LOCAL/S TATE
The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, March 7, 2000-- 3
0 1
*CR IME
Skateboarders
caught urinating
on East '' plaza
Six skateboarders were seen violat-
ing the ordinance against rollerblading
and skateboarding at the East Univer-
sity Avenue pedestrian plaza last
Tuesday, according to Department of
Public Safety reports. Believed to be
approximately 17 or 18-years-old, the
skateboarders were also seen urinating
in the plaza.
Suspects seen on
* parking lot roof
Juvenile suspects were seen "play-
ing with wheelchairs" on the roof of
the East Medical Center parking
structure last Tuesday, DPS reports
state. No citation was given, and no
further information was given on the
incident.
Dishes recovered
'in Mary Markley
Dishes stolen from the kitchen at
Mary Markley Residence Hall were
recovered Friday evening, DPS
reports state. The dishes were
found in a room in the residence
hall.
Floor buffer, paper
towels stolen
from Dennison
A floor buffer and 18 boxes of
paper towels were stolen from the
Dennison Building last Tuesday
according to DPS reports. DPS did
not report having any suspects in the
theft.
Parking structure
*has plate theft
A license plate was stolen from a
car parked in the Church Street park-
ing structure was stolen Saturday, Feb.
26, according to DPS reports. DPS
did not report having any suspects in
the incident.
Employees forge
parking stamps
University Medical Center employ-
ees used unauthorized parking stamps
to park their cars for free or reduced
"rates at the Medical Center Parking
Structure, DPS reports state. One sus-
pect was observed using the fraudu-
lent stamps on two separate occasions
last week.
*Woman claims ex-
boyfriend threats
A female subject said her ex-
boyfriend threatened to plant drug evi-
dence on her and have her arrested if
she did not pay him $200, according
to DPS reports.
The incident occurred Saturday,
Feb. 26, and was reported from the
Michigan Union. The actual incident
occurred off-campus and DPS
preferred if to the Ann Arbor Police
- Department.
Boys wrestle at
Northwood V
A five-year-old boy was "body
slammed" by another youth while
playing basketball at a Northwood V
residence last Tuesday afternoon, DPS
reports state. The two youths were
separated.
Stolen bike found
near Stockwell
A bike stolen from outside the
Central Campus Recreation Build-
ing on the evening of Saturday, Feb.
26, was recovered by its owner a
shortly after the theft in the bushes
outside Stockwell Residence Hall.
There was no damage to the bike,
but the lock did not work. DPS did
not report having any suspects in
the incident.
-Compiled bv Daily Staff Reporter
David Enders.
2 new parties to campaign for MSA seats
" All Peoples', Wolverine
parties make first appearance
in student government race
By Lisa Koivu
Daily Staff Reporter
Two new parties will join the ranks of those
vying for positions on the Michigan Student
Assembly this election term.
The Wolverine Party headed by LSA junior
Rory Diamond and the All Peoples' Party
headed by MSA representative Kym Stewart
will both compete with four other party's for
chairs on the assembly.
James McIntyre, an LSA sophomore, said he
got involved with the Wolverine Party because
he wants to change how MSA is currently run.
to that of the All Peoples' Party.
"It's become too partisan and I
want the assembly to represent the
students better," McIntyre said.
The platform for the party
includes ideas such as having a 24
hour library, Union, Central Cam-
pus Recreation Building and North
Campus Recreation Building.
"MSA is broke and we want to fix
it. We need to get the politics out of
MSA. They currently spend 90 per-
cent of their time on things not
related to the University. We want to
refocus it," Diamond said.
RC freshman Monique Luse said
she would have run as an indepen-
dent candidate except her goals were;
March 22-23
similar It controls
"1 hope to make sure that
MSA is open to anyone at any
time, so people can come and
express their concerns and
needs," Luse said.
Stewart said that although it
wasn't intentional, every member
of the All Peoples' Party is
involved in other campus organi-
zations.
"All of our members want to
get involved and they show a
real zeal for the University,"
Stewart said.
"You look at MSA and it exists
because of student organizations.
the funding of student groups, as
well as the registration," Stewart said. "But only
a handful of members are involved in other
organizations. If MSA wants respect we must
show we're in touch with what other groups are
doing."
MSA President Bram Elias, who started the
Blue Party last year, said his party formed
because of a difference in ideologies, not in
personalities.
"We had a group who wanted to run togeth-
er who felt disfranchised. One group wanted
MSA to work one way, and we wanted it to
work another," Elias said.
"Party's only serve a campaign function. Once
students get on to MSA their decisions need to be
individual and not party based. People quickly
forget who's on what party because they don't
exist inside the chamber,"he added.
'U' Website named third
best college Internet site
By Undsey Alpert
Daily StaffReporter
Top9.com, an Internet-based rank-
ing service that started in December,
has listed the University's Gateway
Website, www.umich.edu, among the
top university Websites in the nation.
The list, which ranked
www.umich.edu as the third most pop-
ular in the nation, measured the num-
ber of new visitors to the top 99
college Websites each month.
"A unique user counts each con-
sumer once," Top9.com President Dan
Bohan. said. "So they can come 100
times, but they're only counted once"
The data, which was collected by
PC Data On-line, is posted on the
company's Website.
"It's very similar to Neilson," Bohan
said of Top9.com. "We survey 105,000
people and monitor their click-through
pattern so it gives us a good impres-
sion of what's popular and what's not."
Bohan said the company hopes to
make the Internet simpler for consumers
by showing the most popular sites.
The University was listed behind
number one University of California at
Berkeley and number two University
of Texas, but was ahead of number 11
Michigan State University and number
"We need to be a little bit cautious of
these rankings",
- Jose-Marie Griffiths
University Chief Information Officer
20 Ohio State University.
"It doesn't surprise me," said Jose-
Marie Griffiths, University Chief
Information Officer, who was put in
charge of the University's Website last
year by University Provost Nancy
Cantor. "We know that we have an
active site."
According to statistics gathered by
the University between Jan. 31 and
Feb. 29, www.umich.edu received an
average of 72,283 hits per day from
students, faculty, alumni, prospective
students and others.
"We need to be a little bit cautious
of these rankings," Griffiths said. The
hits tend to be seasonal, with the large
amount of hits during the spring when
high school juniors and seniors are
applying to school or have just been
accepted she said.
One attraction of the site is that
applications for admission are available
for potential students. When calling the
Office of Undergraduate Admissions,
the hold and after-hours message rec-
ommends visiting the Website to find
the University's application.
The Website also provides links to
many campus sites such as academic
units, clubs and University offices.
"There are some plans for redesign-
ing the Gateway sometime later this
year" said Wanda Monroe, director of
Media Relations for the Office of the
Chief Information Officer.
The Gateway Website is a collabora-
tive effort by the University libraries,
Office of the CIO, information tech-
nology as well as other University
divisions.
"We want to add functionality,"
Griffiths said. "We hope to eventually
create a portal environment which can
be customized to the user."
Improvement of the site search
engine is currently in the works Grif-
fiths said. "Adding functionality to the
Website will probably make the site
even more active."
r rPHO
Buell Elementary School student Tabatha Kryger leaves school yesterday
with a stuffed bear given to all students when classes resumed.
Students return to
school after shooting
of 6-year-old grl
MOUNT MORRIS TWP (AP)-
Lisa Davidson plans to make hourly
visits to Buell Elementary School,
where a first grader was shot to death,
to reassure her son that he is safe.
She checked on him hourly
yesterday when children returned
to class for the first time since
Kayla Rolland was killed in her
classroom six days earlier. She
plans to do it daily for the next
month.
Davidson walked son Timothy
home after school yesterday,
cradling baby Jason in her arms.
"I didn't want to bring him," she
said. "He started crying this morn-
ing, didn't want me to leave him.
He was afraid he was going to be
next."
She said because of the extra
reassurance from her visits, "he
seems to be all right."
Lori Jones left third-grade
daughter Tymphanie Frye at school
yesterday morning but brought sec-
ond-grade son Frank Frye back
home with her.
She said she would let Frank stay
home until he felt comfortable
returning to class.
"They've seen it on TV before,"
Jones said. "It could happen any-
where. There's not much you can
say."
Children and parents alike
expressed doubts at first about return-
ing to the school where a 6-year-old
classmate is accused of shooting
Kayla.
But trained trauma counselors
were in each room to help the chil-
dren, and by the noon lunch break
some children were skipping on the
sidewalk out front. Many skipped,
smiled and laughed while clutching
stuffed animals as they left school
yesterday afternoon.
Linda Riskovich said her first-
grade daughter, Kristina, under-
stood what happened Tuesday and
is doing OK.
"I missed being out of school,"
Kristina said as she clutched a brown
teddy bear she received at school
yesterday.
As her mother spoke with other
adults, Kristina interrupted, saying,
"I know what happened - he
brought a gun to school and shot
her."
Todd Morrish said he had consid-
ered not sending his son Ryan to
kindergarten yesterday. But when
the morning session was over, Ryan
came out carrying a brown bear and
a drawing he had colored of a green
bear.
"He said it was fine," Morrish
said.
The U.S. and Michigan flags
remained at half-staff, and a
nearby evergreen tree with
stuffed animals at its base was
decorated with pink ribbons in
memory of Kayla.
Room 6, where the shooting
occurred, has been cleaned and
repainted.
About 335, or 79 percent, of the
424 children enrolled at Buell
were in school yesterday, schools
Superintendent Ira Rutherford's
office said. Average attendance
figures for other days were not
available.
THE CALENDAR
What's happening in Ann Arbor today
EVENTS
U Utopia Roaming Jess Dobkin, a New
York artist. uses puoets and
speaking Hebrew invited to
attend, Rendez-Vous Cafe, 4:30
p.m.
....1- 0-. . - fulel i" .. v .n
Campus Information Centers, 764-
INFO, info@umich.edu, and
www.umich.edu/info on the
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