The Michigan Daily -Wednesday, February 16, 1994--3 .Visiting prof. tells of Bosnian devastaton By BRANDON BLAZO FOR THE DAILY Naza Tonovic-Miller is one of the survivors. A visiting professor from Bosnia, Tonovic-Miller told an emotionally charged room of concerned students and community members about her experiences with the destruction and killing as a result of a two-year old *civil war in her country. Her speech was part of a program at the Law school meant to raise aware- ness about the war in Bosnia and its impact on the people who live there. The program began with a video that contrasted the Sarajevo of 10 years ago, which hosted the 1984 Win- ter Olympic games, to the war-torn city of today. The film included *graphic scenes of hospitals filled with wounded children. Tonovic-Miller, who is also vice president of the American Bosnian- Herzegovinian Association, gave her impressions of what she described as "open aggression on a suffering state." She was very skeptical of the peace ,plan that is being negotiated. "(World leaders) continue to press Bosnia and the Bosnian people to accept the so- Oclled peace offered - the offer of surrender of aggression and accep- tance of genocide and fascism.'' Since she was a professor at the University of Sarajevo, Tonovic- Miller was able to give a firsthand description of the war zone. She cited the neighboring synagogues, churches White House argues against Balanced Budget proposal JONATHAN LURIE/Dady N~za Tonovic-Miller addresses an audience in Hutchins Hall last night. and mosques as evidence that at one time, people of every religion could co-exist. Barbara Pliskow, chair of the Ann Arbor Committee for Bosnia, said the current situation brings memories of similar killings during World War II. Jennifer Grossman, an LSA jun- ior and member of the Hillel commit- tee that planned the program, became involved because she "felt (it was) important to bring students attention to the atrocities that are taking place in Bosnia." Tonovic-Miller asked the audience for donations to help support refu- gees who have been relocated to the United States because they have no way to support themselves as they recover from injuries sustained in Bosnia. Wendy Futterman, an LSA senior, said, "Naza was very moving, and addressed important issues many stu- dents and people have forgotten in recent weeks and months." Alexia Fink, a senior in Engineer- ing and one of the event's coordina- tors, said she was a little disappointed about the low turnout, which she at- tributed to midterms week. Fink said she thought the speakers were very expressive and informed about Bosnia, adding that the tone of the question-and-answer session "reflect(ed) the frustration about our government and its handling of the situation." In an interview before the pro- gram, Rackham student Yasmin Sahul said she felt it is "about time some- thing is done (about the situation in Bosnia). We have to take more action that just speaking. Words are cheap." LOS ANGELES TIMES WASHINGTON -The White House took its campaign against a balanced budget amendment to Con- gress yesterday as four Cabinet offic- ers told lawmakers the requirement would undermine the nation's secu- rity and devastate programs like Medi- care and Social Security. ' With the issue to come to a head later this month in the Senate, sup- porters and opponents of a constitu- tional amendment to require a bal- anced budgetby 2001 presented open- ing arguments in the debate at rival hearings held simultaneously on Capi- tol Hill. "No one can study the past 25 years of successive deficits without recognizing that there has been gov- ernmental abuse that must be halted," Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.) chief Senate sponsor of the balanced budget amendment, said at the outset of hear- ings his One floor below, Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) the amendment's chief Senate opponent, argued that budget deficits cannot simply be "wished away ... through incanta- tions." Byrd's made the remarks as the Appropriations Committee he chairs opened its own week-long set of hearings on the issue. Each hearing was a one-sided af- fair, with Byrd and Simon taking tes- timony only from witnesses who sup- ported their respective positions. But although well scripted in advance, the hearings offered insights into the ar- guments that will be aired next week on the Senate floor. To win approval, the amendment would have to be passed by two- thirds majorities in both the House and Senate and then ratified by three- quarters of the states. House passage is considered certain, but the Senate vote is expected to be close. Health and Human Services Sec- retary Donna Shalala, testifying be- fore Byrd's committee, warned that a constitutional requirement to balance the budget would crush popular en- titlement programs like Social Secu- rity and derail Clinton's efforts to reform health care. "Let me assure those who believe that both health reform and a bal- anced budget amendment are pos- sible that they are dreaming," Shalala said. "A vote for the amendment is a vote to gouge Medi- care and Medicaid ... (and) a vote to destroy the promise of guaranteed private insurance for everyone." Upstairs, Simon heard former senator and presidential candidate Paul Tsongas issue an equally apoca- lyptic warning: "the leadership of our country in both parties lacks the po- litical will to balance the federal bud- get" and unless a way is found to force that will upon "our children's future will be bankrupted" by mountains offederal debt. David Stanley, president of the conservative National Taxpayers Union, said the danger posed by the current system "is the economic col- lapse of our nation and the destruc- tion of our people's jobs, standard of living and retirement income, caused by the rising, crushing burden of debt." At Byrd's hearing, three other cabi- net officials joined Shalala T HE WASH INGTON POST WASHINGTON - The White House, stepping up its efforts to reach a post-NAFT'A reconciliation with organized labor, will send Vice President Al Gore to Florida nex( week to talk with top leaders of the AFL-CIO about favors the admin, istration might do for them. The decision to send the vice president to the annual mid-winte, meeting of the 35-member AFL- CLO Executive Council is the latest in a series of White House steps to cool tempers since the fight over, the controversial trade pact turned into a bitter feud between President, Clinton and labor last fall. The last time a vice president met with the union leaders at their mid-winter meeting in Bal Harbour; Fla., was 1982, when George Buslz made the trip as a peace gesture by the Reagan administration. Officially, White House sourceg said yesterday, the visit was to "de- velop a dialogue" with members of~ the federation's policy-making body. "I don't think he'll have any~ thing to drop off," said a White, House official who added that the administration was "anxious to dcg anything we can" to heal the rift with labor. Gor to meet with unios to men fences 2 .Scientist h By SAM T. DUDEK DAILY STAFF REPORTER Scientist and inventor Graham Hiawkes spoke yesterday about his plans to explore the deepest underwa- ter location on earth. With his charming British accent and soft-spoken demeanor, Hawkes *peviewed his Ocean Everest Project, a journey into the Mariana Trench, a 'nearly seven-mile deep canyon in the i'acific Ocean. Through a series of slides at the Francois-Xavier Bagnould Building on North Campus, he showed the con- struction and configuration of his single-person ship, the Deep Flight, Which looks like an underwater ver- *sion of the space shuttle. Hawkes explained how he would lay flat in the ship with his head at the front in a glass dome to investigate his surroundings. cads deep "It should be a very pleasant expe- rience," he said, referring to his view in the specially designed dome. Hawkes also addressed the issue of spfety, a major concern of his crit- ics. 'He claimed his Deep Flight to be safer than flying."It's like an airplane," he said sarcastically, "if you find that a wing falls off, no problem, just let it float to the ground." He explained that the two ships he has already built are simply proto- types for Deep Flight 2, which will be able to withstand the water pressure at the canyon's base. The prototypes are limited to a depth of 1,000 feet, and were built to test and sell his idea to sponsors. Hawkes said two personal ships are better than one larger ship be- cause each explorer can keep an eye out for trouble the other may not de- tect. He likened the plan to the "buddy below sea system" used in SCUBA diving. In addition to the seacraft itself, Hawkes spoke of his plans for the project in the next few years. He em- phasized how all long-term goals will be controlled by the financial status of the project. For that reason, he has set no date for his trip, saying, "if you don't have time lines, you can't be late." When asked why he wanted to travel to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, Hawkes gave two reasons. First, he reasoned that the earth's sur- face area is two-thirds water, but on a three dimensional scale, a much greater percentage of the earth's liv- ing space is underwater, warranting further exploration. His second reason, was the same reason Sir Edmund Hillary gave for climbing Mt. Everest: "Because it's there." i -rnm -a~eawr- famous scientist, constructed this one-man ship to withstandI the water pressure of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific. 10 ft. MSA looks to work First lady defends health plan, blasts insurers *New student liaison appointed to address issues with City Calls cooperation key to good city-student relations By JAMES M. NASH DAILY STAFF REPORTER Andrew Wright sat patiently in the audience Monday night as Ann Arbor City Council members ex- changed partisan blows over city is- sues. It was not until after midnight that the LSA first-year student got his chance to address Ann Arbor's legis- Wrihtis the Michigan Student Assembly's new liaison to the City Council. In his first statement to the council, he outlined his four goals as MSA liaison: . * To improve lighting along Washtenaw Avenue, surrounding housing areas and the Athletic Cam- pus. * To rethink zoning laws related to fraternities, sororities, family sta- tus and occupancy. * To cooperate with the city on maintaining the Rock at its current home in George Washington Park. * To open lines of communica- tion between MSA and the city on all issues concerning the University com- munity and students. While council members made no formal response to Wright's remarks, they said they were encouraged by the prospects for cooperation with MSA. "I was impressed and pleased that they are interested in working with us," said Mayor Ingrid Sheldon. She noted that students haven't been repi- resented at earlier council meetings. Wright said students have lacked a voice in city affairs. He didn't fault the council for overlooking studeiit concerns. "In the past there has been bad communication on the part of the University and students," he said yes- Inda his address to council, Wrigt urged the city to switch from amber tb white lighting along Washtenaw Av7 enue and other poorly lit areas. Wrigbht didn't offer solutions to the other three issues he mentioned. His 10-minute address was spicea with wry humor. Sheldon said thd although he occasionally poked fun a't the city, she was not offended. Wright said he initially plans t4 concentrate on the four issues he out~ lined Monday night, but later wifl address the planned expansion o~ Fuller Road and security during the NCAAmien's college basketball tour,~ nament in March. LOS ANGELES TIMES WASHINGTON - In a spirited Odefense of the president's health re- form proposal, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton said yesterday that the plan she helped design will in.- crease consumer choice of medical *providers and will not lead to a gov- ernment-run system, as critics claim. Praising doctors and nurses, Mrs. Clinton also characterized the reform fifort as a battle against the insurance nhdustry, which she blamed for hay- "ing created "probably the stupidest ihnancing system in the world for health care." The first lady, speaking to an American Legion conference here, also touted a universal benefits pack- age under the administration's plan that would not impose lifetime limits, as most policies now do. Under the current system, she said, "if you get really sick and you spend whatever that limit is - and some policies have limits as low as $50,000, others have millions - but once you hit that limit, you are not insurable anymore unless you pay a huge, huge increase in your premiums." Mrs. Clinton also took aim at in- surance companies for barring cover- age for people with "pre-existing medical conditions" -a practice that would be prohibited under the president's plan. "We're learning so much about the human gene system, and what genes cause various diseases, that by the turn of the century, everyone of us is going to have a pre-existing condi- tion. If we don't hurry up and get this health care system reformed, none of us is going to be able to afford insur- ance at the rate we're going." Mrs. Clinton said: "Now you're gonna hear a lot, as you already have, about how the government is going to take over health care. That is not the president's plan at all." The administration's plan has come under intense attack this month, largely from business groups. Among them was the U.S. Chamber of Corn- merce, which said President Clinton's 1,342-page prescription "cannot even be used as a starting point" because "it proposes such a burden of high employer premium contributions, rich benefits and counterproductive regu- lation and new federal and health al- liance bureaucracy.." Mrs. Clinton also urged her audi- ence not to believe a particular TV advertisement sponsored by health insurers that assert Clinton's plan will reduce consumer choice. "Well, that's just flat untrue," she declared. U U. MJOR BLOWOUT? - Group Meetings Ql American Chemical Society, -1706 Chemistry Building, 6p.m. 11 East Quad support group for lesbians, gay men, & bisexual people, call 764-3678 for info. IO Gay Jewish Coffee Hour, Zingerman's Next Door, 422 Detroit, 7p.m. 11 Hellenic Students Association, Michigan Union, Anderson Room, 8 p.m. IO Lutheran Campus Ministry, soup supper 5:30 p.m.; human sexuality study, 6p.m.; compline for Lent, 7 p.m.; 8015S. Forest. fQ Juggling Club, Michigan Union, source Education (SHARE), help teach elementary school stu- dents about the environment, 1040 Dana Building, 8-10 p.m. !O Students forLana Poilack, West Quad, Ost afin Room, 9p.m. Ej Students ofObjectivism, MLB, B117, 7p.m. fD Third Wave, mass meeting, Michigan Union, fourth floor lobby, 6:30 p.m. [O Trotskyist League, current events study, Michigan Union, Crow- foot Room, 7-8:30 p.m. 1Q Undergraduate Law Club, of- fice hours, Michigan Union, Room 4121,12-4 p.m. Schiff, LSA TA Training Pro- gram, 2553 LSA Building, 4-6 p.m. 1J Simulation - Barnga, spon- sored by the International Cen- ter, Room 7, 7 p.m., please call 764-9310 to attend. Student services .Q 76-GUIDE, peer counseling phone line, 7 p.m.-8 a.m. ri Campus Information Center, Michigan Union, 763-INFO; events info., 76-EVENT; film info., 763-FILM. IO North Campus Information Center, North Campus Corn- I? I ~ ~ I I