2A..- The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 6, 1995
11.1
Electronic
tetbers to
be ttached
to baterers
DET I IT (AP)-People convicted
of battering a loved one can get out of
jail early but will have their move-
ments monitored electronically - un-
der a pr ram about to get a tryout in
Berrien'-County.
"We have a really bad domestic vio-
lence situation here - they're just fill-
ing up ourjail," said Cheryl Price, com-
munity corrections coordinator for the
southwestern Michigan county.
"We th ought the tether would be a
good option."
Berrien officials heard about the idea
in May 'at a corrections seminar. They
used a $1,300 state grant to develop
and start a pilot program.
After= serving some jail time, cer-
tain people convicted of battering
spouses or loved ones can get out by
agreeing topay $10-$12 daily to wear
the electronic ankle device. A moni-
toring device would be placed in the
home ofthe potential victim to warn
if the batterer is near. Victims who
participate must agree to have their
monitorin their homes and to have
counseling. The monitor also acts as a
tape recorder should the batterer en-
ter the home.
"If it'S going to save one woman's
life, it's .worth it," Mable Dunbar, ex-
ecutive director of Safe Shelter in
Berrieni County, told the Detroit Free
Press for a story Monday.
"From a psychological standpoint,
the tether is' making a difference,"
said Cathy Fulda, program manager
for the device at its maker, BI Inc. of
Bould4ft Colo. "It is better than a
piece Offpaper. But you must realize
that it is not protection. The batterer
has to be involved in some sort of
treatment ... and the victim must un-
derstand that he or she must do some
safety planning."
Des ite crackdown,
27 e over holiday
Labor Day weekend
fatality rate on state's
roads ranks highest in
the past six years
DETROIT (AP) - State police ex-
pressed surprise yesterday over the high
number of Labor Day weekend deaths
on the state's roads. At least 27 died, the
highest total in six years, despite an
enforcement crackdown.
"We're pretty puzzled," said Sgt. Eric
Johnson of the troopers' traffic services
section in Lansing. "We're taking a
good hard look at this."
The high number was especially dis-
appointing since alcohol-related deaths
were down and seat-belt use was up,
Johnson said.
Police were hoping to declare this
summer one of the safest on record after
relatively low highway fatality counts
during the Memorial Day and July
Fourth weekends. But the most recent
three-day holiday weekend dashed those
hopes.
The weekend total was the highest
since 1989, when 29 people died on
Michigan roads over the Labor Day
holiday. Ten died last year.
"It certainly has taken what started
out to be our safest summer in some
time and made it a bad one," Johnson
said.
Hundreds of extra troopers were on
the state's highways to catch speeders,
drunks and other reckless drivers.
Troopers also focused on enforcing the
state law mandating seat-belt use.
"We had a lot of patrols out, a lot of
overtime," Johnson said.
Debbie Pearson, a spokeswoman for
the American Automobile Club of
Michigan in Dearborn, noted that a
majority of the victims were under 24.
"It wasn't alcohol this time. It was
wild driving," she said.
Troopers were analyzing the crash
reports for reasons why there were so
many fatalities. He noted four of the
crashes had multiple deaths, but even
without those the total would have been
higher than last year's.
Five young people, including a 2-
year-old girl, were killed when their car
struck a tree in Van-Buren County Sun-
day. And two women and a child died
when two cars collided and one ofthem
was knocked into a house in Saginaw
County.
"In the most recent holiday week-
ends, there have been mostly single
fatalities," he said. "The only positive
thing is the fact that drinking-related
fatalities were down and belt use was
up a bit."
For fatality tabulation, the holiday
weekend ran from 6 p.m. Friday to
midnight Monday.
It's not Disneyland ...
With classes started, students wait on line to purchase textbooks yesterday at Michigan Book and Supply on State Street.
Rep.
Hoeksra plans inquiy on teaching homosexuality in schools
DETROIT (AP) - U.S. Rep. Peter
Hoekstra plans a congressional hearing
to determine whether public schools
promote homosexuality to students.
Hoekstra spokesman Jon Brandt said
yesterday that the hearing would be
held "within the next month or so"
before a panel of the House Economic
and Educational Committee to address
parental concerns about distributing
condoms in school and sex education.
The hearing had been scheduled for
Sept. 12, but organizers ran into logis-
tical problems and decided Friday to
put it off, Brant said.
"It's not to bash gays," Brandt said.
"It's to talk about the appropriateness
ofhaving to deal with these issues in the
classroom."
But the hearing came about because
House Speaker Newt Gingrich prom-
isedthe Anaheim, Ca.-based Traditional
Values Coalition - which has been
opposed to gay rights for more than 20
years - that the issue would be ad-
dressed.
"We are convinced that there is a
clear agenda that the gay and lesbian ...
groups want to promote in the schools,"
said the Rev. Louis Sheldon, director of
the organization. "And this agenda has
been accomplished through the Centers
for Disease Control with funding under
the Trojan Horse of AIDS education."
The hearing was scheduled quietly
last month and the Democratic mem-
bers of the committee were not notified.
The date became known when a gay-
rights group made public a fund-raising
letter Sheldon sent to supporters.
The hearing has drawn criticism from
the country's largest gay rights organi-
zation.
The Human Rights Campaign Fund
accused Hoekstra of turning the com-
mittee over to Sheldon, who "is shame-
lessly distorting the purpose of pro-
grams designed to keep young people
safe and healthy," said Elizabeth Birch,
executive director of the fund.
Brandt said Sheldon has helped plan
the hearing, but said Sheldon does not
have the run of Hoekstra's subcommit-
tee.
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