LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, January 8, 2002 - 3
Many larcenies
0 reported during
winter ,break
Both the Art and Architecture
Building and Institute of Social
Research were targets of burglars
during the holiday break, accord-
ing to Department of Public Safety
reports.
In addition, some students
returned to the residence halls to
* find that their rooms had been bur-
glarized.
"Most of the people perpetrating
these crimes are between the ages
of 15 and 25," DPS spokeswoman
Diane Brown said. "In most cases
they are not affiliated with the
University."
However, in most cases suspects
of the building thefts were identi-
fied and pursued as a result of
employees remaining alert to their
surroundings.
"Since people are calling DPS
promptly and that's making it easi-
er to locate suspects," Brown said.
Reports of larcenies on campus
during the winter break made to
DPS include:
Audio tapes, employee's
purse stolen from ISR
Two men stole a female employee's
purse and 20 audio tapes Wednesday
morning from the Institute of Social
Research. Police recovered the purse
and audio tapes and traced the foot-
prints of one suspect who was spotted
near the Student Activities Building.
The 24-year-old man had an outstand-
ing warrant and was arrested.
The other suspect was unable to be
identified.
Office burglary attempt
foiled by employees
Two men trying to remove office.
equipment from the Institute of
Social Research last Tuesday were
interrupted by an employee who
was alerted by the noises. The men
had removed bolts from a door
hinge to enter the office.
DPS put out a description of the
suspects with local law enforce-
ment and Ann Arbor Police offi-
cers assisted in finding the
suspects. One man was located
near West Hall and the other man
was found at the corner of East
William and South State streets.
DPS questioned the 18- and 22-
year-old suspects, who were
released pending warrant autho-
rization.
DVD, Nintendo stolen
from West Quad room
A West Quad resident told police
Sunday afternoon that his room was
open when he returned from Christ-
mas break. The student said his DVD
player, Nintendo, money and a tool
box were taken from his room.
DPS had no suspects.
Items taken from Art
and Architecture Bldg.
While investigating a larceny from
desks in the Art and Architecture
Building last Wednesday, campus
police found several other items
stolen. Several hundred dollars worth
of pastel pencils had been stolen from
a desk. Two graphic cards were taken
out from computers.
An Art and Architecture employee
said he had a CD player and several
CDs taken from the open third-floor
studio.
Police believe most of the items
were taken during break.
'Stolen' vehicle
moved by friend
A University Hospitals staff member
reported her vehicle stolen Wednesday
afternoon from a parking garage on
Catherine Street. Police discovered the
vehicle had been moved to the opposite
side of the hospital by a former
employee who had obtained her keys.
The suspect was identified as an person
involved in a former relationship with
the victim who had called her to tell her
where the vehicle was.
DPS was conducting an investiga-
tion.
- Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter
Jacquelyn Nixon.
Book exchange offers cheaper alternative
Ry Shannon Pettypiece
Daily Staff Reporter
LSA freshman Lei Lei Sun is like many students
who feel they are paying too much for textbooks
and getting too little cash in return when they sell
their used books back to local bookstores.
"It's ridiculous," Sun said. "I bought a book
for my math class and I paid $60 for it and I
only got half back, other books are more like
25 percent back. That's stupid."
For students like Sun, there is an alterna-
tive to the high prices of the bookstores -
the Student Book Exchange.
The Student Book Exchange, which will be
held this week in the Pond Room of the Michi-
gan Union from 11 to 6 p.m., allows students
to save money by purchasing and selling their
books directly to other students, thereby cut-
ting out the bookstores as middle men.
"It's a different way to buy your books,"
said LSA senior Michael Thompson, who is a
volunteer at the Student Book Exchange.
"The bookstores aren't going to give you a
fair amount of money for your books. We
allow the students to price their books; it also
allows students to find the book they need for
cheaper prices."
Students will be able to drop off and name
their own price for their books today and
tomorrow, and on Wednesday and Thursday
students can purchase books. On Friday, stu-
dents can claim the money for the books they
sold and pick up any of their unsold books,
Thompson said.
Many students have found books for a
lower price at the Student Book Exchange
than in the bookstores.
"I got a class book winter of last year that
was selling used in the bookstores for $70
and I got it for $35," said LSA senior Melissa
Hofmeister.
Hofmeister said students have the best luck
finding books for first-year courses such as
introduction to chemistry or economics.
"There are mostly books for the larger
"The bookstores aren 't going to give you a fair
amount of money for your books."
- Michael Thompson
LSA senior
classes; sometimes you have a hard time find-
ing books within your major," she said.
Thompson said he advises students to sell
their books for less than the bookstore as well
as other students who are selling the same book.
"Go and find out what is it selling for new
or used in the bookstores, and I'd typically try
and sell it for a little less," Thompson said.
"Its kind of a guessing game because we
don't allow students to look at the prices for
other students' books. You want to sell it for
less than the bookstores but at the same time
make yourself some money."
Thompson said he feels students have noth-
ing to lose by participating in the Student
Book Exchange.
"In my experience, when you do sell a
book, I have always gotten a lot more than
I've gotten at the bookstores," Thompson
said: "If your book doesn't sell you can still
take it to the bookstore after words."
In the past, up to 600 students a semester
have used the book exchange, but in recent
years the number has drastically declined due
to the better prices and service from online
companies, Thompson said.
"In the fall drive we usually consider it a
pretty good job if you do about $10,000. I
think last semester we dropped off a lot,"
Thompson said.
r
Feds investigate terrorist
ties to illegal immigrants
OW
DETROIT (AP) - A federal
prosecutor said yesterday the gov-
ernment is trying to build a terror-
ism case against three men already
facing trial on charges of having
illegal immigration papers.
The government still hopes to
seek a new or revised grand jury
indictment charging Karim Koubri-
ti, Ahmed Hannan and Youssef
Hmimssa with terrorism, Assistant
U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino
said during a bond hearing for the
three.
"We're vigorously pursuing the
evidence at this point in time,"
Convertino told U.S. District Judge
Gerald Rosen.
Prosecutors, however, have not
yet received responses to subpoe-
nas or reports on the suspects
sought from foreign governments,
Convertino said. He did not state
the government's reasons for con-
sidering terrorism charges, did not
say who had been subpoenaed and
did not name the foreign govern-
ments.
Convertino said afterward that a
gag order imposed by Rosen on
Oct. 22 prevented him from dis-
cussing possible terrorism charges.
Koubriti, 23, Hannan, 33, and
Hmimssa, 30, are resident aliens of
Middle Eastern descent. They were
charged with fraud and misuse of
visas, permits and other documents
following a Sept. 17 raid on a
Detroit apartment that yielded a
cache of false documents.
Without specifying the three by
name, Attorney General John
Ashcroft said in October that three
Arab men in Michigan arrested on
false document charges were "sus-
pected of having knowledge" of the
Sept. 11 attacks. He later backed
off that statement.
Law enforcement officials in
Washington, speaking on condition
of anonymity, said the three are not
believed to be connected to the
Sept. 11 attacks but are being
investigated for other possible ter-
rorist ties.
Koubriti's court-appointed
lawyer, Leroy Soles, said he was
concerned the case was drifting
away from its original focus on
document fraud.
"I've never had a case like this
where there was one adjournment
after another, (while the govern-
ment was) trying to decide if
they're terrorists," he said.
The men remained held without
bond in the Wayne County Jail
after Rosen rejected a defense
request that they be released to a
federal halfway house.
Rosen agreed with the prosecutor
to reschedule their trial for late
March or early April. It was origi-
nally set to begin Nov. 20, then was
rescheduled for Jan. 22 and again
for Feb. 19. He said the delay
would give both sides time to com-
pile more evidence, and for public-
ity surrounding the arrests - made
six days after the Sept. 11 terror
attacks -to subside further.
During the raid on Koubriti and
Hannan's apartment, federal agents
said they found a planner that con-
tained notations in Arabic that they
believe were plans for attacks on
the Alia airport in Jordan and a
plot to kill former Defense Secre-
tary William Cohen during a visit
to Turkey.
Koubriti, Hannan and a third
man who was not indicted were
arrested while authorities were
looking for Nabil al-Marabh,
whose name was on the apartment
mailbox.
Al-Marabh was later arrested in
Chicago and is jailed in New York
on immigration charges. He is a
former Boston cab driver who was
licensed in Michigan to haul haz-
ardous materials.
Authorities have said he has ties
to Raed Hijazi, an associate of the
chief suspect in the Sept. 11
attacks, Osama bin Laden. Hijazi is
jailed in Jordan on charges that he
planned to blow up a hotel filled
with Americans and Israelis on
New Year's Day 2000.
Koubriti and Hannan have denied
knowing al-Marabh. But the FBI
has-said they acknowledged that al-
Marabh may have lived previously
in the apartment.
Hmimssa was arrested Sept. 28
in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His photo
with the alias Michael Saisa was
found on documents in the raided
apartment.
EMMA FOSDICK/Daily
Caleb Richie waits outside Michigan Stadium to see the passing of the
Olympic Torch on its way to the Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
MSA to offer oner
CCRB ours, better
student group funds
By Kara Wenzel
Daily Staff Reporter
The Central Campus Recreation
Building will extend its hours until the
end of February in an effort to meet stu-
dent demands and help users with their
new year's fitness resolutions.
The Michigan Student Assembly will
be funding the later hours. Starting Sun-
day, the building will be open until 1:30
a.m. on Sunday and Monday nights.
The North Campus Recreation
Building and the Intramural Sports
buildings are open until 11 p.m. every
night, and the CCRB is still open until
11 p.m. everyother night of the week.
"The assembly hopes usership pat-
terns during that added time will be able
to make a case for permanent changes,"
said MSA President Matt Nolan.
Nolan said the advisory committee
for Rec Sports will consider next year's
hours and fees in March and April. At
that time they may approve keeping the
CCRB or another building open later
next year.
"We're not exactly sure what the
added costs and usership patterns will
need to be to make this a worthwhile
permanent change - that's why we're
having this trial period," Nolan said.
In other MSA news: Thursday at
7:30 p.m. in the Pendelton Room of the
Michigan Union, the MSA Budget Pri-
orities Committee will hold an informa-
tional session to discuss changes in the
funding application and the number of
times a group can apply per semester.
The assembly approved changes to the
cycle of funding for BPC at their last
meeting of last semester.
"We're looking to attract anybody
who has interest in the new way MSA
will be allocating funds and at least one
representative from any student'group
who was already planning to apply,"
said BPC Chair David Goldman.
"In the past, there was just one cycle
of funding at the beginning of the
semester and all groups filled out one
application for the entire semester,"
Goldman said.
Starting this semester, BPC will hold
three funding cycles in January, Febru-
ary and March. A student group can
apply during any or all of the cycles.
A presentation explaining the fund-
ing and application changes will take
place at the session, as well as a few
speakers to explain how to get funding
from sources other than MSA.
The main reason for the change in
funding cycles is that while some
groups plan their budget for the semes-
ter ahead of time, others are still unsure
of their plans, Goldman said.
"We think this will be a better and
more logical process for everybody
involved - student groups and BPC,"
he added.
Last semester, groups requested more
than $500,000, and a lot of them asked
for more than they needed, Goldman
said. BPC hopes the two additional
application times will help groups ask
for only what they actually need.
"When we make our allocations
we work on a reimbursement
process," Goldman explained.
"Groups don't get money unless
they show receipts, and usually
BPC ends up over-allocating."
The committee hopes the additional
cycles will keep groups from asking for
more money than they need and keep it
from sitting in the MSA account, he
said.
REC
SPORTS
The University of Michigan
Department of Recreational Sports
INTRAMURAL SPORTS PROGRAM
WHATS
HAPPENING
I
INTRAMIURALS
Intramural Basketball'
Officials Needed!!'
" N o E x p e rie n c e *T
Necessary T
* Oficiafr are NU
Paid for AlIN T R AURALS
Games Worked
Get a Free
=Shirt
Flexible
Vours
THE CALENDAR
What's happening in Ann Arbor today
EVENTS
0 "Steward's Circle of the
Huron River Watershed";
Sponsored by the Huron
River Watershed Coun-
for Peace and Justice,
Noon - 1:00 p.m., Feder-
al Building, Liberty at
Fifth Avenue
"Ann Arbor in the 19th
Century: A Photographic
6:00 p.m., Cava Java,
East University
Philippines Studies Initia-
tive; Sponsored by the
SERVICES
Campus Information
Centers, 764-INFO,
info@umich.edu, or
w ww.umich.edu/ info
S.A.F.E. Walk, 763-WALK,
Training Clinics Continue
Tonight -
Tuesday 1/8 -- 7:00pm
I
,