miniganaudny.cm EMERGENCY TEXT MESSAGES Enrollment stilllow for alert system Students may be BY THE NUMBERS given chance to sign Percentages of students registered up at orientation for text-message alert systems 15 By CAITLIN SCHNEIDER University of Missouri-Columbia Orange Taylor IIl listens as the verdict is read. He was convicted yesterday of murdering Eastern Michigan student Laura Dickinson in December 2006. T..aylor found guilty in eath Daily Staff Reporter Nearly 17,000 people have signed up to receive text mes- sages since the Department of Public Safety introduced a new system designed to alert cam- pus in the case of an emergency. About half of them are students, said DPS spokeswoman Diane Brown. The University has sent mes- sages to University students tell- ing them how to sign up for the system, which has been in place for just over a month. Brown said University offi- cials are considering introducing the system to incoming fresh- men during orientation. If that happens, incoming freshmen would be given the ability to sign up for the plan while registering for classes, she said. With 20 percent of students enrolled in the program, the University's enrollment falls below average for colleges using similar alert systems. One company providing the service reports an average stu- dent enrollment of 39 percent, while another claims 28-percent participation. These two com- panies provide service to 800 Convict faces life without parole with sentencing to take place next month By JILLIAN BERMAN Daily StaffReporter Orange Taylor III, a 21-year-old man from Southfield, was found guilty yesterday of killing Eastern Michigan University student Laura Dickinson in December 2006. After about five hours of jury deliberations, Taylor was found guilty of first-degree felony mur- der, assault with intent to commit sexual penetration, first-degree home invasion and larceny in a building. The sentencing is scheduled for May 7 at 9 a.m. A charge of first- degree felony murder brings a mandatory sentence of life in pris- on without parole. The defense rested its case Fri- day. This is the second time Tay- lor has %tood trial for Dickinson's murder. In October, jurors told Judge Archie Brown, who presided over both trials, that they couldn't reach averdict, leadingthe judge to declare a mistrial. Though the prosecution's argu- ments were largely the same as in the last trial, jurors reached a deci- sion within a few hours. In Octo- ber, it took three days for jurors announce the deadlock. Alvin Keel, Taylor's defense attorney in the firsttrial, withdrew from the case in December because Taylor's family could no longer afford his services. Assistant Pub- lic Defender Laura Graham repre- sented Taylor in the retrial, which began March 31. There were no apparent differ- ences in prosecution's approach from the first trial to second one. As in the first trial, Michelle Lockwood, a custodian who worked in Dickinson's building, testified that she found Dickinson naked below the waist and lying down in her dorm room Dec. 16, 2006. She said she followed an odor' to Dickinson's room and found the woman lying on the floor, appar- ently dead. "I backed up and called the police," Lockwood said. Assistant Prosecutor Blaine See TRIAL, Page 3 20 University of Michigan Virginia Tech. Princeton University SOURCE: THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC sAFETY AND THE ASSOCIATED PRESS American campuses. Brown said she hopes the University's enrollment among students will increase. "We would hope that every- one would see the value in regis- tering," Brown said. Students, faculty and staff can sign up for the system through Wolverine Access. Some students reported hav- ing difficulty signing up for the system, prompting the Uni- versity to adjust the website to make its instructions more clear. Enrolled users can edit their information or take their cell See ALERTS, Page 3 THE UNIVERSITY'S SATELLITE CAMPUSES Flint, Dearborn in ticket pinch A2 City Council pressed on immigrant raids In football seat shortage, Wolverines outside Ann Arbor fall by the wayside I By LINDY STEVENS Daily StaffReporter In the University's latest foot- ball ticketing policy change, stu- dents at the University's Flint and Dearborn campuses will now have the lowest seating priority in the Big House and won't be able to join seating groups created by students at the Ann Arbor campus. In the past, football tickets have gone on sale to students from all three campuses at the same time, but tickets for students at the Flint and Dearborn campuses went on sale yesterday. Tickets were made available to the Ann Arbor campus on March 17. A similar policy giving some graduate students from the Ann Arbor campus the lowest seat- ing priority was proposed about three weeks ago, but was reversed after the Athletic Department was flooded with complaints. Wade Merrill, president of the UM Flint Student Athletic Asso- ciation, said most students on the Flint campus didn't learn about the revised policies until they tried to buy tickets along with Ann Arbor students on March 17. When he and other Flint and Dearborn stu- dents tried to buy their tickets, the online ticketing program reported an error and refused to let them log in, Merrill said. Merrill said he called the Ath- letic Ticket Office in Ann Arbor to ask about the problem and was told that Flint and Dearborn students would be told when they could buy tickets in "a few weeks." Michael El-Zein, a first-year student at the University's Dear- born campus, said he was angry about the new policy. El-Zein said he thought was surprised by the policy and thinks it perpetuates the view that the Flint and Dear- born campuses are less important than the flagship campus in Ann Arbor. "For the administration to offi- cially say that you do matter less than our freshmen in Ann Arbor was the final straw," El-Zein said. "For the administration to take the side of the unspoken majority is really insulting." Marty Bodnar, the University's Athletic Ticketing Director, cited a number of reasons for the new policy, including a 43-percent increase in student demand over the past six seasons. He said that during the 2007 season, roughly 3,000 students - many of them freshmen - were placed outside the student section, which was "not a positive way to welcome them to campus." On April 1, three days after the new policy was officially See TICKETS, Page 3 Residents ask city not to let police assist in illegal immigrant searches By SARA LYNNE THELEN Daily StaffReporter During last night's Ann Arbor City Council meeting, Washtenaw County residents asked the coun- cil to forbid city police officials from taking part in federal immi- gration raids. The trio, representatives of the Washtenaw Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights, requested that the council revise a 2003 reso- lution that allows members of the Ann Arbor Police Department to be involved in U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement raids. Ann Arbor MayorfJohn Hieftje, who met with WICIR members Friday, said review of the resolu- tion is needed to address commu- nity concerns. Some have voiced concerns of unnecessary violence during the raids. WICIR representative Alicia Alvarez called immigration law "complex," saying federal officials should deal with such cases. "It is not necessary for local police to be involved in enforcing immigration laws because ICE has the power and the resources to enforce its orders and its wards," she said. "Byenforcing local immi- gration law, the police risk losing community support, and create problems with racial profiling." Councilmember Mike Ang- lin (D-Ward 5) agreed with the mayor and called for a "stronger resolution" that limits the AAPD's role in federal arrests. Hieftje said city residents becameconcerned afterthe AAPD assisted federal agents in the apprehension of an illegal immi- grant who was resisting arrest. , See IMMIGRANTS, Page 7 CLIF REEDER/Daily Ann Arbor resident Phil Volk, whose home was recently raided by police searching for illegal immigrants, voices his concerns at the City Council meeting yesterday. Police investigate man's body found in Huron River Woman found body yesterday morning, no foul play suspected By JENNA SKOLLER Daily StaffReporter A man's body was found float- ing in the Huron River near Main Street at about 9:45 a.m. yester- day, police say. Representatives from the Ann Arbor Police Department said theythinktheyhaveidentifiedthe body, but are waiting to inform the next of kin before releasing the man's identity. AAPD Lieuten- ant Angella Abrams said the man was not a University of Michigan student, though. Though the cause of death is still unknown, Abrams said police don't think it was the result of violence. "There's no reason to suspect foul play at this time," Abrams said. "But we don't know; it's still under investigation." The subject was found face down in about 12 inches of water about 15 feet from the shoreline, according to Abrams. After police were notified of. the body, they came to the scene and roped off the area where it was found. Firemen pulled the body from the water and sent it to a medical examiner. "The body appeared to have been in the water for some time," Abrams said. AAPD Sgt. Richard Kinsey did not return calls for comment yes- terday, but he told The Ann Arbor News that a woman discovered the body while walking on a path near the Argo Dam. He said the woman called police and then waded into the river, holding onto the body so it wouldn't go over the dam. Kinsey said evidence at the scene indicated that the man had recently been treated at a hospi- tal. An autopsy is scheduled to take place today. WEATHER HI: 61 TOMORROW L :37 GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-763-2459 or e-mail news@michigandaily.com and let us know. 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