1998-10-26; Central Michigan Life

              Central Michigan LIFE
Volume 81, Number 25
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859
©1998 CM LIFE
79 years of serving the community
Monday
October 26, 1998
14 pages
Central jubilant with narrow victory
Western Weekend passes quietly
By Kristi Gutowski
LIFE Staff VvViter
Students and out-of-town guests behaved themselves
this Central/Western Weekend, making it a fairly quiet
one that local police officers were happy to see.
Sgt. Daniel Gaflka of the Mount Pleasant Police
Department said the department requested help from
other departments in surrounding cities and counties,
which is not different from previous years. Gaflka said
he was only in the department for three months in 1991
when the riots occurred in Mount Pleasant for Western
Weekend. An estimated $10,000 was done in damages
that year when more than 3,000 spectators took to city
streets and destroyed neighborhood property and overturned cars.
"I thought it was chaos," Gaffka said. "I couldn't
believe educated people could act that way.**
As it turns out, students seemed to behave well this
year.
Gaflka said no officers were taken to the hospital
because of the weekend, although there were some fights
in various areas by students, out-of-town guests and
local residents. In 1991, there were six officers injured
Above right: Spectators storm the field to celebrate the victory over Western 26-24.
Right: Eric Nance (25) celebrates with Jeremy
Gold (44) during the lest minute of CMU's victory over Western on Saturday. The Chippewas
kicked a field goal with less than two minutes
left on the clock to take the lead. The Broncos
were then unable to get a first down on their
next series, which clinched the victory for CMU.
Below: Four fans dressed in various costumes
(or lack thereof) stormed the field in the second
quarter of the CMU/WMU game Saturday.
and taken to the hospital.
Gaflka said many police were stationed on the north
end of campus, with police assigned to every street from
Main to University to keep people moving. Other officers
also patrolled apartment complexes at the south end of
campus.
The extra officers from surrounding areas — ranging
from Midland to Big Rapids and from Clare to Gratiot
counties — put the count close to 200 officers patrolling
the streets Saturday night.
"We have to go from what we know from the past,"
Gaflka said, "and typically Western Weekend has been
violent."
Gaflka thought the officers patrolled the area suffi-
See WESTERN Page 2	
RYAN WOOD • CM LIFE
TONY CEPAK • CM LIFE
RYAN WOOD • CM LIFE
Two boys killed in accident
By Kristi Gutowski
LIFE Staff Writer
Two boys died Saturday evening
as a result of a two-vehicle accident
near the intersection of Broadway
Road and Sowmick Drive.
Justin Bennett, 14, and Brandon
Sprague, 10, were on an all-terrain
vehicle crossing Broadway Road
near *Sowmick Drive about 5:39
p.m. A Chevrolet pickup, driven by
John Rubio, was traveling east on
Broadway and was also involved in
the accident.
The accident is still under inves
tigation, but officials said it
. appears the pickup swerved to
avoid the all-terrain vehicle and
ran into a ditch, where it turned
onto its side.
Sprague was pronounced dead at
the scene of the accident and
Bennett was transported to Central
Michigan Community Hospital,
where he later died in the emergency room.
Rubio was also transported by
ambulance to CMCH. He was still
hospitalized and in fair condition at
press time.
CMU tuition tax credit available again
By Joey Polrtzer
LIFE Staff Writer
Students and their parents will be
happy to know that CMU again qualifies
for the tuition tax credit, saving them
money on their income tax forms.
This news came as the state
Department of Treasury announced last
week that 37 institutions have qualified
for the Michigan College Tuition Tax
Credit program this year. Among those
meeting the qualifications was CMU.
All 37 institutions had to abide by certain tuition fee regulations to meet 1998
qualifications. By this, schools could not
increase their tuition and fees by more
than the 2.3 inflation rate of the previous
year.
Parents or guardians also have to meet
requirements to receive the aid of the tax
credit. Families with an adjusted gross
income of $200,000 or less will be eligible
for a tuition tax credit, if they have students enrolled in the institutions. Up to
a $375 credit can be applied to the
tuition paying party's 1998 income tax
liability.
Kim Ellertson, vice president of
Business and Finance at CMU, commented on the announcement of the tax
credit in regards to the university.
"First, it will help keep tuition costs
low, and second it will help students get
tax credit," Ellertson said.
This will be the second year CMU has
qualified for the tax credit, he said.
"Students will not benefit largely from
this tax credit,1* Ellertson said. "But it
causes those of us in education to look at
ways to keep tuition costs low."
Aside from CMU, seven *other public
universities qualified. These universities
include Eastern Michigan, Ferris State,
Grand Valley State, Lake Superior State,
Michigan State, Northern Michigan and
Saginaw Valley State.
See TAX CREDIT Page 2	
Classified 13
Crossword 13
Et cetera 10-11
Sports 6-8
Voices
To reach CM LIFE
Phone. (317) 774-3493
E-Mail: CMLIFEecmuvm.csv.C0itch.edM
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Central Michigan LIFE Online
Internet add rent:
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U.S. Senate addresses binge drinking
By Joseph McCarthy
LIFE Staff Wnter
The U.S. Senate has recently become
concerned with college binge drinking, but
the topic isn't a new one at CMU.
A Senate resol ution, sponsored by Sen.
Joseph R. Bid en, D-Del., calls for universities to create committees dedicated to
setting alcohol regulations, providing
alcohol-free activities, and enforcing zero-
tolerance policies toward underage drinking.
Central, which already has several
committees and organi rations working on
the issue, is seen by other universities as
a trail blazer in the effort to reduce dangerous binge drinking, said Mark Minelli,
manager of Health Advocacy Services.
"Central really is seen as a leader in
prevention,"' he said.
But Minelli said that doesnt mean
Central is free from binge drinking.
"Just like any other school nationwide,
rd say we have a problem with binge
drinking," he said. "Its fairly obvious that
all schools are dealing with alcohol relat
ed problems and that's . . . referred to as
binge drinking."
According to a survey of Central students conducted in 1996, underage drinking is 72 percent — an 11 percent drop
from 1994. Minelli said those indicators
are signs of progress.
"We're encouraged by what we see by
those trends. People don't seem to be having the abusive drinking patterns,"
Minelli said.
But binge drinking still affects more
than half of the student body, according to
the survey. In 1996, 52 percent of the
study's participants reported they had
binge drank within two weeks of the
study. The definition of binge drinking
used in the questionnaire was consuming
"five or more drinks in a sitting."
Minelli said he personally disagrees
with that definition of binge drinking.
"If you were at legal age and you were
at a party all night long . . . maybe you
were there for four or five hours, you
weren't that drunk. You may have been
legally able to drive," he said.
Minelli said he would rather use a definition of binge drinking that focused on
the behavior of the individual instead of
the quantity of alcohol they had consumed.
The behavior of intoxicated students is
an issue being examined by several
groups, including the Mount Pleasant
City Commission, which has explored
some unruly student behavior recently.
However, when compared to other universities around the country, Minelli said
Central is fairly typical.
"With some of our alcohol use patterns
they didn't seem to be far off other
schools," he said.
Minelli said patterns established before
college are also important.
"It's only as good as what we inherit. We
have to look at what*s coining in at a high
school level," he said.
Minelli said universities can help try to
curb binge, drinking, but an effort needs to
be made earlier to be really effective.
See BINGE Page 2	
Fund raising
record broken
CMU Public Radio broke a record Sunday
night in terms of fund raising — in 11 days, the
station raised a total of $167,362 which was
pledged by 2,188 callers.
The figure is 5.4 percent higher than the
1997 fall pledge total, according to a press
release issued late Sunday.
"Listeners responded generously when their
pledges were matched, or had additional dollars added from a challenger," said Tbm Hunt,
director of CMU Public Radio, in the press
release.
Among the funds raised included a donation
from the third grade class at Pine Avenue
School in Alma, according to the press release.
"It meant a lot to us to get a pledge like this,"
Hunt said in the press release.
According to the press release, CMU Public
Radio serves residents of central and northern
Michigan and part of Canada from six transmitters and is responsible for a 24-hour schedule of news, classical music, traditional music
and jazz.