LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Thursday, November 8, 2001- 3A
RESEARCH,
Lawmakers look
S to start drilling in
area lake shores
State lawmakers and University
researchers are looking at the prospect
of directional drilling for oil along the
Great Lakes shoreline.
Researchers said the risks of drilling
have decreased, despite the concerns of
residents and environmentalists over
possible oil and gas leaks into the Great
Lakes from breaks in underground
pipes and rock formations, according to
a recent press release.
Directional drilling allows oil and
natural gas to be extracted from areas
not available using previous methods.
After boring out the well for several
hundred feet, the drill bore is angled
at the desired spot on the lake floor.
Health concerns still top the list of
complaints from people opposed to the
* drilling. Problems include poisonous gas
leaks and other large-scale accidents that
could harm tourists and lake users.
Aid to safety net
health care drops
Safety net health care organizations
that offer a last resort for people with-
out health insurance have felt the heat
from a reduction in finances to health
care delivery systems, according to
University researchers.
With a growing number of unin-
sured people, a study conducted by
the School of Public Health intends to
inform people of the nature and scope
of the safety net in the state. It also
plans on looking at safety net organi-
zation strategies to combat the reduc-
tion of resources.
Focuses of the study include sur-
vival strategies, the behavior of work-
ers at the safety net organizations and
the specific policies that contribute to
the success of the companies.
Fight against oral
cancer widens
Following the Michigan Department
of Community Health's announcement
that almost 4,500 new oral cancer cases
were diagnosed in the tri-county are
between 1990 and 1998, scientists at
the School of Dentistry are launching a
program to promote the detection and
prevention of the disease in the three
southeast counties.
The school will join other organiza-
tions, including the Michigan Depart-
ment of Community Health, in the
Oral Cancer Prevention Network to
promote awareness of the disease in
the community.
The network will also speak with
health care providers and coalitions to
learn more about their knowledge and
practices involving the detection and
prevention of oral cancer.
Considering the tri-county area has
one of the highest death rates from oral
cancer in the country, the group will
educate and train health care profes-
sionals to screen and promote people to
lessen their risks of developing oral
cancer lessening their intake of tobacco
and excessive amounts of alcohol,
according to a recent press release.
The network also plans to target
children and young adults through
media campaigns.
Downs children
walk sooner
Babies with Downs Syndrome who
walked on a treadmill for eight min-
utes a day, five days a week, with the
assistance of their parents began walk-
ing three and a half months sooner
than those babies with Downs Syn-
Orome who didn't, according to
researchers at the School of Kinesiol-
ogy.
Compared to normally developing
babies, those with Downs Syndrome
typically walk one year later, which
delays many developmental mile-
stones and the child's sense of inde-
pendence, according to a recent press
release.
The use of the treadmill helped the
children develop walking necessities
like leg strength and control of their
posture even before they mastered
crawling.
- Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter
Lisa Hoffman
U-Dems campaigns for students'
rights
By Kara Wenzel
Daily Staff Reporter
The University Democratic Party candidates
running in next week's Michigan Student
Assembly election promise they will fight for
student rights and address issues other parties
have never thought to address.
"The projects we undertake and the issues
we .tackle directly affect students, like the
House Party Handbook, informing students of
their rights for house parties," said candidate
Elliot Wells-Reid, an Engineering senior.
Wells-Reid said he thinks the name of the
party is an asset, not a hindrance to attracting
students.
"Our name brings with it the idea that we
will not tolerate the status quo from govern-
ment," Wells-Reid said.
The party is less than a year old, but LSA
freshman candidate Jenny Nathan said they
.M$A~tefail 2001
a, ,
Part four of a five-part series aout campaign platorms
are even more involved in the work of MSA
than the older parties.
"Since our establishment, our members have
come to hold chairmanships of nearly one half
of the MSA committees and commissions,"
Nathan said.
Nathan said members of her party "initiated
and facilitated the planning of the vigil on
Sept. 11."
She added that the U-Dems were the only
party to be fully endorsed by Students for
Choice in last winter's election.
The U-Dems will continue "working to pro-
tect reproductive choice on campus, including
lifting the current gag rule which prohibits UHS
from presenting its full array of reproductive
health options to patients," Nathan said.
Wells-Reid said his party will "push for
reform to the Office of Financial Aid so that
they can more effectively communicate with
students by giving them all necessary informa-
tion online."
Campus safety is another big concern of the
U-Dems candidates.
"We want to work with the Department of
Public Safety and the Ann Arbor Police
Department to help completely eliminate
domestic assault and to secure that students of
certain descent are protected in light of recent
events," said candidate Jason Mironov, an LSA
freshman.
Mironov is concerned about the quality of
housing both on and off campus. If elected, he
plans to improve MSA's relationship with the
Ann Arbor Tenants' Union and University
Housing to make living in Ann Arbor "more
bearable."
Mironov has created a website,
votejison.com, for students to share their con-
cerns about MSA and read about the U-Dems'
platform.
LSA sophomore candidate Rahul Saksena
said the U-Dems want students to have repre-
sentation in city politics.
"We are the only party that supports the cre-
ation of a student councilperson on the Ann
Arbor City Council," Saksena said.
LSA junior and current MSA Rep. Zach Slates
said he wants to improve bussing to and from
points even further away than North Cmpus.
"I want to work with the University and the
Ann Arbor Transportation Authority to pro-
vide bussing to Metro Airport for out of 'state
students to get home," Slates said. "Now with
Commuter Express no longer running to the
airport, students are forced to pay for a cab to
get there."
Mirror, mirror
Michigan Tech to award
$2bo,000 for info on bmb s
HOUGHTON (AP) - Michigan
Tech University officials are offering a
$2,000 reward for the people who put
two unexploded bombs outside campus
buildings, while researchers wonder
about the motive.
"It's a big confusion at this time why
someone would resort to criminal activ-
ity to intimidate us or stop (research)
work;' Glenn Mroz, dean of the School
of Forestry and Wood Products, told
The Daily Mining Gazette for a story
yesterday.
Campus police found the bombs
Monday near the U.J. Noblet Forestry
Building and the U.S. Forest Service
Engineering Laboratory. Genetic engi-
neering research for the forest products
industry is conducted at the labs.
A state police bomb squad defused
and removed the bombs and was exam-
ining them. The FBI, U.S. Bureau of
Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, state
police, campus police and Hancock
police are investigating.
The bombs consisted of three 5-gal-
lon buckets filled with an unknown liq-
uid, wired to two ignition devices.
University spokesman Bill Curnow
said he was unaware of any threats
toward the school. In April, the Earth
Liberation Front sent out a nationwide
Earth Day e-mail warning against
genetic engineering research, he said.
The radical environmental group has
claimed responsibility on its Web site
for several recent attacks on genetic
engineering and other projects, but
makes no reference to Michigan Tech.
"It's a big confusion at this time why
someone would resort to criminal
activity to intimidate us"
- Glen Mroz
Dean, School of Forestry at Michigan Technical University
The ELF told The Associated Press
in an e-mail message yesterday that no
one was available for comment.
The Earth Liberation Front and the
related Animal Liberation Front have
claimed responsibility for at least five
acts of sabotage over the past two
months.
The attacks include setting fire to a
McDonald's restaurant in Tucson, Ariz.;
burning a maintenance building at a
primate research facility in New Mexi-
co; twice releasing minks from an Iowa
fur farm; and firebombing a federal
corral for wild horses in Nevada.
Since 1987, they have claimed
responsibility for dozens of acts of sab-
otage against companies and agencies
they say are harming animals and the
environment - including fur farms,
research facilities, fast-food restaurants
and logging operations.
"I am very concerned," said Michi-
gan Tech researcher Mijeong Jeong.
"The first thing I thought of was my
work."
David Barbarash, a spokesman for
the Animal Liberation Front, said the
Tech bombs were similar to devices the
ELF describes in brochures and web-
sites as useful for terrorist activities.
But he said he didn't know whether the
ELF was responsible for the Michigan
Tech bombs.
"Typically people take responsibili-
ty," Barbarash said. "But we don't know
who they are or if they feel safe enough
to take responsibility."
The groups oppose genetic engineer-
ing because it "messes with the basic
fundamentals of life," Barbarash said.
"They can say there is no damage done,
but we don't know the long-term effects."
Michigan Tech scientists say their
experiments with altered tree and plant
genes in the Noblet building are safe
and benefit the environment.
"If you can grow more trees on fewer
acres, that means there is more land that
is available for wilderness and recre-
ation;" Mroz said.
Just before the Earth Day threat,
Tech received a $2 million grant to
experiment with aspen tree genetics. In
an effort similar to the human genome
project, Mroz said scientists are
attempting to map the genetics of the
common tree.
JONATHON TRIEST/Daily
The stacks in the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library are reflected on a mirror
yesterday.
Low voter turnout
hinders A2 City
Council elections
By Louie Meizlish
Daily Staff Reporter
Ann Arbor Mayor John Hiefije said
the fact that this year's municipal elec-
tions were held during a time of
national crisis when many voters have
been distracted by other events around
the globe was one of the primary rea-
sons for low voter turnout.
"The public has had so many dis-
tractions for so many reasons that they
didn't focus on this election until the
last week or two," Hieftje said.
In addition, ieftje said, the fact that
only three of the five races were con-
tested may also have depressed
turnout.
But interim City Clerk Yvonne Carl
said that turnout in off-year elections
is traditionally low when compared to
even-numbered years when voters also
choose Michigan's governor or the
president of the United States.
"People are just not that interested
in getting out to vote in off-year elec-
tions," Carl said, adding that local
turnout in off-year elections has never
reached 30 percent.
For the 4th Ward's polling place
located in'the South Quad Residence
Hall, only 20 voters showed up to vote
Tuesday out of the 1,200 residents liv-
ing in the ward. This is only 1.67 per-
cent of the residents.
In the 2nd Ward race, Democratic
Councilwoman Joan Lowenstein, who
lost to Republican challenger Michael
Reid by only 44 votes of the 2,919 bal-
lots cast, suggested she might have
done better with a higher turnout.
"In the even year elections, when
there is a higher turnout, it tends to be
better for the Democrats," she said.
Hieftje also said low turnout was in
part due to the fact that there are no
Ann Arbor-based television stations
that can draw attention to the races and
that other local media do not cover the
council sufficiently.
Voting in municipal elections, Hieft-
je added, is more important than many
residents consider it.
"What happens in the local govern-.
ment arena quite often affects people
more than what happens in Lansing
and Washington," he said.
LSA junior Chris Miller, chair of
the Michigan Student Assembly's
Voice Your Vote Commission, agreed,
stressing the difficulty in increasing
voter turnout in elections such as those
held this year. Miller cited the city's
new parking plan approved by the
council as an issue that should have
brought more students out to the polls.
Engineering freshman Michael
DePalma said although he was not
very interested in the local races, there
was not enough information provided
to inform him of how to vote even if
he had been interested.
"I didn't really hear anything about
it," he said.
Business School graduate student
Christopher Donahue, did not vote even
though he is registered in Ann Arbor.
"I wasn't even paying attention. I
pretty much just registered for the
national stuff," Donahue said.
Correction:
A listing of election results on page 1 of yesterday's Daily should have said that citizens in Traverse City and Kala-
mazoo voted not to ban'policies giving gays protected status. The accompanying Associated Press story on page 3 about
the results of those votes was correct.
THE CALENDAR
What's happening in Ann Arbor today
EVENTS
"Islam and the Western
World: A Clash of Civi-
5:00 p.m., 231 West Hall
"Affordable Housing
Breakfast"; Sponsored by
Religious Action for
Affordble ~Housiing.All
Mystery Tour"; Sponsored
by the University Center
for Japanese Studies,
12:00 p.m., 1636 School
SERVICES
Campus Information
Centers, 764-INFO,
info@umich.edu, or-
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