8 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, April 1, 2003 NATION WORLD Popularity of organic foods on the rise The journey home By Victoria Edwards Daily Staff Reporter According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, organic farming is one of the fastest-growing segments of agriculture in America. The most recent estimate puts retail sales of organic foods at more than $7.8 bil- lion, with nearly half purchased at conventional gro- cery stores. The reasons for the high demand in organic food vary directly with the people consuming them. For Ann Arbor resident James Middrestaat, eating organic food products is not just presense, but rather a way of life. "I eat a totally vegan-style diet. We should eat the natural grain and fruits of our mother, not destroy the mother by killing off the creatures of the land," Middrestaat added. Middrestaat is not alone in aligning his diet with his views. People's Co-op General Manager Carol Collins said her organic food store also concentrates on the ide- ology behind natural eating. "Organic as a philosophy is about sustainable living. Many of the organic farms are smaller and family-run. Whereas other food is pumped full of chemicals, organic food is only made with natural ingredients and won't harm your body in any way," Collins said. Besides voicing a strong belief in keeping the body's nutrients natural, Collins said her store is also very concerned with the state of the enviornment. "Organic food is not just for personal health but for the health of the environment. Organic (food) supports a cleaner environment, and people with cleaner farm- ing practices. Some people who use chemicals get sup- port from the government whereas organic farmers don't" She said that in addition to selling groceries, they have a concern for environment, concern for com- munity, business honesty and cooperate ownership. "We have a lot of integrity. We support the local grower and are aligned with peace and social justice movements. We try to support this along with the vege- tarian and organic foods." Collins added that her store's vision and support of organic farmers is in sharp con- trast with stores that sell products produced by tradi- tional farming. "With traditional farming, there are pesticides that pollute the streams," Collins said. But these environ- mentally-safer farming practices come with a price, Engineering sophomore Kyle Marsh said. "I know that (organic foods are) grown according to nature. And they try not to use chemicals. It is very healthy, (and) I wish I could get more of it, but it is expensive," Marsh said. But Dave Boutdtte, Ann Arbor spokesman for Whole Foods said there are ways to get around the high prices of organic food. "Anyone selling organic food always has some- thing on sale. In the produce department (at Whole foods) there are a minimum of 10 things on sale that are comparable to conventional products around the same price," he added. If you're going to shop organic, it pays to shop wisely and on sale. Go for sale products, that way you can save money and still get quality products." But Kroger manager Bill Rowe, said that although his grocery store had an organic section in their store, it will never sell exclusively organic products because organic foods are not available in the mass quantities needed for a store like Kroger. Boutdtte also voiced this sentiment in saying that one large downside to organic produce is the limited availability. "Only two percent of all produce produced in the United States is organic. So the availability of the prod- ucts can be hard to come by," he added. LSA sophomore Mike Vasell said that despite the limited availability, eating organic food has become a growing trend that has forced many people to take notice. "There is a lot of certification. They have the FDA inspecting the food to make sure it is up to organic standards and that the farmers are not using steroids in their farming. The government is taking notice," Vasell said. There is also debate over whether organic foods are in fact better than traditionally grown produce. "Some (organic food) is superior; it depends on what you get. I can eat a raw tomato when it is organic, but regular ones taste like crap,"Vasell said. A young Iraqi boy travels along the roadside with his family as they return to their home just outside the city limits of Nasiriya yesterday. U.N. ad rachesr with littledifficulty Overlooked computing sites offer waccess Aviation ordnance men wheel lase guide bombs on the flight deck of the USS Harry S. Truman during stike operations against Iraq yesterday. 'Precision' bombs not foolproof, still miss targets The Associated Press The U.S. military is fighting perhaps the most accurate air war in history, with most of the 8,000 precision-guided bombs and missiles loosed on Iraq blasting their intended targets. But "precision" weapons also miss. Human and mechanical errors send 10 percent or more astray, Pentagon and civilian experts say - a disastrous percentage for civilians living near the intended targets. "No weapons system is foolproof," said Lt. Cmdr. Charles Owens, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command in Qatar. "We'll always have one or two that go off target." Some of the dozens of Iraqi civilians killed and wounded may have fallen victim to American precision weapons that, for reasons of mechanical failure or human error, struck homes, markets or city streets rather than military targets. "Statistically, several hundred of those have missed to some degree," said Rob Hewson, editor of Jane's Air-Launched Weapons. An explosion that killed 14 civilians in Baghdad's Shaab neighborhood last Wednesday may have been caused by a U.S. missile, perhaps an anti-radar missile aimed at air defenses or a wayward cruise missile. Coalition briefers have suggested one of Iraq's own air defense missiles tumbled to earth and exploded. Also under dispute is the cause of a deadly explosion Fri- day in a Baghdad market that Iraq blames for 60 deaths. "These two marketplace attacks are looking increasingly sure to have been caused by coalition weapons than went off target," Hewson said. Terrain-hugging U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles fired by ships in the Mediterranean, Red Sea and Persian Gulf have also missed targets. A handful of the 700 fired in the war have slammed mistakenly into Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, lead- ing the Saudis and Turks to ask the Pentagon to stop firing them across their territory. Iran has protested at least three hits by U.S. missiles. "If you're going to use cruise missiles, you're going to have ones coming down where they're not supposed to," said David Isby, a private missiles and munitions consultant in Washing- ton, D.C. "This isn't a scandal for long-range operations. It's to be expected" Bombs and missiles that can be programmed to follow a laser trail or hit a specific geographic coordinate based on satellite guidance comprise about 90 percent of those used in the 12-day-old war, Owens said. By Lauren Hodge Daily Staff Reporter While the Fishbowl in Angell Hall seems to be the only computing site on campus, 45 other com- puting sites offer access to students who would otherwise end up waiting in line for a computer. "It's rare that I ever go to the Fishbowl and jump onto a computer without having to wait for at least five minutes. It's really annoying having to wait in line just to be able to check my e-mail" LSA soph- omore Shelly Kitain said. LSA senior Jonathan McDonald, who works for Information Technology Central Services, said there would be more available computers if stu- dents were aware of the other computer labs around campus. Manager of the Angell Hall computing site Robert Jones, said he acknowledges that there are usually more students than computers during the day. Jones said students would be more satisfied if they were aware of the other labs. "We want as many labs as we can get. The prob- lem is space," Jones said. LSA freshman Kelly Strauss said she uses com- puters at the Michigan League and the Shapiro Undergraduate Library to avoid waiting in line at the computing site in Angell Hall. "I like going to the Cyber Lounge in the Michi- gan League because not many students know about it. The UGLi is never really that crowded either," Strauss said. Due to the vast number of classes held in Angell Hall and central location on campus, many stu- dents find themselves going to the Fishbowl out of convenience. LSA sophomore Dave Weinberg said the prob- lems go much deeper than having to wait for a computer. "With the recession our economy is going through, fewer families are able to buy their kids a computer, so more and more students need to resort to campus computing sites for their com- puting needs." ITCS received $1 million for its annual budget last year. Steve Sarrica, manager of Campus Com- puting Sites, said the money was used to replace 740 computers on campus. Other expenses were used to refit the computers in Angell Hall with wireless Internet. Due to these replacement expenses, no new computing sites can be expected in the near future. Aside from the 135 Macintosh computers in Angell Hall, there are 42 in the Learning Resource Center, 26 in the basement of the Michigan Union, 70 in the School of Education Building and 29 in the Shapiro Undergraduate Library. Other lesser- known computing sites are located in the Art and Architecture Building, the School of Music, Caident in the Dental School, West Hall and the School of Natural Resources. For a complete list of general online campus computing sites, log on to www.umich.edu/~sites/map/general.html. AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - The first wartime U.N. humanitarian aid, a few truckloads of food and water, trickled across Iraq's borders from Turkey and Kuwait, U.N. agencies reported yester- day. But officials said aid organizations and the U.S. military remain wary of working together on relief operations for Iraq. Three trucks carrying 84.7 tons of dried milk crossed from Turkey and were unloaded in the northern Iraqi city of Dohuk on Saturday, the U.N. World Food Program said in a delayed report. Next, "we're preparing to move badly needed wheat flour later this week into the north," said Khaled Man- sour, regional spokesman for the U.N. agency in Amman. He said people in three autonomous Kurdish provinces of the north are believed to need food more urgently than people in the central government- controlled remainder of Iraq because they received only a month's rations before the 12-day-old war began, while Iraqis elsewhere got two months' rations. Under U.N. economic sanctions against Iraq, the World Food Program itself ran a food-rationing program in the north, while the Baghdad govern- ment operated it for the rest of the country. In far southern Iraq yesterday, the first three vehicles carrying U.N. water - commissioned bywthe U.N. Chil- dren's Fund - managed to make deliv- eries from Kuwait to the captured city of Umm Qasr, UNICEF spokesman Geoff Keele reported. But 10 other water vehicles did not cross from Kuwait, either because they had incorrect Kuwaiti paperwork of their privately contracted drivers decid- ed it wasn't safe to travel into war-torn southern Iraq, Keele said. Keele also said two UNICEF trucks carrying medical and other goods have been waiting at the northern bor- der for Turkish permission to cross into Iraq. Mansour said Saturday's dried-milk delivery also had been held up for some days, pending Turkish permission. The greatest obstacle, however, remained the danger of traveling war- torn Iraq's roads. Few private aid convoys have ven- tured into Iraq, but yesterday a two- truck shipment from private Greek donors - carrying 33 tons of medi- cine, food, milk and blankets - head- ed for Baghdad from Amman, the Jordanian capital. Convoy chief Demetrius Mognie, an Athens physiologist, said by mobile phone from the road that he hopes to remain in the Iraqi capital as the casualty toll mounts. "My specialty is an important one, and they may need my help there," said Mognie, a member of the aid group Doctors of the World. A Jordanian government truck convoy and a private Algerian con- voy crossed into Iraq on Sunday car- rying 130 tons of medical supplies. 0 U.S. troops kill 7 Iraqis at Army checkpoint WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. troops killed seven Iraqi women and children at a checkpoint yesterday when the Iraqis' van would not stop as ordered, U.S. Central Command said. Two other civilians were wounded in the incident at a U.S. Army checkpoint on a highway near Najaf in southern "In light of Iraq, according to a Pen- . tagon official and a Cen- terroriSt at tral Command statement. Iraqi regn The military is investi- gating, the statement soldiers ex{ said. The dead and wound- ed were among 13 to avoid ur women and children in a 1s oli. van that approached the ross of ife, checkpoint but did not - stop, Central Command said. Soldiers fired warning shots and then shot into the vehicle's engine, neither of which stopped it, the statement said. Central Command said it appeared the soldiers followed their rules of engagement for dealing with such situations. "In light of recent terrorist attacks by the Iraqi regime, the solders exercised considerable restraint to avoid the unnecessary loss of life," the statement said. Four Army soldiers were killed at a checkpoint near Najaf Saturday by a car bomb detonated by an Iraqi soldier dressed as a civilian. Meanwhile, fresh U.S. forces are fI tt of flowing to the Persian Gulf, including 500 members of an Army cavalry regi- ment being sent ahead of schedule to help protect U.S. supply lines from Iraqi attack. The buildup comes amid upbeat Penta- gon assessments of progress against Iraq's recent strongest army force, acks by the the Republican Guard, Ck by thewhich one U.S. general e, the said yesterday had suf- fered a "very signifi- frcised cant weakening" from le restraint intensified American and British aerial bom- necessary bardment. "We know how it will end: The Iraqi Central Command regime will end," said Pentagon spokes- woman Victoria Clarke. "But we know that there could be some tough fighting ahead." Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, vice director of operations on the Pentagon's Joint Staff, told a news conference that more than 300,000 allied forces are now in the Gulf region, about 250,000 of them American. Last Friday his boss, Gen. Richard Myers, had put the allied total at 270,000. McChrystal would not discuss specif- ic missions of the additional forces that are en route to the Gulf or getting ready to go. They include 500 members of the Army's 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment who left their Fort Polk, La., base on Sunday. They and their Humvee scout vehicles, Kiowa reconnaissance helicop- ters and other equipment were sent by air, enabling them to get to Iraq quicker than if the equipment had been sent by sea as originally planned. Other members of the 2nd Armored Cavalry are to go by sea. Iraqi paramilitary forces have launched hit-and-run attacks on supply lines between Kuwait and central Iraq, forcing U.S. commanders to devote more combat resources to protecting those lines. The Army also is sending the 4th Infantry Division, its showpiece armored force, to Iraq. Members of the Fort Hood, Texas-based division began flying to Kuwait late last week. They originally were to deploy to Turkey to open a northern front against Baghdad, but Turkey refused access. COLEMAN Continued from Page 1 Steve Fisher the same week in October 1997 that CIR filed its lawsuit, after it was revealed Fisher might have known about Martin giving money to basket- ball players. "The great opportunity that came for Michigan was back in November when we were able to stand up and say what happened was wrong. We're embar- rassed by it and we're ashamed of what happened and we're going to do the right thing." The University imposed sanctions on itself in November, including forfeiting all games played by the fPnur n,1 ar epe A of accenting expanding on life sciences and technology programs. She discussed new initiatives coming out by fall in regard to implementing various facets of the Report of the Presi- dent's Commission on Higher Edu- cation, recommendations for improving student life released in November 2001. "I'm sure they'll have some infor- mation by the end of the semester, going into the fall," Coleman said, referring to a group of faculty respon- sible for examining the report. While most students get a four- month break from the hustle of Ann Arbor, Coleman said she has a busy summer planned. The University Roard of Regents will rdecide next the state, as well as the student groups and support services dependent on funding. "It's an education process because many of our legislators in Michigan are new because we have term limits," Coleman said, adding that many legis- lators are unaware of the depth of the University. Coleman said she wants to increase her relationships with students using her monthly fireside chats. She said she finds the students here much more engaged than at Iowa, especially at meetings with student groups. "I don't have any trouble sort of drawing people out to talk," she said. She said her contact with the Greek conmmunity ha sbeen novi- PLAI NTIFFS Continued from Page 1 versity of Texas, whose race-con- scious policies were overturned by lower level courts, reveals that the effect of banning the use of race as an admissions factor would not be signif- icant, he said. "Having seen what's happened in those few states, the court is free to judge these cases based on the consti- tutionality," he said. "They don't have to be afraid ... of re-segregation." Pell conceded that the court might uphold the use of race in admissions while ruling that the University's poli- cies place too much weight on race, hbt he sid such a decnisin would he said a ruling overturning the Universi- ty's policies would not affect those groups. He added that their briefs are not relevant to the cases because they only address the general importance of diversity, which can be achieved with- out racial plus factors. "None of these briefs address either these admissions systems or the idea of two-track systems in general,"he said. Grutter said she is not concerned about the briefs or the businesses' reputations making any impression on the justices. "I know of no one who looks to businesses and corporations for the moral and ideological high road," she said. The businesses should have sent neutral briefs to the court savine that universities in Texas, California, Wash- ington and Florida operate similar per- centage plans, other schools in the states use approaches with broader ranges of admissions criteria. Every school should devise a race-neutral system based on its academic mission to try to enroll a significant number of minorities, Pell added. One of CIR's lawyers, Larry Purdy, also spoke at the conference. He out- lined arguments similar to Pell's and added that many minority students accepted into the University are not prepared to succeed academically and drop out at higher rates than white students. A