One hundred ten years of editonzlfreedom
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Friday
December 8, 2000
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court
continues deliberations
The Associated Press
Desperately short on time, Al Gore's
lawyer pleaded with the Florida Supreme
Court yesterday to order vote recounts
revive his faltering presidential
quest. Republican attorneys called
George W. Bush the certified, rightful
victor and said "not a single shred of evi-
dence" suggests anybody was denied
their vote.
Even as the seven justices mulled the vice
president's fate, fellow Democrats said they
were running low on patience. "This is
coming to an end," Sen. Dick Durbin (D-
said. He said a Bush presidency "looks
more and more" likely.
One month after a maddeningly incon-
clusive Election Day, the question of
who will serve as America's 43rd presi- "Time is getting very short," Gore
dent still echoes throughout the nation's lawyer David Boies told Florida's high
legislative and judicial chambers. Yester- court. The seven justices, all with Demo-
day alone, two state judges and one fed- cratic ties, aggressively quizzed both
eral court considered complaints about sides but seemed skeptical about their
absentee ballots, and GOP lawmakers in own authority to intervene.
Florida braced for a special session The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this
today to give Bush the week set aside a Florida
state's 25 electoral votes high court ruling allowing
- in case the courts some late hand recounts of
won't. ballots, sending the case
All this amid the pres- back for clarification.
sure of a Tuesday dead- Chastened justices won-
line set out in the U.S. Constitution for dered out loud whether the U.S. Consti-
states to appoint electors. If Florida's tution gives the Florida Legislature -
legislative and judicial branches can't rather than the court - power to settle
agree on a presidential slate by the Elec- the presidential dispute.
toral College meeting Dec. 18, a divided Even before Boies had a chance to begin
Congress could inherit the morass. his opening remarks, Chief Justice Charles
Wells interrupted to ask, "Where do we get
our right" to resolve this kind of presiden-
tial impasse?
"I don't think the Constitution of the
United States in any way means that the leg-
islature has to sit both as a legislative body
and a judicial body just because an election
of presidential electors is involved," Boies
replied.
A half-hour later, Wells asked the same
question of Bush lawyer Barry Richard,
who said the high court can review the case
in a "very limited fashion."
"This is nothing more than a garden vari-
ety appeal," Richard said.
From a political standpoint, the
remark was a breathtaking display of
understatement.
See ELECTION, Page 7
AP PHOTO
Attorneys for Texas Gov. George W. Bush speak with reporters
following a Florida Supreme Court hearing yesterday.
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Delivery
man hit,
robbed by
3 suspects
O Robbery is second
armed assault reported
near campus in 3 days
By Caitlin Nish
Daily Staff Reporter
East Madison Street turns into a war zone last night as residents of South Quad and West Quad battle each other in the snow. Warriors from West Quad pushed their way into South Quad by 11:30 p.m.
First heavy snowfall of season blankets Ann Arbor
By Carrie Thorson
Daily Staff Reporter
After a week of below-freezing temperatures
and biting winds, Ann Arbor experienced its
first substantial snowfall of the season yester-
day, forcing students to scrape off their cars and
don boots and scarves for their chilling trudge
to class this morning.
As hundreds of South Quad and West Quad
residents battled each other in their traditional
snowball fight celebrating the first big snowfall,
snow advisory was in effect last night for
Washtenaw and Wayne counties. Between 3
and 6 inches of snow fell in the area by mid-
night.
- With temperatures enabling roads to freeze
and snow to stick, students have to take extra
steps to make it to class on time and still stay
warm. Some students reacted negatively to the
change in seasons.
"I hate, more than anything in the world,
being cold," LSA junior Janel Owens said as
she stood in the snow waiting for a bus to North
Campus yesterday. "It makes me physically
angry."
The University has discontinued the use of
Ice-Ban to reduce slipping on walkways
through campus. The de-icer, resembling soy
sauce, generated many complaints last year
because of its odor and tendency to ruin stu-
dents' shoes.
"That stuff was terrible," Engineering sopho-
more Eddie Shin said. "It's sticky and nasty."
The new de-icer is a corn-based liquid, said
Mark Cornwell, senior horticulturist for the
University Grounds and Waste Management.
Ice-Ban also utilized corn.
"We were quite fortunate that the new gener-
ation of liquid de-icer hit the market at the end
of last winter," Cornwell said. "We're one of the
first people to use it and a lot of the tracking
problems are gone."
Students have already mistaken the new
amber-colored de-icer for the "brown crap"
they hated last year, grounds worker Rick Priv-
etti said as he sprinkled salt on a sidewalk near
the Dana Building.
"Someone already complained to me about
it," Privetti said. "I'm like, 'Hey man, I've got a
scoop of white salt here and it's not getting on
your clothes."'
Over on East Madison Street, the residents of
West Quad battled their counterparts from
South Quad for more than an hour. By 11:30
p.m., snow warriors from West Quad, pushed
their way into South Quad, occupying the lobby
and first floor lounges.
Battle cries of "Follow your troops!" and "Do
it for your country!" scared non-participants
away. Some snowball fight participants filled
trash cans and and organized 30-man charges to
attack opposing forces.
See SNOW, Page 7
Three men struck a pizza deliv-
ery man on the head with a "hockey
stick-like object" and took his
money early yesterday morning in
the 1500 block of Packard Street,
according to Department of Public
Safety reports.
The Ann Arbor Police Depart-
ment put out an area broadcast for
the three men, who were last seen
at 2:14 a.m. heading east on
Packard.
"The suspects were described as
a black male, a white male and an
unknown male, all about 5 feet 9
inches tall," AAPD Sgt. Mark
Szynwelski said.
The robbery follows another inci-
dent that occurred Tuesday morn-
ing, when a male subject
brandished a gun to a female stu-
dent walking to class in the Art and
Architecture Building on North
Campus.
DPS spokeswoman Diane Brown
said officers investigated the
weapon- used in Tuesday's incident
and determined that only a harm-
less replica of a real gun was used.
Still, incidents like these may
cause students to wonder how safe
the campus really is.
"We rarely have any crime that is
violent crime and we would like to
keep it that way," Brown said.
Brown also said in the past year,
DPS received reports of five
weapons incidents on campus, none
of which involved students.
"Typically we issue a crime alert
when a crime against a person has
taken place and we don't know who
the subject is," Brown said. "If the
victim knows the perpetrator we
don't issue a crime alert because we
believe the crime somehow has to
do with their relationship."
Brown added that a crime alert is
designed to warn the community
that someone has perpetrated a
crime and to be on the lookout for
the suspect.
She also said although there is
little crime on the University cam-
pus, students should still take pre-
caution when walking alone or at
night.
"Everyone needs to be aware of
their surroundings and everyone
else around them," Brown said. "If
you are out and about and do feel
like something's not right, pay
attention to your instincts and go to
one of the blue emergency phones
or a safe, well-lit location."
In an emergency, picking one of the
blue phones located in an emergency
phone booth connects to the DPS
command center. The department
immediately dispatches officers to the
nhone's location, even if the caller
IFC, Panhel
induct leaders
By Susan Luth
Daily Staff Reporter
New officers for the executive boards of both the Interfra-
ternity Council and the Panhellenic Association were sworn in
last night during a formal ceremony in the Michigan League.
The 20 officers, which include incoming presidents Marc
Itvedt of IFC and Steph Deal of Panhel, coordinate rush at
t beginning of the year, monitor the social scene through-
out the Greek community and plan programs that entertain
and educate both members and non-members of the Greek
system.
"These guys are really going to take it to the limit," said
Engineering senior Adam Silver, outgoing IFC president. "I'd
be really excited to come back in a year and see what these
House bill calls for
Election Day to be
national holiday
By Yael Kohen from the federal calendar during that
I
Daily Staff Reporter
CARRIE McGEE/Datiy
Interfratemity Council President Adam Silver tosses a gavel to
successor Marc Hustvedt last night In the Michigan League.
"The girls were so united. They came together in every-
thing," Zubal said. "It didn't just happen in the meetings, it
happened everyday of the week. We all became good
;:--."',
Even though it may not be a holiday
for candidates, legislators are trying to
strip work responsibilities for the
nation's voters to help citizens exercise
their right to cast their ballot.
Republican U.S. Rep. Fred Upton of
St. Joseph is planning to introduce a
bill to the House of Representatives
making Election Day a national holi-
.d V
year.
"While not a panacea, this legis-
lation underscores that voting is so
critically important to our nation
that, at the very least, we should try
whenever, and wherever possible to
give people the day off from work
to give them the greatest opportuni-
ty to vote in a presidential election
year," Upton said in a letter sent to
other representatives.
IU. RSRen .Lvnn Rivers (D-Ann