the enforcement of the
ordinance. The Domestic Violence
"Coordinating Board, made up of
representatives from the police
department, the domestic violence
project, and city offices, will make
recommendations to the city
council regarding the effectiveness
of the ordinance.
A section was added after
consultation with the city attorney
'to exempt assaults between parents
and their children under 18 from the
domestic violence ordinance. This
was done to avoid conflict with
other state and city' policies
regarding child abuse.
The ordinance was passed in
response to domestic violence
problems in Ann Arbor. The Ann
Arbor Police Department estimates
that it receives approximately 20-40
domestic violence calls per month.
SAFE House receives 400 crisis
calls per month in Washtenaw
County; approximately 25 percent
of these come from Ann Arbor.
According to SAFE House and
the domestic violence project, 3 to
4 million women are beaten in their
homes each year by their husbands,
ex-husbands, or boyfriends.
Violence against wives will occur
at least once in two-thirds of all
marriages and 95 percent of all
assaults on spouses are committed
by men. -Eve Becker
'U' Hospital receives
Certificate of Need
The University Medical Center
was granted a Certificate of Need in
December by the Michigan
Department of Public Health,
enabling them to continue all major
organ transplants, including heart,
heart-lung, and pancreas transplants.
"A Certificate of Need has been
required of all state hospitals for
transplants since 1984.
Heart, liver, and pancreas
transplants, however, were
performed at the University
Hospital long before permission
was given by the state. The
Certificate of Need allows current
programs to continue, according to
Dr. Jeremiah Turcotte, director of
the Organ Transplant Center at
University Hospital.
The requirement, enacted two
years ago by the state's Department
of Public Health, was designed to
cap the rising costs of medical care.
Assigning specific hospitals as
transplant centers reduces duplicity
and wasted resources. Because
transplant technology is expensive,
allowing many hospitals to perform
transplants could result in higher
health care costs.
University doctors have been
transplanting kidneys since 1964,
and can now continue with
certification. The University
Hospitals' 1,000th kidney transplant
was performed Nov. 19th and for
the first time at the hospitals, a
wife donated the organ to her
husband.
Arthur MacRitchie, a designer of
airplane components, and his wife
Jettie, a dialysis nurse, were the
first married organ donor-recipient
pair to be operated on at University
Hospital. The couple met while he
was undergoing dialysis for his
failing kidneys.
-Paul Cho
'U' receives $1 million
from Ford Motor Co
The University has received a $1
million donation from the Ford
Motor Company for the
Engineering Instructional Complex,
a computer complex linking
research, library resources, and
classroom materials within the
College of Engineering.
The gift is part of the
University's Campaign for
Michigan, a five-year, $160 million
fundraising effort. It is Ford's third
donation to the campaign, bringing
its contribution to $4 million. The
campaign is currently in its final
year and had raised $143 million by
the end of last month. Organizers
expect to top the goal this year.
Previous donations from the
Ford have gone to the business
school, University Hospitals, and
the University's Dearborn campus.
The announcement of the newest
Ford contribution was made at the
end of September by Don
Patterson, chairman of Ford.
Leo Brennan, Executive Director
of the Ford Motor Company Fund,
said, "We have an active interest in
the University because it is a large
supplier of employees and we
recruit there heavily. We regard the
University also as a great
community and state asset."
- Kevin Gray
Rapist sentenced
The 20-year-old Ann Arbor man
charged with assaulting two
University women in October was
sentenced last month to a
maximum of 90 years in prison for
first degree criminal sexual conduct.
Christopher Bernard Skinner
pleaded guilty last November to
two counts of criminal sexual
assault and two counts of breaking
and entering with intent to commit
sexual assault. He will be eligible
for parole in 40 years.
According to police reports,
Skinner broke into both victims'
homes on East Ann and Greenwood
streets. He muffled their faces with
his hand, assaulted them in their
beds, and fled. He told one woman
he had a gun,
seen.
although none was
Judge Patrick Conlin also
sentenced Skinner to a 10-year
term, served concurrently with the
90-year term, for assault to commit
penetration.
Skinner gave a Packard street
address in court documents. He was
arrested for disorderly conduct
almost a week after the rapes near
the location of the Greenwood
Street assault. He was put before a
police line-up where both women
identified him as their assailant.
Skinner will also serve up to 15
years for a breaking and entering
charge from last August. Police
said they found him in a Greenwood
home, but he eluded arrest by
running away.
-Melissa Birks
Botony professor dies
Alexander Smith, professor
emeritus of botany, died Dec.12 in
his Ann Arbor home. He was 81.
Smith's career spanned 41 years
and he was known nationally as an
authority on mushrooms. A
Wisconsin native, Smith retired
from active faculty status in 1975
degree from Lawrence College in
Wisconsin before coming to the
University, where he earned a
master's degree in 1929 and a
doctorate in 1933. He became a
professor in the Department of
Botany in1956.
Survivors include his wife
Helen, daughter Nancy, one sister,
and one brother.
-Kevin Gray
Mall proposal cancelled
The developer of the University
Center, a proposed shopping mall
nearNorth Campus, has withdrawn
its plans for the mall.
Developer Bill Martin of First
Martin Associates declined to
comment on the firm's decision last
month to withdraw the plans, but
Ann Arbor City Councilmember
Doris Preston (D-Fifth Ward) cites
opposition from area residents and
merchants as a key factor.
Residents who opposed the plan
say that the mall would have created
traffic problems while detracting
from the commercial character of
the downtown area and from the
residential character of northeast
Ann Arbor.
Larry Hunter (D-First Ward) said
that the firm apparently withdrew
the plan when it seemed the council
would not support it.
In October, the council had voted
to send the plan back to the city
planning commission for further
consideration after First Martin
Associates had revised the original
plan. The new plan would have
provided additional land buffers to
set back developement and parking
and would have closed Nixon Road
between Huron Parkway and
Plymouth Road for additional
parking. First Martin Associates,
however, withdrew the plan before
the planning commission could
reconsider it
Ann Arbor resident Leslie
Morris said that the revised plans
for the mall still would have drawn
shoppers away from the downtown
area. "I wanted to see the downtown
remain healthy," she said, noting
that there seems to be a nationwide
trend of developing the outskirts of
cities at the expense of downtown
commercial areas.
- Francie Allen
Police investigate
bomb threats
Ann Arbor police are
investigating a series of bomb
threats on campus Monday evening,
according to Sgt. Jan Suomala.
At 11:35 p.m., members of
Sigma Phi Fraternity received a call
from a female with a deep voice
saying a bomb was in the basement
of the house. Five minutes later, a
woman called Sigma Phi Epsilon
fraternity and told them of a bomb
in Mason Hall. Fraternity members
in both houses reported the threats
to the Ann Arbor police.
A University Hospital employee
received a call at 11:46 p.m. in the
admitting room. The caller said
there was a bomb on the hospital's
third floor.
Ann Arbor police checked all
three areas threatened and found no
explosive devices. Officers believe
the same person made the calls,
Suomala said.
Police are also investigating an
arson in East Quad that burned a
piano and caused severe water
damage to a music practice room.
According to Fire Inspector Ron
Baker, the fire was probably started
with a lighter. -Melissa Birks
Religious leaders denounce
research proposal
Fifty-two Ann Arbor religious
leaders last month denounced a
proposal to remove the "end-use"
provision of the University's
classified research guidelines.
In a letter to University Vice
President for Research Linda
Wilson, the clerics strongly
advocate the retention of the clause
for moral, or more specifically,
religious reasons. The end-use
provision currently prohibits
classified research that may result in
harm to human life.
University President Harold
Shapiro appointed a committee to
evaluate the research policy in
November 1985. The committee
recommended deleting the end-use
clause in both its majority and
minority reports.
The Rev. Harvey Guthrie, rector
of St. Andrews Episcopal Church,
drafted the original letter to Wilson
and sent copies to about 100 local
religious leaders. -Robert Choi
and Richard Kang
Smith
... prof. emeritus dies
after a career as an administrator,
teacher, and investigator of the
evolution and systematics of the
higher fungi.
Colleagues praised Smith and
said he was "tremendously
enthusiastic about mushrooms."
Bill Anderson, director of the
University's herbarium, said Smith
communicated his love for his field
to both professionals and amatuers.
Smith received an undergraduate
Proposed zoning change
1
City proposes zoning changes
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Rezoning would prohibit
future student group
housing in shaded areas.
The department will recommend
that 38, instead of 45, lots be
rezoned, exempting the three
families that did not sign the
petition and four other lots on
streets already dominated by group
housing. "We've been trying to
satisfy all sides but there's going to
be a loser somewhere along the
lines - and it will probably be the
groups. I think their future capacity
to expand will be limited," Clarke
said.
"They always pull these things
when students are out of town. It's
just dirty.
"I think a lot of their claims are
exaggerated," Kavanagh added. "I
think things have gotten a lot better
in the last term. I lived in that area
for a year-and-a-half and I didn't
think the noise or trash was major
problem - but I'm a college
student."
KAVANAGH SAID that
although existing fraternities and
sororities in the North Burns Park
area don't need to expand, the
proposed rezoning would discourage
,e, ,hn.ter
years. We can fight it all we want,
but we don't have the pull. Our
strength is not that of the
neighbors," he added.
Clarke agreed that the Greeks'
lack of involvement in city issues,
combined with the political
strength of the neighbors, makes
the city likely to approve the
rezoning.
"(The families) are on the
Planning Commission, they run for
City Council - they're basically
in the mainstream. They are more
in tune with the system," he said.
"A lot of times the students aren't
in tune with how things are in the
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