Cable Tv Panel Forming

Sixteen persons were suggested for membership on the citizens' advisory committee on public access for cable televisión at a meeting of the city's Cablecasting Commission Wednesday night. A chairmah is scheduled to be selected at the committee's first meeting Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m. in City Hall. The sixteen persons all have expressed at least a tentative interest in serving on the citizens' committee, said Magda Guennewig, the commission's executive secretary and acting chairwoman of the committee. The members are: Sonny [Cohén, 627 S. División; Michael Castleman, 437 S. Ashley, a worker with the Free People's Clinic; Lois Owens, 13345 Williamsburg, director of Trotter House, the blaéfc student cultural center; Martha Metha, 2840 Carlton; William Pitula, who is associated with the Media Access Center; Leni Sinclair, who is associated with the Rainbow MultiMedia; Also Penny Sahara of the Instituté of Gerontology; Steve Feigenbaum and James Locker, who are involved in video equipment production and Consulting work; Alice Robertson, a Pioneer High student; Joetta Mial, a teacher at Pioneer; Cecil Lockard, a photographer with The Ann Arbor News; Joseph Misiewicz, chairman of the Broadcasting Department at Eastern Michigan University; Others are Henry Aldridge, who teaches broadcasting and film at EMU; Maria Tenorio, 13Ö8 Traver, vvho has a degree in early childhood education and is interèsted in developing the potential of the educational channel; Marlin Ristenbatt, a member of the University of Michigan Committee on Cable Communication. Others persons who are interested are welcome to come to the meeting of the committee on Nov. 14, Commission Chairman William Shepherd said. Membership is open, hesaid. No set of rules and guidelines have been drawn up but the committee will be responsible to the commission, Shepherd said. The committee will be the, major facilitator of public access use through production, design and promotion, Shepherd said. On another aspect of the public access channels, a company representative, Martha Wade, said there had been in the last month 15 hours and 20 minutes of tapes, 60 minutes repeated, 19 applications and 21 tapes played. The situation is a little bit healthier this time, she said. The figures included the tapes played during preview week in October. "We met the goal of exploring the environment of the public access channel. People are watching, the company's public access director said, as she noted that there were 174 phone calis on the feedback phone line. The company says it now has 6,523 subscribers. Cable Commissioner Jay Barr said he wanted to commend Wade and the company for an excellent job. On another public access matter, Rolland Billings of the Ann Arbor School System explained that it had obtained a $75,000 grant for a total color system for the school district. He said it may be one of the first grants in the nation. Every classroom will be wired, Billings told the commission Wednesday night. Every school will have a video casette playback machine and a TV color monitor and there will be a central color studio, hesaid. Commissioners passed a resolution asking City Council to amend an ordinance to allow limited above ground cable stringing in the downtown area for public facilities, pending completion of underground work not expected to be done by the cable company I until the summer of 1974. The request was made by Michael Castleman of the Free People's Clinic. The exceptions would include such places as the Free People's Clinic, City Hall, the public library and theYM-YWCA.