Lansing State Journal from Lansing, Michigan • Page 37

Lorraine Beebe Gets Michigan Consumers Post I i CP ary far the post will be $20,000. Starting date has not been set. In other action, the council discussed House Bill 6330 which deals with mobile home financing. Eiler said the four objectives of the bill are establishing a maximum finance balance; defining the time-price differentiation charge as interest for the purposes of tax deductions and entitling the consumer to a period for redemption of his property on default. Assistant Attorney General Edwin Bladen suggested that the council recommend a 12 per cent maximum interest rate on mobile home financing.

Although the present bill sets a ceiling of 13 per cent, Bladen said in a study done in his office he had discovered that the most common interest rate charged was 12.4 per cent. "AN INTEREST rate of 12 per cent has shown to be a very competitive, highly profit-, able rate," Bladen said. The council then recommended the maximum be set at 12 per cent Newest council member By LIZJHLL State Journal Writer In a five-to-four decision the Michigan Consumers Council Thursday chose N. Lorraine Beebe its executive director. The former state senator from Dearborn and pro-abortion leader is currently one of the three members of the State Youth Parole and Review Board.

SHE WAS chosen over acting director Andrew Eiler Jr. at the council's regular meeting in the Hollister Building. Eiler had been acting as director since June 30 when Dianne McKaig resigned to take a post with the Coca-Cola Co. in Atlanta, Ga. The council discussed five possible candidates for the position during an executive session which lasted about an hour and which included a phone call from Gov.

Milli-ken's office unprecedented in council history, according to staff members. Shortly after Miss McKaig resigned, Detroit newspapers reported that Mrs. Beebe had been picked by the governor for the job. At the time, staff iA vk-A v. Kg ii im i.

I LrV jo V' VV-i i I ,4 i I lP -V! -f I VI ft, SU i I nV "0 Paull Fry: Plant Soma Good Reading N. Lorraine Beebe members expressed surprise, contending that the council itself, not the governor, would choose Miss McKaig's State Jeunul hotM by DAVE Witt MRS. BEEBE'S annual sal- See D-2, CoL 1 SECTION TV LISTINGS FAMILY MAGAZINE The State Journal, Friday, September 8, 1972 Thereta Owen: Carrying Her Lunch for the First Time Theresa Baley: A Bit Ruffled Uneventful Ride on Bus Starts New School Year KK Jmf" 1- "'J i mmmm Stat Journal Photo Donna Graves daft) Gets POW Bracelet From Virginia Evars IN THE lunch room where they learned which room they would be in, the principal, Dennis Semrau, assured them that "you'll have a good time." And then they met their teacher for the year and made their way through the newly decorated halls of the traditional high ceilinged school. Everything about their new school was attractive. Paull Fry, the fifth grade teacher, had an Afro that would make Line on "Mod Squad" jealous.

He promised he'd have candy and gum in the room for those who wanted it and he'd be reading them "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," the basis for the famous movie "Willie Worfa and the Chocolate Factory." SCHOOL WAS off to a good start, for almost everyone. But there were a few disgruntled kids like the youngster who opened his new desk to find a broken hinge. His mother had walked him to the bus stop and told a newsperson that she thought must have been right, he seat during breakfast, wondering if the anti-busing parents would try to do something drastic. Newsmen with tape recorders, paper and pencil and cameras had arrived early at Cavanaugh School where a nervous principal, Mrs. Georgia Mead, paced the sidewalk.

There were expectations that parents would be picketing, maybe running out in front of the bus and surely there would be loud protesting as the "yellow terror" carted off their young ones to Michigan Avenue School. BUT THERE wasn't any noise. The bus ride, the longest one for any of the students in the new program, took just 15 minutes and for the entire time bus driver Amy Sevolt prepped the fifth and sixth graders on bus etiquette. There was a little talk in the bus about the new school. After all, a new school almost always makes a person wonder.

Good old Mark Franks was a little concerned that "the electricity and water aren't in the walls," in other words, that water pipes and wires woud By KAREN ALDAG State Journal Writer The shiny new metal lunch box at Brian Hoag's side popped open and out tumbled his wrapped sandwich, his bag of chips and his apple. Lunch boxes always do things like that on the first day of school when a fellow is strutting around impressing the friends he hasn't seen for months. BUT THURSDAY was a little different for Brian and his buddies who stood out in front of Cavanaugh School, where they'd been going since they were little kids. They were going to be bused into the center of the city as part of the Lansing School's desegregation plan. There was something in the air around the bus stop.

It was kind of quiet with low rumbles of chatter until the box popped and Brian's friend in stiff new blue jeans rolled up an extra inch quipped: "News flash, Brian just dropped his lunch." THE KID was right, the city was sitting on the edge of its Sarah Maxwell and Theresa Baley said that they had reservations aboutall of this. So many Cavanaugh students were being bused in that they, would take over the inner-city school, so why bother busing, the girls asked. THEIR PARENTS had warned them about meeting the different people. Theresa said that, they didn't say an-thing amout blacks, but Sarah recalled that the parting words when she left home were "don't talk back or mouth off." Kind of like an old lady with ruffled feathers, Theresa talked about the disadvantages of leaving Cavanaugh, where she had gone since she was in fourth grade (she was in fifth now), but finally she sighed, "This doesn't really bother me, but it bothers my parents." The youngsters, after their uneventful ride, again listened to their driver Mrs. Sevolt lay down her wishes for law and order.

Then they filed off, walking through the lines of black students waiting for the buses to take them away to another school. show. "But, he concluded, "what can you expect? It was built in 1916." AND BRIAN whose lunch box broke the spell and let a wise kid vocalize the funny feeling in the air, was down in the dumps he just plain hated -school. Was he looking forward to meeting new friends? "How can he questioned. "Some girl sits behind me." The new experience held expectation, For Theresa Owen, whose sensitive brown eyes told a quiet and thoughtful story, the idea of going to a new school was exciting.

SHE HELD on tightly to her purple and pink dotted plastic lunchbox and listed the contentsbologna sandwich, her Girl Scout cookies and her thermos of orange juice. Today was the first day she'd taken her lunch to school. Her brown hair clipped into a dutch bob and her carefully coordinated new purple outfit matched the excitement she talked about "new friends, a new school, a bus ride." Her parents hadn't sent her away with any warnings. But Ex-Larising Resident Works for POWs Benefit Auction Scheduled Saturday cational materials and, of course, more signatures. She firmly believes in the power of positive thinking, accompanied by a certain amount of birddog tenacity.

"Hanoi will have to listen to world opinion in the long run," she reasons. Another reason the current POW issue is important, she said, is the example of POWs in Korea. "We left 389 known American POWs behind in Korea. They are now written off as dead. We don't want this to happen again." Mrs.

Evers is especially concerned because American POWs are not currently being accorded the protection of the Geneva Conventions signed by North Vietnam and 120 other nations. THESE CONVENTIONS specifically require, she pointed out, (1) identification of the prisoner, (2) regular communication between the prisoner and his family, (3) neutral inspection of prison facilities, (4) repatriation of the sick and wounded. "North Vietnam and her Communist allies have refused to abide by these basic requirements of human decency. There are also many discrepancies to be cleared." Mrs. Evers and other "Concern" volunteers also believe that there is much the average citizen can do to help, including writing letters to Congress, encouraging organizations and groups to engage in letter-writing campaigns, arranging for speakers from "Concern" groups, wearing a POW bracelet honoring the missing men and working as a "Concern" volunteer.

THE LEADER of Lt. Bob Frishman (USNR) was shot down over Hanoi and served -683 days in a Hanoi prison camp. So far the group has been responsible for 26 million letters to the Hanoi delegation in Paris. Any additional money collected by the group is pledged Ho an educational trust fund for children of missing men who do not return. The bracelets are available during the convention today or from Mrs.

Walter O. Estes in Williamston through another POW-concerned organization. Voices in Vital America. A By VIRGINIA REDFERN State Journal Writer Over 1,600 Americans are missing in action or are prisoners in Southeast Asia as a result of the war in Vietnam. And Virginia Evers of San Diego.

formerly Virginia Long of Lansing, has been devoting the last five years to speaking up on the topic. SHE IS doing that today at the Olds Plaza Hotel, where she is a featured speaker at the "Congress of Freedom" convention, with special emphasis on the involvement of youth. Her six children are all involved in "Concern for Prisoners of War and Another POW Story, Pg. D-2 she believes that the enlistment of youth in the cause is especially important "For every adult who signs a petition to Congress there are 10 youths," she said. "Young people care more about people." Denise Evers, her daughter, has been a representative for the POW cause in Paris.

"HELP US to help them," says Mrs. Evers, who constantly wears a silver POW bracelet engraved with the name of a Maj. Lassiter, a U.S. pilot shot down over North Vietnam in 1967. She enlisted the support this week of Donna Graves, wife of Lansing's mayor, who now wears a bracelet.

Funds raised by the sale of the silver bracelets are channeled back to expenses for "Concern" pamphlets, educational materials, speakers bureaus. Mrs. Evers, who works through "Concern" headquarters in San Diego, firmly believes that helping to spread the fact's of the plight of the POWS and keeping the issue constantly and prominently before Congress is of utmost importance. SHE, AND other members of her group were instrumental in obtaining the use of a special bus that traveled to Washington, D.C. equipped like a mobile museum, carrying slides, film clips, edu By KAREN ALDAG State Journal Writer The auctioneer's chant will start up at 1 p.m.

Saturday in the yard at 503 Bis-mark, Williamston, and the auctioneer in his broken record style will urge his audience to boost the price so that they can win that "lovely porcelain pitcher with only a couple of flaws." Proceeds from the sale will go to benefit the Future of Williamston Corporation, a nonprofit group composed of citizens bent on doing something about the old hotel on Williamston's main corner. ACCORDING TO the group, the hotel is an eyesore and something must be done about it, so they have set out to purchase it, then tear it down. Already they have collected $3,000 in donations to make a down payment. Saturday's auction will bring in more to pay off the remaining $9,500. Purchase price for the hotel was $12,500.

According to Mrs. Dru Roehm, who is coordinating efforts for the auction and is also treasurer for the nonprofit corporation, the barnful of items which will go up for sale was donated, and Jim Burns has donated his auctioneer services. Also A small white frame house at 1135 W. Grand River will be up for auction. That sale will start at 12:30 p.m.

at the site of the house. The buyer of the house must move it off its present site before Oct. 31. THE HOUSE was donated by a construction company who plans to use the present site for apartments. Up for auction at the Bismark address is a soup-to-nuts variety including several fur coats, stereos, old records, a set of en-, cyclopedias, a partially-done hooked wall hanging with wool to finish the pattern, old furniture and appliances.

During the auction there will also be a rummage sale, a book sale and bake sale. After the hotel is paid for, the corporation will have to raise an additional to tear the building down. Right now the future of the empty corner is up for grabs. A SUBCOMMITTEE within the corporation is studying various possibilities. Some include selling the lot to a merchant, keeping the land for a park and so on.

According to residents the old hotel has been an issue in the city for years and the corporation's main job has been to overcome the inertia that has kept the city from doing something. The corporation calls their plans for the Williamston Hotel, "Project No. They envision doing more in the downtown area after completing this project fill journal Photo by 1RUCI CORNELIUS Dru Roehm and Son John Sort Auction Items.