1975-10-20; Central Michigan Life

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'  A'
leaders plan for future
'We cfou'f plan any drastic radical action.
Although the vote was decisive, we don't see it as
any great slam against Gay Lib. We'll just have, to do ■
a better job in the future Of educating the students
on aspects of homosexuality"—Edward Stayer, vice
president Gay Liberation Inc.
"'We see the vote as an expression . of the
1 students' agreement with our primary position. We
, don't intend to look back Or harbor any ifl feelings
x about the matter, we have too much work ahead of
us"—Francisco Rodriguez, coordinator of Chicanos
Organized for Progress and Action. ■
"They (CMU students) saw our stand as a valid,
one and voted accordingly. What we're concerned
with ndw is... to look into the academic standing of
black students and the loss of black administrators
and professors from this campus"-*Doug Harper,
president of the Organization of Black Unity.
y      byBOBBEJESKY
and
PAMJAHNKE
CM LIFE Reporters
■   For the Organization of Black
Unity     (QBTJ)     and ,   Chicanos
Organized fop Progress and Action
(COPA?, a struggle that began last
May to achieve full voting rights on
the Student Association Board of
Directors culminated Thursday with
the   adoption   of   their   proposed
constitutional amendments.
The student vote in this special
election was 1,282 for the OBU
amendment and 393 against, and
1,165 for the COPA amendment and
639 against.
THE FINAL victory for the two
groups was the result of a great deal
of time and effort by many* people.
The large majorities received  by
each group seemed to bear out their
faith in the student body and, as.
predicted by .each group, ihe only
thing in doubt was whether or not 10
per cent of the student body would
turn out for the election. Without at
least 1,570 votes cast the amend;
ments could not have been passed*'
For Gay Liberation Inc., a long '
road still lies ahead. The resounding
defeat of Gay Lib's amendment
proposal 1,220 to 572, while a sur-.
prise to no one, signalled the need
for much more work in the, area of
persuading the student body to a
more sympathetic /outlook, of its
position.
The students, while, apparently
attuned tathe problems and stands
taken by OBU and COPA, Seemed to
rejgct the idea of a sexual minority in
comparison to ethnic minorities.
may receive
air shuttle service
Mt, Pleasant may have an air
commuter service within 60 days if
the City Commission signs an
agreement with a Detroit-based
airlines.
* ^4W1 Airline's,, the, will iriegt
with city officials: to" make a formal
jireseAtation "ih Qn6 or two weeks,"
according t.o Airport Manager Allen
Branch.
The nine-passenger* airplanes
will make two round trips daily
between Mt. Pleasant, Detroit,
Chicago, and Ludington.
."They haven't told us the route
the flights will take, for example', we
don't know if the flights will go from
Detroit to Chicago or from Detroit to
Mt. Pleasant," Braftch explained.
"The city will not have., to
subsidize the service, However* the
City Has to' 3j#h Itt Sgreerttfeht'wlth
afly^crimmeWial- $&&*$; ^^r$h:»r
airport," Branch said.       .      ■ < n
State Airlines rjas not told
Branch how much %he flights will
cost. •   ■    "
i ■   >   ■    . _
"We had a somewhat similitr
service in 1971, but that never
worked. We hope this one will work
better,"
While < naturally disappointed*
Gay Lib* remains ' far from
discouraged. For the first time it
knows exactly where it stands with
the student body, at about a 32 per
Cent approval rate. This does give
JGty Lib an idea-of how much .work
thsy haie afceed is changing public
dpinion on campus.
* tThe election results take on dual**
significance for. OBU and COPA.
Both organizations are anxious, at a
time when tbey believe their
educational tactics have persuaded a
significant number of students, to
accept Gay Lib and their position.
While Gay Lib will be studying
data from Thursday's election in an
effort to find out in wh$t areas to
, concentrate its efforts, OBU and
COPA are looking only to the future.
DOUG HARPER, OBU
president, said he sees'the victory as
the students speaking out on the
issue. "They saw our stand as a valid
one and voted accordingly. What
we^re concerned witb now is the
implementation of our other
programs, We want to lock into the
academic standing of black students
and the'loss of black administrators
and professors from this campus,"
Harper said,
> Coordinator of COPA, Francisco
Rodriguez, said his organization was
very bappy with the results.of the
eiejitm„'*W8 -*S» '«W vote as aji
.^e%*fp^^^ir^^b^^'Bu^t^s:*:'
agreement wilb bur primary
position. We don't intend to look
back or harbor any ill feelings about
the matter, we have too much work
ahead of us," Rodriguez added.
Speaking for Gay Lib, vice
president Edward Stayer said, "We
don't plan any drastic radical action.
Although the vote was decisive, we
don't see it as any great slam against
Gay Lib, We'll just have to do a
better job in the future of educating
the students on the aspects of
homosexuality."       s
Although Gay Lib's future
within the Association presently Is
clouded, wh^t. remains certain is it
has not given up on the idea of obtaining * full voting seat on the
Board of Directors, It will propose an
amendment in the future to begin
working with the Association1 as full
voting members, Secondly, and of
almost equal significance, the two
organizations can redirect their
energies back to regular projects
which have been suffering somewhat
from a lack of attention. ,
The question that now formulates is what is going to happen to
the remaining two one-third votes on
the Board previously filled by OBU
and COPA which now is occupied
exclusively by Gay Lib.
According to Student Body
President Doug Thomas, the issue
was turned over to the.Association's
Judiciary Committee, The purpose
,of the three-member committee is to
decide  on  constitutional disputes,
ONE MEMBER, Gary Hatch,
has written three alternatives which
he will present to the committee
today. The first alternative' would
give COPA and OBU dne and one-
thirds vote, while Gay Lib would still
only have one-third vote.
However, this idea would give
these two groups more voting power
than the remaining representatives
on the Board which have one full
vote, **
Hatch, director of the Center for
Educational Reform (CER), said in
the second alternative Gay Lib
would end up with a full vote. According to Hatch, Mt', Pleasant
senior, people who "represent
minority groups can utilize the vote
as they see fit." As' a result of OBU
and COPA vacating the seat, Gay
Lib, the only minority left in that
seat,   would   have  the   choice   of
utilizing one entire vote.
But if -that alternative wae
chosen Gay Lib would be getting the'
easy way out. OBU and COPA'
probably would'not agree with this
idea since they had gone through the
required process of obtaining a
special election and achieving
favorable results to get their one
vote, .
The third alternative hoped to
solve this constitutional problem is
Ibased on the fact that no seat-holds
more than one vote. So OBU and
COPA would have one full vote each,
Gay Lib would have one-third of a
vote and according to Hatch the
"remaining two-thirds vote simply^
would no longer exist."        , -.-
This seems to be the most,
realistic approach as far as being fair
to the participating minority groups.
OBU and COPA would be given the
full vote they deserve—nothing
more, nothing less. And Gay Lib.
whose proposal was not passed,"
(See "What's .-.. " page 12)
Students needed
SF hosts blood drive
Student Foundation (SF) will sponsor a blood drive
TueSda^ ^m^Oa^f^
the Health Center.
All the blood received will be donated to the Central
Community Hospital's blood bank, Jim Wittebols, SF
campus services adviser, said.. The blood will be
provided free of charge to those in the Mt. Pleasant
community requesting it.
The 34 pints of blood donated in the last SF blood
drive, was three times the amount the hospital has
received in the past, a hospital staff member explained.
I
* "We want at least 49 people to give blood this time
-be^ise-'wes.iiJtve.ifdur: hours instead of three.-to give
blood." Gail Donnelly, SF president, said.
Hospital nurses arid technicians will draw blood-
from donors, who will be served juice, coffee and cookies
afterwards by SF volunteers.   •
Students^ wishing to give blood may make appointments today by contacting the SF office at 774-
3827.
Two other blood drives are slated for Nov. 11 and
Dec. 2, Wittebols, Mt. Clemens senior, said.
Ingenuity!
"\
Wind generator provides energy
CM LIPB »>HOT« %f tCKVlN LI*
'HIGH' POWERED-Mt. Pleasant residerits Doug Brooks afcd his. 19-
year-old son, Bob, stand before their 1928 model wind- generator,
located at their home at 3910 Mission Boad. The generator, which will
power the home.-is attached to an 85-foot oil derric and began operation
Saturday. , ■    ,"     .
by KEVIN LEE -,
*- CM LIFE Reporter
■ A Mt. Pleasant resident and his 19-year-old son may have "struck oil"
with their method of obtaining electricity.
Doug Books, 47, and his son, Bob, have erected ih their backyard a wind
generator on top of jln 85-foot oil derrick which started providing their 3910
Mission Street home with electricity Saturday.
THE GENERATOR which Brooks purchased for $150 while vacationing
in North Dakota, is capable of producing 1,800 watts, enough power to
operate the house's lighting, TV and other small appliances, but not the
stove. The generator is located on the east side of Centralis campus.
"It's a three-year dream come tr,ue," he boasted as an 18-mile*per-wind
churned the generator's 14-foot three-blade propeller,
---^--Tlie.:geiierRJiorj..which^tppk_ Brooks and his son two years to build,
- swayed'slightly in the wind because of the unbalanced spruce green
;fiberglass-propeller,.Brooks..said  the. swaying was  among anticipated
problems and will be corrected soon.
Brooks said he and his son "always are building something" so they
attempted to build a wind generator two years ago after reading about them
ia publications such ,as Mother Earth dews, an ecologically oriented
magazine,, and Popular Mechanics.
, "Everything we've learned, we have learned on our own," said the eldeV
Brooks, a lifetime resident of Mt. Pleasant. He mentioned he once went to
talk to engineers about the construction, " but they didn't have the time to
listen to us," ■ '
, A graduate of Mt. Pleasant High School.the younger Brooks said they
■ bought the<-5-inch angle iron derrick assembled'from an oil field in Midland
for $40 last-July and it took him and his father about four weeks to
reassemble it behind their'six-room house.' ;
"If TOOK us longer to»take .it down in tjhe field than put it up because.
We've never done anything like this before and didn't really know what we
were doing," he said. '
H.e explained the controversy that arose with Uhion township officials
when his father appjiced for a permit to erect the derrik. He said the officials
/argue'd'that the derrick might topple over and damage something, •  ■
*l\ . "How they can say a thing like that when they've allowed the erection of
v the tower?'' he questioned, pointing at Channel 14's 547-fbot aerial, located
, near Perry Shorts Stadium, *
.'The derrick js anchored in about 53 cubic yards of concrete- twice the
foundation used in the oil field,' according tb the senior BrookB, a Mt.
Pleasant refrigeration and vending machine repairperson..
After a permit was obtained, the duo hoisted the 375-pound generator
on top of the derrick with their pick-up triu:k, where it turned freely with the
Wind waiting for its propeller, the younger Brooks explained.
-   Brooks agreed that installing a wind generator on his property near
. U.S. 27 (Mission Street), the "main drag" of Mt. Pleasant, did seem unusual,
but added "this is our home, this is where we live."
BROOKS' HOUSE is located just outside the city limits (Mission Street
is the city limit mark) and therefore he was permitted to erect the derrick,,
according to Brooks' next door neighbor, Silas Bowsar, 3898 Mission St,
"It (the generator) doesn't bother us," Bowsar said. Bowsar has been a
Mt, Pleasani resident since the 1940's and has known the Brooks family for
about 20 years. Bowsar, who is selling his house, doubts the presence of the
derrick will affect the sale of the house. »
■   "After all the work they have done on it, we hope it Works all right,"
Bowsar's wife, Elizabeth said'.
Ken Taylor, Grand Rapids senior, of 3889 Mission St., said he has:
watched Brooks, and his son build the wind generator .for two years and feels.'
it is "a great achievement."
TAYLOR SAID it would be a shame if the generator were to be taken
down because, "They did ii all by themselves' ahd should have the rigb.t_.ta _
leave it up."
"I don't blame them for building it, the way electrical rate3 are getting
' high as they are," Bowsar shouted. He considered the rising rates "c?ean.out
of reason."
"You think the rates have risen now, just wait," the elder Brooks
cautioned, ' r
The State Public Service Commission recommended last week that
*~i <r a ,
' Consumers Power Company receive an additional $60.4 million for improvements. The increase, about half the amount requested<by Consumers,.
Power, will cost customers about, $1.50 a month more. - '        <?
The younger Brooks claimed the generator would eliminate or greatly \
reduce the family's $28 a month electrical bill, which often runs higher
■ during the winter when the furnace is on. He said the family would burnt
wood this year to keep the house warm but would switch to a solar heating-
system next yjear. They are installing that system now and it should be
completed by oiext year. * „
, , < "We already have installed the (solar hea'ting water) tanks under the
house and next year we'll put the grid on the roof," the younger Brooks said.
He added he has learned everything he knows from his father".
A SOLAR heating system consists of series (of pipes on a rooftop
(See "Resident..." page 3)
' ^■■■.lT»»«la»™MilllimiaMII1lir*Wla^
tm the ihsiebs
Menate considers constitution amendments-Pags 3
'Cita* Tom Paine' apetis-*Page7
Dunham quits football-Page 10
Gridders lose fo Bali State, 1613-Page 10
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