Etcetera

etcetera

AGENDA is interested in receiving items from you for etcetera. Press clippings, press releases, summaries of local events and any other ideas or suggestions are welcome. Just mail them to: Etcetera Editor, AGENDA, 220 S. Main St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104.

AGENDA Welcomes New Family Member

Due to the birth of Ryan Patrick Shea on Nov. 16, neither AGENDA Editor Phillis Engelbert nor Music Editor Bill Shea had time to write articles this month. To make up for this, young Ryan plans to be writing muckraking news and features as a junior journalist sometime in the near future. Congratulations Phillis and Bill!

Tenants Union Needs Funds

For 25 years the Ann Arbor Tenants Union (AATU) has counselled renters on everything from signing leases to preventing eviction, organized tenant and neighborhood associations, monitored housing code enforcement, published educational materials, and attended to legislative issues. Now the AATU needs our help. The U-M student government has traditionally provided 60% of AATU's funding. That support has been withdrawn in the short-term. While a long-term plan is being determined (based on an affirmative Nov. student referendum to fund the AATU) several thousand dollars are needed quickly if the AATU is to stay intact through the year's end. Send contributions to Ann Arbor Tenants Union, 4304 Michigan Union, Ann Arbor, Ml 48109.

WIMBY Replacing NIMBY

"Welcome in My Backyard" is the name of a campaign initiated by the Fair Housing Center of Washtenaw County and the Washtenaw County Committees of Correspondence, in response to local attacks on civil rights. In mid-October vandals painted a swastika and ignited two homemade incendiary devices on the front and back porches of the home of an interracial couple on Cloverdale in Ann Arbor. Vandals had twice previously bumed a swastika into the lawn of that home, using chemicals.

Members of the WIMBY campaign are working with the victims and their supporters in encouraging area residents to place WIMBY signs, bearing the Fair Housing logo, in their windows. They are also asking people to sign the anti-discriminatory WIMBY pledge.

Ann Arbor citizens and organizations are invited to become a part of the WIMBY Campaign. To join in the canvassing effort or to receive copies of the WIMBY sign and pledge, cali the Fair Housing Center at 994-3426. For additional information, contact the Washtenaw County Committees of Correspondence, P.O. Box 4430, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106,741-1951.

Ozone House Calendare for Sale

The 1995 Youth Art Calendars are now available for $7 in local stores. Proceeds from the sale of the calendars will go to support Ozone House.

The calendar is a compilation of artwork by local students from Community, Chelsea, Father Gabriel Richard, and Adrian high schools. The art selections were chosen from over 98 entries submitted last spring.

Ozone House, a crisis intervention center for runaway and homeless youth, is located at 608 N. Main St., Ann Arbor. For more information, call 662-2222.

Thanks to O. J.?

If there is one positive element to be found in all the media hype around the O.J. Simpson case, it is the increased focus on domestic violence and the frequency with which it occurs. Current estimates on the rate of violent domestic assaults on women stand at 572,000 a year. According to 1991 figures from the F.B.I., 71 % of people murdered by their spouses are women.

Spousal battering is a pervasive sickness in society that must be cured. If you know of a victim of domestic violence or are one yourself, there are places you can go to for help. For information call SAFE House, the shelter for victims of domestic violence, at 995-5444; or the Assault Crisis Center, a rape crisis and counseling program, at 483-RAPE.

Lawn Season Officially Over

Hurrah! You can retire the lawn mower for the season and not feel guilty about it. Ann Arbor's weekly curbside yard waste collection program is ending on Dec. 2. Collection will resume in April 1995.

If you're still compelled to mow, you can manage your own yard wastes by letting grass clippings self-mulch on the lawn or by setting up a compost area. For a compost demonstration, visit the Leslie Science Center at 1831 Traver Rd. There you can obtain a "How-To Compost" brochure (also available at the City Hall information desk.) Residents also have the option of taking "compostables" to the City's Compost Center, 4120 Platt Road off Ellsworth. Cali 994-2723 in advance for hours and items accepted.

*INSET*

AGENDA

Editors - Ted Sylvester, Phillis Engelbert, Laurie Wechter

Associate Editor - Eric Jackson

Music Editor - William Shea

Arts Editor - Orin Buck

Editorial Assistants - Daniell Belkin, William Harmer

Distribution - Christopher Ames, Kimberly Armstrong

Thanks - Williams & Williams

Agenda is an independent, nonaligned newsmonthly published by Agenda Publication, 220 S. Main St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104, 313/996-8018, ISSN 1047-0727. Vol 9, No.8, DECEMBER 1994, Copyright Agenda Publications. Subscriptions:$15/year U.S., $30/year international.

20,000 free copies of AGENDA are distributed at the beginning of every month from over 300 locations in the Ann Arbor Metro Area. 

TO ADVERTISE - CALL 996-8018