LOCAL/S TATE
The Michigan Daily - Wednesda. September 2 99 3
&HIGHER
EDUCATION
BU students
rally to legalize
manrjuana use
At Boston University, about
,000 people gathered at the city's
Boston Common on Saturday for
the 10th annual Freedom Rally in
support of legalizing marijuana.
The rally was organized by the
Massachusetts Cannabis Reform1
Coalition and the National
Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Law.
Organizers collected about
20,000 of the 57,000 signatures they
* ed to propose a November 2000
allot initiative reducing punish-
ments for using marijuana and allow
it to be used legally for medicinal
purposes.
A total of 72 arrests were made.
Although police officers were sta-
tioned around the fenced-in area,
undercover officers walked through
the crowd and made arrests during
the rally.
q1orthwestern U.
student runner-up
to Miss America
Nearly taking the crown, Jade
Smalls, a music senior at
Northwestern University captured
the runner-up spot to Kentucky's
Heather French at the 79th Annual
Miss America pageant Saturday in
Itlantic City, N.J.
The 21-year-old Miss Illinois won
a 530,000 scholarship and will take
the top spot of Miss America, if
French cannot fill the position.
Taking a year off from school,
Smalls plans to travel nationally and
internationally~ with the Ronald
McDonald House Charities' youth
suicide prevention effort.
Vrotesters object
to missed class
for inauguration
During the inauguration of
President Linwood Rose at James
Madison University on Friday, more
than 65 protesters held a silent
protest march in an attempt to
express their grievances with the
*iversity's administrative policies.
The protesters questioned why the
university declared the day of
Rose's inauguration an academic
holiday, while the university does
not have a full day off on Martin
Luther King Jr. Day. Members of
student groups such as Young
Democratic Socialists and Black
Students Alliance marched at the
inauguration.
t. Arizona faculty
member shoots
armed assailant
University of Arizona faculty
member and Pima County Sheriff's
deputy Richard Carmona shot and
killed a motorist Saturday who was
allegedly assaulting a woman after a
collision that evening.
Ocarmona stopped at a car acci-
dent, where a Toyota truck had rear-
ended a Dodge Intrepid on Saturday
afternoon.
The driver of the Intrepid walked
tp to the truck, driven by Jean
Tierre Lafitte, after it started to
back up.
Lafitte got out of his vehicle and
allegedly started to shake assault the
ver of the Intrepid, said Sgt. Brett
ein, a Tucson Police Department
spokesperson.
Klein said witness started yelling
that Lafitte had a gun.
Carmona identified himself as a
sheriff's deputy and told the suspect
to put his gun down.
Klein said the suspect put the gun
;down, then picked it back up and
fired it at Carmona.
Klein said Carmona then fired at
£fitte. Lafitte was transported to
6 University of Arizona Medical
Center and pronounced dead about
two hours later.
- Compiled fom wire reports by
Daily Staff Reporter Jewel Gopwani.
4'U'resear
By Shabnam Daneshvar
For the Datily
University researchers have identified a family of
deadly proteins that kill by shutting off a cell's abili-
ty to communicate with immune system cells. This
discovery may prove valuable in treating cancer and
other immune-related diseases.
The six proteins, each named "Yop" plus an indi-
vidual identifying letter, come from Yersinia pestis,
the bacterium that caused the bubonic plague, or the
"black death" that claimed the lives of millions in
Europe and Asia more than 400 years ago.
Biological chemistry Prof. Jack Dixon, conducted
the research and said each Yop has its own function
in gaining entry into a cell for destruction.
"This is a clever pathogen," said Kim Orth, a
chers identify deadly proteins
research investigator in the Medical School. "It has
found our Achilles heel --one family of molecules
used by every mammalian cell to transmit signals
involved in the immune response and cell death."
In a study published in the Sept. 17 issue of
"Science," University researchers outlined their
identification of how the protein YopJ binds to sig-
naling pathways between cells, disabling the inter-
cell communication.
Proteins bind to critical points on the signaling
pathways, mitogen-activated protein kinase, which
regulate cell growth and NFkB, which controls the
immune inflammatory responses, embryonic devel-
opment and cell death.
Experts believe this discovery may help them
understand how cells communicate and destroy
themselves.
The results have brought forth significant infor-
mation regarding the connection between humans
and plants. Molecules similar to YopJ target similar
signaling cells in plants and use a common mecha-
nism to stifle a cell's communication.
"Nature is not as complex as we make her out to
be," Orth said. "We thought the pathways were very
different,"she said of mammalian and plant systems,
"this ... brings a commonality to them, however."
Dixon added that YopJ has been around for a long
time.
"This indicates YopJ is an important and effective
virulence factor, which has been conserved for long
periods of evolutionary history," Dixon added.
Scott Stewart, a Rackham student who aided in
designing the project, said the discmer is a giant
step for research and possible medical applications.
but he added that researchers 'have a long way to
go.
Although they have identified the targets avid
effects of the proteins, researchers need to condut
further inspections to understand the bacteria's
mechanisms.
If scientists find more conclusive in format ion,
they will be able to manipulate it for medical u e
specifically to treat cancer and other immune-relat-
ed diseases.
"Mother nature opened her book and let me rad
a paragraph. But she snapped it shut before I fin-
ished reading," Orth laughed. "That's OK because it
is a puzzle we will continue learning about."
I
Windsor chips used in Detroit
DETROIT (AP) - Some slot machine players at the MGM
Grand Detroit Casino are getting more bets for their buck by
using tokens from Casino Windsor in U.S. slot machines.
The tokens are not supposed to fit. But some MGM slot
machines do accept them.
That means a sizable advantage for someone who plays an
MGM Grand machine with a token purchased in Windsor. At
the current exchange rate, using a Canadian dollar token in a
machine that costs one U.S. dollar to play saves about 32 cents
per bet.
Some MGM customers say they have received Windsor
tokens in rolls or in payouts from slot machines.
The problem doesn't occur with chips in table games because
dealers can easily spot foreign chips. But in slot machines, it's
up to electronics inside to reject foreign tokens.
Not so, Michigan's top gaming official said. Machines are
required to be marked with clear warnings that slot machines
are only to be played with the coins appropriate to the casino.
And if a player intentionally drops Windsor coins into MGM
Detroit slots, it violates state law.
"If you're intentionally using coins that are not made for that
casino, you're committing a fraud on that casino," said Nelson
Westrin, executive director of the Michigan Gaming Control
Disabled '' tu
Board.
Token mixing happens at other casinos, including some
American Indian casinos in Northern Michigan.
But they are dealing with tokens of equal value.
"It happens sometimes with our dollar tokens," said Johnr
Hatch, spokesperson for Kewadin Casinos in the Upper
Peninsula. "We trade the ones we get from other Indian casinos
back to them"
In Detroit, with only a bridge or a tunnel ride between the two
casinos and a big difference in the value of the dollar, "it's a
more sensitive problem than it is elsewhere," said Richard
Currie, vice president, of sales and marketing for Coin
Mechanisms Inc. of Chicago.
Currie's firm makes the electronic mechanisms inside slot
machines that accept or reject tokens, and supplied them to both
Casino Windsor and the MGM Grand Detroit.
Tom Nelson, a deputy director for the Michigan Gaming
Control Board, said the MGM Grand Detroit Casino is not
allowed under state rules to pay customers for the value of a for-
eign token. Customers who get such tokens at the cashier win-
dow or in slot payouts are out of luck.
The face and color of the Windsor and MGM Grand quarter
tokens are different, but they are the same size.
'dents count on
,)
SAM ULLN'SEADL U
Former University Dental student Todd Stoneman created a new student
oriented Website.
Former 'U' student
stars nw We sie
resources for accessability
By Shomari Stone
For the Daily
There was a time when former
Dental School student Todd
Stoneman was terrified of computers.
Stoneman transformed his fear into a
profound satisfaction by founding his
own Internet business,
Slackrsave.com.
The past two years have been a
whirlwind for Stoneman since he
received his bachelors degree in soci-
ology from the University of
Wisconsin. In 1996, Stoneman
enrolled in the University's Dental
School.
"I always had respect for the
University of Michigan. It is highly
ranked," Stoneman said.
But after a year, Stoneman said he
decided dentistry was not for him.
"I dropped out because I was sick
of looking at teeth on a chalk board. It
just wasn't for me," he said.
Instead, Stoneman said he chose to
follow his secret passion for humor
and creativity.
,'I was the class clown growing up;
the life of the party," Stoneman said.
He learned how to start his own
Website business and is now in the
process of incorporating his love
for comedy into his Internet ser-
vice.
"To me the Internet represented the
first medium that allows people the
opportunity where if you are confi-
dent, you can immediately be on
stage," Stoneman said. "I don't have
to go on Howard Stern or David
Letterman. I can do what I am good at
and win!"
Slackrsave.com offers college stu-
dents games and a chance to break the
monotony of academic studies with
cheerful fun, Stoneman said.
On the site college students can
select one of two areas, "Slack" or
"Save." The "Slack" section of the
Website includes interactive games
that rotate on a daily and weekly
basis.
Some of the games students can
participate in are Two-Cents-Top-Ten,
which offers students a sounding
board for current events and TAG,
which displays acronyms like POW
and asks students to fill in the correct
phrase.
"The user would identify what the
acronym stands for and respond
'Pretty-Older Woman,' or 'Pimped-
Out-Wanker," Stoneman said.
Each day Stoneman sorts through
all the submissions and picks the
three most creative answers to post on
his Website the following day.
Stoneman tallies up all participants
points at the end of the month and the
top three point-getters win prizes.
Stoneman was reluctant to dis-
close the nature of the prizes but
added with a smile, "It's stuff
they'll like."
If users click on "Save," they'll
receive local discounts at restaurants,
stores, coffee shops, and other busi-
nesses. Stoneman said his goal is to
create a community where merchants
and patrons can unite and benefit
from one another's involvement with
the Internet.
Stoneman's Website is funded by
local and national businesses. "I
charge advertisers a rate to advertise
on the site which in turn creates rev-
enue,"he said.
LSA junior Josh Chatten-Brown
said he is dubious of Websites that
offer discounts and free merchan-
dise. "There are so many offers out
there. It makes me skeptical," he
said.
But LSA sophomore student
Crystal Mclawhorn said she would be
interested in a Website that offered
discounts and games because of the
positive reinforcement.
"The whole idea of getting a prize
is fun. I like to do puzzles," she said.
Mclawhorn also said she would be
interested in the discounts because
the residence halls do not offer meals
on the weekends and she could save
money.
Stoneman plans to take his Website
to different universities. "I want to
give Ann Arbor the opportunity to
recognize where this started," he said.
Slackrsave.com will be fully func-
tional on October 1, 1999 and can be
accessed at www.slackrsave.conz/.
SERVICES
Continued from Page 1
"During the summer, students often
want to take a break and not think about
school. Even now, we're getting materials
to be taped," Goodin said.
Another difficulty with providing
texts, Goodin said, arises when faculty
members fail to publish their required
reading lists.
University students with mobility
impairments can receive a campus map
that shows locations of elevators and
accessible entrances. SSD will assist in
advocating for the removal of physical
barriers as well as the movement of class-
es from inaccessible rooms.
LSA senior Nicki Lomerson was born
with cerebral palsy. Although she is not
completely confined to a wheelchair, she
often depends on one for transportation.
Lomerson contacted the SSD in the
spring of her senior year in high school.
By the time she came to Ann Arbor, the
SSD had gone "above and beyond in
their accommodations," she said.
Lomerson's door was widened to
make it wheelchair accessible. A bar
went all the way down the closet and sev-
eral appliances, including the telephone,
had been repositioned lower on the wall.
Lomerson also had access to "a show-
er bigger than my room," she said.
This year, Lomerson is a Resident
Adviser at Alice Lloyd Residence Hall.
She said she is pleased with the accom-
modations SSD has provided this year,
although she begged them not to widen
her door in an effort to save closet space.
Lomerson has one class in an inacces-
sible lecture hall, but she said she was
grateful to the physics staff who have
been helpful in showing her how to get
around the physical barriers.
Lomerson said she does have one
complaint for the University - snow
plowing.
"It's good enough for students who arc
biking or walking, but a wheelchair
needs a clean surface," she said.
Arfa said she has been very pleased
with the work that SSD has done for her:
She stresses that it is the student's job to
make contact with the SSD in order to
receive their technology. Lomerson'
agrees, "you have to be persistent with
the system."
Both Arfa and Lomerson said they ard
happy with their lives here and are pos,
tive about the future. "It's not as hard as iC
looks," Lomerson said, "and it's taken me
a long time to be able to say that."
I
r-4
r4 r,4
What's happening in Ann Arbor today
GROUP MEETINGS
J Amnesty International Mass
Meeting, Michigan Union,
Parker Room, 7:30 p.m.
[ Art Matters Meeting, Frieze
Building, Room 3540, 5 p.m.
Visual Resources Collection,
5:30-7 p.m.
J Reform Chavurah Mass Meeting,
Hillel, 8 p.m.
EVENTS
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.
[ Safewalk, 936-1000. Shapiro Library
Lobby, 8 p.m.-2:30 a.m.
I