W-
2 - Friday, March 30, 2012
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
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CRIME NOTES
CAMPUS EVENTS & NOTES
Wallet goes
WHERE: Pierpont Com-
mons
WHEN: Wednesday at
about 2:15 p.m.
WHAT: A wallet was sto-
len from a locker room or
the UGo's store, University
Police reported. There are
no suspects.
Dine and dash Spring around Late night at
WHERE: Markley Resi- the world the art museum
dence Hall
WHEN: Wednesday at
about 2:35 p.m.
WHAT: A backpack was
stolen in the dining hall
between 1:10 p.m. and 2:30-
p.m., University Police
reported. There are no sus-
pects, and the bag hasn't
been returned.
WHAT: An event to learn
how different cultures from
around the world celebrate
spring with diverse foods
and dances.
WHO: International Stu-
dent Affairs Commission
WHEN: Tonight at-5 p.m
WHERE: East Hall
Through the .sGreen building
Advertisement ,
looking glass- conference
u nappreciated
WHAT: A late-night pro-
gram featuring entertain-
ment and food centered
around the exhibition
"Fluxus and the Essential
Questions of Life."
WHO: University of Michi-
gan Museum of Art
WHEN: Tonight at 10 p.m.
WHERE: UMMA
CORRECTIONS
* An article in the March
29 edition of The Michi-
gan Daily ("Greek Week
raises money or local
charities') misidentified
one of the fraternities
in Team New York. It
was Alpha Sigma Phi.
" Please report any
error in the Daily to
corrections@michi-
gandaily.com.
The Center for Disease
Control and Prevention
reported a 78 percent
increase in autism diagnosis-
es over the last decade, CNN.
comreported. The reportwas
unsure whether the increase
was due to overreporting or
better diagnositc tools.
Bigotry - both susect-
ed and admitted - has
approached the fore-
front of Anmerican discussion
with the deaths of Florida
teenager Trayvon Martin
and Shaima Alawadi., an
Iraqi immigrant.
>> FOR MORE, SEE OPINION, PAGE 4
3A major gas leak on an
oil platform 150 miles
off of the coast of Scot-
land in the. North Sea has
haulted production at the
rig, The New York Times
reported. It could be up to six
months before the gas leak
could be stoppped.
EDITORIAL STAFF
Josh Healy ManagingEditor jahealy@michiandaily.com
BethanyBiron ManagingNews Editor biron@michigandaily.com
SEN [OR N EWS EDITORS: H aley Glatthorn, Haley Goldberg, Rayza Goldsmith,
Pa ige Pearcy, Adam Rubenfire
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITORS: Giacomo Bologna, Anna Rozenberg, Andrew Schulman,
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Andrew Weiner Editorial PagetEditors
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Neal Rothschild, Matt Slovin
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITORS: Steven Braid, Michael Lauria, Matt Spelich,
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SENIOR ARTS EDITORS: ElliotAlpern, Jacob Axelrad, David Tao, Kayla Upadhyaya
ASSISTANTATSEDITORS:LarenCaserta,MattEaston,KellyEtz.AnnaSadovskaya,
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Alden Reiss ManagingrhPhoEitors
SENO'HOTOED0ITOSn :TerraMo engraff,Todd Needle
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BUSINESS STAFF
Julianna Crim Associate Business Manager
Rachel Greinete sales Manager
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Connor Byrd Finance Manager
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Meryl Hulteng National Account Manager
The Michigan Daily (IsSN 074s-967) is published Monday through Friday during the fal and
winter terms by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge
to al readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the ally's office for $2. Subscriptions for
fall term starting in september viaU.smail are $110. Winter term (January through April)is
$11.yearlong(SeptemberthroughApri)is$19s.University affiatesaresubjecttoareduced
subscription rate.On-campus subscriptionsforfalltermare$35.Subscriptionsmust be prepaid.
WHIERE: shapiro Under-
graduate Library
WHEN: Yesterday at about
6:50 a.m.
WHAT: The glass door to
a fire extinguisher cabinet
was found broken, but the
extinguisher was left intact,
University Police reported.
There are no suspects.
WHERE: Palmer Field
WHEN: Yesterday at about
1:40 a.m.
WHAT: A police officer saw
a subject tear down a posted
advertisement, University
Police reported. There are
some suspects, including
students.
WHAT: A conference
exploringthe impacts of
green building on society
featuring a diverse array of
speakers. The dean of the
School of Natural Resources
and the director of the Erb
Institute will speak at the
event.
WHO: USGBC Students at
The University of Michigan
WHEN: Today at 4 p.m.
WHERE: Dana Natural
Resources Building
Iran, Turkey disagree
on Syrian leadership
Politicians visit Neb. plant
where 'pink slime' is made
Countries grapple
over keeping Assad
staying in power
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iranian
and Turkish leaders exchanged
sharply opposing views yester-
day as they discussed how to deal
with the crisis in Syria.
Iranian Supreme Leader Aya-
tollah Ali Khamenei said Teh-
ran strongly supports reforms
in Syria under President Bashar
Assad, but visiting Turkish
prime minister said Assad can't
be trusted and must step down.
The unusual public acknowl-
edgment of sharp differences
between the two neighbors came
on the second day of a state visit
to Iran by Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan arrived in Tehran
from South Korea, where he
attended a nuclear security sum-
mit and had talks with President
Barack Obama.
Iran is Syria's closest ally, and
Tehran has staunchly backed
Assad during Syria's year-long
uprising.
"Iran will defend Syria because
of (its) support of the resistance
front against the Zionist regime
and is strongly opposed to any
interference by foreign forces in
Syria's internal affairs," Khame-
nei told Erdogan. "The Islamic
Republic of Iran is categorically
opposed to any plan initiated by
the U.S. regarding Syria."
Khamenei rejected Turkey's
position that Assad must step
down.
"We support reforms in Syria.
-The reforms that began in Syria
need to continue," state TV quot-
ed Khamenei as saying.
It was not clear how Erdogan
responded to Khamenei, but
hours later he told Iran's state
TV that Assad's regime can't be
trusted.
"If Assad doesn't fear (an elec-
tion), he should give a ballot box
to the people and let parties take
shape. (Assad's) Baath should
not form a party and must be
regarded as a thing of the past,"
Erdogan said. "We can't put the
previous years in front of us."
The U.N. says the year-long
conflict in Syria has left more
than 9,000 people dead.
Turkey is set to host about 60
countries, including the United
States, for a "Friends of the Syr-
ian People" conference in Istan-
bul on Sunday. The participants
will discuss ways to further iso-
late and pressure Assad, as well
as measures to support the Syr-
ian opposition.
Honduran inmates riot, 14
dead after ensuing prison fire
Perry among three
governors and two
lieutant governors
touring factory
SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb.
(AP) - Governors of three states
donned coats, hair nets and gog-
gles to tour a main production
plant for "pink slime" Thursday,
hoping to persuade grossed-out
consumers and grocery stores to
accept the processed beef trim-
mings are as safe as the industry
insists.
Three governors and two lieu-
tenant governors spent about a
half-hour touring Beef Products
Inc.'s plant to show their support
for the company and the thou-
sands of jobs it creates in Nebras-
ka, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota
and Texas.
"It's beef, but it's leaner beef,
which is better for you," Iowa
Gov. Terry Branstad said after
watching a presentation of how
the textured beef product is
made and taking a walking tour
of the plant.
Beef Products, the main pro-
ducer of the cheap lean beef
made from fatty bits of meat
left over from other cuts, has
drawn extra scrutiny because of
concerns about the ammonium
hydroxide it treats meat with
to slightly change the acidity of
the beef and kill bacteria. The
company suspended operations
at plants in Texas, Kansas and
Iowa this week, affecting 650
jobs, but it defends its product
as safe.
While the official name is lean
finely textured beef, critics dub
it "pink slime" and say it's an
unappetizing example of indus-
trialized food production. That
term was coined by a federal
microbiologist who was grossed
out by it, but the product meets
federal food safety standards
and has been used for years.
The politicians who toured
the plant - Branstad, Texas.
0
01
NATI H ARNIK/AP
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownbackleft, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, center, and lowaGov.
Terry Branstad, right, examine a package of pink sime or finely textured beef.
Similar incident
occured in another
prison six weeks ago
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras
(AP) - At least14 people died dur-
ing an uprising by armed inmates
at a Honduran prison Thursday,
one of them decapitated and the
others killed by a fire started by
the rioters, authorities said.
The unrest came six weeks
after a fire at another prison in
Honduras killed 361 inmates. A
fire official said the toll from the
latest blaze could rise.
Yair Mesa, police commissioner
of the rough northern city of San
Pedro Sula, said Thursday's riot
had been brought under control.
"The uprising has been put
down without the need to fire
shots," Mesa said by telephone
from inside the prison.
He said most of the victims
apparently died of burns or
asphyxiation, but said the cause
of death could not immediately
be determined because the bodies
were so badly burned. One pris-
oner's head was cut off and tossed
outside the prison during the riot.
Inmates carried the burned
bodies from the site of the blaze
and set them out in the prison
yard.
National fire chief Alfonso
Medina warned that the death
toll could increase, saying one.
part of the prison was still under
control of inmates who might
have grenades and not been
searched by security officers. He
said there could be as many as six
more victims, although he didn't
give details on how that number
was reached.
City fire chief Jose Danilo
Flores said the prisoners them-
selves appeared to have fought
the fire inside the facility. He said
the armed inmates initially kept
firefighters from entering. .
San Pedro Sula is believed to be
one of the most dangerous cities
in a country that'has the highest
homicide rate in the world. A fire
at the San Pedro Sula prison in
2004 killed 107 inmates.
Thursday's uprising came a
month and a half after Honduras'
overcrowded prisons were hit
by the worst prison fire in a cen-
tury - a Feb. 14 conflagration at
the Comayagua farm prison that
killed 361 inmates.
In 2008, the latest year for
which figures are available, Hon-
duras' prison system had nearly
38 percent more prisoners than
it was built to house, according to
the London-based International
Centre for Prison Studies.
Gov. Rick Perry, Kansas Gov.
Sam Brownback, Nebraska Lt.
Gov. Rick Sheehy and South
Dakota Lt. Gov. Matt Michels -
all agree with the industry view
that pink slime has been unfairly
maligned and mislabeled and
issued a joint statement earlier
saying the product is safe.
The officials spent about 20
minutes going over the produc-
tion process in a separate room
at the plant with Craig Letch,
the company's director of qual-
ity assurance, viewing and han-
dling more than a dozen slabs of
raw meat and the processed, fin-
ished product laid out on a round
wooden table.
None of the officials tasted
the product during the tour, but.
Branstad and Perry were among
those munching on burgers
made from t at a news conference
afterward.
"It's lean. It's good. It's nutri-
tious," Branstad said as he pol-
ished off a patty, sans bun.
The politicians defended
the plant and the product, and
accused the media of creating
a controversy over a product
because of the name critics gave
it.
"If you called itfinely textured
lean beef, would we be here?"
asked Sheehy.
The officials donned hard
hats, hair nets and goggles for a
brief walking tour of the facility.
Workers manned conveyor belts
of meat cuts that ran from one
side of the room to the other in
the chilled room; the ammonium
hydroxide treatment process was
not visible.
4
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