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September 23, 1998 - Image 1

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The Michigan Daily, 1998-09-23

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News: 76-DAILY
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One hundred seven years ofeditori'lfreedom

Wednesday
September 23, 1998

S A
ilissioll!

Clinton
ratings
rise In
polls
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON - Buoyed by ini-
tial reaction supporting President
Clinton, the White House and congres-
anal Democrats expressed hope yes-
day that the public's general disinter-
est after viewing the president's video-
taped grand jury testimony will help
stall any impeachment drive on Capitol
Hill.
Opinion polls showed that the presi-
dent's job approval rating rose six
points after his four hours of testimony
was aired Monday, and his defenders
now believe that this kind of sustained
support could throw water on
Vublican attempts to remove Clinton
m office.
Even several GOP members of the
crucial House Judiciary Committee
conceded that the edge may have
shifted to the Democrats, noting that
constituents in their districts did not
come away angry after watching
Clinton defend himself in the
Monica Lewinsky sex-and-perjury
scandal.
ne of them, Rep. Asa Hutchinson
-Ark.) suggested that the panel
should be mindful of public opinion
before it releases the rest of the report
from Independent Counsel Kenneth
Starr.
"The Judiciary Committee needs to
always consider public 'opinion,"
Hutchinson said. "There's a possibility
of backlash against anyone who is not
handling this fairly."
Clinton's lawyers took advantage of
Wnexpectedly good showing by tak-
ing the offensive for the first time in
weeks, saying in a letter to Judiciary
Committee members that Starr had left
out of his report information that would
bolster his defense.
Hyde acknowledged receiving the
letter from Clinton's lawyers, but
disagreed that any information was
purposely excluded to be unfair to
t president. He also shooed away
nocrat complaints that his com-
mittee is not acting in a partisan
spirit,the material - which includes
testimony by former Lewinsky
friend Linda Tripp, Clinton secre-
tary Betty Currie and presidential
friend Vernon Jordan - is set to be
made public no later than next
Monday.
"We're doing our job," said Judiciary
Committee Chair Henry Hyde (R-ll.)
"We're following our mandate."
* yde said he expects a recom-
mendation from his panel soon, and
then a full House vote by early
October, on whether to move to the
next step - a formal impeachment
inquiry.
He also signaled that he would like
to begin preliminary hearings on the
controversy after the Nov. 3 elections
but before the current 105th Congress
e ires at year's end.
ut after all the pre-release hype
that Clinton's position would sink
with the airing of his testimony, the
opposite appeared to be happening.
Instead of Republican leaders mar-

shaling more momentum toward a
vote on impeachment, the public's
approval of Clinton's performance
as president not only continued to
hold strong, but actually was build-
ing.
A Gallup poll conducted yester-
4for CNN and USA Today
showed that 66 percent of respon-
dents still approved of the job
Clinton is doing, six points higher
than the figure Sunday, the day
before the broadcast.
Clinton, in New York attending a
meeting on the global economy with
the Japanese prime minister, declined
to discuss the uneasy balance
hiween the public's approval, of his
k as president and the House
Republicans' desire to push on
toward impeachment.
"I don't have anything to add to
whatever the White House is saying
about all this," he said during a brief
appearance at a New York hotel.
"RPli r i+ nr not I hunvn't rnA tha

Family still
grieving loss
of Williams

By Nikita Easley
Daily Staff Reporter
For some people on campus, today
is just another day. They will wake
up, fix breakfast and maybe call a
loved one before entering the hustle
and bustle of the world. But, for the
Williams family, Sept. 23 will never
be the same.
A year ago today, the University
community awoke to reports that one of
their own had been murdered.
LSA senior Tamara Sonya Williams
was stabbed to death on Sept. 23,1997,
by her boyfriend Kevin Nelson. Nelson
was fatally shot by a Department of
Public Safety officer when he refused
to release his knife.
Williams' grandmother, Jeanette
Hart, said the family has been coping
with the tragedy.
"It's hard, but we are coming along,"
Hart said. " am a very religious person
and through church, a lot of friends and
the help of God, the family has stuck
together."
"You never get over it, but you learn
to live with it, she said.
Laconda Williams, Tamara
Williams' older sister, said she has been
able to handle the death of her sister
better than she expected.
"My sisters and I are really close
and they help me get through it" she
said.
Hart added that she had realized a
few days earlier that the anniversary of
Tamara's death was approaching.
"We haven't planned any vigils for
that day" Hart said. "We plan to take
flowers to the cemetery and have dinner
at my house."
Yvonne Williams, Tamara's mother,
now has custody of Tamara's three-
year-old daughter Kiera Williams.
Hart said Kiera Williams is the pri-
mary reason the family has stuck so
close together. The family wants her to
have a normal life.
"We have a lot of love and are rais-
ing an adjusted little girl" Hart said.
Hart added that Kiera Williams is
attending school and is aware that
"her mommy is in heaven." Once in
awhile she even mentions her late
mother. Kiera had a dream that her
mother was going to buy her a Barbie

NATE BOZEN/Daily
A help wanted sign posted in the window of Steve and Barry's on State St. along with University paraphernalia advertises
open positions. With the current low rates of unemployment, students have been able to easily find jobs around Ann Arbor.
Vibrnt economy leads to
sturong campus jotp)Lb markeLt

are coming along
...the fahas
stuck together.'
-Jeanette Hart,
TamaraWilliams'
grandmother
car, Hart said.
Tamara Williams was a hard work-
ing, 20-year-old student who planned to
attend law school after graduation. She
was raising her two-year-old daughter,
tutoring sixth-graders in the evenings
and taking classes at the time of her
death.
Tamara Williams, Nelson and
Kiera Williams were living in
University housing at Northwood V
Their neighbors, other Northwood
residents, heard screaming and final-
ly gunshots a little after midnight on
that fateful Tuesday.
Both Williams and Nelson died in
surgery early that morning.
Williams murder affected many
people in the University community. It
marked the first time a DPS officer
fired a gun at someone in the line of
duty. After the murder, critical-incident
debriefing counselors were brought
into DPS.
DPS Director Leo Heatley said DPS
training has not changed since last year
as a result of the incident.
"We reviewed all of the policies and
procedures, and I am satisfied with
See WILUAMS, Page 7

By Paul Berg
For the Daily
Low rates of unemployment and an overwhelming
need for new workers among area employers have pro-.
duced an unusually open job market for University stu-
dents.
The fourth quarter Employment Outlook Survey for
1998, 'published by temporary employment agency
Manpower Inc., indicates that 56 percent of Ann Arbor
employers intend to increase their workforce this fall, the
highest percentage in Michigan and more than double the
Midwest average.

"Employers are asking us to find people, find out what
hours they can work and working out schedules around the
new employees," said Gail Reamer, Manpower's vice presi-
dent of operations. "That kind of thing was unheard of five
years ago."
The survey has been conducted since 1965 and was
revised by the University's Survey Research Center in
1976.
Its statistics are determined by the answers of 15,000
employers nationwide, and the survey examines 10 different
industries.
See JOBS, Page 7

Politicians differ
odn Proposal B

By Mike Spahn
Daily Staff Reporter
Michigan, nationally known for its
automobile industry, cherry festival and
prestigious universities, has recently
been gaining fame that has moved it to
the forefront of a national debate.
The debate strikes a chord with
every person who has ever felt the pain
of a death in the family.
Physician assisted
suicide began centuries'
ago across the globe.
Since its conception,a
the practice has been;
legalized in parts of
Europe, but its use in w :
the United States con-°
tinues to spark contro- =
versy.
And with Jack Kevorkian, the for-
mer physician now nicknamed the
"Doctor of Death," residing and prac-
ticing in Michigan, the state has taken
the lead in this national discussion.
Last March, the state Senate and
House of Representatives passed a bill
sponsored by Sen. William Van
Regenmorter (R-Hudsonville) that bans
any individual from aiding in the death
of another. After Gov. John Engler
signed the bill late this August, the bill
became law, imposing a fine and possi-
ble jail time on anyone caught aiding in
a person's suicide.
That bill could be voided if a ballot
initiative making physician assisted sui-
ril 14cxi fnr tminnlli l1l mntnilly

Nl

es on Nov. 3. The group gathered
379,000 signatuves to get language on
the ballot in support of assisted suicide.
In addition, former Kevorkian
lawyer Geoffrey Fieger received the
Democratic nomination for governor
in July and is currently using the issue
to attack Engler.
Merian's Friends, named for former
Ann Arbor resident
S g. Merian Frederick who
ended her life with
Kevorkian's aid, fought
>n Par for more than a year to
an get the language on the
""e * t- ballot, including a last-
mes series minute attempt to sub-
stitute their language
1 ffM G for the bill that passed
the Legislature.
Ed Pierce,tchair of Merian's
Friends, said the process of getting
signatures was a very difficult one, but
he thinks it will pay off in the end. The
group was forced to hire a firm to col-
lect most of the signatures, at a cost of
$750,000 to the group.
"All the polls have held up fairly
well," Pierce said. "Sixty percent are
for the initiative, 35 percent against.
But we're currently polling again."
But Proposal B faces stiff opposi-
tion from a coalition that Pierce said
has threatened to spend $5 million to
assure the proposal is defeated. The
opposition includes the Catholic
Conference, the Michigan Medical
rnrit- anti the Rinht to I fe

JESSICA JOHNSON/Daily
David Goldstein, an audience member at yesterday's assisted suicide forum at the Mendelssohn Theatre, poses a
question to Jessica Bird, a speaker at the event.
'U' hosts forumon0assisted suic.ide''!

By Gerard Cohen-Vrignaud
Daily Staff Reporter
Questions surrounding physi-
cian-assisted suicide are proving
crucial in a year when Michigan
voters will be asked to approve a
ballot proposal legalizing euthana-
sia in November.
Conflicting opinions were dis-
cussed last night at a public forum
titles "The Aid-in-TDvinn Vnte- Are

Edward Pierce, one of the three fea-
tured speakers and chair of Merian's
Friends - the organization that has
led the fight for physician-assisted
suicide - started off the discussion
with a question that encapsulated the
forum's intent.
"Five years ago, I asked myself,
'Should it be legal?"' Pierce said. "I
thought it should be legal - for my
wife fnrmvrhildren fnrvn'nrentc for

and scope in the physician-assisted sui-
cide debate. If approved, Proposal B
would allow terminally-ill patients with
six months or less left to end their lives
with physician prescribed medication.
Patients would be obliged to start
the process themselves, get confirma-
tion of their illness from two physi-
cians and consult a psychiatrist before
medication is prescribed. There would
ha a seven-dav waitino nerind and

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