Tuesday, October 3, 2006 - The Michigan Daily - 7 Man sent lettersr threatening Bush,3I Chenea..ylegislatorrk SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - An engineer at a nuclear power plant has been charged with send- ing threatening letters containing a powdery substance to a coun- try club where President Bush is scheduled to appear today for a Republican campaign event. Michael Lee Braun, 51, was appeared in court Monday on two federal charges of sending threats through the mail. The FBI said he also is a suspect in mailing dozens of similar threats since shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks. The charges are connected to two letters prosecutors said Braun mailed on Thursday to the Serrano Country Club and Ser- rano Visitors Center in El Dorado Hills, a tony community in the foothills east of Sacramento. Bush plans to appear at the club Tuesday afternoon in a campaign event for U.S. Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.) The letters contained threats to Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Doolittle, according to an FBI statement. "Anytime somebody's out there threatening offices and pub- lic servants, it's unnerving to say the least," Doolittle spokeswom- an Laura Blackann said. Spokesmen for the Secret Ser- vice declined comment. A federal affidavit said that Braun has sent a total of 51 threatening letters since the 2001 terrorist attacks. The letters threatened the lives of the presi- dent, Cheney, First Lady Laura Bush and Defense Secretary Don- ald Rumsfeld, the affidavit said. "Each of the letters contained a written threat, usually death by some kind of WMD agent (anthrax, toxic chemical poison, radioactive dust or improvised explosives) and some unknown, white, powdery substance, or items simulating a possible let- ter/package improvised explosive device, the affidavit said. The white substance usually turned out to be baking soda, the affidavit said. Braun's attorney, Philip Coz- ens, declined to comment Mon- day, saying he had just taken the case. FBI spokeswoman Karen Ernst said the case was "not believed to be related" to the ongoing probe into the anthrax used in mailings that killed five people in 2001. Braun was arrested Friday. FBI agents had Braun under surveillance last Thursday and watched as he dropped two let- ters into a mailbox at an Elk Grove strip mall, said Drew Parenti, a special agent in charge in Sacramento. They sealed off the mailbox and found the letters to the Serrano visitors center and country club. Federal officials also searched his home in Elk Grove, a suburb south of Sacramento, and at the decommissioned Rancho Seco nuclear power plant, which is owned by the Sacramento Munic- ipal Utility District. RODRIGO GAYA/Daily Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos shakes the hand of incumbent Gov. Jennifer Granholm after their debate last night in East Lansing. It was the first of three televised showdowns before the Nov. 7 election. i Only one U.N. chief candidate escapes veto DEBATE Continued from page 1 that position as extremist. "I think that's just far out of the mainstream," she said. "I think that government should not be in the doctor's office, or in the confessional or in your bedroom." Neither of the candidates strayed far from the talking points they had already laid out in their campaigns. "One of the worst things that can happen nowadays is to be called a flip-flopper," Trau- yott said. "I think that they each stayed pretty consistent with their previous statements, pre- vious positions on these policies." Granholm's answer to one question seemed to catch DeVos off-guard. When asked if she thought DeVos was avoiding any issues to win the election, Granholm brought up DeVos's refusal to release his tax returns, as many candi- dates do. Instead, he has put out what he claims is a comprehensive accounting of his finances. Granholm said that document wasn't com- plete. She pointed to a $170-million investment the DeVos family made in Alterra Corp., a defunct Milwaukee-based nursing home chain that has been connected to allegations of physical and sexual abuse against its patients. "Obviously, he wouldn't want us to know about that," she said. "So my concern is that there are other things in his failure to disclose that we might not know about." DeVos played down his role in Alterra. "My holdings were less that 1 percent of that company," he said. "It was a tragic, tragic situ- ation to be sure, and it turned out to be a very bad investment as well, so it was a very, very unfortunate set of circumstances." "$170 million I think is a big investment even for you;' Granholm said, referring to DeVos's vast family fortune. After the debate, DeVos spokesman John Truscott said DeVos's investment amounted to only .6 percent of the company and consisted mostly of bonds, not common stock. Granholm spokesman Chris DeWitt refused to discuss the investment last night, saying only that the Granholm campaign and the Michigan Democratic Party will hold a press conference today to talk about DeVos's Alterra connection. For all the publicity surrounding the debate, it's not clear how much of an impact it will have on the race. Traugott said debates don't typically have much of an effect. The audience is usually small, and those who do watch often already have their minds made up, he said. But how the debate is reported in the press can make a difference. "One thing to look for is how the news media play up this debate tonight and tomor- row," Traugott said. Reaction from observers was mixed about which candidate came out on top. "I think that they each scored a few points,most- ly with regards to their own base;' Traugott said. "I don't think that either one of them did anything to convert large numbers of people to either side." Jamie Ruth, chair of the University's chap- ter of the College Democrats, was much more enthusiastic about his candidate's performance. "I was very impressed," said Ruth, who watched the debate with a group of College Democrats. "The mood afterwards was very celebratory." He said Granholm's words were only one part of her success in last night's debate. "It wasn't just the substance of what she was saying," he said. "I think she really con- nected with people staring at their TV boxes tonight." College Republicans Chair Rob Scott, though, said he had expected more from the debate. "I was a little disappointed that so much of the debate focused on kind of trivial issues about the campaign and campaign ads, that it wasn't more substantive," he said. "In the future debates I'd like to hear him hone in on what his economic differences are and how he has a different perception of Michigan's eco- nomic condition and how it got there." UNITED NATIONS (AP) - South Korea's foreign minis- ter cemented his position as the near-certain successor to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on yesterday, the only one of six can- didates to escape a veto in an infor- mal Security Council ballot. The Security Council was expected to hold a formal vote to pick the eighth secretary-general in the United Nations' 60-year history on Oct. 9, making Ban Ki-Moon's appointment almost assured. The 192-nation General Assembly must approve the council's recommen- dation, and traditionally does so without protest. "It is quite clear that from today's straw poll that Minister Ban Ki- Moon is the candidate that the Security Council will recommend to the General Assembly," China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya said. While the informal poll is non- binding and the final vote could be different, diplomats and candidates left little doubt that Ban would win. Soon after the results became known, India's Shashi Tharoor, the U.N. undersecretary-general for public information, announced he was leaving the race even though he placed second to Ban in all four of the informal polls. "It is a great honor and a huge responsibility to be secretary-gen- eral, and I wish Mr. Ban every suc- cess in that task," Tharoor said. If Ban does indeed win the race, his selection will have been marked by unprecedented speed,consensus and calm. In the past, U.N. chiefs have often been elected as time runs out, after heated negotiations and numerous rounds of voting. Annan, who steps down on Dec. 31, was himself a compromise can- didate in 1996 who emerged late and only after the United States blocked Boutros Boutros-Ghali's bid for a second five-year term. Annan's example also shows how unpredictable the process can be: during informal polling at the time, France consistently opposed him before changing its vote at the last minute. Ban would take the helm of an organization with some 92,000 peacekeepers around the world, a $2 billion annual operating bud- get and programs to fight hunger, assist refugees and slow the spread of HIV/AIDS. The next secretary-general will also be charged with improving the world body's image, which has been battered by sexual abuse by some peacekeepers, allegations of corruption, and the belief that it must be reformed to reflect the world of 2006, not the post-World War 11 era when it was created. Ban will have to counter widely held perceptions that he lacks cha- risma and is too closely tied to the United States. He says that, if elected, he will focus on his role as the world's top diplomat and leave the U.N.'s day-to-day operations primarily to a deputy. In yesterday's poll, the 15 coun- cil nations checked one of three boxes for each candidate in the secret ballot: "Encourage;" "dis- courage," and "no opinion." For the first time, the five permanent members of the council - Brit- ain, China, France, Russia and the United States - were given blue ballots to show the candidates if they could escape a veto. SPACE Continued from page 1 sion,' Hanlon said. Another goal is to ensure that all of the facilities on campus are available and used to their fullest potential. The University invests a lot of money to provide advanced technology for classrooms and facilities, Hanlon said. As the University grows, profes- sors and students will require more space, and this study could help accommodate that growth, Hanlon said. With costs for building and maintaining new space rising dra- matically, now is the best time to launch this initiative, he said. Better use of facilities will also help to the environment by cutting back on energy costs and limiting the impact of University growth. "Energy usage in our existing facilities is one of the main thrusts of our initiative" Hanlon said. The initiative will involve fac- ulty, staff and students. It will be organized into eight subprojects, led by a representative group of those most affected by that par- ticular space. The subprojects are information delivery, instructional space, ener- gy usage, capital projects guide- lines, budgetary incentives, shared technology, facilities maintenance and upkeep and communication. Their goal is to think of how to solve the problem of space utiliza- tion. They will gather ideas from people all across campus. The University may hire a con- sultant to help with the study, Han- lon said. Hanlon and other administra- tors are just beginning to organize the project. He anticipates that the University will hire someone to manage the project and that the study will begin within the next few months. The project manager will work with the central administration to gather data, study problems and compare the solutions of other uni- versities to find the best solution. The initiative will probably take about five years, Hanlon said. "We will tap every possible resource to come up with ideas to better utilize space," he said. SCAM Continued from page 1 money for an emergency flight home but had lost his ID. He wrote the student a check, which the student cashed inside the Union. The student then gave the man the money. Later, the student found out the check bounced because the man's account lacked sufficient funds. Another suspected fraud attempt occurred last week when a stranger approached a student outside a bank near campus. While speaking with the strang- er, the victim realized that a teller inside was paying particu- lar attention to the situation and became suspicious. The victim did not cash the check and the suspect fled. Another victim was approached in front of TCF Bank on South University Avenue and two others in front of National City Bank on the corner of South University and East University last August. According to police, all the victims have been young people. Sgt. Richard Kinsey of the Ann Arbor Police Department said the three incidents in August could be connected. If they are, last week's crimes showed the criminals are back in the area. The August crimes were not reported until September, pre- sumably when the students received their account state- ments, Kinsey said. Two of the instances in August involved $7,000 checks, while an $8,000 check was cashed in the third incident. Though the victims didn't break any laws, they are stuck with the bill. Like many other banks, TCF does not provide customer compensation in this type of fraud case. "There is no difference between the person who is stand- ing outside trying to steal from us and the person who is helping them," said Buffy Adams, TCF's vice president of campus bank- ing. Kinsey and Adams said they haven't seen this specific type of fraud in Ann Arbor before. "Most scams target greed, but here we've got people who are trying to do something good for someone else," Kinsey said. "Then they realize that the check is bad and they are on the hook for the money." Campus crime is cyclical, he added, and the AAPD often sees spikes in incidents like these in the fall and the springtime. "Kids are moving around and sublets are coming in - there's just a little more confusion around these times of year," Kin- sey said. "Everyone's got money in the fall because they have to buy different things." TCF Bank offers tutorial cours- es on banking that cover fraud- prevention measures. National City spokesman Bill Eiler advised students to use common sense: Don't cash a check from anyone you don't know. "The reason that this is such a big deal for us is because we have such a wide student-cus- tomer base on campus," Adams said. "Our college customers are some of our best because they are so careful because they don't want to do anything that would affect their financial future." Rumsfeld hears concerns about weapons build-up MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) - The recent military build-up in Venezuela by U.S. nemesis President Hugo Chavez has other countries in the region worried that the weapons could end up in the hands of terrorists, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday. "I can understand neighbors being concerned;' said Rums- feld, who is attending a meeting of Western hemisphere military leaders here this week. Asked whether he believes Venezuelan officials' contention that the weapon buys are strictly for defense and not a threat to the region, Rumsfeld said, "I don't know of anyone threatening Ven- ezuela - anyone in this hemi- sphere." Venezuela's defense minister Gen. Raul Isaias Baduel, who is also attending the meeting, said Monday that his country's recent military spending spree wasn't "an arms race," despite Washing- ton's protests. Chavez, however, has repeat- edly charged that United States is planning to invade his coun- try, a claim American officials dismiss as preposterous. And he said Sunday that he's heard the Bush administration is plotting to assassinate him or topple his regime. U.S. Army Gen. Bantz J. Crad- dock, chief of U.S. Southern Command, called the accusation "mindless" and "way over the top." But he also agreed that Venezu- ela's recent deal to buy roughly $3 billion worth of arms from Russia - including rifles, jet fighters and helicopters - is triggering "more concern from more countries." Rumsfeld did not meet pri- vately with Baduel, but did briefly exchanged pleasantries with him. House poor: Americans paying more of incomes for homes WASHINGTON (AP) - Americans are becoming increasingly house poor. Homeowners in every state but one spent more of their incomes on housing costs last year than at the start of the decade, according to data released Tuesday by the Census Bureau. Those in Alaska spent the same. Nationwide, homeowners spent nearly 21 percent of their incomes on housing costs last year, up from just under 19 percent in 1999. Housing analysts blamed surging home pric- es, higher interest rates and lower incomes for hurting affordability. "It is now much more difficult for first-time homebuyers to get into the market, and for exist- ing homeowners to trade up" said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "This decline in affordability is the catalyst for the current sharp decline in housing activity." The housing market has gone soft in many areas, but home prices are still much higher than they were at the start of the decade. Nationwide, median home values jumped 32 percent from 2000 to 2005, to $167,500. Household incomes have not kept up, drop- ping 2.8 percent during the same period. "Until incomes catch up, the housing market is going to remain flat," Zandi said. America's home ownership rate is at a near- record 68.7 percent. But some housing advo- cates warn that declining affordability will make it difficult for low-income owners to keep their homes. For example, the government says housing costs are excessive if they top 30 percent of household income. Nationally, 34.5 percent of homeowners with a mortgage had housing costs that topped that benchmark in 2005, an increase from 26.7 percent in 1999. The percentage of homeowners exceeding the benchmark increased in every state but one during the period. In Hawaii, it stayed the same at 39.7 percent. Housing costs are defined as mortgage pay- ments, taxes, insurance and utilities. "Families want to become homeowners and they are willing to spend more to get there, said Jeffrey Lubell, executive director for the Center for Housing Policy, which advocates for affordable housing.