The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Friday, April 3, 2007 -- 3
NEWS BRIEFS FIRE
From page 1
BAGHDAD
Bombing at Iraqi
Parliament Kills 8
A suicide bomber blew himself
up in the Iraqi parliament cafeteria
yesterday, killing at least eight peo-
ple - including at least two law-
makers - and wounding about 30
in a stunning assault in the heart of
the heavily fortified, U.S.-protected
Green Zone.
A news video camera captured
the moment of the blast: a flash
and an orange ball of fire causing
a startled parliament member who
was being interviewed to duck, and
then the smoky, dust-filled after-
math of confusion and shouting.
The video was shot by Alhurra, a
U.S. government-funded Arab-lan-
guage channel.
Iraqi officials later gave wildly
varying accounts ofhow many peo-
pie were killed and who they were,
and some disputed the U.S. death
toll but gave no definitive figure of
their own.
MIDLAND, Mich.
Dow Chemical fires
adviser, officer over
acquisition talks
only days after announcing that
it's not in talks involving a lever-
aged buyout, Dow Chemical Co. has
shown the door to a senior adviser
and a company officer, accusing
them of trying to negotiate a deal
behind the company's back.
Pedro Reinhard, a senior adviser,
and Romeo Kreinberg, a divisional
executive vice president, were dis-
missed with the approval of the board
of directors, Andrew Liveris, Dow
chairman and CEO, said yesterday.
Reinhard, who retired as the
chemical giant's chief financial
officer in October 2005, remains a
member of the board. Only share-
holders can remove directors.
GENEVA, Switzerland
Gerber to be sold
to Nestle for $5.5
billion
The famous Gerber Baby will
change parents, with Nestle SA
announcing yesterday that it will
buy Michigan-based Gerber Prod-
ucts Co. for $5.5 billion, giving the
world's biggest food and drink com-
pany the largest share of the global
baby food market.
The acquisition from pharma-
ceutical maker Novartis SA helps
further Nestle's recent focus on
health and nutrition, following its
purchases of the U.S. weight con-
trol company Jenny Craig and No-
vartis Medical Nutrition.
Nestle, which owns brands such
as Nescafe, Perrier and Dreyer's,
also is the world's largest manufac-
turer of infant nutritional products
- largely through its leading posi-
tions in developing countries such
as Brazil and China - but had no
presence in baby food in the United
States.
Gerber was started in 1928 in the
small Michigan community of Fre-
mont.
DURHAM, N.C.
Duke prosecutor
apologizes to lax
players
The local prosecutor who
charged three Duke lacrosse players
with raping a stripper apologized to
the athletes Thursday and said the
1 North Carolina attorney general's
decision to drop the case was right.
"To the extent that I made judg-
ments that ultimately proved to
be incorrect, I apologize to the
three students that were wrongly
accused," Durham County District
Attorney Mike Nifong said.
On Wednesday, Attorney Gen-
eral Roy Cooper not only dropped
all remaining charges against the
players Reade Seligmann, Collin
Finnerty and David Evans, but pro-
nounced them innocent and said
they were the victims of Nifong's
"tragic rush to accuse."
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
r
FALLEN AMERICANS
3,285
Number of American service
members who have died in the War
in Iraq, according to The Associ-
ated Press. No new deaths were
identified yesterday.
compiling data in January 2000.
The most recent death occurred
March 16 in an off-campus apart-
ment at Boston University. Less
than three weeks earlier, the col-
lege had lost two more students in
a similar apartment fire.
The housemate was hospital-
ized for several days with second-
degree burns, a lacerated tricep
and a severed nerve in his arm. One
of his knuckles was later removed
because it was damaged in the fall
from the window.
Perrin said the worst part of the
fire was watching his friend recover.
"Maybe if we had been more fire-
conscious, we could've prevented
that," he said.
Although the seven tenants of
the house all made it out alive that
night, the situation could have been
much different if the stairs lead-
ing to the house's top floor caught
fire before the house's occupants
escaped, Perrin said.
The house had no fire escapes.
When Perrin and his housemates
moved in a month and a half earlier,
they weren't thinking about fire
safety, he said.
"It's something that we should've
considered when we first moved in,
but no one really thinks about that,"
he said. "Honestly, we didn't think
about it much at all."
Comeau said four common
threads link many off-campus fires:
a lack of sprinkler systems, miss-
ing or disabled smoke detectors,
improperly disposed cigarettes and
drunkenness.
Comeau said building problems
like electrical fires rarely cause off-
campus housing fatalities.
Ann Arbor fire inspectors never
determined the specific cause of the
fire at 730Arbor St., which destroyed
the entire three-story house and all
its contents. Perrin said fire inspec-
tors think the blaze started on a
couch on the front porch.
In June 2004, a house at 924
Oakland Ave. caught fire in a simi-
lar manner, injuring several student
athletes who spent the summer
term on campus.
Perrin said the occupants with
bedrooms above the porch had left
their windows open and smelled
smoke. After realizing the porch
was on fire, the students woke up
everyone in the house except one
occupant who later jumped out of
a window. The student's room was
locked with a deadbolt.
Comeau said colleges should
create fire safety education pro-
grams to prevent fire fatalities.
He said a list of dos and don'ts on
a website or a presentation during
freshman orientation isn't enough
to ensure that students are pre-
pared for fires.
"It's not something you can do
once. It's something that you do
throughout the year in small incre-
ments," he said. "The idea is to cre-
ate messages that stick."
Comeau said fire safety education
should start early so students will
know what safety measures to look
for when choosing off-campus hous-
ing.
"It's so important that the train-
ing starts in the residence halls so
that when students move off-cam-
pus, that training stays with them,
and it also stays with them after
they graduate," he said.
Perrin said his experience dra-
matically affected the way he
looked for housing after he gradu-
ated and left Ann Arbor.
"One of the very first things I
did was walk in and make sure the
fire alarms and smoke detectors
worked," he said of his new apart-
ment in Temecula, Calif.
He said he also made sure the
apartment had multiple escape
routes and bought a renter's insur-
ance policy. Whenthe fire occurred,
all seven occupants of 730 Arbor
St. were covered by their parents'
homeowners insurance. Not all stu-
dents are covered by their parents'
insurance policy, though.
Perrin had advice for students
living in or thinking about moving
to off-campus housing. "Be aware of
fire safety when you first get a place,
be conscious and have a plan in case
it does happen," he said. "It's really
important to have a plan. Having a
plan where everybody meets in one
place is extremely key."
Perrin said his lessons reached
his immediate circle of friends.
"After that happened to us, all of
our friends instantly became more
fire-conscious," Perrin said. "It's
just a shame that we had to learn
that from personal experience."
MCCAIN
From page 1
eral Mike Cox is his state campaign
chair.
Romney was trailing in March
with the support of 21 percent of
surveyed Republicans statewide.
But Romney's fundraising far
exceeds Giuliani's and McCain's.
He raised $23 million in the first
quarter, which includes the $2.35
million the former venture capital-
ist has contributed to his own cam-
paign. Giuliani raised $15 million,
despite jumping into the race later
than McCain and Romney. McCain
lags behind both candidates in
fundraising, having collected only
$12.5 million. Early campaign
contributions are a crucial part of
running increasingly expensive
primary campaigns.
Dan Carleton, chairman of the
Michigan Federation of College
Republicans, a statewide College
Republican umbrella group, said
McCain's persona would keep his
campaign strong.
"I've never worked with a cam-
paign that is so engaged with the
youth," Carleton said. "Senator
McCain is so open to working with
the College Republicans."
Twenty-eight volunteers from
the University's chapter of the Col-
lege Republicans attended the din-
in Ann Arbor for
the summer?
Join the Daily.
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JOBS!!!61
Fall/Winter Term
Apply now at the Law Library-
* non-Law Students
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* SI. Students
Minimum pay is $9.00 per hour!
ner. They received complimentary
dinners in exchange for volunteer-
ing at the event.
LSA junior Justin Zatkoff, the
chairman-elect of the Michigan
Federation of College Republicans,
endorsed McCain in March.
Zatkoff said he plans to mobi-
lize young Republicans in the state
to support McCain in the primary
election.
States are still finalizing their
primary calendars, but one thing is
certain: The nominating contests
will take place much earlier this
year than they have in the past as
states race to hold their primaries
earlier in hopes of having a larger
say in who becomes the 2008 nomi-
nees.
Feb. 5, 2008 will be a decisive
day for both the Democrats and the
Republicans. Up to 20 states, pos-
sibly including Michigan, will hold
their primary on that day.
The Michigan primary will like-
ly be a closed election, which means
that McCain will lack the support
of the many Democrats who voted
for him in the 2000 Republican pri-
mary.
McCain spent 15 minutes of his
25-minute speech telling jokes and
the remaining 10 discussing his
platform.
His cell phone rang during his
speech, but he said he only would
have answered it if it were his wife
calling.
McCain briefly talked about
his hopes for immigration reform
and pork barrel spending, but his
defense of his Iraq policy dominat-
ed his speech.
Even though he said the war
in Iraq has been long, terrible and
sad, he reiterated his call for more
troops in Iraq during his speech.
"It's not Iraq that they (the ter-
rorists) want, it's us," McCain said.
"If we leave Iraq at a specified date
of withdrawal, they will follow us
home."
His speech fell on the same day
that a suicide bomber struck the
Iraqi Parliament in Baghdad, kill-
ing eight.
Polls show that most Americans
now oppose the war in Iraq.
But even though his support of
the war may hurt him in the gen-
eral election, he stressed the impor-
tance of continuing the fight.
"There's no importance associ-
ated with our political ambitions
when there are men and women out
there fighting and making sacrific-
es," McCain said.
Last night's stop at Shenandoah
Country Club was the first on a
two-day McCain swing through
the state that also includes stops in
Holland and Kalamazoo.
- The Associated Press
contributed to this report.
An entertainment juggernaut of sights, sounds and dance - the
quintessential rock musical.
THE WHO'S
TOMMY
Music and lyrics by Pete Townshend
Book by Pete Townshend and Des McAnuff
Directed and choreographed by Linda Goodrich
Musical Direction by Cynthia KortmanWestphal
UM School of Music,Theatre & Dance
Department of Musical Theatre
Apr. 12 at 7:30 PM -Apr. 13 & 14 at 8 PM .Apr.15 at 2 PM
Tickets $22 and $16 - Students $9 w/ID
League Ticket Office - 734-764-2538
PEACE DAY
From page 1
native, came to the University in
2003 expecting to enroll in the Ross
School of Business. He was valedic-
torian of his senior class at South
Lyon High School.
Szawala said he quickly realized
that he was following his parents'
dreams for him, not his own.
"I was on a one-track path that
was taking me to financial stability
and a position in a bigcorporation,"
he said. "But I wasn't happy. I lost
touch with friends and family. I
realized I needed to find something
that made me come alive."
So Szawala became a motiva-
tional speaker, a job he said he
had considered since high school.
Since then, he has spoken at local
high schools, middle schools and
churches, following the lead of his
role models, Gandhi, Mother Tere-
sa and Tupac Shakur.
Swazala, whose friends call him
Mr. Peace, said he hopes to inspire
at least one person every time he
speaks.
"Motivational speaking is
extrinsic, but I want the resultto be
intrinsic," he said.
Szawala, who is a member of Phi
Delta Theta, Toastmasters, Expect
Respect and the Diversity Blue
Prints task force, said he thinks it is
as important to establish a connec-
tion between student groups as it is
to maintain diversity on campus.
He said the University hasn't
done enough to build ties between
student groups, and Peace Day is a
step in that direction.
LSA sophomore Alissa Renz, a
member of Theta Nu Xi, agreed.
"In the wake of Prop 2, it's very
important to advocate under-
standing between groups," Renz
said, referring to the ballot initia-
tive passed by Michigan voters in
November that banned the use of
affirmative action by public institu-
tions in the state.
The event will begin with
remarks from Dean of Students
Sue Eklund, who said she plans to
address the importance of collabo-
ration on campus.
"I'mhopeful that duringPeaceDay
events people will form new connec-
tions and commit to continued action
for the academic year," she said.
Swazala says his work will con-
tinue after Peace Day.
"In 10 years I see myself leading a
major peace movement and speak-
ing in front of crowds of 50,000,"
he said.
Apply at the hiring table outside
roam S-180 in the Law Library's
underground addition.
BIVOAC
(Inality Outdor Clotnhing ( Equipmteun
JEANS*
336 s. state street* ann arbor 734.761.6207
mon-fri: 10-9 * sat: 10-6 * sun: 12-5