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 _ I I- I 0