NEWS
The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 30, 2005 - 3
ON CAMPUS
Pre-law help on
hand in Union
Over 100 law students and multiple
local test-preparation companies will be
on hand in the Michigan Union between
11 a.m. and 3 p.m. today. Stop by and
collect law applications and explore
education options. Visit the Career Cen-
ter website at cpp.umich.edu for a list of
schools that are scheduled to attend.
League hosts
open mic night
There will be an open mic night
tonight at the Michigan League. Sign-
up begins at 7:30 p.m. All groups and
individuals are invited to attend and
perform. Admission and refreshments
are free. If interested in performing, e-
mail Benita Murrel at bmurrel@umich.
edu or call her at 764-7598.
Saxophonist holds
free concert
Famed jazz saxophonist Bobby Wat-
son will hold a free concert in the Cady
Room of the Stearns Building at 2 p.m.
today. The event will be co-sponsored
by the 2005 Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz
Festival.
CRIME
NOTES
Taxi drivers brawl
in front of Union
A bystander reported a fight between
two taxi drivers in front of the Michi-
gan Union last night, according to the
Department of Public Safety. Although
initially verbal, the altercation soon
became physical. Neither man was hurt
in the fight. The cause of the scuffle is
still unknown, although both men are
being interviewed.
Student narcs
out neighbors in
Bursley
A University student, living in Bursley
Residence Hall, called DPS early yes-
terday morning to report that he could
smell marijuana. A DPS officer respond-
ing to the call located two subjects, both
University students. After questioning
the individuals, the officer filed a report
against them, according to DPS.
DPS arrests Diag
trespasser
A man was arrested for trespass-
ing near the West Arch of the Diag
Wednesday evening, DPS reported. He
was also charged for obstructing police
after physically resisting when officers
attempted to take him into custody. The
man had previously been warned and
cited by DPS for trespassing on Univer-
sity property.
THIS DAY
Granholm OKs later start to K-12 school year
LANSING (AP) - Many school districts
will start classes after Labor Day next fall after
Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed a bill yesterday
requiring the later start.
"There is no doubt in this state that tourism is
an important part of our economy," the governor
told reporters. "I made sure that this would not
harm education. ... You can have both a robust
economy and a robust education system."
The new rule applies to all public and char-
ter schools and intermediate school districts,
although those with teacher contracts and other
employee contracts still in effect next fall can
put off complying with the law until the con-
tracts expire.
Some districts already have pushed the start
of school past Labor Day. At least 11 of the
state's 50 largest school districts planned to
begin classes after Labor Day this school year,
according to a House Fiscal Agency analysis.
Justin King, executive director of the Michi-
gan Association of School Boards, expects that
more than half of the state's districts will have
teacher contracts still in effect next fall, so many
districts may not make the change until 2007.
He was disappointed that lawmakers passed
Kevorkian
to campaign
for assisted
suicide
If paroled from prison, which
could be as soon as 2007, doctor
would plan legal fight
LAPEER, Mich. (AP) - If released from
prison, Jack Kevorkian plans to use the legal
system to campaign for changes to assisted-sui-
cide laws, the former doctor said in an interview
from prison.
Kevorkian spoke with MSNBC's Rita Cosby
during a televised interview that was scheduled
to air on the network at 9 p.m. yesterday.
In excerpts from the interview released to
the media in advance of its airing, the 77-year-
old said that if he is granted parole in 2007, his
earliest possible release date, he plans to travel
and visit family as well as resume his efforts to
legalize assisted suicide.
But Kevorkian emphasized that he would not
help those who want to die by breaking the law
again, orencouragenother doctors to do so until
it's legal.
"I have said publicly and officially that I will
not perform that act again when I get out," he
said. "What I'll do is what I should have done
earlier, is pursue this from a legal standpoint by
campaigning to get the laws changed."
When asked by Cosby if he regretted the
actions that put him in prison, Kevorkian replied:
"Well, I do a little."
"It was disappointing because what I did
turned out to be in vain, even though 1 know
it could possibly end that way," Kevorkian said.
"And my only regret was not having done it
through the legal system, through legislation,
and Granholm signed a bill he said was based on
business interests and not on education.
"I didn't see any discussion at all about school
achievement," King said. "I don't think it's
sound educationally, and I think she took the
easy way out."
Schools still will be required to offer 1,098
hours of instruction. They used to be required
to spread those hours over at least 180 days
of school, but now are held only to the hours
requirement.
Granholm said she would rather see districts
cut vacation days or extend the school year fur-
ther into June to stick as close to the 180 days
as possible, rather than making the school day
longer and shortening the school year.
But she said the law allows districts the flex-
ibility to do what they want.
Tourism officials and business leaders from
the northern and western parts of the state had
urged the governor to sign the bill. They say
it will encourage families to take vacations in
Michigan later in the summer, bringing needed
business to a tourism industry hurt by the 2001
terrorist attacks and higher gas prices.
Donald Holocek, director of the Michigan
Travel, Tourism and Recreation Resource Center
at Michigan State University, estimated the later
start date could increase statewide economic
activity by $132 million and raise state tax rev-
enues by at least $10 million a year.
Businesses and the state could benefit even
more once the post-Labor Day start takes hold
and more people vacation in late August, he
said. He noted that businesses adding two weeks
to the peak season for summer tourism could
increase their sales by 10 percent.
Education groups and some lawmakers, how-
ever, argued that the decision on when to start
should be left to school districts. They said stu-
dents start practicing for fall sports and march-
ing band in early August, keeping them at home
regardless of when classes begin.
"Setting the calendar is the primary responsi-
bility a board of education has," King said. "You
take that away and you take away a big part of
decision-making."
School officials also worried that the later
start date would give them less time to prepare
students for the Michigan Education Assessment
Program tests each fall. But the state Depart-
ment of Education said it will take the new law
into account when scheduling the tests.
"The testing still would be conducted in the
fall, but the three-week testing window could
be moved and still allow student results to
be returned to the teachers by the end of the
calendar year," the department said in a state-
ment.
Recent polls show a majority of voters sup-
port starting the school year after Labor Day.
Fifty-seven percent surveyed in a Sept. 16-21
poll conducted by Lansing-based Marketing
Resource Group said school districts should be
required to start after Labor Day, while 41 per-
cent said local school districts should decide and
2 percent were undecided.
An Aug. 15-18 poll conducted by Lansing-
based EPIC/MRA showed 63 percent supported
the post-Labor Day opening, with 67 percent of
parents with school-age children supporting the
change.
"If school boards were truly responsive to
parents, this bill wouldn't have been necessary,"
said Rich Studley of the Michigan Chamber of
Commerce, which along with the Michigan Res-
taurant Association and other business and tour-
ism groups supported the change.
Local
school
evacuated
again
SALINE (AP) - Saline High
School was evacuated for the second
time in three days yesterday after
some students reported feeling ill,
officials said.
Air quality tests were conducted
by a private company on Tuesday
and Wednesday, but found nothing
unusual, officials had said earlier.
Students were instructed yesterday
to go to the school's football field and
were to be dismissed for the day once
buses arrived, said Betty Rosen-Leach-
er, executive director of instruction for
Saline Area Schools.
District officials also evacuated
the school on Tuesday after some
students reported feeling nauseated
and lightheaded, Rosen-Leacher
HOTO said. Those students were taken to a
hospital where they were treated and
released, she said.
tion Additional students also reported
ered feeling sick on Wednesday and were
band treated by the school nurse. The
dical school was not evacuated that day.
d be It was unclear how many students
fell ill yesterday, but Rosen-Leacher
nd a said a total of about eight were sick-
pect- ened Tuesday and Wednesday.
duc- Today's classes and after-school
sible activities at the school have also
been canceled, school officials said
'And yesterday afternoon.
Gan- Saline-is about four miles south of
Ann Arbor.
AP F
Jack Kevorkian is shown in this Feb. 9, 1996, file photo. If released from prison, Kevorkian plans t4
use the legal system to campaign for changes to assisted-suicide laws, the former doctor said.
possibly."
Kevorkian, who is being held at the Thumb
Correctional Facility in Lapeer, is serving a 10-
to 25-year sentence for second-degree murder
after being convicted of giving a fatal injection of
drugs to a Lou Gehrig's disease patient in 1998.
Kevorkian has said he assisted in at least 130
deaths, and Gov. Jennifer Granholm has said she
won't consider pardoning him.
During the interview, Kevorkian also dis-
cussed the case of Terri Schiavo, the brain-dam-
aged Florida woman whose feeding tube was
removed after her husband won a court order to
do so.
Kevorkian said that had the woman's situa
come up 10 years ago, he would have consid
taking her on as a patient because her husi
was her legal next-of-kin and because me
officials had determined that nothing coul
done to help her.
Kevorkian has signed off on a book a
movie about his life, both of which are exj
ed to be released sometime next year. Pro
ers have mentioned Ben Kingsley as a pos
choice to play Kevorkian.
"He's a great actor," Kevorkian said.
beside that, he carries the implication off
dhi, which is OK with me also."
U U
Space still available!
Beginning & Advanced Taekwondo
Taught by Grand Master Hwa Chong
In Daily
History
Students protest
Communist prof's
dismissal
Sept. 30, 1954 - The Student Legis-
lature voted 22 to 4 last night to issue a
formal protest over the dismissal of Prof.
Mark Nickerson. The protest motion
stated that the reason for dismissal, in
essence, his political ideology.
The legislature stated that only one
of three committees appointed by the
University to investigate the Nickerson
case recommended his dismissal. Their
reasoning, the legislature claimed, was
based on the grounds that he was a
"Communist in spirit and would repu-
diate no part of the Communist pro-
gram."
The motion reads, "Prof. Nickerson
was guilty of believing an unpopular
and objectionable ideology." Further-
more, the motion states "it is particular-
ly reprehensible that such action should
have taken place at a university whose
tradition and responsibility has always
Learn self-defense and Olympic- style fighting
Register online at www.umich.edu / ~umove
Taekwondo I -5- 6 PM Tue, Thu CCRB- Rm#: 2275
Taekwondo II- 6- 7 PM Tue, Thu CCRB- Rm#: 2275
Also see www.umich.edu/~umtkd for more information
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