O~tALISTA1t
The Michigan Daily - Friday, December 8, 1995 - 5A
Car accidents
occurringa
over CampUS
Several car accidents have occurred
o'er the past week;, according to De-
partment of Public Safety reports.
N Early Wednesdaymorning,acaller
told DPS that a pedstrian was hit by a
veicle in a parkinglot at900 Greene St.
,DS cited the dri r, a 34-year-old fe-
;mAle, for failure tc'yield while turning.
The victim refusedmedical treatment.
W About an hoer later, an unrelated
acident took plaae. A caller informed
IDPS that his vehicle was damaged in a
paYking lot at 700 E. Huron St. The left
driver's side was dented. The caller
said he believes someone threw furni-
tu-e on the vbhi1e. He was parked by
the dumpster.
r A female University student was
struck down by a car, driven by a 41-
year-old man, in Fletcher Street on
Wednesday afte tnoon. The student was
conscious and taken to University Hos-
pitals. She was treated for minor inju-
ries to her legs. DPS reports did not
indicate if the driver was ticketed or
cited for drivin g violations.
A bus driver knocked down a pole
on East Medicl Center Drive on Tues-
day morning, DIPS reports said. The bus
and the pole wfere damaged, although
the amount of damage was not released.
Residence hall
employee wanted
by police
While miitding his own business
working at Mary Markley residence
hall Monday,an employeewas arrested
and taken to Washtenaw County Jail.
The arrested person, who was not
identified by DPS, had an outstanding
civil paer ity warrant from the
:Washtenaw CCounty Sheriffs Office.
The Sheriff Office contacted DPS
prior to thEas.-est to ask the department
to look for th~e employee.
He had ao bond set at $8,477.
Memory stolen from
Schoog of Education
A compiter memory chip was stolen
from a computer in a room in the School
of Education Building. It is valued at
$500, DPS reports said.
There awe no suspects, DPS said.
Homeless man
kicked out of West
Engineering
A 50-y ear-old man was kicked out of
West Engineering on Tuesday after-
noon by )PS officers. The man was
caught sheeping in the men's room in
the btailding's north wing. He was in-
formed csf his trespassing and escorted
out. DPS reports indicate that these
types of'incidents occur several times
each week.
- Cotpiled by Daily Staff Reporter
Zachary M. Raimi
2,300 stud
By Laurie Mayk
Daily Staff Reporter
As finals week begins,2,300 Univer-
sity students are preparing for the end
of more than just winter term. Final
preparations are underway for Winter
Commencement, scheduled for 2 p.m.1
Sunday, Dec. 17 at Crisler Arena.
Mary Ann Peterson, student speaker,
Thomas A. Roach, former regent and +
president of the University Alumni
Association, President James J.
Duderstadt and two honorary degree
recipients are all expected to speak at3
the event.
Detroit Free Press Publisher Neal
ents prepare
Shine and historian Hayden White were evaluating t
selected to receive honorary diplomas tributions t
from the University at the ceremony. versity goal
Shine, a Pulitzer Prize winner who associate vi
was inducted into the Michigan Journal- relations. "
ism Hall of Fame, recently announced people, dis
his retirement. White, who began his theircontril
academic careeras an instructor atWayne Previous
State University, is a professor emeritus speakers ha
of history and consciousness at the Uni- general Ant
versity of California at Santa Cruz. Both Gov. John F
are scheduled to make brief remarks For stude
upon accepting honorary doctor of hu- their gradu
mane letters degrees. commencer
Shine and White were selected after for seniors v
a "rigorous process" by a committee resources tc
heir achievements and con-
o areas consistent with Uni-
s and ideals, said Lisa Baker,
ce president for University
They are both extraordinary
tinguishing themselves in
butionsto society," she said.
s winter commencement
ve included former surgeon
onia Novello and Michigan
Engler.
ents who have completed all
ation requirements, winter
ment is an attractive option
who don't have the financial
o continue for another term
and are anxious to enter the job market, Union.
said Leah Phillips, graduating LSA se- Graduates and candidates should
nior. enter Crisler Arena through the
"I wanted to get a head start on thejob tunnel entrance at 1:15 p.m,
market," Phillips said."I am (from)out Tickets will be available 8:30 a.m."
of state so the tuition was sort of too 4:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday In the
high - as well as the room and board Lydia Mendelssohn box office. Six
- to stay here another term." tickets per graduate or candidate
All graduates and candidates of will be allotted. Any extra tickets
will be distributed to graduates and.
the 1995 summer or fall terms may par- candidates on a first-come, first.
ticipate in the ceremony. served basis 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Today is the last day to submit gradu- Friday, Dec. 15. .
ation materials for winter commence- Families and guests may enter,
ment. A completed diploma application through the concourse level doors and
and senior concentration form must be are asked to be seated by 1:50 p.m.
turned in to 1401 Angel Hall today.
Rarec;flower at'U
gadens about to
bloom, thien die"19A~
for graduation
Book drive
Charity Claramunt, who formed the Book Drive for the Washtenaw County Jail Is collecting books In the Mosher-Jordan
library.
Aianza to Celebmate
with Posada Latino festival
By Michele Moss
For the Daily
A beautiful, rare, yet tragic mem-
ber of the plant kingdom resides in
Ann Arbor and is about to have its
moment of fame - and then die.
Just like Jack's beanstalk in the
Disney classic, the A gave
peduncluifera in the Desert Room of
the Matthaei Botanical Gardens looms
over other living creatures, having an
awesome presence.
A rosette of five-foot-wide blue-
green leaves forms at its base. Up from
the bed of leaves rises an eight-foot-
high flower stalk. Fifteen hundred pale
green flower buds encircling the stem
have burst into creamy white blos-
soms for the plant's only display of
beauty, which it worked 20 years to
create.
But this explosion of life is tragic, for
when the Agave blooms, it dazzles for
two to three weeks - and then withers
away.
Growing on the side of a rock in the
desert room of the Botanical Gardens
for the last 20 years, the plant has
been waiting for the perfect combina-
tion of sunlight and water drainage to
stimulate it into blossoming. And it is
time.
Spectators can literally walk under
the plant to look at its buds and tower-
ing stalk.
Today this Agave is the only one
known to be in captivity, said David
Michiner, assistant curator at the
Matthaei Botanical Gardens. He added
that only a few gardens have ever had
one.
Michiner said that the plant has to
grow for decades to get enough energy
to sprout the stalk. But by the time the
stalk is fully grown and weather condi-
tions are right, all the plant's energy has
been spent.
In the wild, moths work frantically
during the weeks the plant is in bloom
to pollenate the buds and spread the
seeds so baby plants called "pups" can
grow once the mother plant dies. At the
Botanical Gardens, the staff is anxious
to see what happens.
In 1939 in the West Coast desert
region of Baja Mexico, an expedition
team harvested a rare Agave plant and
brought it to Matthaei Botanical Gar-
dens to shine as the star plant in tle
garden's collection. A rare and excit-
ing find, this species has only been
found growing in five or six states of
Mexico.
The Agave debuted at the gardens
that year and bloomed in "the 1970s.
Records of the first plant are sketchy
and the Matthaei staff does not know
how it reproduced in captivity, but it
was the "mother" ofthe existing Agave,
Michiner said.
But the Gardens staff feels sure that
Ann Arbor is truly blessed with the
world's most spectacular species of the
plant kingdom.
"It doesn't look real. It looks like it
comes straight out of Dr. Seuss. I love
it," Michiner said. "It looks
perposterous, like pandas do. You think,
how did that ever evolve?"
The Matthaei Botanical Gardens
are open daily from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
and admission is free to University stu-
dents.
To get there from campus, take
Geddes Road east to Dixboro Road.
Turn left and take Dixboro north about
two miles. The gardens are on the right-
hand side of Dixboro Road.
By Laurie Mayk
Daily Staff Reporter
Pumpkin pie, holiday fruitcake and
Frosty the Snowman will be passed
over tonight for tomales, arroz and tra-
ditional Latino music at Alianza's third
annual Posada. The highly secularized
Christmas holiday will be celebrated
for its religious and historic roots
through food, song and religious
reinactments.
The event is' an opportunity for
"Latino students to come together and
celebrate Christmas and Mary and
Joseph ... in a festive Latino way,"
said Cecilia Slavic, Alianza publicity
chair.
Stockwell Hall's Blue Carpet Lounge
will serve as the stage for a reinactment of
Mary and Joseph's Christmas journey.
"Mary and Joseph went door to door
knocking to get food and sleep in a
warm place," Slavic said.
Guests at the celebration are di-
vided into two factions to play the
parts of the holy couple and the citi-
zens who refuse them lodging. The
group representing Mary and Joseph
knocks on doors and sings in Spanish
as they are turned away. Each verse of
their traditional song is a plea for
refuge.
"In the last verse it is the people on
the inside saying the other verses; they
let them in and then we eat," said Nora
Salas, Alianza co-chair.
The presentation of Posada, Spanish
for "refuge," was started at the Univer-
sity three years ago by the Salsa Latino
group, which grew into the current
Latino students' aliance of Alianza.
Posada will take place 6:30-8:30 in
Stockwell Hall's Blue Carpet Lounge
tonight. The event is free and open to all
students.
Prenatal transplant offers sickle cell help
DETROIT (AP) - The fetal bone
marrow transplant technique that saved
a boy with an immune disorder may
someday help victims of sickle cell
disease, doctors said yesterday.
Five-month-old Taylor Dahley of
Midland received a transfusion of his
father's marrow 11 months ago, when
he was still in his mother's womb.
The procedure appears to have suc-
ceeded in curing Taylor of the rare
immune system-weakening genetic
condition that killed his brother two
years ago, the doctors who treated
him said at a news conference yester-
day.
What excites the doctors is that the
relatively simple procedure would seem
to offer hope for treatment of a wide
range of genetic diseases.
"There are about 100 conditions
where it is applicable," said Dr. Mark I.
Evans, vice chief of obstetrics and gy-
necology at Hutzel Hospital.
Fetal surgery chief Dr. Alan W. Flake
said the procedure seems to be effec-
tive, safe and simple.
"It opens the doorto treat a number of
diseases." Flake said.
Taylor's parents, Heather and Brian
Dahley, lost their first child two years
ago when his immune system suddenly
failed. An autopsy showed he had a rare
inherited genetic disorder found in about
one in 100,000 births.
About 13 weeks into Dahley's next
pregnancy, testing found that the fetus
had the same condition, X-linked se-
vere combined immunodeficiency.
Up to about 16 weeks from concep-
tion, fetuses usually do not reject trans-
planted tissue. Doctors took bone mar-
row cells from the father and injected
them into the fetus' abdomen three
times.
The cells apparently took, allowing
the fetus to make its own, healthy blood
cells, the doctors said.
"One of the beauties of this is its
simplicity," Flake said. "This is an in-
credibly cost-effective treatment."
Now, the doctors say they are hoping
for a chance to test the procedure on a
fetus carrying one of the most common
"... A change in present Regents
by4a&vregulatingdrivingatthe Uni-
versi ty was recommended by Stu-
dent Government Council lastnight.
Bassically, the proposal adopted
by tle driying study committee ap-
pointed last spring calls for liberal-
ization of present driver require-
menit of 26 years old to a minimum
limij of2 years ..."
Corrctons
8 Gil' Shaham's concert is Saturday at 8 p.m. at Hill Auditorium. This was incorrectly reported in yesterday's Daily.
Rush tickets are available today at TicketMaster. This was incorrectly reported in yesterday's Daily.
What's h ppening in Ann Arbor this weekend
v-
LOWEST PRICES!
S HIGHEST QUALITY!
FASTEST SERVICE!
* 1002 PONTIAC TR.
99 4-13s7
YELLOW
rA1
IFRN DAY
Erb "Israeli OnegShabbat," sponsored by
The American Movement for Israel,
Hillel Building, Hill Street, 8 p.m.
IL Nnjtsu Club, beginnerswelcome,761-
8251, IMS8, Room G-21, 6:30.8
p.m.
U "Paul Williams: Scott Turner Lec-
ture Series," sponsored by De-
partment of Geological Sciences,
Chemistry Building, Room 1640,
4 p.m.
U "Posada," sponsored by Alianza,
Stockwell Hall, Blue Carpet Lounge,
U "TwoConceptionsofEmotioniCrimnal
Law," Martha Nussbaum, sponsored
by Philosophy Department, Adminis-
trative Services Building, Room 2058,
Tanner Library, 4 p.m:
SATUrDAY
0 "Chistmas Worship," sponsored by
Graduate Christian Fellowship, Chris-
tian Reformed Church, 1717 Broad-
way, 7 p.m.
J "Homemade Cookies: Delicious Va-
ety," sponsored by First United Meth-
, Ai,+ hr nh ''N..rrh ttn -rn
Dow Field Prarie off Riverview Drive,
9 a.m.-12 noon
SUNDAY
Q "Ballroom Dance Party," sponsored by
Ballroom Dance Club, 213-2208,
Michigan Union Ballroom, beginning
lesson 7:30-11 p.m.
Q "Free Holiday Turkey Dinner," spon-
sored by Lutheran Campus Ministry,
Lord of Light Lutheran Church, 801
South Forest Avenue, 11:30 a.m.
Q "Leam To Build A Skating Rink In Your
Own Backyard," sponsored by Ann
A -r- --noD L- nA -n _
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