Monday, January 30, 2006
News 3A Daily names new
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Opinion 4A
What the Daily
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Arts 8A Daily music staff
picks top 10
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One-hundredfifteen years of edtorialfreedom
www.michigandaily.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXVI, No. 64 62006 The Michigan Daily
FOLKY TUNES
T oday's is the first
paper produced by
The Michigan Daily's
new editors. We would
like to thank you for your
continued readership
of the University's only
independent, student-run
daily newspaper. The
Daily's entire editorial
staff recommits itself to
providing the campus
community with thorough
and reliable news and
analysis.
- The Editors
Steahawks
flock to
Detroit
Steelers, Seattle's opponent in
next week's game, scheduled to
arrive in town this morning
By Ian Herbert
Daily Sports Writer
DEARBORN - No distance is too far for
the fans of a team that has never played in a
Super Bowl.
As running back and league MVP Shaun
Alexander left the first press conference of
Super Bowl week, a few stray fans swarmed
around him to get autographs on helmets and
posters before he ducked into an elevator.
Fifty feet away, a few dozen other Seat-
tle fans waited for signatures from their
Seahawks.
The Seattle Seahawks arrived in Detroit
for next Sunday's Super Bowl XL at 4:40
yesterday afternoon. Much of their first press
conference revolved around "respect."
"Respect was a word that I used in my
opening remarks to the team at the begin-
ning of the season," Seahawks coach Mike
Holmgren said. "I understand why we're
underdogs. The only way to handle it is -
not by talking - but by playing the game."
Alexander said he's seen the Seahawks go
from a team that people used to laugh at to
See SUPER BOWL, page 7A
TV anchor
alum
" "
injured
in Iraq
ABC anchor Bob Woodruff
suffers serious head injuries but is
in stable condition
NEW YORK (AP) - The serious injuries suffered
by ABC "World News Tonight" anchor Bob Woodruff,
a graduate of the University Law School, and a television
cameraman yesterday were a reminder of the danger hun-
dreds of journalists work through every day as they tell the
story of the Iraq war.
The family of Christian Science Monitor freelance
reporter Jill Carroll, who grew up in Ann Arbor, knows
it all too well as they await news of the young woman,
kidnapped at gunpoint Jan. 7.
Woodruff, a Michigan native, and Doug Vogt were rid-
ing in an Iraqi military vehicle yesterday so they could
better understand the war from the perspective of the Iraqi
forces when an improvised explosive device blew up near
their convoy of U.S. and Iraqi troops north of Baghdad.
Both men were wearing body armor and helmets, but
they suffered serious head injuries and were in stable
condition following surgery at a U.S. military hospital;
Woodruff also has broken bones. They were expected to
be evacuated to medical facilities in Germany, said ABC
News President David Westin.
The next few days will be critical, he said.
"Obviously, this is very tough news for all of us here at
ABC," said "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos.
"It gives us a taste of what so many military families are
going through every day."
Dozens of journalists have been injured, killed or kid-
napped in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that top-
pled Saddam Hussein.
David Bloom of NBC News was covering the war on
April 6, 2003, when he died from an apparent blood clot
while traveling south of Baghdad His family and the
Woodruffs were known to be close, and when NBC News
executives had to tell Bloom's widow that her husband had
died, they made sure Woodruff's wife, Lee, was there to
offer support.
When Woodruff and Vogt's convoy was attacked, the
two were standing in the hatch of an Iraqi mechanized
vehicle. Experts say the Iraqi vehicles aren't as secure as
U.S. military vehicles, and Iraqi security forces have been
frequent targets of insurgents during the war - a danger
colleagues said Woodruff and Vogt understood.
Their ABC News colleague, Martha Raddatz, said they
were traveling that way to better understand how Iraqi
forces face the war.
"I have worked with Doug Vogt so many times," Rad-
datz said of the cameraman, a three-time Emmy winner.
"He is no hot dog. Bob Woodruff would not take risks ...
They are both very careful."
Vogt has traveled before with a convoy attacked by an
See WOODRUFF, page 7A
Unanswered
questions
remain over
smokino g ban
Amendment to ban smoking
within 25 feet of residence halls
fails to pass for second time
By Joule Dodge
Daily Staff Reporter
EMMA NOLAN-ABRAHAM IAN/ Daily
Top: Robert Cray of The Robert Cray Band headlines the first night of the Ann Arbor Folk Festival at Hill Auditorium on
Friday. Bottom left: Singer-songwriter Iris Dement performs on the piano. Bottom right: Carol Young of The Greencards,
whose latest album is titled "Weather and Water," plays a guitar at the festival, which celebrated Its 29th anniversary
last weekend. For full story, SEE ARTS, PAGE 5A
Amid controversy,
NAACP VP resigns
FLASH DANCE
Prompted by state
NAACP chapter,
divisive vice president
Alex Moffett steps down
By Ashlea Surles
Daily Staff Reporter
After a semester of controver-
s sy, LSA junior Alex Moffett has
resigned from her post as vice
president of the campus chapter of
the NAACP.
The resignation appears to
have stemmed from a rift with
the state chapter of the NAACP.
In her letter of resignation, she
expressed discontent with the
way the campus chapter is forced
to function under the state chap-
ter's regulations.
She said the legal ties to the state
board render the campus NAACP
"incapable of acting when action
is most necessary."
"What is 'political action' with
no action?" she wrote.
It is not clear whether the state
chapter forced her out or she left
called "The Collective,"
Moffett said the group will
"seek to address the intellectual,
spiritual, political, and social
needs of undergraduate, graduate
and professional black students."
Moffett has been at the center
of several campus controversies
this year.
In October, Moffett publicly
condemned the pro-affirmative
action group BAMN for using
middle- and high-school students
at a rally to protest the Michigan
Civil Right Initiative.
She told the Daily that BAMN
has a "habit of tokenizing black
students, young and old."
Previously, the two groups had
presented a united front in their
opposition of MCRI, a proposal on
November's ballot that, if passed,
would ban some affirmative action
programs in Michigan.
At a Michigan Student Assem-
bly meeting a few days later, Mof-
fett and other NAACP members
clashed with some BAMN mem-
bers, engaging in a shouting match
over the rally. Police arrived to
break the conflict up.
EUGE~iNE ROBETN/LDily
Washington University in St. Louis placed third overall at the 5th annual Dandia Dhamaka 2006
Raas competition at the Michigan Theater on Saturday. Raas is a form of traditional Indian dance.
Concertgoer grabs cash,
causes ruckus at East QuadQ
The second round of the Residence Halls Association's
proposal to ban smoking near dorms is shaping up to look
like a repeat of the first.
RHA tried to pass a similar proposal last February, but the
vote was deferred to a task force to conduct more research.
When the resolution came back to the student government
body, it failed 24-0, with three members abstaining.
At its meeting Thursday night, RHA again discussed the
ban with one alteration - specifying that the ban would
affect a 25-foot perimeter. But history repeated itself, and
the assembly sent the resolution to another task force for
more research last week.
Currently, RHA's housing handbook, Community Liv-
ing at Michigan, restricts smoking within "a reasonable dis-
tance" from residence hall windows and doors. Enforcement
is left up to the Department of Public Safety.
Witnesses say intoxicated
Music Co-op president. "He kept joking that he was
going to get up on stage."
L