The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, July 21, 1981-Page 3 POSTAL SERVICE VERGES ON STRIKE Talks go down to wire From AP and UPI WASHINGTON-The Postal Service made a new wage offer to its two largest unions last night. The unions rejected it out of hand but remained at the bargaining table with a midnight strike deadline only hours away. President Moe Biller of the American Postal Workers Union called the latest management offer a "phony wage proposal." BILLER AND Vince Sombrotto, president of the, National Association of Letter Carriers, said the executive boards of the two unions unanimously rejected the government proposal. They said the wage offer, made just a few hours earlier, contained virtually no additional money. "It really was no change, just some juggling," Sombrotto said. "If things don't change, there will be a nationwide strike." Earlier, they had said they would bargain past the deadline if agreement seemed near. ASSISTANT POSTMASTER General Walter Duka declined to give details of the latest offer but said it contained "new concepts" and was "negotiable." He repeated his statements that a strike could be avoided and also advised the public to follow its nor- mal mailing practices. The latest offer was made after a seven-hour gap when there were no talks between representatives of the two unions and postal management. THE JUSTICE Department had a lawyer available at the Postal Service headquarters prepared to ask a federal judge for a restraining order against the strike as soon as it was called. Last week, the department warned it would seek civil and criminal action if there was a work stoppage by postal workers, who are barred by federal law from striking. Earlier in the day, the two union presidents vowed they would risk an illegal strike before accepting management's demand for a three-year freeze in general wage increases. THE PENTAGON prepared yesterday to mobilize more than 100,000 military personnel to move the mail-or an estimated 90 percent of it-in the event of a nationwide postal strike, sources said. The contigency plan does not include door-to-door delivery at the home, however. Officials said residen- ts likely would have to go to their local Post Office to pick up personal mail. The Army, which has been given responsibility in the impending postal crisis, would set its plan-code named Graphic Hand-in motion after a presidential proclamation declaring a national emergency. SUCH A PROCLAMATION would be necessary to permit the call-up of national guardsmen and reser- vists, who would be expected to make up a large per- centage of the military manpower and womanpower used to handle the mails. Army officials, who discussed the plan on condition they not be named, stressed that the military would not take part in "any law enforcement activities." They said that if striking postal workers attempted to See POSTAL, Page 13 Daily rhoto by KIM RILL A 'Poseidon A dventure' Poseidon carefully guards the fountain outside the Michigan League, but on this day an adventurous soul decided to pirate a "fdrtune" in the depths of the murkywaters. Like all swashbucklers, he escaped before he could be identified to seek out other adventures. FIVE INVESTIGATIONS PLANNED INTO DISASTER: Kansas City recovering Council approves anti-rape committee BY JENNIFER MILLER Daily city government reporter The Ann Arbor City Council last night unanimously voted to form a Citizens' Advisory Committee on Rape Preven- tion. The new committee will pull together the rape prevention efforts of city and county governments and various con- cerned groups, including the Univer- sity, the Women's Crisis Center, and the community. COUNCILMEMBER Lowell Peter- son, who co-sponsored the resolution with Mayor Louis Belcher, said, "There are a lot of people working on rape prevention in the community. This will coordinate efforts and put them in the right direction." Peterson said the committeewill help avoid duplication of rape prevention projects in the city. "Now, when somebody has an idea for a new program, everyone who will be in- volved in it can respond right away. The Police Department can work with the Assault Crisis Center, and the University can coordinate its programs with both," he said. The City Council has been in- creasingly responsive to the sexual assault problem in Ann Arbor. This past May the council set aside funding for a rape prevention and awareness program through the Police Depar- tment. Council last night also approved a contract with the Ecology Center to provide a low-cost/no-cost weatherization program for residents; Sometime within the next two weeks, the Council will also vote on an Energy Plan which will include a mandatory requirement that all rental property owners install insulation and other weatherization measuros. From AP and UPI KANSAS CITY, Mo.-As the first victims of the Hyatt Regency Hotal disaster were buried yesterday, hotel officials said they would try to reopen within a week or two and might rebuild the walkways that collapsed into deadly heaps of steel and concrete. "Our intent is to open the hotel as quickly as possible," said Jim Dawson, a spokesman for Crown Center Redevelopment Corp., the owner of the $40 million, year-old hotel. "The in- vestigators are still in there. The investigation is the first or- der of business. Construction crews are working on how we'll be able to get the debris out of the lobby." AT LEAST FIVE investigations are planned or under way into what caused the worst disaster in the city's history Friday night when two walkways weighing 45 tons each crashed onto a lobby floor crowded with hundreds of revelers at a tea dance. Meanwhile, the death toll in the disasterous collapse was rolled back to 111 yesterday by authorities who said two bodies had been counted twice at the city morgue. The president f the redevelborett company, James Mc- Clune,~said the hotel might be reopened for business in a week or two. "Reopening depends on what the engineers tell us," Mc- Clune said. "If there has not been any structural damage to the hotel, we can reopen without doing anything about replacing the bridges and we will as soon as it is safe. "I DON'T KNOW if we will replace the bridges," McClune added. "It is a design we like. We have to look at what hap- pened, correct it and get back in operation." Flags wereordered flown at half staff throughout the city to honor fire department battalion chief John Tvetdon, who died in the accident. He was among those attending the dance and his son, John Tvetdon Jr., also a fireman, worked feverishly through the night to find his father. Mayor Richard Berkley said a citywide memorial service would be held, probably Thursday, and issued a statement thanking those who assisted in the rescue effort. A spokesman said Berkley was anxious that the city in- vestigate the tragedy quickly and thoroughly. IN TOPEKA, KAN., services were held for four members See HYATT, Pagelti