Central Michigan Life » Anthony JudnichLIFE Staff Writer

Study states DARE not effective, supporters disagree

Anthony JudnichLIFE Staff Writer — Fri, 17 Mar 2000 00:00:00 +0000

Supporters of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program say the plan continues to work in educating young students about drugs and alcohol, despite a study that claims otherwise.
The DARE program promotes zero use and is presented to 36 million youth annually in 52 nations. It is usually given to fifth graders an hour a week for 16 weeks by police officers who teach different ways to say no to drugs and alcohol.
Conducted by The Detroit News, the study on DARE’s effectiveness analyzed statistics from 30,000 metropolitan Detroit students. Drug and alcohol use of self-reported teens in 17 districts that offered the program in their elementary school was compared to teens in 16 districts that did not.
The study compared the number of students who said they had ever tried alcohol, illegal drugs or inhalants. It found no statistical difference between students in DARE and non-DARE districts.
Results of the study were released Feb. 27.
“I don’t measure the success of the program strictly on self-reporting. I think you have to ask, ‘Has DARE made this reporting more candid?’” said Bill Yeagley, director of Public Safety for Mount Pleasant.
“The program develops relationships with school teachers, police departments and students,” he said.
Yeagley said police departments in Isabella County joined about four years ago to form a cooperative youth-service unit to address concerns for all county youths. The unit includes two DARE officers who teach seven DARE classes per semester for fifth and sixth graders.
The majority of funds for Isabella County’s DARE program derives from the required biannual 2-percent allocation from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe’s slots revenues.
Yeagley said the interaction between police and students through the DARE program is invaluable.
“Kids get to ask questions about drugs and alcohol, and the more information and education we provide, the smarter the decisions will be that kids make,” he said.
Surveys done by Isabella County police agencies have shown that students enjoy DARE education and interacting with police officers, Yeagley said.
Rosemary Cooper, community police officer for the Romulus Police Department, said she thinks DARE works well overall. Romulus, a Detroit suburb, was the first city in Michigan to provide DARE training from the elementary through the high-school level.
Currently, the Romulus Police Department has a part-time and a full-time DARE officer. Cooper said the department asks for feedback from students who have gone through DARE classes.
“Looking at kids’ reactions, they’ve reacted well, and are interested in it. Good skills are taught in it, and it just reinforces some of the things they already learned at home,” she said.
The only negative feedback about DARE she has received was in a study conducted by The Detroit News, Cooper said.
Detroit sophomore Lashauna Seabrook said she received DARE education in middle school and felt the program was a success.
“In the Detroit area, you can be easily approached about drugs and being taught to just say ‘no’ was a help,” she said.
“Never had it, but I don’t think it’s worthwhile,” Clawson senior Jeff Plegge said of DARE. “Any organization that tries to drill their message into people’s heads is, I think, going about it the wrong way.”
Students find out about drugs and alcohol on their own anyway, Plegge said.
Minnesota freshman Haley Hanson said, “What I learned about drug use was not from DARE, but from common sense and parental stuff.”
DARE was originally developed in 1983 by the Los Angeles Police Department in conjunction with the Los Angeles Unified School District, based on the premise that prevention is the only long-term answer to drug abuse.

Senate Bill 306 spurs conflict, disagreement

Anthony JudnichLIFE Staff Writer — Wed, 01 Mar 2000 00:00:00 +0000

CMU, along with several other universities and the American Civil Liberties Union, has claimed that a highly debated voter bill is unconstitutional.
Public Act 118, which originated from Senate Bill 306, prevents Michigan residents from voting at an address different from the one on their drivers’ licenses.
The bill was signed into law by Gov. John Engler on Sept. 21, and is expected to take effect April 1.
But the Michigan Chapter of the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the state in Detroit Thursday, claiming the law is unconstitutional. CMU’s Student Government Association board members voted to count Central in the lawsuit on Feb. 14, agreeing that the law discourages student voters.
CMU joined Ferris State University, Grand Valley State University, Michigan State University, Michigan Technological University, the University of Michigan and Western Michigan University in the lawsuit.
According to SGA members and the ACLU, the law makes voting more difficult for students, who typically turn out in low numbers at the voting booths. Supporters of the law say it cleans up the state’s voter-registration records while preventing people from voting twice.
“We just filed a complaint in federal court and we will file a motion soon for a hearing,” said Kari Moss, executive director of the Michigan Chapter of the ACLU.
Moss said no other universities have joined in the suit since Central.
Differing opinions
The ACLU wants Public Act 118 declared unconstitutional as a violation of the 14th Amendment and/or as a violation of the National Motor Voter Registration Act, Moss said.
The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution includes the Equal Protection Clause, which prohibits states from not applying the law equally and giving preference to one person or class of persons over another.
Matt Sweeney, legislative aide for Rep. Sandy Caul, R-Mount Pleasant, said Caul voted for the bill and that it prevents voter fraud. He said Attorney General Jennifer Granholm identified a loophole in Michigan law that allows a voter to claim two permanent addresses and still be eligible to vote at either one.
Sweeney said Caul would not do anything to lower the voting rate of college students.
“Student volunteers and student voters were a big part of her being elected in ’98. She was only elected by 1,000 votes and students may have been the difference,” he said. “To think that she does not want CMU students to participate is ludicrous.”
Senate Bill 306, which later became Public Act 118, passed the House 56-48 on June 8, and the Senate 23-15 on June 10.
Sweeney said requiring identical addresses under the new law is just common sense, but SGA Sen. Joe McCarthy, Grand Haven junior, said the law discourages student voters.
“It places hurdles in front of a group of people that already vote at a low rate,” McCarthy said. “They claim it’s to prevent voter fraud, but there’s not a lot of voter fraud in Michigan.”
Public Act 118 is unnecessary because the state’s computerized-voting file should ensure people are not voting twice, McCarthy said.
In addition, the average college student votes because he or she is registered on campus, through voter registration drives, he said. Most students are not interested in voting and may find it easier to simply withhold their vote rather than update their address as the law now requires, McCarthy said.
SGA President Kevin Schwemmin, Howell senior, said he has not received any updates on the lawsuit, but agreed with McCarthy’s stance on the law.
“I think it’s a direct assault on student-voting rights,” he said. “A lot of students don’t know about it, but those who do know agree with us that it’s not something they want to see.”
Sweeney said he does not see how the law would create more obstacles for students.
“I don’t understand that, but the reality of the situation is that the average student doesn’t vote,” he said. “We have to find ways to stimulate voter turnout, because the number is so low already.”
Students who do vote will not be deterred from voting by being required to keep their addresses consistent, Sweeney said.
“Every voting right for students or for anyone else who happens to be a mobile citizen is still guaranteed by this bill,” he said. “In fact, it makes it easier to change your address.”
Secretary of State Communications Director Elizabeth Boyd said her office is reviewing the lawsuit.
“There is nothing in this law that discourages anyone to register to vote, and the state feels it is of no consequence where you register to vote,” she said. “We’ll make it very easy for you to do that.
“We will reserve comment on the lawsuit until we have time to review it.”
Features of Public Act 118
Boyd said the law allows people to change their voter registration as often as they wish, at no charge.
“When you register to vote, if your voter registration is different than that information on the face of your driving license, then you will receive a new change-of-address sticker for the back of your license,” Boyd said.
People who change their address at a Secretary of State Office will receive the sticker at the office, while those who change their address at a city or county clerk’s office will have it mailed to them, she said.
Schwemmin said the law still makes it more difficult for mobile-college voters to vote because they will have to update their address information every time they move.
He said supporters of the law “say you can use the absentee ballot, but Michigan law does not allow Michigan voters to vote by absentee ballot if they register by mail the first time, which most students are likely to do.”
Boyd confirmed that a person cannot use an absentee ballot to vote if their first time registering to vote was by mail.
She said a person is required to vote in person the first time they vote because, “it’s an assurance that we don’t have anyone registered to vote that doesn’t exist. This is an integrity part of the process. After voting in person, people then are allowed to vote by absentee ballot.”
Boyd said the voter-registration process, until now, has been a very manual-intensive process. Prior to Public Act 118, clerks in different cities had to communicate with each other to cancel an old voter-registration file when someone registered in a new town, Boyd said.
“Obviously that led to a lot of opportunities for error, paper processes being what they are. It was very possible for voter registration to not get canceled,” she said.
The Secretary of State’s Office implemented a $13 million statewide qualified-voter file in 1994. This electronic-registration-record system was first used in municipal elections in 1999 and is now the official list for all elections, Boyd said.
She said 600,000 duplicate voter registrations have been eliminated in the past two years.
“We went through all the voter files and made sure there is only one registration per person, or eliminated the file if a person passed away.
“The secretary of state can only accept one address for purposes of voter registration and driver’s license. We know people keep very up-to-date addresses on their driver’s license, so we used the driver file for the most recent address,” Boyd said.
Isabella County Clerk Betty Prout said that when her office receives a death notice, the person’s name can be removed from the voter-registration files immediately.
“As far as moving, the state cannot take a person’s name off the list until that person registers to vote wherever he or she moved to,” Prout said.
Michigan has traditionally not had a problem with voter fraud, Boyd said, but any duplicate registrations around the state gave the potential for fraud.
Boyd presented a scenario where the owner of two homes may want to maintain voter registration at his or her vacation home to be able to vote on local taxes where the vacation home is located. Public Act 118 will help eliminate the potential for voter fraud, she said, because the address where a person is registered to vote must be the official residence in all state documents.
Also under the new law, both the driver’s-license files and the qualified-voter files allow for mailing addresses different from the addresses on the license or voter-registration record. Therefore, if people would like their mail or absentee ballot to go to some other address, they may still do so.
Boyd said other types of change-of-address system forms, such as those offered on the Internet or by fax, are also expected to become available. Forms downloaded from the Internet would still need to be signed, and will be required to be turned in by mail.
An announcement on the new options should be given in March, Boyd said.

A time of thought

Anthony JudnichLIFE Staff Writer — Fri, 25 Feb 2000 00:00:00 +0000

Feminism is the struggle to free women from obscure forces, said feminist speaker Elizabeth Grosz.
Grosz spoke Thursday in the Bovee University Center Rotunda about her theme “Feminist Futures: The Time of Thought.” She was the fifth speaker in the “Humanities at the Millennium: Transforming Conversations” year-long series, co-organized by English professors Mark Freed and Gray Kochhar-Lindgren.
“Feminism is, in part, the struggle to produce a future, to be seen and acknowledged for what they are,” Grosz said. “And feminism is a struggle to mobilize and transform action. It’s about the struggle to free the imperceptions and confines around us and in us.”
Grosz is a professor of comparative literature at State University of New York at Buffalo and author of the feminism-based books “Volatile Bodies: Toward a Corporeal Feminism”, “Jacques Lacan: A Feminist Introduction”, “Space, Time and Perversion: Essays in the Politics of Bodies”, and “Sexual Subversions: Three French Feminists”.
Grosz said the concept of sexual differences means there are at least two ways of doing anything, and at least two kinds of existence. These differences are some of the imperceptible forces women must deal with, she said.
The wonder involved between sexual differences creates confrontations, but can also create new ideas and new concepts, Grosz said. There is no way to judge or predict what sexual differences offer for the future but that they make and mark differences everywhere.
Grosz interpreted a theory which says that women’s perspective and input have historically been missing from many disciplines, hence, only half of the knowledge may have been produced in those disciplines.
“Add that perspective, and then in astronomy or whatever field we’re talking about will have the rich resources that women can give,” she said.
In the future, Grosz said, “I believe women’s studies will remain as complex as they are now.”
Amy Senese, Jackson senior, said she found Grosz’s speech very interesting.
“She gets you thinking about what feminism really is,” Senese said.
“I found it intriguing and thought-provoking,” Big Rapids resident Grace Poppen said of the speech. “And since I’m 59 years old I was very involved in the early evolution of feminist thought, when it involved action against rape and domestic violence and things of that nature.
“So I find it a very positive notion that women are continuing to participate in defining the world we live in.”
Grosz’s speech was sponsored by the College of Human and Social and Behavioral Sciences, CMU Park Library, the Office of Information Technology and the Office of Institutional Diversity.

Dean finalist looks to increase research monies

Anthony JudnichLIFE Staff Writer — Wed, 23 Feb 2000 00:00:00 +0000

Two goals Janett Trubatch would like
to accomplish at CMU include increasing research-funding amounts and
shifting more duties of the College of Graduate Studies from administrators
back to the colleges.
Trubatch visited CMU Tuesday in her quest for the
position of assistant vice president for Sponsored Research and dean
of the College of Graduate Studies. The first of five candidates for
the position, Trubatch spoke about her goals and her experience at an
open forum in the Bovee University Center President’s Conference Room.
Carole Beere vacated the position in mid-August to
take over as vice president of Academic Affairs at Walden University
in Minneapolis. Gail Scukanec, former associate dean of the college,
has served as interim since Beere left.
Trubatch said she doesn’t know why the external funding
for sponsored research at CMU is so low, but different possibilities
exist to raise it.
“I think the general feeling around campus is this
is a good area for growth,” she said.
Increasing traditional programs is not the answer
at this time, but looking at the unmet needs that CMU can fulfill in
and out of the state and even the country is worthwhile, Trubatch said.
“Extended learning makes higher education much, much
more accessible to a great number of people, and it can benefit traditional
departments,” she said.
Using a lobbyist in Washington, D.C., to obtain external
funding is also worth considering, Trubatch said. Some of the institutions
she has worked with have felt lobbying was immoral, while others favored
it, she said.
“I do not feel it’s immoral,” she said. “I think
the questions have to be ‘how much are you willing to pay?’ and ‘what
will come back from it?’”
Trubatch also addressed how CMU can better its position
for funding with the seven state universities it often competes with.
“I don’t think it makes sense to go head-to-head.
What I’ve done before is create relationships. It’s a wonderful thing.”
Trubatch presently serves as the treasurer of the
Board of Trustees and interim deputy director for the nonprofit Muldoon
Community Development Corporation in Anchorage, Alaska.
She said she is in charge of raising funds for programs
such as youth-nurturing and welfare-to-work programs and for affordable
housing. Prior to this position, she served as the associate vice chancellor
for Research and Graduate Studies at the University of Alaska-Anchorage.
As an example of relationships between universities,
Trubatch said professors at UAA would go to the University of Hawaii
to teach while U of H professors often taught at UAA.
She said CMU is only a couple hours from many other
universities and this short distance could help in collaborating with
other schools.
Trubatch said she has worked with both larger and
smaller offices of graduate studies than CMU’s. She said she prefers
less “front-end processing” and would like to streamline Central’s office
by giving more duties to various colleges.
She said deciding on qualifications for graduate-study
programs, for example, should be made “at the lowest level where it
can be made. Not lower our standards or break up the system, but clearly
deal with problems.”
Trubatch said the College of Graduate Studies “can
be simplified without shirking responsibilities.”
Other finalists and the dates and times for their
forums at the Bovee University Center include:

James Weber – 4:30 p.m. Thursday in the President’s
Conference Room. Weber is an educational psychology professor and
associate dean for Research and Development at Mississippi State
University, where he has directed a multi-million dollar research
and development program for the College of Education since 1993.
James Hageman – 4:30 p.m. Monday in the Lake St.
Clair Room. Hageman heads the chemistry and biochemistry department
at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, a position he has
held since 1992.
Elaine Collins – 4:30 p.m. March 1 in Terrace Room
A. Collins has been serving as interim vice president for Academic
Affairs at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, previously North
Adams State College, in North Adams, Mass. She is responsible for
all academic programs, budgets, personnel and faculty.
Thomas Kent – 4:30 p.m. March 2 in the President’s
Conference Room. Kent is chair of the English department at Iowa
State University in Ames, Iowa, where he manages six curricular
areas and oversees a $5.4 million department budget.

Students share Wiccan religious beliefs, faith

Anthony JudnichLIFE Staff Writer — Mon, 21 Feb 2000 00:00:00 +0000

Losing one’s religion may never be called easy, and some may not consider it a choice.
But two CMU students who dared to explore their convictions found that the peace, freedom and closeness of their new faith, missing in their former religions, was worth any heartache.
Angela Bavar, Davison freshman, was raised Catholic, but has been a Wiccan witch for the past 5 years. She recalls the painful moment she told her parents about her new beliefs.
“There were very long discussions, yelling and arguments. They started threatening to throw me out of the house. Every time I’m home it’s not a happy situation,” Bavar said.
“I’m generally told I’m wrong for what I believe in and I’m going to hell for it, and that they hope I change my life around so that I can be with them when they die. They don’t accept it and they really don’t try to understand it.”
Bavar’s friend, Tiffany Davidson, Iron Mountain sophomore, has been a Wiccan witch for 7 years. Davidson, raised Presbyterian, said her mom was afraid of her new beliefs.
“She’s very, very Jesus-Christ oriented, very Christian,” Davidson said. “She was very afraid because a lot of people don’t link different religions with each other.”
Davidson said she is very close to her mom and considers her to be her best friend.
“She’s always been there for me. And when she found out that I was different than she believed I was after being so close, … that was something that kind of hurt her,” Davidson said.
Growing up, both women said they questioned their parents’ religions and found some aspects they disagreed with. Bavar began exploring other religions while in sixth grade, questioning Catholicism.
“I questioned a lot of it,” she said. “It wasn’t a part of nature. It was more set apart, and I felt my religion should be more nature-based. I didn’t like how people lived in fear. I didn’t like how if people did bad things that they would go to hell.”
Bavar said Catholicism is also very male-oriented.
“I thought a religion with more equality and balance would be more fitting for me,” she said.
“I didn’t like the fact that there was a lot of recruiting going on,” Davidson said. “I thought that if someone wanted to believe a certain aspect of life, they would take up that aspect, not be pushed into it.
“The other thing was I didn’t like the attitudes of the churches in my area, saying that if you believe in something other than Jesus Christ, or other than the Christian God, or in something other than their doctrine, you were damned.”
But Wicca and Christianity do have similarities, Davidson said.
“There’s no two Christians that will believe the exact same thing. The same is true of Wiccans and witches. There’s no two witches that believe exactly the same thing,” she said.
Ironically, Davidson said she heard about Wicca from her mom about 9 years ago. Davidson’s mom participated in a women’s group in Iron Mountain that talked about each woman’s beliefs.
“And me being interested in religion, my mom came home and told me all the stuff that had happened at the meeting, and told me about some of the beliefs,” Davidson said.
One of the beliefs was about Wicca, derived from the Celtic word “Wicce” meaning “the wise people,” Davidson said.
She said “witch” also comes from “Wicce” and a “Wiccan” is a practitioner of Wicca.
She said she first learned about Wicca through books and the Internet because Iron Mountain was not open minded about Wicca at the time.
“When I got to college, I got a little information by word of mouth, and started building a stronger community,” she said.
Bavar said she first heard about Wicca from a Wiccan. Then she read more about the religion and talked with more Wiccans.
Wicca involves many different traditions and beliefs, Bavar said, but one belief most Wiccans agree on is “harm none and do what thy will.
“It basically means that if you don’t harm anything, then live your life as you feel it should be lived,” Bavar said.
“In other words, it’s kind of like ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you,’” Davidson said.
The Wiccan afterlife is often called Summerland and is obtained after life lessons are learned through reincarnations, Davidson said.
The two women said they believe in a goddess and a god, who created all things on Earth and are also viewed as regulators.
But the women said they don’t believe in any absolute good or evil and not in a devil or Satan.
Davidson said any consequences for bad deeds will come on Earth.
“Originally, before the New Testament was written, there was no Satan. The only evil, the only wrath, was that of God,” Davidson said. “The theory of Wicca- and any Christian will debate this with me- was that Satan was a creation of the church to try to bump off the pagan religion.
“And as we saw throughout time, with the witch trials and such, people of my religion had to go into hiding.”
Bavar and Davidson have defended a symbol of Wicca, the pentagram, as a religious symbol. The pentagram is a five-pointed star inside a circle.
Both women belong to the Michigan chapter of Witches Against Religious Discrimination, and have helped the American Civil Liberties Union fight for religious freedom.
Last year, a girl at Lincoln Park High School was successfully defended by the ACLU for wearing a pentagram, or pentacle, in school. The court found the pentacle was a symbol of her religious beliefs.
“Lincoln Park is not alone in this,” Davidson said. “There are many schools that look on the pentagram as a symbol of evil. And this is not true. You look at the symbol of the cross as a symbol of protection. The same is true of the pentacle.
“It can stand for an outstretched body. It stands for humanity, for the holiness of the human body.”
The pentagram can also stand for four elements – air, earth, fire and water – with spirit at the top, she said.
“There was a lack of information out about the pentagram, and the lack of understanding usually brings fear,” Bavar said.
Wicca is now recognized in U.S. courts and also included in the U.S. Army Chaplain’s Handbook.
Davidson said medieval Christian churches first tried to incorporate witches into Christianity, and when conversion failed, the pentacle, and witches, began to be considered evil.
Wicca is about 35,000 years old and many of its beliefs predate Christianity, she said. Davidson calls herself a witch in remembrance of the people who died for being accused of witchcraft. She also uses the term Wiccan and pagan.
“Pagan is an all-inclusive term,” she said. “It’s used in the Bible to refer to those who are not Christian.”
Bavar calls herself eclectic because she uses a variety of traditions.
Both women said they use a form of magick, spelled with a k to differentiate it from illusionary magic.
“I don’t think magick is set aside only for pagans and witches,” Bavar said. “Magick is usually manipulating your own energy for yourself, or using your energy to help others.”
Contrary to misconceptions, witches don’t use magick to hurt people by casting spells, Bavar said.
“We don’t try to hurt anybody in any way,” she said. “We abide by the Rule of Three.”
The Rule of Three states that all energies sent out, whether good or bad, return times three.
“You’re not allowed to manipulate people, because that will come back to you,” Davidson said. “We don’t try to make people do things that they don’t want to do.”
Other myths include the use of brooms and black attire. Davidson said brooms were originally used by the Pennsylvania Dutch who practiced a form of folk magick. Brooms were used to sweep away bad energies.
“If I was going to use something to ride around on these days the vacuum would be much quicker,” Davidson laughed. “It would be more jet-propelled.”
Many witches wear black because it is thought to absorb the most energy, she said. Witches in the old times wore black simply to hide better in the night from persecution, she said.
Both women said Hollywood movies such as “The Craft” and “Practical Magic” often throw in stereotypes or twists of truth to provide better entertainment.
Bavar said she likes how “The Craft” used The Rule of Three.
“People can’t just manipulate things and expect nothing wrong to happen because of it,” she said. “But I also kind of laugh at the movie because some of the things are so far from being possible or true. In the movie they just automatically switch somebody’s hairstyle and color and I don’t think that could happen. It would require hair dye.”
Davidson said “Practical Magic” was more accurate than “The Craft,” but said, “we typically do not draw pentacles on people’s chests with whipped cream.”
Bavar has not seen “The Blair Witch Project,” while Davidson said it had nothing to do with witches.
They said a large Wiccan and pagan community exists at CMU in which they participate. Overall, Bavar and Davidson said they enjoy their Wiccan religion more than the one they grew up with.
“I feel more at peace with myself and with the world around me,” Bavar said. “Just knowing that this is who I am, this is what I believe, and not having to feel that it’s wrong or different.”
“I enjoy the closeness in this religion,” Davidson said. “I feel a lot closer bond with my Wiccan community, and my pagan community in general. They’re almost like sisters and brothers to me.”
The arguments with her parents may last awhile longer, Bavar said, and won’t stop “until they realize that there is more than one way to living life. More than one right way.”
Davidson said, “It took my mom a while to get used to the fact that her daughter was not Christian. She’s finally come to terms with it.”
Davidson said Iron Mountain is more open to witches today as well.
Both women own traditional Wiccan dress, such as a long robe or gown, and they may dress this way during Wiccan rituals or when celebrating holidays. Bavar said Wiccans celebrate nature-based holidays, such as the spring equinox and summer solstice. Halloween, or Samhain, is The Wiccan New Year, Davidson said.
But unless they’re in their traditional dress, people may not recognize these two students as witches.
“Don’t look for the stereotypes of witches around this campus,” Davidson said, “because the person standing next to you might be one of us.”

Many voters crossing over to vote for GOP candidates

Anthony JudnichLIFE Staff Writer — Mon, 21 Feb 2000 00:00:00 +0000

More than the typical number of Michigan
voters are expected to flock to the polls Tuesday for the Republican
presidential primary, held almost a month earlier than usual.
Elizabeth Boyd, Secretary of State communications
director, said Michigan’s Chief Elections Officer and Secretary of State
Candice Miller projects more voters tomorrow than in the March 1996
Republican presidential primary.
This year’s top remaining Republican candidates for
president include Texas Gov. George W. Bush, U.S. Sen. John McCain from
Arizona and former U.S. Ambassador Alan Keyes.
“Sec. Miller has indicated two reasons why there
will be an increase in voters for this year’s primary. One is because
the very competitive race between Sen. John McCain and Gov. George Bush
is generating a tremendous amount of interest in the state and in the
nation,” Boyd said.
“And two, the primary will also be held much earlier
than it was 4 years ago. So Michigan stands to play a major role in
the selection of the presidential nominee.”
Michigan moved up its primary date so Michigan voters
actually have a chance to influence the nomination process. According
to the Secretary of State’s Office, 950,000 registered voters are expected
to vote Tuesday, representing 14 percent of Michigan’s 6.7 million registered
voters. Four years ago, 745,808 registered voters cast ballots, which
represented 11.8 percent of registered voters.
Boyd said the Michigan primary has taken place as
late as May 20, in 1980.
The voter registration deadline for Tuesday’s primary
was Jan. 24. The election is open to voters from all parties, not just
Republicans.
Political science Professor Martha Logsdon said she
thinks people are a little surprised that the Michigan primary may have
an impact on who the Republican candidate will be for president.
“Normally the Michigan primary is so late, the candidate
is usually decided by the time it gets to Michigan,” Logsdon said Friday.
“This year, though, with Sen. McCain winning New Hampshire, he may have
a good chance of winning here.”
McCain finished first in the early February New Hampshire
primary, but lost to Bush in the South Carolina primary Saturday. With
74 percent of the South Carolina precincts reporting, Bush led McCain
54 percent to 41 percent. Keyes gathered the remaining 5 percent.
Logsdon said the top two Republican contenders for
presidential nomination, Bush and McCain, are already presenting themselves
to Michigan voters via television commercials. But while issues like
education and social security have been discussed by both parties, the
candidates focus more on personal characteristics, she said.
“Sen. McCain has certainly presented himself as a
war hero, a man who speaks his mind,” she said. “Gov. Bush presents
himself as a man of significant accomplishments, and, oddly enough,
as an outsider and McCain as an insider.
“But we haven’t had real in-depth discussions. There
have been discussions of the issues, but I’m not sure that’s the basic
thrust of the campaigns.”
At 7:30 a.m. today Bush will speak at the Cobo Center
in Detroit, and at noon he will be at the Kellogg Center at Michigan
State University.
McCain will speak at 8 a.m. today at the Park Place
Hotel in Traverse City. At 1 p.m., he is scheduled to speak at Heritage
High School in Saginaw, and at 5:30 p.m. he will appear at the Willow
Run Jet Center in Ypsilanti.
While in Michigan, Bush will talk about having a
bigger tax-cut proposal than McCain, Logsdon said. McCain will talk
about how his tax-cut proposal targets middle- and lower-income people,
and that Bush’s helps higher-income people, she said.
Michigan Gov. John Engler’s strong support for Bush
doesn’t mean Bush has a lock on the state, Logsdon said.
“I think, especially if Sen. McCain has a good showing
in South Carolina – not necessarily even winning, but coming close -
he will draw substantial support from Democrats and independent voters
in the primary.”
In addition, the Michigan Republican Party recently
divided after its chair resigned following a conflict with Engler, Logsdon
said.
“The split in the party certainly comes at a bad
time for the Republicans,” she said.
Democratic U.S. President Bill Clinton has served
two terms and is unable to run for reelection. While some voters may
call for a party change in the presidency, others say Clinton has helped
the American economy.
“There are at least as many people who are saying
Clinton has brought us an economy that has put people to work. We seem
to be in a state of prosperity and a lot of people are afraid to change
horses in economically good times,” Logsdon said.
“Some people may be sick of Clinton personally, but
not in the policies that have paid off in many areas. So if Republicans
talk about any significant changes in the economic situation it may
scare people.”
Political science Associate Professor Tom Stewart
said Engler’s backing of Bush doesn’t guarantee Bush the state.
“Absolutely not,” Stewart said Friday. “I think John
McCain showed what he can do in New Hampshire and will do very good
in South Carolina. McCain’s campaign shows the strong grass-roots support
out there for him.”
Stewart said he expects more independents and some
Democrats to cross over and vote for McCain Tuesday. He said independents
outnumbered Democrats and Republicans in the New Hampshire primary for
the first time ever.
“Personality issues have become more important in
the Clinton years and McCain will probably reap the benefits of that,”
Stewart said. “If you look at what McCain has decided to do with his
campaign – it’s not based on issues but on things like his military
service, his wealth of knowledge in government and his personality.”
With a strong U.S. economy and no clear national
crisis, personalities reign in this year’s presidential race, he said.
Ads for McCain “have been focusing on the image of
John McCain as a prisoner of war, and they talk about his experience
and understanding of government,” Stewart said. “The Bush ads that I’ve
seen attacked McCain on taxes, and that he’s been in Washington too
long.
“My guess is McCain will win the primary on Tuesday.”
Stewart also said he doesn’t think voters are necessarily
tired of a Democrat in the White House, even after an 8-year Republican
hiatus.
“We’re under the longest economic expansion we’ve
ever seen and voters will generally vote with their pocket book,” he
said.
“Even with Clinton’s personal scandals, there have
not been real good issues Republicans have been able to come up with.
The electorate could continue with the Democrats for that reason.”
Michigan’s Democratic presidential caucus is scheduled
for March 11, and the voter registration deadline is on the same day.

Local locations open for Rep. primary voters

By Anthony Judnich
LIFE Staff Writer

The poll locations for Mount Pleasant
registered voters in Tuesday’s Republican presidential primary election
are:
1st Precinct – Ganiard Elementary School, 101 S.
Adams St.
2nd Precinct – Mount Pleasant City Hall, 401 N. Main
St.
3rd Precinct – Pullen Elementary School, 251 S. Brown
St.
4th Precinct – Mount Pleasant High School, 1155 S.
Elizabeth St.
5th Precinct – Kinney Elementary School, 720 N. Kinney
St.
6th Precinct – Vowles Elementary School, 1560 Watson
St.
7th Precinct – Fancher Elementary School, 801 S.
Kinney St.
All poll locations are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Registered voters living outside Mount Pleasant’s
city limits should vote at their respective township clerk’s office.

Speech communication, dramatic arts chair resigns

Anthony JudnichLIFE Staff Writer — Fri, 18 Feb 2000 00:00:00 +0000

Denny Bettisworth, chair of the speech communication and dramatic arts department for almost two decades, has announced his plans to resign.
Bettisworth said he had no comment on why he was resigning as chair, but did say he would remain as a professor in the department. He said he has chaired the department since arriving at CMU 19 years ago.
Dean of the College of Communication and Fine Arts Sue Ann Martin said she learned of Bettisworth’s resignation Monday.
“I received a letter from him Monday morning and in one part of the letter he said he felt he was no longer an effective spokesperson for the department,” Martin said. “He also tendered his resignation for Aug. 15, 2000.”
Martin said she tried to dissuade Bettisworth from resigning.
“It really came as a surprise to me. I wrote a letter back to him that same day and in it I told him that he was a very skillful administrator and that I felt I enjoyed learning from him over the two-and-a-half years since I’ve been here,” she said.
“I thought he was a very good chair and a very effective chair.”
Bettisworth said members of the speech communication and dramatic arts department will discuss plans for finding a new chair.
“The department is just starting to begin that exploration,” Bettisworth said Thursday.
He said the department’s recommendation for a new chair will be forwarded to Martin.
On Thursday, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Richard Davenport said he just returned from out of town and has not had a chance to talk with Bettisworth or Martin about the resignation.
“I’m really shocked,” Davenport said. “Denny has been one of our outstanding chairs at Central. He’s very dedicated, and he’s done a wonderful job serving his chair and the department.”
Because Bettisworth doesn’t plan to resign until Aug. 15, Davenport said there is ample time for the department to search for a replacement.

Test may require more forceful air bags

Anthony JudnichLIFE Staff Writer — Wed, 16 Feb 2000 00:00:00 +0000

A government-mandated crash test that would result in higher-power air bags is feeling the backlash of several auto-industry groups.
A resolution from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, expected to be announced March 1, would require automakers to return to using 30-mph crash tests to assess unbelted occupant protection. For the past two model years, the agency has not required the 30-mph test, and many automakers have installed air bags that deploy with less force.
Now, the agency says large unbelted adults could be at greater risk with the less forceful air bags in high-speed crashes.
The 30-mph crash test specifies that an auto air bag should inflate with enough force to cushion an unbelted adult male dummy as the car crashes into a wall at 30 mph. This crash test, into a wall, is the equivalent of a car traveling 60 mph crashing into the back of a similar parked car. The car would give to the force incurred as opposed to the stationary brick wall, according to information from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The 25-mph crash test favored by many automakers is the equivalent of a car traveling at 50 mph crashing into the back of the car. Automakers and several other auto-industry groups, such as the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Inc., say the higher-power air bags mean higher risks of injury and death.
Lance Roberts, manager of communications for the Alliance headquarters in Washington, D.C., said the air-bag test regulations should not change.
“The automakers, including Alliance members and others, have concurred that going to a higher-speed test is the wrong way to go,” he said.
“Currently, we are very comfortable with the results of the 25-mph unbelted test. The auto industry’s concern is they’d have to re-power the air bags to meet the 30-mph test standard. And they’re concerned how it would affect children, people of small stature, and the elderly.”
The alliance represents 11 automakers including Ford, General Motors, DaimlerChrysler and Toyota.
Roberts said other groups, such as The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, The American Trauma Society and the National Safety Council also support the 25-mph test for air bags. Safety, rather than any monetary costs involved with increasing the air-bag power, is driving automakers’ concerns, Roberts said.
“It’s not a huge cost issue. Automakers are concerned with too much force that would pose the same dangers as they had before,” he said.
“They started finding out in ’96 that certain individuals, children especially, were in danger of the more powerful air-bag systems.”
Automakers would like to use the 25-mph air bag tests until new technology can adequately protect all of a vehicle’s occupants safely, Roberts said.
Brian O’Neill, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, in Arlington, Va., said calls for a return to the 30-mph tests are unfounded.
O’Neill said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “has not provided a single documented case of a real-world frontal crash in which an occupant died because of insufficient protection offered by an air bag.”
However, air bags that inflate with more force than those tested in 25-mph crashes can kill passengers in higher-speed crashes, he said. The institute studied 59 crashes and found that in seven high-speed crashes the more powerful air bags caused passenger deaths.
In addition, even the most advanced air-bag technology cannot eliminate high-speed crash deaths when there is major intrusion into the occupant’s space, O’Neill said.
The largest single cause of death in high-speed crashes is the collapse of the passenger compartment, followed by the ejection of unbelted passengers from the vehicle, he said. A more forceful air bag would not have saved passengers in these cases, O’Neill said.
The institute, financed by automobile insurers, is a nonprofit research and communications group that identifies ways to reduce motor-vehicle crashes and crash losses.
Rae Tyson, spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in Washington, said the reason the pending regulation causes debate is because of “people not knowing what the regulation says.”
But Tyson said he could not talk about any changes the new regulation would make in air bags.
“I can’t talk about what the rule says, but it will do something to provide the best possible protection for people that have cars with air bags,” he said.
Tyson said he agrees that air bag-related deaths have dropped since 1997, when automakers were not required to use more forceful air bags. But he said there are many reasons for the decrease.
“The drop has a little to do with the design changes since the 1997-model year, but it also has a lot to do with education,” Tyson said. “Teaching people to put their child in the back, away from an air bag, and adults beginning to realize they need to wear a seat belt.”
Tyson said the crash tests used by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration involved the whole vehicle and new safety standards will address more than just air bags.
Denny Emmer, sales manager for Tradition Oldsmobile, 4884 E. Broomfield Road, said he received many customer complaints about the more forceful air bags that were required before.
“But there’s either people who want the more forceful air bags or people who don’t,” Emmer said. “There’s also a lot of people who sit too close to the steering wheel, and we definitely have a problem there. People need to give more than 2 or 3 inches of space.”
Overall, Emmer said air bags have saved more lives than they’ve taken.
Sales Manager Jim Archey, of Dean Burger Pontiac Buick Cadillac GMC Inc., 116 N. Mission St., said he did not know enough about the resolution for the more forceful air bags and couldn’t comment. He said he has not received any complaints from customers regarding air bags.

Age-old Coke vs. Pepsi battle rages on at Central

Anthony JudnichLIFE Staff Writer — Fri, 11 Feb 2000 00:00:00 +0000

A couple of hundred-year-old rivals can be found standing side by side throughout CMU’s campus.
Their mission: to lure thirsty customers out of a buck.
The two competitive old-timers, Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola, offer their wares through vending machines that often stand next to each other, as if in mutual and silent respect.
But it wasn’t always this way.
Coca-Cola was invented in May 1886 by Dr. John S. Pemberton in Atlanta, Ga. Pepsi-Cola was created in the late 1890s by Caleb Bradham, a New Bern, N.C. pharmacist. And the war began for who would claim America’s taste buds.
John Fisher, Residences and Auxiliary Services senior officer, said Pepsi and Coke hold a shared contract to operate at CMU that began in the 1988-89 school year.
Before the shared contract agreement, one soda company would obtain the rights to be the sole vendor on campus for several years, Fisher said, then the other would get the contract.
“But every time we switched, there would be a certain number of customers who would be disappointed about the decision, because their brand wasn’t being sold,” he said. “We decided that wasn’t serving the best interests of students, so we asked the companies to give us a bid so that they were both on campus.”
Pepsi and Coke have an equal number of soda machines on CMU’s campus, with some 50 machines each. Fisher, who’s been at CMU since 1975, said the soda vendors have been at CMU for as long as he can remember.
Pepsi machines at CMU offer Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi One, Mountain Dew, Cherry Pepsi, Diet Caffeine Free Pepsi, and Brisk Tea in 20 oz. bottles. The Pepsi-Cola Company, 919 Industrial Ave., in Mount Pleasant, distributes Pepsi products to CMU.
Jim Trahan, key account manager for Pepsi in Mount Pleasant, said a Pepsi driver delivers Pepsi products to CMU every day. And some areas need their machines filled more often than others.
“The University Center gets heavy traffic so it does pretty well,” Trahan said. “Also the Student Activity Center and Pearce Hall and Anspach Hall. It seems like everyone goes through those for curricula classes. Those are the ones that stand out.”
Trahan said the best selling Pepsi product at CMU is Mountain Dew. Pepsi and Diet Pepsi are the next top selling brands.
Pepsi’s latest offering, Pepsi One, is doing very well in sales, Trahan said.
“It’s a new brand so it’s growing steadily. It greatly contributed to the cola category growth last year,” he said.
Coke machines at CMU offer Coke, Diet Coke, Cherry Coke, Dr. Pepper, Sprite, and Squirt in 20 oz. bottles. CMU’s Coke machines are filled by the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Michigan, 808 S. Adams St., in Mount Pleasant.
Lee Scott, vice president of public affairs for Coca Cola Bottling Company of Michigan, in Lansing, said Coca Cola delivery drivers visit CMU at various times throughout the week.
“The higher volume machines get serviced more often,” he said. “If they can be filled once a week, that’s how often they’ll go. If some machines need to be filled two or three times a week, that’s how often they’ll go.”
Scott wasn’t sure what Coke brand sells the most at CMU, but said they are probably the same as the best-selling brands at other schools. These brands are Coke, diet Coke, and Sprite.
“We have very good sales with all of our brands, but those are our top three,” Scott said.
Fisher said the shared contract with the two soda companies calls for CMU to provide space and electricity for the soda companies’ machines while the university receives a 46 percent commission on the soda vending machine sales.
“It’s an open-ended contract. It’s renewable for one year terms as long as both parties are agreeable, and the university can rebid the vending at any time,” he said.
Fisher said for the 1998-99 fiscal year, total revenue sales of Coca Cola at CMU came to $214,054. Pepsi’s total revenue at CMU finished at $246,801. The 46 percent commission gives CMU $98,465 from Coke sales and $113,528 from Pepsi sales.
Part of the revenue from Pepsi and Coke machines in CMU dorms and university apartment buildings goes to residence hall and apartment building operating accounts, Fisher said.
Revenues from the companies’ machines in other campus buildings go into a vending account for individual colleges and student groups, he said.
Faculty Personnel Services Director Jon Darrow handles the distribution of profits from vending machines in academic buildings.
Money is committed to academic departments at the start of every school year based on the projected funds from the vending machines in academic buildings, Darrow said.
These funds could be allocated to student organizations like the philosophy club who might need money for a trip, he said.
Fund projections are done by Fisher, Darrow said, and then “we can tell each academic college how much money they can plan on.”
The projections of vending revenues are usually pretty accurate, Darrow said. If the actual profits don’t meet projections, less money may be allocated to a college than the previous year to balance the budget.
“If we undershoot it – if students stop drinking pop – then we have less to allocate,” Darrow said.

Concern for addicted gamblers results in possible bill to ban ATMs

Anthony JudnichLIFE Staff Writer — Fri, 11 Feb 2000 00:00:00 +0000

Automated-cash machines would be banned
from non-tribal casinos under a bill introduced last week by state Rep.
Wayne Kuipers, R-Holland.
Kuipers introduced the bill as a result of a suicide
at MotorCity Casino in Detroit in late January.
Sgt. Solomon Hassan Bell, of the Oak Park Police,
shot himself in the head in the casino’s high stakes gambling area after
losing more than $10,000. Bell made two ATM withdrawals totaling about
$7,000 prior to his suicide.
Darin Ackerman, legislative aide for Kuipers, said
the bill was also brought about out of concern for the number of compulsive
and addicted gamblers. He said a recent Michigan Department of Community
Health study of gambling addiction in the state found 350,00 residents
are compulsive and addicted gamblers.
These types of gamblers “are the ones we’re most
concerned about,” Ackerman said. “They don’t know when to stop because
they’re caught up in the addiction.”
Under current law, ATMs must be placed at least 50
feet away from any gambling areas in non-tribal casinos. Native-American
tribes are sovereign nations and as such, neither the state of Michigan
nor the Michigan Gaming Control Board has regulatory authority over
tribal casinos, which are regulated by the National Indian Gaming Commission
and/or the government of the appropriate tribal community.
The Soaring Eagle Casino, 6800 Soaring Eagle Blvd.,
is owned and operated by the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe and, as a
tribal casino, would not be affected by the bill.
David Staddon, vice president of marketing for Soaring
Eagle Casino and Resort, said he’s not sure how the bill would address
problems at other casinos.
“I think the bill is in result of the suicide at
the Detroit casino. Here at Soaring Eagle, we’re trying to be as responsible
as possible,” Staddon said.
The Soaring Eagle Casino has about a half dozen ATMs
available throughout the casino. Staddon said the casino’s customers
feel safe with the availability of ATMs because they feel unsafe carrying
money while they travel.
He said the Soaring Eagle Casino does not cash many
kinds of checks that could pose problems, such as welfare checks, child-support
checks, Friend-Of-The-Court checks, church-fund checks and political-campaign
checks.
“That’s a responsible position to take,” Staddon
said. “Rarely, every so often, the ATMs will go down, and customers
are very, very unhappy when that service is unavailable. But our prime
motivation is to make the ATMs available for convenience and safety.”
Ackerman said Kuipers worked on the bill last fall
and had drafted the bill’s language before the suicide occurred at the
Detroit casino.
Michigan casinos are likely to battle against any
bill banning ATMs, Ackerman said.
“I’m sure the casinos have hired every big, multi-client
lobbyist in town,” he said. “And once the bill gets debated and gets
attention, I’m sure they’ll want their voice heard.”
Sen. Dale Shugars, R-Portage, serves as the vice-chair
of the Gaming and Casino Oversight Committee. He said the Senate currently
has a similar bill, introduced last year, that would ban ATMs in casinos.
“It creates another barrier to easy access to cash,”
Shugars said. “What we’re saying is the ATMs should be outside the casino.
We did know when casinos started up in Michigan that casinos would mean
an increase in suicides, bankruptcies and crime. We knew very little
good comes out of communities with casinos.”
Shugars said although the current law requires ATMs
to be 50 feet away from gaming areas, it is still very easy for gamblers
to get cash.
“The bill would create another barrier, so hopefully
the person has to think about it and cools down,” he said.
“Compulsive gamblers think they’ll win the next time
and the next time and the next time, and they end up using money that
was meant to take care of their children, like food for their children.”
Shugars said the Senate Chairman Glenn Steil, R-Grand
Rapids, is considering the bill.
“Hopefully we’ll have a hearing and hopefully we’ll
create a barrier to easy access,” Shugars said.
Game Financial Corporation, in Minneapolis, handles
check cashing, cash advances and ATMs at the Soaring Eagle Casino. Chris
Martin, marketing director of Game Financial Corporation, said the corporation
also works with other casinos in Michigan, but would not say how many.
He also said he could not comment on the proposed
bills.

Help available for problem gamblers

By Anthony Judnich
LIFE Staff Writer

What are some characteristics of a
person who is a compulsive gambler? According to the Michigan chapter
of Gamblers Anonymous, characteristics include:

Inability and Unwillingness to Accept Reality.
Hence the escape into the dream world of gambling.
Emotional Insecurity. A compulsive gambler finds
he or she is emotionally comfortable only when “in action.” It is
not uncommon to hear a Gamblers Anonymous member say: “The only
place I really felt like I belonged was sitting at the poker table.
There I felt secure and comfortable. No great demands were made
upon me. I knew I was destroying myself, yet at the same time, I
had a certain sense of security.”
Immaturity. A desire to have all the good things
in life without any great effort on their part seems to be the common
character pattern of problem gamblers. Many Gamblers Anonymous members
accept the fact that they were unwilling to grow up. Subconsciously
they felt they could avoid mature responsibility by wagering on
the spin of a wheel or the turn of a card, and so the struggle to
escape responsibility finally became a subconscious obsession.
Also, a compulsive gambler seems to have a strong inner urge to
be a “big shot” and needs to have a feeling of being all powerful.
The compulsive gambler is willing to do anything (often of an antisocial
nature) to maintain the image he or she wants others to see.

For Help

The nearest support group for compulsive and obsessed
gamblers is the Clare Gamblers Anonymous. It meets at 7 p.m. Fridays
at the Clare United Methodist Hospital, 105 E. 7th St., in Clare.
For additional help, call the Michigan Gamblers
Anonymous Hotline Number at (313) 792-2877. Other resources include
the National Council on Problem Gambling, at 1-800-522-4700, and
Gamanon, for family members of problem gamblers, at 1-718-352-1671.
Or log onto www.gamblersanonymous.com.
for more information.
In addition, CMU and the Saginaw Chippewa Indian
Tribe have published a brochure on the dangers of gambling.

Joe Thayer, former graduate intern
at University Health Services, and Mark Minelli, manager of Health Advocacy
Services, and Public Relations and Marketing worked with the tribe to
develop the pamphlet.
Community hotels, motels and the Soaring Eagle Casino
and Resort, 6800 Soaring Eagle Blvd., have the pamphlets available.
They are also available on campus at Health Advocacy Services in Foust
108, at the Bovee University Center and at the Student Activity Center.

Central Michigan Life » Anthony JudnichLIFE Staff Writer

Study states DARE not effective, supporters disagree

Senate Bill 306 spurs conflict, disagreement

A time of thought

Dean finalist looks to increase research monies

Students share Wiccan religious beliefs, faith

Many voters crossing over to vote for GOP candidates

Local locations open for Rep. primary voters

Speech communication, dramatic arts chair resigns

Test may require more forceful air bags

Age-old Coke vs. Pepsi battle rages on at Central

Concern for addicted gamblers results in possible bill to ban ATMs

Help available for problem gamblers