Lansing State Journal from Lansing, Michigan • Page 11

Lansing State Journal Friday. Nov. 20, 1 98 1 Area news 4-5 State news 6B Business, stocks 7B IJz Capitol news 8B SECTION Eaton youngsters Fas 58 lhDini DW Education stiafff faces 52 layoffs 'J needed to begin "bumping" procedures based on seniority. HARDEST HIT will be workers in vocational rehabilitation services, where 47 jobs funded largely by the federal government will be eliminated. "The employees who are being laid off understand why the cuts are being made.

We hope that, eventually, all of these employees will be recalled when the state's econ- Sm 52 WORKERS, Page 2B By PAT FITZGERALD Gannett Lansing Bureau Fifty-two workers in the state Department of Education will lose their jobs effective Dec. 5 as a result of state and federal budget cuts. Layoff notices were distributed today to nearly 100 workers, the first layoffs there in a year and the largest since World War II. Although notices were sent to 100 workers, only 52 will lose their jobs. Extra notices were of the Michigan State University community," Bruff said.

"An honorary degree is the except tional manner in which Michigan State recognizes outstanding contributions. These contributions meet the standards of excellence which are deserving of a premier land-grant institution." While thanking Bruff and Mackey for their complimentary remarks, Chai, speaking through an interpreter, noted "they have over-praised me." Chai added later that "it was the leaders of our two countries that have made the decision in normalizing our relationships" and that he and other diplomats "only played the role of a bridge." "This is a moment of exceptional joy in my life," said Chai, speaking firmly and rapidly. "I take this to be not only a personal honor, but a manifestation of the friendship and the respect cherished by the American people for the Chinese people. "MAY THE TREE of friendship between our two peoples remain evergreen. May Michigan State achieve continued success." Chai added, "Your university is also noted for a tradition of holding up academic freedom and respecting different views.

Your conferring an honorary degree on me a believer in Communism is a vivid reminder of this tradition." Also in attendance at the ceremony were two notable figures in China-MSU relations, former U.S. Ambassdor Leonard Woodcock and MSU President Emeritus John Hannah. "The ceremony was a graceful gesture and will add quite a bit of meaning to the relationship of our two countries," said Woodcock, now a visiting professor at the University of Michigan. Woodcock, a former United Auto Workers president, added that Chai "played a substantial role to move ahead normalization of relations." "I THINK it was good for China and for MSU," State aid slipping By CLARENCE A. CHIEN Staff Writer West honored East in East Lansing Thursday as Michigan State University awarded an honorary law degree to the Chinese ambassador to the United States during a special ceremony at Kellogg Center.

Ambassador Chai Zemin received a doctor of laws degree for his efforts to normalize diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China. Chai, 65, was also cited for "his commitment to educational exchange" and "his contribution to friendship between the Chinese and American people" by MSU officials. THE CEREMONY was "a major event in the International Year at Michigan State University an important and symbolic event," said Ralph Smuckler, MSU's international studies and programs dean, in welcoming remarks. "Our Board of Trustees have designated this year," Smuckler said, "as a period in which the university reaffirms its strong commitment to an expanded international emphasis in our many academic endeavors.

One of the most promising is our growing academic relationship with China." Growing numbers of Chinese students and academics have come to MSU to study agriculture and other topics since relations were normalized, said Warren Cohen, director of MSU's Asian Studies Center.i "About 50 are studying here now," said Cohen, also director of the Michigan China Council. The Council is comprised of Michiganians who work to "better inform" the public about China's politics, foreign relations and culture. IN CONFERRING the degree on Chai, MSU President Cecil Mackey said, "As a statesman, your reputation in history is secure as a result of the successful negotiation between the U.S. and the People's Republic of China." After six years of negotiations, diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China resumed in 1979.

They had been broken in 1949 after the Communists won the mainland after a civil war with the By SHARON McGRAYNE Staff Writer Education is no longer a high priority item for the state of Michigan, a panel of educators charged Thursday. Fifteen years ago, the state funded half of all school costs, Holt Superintendent Henry S. Sienkiewicz told the educational fraternity, Phi Delta Kappa, at Michigan State University. This year, the state is paying only 31 percent of public school costs, he said. Without a state guarantee of a basic education for every student, "there's no fundamental commitment to public educa tion," he complained.

SOCIAL SERVICES have higher priority than education within the state budget, C. Robert Muth agreed. As the state cut its support for public schools, local property taxes increased to cover costs, the executive director of Ihe Middle Cities Association of urban school districts said. In essence, rising local school taxes subsidized the growth of other state functions, Muth observed. And now local property taxpayers are rebelling.

See EDUCATORS, Page 2B Ambassador Chai Zemin was honored at MSU. Nationalists, who fled to Taiwan and set up the Republic of China. "With help from you and your staff, we have been able to send two missions to China and now have a range of mutually beneficial agreements with nine scholarly institutions there and contracts with several more," Mackey said. "And the state of Michigan was able to send a mission for trade opportunities with China and is now discussing friendship state status with Sichuan (a Chinese province)." MSU BOARD Chairman John Bruff called Chai "a man of vision and dedication." "We are proud to award this honorary degree to Ambassador Chai and to make him a member Hannah said. "After all this period when the leadership of the U.S.

wanted to pretend China See CHINESE, Page 2B Bills pass to update libraries vaS i I-vIpIi vwA If jft y' "mil mym i rH "i "Y- 1 ''rv By DICK FRAZIER Staff Writer Easy passage this week of two Senate bills to form and help finance a vastly improved Michigan State Library and statewide service system left their sponsor optimistic that the bills will be approved by the House. Senate Majority Leader William Faust, D-Westland, had been bat: tling for nearly two years to create his "Library of the Legislature" patterned after the U.S. Library of Congress. If the legislation is enacted, it would be the first step in a long-range plan to set up a comprehensive informational system linking the resources of the State Library with the Library of Congress, the Legislative Service Bureau, legislative fiscal agencies and computer information services. "The people of Michigan could look forward to a significantly improved library network that has more services to offer and is more accessible," Faust said.

Faust said he is convinced placing the library directly under the supervision of the legislature will give Michigan "a first class library." The Faust-introduced bills, approved this week by the Senate, 26-8, would transfer state library supervision to the legislature and would establish a new State Library complex that would include a State Library a new law library, historical museum and state archives in a complex near the State Capitol building. The dish is lowered onto the truck. Huge dish moves on campus vert Channel 23's signals for transmission to home televisions. Thursday, the dish and the engineers moved too. The satellite antenna was dismantled into two pieces.

The antenna and its base were lifted with cranes and trucked across campus to the new building at Wilson and Red Cedar Roads. WKAR's quonset huts are scheduled to be dismantled sometime in January. Moving a dish normally isn't so complicated. But when it's a 33-foot-diameter satellite dish, it's no easy matter. ost.

of WKAR-TV's operations moved from their World War II quon-set hut headquarters at the corner of Kalamazoo and Harrison streets to Michigan State University's new Communications Arts building last October. Left behind, though, were the dish, which picks up signals from satellites in space, and the engineers, who con Workers hook the crane to the dish. Staff Photos by NOR IS ingells Phony Amway logo irks educators use of his signature, he had not given the permission to use the name of Amway, the direct sales firm he helped found, according to Bennett. GRAND RAPIDS (AP) One public school group canceled its Grand Rapids convention plans and others were considering similar action in response to a fund-raising letter that carried a forged Amway Corp. logo.

Thousands of letters, distributed by Education Voucher Institute, carried Amway Chairman Jay Van Andel's signature and a phony Amway letterhead. EVI is a 21-month-old Southfield-based group that describes itself as a non-partisan, non-profit organization intended to distribute information about voucher and tax credit systems for educational financing. "JAY WAS infuriated by the fraudulent concoction of a letter head claiming to be Amway's," Piet Bennett, an Amway public relations official, said Thursday. "We had absolutely no knowledge of it, nor did we approve it. "In fact, the institute has apologized to us and some of the others who were confused by this unauthorized use of Amway's name." The letters, which were sent throughout Michigan and California two months ago by the Southfield group, solicit donations for a campaign to institute a voucher or tax credit systems.

Under such systems, parents could channel some of their tax money to private schools instead of the public system. While Van Andel, who is an EVI board member, had authorized the van Anaei was reportedly out oi town and unavailable for comment. EVI PRESIDENT Robert Lytle said thousands of the letters were mailed after an EVI conference earlier this year. Harry Bandouveris, an independent consultant hired by EVI to promote the fund-raising effort, was responsible for the use. of the phony letterhead.

"There's no question about that fact that I designed it," Bandouveris told the Grand Rapids Press from See LOGO, Page 2B The event is wide open to any cribbage enthusiast. Each contestant pays a $12 entry fee and, as Bert put it, "every cent collected goes into the Father John Fund." Bert pays all the cost for the food, drink and tournament prizes. I'll be there but I hope I don't draw Bert as cribbage opposition. He's tough, real tough. Fact is, he's the only Lower Peninsula cribbage player who has ever whipped an Upper Peninsula-trained cribbage player so far as all known records indicate.

Bert may be tough in cribbage but he's a big, big softie when it comes to the needs of this community's children. He has always had my respect. See you there. All you have to do to enter the tournament is show up before 2 p.m. December 6.

Persons who'd like to make a ble contribution ta; this non-denominational charity may send it to Father John Fund, Box :24133, Emergency. Bill Tsaparas, Catholic Central High School junior, needs a Friar Tuck robe one of those brown jobs with the hood. He is a monk in the school play, "The Lark," which will be performed Dec. 3, 5 and 6. If you can help, call him at 484-8023.

By JIM HOUGH Fifteen-two, fifteen-four, fifteen-six, a pair are eight and nobs are nine. Huh? Oh, pardon me. I'm just practicing my cribbage getting ready for the 16th annual Father John Cribbage Tournament to be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 6, at Emil's West Restaurant.

I love cribbage but I love the Father John Fund even more. It was 28 years ago when Father John Gabriel, a popular Roman Catholic pastor here, went around to about 20 businessmen, mostly bar and restaurant owners, and put the bite on them for a donation to help buy winter clothes for needy children in area schools, public and private. Since then, the Father John Fund has provided about $20,000 per year for that noble cause keeping kids from quitting school because they are ashamed of their clothes. Members of the Father John Fund use any gimmick to raise funds but most of the money still comes out of their own pockets. Bert Divietri, one of the founders and current leaders of the Father John Fund, has sponsored the cribbage tournament for 16 years.

Bert, owner of Emil's West, will vide food and drink again this year for about 200 participants in the cribbage tournament. Mayor's aide exits from Grebner suit waited too long to add Black as a co-. defendant and lost his right to sue the mayor's assistant. GREBNER ALLEGED that Black was the source of information for a Nov. 1, 1979, news report by Runyon.

The report stated that Grebner, a Democrat representing East Lansing on the county commission, had been indicted on tax charges because he had failed to pay federal, state and Lansing city income taxes for the previous three years. Grebner was not indicted and never owed the city taxes because he never worked or lived in Lansing. The station later ran a retraction, which Grebner said was inadequate. He filed a $600,000 libel suit. Black denied he told Runyon anything, but Runyon, under court order, revealed in an affidavit that it was Black who first gave him the information.

Grebner, a' University of Michigan Law School student, said he and his attorney, Richard Kinkade, are considering appealing the decision. Meanwhile, the rest of the case will continue, he said. An Eaton County judge has ruled that Robert Black, executive assistant to Lansing Mayor Gerald W. Graves, cannot be a Co-defendant in a libel suit filed by former Ingham County Commissioner Mark-Grebner." Circuit Judge Hudson Deming ruled out Black's being named in a suit originally filed against Me-gamedia owners of Williams-ton-based radio station WFMK, and former radio reporter Robert Ru-nyon. In his ruling dated Nov.

13, Deming said essentially that Grebner.