The Mic
MSU to keep biotech
By JIM SPARKS
Battle Creek lost its bid to lure a biotechnology in-
stitute away from Michigan State University yester-
day, when the institute board voted 7-2 to stay in the
Lansing area.
In a closed meeting at the University's Fleming
Administration Building, the board ended a three-
month effort by a group calling itself Battle Creek
Unlimited to move the Molecular Biology Institute
(MBI) to Battle Creek.
JOHN WEIL, chairman of MBI's board, said he
was "very much impressed with the spirit of Battle
Creek and with Battle Creek Unlimited," but said the
advantages of staying close to a major university tip-
ped the balance in Lansing's favor.
One of the major contributors to MBI is Battle
Creek's Kellogg Foundation, which has already spent
$150,000 on the institute and is considering more gifts.
But Weil said Kellogg did not pressure MBI to move
as a condition for receiving money.
"THE FOUNDATIONS have made it clear that
they count on the health of the institution, not its
location," he said.
The vast majority of MBI's funding comes from a
$6.2 million state grant. The institute has also
received $50,000 from the Dow Foundation.
MBI was founded by the state in 1981 in an attempt
to help turn around Michigan's sagging economy by
spawning new biotechnology firms.
ONE OF ITS primary tasks is to fund research on
developing improved plant and tree species through
cloning techniques, and creating new chemicals from
renewable resources. MSU's strong agricultural
programs played a large part in the original decision
to locate there.
The institute is considering support for 12 resear-
ch projects throughout the state, Weil said. One of the
closest to receiving funds is a proposal by University
Microbiology Prof. Ronald Olsen to develop new
chemicals from lignin, a substance extracted from
trees.
CURRENTLY THE institute is working out of some
offices at MSU, but Weil said they are looking at five
sites in the Lansing area for a permanent location.
He said he did not yet know whether the institute
would end up on MSU property or off-campus.
IN A STATEMENT released yesterday, MSU
President Cecil Mackey said he was pleased the
higan Doily - Saturday, August 13, 1983 - Page 3
institute
board decided to keep MBI in the area, and said the
benefits of MBI's research will not be restricted to
East Lansing.
"We are committed to sharing the vast resources
and expertise available at MSU in moving the results
of research into the entire state," he said.
"The decision 4s one more example of the state's
commitment to move aggressively in bringing
together the internal resources required for
Michigan's long-range economic development,"
Mackey added.
MBI MAKES UP the biological part of Michigan's
economic development. State planners feel that
Michigan's forests may bring about an economic
boom in the '90s, especially if MBI research can begin
to produce fast-growing seedlings which will be
almost identical to each other.
The other major part of Michigan's high-tech effort
is the Industrial Technology Institute (ITI), located
in the University's Transportation Research In-
stitute.
ITI's goal is to help develop the "factory of the
future" in Michigan - meaning plants which operate-
largely by computers and robots.
Court
says teen
illegally
confiscated
boss's pot
LANSING (UPI) - The Michigan
Court of Appeals yesterday ruled Nor-
man Shurmur's rights were violated
when a teenager he employed as a yard
boy snatched alleged marijuana from
his basement and turned it over to the
local police.
According to the court, James Cooper, a
16-year-old who mowed Shurmur's yard
and did other work around the house,
was the son of a Grosse Pointe Woods
police auxiliary officer and a frequent
visitor to the police station.
On July 3, 1981, Cooper reportedly en-
tered Shurmur's basement without
permission and discovered four alleged
marijuana plants growing there. Three
days later, he saw what he believed to
be a partially smoked marijuana
cigarette in the house and related his
observations to the local police.
On the following day, the teen entered
Shurmur's house and took several
leaves from the plants, which he turned
over to the police.
AS A RESULT, a search warrant
was issued, the plants were seized, and
Shurmur found himself facing charges
of illegal manufacture of marijuana.
The judge, however, suppressed the
illegally obtained evidence and
dismissed the charge.
The prosecution argued that Cooper
was acting on his own volition as a
private citizen when he took the alleged
marijuana samples and that, therefore,
there was no improper police action in-
volved.
The judge saw it differently, choosing
to disbelieve Cooper's statements that
the police did not request him to
remove the leaves from the plant and
deliver them for examination.
If Cooper was operating under the
authority of the police, the appeals
court said, "the removal of the con-
traband from defendant's residence
constituted an unlawful search and
seizure."
Daily Photo by DOUG McMAHON
Demonstrators march in front of the Federal Building Thursday to protest President Reagan's policies in Central
America.
Ralliers attack Reagan 's policy
By JACKIE YOUNG
About 25 opponents of President
Reagan's Central American policies
rallied in front of the Federal Building
Thursday in what one protester called a
"constant visual display of op-
pression."
Chanting "money for jobs, not for
war, U.S. out of El Salvador," and
"Hey, hey Uncle Sam, we remember
Vietnam," members of the Univer-
sity's Black Students Union, the
Latin " American Solidarity Committee
and the People's Anti-war Mobilization
protested America's increasing in-
volvement in Central America.
HENRY JULL, a retired basket
weaver, said the rally was "a good
thing and I'm glad to see it."
"I think it is going to wake up some
people. Protest does things," he added.
Phillip Whitlow, a conscientious ob-
jector during the Vietnam War, also
supported the protesters.
"I THINK it is about time people got
off their butts and did something about
this," he said. "In Detroit about 50 per-
cent of the people don't have jobs, and I
think we are getting into another Viet-
nam war."
Whitlow said Reagan has declared
war on blacks, the poor, and gays by
boosting military spending at the ex-
pense of social programs.
Whitlow added he would immigrate
to Canada again if the Pentagon asked
him to fight in another war.
"RIGHT NOW I feel as if Reagan is
invading my home," he said.
But Anne Doniger, an onlooker from
Tamarack, Florida, took a dim view of
the protesters comparison of Central
America with Vietnam. "Would they
rather have Russia taking over Central
America?" she asked.
"It is the Russians plan to take over
the entire Caribbean and I don't want to
be ringed in," Doniger said.
"I don't want us to wait till after they
drop the bomb to defend ourselves."
University senior.Kris Moon, a mem-
ber of the Workers World Party, said
changes in the country's priorities are
not going to ,come through the old
avenes.
"It isn't the Democrats who are going
to stop the fighting," he said. "It was
the Democrats who voted for the
nuclear freeze, then the next week
voted for the MX missile. The
Democrats voted to cut off covert aid,
but they voted to increase by $80 million
overt aid tQ Central America," he said.