LOCAL/S TATE
The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 17, 2002 - 3A
Sprawl control is a top priority for Byrnes
Fight erupts in
courtyard of
residence hall
By Jordan Schrader
Daily Staff Reporter
Several residents of West Quad
Residence Hall reported a fight that
broke out in the hall's courtyard
early Friday morning. According to
Department of Public Safety
reports, the calls indicated at least
10 people were somehow involved
in the fight. Upon arriving at the
scene, DPS officers located several
suspects who were allegedly
involved in breaking a window and
mutual assault.DPS spokeswoman
Diane Brown said that, as far as she
was aware, no arrests were made
following the incident.
Death threat found
carved in B-School
A threatening message carved into a
picture in the Business Administration
Building caught the attention of
passersby and DPS officers last Thurs-
day, DPS reports state. The carving
warned that "you will die at 0030." It
was located on the main floor of Davi-
son Hall.
Woman sees man
with no pants
jogging in the Arb
DPS officers spent part of Friday
afternoon searching for a man,
described as being in his late 40s
and having short gray hair and a
green hooded jacket, who was seen
by a female jogger in Nichols
Arboretum. According to DPS
reports, the jogger saw the pantless
man, who was holding himself, near
the train tracks.
The man was wearing shoes, the
report states.
DPS made four
arrests at football
game on Saturday
A total of four arrests were made
during Saturday's home football
game against Penn State, DPS
spokeswoman Diane Brown said.
Three of the arrests were for minor in
possession of alcohol, while the other
was for trespassing. There were also
10 citations, including seven for
alcohol and three for urinating in
public, and 13 ejections, including
four for disorderly conduct and two
for assault.
At least five people were escorted
from the stadium for throwing
marshmallows. DPS reports state that
one of those people was ejected after
throwing penny-stuffed marshmal-
lows at officers.
In addition, 22 people were treated
by personnel from. Huron Valley
Ambulance and one person was
transported to University Hospital,
Brown said.
K-9 unit discovers
bomb threat in
League to be false
A University switchboard opera-
tor alerted officers to a call she said
she received Sunday from a foreign-
sounding male who allegedly stated
that there was a bomb under the
Michigan League, where the Pales-
tine Solidarity Conference was
being held, DPS reports state. The
University's K-9 unit checked the
building, but found no evidence of a
bomp.
Moped stolen,
sold by cocaine-
possessing thief
A suspect in a larceny involving a
stolen moped was identified and
arrested on a felony warrant for
cocaine possession by DPS officers
Monday, according to DPS reports.
The suspect told officers he sold the
moped, reports state.
Couzens elevator
befouled, damaged
An elevator in Couzens Residence
Hall was damaged Monday after
somebody urinated and defecated in
it, DPS reports state. The report did
not list any possible suspects.
Furniture taken
from course during
Saturday's game
A woman reported Tuesday that her
lawn furniture was stolen from the
University Golf Course during Satur-
day's football game, according to DPS
Western Washtenaw County combines a pre-
dominantly rural expanse with several urban
areas, including Ann Arbor.
Pam Byrnes, the Democratic candidate for the
new 52nd District of the Michigan House of Rep-
resentatives, said it's going to take government
effort to make sure farmland survives as urban
area expands.
Preventing urban sprawl by allowing munici-
palities to buy land development rights is among
her primary goals.
The district she is running to represent includes
part of northeast Ann Arbor, including North
Campus.
Byrnes said she would also promote early
childhood education by seeking federal funds
for pre-kindergarten programs. Her goal is to
m'ake such programs affordable for all families,
she said.
These two issues form the core of Byrnes plat-
form in her race against incumbent Rep. Gene
DeRossett (R-Freedom Twp.).
Byrnes, a Lyndon Township resident and Uni-
versity alum, is an attorney whose practice spe-
cializes in family law. She also serves on the
Washtenaw County Road Commission.
After working with township officials to devel-
op infrastructure, she understands the importance
of preserving agricultural areas, Byrnes said.
She said the state should provide greater sup-
port and funding to Purchase of Development
Rights programs, to allow communities to make
the crucial decisions that stop sprawl and main-
tain farmland.
Under these programs, governments pay prop-
erty owners for the right to restrict how their land
can be used in the future.
"Even if (the owner) sells it, that farmland can-
not be developed," she said.
The state and communities should use the
restrictions to determine where to allow new non-
agricultural construction, Byrnes said. That
would prevent highways, chemical pollutants and
other consequences of development from pushing
into rural areas, she said.
"If there's going to be development - and
there is - you keep it along with the existing
infrastructure," she said.
Despite her push to restrict how land can be
used, she said she doesn't want a halt in develop-
ment. For example, Byrnes said the state's
planned NextEnergy site should have stayed in
Washtenaw County.
The planned construction of NextEnergy,
Michigan's alternative energy research and devel-
opment project, was initially slated for York
Township, but state officials encountered prob-
lems with township resources and chose Wayne
State University in Detroit as the new site.
Byrnes said the program would have benefited
the county and questioned why DeRossett
allowed the opportunity to pass.
"I want to know where he was and why that
happened," she said. "It would have meant jobs. It
would have meant.an opportunity for the Univer-
sity of Michigan to work with (NextEnergy)."
She also disagrees with DeRossett's attempt to
repeal a law requiring motorcyclists to wear hel-
mets, she said. The repeal bill passed the House
but has not been taken up by the Senate.
Byrnes said revision is needed on laws that
make prison sentences mandatory for certain
drug-related crimes. Putting the perpetrators of
these "victimless crimes" in jail costs the state
too much money, she said.
Term-limit laws, restricting elected officials'
terms of office, are also due for another look, she
said. Laws now on the books limit members of
the House to three two-year terms while senators,
the governor and most other executive officehold-
ers are limited to two four-year terms.
The high turnover the laws create is "breaking
down the continuity, and there's not enough time
to get long-range things done," Byrnes said.
RBECAHNDaily
University alum Pam Byrnes is the Democratic
candidate for the 52nd district of the Michigan
House of Representatives.
Free yogurt for all
UM Coursetools website
to expand with chatrooms
By Steve Nannes
For the Daily
Students may soon be able to use
electronic resources at other schools
and chat with their peers online
through a new website the Universi-
ty is currently testing in hopes of
giving more resources to faculty and
students.
The new websites, UM.Course-
tools Next Generation and
UM.Worktools Next Generation,
will be open-source websites for col-
laboration with other universities.
"There will be a lot more flexibili-
ty for both students and faculty,"
said Joseph Hardin, deputy director
of the Media Union. "We thought
there were quite a few capabilities
and resources we'd like to make
available."
One of the new features of the
UM.Coursetools Next Generation web-
site will be "My Work Space," which
will be able to store students' materials,
set up work groups and open chat
groups. Students can also build e-Port-
folios for compiling resumes.
The new versions will enable stu-
dents and faculty to share informa-
tion with other universities such as
Massachusetts Institute of Technolo-
gy, Stanford University and the Uni-
versity of Wisconsin.
"There will be online research and
group collaboration," Hardin said.
"It will be easier for the faculty to
find materials to provide the stu-
dents and it will bring together two
worlds of academic activity and
learning."
University programmers are bas-
ing the website construction on the
Open Knowledge Initiative, a project
initiated by several universities to
create shared online resources for
the participating universities.
LSA sophomore Mike Rohde said
UM.Coursetools is an intricate part
of his academic life and he would
welcome any new resources.
"I have two classes that post
homework and sample midterms," he
said. "A chat or dialogue with class-
mates would be really cool."
Engineering sopijomore Bushra
Malaibari said even with
UM.Coursetools, she still prefers
meeting in person.
"I think physical interactions
make it easier to explain things," she
said. "And there's more camaraderie
among students in person."
Over 30,000 University students
and 1,500 faculty members currently
use UM.Coursetools and UM.Work-
tools. UM.Coursetools was released
in January 1999, and Hardin said
there have been no major problems
with the website.
Hardin added that the university is
currently testing the new websites
and testing will not be complete for
at least another year or two.
"We have to be careful," Hardin
said. "The resources have to be sta-
ble before we can fully open them.
... We are constantly trying to
improve the available sites for stu-
dents and faculty."
RYAN WEINER/Daily
After completing a study on Stonyfield Farm yogurt packaging,
Vanessa Smith of Michigan's Center for Sustainable Systems
hands out yogurt yesterday in the Chemistry Building.
New center W1l
research-methods
to reduce poverty
By Emily Kraack
and Dan Trudeau
Daily Staff Reporters
The University recently revealed
plans for the creation of a federally
funded National Poverty Research
Center. The center will function as
a unit of the Gerald R. Ford School
of Public Policy, but will involve
professors and researchers from all
areas of the University in studying
the effects of public policy on peo-
ple living below the poverty line.
Researchers at the center will be
studying the effects of welfare on
families with low incomes, the cre-
ation of successful child care pro-
grams and the transition from
prison to the labor market, amongst
other subjects.
Organizers say the center will help
legislators make better informed
decisions about social policy.
"We are committed to engaging
the researchers with policy makers
on the state, local and national
level," Research Center Co-Director
and Ford School Dean Rebecca
Blank said. "We're interested in dis-
covering ways to create policies
that will alleviate poverty."
The project will be funded by a
$5 million grant over a five-year
period from the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services. HHS
Secretary Tommy Thompson said
the center will play a unique role in
social research.
,"Much of the progress we have
made in this country on issues
related to reducing poverty and
reforming welfare was through
careful research. (The center) plays
a critical role not only in contribut-
ing to this body of research, but
1a,. in nrn rrancaarcrnl atoI
"(The center) plays
a critical role not
only in contributing
to this body of
research, but also
preparing
researchers, to
meet this challenge
in the future."
- Tommy Thompson
U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services Secretary
It's going to bring a lot of students
here who would not have been here
otherwise. You just have this con-
centration of resources across the
University brought together in one
center."
Blank said HHS decided on the Uni-
versity as the current site for the center
because of the administrative ease that
the University offers, as well as the
large numbers of researchers already
studying poverty on campus. Profes-
sors from other universities will also
work at the center.
"We really put together an amaz-
ingly strong and diverse group of
researchers who traditionally had
not been involved. We also pro-
posed some unique and interesting
research projects," Ford School
Senior Research Associate Kristen
Seefeldt said.
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