The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 21, 1993 - 7
.Fuel leak
leaves car
biaze on
~ampus
y SHELLEY MORRISON
DbLY STAFF REPORTER
While driving down Washtenaw
s venue at approximately 11 p.m.
I.Vuesday evening, Patty McDonald
panicked when the pungent smell of
pgasoline permeated the interior of her
car-.
Seconds later, theUniversity Hos-
10itals nurse's aide said the gasoline
miell was so strong it burned her
_yes, and justas *bystander yelled to
her that fuel was dripping from the
bottom of the car, flames began to
pscapefromtheedgesofthecarhood.
McDonald immediately jumped
Af'from the car - just before reaching
:tethe intersection of Hill Street and
*Vashtenaw Avenue. She ran up the
sidewalk of Lamda Chi Alpha frater-
nity to call the fire department.
As she waited for the fire depart-
ment to arrive with a growing crowd,
the blaze in the hood of her 1980 Ford
Mustang heightened.
Miraculously, she escaped un-
scathed.
"I was just driving and all of a
sudden there was fire," she said. "I
as so scared."
Ann Arbor Fire Department
(AAFD) officials, who arrived on the
scene less than five minutes later,
'determined that the cause of the fire
was a broken fuel-line that had satu-
rated the hot engine of the car with
gasoline and ignited.
Ann Arbor Police Department of-
ficials blocked off the gasoline-
*tained portion of pavement, while
fire officials investigated the cause of
the accidental fire.
AAFD Marshall Dennis Hasley
said had the reaction time of
McDonald and the department been
slower, the vehicle may have ex-
ploded.
"(AAFD) reaction time is around
four minutes at that time of the night
ihich can be critical in these types of
*inergencies," Hasley said.
Ann Arbor fire and police offi-
cials arrived and extinguished the fire
withineightminutesafterthe call was
made.
Hasley said even a small engine
fire canreach the 1,400 degrees Fahr-
enheit necessary to melt glass and
steel.
"Fire can melt steel and turn glass
9o taffy," Hasley said.
- Hasley said investigation of the
incident would be continued only if
McDonald's insurance company re-
quired it.
Inspectors Robert Crout and
Sandra Stewart, who were on the
scene, said the fuel-line most likely
snapped due to age.
Read the Daiy.
Go1 peace.
$'f.".'
SCARY STUFF
Alcohol free evenings
see U-Club'desserted'
By BARBARA McKELVEY
FOR THE DAILY
The U-Club is a study in contrasts.
Although it does a booming lunch
business, its nightclub is more of a
ghost town, haunted by those suc-
cessful, alcohol-selling times past.
Since 1991, therestauranthas been
dry during evening activities.
During lunch, the U-Club most
resembles an Entrde Plusable
Denny's, with understated furniture
and hanging plants as far as the eye
can see. Classical music can almost
be heard in the distance.
A polite, gussied-up staff waits on
customers. They even give patrons
appetizers of bread, strawberries and
walnut dip. The hamburgers are not
hamburgers; they are one-third pound
of ground round. Buns are gourmet.
And while most guests wear busi-
ness suits, some prefer sweatpants.
"We are attempting to be a suc-
cessful fine dining establishment. We
are not trying to draw any particular
kindof crowd," saidDarlaDean, lunch
manager. "That's the beauty of it."
The majority of U-Club custom-
ers are professors and visiting profes-
sionals who pay for their meals with
University accounts distributed
through departments and offices. S tu-
dents comprise 20 percent of patrons,
Dean said, adding that Entrde Plus
has not increased business.
Lunchtime customers may pur-
chase alcohol.Evening guests may not.
Until two years ago, it was one of
the most popular nightspots in town.
And though it has reopened this year
with a similar, but alcohol-free for-
mula, it has not yet been successful.
On the surface, the Club offers
everything that any self-respecting
college student could ask for. There is
music for diverse tastes - Thursday
night reggae, and Saturday is alterna-
tive -as well as Comedy Night with
nationally recognized comedians.
Sundays feature jazz with a candle-
light dinner.
But students are not attending these
events in the numbers hoped for by U-
Club management.
While a typical lunch serves 150
people, the most successful evening
- Wednesday Comedy Night - has
attracted a maximum of only 80
people. Sunday, the next most suc-
cessful evening, has a highest count
of 50.
However, Night Manager Ed
Barnett said he does not plan to give
up. He said he will not stop until he
finds a viable alternative to alco-
holic parties.
Barnett pointed out what he sees
as an advantage of the U-Club.
"A frat party is not every week.
If you want entertainment every
week, this is the place. It is consis-
tent," he said, adding that he would
like to gear activities toward first-
year students and sophomores, who
are not able to hang out at other bars.
The Club's largest problem may
be its inability to advertise well,
Barnett said. He said he does not
feel the University provides him with
sufficient funding.
U-Club server Steve Brand said
the University is not acting on its
commitment to provide students
with alcohol-free entertainment.
But Associate Dean of Students
Frank Cianciola said he thinks the
problem lies elsewhere. "I don't
think it is a question of money," he
said. "We have made the commit-
ment to find alcohol-free alterna-
tives. I think it's more of a problem
of finding the right mix."
PETER MATTHEWS/Dasy
Phyllis,a Dairy Mart employee, put together this Halloween display of a
munchie-chomping couch potato whose been chopped to death.
Mistrial declared in Denny
beating case, 2nd defendant off
LOS ANGELES (AP) -With a The rioting was set off by the
final verdict of "not guilty," the acquittalonstatechargesoffourwhite
Reginald Denny beating trial ended police officers accused of beating
yesterday, leaving a scarred city to Black motorist Rodney King during a
face a legacy of racial hostility and traffic stop inMarch 1991. Two offic-
doubt about equal justice for Blacks ers were later convicted of federal
and whites. civil rights violations and are in prison.
Spectators gasped as the court
clerk read the verdict by a multiracial
jury, whose tortured deliberations left
some jurors ill and prolonged the sus-
pense for days.
A second Black defendant walked
free after 17 months because the jury
deadlocked on the remaining charge
against him and a mistrial was de-
clared. "It's a nice day out today,
huh?" Henry Watson said as he leftr
jail.
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