LOCAL/S TATE The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 16, 1999 - 5A .WebDorm lets students putI By Michael B. Simon For the Daily Students complain size of their residen *w have the opport boundaries of their li distant expanses of cy Mybytes.com, a N pany launched its WebDorm yesterday "premiere online con students." The company ho http://wwwwebdorm. sands of students a Cr municate using eras and chat. The new WebDorm ture from the previou which required stude cations before 40 stud broadcast their lives o With the drop in "web-cams" - now, tle as $45 - and WebDorm that enab b-cam to broadca e has "really taken Mahoney, a sta college WebDorm's produ ment. She added t ing about the small of few services th ce hall rooms will broadcast from t unity to expand the rooms live on the' living places to the Users browsingt yberspace. ferent "WebDorme ewYork-based com- pants are called, to new version of view live images fr , billing it as the at any time and cl nmunity for college who they are watch WebDorm's mi pes the new site, stereotypes about com, enables thou- provide a real liv cross the globe to lives," the compar lives online ct marketing depart- how I've decorated my room while we hat WebDorm is one see live pictures of each other and chat hat allows anyone to at the same time," said "Synchilla," the heir residence hall Eastern Michigan University student Internet. who wished to remain anonymous. the site can select dif- WebDormers have the option of rs," as the site partici- broadcasting their live feeds either to all watch. The user can users who have access to the Website or om up to four cameras only to individuals that they choose. hat with the students But it isn't only students who are using ling. the new WebDorm. ssion is "to dispel "I'm using WebDorm to expand the college students and college community beyond Pennsylvania e glimpse into their State University and discuss issues that ny said in a written are relevant to college students every- where," said Michelle Miller-Day, a pro- t more than just study fessor in the Speech Communication ey said, "and we want Department at Pennsylvania State ough what we believe University. Mahoney also said that pro- medium - showing fessors at Brown University are using life." WebDorm in communications classes to ing their lives on the demonstrate new ways in which students nerving to many, oth- are communicating. er "Synchilla," jump "It's a great way for students across the country to talk about the college experi- m hundreds of miles ence," she said. t college, I can go to No University students are broadcast- f WebDorm where I ing through the WebDorm Website, ts my new haircut or Mahoney said. live Web-enabled n is a radical depar- s version of the site, nts to submit appli- tents were chosen to nline. prices of digital available for as lit- a new version of les anyone with a st online, the ser- n off," said Allison ff member of statement. "Students do a lo and party" Mahon to show people thr is the most realistic them actual college While broadcast Internet may be un ers, like WebDorm at the chance. "Even though I' away from home a my private area of can show my paren Ford honored by state bar for SbliCservice GRAND RAPIDS (AP) --The state bar association hon- ored former President Gerald Ford yesterday for his public service. At a luncheon in front of hundreds of members of the State Bar of Michigan, Michigan Gov. John Engler praised Ford, describing him as having integrity that transcends the politi- cal spectrum. "I don't think any president in living memory has been .nsidered more trustworthy by both sides of the aisle," Engler told Ford in front of the association, which gave the former president two standing ovations. "We are proud of you and we are proud you are one of our own." . Ford, who practiced law in Grand Rapids after attending law school at Yale University, said he appreciated the recog- nition by his colleagues, particularly Engler who he called an "outstanding, first-c.lass governor." In a speech that largely centered on the themes of law and freedom, he criticized legislative efforts to limit politicians' Ams in office, saying that voters already have the right to te. "If you don't like ... public officials or what they're doing, it's up to you, not the Constitution, to replace them with peo- ple more to your own liking," he said. "If you limit the terms of elected officials by law, you give omnipotent power to unelected congressional staff, lobbyists as well as bureaucrats." The former president also said personal responsibility is AP PHOTO Gov. George W. Bush (R-Texas) campaigns for president in Detroit last night. Bush has visited Detroit multiple times in recent weeks and is scheduled to campaign in other parts of Michigan this week. Texas governor pays to receptiVe Detroit crowd DETROIT (AP) - The Republican governor of Texas, George W. Bush, returned yesterday to an island of support in this overwhelmingly Democratic city - southwest Detroit, and its growing Latino/a population. "It's surprising. Not all the candidates would come to this neighborhood," said Tony Martinez. This was Bush's second visit to the Detroit area in recent weeks. In June, he appeared at a $1,000-a-plate fund-rais- er in Livonia and visited a neighborhood festival in Mexicantown on the southwest side. Yesterday, he worked the crowd in the parking lot outside Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, which was holding a festival celebrating Mexican Independence Day. A mariachi band played while Bush shook hands and posed for dozens of photos, the crowd eddying around him. Once on stage, Bush shook hands with beaming youths in traditional Mexican costumes and gave a five-minute speech alternately in Spanish and English. "A successful Mexico is good for America," Bush said. "We don't need walls. We need bridges when it comes to Mexico and the United States." Martinez, who owns an ornamental iron fabricating business, acknowledged that Bush's speech was short on specifics, and that he knew little about what Bush might do to aid Latino/as if elected president. But, Martinez said: "At least he's talking to the Hispanic community. That's the first step." Bush has gotten substantial financial backing in Michigan. The state ranked eighth in the amount of money contributed to his campaign from April through June - $940,457.52 from 1,080 donors including DaimlerChrysler Chair Robert Eaton, Secretary of State Candice Miller, Domino's CEO David Brandon and Meijer Inc. Co-Chair Douglas Meijer. Yet the common touch he showed yesterday - dancing on stage with a delighted young girl in a tra- ditional embroidered Mexican costume; huddling with members of the Holy Redeemer cross country team to remind them of the importance of education - appealed to Maria Laforest of Detroit. "He seems to be a very honest man," Laforest said, moments after a photographer snapped a picture of her and Bush. About 264,000 Latino/as lived in Michigan in 1998, up 30.8 percent from 1990, according to U.S. Census figures. An estimated 30,000 Hispanics live in Detroit, although that number is believed to be grow- ing. Don Hanchon, pastor of Holy Redeemer, said he didn't mind that Bush's appearance lent a political flavor to an ethnic celebration. "That's nothing new," he said. "But it's a real pleasure that Governor Bush and others find this audience worthy of their attention. These are great people." AP PHOTO President Gerald Ford holds up an award he received from the state bar association yesterday in Grand Rapids, Mich. Ford is being honored for his public service work. the key to making democracy work. The luncheon also featured a discussion of legal doctrines by U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. Ford appointed Stevens to the bench in 1975. Stevens is scheduled to speak about the Ford administration today as part of a lecture series at the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids. Ford also is scheduled to meet with presidential hopeful and Gov. George W Bush (R-Texas) today, according to a Bush campaign spokesperson. Labor talks continue under contract extension U I AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) - Bargainers for the major U.S. car companies and the United Auto Workers continued intensive negotiations yesterday after the union granted an open-ended extension to contracts that cover 407,000 workers. The focus of the talks was at DaimlerChrysler AG's U.S. headquarters, where the two sides met through the night. They took a short break at mid- morning, returning to the table yesterday afternoon. Neither side would comment on progress, but e marathon session was taken as a sign a deal could be imminent. Talks between the union and General Motors Corp. recessed Tuesday at midnight and resumed at 8 a.m. yesterday on the subcommittee level, GM spokesperson Edd Snyder said. Negotiations at Ford Motor Co. were much less intense. DaimlerChrysler spokesperson David Barnas said early yesterday that the union had granted the company an indefinite extension of its three-year tract, which was to expire at midnight Tuesday. Similar extensions were given to GM and Ford on Tuesday. While marathon talks are a traditional sign of progress, there also were signs of strain between the union and DaimlerChrysler. National negotia- tors, including UAW President Stephen Yokich, were meeting at DaimlerChrysler headquarters when workers at five plants in Missouri and Indiana staged a brief walkout Tuesday night. Workers at two DaimlerChrysler plants in Fenton, Mo., outside of St. Louis, walked off the job at 9:45 p.m. EDT and started picketing. The plants, which make the highly profitable Dodge Ram trucks and DaimlerChrysler's minivans, employ about 7,100. About 15 minutes later, workers at two trans- mission plants and a casting plant in Kokomo, Ind., walked off the job, DaimlerChrysler officials said. Those plants employ a total of 8,400 workers. The picket signs in Fenton went down about an hour after they went up and production at all five plants resumed as normal yesterday. DaimlerChrysler co-chair Bob Eaton said he Marathon talks could meanI UAWautomakers nearing compromise. expected workers at those plants would remain on the job as negotiations continue. "We're still hopeful we will be able to get a con- tract without significant work stoppage," Eaton said yesterday at the Frankfurt International Motor Show in Frankfurt, Germany. Barnas said the union has not told the German- American automaker the reason for the walkouts. Union officials did not immediately comment. In the past, the union has extended contracts past the deadline. It has not called a national strike during contract negotiations since 1976, although it has used plant-level strikes. Experts have said a national strike, which would threaten a boom year for the auto industry, seems unlikely. The UAW usually chooses one automaker to make a deal with first, then uses that deal as a tem- plate for other contracts. This year, Yokich has kept talks going with both GM and DaimlerChrysler and refused to publicly name a target. Wages, job security, health care costs, overtime demands and the assignment of work to outside suppliers were expected to be among the top issues in this year's talks, as they were during the last round in 1996. Union leaders have said that workers were enti- tled to a share of record automaker profits; the three companies combined earned more than $5.5 billion in the second quarter of 1999. There are few indications of what proposals the UAW and DaimlerChrysler might be negotiating. The union has discussed efforts to organize DaimlerChrysler's nonunion plants in the United States: a Mercedes-Benz sport utility factory in Alabama with 1,600 workers and Freightliner commercial truck plants in the Carolinas. ,b Good things still come in small packages. (Come in and see what a small store can prvide in choice of selection and, oh yes, satisfied customers!) abtjz £ir irun bug I -- I EARN UP TO FORGOT TO COME TO THE FIRST MASS MEETING? YOu'VE GOT ANOTHER CHANCE TONIGHT AT 7:30 P.M. 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