The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 - 3

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, October 6, 2009 - 3

NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Two men sought
in church
bilking case
Two Maryland men are being
sought in connection with a scheme
that bilked 21 black churches across
Michigan out of $660,000.
Attorney General Mike Cox says
yesterday that Michael Morris and
William Perkins were charged in
Detroit with 10 felonies includ-
ing racketeering and conspiracy to
commit false pretenses.
Cox says leasing companies
gave Morris and Perkins funding
for electronic kiosks delivered to
churches in Detroit, Flint, Sag-
inaw, Inkster, Ferndale, Highland
Park, Port Huron and Ypsilanti.
Church officers believed they were
leasing the video terminals, but
learned they signed agreements to
buy them.
One of the churches, Greater
Emmanuel Institutional Church
of God in Christ in Detroit, is ex-
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's former
church.
COLUMBUS, Ohio
Ohio gov. delays
two executions to
review injection
Gov. Ted Strickland yesterday
delayed the state's next two execu-
tions to allow a full review of lethal
injection procedures, the latest in a
series of unprecedented capital pun-
ishment developments in Ohio.
Strickland ordered the reprieves
for condemned inmates Lawrence
Reynolds, scheduled to be exe-
cuted Thursday, and Darryl Durr,
scheduled to die next month, in
the midst of a legal battle over
Reynolds' execution.
Reynolds' execution was delayed
until March 9, Durr's until April 20.
Strickland said the Ohio corrections
department needed more time to
finish updating protocols for deal-
ing with long delays in finding suit-
able veins on inmates.
The surprise announce-
ment yesterday came as the U.S.
Supreme Court weighed whether
to allow Reynolds' execution, for
strangling his 67-year-old neigh-
bor in 1994, to proceed.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
Suicide attack kills
five at UN agency
A suicide bomber who killed five
staffers at the U.N. food agency's
headquarters in Pakistan yesterday
was dressed as a security officer and
allowed to enter the heavily guarded
building after he asked to use the
bathroom.
The United Nations announced it
was temporarily closing all its offices
inPakistanafterthenoontime bomb-
ing,whichblewoutwindows andleft
victims lying in pools of blood in the
lobby of the three-story World Food
Program compound.
"This is a heinous crime commit-
ted against those who have been
working tirelessly to assist the poor
and vulnerable on the front lines of

hunger and other human suffering
in Pakistan,"U.N. Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon said in Geneva.
Despite the office closures, the
U.N. said its Pakistani partner
organizations would continue
distributing food, medicine and
other humanitarian assistance.
The world body said it would
reassess the situation over the
next several days.
ALBERTVILLE, Ala.
Ala. woman lets

CITY COUNCIL
From Page 1
take effect until at least April
2010.
"Cuts are here to stay for the
short term," Warren said. But she
added that it's important to take
additional steps now to ensure
that Michigan is in a stable,
healthy position when the federal
dollars of the economic stimulus
stop.
Ann Arbor Mayor John
Hieftje and City Council mem-
bers expressed appreciation for
the representative's appearance,
despite the dim news.
"They have their own prob-
lems (in Lansing) and some pret-
ty deep ones, but she's doing her
best," Hieftje said. "While this is
nothing new, it is nice to have an
update and it's nice to know she's
standing up for us in Lansing."
City Councilmember Carsten
Hohnke (D-Ward 5) echoed this
sentiment in an interview after
the meeting.
"We are going to see a pretty
dramatic cut and a significant hit
to our budget," he said. "But I was
pleased to know she worked hard
to push against that."
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
SPEAK ABOUT
STATE STREET
TAILGATE PROTEST
Engineering junior Joey Juani-
co also spoke before City Council
last night about what has become
a controversial issue for the Uni-
versity student body: tailgating.
Multiple houses on State Street
were ticketed during Homecom-
ing Weekend - the weekend of
Sept. 26 - because of alleged
underage drinking, sitting on
roofs and noise complaints,
among other violations.
In an effort to protest the tick-
ets, Juanico is planning a demon-
stration that will take place Oct.
16.
"To destroy a culture and tradi-
tion in order to save a headache or
inconvenience is unacceptable,"
said Juanico in his address to the
council.
Juanico said the students par-
ticipating are willing to com-
RESIGNATION
From Page 1
fin's apology.
In an e-mail to College Republi-
cans, Bogren wished Chaffin luck
and thanked him for his leadership.
"Following several disagree-
ments with the Board both parties
felt that the pursuit of new leader-
ship would be in the best interest of
the club," he wrote in the e-mail.
Business sophomore Anthony
Dzik, events chair and author of the
impeachment hearing e-mail that
led Gordon to suspect he was get-
ting ousted at yesterday's meeting,
also accepted Chaffin's apology.
"I accept his apology, and I hope
he still remains in the College
Republicans - maybe just not as
our chair," Dziksaid.

promise with local police and
that they want the protesteto be
friendly.
"We are working to make it as
safe and effective as possible,"
Juanico said. He said the protes-
tors are collaborating with the
Department of Public Safety and
the Michigan Student Assembly
to plan the event.
Michigan Student Assembly
President Abhishek Mahanti also
spoke to assert MSA's support for
the cause.
"The Michigan Student
Assembly and myself are all ears
to working together and getting
to the bottom of this to figure out
how we as students can live our
lives, and how we can be safe,
responsible and moderate about
it," Mahanti said.
"Tailgating has been an asset to
this town's popularity, business,
as well as the mental wellbeing of
its residents," Juanico said.
So far, more than 5,000 people
have been informed of the event
through a Facebook group and
more than 1,200 are confirmed
to participate, according to
Juanico.
But the protest is not limited
to students. Juanico said local
businesses, alumni and musicians
have also taken interest in the
cause.
City Councilmember Stephen
Rapundalo (D-Ward 2) disagreed
with the students' claims. He said
the Ann Arbor Police Department
notified him of possible safety
problems.
"The police have identified a
very acute public safety issue in
thatspecific geographic location,"
Rapundalo said.
Rapundalo said the behav-
ior seemed quite worrisome. He
added that the city has no inten-
tion of banning tailgates, but that
rules and regulations need to be
enforced.
Hieftje agreed that restrictions
should be put in place, but also
said he understood the need for
compromise.
"The city is just workingwithin
its ordinances and within its own
guidelines on this," Hieftje said.
"And I think there are certainly
some agreements that can be
made and some common ground
to be found."
In an interview after the meet-
ing, LSA junior Kelly Mason, cam-
paigns chair of the group, said
Chaffin's expression of his views
created internal tension.
She added that Chaffin ran
unopposed for the position, caus-
ing some in the group to question
his ability.
"It is important for the chair to
represent the whole party's plat-
form," she said. "The club was
divided in where they wanted to
stand."
Mason said she was glad the
divide in the club was resolved in
a civil manner and added that she
believes the club is headed in "the
right direction now."
"It's kind of a shame because
of his hard work and dedication,
although misguided at times," she
said.

State budget still in flux

Less than four weeks
to agree to tax raises
or deep spending cuts
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michi-
gan lawmakers are scheduled to
return to work today with unfin-
ished business on the next state
budget, including decisions about
funding for schools.
State government is operating
under a temporary budget that
expires at the end of the month.
That gives lawmakers less than
four weeks to decide whether they
should agree to deep spending cuts.
or raise taxes and spend more fed-
eral stimulus money.
Indecision last week caused the
Michigan Legislature to miss its
annual budget-balancing deadline
for the second time in three years.
A continuation budget for state
departments was approved less
than two hours into a partial gov-
ernment shutdown.
But no budgetis inplace forK-12
schools. The Michigan Depart-
ment of Education said yesterday
that without a state budget it can't
send out federal funds to schools

for special education, meals and
programs for low-income dis-
tricts. The department said it pro-
cesses about $43 million in such
payments in a normal two-week
period.
"The Legislature needs to send
a school aid budget to the gover-
nor's desk - at a minimum, a con-
tinuation budget," said Liz Boyd, a
spokeswoman for Democratic Gov.
Jennifer Granholm.
Eight of 15 bills required to
enact a full budget for next fiscal
year have been sent to the gov-
ernor and are being reviewed.
Several others have passed the
Legislature but have not been sent
to Granholm.
Lawmakers are hanging onto
some of the bills, including one
that calls for an 11 percent cut in
revenue-sharing payments to local
governments, to prevent a possible
Granholm veto.
Michigan has a projected $2.8
billion budget deficit. More than
half of it will be eliminated with
federal stimulus cash.
The most recent school aid bud-
get legislation calls for a funding
cut equivalent to $218 per student,
too deep for many lawmakers to

accept.
Democrats who run the Michi-
gan House could begin votes as
early as today on raising taxes,
reducing tax exemptions or using
more federal stimulus money to fill
budget holes.
House Speaker Andy Dillon, a
Democrat from Wayne County's
Redford Township, has not speci-
fied which tax increase or revenue
options he will put up for votes.
Republican Senate Majority Lead-
er Mike Bishop of Rochester hasn't
promised any revenue increases
but has said he will review what-
ever the House passes.
Democrats could match rev-
enue proposals with specific
programs so taxpayers have a
better idea of where the extra
money is going. A 3 percent tax
on billings for doctors that some
lawmakers advocate, for exam-
ple, could raise more than $150
million to prevent deeper cuts in
reimbursement rates for Medic-
aid providers. Doctors who see
Medicaid patients would ben-
efit from higher reimbursement
rates, but doctors who treat few
or no Medicaid patients oppose
the tax.


CANDIDATE
From Page 1
Detroit. The diversity - cultural,
racial - it was like a melting pot, very
dimensional compared to Detroit."
But while he appreciated the
diversity of Ann Arbor and the Uni-
versity, Elhady began to focus on
other issues impacting the lives of
local citizens like the city's transit
system and landlord-tenant issues.
"I had issues like every other stu-
dent and resident," he said.
From there, he began consider-
ing other issues City Council hasn't
addressed.
Elhady went door to door in the
Fourth Ward asking residents about
significant concerns they felt coun-
cil members neglected. For the
most part, according to Elhady, they
voiced similar concerns.
"It started small and became big
to the point where I was like, I need
to run for City Council," he said.
Elhady said he's hoping to
encourage communication between
constituents and their City Council
representatives, adding that a lack

of communication "exacerbates all
other issues."
"I believe in communication, and
I've put that into action," he said.
After Elhady decided to run, he
began to call council members from
other wards for support.
"I picked up the phone, called
them and said, 'I'd like to run for
City Council and I want to know
your issues and help the city of Ann
Arbor. Let's make a meeting,"' he
said.
During one such call, Elhady
spoke to Mike Anglin, a Democrat
from the Fifth Ward.
Anglin said he was impressed
with Elhady's outreach efforts, and
knowledge of city-political dynam-
ics. He also appreciated Elhady's
youth.
"I think it's important to have
a multi-generational approach to
governance," Anglin said. "Hatim
would bring a focus to City Council
that's not there now."
To help with his bid, Elhady has
reached out to student voters during
his campaign. Although he is not
allowed to campaign door-to-door
in residence halls, University Hous-

ing recently approved his stuffing of
mailboxes.
In addition, Elhady encouraged
students to vote through the Michi-
gan Student Assembly's Voice Your
Vote campaign.
Although Elhady values student
support, he emphasized that he
won't serve as "U of M's man on City
Council."
"My campaign is not built around
students, nor is it built around per-
manent residents," he said. "It's
built around everyone in the Fourth
Ward. We all have issues and
deserve a voice."
If elected, Elhady plans to hold
weekly office hours. These hours
would not have him confined to an
office - instead he would use the
time to speak at neighborhood orga-
nizations and visit Fourth Ward
residents. Despite his relative inex-
perience, Elhady is optimistic about
his chances.
"It all depends on how hard I
work,"he said. "WhenIgo personal-
ly door to door, do mailbox stuffings,
when I go to each one of my friends
and get them registered to vote, I
think the outcome will be good."


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US, there is

daughter ride in
box on top of van
An Alabama woman has been
charged with endangering the
welfare of a child after police
say she let her daughter ride in a 3 7
cardboard box on top of their van.
Albertville Police spokesman Sgt. 5 7 9 
Jamie Smith said the 37-year-old
woman was arrested Sunday after
police received a call about a mini- 3
van on a state highway with a child
riding on top. 4 6 3
Smith said the woman told
police the box was too big to go 8
inside the van, and that her daugh-85
ter was inside the box to hold it
down. 7 4
Smith said the mother told offi-
cers it was safe because she had 9 7 1
thebox secured to the van with a
. clothes hanger. 2 95 1
The 13-year-old daughter wasn't
harmed and was turned over to
a relative. A jail worker said the 5 2 8
mother was out on bond yester-
day.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports