Page 2-Tuesday, June 17, 1980-The Michigan Daily
Detroit papers
could avert
,unionsrk
DETROIT (UPI) - A union leader
said yesterday there is "a good chan-
ce" a threatened strike can be averted
at the city's two daily newspapers this
week.
Joel Wilson, president of the
Newspaper Council of Detroit, said the
union hopes to present its economic
package to the management of the Free
Press and the News at a meeting today.
THE COUNCIL, which represents
10 of 11 unions at the two newspapers,
has voted to authorizea strike when the
current three-year contract expires at
12:01aIn. EDT tomorrow if there is no
agreement on a new pact by then.
The Teamsters union is bargaining
separately with both newspapers.
"We have some proposals on the
table," Wilson- said. "There's a very
good chance that we can break it
(today). I really don't see a strike."
WILSON SAID the major break in the
impasse came yesterday when the
council voted to put its economic
package .on the bargaining table.
Originally, the council had agreed to
postpone discussion of economic issues
until the non-economic package had
been tentatively approved.
The council represents 'about 2,000
employees of the two newspapers, in-
cluding reporters. It was formed in 1968
following a bitter, nine-month strike
that shut down both newspapers in 1967.
Since the unions began bargaining as
a unit, there has never been a strike
against either the News or the Free
Press.
On Sunday, Local 22 of The
Newspaper Guild voted 9-1 to authorize
a strike. Local 22 represents 600
editorial and maintenance employees
at the Free Press and 250 editorial and
business office employees at the News.
Hit the lights
Casual strolls through the Diag in the evenings have been more like
nervous trots for the past week. Reason: Those glowing balls that light the
pathways have gone dark, plunging the usually well-lit area into threatening
gloom. The darkened Diag is not some energy-saving scheme, however.
Instead, malfunctioning circuits in the underground cables are causing the
problem, according to a spokeswoman from Detroit Edison. Crews thus far
have failed to illumunate the area, but Edison employees were trying again
yesterday, and the spokeswoman was optimistic about the repair effort. ]
150 each axle
Toll-takers in Delaware say their work is not always boring, especially
with an occasional naked lady, a regular in a Halloween mask, or a women
hitchhiking to New York-by wheelchair. "You've got to have a good sense
of humor. These people could really get to you," said Don Chickadel, who
once studied to be a Roman Catholic priest and now takes tolls at the
Delaware Memorial Bridge. Now in his fifth year as a toll-taker, Chickadel
said he often deals with drunks, drug-crazed drivers, and cheapskates who
don't want to pay the toll. Maybe he should have been a priest after
all. n
This little piggie went to market
No one would guess "Cleopatra" was a one-pound porker rejected by her
mother six months ago. Today, she naps on the living room couch, snacks on
peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and rides around town in the family car.
She's a 200-pound baby who doesn't know she's a pig. "My brother hunts a
lot, and he found a pregnant wild pig who had alitter of four," said Katie Cox
of Winter Haven, Florida. "She didn't want Cleo, so my brother asked me if I
wanted her." Cleo joined Cox, her husband John, their three children, three
dogs, two cats, a parakeet, a hamster, and three incubating eggs. "We hope
they are turtle eggs," said John Cox. "If a cottonmouth comes out we are
going to be in trouble." Cleo, who is expected to fill out to 400 pounds, in
housebroken and gets very affectionate in the car. "We figure she thinks she
might be going to market and wants us to know she loves us," Katie Cox
said.F
On the outside
Expect mostly sunny skies today with a high temperature in the mid-70s.F
Happenings
FILMS
AAFC-Ride in the Whirlwind, 7, 10:20 p.m., The Shooting, 8:40 p.m., MLB
4.- -
Deadline nears for
drinking age petition
i
DETROIT (UPI) - Supporters of a
petition drive to lower the legal
drinking age from 21 to 19 said yester-
day they need 100,000 more signatures
to get the issue on the November ballot
- and have less than a month in which
to do it.
"I'm cautiously optimistic," said
Rep. Richard Fitzpatrick, a Battle
Creek Democrat who is chairman of the
petition effort.
"IT WOULD BE very sad if we didn't
make it. Everyone takes it for granted
we'll make it, and it's very frustrating.
We still need 100,000."
Fitzpatrick said more than 200,000
petitions still are out and he is concer-
ned because circulators are not retur-
ning them.
"We think the signatures are out
there," he said. "If we could get every
petition back with just one signature
each, we would make it on the ballot."
AT LEAST 286,000 valid signatures
must be filed with the state by July 7.
To build in a safety factor, to compen-
sate for invalid signatures, state of-
ficials suggest more than 300,000
signatures be collected.
"We have to keep moving, keep
working, but we can get the signatures
we need by the July 7 deadline," Fit-
zpatrick said.
"Our goal is attainable."
Michigan voters hiked the legal
drinking age from 18 to 21 in 1978.
FITZPATRICK SAID it is difficult to
collect signatures in places where
young people congregate, such as rock
concerts and on campuses, because
each voter must sign only on a petition
for the county in which he is registered.
This means circulators may have to
carry 83 petitions - one for each county
- when collecting signatures in an area
in which a young person may live but
not hold his voting residence..
Fitzpatrick said it is illogical to have
a law on the books which is widely
flouted.
"Youth have shifted their drinking
from licensed, regulated, and super-
vised establishments to the back seats
of cars and unsupervised private par-
ties," Fitzpatrick said.
"As a legislator, I would much prefer
a moderate and practical drinking age
which is carefully enforced, rather than
this unreasonable and unfair age 21,
which is ignored.
The Michigan Daily
(USPS 344-900)
Volume XC, No. 28-S
Tuesday, June 17, 1980
The Michigan Daily is edited and managed by students at the University
of Michigan. Published daily Tuesday through Sunday mornings during the
University year at 420 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48109.
Subscription rates: $12 September through April (2 semesters); $13 by mail
outside Ann Arbor. Summer session published Tuesday through Saturday
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764-0550; Composing Room: 764-0556.
Editors-in-Chief...........TOM MIRGA Business Manager..................
HOWARD WITT ROSEMARY WICKOWSKI
Editorial Page Editor... SARA ANSPACH Display Manager.... KATHLEEN CULVER
Arts Editor........... MARK COLEMAN Classified Manager...... SUSAN KLING
Sports Editor........... ALAN FANGER Circulation Manager.... JAMES PICKETT
Executive Sports Editors... SCOTT LEWIS Ad Coordinator... E. ANDREM PETERSEN
MARK MIHANOVIC BUSINESS STAFF: Donna Drebin, Aida
NEWS STAFF WRITERS: Joyce Frieden, Eisenstat Barbara orslund, Kristna
Bonnie Juran, Nick Katsarelas, Geoff Peterson, Daniel Moods
Olans, Elaine Rideout, Mitch Stuart, Key. SPORTS STAFF WRITERS: Dan Conlin,
in Tottis Tony Glinke, Buddy Moorehouse, Jon
'HOTO STAFF: Paul Engstrom, David Moreland, Joanne Schneider, Tom Sha-
PHOTsTAF:PalEnKtuzheen, Drew Sharp, Jon Welts
Harris, Jim Kruz ,-,,,,. , -
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