Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 3

Free Press telephones City News Desk 222-6600 To Place Want Ads 222-6800 Insurance Dept. 222-6470 For Home Delivery 222-6500 All Other Calls 222-6400 Today's Chackla "I don't care who you say is coming. It's MY night to use the horse!" Mrs. Paul Revere Section Page 3 SECOND FRONT PAGE Thursday, July 13. 1978 Girl ignored as custody fight drags WM urn TTTTTTT ff'T inside the news with the people who make it v.

NEW SOUND BUT IT IS a life Charmaigne does not want to return to. In Alaskan schools Charmaigne was considered retarded and was placed in special education classes. But she has made remarkable progress while in Michigan. She entered the fifth grade at Adrian Public School last fall. During the past school year she received special tutoring and advanced to sixth grade.

Mrs. Bassett said Charmaigne now is reading Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy mysteries, her favorites. Charmaigne also developed a passion for swimming here. Her school instructors and local YMCA staff reported she has "come out of her shell" to join new friends on the playground and in the pool. But now her love of swimming has been overcome by fear.

"She won't go to the pool anymore," said Mrs. Bassett, "She is afraid her stepmother will get her." Mrs. Triplett allegedly attempted to ab- Please turn to Page 12A Triplett, a construction worker, claims that neither of his ex-wives are fit to be Charmaigne's mother. He told Mr. and Mrs.

Robert Bassett of Adrian that he had obtained legal custody of the child. In fact, the Alaskan courts had not yet determined custody. But now, an Alaskan court has awarded custody, without asking Charmaigne her preference, to the stepmother. The decision is being appealed in both Alaskan and Michigan courts. Michigan courts historically have made the child's preference a priority in custody cases.

However, in this case, the Lenawee County Circuit Court must honor the Uniform Child Custody Act, recognized by both Michigan and Alaska. The act insures the co-operation between states, which renders the Michigan court powerless at this point. Under the act, the Michigan judge must honor the Alaskan court's demand for Charmaigne's return. By CAROL VALADE Free Press Special Writer ADRIAN While four adults, a dozen attorneys and two state courts play a tug-of-war with her, the pleas of a 12-year-old Indian child remain unheard. The girl, Charmaigne Triplett, is the subject of a custody fight between her natural mother, her stepmother and a Michigan couple who gained custody of her almost a year ago when Charmaigne's father brought her from Alaska and dropped her off in Adrian.

Charmaigne has told them all, "I want to stay here (in Adrian). I don't want to be with my stepmother." IN 1968 James Triplett received a divorce from his first wife in California and took their daughter, Charmaigne, to Alaska. He remarried and divorced his second wife in March 1977. Exercising visitation rights, he took Charmaigne across the country again, this time to Adrian where he left her with old family friends. Charmaigne Triplett cuddles a pet dog.

Her life is being tangled by the court fight. Medicare to Pay for 2d. Opinions Macomb finds its voice is changing; station sold WBRB-FM, the self-proclaimed radio voice of Macomb County, has been sold to the owners of one of New York City's hottest stations for $1.5 million. The new owner is Inner City Broadcasting, a black owned and operated firm. Inner City's carefully programmed soul-disco-jazz-rock format, dubbed by some as the mocha sound, has cut across racial lines and catapulted its Big Apple outlet Into the No.

2 spot in the nation's top market. Indications are a similar format is in store for the Mt. Clemens station, which features middle-of-the-road music and low ratings. WBRB-AM was not included in the deal. Water, water nowhere THE ON-AGAIN, off-again Dodge Fountain is off again.

Seems the $3 million silver-colored gusher, one of the focal points of downtown's new Hart Plaza, has some bugs in its electronic brain. A computer expert from Texas is tinkering with it, but city officials aren't sure when the overdue aquatic show will begin. Concrete results of strike THE FOLKS who run Metro Airport apparently don't see an immediate end to the 1 0-week Northwest Orient strike. Work crews have torn up the reinforced concrete surrounding the Northwest concourse, forcing the airline's current two daily flights onto the last remaining solid ground nearby. What if the strike ends tomorrow? Other airlines would just have to move over and make room, a spokesman said.

Appetites now allowed SENIOR CITIZENS who were being turned away last month from Wayne County's hot lunch program should show up again. The state Legislature, hearing the pleas of county officials, earmarked an extra $15,246 from a supplemental budget appropriation to provide the county with up to 350 more meals a day. Gone, but not forgotten OUSTED STATED REP. MONTE GERALDS may have problems recapturing his old House seat, but not everyone in his district has forgotten him. When the votes were counted in Tuesday's special election to replace him, one write-in vote for Geralds turned up.

Geralds, who hopes to regain his seat this fall, said he didn't encourage anyone to vote for him Tuesday. "I could have had several hundred (write-in votes) if I'd asked for them," he said. Group hits legislative panels on resources 3 counties in surgery program By DOLLY KATZ Free Press Medical Writer Beginning Aug. 1, some 375,000 Medicare recipients who live in the metropolitan Detroit area will be able to get free second opinions whenever their doctors recommend surgery for them. Medicare will pay the full cost of these consultations as By GENE WEINGARTEN Free Press Lansing Staff LANSING Almost half the members of the Legislature's environmental protection committees rank among Michigan's least environmentally concerned lawmakers, according to a voting record analysis conducted by a Lansing conservation group.

Environmental Action of Michigan (EAM) said Wednesday that in its opinion eight of the 17 lawmakers who sit on the House and Senate conservation committees had voted incorrectly on most of the important environmental issues dealt with over the last three years. Based on those voting records, the eight ranked in the lowest fifth of the Legislature on the EAM's list. Only one committee member Rep. James Barcia, D-Bay City, was rated by EAM in the top 10 percent of the rsi Filaili leltaiie Pi tlsa town cilsi "r''ntrffl'T S4 Free Press Photo by SCOTT ECCKER Legislature. LEGISLATIVE commit Rickshaw man Bernio Falahee trots along as riders Lila Mathamel (left) and Irene Anshauan enjoy the sunshine and the sights along Washington Blvd.

Detroit at a rickshaw pace tees generally determine part of a pilot program designed to test whether second opinions cut costs by reducing unnecessary surgery. Other studies have found that patients who get second opinions tend to undergo less surgery than patients who don't get consultations. At present, the $20.8 billion federal Medicare program, which helps pay hospital and doctor bills for 25 million people over 65, covers only 80 percent of the cost of a second opinion, the same amount it pays for all doctor bills. By offering to pay the full cost for tri-county area residents, the federal government hopes to entice enough people into the second-opinion program to test its effectiveness in reducing costs and surgery. More than 14 million people a year undergo surgery in the United States, and studies have suggested that as much as 24 percent of this surgery is unjustified or could be avoided by non-surgical treatment.

In 1976, Medicare spent nearly $1.4 billion for surgery, and Medicare recipients paid nearly $1 billion more out of their own pockets for surgical care. THE THREE-YEAR second-opinion program will be run by Michigan Blue Cross-Blue Shield, which administers the Medicare program in Michigan. The program is open to all residents of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties who have purchased Medicare Part which covers doctor bills. (Almost all Medicare recipients have Part coverage). A Medicare recipient need not be a Blues subscriber to be eligible.

To participate in the pro-Please turn to Page 12A what bills will be sent to the full house for a vote. The EAM report points up a legislative trend that has frustrated environmental lobbyists here for some time. Repeatedly, environmen "Thanks a lot," one young lady told him. "It was fairly cheap, plus I just love to watch your behind talists contend, conservation bills that are considered likely to pass the Legislature as a whole have been stalled in wisde." committee and are never reported out for a vote. It must be hard to find so many ivays to lose WHAT A WAY to wind down an otherwise delightful vacation watching the American Leaguers stumbling through another mismatch with the Nationals.

Maybe our boys can find some graceful way of avoiding the whole mess. Like not showing up. It must be increasingly difficult for them to find new and different ways to lose the All Star Game every year. One high point was the touch of unconscious humor that good old Jerry Ford injects into every event he attends. Interviewed briefly on camera, he told how he loves to "see" sports events on radio.

BUT ON TO MORE PLEASANT subjects. I fibbed slightly when I mentioned in my last piece before vacating that I'd be "getting acquainted once again with the beauties of Our State." More precisely, I spent a lot of time wallowing In the joys of one tiny part of the beauties, my backyard. It has become much more attractive ever since I gave the lawnmower to my son who lives in Novi and hired a covey of bronzed young men to take over. They arrive on the scene with more equipment than a battalion of Army engineers, leave not a single uncut blade of grass too sully the surface, lovingly edge and blow dry the entire estate in less time than it takes to pop another beer from the refrigerator. Then it's back to snoozing in the lawn chair and to dreaming that these excellent troops had also done the weeding Bev keeps prodding me to take care of.

Well, you can't have everything. AND THERE WAS SADNESS, too. in the fulfillment once again of just about the only superstition I have that deaths and other bad things arrive in clumps of three. First it was Ernest Breech, the former Ford board chairman who never lost the love that he acquired in his native Missouri for farmland. One day he was trying out a new tractor on his Bloom- By GERALD VOLGENAU Free Press Staff Writer When business slows down, Bernie Falahee, the Rickshaw Man, is likely to peer out from under his coolie hat and ask: "Anybody want a slooow taxi?" Full of good humor, Falahee, a 27-year-old teacher, trotted out Detroit's first rickshaw service this week as owner, operator and sole power source for a racing sulky with a wicker seat for two.

"I just want to make enough money to pay the rent and enjoy myself," said Falahee, who charges 25 cents per block per person. The six-foot, 200-pound Falahee enjoys himself. And so do his passengers. One young woman stepped down from the rickshaw after a brief ride this week and pronounced her absolute approval. "Thanks a lot," she glowed.

"It was fairly cheap, plus I just love to watch your behind wiggle." Other riders enjoy the airy ride that is punctuated only by a quiet whir of tires and the thump of Falahee's tennis shoes on the sidewalk. While the sulky is easy to lift and pull, Falahee admitted that his toughest run so far involved dragging two pudgy Shriners who together must have weighed more than 440 pounds. His most naive customer stopped him at Hart Plaza and asked, "Would you take me to Fairlane?" "The Democratic and Republican leadership in both houses just haven't been appointing the right people to these committees," EAM coordinator Alex Sagady said Wednesday. IN BOTH the House and Senate, the average scores of the environmental committee members were far lower than the average scores of all legislators. In the House, five of the 13 Please turn to Page 16A Falahee just laughed at the thought of pulling the woman 10-plus miles to the Dearborn shopping center.

While Falahee is willing to go anywhere downtown, he makes most of his runs between the Renaissance Center and Cobo Hall along Jefferson and up and down Woodward. Falahee said he got the rickshaw idea by reading an article about a similar operation in Kalamazoo. After gaining consent from the City Council, he picked up a racing sulky for $125 and chair for $220. His big expense turned out not to be equipment but insurance, which costs $560 for a year. Beech Electric Corp.

helped picked up that tab. Falahee, who plans to trot rickshaw riders around from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. on weekdays, said, "I don't think I'll make $560 all summer." His best day so far was $22. Architect says mall makes little sense without Hudson's field acreage. His wife, Thelma, happened to look out the window in time to see a pickup stop alongside the field.

Two men got out and began to talk to Breech. "I rushed over there as fast as I could," said Thelma. "Sure enough by the time I arrived they had almost come to terms with him to plow their fields. I put a stop to that." Next to go was Michael Doberman puppy finds new home with 14.92 Ad Miss Lana Wade, Detroit, found a new home for her nine-month Doberman pinscher with a 14.92 Want Ad. The buyer called the first day the ad appeared, and picked up the dog the following day.

Her exclusive Free Press ad got fast results! Rediscover 14.92 Want Ads! Dial 222-6800 or Toll Free (800)9723670 CALL TODAY! Paternity trial shut for Rep. Hood By TIM KISKA Free Press Staff Writer The judge hearing a paternity suit against state Rep. Morris W. Hood Jr. closed his courtroom to the press and public Wednesday as the case began.

Wayne County Circuit Judge Charles Kaufman said Hood's attorney, Charles H. Brown, asked that the trial be closed because of the delicacy of the subject matter. The plaintiff's attorney, Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor J. Peter Lark, agreed. Under Michigan law, a plaintiff in a paternity suit can request that a local county prosecutor serve as her attorney, even though the case is a civil rather than criminal one.

Speaking for the Prosecutor's Office, Dominick R. Carnov-ale, the chief assistant prosecuting attorney, said Wednesday, "That's his right (to bar the press and public). We have no objection to his waiving his right." HOOD, A STATE REPRESENTATIVE since 1971, is ac- Please turn to Page 4A Hudson's, that the landmark store will be torn down, perhaps as early as 1982. HUDSON SAID his company will not build a new store downtown unless definite plans for a shopping center there can be completed by 1982. Hudson said Wednesday that the parent Dayton Hudson Corp.

board of directors has approved the construction of a new square-foot downtown department store upon the completion of the downtown Detroit shopping center." "In the interim period prior to opening our new downtown Detroit store, we will continue to make physical and merchandise improvements in our existing location so that we will continue to offer our customers an Please turn to Page 4A By THOMAS C. FOX Free Press Staff Writer The $10.5 million mall on Woodward Avenue, under construction and scheduled for completion next spring, makes little sense if the downtown J. L. Hudson store is torn down, the mall's principal architectural designer said Wednesday. A block-long steel-and-glass-enclosed structure called a galeria, planned to be built on the mall in front of Hudson's, "is being built to enhance the building there, and it makes less sense if there's no building," said Gino Rossetti of Rossetti Associates.

"If there's no building, then at that point, none of the plaza (mall) makes any sense either," he said. Rossetti, a Detroit booster and one of the main backers of city efforts to revitalize downtown, was reacting to an announcement Tuesday by Joseph L. Hudson chairman of Ales, my barber on and off for many years, and a staunch supporter of the Italian-American community. And finally Morgan Oates, the pixie of the Free Press library, whose bubbling personality gave the lie to a rumor that such newspaper collections of facts and photos were named morgues in his honor. TODAY'S WORST JOKE: Don Wigton asks what you should call a top-ranking Shriner from Idaho? Only proper term, he says, is Potentater..