The daily collegian. (University Park, Pa.) 1940-current, April 12, 1977, Image 1

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    Seventeen
Janis lan ( far right) proved herself a queer) of music, if not a beauty, at last night's
• concert in Eisenhower Auditorium. At left," is Claire Bay. Torn Chapin (above)
pours emotion into a song. See story, page 10.
Student tenants often
'ripped off,' says Yorks
ByJAY SCHONTHALER
Collegian Staff Writer
Charging that lot of people are getting
ripped. of 1 by apartment owners, District
Magistrate Clifford H. Yorks last night told
the Organization for Town Independent
Students they need to do more for tenants.
"Everything's not rosy on the other side of
College Avenue," he said, adding that tenant
landlord conflicts are • numerous. "The
majority .of the times the tenant is the one
being taken advantage of."
OTIS generally does an outstanding job of
aiding students with landlord problems,
Yorks said, but it is weak in helping student&
present their cases in court.
"Somewhere between the time students
come to see you for help and then appear
before me, something goes wrong," Yorks
said.
"They seem to be afraid to talk," he said,
"or afraid 'to give the evidence that they
have. And most of them have good cases.'.'
Yorks'said an OTIS representative should
go to court with a student to make sure the
evidence is presented effectively.
If the landlord's attorney dbes not object to
a tenant being represented by an OTIS
member, Yorks said he will allow\ such a
practice.
Most students, Yorks :aid, are at a great
disadvantage because they cannot afford a
law,er and have little legal background
themselves. - • ' .
Apartment owners have it much better, he
said.
"Most of them have attorneys on retainer
and it's not costing them a cent. They (at
torneys) are just doing work they'd be paid
for, anyway.",
"You 'are ,probably the only people the
student can turn to," he told OTIS, "but
you're not doing enough."
A .number of OTIS members objected to
Yorks' criticism, saying that they, too, lack
legal knowledge and that OTIS was intended
to play an advisor's,role in landlord-tenant
conflicts, and not d representative's role.
OTIS functions too often overlap those of
USG Legal Affairs, said OTIS President
Steve Kufrovich. He said the_ two
organizations need to definelheir respon
sibilities in landlord-tenant. cases.
Even . when he knows a landlord is treating
a student unfairly in presenting a case, Yorks
said, he must rule in the landlord's favor if
the student is, unable to present his case
convincingly. -
"I can't run a sympathy court," he said
Pittsburgh ex-mayor
says farewell to city
PITTSBURGH (UPI) Pete
Flaherty, for seven years the austerity
minded mayor of this industrial center,
bade a dry-eyed but solemn farewell at
i y hall yesterday- and left for
ashington to serve as% President
Carter's deputy U.S. attorney general.
Later in Washington, Flaherty was
sworn in by Attorney Griffin
Bell with his wife, Nancy, holding the
Bible.
t Richard Caliguiri, who challenged
P i Fhher t v's leadership in the 1973
);Democratic primary but lost, took oath
as acting mayor. Caliguiri plans to
continue Flaherty's frugal ways, but
with some modifications. .
"There is a point where frugality itself
may become waste," he said.. "We
cannot allow our public services to
deteriorate to the point of no return."
Caliguiri plans to boost the number of
city police officers from 1,300 to 1,400,
double the street resurfacing budget,
and "adequately" staff housing and city
development departments.
He is 'not a mayoral candidate in the
the
daily
"If a person doesn't present the evidence,
there's not a thing I can do.
"If a student can rip a manager off, more
power to him," Yorks said, noting complex
leases give owners an unfair advantage over
students.
Not all owners can be counted on giving
honest testimony, Yorks said. Of one owner,
whose name he refused to reveal, Yorks said,
"When he raises his hand to tell the truth,
that's a joke. He has .made more false
statements on. the stand than any 20 people I
know of."
But too' many students end up in court
because they don't take the time to submit a
list of damages after moving in, he said. In
apartments where the landlord provides
tenants with a, standardized checklist, Yorks
said feWer than 25 per cent of the tenants fill
them out.
Landlords then are free to extract widely
varying sums of money from security
deposits, he said. ,
Yorks said he knows of one apartment
charging $65 for a complete paint job, while
another, smaller apartment has a $l4O
painting fee.
"The landlord must prove damages,"
Yorks said. A tenant can beat such fees, he
said, "if you have proof that apartment x
charges $65 and apartment y charges $140."
OTIS should try to compile a comparative
list of fees levied by apartments for such ser
vices, he said.
However, a list of service charges would be
bard to draw up, OTIS members said,
because owners could not be counted onto
give accurate prices.
Yorks also criticized the local media for a
lack of response to the tenants' plight.
He said he has offered to have students
serving practicums under him write columns
for local papers on tenants rights, but the
papers have not shown interest in the project.
The recent coverage by The Daily
Collegian of court cases involving students,
he said, has been long overdue. The articles
are making people aware that students are
•)ften the target of unfair business practices.
In other action at the meeting:
Members voted to sponsor a "can
didates night" for local office-seekers.
Copies of the new checking arid savings
account policies of local banks have been
completed and will be on file in the OTIS
office.
Information on life insurance policies
has been compiled and is now on file in the
OTIS office.
May 17 primary and will serve until a
new chief executive is sworn in.
"No mayor• can do it by himself,"
Flaherty told Caliguiri during a
ceremony in the ornate City Council
chamber. An estimated 300 persons
crowded in to pay homage to Flaherty
and welcome the new mayor to office.
Flaherty, who is best known for
• keeping the city treasury solvent in
times when other cities approach
bankruptcy, told his department heads
and city employees, "If I ever looked
good, you were the ones that did it."
He said the present city 'council was
the "best this city's ever had," thpnked
the city's business and labor leaders,
and finally lauded "the most important
people of all, the people of this city, the
people who couldn't come here today."
Caliguiri, 45, a member of city council
since 1970, said Flaherty "maintained
and enhanced" a history of honesty at
city government:
Flaherty, 52, was born in the city's
ethnic Northside section and attended
college in Pittsburgh.
m
e lan
Photos by Andy Gumberg
Tom Conroy, IFC president, speaks at last night's meeting. Kim Rhodaback,
executive vice-president of IFC, is at left.
Second ship
Seized
BOSTON ( AP) The Coast Guard brought a
Russian fishing trawler into Boston Harbor
yestdrday and controlled a second Russian
vessel at sea as the United States warned that
continued violation of its new 200-mile fishing
limit could hurt relations with the Soviet Union.
The rusty, gray and white trawler Taras
Shevchenko arrived under escort and flying the
American flag at the Coast Guard base
yesterday morning.
It was the first seizure under the law which
took effect March 1, despite numerous reports of
other Soviet violations.
The U.S. attorney's office took possession of
the boat as soon as the'armedCoast Guard cutter
escorted it into the harbor. Lawyers from the
U.S. attorney's office immediately began
checking the ship's catch and records,
Meanwile, the Antanas Snechkus; a
refrigerated transport ship, was ordered to go to
Boston after a Coast Guard inspection team said
Bomber opponents set demonstration
WASHINGTON (UPI) - Opponents of the B 1
bomber said yesterday they will demonstrate on
"tax day" (April 15) in an effort to dissuade
President Carter from going ahead with the new
generation of strategic planes.
The demonstrations, planned for about 100
U.S. cities and including a two-hour candlelight
vigil at the White House, ate being organized by
the American Friends Service Committee, a
Quaker organization, and Clergy and Laity
Concerned,. an interfaith group that grew out of
the religious community's opposition to the
Vietnam war.
"I don't want my tax money spent on the B 1,"
said Terry Provance, national coordinator of the
Friends' protest. "I'd rather have my tax money
spent for services I need than for a • fleet of
bombers I don't need."
Cuba negative towards renewal of pact
WASHINGTON (UPI) Cuba .has "strongly
indicated" it will not renew the U.S.-Cuba anti
hijacking agreement until the United States
completely lifts its 1962 trade embargo, Sen.
George McGovern said yesterday.
"President Castro gave the strongest in
dication that Cuba will not consider agreeing to
an extension until the United States ends its
economic embargo on Cuba," said the South
Dakota Democrat, who met with Castro for over
four hours in Havana Saturday.
The 1973 agreement on handling hijackings
expires Friday.
controlled at sea
trawler held
it found seven species of prohibited fish in the
holds.
Later in the day in Washington, Deputy
Secretary of State Warren Christopher called in
Soviet embassy minister Vladillen Vasev to
complain about recurring Russian Violations of
U.S. fishery regulations within a 200-mile zone
off the New England coast.
The State Department said in a statement that
Christopher expressed the United States' "deep
concern" over the violations and "urged that
extraordinary measures be taken by the Soviets
to ensure that the violations cease so that this
situation will not contribute to a worsening of our
bilateral relatiops.'' ..'„ ,
_. . f _ ,
It was ` the first link by the Carter ad
ministration of the alleged fishing violations and
the general state of relations between the United
States and the Soviet Union.
A U.S. official said President Carter would
meet today with Soviet Ambassador Anatoly
The Air Force—proposing a fleet of 244 of the
advanced bombers to replace the aging 852 s
contends the B 1 is a necessary "strategic
initiative" to redress what it views as a Soviet
drive for strategic superiority by the early 1980 s.
According to the Air Force, the B 1 will take off
faster than the 852, fly faster, carry twice the
nuclear weaponry and feature much more
sophisticated electronic equipment which would
be difficult to jam.
Provance said the planes are not worth the $94
million each they,will cost to build.
"Buying more manned bombers would only
increase the chance of nuclear disaster," he
said. "And even if one accepts the military
arguments, bombers are strategically obsolete
in this age of nuclear missiles."
While in Cuba with a South Dakota basketball
team, McGovern also met with Castro's brother,
Raul, chief of Cuba's armed forces.
McGovern also told a news Conference that a
Cuban basketball team will visit the United
' States in November, and said he brought back a
formal invitation'' by Fidel Castro for a U.S.
professional baseball team to meet a Cuban all
star team "later this'year." ,
McGovern said he returned with the im-
pression the entire process of improving rela
tions between the two countries hinges on the
lifting of the trade embargo by the United States.
IFC
board slates
hearing on hazing
Interfraternity Council President
Tom Conroy announced last 'light
that the IFC board of control will
meet in closed session at 6 tonight in
335 Boucke to hear charges brought
against Omega Psi Phi stemming
from an alleged hazing incident last
month.
Anthony Jones (3rd-community
development),e has filed charges with
IFC against the fraternity: alleging
physical and mental abuse and
requesting compensation for hospital
bills and mental anguish sustained
throughout a March 13 "hell week."
"This is the second time in my
administration that the board of
control has met because of a hazing
incident, and my feeling is that it is
two times too many .: . this is
something we don't need," said
Coriroy.
Fraternity advisor Bob Kaiser said
that a separate investigation through
Ten cents per copy
Tuesday, April 12, 1977 ,
Vol. 77, No. 147 10 pages 'University Park, Pennsylvania
Published by Students of The Pennsylvania State University
in Boston
Dobrynin to discuss U.S,-Soviet relations. The
official said he didn't know whether the fishing
regulations would come up.
By late yesterday, no charges had been filed
against the Russian vessels. Civil charges could
result in confiscation of the ships and their
cargoes. If criminal charges also were filed, the
captains could face fines of up to $50,000 and six
months in jail.
The trawler's 93 crew members, including , f ive
women, Will be confined to the ship while it is in
Boston,
Fifteen. Coast Guardsmen from the cutter
Decisive operated the ship bn the journey after
its seizure on the fishing grounds 130 miles
southeastbf Nantucket Island.
"It was a thrill and honor to be the first Coast
Guard uniCto seize a fishing vessel after the start
of the 200-mile limit," said Cmdr. Alan Smith,
captain of the Decisive..
The demonstrators will remind
is
of his
campaign statement that the B 1 is "an example
of a pl'oposed system which should not be funded
and would be wasteful of taxpayers' dollars."
The President since has modified his position
and Provance believes the breakdown in the
U.S.-Soviet talks on a new SALT agreement may
pressure the administration into going ahead
with production of the 81.
"We need to remind Carter of his campaign
declaration and to encourage him to move faster
on disarmament and arms reductions by start
ing with zero funding for the B 1," Provance
said.
Some of those associated with the antibomber -
campaign say they believe Carter will give the
go-ahead for 150 Bls instead of the - proposed 244.
McGovern said Castro seemed "anxious" to
improve relations, broken off in early 1961, "but
he simply appears ready to take no more steps
until the United States begins to move" on the
trade ban.
Weather
We will see a repeat of yesterday's weather both
today and tomorrow. Bright sunshine will send
the temperature soaring to 86 both days.
Tonight's low under clear skies will be a mild 56.
the University Office of Conduct
Standards would have to be done on
an individual basis and not on the
fraternity as a whole.
Kaiser emphasized that any in
vestigation outside the IFC would
depend on the results of tonight's
hearing.
Although the hazing incident came
at the end of Conroy's administration,
the emphasis last night was on
honoring IFC leaders who had con
tributed in a positive way to the
organization.
Honored for their work on various
committees, social prograrnq and
philanthropic events were: Conroy ;
administrative vice president Phil
Lucas; executive vice president Kim
Rhodaback; incoming president
Steve Dinrio: committee chairmen
Chris McKown. ‘like Brandlnan and
John ,I)lierley; and Gene Riechers,
secretary treasurer.
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