1996-06-19; Central Michigan Life

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Central I IC C
Michigan -LI \\  C
WEDNESDAY,
JUNE 19,
1996
VOLUME 78, NUMBER 92
MOUNT PLEASANT, MICHIGAN 48859
©1996 CM LIFE
(517)774-3493
10 PAGES
By Dave Borough
LIFE Staff Writer	
The El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz
Academy in Lansing, one of CMU's
charter schools, has been put on probation by Central.
According to Robert Mills, director of
CMlTs Charter School Office, the academy was placed on probation May 20
because of the governing style of the
board.
Mills said three of the nine original
board members resigned before the
school opened its doors because of internal conflicts.
Mills said, in his opinion, the school
board members lack management
skills, have failed to involve staff and
parents in decision making and seemed
to cause constant friction among a
group of parents.
"The school board has demonstrated
an open disregard for professional suggestion," Mills said.
TVina Rios, Shabazz's school board
secretary, spoke for school board president Ada Jennings, who could not be
reached for comment because of a prior
engagement.
Rios said she was "shocked" and "dis
mayed" to hear the academy was put on
probation.
"I can't fathom any document that
justifies putting the school on probation," Rios said. "WeVe tried as a board
to do the best that we can. We are not
perfect, but we are learning and have
worked really hard to make sure
Shabazz succeeds."
Rios also said she believes a few people consisting of former board members,
former employees and others have
caused most of the problems.
"I'm just really frustrated. In my
heart I really care about the success of
the school," Rios said.
lb help find a solution to some of
these problems, CMU brought in consultants to teach training workshops
and serve as mentors.
"I am disappointed after all the time,
money and human efforts we haven't
made better progress," Mills said.
According to Carole Woods, head of
the Parent Support Net-work, which is a
group that works to keep children in
school, all of the problems started when
Larry Scott was voted off the PSN. The
PSN was responsible for creating the
school.
Lansing charter school put on probation by Central
Scott was the president of the original
school board, but later resigned.
Woods said Scott and Principal Ruby
Helton are responsible for the academy
being put on probation. She said she
feels Helton did a worse job of running
the school than the Lansing School
District.
She also said she feels the probation
is modern day racism.
"CMU has separated us into class. It
is modern day racism," Woods said.
"Central is playing the same game with
See CHARTER Page 10
Chippewa
river might
reach flood
level today
By Dave Borough
LIFE Staff Writer	
The National Weather
Service issued a flood warning
for all of Isabella County at 4:47
p.m. Tuesday.
According to Sgt. Barry
Trombly of the Mount Pleasant
Michigan State Police post, the
Chippewa River will reach flood
stage and crest sometime today.
Problems flood
in as rains hit
Mount Pleasant
By Dave Borough
LIFE Staff Writer	
Last week's thunderstorms
caused flooding in the basements of several buildings on
campus.
According to James Dening,
director of Computer Services,
both Woldt and Foust halls
experienced problems with
water coming inside.
Dening said Woldt had the
most water damage with about
an inch accumulating. He said
the students working in the
computer lab tried to get the
computers off the floor, although
a few did get some water in
them.
Also four boxes of papers in an
office were damaged and carpeting in a couple of the offices may
need to be replaced, he said.
"There was no major equipment damage that I am aware
of," Dening said.
In Foust, Dening said water
came in through the windows,
flowed down the wall and eventually under the floor.
Many wires run under the
floor to the main computer and
they had to use the emergency
shut off to prevent damage to
the computer system. By shut-
SPORTS
ting off the system, some e-mail
was lost.
"Usually we can recover all
the data, but not in this case,"
Dening said. "Things could have
been worse."
Dening said in conjunction
with the music building, the
storm drain system was
replaced to try to prevent flooding in Foust.
"Facilities Management did a
good job getting us back in business," Dening said.
Earl Morrow, director of
Facilities Operations for
Facilities Management, said
Rose Center, the Dow Science
Building and the Southwest
Quad, more commonly called the
Towers, also had problems with
the rain water.
The Towers' mechanical room
received 80,000 gallons of water,
or about 28 inches, he said.
Facilities Management
pumped out the water and was
able to clean everything up, he
said.
In Dow, the basement received
approximately an inch and a
half of water, and Facilities
Management was able to mop it
up, he said.
In the Student Activity
Center, water went underneath
Courtesy Photo/Theresa Catalano-Reinhardt
(Above) SamanthaTilford (left), 7, Joanna Perkin (center), Jackson senior, and Amanda Reinhardt
(right), 6, play in the flood waters at Washington Court Apartments during last Wednesday's rain
storm.  (Below) Raymond's Camper Sales, 2420 E. Broomfield, also experienced flooding. Thirty
campers were damaged in Wednesday's rain, half of the company's stock.
the wood playing floors.
Facilities Management is trying
to dry them out, he said. It is
uncertain if the floors will need
to be replaced.
"We are looking into the areas
that were flooded. Right now we
have no solutions," Morrow said.
Morrow said damage estimates would not be available for
several weeks.
Morrow said this was the first
major flooding at CMU since
September of 1986 when campus was shut down for a week
after receiving 13 inches of rain
in 13 hours.
LIFE Photo/Bryan Bosch
He said the flood stage is
eight feet and, at press time,
the river was at 5.5 feet. The
river is expected to crest to
eight or nine feet, he said.
According to Dave Barrons,
chief meteorologist of TV 9 &10,
there was a possibility of an isolated thunderstorm Tuesday
evening and early Wednesday
morning.
The Mount Pleasant area has
received approximately 3.5 to
four inches of rain throughout
the day, he said.
Barrons said the rest of the
week is going to slowly be drying out and becoming warmer
with the weekend looking optimistic.
Later, Barrons called CM
LIFE and said the flood warning was canceled as of 9:30 p.m.
Tuesday.
A league of their own
Former  CMU   stars   Carta
Sterk and Nikki Thompkins
are two of just 122 players
to qualify for the inaugural
ABL Draft today.
PAGE 6
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Tribe set to open
conference center
in December
LIFE Photo/Bryan Bosch
The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe's new Soaring Eagle Casino will be finished by the end of June,
the Resort (above) should be completed by December.
New casino to open in late June
By Heather N. LaFave
LIFE News Editor	
As the completion of the
Saginaw Chippewa Indian
Tribe's Soaring Eagle Casino
nears, the tribe is betting on its
success.
Joe Sowmick, public relations
director for the tribe, said the
expanded casino portion of the
new complex will open at the end
of June.
The hotel/conference center
will open "sometime in
December," he said.
The casino will feature a variety of games including roulette,
poker, black jack and craps.
"It will have all of the games
you'd expect at a world-ciass
casino," Sowmick said.
However, the casino won't
have sports booking or horse racing, he said.
The casino's gaming room,
which measures 205,000-square
feet, is the second largest in
North America, Sowmick said.
With the expansion, the tribe
will become the largest employer
in Isabella County.
Sowmick said the gaming
operations employs 1,700 people
and the opening of the casino
and hotel will bring the number
up to approximately 3,000.
Response to the expansions
from casino patrons has been
good, he said.
The casino brings approximately 7,000 to 11,000 to Mount
Pleasant daily. The expansion
will boost patronage to approximately 30,000 people per day,
Sowmick said.
By Heather N. LaFave
LIFE News Editor	
The Soaring Eagle Resort's
hotel and conference center are
still under        construction,
although bookings for the facility have been made through
1999.
The Saginaw Chippewa
Indian Tribe plans to open the
complex in December, and the
hotel's general manager, John
Bliek, said it is "going to be
beautiful."
Construction to finish enclosing the building should be done
within two to three weeks, Bliek
said.
Interior work such as dry
walling and mill work can begin
once the building has been
enclosed.
Bliek said the rain has had
some effect on the work, but said
it gives workers incentive to get
it done soon.
"The rain is certainly an
obstacle to overcome," he said.
Regardless of the interference
from the weather, the resort will
feature a wide variety of "exciting and unique" experiences for
patrons.
The complex will feature a
total   of   521   rooms   including
suites, a private concierge section, a ballroom, a 2,500-square
foot suite, a spa, a restaurant
with a private dining room and
various meeting rooms.
The 13,000-square foot ballroom will seat 1,000 people for
dinner, and is the only ballroom
that large in the area, Bliek
said.
He said there will be a variety
of "neat guest rooms" including
18 one-bedroom suites with tire-
places, rooms with Jacuzzis,
rooms with old-fashioned bathtubs in the bedroom and fireplaces.
There will be 60 rooms with
fireplaces, a unique characteristic of the new resort, he said.
Plans are still being made for
decor and fixtures of the hotel,
and the names for the various
suites and the restaurant are
being chosen, he said.
"Really, all of the furniture,
fixtures and equipment will be
top-notch stuff," Bliek said.
The resort also will be especially attractive for couples planning weddings, as there will be a
wedding specialist on staff, he
said.
For booking information, contact Bliek at (517) 772-1121.