4A - Tuesday, September 6, 2011

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

4A - Tuesday, September 6, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom

OBAMA
From Page 1A
read "Let America Work: Good
Jobs Now!"
"I am honored, we are hon-
ored, to spend the day with you
and your families, the working
men and women of America,"
Obama told the crowd. "You
deserve a little R&R, a little bar-
beque, (a) little grilling, because
you've been working hard."
He continued by highlighting
the initiatives of his administra-
tion to improve the quality of life
for "the greatest middle class the
world has ever known," including
tax breaks for the working class,
affordable health care and educa-
tion reform.
"Everything we've done, it's
been thinking about you," Obama
said. "We said working folks
deserved a break - so within
one month of me taking office,
we signed into law the biggest
middle-class tax cut in history,
putting more money into your
pockets."
Obama acknowledged the
strain unemployment has inflict-
ed upon countless citizens and
reaffirmed his quest to help the

nation rise above the recession as
thousands of American citizens
continue to seek employment.
"These are tough times for
working Americans," Obama
said. "They're even tougher for
Americans who are looking for
work - and a lot of them have
been looking for work for a long
time. A lot of folks have been
looking for work for a long time
here in Detroit, and all across
Michigan, and all across the Mid-
west, and all across the country.
So we've got alot more work to do
to recover fully from this reces-
sion."
While Obama didn't delve into
the contents of his Congressional
speech on Thursday, he did note
plans to launch major infrastruc-
ture projects that would improve
the quality of the nation's roads
and employ up to a million
workers. He noted that the proj-
ects require compromises from
both parties and bipartisanship
efforts.
"We've got roads and bridges
across this country that need
rebuilding," Obama said. "We've
got private companies with the
equipment and the manpower to
do the building. We've got more
than 1 million unemployed con-

struction workers ready to get turning a profit and hiring new
dirty right now. There is work to workers and building the best
be done and there are workers cars in the world right here in
ready to do it. Labor is on board. Detroit, right here in the Mid-
Business is on board. We just west, right here in the United
need Congress to get on board. States of America."
Let's put America back to work." Obama concluded by discuss-
ing the city's quest to reinvigo-
rate and develop a new identity
despite its hardships. He pointed
'There is work to initiatives made by the "Strong
to be done Cities, Strong Communities"
program in which the Obama
and there are administration works with
local legislators and workers to
workers ready improve economic conditions.
tod i.' , -3
to do it.' "I thought he was very articu-
late; he was very much an out-
standing speaker," Murdock
While Detroit has endured said. "However, I didn't hear a
debilitating conditions over the lot about the status of jobs in this
past decade and has "gone to heck country. He touched a little bit
and back," Obama said, the city on it, but I wanted to know more
is showing signs of progression, about what was going to be done
particularly through improve- as far as getting more Americans
ments made by the "Big Three" employed."
automotive companies - Gen- Others in the crowd were
eral Motors, Ford Motor Co. and impressed by Obama's words but
Chrysler Group. are awaiting the president's sub-
"We stood by the auto indus- sequent actions. David Burcar
try, and we made some tough and Courtney Nicholson, both
choices that were necessary to members of the International
make it succeed," Obama said. Brotherhood of Electrical Work-
"And now, the Big Three are ers Local 58 - a union in Detroit

- said Obama's words resonated
and that if Obama acts on his pro-
posed initiatives, they will dem-
onstrate further support for his
re-election.
"This is Detroit, and he gave
a speech that Detroit wanted to
hear," Burcar said. "Now let's
hope he takes that same senti-
ment back to Washington, and
actually works for us and get's
behind us so that we stay behind
him."
Nicholson said he was glad to
hear Obama discuss the impor-
tance of ensuring equality among
people in high-paying business
positions and employees in more
blue collar workforces. He added
that it should be an initiative of
schools like the University's Ross
School of Business to educate
students on the importance of
tolerance and respect for those in
working class positions.
"Business schools, including
(the University), where my sis-
ter went and got her MBA, need
to address morals and the social
conscious of their students when
they turn them out," Nicholson
said. "You can't just have $32 mil-
lion because you say you're 700
times better than the man work-
ing on the floor."

Public Policy junior Andrea
Schafer was among the masses at
yesterday's speech and said she
was inspired by Obama mention-
ing the role of young people to
help revive Detroit. It reminded
her of programs like the Universi-
ty's Semester in Detroit in which
students work toward the "beau-
tification and revamping of the
city," she said.
"I'm happy as a young person
that we were recognized because
a lot of the speakers talked about
how powerful the youth's vote
and youth's momentum can be,"
Schafer said. "It was nice to be
recognized, and I think D.C.
needs to realize that we're a force
to be reckoned with, so people
should be fighting for what we
want too."
She added that she found the
speech to be more a form of "reas-
surance" rather than a call to
action.
"It was very empowering,"
Schafer said. "He addressed a lot
of concerns of the middle class
and workers in the public sector,
and I think he assured them that
there are good people in D.C. who
are still fighting for them, who
are fighting for us and who are
fighting for the middle class."


ASSAULTS
From Page 1A
The Michigan Daily on Friday
that despite the time lapse, the
department is continuing to do
all it can - including working
with other police forces - to find
theassailant(s).
"The general assumption for
some people is, 'He's no longer
(in Ann Arbor),"' Jones said. "We
can't assume that.. I want him to
still be here because then we can
catch him."
The first sexual assault on July
15, in which the survivor escaped,
occurred near Community High
School on Division Street. A sec-
ond assault occurred a few hours
later on July 16 at about 2 a.m. on

Greenwood Avenue.
Another assault, in which a
woman was fondled, occurred on
July 26 on the 700 block of State
Street. There was an additional
assault on Aug. 18, though the
suspect's description is different
from that of the suspect(s) of the
sexual assaults in July. Police are
looking for a black male in his
50s in connection to the August
assault.
As students return to cam-
pus for the start of fall semester,
the AAPD and the University's
Department of Public Safety
have increased patrols on and
around campus.
DPS Executive Director Greg
O'Dell said at a press confer-
ence last month that DPS officers
would be making their presence

more known on campus.
"I'm a very big believer in
actively patrolling on foot, get-
ting the officers out of the cars
... That's something I want to
integrate throughout the depart-
ment," O'Dell said at the press
conference.
O'Dell, who was named DPS
executive director last month is
a former chief of police at East-
ern Michigan University, said he
implemented a program at EMU
that required officers to spend at
least one hour of their eight-hour
shift out of their cars. He added
that DPS and AAPD are working
closely to ensure student safety.
"I actually have officers who
are assigned now from the Uni-
versity of Michigan to the Ann
Arbor Police Department," he

said.
The AAPD has also rear-
ranged officers' schedules to
ensure that there are more uni-
formed officers on the street,
Jones said. Additionally, the
AAPD has received more than
600 tips from across the coun-
try regarding the identity of the
attacker.
Jones attributed the large
number of tips to the distribu-
tion of two composite images
of the assailant(s). Two images
were released because the survi-
vors gave varying descriptions of
their attacker(s).
"We're following up on every
tip because if I can impress one
thing on your mind today, we
want him," Jones said. "We all
want this person because he's

taken away the personal security
of the people in our community."
University and police officials
have encouraged students to
remain vigilant and to take cau-
tion, especially at night since all
of the assaults have occurred
between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m.
Last Friday, Jones and O'Dell
joined Holly Rider-Milkovich,
the director of the University's
Sexual Assault Prevention and
Awareness Center, Dean of Stu-
dents Laura Blake Jones and
student campus leaders as they
went door-to-door in off-campus
student neighborhoods to raise
awareness about safety.
- Daily News Editors Dylan
Cinti and Joseph Lichterman
contributed to this report.

E. KINGSLEY ST.
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E. HURON ST.
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Locate the assaults and other incidents in Ann Arbor on our Crime Map

www.michigandaily.com/crime-map

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