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Ann Arbor, Michigan

Thursday, January 22, 2009

michigandaily.com

Magee's journey comes full circle

An A2 native, new DPS
head goes from DEA
post in Colombia to
running campus police
By TREVOR CALERO
Daily News Editor
Ken Magee, the new director of
the University's Department of Public
Safety, can still remember a quieter,
simpler Ann Arbor.
He can remem-
ber his youth, rid-
ing bikes down
Washtenaw Avenue
with a group of
friends, on their
way to the Michi-
gan Union to grab
a Coke from one MAGEE
of those old-timey
vending machines or go bowling in the
basement.
He can remember double scoops at
Miller's Ice Cream Shop on South Uni-
versity Avenue, or catching butterflies
in the Arb, wielding an empty tin can
tied to a stick with some string.
He can remember sweeping the
floors of Crisler Arena during Michigan
basketball games, and how his parents
- both avid Michigan fans - dressed
him in maize and blue as a little boy.
He can remember, too, leaving Ann
Arbor, for a more fast-paced world
beyond US-23 and M-14.
And now, with over 25 years of law
enforcement experience, from the Jack-
son Police Department to the jungles
of Bogota, Colombia, Magee returns
to Ann Arbor, giving more than just a
fresh face to the 38-year-old depart-
ment - he brings with him an intense
passion for a school and a community
he has always called home.
"I have a deep love for my commu-
nity. And although I've been away for a

THE LIFE OF KEN MAGEE
A TIMELIN E

190

Magee is born in Ann
Arbor, MI
Graduates from Hon
-1High School
Graduates from
Michigan State, B.A. in
Criminal Justice
GVSU Police Academy,
top of class
Joins Jackson, MI Police
Dept. with one year in
fire department
State trooper Craig
Scott shot and killed
Two federal agents
kidnapped in Bogot,
Colombia
Assigned to DEA post in
Detroit
Biggest drug-bust in
Michigan history (600
kilograms of cocaine &
9 tons of marijuana)
Begins two year tour of
duty in Bogota, Colom-
bia, stays seven years
Caught Rene Benitez
Federal agent for the
1996 Summer Olympics
in Atlanta, GA'
Magees brother dies of
drug overdose
Former DPS director Bill
Bess retires in March
DPS hires Magee in
November

HOUSING THE GREEKS
Greeks
undergo
housing
shake-up
The return of two chapters to
campus and city zoning laws
make property hunt tough
By NICOLE ABER
Daily StaffReporter
Among the most basic of services offered by frater-
nities and sororities is a house to come back to at the
end of the day.
But an elaborate shuffle of Greek chapters mov-
ing in and out of campus houses, complicated further
by strict city zoning laws and the limited number of
houses in the area that can accommodate such big
groups, has made offering that most simple of needs
for brothers and sisters a challenge for leaders of the
Greek community.
When Alpha Epsilon Phi and Sigma Chi were
allowed to make their returns to campus, Alpha Epsi-
lon Pi and Sigma Phi Epsilon, respectively, were sent
looking for a new property to call home. The two dis-
placed chapters had been living in houses owned by
the two returning chapters while they were kicked off
campus.
Blake Toll, vice president of public relations for the
Interfraternity Council, said two main factors make it
difficult for fraternities to secure housing..
First, Toll said that the fact thatnotverymany hous-
es on campus can accommodate all the members of a
fraternity or a sorority makes finding a house tricky.
"I-don't wantitnto come off as a shortage," Toll said.
See GREEK HOUSES, Page 7A

COURTESY OF KEN MAGEE
TOP Magee as a young boy in Nichols Arboretum in 1963. BOTTOM Magee shakes hands
with University running back Ron Johnson inside Crisler Arena in 1968.
while, I would come here, this is where I bar, one of the world's most notorious
would come for vacations, this is where drug lords, and Escobar's Medellin Car-
I would spend summers and bring my tel in Colombia. He has captured a top
daughter to meet friends, this is where 10 fugitive for the FBI. He has received
I was born, and this is where I want to the Administrator's Award of Honor -
die," Magee said. the highest award granted by the Drug
Magee has worked undercover in Enforcement Administration - twice.
Detroit and as a federal agent at the And now, more than two decades
Olympics. He has hunted Pablo Esco- See MAGEE, Page 3A

2002
2008


MARCH FOR LIFE

Former Chrysler emDlovee turns

Pro-life students rally in D.C. layoff into new business venture


40 students, grads to
join a protest against
Roe v. Wade
By VERONICA MENALDI
Daily StaffReporter
While many University students
were making their way back from
Washington, D.C. after watch-
ing the presidential inauguration
Wednesday, some students were
preparing for a different type of
trip to the nation's capital.

About 40 students and recent University's chapter of Students

graduates left last night for Wash-
ington, D.C. to join 150,000 people
at the March for Life - an annual
protest of the Supreme Court's
decision in Roe v. Wade - which
legalized abortion.
After attending the march,
which will be held on Thursday,
the group will take part in the first
Life Prizes Awards, in which six
$100,000 prizes will be handed out
to pro-life activists. The group will
also participate in the Students for
Life of America Conference.
Lauren Bennett, president of the

for Life, has attended the march for
the past five years. She said it unites
pro-life activists from all across the
country.
She added that the-atmosphere
is both happy from celebrating life
and mournful for the lives they
contend were lost to abortions.
Zach Stangebye, vice president
of the University's chapter of Stu-
dents for Life, said he's excited to
see many people demonstrating
their support for the pro-life cause.
"A lot of the time, people don't
See PRO-LIFE, Page 7A

New system devised to keep bridges safe

$19 million project
created four new
ways to monitor
bridges
By STEPHANIE STEINBERG
Daily StaffReporter
Bridge inspectors may soon be
able to prevent bridges fromcollaps-
ing thanks to a five-year research
study conducted by the College of
Engineering and the University of
Michigan Transportation Research
Institute.
The $19 million project funded
by the National Institute of Stan-
dards and Technology and Tech-
nology Innovation Program will
begin Feb. t.
Assistant Engineering Prof.

Jerome Lynch will lead the proj-
ect, and work with 14 researchers
from the College of Engineering
who have developed bridge sensors
that will monitor the condition of
bridges. Lynch said the sensors can
be used to detect if a bridge is dam-
aged, cracking or corroding.
"Any sort of serious safety haz-
ard to motors crossing the bridge,
the sensors would be able to iden-
tify that," Lynch sold.
The system will also measure the
effects of heavy loads on bridges -
which is currently not assessed.
Four different types of sensors -
including wireless sensors and sen-
sors on vehicles and humans - will
be used in concert as a single com-
prehensive system.
Lynch said the sensors will gen-
erate data about the bridges as cars
drive over them. That data will
See BRIDGE SAFETY, Page 7A

FOUR TYPES OF SENSORS
The monitoring system would use
various sensorsto detect weaknesses inthe
bridge's integrity, relayingthe data to a site
inspector using wireless technology.
A special high-performance, conductive
concrete would replace the existing bridge
deck, measuring weakness by changes in
electrical conductivity.
A special skin lined with electrodes would
bepained overproblemspotson thebridge,
detecting cracks and corrosion beneath
through changes in electrical resistance.
Low-power nodes, obtaining energy from
structural vibrations or radio waves in the
air, would detectstrain onthe bridge.
A special test truck would be outfitted to
measurethe level of strain on the bridge
imposed bythe vehicle while crossing.

Sole Sisters, a shoe
boutique on Main St.,
opened this summer
By LINDY STEVENS
Daily News Editor
When Tamar Fowler lost her
job with Chrysler Corp. after 14
years, she didn't collectunemploy-
ment, leave the state or look for
another 9-to-5 job. Fowler instead
came to Ann Arbor to do what she
had always wanted: open her own
business.
Sole Sisters, the shoe boutique
on Fourth Street that has been
open since July, is one ofthe newest
additions no the downtown busi-
ness landscape. It's also Fowler's
own personal success story - even
in the face of a failing auto indus-
try that has left Michigan riddled
with some of the worst economic
conditions in the nation.
Along with about 1,100 other
employees, Fowler was laid off
indefinitely two years ago from a
Detroit auto assembly plant that
employed 6,000 people. An inter-
nal auditor at Chrysler for more
than a decade, Fowler said longev-
ity didn't prove to be enough to
keep her safe from the company's
cutbacks.
"I was surprised," she said of
her job loss. "When you've been
with a company for so long you
wouldn't think that one day you
really just wouldn't have a job."
But unlike some of her for-
mer co-workers, Fowler said she
didn't want to remain unem-

csNcEL VON eseUt cOrIGts/Daily
After working as an internal auditor at Chrysler for a decade, Tamar Fowler
followed through on a life-long dream and opened a footwear store in Ann Arbor.

ployed in hopes that the financial
situation for the smallest of the
Detroit Three automakers would'
improve.
"It's going on two years now
that I've been laid off, and other
people that were laid off with me
are still without a job," Fowler

said. "So I had to take it into my
own hands and decide, 'Do I want
to stay here and collect unemploy-
ment for 52 weeks or do I go out
and do something that I enjoy?"'
Finding something she enjoyed
is exactly what Fowler did.
See SHOE STORE, Page 3A


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