2 - Tuesday, January 23, 2007 MONDAY: The ENtremist ARITY SIPPING FOR CHARITY Y: THURSDAY: Here Campus Characters A ferret fracas FRIDAY: Explained The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 413 E. Huron St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www.michigandaily.com DONNM.FRESARD ALEXISFLOYD Editor in Chief Business Manager 734-647-3336 734-764-0s58 fresard@michigandaily.com floyd@michigandaily.com A lot of strange things have hap- pened to me in Ann Arbor. To gain campus None were weirder than the time submit your own my friend and I decided to go tones milg ub Zoup, a delightful establishment on news@michigandai Plymouth Road that sells - wait for to find out just howr it - soup. It was a nice day, so we woman had in herf sat outside to appreciate the stun- abilities. ning view of the parking lot. As I I said, "Well, if he enjoyed my bowl of Mexican chick- escape artist you wou en soup, I noticed a middle-aged up and throw himi woman walking a ferret. River." When she came close to us, I She shrieked, lute asked her why she was walking her to her chest and storm ferret. She responed by whipping PETER SCI her ferret onto the table by its leash. She told me his name was Fuzzi- ni (as in a fuzzy Harry Houdini) You didn't s because he was an escape artist. As I batted Fuzzini away from my right guys? piece of sourdough bread, she told me a story about how once the win- One fall night lat dow of her car was slightly opened in the Arb with som and her ferret managed to slip out. strolled down to th She then had to chase him around looking the big field - the parking lot. know the one - an I quickly became fed up with enjoy the greenery. Fuzzini on the table, so I decided We heard odd nois immortality, Arbor Anec- bmissions to ly.com. much faith the ferret's escape were really an id shackle him in the Detroit :hed her ferret ted away. HOTTENFELS ee that, st year, I was ne friends. We e bench over- - I'm sure you d sat down to es coming from the adjacent path. We sat in silence waiting to see what was going on. From the path came several guys leading someone with a black hood over his head. They were hissing and making all sorts of eerie noises. One came up to us and told us to make hissing noises to help them out. "We're hazing a pledge," he said. They knelt him down facing the val- ley and ripped the hood from the pledge's head. "Where areyou?" theyasked. "Garcia's grave, sir!" "Who are you?" "Garcia's pledge, sir!" The tirade continued as we watched in awed silence. The hissing men offered the pledge some him quiet encourage- ment as they plodded through the ritual, raw terror tripping his words. Suddenly, they replaced the hood, stood up the pledge and walked off, still hissing. We satinbewilderedsilence,shocked by the glimpse into ahidden world. PAUL BLUMER SHAY SPANIOLA/Daily Katie McMahon, co-chair of University Students Against Cancer, takes part ina cancer research fund- raiser at Mongolian Barbecue on Main Street last night. CRIME NOTES Laundry stolen WHERE: Parker House, Baits I Residence Hall WHEN: Yesterday at about 1:55 a.m. WHAT: Clothingvalued at $65 was stolen from a student while the student was doing laundry, the Department of Public Safe- ty reported. Police have no suspects. Vending machine damaged WHERE: Alice Lloyd Residence Hall WHEN: Sunday at about 10:10 p.m. WHAT: A vending machine was kicked in and cracked, police reported, causing $75 in damage. CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES Water leaks through ceiling WHERE: Herbert H. Dow Building WHEN: Sunday at about 7 p.m. WHAT: During an experi- ment, a student reported water leaking on the floor. Ceiling tiles were damaged, totaling about $300 in damage, DPS reported. Car damaged during valet WHERE: Lot M-10, 1502 E. Medical Center WHEN: Sunday at about 8:15 p.m. WHAT: A visitor's 1997 Ford Taurus suffered dam- age to the steering column after the car was parked by valet. The damage totals about $200, DPS reported. Lecture on Asian images and religion WHAT: A lecture about what the contents of religious statues can tell us about local religion in China WHO: Prof. James Robson, Stern Faculty Fellow in the Institute for the Humanities WHEN: Today from noon to 1:30 p.m. WHERE: Room 2022 202 S. Thayer St. WinterFest 2007 WHAT: An organizational fair showcasing more than 150 student groups giving them mid-year opportunities for recruitment and adver- tisement. WHO: Student Activities and Leadership WHEN: Today from 4 to 8 p.m. WHERE: Second floor, Michigan Union Public speaking forum in the Union WHAT: A workshop to help participants gain confidence and learn how to deliver a prepared speech WHO: Discover Your Voice WHEN: Today from 6:30 to 8 p.m. WHERE: Pond Room, Michigan Union CORRECTIONS " LSA sophomore Blase Kearney was misidentified as an alum in a letter to the editor on page 4A of yester- day's Daily. Please report any error in the Daily to corrections@ michigandaily.com. CONTACT INFORMATION Newsroom office hours: Sun.-Thurs. 1a.m. -2a.m. 734-763-2459 News Tips news@michigandaily.com Corrections corrections@michigandaily.com Leters tothe Editor tothedaity@oichigandaiy.con, PhotographyDepartment photo@michigandailycom 734-764-0s63 Arts Section artspage@michigandaily.com Editorial Page opinion@michigandaily.com 734-763-0379 Sports ection sports@michigandaily.com Display Sales display@michigandaity.com 734-764-0554 Classified Sales classiied@michigandaily.com Online Sales onlinteads@michigandaily.com 734-615-013s EDITORIAL STAFF Jeffrey Bloomer ManagingEditor bloomer@michigandaily.com Karl Stampfl ManagingNewsEditor stampfl@michigandaily.com NEWS EDITORS:LeahGraboski,ChristinaHildreth,AnneJoling,AnneVanderMey Emily Beam EditorialPage Editor beam@michigandaily.com Christopher Zbrozek EditorialPageEditor zbrozek@michigandaily.com ASSOCIATE EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS:WhitneyDibo,TheresaKennelly,ImranSyed Jack Herman ManagingSports Editor herman@michigandaily.com SENIOR SPORTS EDITORS: Scott Bell, H. 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University affiliates are subject to a reduced subscriptionrate.On-campus subscriptionsforfall termare $35.Subscriptionsmust beprepaid.The MichiganDaily isa member of The Associated Pressand The AssociatedCollegiate Press 01 Researchers in Scotland have genetically modified hens to produce pharma- ceutical drugs in the whites of their eggs. The antibody miR24, which is used for treating malignant melanoma, and other protein-based pharmaceuticals can be produced at high levels in these hens, NPR reported. China vowed yesterday to address the country's growing gender imbal- ance by improving protection of infant girls by increasing the punishment of those who perform abortions based on the sex of the baby, according to MSNBC. AIDS Healthcare Foun- dation, a nonprofit AIDS organization, sued Pfizer Inc. for using ads that encour- age the use of Viagra as a party drug, Reuters reported. LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK Canadian pig farmer accused of killing 26 ABOUT THE BATHROOMS AT THE 'U': MICHIGAN DAI LY.COM/THECI RCU IT "We.are here on earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tellyou any different." -Kurt Vonnegut Inimitable opinions on life, art, politics, the nation, and existence as we know it--from the quickest mind, keenest eye, and quirkiest voice in American letters. Don't let anybody tell you any different. "For all those who have lived with Vonnegut in their imaginations ... this is what he is like in person." - USA Today RADM OS Trial expected to be most macabre in Canadian history NEW WESTMINSTER, Brit- ish Columbia (AP) - A Canadian pig farmer confessed to killing 49 women and was caught before he could reach his goal of making it an even 50, prosecutors told jurors at the start of his murder trial yester- day. Robert William Pickton, 56, has been charged with killing 26 women, mostly prostitutes and drug addicts who vanished from Vancouver's impoverished Down- town Eastside neighborhood in the 1990s. Prosecutor Derrill Prevett stunned the courtroom by saying that Pickton told investigators, including an undercover officer planted in his jail cell, that he had slain 49 women. "I was going to do one more and make it an even 50," Prevett quoted Pickton as telling investigators. "I made my own grave by being slop- py." Pickton told one officer that he would be "nailed to the cross" and described himself as a mass mur- derer who deserved to be on death row, Prevett claimed. Pickton has pleaded not guilty to six counts of first degree murder in what is expected to be the most macabre and lengthy murder trial in Canadian history. The other 20 counts are expected to be heard at a later trial. If convicted, he faces life in prison. Canada abolished the death penalty in 1976. Defense lawyer Peter Ritchie told jurors that Pickton did not kill or participate in the murders of the six women covered in the first trial. Ritchie asked the jury to pay closeattentiontoPickton'sdemean- or in the videotapes with his inter- rogators, in particular his level of sophistication. He asked the jury to listen closely to details regard- ing Pickton's relationship with his brother, David. The brothers reared pigs on the family's 17-acre farm outside Van- couver, where investigators say the Picktons threw drunken raves with prostitutes and drugs. After Robert Pickton's arrest in February 2002, health officials issued a tainted meat advisory to neighbors who may have bought pork from his farm, concerned that it may have contained human remains. David Pickton, who has not been accused in the murders, told The Associated Press in December that he intended to raise cattle on the property, now surrounded by townhouses. Ritchie did not address Pickton's alleged murder confessions in his opening statement. "This case will unfold slowly; this case is complicated," he said. The first trial covers the mur- ders of Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Wolfe, Georgina Papin and Marnie Frey. Before the opening statements, British Columbia Supreme Court Justice James Williams warned the seven male and five female jurors that some of the evidence and wit- ness testimony would be horrific. "Some of the evidence to which you will be exposed to during the trial will be shocking and is likely to be upsetting. I must ask each of you to deal with that the best you can," he said. Some of those shocking details came immediately. Prevett said the government would prove that Pickton mur- dered six women, butchered their * remains and then disposed of them. He told the jury that as a successful pig farmer, Pickton had the exper- tise, equipment means to dispose of the victims' remains. The prosecution is expected to call about 240 witnesses, including relatives of the victims. When police first went out to investigate at the farm in 2002, they found two skulls in a bucket inside a freezer in Pickton's mobile home, Prevett said. DNA testing would later iden- tify the skulls as those belonging to Abotsway and Joesbury, two miss- ing sex workers from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. He said both skulls had wounds caused by 22-caliber bullets. He 0 said investigators found a Smith & Wesson rifle on a shelf in the laundry room of Pickton's mobile home. .: j 41 Do you experience a warning sign, such as numbness or visual disturbance, before a headache? If so, you may be eligible to participate in a research study evaluating an experimental nonmedicinal treatment during the aura phase of migraine. Qualified participants will receive study-related examinations, procedures and treatment at no cost and will be compensated for time and travel. For more information, call a research nurse at: Michigan Head-Pain & Neurological Institute 3120 Professional Drive - Ann Arbor, MI (734) 677-6000, option 4 * www.mhni.com Al- Qaida 0 takes credit for downed copter CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - An al- Qaida-linked coalition of Iraqi Sunni insurgents claimed yes- terday that its fighters shot down an American military helicopter, an Army Black Hawk, in a crash that killed 12 U.S. soldiers. The U.S. military has said the cause of the crash has not yet been deter- mined. The insurgent coalition, the Islamic State in Iraq, posted the claim on an Islamic website, say- ing that "the lions of Iraq's Islamic state managed to down a Black Hawk on Saturday, which was fol- lowed by a clash with the Crusad- ers, and that led to the destruction of two Humvees and the annihila- tion of those inside, thanks be to God." The posting's authenticity could not be independently verified, but it appeared on a website used as a clearing house for militant state- ments.