1996-03-27; Central Michigan Life

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Central I  ICC
Michigan LITE
WEDNESDAY,
MARCH 27,
1996
VOLUME 78, NUMBER 73
MOUNT PLEASANT. MICHIGAN 48859
©1996 CM LIFE
(517)774-3493
14 PAGES
SPORTS
Sibling rivalry highlights
CMU softball game
CMU player Jill
LeBourdais will face her
sister. Lane, as the
Chippewas take on
Saginaw Valley State in a
contest scheduled for
today.
PAGE 8
LIFESTYLES
Local Organization
works to save lives
The Central Michigan Gift
of Life Organization will
sponsor a bone marrow
drive from 1-7 p.m. on
April 2 and 3 at the
Student Activity Center.
PAGE IO
CAMPUS
New group commits to
political, social change
You Beautiful Black
Women became one of
Central's registered
student organizations
March 13. The group has
committed its efforts to
political and social
changes on campus.
PAGE 3
MlJ\ J'l J:
TODAY - 30/20
partly sunny
THURSDAY- 35/25
rain showers-
Officials unveil parking proposal
By Heather N. LaFave
LIFE Staff Writer	
The Student Government
Association announced that the
action it will take on the university^ new parking proposal
depends on what the students
want.
At Monday's SGA meeting,
Kim Ellertson, vice president of
Business and Finance, and Jean
Lindley, assistant vice president
of Facilities Management, presented the President's Planning
Council's proposal. The proposal
will raise the cost of commuter
parking to $100, institute a $100
parking fee for employees and
open 525 parking spaces to commuters through reallocation and
construction.
Ellertson said the proposal
would make parking lots 6, 18
and 28 available to commuting
students only; open Lot 8 to any
one with a parking permit; and
expand Lot 33 by 102 more
spaces to the southeast and 158
spaces to the west for commuter,
faculty and staff parking.
The construction of a parking
lot in the vicinity of soon-to-be-
demolished Barnard and Tate
halls would create 375 spaces for
commuters, faculty and staff, he
said.
The proposal will double the
cost of the commuter parking
permit, but Ellertson said he
still believes it is a "pro-student
project" because the students
will get what they pay for.
He said the reallocated spaces
will be made available to students right away if the proposal
is accepted by the Board of
Trustees at its April 26 meeting.
At Tuesday's Academic Senate
meeting. President Leonard
Plachta said a new lot will be
built, and the area occupied by
Tate and Barnard would be
landscaped.
"We intend to occupy not the
space where the buildings themselves sit, but in the surrounding area."
The construction on other lots
will be completed during the
next   three   summers.   But   the
See PARKING Page 6
Bellows St.
Proposed Parking Changes
open to anyone
with a parking permit
<3
open to
commuters only
addition of 258
more spaces totai
p&i
b^v
telK^ ...
ART ON
THE MOVE
LIFE Photo/Gabriel Guerrero
Andrew Riedner (left). Grayling freshman, and Andrea Hunter (right).Troy senior, help
Randy Hilliker (back), Hastings senior, move his sculpture into the University Art
Gallery Sunday afternoon. Hilliker is displaying his sculpture at his fine arts exhibition
this week.
Residents promise $300,000 donation
By Doug Fisher
LIFE Staff Writer
With $300,000 promised by
area community members, ice
skating aficionados may be a little closer to lacing up their
skates year round.
If all goes well, and the
Cultural and Recreation
Commission meets its goal of
$450,000 from the community,
an indoor ice facility could be
completed as early as next winter, according to Bob
Weisenburger, CRC board member
The CRC has generated more
than $300,000 in pledges from
community members in the last
month that will go toward construction of the rink.
The CRC originally received
$500,000 from the Saginaw
Chippewa Indian Tribe, as well
as an additional $250,000 from
the State of Michigan.
Weisenburger said construction on the multi-million dollar
project may begin this summer,
"but nothing is set in stone."
Steve Martineau, CRC board
member, said the goal must
"absolutely" be met before construction can begin. Martineau
said at this time he could not
give out the names of the individual community members that
have committed to giving money
for the venture.
"The names will presumably
be on plaques in front of the
building   for   helping   to   get   it
started," he said. "Some of them
don't want their names out now,
but we have nothing to hide."
He said some of the donors are
doctors, another is a corporation,
while others are community
members that believe strongly
in the project.
"The citizens of this community have given commitments
towards construction of the facility in upwards of $300,000,"
Martineau said. "But I don't
have the money sitting in a bank
account."
The CRC recently received an
allocation of land from the city of
Mount Pleasant. The city granted 9.8 acres of land to be used for
the project on Isabella Road
north of Broomfield Road.
Weisenburger said although
the site has been chosen, the
commission is still looking for
more land.
"The city promised us the land
some time ago, but with the rising cost of land . . . we're still
looking for more acres but
money is a big issue," he said.
"We're happy to have 10 (acres),
but we're looking for more."
The project started in
December 1993, after a group of
citizens voiced concerns for the
needs of youth in the area and
discussed the possibility for an
indoor center because of the lack
of alternative activities in the
Isabella County community.
See SKATING Page 13	
Trullinger
attends
last city
meeting
By Lenny Padilla
LIFE Staff Writer	
It was a bitter-sweet occasion
for most of the Mount Pleasant
City Commission Monday as
most things were back to status
quo.
The meeting was the first following an attempt by a group of
local residents to recall
Commissioners Kenneth Bovee,
Gerald Cassel,.
Donald Sowle
and Robert
Trullinger for
their recom-1
mendation of J
the widening I
of an eight-1
block section of |
High Street.
M o n d ay' s |
meeting     also
marked        the
last meeting for Trullinger.
Trullinger, who was a member of the City Commission for
more than four years and
served one term as mayor of
Mount Pleasant, announced in
February he accepted the position of vice president of Adult
Programs at North Carolina
Wesleyan College in Rock
Mount.
In addition to serving on the
City Commission, Trullinger
served as an employee of CMU
for 16 years before being
relieved of his duties last
December as director of
Regional and Special Programs
for Alumni Relations and
Development.
"(Mount Pleasant) is home to
me," Trullinger said. "It's going
to be strange for me. I will miss
my friends on the commission.
There were times when I talked
to them two or three times a
day."
According Susan Smith,
Mount Pleasant mayor, the
vacancy left by Trullinger will
be filled within 30 days.
Whomever   is   appointed   will
See LEAVING Page 2
TRULLINGER
Trial date set for lawsuit accusing CMU of breaking agreement
By Rebecca Messer
LIFE Assistant News Editor	
A trial date has been scheduled for a lawsuit accusing CMU
of breaking the silence it agreed
to in an Oct. 12 settlement.
A non-jury trial is scheduled
for Sept. 16 in the Ingham
County Court of Claims.
According to the lawsuit, CMU
violated the settlement of another suit, this one claiming gross
negligence against CMU and
sexual harassment against former   legislative   counsel   Greg
Morris. Under the agreement,
parties involved were not to discuss the settlement terms.
The stipulation states that
anyone who breaches the clause
could be fined $55,000.
The lawsuit was filed Jan. 10
by Natalie Alane, former assistant for governmental relations;
Maureen Daugherty, former
administrative assistant for
Morris; Sandy Mumford, former
administrative secretary for
Morris and current administrative   secretary   of   music;   and
Noelle   Schiffer,   former  consultant to CMU.
The lawsuit provided some
exceptions to the confidentiality
clause, including responding to
Freedom of Information Act
requests and giving information
to accountants, attorneys and
the Internal Revenue Service.
The settlement claims information released under the
Michigan FOIA by Jonas Cook,
CMU's Freedom of Information
officer,   to   CM   LIFE   and   the
Morning Sun included more
details than were requested,
which violates the settlement's
confidentiality clause.
Cook could not be reached for
comment.
Also named in the suit is
Eileen Jennings, University
Counsel. Jennings was directly
quoted in the Morning Sun, a
violation of the confidentiality
agreement, the suit stated.
Jennings would not comment.
In  a  response to the lawsuit,
filed Feb. 12, CMU denied violating the confidentiality provision of the settlement.
According to the response,
CMU claims Cook and Jennings
were well within the provisions
of the original settlement agreement when they provided information to the press.
Randie Black, attorney for the
plaintiffs, and Robert Vercruysse
and Ann Kelly, attorneys for
CMU, could not be reached for
comment.