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The Michigan Daily - Friday, March 3, 1995 - 5
Murder trial of
'U' employee
postponed
The trial of former University Hos-
itals employee James M. Chatman -
accused of killing a 2-year-old child
on the University's North Campus -
has been postponed to May 1.
Judge Karl Fink postponed the trial
on Feb. 22 at the pre-trial conference
held at the 22nd District Court.
"The trial was initially scheduled
for April 10," said Department of
Public Safety Sgt. Paul Vaughan.
*Chatman's attorneys said they would
not be prepared with their defense in
time. Also, the co-counsel has a con-
flicting jury trial scheduled in federal
district court."
Chatman, 31, is charged with sec-
ond-degree murder and first-degree
child abuse. He remains in Washtenaw
County Jail on $50,000 bond. The de-
fendant allegedly beat to death Jaylon
Jones on Aug.31
while baby-sit-
ting the boy and
his twin sister,
Charde, at an
apartment in the
7 .1 U n i v e r s i t y 's
Northwood V
complex. Charde
was not harmed,
Vaughan said.
ones Second-de-
gree murder carries a maximum sen-
tence of life in prison. First-degree
child abuse carries a maximum sen-
tence of 15 years.
Chatman knew the child's mother;
both worked for University Hospitals.
"The autopsy shows death by blunt
impacts to the head - causing swell-
ing of and injury to the brain,"
Waughan said.
On Aug. 31, Chatman called 911
from a neighboring home. Chatman
claimed he had been unable to resus-
citate the toddler after the boy fell in
the bathtub and lost consciousness,
but since then he has said little to
police in his defense.
Serial molester still
em the loose
Ann Arbor police have not made
significant progress in their attempt
to apprehend a man thought to be
responsible for four sexual assaults
on women dating back to April 1990.
The man police are looking for is
described as a white male, 5 feet 8
inches to 6 feet tall, with an inch-long
orayish-brown beard. He has a medium
uild and is between 30 and 40 years old
with a pointed nose and gray eyes.
Police found a mask believed to
have been worn during the abduction
of an University student. She was
kidnapped at gunpoint from an Ann
Arbor church Oct. 23, 1994.
The mask was found the day of the
kidnapping on Newport Road. Four
of the attacks occurred in the area
#ordered by Miller, North Maple and
Newport roads.
"I've had her come in and look at
pictures," said Ann Arbor Police De-
tective Dave Burke. "She hasn't been
able to identify anybody yet. I'm still
developing some leads, but, no, I don't
have any solid suspects right now."
The man typically binds or hand-
cuffs his victim, threatens rape and
fondles them. The victims describe
heir assailant as apologetic and gentle.
All four of the women talked the
suspect out of raping them.
- Compiled by Daily Staff
Reporter Frank C. Lee
Preserved books at Yale available over Internet
By Stephanie Jo Klein
Daily Staff Reporter
Paul Conway's job is to find new ways to
preserve old books.
The University alum discussed digital pres-
ervation of materials at a School of Informa-
tion and Library Studies convocation yester-
day afternoon in the Ehrlicher Room of West
Engineering.
Currently the head of the Preservation De-
partment at Yale University, Conway is also the
operation manager of Yale's Project Open Book.
Conway described the project as "a virtual
library."
"Using microfilm only available at Yale, we
are putting together a digital collection of pre-
served books," he said.
The project, which began in 1990, was the
first of its kind on such a large scale, Conway
said. But initially Yale had difficulty finding
personnel qualified in digital technology. A
lack of proper job descriptions and trained per-
sonnel caused an eight-month delay.
After the initial setback, project organizers
planned the technical work of converting 10,000
volumes from microfilm to digital imagery. The
actual production and conversion phase began
in August 1994, Conway said.
"We're converting 3,000 volumes in the
space of 12 months," he said.
Project coordinators wanted the collection
to be topically meaningful. They sorted the
entries by subject.
"We have very unique features in our collec-
tion," Conway said. He added that Yale has the
authoritative collection on local perceptions of
Abraham Lincoln.
Cost remains a challenge to the project,
which is nearly completed. "There is very little
cost analysis of image data technology, which
makes things very difficult," Conway said. He
explained the careful details of cataloging and
categorizing time and monetary costs.
Cornell and Indiana Universities are attempt-
ing similar projects, funded largely by major
corporations. Xerox Corp. has provided finan-
cial backing for the Yale project's major re-
source expenses.
Intellectual and physical access to the mate-
rial are main goals of the project. The staff
members are making it easier to access the books
by creating well-structured indexes and also
plan to have the complete collection available on
the Internet through the Yale campus network.
The first on-line images from the collection
will be available on the World Wide Web
within the next two weeks. The URL access
address is http://sounix.library.yale.edu. It can
be viewed by clicking on "Preservation at Yale"
and then on "Open Book."
'U' to change
start of clsseol~s,
spring break
:.
JUDITH PERKINS/Daily
City Councilmember Christopher Kolb examines a memo at former mayor Liz Brater's town meeting last night.
LizBrteaddresses tax cuts,
enionet ttown meetIni
By Thekla Fischer
For the Daily
State Rep. Liz Brater (D-Ann Ar-
bor) met last night with concerned
citizens and five local officials to
discuss issues ranging from tax cuts
to the environment.
Brater opened the town meeting
at Ann Arbor's public library with the
"bad news" that the state Legislature
had passed Gov. John Engler's five-
year $1.5 billion tax cut.
The plan cuts Michigan's income
tax by raising personal exemptions,
which Brater said benefits the wealthy.
Brater expressed concern that the
tax cuts would threaten future educa-
tion funding, including "the total de-
struction of the adult education pro-
grams." She said she would rather
save the money for a "rainy-day fund"
to hedge against a predicted down-
turn in the economy, but acknowl-
edged that the Headlee Amendment
to the state constitution inhibits this.
According to Brater, 70 percent
of the money was collected from indi-
viduals. However, 50 percent of the
surplus tax dollars will be returned to
businesses, she said.
Brater was displeased with Clark
Durant, the new head of the state school
board. Brater said Durant would "put
God back in the schools," violating
"the division of church and state."
Brater also said Republicans are
launching an attack on Act 307,
"Michigan's landmark pollution
cleanup law." The act invokes the "pol-
luter pay principle" and "ensures pub-
lic knowledge of polluted sites and
cleanup efforts."
Brater said she intends to support
legislation on 'pollution prevention
assistance for businesses and tax in-
centives for businesses engaged in pol-
lution prevention initiatives."
Other issues discussed at the meet-
ing included the repercussions of a
reduction in military spending for local
bases, welfare and minimum wage
adjustment, and capital punishment.
Ann Arbor resident Richard Ratler
addressed the lack of working class
voter participation, which he said is
due to the inconvenience of voting on
Tuesdays. "The government doesn't
want us to vote," Ratler said.
Brater plans to introduce legisla-
tion to make it easier to vote by mail.
Brater said she was "grateful to the
citizens for coming out. ... It's always
a reality check."
By Ronnie Glassberg
Daily Staff Reporter
For the first time in 36 years, the
University will change its academic
calendar next year, with fall term
classes beginning two days earlier
and spring break scheduled one week
later.
Fall term in the past has started the
Thursday after Labor Day, and with
the shift, classes will begin the day
after the holiday.
Spring break will begin March 2
next year and classes will resume
March 11 - one week later than in
previous years. The University will
not cancel classes for President's Day,
which fell during the break in the old
calendar.
Associate Provost Susan
Lipschutz said fall term has aver-
aged between 65-69 class days, while
winter term has been between 68-70
days.
"We are trying to make the two
terms more comparable in length,"
Lipschutz said. "Faculty teaching the
same or similar courses found it trou-
bling. I think starting classes the Tues-
day after Labor, Day will mean we
will have to have University offices
open on Labor Day."
The University has been using the
current calendar since 1969.
"Before that, the University started
before Labor Day for quite a few
years," said Assistant Registrar Tho-
mas McElvain. "The University had
started in August, at least a week
before Labor Day."
At the same time, the committee
recommended spring break become a
full week. Before that, McElvain said
the break was only a few days. "It is
'69 that the concept of a real spring
break came out," he said.
The change in the calendar will
bring shifts for the University's Hous-
ing Division.
Move-in will be TuesdayAug.29;
Wednesday, Aug. 30; and Thursday,
Aug. 31. For returning students, the
residence hall leases will begin Aug.
31, and the leases for new students will
begin Aug. 29.
Food service will begin the Thurs-
day before Labor Day. Last year, tfhe
board contract started the day after
Labor Day, five days later.
In fall 1993, the Housing Division
changed the start of move-in to the
Thursday before Labor Day. Before
that, the division had started move in
over Labor Day weekend.
Housing Division spokesman Alan
Levy said he does not anticipate any
problems from the shift in the start of
classes.
"If the change had happened with-
out the two years of experience, we
would probably be nervous," Levy
said. "We're going to do what we did
last year, but even better. It will not
have a very profound impact for useat
all."
The change in spring break will
move the vacation to the middle of
winter term. "The break seems to come
too early. Its aim is to break up the
semester, but it does it sooner than it
should," Lipschutz said.
In addition to these changes, the
University also will not schedule
exams on the Friday before spring
commencement. The rest of the cal-
endar will remain the same as in the
past.
LSA junior Libby Hoxsie said she
has no problems with starting earlier
and likes the new time for spring
break. "I would prefer to have it a
week later because other colleges have
it then," she said.
The calendar shift, which was ap-
proved by the University Board of
Regents in April, will be in effect for
the next two years.
"Both of these are experimental.
We thought it was worth a try."
Lipschutz said.
AATA launches rider campaign
By Maureen Sirhal
Daily Staff Reporter
In response to declining ridership,
the Ann Arbor Transit Authority is
launching an aggressive campaign to
increase the number of people who
take the bus.
The AATA has experienced a 1.6-
percent fall in ridership, according to
its annual report for 1994, released
earlier this week.
Manager for community relations
for the AATA, Lizabeth Nowland-
Margolis said the decline is not in any
particular area of Ann Arbor.
"The only thing that we can at-
tribute (the decline) to is that gas
prices are really low," she said.
The AATA campaign is partially
aimed at students. "We are going to do
a promotion along with Briarwood Mall
aimed at U-M and Eastern University
students so they know about the differ-
ent routes and can get where they want
to go," Nowland-Margolis said.
The AATA has announced several
plans in the past year to resolve on-
going problems such as traffic jams
and parking problems around the Uni-
versity Medical Center. To combat
this, the AATA, in cooperation with
the Medical Center, has closed off a
parking structure to staff and offered
bus passes to all Medical Center staff.
"We are addressing businesses as
well. Businesses like Great Lakes
Bancorp and U-M medical center and
fast-food restaurants such as Burger
.M
Wat'happening in Ann Arbor today
King are buying passes for their
staffs," Nowland-Margolis said.
Currently, the AATA runs stop at
10 p.m. on week-nights and 6 p.m. on
the weekends.
There is also a shared-ride pro-
gram that runs from I1 p.m. to 6 a.m.
in conjunction with Yellow Cab. This
service is aimed at providing rides
around Ann Arbor late at night. The
cost is fixed at $2 and passengers can
go anywhere in Ann Arbor.
One student shared mixed con-
cerns over the AATA system. "I will
take the bus if I need to go to
Briarwood Mall," said LSA sopho-
more Sara Gallagher. "It's easier for
me to go with friends since I don't
know where the buses go."
Waldenbooks
comes to A2
By Andrew Taylor
Daily News Editor
Waldenbooks announced yesterday
the company will move its national
headquarters to Ann Arbor this spring.
Spokeswoman Kathryn Kavickey
said about 100 of the Stamford, Conn.,
office's 600 employees are expected
to relocate to Ann Arbor. The com-
pany owns 1,200 stores, including
one on South State Street.
Bookstore officials have consid-
ered the move since last November,
when parent company Kmart, of Troy,
Mich. announced Waldenbooks
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I --
FRIDAY
U "Astronomy Public Observing
Night," sponsored by Student As-
tronomical Society, Angell Hall, Fifth
Floor, 8-11 p.m:
U Chinese Christian Fellowship, 994-
1064, Dana Building, Room 1046,
7:30 p.m.
U "Federal Tax Workshop," sponsored
by International Center, Interna-
tional Center, Room 9, 1 p.m.
U Ninjitsu Club, beginners welcome,
761-8251, IMSB, Room G 21,6:30-
8 p.m.
J Northwalk, 763-WALK, Bursley, 8-
11:30 p.m.
SATURDAY
J "Animania," sponsored by Japanese
Animation Film Society, Modern
Languages Building, Auditorium 3,
5-11 p.m.
D Northwalk, 763-WALK, Bursley, 8-
11:30 p.m.
:. Safewalk, 936-1000, UGLi lobby, 8-
11:30 p.m.
J "SCOR Multidisciplinary Graduate
and Professional Student Confer-
ence," sponsored by Students of
Color of Rackham, Rackham Build-
ing, Fourth Floor, 9 a.m.
J "Trips for International Students
and Scholars," sponsored by Inter-
U "CheerleadingTryouts," 525-1735,
IM Building, 6 p.m.
U ECB Peer Tutorial, 747-4526, An-
gell Hall Computing Site 1-5 p.m.
and 7-11 p.m., UGLi, second floor,
1-5 p.m.
U "Grads and young Professionals
Potluck and Discussion: Poverty,
Economics and the Role of Gov-
ernment," sponsored by Hillel, 6
p.m., call 761-5917 for location
U "Life-Shaping Encounters," spon-
sored by SIGN, Guild House, 802
Monroe, 5-6:30 p.m.
Q Northwalk, 763-WALK, Bursley, 8
p.m;-1:30 a.m.
J Safewalk, 936-1000, UGLi lobby,
I
m