Police to
charge clinic
protesters
for overtime
The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, April 19, 1989 - Page 3
City council addresses
affordable housing olicies
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BY LAURA COUNTS
Local police will ask the courts to
charge the 190 anti-abortion
protesters who were arrested at three
recent protests of local abortion
clinics with more than $16,500 in
overtime costs, Washtenaw County
Sheriff Ronald Schebil said yester-
day.
During a press conference Mon-
day, officials from the Washtenaw
County Sheriff's Department, the
Ann Arbor Police Department, and
the Pittsfield Department of Public
Safety announced their intent to
force the arrested protesters - if
convicted - to pay the costs.
Seventy-five anti-abortionists were
arrested at a protest of the Planned
Parenthood Clinic in Ann Arbor last
Saturday, costing city police $8,070
in overtime. The remaining costs
resulted from similar protests last
month in Ypsilanti and Pittsfield
Township.
BY NOAH FINKEL
The Homeless Action Committee and other local
groups have been protesting for months what they call
Ann Arbor's lack of affordable housing.
Monday night, the Ann Arbor City Council placed
the matter high on its agenda, but with mixed results.
The council cleared the way for one affordable
housing project, delayed another, and tabled a resolu-
tion to approve public funding of a parking structure
after Democrats voiced concern that the money could
be better put toward low-income housing.
A site plan for Comerica Bank's proposed seven-
story downtown office building was delayed after
council Democrats objected to the public funding of an
accompanying 317-space underground parking struc-
ture.
"It's totally inappropriate for the city to be subsi-
dizing a bank," said Councilmember Liz Brater (D-
Third Ward). "Everybody I've talked to thinks this is
some kind of joke."
Brater said the Democrats are questioning the
Downtown Development Authority's use of funds
principally for parking. Brater said the council should
use more DDA funds for public housing, noting that
the state specifically allows funds for this purpose.
"Since I've been on council, there have been almost
no funds for public housing," she said. "Over the
weekend, members of the HAC staged a demonstration
on the site of another proposed parking structure on
the so-called Kline's lot... This shows that this oppo-
sition is not just four Democrats on council."
But Brater added that the Democratic caucus was
still in favor of using DDA funds for the Kline's lot
parking structure because there is a legitimate need"
to lure shoppers to the downtown area.
Councilmembers Terry Martin (R-Second Ward) and
Mark Ouimet (R-Fourth Ward) said they wanted more
information on the proposal before they could make a
judgment.
At the meeting, HAC members used audience par-
ticipation time to assail council members on what
they called a lack of action on providing affordable
housing.
But affordable housing appeared on the council
agenda Monday night.
A resolution to approve an Ann Arbor YMCA
residence tower addition on South Fifth Street passed
unanimously. The three-story tower will provide 64
low-priced rooms.
The council also delayed rezoning for the Turnbrry
project at Packard Road and US-23. The project would
include 210 moderately-priced homes and 10 to 25
units of public housing funded by the U.S. Depart-
ment of Housing and Urban Development. Council
members voted to delay the zoning change because
they want some kind of agreement to prevent people
from buying up those homes and selling them-at a
higher price.
A resolution to approve the housing document of
the Ann Arbor Housing Policy Task Force was tabled.
The major principles of the document are that the city
should work to provide a larger supply of low-and
moderate-income housing and preserve the existing
housing stock by taking steps such as opposing gen-
trification measures.
The 190 protesters, who were
charged with misdemeanor trespass-
ing, are part of a group called
Washtenaw County Rescue. Group
members say they use "civil disobe-
dience" to shut down the clinics by
physically prohibiting patients from
entering.
Schebil said the protests place a
burden on local police departments,
both financially and by taking offi-
cers away from more serious crimes.
Peter Thomason, a leader of
Washtenaw County Rescue, said,
"While we regret the fact that (the
police) had to incur overtime, we do
not have any intention of paying the
costs."
"This is a human rights issue -
there is a crisis out there," Thoma-
son said. "You don't pay overtime
for saving lives."
But Planned Parenthood Director
Robin Menin said the clinic was
able to accommodate almost all the
women scheduled for abortions on
Saturday, and the protesters' action
only prevented patients from getting
birth control.
A different perspective JESSICA GREENE /Daily
John Van Houten and Bryan Koehn, masters students in the
architecture school, create a "Perspective Machine" for a design
class.
Alternate graduation ceremony to
protest Duderstadt as speaker
OPEN MEETING
U of M Sailing Club
BY LISA WINER
Graduating students who disap-
prove of President Duderstadt's Uni-
versity policies and are disappointed
with his selection as commencement
speaker have gathered together to
plan an alternative graduation cere-
mony.
The United Coalition Against
Racism has sponsored alternative
graduation ceremonies for the past
two years. But this year an ad hoc
committee of nearly 20 students -
the Coalition on Alternative
Graduation, Education, and Devel-
opment - has formed to work with
UCAR.
Although the committee is con-
cerned that the ceremony not be po-
litical in a way that would be alien-
ating, at a meeting last night the
committee seemed widely in favor of
making their ceremony a progressive
political statement - in the tradi-
tion of the past two ceremonies.
"I think we're doing a very
political thing," said LSA senior
Rebecca Blumenstein, one of the
event's organizers. "I was very of-
fended by the choice of Duderstadt.
But I don't want this to be a nega-
tive day. I've heard for four years
about how bad things are."
"This ceremony will be more
personal and more relevant to
(graduates) college experience," said
UCAR member Barbara Ransby.
"It's a nice way to say thank you tc
students (who have worked for pro-
gressive causes)."
The ceremony, which is still in
the planning stage, is scheduled to
take place on the Diag at 3:30 on
April 29.
THE DAILY
CLASSIFIEDS
ARE A GREAT
WAY TO GET
FAST RESULTS
CALL 764-0557
Thursday
May 1 1th
7:45 p.m.
170 Dennisor
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Lou
Continued from Page 1
Petersen recalled a severe snow-
storm in 1978, which shut down the
Ann Arbor News for two days.
Though Lou hails from Pinckney, a
30-mile drive from Ann Arbor, he
managed to beat the snow and get
the paper out.
"The Ann Arbor News missed
two issues because of the same
snowstorm," said Petersen, who
worked at the Daily for 22 years.
Lou is often seen as an imposing
figure by new staffers, who aren't
aware of what the big man with the
knife has to offer. Lou even
perpetuates this by trying to intimi-
date new staffers.
"The first time I ever worked with
him, he put the fear of God in me,"
said 1983 Opinion Page Editor Bill
Hanson.
Last year, Lou spent a full five
minutes yelling at a new sports re-
porter. Walking away, Lou said to a
nearby editor, "Scared the little bug-
ger, didn't IT'
"New people that come in get the
impression that he's a real hard-ass,"
said 1987 Photo Editor Scott
Lituchy. "But once you get to know
him, and once he gets to know you,
he's like a grandparent who's always
willing to listen and talk."
More seasoned staffers know that
Lou can be a good friend and a wise
adviser. "Once he's stopped glaring
at you with the knife in his hand,
you know he likes you," said Re-
becca Blumenstein, the 1988 editor
in chief.
Lou has worked at the Daily
through six U.S. presidencies, the
Vietnam War, and a national basket-
ball championship. He has been at
the University longer than Bo
Schembechler, and he came long be-
fore computers or Laserwriters.
During that time, through good
papers and bad papers, Lou was
around to make sure the paper got
out. "Mine is not to wonder why,"
he says often, "mine is but to do or
die."
"Lucius keeps everything to-
gether," said 1987-88 University
Editor Kery Murakami.
Upon leaving the Daily, Lou in-
tends to spend much of his free time
playing golf (he has a five handicap)
and drinking Irish whisky.
1985 Editor in Chief Neil Chase
said: "I feel bad for all the golfers in
Southeast Michigan because there
aren't going to be any tee times
left."
- David Schwartz
All of us at the Daily would like
to wish Lou good luck and thank
him for the selfless work he has
done at the Daily. The ties Lou has
made withformer staffers are evident
- when word got out that we were
planning to run this story, dozens of
former staffers called to tell us their
memories of Lou. We won't forget
you, Lou, or all that you've taught
us.
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What's happening i
Speakers
"Effects of Exercise on the Aging
Process of Tendons" - Arthur
Vailas, Ph.D., University of Wis-
consin, 1033 Dental School, Sm.
Aud, Kellogg Bldg., 12:10 sharp-i
pm.
"The Exploration of Phenomena in
the Earth's High Atmosphere" -
Dr. William Sharp, Space Physics
Research Laboratory, Kuenzel
LIST
in Ann Arbor today
CCRB, 8:15-9:15 pm.
U of M Taekwondom- 2275 CCRB,
6:30-8:15 pm.
U of M Fencing - Sports Coli-
seum, 6-8 pm.
U of M Archery - Coliseum, 8-10
pm.
Furthermore
English Peer Counseling - 4000A
Michigan Union, 7-9 pm. Help
withnore andnter tnrTrAkh rP-
You can't have a top without a bottom. A height r
without a depth. A peak without a valley.
Or high scores without low ones.
Thanks, Stanley. We congratulate you and your
grad prep courses for holding down your part of
the job.
LSAT, GMAT
THE
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