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Wednesday
One hundred four years of editorialfreedom August 9, 1995

Summer
Weekly

State lawmaker calls buyouts 'offensive'

y Amy Klein
Daily News Editor
Following this summer's media frenzy
over former Michigan head football coach
Gary Moeller's resignation, a Lansing law-
maker is renewing his proposal to limit ati-
letic department contract buyouts.
In a letter to regents and trustees at
both Michigan State University and the
University of Michigan, Rep. Lingg
rewer (D-Holt) said he finds the con-
act buyouts of former football coaches

Gary Moeller and George Perles to be
"troubling and offensive."
Brewer also said he plans to introduce
an amendment to next year's higher edu-
cation budget to cut the amount of appro-
priations to universities by the amount
they spend on contract buyouts. When
Brewer introduced the amendment this
past year, it failed by three votes.
"They set up contracts. I understand
there was a good-behavior clause in
Moeller's contract, so the lawyers did

their jobs and the Athletic Department
just ignored the contract," Brewer said.
In response, Roberta R. Palmer, sec-
retary to the University Board of Re-
gents, wrote a letter to Brewer detailing
the decision at the July regents meeting
to look into the communications be-
tween the administration and the Athletic
Department.
Regent Andrea Fischer Newman (R-
Ann Arbor) said she was not satisfied
with the University response and drafted

her own letter to Brewer.
"I think this is completely inappro-
priate and that the representative needs to
understand all the facts," Newman said.
University spokeswoman Julie
Peterson also said that the legislation is
unnecessary.
"The constitution of the state of
Michigan gives the University the right
to govern itself on a day-to-day basis,:
she said.
Some Lansing lawmakers have also

sided with the University and view the
attempt to curb any further athletic de-
partment contract buyouts as meddling.
"The Legislature is there to set policy.
Its business is not to run the University,"
said Rep. Kirk Profit (D-Ypsilanti). "For
the Legislature to stick its nose in this
would be unconstitutional."
Rep. Mary Schroer (D-Ann Arbor)
has also said she would not support
Brewer's legislation.
SEE Btyou'es, PAGE 2

Deondre Byrd, 21, is the only suspect still at large. He is
considered armed and dangerous.
Grants given
to A2,Ypsi
after shooting
By James Elworth
Daily Staff Reporter
Amid growing worries about gang violence in Ann Arbor
and Ypsilanti, state Rep. Kirk Profit (D-Ypsilanti) yesterday
announced two new crime fighting initiatives for the area.
The state's Office of Drug Control Policy has granted the City
of Ypsilanti a $65,371 "community reclamation grant," and a fur-
ther $314,647 grant to be used to fund "a multi-jurisdictional task
force targeting street-level drug operations in the Ypsilanti/Ann
Arbor area," according to a press release from Profit's office.
The smaller grant will be used to implement a community
policing program on Ypsilanti's south side, where a police
mini-station will be set up to help facilitate cooperation be-
tween community residents and police.
Profit said that the grant would allow the city police to work
closely with residents to fight crime.
"The problems we have are very severe. ... I don't want to
cause a lot of fear, because these incidents are very isolated, but
we certainly have some particularly troubled areas," he said.
The new programs come in the wake of two fatal
shootings, one in Ypsilanti and one in Ann Arbor, which have
increased tensions between police and some community resi-
dents. Those tensions erupted into an open confrontation last
week at a citizens' meeting in the Ann Arbor neighborhood
where the most recent shooting occurred.
A drive-by shooting in Ypsilanti claimed the life of 22-year-