The Michigan Daily -

Daily Photo by DOUG McMAHON
Stairway to heaven
A businessman passes by an escalator on his way to work in the business district of New York City.

Family of
DETROIT (AP) - A jury has awar-
ded $10 million to the family of a factory
p worker who was killed by a robot arm
as he tried to do the machine's job him-
self.
Officials of the company that
produced the machine were "shocked,"
but a lawyer for the worker's family
said: "The question, I guess, is, 'Who
serves who?"
"I THINK WE have to be very careful
that we don't go backwards to the kind
of notions we had during the industrial
revolution that people are expendable,"
said Paul Rosen, representing the
family of Robert Williams.

robot victim wins suit

Williams, 25, of Dearborn Heights,
was killed Jan. 25, 1979, at a Ford Motor
Co. casting plant in Flat Rock, Mich.,
after he climbed up on a shelf, or rack,
where castings were stored.
He had been asked to climb up there
to get parts because a five-story
machine designed to retrieve the
castings from their shelves had beei{
giving workers apparently erroneous
information on the number of parts on
the shelves, according to testimony. At-
torneys for the family also said at the
trial that the machine had bein
working too slowly.
THE FIVE-STORY machine includes
1-ton carts that move on rubber wheels

and have mechanical arms for putting
castings onto shelves or taking them
off. While Williams was up on a rack,
the arm of one of those units hit him in
the head.
A Wayne County Circuit Court jury on
Tuesday handed down the decision
against Unit Handling Systems, a
division of Litton Industries.
"We're absolutely shocked and
dismayed by this judgement," said
Robert Knapp, a spokesman for Litton.
"In the first place, there shouldn't have
been a negative verdict. Our equipment
was not at fault. And further, a $10
million judgement is totally ex-
cessive."

- Thursday, August 11, 1983- Page 5
Excessive
barking
sends
canine to
death row
NORFOLK, Va. (UPI) - Animal-
protection officials said yesterday a
judge's death sentence for Max, a mutt
accused of barking too much, is "totally
out of line" and they will help his
owner's attorney appeal the case.
"I've never heard of a dog being
destroyed for barking," said Kathy
Strouse, Norfolk director of the Society
for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
"It's unjust. The dog is being
punished for being a dog," Strouse said.
Max, a 3-year-old mostly German
shepherd mixed-breed that a neighbor
claims barks excessively, was senten-
ced to death Tuesday by Norfolk
General District Judge Joseph Jordan.
Jordan agreed, however, to stay the
execution pending an appeal to circuit
court.
Max is owned by Tom Atkinson, 23, a
Norfolk police officer. A neighbor,
Samuel Cobb, complained to police
ax,ut Max's barking.
A police officer was sent to Atkinson's
house. When Max started barking, the
officer ticketed Atkinson for main-
taining a dog "that is a public nuisan-
ce."
At Tuesday's hearing, Jordan asked
Atkinson if he was willing to get rid of
or to control Max, and Atkinson said no.
Jordan then sentenced Max to death.
Atkinson's attorney, Joseph Pen-
nington, immediately appealed the
ruling. A new court date was not im-
mediately set.
STUDENT ACCOUNTS: Your atten-
tion is called to the following
rules passed by the Regents
at their meeting on February
28, 1936: "Students shall pay
all accounts due the Univer-
sity not later than the last day
of classes of each semester
or summer session. Student
loans which are not paid or
renewed are subject to this =
regulation; however, student
loans not yet due are exem-
pt. Any unpaid accounts at
the close of business on the
last day of classes will be
reported to the Cashier of the
University and
(a) All academic credits
will be withheld, the grades
for the semester or summer
session just completed will
not be rWleased, and no tran-
scripts of credit will be
issued.
(b) All students owing
such accounts will not be
allowed to register in any
subsequent semester or
summer session until c
payment has been made."
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