NEWS Wednesday, October 18, 2006 - The Michigan Daily - 3A ON CAMPUS LGBT panel to share coming- out stories The Office of Lesbian Gay Bisex- ual and Transgender Affairs is spon- soring a panel discussion on coming out today from 6 to 8 p.m. in room 2105B of the Michigan Union. Pan- elists will describe their own expe- riences coming out to friends and family. Poet to grace 'U' with prose Christopher Merrill, world- renowned poet and director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, will read selec- S tions of his work today at 7 p.m. in the Rackham Amphitheatre. The event is part of the English Depart- ment's Zell Visiting Writers Series, co-sponsored by the Modern Greek Program. What will MCRI mean for women? Paralympic champion speaks on rehab Five-time gold medalist emphasizes importance of exercise for blind, disabled By Deepa Pendse Daily Staff Reporter Denmark has six gold medals to its name - one from the Winter Olympics and five from the Paralympics. Skier Anne-Mette Bredhal, who spoke at the Michigan League last week, owns five of those. Bredahl suffers from retinitis pigmen- tosa, an incurable disease that slowly destroys the retina. Problems with her vision had ham- pered her coordination since she was young. "I was the clumsy kid in school," Bre- dahl said. At 22, she lost her eyesight completely. Bredahl didn't let her handicap keep her from making history in Denmark. In 1994, Bredahl took home Denmark's first gold medal in the Winter Paralym- pics. In paralympic skiing, a guide skis ahead of the competitors and instructs them on directions. In the biathlon, which includes skiing and target shoot- ing, the rifles have a signaling system using sound. Bredahl was also Denmark's first blind clinical psychologist. It was dur- ing her studies at a Danish university that she was introduced to skiing. She fell in love with the sport and began to train competitively. Becoming active after years of leth- argy due to blindness improved other aspects of Bredahl's life. "When I experienced how good it felt, I got more and more confidence," she said. Bredahl now works to encourage other handicapped people to get involved in sports. She stressed the importance of treating people individually and finding the right sport for them. "Ifa person is not fit, it leaves the per- son more disabled than he or she needs to be," Bredahl said. A good match can help people feel successful, she said. "It can be really good for you or (it can be) devastating," she said. "In order for it to be a good experience, you need to have small victories along the way." Fifth-year Kinesiology student Nicole Coleman came to the lecture because of her interest in working with disabled children. Coleman, who teaches dance to autistic children, said she recognized the importance of indi- vidualized attention. Kinesiology Prof. Dale Ulrich, who organized the lecture, said he sees a dif- ference in children who are active in his own research. "They are more willing to speak up and ask for help and have a lot more self- confidence," he said. The University has several disability research initiatives through the Division of Kinesiology. The initiatives include the Center for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Children, the Center for Motor Behav- ior and Pediatric Disabilities, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilita- tive Services and the Center for Human Motor Research. World Series safety plan eyes threats big, small UP IN SMOKE Officials prepare for anthrax, nerve gas, bombs, unruly fans Kathy Rodgers, president of Legal Momentum, a women's rights advocacy group, will discuss the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative and the effects of the passage of similar laws in other states. The lecture will be held today at 4 p.m. in the Rack- ham Assembly Hall. CRIME NOTES_ Thief raids unlocked safe in dental school An undisclosed amount of cash was stolen from a safe in a dental school office, the Depart- ment of Public Safety reported. The theft, reported Monday at 10 a.m., may have gone unnoticed for weeks. Game console lifted from Markley room An X-Box and several games were stolen from a room-in Mary Markley Residence Hall over the weekend, DPS reported. The door had been locked for most of the break.. Laptop swiped from ISR Building A laptop was stolen from the Institute of Social Research Build- ing Monday at about noon, DPS reported. The incident is currently under investigation. DETROIT (AP) - Security threats large and small - from a nerve gas attack inside Comerica Park to the antics of drunken fans - are on the minds of federal, state and local officials rushing to prepare for Saturday's start of the World Series. The successes of the All-Star game at the ballpark last year and the Super Bowl at nearby Ford Field this February give law enforcement and Detroit Tigers officials confidence they can safe- ly handle the World Series, too. They've prepared for the worst, conducting a drill on simultaneous sarin nerve gas, anthrax bacteria and bomb attacks at the stadium. They're also hoping for the best. "We had a couple of dry runs ... with the All-Star game and the Super Bowl," said Detroit-based U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy, who chairs the region's inter- agency Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council. "We'll be able to get up to speed very quickly." Detroit is "the city in this country that is best prepared to host a major sports event," said Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's press secretary, Matt Allen. "We have been through this ... and come out with shining colors." Back in 1984, Detroiters were embarrassed by disorders that followed the Tigers' World Series victory over the San Diego Padres. One man died, dozens were hurt, and the world saw a picture of a beer-bellied teenaser holding up a Tigers pennant in front of a burning police car. Don't expect anything like that now, Allen said. "Old, archaic perceptions of our city are just that - the past," Allen said Tuesday. "People know how to party, celebrate and show- case our city." But as fears of riots have faded, other worries hardly imagined 22 years ago have emerged - like international terrorism. With that in mind, federal, state, county and local authorities carried out a disaster drill they called Operation Perfect Game ahead of the July 12, 2005, All- Star game. The May 2005 exercise cen- tered on the response to coordi- nated terrorist attacks, including the release of sarin gas inside and anthrax outside the ballpark, with simultaneous car bombings. "It went very well," said Ron Smith, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Secu- rity's Customs and Border Pro- tection agency. "It gave everyone a chance to explore" a range of potential threats. That and other exercises paid off for the All-Star game and will bear more fruit in this year's World Series, he said. World Series planning has Tigers security chief Rick Fenton rushing from meeting to meeting this week, trying to keep every- one on the same page. "No one agency or one city can plan these kind of events by themselves," Fenton said. Major League Baseball has to be prepared for whichever teams end up in the World Series, said spokesman Patrick Courtney. THIs DAY In 'U' History . Hart to join Mondale for Diag rally October 18, 1984 - Colo- rado Sen. Gary Hart will join To play: Complete the grid so Democratic presidential candi- date Walter Mondale in a major and every 3x3 box contair campaign rally on the Diag next Tuesday, campaign staff mem- There is no guessing or bers announced yesterday. j Hart, who was a favorite for the Just use ogic to solve. C nomination among young voters, has signed on to help make the Difficulty: Hard push for a Democratic president. "This was (Hart's) big constit- 7 5 uency and just by coming here he will let everyone know the caucus is over and it's time for all Demo- _ crats to unite," LSA senior Sheri Silber said. Silber also heads up the cam- 8 6 pus's Mondale-Ferraro campaign efforts. I ABC News reported yesterday - . .. that Mondale was trailing Presi- dent Reagan in a poll by 10 per- S centage points. Another po11 released this week by Louis Harris showed 7 that while Mondale is gaining, he has failed to win the hearts of young adults. The poll shows that 70 percent of people age 18 to 25 s say they'll be voting for Reagan come November. GIC is a global fund management company established in 1981 to manage the foreign reserves of Singapore. Since our inception, we have grown from managg a few billion dollars, to well above US$100 billion today. 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