8 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, March 13, 1998
Town cuts $1OK deal
to head off KKK rally
NATION/WORLD
CICERO, Ill. (AP) - Cicero, a gritty blue-
collar Chicago suburb once seen as a hotbed of
racism, cut a $10,000 deal with the Ku Klux
Klan to head off a KKK rally that officials
feared would trigger violence.
The town arranged for a $10,000 contribu-
tion, pledged by an anonymous donor, to pay
for printing and distribution of Klan literature.
In exchange, the Klan called off the rally, which
had been set for tomorrow.
"I guess it could be deemed extortion in one
sense, but I don't see it that way," Cicero Police
Superintendent David Niebur said yesterday. "I
think this is really a sensible solution under the
circumstances."
Cicero's racial tensions date back many
decades. During the civil rights era, the Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was pelted with rocks
and bottles at a rally in the 1960s, and he
likened Cicero to Selma, Ala. In 1985,
President Reagan canceled a visit after racial
tensions flared.
Cicero, with a population of 67,000, was
once nearly all-white. While it is almost 50 per-
cent Hispanic today, only a few blacks live here.
Town President Betty Loren-Maltese shared a
podium with Klan Imperial Wizard Jeffery
Berry on Wednesday to announce the deal. She
moved well off to the side as he spoke.
But it wasn't far enough for some Cicero res-
idents, who were stunned that the town would
make such a deal.
Richard Hirschhaut, regional director of the
Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, called it
a "deal with the devil." But he said considering the
potential for violence, it was for the best. "We
have to applaud the good people of Cicero and its
official leadership," Hirschhaut said.
The police superintendent said security
fences alone would have cost about $20,000.
The town would have also had to pay trans-
portation and expenses for 150 state troopers.
The Klan literature must be delivered either
by direct mail or by a private delivery service.
"There will be no Klansmen involved" in
delivery, Niebur said. "They have agreed to
notify the police department of when the litera-
ture will be sent."
AP PHOTO
Stock exc
consider
The Washington Post
The National Association of Securities
Dealers, which runs the second-largest
U.S. stock market, is discussing a merger
with the struggling American Stock
Exchange, which officials said could
give the NASD the cachet to challenge
the New York Stock Exchange for blue-
chip listings and give the Amex access to
new technology that would revolutionize
its trading system.
The NASD has largely eclipsed the
much older Amex in recent years, but
both have suffered from scandals, leav-
ing them in a difficult struggle with the
Big Board, the nation's dominant secu-
rities market. A merger is not yet cer-
tain, executives said, and any firm pro-
posal must be approved by at least two-
thirds of the members of the Amex, the
NASD board and federal regulators.
If the deal is approved, the Amex
would for the first time give customers
a choice of two ways to execute their
buy and sell orders. The customers'
broker could either do an electronic
trade, where an order would be filled at
the current, best price as displayed on a
computerized central order book. Or
they could a manual trade, where a bro-
ker on the exchange floor would carry
the order to the actual specialist post
and haggle over price.
Currently at both the Amex and the
NYSE, orders can be delivered elec-
tronically to the specialist, but a human
being has to intervene to execute each
one. This tradition of a human in the
middle of every trade is something both
the Amex and the NYSE have spent
hundreds of thousands of dollars trum-
hanges
merger
peting as the best and most fair way
trade stocks.
But not anymore, at least as far as V
Amex is concerned. "This will give piD
ple freedom of choice" said one sours
who supports the merger. He noted tht
several exchanges around the world
technology extensively and "a lot of peo
ple feel this is a better mousetrap." d
"You either get on the train or you ge
run over by the train," said the source,
who stressed that all orders will still g,
to a central specialist post on the Amex4
even though a human being will na
longer be involved in many of them.
Sources said the Amex hopes its tra
ing volume will rise significantly a*
part of the merger.
That would generate higher revenuoe
for the exchange, which it would shar!
with its members under some sort 44
revenue-sharing agreement.
The NASD would gain access to
Amex's lucrative business trading
options and other so-called "derivative"
securities, such as options on index
like the Dow Jones industrial averag
sources said. The NASD could also,
then, offer companies the opportunity
to have their shares handled by a human
specialist, not a computer.
The meaning of a combination to
investors is unclear, according to securi-
ties regulators and Wall Street executives.
Some say investors will gain as the
NASD applies its state of the art com-
puter technology to the Amex auction
market. Computer driven orders, offO
cials said, can be executed more effi-
ciently than orders handled by the
Amex's floor brokers.
Cicero resident Bill Yekel said race issues in Cicero hav
always been a concern of his.
STATE
Continued from Page 1.
Kevorkian:' Kevorkian is a former doc-
tor who has aided a reported 99 people
in ending their own lives.
"It's very hard, despite the polls, to
enact a law because there are going to
be victims either way;" Kamisar said.
Many people are in support of assisted
suicide due to the media's "heart wrench-
ing portrayals" of some patients,
Kamisar said. He said many people fail
to look at the potentially damaging rami-
fications of creating a law banning or
legalizing assisted suicide.
"People say 'it's my business.' But it's
not your business, because a law affects
everybody;' Kamisar said.
Pierce said he does not think this law
will stop Kevorkian.
"Probably Dr. Kevorkian will contin-
ue to do as he has. He will continue to
be prosecuted, and juries will continue
to find him not guilty."
Kamisar said Kevorkian has avoided
penalties under the law by claiming he
fell under a provision that allowed
patients to receive increased medication
to relieve pain - even if that medica-
tion could hasten death. The new legis-
lation could make Kevorkian vulnera-
ble to future prosecution.
"This law was written to prevent
Kevorkian from coming under that
exception;' Kamisar said. "You could
never have convicted him without this
statute, and it's still going to be hard."
Kevorkian has "put more pressure on
the legislature" to act, said Rep. Liz
Brater (D-Ann Arbor).
Merian's Friends treasurer Carol
Poenisch said she agrees that the law
was written in hopes of stopping
Kevorkian, who helped her mother,
Merian, end her life in 1993. She said
she thinks Kevorkian will be tried
under the new law, but "juries will side
with patients, not legislators."
Poenisch said she is "certainly grate-
ful for the help he gave my mother."
Some legislators said they don't
think assisted suicide is an issue that
should be regulated by the government.
"It's a choice issue. It's the most inti-
mate decision one can make. I don't
think government should be dictating to
citizens in these matters;" Brater said.
Wallace said the decision to take one's
life should be individual, but the state must
examine cases in which it is questionable if
the patient is making the decision.
"Primarily, it's an issue between
patient and physician, but the state has
an interest so that the patient is not
overreached. It's the patient's decision,"
Wallace said.
The government has certain respon-
sibilities it cannot overlook, and assist-
ed suicide falls under these obligations,
Van Regenmorter said.
"The legislature has a couple of fun-
damental obligations," Van
Regenmorter said. "One is to provide
for the protection of its citizens."
Truscott said Kevorkian's efforts
have played a great role in the evolution
of assisted suicide.
"It used to be (a personal issue), until
Jack Kevorkian started with his antics.
Now, it's not done carefully; it's not done
rationally. He has eliminated the possibil-
ity of rational debate;" Truscott said.
Although the bill passed, it does not
receive "immediate effect status,"
which would allow it to take effect this
summer. Instead, it must be signed, and
will not take effect until April 1, 1999.
"What this would do is give
(Kevorkian) another year to practice his
deadly work," Van Regenmorter said.
He also said he hopes some representa-
tives reconsider their votes so the bill
can take immediate effect.
With the campaign season just
around the corner, many people are
speculating about the impact assisted
suicide will have on candidates.
Truscott said he does not think the
bill's passage will be a major campaign
issue because it "won't have taken
effect (and) it won't be tested."
But Brater said she thinks assisted sui-
cide is "certainly going to be an election
issue."
Pierce said he believes that in the
November election, some legislators will
be hurt by the votes they cast yesterday on
the issue. "When you ignore what the peo-
ple want, you get in trouble" Pierce said.
Mans said the debate over assisted
suicide is not over.
"This issue is so volatile and so emo-
tional that anything can happen in the
next year;"he said. "We haven't heard the
last of this issue."
NATHAN RUFFER/Daly
Sarah Chopp, Students' Party vice presidential candidate for the Michigan
Student Assembly, campaigns yesterday on the Diag.
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MSA
Continued from Page 1
hesitant at first, but when you
start talking to them, they realize
that we're serious about our work
and realize we're trying to work to
improve the student experience
here at the University," Garcia
said.
"That only happens when candi-
dates take the time to talk to stu-
dents face to face," he said.
Sarah Chopp, the Students' Party
vice-presidential candidate, said
the event was helpful to both candi-
dates and students.
"It think it's highly beneficial,"4
Chopp said.
"I think it's beneficial more to
the student body than to the can-
didates because it shows them
that there are people out there that
are really working to make a dif-
ference. That's what I like most
about campaigning - meeting
people" she said.
WOLV-TV Channel 70 will be
airing live presidential and vice-I
presidential debates today at 5 p.m.
WCBN 88.3 F.M. will broadcast
the debate at 6 p.m.
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