1978-09-22; Central Michigan Life

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Board finds open meetings
by KELLY KOLHAGEN
LIFE Newa Editor
and
JIM FISHER
UFE Ass't News Editor
An" assistant  state  attorney   general  said
Thursday CMU's Board of Trustees has misinterpreted a written opinion dealing with how
public bodies may conduct meetings under the
Open Meetings Act.
The response came following Wednesday's
board decision to meet in closed session in future
meetings to receive information from administrators or other groups.
At the meeting, the trustees claimed Att, Gen.
Frank Kelley's opinion (no. 5364) allows them to
conduct closed sessions as long as they do not
deliberate on the information.  .
The opinion states in part,"... where a public
body meets with a neighborhood organization or
other groups for the sole purpose of observing
and gathering information, the' gathering is
exempt from open meetings requirements of the
Open Meetings Act..."
"Other groups" can mean anyone, the board's
legal position remains,
Vincent   Leone,   assistant   state   attorney
general, said the opinion was based on a question
whether city councils or other public bodies could-
meet with other outside groups for the sole
purpose of receiving information.
"But it does not address itself to this case," said
Leone, adding that if the board were to meet, for
example, with a non-university group, it would be
in direct compliance with the opinion.
Opinions from that office are not legally binding, However, Leone said that the opinion was
not intended to exclude college boards of trustees
from the Open Meetings Act. That act forbids
public bodies to deliberate and reach decisions
behind closed doors.
University Attorney J. David Kerr said he
interpreted Kelley's opinion to allow "any human
being" to meet with the trustees in closed session
to discuss information. He said the trustees, in
Wednesday's action, are not attemping to avoid
the act.
The opinion was issued in August at the
request of Rep. James O'Neill, Jr. (D-Saginaw).
The question at hand was whether a local bank's
board of directors could meet in closed session
with a quorum of the city council without
disobeying requirements of the Open Meetings
Act.
"I can find no distinction between meeting with
a neighborhood bank or meeting with an administrative council, or any other human being,"
Kerr said.
Board Vice-chairperson Alfred Fortino said the
board could be more effective if allowed to gather
information from University administrators and
officials in a non-public meeting.
Volume 60 No. 11 Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859        Friday, Sept. 22,1978
Legacy of PBB
stalks Mi/liken
-CM LIFE PHOTOS BY DAVID C. FRITZ
A Central Michigan Community Hospital nurse prepares to examine a patient being
|f*ite«tat th? facility's newly expanded •m^rgtncy room. The extent of the improvements
fir the subject ofa story on page 8 of today's CM LIFE.
by KELLY KOLHAGEN
LIFE News Editor
PBB and the question of toxic
waste disposal have been
following Gov. William G.
Milliken a lot on the campaign
trail these days.
And while at a press conference of the Saginaw Valley
Press Club Wednesday, the
main order of questioning
continued to center around the
governor's role in the PBB
poisonings issue and how that
issue will affect him in his race
against state Sen. William B.
Fitzgerald..
In an unprecedented move,
Milliken is running for.his fourth
term as governor since his
initial election in 1968.
"I wasn't the one who put the PBB into the
feed, but to hear some people talk, you
would think that I did."-Gov. William G.
Milliken
Local bar owners optimistic
in face of drinking age hike
byJAMESKIRLEY
LIFE Copy Editor
With a statewide poll showing
77 percent of those interviewed
favoring a raise in the Michigan
drinking age to 21, Mount
Pleasant tavern owners have
their work cut out for them.
Still, optimism is growing
among the local chapter of the
Michigan Licensed Beverage
Association, according to Tom
Thompson, local chapter
chairperson of the Michigan
Committee for the - Age of
Responsibility.
"I think optimism (among local
bar owners) is growing,"
Thompson said. "The only poll
that has been taken showed us
way behind, but from the feelers
we have out, we're closing the
_emM   "
gap.
Thompson said his group is
cooperating with Student
Association to host a voter
registration drive on campus
Wednesday through Friday, and
Oct. 2 to 4,11 a.m.'to 1 p.m. and 4
to 6 p,m„ in order to get college
voters registered in time for the
election. In addition, he said, a
free concert and registration
drive will take place on campus
either the last Saturday or
Sunday of this month!;
The poll Thompson referred
to, conducted by Bell Research
Associates, a California firm,
indicated a scant 16 percent Of
those questioned opposed the
referendum which would make
it illegal for all Michigan 18 to SJO
"I will publicly debate any member of
Coalition 21 at anytime or any place."— Tom
Thompson, chairperson of the local MICAR
chapter
year olds to drink starting Nov.
18.
Spearheaded by the Coalition
for 21, the proposition , is
designed to reduce highway
fatalities and remove alcohol
from -high school and college
students, according to Coalition
spokespersons.
Thompson, however, said he
feels the group's credibility with
state voters is slipping. "I think
this (growing opposition among
state voters) is because people
are beginning to see through
Coalition 21.1 think they see the
organization as what it is — a
prohibitionist organization and
an organization that's been
putting out a lot of statistics
Without any documentation of
those statistics," he said,
referring to the coalition's
figures of traffic deaths, accidents in general and high
school drinking problems.
Thompson said he would
welcome the opportunity to
discuss the issues with the
opposition. "1 will publicly
debate any member of Coalition
21 at any time or any place," he
.said.
One particular statistic
Thompson disputes concerns
highway fatalities in the 18 to
20-year-old age bracket.
He said a proposition supporter, State Rep. Melvin
Larson (R-Oxford), came out
with the statement that traffic
fatalities in the 18 to 20 age
group had increased 43 percent
since the legal drinking age was
lowered in 1972. Thompson
disagreed, adding he sought the
source of the statistics.
"I called Larson's office and
asked for documentation of
these statistics, and they didn't
have them available; said they
couldn't find them.
"I feel they're (Larson's office)
using statistics that are incorrect, incomplete and totally
inaccurate because they don't
correlate with the same
statistics published through the
Secretary of State's office,
which show a decrease in
fatalities in that age group."
Deadline for voter
registration in this election is
Oct. 10. Besides registering at
the Secretary of State's office,
300 W. Michigan St., eligible,
voters also can register at th?
city clerk's office, 120 3.
(See'Drinking—" page 2)
"There's no question PBB is
an issue," Milliken said,
regarding Fitzgerald's insistence that the governor did
not do enough about PBB while
the issue still was young.
"PBB definitely has been the
most complex and elusive issue I
have ever had to deal with as a
governor," said Milliken. But, at
the same time, he said he
handled the problem responsibly and well, and he said he
always has been willing to
discuss the issue openly.
Since the problem was an
unprecedented one in Michigan,
Milliken said, he operated
without the hindsight that
normally could have been used.
That "hindsight" he referred
to includes what he termed as
his lack of communication with
the public as soon as PBB
poisoning became known.
"I would have tried to communicate more effectively with
the public, but none of us
recognized the severity of the
problem since it was an unprecedented one," Milliken said.
"I wasn't the one who put the
PBB into the feed, but to hear
some people talk, you would
think-that I did," he said.
AncL although Fitzgerald is
using the PBB issue against
Milliken in his campaign,
Milliken said Fitzgerald
"discovered PBB only in 1978"
and, as a legislator, was never
(See "PBB—"page 2,
Frosh math test
deadline at noon
Freshmen have until noon today to sign up for the first
mathematics competency test, which will be administered 8:30
a.m. Saturday in Pearce 138.
> The 93-question test costs $5, which may be paid at the
Cashier's Office, Warriner 110. When students show up for the
test, they are to present the fee receipt and a picture identification card-
Registration for the exam may be done in the Mathematics
Department office, Pearce 214; the Academic Information
Center, Warriner 157; or the Office of Instruction and
Research, Warriner 354.
Sample math tests asking questions similar to those on the
competency test are available at the sites,
Satire Mull's special style
—Student groups receive allocations, page
3.
—Tacky chair winners named, page?.
■"Band to sponsor symposium Saturday
for prep musicians, page 8
—Chips face Alcorn State, page 9,
j
by JERRY MORLOCK
LIFE Staff Writer
With 1,524' tickets sold, both reserved and
general admission tickets still are available for
the Saturday night concerts by comedian-
songwriter Martin Mull.
Tickets for the 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. shows in
Warriner Auditorium cost $6 for reserved seats
and $4.50 for general admission. They are
available at the University Center Ticket Office,
and at the door.
Program Board has announced the addition of
an opening act to the Saturday night shows.
Musician Billy Sheets will open both the 7:30
and 9:30 shows singing and playing piano and
acoustic guitar. Sheets'.repertoire includes music
of the late *40s, '50s, and '60s, said Tim Robisch,
Program Board spokesperson.
Those who already have their tickets can only
hope thai Mull is as creative iii concert as he is
offstage. -
Mull, who became famous as the host of the
tonguein-cheek television talk show "America 2-
Night," has a widely varied background which
has borne numerous, anecdotes illustrating his
eccentricity."
Scheduled to appear before the Providence,
R.I., draft board in 1967, according to New Times
magazine, Mull prepared for the interview by
slicking his hair back with Vaseline and donning a
lumberjack shirt several sizes too small.
He fixed a lunch of carrots, celery and tunafish,
individually wrapped in aluminum foil and carried
in an oversized grocery bag scribbled with his
name. During the interview, he dropped the
names of every Communist group he could think
of. .
After his hearing test, Mult pretended to be
locked in the booth. Needless to say, he was
rejected for the draft.
Earner of a master's degree in art, Mull, along
with several artist friends, decided they wanted
to display their works in the Boston Museum of
Fine Arts. When the museum rejected their
request, they entered the building at 8 a.m. and
with masking tape displayed their paintings on
the bathroom walls. In minutes, more than 300
people crowded into the men's room, including
film crews from the local news. The group:s
project, titled "Flush with the Walls" (or I'll Be
Art in a Minute'), was a success.
(See"Muir^page2)
Martin Mull
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