LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Friday, November 8, 1996 - 3
Attackers use
knife, gun in
robberies -
*Two armed robbery cases were
reported this week to the Ann Arbor
Police Department.
A clerk was allegedly robbed at
gunpoint at the Hop In convenience
store/gas station at 601 S. Main St.
early Monday morning.
The suspect wore a red bandanna
over his face and allegedly pulled a
silver handgun on the clerk at 2:47
a.m. Monday. The man demanded the
register be opened and allegedly
Ie the clerk's wallet, which con-
tained $200 in cash and various per-
sonal items.
The man was last seen wearing a
plaid flannel shirt and jeans. He was
heading east down Madison Street on
foot, according to AAPD reports.
The second armed robbery occurred
when a victim was attacked by an
unknown number of men with a "cut-
instrument" at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The victim suffered six cuts from
the attack in a parking lot at 1030
Arbordale St. One of the suspects is
described as between 18-22 years old.
The man is 6-foot and weighs 170
pounds. Another suspect is 5-foot-8
and weighs 180 pounds. This male
suspect with a "neat mustache" was
last seen wearing a black silk scarf and
dark flannel shirt, according to AAPD
reports.
tAPD investigates
four separate
felonious assaults
The Ann Arbor Police Department
is investigating four unrelated felo-
nious assault cases.
The most recent case occurred at the
*mbay Bicycle Club restaurant early
Sunday morning. The victim was
approached by the suspect in the
restroom of the club, which is located
at 3150 Boardwalk St.
The suspect allegedly pulled a
handgun on the victim at around 2
a.m. Sunday, but the man made no
verbal threats or touched the victim.
The suspect is described as 33 years
old, according to AAPD reports.
I the second case, 10-15 suspects
roke into a house on 1316 Geddes
Ave. and attacked people there at 9:30
p.m last Friday.
Four people were allegedly assault-
ed in the attack, including two injured
by 'bottles. Another person was
attacked with an exhaust pipe, and the
fourth was hit with a charcoal grill
starter.
Another felonious assault incident
*curred last Friday.
An unknown number of suspects
allegedly kicked down the door to an
apartment at 1316 Geddes Ave. The
suspects then allegedly struck the
individual inside with a bottle at 10:45
p.m. Friday.
The fourth incident occurred when
a suspect brandished a gun and threat-
ened the victim with it in the 300
block of Maynard Street.
employee chases
three thieves
An employee of a Denny's restau-
rant chased three customers after
they allegedly left the building with-
out paying for their meals at 5:30
a.m. last Wednesday, according to
Ann Arbor Police Department
ports.
,The employee, who works at the
Denny's located on 3310 Washtenaw
Ave., said the patrons left in a blue
vehicle with Michigan license plate
LXY571.
the employee told police that the
car allegedly tried to run him over,
according to AAPD reports.
Compiled bV Daily Staf'Reporter
Anupatna Reddv
SINK OR SWIM
Synchro
battles
image,,s
By Kathy Camp
For the Daily
Donna Meers knows her sport
inspires humor.
"Did you hear the one about the syn-
chronized swimming team that
drowned'? Yeah, one of them went
down and the rest followed," she said.
Meers, coach of the University's
synchronized swimming team, smiled
despite the joke's macabre tone and the
fun it pokes at the parallel movements
prized by synchro swimmers.
But she pointed out that jokes like
this prove synchronized swimming is
gaining recognition as a competitive
sport. Martin Sheen's Saturday Night
Live skit about the Olympic tryouts of
a synchro team that can't swim is
another example.
"That Saturday Night Live skit, even
though it is a joking image, has really
done a lot for the sport," she said.
Despite losing to women's crew last
year in a bid for varsity sport status,
the University's synchro team - at 15
members - is the largest it has been
in recent years.
But as a club sport, it must fight the
fluffy image with limited money and
recruiting power. Synchro also is fac-
ing increasing competition from Big
Ten teams.
"Synchronized swimming is not
taken very seriously, which is unfortu-
nate," said LSA senior Chrissy Jacobs.
team captain. a
The synchronized swimming team practices at Canhan pool Wednesday night.
"I think there are a lot of sports that
suffer from the same thing, like ice
skating or anything like that. There are
people who say it isn't a real sport if
you are not scoring points or racing or
something," she said.
Though she noted its scoring is sub-
jective, Meers argued that synchro's
emphasis on harmony, precision and
endurance presents unique athletic chal-
lenges.
"It's an awesome sport," Meers said.
"I was watching figure skating the
other day and I thought, 'There's just
one of them and they can breathe."'
In the 1940s, synchro was popular-
ized in the United States as water bal-
let by Hollywood stars like Esther
Williams, but it was not recognized as
a medalled Olympic sport until 1984
after successfully shaking some of its
earlier glamorous image.
"Synchro changed in character from
being water ballet to really becoming
more athletic in the '70s or '80s."
.Jacobs said.
"If you look at pictures of (this
year's) Olympic team, these are some
of the most muscular women you ve
ever seen. They look like endurance
swimmers, butterfliers," she said.
To train, the synchro swimmers do
laps both for general conditioning and
to build the strength needed to maintain
their position in the water, along with
underwater laps to build breath control.
Team members agreed that any uin-
gering perceptions of synchronized
swimming as a sport of stele over
substance are undeserved.
"This sport is really challenging.
You think, 'Oh, that \\ill be so easy.
but it's really one of the most chal-
lenging sports I've been in said L.SA
sophomore Carolyn von Maur.
Computer
sites still
crowded
By David Rossman
lhails Sc tF tcpo ri
Number 17. Number 174. Is there a
I 74
No. vou're not in line at the deli
couter- this is the Angell Hall cam
pus computing site.
The take-a-number sstem, which
kicks in at Angell Hall when the site
becomes overcroxded. is one step in
the I nformation Technology Division's
ongoing attempt to monitor student
access to the site.
Despite efforts to control the
crowds of students filtering in. the
problem remains. From the recently
introduced flags - where students are
asked to use the cardboard flag
attached to the computer's monitor to
signal availability - to the number
system, students say they are frustrat-
ed.
"I think the tags are useless.' said
Heather Hofert. an SNRI: senior.
Angell Hall the Uni ersitv's largest
computing site - w ith 248 computers
in the courtyard alone, is busy much
of' the da, said Edward Slonina,,
Angell Ilall's computing site team
leader.
"(The crowd) is pretty steady
between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. What we
really need is an electronic system of
allocating stations, \which would be
very beneficial''said Edward Slonina.
Angell IHall's computing site team
leader.
"(The site) is too large for a self-
queuing system. We wanted to try new
ideas, and we're just testing (the num-
ber system) out.
The number system has its problems,
said Mary Bardeen, an Angell Hall
computer monitor who sits at the site's
entrance and assists Students\With queS-
tions.
Bardeen said "the system" would
work much better, provided students be
patient.
"When it gets very crowded, there is
no way for me to control people who
don't honor the system." she said, refer-
ring to students who bypass the
entrance and scout out their own com-
puter.
"We need a system that helps the
customer. but we need to be able to
manage it. If things dont seem to get
better by Thanksgi ing, well resort
back to the station cards." Slonina
said. "The only problem there is that
people usually take the cards home,
w hich creates a problem.
Timothy Donnelly. an I 'D superi-
sor of public computing ficilities:
agreed that there arc problems with
long lines and said he looks forward to
trying new ideas and listning to stu-
dent feedback.
"I think there's a need for something
new. but we have to see what works:
Donnelly said. "Parts of (the current
systems) can work after we smooth a
few things out."
MSA elections near, candidates storm campus
By Will Weissert
Daily Staff Reporter
As the excitement over the national
race winds down, candidates for seats
on the Michigan Student Assembly are
beginning to shift their
own campaigning
efforts into high gear P
with elections less than
two weeks away. startin
"People are really
starting to get into it - it gas
we are out talking to
students who have been
very willing to discuss
important, student
issues,said Michigan Party Chair Dan
Serota. "With fee increases and other
important decisions students will have
to make, we want to make sure people
understand all of the issues."
MSA elections will be held Nov. 20-
21.
A resolution prohibiting putting up
campaign posters on painted surfaces,
passed by the assembly in September.
will not take effect during this term's
elections because it was not passed 65
days before the scheduled election days.
But Serota said that even without the
resolution, postering will not be a major
priority for his party.
opie are reall
g to get into
- Dan Serota
Michigan Party chair
"We are
trying to
focus more
on going to
st u d e nt
grOups and
t a i k in g
with stu-
d e n t s
instead of'
just poster-
said. "Nane
going to spend I 1000 on posters
nobody wants to see anyway."
But other parties said students can
expect to see fliers and posters in the
near future.
"Next week, we'll be fliering and we'll
be putting up posters." said Slumber
Party member Ted Chen. "We want to
increase our name recognition and wve
want to get our message out and actively
fliering is a good way to do that.'
Chen said his party also has some
other campaign tricks up its sleeve.
"We will take the campus by storm.
Chen said. "We'll have some surprises
next week"
In addition to voting to fill the 24
vacant assembly seats in 13 separate
schools, students will also have the
opportunity to endorse or reject three
different proposals to increase their
per-term student fee.
Students will have the option of rais-
ing their fee $1.50 to benefit Project
Serve and the Black Volunteer Network.
Other groups also stand to benefit.
"Because community service is on
such a rise here and it is an important
aspect of life on campus, I don't think
anyone could vliew this increase in a
negative light." said LSA junior Karen
Lareau, who is on Project Serve's fund-
ing proposal committee.
"Also, this money will be going to
benefit a variety of groups and students
on campus through the scholarships
and additional funding to student
groups, Lareau said.
Students will also decide whether
they want to increase the fee an addi-
tional $l to increase MSA fiuding and
an additional $I to benefit individual
schools and college governments.
"An increase in general funds is
important because it will help us sup-
port more students on campus and will
help more student groups as well," said
MSA President Fiona Rose. "This is
not an increase in bureaucracy- the
additional funds will be going back to
the community."
If all of the fee increases pass the cur-
rent student fee of 52.69 will rise to
56.19.
f
ing and fliering." Serota
recognition is important. but what each
individual candidate stands f'or and
what input we can get from students is
more important."
Engineering Rep. David Burden. a
member of the Crush the Purple
Dinosaur Party, said his party would
not rely heavily on posters either.
"We are not running a traditional
campaign:" Burden said. "We aren't
Kevorkian arraigned on
assisted suicide charge
IONIA, Mich. (AP) -- Dr. Jack
Kevorkian was charged yesterday with
assisting the suicide of a woman suffer-
ing from multiple sclerosis, his first
legal test in conservative western
Michigan after a string of courtroom
victories in the Detroit area.
"Given the glare of the national spot-
light on my hometown ... my life could
be a lot easier without this case" onia
County Prosecutor Raymond Voet said
after the arraignment. "I will not shirk
from my duties. I will not run.
"lonia did not choose Dr.
Kevorkian," lie said. "Dr. Kevorkian
chose lonia."
Kevorkian's attorney Geoffrey Fieger
has acknowledged that the assisted-sui-
cide advocate was present Aug. 30
when Loretta Peabody, 54, died at her
lonia home, 35 miles east of (irand
Rapids.
Voet summoned a grand jury, which
returned a four-count indictment this
week, charging Kevorkian with violat-
ing Michigan's common law prohibit-
ing assisted suicide.
He is also accused of conspiring to
assist Peabody's suicide with ally Janet
Good, practicing unauthorized medi-
cine, and conspiracy to practice unau-
thorized medicine. No charges against
Good were disclosed.
If convicted on all four counts, the
maximum penalty is 18 years in prison.
There is no formal law in Michigan
banning assisted suicide. Rather, the
charge is based on a 1994 ruling by the
state Supreme Court, which prohibits
the practice, Voet said.
Interested inl
BiotechnologyT'.
The Cellular Biotechnology Training Program will
offer Cellular Biotechnology 504 in the Winter '97 term.
Topicscovered include biomolecular recognition,
ligand-receptor dynamics affecting cytoskeletal
rearrangements, biotechnology applications in disease
treatment at the organ level, retroviral targets for the
therapeutic drug design, tissue engineering, cellular
differentiation control, and microbial adaptation and
response in environmental biotechnology.
The course provides an overview of the disciplinary
foci that define the field of cellular biotechnology, with
emphasis placed on conveying knowledge of basic
principles and on illustrating the relationships between
t'itkfli4vf lLi i uki'-ec wxrithin the nntavt nf the intparntpdI
L A
What's happening in Ann Arbor today
FRIDAY
J "CIGNA Corporation: Information
Session," sponsored by CP&P,
Michigan League, Vandenberg
Room, 7-9 p.m.
J "Conversations with Courtney
Clixby," pro gramming spon-
sored by Unions Thetwork
Television, channel 124, 3 p.m
and 8 p.m.
J "Delivering Shabbat Meals," spon-
sored by Hillel, Hillel, 1429 Hill
J "Society of Hispanic Professional
Engineers Presents Huges
Aircraft," sponsored by SHP E,
Michigan Union, Wolverine
Room, 5 p.m.
J "Student Open House: Information
About Graduate Study in
Biostatistics," sponsored by
Department of Biostatistics,
School of Public Health
Building, Room M3024. 1-4:30
p.m.
p.m.
SUNDAY
J "Ballroom Dance Classes," spon-
sored by Ballroom Dance Club,
Michigan Union Ballroom, 7-8 p.m.
beginning lesson, 8-9:30 p.m.
dance practice
~"Chorale Service of Holy
Communion Featuring 16th
Century Organ Classics," spon-
sored by Lutheran Campus
1