The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, September 21, 2009 - 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, September 21, 2009 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
LANSING, Mich.
Michigan police
ask residents to
monitor marijuana
Law enforcement officials
want outdoor enthusiasts in
Michigan to be alert for possible
marijuana growing and harvest-
ing operations this fall.
The Michigan Domestic Can-
nabis Eradication and Suppres-
sion Program says fall hunting
seasons bring more people into
the woods, making it more like-
ly someone will spot marijuana
being grown or harvested.
Officials say to watch for
unusual amounts of traffic; use
of camping equipment or rec-
reational vehicles on wooded*
property with no evidence of rec-
reational activities; and patrolled
or guarded woods or swamps.
Other signs include large
amounts of PVC piping, irriga-
tion hoses or plastic planters in
heavily wooded areas.
SPOKANE, Wash.
Killer escapes from
organized field trip
A helicopter clattered over
transient camps and rail yards
in the expanding search for an
insane killer as investigators tried
to determine whether he planned
his getaway from a field trip orga-
nized by a mental hospital.
Phillip Arnold Paul left little
clothing in his room at East-
ern State Hospital and carried a
backpack and $50 from a Social
Security check when he vanished
Thursday at the Spokane County
International Fair, sheriff's Sgt.
Dave Reagan said.
The field trip to the fair, which
included 30 other patients, is
an annual event that Paul easily
could have anticipated, Reagan
told The Spokesman-Review
newspaper.
Because of the extra cloth-
ing Paul had, it's reasonable
to assume he has changed his
appearance, Reagan said.
Paul, 47, was committed after
he was diagnosed as schizo-
phrenic and acquitted by rea-
son of insanity in the slaying of
an elderly woman in Sunnyside,
Wash., in 1987. He soaked her
body in gasoline to throw off
search dogs.
KHARTOUM, Sudan
r Sudan claims
victories in Darfur
The Sudanese army said yes-
terday it has cleared several more
areas of rebel control in North
Darfur province ahead of peace
talks set for October. Rebels de-
nied the government claims.
The state news agency quoted
the military saying it had target-
ed in particular the Sudan Liber-
ation Army of exiled rebel leader
Abdelwahid Elnur, the largest
rebel movement.
There was no word about ca-
sualties, only that the army had
"purged the areas of the rem-
nants" of the rebels.
The government claims could
not be independently verified.
They follow rebel reports of in-
tense fighting in the area starting
Thursday. SLA members said at
least three of their fighters were
r killed and many civilians were
displaced.
HAVANA, Cuba
Cuba peace concert
attracts thousands
Hundreds' of thousands of
Cubans flocked to sprawling
Revolution Plaza yesterday for
an open-air "peace concert"
headlined by Colombian rocker
Juanes, an event criticized by
some Cuban-Americans who say
the performers are lending sup-
port to the island's communist
government simply by showing
up.
Organizers say they expect
as many as half a million people
to attend the four-hour concert
under a broiling Havana sun,
making the Colombian heart-
throb's visit the biggest by an
outsider since Pope John Paul
Il's 1998 tour.
Hundreds of public buses fer-
ried young and old to the concert
site, and the government laid on
even more transportation, hop-
ing for a large turnout.
Most concertgoers wore white
- to symbolize peace - and some
held up signs reading "Peace
on Earth" and "We Love You
Juanes."
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Obama says Russia not
reason for defense cuts
President questioned
after eliminating
missile defense
WASHINGTON (AP) - Presi-
dent Barack Obama sharply dis-
misses criticism that Russian
opposition influenced his deci-
sion to scrap a European missile
defense system, calling it merely
a bonus if the leaders of Russia
end up "a little less paranoid"
about the U.S.
"My task here was not to nego-
tiate with the Russians," Obama
told CBS' "Face the Nation" in an
interview for broadcast yesterday.
"The Russians don't make deter-
minations about what our defense
posture is."
The president's comments were
his first on the matter since he
abruptly announced on Thurs-
day that he was scuttling plans to
deploy 10 missile interceptors in
Poland and a related radar in the
Czech Republic. That shield had
been proposed under President
George W. Bush.
Russia condemned it is a threat
to its security despite years of U.S.
assurances to the contrary.
In its place will be a different
missile-defense plan relying on
a network of sensors and inter-
ceptor missiles based at sea, on
land and in the air. Obama says
that adapts to the most pressing
threat from Iran to U.S. troops
and allies in Europe, potential
attacks by short- and medium-
range missiles.
Yet athome and abroad,Obama's
decision immediately raised a
political question of whether it
was done in part to appease Rus-
sia and win its help in other areas,
mainly in confronting the poten-
tial of a nuclear-armed Iran. That
point was underscored when Rus-
sia lauded the change.
To Sen. Lindsey Graham, a
South Carolina Republican who
is on the Senate Armed Services
Committee, "This is going to be
seen as a capitulation to the Rus-
sians, who had no real basis to
object to what we were doing. And-
at the end of the day you emipow-
ered the Russians, you made Iran
happy and you made the people in
Eastern Europe wonder who we
are as Americans."
In the CBS interview taped Fri-
day, Obama was pressed on why he
did not seek anything in exchange
from Russia.
"Russia had always been para-
noid about this, but George Bush
was right. This wasn't a threat
to them," Obama said. "And this
program will not be a threat to
them."
New York Gov. David Paterson (middle) marches alongside New York City May-
oral candidate Bill Thompson (left) yesterday during the African American Day
Parade in New York.
Goverilor refuses to
drop out of election
ran a rI- rn rA 4774 1 r $-A n-r'r'-iLcrV
Paterson will run in
2010 despite White
House opposition
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Gov.
David Paterson isn't scrapping
his plans to run for the office he
inherited 18 months ago, despite
growing pressure from Washing-
ton and intervention by the Rev.
Al Sharpton, who has contact-
ed the governor and the White
House over his concern.
"My plans for 2010 are to run
for governor of the state of New
York," Paterson said yesterday
after serving as grand marshal
to the African-American Day
Parade in Manhattan. "I am run-
ning for office."
Paterson's remarks come amid
mounting pressure from Wash-
ington and within New York to
drop out because of his low poll
numbers and concerns from
other Democrats that he might
hurt their chances in 2010.
"I think the White House is
very concerned about 2010," said
Lee Miringoff of the Marist Col-
lege poll, which last week found
Paterson mired in some of the
lowest approval ratings of any
New York governor.
"They are worried that Pat-
erson's pick for the U.S. Sen-
ate, (Kirsten) Gillibrand, might
be vulnerable," Miringoff said.
"Theyare also worried they might
lose that seat and they want the
head of the ticket to be stronger
than Paterson's numbers are."
Asked if he was concerned
about losing some Democratic
support because of his low poll
numbers, Paterson said: "No,
I feel like in this very difficult
economic time, just about all the
governors are facing the same
types of problems."
But the signals from Wash-
ington Democrats may be what
Attorney General Andrew
Cuomo, riding high in the polls,
needs to increase fundraising
for a possible run for governor.
Cuomo has refused to challenge
Paterson so far and has declined
to say if he will seek the job held
by New York's first black and
legally blind governor.
"The White House is giving
Cuomo all the political cover he
needs to get in this," Miringoff
said.
In addition to governor, every
statewide office and the major-
ity of state Senate seats will be
decided in the 2010 elections.
A Cuomo spokesman wouldn't
respond to requests for comment
yesterday.
s 4o'
TO OUR 31E SCHOLARS ON THE
277 A YVERSAR./
OF OUR CLASS of 1931 ENGINEERING SCHOLARSHIPS M
The class of '31E and its Scholarship Selection Committee congratulates --
and welcomes their SEVEN new scholarship winners for the 2009-2010
academic year: ALEC COHEN
REBECCA FRANK
MARISSA MANTEY
PATRICIA McCORMICK
DARIN McLESKEY
KUNAL MEHTA
BENJAMIN RIZZO
They will be joining the '31E HONOR SOCIETY and our FIFTEEN current scholars:
ROSS BARNOWSKI ASHLEY POLLOCK
JONATHAN CARENDER NEAL RAKESH
CHIAO-YANG HSIAQ MICHAEL REINKER
SHAYAAN KHANNA BRIAN RUMAO
MICHAEL KRUG IAN STUART-HOFF
SHANE LARKIN ANTHONY TRICOZZI
DANIEL PATRICK VERONICA WARD
KAITLYN PEALE
All of these scholars will be honored this month at the 78'Annual Reunion Dinner of the Class of '31E, which
will be held at the Four Points Sheraton Inn, Ann Arbor, MI on Friday evening, September 25, 2009 at 5:30 PM.
Since the establishment of the '31E Scholarship Program in 1982, more than 140 aspiring engineering students
have been helped to experience a University of Michigan education and have gone on to rewarding careers.
George E. Anderson
Director of Media Relations
H PV Fact:
n0-rU-
that each
ANN ARBOR'S NEWEST THING
SELF SERVE FROZEN YOGURT
002.