The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.cam
Monday, December 10, 2012 - 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, December10, 2012 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
KALAMAZOO, Mich.
Senator gets bag of
coal after right-to-
work vote
A Republican state senator has
received a bag of coal from union-
rights demonstrators protesting
her vote to make Michigan a right-
to-work state.
About 60 people sang Christ-
mas-themed protest songs and
carried picket signs Sunday out-
side the Kalamazoo office of state
Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker.
The state Senate and House
voted Thursday's for bills that
would bar unions from collecting
mandatory fees from workers they
represent under collective bar-
gaining agreements.
Mlive.com reports that one pro-
test sign said Gov. Rick Snyder is
"tearing Michigan apart." Others
said "Right 2 Work Hurts Work-
ing Families" and "Protect Work-
ing Families."
NEW HAVEN, Conn..
Romney's '47
percent' chosen as
year's best quote
Former Republican presiden-
tial candidate Mitt Romney's
comments about 47 percent of
the population dependent on the
government and "binders full of
women" topped this year's best
quotes, according to a Yale Uni-
versity librarian.
Fred Shapiro, associate librar-
ian at Yale Law School, released
his seventh annual list of the most
notable quotations of the year.
"Debate remarks and gaffes
actually seemed to play an impor-
tant role in the ups and downs of the
election campaign and may even
have affected the ultimate outcome
ofthe election," Shapiro said.
Romney, who lost the Novem-
ber election to President Barack
Obama, made the 47 percent com-
ment at a private fundraiser in
May that was secretly recorded
and posted online in September by
Mother Jones magazine.
MONTEREY, Mexico
Singer feared dead
in plane crash
The wreckage of a small plane
believed to be carrying Jenni Rive-
ra, the U.S-born singer whose soul-
ful voice and unfettered discussion
of a series of personal travails made
her a Mexican-American music
superstar, was found in northern
Mexico on Sunday. Authorities said
there were no survivors.
Her family said they were in
mourning and Rivera's brother
would travel to Mexico on Mon-
day to identify what they pre-
sumed were her remains.
Born in Long Beach, Califor-
nia, Rivera was at the peak of her
career as perhaps the most suc-
cesaful female singer in grupero,
a male-dominated regional style
influenced by the norteno, cumbia
and ranchero styles.
-Compiled from
Indian Reservation
shooting kills five
Etban Felis/Ar
Supporters of the Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez hold his picture during a vigil in Managua, Nicaragua on Sunday
Dec. 9, 2012. Chavez is to return to Cuba Sunday for another surgery in his battle against cancer.
Chavez faces new cancer
battle, surgery in Cuba
Venezuelen
president heads into
third surgery
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)
- Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez was heading back to
Cuba on Sunday for a third can-
cer surgery after naming his vice
president as his choice to lead the
country if the illness cuts short
his presidency.
Chavez's announcement on
Saturday night unleashed new
uncertainty about the coun-
try's future, and his supporters
poured into city plazas across
the nation to pray for his recov-
ery from what appears to be an
aggressive type of cancer.
Some wiped tears, while oth-
ers held photos of him and chant-
ed in unison: "Ooh-Ah! Chavez
isn't going away!"
Chavez acknowledged the
seriousness of his health situa-
tion in a televised address, say-
ing for the first time that if he
suffers complications Vice Presi-
dent Nicolas Maduro should be
elected as Venezuela's leader to
continue his socialist movement.
Several outside medical
experts said that based on
Chavez's account of his condition
and his treatment, so far, they
doubt the cancer can be cured.
Chavez said he hasn't given up.
"With the grace of God,
we'll come out victorious," said
Chavez, who held up a crucifix
and kissed it during his Saturday
night appearance.
The 58-year-old president is
still scheduled to be sworn in for
a new six-year term Jan. 10. He
has been in office fdr nearly 14
years, since 1999.
"There are risks. Who can
deny it?" Chavez said, seated at
the presidential palace beside
Maduro and other aides. "In any
circumstance, we should guar-
antee the advance of the Bolivar-
ian Revolution."
Chavez, who won re-election
on Oct. 7, said he would undergo
surgery in Havana in the com-
ing days. Lawmakers on Sunday
voted unanimously to grant him
permission to leave the country
for the operation.
During the session at the
National Assembly, opposition
lawmakers agreed to Chavez's
request and also said that Mad-
uro should take on his duties
during his temporary absence, as
the constitution specifies. Oppo-
sition lawmaker Julio Borges
criticized the incomplete infor-
mation that has been released
about Chavez's cancer, saying:
"Venezuela has a right tb know
the truth."
Throughout his treatment,
Chavez has kept secret various
details about his illness, includ-
ing the precise location of the
tumors and the type of cancer.
He has said he travels to Cuba
for treatment because his cancer
was diagnosed by doctors there.
National Assembly President
Diosdado Cabello said there are
no plans at this time for Chavez
to cede power, even temporarily,
as president.
Man attacks family
members; suspect
shot by police
PORTERVILLE, Calif. (AP)
- The church bell that rings out
to announce the deaths of tribal
members on the Tule River Indi-
an Reservation tolled repeatedly
Sunday after a man killed his
mother and her two brothers
in a shooting that also fatally
wounded his daughter. Authori-
ties said the suspect also died in
a shootout with police.
Authorities cornered Hector
Celaya, 31, on a country road in
the middle of citrus orchards 30
miles away from the reservation
and about six hours after the
shootings Saturday night, that
also left two of his other chil-
dren wounded.
In the car with him were two
daughters, 8-year-old Alyssa
and 5-year-old Linea. One had
life-threatening injuries; the
other did not.
Authorities said Celaya was
fatally wounded by deputies
after he opened fire on them.
By Sunday night, authorities
confirmed thatAlyssa died of her
injuries. Police said Celaya had a
tattoo of her name on his right leg.
Authorities have not disclosed
what motivated Celaya to kill his
relatives, who lived in a travel
trailer on a family compound on
the reservationof about 800peo-
ple. But tribal members said the
former custodian at the reserva-
tion's casino had a troubled past.
"He had a real hard life," said,
Rhoda Hunter, the tribal council
secretary."But all of usdo, we all
have a hard time. But we try not
to let it get the best of us."
Hunter said that Celaya's
mother was a friend of hers. The
Tulare County sheriff's depart-
ment, which is investigating the
case, identified her 60-year-old
Irene Celaya.
The killings stunned the
tightknittribal community
"We've had a lot of deaths
here, but nothing like this. Not
murder. No, not murder," Hunt-
er said.
The remote reservation relies
on the Eagle Mountain Casino
for revenues. Each tribal mem-
ber receives $500 a month, but
Hunter said most of the profit is
invested into educational pro-
grams for the children.
The compound where the
shooting took place is on a dirt
road in a scenic canyon lined
with oaks and sycamore trees.
Herds of horses graze the hill-
sides, and modular houses sit on
hilltops.
The 911 call came to the Tule
River Indian Reservation fire
department at about 7:45 p.m.
Saturday, said Shelby Charley
Jr., an engineer and supervisor.
He said his crew, which most
often attends to people who fall
ill at the casino, was shocked by
the carnage.
"This is a once in a lifetime
kind of deal," Charley said. "It's
one of those calls you could go
your whole career and not walk
into. This is one of those calls
that will stick with you for the
rest of your life."
Charley said his crew imme-
diately discovered a woman and
man dead of gunshot wounds,
then quickly discovered a young
boy with critical wounds. Thick
fog grounded helicopters in
Fresno and Bakersfield, so res-
cue workers had to drive the
gravely injured boy 40 minutes
to the nearest hospital in Visalia.
Minutes later, sheriff's depu-
ties found a third body in an out-
building thathad been set up as a
makeshift bedroom. Authorities
said the bodies of Irene Celaya
and her 61-year-old brother
Francisco Moreno were found
in the trailer. The body of their
53-year-old brother, Bernard
Franco, was in the shed.
Ghanaian president re-elected
Mahama declared
victor on Sunday
ACCRA, Ghana (AP) - Presi-
Ient-John Dramani Mahama on
Sunday was declared the winner
sf Ghana's presidential election,
lespite widespread technical
glitches with the machines used
:o identify voters and protests by
:he country's opposition which
:laims the vote was rigged.
Armored tanks surrounded
Ghana's electoral - commission
md police barricaded the road
around the electoral offices as the
lection body's chairman Kwad-
wo Afari-Gyan announced that
hMahama had polled 5.5 million
rotes, or 50.7 percent.
Opposition leader Nana Akufo-
Addo, who lost the 2008 election
>y less than 1 percent, came in
econd with 5.2 million votes,
>r 47.7 percent, Afari-Gyan said.
around 80 percent of the roughly
14 million registered voters cast-
ing ballots in Friday's presidential
and parliamentary elections. In a
draft statement seen by reporters,
the opposition said it would con-
test the results.
"This situation, if allowed to
go unchallenged and uncorrect-
ed, would seriously damage the
essence of the electoral process
and the substance of democracy in
Ghana," the New Patriotic Party
said in a draft statement that was
emailed to reporters.
"To accept this result is to dis-
credit democracyin Ghana and, in
the process, distort the process of
democratization in Africa. There-
fore, the New Patriotic Party
cannot accept the results of the
presidential election as declared
by the EC (election commission)
this evening," the statement said.
Ghana has one of the longest
traditions of democracy in this
day's election was fraught, after
biometric machines used to iden-
tify voters through their finger-
prints failed to work in scores of
polling stations, forcing officials
to extend voting into a second day.
Akufo-Addo's party has accused
the ruling party of using the dis-
order causedby the technical fail-
ure to rig the election.
Ghanaians are deeply attached
to their tradition of democracy,
and international observers are
already calling Friday's election
the sixth transparent vote in the
country's history. No other coun-
try in the region has had as many
free and fair votes. However, ana-
lysts point out that Ghana's his-
tory and its record of democratic
progress is not that different from
that of nearby Mali, a nation also
considered a model democracy
until a coup this spring.
The outcome of the election will
hinge on whether the 68-year-
results. Neighboring Ivory Coast
was dragged to the brink of civil
war last year, after that race's loser
refused to accept defeat.
"We won, they are sore losers.
They wanted (the electoral com-
mission) to postpone announce-
ment of the results and (the
chairman) said there is no reason
to postpone. There was no foun-
dation for their allegations," said
Mahama's presidential adviser,
Tony Aidoo. He added that the
opposition's allegation of vote rig-
ging "was a plan to create may-
hem, and mayhem will come....
They had such high expectations
of coming back to power."
Earlier on Sunday, police fired
tear gas and stun guns to fight,
back opposition supporters.
Scores took to Accra's streets, call-
ing on the national electoral body
to carry out an audit, and asking
them to withhold announcing
final results until an investigation
the results were announced, how-
ever, the capital remained calm,
the night air punctuated only by
the victory cheers of ruling party
supporters.
"Considering the closeness of
the polls this error is very sig-
nificant and goes to the heart
of the credibility of the results.
Indeed, we have enough con-
crete evidence to show that the
2012 presidential election was
won by our candidate, Nana
Akufo-Addo," said Jake Obet-
sebi-Lamptey, chairman of the
opposition party.
Despite the allegations, inter-
national observers endorsed the
elections, callingthe vote credible
despite the delays caused by the
failure of the voter identification
machines to work in numerous
precincts. The election was also
plagued by delays due to the late
arrival of voting materials, which
resulted in some voters spending