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One hundred four years of editorial freedom
EleCtion
f or' MSA
begin with
gewissues
By CATHY BOGUSLASKI
Daily Staff Reporter
Starting today, students have the
chance to choose who will represent
them on the Michigan Student As-
seimbly for the next year.
For candidates, the main question
may be who will win, but for many
students, the main question is, "Why
Ther to vote?"
Turnout in MSA elections histori-
cally has been low, often below 10
percent. Any registered student is eli-
gible to vote. Polling will take place
today and tomorrow at sites scattered
across campus.
Students' Party candidate Devon
Bodoh said his party has tried to en-
courage students to vote by talking to
, * jdent groups. He said because MSA
Wnot reaching out to enough stu-
dents, "the Students' Party took it
upon itself to inform voters. Hope-
fully, it will work and turnout will be
good.
"Realistically, we want turnout to
be large, but I think it will be small,
and that will speak directly to the
effectiveness of MSA. That is, MSA
is-an ineffective organization to stu-
*ts," Bodoh said.
MSA Vice President Jacob Stern
said students should vote because
higher voter turnout gives MSA
greater legitimacy in the eyes of the
University administration and Board
of Regents.
Stern also said students should
vote for the Michigan Party because it
"has provided the most change for the
~embly in the past year."'
*Ste rn added that Michigan
party members have restructured
See MSA, Page 2
Gf~tmoftNE PHISHIN
Police pledge to
rotect sources
in A2 rape case
Steve, a fan of Phish, hopes to catch a glimpse of the band last night. Phish plays tonight at Hill Auditorium.
SLq A approves nw .AATU funds
*In 'frustrating'
Investigation, police
still waiting for DNA
Information
By FRANK C. LEE
Daily Staff Reporter
At a press conference yesterday,
Ann Arbor Police Department offi-
cials said they could protect individu-
als with information about the serial
rapist - a claim police have made in
the hopes of convincing people to
come forward.
Police also said Monday's open
letter asking the public for help would
bring in better tips and help them use
their resources more effectively. They
also sought to reassure Blacks that the
new, more specific profile would pro-
tect Black males from undue harass-
ment.
'There's a reason to believe if this
person has recognized some of these
attributes of the man -- perhaps be-
cause of fear for their own safety or
concern for other persons' welfare
within the family unit - they've been
extremely reluctant to come forward
and identify the individual," said act-
ing Ann Arbor Police Walter
Lunsford.
"What the task force has done is
set up a plan of action where if that
person will in fact come forward and
help us identify this, individual, we
have systems in place designed to
deal with their protection needs if that
is in fact an issue." he added.
The letter is the result of work
done by detectives assigned to the
Ann Arbor Area Task Force, formed
last month in the search for the rapist.
It was developed after consulting the
FBI and the Michigan State Police.
The investigators are now trying to
focus their energy on more promising
tips they believe the letter will trigger.
"Rather than having the commu-
nity as a whole look for an individual
..we're probably better served spend-
ing our time and resources on those
tips where specifically the person pro-
viding the information is able to say,
'I've seen this specific change in this
person's behavior at or near the same
time as one of these ass aults,'
Lunsford said.
While letters like the one released
Monday have been somewhat suc-
cessful in years past at eliciting tips,
the task force is working on other
leads in the case.
But police admit the case has been
frustrating. They are still waiting for
the results of evidence sent to the Michi-
gan State Police Crime Laboratory.
"There's no composite drawing.
forthcoming at this time and we've
released all the information on DNA
testing we have available to us,"
Lunsford said.
In the letter, the man is described
as having a violent temper and lim-
ited social skills.
The task force is asking Ann Ar-
bor. citizens for help in solving the
sexual assaults -- one of which re-
sulted in death -- that have occurred
in the city during the past two years.
However, the message is directed to-
ward particular individuals in the com-
munity that may read the letter and can
encourage the rapist to turn himself in.
See RAPIST, Page 2
By CATHY BOGUSLASKI
Daily Staff Reporter
After more than a month of debate
and budgetary disputes, the Michigan
Student Assembly agreed to give more
funding to the AnnArborTenants' Union.
At last night's meeting, MSA voted
to give an additional $2,358 to the
tenants' union. AATU also received
$2,000 from the assembly in Septem-
ber through a line item in the surplus
and reserve budget.
"Clearly we're pleased. This money
will go a long way toward meeting the
deficit we have now," said Pattrice
Maurer, AATU coordinator.
AATU received the. money after
appealing to the Budget Priorities
Committee (BPC). Some assembly
members say this is not an appropri-
ate way to fund the tenants' union.
"I'm glad they got their funding.
but I'm sorry that it had to come from
BPC and we're not funding them from
our large reserve," Engineering Rep.
Brian Elliott said.
BPC originally recommended giv-
ing AATU $800 in funding. LSA Rep.
Jonathan Freeman amended the proposal
to give the tenants' union $2,358, the
amount it originally requested from BPC.
During the debate. Rackham Rep
Josh Grossman said, 'To give them
anything less (than they requested) is
just plain mean-spirited, especially since
they've come in here and practically
licked our boots."
The amendment passed on a vote
of 19-5-5.
MSA Vice President Jacob Stern
said he is glad the tenants' union went
to BPC for funding.
"They should have done that all
along," Stern said. "They have received
more money than any other student
group has gotten (from BPC) in history,
and that precedent bothers me."
"We didn't want to make this a big
political deal," Maurer said. "We wanted
to be as fair as possible, but I don't think
BPC is an appropriate source of fund-
ing for us. They can't even fund salaries
or work-study wages."
Maurer said that although the
money is less than the $6,000 to $8,000
requested, AATU should be able to
manage its finances this year.
"We've been aggressively seeking
funding to tied us over," Maurer said,
adding that Rackham Student Govern-
ment gave AATU $1,000. and a mass
mailing went out yesterday to ask com-
munity members to contribute.
® AA A ' _ - n rllnHlrr rl InrrLl i
c,
City, UI police open office in Mason . r 'fig
21,5 a . ?u).T
By SPENCER DICKINSON
Daily-Staff Reporter
'Signs throughout Mason Hall yesterday invited
stuidents to the opening of a new Community Police
Office, created in an effort to make the University
safer.
The Ann Arbor Police Department and the
University's Department of Public Safety jointly
opened the office yesterday in room G4 17 on the
ground floor of Mason Hall.
The office will be open and staffed by a DPS
student employee between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on
ekdays.
The new location is important for both depart-
ments, officials said. Now, police will have better
access to the State Street business district.
.AAPD Lt. Sherry Woods said, "The officers
will be able to fill out reports, take breaks and
conduct interviews close to their beats in the new
office." Previously, only their headquarters several
blocks from Central Campus served this purpose.
DPS has a station on Kipke Street, a sub-station
on North Campus and an office on Church Street -
but the addition of a Mason Hall location brings the
department to Central Campus.
Officers now have easy access to the Diag and a
view of the northwest Diag, which includes the corner
of North University and State streets, an area where
the department has frequently had problems.
"More importantly, though," said DPS Officer
Dave Russell, "it gets us closer to the students."
Russell said the biggest problem DPS has in pre-
venting crime is the lack of contact with students.
"They're hard to get in touch with because they
move around so much. Now that we're here, we
hope they'll see us and get to know us," Russell said.
The office is part of a change in focus of police
work nationwide. "We used to drive around in cars
and respond to calls, but that was after the damage
had been done," Russell said.
The new approach, called community-oriented
policing, switches the focus from response to pre-
vention by integrating the officers into the commu-
nity, where they can identify problems before seri-
ous crimes occur.
Russell encourages students to stop in and visit
the office, and to contact DPS if they have a
problem of concern. "Sometimes people just don't
call because they feel their problem isn't big enough
or serious enough, but if they don't call we can't
See OFFICE, Page 2
Officer David Russell explains the convenience of the office in Mason Hall.
Clinton signals possible support
for allowing prayer in schools
_.
,
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON - President
Clinton yesterday opened the door to
supporting a constitutional amend-
ment to allow prayer in school as the
White House sent out a stream of
conciliatory signals to conservative
Republicans who will run Congress.
Clinton's statements on prayer in
school, an emotional issue to the right
and left, came in a news conference in
Jakarta, during a foreign trip that will
keep him out of Washington until
Sunday.
In the meantime, White House
Chief of Staff Leon Panetta met on
Capitol Hill with future Senate ma-
jority leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and
House speaker-to-be Newt Gingrich
(R-Ga.) and said they had "opened
good lines of communication."
Panetta listed a series of areas in
which congressional Republicans and
the White House might find common
ground, including the General Agree-
- ,
.i'Kf....,:{
.
1I think you can ... Insinuate (Clinton) is making
gestures to the right wing. 1 think it is a bad
Idea to cave into Speaker Gingrich's desires so
quickly.'
-Arthur Cropp
president of People for the American Way
merit on Tariffs and Trade, which is
up for a vote later this month in a
lame-duck session of Congress, cam-
paign-finance reform, political re-
form. the line-item veto and welfare
reform.
But he said the administration
planned no retreat on its basic eco-
nomic program and repeated it would
cost "about a trillion dollars" to bal-
ance the federal budget while cutting
taxes and increasing defense spend-
ing.
"1 am not saying we should not
make the effort to balance the bud-
AP PHOTO
I)Dup of marchers trying to draw attention to the issue of medical marijuana arrive at the State Capitol Building.
Mai'juana pushe o eia s
get," he said, but advocates of the
amendment "have to be straight with
the American people" about the costs.
Clinton's answer to a school-
prayer question provoked a cry of
outrage from liberal and civil-liber-
ties groups, although White House
officials called comments from both
sides of the aisle only early political
skirmishing.
Asked his reaction to Gingrich's
call for passage of a constitutional
amendment allowing prayer in school,
Clinton said he had always favored
See CLINTON, Page 2
LANSING (AP) -- A group sup-
porting the legalization of marijuana
But multiple sclerosis patients,
chronic pain suffers and glaucoma
" I believe that if I would have kept
using the steroids and other drugs the