~Weaiher
Tuesday
January 14, 2003
@2003 The Michigan Daily
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Vol. CXIII, No. 73
One-Aundred-twelve years ofedit'orifreedom
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TODAY:
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www.michigandaily.com
Bill joins
Detroit
transit
systems
By Andrew McCormack
Daily Staff Reporter
With the advent of Gov. Jennifer
Granholm's administration, many resi-
dents and legislators from Detroit and
surrounding communities are calling
for the reconsideration of a bill which
would create an organization called the
Detroit Area Regional Transportation
Authority.
"It's a huge city and there's no trans-
portation there now ... as far as going
out of the city or to the city," said LSA
sophomore Lindsay Whalen.
The bill would unify two existing
bus systems, the Detroit Department
of Transportation, which services
Metro Detroit, and the Suburban
Mobility Authority for Regional
Transportation, which services
Detroit's suburbs. The new system
would serve Wayne, Macomb,
Washtenaw, Oakland and Monroe
counties.
"Right now, if you want to go to the
suburbs from the city, you have to take
two bus systems that don't work
together," said Dennis Denno,
spokesman for state Sen. Buz Thomas
(D-Detroit). "It's an arduous process."
The bill, which was first introduced
to the state Legislature in early 2001,
was vetoed by former Gov. John Engler
in one of his last acts in office.
"We were very disappointed," said
Jamaine Dickens, spokesman for
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
Engler's veto "took us back 30 years
- that's how long its taken to get this
on the table."
The bill still has popular support
in the Legislature, and Granholm has
indicated that she supports it, not
only for its practical applica-
tions, but also for its economic
See DARTA, Page 2
Push for draft
bill debated
by Mich reps
By Andrew McCormack
Daily Staff Reporter
DAVID KATZ/Daily
University of California at Berkeley Prof. Ronald Takaki provided the opening lecture last night for the Martin Luther King, Jr.
Symposium, which will sponsor events until Feb. 18. His speech focused on the need to ensure diversity and the American dream.
M K "
MKspeaker em fd phasizes
strionger peace -move-ment
U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-
N.Y.), a veteran of the Korean War,
recently announced his intentions to
reintroduce conscripted military
service - an effort supported by
Rep. John Conyers (D-Detroit.).
"If our great country becomes
involved in an all-out war, the sacri-
fice must be shared. In that regard, I
am preparing legislation to authorize
reinstatement of the universal draft
and other forms of mandatory nation-
al service," Rangel said in a written
statement.
Though Conyers openly opposes
the war effort, he said he still supports
the draft proposal out of necessity.
"I'm doing this as one against the war,
but it is evident that the president wants
to go to war," Conyers said. "There
aren't enough volunteers to sustain the
number of military personnel required to
police Iraq after the war.".
But other legislators disagree that
the military is lacking a sufficient
number of volunteers.
"Our Armed Forces are currently
attracting both the quality and the
quantity of young men and women
volunteers they need to meet their
recruiting goals," Sen. Carl Levin
(D-Detroit.) said. "The senior mili-
tary and civilian leadership of the
Department of Defense have indicat-
ed that there is no military reason to
reinstitute conscription and I agree
with them."
Rangel stresses that the issue is not
only a practical one, but a moral one
as well.
"I think, if we went home and found
out4hetlhere were more families con-
cerned about their kids going off to
war, there would be more cautiousness
and more willingness to work with the
international community, instead of
just saying that it's my way or the high-
way," he added.
If successful, his proposal would put
into force the unbiased, two-year con-
scription of both men and women from
the ages of 18 to 26, the only exception
being for those completing a high
school diploma.
"It is apparent ... that service in
the armed forces is not a common
experience and that disproportionate
numbers of the poor and members
of minority groups compose the
enlisted ranks of the military,"
Rangel said. "We must be certain
that the sacrifices that we will be
asking our armed forces to make are
shared by the rest of us."
But some feel that a new, revised
draft is not the answer.
"If there was a threat to the country,
if it was for protecting what we had
now, I'd support a draft, but if it's for
attacking another nation's ideals, that's
not threatening this country," said LSA
senior Benson Varghese. "I don't think
the solution is drafting people for polit-
ical reasons."
Others feel Rangel's point about the
composition of the armed services is
valid, but that his efforts to promote a
draft are too drastic.
LSA senior Patrick Mills said
although he is adamantly opposed to
a draft, he thinks "the upper classes
do not fight because they can make
the lower classes fight for them..
The upper classes are educated peo-
ple that are excused from military
service because of their positions of
power"
By Min Kyung Yoon
Daily Staff Reporter
Ronald Takaki said his "dream for peace involves
transforming the anti-war movement into a peace
movement." The University of California at Berkeley
professor said the anti-war movement has to be not just
what we're against, but what we are for.
Emphasizing the theme of this year's Martin Luther
King, Jr. Symposium, "We must be the change we wish
to see in the world," Takaki spoke about America's war
against terrorism and the importance of individual
commitment to action in "A 'Dream' for Peace" speech
at the Michigan Union Ballroom last night.
With increased focus on terrorism after the Sept. 11
attacks, Takaki examined three reasons for President
Bush's war against terrorism - partisan politics, oil
and Bush's frontier mentality.
"Partisan politics help win elections and they are
planned to help in 2004," Takaki said. "Bush has not men-
tioned oil a single time, yet we know our economy is
dependent on oil imports from the Muslim countries."
Takaki went on to ask "why has Bush made this war
against terrorism an endless war?".
Drawing influences from historian Frederick Jackson
Turner's "The Significance of Frontier in American
History," Takaki said the language Bush has used, like
"hunt them down, smoke them out," is the language of
the frontier mentality.
See MLK, Page 3
Project seeks tax
on Internet goods
By Victoria Edwards
Daily Staff Reporter
Online shoppers should be aware
that the next time they buy something
from a company like Amazon.com or
eBay, the price may be slightly
increased as a result of The Stream-
lined Tax Project, which would make
states adopt a tax on products pur-
chased over the Internet.
"Michigan legislation is allowing us
as a state to enter into a multistate com-
pact to simplify the collecting and remit-
tance of sales and used tax from remote
sellers," said Larry Meyer, chairman and
chief executive officer of the Michigan
Retailers Association. "On the Michigan
tax. form you are required to pay a
Michigan used tax on purchases where
sales tax is not included."
Under this plan - which is backed
by Gov. Jennifer Granholm - the
online or mail seller would submit the
used tax in the same way the retailer
does the sales tax, Meyer said.
As a substitute to the sales tax - the
used tax is implemented when the pur-
chasing process is not in a store estab-
lishment. Examples include be
purchases from mail order catalogues
and the Internet.
Meyer said the need for this tax
arose due to the more than $300 mil-
lion dollars that state of Michigan loses
each year because people do not report
their used tax. It is difficult for the
state to try to audit everyone, he added.
"It is a matter of fairness. Why
should the shirt bought at a local store
in Ann Arbor cost an extra 6 percent
when the same shirt bought online
from L.L. Bean doesn't?" Meyer said.
"This bill has an excellent probability
of passing - one, because of the terri-
ble budget crises, legislators will
understand the need for revenue. They
should also understand the need of
fairness for mainstream merchants."
Smaller local stores will most likely
receive the most benefits from this bill,
Penny Corbett, business manager of
Shaman Drum Bookshop, said.
Corbett added that she is interested
in seeing the law passed as larger cor-
porations like Amazon.com can sell
their products without sales tax.
LSA junior Chris Cunningham said
the enforcement of the used tax would
affect his Internet purchasing.
"If this bill is passed, I would no
longer buy things from the Inter-
net," Cunningham said. "I would
just get it in a retail store - if there
was a used tax there would be no
advantage."
But some students said they would
See TAX, Page 3
JOHNATHON TIETh/Daily
The Delta Phi Epsilon sorority house on Washtenaw Avenue and Hill Street is one of the
Greek houses on campus that will bear the financial burden of the housing proposal.
Ordinance threatens
Greek housing costs
By Emily Kraack
Daily Staff Reporter
The next time a window is broken or
roof is damaged at fraternity and soror-
ity houses on Hill Street and Washte-
naw Avenue, members could be paying
a higher price for repairs if a proposed
Ann Arbor ordinance is passed, which
calls for the preservation of historical
architecture in the neighborhood.
Members of the Washtenaw-Hill
Historic District Study Committee are
looking to expand the current historic
district from 21 to 176 properties.
Seventy-five percent of the Univer-
sity's Greek houses would fall into the
historic district. Co-ops, apartment
buildings and individual homes are
included as well, Historic District
Coordinator Heather Edwards said.
Under the proposed ordinance, prop-
erties in the historic district would have
to conduct repairs in a way that main-
tains the historic architecture of the
building, Historic District Study Com-
mittee Chair Ellen Ramsburgh said.
"You have to preserve as much as
you can," Ramsburgh said. "Changes
must be appropriate to the style of a
particular house."
For example, roof repairs would have
to be done with slate instead of asphalt if
the roof was originally slate, the propos-
al says. The ordinance would also
require the windows must be very dete-
riorated before the historical commis-
sion will approve replacing them.
Alum Betsy French, who is the
See HOUSING, Page 3
The University ice carving team practices outside Alice L~loyd
Residence Hall for a contest in Plymouth for Saturday.
Cocaine may kill brain's pleasure centers
By Adhiraj Duff
Daily Staff Reporter
A University team of researchers has found that
cocaine use may harm or kill the same brain cells
that produce dopamine, the pleasure centers of the
brain that allow users to feel a "high" from the drug.
The researches said that this finding may explain
why cocaine users have to continue increasing the
amount of cocaine they use to get the same high,
which strengthens their dependency on the drug.
Taking brain samples from 35 deceased cocaine
users and from 35 non-drug users, an interdiscipli-
nary researcher team studied the effects of cocaine
on the brain by examining dopamine-releasing brain
cells from the samples.
In decreased concentrations, dopamine has been
associated with Parkinson's disease.
"Dopamine finds its way to receptors on neigh-
boring cells, triggering signals that help set off
pathways to different feelings or sensations," the
study says.
Results also indicate that cocaine creates a high by
trapping dopamine between receptors in the brain
sending the pleasure signal repeatedly.
"When first taken, cocaine has a disruptive effect
on the brain's dopamine system. It-blocks the trans-
porters that return dopamine to its home cell once its
signaling job is done," according to the team's writ-
ten statement. "With nowhere to go, dopamine builds
up in the synapse and keeps binding with other cells'
receptors, sending pleasure signals over and over
again. This helps cause the intense 'high' cocaine
users feel."
Collecting data for nearly seven years, the team
performed a. series of studies in the attempt to dis-
cover what exactly cocaine does to the users' brains.
"Chronic users have a depleted supply of
dopamine and we found that the depressed users had
the biggest changes in supply," Karley Little, one of
the study's authors, said. "We now are wondering
See COCAINE, Page 3