1996-10-02; Central Michigan Life

              Central Michigan LIFE
Volume 79, Number 17
Mt. Pleasant,  MI 48859
©1996 CM LIFE
77 years of serving the community
WEDNESDAY
October 2, 1996
18 pages
LIFE Photo/Gabriel Guerrero
Becky Gullekson. Manton sophomore, receives an autographed copy of Bobby Petrocelli's book "Triumph Over Tragedy "Tuesday
night in Pearce Hall room 127. Petrocelli (below), a motivational speaker, spoke to the audience on challenges facing youth today.
'Triumphing over tragedy'
By Rachel Schofield
LIFE Staff Writer	
His message was powerful,
and it took only 10 seconds to
realize it.
On campus Tuesday night,
Bobby Petrocelli shared his life
story and triumph over
tragedy in dealing- with the
death of his wife, who was
killed by a drunk driver. He
brought tears to some eyes, yet
demonstrated how a tragedy in
life can be overcome.
He described the tragedy as
being a dream he wished he
could wake up from.
Living in Houston at the
time,  Petrocelli   and   his  wife
had been married two years
and had just moved into the
home of their dreams.
Petrocelli had started his
career as a football coach and
taught at a high school.
On a Thursday night, he had
returned home from coaching a
football game, and was greeted
at the door by his wife and a
huge bowl of pasta she had
cooked for him. After spending
some time together she went to
bed and he soon joined her.
"The last thing I remember
was saying good night and
kissing my wife, then taking
one last look at my alarm
clock," he said.
About       an       hour       later,
Petrocelli woke in a daze in his
dining room staring at the
headlights of a 3/4 ton pick-up
truck.
The 35-year-old driver, who
was drunk, had crashed
through his bedroom wall, ran
over him and his wife and now
was looking at Petrocelli and
asking him if there was somebody else in the house.
Petrocelli was in a daze but
only wondered where his wife
was.
"1 remember the paramedics
telling me someone was taking
care of my wife," he said. "They
put me in an ambulance and as
See TRAGEDY Page 16
Covert officers
used to catch
minors drinking
By Dave Borough
LIFE Staff Writer	
Party hosts should be careful
who they collect three dollars
from at their door.
According to Andy Mayer,
deputy director of Mount
Pleasant Public Safety, in the
past the Mount Pleasant Police
Department has used covert
operations to prevent the sale of
alcohol and underage drinking
at parties.
"We do have undercover officers at parties occasionally but
not on a regular basis," Mayer
said.
Undercover officers entering
parties is not an invasion of
one's home or right to privacy. If
people can walk in off the street
and are allowed to enter the
party, it's legal for an undercover police officer to enter, he said.
Mayer said there are many
cases where the courts have
ruled in the police officer's favor.
The Mount Pleasant police
would like to do covert operation
on a more regular basis, but
because of a lack of resources it
is not possible, he said.
"Our resources are barely
enough to have officers on the
streets for complaints," Mayer
said. "We will do it periodically
depending on extra money from
grants."
Mayer said the reasons for
enforcing alcohol laws at parties
is to prevent accidents and incidents that occur when a person
is intoxicated.
"The results of consumption
are property damage, disorderly
conduct, injury and death,"
Mayer said. "Intoxication has
wrecked the careers and lives of
many students because of one
night of doing something stupid
they wouldn't normally have
done."
The  Mount  Pleasant  police's
objective is to make students
apprehensive because they may
get caught if drinking underage
or selling alcohol illegally occurs
at a party, he said.
The best way students can
protect themselves if they are
having a party is either to buy
the alcohol and give it away for
free to people of legal age or to
have everyone bring their own,
he said.
w:
e do have
undercover
officers at parties occasionally but not on a
regular basis."
ANDY MAYER
Deputy director of Mount
Pleasant Public Safety
"You can't sell alcohol without
a license. The law is clear on
that issue," Mayer said.
Mayer said the department
has received above average
cooperation from fraternities
and sororities in the Main Street
neighborhoods this year.
Mayer attributes the cooperation as a part of the community
policing efforts.
"A good portion of cooperation
in the Main Street area has
come as a result of the community officer assigned to that
area," Mayer said. "We have no
reason to believe that (the cooperation's) not going to continue."
He said enforcement alone is
not the only solution to combat
underage drinking and the illegal sale of alcohol. Parents, fraternities and sororities all need
to be part of the solution.
"We need to make young people more conscious of their
actions when they drink," Mayer
said.
SGA listens to
concerns about
affirmative action
By Jeremy Russ
LIFE Staff Writer
Student Government Association Senate heard concerns
Monday on the lack of affirmative action issues in the Board of
Trustees' bylaws.
The Board of Trustees* bylaws have no stipulations protecting
people from discrimination due to sexual orientation.
Several groups have discussed their concerns with the SGA
Senate on the issue, which resulted in the Senate hearing public
comments from Russ Herron, vice president of University
Relations and Michael Gaudreau, anti-violence coordinator of
the Triangle Foundation.
Herron said the Board of Trustees does not have to have a
bylaw on discrimination based on sexual orientation, because
the university as a whole has adopted a policy of non-discrimination.
He further added the Board of Trustees policy is not different
See SGA Page 8
Community discusses casino impact study
By Len Padilla
LIFE Staff Writer
So many answers, so few questions.
In a community forum Monday at Mount
Pleasant High School, officials attempted to
answer resident questions concerning the
effects the new Soaring Eagle Resort Casino
will have on the surrounding community.
Representatives from the Soaring Eagle
Casino, the City of Mount Pleasant, Isabella
County and CMU researchers who conducted the casino impact study were on hand to
make presentations and answer questions.
More than 120 people attended the forum
and listened to an hour and a half of presentations, however, when the time came for the
audience to ask questions of the experts, only
six stood up.
Alice Littlefield, professor and chair of sociology, anthropology and social work, participated in the casino impact study and spoke
at the forum. She said she thinks the forum
went well but thought more questions could
have been asked.
"I'm not sure what it is," Littlefield said of
the few who had questions. "I think maybe
their questions were already answered  by
the speakers."
Concern over roads and crime are the
major concerns which must be dealt with,
Littlefield said.
"Something has to be done," Littlefield said
of the current road system.
The tribe estimates around 35,000 people
will frequent the casino on a daily basis.
Duane Ellis, Mount Pleasant director of
public works, said one solution may be a ring
road to alleviate traffic, which might be
installed beginning in 1998.
Concerns raised by residents ranged from
the need of additional social services to the
serving of alcoholic beverages at the casino.
Faith Montoya, a member of the Saginaw
Chippewa Indian THbe, said she is concerned
about alcohol being served at the casino.
"We're proud that we haven't served alcohol," Montoya said of the tribes current practice. "People say they like the atmosphere (in
the casino) as it is."
Joe Sowmick, public relations director for
the tribe, said the tribe "will not be serving
alcohol on the gaming floor."
Sowmick said the tribe will be serving
alcohol at the hotel, for room service and in
the bingo hall during special events such as
concerts and boxing matches.
Sowmick also said the tribe is hoping to
bring other entertainment to the casino, such
as the Miss Michigan Teen competition and
performances from Detroit's State Theater.
The new casino is slated to open in
November followed by the hotel in early
1997.
Larry Collins, of Mount Pleasant, said residents are genuinely concerned over the
whole issue regardless of how many people
showed up for the forum.
"Everybody living in the area is concerned
about it and knows that the casino is going to
have a profound impact," Collins said. "So
they are concerned and they are looking for
information. They are looking for answers
and this (forum) is helping them to form
opinions."
The casino impact study was conducted by
CMlTs Center for Applied Research & Rural
Studies. The study deals with the issues of
housing, roads, population, health care, law
enforcement and many other areas which
will likely be affected by the opening of the
new casino.
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Students take advantage of e-mail;
too early to evaluate problems
By Jeremy H. Dickman
LIFE Staff Writer	
E-mail use has undergone a
substantial increase on-campus
lately.
With the new computer systems installed in Park Library
this semester, all computers in
the library now have e-mail and
Internet access in addition to
library information access.
According to Stephen Foster,
director of technical services at
Park Library, it is too early to
tell if there will be any problems
with students using the library's
computers for personal tasks
instead of to find library materials.
Students now have a larger
choice of computers to choose
from with e-mail capability,
including those in the computer
labs and the library.
However, with these added
choices comes some problems.
"The biggest problem is (students) don't pay attention to the
rules and regulations posted,"
said David Jelinek, systems programmer and staff specialist for
Computer Services.
"They continue sending chain-
mail," Jelinek said. "We can't
seem to get across to them that
it ties up the systems."
According to Jelinek, the second major problem is students
harassing others through e-mail,
"but it's very rare," he said.
Computer services does not
have the staff to help all e-mail
users with their problems.
"We do the best we can, but
we're really swamped," Jelinek
said.
See INCREASE Page 14
LIFE Photo/ Rosey I
Students wait in line for a computer to use e-mail Monday at the
Woldt Computer Lab.