The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
Wednesday, November 14, 2012 -- 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, November14, 2012 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich.
CMU prof. given
$500,000 bail for
child porn case
A judge has seta $500,000 bond
for a professor whose research
focuses on Internet censorship
and the use of children in adver-
tising who's charged with having
child pornography on his Central
Michigan University computer.
William L. Merrill was
arraigned Tuesday in Isabella
County court and returned to jail.
Judge William Rush holds a hear-
ing Thursday to set future court
dates.
The court says Merrill didn't
have a lawyer on record and no
plea was entered.
The school last week suspended
Merrill and barred him fr6m the
campus in Mount Pleasant, about
120 miles northwest of Detroit. It
says he resigned Monday.
AMARILLO, Texas
Student terrorist
given life in prison
for making bomb
A former Texas college student
from Saudi Arabia was sentenced
to life in prison Tuesday for try-
ing to make a bomb for use in a
religious attack, possibly target-
ing a former U.S. president.
Rhalid Ali-M Aldawsari was
sentenced in Amarillo, where
jurors convicted him in June of
attempting to use a weapon of
mass destruction. Prosecutors
say he had collected bomb-mak-
ing material in his apartment
and researched possible targets,
including the Dallas home of for-
mer President George W. Bush. A
handwritten journal found in his
apartment included notes that he
believed it was time for "jihad," a
Muslim term for holy war.
Although the 22-year-old
Aldawsari apologized Tuesday
for "these bad actions," Judge
Donald E. Walter said the evi-
dence against him was over-
whelming. Walter acknowledged
he was conflicted due to Aldawsa-
ri's youth and signs that outside
influences had led him astray.
BEIRUT
Syria's rebels pick
cleric as new leader
Syria's political opposition has
struggled to prove its relevance
amid the civil war under a leader-
ship largely made up of academ-
ics and exiled politicians. With its
relaunch as a new organization, it
has taken a different tack: choos-
ing as its head a popular Muslim
cleric who preaches sectarian
unity and can fire up a crowd.
The selection of a moderate
religious figure, Mouaz al-Khat-
ib, to head the Syrian National
Coalition for Opposition and
Revolutionary Forces is also an
attempt to counter the growing
influence of Islamic extremists
in the rebellion against President
Bashar Assad.
While lackingin political expe-
rience, the 52-year-old preacher-
turned-activist is described by
Syrians as a man of the people
- a modest, unifying figure who
commands wide respect among
the country's various opposition
groups and rebels.
BEIJING
China wraps up
transition meeting
China's Communist Party was
bringing its pivotal conclave to a
close Wednesday in largely cho-
reographed steps a day before
unveiling its leaders for the com-
ing decade.
President Hu Jintao is expect-
ed to step down as party chief
in favor of the anointed succes-
sor, Vice President Xi Jinping,
in what would be only the sec-
ond orderly transfer of power in
63 years of communist rule. The
new leaders of the world's sec-
ond-largest economy will face
slowing growth, rising unrest
among increasing assertive citi-
zens and delicate relations with
neighboring countries.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
COUNSEL .
From Page 1A
University's vice president and
secretary.
As of Tuesday evening, Lynch
was not available for comment.
If approved, his contract will last
from January 2013 through Jan-
uary 2018. University spokesman
Rick Fitzgerald declined to pro-
vide details regarding Lynch's
proposed compensation pack-
age until after his appointment
is considered by the regents on
Thursday.
Lynch has spent almost his
entire legal career working with
the U.S. government. After he
graduated from the Georgetown
University Law Center in 1995,
he worked as a law clerk for U.S.
Appeals Court Judge Cornelia
Kennedy for about a year.
After working for the now
defunct Washington, D.C.-based
Shea & Gardner law firm for
about six years, he served as an
assistant U.S. attorney in Wash-
ington, specializing in fraud and
public corruption. Next, Lynch
served as an assistant chief litiga-
tion counsel withtheU.S. Securi-
ties and Exchanges Commission,
before joining the Department of
Energy in April2010.
During his career as an assis-
tant U.S. attorney, Timothy
received praise from his peers
and superiors for his prosecut-
ing skills in a number of cases.
At the Department of Justice, he
served as the "point" attorney
for residents who were exposed
to radiation hazards from the
Hanford Nuclear Reservation in
Washington state.
While he was at the Depart-
ment of Energy, Lynch briefly
served as acting general coun-
sel from December 2011 to April
2012, after then acting general
counsel Sean Lev became the
deputy general counsel at the
Federal Communications Com-
mission.
In a question and answer
session with the Virginia Law
Weekly, he told the paper he was,
proud to be a part of the Depart-
ment of Energy, and praised the
agency's leadership on alterna-
tive energy and sustainability
issues.
"In all seriousness, the
Department is doing truly
important and cutting-edge
work now to foster clean-ener-
gy projects that will help our
nation wean itself from foreign
oil and safeguard the environ-
ment while creating new jobs,"
Lynch said.
Lynch teaches about evi-
CSG
From Page 1A
dates, "the front office staff
shall, as part of their respon-
sibilities, within seventy-two
hours of the adjournment of
a Student Assemble meeting,
publish the Assembly Register
to the CSG web site."
"Anything that the Assembly
votes to accept, that goes under
business, should be eventually
posted underthe archives onthe
CSG website," said Engineering
sophomoreAndrewModell,vice
chair of the CSG Rules Commit-
tee - a committee designed to
govern the agenda and proceed-
ings of the CSG.
Following an interview with
members of the CSG rules com-
mittee at its weekly meeting
on Sunday, recent resolutions
- that were previously absent
from CSG's website - were
added to the site.
Chapter V of the Operating
Procedures of the Assembly,
providing instruction for the
treatment of assembly records,
requires the existence of an
Assembly Journal, or a "ver-
bal, verbatim transcript by the
Secretary" of the proceedings
of every meeting. Though the
chapter states that the assembly
would make each of these tran-
scripts accessible to the public
within two weeks after a meet-
ing, these transcripts are also
not available online.
The chapter did not specify
who would be responsible for
publishing these on the CSG
website, and, at Tuesday's
assembly meeting, assembly
chair Michael Proppe said that
is part of the problem.
"The language in the com-
piled code is right now not
good,"he said. "I actually spent
most of my weekend working on
fixing the compiled to fix proce-
dural stuff like that so that it's
clear who is putting that stuff
online."
Proppe, who said he himself
takes responsibility for the late-
ness, added that the compiled
codes mentions a webmaster, a
position that currently doesn't
exist.
Though the CSG website
hasn't been updated per the
standards in its governing doc-
uments, Law School student
Jeremy Keeney, chair of the
Rules Committee, pointed out
social networking is an easy
and accessible way for students
to stay up-to-date with the hap-
penings of CSG.
He added that most of the
minutes and resolutions of the
organization are posted on the
committee's Facebook page.
"Actually, our Rules Com-
mittee Facebook group has all
of our minutes, all of our agen-
das," he said.
Modell, nonetheless, noted
a lack of awareness among stu-
dents about the Rules Committee
and its role in governing the pro-
ceedings ofAssembly meetings.
"If anyone looks at the min-
utes or attends the student
Assembly meetings then they
will have a good idea of what
the Rules Committee will be
doing," Modell said.
He added that he would like
for the group to have greater
interaction with students in the
future.
"We would love students to
reach out to us," he said. "Usu-
ally if they have a complaint,
they would just show up at the
Assembly meeting and discuss
it during their Community Con-
cerns, as opposed to discussing
it with the Rules Committee as
should happen."
CSG president Manish
Parikh added that in previous
years, the student government
website has not been used to its
potential.
"(The website has) rarely
been updated with information
but this year we're making this
a focus," he said. "We're start-
ing at zero and we're shooting
for a hundred." He continued,
saying that CSG is "making
progress and I think within a
week or two you'll notice that
things are being uploaded in a
timely matter."
KEYS
From Page 1A
Huron Street and I-94 in Ypsilanti
Township. James was arrested
and charged with Unlawfully
Driving Away an Automobile.
In the police report, obtained
through a Freedom of Informa-
tion Act request, a bus supervisor
told the officer that James was
fired by the University's Trans-
portation and Parking services
two years ago. At first, James told
the officer that he was on a "late
run," and had left his driver's
license with a friend, but later
acknowledged that he was no lon-
ger an employee when confronted
by the officer, who spoke with a
bus supervisor.
James acknowledged that he
had not worked for the University
for two years, but noted that his
employment keys were not taken
away upon his dismissal.
. The report further states that
James, who had alcohol in his
system at the time, used the keys
to enter the yard and take the
bus. The manner in which James
entered the bus lot was not previ-
ously made public.
James told the arresting officer
he took the bus to relieve internal
stress. '
"It has been a stressful year
looking for work, but hopefully
that changes today," James said to
the judge at his preliminary hear-
ing in the 14-A District Court on
Oct. 4. "Iwas under a lot ofstress."
Normally the University con-
fiscates keys from employees once
they leave their jobs.
However, University spokes-
man Rick Fitzgerald said there
were "unusual circumstances"
involved with this incident.
Fitzgerald declined to spec-
ify the unusual circumstances
involved in the case but said Park-
ing and Transportation Services
is looking into what happened to
minimize the chance of a similar
incident occurring.
"(Parking and Transporta-
tion Services is) taking another
look at their process as well as
dence as an adjunct professor
at the Georgetown University
Law Center and also teaches
white-collar crime as an adjunct
professor at the University of
Virginia Law School.
When asked by the paper
what kind of main charac-
ter he would write in a novel,
Lynch replied "A retired DA
who fishes during the day and
at night reads Oliver Wen-
dell Holmes opinions, drinks
whiskey, plays jazz piano, and
works on pro-bono criminal
defense cases with his friend,
Parnell. Oh, damn, that's
Anatomy of a Murder. I'll have
to keep at it."
any additional security measures
that they could take tobe practi-
cal for their operations," he said.
Over the last several years,
the University has switched to
using MCards instead of keys on
many campus buildings includ-
ing residence halls, classrooms,
administrative offices and hos-
pital buildings. Fitzgerald said
MCard access is centrally con-
trolled, making it much easier to
regulate who has access to Uni-
versity buildings. When employ-
ees leave the University under
the MCard system, their access
to University buildings can be
revoked electronically without
having to collect former employ-
ees' MCards.
Not every lock can feasibly be
converted into a MCard reader,
but the University is heading in
that direction, Fitzgerald said.
James pleaded guilty to
receiving and concealing stolen
property - a lesser offense than
what he was charged with - in
October. He is scheduled to be
sentenced next month.
SHIRVELL
From Page 1A
sation in 2010 after he partook
in a now-infamous interview
with CNN host Anderson Coo-
per, during which he defended
his portrayal of Armstrong as
"Satan's representative."
In August, Armstrong was
awarded $4.5 million in .dam-
ages in a defamation suit against
Shirvell.
Ingham County Circuit Judge
Paula Mansfield ruled in October
that Shirvell is entitled under
Michigan law to unemployment
aid from the Michigan Unem-
ployment Insurance Agency. The
latest petition by the state seeks
to overturn that ruling and deny
Shirvell the benefits.
Shirvell's request for unem-
ployment was initially denied
because he was dismissed from
the attorney general's office
for misconduct relating to his
harassment of Armstrong. Man-
sfield's order reversed the initial
decision.
"The law is on my side,"
Shirvell said in an interview
Tuesday evening. "The state's
refusal to award me unemploy-
ment compensation was blatant-
ly unconstitutional because all
of my activities relating to Chris
Armstrong were done on my own
time and they constituted first
amendment protected activi-
ties."
Shirvell said the state could
take the case to an appellate
court should their request fail
to reverse Mansfield's ruling. He
added that the state's strategy
is to turn public opinion against
the judge in attempt to either
reverse the ruling or apply for an
appeal.
"I've looked at a copy of their
filing (with Mansfield)," Shirvell
said. "Their filing reeks of des-
peration."
Shirvell declined to comment
on whether he was having any
success finding another job.
"I will see this through to
the very end," Shirvell said in
September. "I know in the end
I'll be successful, even if it goes
to the Supreme Court."
Yesterday an interview with
Armstrong's lead attorney,
Deborah Gordon, was broad-
casted on CNN's "Anderson
Cooper 360." In response,
Shirvell wrote in a statement
that Cooper's coverage was
"profoundly biased" and that
CNN legal analyst Jeffery
Toobin and Cooper went on a
"rampage and tried to blatant-
ly intimidate Judge Mansfield
into reversing her correct deci-
sion."
"As for Deborah Gordon,
I note that Cooper failed to
mention the fact that I am cur-
rently suing Gordon in federal
court for defamation and inva-
sion of privacy for her past
media appearances ..." Shirvell
wrote. "I fully expect Judge
Mansfield not to be intimidat-
ed by the likes of Gordon."
WORLD WAR I
From Page 1A
closet" for him if necessary. David
said the gesture was a "wonder-
ful way to come home," and he
returned to the University for his
sophomore year before receiving
his degree in 1949.
Fellow University alum Bill
Rosnya and B17 bomber navi-
gator said he was drafted into
the military in high school. He
hadn't planned on attending
college, and upon his return he
began looking for a job with Ford
Motor Company. However, he
said his high school counselor
told him, "you're going to Michi-
gan, I'll take care of it," and he
became the first in his family to
graduate from college.
Wendell Galbraith, another
panelist,said he was drafted when
he was 18 and joined the Army Air
Forces, where he was assigned to
bomb Vienna. Galbraith's plane
was hit during the attack and
he was forced to escape, but lie
pulled his parachute too soon.*He
said he spent 35 minutes floating
down over the city and landed
in the midst of a group of armed
German soldiers.
"Twenty-five German soldiers
had guns pointed at me," Gal-
braith said. "One German solider
loaded a pistol, put it to my head,
and then put it back. I still don't
know why he did that."
Henry Hoyna graduated from
high school in 1941 and enrolled
in the Marine Corps the fol-
lowing year. After the Battle of
Tarawa, a 1943 engagement over
a small atoll in the center of the
Pacific Ocean, Hoyna and 2,000
other soldiers departed for Pearl
Harbor. When they returned to
Hawaii, he witnessed the dev-
astation from Japan's infamous
Dec. 7,1941 attack.
"It was the most awesome
thing," Hoyna said. "You could
hear a pin drop, that's how much
it shocked us."
During World War II, indi-
viduals at the University actively
intercepted messages from Japa-
nese diplomats and soldiers, and
West Quad Residence Hall was
used as barracks for the Students'
Army Training Corps, according
to SVAP coordinator Phil Larson.
Larson said more than 400
faculty veterans work at the Uni-
versity and about 275 student
veterans are enrolled at the Uni-
versity, mostly from the wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan.
Larson said the students
involved in the SVAP have made
great strides in advancing veter-
an awareness since their found-
ing.
"Before we started, there
wasn't even aflagraisingon cam-
pus."
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