NEWS
The Michigan Daily - Monday, September 27, 2004 - 3A
ON CAMPUS Walkers remember those lost to suicide
Law Day highlights participants hope to educate about depression
law opportunities,
By Tina Hlldreth of death for people between the ages of
The Division of Student Affairs
and the Career Center are sponsoring
Law Day, at which students can collect
application material and learn about
law options from more than 100 law
schools. Information on test-prepara-
tion services will also be available.
The event will take place from 11 a.m.
to 3 p.m. in the Michigan Union today.
A meet and greet, where students can
informally discuss options with law
school representatives, will follow in the
Pond Room at 3 p.m.
Festival to focus
on Israeli culture
"Balagan! Israeli Festival," held
today on the Diag, will feature free food
and entertainment sponsored Hillel, the
Jewish student center. Middle Eastern
food, Israeli music, games and informa-
tion about Israel will be available at the
festival.
Vaily Staf Reporter
Of the 18 million Americans who
struggle with depression and bipolar
disorder, more than 30,000 commit sui-
cide each year.
To commemorate loved ones who
took their own lives after suffering from
these disorders, more than 300 family
members and friends of suicide victims
gathered for the third annual "Out of
the Darkness ... Into the Light Walk" at
Pioneer High School yesterday.
Wearing T-shirts with names of lost
loved ones, the participants walked 3.5
miles around the University's athletic
fields to promote education about ways
to fight depression, such as early iden-
tification of the illness and preventing
progression into suicide.
"Out of the Darkness" seeks to teach
people to look for and identify the early
signs of depression in their loved ones,
and encourage them to get help.
Suicide is the second leading cause
19 and 24, and one in five young people
suffers a depression episode by the age
of 20.
University of Michigan Health Sys-
tem spokeswoman Kara Gavin said,
"Students in college juggle sleep, stress,
financial difficulties, drugs and alcohol
and a new social scene. College is a high-
risk time for depression and suicide. The
University Depression Center is doing a
lot to help colleges come together to find
(depression) early and treat it."
Unlike other charity walks, "Out of
the Darkness" does not require walk-
ers to collect a certain amount of
pledges to be able to walk. While some
walkers do raise additional donation
money, each walker is required to pay
a $25 registration fee, which goes to
the American Foundation for Suicide
Prevention. Last year the walk raised
$22,000, topping the previous year's
sum of $10,000.
Tammi Landry, executive director of
the foundation's local chapter, helped
start the Ann Arbor chapter three years
ago, after her father took his own life.
"At the time, there were not many
resources for (family members of sui-
cide victims,) and it was something
I needed to do to help me grieve,"
Landry said.
She said yesterday's events aimed
to create a fun environment to help
survivors remember their loved ones
and educate the community about the
treatments available to help those that
struggle with depression. Clowns and
face painters joined The Harmonettes,
a women's a capella group, in celebrat-
ing the prevention of suicide.
Eric Hipple, former Detroit Lions
quarterback, served as master of cer-
emonies for the day's events. "The more
we can raise awareness, the faster we
can get rid of stigma and beat the dis-
ease," Hipple said.
He related his own story, explaining
his emotional journey after his 15-year
old son committed suicide in 2000. His
goal speaking at the walk was to help
A Tiu
prevent the stigma surrounding suicide,
get people to talk about it and help erad-
icate the disease.
Many sufferers of depression face
social pressure to avoid talking about
their condition, pushing them further
into their loneliness and amplifying
their illness. Family and friends of sui-
cide victims face similar taboos. Hip-
ple described his experience as being
"thrust into a chaotic mess - people
don't know how to talk to you, and it's
lonely."
After his son's death, Hipple turned
to the University's psychological ser-
vices to learn about the disorder, and to
"find out why a 15-year-old would kill
himself."
Some symptoms of clinical depi-es-
sion are a sad, anxious or "empty"
mood; sleeping too little or too much;
loss of pleasure or interest in activities
once enjoyed; feeling guilty, hopeless
or worthless; and trouble concentrat-
ing, remembering or making deci-
sions.
LS .S\junior NIissv N cBr-oom took
to set 1uj. and te akicteCOUt' se
that ni from Pioneer, down Main Street.
Packard Street and St adium Bnoulevard.
end in at the h ich school Herself an
emotional v1ictim of her father's suicide
when she was three years old, M1eBroom
said she likes to rticipate in events
such as this one not only for personal
reasons. but to help raise money.
The walk, which used to be 7 miles,
was shortened to encourage more walk-
ers to participate.
The American Foundation for Suicide
Prevention currently sponsors two sup-
port groups - one for people struggling
with depression, and another for fami-
lies with members who are depressed or
have committed suicide.
The event, one of many like it across
the country, gathered walkers from Ann
Arbor, Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids and
many other parts of the state.
The money raised will be used to
fund grants and scholarships for study
of suicide and depression and how to
prevent it, as well as to help fund and
expand depression and suicide support
groups.
Afghan forces kill
ULY ORGANIC EXPERIENCE
Talk discusses fr e un
gender in JudaismfomrGatn o
" Tm 1 t1 1 1
I
Nadia Valman, an editor and author of
works exploring the role of gender in Jew-
ish history, will give a speech titled "New
Perspectives on the Jewess in Victorian
English Literature" today from noon to I
p.m. in room 3050 of the Frieze Building.
CRIME
Alcohol leads to
football game
arrests, tickets
The Department of Public Safety
arrested eight people at Michigan Sta-
dium during Saturday's football game
against Iowa. Six were arrested for
underage possession of alcohol and one
was arrested for assault. DPS gave out
27 citations, mostly for possession of
alcohol in the stadium.
Three citations were given for pub-
lic urination at the game. Sixteen
people were ejected from the game,
including six disorderly persons and
one for throwing items onto the field.
Forty-five people were treated by
medical staff at the game, and four
were transported to the hospital, none
for serious ailments.
Grill fire put out
during game
Vending staff extinguished a grease
fire on a concession grill in Michigan Sta-
dium during the football game. The fire
occurred in section 26. No injuries were
reported, and the grill was not damaged.
inmate, 'aliban head
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP)
- A former inmate at the U.S. prison
camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who
returned to Afghanistan to rejoin the
Taliban as a key commander, was
killed along with two fellow fighters
in a raid by Afghan security forces,
two senior officials said yesterday.
Interim President Hamid Karzai,
meanwhile, made a visit - under
heavy security - to a northern war-
lord whose influence could swing the
Oct. 9 presidential election, which the
Taliban and their anti-government
allies threaten to disrupt.
The Taliban commander, Maulvi
Abdul Ghaffar, died along with two
comrades in a gunbattle Saturday
night in Uruzgan, a southern province,
said Gov. Jan Mohammed Khan.
He said authorities had received
intelligence that Ghaffar was hiding
in a village called Pishi and was plan-
ning an attack against the government.
Security forces launched the raid after
surrounding the house where the mili-
tants were hiding. No Afghan forces
were reported hurt.
The governor said Ghaffar had
been a senior Taliban commander in
northern Afghanistan and was arrest-
ed about two months after a U.S.-led
coalition drove the militia from power
in late 2001. He was held for eight
months at Guantanamo Bay before his
release and return to Afghanistan.
Khan and Afghan Interior Minister
Ali Ahmad Jalali Khan said Ghaffar
was then appointed leader of Taliban
fighters in Uruzgan, a rugged region
believed to be a stronghold of the.
Chechen
hardline Islamic militia.
U.S. military officials said they
could not immediately confirm Ghaf-
far had once been in U.S. custody.
Taliban-led insurgents are active in
much of southern and eastern Afghan-
istan and frequently launch attacks on
the U.S.-backed government despite
the deployment of thousands of U.S.
forces to hunt them down.
Officials are predicting an upsurge
in violence before historic presidential
elections on Oct. 9.
On Saturday, suspected Taliban
rebels attacked a convoy of coalition
and Afghan forces in Uruzgan who
were patrolling to increase security
ahead of the election and killed a dis-
trict chief, Khan said.
The rebels opened fire on a vehicle
carrying Char Cheno district chief
Wali Jan, killing him and seriously
injuring two Afghan soldiers in the
Yakhdan area, he said. The rebels fled
into surrounding mountains after the
attack.
No coalition forces were hurt,
Khan said.
Maj. Mark McCann, a U.S. military
spokesman in Kabul, confirmed the
attack on the convoy near Deh Rawood
- a town in Uruzgan where there is a
small U.S. base - in which one dis-
trict official was killed and three other
Afghans wounded, but had no details
on the identity of the official.
The violence has also targeted U.S.-
backed interim leader Karzai, who
escaped a rocket attack on a U.S. mili-
tary helicopter taking him to a south-
eastern city on Sept. 16.
TOM MASO GOMEZ/Daily
Patrick ElIkins, 28, displays an assortment of vegetables at the Organic Taste Fest in Kerrytown yesterday.
A 2 residen t ae a nibbl out
of *1gac food a at et ,
Kyle Shah
and Lindsay Smith
For the Daily
Spitting man splits stru le,
before police arrive
Athletic staff requested a DPS officer
to investigate a disorderly person during
the football game. The person was alleg-
edly spitting on concession staff. Officers
were unable to locate any problem.
THIS DAY
In Daily History
'Passing up' girls
in stadium draws
legal attention
Sept. 27, 1979 - City Attorney
Bruce Laidlaw and Washtenaw County
Prosecutor William Delhey put for-
ward the possibility that girls "passed
up" the stands during football games
could press assault charges against
those passing them up. "Anytime some-
one is picked up and thrown or tossed
around, it would constitute an assault,"
Laidlaw said.
Delhey cautioned that finding the
responsible individual could be difficult
and not all legal actions would be suc-
cessful. "If the girl is consenting and
doesn't object (to being passed up), it's
not a crime," he said.
ihad link
emerges
MOSCOW (AP) - The brutality and
meticulous planning of the school hos-
tage-taking and other recent terror attacks
in Russia have focused new attention on
the growing influence of Islamic extrein-
ists over Chechen rebels and raised suspi-
cions of a global terror connection.
The conflict in Chechnya, which
began a decade ago as a secular fight
for independence from Moscow, has
steadily evolved into what local and for-
eign militants have described as jihad,
or "holy war" against Russia.
"Over time, a growing number of
people in Chechnya have identified
themselves with global jihad," said
Alexei Malashenko, an expert with the
Carnegie Endowment's Moscow office.
Fundamentalist Islamic groups have
methodically recruited followers among
Russia's 20 million Muslims since the
1990s, often driving mainstream Muslim
clerics from their mosques in such Cauca-
sus regions as Dagestan and Kabardino-
Balkariya, both near Chechnya.
Along with radical Islamic doctrines,
Arab fighters and instructors also have
brought new tactics to Chechnya, such
as suicide bombings. "They act as a cat-
The Ann Arbor Artisan's Market
in Kerrytown was filled with the
sight of colorful produce, the smell
of homemade soaps, the sounds of a
jazz pianist and the laughter of chil-
dren yesterday.
The market's second annual
Organic Taste Fest featured vendors
who showed off their products to
enthusiastic listeners curious to learn
more about organic food. Everything
from organic goods to socks and jew-
elry was being sold at the eclectic
outdoor bazaar, which drew dozens
of vendors, most of whom sell their
wares locally.
"It was a fairly big success last year,"
said Hilary Fabbrini, a representative
for Snyder's and Cape Cod food prod-
ucts. He returned to the festival to sell
his products and said the event is impor-
tant to the community because it is "a
good way to make people aware of dif-
ferent organic products."
Over the past 10 years, retail sales
of organic products in the nation have
increased by an average of 23 percent
every year, according to the NMI/
Organic Trade Association - no
doubt aided by even small affairs like
the Taste Fest and people like Alexan-
dra Katona.
"We're selling coffee (at Taste Fest)
U U
THEF TRUTH IS...
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BUT HOBOOM SAID
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to promote (organic foods)," Katona
said. Her student organization, Brew-
ing Hope, has their coffee imported
from Mexico and then brewed in Ann
Arbor. "We went down to Chiapas and
stayed with the farmers for a couple of
days," she said.
Katona said she spoke to the farmers
personally, and in return for their hard
work, would try to get their coffee sold.
"It's reciprocal," Katona said.
Not everyone was selling products,
however.
The market also featured stands
that were set up to give samples of
yogurt, tofu, crackers, bread, wine
and granola bars to visitors. Small
businesses also sold homemade soap,
plants, spices, and knit hats, while
local artists displayed their artwork
and photography. Some just came for
the hand-me-outs. "I just came for the
free food," said Brandon Baldwin, a
recent Engineering graduate.
Music was provided by The Ambi-
tious Brothers, an Ann Arbor bluegrass
band, and the Love Butlers, led by Al
Hill, a blues and New Orleans musi-
cian.
The festival was held between 9
a.m. and 5 p.m. at Catherine and
DetroitStreet _-
- Daily Staff Reporter Justin Miller
contributed to this report.
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