LcAL/STATE

The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, January 22, 1997 - 5

Michigan
0'bless
rate below
average
LANSING (AP)-- Michigan regis-
tered a 4.7-p rcent unemployment rate
for 1996, Go. John Engler said yester-
day. But the Official rate could be high-
er once the bureau of Labor Statistics
adjusts it next month.
Engler was jubilant about the figure.
"This is the lowest unemployment
rate since man first walked on the
moon," Engler said during a news con-
ce. "To paraphrase the words of
Neil Armstrong, this is one big step for
each Michigan worker, one giant leap
for our state.'
The rate could inove upward after it
is benchmarked next month by the
BLS. Analysts expect the adjusted rate
to remain below 5 percent, according to
a release from the governor's office.
The annual rate already is seasonally
justed.
December's seasonally adjusted
unemployment rate - was 4.7 percent,
Engler said, the same rate as
November. Overall, monthly unem-
ployment for Michigan in 1996 varied
between 4.5 percent and 4.9 percent.
Engler said the state's 1996 rate will
come in below the national unemploy-
ment rate of 5.4 percent. He said it
would be the third year in a row that
Michigan's unemployment rate was
low the national average.
In 1996, Michigan had 122,000
more jobs than in 1995, Engler said,
citing a total employment figure of 4.6
million.


Poverty not linked
to single moms

By Marc ughtdale
Daily Staff Reporter
Single teen-age mothers are not the
source of high national poverty rates, a
recent University study found.
"Having a baby is just one symptom
of a disadvantaged environment in
which (teen-agers) are raised," said
Social Work Prof. Mary Corcoran.
Corcoran studied 5,000 families and
found that family background and envi-
ronmental conditions determine the
success of single teen-age mothers -
not their pregnancies.
"She's done a great deal of work on
inter-generational poverty," said Sandy
Danziger, an associate professor in the
School of Social Work. "She's one of
the premier researchers in the field of
poverty."
Corcoran said the study dispels the
myth that preventing unmarried teen-
agers from having babies will enable
them to support themselves.
"A lot of people believe if you end
welfare, you will reduce poverty and
dependency," Corcoran said. "Our study
dispels the myth that preventing teen-age
births will help children avoid poverty."
Corcoran and graduate student James
Kunz studied 60 pairs of African
American sisters, aged 25-35. The teen-
age sisters came from a national sample
started in 1968.
"Mary's been doing research on
poverty, welfare and women in labor
markets for 20 years," said Sheldon
Danziger, a professor of Social Work
and Public Policy. "She is a nationally
recognized expert in this topic."

The poverty and welfare of women
who had an unmarried teen birth was
compared to that of a sister who waited
until marriage or their 20s to have a
child.
"A sister of a woman who had an out-
of-wedlock birth as a teenager fared
very badly even when she, herself,
avoided an out-of-wedlock, teen-age
birth," Corcoran said.
When controlling for family back-
ground, the researchers found that the
difference in income of the two sisters
was relatively small. The unwed teen-
age mother's family made $12,500,
compared with $16,500 of the sister who
avoided childbirth.
"People talk about this as though the
the sister who avoided childbirth would
have had a middle-class life," Corcoran
said. "Bad lives have to do with bad
backgrounds."
Corcoran believes there is a role for
policies aimed at reducing unmarried
teen-age births.
"A more useful strategy is to identify
the background disadvantages that
lower young women's economic
prospects and to eliminate or counteract
these disadvantages that prevent them
from realizing the 'American dream,"'
Corcoran said.
A bad family background can include
economic circumstances, parents' val-
ues, the safety of the environment and
the quality of the schools, Corcoran said.
The study is scheduled to be pub-
lished in June in the Social Service
Review, a journal published by the
University of Chicago.

AP PHOTO
Four times the fun
Michelle Hoffmeyer holds her four new baby boys (from left) Trevor, Deven, Dustin, and Trent on Monday at Hurley
Medical Center in Flint. The quadruplets were born Saturday and are the "first and last" children for Hoffmeyer and her
husband Rick. They are the first of three sets expected to be born at Hurley this year.

Judicial order dismissed against Kevorkian attorney

Panel rules that attorney will
not be sanctioned for 'judge
shopping'
DETROIT (AP)- Michael Schwartz, an attor-
ney for Dr. Jack Kevorkian, will not face court-
imposed sanctions related to what is known as
"judge shopping," a judicial panel ruled yesterday.
The three-member panel said it has not yet
decided whether sanctions will be levied against
Schwartz's partner, Geoffrey Fieger, or the law
firm of Fieger, Fieger and Schwartz of Southfield.
Detroit civil attorney John Runyan, who served
as special counsel to the case, said there was no
evidence that Schwartz aided Fieger in filing 13

lawsuits - then withdrawing all but one -in an
attempt to choose which judge would hear cases
involving Kevorkian.
"The reason for the dismissal was that Mr.
Schwartz represented to the court that he was out
of the city on vacation during the entire period of
time that these events were transpiring," Runyan
said. "I was unable to uncover any evidence to sug-
gest Mr. Schwartz had played any role in the filing
or dismissal of any of the counts."
Runyan said Schwartz' name had been typed on
the filings, but he had not signed any of them.
Schwartz said yesterday he agreed with the
panel's ruling.
"There's really nothing to discuss," he said. "I
don't think there was anything of any signifi-

cance.'
Fieger did not immediately return a telephone
message.
Fieger's lawsuits challenged a Michigan
Supreme Court ruling that allowed assisted sui-
cide to be prosecuted under common law. They
also sought an injunction against then-Oakland
County Prosecutor Richard Thompson for
enforcing the state's now-expired ban on assisted
suicide.
Charges against Kevorkian were dismissed ear-
lier this month by new Oakland County
Prosecutor David Gorcyca, who said trying the
assisted suicide advocate would be a waste of tax-
payer money.
Kevorkian still faces charges of assisted sui-

cide related to the death of an Ionia County
woman.
Fieger in December admitted to the "judge shop-
ping" charges and agreed to pay undetermined
court costs related to the filings, Runyan has said.
Schwartz was absent from Fieger's Dec. 17
hearing because of an illness. His hearing was held
Tuesday in U.S. District Court before Judges
Horace Gilmore, Denise Page Hood and Bernard
Friedman.
The panel said it would decide on sanctions
soon, Runyan said.
Runyan declined to speculate what penalties
might be imposed on Fieger or the law firm.
Possible sanctions could include fines, suspen-
sion of practice or an admonition from the judges




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