LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Friday, October 12, 2001-'3A
Brater announces bid or state Senate
Peeping toms
* spotted in two
residence halls
A student said she saw a man
looking at her while she was taking
a shower in Stockwell Residence
Hall Sunday, DPS reports state.
The peeping tom pulled the curtain
back and watched her.
On Wednesday morning, a
Mosher-Jordan resident told DPS
that an unknown man had peeked
over the partition while she was
showering. She did not know the
identity of the suspect.
DPS did not report whether the
incidents were related and had no
suspects.
Pills taken from
parked vehicle
A woman reported the theft of
several pills from a prescription
bottle which she left in her vehicle
Wednesday afternoon, DPS reports
state. The vehicle was parked on
the basement level of the West
Medical Center Street carport and
had been unattended for several
hours.
DPS had no suspects.
Unattended bag
near pool stolen
Aswimming bag was stolen
between 5 and 7 p.m. Saturday
from the North Campus Recreation
Building, according to DPS
reports. The bag had been left
unattended in the pool area.
DPS had no suspects.
Office forcibly
* burglarized
An office located in the 1200
block of Eisenhower was burglar-
ized between Sunday evening and
Monday morning, according to
DPS reports. A window was shat-
tered in order to enter the building
and a laptop computer was
removed.
DPS had no suspects.
Man robbed on
South U.
A man reported that he was
robbed Monday afternoon by an
unknown person at the corner of
South University and Forest
Avenues, according to DPS
reports. His hat and $40 cash was
stolen from him.
The information was turned over
to the Ann Arbor Police Depart-
ment since the incident occurred
off campus.
Study group
leader assaulted
A female student was spit on by
another student in the Chemistry
Building Monday afternoon,
according to DPS reports. The
incident occurred while the student
was leading a study group.
Fire started on
Mitchell field
DPS officers located a small fire
n Mitchell soccer field on Fuller
Road early Tuesday morning, DPS
reports state. The officer found an
alcohol bottle with a rag as a cork
on fire.
'Man injured by
wooden beam
A man in a construction pit on
Geddes- Avenue was injured by a
dislodged wooden beam Tuesday
morning, according to DPS
reports. He was transported. to the
University Hospitals' emergency
room by an ambulance for treat-
ment.
&Three credit
cards nabbed
Three credit cards were stolen
from the North Ingalls. Building
Tuesday afternoon, DPS reports
state. One University of Michigan
purchasing card, a personal Visa
and a personal MasterCard were
taken.
- Compiled by Daily Staff
Reporter Jacquelyn Nixon.
By Margaret Engoren
Daily Staff Reporter
Former state Rep. Liz Brater hopes
to return to Lansing next fall as a state
senator.
Brater held a press conference at
Washtenaw Community College yes-
terday to announce she is launching a
campaign for the state Senate.
"If I am elected to the state Senate, I
will work to call attention to the'crim-
inilization of people with mental ill-
nesses. Fifteen of Michigan's 21
mental health hospitals were closed
during the 1990s," Brater said. "It is a
good objective to get the mentally ill
out of hospitals and into society. How-
ever, the money did not follow them
out of the hospitals. Many people with
mental illnesses fall through the cracks
and end up in homeless shelters or in
prisons. One of every eight general
fund dollars goes to corrections. Much
of this money should be rerouted to
mental health."
Brater joins state Rep. John Hansen
of Dexter in the race to replace state
Sen. Alma Wheeler Smith in the
November 2002 election. Smith, who
can't run for the 18th District seat
again because of term limits, is a can-
didate for governor.
Other than mental health, Brater
lists slant oil drilling in the Great
Lakes, water and air pollution, the
problem of urban sprawl, public edu-
cation and campaign finance reform as
key issues of her campaign.
"I am firmly against slant oil*
drilling in the Great Lakes. Slant oil
drilling and urban sprawl are the most
pressing environmental issues in
Michigan," said Brater, an Ann Arbor
Democrat. "Urban sprawl is the cause
of all environmental problems in
Michigan. If we continue the current
trend, between 1990 and 2020 there
will be a 12 percent increase in popu-
lation and a 70 percent increase in
land use. This drains central cities'
populations and causes stress on our
environment."
Through a campaign website,
lizbrater.com, Brater plans to supply
her supporters with information con-
cerning her platform and campaign
events before the Democratic primary
in August.
"It's going to be a busy 10 months. I
am looking forward to getting back
into the streets to talk to the people of
Michigan -- and I am looking forward
to continued support from the people
of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti," said
Brater, whose husband Enoch is an
English professor at the University.
In December 2000, term limits put
an end to Brater's six years in the
Michigan House of Representatives,
where she served the 53rd District.
Brater entered politics in 1988,
when she was elected to the Ann
Arbor City Council. In 1991, she
became the first woman elected mayor
in the city of Ann Arbor.
"I never decided to get into politics
- that's not really a rational thing to
do - instead I got involved because I
am passionate about the issues," Brater
said.
DAVID KATZ/Daily
Former state Rep. Liz Brater announces her bid for the State Senate yesterday
afternoon at Washtenaw Community College,
Smart Girl.org receives
hep from gU' irorram
Pillar of strength
S
By C. Price Jones
Daily Staff Reporter
Z- CIS
Steered in a new direction under the
leadership of the Institute for Research
on Women and Gender, the website
SmartGirl.org will cooperate with
many University departments in the
upcoming year. Only in June did the
University adopt the website from
founder Isabel Walcott, and since then,
many departments have shown interest
in working with SmartGirl.
"We're changing our site from a dot-
com to a dot-org because we want to
stress the educational interests rather
than only market research," said Tiffany
Marra, program director of SmartGirl.
"A company or magazine might tell
girls what to think. SmartGirl encour-
ages girls to express their views; the
content is driven by the girls."
SmartGirl focuses on letting adoles-
cent girls express their opinions and
read peer-written reviews on products,
movies, books, magazines, music and
other topics. Also featured are sections
concerning love letters, poetry and gen-
eral information about surviving ado-
lescence. These sections are
supplemented by a place for girls to
anonymously submit their impressions.
The site's monthly newsletter is
received by more than 25,000 people
from countries including Canada, Great
"Also, you can only put so much into
magazines.... This is compiled and
comprehensive."
- Smitha Vilasagar
LSA freshman
Britain, Australia and Saudi Arabia.
University students who visited the
site had much to say about its quality
and focus.
"SmartGirl is very informative," said
LSA freshman Smitha Vilasagar. "I
like how there were subjects such as
eating disorders which are relative to
adolescent girls. Also, you can only put
so much into magazines. ... This is
compiled and comprehensive."
"Over the Internet people don't have
to sign their name to it, so they can
anonymously share their thoughts with
other girls," said Rachel Kennett, an
LSA freshman.
Walcott started the site in 1996 and
suffered from the blow to the online
industry with other dot-com organiza-
tions. No longer able-to sponsor the
site, Walcott began looking for a recip-
ient of SmartGirl. At the time, the site
was primarily involved with girls' writ-
ing and market research.
"One of the benefits of working with
the University is no longer needing to
do market research for companies just
to keep the site alive," said Marra.
Walcott contacted Abigail Stewart,
director of IRWG, who saw the potential
for connecting SmartGirl with Using
Math: Girls Investigate Real Life, a Uni-
versity program with goals similar to the
opinion area of SmartGirl.
Marra predicted that the site will
eventually coordinate with the Sweet-
land Writing Center, the psychology
department and the School of Educa-
tion. With the help of these depart-
ments, Marra hopes to transform
SnartGirl into a more educationally-
based organization that can accept
more University students as interns.
"We want to make SmartGirl interdis-
ciplinary and to make the website's mis-
sion fit in the educational and
institutional mission of the University,"
she said.
ETHAN ORLEY/Daily
Though students walking to and from class see the University of Michigan
Museum of Art on a daily basis, few ever walk through its doors.
Clinton: Democracy
can stop terrorism
BENTON HARBOR (AP) -
Democracy can stem the tide of terror-
ism in the "battle for the soul of the
21st century," former President Clin-
ton said last night.
Jordan probably has the most stable
government in the Middle East because
it has a democracy with open elections,
Clinton told about 3,000 people who
came to hear him speak to the Econom-
ic Club of Southwestern Michigan.
Islamic extremists sometimes run
for public office in Jordan and when
they win, they have to learn how to
compromise, he said during the speech
at Lake Michigan College.
"It changes a whole culture and it's
very important that we continue to do
more of this," the former president
said of promoting democracy.
Clinton, speaking on the one-month
anniversary of the terrorist attacks in
New York, Washington and Pennsylva-
nia, said Americans need to put their
full support behind President Bush and
the nation's allies in the fight against ter-
rorism.
It's also important to undermine the
conditions that breed potential terror-
ists and to build a strong feeling of
community within the country.
"You have to understand, this is
truly a battle for the soul of the 21st
century," Clinton said.
While acknowledging the presence
in the audience of boxing great
Muhammad Ali, a Muslim and resi-
dent of nearby Berrien Springs, Clin-
ton said Americans must be clear
about who was responsible for the
Sept. 11 acts of terror.
"You cannot blame the Muslims of
America or the world for these acts," the
ex-president said. "We have to prove in
America that we're bigger than that."
He said suspected terror mastermind
Osama bin Laden and his followers are
deluded in their thinking and don't
believe that they are committing evil
acts. There kind have been around since
the dawn of time, Clinton said.
"What a dreary world it would be if
Mr. bin Laden got his way," he said.
During a session of the program
where the former president answered
questions from the audience, Clinton
said he believes it is again safe to fly
commercially.
"One of the things this guy (bin
Laden) wants is to make you afraid to
get on an airplane," he said.
Bin Laden won't get his way, how-
ever, because the people of the United
States won't bow to terrorism, he said.
That became apparent in the wake of
the attacks on the World Trade Center
and the Pentagon, Clinton said.
"It all begins with the breaking of
the spirit of America," he said. "I can
look out there (in the audience) and
tell you're not going to give him per-
mission to win."
THE CALENDAR
What's happening in Ann Arbor this weekend
FRIDAY
Friday Night Live Featur-
ing The Electronic
Dance Coalition; Spon-
sored by the Michigan
League Programming
Department, 4:00 p.m.,
250 Hutchins Hall
Berlin Philharmonic
Orchestra, Sponsored by
the University Musical
Society, 8:00 p.m., Hill
Arb, 9:00 a.m. - 12:00
p.m., Meet at the west
end of Dow Prairie
SUNDAY
U Lincoln Center Jazz
Orchestra; With Artistic
SERVICES
Campus Information
Centers, 764-INFO,
info@umich.edu, or
www. umich. edu/.info
Northwaik.76,3-WALK.
F ,