Lansing State Journal from Lansing, Michigan • Page 1

Major Bell Women mayors find big city Local housing rate hearing this week Pago 1 sales trend jobs tough is reversing Pago 1 Page 1 JANUARY 2. 1983, LANSING. MICHIGAN Copyright9 1983 Lansing State Journal A GANNETT NEWSPAPER 75 CENTS ool loo State JoytnroaD a EOiBa lad BID irMrvittafti i O) mm mm ject both extremes, those voodoo economists who tell us we can do nothing, and those overeager interventionists who tell us we can do it all." lieutenant governor of Michigan has just passed." Oaths of office were administered to Blanchard, Griffiths and other state officers by Supreme Court Justice G. Mennen Williams, a former Democratic governor. OTHER EX-GOVERNORS present were Murray D.

Van Wagoner, John B. Swainson and Milliken. Swainson, the last Democratic governor, said the sunshine was "a good omen. We (Democrats) are glad to be here." Mayor Coleman Young of Detroit was there, telling reporters that a Democrat governor joining' Democratic majorities in House and Senate "will remove a lot of partisan squabbling." "For us," added incoming House Speaker Gary Owen, D-Ypsilanti, "it's very exciting to have a Democrat (as governor) for the first time in 20 years." "It was a hopeful speech he made," departing House Speaker Bobby Crim of Davison said of Blan-chard's inaugural address. "With all the problems we have, I still think By JOHN B.

ALBIGHT Staff Writer The reins of the Michigan government are now officially in the hands of former congressman James Blanchard of Pleasant Ridge who pledged Saturday to "make state government a catalyst" to "put Michigan back to work." Blanchard was swom in as the state's 45th governor in freezing temperatures Saturday morning before a crowded estimated at 2,000 to 2,500. Democrat Blanchard, 40, succeeding Republican William G. Milliken, who wound up a 14-year reign, said financial recovery of the state would be his first priority. 1 HE PROMISED a "helping hand to those who have lost their jobs and make certain that, having already lost so much, they do not now lose their hope." Blanchard takes office as the state faces a treasury shortfall of more than $500 million and 17 percent unemployment, highest since the Depression of the 1930s. In his 18-minute inaugural address, Blanchard borrowed a leaf from Depression President Franklin D.

Roosevelt quoting FDR: 'Do something, and when you have done that something, if it works, do it some more and if it does not work, then do something Blanchard declared: "That is exactly what we will do we will re- THE NEW governor took a swipe at the Reagan administration by denouncing "the cold chill of a neglect-. ful Washington, frozen in the ice of its own indifference." More coverage on Page 7A Blanchard called for unity among Michigan's factions. "In Lansing, a partisan wall has separated our elected leaders," he said. "Across the state our people too often have been split by false differences suburbs against cities, workers against managers, white against black, rich against poor and men against women." "We must all work together," Blanchard said, "so that all can find work." LT. GOV.

Martha Griffiths, a former congresswoman, warmly credited Blanchard with a "miracle" in having "proved that Cinderella can be any age," an allusion to his choice of her for running mate. Griffiths, who will turn 71 on Jan. 29, is the second female to hold the state's No. 2 job. Griffiths cited several modern lieutenant governors as "good men, strong and silent, adding: "It is my duty to inform you that the silent 'I ally yf he going to put it together." JOHN A.

Hannah, former president of Michigan State University, was master of ceremonies (Blanchard is the first MSU graduate to serve as The ceremo--nies included a prayer for the late Supreme Court Justice Blair Moody Jr. PROUD MOMENT A proud Paula Blanchard watches' as her husband, James, takes the oath of office as governor of Michigan. The oath was administered by state Supreme Court Justice G. Mennen Williams, former longtime governor. Staff Photo by NORRIS INGELLS to yeaur, miw Police radio disrupts youngster's pacemaker By JOHN SCHNEIDER Staff Writer by a number.

One could behave, then, as though time were seamless, with no beginnings and no endings and only the changing seasons for punctuation. One could view, with some legitimacy, the changing of years as a simple matter of bookkeeping. Jan. 1, one could argue, is no more important to the human condition than, say, Aug. 12.

But what fun would that be? ASIDE FROM pickled herring, noisy parties, over-indulgence and the various rich superstitions that come with casting off an old year and embracing a new one, where would our attempts at self-analysis and self-improvement be without Jan. When, if not at the dawn of a new year, would we stop to catch our breath and ponder where we've been and where we would like to go? For most of us, this weekend marks the official close of the holiday season. We'll drag our Christmas trees out of our houses, sweep up the loose needles and rearrange our furniture to its pre- David's pediatric device is more susceptible to interference because it operates on a different frequency, his mother said. "He's afraid. Whenever police go near him, he panics.

He starts running away saying, 'Stop, stop, and holding his chest," she said. HOLYOKE POLICE have agreed to try to avoid using their radios near the Weeks' apartment and Chief Harold Skelton has sent memos to the Fire Department, Department of Public Works and the Gas and Electric Department asking their employees to be careful about broadcasts in the area. HOLYOKE, Mass. (AP) -When 10-year-old David Weeks sees a police car, he runs in fear cruiser radios interfere with his pacemaker. "Whenever he sees the police, he freaks out," Katherine Weeks said of her son, who was born with several defects, including Down's syndrome and heart trouble.

"HE KNOWS," she said. When David comes within about 20 feet of a police radio in use, the signal cuts off the pacemaker, his heart rate falls suddenly from 72 beats a minute to 6 and he gets chest pains and faints, she said. Unlike adult pacemakers, Now that the party is over, let all of us survivors of 1982 get up from our chairs, go to our mirrors and (gasp) take good, hard looks at ourselves. Are those perfect human beings we see staring back at us? Of course they aren't. So what are we going to do about it? Oh sure, we made some resolutions Friday night, in the glow of altered consciousness.

And we may manage even to keep them through the weekend. After all, we're still reeling from a week of festivity and excess; the urge to cleanse and purify rages within us. BUT WHAT about Monday morning, when life resumes in earnest? What then? As we stand in the starting gate, ready for a new lap around the track, few of us can resist the impulse toward self-scrutiny and its natural child: self -modification. It is a new year a new beginning, so to speak. If we can't quite wipe the slate clean, we can at least find a fairly-clean corner on which to map out a strategy that is wiser and more virtuous than the one that guided us through lap 1982.

One could point out, of course, that our Gregorian calendar is an invention of man still another product of his passion to quantify and organize and that our annual journey from Dec. 31 to Jan. 1 'is just one more undistinguished tick on the cosmic clock. THE PLAIN fact is that for the great bulk of human history, midnight Dec. 31 has been a time holiday state.

We'll pack away our ornaments and get back to the more realistic if less jolly business of day-to-day living. But it won't be business as usual. Not quite. We'll work harder this year and complain less. We'll devote more time to our spouses and children.

We'll eat less, smoke less and exercise more. We'll be kinder, wiser, happier, more honest, more charitable and less inclined to find fault with our fellow humans. Why, we'll even clean out our garages. Come the dawn of 1984, if our halos still don't show up in our mirrors, we'll make a new list and take another stab at perfection. Rains return to Dixie for nothing more than sleep.

For the ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians and Persians, the year began at the autumnal equinox (Sept. 21). The Greeks and Romans celebrated the beginning of the year at the winter solstice (Dec. 21). In Anglo-Saxon England, Dec.

25 was New Year's Day. For most Christians in medieval times, March 25 marked the beginning of the new year. It wasn't until the 18th Century that Jan. 1 gained wide acceptance as the start of a new trek through the artificial chunk of time represented Keagami still weoglhs 'yseir fees' hike: said the worst was well to the south of areas where flooding last week forced evacuation of nearly 10,000 people and caused damage estimated at more than $50 million. However, the water was still rising in the Ouachita River at Monroe" in the northeast, and measured Saturday at 6.4 feet above flood stage of 4Q feet, the weather service said.

"The forecast now is for the river to crest up to 48 feet on the 5th or 6th," said meteorologist Eric Meindl. "Any houses that are real marginal would end up getting water in them," he said. "Those that have, some in them now would not have the water, out of their area until at least gee whiz, at least a week into the new year." See RAINS, Page 3A By The Associated Press A new round of heavy rains ushered in the New Year through much of the soggy South, flooding some streets in Mobile, and forcing more evacuations in Louisiana, where rivers still were rising. Mobile, on the Gulf Coast, received 2.6 inches of rain overnight. Charles Kendrick, police radio communications officer, said several streets were flooded, but the water was running off by midday.

With the heaviest rain "expected later in the day, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for Mobile and Baldwin counties through Saturday night. RAIN FELL again across much of saturated Louisiana, but officials that the new year will bring administration efforts to roll back his program of tax and budget cuts. But one official, asking not to be identified by name, said the president could seek to cut the budget deficit through higher fees charged to users of specific federal services or facilities. He gave no examples, but said an increase in such fees might be accepted by Reagan "if it doesn't ap ball rolling on this, the first day of the new year," the president said in his weekly radio speech. The president said that approximately 25,000 lives are lost each year in alcohol-related accidents and an additional 650,000 people are seriously injured in such crashes.

He said alcohol is a factor in 55 percent of the nation's fatal automobile accidents. pear to be a tax increase." Meanwhile, the president, in a recorded radio address to the nation, welcomed the new year Saturday with a plea that the nation tackle the problem of drunken drivers. It is time, he said, "to get these killers off our roads Nand get them off now." "If we insist long enough and loudly enough, we can save lives, so I thought it appropriate to start the PALM SPRINGS, Calif. (AP) -While his aides are saying President Reagan will not go along with advisers' suggestions that he consider "selective" tax increases this year, they say higher "user fees" have not been ruled out. As the president spent a quiet New Year's Day watching college football games on television and taking care of routine paperwork, his aides sought to dampen speculation In the Journal 2D wefts ttiry miew tfadc dud mmDssoDe tAs 2D Horoscope Living ID to 1 3D Metro 1 to 8B Onlooker IB 1 to 5C Sports 126 PAGES 10 SECTIONS 2 SUPPLEMENTS WEATHER: Partly sunny.

High low 30s. Details Page 2A. 4 wfs Markets 4E, 5E Television IT to 16T Theater 3F, 4F Timeout 6C to 8C advance of publication Sunday by the official Tass news agency, apparently was timed to reinforce the latest Soviet offer on reducing medium-range missiles in Europe. On Dec. 21, the Communist Party leader, Yuri V.

Andropov, said his country would reduce its. medium-range arsenal in Europe to 162 missiles the number deployed by Britain and France. That offer was rejected by Washington, London and Paris', mainly because it would leave the Soviets free to pull their new SS-20 medium- range missiles into the Asian part of the Soviet Union but still within range of Western Europe. The British and French also argued that their nuclear missiles were not tied to U.S defense strategy. The French said they were "shocked" that their missiles would be considered as part of the negotiations.

Washington has proposed cutting long-range nuclear warheads by one-third to about 5,000 for each side, while Andropov has outlined a 25 percent reduction. that in a mutual reduction of strategic (long-range) nuclear forces, the U.S. will, at least, not build up its other nuclear means which are capable of reaching objectives in the Soviet Union's territory," the Communist Party daily newspaper Pravda said in a lengthy commentary. It said that otherwise the United States "would receive a channel for bypassing and undermining the very fundamentals of a future agreement (on strategic weapons)." The commentary, distributed in MOSCOW (AP) The Kremlin on Saturday publicly linked the reduction of medium-range nuclear missiles in Europe with U.S.-Soviet talks on limiting the superpowers' long-range nuclear arsenals. U.S.

and Soviet officials are conducting parallel negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, on the reduction of medium-range nuclear missiles based in Western and Eastern Europe and also on the reduction of U.S. and Soviet missiles aimed at each other. "The Soviet proposals presuppose Ann Landers 2D Travel IF, 2F Books 14D Business 1 to 8E News Editor, John Ward 1 377-1072 Classified 7F to 8G TELEPHONES Crossword 14D Home Delivery 377-1020 Deaths 2B, 3B Classified Ads 377-1111 Editorials 1 2A Information 377-1000 Features 5F to 7F Sports Scores 377-1012.