Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 6

6A DETROIT FREE PRESSTUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 1990 MSU expected to up ante trom ieaving: erles PERLES, from Page 1A supposedly are ready to vote for Perles. The trustees agreed to review their decision after Perles has had both jobs for one year to see if it is working. When told he apparently had enough votes to become athletic director, Perles said: "You're giving me information I don't know about yet." At least one trustee strongly opposes that decision. "I don't respect the man," Dean Pridgeon was quoted as telling the Associated Press. "He's short in integrity, he doesn't honor contracts and he used his offers from both the Green Bay Packers and the Jets to get what he wanted from the Board of Trustees.

"I happen to think that's wrong. It's mostly a matter of principle." Owen said he didn't expect DiBiag-gio to resign over the disagreement. DiBiaggio would not comment. "The discussion with the president was frank and honest and open," Owen said. Asked if he would meet with DiBiaggio, Perles said: "Oh, no, I don't pole vault over that," meaning that Weaver is his immediate superior in the school's chain-of-command.

The trustees' vote might come just in the nick of time for Perles supporters. Perles met Sunday night and much of Monday with Jets general manager Dick Steinberg on Long Island. Steinberg told the New York news media that he didn't offer Perles the job, but a source said a conditional offer was made. "We arranged for him to come in so we could get some things cleared up," Steinberg said. "We carried our talks to a certain point, and he had to go back to talk to the people at Michigan State regarding how available he could be.

He's obviously a strong, strong candidate for the job." liPp Associated Press A statue of Lenin is surrounded by thousands tf Azerbaijani demonstrators who gathered Monday in Lenin Square in Baku, the republic's capital, to mourn the victims of recent violence. Mourning, strike cripple Baku Threat of secession in Azerbaijan FBI questions, releases man in connection with mail bombs Congress, Bush likely to spar over key issues Congress, from Page 1A shots without fear of voter retribution. It remains to be seen whether the Democrats, emboldened by this sense of liberation, can impose any new vision of national priorities on Bush, who still wields the veto. But there is brave talk among them about breaking the 10-year logjam on such issues as reducing acid rain, providing affordable housing for the poor and for younger middle-class families, repairing crumbling highways and preparing children to compete in the international economy. Bush's agenda calls for a broad-based capital gains tax cut, a tax credit for child-care expenses, more money to fight crime and adoption of a clean air bill.

On the clean air and child-care issues, the president and congressional Democrats agree on the need but differ on the means. The overarching theme of this year's debate will reflect not so much the disputes over individual programs as whether to pay for them from an anticipated slowdown in defense spending. Because the law requires a scaling down of swollen budget deficits, the argument will be over how to re-slice a pie that will grow very little in terms of real dollars. The White House has indicated it would apply any savings from decreased military spending to cutting the deficit. Democrats say that at least part of the money must be used to expand education, health, housing and environmental programs and for highways, airports and bridges.

Under the rigors of the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings law, the maximum allowable budget deficit for fiscal year 1991 is $74 billion compared with $110 billion this year. This means a continued slowdown, and some outright cuts, in many federal programs. It also means a continuation of the bitter dispute between the Republican White House and the Democratic Congress over program priorities. Here, by category, is the way the issues are shaping up: National security: Bush wants to spend about $305 billion for the Pentagon and the Energy Department's nuclear weapons program. Some key Democrats say that should be cut to $289 billion.

Many in Congress also want substantial sums for aid to newly democratic East European countries, and more money for Latin American countries fighting drug cartels. Taxes: Bush is opposed to any general tax increase. But he is expected to seek additional revenue from user fees, such as airline passenger and waterway taxes. He also wants to cut the capital gains tax, provide a tax credit for child-care costs and permit a tax exemption for interest earned on long-term family savings accounts. Though many Democrats believe a broad-based tax increase is necessary to balance the budget and pay for domestic programs, they will not initiate it without presidential support.

Any cut in capital gains, Democrats say, must not add to the deficit or provide a windfall to existing stockholders condit ions that rule out Bush's proposal. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, has proposed a two-part reduction in 1990 and 1991 of the Social Security payroll tax. The White House has given the idea a chilly reception. Social programs: Bush will call for modest increases in federal aid to schools and colleges, but Democrats will insist on more.

They want to expand preschool, elementary and follow-up programs for disadvantaged children and provide more help with college tuitions for low-income and middle-class families. Since Congress' stunning turnabout last year in rescinding catastrophic health-care insurance for the elderly, little is expected on the health front this session. Federal housing programs have been reduced sharply in the last eight years, even as the numbers of homeless and the amount of substandard housing stock have risen. Bush and Congress are likely to fight over Democratic proposals to increase low-income housing units, but they probably will agree on providing more shelter for the homeless. They also will explore differing plans to open up new home-buying opportunities for young families.

Environment: Bush and Senate Democrats have put at the top of their lists a new clean air bill that places tougher controls on automobile and electric-utility smokestack emissions. But the bill is snarled in House disputes over how to share the costs of cleaning the air and how to pay for development of alternative fuels. Bush has proposed legislation to speed removal of harmful pesticides from the market, but it also relaxes standards controlling human exposure to the chemicals. A long impasse over oil-spill liability legislation probably will be broken this year, prompted mainly by th Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska. When asked if Perles' return ta East Lansing was a Steun berg said: "I don't know if it's a formality.

He does have a contract, but we're not interested in a There's a process he has to go It's more than a formality. "The impression was that heV very, very interested in our position; We got to a point where we felt we" couldn't go any further until he dealt with his people. He had tried to do it over the phone, but he felt it would be more effective if he met with them face-to face." Steinberg said reports that the Jets -would offer Perles a five-year, $6, million contract were inaccurate. "We didn't talk money," Steinberg said. "It's very common for those things to be released prematurely without any verification.

That would be a bit more than we'd be willing to pay any coach." Steinberg said he wasn't concerned about Perles' interest in the athletic director's job or that Perles almost agreed to coach the Green Bay Pack- ers two years ago. "We asked him about all those things," Steinberg said. "I thought he! was very honest about it. I don't think the AD's job has anything to do with his discussions. As far as the Packers, I think some situations have changed since then." Free Press sports writers Charlie Vincent and Scott Walton contributed to this report.

Soviet MiG pilot hurt EAST BERLIN (AP) A Soviet MiG27 fighter plane crashed into a forest during a training flight Monday, and the pilot was injured when he ejected, the news agency ADN said. The plane crashed between the villages of Petkus and Wahlsdorf in the Potsdam district near Berlin. He declined to say what brought the investigation to the salvage shop of O'Ferrell, a man in his 50s described by neighbors as a Bible-reading former Baptist preacher who took up the junk business about three years ago. Package bombs sent through the mail exploded and killed U.S. Circuit Judge Robert Vance at his Mountain Brook home near Birmingham on Dec.

16 and a black lawyer, Robert Robinson of Savannah, on Dec. 18. Other mailed bombs were found and defused at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, the court Vance served, and the NAACP office in Jacksonville, Fla. Tina Sommerville, who lives across the street from the warehouse, said the FBI questioned her about O'Ferrell, who has a wife and two daughters. "They are just average people," Sommerville said.

"That's what makes this so strange. He was always reading the Bible." Balch, state legislative coordinator for. the group. As Congress returns for the 1990 session, both sides are trying to read political sentiment and chart a strategy for the election year. But given an ambiguous message' from voters, that may be difficult.

"Polls reflect the personal ambiva- lence that individuals have about the morality of abortion," said Kate Mi-chelman, head of the National Abortion Rights Action League, who spoke Monday to a pro-choice group on Capitol Hill. "But there's no ambivalence about the legality of abortion." If there are defeats at the polls for abortion opponents, they could become more militant, she said. A bill that would make abortion legal throughout pregnancy has been introduced in the House and will be in the Senate. More than 100 representatives have signed on and 23 senators are co-sponsors. Free Press Staff Writer Robert Mu-sial contributed to this report.

immortal Precision Models in Philadelphia. For the last five years, Buehrig served as a consultant to Rubritz, overseeing development of the mint's model cars. He is survived by his wife, Kay; daughter, Barbara Orlando of New York, and stepdaughters Carol Totte of Grosse Pointe Shores and Joanne Harrington of Fraser. Memorial services will be held Saturday at 1 1 a.m. at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Grosse Pointe.

Burial will be in Auburn, Ind. Contributions in his memory may be made to the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum General Fund in Auburn' Ind. Enterprise, Ala. (AP) FBI agents and an Army bomb squad searched a man's warehouse, salvage business and home Monday in the investigation of mail bomb slayings of a judge in Birmingham and a civil rights lawyer in Georgia. FBI agent Chuck Archer of Mobile said the owner of the property, Wayne O'Ferrell of New Brockton, was questioned and released.

"At no time was anybody taken into custody," said Archer. The FBI agent said Monday that agents were looking for evidence in the pre-Christmas package bomb killings that put civil rights groups and the federal judiciary on alert. The FBI has said the bombings appear to have been executed by one or more racists. Archer said agents probably would spend most of the night searching the salvage store. "To the best of my knowledge, these are the first searches in the investigation," he said.

Associated Press Azerbaijani women weep for the dead at a funeral service Monday in Baku's Kirov Park for victims of the past week's violence in the Soviet republic. said. If those demands are not met, Mamedov said, the legislature will consider voting to secede from the Soviet Union. At Monday's mass rally in Baku, demonstrators carried posters reading, "Gorbachev is the butcher of the Azerbaijani people," and "Azerbai-janis will not succumb to tanks," said Shain Gajiyev, a Baku journalist. Witnesses said as many as two million mourners bore coffins of Soviet Union, from Page 1A The official Soviet news agency reported 12 more people were killed in ethnic clashes Monday along the border, raising the death toll to 167 since Jan.

13. Soviet officials said 83 of those died during the Soviet assault on the Azerbaijani capital Saturday or in skirmishes the previous day. The Azerbaijani Popular Front maintained that more than 500 people died in the attack on Baku. More than 500 have been icpoi ledwound-ed in the conflicts. The U.S.

State Department said Monday that the Soviet government's use of force in Azerbaijan was justified. "Violence by some militants gave rise to events that created a need for force to restore order," spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler said. "There is a fundamental difference between the short-term use of force to restore order, and the use of force to suppress peaceful and legitimate political expression." An emergency overnight session of the Azerbaijani Supreme Soviet legislature demanded the full withdrawal of Soviet troops from the republic, with the exception of border districts with Armenia, said Baku lawyer Viliyad Mamedov, who attended the HWhour overnight session. Lawmakers demanded the lifting of the curfew and state of emergency in place in parts of Azerbaijan, which Moscow imposed without approval of Azerbaijani authorities, Mamedov U.S. to case high by Barry Sciiweid Associated Press WASHINGTON The Bush administration said Monday it will move to end controls on overseas sales of sophisticated computers and other technology readily available to the public.

The policy overhaul will apply to much of Eastern Europe but have no immediate effect on the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, several U.S. officials have opened talks in London to prepare for joint steps by 17 nations to accelerate delivery of advanced technology to such countries as Poland, Azerbaijanis killed in the weekend assault. The mourners, wearing black and carrying black-bordered portraits of some of the victims, followed narrow streets and major thoroughfares, then buried the victims at Kirov Park, overlooking the Caspian Sea. The official Azerinform news agency said the crowd mourning Baku's dead numbered about one million out of a population of 1.7 million, bringing the port city to a standstill.

The mob appeared to be responding to a Popular Front call Sunday for a general strike until the troops left. Soviet troops and police did not interfere in the funeral, said Leila Yunusov, a spokeswoman for the Social Democratic Group, an informal Azerbaijani political organization. Military officials said no one had been killed in Baku for the last two days, and residents said the Soviet troops seemed to have the city under control. No armed clashes with troops were reported Monday, Gajiyev said, despite reports of scattered gunfire. There were conflicting reports from the Soviet-Iranian border, where Azerbaijanis have torn down many of the barriers.

The newspaper Izvestia said 40,000 Azerbaijanis crossed into Iran on Sunday evening alone. Iranian media said Soviet troops clamped down on the border and were not allowing any Azerbaijanis out. UP! contributed to this report. approach, said officials. Two parallel decisions were made.

The administration is to work out a joint agreement with other countries at a meeting in Paris next month on providing advanced technology to Eastern Europe. The United States also plans a comprehensive policy review. One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the kinds of equipment that could be affected include the Intel 386 computer chip; cellular telephones, some of which were cleared earlier for sales to Hungary, and microwave transmission facilities. 85; his car 75,000 rally against abortion tech trade controls on East bloc Abortion, from Page 3A "Dancing around just does not work with the voters," said Republican political consultant Ed Mahe. "It raises the issue of integrity and honesty.

If you move around, then you tend to start looking like an opportunist with your finger in the wind." Individual politicians need to take a stand, but Republicans as a party are moving away from categorical positions on abortion. Party Chairman Lee Atwater reiterated last week that there was room under the GOP umbrella for politicians regardless of their stands on abortion. The Republicans' public disavowal of a strict anti-abortion stand follows defeats of anti-abortion Republican gubernatorial candidates in Virginia and New Jersey and strong support for pro-choice Republican female politicians. However, leaders of the National Right to Life Committee praised the party and especially Bush for his support. "Bush has shown himself to be a stronp pro-life leader." said Burke designs are product design at Chrysler "This is a sad day for anybody who has been involved in transportation design.

Mr. Buehrig was one of the founders and forefathers of the industrial design profession as it related to autos. We will miss him." In 1981 the Society of Automotive Historians included Buehrig in its list of the top 30 people who influenced automotive history. The late Harley Earl of GM was the only other designer in that select group. "Just an amazing man.

The most striking thing is that by the time he was 30 he was arguably the leading designer in the industry," said Terry Rubritz, product manager for Fr jjiklin Mint Hungary and Czechoslovakia. "The political and military environment is changing. The situation is different today than it was a year ago," White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said. For four decades, the United States and its allies have imposed stiff curbs on technology sales to communist countries on security grounds. But the spread of reform in the Eastern bloc spurred many Western governments to push for an easing of restrictions.

At a National Security Council meeting on Friday, the Bush administration decided to take a softer committee stage." Later, he threatened to sue GM for using the T-top on its 1968 Corvette. The automaker settled out of court for $15,000. Buehrig was extremely mobile in his early career, jumping from the Packard Motor Car Co. to General Motors Corp. to Stutz Motor Co.

to Duesenberg Inc. in less than two years. He later worked for Ford Motor Co. from 1951 until 1965. In an interview with Free Press automotive columnist Paul Lienert last spring, Buehrig boasted that he never designed a car that he didn't know how to build.

But he could also display a disarming humility. Gordon Buehrig dies at BUEHRIG, from Page 1A He had an incredible amount of energy and a vision of the future," said Jack Telnack, Ford Motor chief designer. "We've lost a true giant of the industrial design community. He could discuss and debate design with everyone regardless of their age. He'll always be known for the Cord." Buehrig's vision of the future included the T-top, now popular on many sports cars.

"I patented the design in 1951 after I'd gone to Ford, and later put one on a 1955 Thunderbird" to show to Robert McNamara, who was running the Ford division, Buehrig recalled last year. "He liked it, but it nevjr got past the "I'm sort of a dull person in so many ways," he said in a 1988 interview. "I've never been on a horse. I've never been fishing. Never gone hunting." Yet his passion for cars burned as intensely in his final years as it did 60 years ago.

He continued drafting new designs and carving clay models in his Grosse Pointe Woods home. Buehrig was inducted in October into the Automotive Hall of Fame, although he was unable to attend the ceremony. He had fallen and injured his hip on Labor Day while attending the annual Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg festival in Auburn, a family member said. Said Tom Gale, vice pijjjsident for.