The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 27, 1989 - Page 3
Pierce takes the 5th
before House panel
Ann
Arbor
homeless
plan
WASHINGTON (AP) - Citing
his constitutional right against self-
incrimination, former Department of
Dousing and Urban Development
secretary Samuel Pierce, Jr. refused
to answer questions yesterday from a
House panel investigating housing
scandals. He contended that he had
been "prejudged by this body."
Pierce, compelled to appear by a
subpoena, accused the subcommittee
of trying to rush him into testifying
without adequate preparation and said
he hoped to tell his story later.
His refusal to testify came at a
dramatic meeting of a panel that has
been investigating allegations of bil-
lions of dollars worth of fraud, mis-
rtanagement, influence peddling and
political favoritism at HUD, which
Pierce had headed throughout the
1Meagan administration.
Disagreements between the sub-
dommittee and Pierce even extended
tb news coverage of the hearing.
I ierce invoked House rules that
forced subcommittee chair Tom
Lantos (D-Calif.) to bar television,
radio and photographic coverage, de-
spite Lantos's complaint that the
move was unwarranted.
Pierce read a brief statement say-
ing he had not had time to prepare,
did not have the HUD documents he
needed and would invoke his consti-
tutional right not to testify.
Lantos then posed eight questions
to Pierce, some raising new sugges-
tions of political influence involving
HUD and the Reagan White House.
Pierce delivered the same re-
sponse to each of the eight ques-
tions, a brief sentence citing his
rights and his attorney's advice. He
sat expressionless, facing the panel.
As members criticized his refusal to
testify, he occasionally closed his
eyes and shook his head slightly.
"The subcommittee's desire to
rush me through this process, to-
gether with various statements made
by members ... leads me to the
painful conclusion that I have been
prejudged by this body," Pierce said.
D.C. march
Local contingent hopes to
make mark in Washington
Associated Press
Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Samuel Pierce leaves
a hearing investigating HUD scandals on Capitol Hill yesterday. Pierce
refused to answer questions during the hearing, citing his Fifth Amend-
ment right against'self-incrimination.
T he aftermath of hurricanes
Local groups still fight effects of 1988's Hurricane Gilbert
by Ken Walker
I In Charleston, South Carolina,
life is returning to normal after the
dimage left in Hurricane Hugo's
wake.
As of August, however, people
*n Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula were
still dealing with the aftereffects of
Hurricane Gilbert's landfall nearly a
y4ar ago.
Students from the Universities of
Michigan and Wisconsin spent six
weeks last summer trying to help
tie Yucatan village of Dzidzilche re-
cover from the disaster.
"These people were starving to
bgin with, and homeless after the
storm hit," said LSA junior Marian
Caplan, a Michigan member of the
Wisconsin-based Yucatan Relief
Fuid. Caplan has traveled to the
Yucatan with the student group three
times.
The poorest citizens of the area
were hardest hit by the hurricane,
Caplan said. Many citizens of
Progresso, a city of roughly 30,000
ople on the Mexican coastline,
live in tarpaper shacks erected on
garbage dumps or in swamps sur-
rounding the city.
Univ. of Wisconsin-Green Bay
lumanities Prof. David Galaty, said
he saw these shanties torn to shreds
dtiring his November 1988 visit to
the area. He later formed the Yucatan
Relief Fund to aid the poverty-
stricken families left homeless by
the storm. Money was raised for aid
through bucket drives, presentations,
and other fund-raising projects.
Galaty organizes trips to
Dzidzilche and Progresso every year;
he has traveled to the Yucatan with
Wisconsin students since 1977. The
original purpose of the group was to
expose students to rural Mexican
culture.
On these trips, Galaty said the
money raised by the fund is spent
within the Yucatan on relief projects
to avoid any loss to corrupt individ-
uals in the Mexican government. He
noted some examples of misalloca-
tion of aid, including a promise by
the Mexican government to dis-
tribute food aid to people left home-
less by the hurricane. The advertised
aid turned out to consist of two cans
of cooking oil for a town of 10,000
people.
Galaty also said eggs donated to
the government for victims of the
disaster were sold to local supermar-
kets, and tarpaper donated for repair
of shanty homes in the poverty-
stricken area disappeared from a gov-
ernment warehouse.
This sort of corruption prevented
much of the money raised by non-
profit organizations in the United
States from being distributed to the
victims of Hurricane Gilbert. Galaty
said the lack of assistance from the
Mexican government largely ac-
counts for the area's slow recovery.
During the past year, the organi-
zation has distributed roughly
$4,000 in aid, including the distribu-
tion of eyeglasses gathered in the
U.S., the establishment of an eye
clinic in the area, and the improve-
ment of area homes. Caplan said her
last two trips to the Yucatan - in
December, 1988, and August, 1989
- have also involved work to repair
homes damaged by Gilbert last year.
Clean-up conti;
wrath of Hurri
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -
Tap water became safe, some stores
reopened yesterday and a ton of cat-+
fish was on its way to ease the
plight of this city's hurricane sur-
vivors, but 80 percent remained'
without power and stricken outlying
areas grew desperate.
Generators and other necessities
poured into this historic port from
around the nation. The Mississippi
Agricultural Department arranged to
send a ton of donated catfish along
with cooks to fry it and serve it with
hush puppies, the region's beloved
cornmeal side dish.
While Charleston regained some
services, the picture was bleaker in
isolated areas.
"We have no ice, no lights and
we're low on batteries," St. Stephen
Mayor Bobby Hoffman said.
"Everything is funnelled to
Charleston, but we had a hurricane,
too. People are desperate. They're
going to panic."
He said roads were still blocked
by downed trees, making it impossi-
ble to reach some people in the town
of about 2,000 bordering the Francis
Marion National Forest north of
Charleston.
"We can't get to their houses to
see even if they're still alive or not,"
Hoffman said.
All travel expenses are paid by
the members of the group to assure
that every penny they raise goes to
the needy in the area.
The Fund will continue poverty
relief work in the area after the re-
covery from Hurricane Gilbert is
complete. Caplan admits that the
Fund's efforts are limited and local-
ized, but she said, "Even if we can
only help 60 or 100 families, that's
60 more families that won't get wet
when it rains."
nues after
cane Hugo
Some other towns and the barrier
islands had similar problems, offi-
cials said.
Hugo and its remnants killed at
least 33 people in the Caribbean and
28 on the U.S. mainland, including
17 in South Carolina.
Charleston schools remained
closed for at least another week;
some colleges in the area plan to
open Monday.
Charleston Harbor reopened to
limited ship traffic Tuesday, and
some traffic lights in Charleston and
in nearby Mount Pleasant were
working.
Residents climbed onto roofs to
repair shingles under a sunny sky,
while others shopped in grocery
stores opened for the first time.
Rain that was predicted held off.
"They're cleaning the trees out of
the streets. We're going to get
along with the help of the Lord,"
said John Gale, whose house col-
lapsed when hurricane Hugo swept
through South Carolina on Thursday
night and Friday morning.
President Bush yesterday ex-
panded his earlier disaster declaration
to include five more South Carolina
counties, bringing to 12 the number
eligible for federal money in the
state. Banks began offering low-in-
terest loans to those ineligible for
federal aid.
by Tara Gruzen
Daily City Reporter
Homelessness is not an isolated
problem in Ann Arbor. It is not
something to worry about only in
large cities such as New York, Los
Angeles or Detroit. And it is not
something that can be ignored by the
federal government, say organizers of
the National March for Housing
Now, which will be held Oct. 7 in
Washington, D.C.
"President George Bush and
(Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development) Jack Kemp have said'
they are serious about affordable
housing, but haven't put aside any
money yet," said Michael Appel,
one of the Ann Arbor coordinators of
the march. "They are just words
without money."
The rally, expected to draw be-
tween 1/2 million and a million
people, will be made up of a large
number of homeless people, said
Verna Spayth, an organizer of the
Ann Arbor constituency.
Ann Arbor is planning to send
two buses to the march, one of
which will be subsidized by contri-
butions in order to send homeless
people to the march.
Working with the Detroit Hous-
ing Now Project, Ann Arbor orga-
nizers of the march have raised ap-
proximately $700-$1,000 from indi-
viduals, community groups and
church groups, Appel said. The
American Friends Service Commit-
tee has promised to match every dol-
lar raised by the Detroit Housing
Now Project, assuring at least
POLICE
Continued from Page 1
brought through City Council
members to enforce the laws, we
have no choice."
A noise violation occurs when a
sound can be recorded after 8:00 p.m.
at a level greater than 60 decibels
from the edge of a potential viola-
tor's property line.
According to Ann Arbor's 15th
District Court, University students
Jason Brindel, an LSA senior; Lance
Pacernick, an LSA senior; and
Robert Sheppard, an engineering ju-
nior, were charged with noise viola-
tions. Records indicate that Brindel
and Pacernick were arraigned on
Monday and entered pleas of not
guilty. Their pre-trial examinations
are set for Oct. 10.
Student Legal Services will be
$1,400 to subsidize the bus, he said.
Although Spayth said the bene-
fits of sending homeless people to
the march are not tangible objects
like new curtains or sheets for a
shelter, she said going to Washing-
ton will. provide homeless people,
who feel completely out of the
mainstream, with a sense of hope
and power.
According to information dis-
tributed by the Ann Arbor organizers
of the march, the fair market rent
price for a one-bedroom apartment is
$479, whereas the maximum aid to a
family with dependent children (three
people total) is $321.
This discrepancy in numbers is
what has to be addressed by the fed-
eral government because it is oftenr
impossible for people with aid to
find affordable housing, Appel said.
Information about the Local
Housing Now march will be dis-,
tributed in the Fishbowl today be-
tween 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m,
Buses will be leaving Ann Arbor for
Washington at 6:45 p.m. on Oct. 6
and will be returning in the morning
on Oct.8.
"We're going to drive till we
march, march till we drive, and drive
till we drop," said Spayth.
Full price for the bus is $50, but
people who are interested but cannot
pay the full price should talk to Ann
Arbor organizers about receiving par-
tial aid.
For anyone who is unable to go
to Washington but would like to
support the march, there will be a
send-off rally at the First Baptist
Church Oct. 6 at 6:00 p.m.
representing Pacernick, and probably
Brindel as well. SLS would not
comment on the cases.
Sheppard, who was arraigned yes-
terday, pleaded guilty and was fined
$80. He plans to split the fine with
his housemates.
Residents of Arbor Street said
they don't deserve to be ticketed.
"It's bogus," Pacernick said, "We
were having a party, but it was not a
noisy party."
Brindel said there was no music
being played at his house and he re-
ceived a ticket anyway. Brindel's
housemate, LSA senior Susan
Carlson, said, "I would like to know
who we were bothering. We have
Blue Front on one side and neigh-
bors on the other. Blue Front was
certainly enjoying the business ands
our neighbors were having a party,
too."
THE
LIST
What's happening in Ann Arbor today
Meetings
student Chapter of the
National Association of
Environmental Professionals
mass meeting at 5 p.m. in
room. 1040 Dana Building
Women in Communications -
imass meeting; 4:10 in 2050
Frieze Building
UM Asian Student Coalition -
meets at 7 p.m. in 2413 Mason
Hall
Earth Day Organizational
Committee - mass meeting at 7
p.m. in Rm. 1040 of the Dana
Building
Mill Street Cinema - meeting
to pick films at 6 p.m. at Hillel
Furthermore
ECB writing peer tutors
available - 7 to 11 p.m. at
Angell-Haven and 611 computing
centers; Sunday through Thursday
Club Heidelberg - Abraham
Nixon with Mr. Largebeat
Existence
School of Education Support Staff
Coffee Hour - 8:30-10 a.m. in
1211 SEB
"Immobilized Enzymes"- an
analytical seminar by Yingqi
Wang, Department of Chemistry:
Career Planning & Placement
programs - Business
Opportunities with a Liberal Arts
Degree, 4:10 to 5 p.m. at the
CP&P Rm.; Resumes that Work:
The Employer's Perspective 5:10
to 6 p.m. in the CP&P Library
Safewalk - Night-time walking
service, seven days a week, 102
UGLi, 8 p.m. to midnight, 936-
1000
Pre-Interviews - Apple
Computer, 6:30-8:30 at 1200
EECS; General Electric, 5:15 to
7:15 at 1500 EECS; Conoco,
6:30-8:30 at 1003 EECS
Technology and the Workplace
- a seminar with Susan
Schurman and Dan Hoffman; 3:30
to 5 p.m. at 1005 Dow Chem.
Bldg.
Senior Portraits - portraits
will be taken from 8:30 a.m. to 5
p.m. on the 2d floor of the Union
Impact Dance - first workshop
for the dance troupe (geared to
beginners/intermediates) will be
held from 9 to 10:30 in the Union
Ballroom
"A Non-Traditional
Perspective on the
Undergraduate Experience" -
an informal brown bag lunch and
discussion; noon to 1:30 p.m. at
the Center for the Continuing
Pduetion of Wnmen at the trner
Become a
Daily
Photographer!
L A f. . . . . L(
I
a