The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 30, 1988 - Page 3

High
tech.
for the
blind
BY ELIZABETH ROBBOY
For Chris Bartlett, a blind student
at the University, it took two long
years, a Braille textbook, and a pri-
vate tutor to learn how to type and
use a computer.
"Have you ever tried to turn off
the screen and learn how to type?"
Bartlett asks. That is what it was
like.
The problem is not that the blind
and vision-impaired cannot use
computers, but that they cannot type
on a keyboard designed for seeing
persons.
Students who can't read the
screen frequently get lost and can
accidentally push buttons that delete
the screen. And though a talking
computer exists, most blind and
vision-impaired users cannot
understand the computer synthesized
voice.
A year ago, the Computer Access
for Vision and Employment Pro-
gram (CAVE), founded by Hodge
Doss, received a grant from the State
Department of Labor to research and
develop computer programs for the
blind and visually impaired.
Yesterday, CAVE presented two
new programs, Typing Tutor and
SYNREC, to the governor's office,
local, and federal officials during a
news conference in Ann Arbor.
Typing Tutor is an interactive tu-
toring program that teaches the blind
and vision-impaired to type on a
standard keyboard. This is done
through verbal feedback and a pro-
gram that beeps when the user
makes a mistake.
SYNREC is designed to accli-
mate blind and visually impaired
users to the computer synthesized
voice, which according to Bartlett,
"sounds like gibberish".
Typing Tutor and SYNREC,
which can be learned quickly and
independently, allow the visually
impaired to compete in the work
force on equal terms, he said.

Nazi
protest
hearing
ends

A

ROBIN LOZNAI%/Daily
University graduate Gary Venable makes a jewlery box at the Student Woodshop in the Student Activities Building yesterday.
Chop, crop at woodshop

BY DIANE COOK
Hidden at the rear of the Student
Activities Building is the "best kept
secret in Ann Arbor," according to
Debra Moore, a University alumnus.
She's talking about the Student
Woodshop, where she helps visitors
learn the craft of woodworking.
"People have done all sorts of
things like clocks, guitars, shelves,
and boxes," said Fred Wiman, who
has directed the shop for nearly three
years.
But don't be intimidated if a mu-
sical instrument seems too compli-
cated. The Student Woodshop can
accommodate all levels of wood-
working ability.
"This is a great place for some-
one to come and learn," said Sandra

i
1
i
1

'I think woodworking could fulfill a lot of creative ties, newcomers are required to
areas for a person... It's a very exciting, challenging complete four hours of shop equip-
medium.' ment safety and orientation. The
medium.' training is free and is split into two
-Gary Venable, assistant woodshop supervisor.sessions on a walk-in basis.
Beginning woodworking classes
Bobraff, a University alumnus who Gary Venable, assistant shop su- are also offered for anyone inter-
is now learning to make furniture. pervisor, noticed the shop five years ested in learning the basic tools,
"There are fine woodworkers here... ago as a pre-med student. He stayed machinery, properties of wood, as-
I couldn't even hammer a nail into affiliated with the shop, he said, sembly, and finishing. The classes,
wood when I started." when he "realized he liked being which run for six weeks on Sundays,
The Student Woodshop, which here more than in class." cost $25 for students, $35 for staff,
receives funding from the Michigan "I think woodworking could ful- and $45 for alumni. Those who
Union and fees from shop users, was fill a lot of creative areas for a per- don't take the class pay nominal fees
started nine years ago to provide a son - the element of designing and for shop use.
recreational outlet for students, but building with the hands, the element The shop also offers training in
staff and alumni can also use the fa- of working with a natural material. specific areas of woodworking, such
cilities. The shop features a wide It's a very exciting, challenging as making boxes and kaleidoscopes,
range of machines, hand tools, and medium," Venable said. through workshops and guest lec-
storaze snace. To take advantage of the facili- tures.

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Two speakers discuss
Palestinian uprising

BY DAVID SCHWARTZ
A University student pleaded no
contest yesterday to a charge of dis-
turbing the peace that stemmed from'
his activity during an anti-Nazi
demonstration last March.
LSA junior Rashid Taher said he
decided to enter the plea because a
jury trial would be too expensive. "If
I dragged it out, it would have been
too costly for me," he said.
A plea of no contest carries the
same penalties as a guilty verdict,
but entitles the defendant to
maintain innocence. Despite is
plea, Taher continued his claim that
he was not guilty of any crime.
Nonetheless, he will be sentenced
Oct. 21 by 15th District Court Jud'g'
George Alexander.
Taher said it was unlikely ,he
would have won a jury trial because
the Ann Arbor police had five witV
nesses against him, and he had only
one other person defending him.
"I have only one witness saying f
wasn't throwing rocks, and the cops
have five saying I was," he sai4.
Taher maintains that he threw no;.
rocks.N
Upon -entering the no contst
plea, Washtenaw County Assistant
Prosecuting Attorney Kirk Tabbpy
dropped an additional charge of as-
sault and battery against Taher, as %;
arranged in a pre-trial agreement.
Both disturbing the peace and
assault and battery are
misdemeanors.
On March 19, a group of 38,
Nazis held a demonstration in front 
of the Ann Arbor Federal Buildinkg.
About 200 anti-Nazi protesters held
a counter-demonstration. 0,
The Ann Arbor police department
arrested several protesters after an
outbreak of violence and rock-
throwing. One Nazi demonstrator hit
a protester with a club, but the Nazi
was not arrested because the police
determined he had acted in self-de-
fense.
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present
BY MARK WEISBROT cuts of
The room was quiet while Joyce Amon
Ajlouny described her encounter young
with Israeli soldiers in a remote area had wit
of the West Bank three years ago. raeli so
After a search and interrogation, her and
she said, the soldiers announced they
were going to kill both her and her
friend. The gun was pressed against
her back, and she heard the click as it
was cocked. Suddenly her friend
yelled that they were American citi-
zens. Two more soldiers appeared,
and after some discussion, the sol-
diers released them.
Her story was part of a program,
"The Palestinian Uprising: Personal
and Ethical Reflections," presented
to about 40 people at the Friends
Meeting House last night.
Ajlouny had sworn she would
never return to her home in the
occupied West Bank, she said, but x
now she teaches at the Friends
school in Ramallah. Her encounter
that night with the Israeli soldiers
was exactly the reason that she had
to return, she said.
Born in 1965, Ajlouny has spent
most of her life under Israeli military
occupation. As a Palestinian, she ...s
said, she got used to the searches,
harassment, and restrictions on free-
dom while she was growing up - l
for example, it is illegal to teach
Palestinian history.
Ajlouny noted that the uprising has f l
brought together Palestinians -of
varying political beliefs, as well as PO
Christians and Muslims, to fight side yester
by side in the West Bank. But in destroy
Gaza, where one Islamic fundamen- a 4-yea
talist group (Hamas) is quite strong, mother
people are not as united as they are dog.
in the West Bank, she said. "Do
Elias Baumgarten, a philosophy make
professor at UM-Dearborn and 50th D
member of New Jewish Agenda, also McDon
addressed the group. Baumgarten, Her
who just returned from a study tour stitche
of Israel and the occupied territories, wound

ted slides along with taped
interviews.
ng the slides was a picture of a
woman whom Baumgarten
tnessed being arrested by Is-
ildiers. The soldiers grabbed
maced her, he said, and then

briefly detained a man who had
driven the woman to the hospital.
Baumgarten depicted a grim reality
of families with sons being held un-
der administrative detention or shot
during demonstrations. But he alsc
presented a picture of hope for the
future. The mainstream of the P.L.O
is moving toward a two-state solu-
tion, he said, although they haven'
officially endorsed it.
And the people, he said, identify
with the P.L.O. "Not to recognize the
P.L.O. is clearly not to recognize the
group that Palestinians see as theii
representatives," he said.
Baumgarten said he was struck by
the distinctive Palestinian identity
that he found among the residents of
the West Bank. He was also im-
pressed that the people were so
strongly influenced by the
democratic ideals of the West, and
even the "democratic rhetoric, if not
the reality" of Israel.
He noted, however, that he was not
in contact with the Islamic funda-
mentalist sectors of the population.

Share the
news,

'U

Ajiouny
speaks about uprising.

Religious
Services
A VAVAVA VA
American Baptist Campus Center
First Baptist Church
Huron St. (between State and Division)
Across from Campus
Sunday:
9:55 Whorship Service
11:15 Church School Classes for all ages
Wednesdays:
5:30 (beginning September 14)
Supper (free) and fellowship
and Bible Study
A get acquainted supper will be held
Sunday, September 18, at 5:30.
'lease join us.
Center open each day
For information call
663-9376
Robert B. Wallace, pastor
CAMPUS CHAPEL
(one block south of CCRB
off Washtenaw)
WORSHIP: Sunday at loam-Service for
World Wide Communion Sunday
at 6 pm - Evening Worship
Everyone Welcome!
CANTERBURY HOUSE
Sunday Schedule
Holy Eucharist - 5:00 p.m.
Supper - 6:00 p.m.
Special Sunday Program
"Life in the Occupied Territories"
Bob Hauert
U-M Office of Ethics and Religion

udge sentences
it bull to death


COMINC
GY
01
ANN Al
- Student discount
* 7000 square feet
* Over 20,000 pou
Olympic free weic
- Streamline and k

NTIAC (AP) - A judge
day ordered a pit bull terrier
yed in the wake of an attack on
ar-old boy, although the boy's
r asked the judge to spare the
)gs make mistakes; people
mistakes," Cynthia Long told
District Court Judge Charles
nald in a hearing Wednesday.
son, David, required 1,000
s to close head and neck
s after the Sept. 19 attack. He

was released from Pontiac Os-
teopathic Hospital on Sept. 23.
Long said she wanted the dog
removed from Pontiac, but not
killed. A human ws.Jdn't get the
death penalty for what the dog did,
she said.
McDonald issued his ruling
yesterday after holding the hearing
Wednesday. He also assessed the
dog's owner, Jerry Cochell of
Pontiac, $50 for court costs. Cochell
has five days to appeal