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OPINION
4
ARTS
Mosey along
7
SPORTS
'M' volleyball to face ND this weekend
9
The right to self-determination
Ninety-nine years of editorial freedom
Vol. C, No. 99 Ann Arbor, Michigan --Thursday, February 22, 1990 The Oad
Baker
says he
*forged
letter
by Elisabeth Weinstein
Bucknell economics Professor
Dean Baker, former University grad-
uate student and Congressional can-
*didate, admitted to forging a letter
and distributing it under U.S. House
Representative Carl Pursell's name.
The letter, which sarcastically
implied that the U.S should not
support the government of El Sal-
vador, was distributed three weeks
ago to about 10,000 of Pursell's
constituents, and various media or-
ganizations.
Baker said he wrote the letter to
"try to call attention to what's hap-
pening in El Salvador." Almost all
the money the U.S. gives to El Sal-
vador goes to the military, which
violently represses the population,
Baker said.
Pursell's Ann Arbor office re-
fused comment, and Pursell couldn't
be reached before press time.
"The military goes into the
*homes of organizers and kills people
with U.S. weapons," Baker said. He
said what the U.S. is doing "would
be like giving money to Hitler."
"I would rather debate publicly
with Pursell but my efforts to do so
have been denied," Baker said.
"Because the media is not fair and
the political system is controlled by
people who have money, I could not
handle the situation differently. I had
see BAKER, Page 2
'U',
MS
by Daniel Poux
Daily MSA Reporte
The Michigan Stu
controversy which
November's bungled
finally been laid tor
General Counsel Elsa
versity President Jan
announced the adm
not interfere with t
handling of the electi
The administratio
investigate the proc
elections by Conserv
leaders who were disp
invalidation of the LS
the Central Student Ju
CSJ, the judicial
student governmen
reexamine the electi
after numerous error
process surfaced. Co
defective ballots
polling proceduresl
calls for a vote rec
election directors
abandons
X inquiry
destroyed the ballots, the Judiciary
r invalidated the election results.
ident Assembly "MSA's constitution provides a
began with mechanism, recall of judges, if the
d elections has assembly is dissatisfied with the ac-
rest. University tions of CSJ," a CSJ statement read.
a Cole and Uni- "The University administration tradi-
mes Duderstadt tionally has left to the students the
inistration will resolution of these kinds of issues
the assembly's relating to self-governance."
ons. Cole explained the reasoning be-
n was asked to hind her ruling. "When I investigated
eedings of the MSA's relationship with the Unit
vative Coalition versity historically, I found that it
pleased with the has gone from the administration's
SA elections by close supervision of the student gov-
udiciary (CSJ). ernment to letting the assembly have
branch of the more discretion with student mat-
nt, agreed to ters," she said.
on proceedings Cole said, "The General Counsel
s in the election decided to continue the trend in let-
)mplaints about ting the MSA handle its own af-
and incorrect fairs."
brought many Most MSA officials were pleased
ount. Since the with the General Counsel's decision
had already see INQUIRY, Page 2
Gift of life
University staffer Keith Johnson, a Manchester resident, takes time out to give blood1
Blood Drive" for the American Red Cross yesterday and Tuesday.
in the "Faculty and StaffI
Proposed bills to override local $5 marijuana laws
by Laura Gosh
Ann Arbors' five dollar pot law
may be superseded by state legisla-
tion currently under debate in the
Senate's Local Government Com-
mittee. The proposed bills may force
local governments to uniformly
comply with state penalties for sub-
stance control violations.
The bills are in preliminary dis-
cussion before the Senate committee
and no date has been set for their un-
veiling before the state legislature.
Senator Doug Carl (R-Utica),
sponsor of the bills, said he intended
the bills to create "greater unifor-
mity" in the enforcement of state
drug laws. It is hypocritical for a
government with a large "Say no to
drugs" campaign to have such le-
nient drug laws, he said.
The current state penalty maxi-
mums are $1,000 or one year im-
prisonment, Carl said. There are no
minimum penalties.
Under Ann Arbor law, marijuana
possession is a misdemeanor and of-
fenders are subject to $5 fines. While
the city's April 2 ballot proposal
may change the offense to a civil in-
fraction and the fine may rise to $25,
if the proposed state legislation
passes Ann Arbor judges could levy
fines up to $1,000.
The legislation under considera-
tion "gives the judge a much greater
range" of penalties, Carl said. He
added that the bills have a good
chance of being passed in the state
legislature because of leanings in
Lansing towards discouragement of
marijuana use with tougher laws.
Ingrid Sheldon, Ann Arbor city
council member (R-Ward 2), said she
heard yesterday morning of the pro-
posed bills.-Ann Arbor's ballot pro-
posal to raise the marijuana posses-
sion fine would stay on the ballot
even if the proposed legislation,
passed the state legislature because
it's too late to take it off the ballot,
she said.
Rich Birkett, head of the Univer-
sity chapter of the National Organi-
zation for the Legalization of Mari-
juana (NORML), said, "Raising the
fine will have no affect on people
who use (marijuana) anyway," and
people may just be more cautious
see BILLS, Page 2
'U'regent
Cokely appearance
in Fishbowl leads
.to shouting match
\.. ..
f .s.., n,? .__ ,
will not
pursue
. ,
by Mark Katz
Daily Minority Issues Reporter
Steve Cokely, the Black activist
who spoke Tuesday at Rackham Au-
ditorium in honor of Malcolm X
Week, faced an angry group of Jew-
ish students yesterday in the Fish-
bowl, who called his comments anti-
Semitic.
Although Tuesday's speech was
sponsored by the Black Student
Union (BSU), his appearance yester-
day in the Fishbowl was independent
of the group.
"The whole problem broke out
because Jews are misunderstanding
the basic message of (Minister and
leader of the Nation of Islam) Far-
rakhan and Cokely," said LSA
sophomore Stephanie Johnson, an
executive board member of the BSU.
"Cokely's message is one of
love. He is a man of God," Johnson
said. "His basic point is by-and-large
that the masses of the Jewish people
are miseducated and misled just as
the masses of Blacks and whites
have been miseducated," Johnson
said.
But Glenn Gayer, an LSA junior
and a member of Students Fighting
Anti-Semitism, said he interpreted
many of Cokely's statements as be-
ing "blatantly anti-semitic."
Gayer said he and other Jewish
students were offended when Cokely
said "there was a conspiracy of Jews
and Hitler to kill Jews for the pur-
pose of ethnic purity among Jews."
He said Jewish students were also
*House pass
upset by Cokely's comments that
Jews came into the U.S. with power
and used it to exploit Blacks, and
that Jews control the banks, Wall
Street and Hollywood.
Johnson defended Cokely's
statements saying he was referring
only to some specific Jews and not
all Jews in the reference to Hitler.
"I didn't view the comments as
anti-Semitic," said LSA junior
Shabazz, a member of the BSU. "He
didn't say anything fostering Jew ha-
tred. He was just giving out the
facts."
However, Gayer felt differently.
"(Today's discussion) shows that
Cokely's message for Blacks and for
the community at large is one of
disunity and bigotry, not unity and
brotherhood."
LSA junior Joel Davidson, also a
member of Students Fighting Anti-
Semitism, agreed with Gayer. "What
Cokely did was fuel animosity be-
tween (Blacks and Jews)," he said.
"Both groups have had a history of
oppression and a way to solve these
problems is to realize we both have
common problems."
Former Michigan Student
Assembly Minority Affairs Com-
mission Delro Harris said whenever
discussion between Blacks and Jews
takes place, "there will always be
fighting."
"I'm not discrediting what he
said. Aspects of Cokely's talk may
see COKELY, Page 5
Practice makes perfect
Music school first-year student Marita Bolles practices on a "bonang pelog," one of the many instruments that
makeup the Ivanese Gamelan Ensemble located inside the Burton Memorial Tower.
Medicaid 'Toothgate Scandal is
national epidemc sayden
reelection
by Noelle Vance
'Daily Administration Reporter
University Regent Thomas
Roach (D-Saline) will not run for re-
election when his term ends this De-
cember. Roach, a member of the
University's Board of Regents for 16
years, announced his decision to
President James Duderstadt and Gov-
ernor James Blanchard Tuesday.
"At this particular point in my
life, I want to spend more time with
my family and work," Roach said.
A University of Michigan alum-
nus, Roach has earned a reputation
among his fellow regents for being
thorough and affable.
He prepares for each regents'
meeting by reading every page of the
regents' public agenda, which is
usually about a hundred pages long.
His historical perspective on current
University issues is appreciated by
his fellow regents.
"There's never been an issue
brought before the board that he did
not remember the context of (its)
history," said Regent Philip Power
(D-Ann Arbor). "(He is) the most
involved in detail and most loyal re-
gent the University has ever had."
"He is a student of the Univer-
sity," said Regent Paul Brown (D-
Petoskey) who praised Roach's com-
prehension of the University's com-
plexity, and his ability to understand
budgets.
Perhaps more than a student,
Roach is a proud alumnus. Once a
year he steps in time with the
Michigan alumni marching band dur-
innteir arnn an A a.war onha.a.
by Rob Kraft
Medicaid recipients are finding it
difficult to receive dental care due to
the unwillingness of dentists to par-
ticipate in the program, which they
say is plagued with errors and
fraught with corruption.
Medicaid is the state-run federal
government program that provides
medical aid to people with low-in-
come.
Following accusations by the
Michigan State Legislature in 1987
that he was violating Medicaid poli-
cies, Detroit dentist Dr. Norman
Clement, along with fellow gradu-
ates of the U-M School of Dentistry,
formed the Dental Survey of Amer-
ica (DSA) to look into those poli-
cies.
Organization members said they
found Medicaid manuals containing
incorrect definitions of dental proce-
dures taken from outdated dental
textbooks.
In addition, they said the Medi-
caid policies deny dentists alternative
treatment opportunities and make
dentists highly culpable of
"wrongdoing."
"The question is whether the
Medicaid program... is a sham," said
Dr. Daryl Williams, a Detroit dentist
in the children's Medicaid program
and University graduate. "The evi-
dence suggests that it is."
According to the DSA's report,
Medicaid recipients are on the losing
see MEDICAID, Page 2
"1
abortion bill requiring parental consent
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