2 - Friday, January 8, 2010
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
2 - Friday, January 8, 2010 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
MONDAY: TUESDAY: WEDNESDAY: THURSDAY:
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CRIME NOTES
LEFT Sondra O'Donnell, director of Sun Moon Yoga Studio, participates in a Kirtan yoga chant while Atmaram Thaitanya
accompanies on the harmonium in the Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and Tea Room on Main Street on Wednesday. (MARISSA
MCLAIN/Daily) CENTER LSA sophomore Tara Servati smokes a cigarette in front of the Zaragon Place apartment complex
yesterday. Tara, an occasional smoker, expressed disdain for the upcoming University-wide smoking ban, which will take effect
in July 2011. (SAM WOLSON/Daily) RIGHT Red Simmons, the first coach of the University's women's track team, looks at
memorobilia from his time working in Michigan athletics. Simmons turned 100 years old on Monday. (MAX COLLINS/Daily).
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The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is published Mondayethrough Friday during the fall and
winter terms bystudentsatthe UniversityofMichiganonenopyisavailableefreeof chargetoall
readers.Additionalcopies may be pickedup at the Daiy'sofficefor$2. Subscriptionsforfall term,
startinn September, via US.mail are $110. Winterterm (anuary through Apri is $115,yearlong
(September throughAprilisS19.Universityaffiliatesaresubject toareducedsubscription rate.
On-campussabsriptiotforfalterare$3t.Subsriptons stbeprepaid.The MichigaDaily
i emebefTthaeesoiated PessaTeo As~oiatd Cllegiate Pre.
Library graffiti Fight over Algerian singer Rare German A
Accordingrto a study at Hol-
WHERE: Harlan Hatcher basketball court performance fossil exhibit ling University, 48 percent
Graduate Library of sodas in soda fountains
WHEN: Wednesday at 10 a.m. WHERE: Central Campus Rec- WHAT: Souad Massi, Alge- WHAT: Anew exhibit, "Ida," at fast food restuarants have
WHAT: Graffiti tags similar to reation Building rian singer, songwriter and is featuring a rare fossil dis- traces of coliform bacteria,
tags commonaround Ann Arbor WHEN: Wednesday at about guitarist, who is known for covered in Germany in 1983. abcactionnews.com reported.
were found in the 4th floor of 8:00 p.m. her politically-charged music, WHO: Arts at Michigan Coliform, which is usually
thestacks, University police WHAT: University police will perform. Tickets are $18- WHEN: Today at 9 a.m. found in in feces, is also antibi-
reported. The graffiti has been reported a fight between two $40 and student tickets are WHERE: Exhibit Museum of otic-resistant.
present for about two months. males over use of a basketball available. Natural History
There are no suspects. court. Both parties sustained WHO: University Musical
minor injuries. No charges were Society Scrabble Cl
Fresdedamagesdprassed. WHEN: Tonight at 8 p.m. The University was
.;Sledders WHERE: Michigan Theater meeting ranked fifthamongtopten
feate to
WHERE: East Quadrangle
WHEN: Wednesday at 10:30
a.m.
WHAT: According to Uni-
versity police, a student in the
ground floor of Hayden House
reported property damage
caused by a flood from a sink
drain. Items damaged include a
desk, bed frame and ladder.
reported in Arb
WHERE: Nichols Arboretum
WHEN: Wednesday at 10:45
p.m.
WHAT: University police
responded to a call from a near-
by resident that people were
sledding in the Arboretum.
When police arrived, no one
could be found.
Performance at
The Ark
WHAT: Bluegrass group
Mountain Heart will be per-
forming as part of The Ark's
45th Anniversary Kickoff
tonight.
WHO: Michigan Union
Ticket Office
WHEN: Tonight at 8 p.m.
WHERE: The Ark
WHAT: The Scrabble Club is
holding their weekly meeting
this afternoon. New members
are welcome.
WHO: Michigan Union Bil-
liards
WHEN: Today at 3:30 p.m.
WHERE: Michigan Union,
Tap Room
CORRECTIONS
* Please report any error in
the Daily to corrections@
michigandaily.com.
cleantech universities for
efficiency and sustainability.
>FOR MORE, SEE OPINION, PAGE 4.
Dr. Vito Franco of Pal-
ermo University said
that Leonardo DaVinci's
famous Mona Lisa had high
cholestorl, BBC News report-
ed. Palermo said the Mona Lisa
shows a build-up of fatty acids
under the skin that indicate
high cholesterol.
MORE ONLINE
Love Crime Notes?Get more online at michigandaily.com/blogs/he wire
2 ex-Blackwater
guards charged
in Afghan killing
a
a
RPEROCELL/Pcvvci
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger addresses a joint session of the state legislature as he gives his final State of the State address at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif.
on Wednesday. Schwarzenegger will be one of the defendents in the upcoming lawsuit, though the governor has said he opposes the state's gay marriage ban.
Calif. Supreme Court to consider
s a -meq- LA-ezx marriage ban ne,-xt wee
Case to examine
whether U.S.
Constitution allows
gay marriage bans
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The
national debate over same-sex
marriage will take center stage in
a California courtroom next week
at a closely watched federal trial
that could ultimately become the
landmark case that determines
whether gay Americans have a
right to marry.
The case will decide a chal-
lenge to California's gay marriage
ban that was approved by voters
in 2008, and the ruling will likely
be appealed to the U.S. Supreme
Court. How the high court rules
in the case could set the precedent
for whether gay marriage becomes
legal nationwide.
"This could be our Brown vs.
Board of Education," said for-
mer Clinton White House adviser
Richard Socarides, referring to
the 1954 Supreme Court decision
that outlawed racial segregation
in schools and other public facili-
ties. "Certainly the plaintiffs will
tell you they are hoping for a broad
ruling that says that any law that
treats someone differently because
of sexual orientation violates the
U.S. Constitution."
The case marks the first federal
trial to examine if the U.S. Consti-
tution permits bans on gay mar-
riages, and the challenge is being
bankrolled by a group of liberal
Hollywood activists led by direc-
tor Rob Reiner.
They retained two of the
nation's most influential lawyers
to argue the case - former U.S.
Solicitor General Theodore Olson
and trial lawyer David Boies. The
lawyers are best known as the
rivals who represented George W.
Bush and Al Gore in the "hang-
ing chad" dispute over the 2000
presidential election in Florida,
and have tapped the talent of their
respective law firms in prepara-
tion for the trial and plan to take
turns questioning witnesses.
Republican Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger and Democratic
Attorney General Jerry Brown
are defendants in the lawsuit by
virtue of their prominent posi-
tions in California government,
but both men opposed the ban
and have refused to defend the
suit in court. Schwarzenegger
has taken no position on the case,
while Brown filed a brief saying
he agreed with the Olson-Boies
team that gays have the same fed-
eral constitutional right to marry
as heterosexuals.
The sponsors of the gay mar-
riage ban, a coalition of religious
and conservative groups, joined
the case as defendants. Their legal
team is being led by Charles Coo-
per, a veteran trial lawyer who
worked for the Reagan-era Jus-
tice Department. Cooper is being
assisted by a team of lawyers from
his own firm, along with a Chris-
tian legal group based in Arizona.
Presiding over the case is U.S.
District Court Chief Judge Vaughn
Walker, a Republican named to the
bench in 1989 by the first President
Bush.Walker,who has areputation
as an independent thinker, was
randomly assigned the lawsuit,
put it on a fast-track to trial and
has said lee thinks it raises serious
civil rights claims. During a pre-
trial hearing in August, the judge
pointedly scolded Schwarzeneg-
ger for remaining neutral "on
an issue of this magnitude and
importance."
Walker says the case is so impor-
tant that the court has taken the
rare step of allowing videotaping
of the proceedings so the public
can watch. The trial, scheduled to
start Monday, will air on YouTube
every day.
To prevail, Olson and Boies will
try to prove that denying gays the
right to wed serves no legitimate
public purpose and that Proposi-
tion 8 was motivated by legally
irrelevant religious or moral
beliefs or even anti-gay bias. The
ballotinitiative, which passed with
52 percent of the vote, supplanted
a California Supreme Court ruling
that had legalized same-sex mar-
riages.
Boies and Olson say the ban is
a blatant violation of Constitu-
tional rights to equal protection
and due process.
Both men claim
they were justified
in opening fire at
Kabul intersection
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Two
former Blackwater contractors
were arrested yesterday on mur-
der charges in the shootings of
two Afghans after a traffic acci-
dent last year, according to a fed-
eral indictment.
The indictment unsealed hours
after he arrests charges Justin Can-
non, 27, and Chris Drotleff, 29, with
second-degree murder, attempted
murder and weapons charges.
FBI agents arrested both of them
without incident, said Peter Carr, a
spokesman with the U.S. attorney's
office in Virginia's eastern district.
Both men have told The Associ-
ated Press that they were justified
in opening fire on a car that caused
an accident in front of their vehi-
cle, then turned and sped toward
them. The indictment says the
shooting at a Kabul intersection
killed two people. At least one
other person was injured.
"I feel comfortable firing my
weapon any time I feel my life is in
danger," Drotleff said in a recent
interview. "That night, my life was
100 percent in danger."
Drotleff made a first court
appearance yesterday afternoon
and requested an attorney to be
appointed. He was ordered held
until a detention hearing next
week. Officials said Cannon made
an initial appearance in Texas.
The arrests came a day after Xe,
the North Carolina-based company
formerly known as Blackwater,
settled a series of federal lawsuits
alleging that illegal activity by the
companyledtothe deaths of dozens
of Iraqis. Those killings and other
problems in Iraq have strained
relations between Washington and
Baghdad and led to the U.S. govern-
ment's push to increase oversight of
contractors in war zones.
U.S. officials have struggled
to demonstrate that they have
both the legal grounds and politi-
cal fortitude to hold contractors
accountable. Several Blackwater
contractors hadbeen charged with
14 counts of manslaughter for their
role in a 2007 shooting in Bagh-
dad's Nisoor Square, but a judge
dropped those charges last week.
In another case, federal pros-
ecutors have told a Seattle attor-
ney they intend to charge another
Blackwater contractor in the kill-
ing of an Iraqi guard in 2006.
The killings were among the
violence cited by the lawsuits,
which accused the company of
cultivating a reckless culture that
allowed innocent civilians to be
killed. Plaintiffs' lawyers filed a
motionlate Wednesdayrequesting
the seven lawsuits be dismissed
after the settlement was reached.
The company said it was pleased
with the settlement and ready to
move on, declining to release its
full terms. Xe declined to comment
on Thursday's indictment other
than to say that the men were fired4
and that the company "immedi-
ately and fully cooperated with the
government's investigation."
Cannon,ofCorpusChristi,Texas.,
and Drotleff, of Virginia Beach, Va.,
were among four contractors fired
afterthe shootingforfailingto com-
ply with the terms of their contract
withParavant, aXe subsidiary.
Steve McClain, another former
contractor who was with Cannon
and Drotleff during the shootings,
told the AP he spentabout 90 min-
utes before a Virginia grand jury
this week detailing hist recollec-
tions of what happened.
Cannon, Drotleff and McClain
said in separate interviews with the
AP over the past month that they
were driving along a Kabul road on.
the night of May5 when a speeding
carslammed into thefirstvehicleof
their convoy, causing it to flip.
Cannon and Drotleff were
traveling in another vehicle and
got out to help. They both said
the car that caused the accident
turned and started speeding
toward them. Fearing for their
lives, both opened fire, with
Drotleff emptying a 16-round
clip. Cannon was unsure how
many shots were fired.