9

Thursday, August 11, 2016

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com NEWS

supported 
it 
while 
working 

under the Obama administration 
and has since denounced. He also 
accused Clinton of supporting 
the North American Free Trade 
Agreement — enacted under 
Bill Clinton — which is believed 
to have resulted in millions of 
dollars of trade deficit with 
Canada and Mexico and the loss 
of millions of American jobs.

“A vote for Hillary Clinton is 

a vote for TPP and NAFTA,” he 
said. “Before NAFTA went into 
effect, there were 285,000 auto 
workers in Michigan. Today that 
number is only 160,000. Detroit 
is 
still 
waiting 
for 
Hillary 

Clinton’s apology. She’s been a 
disaster. I expect Detroit will 
get that apology right around 
the same time Hillary Clinton 
turns over those 33,000 e-mails 
she deleted.”

Trump promised to release a 

more detailed economic plan in 
the weeks to come.

Michigan 
has 
come 
into 

question as a swing state this 
election season, despite voting 
Democratic in every presidential 
election since 1988. Both vice-
presidential 
nominees 
have 

already visited the state, and 
Clinton is scheduled to speak 
Thursday in the state, where she 

will also address her economic 
plan.

According 
to 
Rusy 
Hills, 

University professor of public 
policy, the economic appeal will 
be key for the Trump campaign 
in winning the state.

“This is the number one 

issue: jobs, paychecks and the 
economy,” he said. “He’s right 
in the voter sweet spot. The fact 
that he’s doing it in Michigan 
shows that Michigan is in play.”

Trump’s 
speech 
was 

interrupted by 14 protesters 
— the majority of whom were 
women. 
Female 
protestors 

shouted phrases such as: “You 
have to answer to women,” while 
a sole male protester repeatedly 
shouted “tiny hands” as he was 
escorted out.

Outside 
the 
Cobo 
Center, 

approximately 100 protesters 
attempted to form a human wall, 
blocking Trump’s entry. Signs 
held by the protesters denoted 
a number of controversial issues 
including 
the 
Khan 
family 

controversy, Palestine relations 
and 
Trump’s 
proposed 
wall 

and conservative immigration 
policies.

Debra Simmons, who was 

there 
protesting 
Trump’s 

candidacy, 
said 
Trump’s 

offensive comments showcased 
throughout his campaign make 
him unrepresentative of the 
public.

“Who wants a hater in the 

White House? He’s not for the 
people,” she said. “His issues 
do not reflect what the people 
want.”

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D–

Mich.) was also in attendance 
at 
the 
event, 
despite 
her 

endorsement of Clinton. She said 
that despite Trump’s economic 
agenda, his historical actions 
do not indicate that he will help 
Detroit, the state of Michigan or 
the working class.

“He says one thing but his 

actions don’t match up,” she 
said. “While I want jobs here, 
he’s exporting jobs to China and 
other countries. … When he talks 
about autos, Hillary Clinton 
voted for a package that saved 
the auto industry. He opposed 
it.”

18-year-old Ann Arbor residents 
to purchase cigars in Ypsilanti 
and smoke in his store.

Mohammad 
Hassan, 
store 

manager of Bongz & Thongz 
on East Liberty Street, said he 
expects stores selling supplies 
for vaporizers — whose users 
are disproportionately younger 
— to be significantly hurt by the 
new ordnance.

“In Ann Arbor we have a 

whole community of vaporizing 
(vendors), and pretty much it’s 
going to hurt them,” Hassan 
said. “We have a huge vaporizer 
shop downstairs and it’s going 
to be hurt pretty bad because 
a lot of our customers are from 
the age of 18 to 20.”

Hassan said that, though he 

is not as concerned about the 
law affecting his store because 
most of its business comes from 
selling artisan glass pipes, he 
wants to start a petition drive 
with other tobacco shops to roll 
back the regulation.

“(The regulation is) going 

to hurt a lot of people, and I 
do think it will shut down a 
lot of shops here in the city 
and possibly in the state of 
Michigan,” 
Hassan 
said. 
“I 

think businesses should wake 
up. I’m more than happy to get 
together with other businesses, 
but a lot of people aren’t going to 
wake up until it does hit and it 
does affect.”

Hassan also added he expects 

the new law will be devastating 
for responsible student smokers 
under 21 because they must now 
resort to illicit means to obtain 
tobacco.

“Raising the age limit to 21 

is probably going to make a lot 
more kids try to find different 
ways to have people purchase 
the cigarettes,” Hassan said. 
“From 18 now to 21, it’s a huge 
jump. So if somebody’s been 
smoking for two of those years 
and 
can’t 
smoke 
anymore, 

what do you expect them to 
do? There’s going to be people 
finding different ways to scam 
the system.”

Three other stores carrying 

tobacco products in Ann Arbor 
declined to comment for this 
story when approached by Daily 
reporters.

Despite 
the 
protests 
of 

individual cigar and cigarette 
business owners, little evidence 
could be found of a wider 
backlash from the local business 

community.

Andy Labarre, director of 

government relations for the 
Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Chamber 
of Commerce, told the Daily 
in a phone interview that he 
doesn’t expect the regulations 
to significantly affect the local 
economy and that the chamber 
will not take an official position 
on the ordinance.

“I don’t think there’s a notion 

that it’s going to have any 
substantial impact on the local 
economy,” Labarre said. “To be 
frank, it’s more viewed as the 
Ann Arbor City Council acting 
outside its jurisdiction. … That 
happens from time to time.”

Labarre 
also 
added 
that 

no 
local 
businesses 
have 

approached the chamber with 
concerns regarding the new 
restrictions.

Councilmember Grand, who 

initiated the tobacco legislation, 
told the Daily the profit margin 
on cigarette sales and demand 
for 
tobacco 
products 
from 

18-to-21-year-olds is so small 
that she wasn’t concerned about 
any adverse effects on the local 
economy.

“The interest in having the 

‘Tobacco 21’ ordinance isn’t 
about the impact on businesses; 
it’s the impact on the health of 
young people in our community,” 
Grand said. “We did think about 
this impact (on local businesses) 
and determined that any small 
impacts that are made were 
worth it on balance with health 
benefit.”

Grand added that she has 

only faced scattered opposition 
to her legislation from business 
owners; namely from Rosenthal 
and an out-of-town advocacy 
group representing the tobacco 
industry.

Rosenthal said he has been 

approached by a number of 
multi-regional 
law 
firms, 

whose names he declined to 
disclose, seeking to challenge 
the ordinance as a pro-bono 
civil rights case on the basis of 
the ordinance’s contradiction to 
state law. However, he said he is 
still undecided over whether to 
challenge the city in what could 
ultimately be lengthy litigation.

“I really do love this town. 

… I’m not going anywhere,” 
Rosenthal said. “If I take this to 
court, it’s going to cost hundreds 
of thousands of dollars in legal 
fees to the city. Does Ann Arbor 
have the money? Of course they 
do, but it’s kind of a waste … but 
I don’t know (if I will sue), it’s 
going to be a moral decision.”

TOBACCO
From Page 3

veterans cope with their new 
reality after coming home.

York 
said 
the 
company 

eventually hopes to create a 
platform in which kids, therapists 
and parents alike can create 

their own augmented reality 
experiences. York described her 
vision as something similar to 
Pinterest but using augmented 
reality. She said she envisions 
a platform in which kids can 
discover what would happen 
if they mixed two storylines 
together or if they wanted to put 
themselves in the story.

She added that ALTality also 

plans to expand to homes and 
schools and keep up with the 
rapidly advancing technology, 
either continuing in the direction 
they are headed or expanding 
further into developing an app 
that is compatible with headsets 
or wearables such as activity 
trackers.

REALITY
From Page 2

TRUMP
From Page 1

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