The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, March 6, 2007 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
JABAR, Afghanistan
Coalition airstrike
hits house, kills 9
from one family
A coalition airstrike destroyed
a mud-brick home after a rocket
attack on a U.S. base, killing nine
people from four generations of an
Afghanfamilyincludinga6-month-
old, officials and relatives said yes-
terday - one of the latest in a string
of civilian deaths that threaten to
undermine the government.
It was the third report in two
days of U.S. forces killing civil-
ians. The airstrike took place late
Sunday in Kapisa province north
of the capital, some 12 hours after
U.S. Marines opened fire on civil-
ian cars and pedestrians following
a suicide bombing in eastern Nan-
gahar province.
In the other incident, an Ameri-
can convoy in the southern city of
Kandahar - where suicide attacks
have become commonplace over
the past year - opened fire yes-
terday on a vehicle that drove too
close, killing the driver, said Noor
Ahmad, a Kandahar police officer
who said he witnessed the shoot-
ing. A NATO spokesman said he did
not have any information.
PETOSKEY, Mich.
Man confesses
to killing and
dismembering wife
A man accused in the killing and
dismemberment of his wife has
described to police the details sur-
rounding her death, a sheriff said
yesterday.
O Macomb County Sheriff Mark
Hackel,speaking at a morningnews
conference in Mount Clemens, said
Stephen Grant has been cooperat-
ing with investigators, telling them
in detail how Tara Lynn Grant was
killed and dismembered and where
her remains were taken.
Stephen Grant was recovering at
a northern Michigan hospital yes-
terday, a day after he was captured
byauthoritieswhotracked himafter
he fled his suburban Detroit home.
When doctors clear Grant for
release from the hospital, Hackel
said Grant would be transported to
the Macomb County Jail and later
would face arraignment on charges
related to his wife's death and muti-
lation.
BAGHDAD
After lull, violence
returns to Baghdad
A suicide car bomber turned a
venerable book market into a deadly
inferno and gunmen targeted Shi-
ite pilgrims yesterday as suspected
Sunni insurgents brought major
bloodshed back into the lap of their
main Shiite rivals. At least 38 people
died in the blast and seven pilgrims
were killed.
The violence - after a relative
three-day lull in Baghdad - was
seen as another salvo in the Sunni
extremist campaign to provoke a
sectarian civil war that could tear
apart the Shiite-led government
and erase Washington's plans for
Iraq.
The Shiite Mahdi Army militia
has so far resisted full-scale retali-
ation through a combination of
self-interest and intense govern-
ment pressure. But the militia's
leader, the radical cleric Muqtada
al-Sadr, is now being cornered in
new ways that have put him on the
defensive.
VIENNA
Iran puts nuclear
program on hold
Iran seems to have at least
temporarily halted the uranium-
enrichment program at the heart of
its standoff with the U.N. Security
Council, the head of the Interna-
tional Atomic Energy Agency said
yesterday.
The pause could represent an
attempt to de-escalate Iran's con-
flict with the Security Council,
which is deliberating a new set of
harsher sanctions on the Islamic
Republic.
Iran has enriched small quan-
tities of uranium to the low level
suitable for nuclear fuel genera-
tion. The U.S. and its allies fear that
Iran could build nuclear weapons
with larger amounts of more highly
enriched uranium.
Walter Reed commanders
admit fault in soldier care
LET THEM MAKE CAKE
Army brass says they
didn't know about
problems
WASHINGTON (AP) - Flayed
by lawmakers' criticism, Army
leaders said yesterday they accept
responsibility for substandard
conditions at the service's flagship
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
but also said they hadn't known
about most of the problems.
Democrats and Republicans
alike suggested the failings go far
beyond the one hospital for wound-
ed soldiers in Washington, and they
demanded action. Military leaders
- and Vice President Dick Cheney
- promised they'd get it.
"We can't fail one of these sol-
diers or their families, not one. And
we did," said Maj. Gen. George W.
Weightman, who was in charge
of Walter Reed from August 2006
until he was fired last week. He
added, "We did not fully recognize
the frustrating bureaucratic and
administrative processes some
of these soldiers go through. We
should have, and in this I failed."
Weightman's comments were
echoed by other top Army officials
at an emotional House hearing
held at the hospital itself as Con-
gress began digging into the con-
troversy.
In a session that mixed contri-
tion and clashes, lawmakers said
dilapidated housing and excessive
red tape were problems beyond
Walter Reed, underscoring how
recent revelations about the hos-
pital have become a metaphor for
broader concerns about the gov-
ernment's treatment of soldiers
returning from wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
"I'm afraid this is just the tip of
the iceberg, that when we got out
into the field we may find more of
this," said Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.),
a member of the House Oversight
and Government Reform subcom-
mittee that held the session.
"My question is, where have
you been?" Rep. John Tierney,
(D-Mass.), chairman of the panel,
asked Army Undersecretary Peter
Geren, Army Chief of Staff Gen.
Peter Schoomaker and Vice Chief
Gen. Richard Cody.
In one exchange, Schoomaker
told Tierney, "I've got a daughter
and a son-in-law that are on the
way to combat. This is not some-
thing about people who don't
care."
"Nobody said anything about
people not caring, so we'll put that
red herring aside and, if I can, calm
you down and get you back to the
issue here," Tierney answered.
Addressing war veterans on yes-
terday, Cheney promised that the
problems at Walter Reed would be
fixed.
"There will be no excuses - only
action," Cheney told a gathering
of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
"And the federal bureaucracy will
not slow that action down."
Separately, as the Bush admin-
istration tried to contain politi-
cal damage from the controversy,
Veterans Affairs Secretary James
Nicholson said his office would
hire 100 new patient advocates,
speed benefit claims and improve
medical screenings for veterans at
its facilities.
i
ROSS
From page 1
By 5 p.m. the Ross Center had
become a hubbub of activity. Study
lounges were full of students work-
ing individually or in groups as
the televisions behind them were
scrolling academic announce-
ments.
There were people behind the
desk as students signed in and out,
although they didn't stop anyone
from walking past. The computer
lab was almost full, and students
met with tutors in some smaller
rooms. Students flooded in and out
of the building.
The building has been popular
with athletes who spend most of
their time on South Campus.
When LSA junior Mike Woods,
a member of the cross-country and
track teams, was a freshman, he
had to study in Angell Hall to ful-
fill the study time required of each
student-athlete, an experience he
likened to high school detention.
"Now it's like we have our own
library," he said.
Club athletes are allowed to use
the center too, but not as frequently
as varsity athletes.
"Those that have requested are
allowed to use the building until 6
p.m.," Acho said, but she said that
after 7 p.m. the building is often
already full of varsity athletes.
Most club athletes didn't know
about the option.
Aaron Swick, president of the
men's soccer club, said he never
tried to use the facility and wasn't
aware that it was available to non-
varsity athletes. He said he would
use it if he had access.
Softball club president Julianne
Wilke agreed.
A lot of club athletes would be
interested if they knew that they
could use the center, she said.
Acho said non-student-athletes
are able to take classes offered at
the center and are always able to
visit the center with student-ath-
letes.
Achosaidthatusage ismonitored
through sign-in logs for athletes
and visitors located on the front
desk near the entrance of the build-
ing. Still, some students haven't had
trouble using the building.
Engineering sophomore Chris-
tine Kurdys, who lives across the
street from the Ross Center, said
that she and her housemates some-
times go to the building to use the
printers or the computers.
"They don't give us a hard time if
we run in there once in awhile," she
said. "It's nice not to have to go all
the way to Central Campus."
Kurdys said that she usually ANGELAtCESERE/Daily
goes to the center in the morning Courtney Clark, executive chef at Cake Nouveau, decorates a birthday cake for a
if she needs to print something, but University student at her Fourth Avenue store yesterday afternoon. A graduate of
sometimes goes at night to work on the French Pastry School in Chicago, Clark won the jazz and award theme competi-
homework. tions in a cake making at the Food Network Challenge last September. The competi-
Tutors from various academic tion is scheduled to air April Sand 15 on the Food Network.
support services like the Sweet-
land Writing Center and the Sci-
ence Learning Center work in the
center too.
Acho said these programs are
open to all students.
There are also learning coor-
dinators assigned to each athletic
team in order to provide extra
tutoring when it's needed.
SchoolofEducation student Eryn
Lessard, who works as a learning
coordinator with the men's basket-
ball team, said the Ross Center is
key to the academic success of stu-
dent-athletes.
"I myself can not begin to imag-
ine what it's like to be a student
and have a full-time job," she said.
"That's what this is for them - they
work really hard."
Write for the Daily.
E-mail news@michigandaily com
Research Study
Earn up to $20
Male participants needed for research Study
about how people make business decisions.
No business experience is required.
Just two, 1-hour sessions.
Details and Sign Up at
www.si.umich.edu/orgstudy
j
8,910
Number of people who par-
ticipated in a record-setting snow
angel session in Bismarck, N.D. to
break the Guinness World Record
of most snow angels made at once,
The Associated Press reported.
The former record of 3,784 was
set by students at Michigan Tech-
nological University in Houghton.
North Dakota reclaims the record
after it was originally set there in
2002.