"
n urance reform
LAMS) G - A bill to roll
back auto insurance premiums
ould only eliminate
"luxuries" provi�ed to disabled
cident victims, ccording to
legislative aide.
Jurgen S oppek, legal coun
el to the Senate Commerce
and Technology Committee,
said bill before the commit
tee would not· ubstantiaJ1y
c nge benefits ovided to av
cident victims.
"The amount of coverage
aying i
a
•
al
y
By Derric C. Le
Com ,otUielll
People played it saf� in
order to qualify for a grant
from the Public Benefit Corp.,
t grant-making rm of Bar
den Cablevision, ccording to
PBC Director Janice Friedm n.
Friedman ays next year she
would like to reach out for
more ri - king a origi I
material,
She ays Detroit has too
much t lent for the public ac
ce ch nnel DOt to parkle.
Although Friedman did not
put down the grant recipien ,
be said a lot were too conser
vative.
PBC recently aw rdid 34
grants out of 100 applic nts
totaling $132,000 for Detroit
resi n to produce ielevi ion
progra for the public
ch nnel . The grants ranged
from $2000 to $8000.
Barden Cablevi ion a ar
,the grant s an obligation
from the contract ith the City.
�ny Detroit re ident or re i
dent or ization can pply for
the gran .
hi
s c�st to 'taxpayer, cri
s say
they ould ultimately receive
would reaJly not be .reduced
much. There re Iuxurie in
OUf system that 0 Id be lost,"
Skoppek 'd. He ci cd bome
remodeling, uch s that re
quired for wheelchair acces
sibility as one such luxury.
The bill, proposed by Sen.
Dick Posthumus, R-Alto,
would tie a 25 percent roUbac
in auto insurance premiums to
reforms allowing insurers, to
sell policie ith benefit caps
at S500,OOO. Accident victims
who used up their benefits
would then go on Medicaid,
o
9
Friedman acknowledges that
the money for the grants have
been avail bJe for more than
three years. but this is the first
year the gr nts have been
a arded. Friedman ay sbe
as bired nine months ago to
admini ter PBC. She did not
Imo wby the grants ere not
arded earr r.
Friedman ay t e gran
were dvertised through the
Metro Times, the Micbigan
Chronicle. WDET R dio, and
fliers that were sent to a large
number of community or
ganization through a list
provided by t Detroit Pub Ii
Library.
Despi te tbe large number of
fliers nt out to communi ty or-
ganizatio the amount of
plication wa till minimal.
Fried n 'd every blockclub
in the city received a nier.
Three Communi ty District
Councils taled that they ere
, not a e of any grants avail-
able from PBC. Cork-to n
CDC Director Steve Palmer
ciled a Jack of communication
Sammy Davl , Jr. death
mark end of era
BEVERLY HIllS. CALF, - Last
celt' deatb of entertainment
superstar Sammy Davis, Jr.
mar ed t end of an �ra in
Americ n song and dance.
Davis d used hi talent and
carefree cbarm to entertain mil-
lio ince the age of 8.
He died at hi home in
Beverly Hills. He w 64. His
death d been expected since
March 13 hen he was
released from tbe hospi tal after
I d been done to save him
from throat cancer. Hi ife of
20 years Altovise id upport
d been "overwh Imi g."
Jame Brown too popular
for or release?
Aiken, South Carolina -
South Carolina prison official
'd I t wee they may cancel
in er Jame Bro n' ork
release program because of a
mad media scramble for imer-
ith the ramo enter-
on
n ha ,served IS
of a six year sentence
ult char
Medicare or Social Security.
Gaylord Walker, executive
director for the Michigan Head
injury Alliauce (MlDA), said
people who suffer traumatic
brain injurie through traffic
accident would run through
those benefi before receiving
all the care they need.
"The e people essentially
then become wards of the
state," Walker said.
Fifty percent of all
traumatic brain mjuries are the
result of auto accidents. The
e timated lifetime co I for
rehabilitation Can exceed $4
o
an
., 17-J
1
million per person.
Donald Stanton, di tor of
MiChigan State Unive sity's
Rehabilitation Me icine
Clinic, said rehabilitatio is so
expensive because it is a labor
intensive process. He id the
therapy also did not foil w the
same course for every patient.
"Everybody i an in-
dividual," Stanton said.
Michigan's no-fa It ia
surance law currently requires
drivers to carry unlimited
medical coverage. Medicaid,
Medicare and Social Security
require recipients to exhaust
all other resources before
qualifying for benefits.
Walker said the bill will
mean more in taxes than it will
in save in auto in urance
MICHIGAN CmZEN P 3'
premiums.
"It's going to end up cost
ing the public more in taxe
just to warehouse these people
and give them DO ervices than -
it is to e care of them the
, way they are b�ng ta en care
_ of now," Wal er said.
Coverage for c la trophic
injury i currently $66 of an
aulO insurance premium
Walker said the people.
tile �pcion to
capo fi dbe
people bo need tbe coverage
tbe most: young people. Ac
cording to the National Head
Injury Foundation young men
between the age of 15 and 24
have the highest rate of
traumatic brain injury.
SU Afrcana
Studl
In ructor
nam d Black'
Educ or of
the ear
Gerald Smit an instructor
in the Department of Africana
Studies Wayne State Univer
sity, named Black Educator
of 1990 by the U.S. Peace Corp.
He w one of three selected to
receive the award.
'The wards re presented
annually to ho or ou anding
black college educators who
promote academic excellence,
teach intercultural nd inter-ra
cial understanding and en
cour ge ethnic pride while
Serving a ro e model to their
studen .
Nominee for the ward
must teach at a college or
univer ity in Michigan or Ohio
and are selected by the
Michigan/Ohio Peace Corp
Recruiting Office in Detroit.
Smith, 0 came to Wayne
S e in 1980,· also manager of
community development at
W1VS- TV 56 in Detroit. He u
pervised the outre ch effort
"CI oom Partners," aimed
addressing the problem of high
001 dropouts; managed the
WTVS- TV 56/wXYZ- TV 7
"Learn to Read- project,
de igned to comb t the il
literacy problem; and coor
dinated a major outreach
related lot he 1986 PBS series
"T Afri -
Ase
served guest lecturer at the
airobi Internation School in
Nairobi, Kenya. H h also
been a pe ker a several
ops on African . tory,
and served h t/producer
of a Weekly radio talk ow on
Detroit' WOTR PM chairs
the Friends of Art a the Detroit
Institute of Am.
A graduate 0 tbl': University
of Detroit, Smith h been af
filiated with the Detroit
Economic Gro h Corpora
tion, Eastern Market Develop
ment Corporation, Millender
Center and Seven MiJe-Liver
DO· projects and Ne Detroit.
on both side . He aid if the
CDCs are interested, tbey have
to go out and find it.
In order for applicants to
receive a grant, they bad to go
through a "treatment," accord
ing to Friedm n. Thi proce
required applicants to submit a
di cription of their poropo ed
sbo from It to fini h, to a
lof i 'pro(i i
The judge were from print,
dio, and television medias.
Friedm n aid there were
over 30 judges. Some were
from the Octroi t Free Press, the
Detroit News, television sta
tions in the Detroit re like
cbannel 7 WXYZ, channel 4
WDlV, channel 50 WKBD,
and channel 56 WTVS, accord
ing to Friedman. She said the
applicant went through very
intense scrutiny, wit)l even her
favorite proposal 10 ing out.
Friedman says tbe proposals
ere very long on talk bows
with very little comedy or
drama. She say a lot of dif
ferent need are being met by
the proposal . Sbe cited tbat a
lot of proposals dealt with the ,
drug problem, inner city youth,
������������������������ ,and tbe city' economic
problems.
She said quite a fe of them
were funded. She identified
one program, " Asnansi the '
Spider!Tbe Cry tal Green Rain
Forest, " an attempt to rein
force po Hive self ima e ,
respect for one elders, and the
benefits of traditional values
through a traditional African
folk tale.
Another program, "Adven
tures of the Crack Auac
Pact," focu e on the drug
problem, while a program
called, "KDo ledge Make a
Difference," focuse on AIDS
in tbe African American Com
munity. Friedman ys a lot of
the programs are misleading
beca e of tbe ay they are
titled, -but tbat a lot of tbem
really do foc on societal
ptO