LOCAL/STATE

The Michigan Daily - Thursday, February 8, 1996 - 5A


Senate
passes bill
on custody
payments
LANSING (Al) - A "no pay, no
play" bill to block extracurricular
school activities for high school-aged
students behind in their child support
payments cleared the state Senate yes-
terday.
"This is a solid first step toward
installing a sense of responsibility
and accountability in our young
ope," said Sen. Mike Rogers (R-
owell), the bill's sponsor, in pre-
pared remarks.
"Having a child at any age is a tre-
mendous responsibility, both from a
moral and financial standpoint," Rogers
said. "I don't believe it's too much to
ask a student parent to make financial
support their No. 1 priority in such a
case, even at the expense of extracur-
jcular activities."
0The bill, passed 31-4, now goes to
the state House. Voting against it were
Sens. Joseph Conroy (D-Flint), Michael
O'Brien (D-Detroit), Leon Stille (R-
Spring Lake), and Joseph Young Jr.
(D-Detroit).
There was no debate on the mea-
sure as it passed, although some crit-
ics have said it could discourage
youngsters from finishing high
school.
It was one of several measures ap-
oved by the Senate as the chamber
continued to narrow down its calen-
dar..
Under the bill, young parents who
are four weeks behind in support pay-
ments would be notified by the Friend
of the Court that they are prohibited
from participating in high school ac-
tivities until the money due is paid
off.
The parent could enter into a pay-
ent plan designed to satisfy the debt,
and could resume activities as long as
the plan was adhered to.
Rogers said that "someone who is
behind on support payments but par-
ticipating in after-school activities may
be better served by taking a part-time
job instead of participating in athletics
or theater."
"This bill seeks to bring our priori-
s back into focus on this important
sue," he said.


Safewalk suffers
from decline in
student volunteers

.1

* Coordinators attribute
drop-off to group's lack
of publicity
By Edn Frances
For the Daily
With the serial rapist sentenced to
prison, Safewalk-- the nighttime Uni-
versity servicethat walksstudents home
- has experienced a decline in volun-
teers;
Safewalk is run by students (either
two women or
one man and one
woman) who A lot o
walk other stu-


dents
within
minute

home
a 20-
radius

from the Under-
graduate Li-
brary or Bursley
Hall.
D o m i n i c k

don't knoi
easy it is I
Safe walk.
T'-

"Because the majority are women
who use it, I like the idea that there is
always a woman who walks home with.
me," she said.
Argumedo attributes the plummet in
numbers to bad luck. "We lost publicity
from the serial rapist, our banner for the
first mass meeting fell down, and our
fliers were taken down the same day of
the meeting," he said.
Argumedo said Safewalk often gets
large numbers of students willing t0.
devote their time, but occasionall
they are in nee4t
of more volun-
F people teers. si "t«
Taketa said she
V 1oW called last year to.
volunteer, but wa§,
to USe told there was an
abundance of vok-
unteers already. -
racey Taketa "I'm sure there
LSA juniOr are students who,
were in the same
position and
wanted to help out last year," she'
said. "I'm sure if they knew numbers
were low, they would call again."
Operating five nights a week-Sun-
day through Thursday - team mem-
bers are available from 8 p.m. to 2:30.-
a.m. On Friday and Saturday nightsr..,
the service runs from 8 p.m. to 11:30,,
p.m.
Although Safewalk held their see-
ond mass meeting for volunteers on'
Feb. 7, anyone still interested can calA,
the Sexual Assault Prevention and
Awareness Center at 763-5865.

JOSH BIGGS/Daily
A draining activity
University student Trudy Wiss demonstrates the simplicity of giving blood. The Red Cross continues its blood drive
today at the Michigan League from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
s criticized for prote tn
those who selli teens cigarettes

Argumedo, co-
coordinator of Safewalk, said the num-
bers of students interested in working
for the service has steadily dropped.
Argumedo said there were approxi-
mately 200 volunteers in the 1994-95
school year, 175 volunteers this past
fall and only 120 volunteers this term,
he said.
Safewalk accompanies about 100stu-
dents home per week,
LSA junior Tracey Taketa, who uses
the service, said, "A lot of people don't
know how easy it is to use Safewalk and
how accessible their services are.

Commission votes in favor of

LANSING (AP)-Health advocates
yesterday blasted measures. billed as
tools to reduce teen smoking, charging
they will have little effect because they
protect retailers who sell cigarettes to
children,
"The bills were designed to fail," said
Raj Wiener, a lobbyist with the Michigan
Coalition on Smoking or Health,
"It penalizes the child who's addicted
to a product, while it protects the retail-
ers,"agreed Susan Steinke ofthe Ameri-
can Cancer Society.

The two bills, already passed in the
Senate, each were approved 7-0 yester-
day by the House Local Government
Committee,
The bills would make it a $100 civil
infraction for a minor to be caught buy-
ing or possessing tobacco and would
require that the teen be charged in order
for the retailer who sold the cigarettes
to also be prosecuted. The fine for re-
tailers would be 5150.
Both those infractions now are $50
criminal misdemeanors.

Most retailers say they support the
bills so the law would be consistent
statewide and would put some respon
sibility on teens. However, they dis-
like the provision requiring tobacco
products be displayed either behind
the counter or in view of the sales
clerk.
Rep. Lynne Martinez (D-Lansing),
one of two members who declined to
vote on the bills, said the bills' niain
flaw is a loophole letting store owners
escape prosecution.

privatizing wholesale liquor

k y
f1


SAPAC
Continued from Page IA
a reassessment of the internal structure
of SAPAC is necessary.
"When something as basic as client
confidentiality breaks down, that's
*etty indicative of that," she said.
Joyce Wright, training and education
coordinator, asserted that the organiza-
tion had not received public complaints
about confidentiality during her two-
year tenure at SAPAC.
"By SAPAC's policy, and in fact by
law," Cain said, "we are obligated to
provide confidentiality to our clients."
"Based on my knowledge of SAPAC,
confidentiality is extremely important,"
aid University spokesperson Lisa
Iker. "( I don't believe that) SAPAC
would ever knowingly violate anyone's
confidentiality."
Baker said she cannot comment on
the specific accusations.
Maurer said the survivor allegedly
identified by Cain received services
from a SAPAC counselor while Cain
was director.
"I have spoken with the counselor
ho handled the case and the intake
Arms of the person were turned over to
Debi ... so she would know 'here are
the people whose confidentiality I have
to protect,"' Maurer said.
"This kind of misuse of power and
priviledge ... is frustrating and fright-
ening in an organization that exists to
dismantle these things," Crosby said.
Janelie White's dismissal
Maurer said SA PAC listed three rca-
ns for White's dismissal: White was
once overheard saying she didn't like
attending staff meetings; she asked her
supervisor, Emi Nakatazato, if she had
mispoken at a staff meeting after re-
ceiving a "funny" look from

Nakatazato's supervisor; and she ac-
cepted an invitation to be the keynote
speaker at a national conference with-
out consulting the SAPAC staff.
In September, Cain and Wright met
with White to discuss their concerns
about her job. Their concerns were de-
tailed in a memo to White two days
later.
"They were making demands on what
she could or couldn't say, who she
could or couldn't talk to," Maurer said.
Maurer said White used the memo to
start an affirmative action complaint
file with the University.
"I am upset and I am contemplating
taking legal action," Whitesaid."I hope
I will not have to take that step. ... Each
day that the wrong goes uncorrected,
more damage is done."
Several volunteers raised concerns
about how SAPAC notified the staff of
White's dismissal.
"The way this dismissal was an-
nounced to us, (we were) not only not
given a straight answer for her dis-
missal but that we found out some things
we were originally told were
erronneous," Freund said.
Freund said staffmembers wereorigi-
nally told that White had broken terms
of a contract, but later discovered that
the terms were listed only in the memo,
not in a signed contract.
Kumar asserted that regardless ofthe
reasons SAPAC administrators cited
for White's dismissal, White's color
and sexual preference had direct
corollation to the action. White is an
African American and a member of the
lesbian/bisexual community.

"Janelle was a constant reminderthat
we weren't meeting the needs of those
certain populations," Kumar said.
"What I feel the real cause for dis-
missal is she's adamantly. encouraging
change within the organization which
makes the rest of the organization un-
comfortable, because they're not easy
changes to make."
Minority relations
Maurersaid members ofthe black com-
munity, as well as members of the lesbian/
gay/bisexual community have consistently
felt alienated from the organization.
"SAPAC has a history of not ad-
dressing the concerns of different
poplulations ofcolor,"Crosby said. She
said, however, that this is a concern for
many organizations on and off campus.
Crosby said a meeting with Cain re-
vealed the organization's poor under-
standing of minorities.
"I pointed out that Janelle was the only
black woman who was a representative of
the lesbian/gay/bisexual community
working there, and Debi immediately
started talking about her behavior, which
is kind of code word for 'how to control.
(women of color),"'Crosby said.
The number of female minority sur-
vivors consulting SAPAC is an indica-
tion that the organization does not alien-
ate the general minority population,
Cain said.
"What's important to us is that we
want to serve the entire University of
Michigan community," she said.
Members of the lesbian/gay/bisexual
community communicated their con-
cerns to SA PAC at a program spon-

sored by the organization and the Lcs-
bian/Gay/Bisexual Programming Of-
fice last night.
"We went to them telling them that,
basically, SAPAC's not really that ap-
proachable," said Ryan LaLonde, a
member of the Michigan Student
Assembly's new lesbian/gaylbisexual
task force and the Queer Unity Project
planning team.
LaLonde said participants stressed that
domestic violence occurs in homosexual,
as well as heterosexual, relationships.
"It's very difficult to turn to SAPAC
when they're not suited for that - or
they don't know how to handle that
situation," he said.
SAPAC representatives were recep-
tive to suggestions to increase aware-
nessand approachability, LaLonde said.
"I don't think it's a big mystery or a
big secret that SAPAC isn't reaching as
many people as it can," Boone said.
"This should be a notice that students
need to start evaluating the services that
they are paying for - that they are
receiving."

LANSING (Ala) - Michigan's li-
quor panel yesterday set the state on the
path toward privatizing its wholesale
liquor system after making changes in
its plan to appease some opponents.
The Liquor Control Commission
voted 5-0 in favor of a plan to let private
companies handle the warehousing and
distribution of liquor starting May 1.
Commission Chairman Phil
Arthurhultz admitted the deadline will
be hard to meet with a lawsuit already
filed over the switch, but he predicted
the plan's legality eventually would be
upheld._
Consumers should notice no change
in the price or availability of liquor
once the state stops wholesaling it, he
said.
"The point is, the state can get out of
a business it has no business being in,"
he said.
But the president of a union which
would see 257 of its members lose their
jobs said workers would press ahead
with their lawsuit to try to stop the
privatization.
"If the judge listens to the political
wind, he'll no doubt rule in (Gov. John)
Engler's favor, Ifhe looks at the law, he
should rule in favor of the employees,"
said John Denniston, president of the
Michigan State Employees Association.
The state now handles the wholesal-
ing of liquor to 13,099 bars, restaurants,
hotels,.party stores and grocery stores
through three warehouses and 63 mini-
warehouses. Establishments either pick

up liquor from. the state or pay a private
company to deliver it to them.
Arthurhultz's plan would close"
those warehouses and mini-ware-
houses and put 320 state employees
out of work.
Distillers would arrange for distribu
tors to deliver their products to grocery
stores and other retailers and to estab-
lishments such as bars where liquor is
sold for on-premise consumption.
Originally, bars and other on-pre
mises licensees would have had to buy
their liquor from grocery stores and
package stores at full retail price, rather
than buying it from the state at the
current 17-percent discount.
Iabt sal

Rock T's
Sweaters

$5 Off
$5 Off

Many Other Great Deals
995-3323 
215 S. State St., Ann Arbov
NEXT TO STATE THEATRE-UPSTAIR$



* " .FlyWsiChiilenge *ommuty Spiuit11

I
a41

London" 19*

m - -: '. - U -