1998-03-30; Central Michigan Life

              Central Michigan LIFE
Volume 79, Number St
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859
©1998 CM LIFE
78 years of serving the community
Monday
March 30, 1998
16 pages
Former Public Broadcasting director predicts fate of PBS
By<
LIFE Assistant News Edrtor
At a leadership meeting last week,
University President Leonard Plachta
said CMU was looking at cooperatives in
dealing with CMITs Public Broadcasting.
Russell Herron, vice president of
University Relations, said, with the cost of
the switch to the digital system, the president is looking for these cooperatives to
save money.
In a column in Sundays Morning Sun,
former     director     of     CMU     Public
Broadcasting William Grigaliunas said he
believes PBS will be transferred to Grand
Valley State University in Allendale
because its Board of Trustees is appointed
by Gov. John Engler, also.
"It*s a prediction, but I think ifs a pretty good one," Grigaliunas told CM LIFE
Sunday.
Grigaliunas said he thinks an
announcement of PBS* fate will come in
May or June after most students have left
for the summer, including the staff of CM
LIFE.
"You guys have a lot of power and raise
a lot of hell and I don't think they want to
deal with it," he said.
Grigaliunas said he knows what university will get PBS should it leave CMU.
"(The administration) won't tell you
what the mystery school is, but ifs Grand
Valley State. Ifs got to be a university
with an Engler-appointed board."
Grigaliunas said though CMU also has
a governor-appointed board, the technology here doesn't allow for broadcasting of
Michigan Government Television across
the network, an Engler project.
"Central doesn't have that kind of
equipment," he said.
He also said the vice president in charge
of Public Broadcasting at GVSU started
MGTV.
Grigaliunas said Engler is trying to find
a place for MGTV, where more than $2
million was spent, and PBS would run it if
it goes to GVSU. MGTV reaches few
households in Michigan because most
cable companies won't run it and Engler
wants to find an outlet for it.
This is a beautiful way to get that
done," he said.
He said the network is set electronically
south to north, not two-way, so that leaves
out Northern Michigan University and,
because the University of Michigan does
not have a governor-appointed board, it is
an unlikely target.
He said the electronic set-up of south to
north could be changed to north to south
at NMU, but that's not likely.
See PBS Page 2
Students
involved
in parking
survey
■ Small    Business
Development Center
conducting downtown
survey
By Jason Michelsen
LIFE Staff Writer
A survey designed to assess
and possibly remedy the current downtown parking problem is helping CMU students
gain experience.
The study will be conducted
by the Small Business
Development Center of CMU,
led by Director Charles
Fitzpatrick. The majority of
the actual information gathering will be done by students in
Fitzpatrick's business class.
The survey, which was
requested by Beth Grawburg of
the Downtown Coordinating
Committee, will consist mainly
of door-to-door interviews in
the downtown area.
Researchers will try to measure the number of employees
at downtown businesses as
well as the number of residents
who may reside in the same
area.
The survey is being done to
decide what the best plan for
improvement in downtown
parking would be.
"It may come to reallocation
of short-term and long-term
spots, or it may come to the
addition of new spots if need
be," Fitzpatrick said.
Jim Horton, pharmacy manager of Downtown Drugs,
located at 121 E. Broadway St.,
said he gets to work early
every day to be sure of getting
a spot.
*Tf you're not here by 8:30
(a.m.), you're not getting a 10-
hour spot," he said.
Horton also said employees
often get parking tickets
because of the lack of long-
term parking. He would not be
too quick to convert the short-
term spots to long-term, however
It's a catch-22 situation. If
they make more 10-hour spots
for employees, they have less
two-hour spots for customers,
so the employees have no one
to help."
Connie Kushmaul, owner
and operator of the Broadway
Grille, located at 105 E.
Broadway St., suggested business owners have their employees park in the 10-hour spots
See SURVEY Page 2    	
ire of the increasing problems with local traffic, Mt. Pleasant police
Erik S. Scherb^CM LIFE
cracking down on speeding cava.
High speed chase laws considered
By Clayton Mastaw
LIFE Staff Writer
After passing a bill making
it a felony to flee from police
officials at high speeds, the
state legislature is now considering two more bills that
would affect high speed pursuits.
Rep. Kirk Profit (D-
Ypsilanti) of the 54th District,
is the primary sponsor of the
package. He said the bills are
actually a three-part package.
Profit said the first bill
increases felony criminal
sanctions for offenders, making it a felony to flee from
police at high speeds.
'The first bill has been
passed and signed by the governor and is now law."
Capt. Ron Williams from
the CMU Police Department
said it is a good law that was
overdue.
*T think it is a good law and
am glad it has become law,"
he said.
The second bill being considering is the Model Policy
Bill, which would regulate
police officer conduct during
pursuit.
Profit said the bill would
allow the state to set up a
to regulate
conduct a policy with procedures regarding the issues of
high speed chases.
Williams is opposed to the
creation of a commission
because he doesn't think it
would be able to determine
guidelines that will work efficiently in all areas of the
state.
Profit said the commission
would set up guidelines for
when to issue, continue and
terminate a high speed pursuit.
They would also dictate the
type of force and who will be
in command of high speed
chases, including when the
pursuit crosses jurisdiction
lines.
Profit said there are two
main aspects which must be
balanced when deciding
whether or not to issue a pursuit.
Officers need to consider
the importance of immediately apprehend ing the criminal
and the risk to the public a
high speed chase would cause,
he said.
Sgt. Tim Hunt of the Mount
Pleasant Police Department
said the bills are a great idea
even though they (MPPD)
dont encounter many high
speed pursuits.
Crash rate down despite
speed limit increase
By Jason Sweeney
LIFE Staff Writer
A Michigan State University study of the increased
speed limit's affect on accidents will be complete in late
August, but the topic is already being discussed.
Many opponents of the higher speed limits believe it
will cause more deaths on our roads, said Gary Naeyaert,
director of communications for the Michigan Department
of Transportation (M-DOT).
"The speed limits on these same roads used to be 75,"
he said. "The No. 1 reason they were lowered in the
1970s is because of fuel shortages, not because they were
dangerous."
William Taylor, professor*of civil engineering at MSU
Page 10
Hunt said in order for them
to consider taking pursuit to
high speeds, there has to be a
balance in the situation and
the right kind of circumstances.
He said the severity of the
crime dictates whether or not
the department will participate in a high speed chase.
"We would obviously be
much more willing to •continue a chase for a murder than
someone who ran a stop sign,"
he said.
The third bill is the
Immunity Bill, which would
make sure officers following
the procedures set by the commission during a high speed
pursuit would not be sued.
Profit said if police officers
follow the rules determined
by the commission, the state
doesn't want them to be sued.
While there are numerous
reasons the bills would benefit the state, Profit said safety
See CHASE Page 2	
1
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Saturday,
*t Western
Paged
Mt. Pleasant resident dies
By Clayton I
UFE Staff Writer
Richard Edwin Grass, 72, of
Mount Pleasant, died at 5 p.m.
Saturday at Central Michigan
Community Hospital following
a one-vehicle accident.
Grass was reportedly traveling westbound on M-20 east of
South Lea ton Road at about
7:50 a.m. when his vehicle, a
1984 Chevrolet, left the roadway to the north side, climbed
up an embankment and struck
a mailbox.
The vehicle then
the parking lot of Central
Michigan Lumber, 7105 E.
Pickard Road, where it kept
traveling until colliding head-
on with a large metal sign pole.
Officers from the Michigan
State Police Department
arrived on the scene at 7:54
a.m. Grass was then transported by ambulance to CMCH,
1221 South Drive, where he
was later pronounced dead.
According to medical personnel, an EKG was performed
while Grass was hospitalized,
he had suffered
heart problems, leading medical officials to believe he likely sustained a heart attack
prior to the collision.
A nursing supervisor later
concurred with the test
results. No autopsy was performed and no further medical
information was available for
Officials reported the
ical explanation fit the i
the accident. That
skid   marks   and
reportedly did not see the vehicle's brake 1 ighteflash.
elections
start
today
By Ebonii Broadus
LIFE Staff Writer
The 1998 Student Government
Association election begins
today, but the only real race is for
treasurer because the presidential/vice presidential ticket and
all 17 senators are running
unopposed.
The polls will be open today
and Tuesday from 6 to 9 p.m. in
the Student Activity Center and
from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the
Bovee University Center.
Lacy Gapczynski, Clinton
Township sophomore, and James
Cone, Laurium junior, are running for president and vice president respectively.
Treasurer candidates are
Sarah DeArmond, Lapeer freshman, mood Matt , Murphy,
Rochester Hills sophomore.
Seventeen Senate candidates
are running for 18 open seats:
Watervliet junior Kate Attila-
Hyska, Linwood freshman
Heather Bleshenski, Mount
Pleasant    senior    Bill     Cron,
See ELECT Page 10
Male
arrested
for
concealed
weapon
By Clayton I
UFE Staff Writer
A 22-year-old Holly male was
arrested at 10:56 pjn. Saturday on
the 900 block of South Washington
Street for felonious assault and
carrying a <
Mount Pleasant police officers
responded to the scene after
receiving a call from a 21-year-old
Mount Pleasant male who said he
was struck in the face by an
unwanted party guest.
The suspect later allegedly
waved a knife at bystanders,
before being ai rested by police and
lodged at the Isabella County Jail.
Tun Hodgson, Hillsdale junior
and a guest at the party, said he
didnt see a blade, but something
on the Holly male's person that
looked like a knife.
"Some dude was getting out of
line at a party and he wasn't welcome," Hodgson said.
Hodgson said people at the
party tried to get the male to leave
he started getting violent
*He mentioned something about
at  the   party   then
asJssd psBsBfr he said
Hodgson said the male was babbling and appeared to be drunk.
He said the male walked into the
party earlier in the afternoon
at the party
i people at the party
talked to the male for several
hours — they didn't know him
before then — until things got out
of hand.
4/