LoCALISTATE The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, February 11, 1997 - 3 Uion fight ends disturbances Several disturbances took place parly Saturday morning just follow- ing an altercation between fraternity ,.members and several football players at a dance at the Michigan Union, ,according to Department of Public Safety reports. The tail lights on a DPS vehicle were broken before 6 a.m. by unknown peo- ple while parked on Richard Kennedy bve. The tail lights of a second DPS Thicle parked at the Michigan Union also were broken. Also that morning, a University building coordinator reported being struck with a bottle in the chest while on Madison Street, between South Quad and West Quad. The victim declined emergency medical treatment. §pium overdose .ccurs at Bursley A caller reported to DPS on Saturday that his brother was acting "weird" and pretending he was God, DPS reports state. Police reported that the caller said his brother took an unspecified amount of opium Friday evening. DPS arrived at the lursley residence hall room, and Ann ,bor Fire Department and Huron Valley bulances also were originally called to the scene, but later were told that addi- tional help was unnecessary. The subject was escorted to the psychiatric emer- gency ward at University Hospitals, and was later admitted to the hospital. DPS officers also seized 12.2 grams of marijuana from the resident's room. The marijuana was tagged and placed into evidence, police said. 'uspect flees as window breaks A suspect was found attempting to enter a house on the 800 block of East University Ave. on Thursday, according to Ann Arbor Police Department reports. The suspect ran away when a resident of the house spotted him. The resident allegedly heard someone lking on ice and looked outside. He saw a male suspect standing under the Window and then saw him kick out one of the basement windows, the report states. When the resident pounded on th; window, the suspect fled. Victim beaten with nun-chucks A victim was assaulted Thursday night in Ypsilanti and taken to University Hospitals' emergency room, DPS reports state. The victim was beaten with nun- chucks, then robbed of $20 to $30, a black leather jacket, and a book bag. The victim reported blurred vision, a possible broken right wrist and a swollen head. DPS officers believe the suspect knew the victim, reports indicate. drunk students go sledding Several students were found sledding zi the valley area of Nichols Arboretum Thursday night, DPS reports stated. The main group of sledders reported that an intoxicated friend had wandered ' but was later located by DPS officers. Car impounded for unpaid tickets A University Hospitals staff person reported that her car was stolen last Saturday, according to DPS reports. DPS investigators found that the staff person's car was impounded by the city because of unpaid parking tickets. - Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter Jenni Yachnin. Engler campaigns for new employment plan Engler proposes plan to raise employment level to 100% By Jeffrey Kosseff Daily Staff Reporter In a campaign to reduce the state's welfare recipients to zero and lift the employment rate to 100 percent, Gov. John Engler has proposed to double funding to one of his trademark pro- grams - Project Zero. Project Zero is a service that provides welfare recepients with counselors to help them locate jobs, transportation to work and child care. It was implement- ed in six counties on a trial basis and Engler said it has been successful in reducing caseloads at the Family Independence Agency, the state's wel- fare program. "It's been an overwhelming success," said John Truscott, an Engler spokesperson. "The caseworkers in the counties that it was implemented in are seeing how successful it is." One statistic Truscott cited is the 40- percent employment rate of Detroit Project Zero clients. "We've doubled the rate of people working in some areas in a very short amount of time," Truscott said. However, some legislators say they are skeptical about the efficiency of the welfare reform. "I don't think they are serious about accomplishing full employment;' said state Sen. Joe Young Jr. (D-Detroit). Young said Project Zero does not do an adequate job of providing trans- portation and childcare - two ser- vices he said would aid many people in working. "We have individuals who leave at four or five in the work at eight," Young said. "Also, who wants to go to work just to pay for childcare? The problem remains the same." Truscott said state Democrats do not approve morning to get to It's bei overwheli success." Engler "In Ottawa County, it's been quite successful so far" said state Sen. Leon Stille (R-Spring Lake), who is chair of the Local, Urban and State Affairs com- mittee. "If it's successful in the current area, why f an not try it in a larger area?" nrng Sen. Alma Wheeler Smith (D-Salem Twp.) said she is wor- John Truscott ried that a pro- spokesperson gram concentrat- ed in only certain areas will not meet federal standards, which mandate enrolling 75 percent of unemployed families in ajob placement program. "We need to do a lot more," Smith said. "If we had that kind of concen trated effort statewide, that goal might be met." University researchers are studying the effectiveness of Project Zero' by interviewing directors of the FIA4'ho implement the program. They s'aid they cannot yet reach conclusiOns about the project, but said they have made some observations. "It seems like the FIA had trouble implementing all of the services," said Kristen Seefeldt, a University research associate. Seefeldt said the December statistics may not demonstrate the full efficiency of Project Zero because it was still in a transition phase. "Those reflect numbers without programs up in all areas," Seefeldt said. of the legislation because "it's more of a partisan issue for them." Some Senate Republicans encourage expansion of the program because they say it lowers unemployment rates. Screaming justice Ann Arbor City ,_ Council looks at income taX proposal AP PHOTO Anna Elwood, Lynn Furay and Joanne Gavin protest the execution of convicted murderer Richard Brimage Jr. yesterday in Huntsville, Texas. Brimage was executed for the 1987 murder of Texas A&I University student Mary Beth Kunkel. State orere to renovate pnson Tax would affect out- of-town University employees By Meg Exley Daily Staff Reporter The Ann Arbor City Council is con- sidering a revenue-generating income tax that will affect University employ- ees who do not call Ann Arbor home. However, the proposal is not expect- ed to boost students' taxes. School of Public Policy Dean Edward Gramlich and a group of grad- uate students in the School of Public Policy presented the council with the results of a tax study conducted since September. His final report, distributed to coun- cilmembers for the first time last week, examines how a city income tax would affect residents, employees and busi- nesses. The income tax would be aimed pri- marily at non-residents who commute to work in Ann Arbor but don't pay to use roads, water lines or parks - many of whom are University employees. But the proposed tax would have an income threshold that would ensure that most students who work in Ann Arbor wouldn't have to pay higher taxes. Jim Kosteva, University community relations director, said University offi- cials don't intend to support or oppose the proposed issue because it's a city matter. "The proposed income tax would not affect the University directly since it's a tax-exempt public institution;' Kosteva said. "However, we do realize that it would affect University employees and working students." Kosteva said as with any tax-shift issue, the extent to which an income tax would impact people depends on sever- al factors: location of residency, vfue of one's property and the amount ..of income generated by an individual. "Obviously, any University employee that lives outside of city limits will be negatively affected," Kosteva said. According to Gramlich's study, the University's more than 50,000 employ- ees earn about SI billion a year, but 53 percent of these workers don't live in Ann Arbor. The study calculates that the. city would obtain about $6.8 million fr0m University salaries with an income tax, $2.4 million which will come from P$o- ple who don't currently live in the city and therefore don't pay property tai in Ann Arbor. Kosteva said that if an income tax is eventually approved, there might-be a subtle shift in where University employees choose to live. Ann Arbor Mayor Ingrid Sheldon said it is still too early to predict the outcome to the income tax proposal: "This issue can be approached from many different directions" Sheldon said. "Prof. Gramlich's study is a"sig- nificant information tool that council will be using to create a workble financial plan." Sheldon said councilmembers don't have the luxury of time to carefully consider all options. "We are not in a desperate situation;' Sheldon said. "Right now we still have a sufficient fund balance to cover nec- essary services, but we will have to take financial action in the near future.' The idea of an income tax in Ann Arbor is not new. Voters rejected the tax in both 1969 and 1972. Gramlich said that if a tax is approved this year, it would most likely go into effect in 1998. LANSING (AP) - Gov. John Engler's administration is going ahead with $29.5 million in construction at the State Prison of Southern Michigan after arguing in federal court against being ordered to do the work. A spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Corrections said the state intended to go ahead with part of the project even as it asked a federal appeals court to overturn a lower court's order requiring it to break up the prison into smaller units. "We asked to halt the breakup of Jackson after Phase I, but we knew at the time, the two (phases) would func- tion together. We couldn't just stop right where we were at the end of (the first phase) and have a totally functioning prison," Gail Light said. Light said since the construction stay was granted, the state re-examined the project to see what it wanted to build. "We looked at the situation and said we're going to do (the next phase) any- way. There was a lot more to the breakup that stopped. We're going to do (the rest) the way we want to do it and it might be less expensive than the way the court wanted it to be done," Light said. "We see it as being able to do what is in the best interests of the department." The construction project at the Jackson prison stems from a 1985 law- suit by prisoners over conditions at the facility. A consent decree entered into by the state as a result of that suit covers med- ical care, programming, management and operations of the prisons. Part of the plan required breaking up the Jackson prison into smaller units. The first phase of that has been com- pleted at a cost of $75 million. ADMISSIONS Continued from Page 1 applicants has yielded an 80-to 85-per- cent rate of acceptance in those who attend," Monts said. "We think that increased effort will be able to chip away.at the deficit (of minority applica- tions)." Juan Sauceda, an Engineering senior and co-chair of Alianza, said he felt he had to seek out programs that could attract minorities when he transferred to the University before his junior year. "I think that the University can do a better job of recruiting," Sauceda said. "I'm sure there are students out there, we just have to find a way to attract them." Spencer said his department will not lower admissions standards for minori- ty applicants. Machen said he is not concerned that the decrease in minority applicants will negatively affect the University's recent diversity initiatives. "If, in fact, we end up with a smaller pool of applicants, we're just going to U I Sigma Iota Rho International Relations Honor Society Sigma Iota Rho, the University of Michigan's International Relations Honor Society, would like to congratulate its new members: JENNIFER BRADLEY-WIFT/Daily Provost J. Bemard Machen addresses the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs yesterday in the Fleming Administration Building. Alyssa Dunn Joshua Ruebner Jacob Shapiro Kara Hewes Ben Lerner Jed Friedman Erin Ross Brandon Ponichter Kelly Thiel Danielle Lauzon Jennifer Genovese Lisa Gewitz Laura Hershey Sara Champly Marisa Rothstein Scott Wilcox Fatuma Sanneh Jean Rishel Ethan Handleman Alan Izikson Applications for winter term admission ore being accepted until Feb. 14th and can be found at 7623 Haven Hall or at www.umich.edu/~Sigma have to double our efforts to make this as diverse a place as possible" Machen said D'Alecy said recruitment numbers vary over time. "I know there's a history and a pat- tern, but there's also quite a bit of fluc- tuation;' D'Alecy said. Correction: ..Roberto Rodriguez is a co-chair of La Voz Mexicana. This was incorrectly reported in yesterday's Daily. 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