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December 04, 2001 - Image 3

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Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 2001-12-04

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LOCAL/STATE

The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, December 4, 2001- 3

CRIM4E
r
People call for help
Iafter car break-in
A person became suspicious Saturday
evening in a parking lot on Stone Road
when four people asked if the person
knew how to break into a vehicle. The
four said they had locked their keys in the
vehicle and wanted to know how to get
in, Department of Public Safety reports
state. A check on the vehicle by Ann
Arbor Police revealed that the vehicle was
stolen.
tuA 20-year-old man was arrested and
Wturned over to the AAPD.
Peeping tom seen
again at East Quad
A female student said she saw a black
man watching a woman showering in a
third-floor bathroom in East Quad Resi-
dence Hall's Hayden House Sunday
evening, DPS reports state. The man ran
out of the bathroom after he was spotted.
The man appeared to be in his 20s, of a
thin build and was wearing a gold chain, a
gray sweatshirt and jeans. He might have
been wearing a black cap and a black
leather jacket.
Police were unable to find the suspect.
Driver runs over an
officer's foot during
dispute at Baits
Ann Arbor Police said a parking officer
was assaulted while he was discussing a
parking ticket with a person near Vera
Baits Residence Hall I Thursday after-
noon, DPS reports state. The person
drove over the officer's foot with his vehi-
cle.
Police checked the area but were
unable to find the person.
I Woman harassed
while parking
A female staff member from Universi-
ty Hospitals said she was harassed by
another female staff member trying to
park while she was attempting to park in
a parking garage in the 1500 block of
Hospital Avenue Thursday morning, DPS
reports state. The woman made threaten-
ing comments, saying that she would
slash her tires because she stole her park-
ing space.
Clothes and money
stolen from CCRB
A man said $50 cash along with
"Rocwear" pants, coat and hat were taken
from his bag left unattended in the Cen-
tral Campus Recreation Building main
gym Friday evening, according to DPS
reports. One of the items was found in the
men's locker room along with items from
an unrelated theft.
Woman nearly hit
at parking garage
A woman said while exiting a park-
ing garage in the 1500 block of Hos-
pital Avenue Thursday night another
vehicle almost hit her vehicle and
honked until she drove out of the way,
DPS reports state. The person in the
vehicle also made a gesture at her.
She was able to get the vehicle's
license plate.
Dispute erupts at
Northwood housing
A female resident of Northwood
Apartments heard screaming and whim-

pering coming from her neighbors' apart-
ment Saturday at 3 a.m., DPS reports
state.
She said she occasionally heard a male
voice shouting in spurts, a female voice
whimpering and a baby crying. She also
believed she heard furniture breaking or
being thrown around.
At the scene, police found the lights
turned off inside the residence. A woman
answered the door and let police in.
Police foun(Wan unresponsive man hiding
in the closet. The residents told police the
dispute was verbal and drinking had been
involved.
Man's passport
stolen from Union
A man said his passport was stolen
when he left his bag unattended in the
main hallway of the first floor for 15 min-
utes Friday afternoon, according to DPS
reports.
DPS had no suspects.
- Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter
Jacquelyn Nixon.

Pfizer plans to move ahead
with N. Campus expansion

Border patrol

By Maria Sprow
Daily Staff Reporter

The price of housing in Ann Arbor
might skyrocket within the next six
years, when an estimated 600 to 800
future Pfizer Global Inc. employees
flock to Ann Arbor as part of the com-
pany's planned $600 million expansion
in the city - just one of several con-
tentious issues the pharmaceutical
company's expansion presents.
The expansion is one that was first
brought to light after Pfizer agreed to
pay the University $27 million for 53
acres of unused land near North Cam-
pus, contingent on an agreement by
the City Council to give the company a
50 percent tax break.
Councilwoman Jean Carlberg (D-
3rd Ward) said the housing and traffic
increases associated with the possible
expansion concerned many of the
council members. Council members
were also concerned with Pfizer's
commitment to Ann Arbor because the
company refused to sign an agreement
that would force them to pay back the
money saved by the abatement if the
company left the area.
Councilman Robert Johnson (D- 1st
Ward) said that the company's refusal
to sign such an agreement, called a
clawback, was one of the issues

addressed during negotiations.
"It was clear that Pfizer would not
do that, would not sign that agreement.
... They absolutely, adamantly
refused," Johnson said, adding that the
council needed some signs of commit-
ment before rewarding an abatement.
"The whole point of giving these
abatements is to persuade (a company)
to make a major expansion."
During an October City Council
meeting, Pfizer Senior Vice President
David Cantor, director of the Ann
Arbor Laboratories, said if the tax
abatement was not approved the com-
pany - which employs 3,000 people
and is the city's largest private employ-
er - might leave Ann Arbor because
the land Pfizer currently owns is not
large enough for an expansion.
However, negotiations between City
Council and Pfizer about the tax abate-
ment have eased some of the concerns
from both sides.
To prove its commitment to the area,
Pfizer agreed to four major compromis-
es. The company's taxes, given the
abatement, would never drop below the
tax amount Pfizer already has to pay.
The company also agreed that it would
spend at least $100 million on real
property investments in the next five
years or else the abatement would be
canceled. If Pfizer has not spent $200

million in real property investments}:
within the next six years, the abatement .h.
would be capped at $300 million. The
company also agreed to be.responsible
for any infrastructural changes and to
work with the council to alleviate traffic
and housing concerns.
As a result of the negotiations, the
council approved, by a vote of nine toQ'
twoa 12-year, 50percent tax abate-
Cment on all real property taxes and a
six-year, 50 percent abatement on all
personal property.
Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje said
the tax abatement agreement would
benefit both the city and Pfizer because
it will hopefully contribute to "a very
long and profitable relationship."
"It's not as if we gave anything up,
it's money that we wouldn't have had
in the way of taxes had they not done
their expansion here, Hieftje said.
Pfizer agreed to make at least a
$600 million investment within the
next six years, though council mem-
bers are uncertain as to whether the
company will actually execute its
plans.
"It's hard to know," Johnson said. .
"We're talking over six years and they AP PHOTO
might. But it depends on the economy Attorney General John Ashcroft walks with Canadian Deputy Prime Minister
and it depends on whether or not they Herbert Grey on the U.S. side of the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit. Inside:
get another blockbuster drug. I think Ashcroft says security will increase at border. Page 7
they are planning to do it."
Student iaes stock prIces;
may ace sanctons frmlT

By Jacquelyn Nixon
Daily Staff Reporter

DEBBIE MIZEL/Daily
Green Party co-chair Arita Rios participates in a discussion held yesterday,
where she discussed the hardships of gaining authordty in a third poittical party.
ios featured at
discussion on
the Green Party

An LSA sophomore could face civil charges for a pos-
sible "pump-and-dump" scheme involving falsely raising
the stock price of six companies in which he and two oth-
ers had invested to obtain a substantial profit.
The suspect, 20-year-old Scott Nielsen, could also face
sanctions under the University's ITD policy for using
University-owned computers.
"Our computing use policies do specify that you need
to use computing in a legal matter," University spokes-
woman Julie Peterson said. No University computers have
been confiscated by authorities for the investigation, she
added.
A "pump and dump" involves buying a stock before
recommending it to thousands of investors, and a, quick
increase in price is followed by an equally speedy crash
after the perpetrators sell off the stock early once its price
peaks.
John Nester, spokesman for the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission that investigates stock crime, said
he could neither confirm nor deny Nielsen's suspected
involvement in such a crime until an investigation is com-
plete.
"While the SEC investigates evidence of wrongdoing,
it can bring a case," Nester said. "'Pump-and-dump'
cases may look open and shut, but it must be determined
whether the information was knowingly false" before a
person is charged with a civil infraction, Nester said.
Investigations can be completed in lightning speed, but

some can last years, he added.
The Internet has become a very efficient way for to
commit "pump-and-dump" schemes because of its expe-
diency when compared to the boiler-room scams of the
past, Nester said.-
A share beginning at five cents could inflate to $2.15 if
false information is posted on the Internet, he said.
"There are people who have reaped tens of thousands
of dollars in a short amount of time before we have
caught up with them," Nester said.
The Internet can also give users a false sense of
anonymity.
"Someone can believe they are covering themselves ...
but they leave electronic fingerprints and footprints,"
Nester said.
Unlike most federal agencies, the SEC cannot bring
criminal charges against violators.
"Usually (a-case) is brought before an administrative
law judge instead of going to court," Nester said. "Fre-
quently one or both parties may be willing to settle."
Judgments can include civil or punitive fines, he added.
Individual companies can seek criminal charges depend-
ing on the severity of the crime.
"If a company felt that it was violated, it could go to a
court and seek redress," Nester said.
America's Senior Financial Service, Citizen's Capital
Corp., Monogram Pictures Inc., Cambridge Energy
Corp., Kings Road Entertainment Inc. and International
Cavitation Technologies Inc. are possible companies
that could sue Nielsen and his father, who jointly owns
Nielsen's brokerage account.

By Louie Meizlish
Daily Staff Reporter
Discussing her efforts to build the
Green Party nationally and her disillu-
sionment with the two major political
parties, Anita Rios, one of four nation-
al co-chairs of the party and the high-
est ranking Latina in any national
political party, relayed yesterday the
difficulties a third party faces in
becoming a legitimate power.
During her sit-down discussion at
the Michigan Union, Rios contrasted
building the Green Party with party-
building done by national Democrats
and Republicans. The national Greens
are, she said, basically a federation of
state Green parties, of which there are
44 registered.
"Each state pretty much does it's
own thing within the party platform,"
she said.
The federation was just recognized
last month by the Federal Election
Commission as the party's national
committee.
Rios said,the party should work to
change its image of a group of "white
guys in sandals" It should also try to
attract minorities, she said.
In explaining how she became a
Green Party member, Rios, a retired
social worker, recalled feeling past
Democratic and Republican adminis-
trations had done little to improve the
difficult circumstances in which many
Latinos live. She was born to migrant
workers in a three-room farmhouse
without plumbing and electricity. At
age 16, an adviser told her to drop out
of high school.
"You know what kind of jobs 16-
year-old Latina drop-outs can get?

You can't get very good jobs," she
said.
For more than 30 years in her
hometown of Toledo, Ohio, she said,
high school dropout rates for Latinos
had remained around 40 to 60 percent.
"I saw that the realities I grew up in
still existed," Rios said.
The reason she joined the Greens,
she said, was the inability of the major
parties to address her concerns.
"If the solutions presented by the
Democrats and the Republicans aren't
solving the problem, a reasonable per-
son, at some point, must seek other
solutions." The Democratic and
Republican parties, she said, have "put
out stars with empty messages and
empty rhetoric."
Rios also discussed the Green
Party's platform, which stresses the
party's support for universal health
care and free education for all stu-
dents. However, Rios later added that
the party might also be able to use it's
bully pulpit to push Democrats into
supporting more progressive and pro-
labor policies. In most elections nowa-
days, she lamented that voters have to
choose between "conservative
Democrats and a bogeyman."
Third-year Rackham student Rob
Haug, co-chair of Student Greens,
said he is glad a grass-roots cam-
paigner made it to Ann Arbor.
"It's important they leave those
(meeting) rooms and the public hears
what we're talking about," Haug said.
First-year Social Work student Jose
Melendez, who came to the discussion
to hear more about the Green Party,
said he was impressed with what Rios
had to say, but, "for now, I remain a
progressive Democrat."

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