The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, February 22, 2010 - 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, February 22, 2010 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Ex-mayor accused
of accepting bribes
A businessman who pleaded
guilty in an ongoing corruption
probe told federal investigators he
paid $100,000 in bribes to former
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick
to secure lucrative contracts for
Detroit's Cobo Center, the Detroit
Free Press reported yesterday.
Former Cobo Center contractor
Karl Kado of West Bloomfield has
also told the FBI he paid $290,000
to Kilpatrick's father, Bernard Kil-
patrick, and thousands more to a
close mayoral aide, the newspaper
reported.
Kado told authorities he paid
Kwame Kilpatrick in four or five
installments of about $20,000 each,
the Free Press said in its report,
which cited its review of govern-
ment documents and interviews
with people the newspaper said
were familiar with the probe. The
newspaper did not identify the peo-
ple.
Kado, who is awaiting sentenc-
ing for paying bribes to protect
multimillion-dollar Cobo Center
contracts, told investigators he
sometimes delivered the money
in envelopes to Kilpatrick's City
Hall office. Other times, Kilpatrick
dropped by Cobo Center - Detroit's
downtown convention center - to
get the cash, Kado allegedly told
authorities.
MELBOURNE, Fla.
Teenage girls hit,
killed by train
After goofing around down-
town, four teenagers marched
past a "no trespassing" sign and
a braved a railroad trestle that
spans 200 feet over a creek. As
they joked around and took pic-
tures at the bridge's halfway
point, an oncoming train barreled
down the tracks, its whistle howl-
ing alarm.
Onlookers yelled for the teens
to run or jump into the slow-mov-
ing water 20 feet below, but only a
young boy could sprint to safety.,
The three others, all girls, were
killed Saturday as the sun set over
Crane Creek, police and witness-
es said.
The teenagers had been hang-
ing out in Melbourne's downtown
area known for its siops and
nightclubs - when they decided
to cross the trestle around 6:30
p.m., Lt. Curtis Barger said. Their
parents had dropped them off at
a mall; and then they took a bus
downtown where they were "just
goofing off," he said, without
elaborating.
0 AMSTERDAM
Dutch troops to
leave Afghanistan
Prime Minister Jan Peter
Balkenende said yesterday Dutch
troops will begin leaving south-
ern Afghanistan in August, since
his caretaker government has no
authority to accept a NATO request
to stay on.
Speaking a day after his coali-
tion government collapsed over the
issue, Balkenende said the Nether-
lands will end its role in Uruzgan
province, where 21 Dutch soldiers
have been killed since the mission
was first deployed in 2006.
"Our task as the lead nation ends
in August this year," he said on
Dutch television.
A marathon cabinet meeting that
broke up before dawn Saturday
ended with the walkout of the sec-
ond largestparty inthe government,
Labor, which accused the dominant
Christian Democratic Alliance of
reneging on a 2007 agreement to
bring the troops home this year.
PANAMA CITY
After clash, Panama
to defend its border
against Colombia
The government of Panama says
it will defend its territory follow-
ing the wounding of a police officer
during a clash between Panamani-
an police and armed men along the
border with Colombia.
The Foreign Ministry says
the government will not allow
any part of Panama to be used
by groups for drug trafficking or
other illicit activities.
Yesterday's statement does not
identify the group that attacked a
government patrol boat Saturday.
But the wording suggests they may
have been related to Colombian
cocaine traffickers or rebels who
participate in the trade.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Recent
uptick in car
part theft
on campus
OCTAVIO PASSOS/AP
Cars are seen piled up among houses ona hillside outside Funchal, the Madeira Island's capital. The cars were carried down the
hill together with mud and debris as heavy rain caused flash floods all around the Portuguese island on Saturday.
Portuguese island
buried bymudslides
42 confirmed dead,
120 injured and more
possibly missing
FUNCHAL, Madeira Islands
(AP) - Rescue workers in Madei-
ra dug through heaps of mud,
boulders and debris yesterday,
searching for victims buried by
floods and mudslides that have
killed at least 42 people on the
popular Portuguese island.
Residents looking for missing
loved ones were directed by local
authorities to the resort's inter-
national airport, where a make-
shift morgue has been set up.
Social services spokesman
DIALOGUE
From Page 1A
Francisco Jardim Ramos said not
all the bodies had been identified.
The center is equipped with psy-
chiatric, psychological and social
counseling services, he said.
More than 120 other people
were injured and an unknown
number were missing, possi-
bly swept away or smothered,
authorities said, adding the death
could still rise. Of 248 people who
were forced to flee their homes
for temporary shelters, 85 have.
been allowed to return home,
Ramos said.
Yesterday, a spokeswoman for
the British Foreign office con-
firmed that a British national had
died, but declined to give further
details. The spokeswoman spoke
to building and strengthening
relationships with groups that are
affected by certain aspects of the
organization's history," Dalack
of its incoming members each year. wrote in an e-mail interview at the
After the movie, Alley led the time.
students in a talking circle - a At yesterday's event, Voss also
Native American tradition for said thathe felt minority issues are
community building where every- not stressed enough on campus,
one takes time to discuss how they which makes it especially hard for
feel about the issues at hand. Native Americans to feel connect-
For some students at the event, ed with the rest of the community.
this was the first time they had "The University says that this
heard about the society. Most should be a place for diversity, and
expressed shock and could not as a Native American, it's really
understand how something like tough to take that message seri-
Michigamua had existed and ously," Voss said.
how they had not heard about the LSA senior Gary Davis said
group before. he often feels issues of racism fly
Other students expressed frus- under the radar at the University.
tration that groups like Mich- "I've always felt that the Uni-
igamua not only existed but also versity has not been supportive,
seemed to have been condoned by or even sensitive, to the plight of
University administrators. students of color and the isolation
LSA senior Josh Voss, internal and the incidents of race and bias
co-chair of the Native American and everything that goes on in the
Student Association and a mem- dorms, and even in the classrooms
ber of the Chippewa tribe, said in most situations," Davis said.
though Michigamua is now the However, he said he believes
Order of Angell and denies having that in order for change to allevi-
any racial biases, he cannot forget ate racism, "something radical"
what happened in the past. needs to happen.
"The racism of the past is never The students agreed that collab-
going to go away," Voss said. "I oration and conversations between
know that my decision on coming diverse groups are necessary.
to this University would have been LSA sophomore Precious
alot different if I had known about Jenkins, a member of the Black
the Order of Angell and Mich- Student Union, said she could
igamua and their history, and all of sympathize with many of the
the issues with the Native Ameri- issues Native American students
can community." face on campus.
LSA senior Andrew Dalack, "I just think it's important that
spokesman for Order and former we have these sit downs, and we
co-chair of Students Allied for get to watch the movies and have
Freedom and Equality told The a forum and talk about it," she said.
Michigan Daily in April that the LSA junior Kati Lebioda, a
group aims to repair relationships member of the United Asian
with groups on campus that are American Organizations, said
upset by the society's controver- "collaboration is the most impor-
sial past.
"We do not intend to dismiss
the past; rather, we look forwardU ,
on condition of anonymity in line
with department policy.
The Foreign Office also said
a small number of Britons had
been hospitalized on Madeira.
The island is popular with British
tourists, who for centuries have
regarded wines made in Madeira
as a luxury product.
The worst storm to hit Madeira
since 1993 lashed the south of the
Atlantic Ocean island, including
the capital, Funchal, Saturday,
turning some streets into torrents
of mud, water and rolling debris.
"We heard a very loud noise,
like rolling thunder, the ground
shook and then we realized it was
water coming down," said Simon
Burgbage, of Britain.
tant thing" students can do.
At the end of the meeting, Alley
opened the discussion to anyone
who had ideas to change racist
views on campus.
Though the purpose of the
meeting was to spark a dialogue,
Alley said she hopes there will be
ongoing discussion that eventually
leads to a campus filled with stu-
dents comfortable with diversity.
"I think that it's really impor-
tant that we keep the dialogue
among our student groups and
really work together in order to
create institutional changes with-
in the University," Alley said.
While the discussion centered
mostly around ways students and
groups on campus could work
together to deal with challenges
that many minority students face
on campus, the film focused on
a past collaboration of student
groups.
In February 2000, the Stu-
dents of Color Coalition entered
Michigamua's office on the sev-
enth floor of the Michigan Union
and found the office was designed
to look like a wigwam and held
Native American artifacts, like
headdresses, despite an agreement
the society signed in 1989 to stop
using Native American artifacts
and rituals, according to the film.
In response, the SCC staged a
protest to remove Michigamua
from its office in the Union.
After 37 days, the artifacts were
removed and University admin-
istrators formed a panel to look
into the issue. In July of that year,
Michigamua vacated its office
after the panel recommended that
it leave the space, though it was
never confirmed that the group
used the artifacts for the purposes
alleged by the SCC.
5-U
DPS official says
rise in price of
precious metals may
be cause of thefts
By VALIANT LOWITZ
Daily StaffReporter
There's been a recent surge of car
part theft around Ann Arbor and
across the nation and Department
of Public Safety officials say it's due
to an increase in the price of pre-
cious metals.
Over the past few weeks, the
number of thefts involving catalytic
converters - a part used to convert
harmful pollutants into less harm-
ful emissions before they leave the
exhaust system of a vehicle - has
risen at the University.
In 1975, the United States gov-
ernment mandated that catalytic
converters be placed in all U.S.
cars and trucks. A key component
of the converter is made of pre-
cious metals like platinum, rho-
dium or gold.
According to DPS spokeswom-
an Diane Brown, there have been
five to eight reported thefts of the
part on campus. Though normally
uncommon, Brown said the thefts
have sprung up "in rashes" as the
price of metal has increased.
"Periodically this happens par-
ticularly when the price of metal
goes up," Brown said. "It's been
quite a bit of time, but a couple years
ago we had a lot of theft of spools of
wire used on construction."
She also added that this is not the
first time there's been a trend of cat-
alytic converter thefts on campus.
Brown said the majority of the
recent thefts occurred last Tuesday
evening in the Northwood Com-
munity Apartments parking lot on
North Campus, but that multiple
thefts have been reported through-
out Ann Arbor.
According to the DPS crime log,
three thefts were reported on Sat-
urday from cars parked on Beal
Street and Cram Place.
Architecture senior Diana Berry,
a resident of the Northwood Com-
munity Apartments, said she went.
to drive somewhere Wednesday
morning and noticed there was
something wrong with her vehicle
when she turned it on.
"It sounded like the car was with-
out a muffler," she said. "It sounded
like a racecar."
Berry said the suspects sawed
off her car's converter, causing
the exhaust to come through the
engine.
LSA sophomore Jacqueline Wil-
ton said she also had her converter
stolen last week.
"I went to my house this week-
end, and when I got back I just
noticed that my car sounded like a
motorcycle," Wilton said.
Wilton said the theft cost her
more than $200 in repairs.
The crimes appear to be follow-
ing a national trend, with police
departments throughout country
reporting increases in catalytic con-
verter thefts.
According to a 2008 article on
MSNBC.com, the thieves slip under
vehicles - sometimes in broad day-
light and with nothing more then a
wrench or a battery-powered saw -
and remove the converters ina mat-
ter of minutes.
With commodity metal prices
skyrocketing in recent years - the
price of platinum rose from $500
per ounce in 2000 to more than
$1,500 in2008, according tovarious
news sources - the easy-to-steal
converters are becoming more prof-
itable for thieves.
Depending on which metal the
converter contains, thieves are able
to sell the parts to metal recyclers
for up to $200, according to the
MSNBC.com article.
According to Brown, students
should get their vehicles checked if
there is a loud noise coming from
the engine.
"If anybody has heard any sus-
picious behavior or heard some
unusual noises at night they should
contact the University Police,"
Brown said.
She added that a crime bulletin
will be sent out in the next few days
with more information for students.
hhe wire~
WANT THE LATEST
NEWS? FOLLOW THE
DAILY'S NEWS BLOG
michigandaily.com/blogs/
the wire
It you're a high performing undergraduate with a
passion for sustainability, then check out the Graham
Institute's new Sustainability Scholars Program.
Each year, this competitive program will accept only
25 students, who will then pursue a 10-credit series of
interdisciplinary courses focused on sustainability
(including a place-based course).
After successful completion of the program, you'll
receive an exclusive Sustainability Scholars Certificate
from the Graham Institute. Upon graduation, you'll
also receive a special notation on your transcript
acknowledging this scholastic accomplishment.
So, go ahead. Start making your mark for a better
world. Check out the details and online application at
www.graham.umich, and apply by Marh 25, 2010!
GRAHAM
INSTITUTE
; 1