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. AWARE RECORDS SHOWCASE and special guests Thursday March 19 Doors 9:30pm I'!711 IhIi~iEU 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. CIGAR STORE I S With DJ DEL Sunday March 22 Doors 8pm 1a Evaluate student essays National Computer Systems is the nation's largest commercial processor of student assessments serving over 40 state-wide K-12 testing programs. NCS will be operating a scoring center in Ann Arbor for approximately 8 weeks. We are currently seeking people to assist with evaluating student responses to open-ended questions. If you have a degree from an accredited college or university with a background in reading, writing, science or a related field we have a great job for you. Teaching experience is a plus, but not required. For more information about NCS, visit our web-site at www.ncs.com. " Full-time and part-time evening shifts available late March through early May " NCS offers a pleasant, team oriented, professional work environment " Pay rate is $8.25 per hour " Onnortunities for lead nnition available HASH BASH NIGHT ZEENCTITKT EAS Grateful Dead Tribute Band Saturday April 4 Doors 9:30pm