The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, April 7, 2014 -- 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, Aoril 7, 2014 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
DEARBORN, Mich.
Arab-American
leaders support
church invitation
to Easter egg hunt
Arab-American and Muslim
leaders are defending a subur-
ban-Detroit church that drew
criticism for inviting children at
public schools with many Mus-
lim children to attend its Easter
egg hunt.
Invitations to the upcoming
Saturday's Eggstravaganza at
Cherry Hill Presbyterian Church
were distributed last week in
elementary schools in Dearborn.
The Detroit suburb is the center
of southeastern Michigan's large
Arab-American community and
has a high proportion of Muslim
children.
Lawyer Majed Mougni tells
the Detroit Free Press his two
young children were upset to get
fliers about the event.
The Rev. Netta Nichols says
it's intended for children of any
religion and isn't an attempt to
proselytize.
SAN DIEGO, Ca.
Navy rescues ill
infant and family
from sailboat
U.S. sailors rescued an Ameri-
can family with an ill 1-year-
old from a sailboat that broke
down hundreds of miles off the
Mexican coast - boarding them
Sunday onto a San Diego-bound
Navy ship so the girl could get
medical treatment.
The baby girl, Lyra, was in
stable condition at 8 a.m. Sun-
day when sailors helped her,
her 3-year-old sister, Cora, and
her parents, Charlotte and Eric
Kaufman leave their sailboat and
brought them aboard the USS
Vandegrift.
The frigate was expected to
arrive in San Diego midweek,
Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd
Class Barry Bena said.
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah
Mormon leader
restates opposition
to gay marraige
A top Mormon leader reiter-
ated the church's opposition to
gay marriage Saturday during
the church's biannual general
conference.
The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints' stance on
homosexuality has softened in
recent years, but this marks the
second consecutive conference
in which leaders took time to
emphasize the faith's insistence
that marriage should be limited
to unions between a man and a
woman, as God created.
"While many governments
and well-meaning individu-
als have redefined marriage,
the Lord has not," said Neil L.
Andersen of the Quorum of the
Twelve. "He designated the
purpose of marriage to go far
beyond the personal satisfaction
and fulfillment of adults, to more
importantly, advancing the ideal
setting for children to be born,
reared and nurtured."
TOKYO
Defense Secretary.
to tour China's new
aircraft carrier
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck
Hagel is expected to get a rare
tour Monday of China's first air-
craft carrier, becoming the first
foreign visitor to go aboard the
ship.
A senior defense official
said Hagel requested the visit,
which comes a day after he told
reporters that China must better
respect its neighbors - a pointed
allusion to Beijing's ongoing ter-
ritorial dispute with Japan and
others over remote islands in the
East China Sea. He also has con-
tinued to urge Beijing to be more
transparent about its expanding
military.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
BROWN
From Page 1A
This year's show included
performances by 58 Greene,
Michigan Sahana, Maya, TAAL,
Michigan Manzil, The Michi-
gan Raas, Maize Mirchi and
The Michigan Bhangra Team,
said Engineering senior Hema
Karunakaram, the show's chair.
Each group's piece was preceded
by a short video clip to introduce
its members, convey the purpose
of the team and set the stage for
the performance.
Groups such as Michigan
Sahana and Maya performed
Indian classical dance while
TAAL and Michigan Manzil
performed Bollywood-style
dances. Raas presented a tradi-
tional folk dance while the Mich-
igan Bhangra Team performed a
blend of styles.
Groups such as 58 Greene,
Michigan Sahana and Maize
Mirchi gave vocal performanc-
es. 58 Greene opened the show
with an a cappella version of
the national anthem, followed
by Michigan Sahana's rendition
of the Indian national anthem.
Michigan Sahana musicians also
performed traditional Indian
Engineering junior Abbhinav
Muralidharan,the show's music
chair, said the performance is
unique because of the diversity
of the acts it offers.
"You wouldn't find this set
of performing teams together
in any other show because they
have different styles of dance,
different styles of music but they
all perform together for one
show," Muralidharan said.
Engineering sophomore Jacob
Gersh said he was impressed by
how a shared culture brought the
groups, who come from multiple
artistic genres, together.
"They're not connected by the
thing they do, they're connected
by the heritage they share and
from that they build a perfor-
mance," Gersh said.
Hariharan said the name of
the show comes from the shared
backgrounds of the performers.
"Brown is the common factor in
all these teams," Hariharan said.
"We're all reallydifferent ...butthe
thing that ties us together is that
we're all South Asian and we all
like to refer to ourselves as brown.
It'sjustsomethingreallycasual."
Washington mudslide
survivors tell their stories
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all m
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her 1
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thos
dred
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neigi
open
his h
isaster survivor About 150 feet away, the
rest of their rural Washing-
recounts her ton neighborhood had disap-
peared in a massive tangle
perience, tries to of mud and debris. The huge
rebuild March 22 landslide in Oso
killed more than two dozen
people and left many oth-
IATTLE (AP) - It was a ers missing. It was one of the
d like a jet engine. Then a worst natural disasters in
st of trees collapsed. And state history.
eas quiet except for the Taylor, Langton, her four
for help. children, her mother and
Anna Langton ran out of her great aunt survived. And
house with her baby boy like others who are still alive
er arms. Confused about - either by luck or circum-
t had just happened, she stance - they are trying to
ted for her children and make sense of the tragedy.
friends. She knew she LoAnna Langton's hus-
ed to have her all her band, Kristopher Langton,
es close at hand. also lived. When the slide
arry, Larry, did you see struck, he had been on his way
e trees? There's a hun- back home from an errand.
trees that just went After a few seconds of listen-
n," she screamed to her ing to his wife scream on the
hbor, Larry Taylor, who phone, he raced into the muck
led his door and poked to try to reach his family.
lead out. "I was scared out of my
mind," LoAnna Langton
recalled days after the land-
slide. She was worried about
her husband and about get-
ting her children to safety.
Emergency workers tried
to stop Kristopher Langton,
but he pushed on through the
mud and over trees and other
debris. He helped pull three
adults and a baby out of the
debris. By the time he reached
their house, it was surround-
ed by water and his family
was safely away.
Hours later, LoAnna Lang-
ton turned to Taylor and
asked, "How did we survive
that?"
"I bless my house every
day," Taylor said. The
ordained minister was only
half-joking.
The Langtons and their
friend and neighbor, Taylor,
are trying to rebuild their
lives and find meaning in
their survival.
HASHBASH
From Page 1A
legalization remains relevant.
"The direction that this rally
has taken is dramatic," Gholson
said. "It's always been a smoke-
in, it's always been a rally of the
people, by the people and for
the people. At this point, we're
no longer strictly on the menu
regarding our lives and how our
legislation impacts it. We're at
the table. We have our place at
the table."
Though the city of Ann Arbor
has some of the most lenient
penalties for individuals caught
in possession of marijuana, the
University Police adhere to
state laws, even during Hash
Bash.
But interactions were gener-
ally civil on Saturday. Univer-
sity Police made only one arrest
while attendees enjoyed vendors
and live music.
This year's Hash Bash, now
in its 43rd year, is not the same
event it was in 1972. Activists
are fighting the same cause with
different tools.
"The Internet has democra-
tized the media for us and given
us tools with which to orga-
nize," Gholson said. "It's an
absolute flood of change right
now. There's no stopping it.
Legalization is a forgone con-
clusion."
Rick Thompson, a contributor
to pro-marijuana publications
like The American Cultivator,
The Burn Magazine and The
Compassion Chronicles, encour-
aged attendees to take pictures
with their phones and post the
pictures on social media plat-
forms.
"We're all going to take pho-
tos of what's going on at Hash
Bash - are you ready?" he asked
the crowd. "But that's only part
one. Now we Facebook those
photos."
Law student Reid Murdoch,
executive director of Law Stu-
dents for Sensible Drug Policy,
collected signatures for state
Rep. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor)
and 2016 cannabis legalization
efforts.
"It's a beautiful event," Mur-
doch said. "It's the longest-run-
ning drug policy event in the
country. I'm just really honored
to be a part of it. It's a cultural
tradition."
PUPPIES
From Page1A
FirstBook - an organizationthat
provides children in low-income
areaswith age appropriate books
to foster alove of reading.
"We're hoping to raise aware-
ness for literacy which is Pi Phi's
philanthropy," said LSA sopho-
more Leah Sobel, Pi Beta Phi
philanthropy chair. "It's not nec-
essarily as well-known as breast
cancer or something, but if kids
can't read by third grade, they're
probably never going to read,
and we want to raise awareness
because you wouldn'tnecessarily
know that without doing a lot of
research."
LSA junior Nick Reed, Sigma
Chiphilanthropychair, saidPup-
pies on the Porch is an important
transition year and something
that the two Greek institutions
look forward to collaborating
on each year. This year's event
raised approximately $6,000.
"We've beengiving our money
to the animal shelter every year
and we think it's a great cause,"
Reed said. "It's nice for people to
get to play with the puppies and
they love being played with too,
so really it's a win-win for every-
one."
Around 400 tickets were pre-
sold for the event. Reed said
while the event was advertised
through social media channels,
word-of-mouth is the biggest
draw for the event.
"I love this fundraiser because
it sells itself; everyone loves play-
ing with puppies, and especially
when we have them out on the
front lawn and everyone's having
fun, it's like the best marketing
ever," Reed added.
LSA sophomore Nathan
Novaria said he wanted to sup-
port the organizations efforts
because he also believes that phi-
lanthropy is an important part of
Greek Life.
"I'm the philanthropy chair
of Beta Theta Pi, so I try to go to
as many events as possible just
to show my support, because
it's such an important aspect
of what we do," Novaria said.
"Obviously community service
is really important around Ann
Arbor, but it's also important
to look at larger foundations
across the nation and sustain-
ing them so they can continue
to give back beyond our Ann
Arbor bubble."
Novaria added that the pres-
ence of puppies was also a major
factor in his decision to attend,
specifically because the weather
was so dreary.
"Ithinkit'sareallysmartmove
bringing in puppies because who
doesn't love puppies?" he said.
"It's great that they're able to do
this because it's a nice break for
students and they can come and
play with a puppy, while contrib-
uting to a great cause. I think it
generates a lot of their interest
aside from the fact that they're
both great organizations."
LSA freshman Leslie Alter
echoed Novaria's sentiments,
saying that she enjoyed the
interactive aspect of the event,
as opposed to simply donating
money to a cause.
She added that she was think-
ing about "stealing" one of the
small golden retriever puppies
because it was her favorite from
the day.
US sending two warships to Japan
to counter North Korean threat
Defense Secretary
says there is a lack
of respect in China
TOKYO (AP) - U.S. Defense
Secretary Chuck Hagel deliv-
ered a two-pronged warning
to Asia Pacific nations Sunday,
announcing that the U.S. will
send two additional ballistic
missile destroyers to Japan
to counter the North Korean
threat, and saying China must
better respect its neighbors.
In unusually forceful
remarks about China, Hagel
drew a direct line between
Russia's takeover of Ukraine's
Crimea region and the ongoing
territorial disputes between
China, Japan and others over
remote islands in the East
China Sea.
"I think we're seeing some
clear evidence of a lack of
respect and intimidation and
coercion in Europe today with
what the Russians have done
with Ukraine," Hagel told
reporters after a meeting with
Japanese Defense Minister
Itsunori Onodera. "We must
be very careful and we must
be very clear, all nations of the
world, that in the 21st century
this will not stand, you cannot
go around the world and rede-
fine boundaries and violate
territorial integrity and sov-
ereignty of nations by force,
coercion and intimidation
whether it's in small islands in
the Pacific or large nations in
Europe."
Hagel, who will travel to
China later this week, called
the Asian nation a "great
power," and added, "with this
power comes new and wider
responsibilities as to how'
you use that power, how you
employ that military power."
He said he will talk to the
Chinese about having respect
for their neighbors, and said,
"coercion, intimidation is a
very deadly thing that leads
only to conflict. All nations,
all people deserve respect
no matter how large or how
small."
Still, he said he looks for-
ward to having an honest,
straightforward dialogue
with the Chinese to talk about
ways the two nations and their
militaries can -work better
together.
The announcement of the
deployments of additional
destroyers to Japan came as
tensions with North Korea
spiked again, with Pyong-
yang continuing to threaten
additional missile and nuclear
tests.
In recent weeks the North
has conducted a series of
rocket and ballistic missile
launches that are considered
acts of protest against annual
ongoing springtime military
exercises by Seoul and Wash-
ington. North Korea says the
exercises are rehearsals for
invasion.
North and South Korea also
fired hundreds of artillery
shells into each other's waters
in late March in the most
recent flare-up.
PROM
From Page 1A
Medeiros said. "What more
could you ask for?"
In an effort to create a
comfortable environment,
the Commission provided a
gender-neutral bathroom for
trans-identified students,
served a large selection of
food to cater to special diets,
and ensured that the DJ did
not play music that could be
considered offensive or exclu-
sive.
"We're trying to create the
best social space for every-
one," Schwarzhaupt said.
Kinesiology freshman Katie
Baur and University alum
Christine Lisee went to the
prom wearing a matching cor-
sage and boutonniere.
"I wasn't really out in high
school so I never really got to
do anything like this," Lise
said. "I was like, cool let's get
dressed up and do this one
thing together."
In addition to Pride Prom,
the LGBT Commission holds
bimonthly meetings and
retreats throughout the year
and sponsors Gayz Craze at
Palmer Field in the fall.
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