The truly
Capiuu News �rvice
L using - People are
screaming·to be heard by their
government in countries ere
nobody is listen ing. In the
United S tes, citizens do have
say in government, yet many
ch not to peak.
Only 53 percent of eligible
u.s. voters actually voted in the
1984 general election. Even
fewer are expected to vote Nov.
8.
. chigan figures are slightly
higher th n the national
. average.
Tho e st ti tics dramatize
that our so-called demoaatic
government represents only
about half of the people. .
the 10 e t ragure of ny in­
dustrial nation.
POO 00 'T VOTE
Moreover, the poorest
population makes up the
jar' of the non-voting sec­
tor.
"There i defmitely a correla-
tio be n the educated
nd the poor: Susan Whit-
te e. PI' • dent of the Detro'
Gri
CtlpilDl News Service
LA SI G - The Michigan
Lottery paid out a record
mount of money to lucky
players this year, in fact e
m ey to . ers than to the
sc I' fund it des' d
to elp upporl
Lottery Commi sioner
Michael J. Carr said that on
1es of more than $12 billio
Lottery contr ted $485.6
millio to the school . fund
. e giving a record $58S miI­
to . ing ticketholde
Ho Minority Leader Paul
Hillegoads, R-Holland, aid
that a resul of the 19.3oper­
centj crease in the lottery's
oontr ti to the . d cbge,
legi lator pared the tate's
general fund additio to the
school aid fund down from $618
million to $503 million.
"We aree contributing to (�
I finance prob m) by COD­
tinually chipping y at the
education portion of the
budget,· HiDes .
He'd SOQIl Ia-
r learned of record sales
in the lottery and an . creased
ov.
CO'
il nt majority
ch pter of the League of
Women Vote id, "It is tb
group that is less inclined to vote
and therefore have less repre­
sentation in govemmeat,"
Whittemore aid that
ho holds with iacomes of less
that $18,(XX) tend to think their
voice will not inake a difference
and that their live will not
change ch y.
amount of sales tax revenue,
they cut the edUca . budget
and moved the money to other
departments such as correc­
tions.
The Lottery es up nearly
18 percent of the . d package.
The b lance is made up of
scales, cigarette, beer and wine
excise taxes and busin and
commercial lUeS. In dditi
the federal government con­
tributes to the fund - $540 mil­
lio accordiDg to Department
of Management and Budget e -
timates. .
By far the bigest contr tor
to school finance is loc I
property taxed, totaling more
than S4 billion each year.
By cutting the state's COD­
tribution to the cbOOl aid fund,
leplators have put more bur- .
den on the local governments
and property owners 0 al­
ready foot 60 percent of the
school fmancing budget.
"There are those 0 uld
argue that if the Lottery no
longer existed, that money
d simply be pulled out of
the state's general fund to sup.
port schools: Carr said "That
I just t them to kno that
tbinp won't change unless they
make them change," Whit­
temoresaid
Students age 18-24, who lso
comprise large percentage of
non-voters, tend to have this
same attitude, Whittemore id,
A political science professor
emertus at the University of
Michigan agrees with Whit­
temore.
may be true, bulo.the general
fund is made up primarily of tax
revenues.
Carr said that to maintain the
same level of support for educa­
tion ithout a lottery would cost
the average taxpayer an addi-
t
tional $140 e ch year. Since
Lottery began in 1973, in­
dividual taxpayers have s ved
more than $1,<XXl in taxes.
Since its revenues began to
be earmar ed solely for K-12
education in 1981, the Lottery
contributed $3.4 billion to
the school aid fund, Carr id,
Partly because of rollovers
that incre ed the amount of
payoffs and the n mber of .
player, d amass' effort to
11
OT EAPO S
s learn 0
difference
ORBS
Studen
talk, out
chose to go to a Conflict Resolu­
tion Room.
There they can:
- Talk over the reaso for
their argument
- Understand each other.
- Resolve the conflict.
The Conflict Re elution
Program was developed by th
Center for Peace and Conflict
tude S of Wayne State UniYer-
ity.
arilyn Schmidt, Director of
Trai ing fo the center, note
despite the lectures both boys
associate fighting with "being
man", consider it cowardly and
"sis ish • to "back a ay from a
ftght·, and can't think of any
other way to deal with the
problem.
The result: when the ki
co bac they get into even
worSe fights than ever.
However, at Mc Kenzie High
School, students ho are caugh
fighting have a chance to try
something e . U they want to
in t ad of going to the
pri cipal' office, they ca
DETROIT -Rick and Kevin
are fistfighting on the
playground, b hing each other
with all their might, while their
classmates cheer them on.
A teacher breaks them up
and sends them to the
principal's office. The principal
o sternly ledW'es them that fight­
ing is "bad" and suspends them
for three days.
But, the cause of their quar­
rel is DO settled and Rick and
Kevin hate each other more
than evet. Furthermore,
d
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