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... WE'RE HOT OH EVER' C ORHER, BUT HOBOOM SAID FINDING THE TRUTHK WASEASEII 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. P-1