City Council voted down a
resolution Monday that would
have directed the city attorney
to investigate the actions of
the protesters who sought to
disrupt Ann Arbor’s annual
deer cull. The measure, which
was defeated in a 6-5 vote,
would have required the city
attorney to “take any and
all
appropriate
responsive
actions,
including
issuance
of citations and the filing of
lawsuits seeking an injunction
or such other relief that the
city
attorney
determines
appropriate.”
Ann Arbor established its
deer management program in
late August of 2015 in response
to resident complaints about
overgrazing
and
worries
about deer-vehicle collisions.
Since then, municipal deer
management
efforts
have
racked up costs to the city
of more than half a million
dollars,
with
City
Council
approving more than $182,000
in
continued
spending
in
November.
According
to
the city, a total of 274 have
been killed and 72 surgically
sterilized.
Councilmember
Jane
Lumm, I-Ward 2, said there
was an urgent need for the city
to intervene.
“I’m bringing forward this
resolution to address concerns
Researchers
at
the
University of Michigan are
leading a national collaborative
effort to study firearm injury
and death among children and
teens. The interdisciplinary
project, comprised of more
than 30 researchers, health
practitioners,
and
firearm
owners and a dozen academic
institutions, seeks a scientific
approach
to
gun
violence
prevention with respect to gun
ownership rights.
The
project,
known
as
the
Firearm
Safety
Among Children and Teens
Consortium (FACTS) is led
by professor of emergency
medicine and director of the
Injury
Prevention
Center
Rebecca
Cunningham,
professor of public health Marc
Zimmerman,
and
assistant
professor
of
emergency
medicine
Patrick
Carter.
In November 2018, FACTS
launched a new website with
data, research, videos, courses,
fact sheets and other resources
on firearm injury prevention,
less than a week after the
National
Rifle
Association
prompted
controversy
by
tweeting that doctors should
“stay in their lane.”
In response to those who
argue academics and doctors
should
not
be
involved,
Cunningham
believes
gun
violence is a public health
problem,
one
that
should
be
addressed
with
injury
prevention
science
and
increased funding for research.
“The amount of money we
have
for
firearm
research
still pales in comparison to
the amount of funding for
cancer, which actually kills
less children,” Cunningham
said. “Firearms are the second-
leading cause of death among
children and adolescents in the
United States. In the same way
that having less car crashes
is not political, or less opioid
overdoses
is
not
political,
having less firearm injuries and
deaths is not political.”
The
five-year
project
is
funded by a $4.9 million grant
from
the
Eunice
Kennedy
Shriver
National
Institute
of Child Health and Human
Development
(NICHD),
the
largest NIH grant for firearm
research in 20 years. It has
a number of goals, such as
developing a research agenda
through identifying research
questions
and
priorities,
conducting pilot studies to
establish groundwork and best
practices and creating an online
data repository of existing
research.
These
initiatives,
according to Cunningham, aim
to develop resources in a field
that has been largely neglected
in the past.
“Firearm prevention is in its
infancy. It’s been very much
suppressed,” Cunningham said.
“FACTS is set up to jumpstart
research on firearm violence
that has been mostly absent
for the past couple of decades.
At the end of five years, we will
have helped to create a field
that is much more active and
a group of researchers that are
much more knowledgeable.”
Cunningham
believes
preventing
firearm
injury
includes studying topics such
Ann Arbor City Council passed a
resolution Monday night directing
the city attorney to settle a lawsuit
with a citizens group over the
sale of a plot of land adjacent to
the Ann Arbor District Library.
Local attorney Tom Wieder filed a
complaint in Augustin Washtenaw
County Circuit Court on behalf of
the Ann Arbor Central Park Ballot
Committee in response to the sale
of the lot to Chicago developer Core
Spaces.
Proposal A passed by a narrow
margin in November after months
of debate and opposition from
Mayor
Christopher
Taylor.
It
amends the city charter, nullifying
a vote by City Council in April 2017
to sell the lot to Core Spaces, which
had planned to build a 17-story high
rise with office and retail space, a
hotel, apartments and an outdoor
plaza.
Following
the
passage
of
Proposal A, which mandated the
city maintain ownership of the
Library Lot in perpetuity and
develop it as an urban park and
civic center commons, Ann Arbor
officially called off the $10 million
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, January 9, 2019
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
City votes
against deer
cull protest
resolution
Student group creates petition
criticizing Title IX court ruling
See DEER CULL, Page 3A
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
The Sixth Circut ruled that the University must require cross-examination by the accused or his agent.
ANN ARBOR
The proposal would have allowed legal
action against those protecting deer
LEAH GRAHAM
Daily News Editor
Organization calls for reversal of decision ordering cross-examination in misconduct cases
Tuesday afternoon, Jane Roe,
a newly-formed student group
at the University of Michigan,
penned a petition calling for
the University to adjust its new
policy in Title IX investigations,
based on the September Title
IX ruling by the Sixth Circuit
Court of Appeals. The ruling
states students accused of sexu-
al misconduct must be allowed
the right to cross-examine their
accuser as a part of due process.
LSA freshman Emma Sandberg,
a founding member of the orga-
nization, said adhering to this
ruling would cause further trau-
ma to survivors and discourage
students from coming forward
to report sexual assault.
“The harm that would be
caused by this policy would be
devastating,”
Sandberg
said.
“Having to sit face to face with
the person who raped you and
be forced to speak, interact, and
be drilled with questions by
the person who violated you...I
consider that to be abusive. A
process this cruel will have life-
long, emotional consequences
SAMANTHA SMALL
Daily Staff Reporter
See LIBRARY LOT, Page 3A
Library Lot
deal called
off, city to
settle suit
ANN ARBOR
City attorney directed to
bring legal battle with
citizens’ group to an end
LEAH GRAHAM
Daily News Editor
JACK SILBERMAN / DAILY
‘U’ researchers take lead in studying
gun violence prevention among youth
Collaborative project examines how firearm injury and death relate to gun rights
CLAIRE HAO
Daily Staff Reporter
See TITLE IX, Page 3A
City government consulting
firm
Strategic
Government
Resources held a community
hearing
Tuesday
night
with
Ann Arbor residents and City
Councilmembers
to
hear
thoughts and concerns regarding
the search for a new police
chief. Ann Arbor’s last police
chief, Jim Baird, transferred to
Breckenridge, Colo. in February.
The meeting was held by Doug
Thomas, the senior vice president
of
Strategic
Government
Resources, a firm that specializes
in
aiding
local
governments
across the nation search for new
government officials.
City
Councilmember
Jeff
Hayner, D-Ward 1, emphasized
the importance of the new police
chief’s relationship with the
community.
“I’m looking for somebody
who really has a strong sense
of community and really wants
to work with the community
policing aspects,” Hayner said.
“And also understands that here
in Ann Arbor, we have a very
See POLICE, Page 2A
Residents
Search for
new AAPD
police chief
ANN ARBOR
Student group calls for
reversal of court ruling
in sexual assault case
SAMANTHA SMALL
Daily Staff Reporter
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INDEX
Vol. CXXVII, No. 49
©2019 The Michigan Daily
N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
CL A S S I F I E DS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
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the statement
SPORTSWEDNESDAY
See GUN SAFETY, Page 3A