The Michigan Daily -- Monday, October 12, 1998 5A $100-a-plate Fieger fundraiser fails to draw crowd By Mike Spahn Daily Staff Reporter YPSILANTI - Geoffrey Fieger alienates, insults and chides members of his own Democratic party - not to mention his opposition in the governor's race. ,Wnd a visibly tired, but nevertheless energetic leger continued his path to election day Friday morning when he addressed a scantily attended, $100-per-plate fundraiser at the Washtenaw Country Club. Fieger, fresh off a two-day bus tour of the state, arrived late to the event. His Mercury Villager car- avan pulled in at 8:45 a.m. for the breakfast that officially began at 7:30 a.m. When he took the microphone, Fieger returned to his familiar rhetoric. He attacked Gov. John Engler's claim that Michigan's water is safe and clean as a "shameless and absolute lie." "We can put a man on the moon, but we can't figure out how to get fecal content out of Lake St. Clair," Fieger told the crowd. Fielding questions on the environment and health care reform, the attorney who previously defended "Dr. Death" Jack Kevorkian attacked Engler's policies as bigoted, racist and completely inept. "There's enough evidence of corruption to make your head spin," Fieger said. And he didn't ease off on Engler as the speech continued, claiming that the governor has never held a "real job" in his life. "And if he applied to my law office, he would- n't get a job," Fieger said. "I don't consider him to be a highly talented individual." After his 40-minute address concluded, Fieger addressed the higher education funding concerns raised by University Regent candidate David Brandon from Plymouth and current Regent Daniel Horning (R-Grand Haven). The two Republicans held a press conference Thursday, claiming Fieger's proposed repeal of the single business tax could cripple the Legislature's ability to give adequate funding to the state's col- leges and universities. "Don't worry about it, because I'm the biggest supporter of higher education you can find," Fieger said. He said the economic growv th resulting from the tax cut and a trimming of other budgets would pave the way to continued high funding for all uni- versities. The fundraiser, sponsored by the Better Michigan Fund, included addresses by Sen. Alma Wheeler Smith (D-Salem Twp.), Mayoral candi- date Chris Kolb, incumbent county board member Martha Kern and supporters of the environmental proposals on November's ballot. Although disappointed with the turnout, Smith said she hoped that by hearing the Fieger message, turnout at events and at the polls could ensure a strong Democratic showing. "If we don't get the turnout, we could be in trou- ble in races we expected to be safe in," Smith said. Nl ichigan will go under if we don't get out and vote." Smith said that while many Democrats have been distancing themselves from the controver- sial candidate, Fieger's address at the Democratic convention actually displayed the "first true Democratic message" she had heard in years. Kolb, in an impromptu time-filling address,' talked about the deteriorating Ann Arbor environ- ment, blaming the "do-nothing" mayor as a major contributor to the problem. "There are people that let things happen, and there are people that make things hap- pen," Kolb said. "Too often, our mayor lets things happen." Chinook salmon slim down WANT TO WRITE FOR PORT SANILAC, Mich. (AP) - Lake Huron's chinook salmon are getting skinnier. "The length is there, but the weight is not," fisher Lance Larson told the Times Herald of Port Huron &a story yesterday. arson, of Lexington, is not alone in his observation. State fisheries biologists said they're concerned that the 3-and 4- year-old chinook salmon fish are working too hard to find something to eat. In the long run, that could open the chinook population in Lake Huron to a kidney disease that could destroy the multi-million dollar hery. A 1996 Travel Michigan study shows sport fishing accounts for about $1.5 billion spent in the state. Jim Johnson, a fisheries biologist at the Department of Natural Resources in Alpena, said researchers in the fall of 1997 noticed smaller chinook at Rogers C ty and in the Au Sable River. he 4-year-old fish were on aver- age about four pounds lighter than the year before. The 3-year-olds were about two pounds lighter. Jim Baker, a Bay City DNR dis- trict fisheries biologist, said the trend continued this summer. "Our fishermen are telling us this year that they're having a hard time catching a fish more than 12 to 16 pounds," he said. "Twenty pounds is *remely rare." Bill Van Luven of Marysville, "... big chinooks, they're working harder and enjoying it less." - Jim Johnson of Natural Resources biologist Department who runs a charter out of Grindstone City, said fish have been smaller, but anglers caught lots of them. "We're getting 12- and 14-pound fish instead of 20- to 25-pounders," he said. Fisheries biologists believe the drop in weight is related to a scarci- ty of alewives. Chinook feed almost exclusively on the small fresh and saltwater fish. Johnson said a Lake Huron net- ting survey this summer found few large adult alewives. "But they're reproducing well," he said. "That's good for little chi- nooks. They have plenty of little alewives to eat. "But big chinooks, they're work- ing harder and enjoying it less." Skinnier chinook are less resis- tant to bacterial kidney disease. The illness in 1986 ravaged chi- nook in Lake Michigan, collapsing the fishery there. In Lake Huron, salmon largely avoided the disease and business remained steady. The DNR is proposing to cut Pacific salmon stocking in Lake Huron by 700,000 to 800,000 fish in May 1999 both in Michigan and Canadian waters. Last year, 4 million chinook and coho were stocked in the lake. Fisheries biologists hope that would enable the forage fish popu- lations to remain steady. Johnson said the state initially introduced Pacific salmon into the Great Lakes to control alewife pop- ulations. Alewives are invaders from the Atlantic Ocean that entered the lakes through the St. Lawrence Seaway. They dominated the food chain in the lakes in the 1960s after another invader - the sea lamprey - decimated native predators such as lake trout. The decline in salmon weights could indicate that Lake Huron has reached its capacity to sustain chi- nook at large weights in large num- bers, Johnson said. Cutting the alewife population in Lake Huron has been one of the DNR's goals since stocking began, Johnson said. "One of our objectives is to reha- bilitate our native species," he said. "This is not a bad thing. We've con- trolled alewives. Now we're tweak- ing the system." THE DAILY? CALL 76-DAILY OR STOP BY 420 MAYNARD ST. Ann Arbor #267 Special Egg Donor Needed $25,000 We are a loving, infertile couple hoping to find a compassionate woman to help us have a baby. We're looking for a healthy, intelligent college student or college graduate, age 21-33, with blue eyes and blonde or light brown hair. Compensation $25,000 plus expenses. Your gift will bring boundless joy. Please contact us through our representative at 1-800-776-7680. Ann Arbor #797 Test 1 Class 1 Class 2 Class 3 Class 4 Class 5 Class 6 Class 7 Test 2 Class 8 Class 9 Test 3 Class 10 Class 11 Test 4 Class 12 Class 13 Class 14 Class 15 Sat. Oct 17 Sun. Oct 18 Wed. Oct 21 Sun. Oct25 Wed. Oct28 Sat Oct31 Sun, Nov 1 Wed. Nov4 Sat. Nov 7 Sun. Nov 8 Wed. Nov 11 Sat. Nov 14 Sun. Nov15 Wed. Nov18 Sat. Nov 21 Sun. Nov 22 Tue. Nov 24 Mon. Nov 30 Wed. Dec 2 9-1 6:30-9:30 6:30-9:30 6:30-9:30 6:30-9:30 9-12 6:30-9:30 6:30-9:30 9-1 6:30-9:30 -6:30-9:30 9-1 6:30-9:30 6:30-9:30 9-1 6:30-9:30 6:30-9:30 6:30-9:30 6:30-9:30 Test 1 Class 1 Class 2 Class 3 Test 2 Class 4 Class 5 Class 6 Test 3 Class 7 Class 8 Class 9 Test4 Class 10 Class 11 Class 12 Class 13 Class 14 Class 15 Sat. Oct 31 Sun. Nov 1 Tue. Nov 3 Thu. Nov 5 Sat. Nov 7 Sun. Nov 8 Tue. Nov 10 Thu. Nov 12 Sat. Nov14 Sun. Nov15 Tue. Nov 17 Thu. Nov 19 Sat. Nov21 Sun. Nov 22 Tue. Nov 24 Wed. Nov 25 Sun. Nov 29- Tue. Dec 1 Thu. Dec 3 9-1 1-4 6:30-9:30 6:30-9:30 9-1 1-4 6:30-9:30 6:30-9:30 9-1 1-4 6:30-9:30 6:30-9:30 9-1 1-4 6:30-9:30 6:30-9:30 -1-4 6:30-9:30 6:30-9:30 _________________________________________________________________________________ I - ________________________________________________ I. I THE BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP Invites all PhD students nearing graduati n to a presentation "Why Would a PhD come a Strategic Manageine Consultant" * * r i* The lhiga League Hussey Room Monda , October 12th, 1998 7:00 PM / / Reception to follow where members of the firm /ill be available to answer questions I I