1977-11-18; Central Michigan Life

              ... », .,.  «,.*y. «—■■»   fff iwi '■    1^'
mPIWTWF-Wl   Bill   *f»    |IWHpi.y,,   |fp  ^1
Volume 59 No, 35
Mid-campus hit
Cat culprit in blackout
by CAROLYN CATALANO
LIFE Staff Writer
A five and one half-hour
power failure which left a
portion of CMU without electricity Thursday was caused by
a cat seeking a little warmth on
a cool fall day.- a Physical Plant
official said.      *
According to Robert Long,
Physical Plant director, the cat
crawled through an opening in
one of the switch gear metal
enclosures between Anspach
and Brooks halls. Once inside the
cat crossed the main conductors
causing a short circuit which
instantly killed the cat and
violently blew fuses and tripped
switches blacking out most of
mid-campus.
It took more than five hours to
restore electricity because the
switchgear was damaged
beyond repair. Physical Plant
workers had to connect wire
directly to the fuses instead of
the switchgear, Long said.
"The switchgear probably will
be replaced at Christmas time,"
Long said. "The cost will be
anywhere from' $2,000 to
$3,000." Physical Plant must
order another switchgear from
manufacturers in Louisville, Ky.
The power failure, which
lasted from about 12:10 to 5:40
pirn, left 10 buildings without
Fire damages
local store
A small fire which started in a second-floor attic caused
extensive damage late Thursday evening to the home and
business of Maclyn Burns, 130 S. Main St.
Two pieces of equipment and more than a dozen firemen
from the Mount Pleasant Fire Department were summoned to
Burns Trading Post at approximately 11 p.m. to battle the fire.
The Burns family was not at home when the fire started and
there were no injuries, Mount Pleasant Fire Chief Jack
Lawson said. Burns valued his property at more than $150,000,
but no estimate of damages has been made.
No cause has been determined in the fire. Burns' Trading
Post, located directly beneath Burns' second-floor apartment
suffered extensive smoke and water damage, while the
apartment received "a little bit of fire" and heavy smoke and
water damage, Lawson said.
Fire officials evacuated and closed Dick and Dede's Bar; The
Blackstone, 112 S. Main St.; and Tom Foolery's, 112 W.
Michigan. The fire was contained within Burns' building.'
electricity.
They were the University
Health Services, Moore, Anspach, Pearce and Brooks halls,
Preston Apartments E, F and G,
Park Library and the Department of Public Safety Office.
Although the power failure
did not cause any serious
damage, it did cause some inconvenience.
After 2 p.m. and with the help
of an auxiliary power generator,
WCMU£FM was able to resume
broadcast. After 3:30 p.m. *
WCMU-TV was able to begin
broadcasting also.'
Dismissing classes due to the
power failure was left up the to
discrestion of the professor,
according to Charles House,
executive assistant to the
president,
In Anspach classes met unless
persons were unable to see in
the classrooms, Adelyn
Dougherty, Dean of the School
of Arts and Sciences said.
Doughtery, who also is supervisor of Anspach Hall, said the
only real problems were that
secretarial staffs could not work
because typewriters and
telephones were not functioning. ■
Rumors that a student had
been trapped in the Pearce Hall
elevator were not true according to Frank Stillings, Dean
of the School of Fine and Applied Arts and Pearce Hall
supervisor.
"As far as I know, the rumors
are false. The elevators were
checked by maintenance people
who reported that no one was iit
them," he said. Stillrtjgs also saia
most classes met unless they
took place in_ _audito»-'''>msi or
classrooms without windows.
At the Department of Public
Safety (DPS) Office, business
went on as usual. DPS has an
auxiliary generator which keeps
radios, telephones and lighting
in the dispatcher's area working
in times of emergency, John
McAuliffe, DPS director said.
The University Health Center
had a few minor problems, said
Marilyn Demlow, director of
nurses. Lab and X-ray work had
to be discontinued because
electricity is needed to run the
machines in these areas, she
said.
(See "Blackout—"page 2)
A cat which somehow slipped into the power transformer
between Brooks and Anspach halls Thursday triggered a massive
power failure and plunged much of mid-campus into darkness.
The blackout lasted more than five hours and occurred when the
cat threw the switch gear and crossed main conductors, short
circuiting the transformer. The cat! was electrocuted instantly
and Physical Plant officials estimated the cost of damages to the
transformer at more than $2,000 (LIFE photo by Peter Luke).
Faculty bargainers
walk out on CMU
byTONYDEARING
LIFE News Editor
Charging CMU was showing
no interest in bargaining
Thursday, Faculty Association
(FA) bargainers simply got up
from the table, put their coats on
and went home.
"I just don't think we are
going to accomplish anything,"
Elaine Daniels, FA bargainer
said as she left. "I am incensed
at their conduct."
The entire FA team was so
angry when they left, in fact
Budget running short
End of UHS weekend care?
by SUE BERG
and
DAVID N.BRABOY
LIFE Staff Writers
All University Health Services' (UHS) weekend services may be
halted pending a meeting Wednesday between the UHS director
and Administration officials.
UHS Director Dr. Howard L. Varney said the meeting will focus
on his claim the UHS no longer can afford to operate on the
weekend, including in-patient care and emergency room service.'
UHS weekend in-patient care was eliminated once this semester
and later reinstated in September.
Varney said Wednesday Dean of Students James Hill suggested
the meeting between themselves and President Harold Abel after
Hill received a letter Monday from Varney stating the UHS could no
longer afford to operate on the weekends.
Varney said the student assistant and adult part-time employee
accounts, which were given a $16,000 allotment in the 1977-78
budget, pay salaries for the employees who run those services. "A
certain amount was allotted to cover the services and it has been
ttsed up," he explained.
Varney added Hill specified that the services will be continued.
"We both feel the services should stay open," Varney said. "Hill told
me that we would be able to work this out."
Hill later agreed with Varney's statement and said, "The UHS
will operate until it is indicated to him (Varney) it will no longer be
open (for weekend services). At the present time there is no
suspension of the (services)." Any decision regarding the outcome of
those services rests with himself and Abel, Hill said.
However, when asked if the weekend services would be canceled
following the upcoming meeting, Varney answered, "If we (himself,
Hill and Abel) are not able of coming out with a way of handling this,
then that is a possibility."
Hill refused to comment further on the present UHS matter.
Varney said he plans to present options to Hill and Abel on how to
continue the services, but added UHS financial matters are an
Administration responsibility.
"I don't pretend to get into the finances of this thing," Varney
said, "which is why we have agreed to meet and work this out
together." He declined to explain further the possible options.
Varney said a meeting with himself, Hill and Abel had been
scheduled for Nov. 11 "to iron out some problems because the
budget was going faster than we expected it to."
The meeting was canceled when Abel experienced a short illness.
"The Administration has to set the limits in which we operate and
we'll do our best to operate within those limits," Varney said.
that members had quite a debate
among themselves as to whether
they should bother to tell the
caucusing CMU team they were
leaving.
"I think we have to tell them,"
Hill Rosenhow said. But another
team member, Joyce Pillote,
told her: "I feel very strongly
that we should not."
The team finally decided to
leave a note but at that point
CMU chief negotiator John
Weatherford returned to the
room.
"We'll see you Monday," he
was told curtly, and the FA filed
out.
"They were strung out and
nervous," Weatherford said
after the FA had left. "They
started out tense, and they
stayed tense all day.
• "But we were bargaining the
subject of their choosing and I'm
a little surprised we didn't get to
talk about that subject.
"And I don't want to make a
big point of this, but it is not the
mark of a seasoned negotiating
team to walk out. We had
generally agreed to go to 11
p.m., and walking out was not
very constructive," he said.
The FA's decision to pack up
and go home was not done on the
spur of the moment, but was
suggested by at least one team
member not long after the
dinner break and debated before
the team finally left at around 10
p.m.
After accomplishing little
back and forth during the afternoon session, the teams
agreed to break for dinner and
return to the table about 7:30
p.m.
However, CMU did not return
to the table immediately after
dinner and instead went into
caucus for almost two hours.
Weather ford said his teams
had been planning to discuss a
dollar figure for the total
compensation package and
instead needed that time to
prepare a proposal on a health
insurance carrier.
Prior to the dinner break the
FA had requested the teams
discuss health' carrier upon
returning.
However, while Weather-
ford's team was "composing a
proposal on what is probably the
most complex single article
likely to be .found in the
agreement," the FA was at the
table beginning to stew over the
two-hour wait.
When CMU finally did return
to the table with its proposal on
health insurance carrier, the FA
caucused for less than a minute
on the wording and returned to
the table clearly agitated.
During a break earlier in the
session, FA Executive Director
J. Norbert Musto had said
because his team was pleased
with its present insurance
carrier, , the Michigan
Educations Special Services
Association (MESSAh it wanted
that carrier contractualized.
Musto said if CMU did not
recognize insurance carrier as a
mandatory subject of
bargaining, the FA would
consider    bringing   an    unfair
(See "Walkout—" page 7)
Fire destroys home
of CMU professors
t * '
• This is all that remains after a fire engulfed the home of two CMU faculty, members Thursday. The
; house, owned by Jerry Strouse and rented from Strouse by Marc Baranowski is located o|i Route 2
| South Crawford Road in Shepherd, Strouse, Baronowski and two other visitors at the home escaped
X injury <L1FE photo by David Fritz). ;     V.    .
Two CMU faculty members
are homeless after fire leveled
their house in Shepherd
Thursday, leaving only concrete
walls standing.
The house, located on Route 2,
South ,Crawford Road, was
engulfed in flames when firemen
arrived at 4:43 a\m., Rod
McGuire, Shepherd volunteer
fireman, said.
Jerry Strouse, the home's
owner; Marc Baranowski, who
rented from Strouse; and two
other visitors were alerted by a
smoke detector alarm in the
house and escaped -injury from
the fire,
Strouse and Baranowski both
are assistant professors in
CMU's Home Economics, Family
Life and Consumer Education
Department. ,
Firemen fought the fire for
nearly three hodrs before it was
brought under control, McGuire
said.
Strouse    said    it    is    "very
probable"  the smoke detector .
saved all their lives.
He Said he thought the fire
began in the roof area and
possibly was caused by electrical circuits overloading.
"I went to turn a light on by
the phone to call the fire
department and there was no
lights," Strouse said, "but in
other parts of the house there
were (lights).
"I have no definite plans for
rebuilding. "I am just looking for
temporary housing right now,"
Strouse said.
McGuire said the roof of the
house collapsed shortly after
Strouse, Baranowski and the
visitors fled the house.
Although the cause of the fire
has not been determined yet,
McGuire said old wiring in the
attic could have been the cause;•>■■
—Fonda return invitation certain—page 3
—Trustees approve departmental status
for student teaching—page 5
—DART    service       to     return    after
Thanksgiving holiday—page 7
—Volleyball team heads for regionals—
page 10..
'V
Ij^iiiiiiiiiiiJMiMiilDiMllIMrt^