NEWS
BRIEFS
Panel weeds
out test bias
A group of ed IS is calling
for an independent paoel e ure
nati nal student tests are free of
xual rcDal, and cultural bias.
Responding to the ix mtional
I eduation goals educa IS are d
velopin nati nwid tandards and
tests to enforce proficiency for
every student in mati\'e and
English.
But a growing mass of h
enforces the id that tudent per-
formancecan d p of un-
in rded bi in tbc wordin t
q tiers,
The educators aJ 0 recom­
mended grea r invol ment by
people 0' color in the d ign 0 the
new 18.
I -Th t orout­
id co ulting firms fort De-
troit publi 0001 tcm
risen 2,000 pe nt ince th
mid-I totalling almost 6
million for I t Y ,accordin
to a recent article in TIre Detroit
Free Press.
The bill, which includ ar­
chitectual ervi, train­
ing, and public relatio advice,
hit cl e to th 29 million mar
ince 1 5. Th di trict, for ex­
ample paid more than $4OO,<XXl
to an outside labor attorney even
though it has its own even­
member labor affai rs depart­
ment.
The three larg t bills i n­
elude IBM� $14,531,785, for
ire-based management and em­
powerment project implementa­
tion; A be to Mgmt. Inc.,
$3,237 875, for bestos testing
and monitoring; and Larry
Wilker on and As ociate,
$1,519,853, for management
advisory ervices for joint ven­
tures and individual contracts.
"This is a mi pending of
taxpayers' money right after we
gave them a millage," ays vet­
eran community a tivi t Helen
Moore. "We want an inv tiga-
tion." q
·KI n call 1923
Black town
..
RO EWO 0, F. Klan
doub over the 1923 m acre
of a Black Florida town may
uphold legislation to build a
monument near the only stand­
ing evidence Of 'the deceased
town, a house owned by Ro -
wood's only white inhabitant.
Cynthia Ch tnut, a Demo­
crat from Oaine ville, aid
money is tight enough in this
year' state budget without pay­
ing out a claims bill that hasn't
been proven. But Ruth Davis,
one of the survivors of the Ro
wood massa re, has response
for ap doubters.
. "Where' th town now?
Where' my aunt and my cous­
ins and my neighbors? 1 know
what I know, and I know what I
saw."
Davi was 7 years old th day
a group of white men rode into
Ro ewood, drawn by rumors
that a Black man from Ro -
wood had aulted a white
woman in nearby Sumner. The
men insist Davis and her cousin
Minnie Lee Langley, were
Klansmen despite the fact that
they didn't wear robes, and did
bum the town and most of its
350 citizens except forthe house
that now remain tanding,
which w the haven for many
of the urvivors.
Compensation f r th urvi­
vo of th m acre i ing
witheld by th Klan beginning
own inv ti ation of th m -
reo
I
By JENNIFER FINER
par .
"OUR T TE P need a long- rm
table ource of funding and we are uggest­
ing removing the soft drink e ception on state
al tax," he said. "Co e the loophole and
that will t e care of tate parks."
Under Michigan' Co titution, ales
taxes are not collected on prescription drugs
or food i�luding soft dri unl prepared
or intended for immediate consumption.
But the Michigan Soft Drinks Association
finds this proposal hard to wallow.
Bill Lobenherz, president of the group,
said it is both concerned and wpri ed about
the propo al to tax soft drinks.
"The major reason I don't think a soft
drink tax will be supported is because it i
unconstitutional to levy a sales tax onfood,"
he said. "Soft drinks have always been con­
sidered a food since they contain three of the
seven nutrients used to define a food."
LA Michigan's p are in
trouble due to a lack of funds and at least one
organization in Lansing is looking to soft
drinks for th right fi cal carbonation.
The Michigan Uni ted Conservation Club
(MUcq has proposed levying a al tax on
soft drinks to upport tate parks, according
to Rick Jameson, assistant executive director
ofMUCC.
"Funding for tate parks has been cut
pretty severely and we are in desperate need
of some long-term funding, or we are facing
clo ing or privatizing state parks," Jameson
said.
MUCC is a non-profit conservation or­
ganization and is dedicated to the "wise use
of our natural resources."
According to Jameson, general fund up­
port for the parks has decreased from 80
percent to 20 percent over the past decade,
causing parks to signlficarnly reduce their
staff to about two full-time employees per
LOBENHERZ ALSO said the associa­
tion, which represen the manufacturers of
.
and will upport
"We also consider it unfair t th bever-
age industry a �ial burden of recy-
cllng," he ·d. "To put another on
would be unfair."
Under the Michigan D po it Law, t
sociation i respo ible for operating a tate­
wide recycling program which co ts the
industry about S40 mil lion a year. Tho e co ts
can be off et by elling th c metal from
recycled and in unclaimed bottle depos-
its, Lobenherz maintained. .
A epara plan known V' ion 2020
calls fora one-year, 1 centincreaseln th tate
al tax to restore the p y tem. Jameson
said MUCC fully upports that plan, which
was introduced by the Citizens Commit
for Michigan State Parks.
Hank Zurbur, Department of Natural Re­
sources' acting chief of state par , aid vari­
ous group have been looking for way to
genera funds for state parks.
GO .JO
options for fuIXling
vor of inc ing
Maura Campbell.
"The governor i very upportive 0
Michigan tate p and i looking for the
best way to genera funds for those p ,"
he d.
"He does not think ow is the time to
i e tax and we qu tion if it would be
co titutional. We have already been a high
tate and we are committed to lowering,
instead of raising tax ."
Other options are till being explored by
MUCC, aid Li Allen, editor of MUCC's
Tuebor Tenad.
'It' not an either or choice bere, there are
going to be other optio ,. said Allen.
Insurance bill clears House
-no -fault bill n
By ALLISON JONES
Michl an Cltlz.n
lANSING, MI B. - While Re­
publicans clapped and cheered as an
auto' insurance reform bill cleared
the House by a 65,-43 vote following
an unusually long 9I/2-hour e ion
March 9, Democrats representing
urban motorists were not pleased at
all.
The legislation, which picked up
the support of 10 Democrats to win
approval, would reduce rat s based
on saving to insurance companies
. in legal and medical costs. The bill
pI es a cap on medical benefits that
are currently unlimited under the no­
fault insurance law, pia health
care providers on a fee chedul and
makes it harderfor victims to sue for
hefty damages.
The extra "color-tax" nowl'aid
by inner city residents acros the
� tate remains untouch d.
Under the bi 11, rates would be
returned to where they were at OV.
1, 1992, redu ed 16 percent fr m
that point and frozen there for six
months. But consum rs could also
be charged for coverage that i cur­
rently guaranteed in the state's no­
fault insurance law.
"The insuran e industry owns the
state House of Representatives,
based on legi lato 'action t day,"
said Richard Stoddard president of
the Michigan Citizens Lobby.
"There is a clear majority of this
chamber that' willing to roll over
for insurance companies."
Stoddard threaten d to tart a pe­
tition drive to overturn the measures
if approved by the Senate and signed
into law by Gov. Engler.
"W' TIL requiring that
auto insurance be carried," aid Rep.
Frank Fitzgerald, R-Grand Ledge.
"We've not backed away from that
... We're just aying that in aut in-
urance li e oth r I in of in uran e
that you carry you're in to have
somechoi "
B kers ay having tho option
would m e b ic coverag afford­
able to more p opl . Curr ntly,
about 1 million drive are figured to
be in violation of th ta ' manda­
tory auto insurance law for n t car-
·L
rying liability coverage.
No-fault reforms have proved to
be, thus far, an intractable and politi­
cally charged issue. Republicans, in­
cluding Gov. John Engler, have
tended to fall behind insurance com­
panies, arguing that insurers are not
so wealthy they can roll back rates
wi thout wi thout driving many out of
the auto insurance business.
Mos t Democrats have sided wi th
trial attorneys, saying reforms that
limiting medical benefits and the
right to sue only hurts h victims of
car accidents.
According to Rep. CharlieJ. Har­
rison (D-Pontiac) reforms limiting
medical benefits could lead to bank­
ruptcy for families who suffer a cata­
strophic auto accident injury.
"Persons involved in serious ac­
cidents leading to long term medical
care end up wi th bills into the mil­
lions of dollars," HaITi on said. "But
we couldn't convince those who
adamantly wanted to protect the in­
surance companies over the citizens
of our state.
Harrison also said, the bill gives
insurance companies an inordinate
say as to the type of medical treat­
ment an injured victim would re­
ceive, ins of relying solely on
the patients' doctor.
Rep. Bill Martin, R-Battle Creek,
one of the architects of the bill
Ieshcd outat critics who complained
victims were being deprived of
money to pay for their care and
many chan to go to court to re-­
cover damages for their injuries.
"There' n one on thi floor
willing to tand up for the guy who
is making $5 an hour who can't af­
ford to buy insurance," he com­
plained. Hi anger was, perhap ,
misplaced in e th bill'cleared the
House ub tantially intact to the an:
noyance of som consum r groups
and trial attorn y who would
their busin hurt by limi on dam-
ages.
th ve
protections away for consumers that
we enacted w hen we P. ed th no­
fault y tern," aid Rep. elson
Saunde , D-Detroit, on of the
harsh t cri ti of the bill and the
legislator who initiated the reform
movement over two years ago.
Rep. ary Brown, D-Kalama-
zoo, Democratic Co-Chairwoman
of the House Insurance Commi nee,
predicted a law based on the bill
would face challenges in court and
on an electiori ballot for restricting
access to coverage by consumers
am raising rates in urban areas .
"1 think this issue i going to be
decided by referendum and law­
suits," she said.
The . legislation, which already
has Engler's ba king, is expected to
be taken up next wee by the Senate,
where it willll.keJy be approved by
the Republican majority. In past
years, a Democratic majority in the
House has stymied the GOP version
of insurance reforms.
Opponents said th legislation
leaves consumers wide open to th
whimsy' 0 the insurance industry,
which would 100 en controls on .
what insurers could charge on op­
tional coverage.
Saunders was most upset with the
Republican rejection of his attempts
to prevent insurers from discrimina­
tion against urban drivel'S. The bilJ
as approved by the House, allow
insurance companies to arbittarily
group drivers into territories of
60,000 registered cars or more.
"But it's been statistically proven
that insurance companies always
discriminate along racial lin when
developing those territories," Saun­
ders aid.
Rev. Wendell Anthony, presi­
dent; Detroit Chapter NAACP bas
called for the defeat of the bill in th
senate aying that under the bill, De­
troi t would be divided into 10 terri­
tories, which would allow
significant rate iDCreas�
"Our investigations have shown
that by definition, zones are often
inherently biesed and only erve to
reinforce levels of discrimination
that the NAACP has sought to elimi­
nate via civil action, mediation and
other Jev I of redress," Anthony .
aid.
According to the NAACP, while .
the propo ed legislation does re- .
quire there be an insurance agent in .
each territory, it does not guarantee
acces to insurance coverage. Under .
the proposed legislation, insurers .
can simply inflate ra so that appli­
cants can not afford to purchase the
coverage being offered by the insur­
ance companies.
D mocra are still expected to
put up a fight over the effective date .
of the legislation. With the 55-55 '
partisan split in the House, Demo­
cra can deny the GOP the 74 votes
-- two thirds of the chamber -
needed to immediately enact the bill.
That would delay i ts implementa­
tion for over a year, until April 1,
1994.
Capital punishment in the U.S. '
.smce the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
there have been 182 executions in the United States. but more than
2,500 inmates await their fate on death row across the country.
Capital punishment laws
36 states have capital punishment Nationally, the population of
laws. Those that do not are: death row is 2,636. Here are the'
Alaska Minnesota top 10 death row populations by
Hawaii New York _ �tate, as of Nov. 5: (
Iowa North Dakota I I Po I 110
Kansas Rhode Island 1. Texa 363
Maine Vermont
Mass. West Virginia 2. California 341
Michigan Wisconsin 3. Florida 319
States with death penalty 4. IIlInol 144
States without 5. Penn ylvanl 143
6. Oklahoma 120
7. Ohio 120
114
110
104
a.Alabama
9. Georgia
1Q.Tenne see
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