LOCAL/STATE

The Michigan Daffy - Tuesday, November 2, 1999 - 3

*CRIME
Man defecates
i women's
lockerroom
The Department of Public Safety
eports states that a male subject
entered the women's lockerroom in
Don Canham Natatorium and defe-
cated on the floor.
The incident took place Saturday
morning and the subject left in an
unidentified vehicle.
DPS has no suspects in the incident.
Marijuana found
in backpack
A small amount of marijuana was
found on a backpack in the Michigan
Union Saturday night, DPS reports
state.
Upon being contacted by DPS
officersthe owner of the bookbag
stated the marijuana belonged to
him.
Juvenile does not
O'etu'n to center
A female subject escaped from
the Arbor Heights Correctional
Center on Friday night, DPS reports
state.
The subject was supposed to be
picked up from her job at Subway
restaurant in the Michigan Union
that evening but failed to show up.
DPS officers searched the area with
negative results.
%tate Crime lab
to test marijuana
Three subjects were cited for sus-
picion of smoking marijuana in
South Quad Residence Hall on
Sunday morning.
According to DPS reports, a small
amount of the suspected marijuana
4 as seized and the subjects were
eleased pending analysis of the sub-
stance by the State Police Crime
Lab.
Female suspect
cuts hand while
slicing cheese
A female subject at Bursley
-Residence Hall sliced her hand open
*unday evening while cutting a block
of cheese, DPS reports state.
The subject was taken to University
Hospitals emergency room for treat-
ment.
Man breaks toilet
paper dispenser
A case of malicious destruction is
eing investigated after a male subject
at South Quad Residence Hall tore a
toilet paper dispenser from a wall
Sunday night, DPS reports state.
There are no suspects.
Subject struck by
bottle, injured
A subject was transported to the
university Medical Center early
Wednesday morning after being struck
a bottle at an unknown Ann Arbor
location, DPS reports state.
The subject declined to file a report.
Residence hall

couch stolen
A couch was taken last Monday
from the Jordan Lobby of Mosher-
Jordan Residence Hall, DPS reports
- tate
There are no suspects in the incident.
Suicidal subject
taken to hospital
An incoherent male subject
requested transport to the hospital
from his apartment Sunday after-
noon, according to DPS reports.
The subject said he had been drink-
g, taking heroin and was suicidal.
Huron Valley Ambulance took the
subject to the University Hospitals'
Emergency room.
- Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter
Dave Enders.

'M' solai
By Jodie Kaufman
Daily Staff Reporter
Solar car team members returned
home early Sunday morning following
a top 10 finish in the World Solar
Challenge in Australia, which ended
last week.
The MaizeBlaze team took ninth place
in the race of 40 teams when it crossed
the finished line on the afternoon of Oct.
22., after racing for five days.
"Being in the top 10 of the world is a
pretty good place to be in," said team
leader Jed Christiansen, a 1999
University alum who recently joined
the U.S. Navy.
"You never know what can happen,
the team who took first in the U.S. race
in June was 600 miles behind us in

r car team members return home

Australia, finishing a whole two days
later" Christiansen added.
The race was 1,864 miles, beginning in
Darwin and finishing in Adelaide. "It is a
really unbelievable country, we raced
through pretty brutal areas. It was an
incredible experience," Christiansen said.
"One area was so dry we camped
among skeletons of animals who died
of thirst," Christiansen added.
The teams raced from 8 a.m. to 5
p.m. daily until they covered the course
which followed the Stuart Highway.
Team members would then set up camp
on the side of the road, to recharge the
vehicle's batteries and strategize for the
next day.
"There is no definite end date, it is a
distance race," Engineering graduate

student Jose Alvarez said.
Twenty team members traveled to
Australia to assist with the race.
Although only two people are actual
drivers in the vehicle - they switch
shifts half way through each day - the
other members of the crew are also inte-
gral to the race, Alvarez said.
"They have various functions from
strategizing, to compiling data, to plan-
ning for the weather to getting the food
and setting up the camp site," Alvarez
said.
"Mechanics are needed to make
repairs, and some people help with
logistical support also," Alvarez added.
The Solar Car Team creates a new car
every two years for the national race -
the Sunrayce. Last June, the University

team placed 17th of 30 teams.
The shape of the car is optimized for
low aerodynamic drag, using computer
and scale models so that it glides through
the air like an airplane, and is composed
of composites like carbon fiber and
kevlar, according to the team's Website.
The team is sponsored by various
organizations, but its primary funding
comes from Ford Motor Co., IBM and
Manufacturing Data Systems, Inc. Work
has already begun for the next generation
solar car, called MPulse. This year the
team will design the vehicle, and will
start construction next year.
This year, the solar team will race
their 1997 car, the Wolverine, in the
Formula Sun race in Topeka, Kan.
"It is a chance to get more experience

and teach the new members, so that
when they begin work on the new car
they already know the basics," said
Interim Project Manager Eric Beaser,
an Engineering sophomore.
Work on the car is not limited to
Engineering students. There are 150
members, who participate in all different
aspects, from technical computer pro-
gramming to finance to graphic design.
"The main thing about this is it is an
excellent learning experience, whetherpr
not you are interested in solar cars, it
gives you a good idea of what's involved
in a major project," Alvarez said.
"You learn so much more than .in
class and it is a lot of fun to be involved
in a project on the cutting edge of tech-
nology,' Beaser said.

Critic's critiqueI

Environmental groups
warn A gainst fiardmdi ng bill

Michigan activists call on EPA to
enforce Clean Water Act, Dept. of
Agriculture deems action not needed
LANSING (AP) - Three environmental groups are
asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to with-
draw the state's authority to regulate federal clean water
laws because of disputes over pollution at large farms.
The Michigan Sierra Club, the Michigan Land Use
Institute and the Michigan Environmental Council said
yesterday that the state is failing to make sure waste
from large, factory-style farms doesn't pollute Michigan
water because it has lax inspections and no permit
process.
The group wants the EPA to intervene and take control of
enforcement duties for the Clean Water Act. The Sierra Club
also asked for such intervention in 1996 but was turned
down, program director Ann Woiwode said.
State Department of Agriculture Director Dan Wyant
responded that permits aren't necessary because the state
already has tough anti-pollution standards in place, including
a zero tolerance policy on waste discharge into Michigan
waters.
The dispute over large farms has come to a head because
of Senate Bill 205, a bill that would allow farmers to ignore
local regulations as long as they follow "generally accepted
agriculture management practices."
The bill has passed the state Senate and is now being con-
sidered by the House.
Supporters, including Wyant, say the bill is meant to
protect family farmers from laws that restrict their oper-
ations and from neighbors who complain about farm
odors.

But opponents say the laws would open the door to more
factory-style farms. Environmental groups also say the
push for the laws proves state officials shouldn't be
allowed to enforce the Clean Water Act without EPA over-
sight.
David Knight, a lobbyist with the North Carolina Sierra
Club, came to Lansing with pictures of massive hog farms
devastated by the state's recent hurricanes.
Knight said North Carolina - which passed laws similar
to those Michigan is considering - is putting local control
laws back into effect after seeing the damage from such
farms.
"Please, Michigan, don't force the environmental com-
munity to come back in a few-years and say, 'We told you
so," he said. "Believe me, big pig is watching what
Michigan does, and they will come to Michigan by the
millions."
But Wyant said Michigan's standards are tough enough
that the state will never be a target for factory farms. Wyant
also said land values are too high and Michigan is too popu-
lated for such farms.
"The environmentalists are very sincere, and I recog-
nize their sincerity when they say corporate agriculture is
putting a lot of strain on small farms," Wyant said.
"But the bottom line is that Michigan is losing its agricil-
ture and losing its farmers. We have less livestock than we've
ever had. (Not passing the Senate bill) is going to force more
farmers out."
The dispute is one that brings Bernadette Fletcher to tears.
She said three large hog farms have moved near her family's
Ionia County farm, where there are no zoning laws, and"the
smell is atrocious."
"We cannot live there anymore," she said. "What we need
are rules and regulations that they have to follow."

MARJORIE MARSHALL/Daily
Rackham graduate student Matthew Shao explains his architecture design to
Art and Design Prof. Yousif Albustani during a critique at the Art and
Architecture building yesterday.
Stab enow calls
for legislation to
hire more police

i

LANSING (AP) - U.S. Rep.
Debbie Stabenow stood surround-
ed by police officers yesterday to
announce legislation that would
let communities nationwide hire
50,000 officers over the next five
years.
Stabenow, a Democratic candi-
date for the U.S. Senate, was one
of 32 representatives who, intro-
duced the S1.15 billion plan last
week.
The bill would extend the
Community Oriented Policing
Services program, an $8.8 billion
program championed by
President Clinton in a 1994 anti-
crime law.
The goal of that program,
which expires in September 2000,
is to provide 100,000 police to
more than 11,000 state and local
agencies.
"This has been one of the most
successful c'rime-fighting pro-
grams the federal government has
ever introduced," said Stabenow
(D-Lansing).
"This is a program that has
made a difference," she said.
Shiawassee County sheriff's
Lt. Mike Powers said money from
the COPS program has allowed
his department to add three offi-
cers and buy laptops for their
patrol cars. Powers said the lap-
tops have given officers more
mobility
"Less time in the office means
more time on the street to deal
with the communities," he said.
East Lansing police Lt. Julie
Liebler said the nine officers her

department has hired with federal
funds has made a "vast improve-
ment in our ability to police."
Stabenow said the program is
well within federal budget limits
and would help pay for officers as
well as equipment and a program
to bring more prosecutors into
communities.
Stabenow's rival, U.S. Sen.
Spencer Abraham, has been sup-
portive of the COPS program,
spokesperson Joe Davis said.
Abraham (R-Auburn Hills) is
waiting to see COPS legislation
being drafted by Sens. Joseph
Biden (D-Del.) and Orrin Hatch
(R-Utah), Davis said. But other
Republicans have been less recep-
tive to the idea.
"I am convinced that if we took
all of the COPS funding each year
and turned it into flexible block
grants for local governments to
fight crime as they see fit, and
distributed on the basis of crime
rates, we would be doing more to
actually reduce crime than the
COPS program does," Rep. Bill
McCollum (R-Fla.) said last
week.
Republicans also have noted
that in a report released in July,
Justice Department auditors said
the Clinton administration prob-
ably would fall 40,000 short of
its goal of deploying 100,000
new officers by the vnd of
October.
COPS officials responded they
planned to have allocated enough
money to fund 100,000 new offi-
cers by that deadline.

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Whats happening in AnnArbor today


GROUP MEEINGS
U Reform Chavurah Meeting, Hillel,
7:30 p.m.
EVENTS

Sherman Jackson, Sponsored by
Muslim Student Association,
Hutchins Hall, Room 116, 4-
5:30 p.m.
V "Muslim Activism for Human
Rights" lecture b Omar Ai-Kadi,
Sponsored by Muslim Student

INFO, info@umich.edu, and
www.umich.edu/~info on the
World Wide Web
U Northwalk, 763-WALK, Bursley
Lobby, 8 p.m.- 1:30 a.m.
0 Safewalk, 936-1000, Shapiro Library
Lobby, 8 p.m.-2:30 a.m.

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