4 LOCAL/STATE The Michigan Daily - Monday, March 13, 2000-3A Ford to host . foreign policy "conference at U' Former U.S. President Gerald Ford is scheduled to host a conference April 7 at the University which will examine how U.S. involvement in Indochina changed this country, its institutions of government, the mak- ing of foreign policy and attitudes toward the political process. The conference coincides with the 25th anniversary of the end of the :Uiited States involvement in Vietnam. Ford is visiting the University in conjunction with the Gerald Ford Foundation, the Gerald Ford Library and the Ford School of Pub- l ic Policy. a. c ord will begin his presentation at 9 a.m. by sharing his reflections on the =events of April 1975. A panel discussion will follow, called "America and the World," which will be moderated by histori- a-Douglas Brinkley. The panel will include National Security Advisor to Presidents Ford and Bush Brent Snowcroft, Secretary of State to President Bush Lawrence Eagle- berger and assistant to President Bush for National Security Affairs Richard Haass. The second panel, set for 11 a.m., is "The Presidency," which will feature Lou Cannon, who wrote a biography about Ronald Reagan and Haynes -Johnson, a former assistant managing editor at the Washington Post. The third panel, "Politics and the Media," is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. I sill include Andrea Mitchell of NBC News, former U.S. Senator Eugene McCarthy and Ford biogra- pher James Cannon. Closing remarks will be given by David Gergen, U.S. News and World Report editor at large. Tickets to the conference are com- pIjmentary but must be reserved in advance by calling the Ford Library at (734) 741-2218. ---During Ford's visit the Ford Library Js scheduled to release thousands of pages of newly declassified docu- ments related to American's involve- :. ,.ent in the Vietnam War. English dept. invites writers to read from works The University Department of Eng- lish and Office of the Provost have will host two readings this week for the Vis- 4i6pg Writing Series. Poet Steven Dunn will present his wrk tomorrow at 5 p.M. "Dunn has authored 10 poetry col- lections. He is Trustee Fellow in the ,Arts and Professor of Creative Writ- ing at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. Novelist Alice Mattison will be read- --ig from her work Thursday at 5 p.m. vHer books have included Men -Giving Money, Women Yelling which was named Notable Book of 1997 by the New York Times Book Review. Mattison currently teaches fiction in trgraduate writing program at Ben- ainfton College in Vermont. S All events will be at the Rackham Amphitheater and are free to the public. Holocaust survivors to deliver speeches The 21st annual conference on the -Holocaust, at the University titled Memory and Education: Legacies and Lessons of Survivors in Ameri- ca," will be held Tuesday on Holo- caust Remembrance Day at the University Hillel. The conference will feature two Holocaust survivors; Renee Firestone who was featured in Steven Spiel- berg's movie The Last Days. * She will discuss surviving the Holo- caust and the making of the film. Daisy 5 Miller will also speak, describing t growing up during the Holocaust and her work at the Shoah Foundation. For more information on this free event, call Hillel at (734) 769-0500. Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter Jodie Kaufman. Conference focuses on cildren, violence By Jacquelyn Nixon For the Daily Shot in a drive-by shooting at age 17, Eastern Michigan University student Travar Pettway con- firms that "no matter what you do or who you are, violence will affect you sometime." The shooting left Pettway paralyzed from the waist down and also brought about respiratory difficulties. In addition to mobility problems, Pettway said he can't do the things other students may take for granted, like going out for Chinese food. "Violence threatened my protection and tran- quillity, but I don't need my legs to stand. My will is bulletproof," Pettway said. Pettway is an advocate for preventing injuries and deaths caused by acts of violence and was the first speaker Saturday at the eighth annual Medstart Conference held at Hutchins Hall at the Law School. The conference, titled "Growing Up in a Vio- lent World: Providing Hope For the Next Genera- tion," focused on children and violence. "We came up with the topic after the shootings at Columbine High School," conference co- Chairwoman Kim Candido said. Medstart was founded in 1991 by health sci- ence students interested in issues facing children and families. Medstart aims to bring awareness of the various aspects related to youth violence. The more than 18 sessions held Saturday high- lighted topics such as guns, homelessness, run- aways, date rape and eating disorders. Joe Clark, a former New Jersey high school principal and reformer who was featured inmthe film "Lean on Me," focused on violence in schools. "We need to come together as human beings who have mutual respect for one another," Clark said. Clark said the major problem in schools is a Fire lack of concern by administrators. It is disturbing that more action isn't being taken with high school troublemakers, he said. "It's about persistence," Clark said. "The principals need to be ubiquitous. When my stu- dents couldn't see me in the halls, they could hear me." When administrators see a problem, Clark said they should look at the situation and make a decision but not put the youth back on the street. "It's abominable to send them back to the same environment," Clark said. "Our cities are like lit- tle Beruits at happy hour." Clark said a breakdown in family structure, economic difficulties and lack of values are the major causes for a decline in society. Families aren't taking responsibility and children are growing up without guidance, he said. "There is a cultural war going on in our world and the casualties are our children," Clark said. The same view that progress will be achieved through social unity was shared by Rueben War- ren, associate administrator for urban affairs in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Ser- vices. He attributes much of the violence in inner cities to low education levels, racism, sexism, domestic dysfunction, low income and locale. "Among youth ages 15 to 24, homicide is the leading rate. Children as young as 11 are being committed to adult prisons," Warren said. He said the solution to the problem of violence, isn't more police and prisons. "More is not necessarily better. I'm not °con- vinced that violence can be prevented," he said. Warren said the only way he believes vio- lence can be obliterated is through an alliance- between teachers, students and the community. "Violence is among the greatest threats to soci- ety. It is a social problem and the solution should be social," he said. guts E. Jefferson St. hone; o injunes reported By Jeremy W. Peters Daily Staff Reporter Residents of 300 E. Jefferson St. received an unwelcome surprise Friday afternoon as they were forced to wait in the cold while the Ann Arbor Fire Department extin- guished a fire that gutted portions of the first floor of their house. No one was injured and those in the house when the fire began shortly before 4 p.m. were able to escape safely. "I feel blessed because I could've been burned up in there," Charolyn Arrington said as she recounted events prior to the fire department arriving. "What happened was our TV blinked out, then about an hour later Michelle (a housemate) banged on our door yelling there was a fire," Arrington added. AAFD firefighter Bob Ruppel said the fire started in a room toward the rear of the first floor of the residence. It gutted that room "I feel blessed because I could've been burned up there." -_Charolyn Arrington Ann Arbor residelt and did not cause heavy damage elsewhere. Michelle Carter, a Washtenaw Community College student who lives upstairs in the home, said none of the residents' bedrooms were severely damaged. "Our rooms are really smoky, but that's about it," she said. Kiyah Holman, another resident of the charred house, said the entire incident took her by sur- prise. "I walked up and heard that my building was on fire and my main concern was did my (possessions) get burned up," she said. Holman said she was also con- cerned about what she would do for the night. Pamela Reading-Smith, director of public support for the American Red Cross in Ann Arbor, said the AAFD notifies the Red Cross when a fire occurs in which there are victims involved. "Tonight, the Red Cross will piit them up in accommodations, give them vouchers for food and cloth- ing. We will continue to assgeks their needs and do what is nectys- sary to get them settled," Reading- Smith said. In addition to displacing the rs- dents of the home, the fire also dis- rupted rush hour traffic leavirlg downtown Ann Arbor becaple Fifth Avenue had to be blocked o'f while the fire was brought under control. VOTE FOR THE BEST OF ANN ARBOR ALEX WOLK/Daily LSA freshmen Erin Brosko (left) and Meghan Garstang race in the Bungee Run on Saturday in the Michigan Union as one of the events at Michigras. Michigras attracts students' sibli*ngcs ONLINE AT MICHIGANDAIL Y.COM m Weekend festivities brings in little siblings from across the nation By Charles Chen Daily Staff Reporter Nearly 400 siblings invaded campus this weekend to visit older brothers and sisters and get a taste of college life. "We want the siblings to get a feel for what college life is like," Siblings Weekend Director Damon Warren said. "We want them to have a chance to visit their brothers and sisters away from home." Siblings traveled from as far as California and Massachusetts to take part this weekend, Warren said, in comparison to last year when they only came from within the state of Michigan. While the majority of visitors were teenagers, some little Wolverines were as young as 4- years-old, Warren said. Judy Turnball, a high school sophomore from Grosse Pointe and the younger sister of Engi- neering freshman Sandy Turnball, said her visit allowed her to learn about the University and Ann Arbor. "I think it's pretty nice. I like how the campus mixes in with the city," Judy Turnball said. The festivities began Friday evening with Michigras 2000 in the Michigan Union, where stu- dents and their younger siblings took part in an array of games. A blackjack table, a roulette wheel and a slot machine filled the Anderson room, where stu- dents and siblings took part in Casino Night. Raffles were held every hour, giving away free prizes including t-shirts and gift certificates. For siblings looking for more physical activity, Michigras 2000 also offered inflatable games, including Bouncy Boxing, Gladia- tor Joust, a Bungee Run and a Vel- cro Wall in the Union Ballroom. Some siblings took advantage of the arts and crafts activity where participants could create magnetic picture frames with a photo of them and their older sib- ling to remember their visit to Ann Arbor. The weekend also included two movies showing in the Modern Languages Building and a women's gymnastic meet at Cliff Keen Arena on Saturday. But the weekend was not limit- ed to siblings, as several other relatives of students also made the trip to campus. Business School senior Tracey Finlayson was visited by her cousin, Kristen Barrett, a middle school student. "I hope she has a lot of fun and gets a better idea of what's out there with furthering their educa- tion,"1Finlayson said. w UI : . . , ,, , , , Interested in. sales or marketing? -K g~ e 'K We're talking big time experience The Michigan Daily will give you the opportunity to gain the valuable business experience in display advertising. As an account executive, you will sell advertising locally and nationally, manage your own account territory, create ad copy and layout, and earn commission- based pay. .1 Extended application deadline: Friday, March 17th 40 THE CALENDAR What's happening in Ann Arbor today The Students Publication Building 420 Maynard Street, 2nd Floor