One hundred eleven years ofedorialfreedom NEWS: 76-DAILY CLASSIFIED: 7640557 www~michigandally.com Thursday January 17, 2002 Ivbf. CX114 No. so 'An Alrbof Michigan= 02002 The Michigan Daily; Rivers By Kara Wenzel Daily Staff Reporter "These four weeks have felt like a year to me," Muslim Islamic Academy student Salim Al-Churbaji said, referring to the month his teacher, Rabih Haddad, has spent in jail. Haddad, a local Muslim leader, was the source of much discussion last night as about 250 people gathered to hear a discus- sion with U.S. Rep. Lynn Rivers (D-Ann Arbor) and Michael Steinberg, the Ameri- can Civil Liberties Union of Michigan's legal director. "Many members of our campus look up to (Haddad)," LSA junior and Students :. I. Haddad case alarming Allied for Freedom and Equality member Fadi Kiblawi said. Haddad was charged with having an expired visa and is being investigated because of his connection to the Global Relief Fund, a charity organization the U.S. Justice Department suspects of having links to terrorism. Haddad's students said they do not believe he could possibly be connected to any terrorist organizations. "He told us the terrorist attacks are against Islam, and the civilians in those buildings on September 11 were innocent," Muslim Islamic Academy student Abdallah Khatib said. "If he is such a danger to society, how can we all be there for him?" Khatib asked. "He is more American than I am; he is not a criminal," Al-Churbaji said. The speakers and audience members expressed their concern over allegations that Haddad is not being allowed access to his lawyers or being given a speedy and fair trial. " "When accused of a crime, we'll be allowed to know the charges against us, who made the charges, what the evidence used against us is, have a lawyer, speak pri- vately to the lawyer to plan our defense and trial by jury in public," Rivers said. Rivers said the secrecy surrounding Had- "He is more American than I am; he is not a criminal. - Salim AI-Churbaji Muslim Islamic Academy student, speaking of Rabih Haddad dad's case is cause for alarm. All of Had- dad's legal proceedings have been closed to the public and the media. "People who founded this government wanted it to be different - they wanted it to respect the rights of all individuals," Rivers said. "Not just people who are citi- zens are protected under the 14th Amend- ment to the Constitution." Rivers was concerned that some citizens believe Haddad is not entitled to a fair trial because he is not a U.S. citizen. "Persons - not citizens - is the word used over and over in the 14th Amendment ... and that use is deliberate and meaning- See HADDAD, Page 7A Curry pleads no Angry law student kills " contest to assat By Jeremy Beuowitz ult 3 in Virginia Daily Staff Reporter Michigan freshman cornerback Markus Curry, who was scheduled to go to trial today on charges of domes- tic assault and telephone tampering, will be sentenced next month on one count of assault after pleading no contest to the charge at his jury selec- tion Monday. Curry's plea meant two counts of domestic assault and tele- phone tampering were dropped. He had previously pleaded not guilty to all charges. Curry was Curry arrested in November after he allegedly assaulted his girlfriend in South Quad Resi- dence Hall and prevented her from making a phone call. He was sus- pended from the football team for the rest of the season. Steven Fishman, Curry's attorney, said he hopes avoiding a trial will close the issue and avoid any further humiliation to his client. Curry has never been in trouble before, he added. "This is a one-time incident event that stemmed from an argument with his girlfriend," said Fishman. Fishman also strongly emphasized that this trial would not have been a huge spectacle if the defendant were just a regular student. Because of Curry's status as a football player, it has created much unwanted attention, he said. He said he hopes that once See CURRY, Page 7A Man shoots dean, teacher, th en op ens fre on students DAVID KATZ/Daily, Students tumble in the snow between South and West Quad residence halls last night. Yesterday was the first time this academic year that there was enough snow for the annual battle to determine bragging rights. Annalsnowball battle mareks rtr of win ter GRUNDY, Va. (AP) - A struggling Nigerian law school student went on a campus shooting spree yesterday, killing the dean, a professor and a stu- dent before he was tackled by students, authorities said. The attack also wounded three stu- dents at the Appalachian School of Law. Two were in surgery yesterday evening and the third was listed in fair condition. "When I got there there were bodies laying everywhere," said Jack Briggs, who was one of the first to arrive after the shooting in this tiny mountain com- munity in western Virginia. Dean L. Anthony Sutin and Profes- sor Thomas Blackwell were gunned down in their offices, according to school officials. Police said the third person slain was student Angela Dales, 33. The 42-year-old suspect, Peter Odighizuwa, had arrived at school to meet with the dean about his academic suspension, which went into effect yes- terday, State Police spokesman Mike Stater said. Odighizuwa first stopped in the office of Professor Dale Rubin to talk about his grades and as he left report- edly asked Rubin to pray for him, police said. He then walked to Sutin's and Black- well's offices and shot them with a .380-caliber pistol, Stater said. Wit- nesses said Odighizuwa then went downstairs into a common area and opened fire on a crowd of students, killing Dales and seriously wounding three others. Todd Ross, 30, of Johnson City, Tenn., was among the students who were outside when Odighizuwa left the building. Ross said the suspect was holding his hands in the air and dropped the gun at his prompting. Odighizuwa was promptly tackled and "struggled after we got him on the ground, but then just laid there," Ross said. He said the suspect kept shouting, 'I have nowhere to go. I have nowhere to go."' Grund VIRGINIA 0 10mi 0 1km By Eflzabeth Kassab and Louie Melzish Daily Staff Reporters A fire alarm in South Quad Residence Hall last night sent its inhabitants scrambling outside to pack the newly- fallen powder into ammunition for use in the annual assault on West Quad. East Madison Street became a battlefield as troops clothed in everything from pajama pants to shorts and san- dals pelted each other with snowballs. "This is the most fun I've had all year," said LSA fresh- man Nebojsa Stojkovic. Though it's already January, the battle marked the unoffi- cial beginning of winter on campus. The snowfall also See SNOW, Page 7A Airports brace for lengthy delays SOURCES: Associated Press; ESRI AP The suspect was being held at the Buchanan County Jail on three counts of capital ,murder and three weapons counts, authorities said. Ellen Qualls, a spokeswoman for Gov. Mark Warner, said Odighizuwa had a history of mental instability that :school officials knew about. Rubin, the professor who spoke with the suspect moments before the rampage, declined comment after the shooting. First-year student Justin Marlowe from Richwood, WVa., said the sus- pect had been in all of his classes. "He was a real quiet guy who kept to himself. He didn't talk to anybody, but he gave no indication that he was capa- ble of something like this," Marlowe said. He also said Odighizuwa had flunked out a year ago and "the dean bent over backward to get him enrolled again." The private law school, with an enrollment of.about 170 students, was closed for the rest of the week. By Shabina S. Khatri Daily Staff Reporter As if travelers didn't have enough to gripe about already with the lengthy waits at airports, airline officials warn that those delays are about to get a bit longer starting tomorrow, when new security measures mandating the screening of all checked luggage take effect. The new Aviation and Transportation Act is implementing these measures as the first step of a policy that will require airlines to screen all checked luggage will full explosive detection systems by the end of this year. Only 10 percent of the 1.4 billion bags checked each year are presently subjected to screening. The new law allows airlines to use a combina- tion of four screening methods, said Hank Price, public relations coordinator for the newly-created Transportation Security Administration. These methods include bag matching, manual search, bomb sniffing dogs, explosive detection devices and others approved by the TSA, he said. But the Federal Aviation Association reports that there are only 160 explosive detection machines and 190 bomb-sniffing dogs at the nation's 50 busiest airports. Because hand check- ing luggage is time-consuming and subject to human error, airlines will rely on bag matching as the most realistic way of meeting the new standards. Under the bag matching procedure, every piece of checked luggage is matched to a passenger that has boarded the plane. Any baggage that does not correspond to a person on the flight must be See SECURITY, Page 7A Sales of books rise during holiday season as other industries struggle By Maria Sprow Daily Staff Reporter Sales of J.K. Rowling's best-selling "Harry Potter" series indicate something greater than the popularity of the young wizard, according to some experts and ana- lysts. Despite the current recession, the "Harry Potter" books aren't the only ones flying off bookshelves, leading some peo- ple to believe rising book sales are hints that reading is increasing in popularity. Over the holiday season, both local and chain book stores reported higher-than- increases, with Shaman Drum reporting holiday sales up 5 to 10 percent from last year. Meanwhile other retail businesses, including Kmart and Jacobson's, are either fearing or filing for bankruptcy. During years of substantial growth, 5 to 10 percent isn't considered anything remarkable. But with last year's faltering economy, businesses said they would take all they could get. "It isn't a huge increase, but in light of all of our economic woes, any sign of growth is actually really good," said Nancy Rohlen, the trade store manager of Shaman have remained steady so far in a wavering economy, and different people are pointing to different reasons. Borders executives attributed their holi- day success to big-name books that have stolen much of the entertainment world's attention, as well as to successful market- ing. "Our successful holiday season resulted from record superstore traffic," said Borders President and Chief Executive Officer Greg Josefowicz in a written statement. "We did particularly well in our core book category and in popular products such as Harry Pot- DAVID ROCHKIND/Daily Jeffrey Pickell, owner of Kaleidoscope Books and Collectibles on State Street, reads in his store