1996-03-15; Central Michigan Life

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Central I ICC
Michigan LliC
FRIDAY,
MARCH 15,
1996
VOLUME 78, NUMBER 68
MOUNT PLEASANT, MICHIGAN 48859
©1996 CM LIFE
(517)774-3493
14 PAGES
SPORTS
Softball    pitching    staff
thrives on different styles
The Chippewas pitching
staff features two seniors
in the rotation along with
some talented
underclassmen who hope
to   bring   home   a   MAC
championship this season.
PAGE 8
ARTS
&
ENTERTAINMENT
Irish band highlights St.
Patrick's Day celebration
Boys of the Lough will fill
Warriner Hall with
traditional sounds of the
Irish. The concert also
marks the return of Our
Front Porch, a program
that tapes concerts that
take place at CMU.
PAGE lO
CAMPUS
International Expo begins
annual celebration
President Leonard Plachta
opened the fourth
International Expo with a
ribbon-cutting ceremony
on Wednesday. The event
was attended by about 75
people, the largest turnout
the Expo has seen.
PAGE 3
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Sova lawsuit moves to Bay City
By Erin Mercer
LIFE Assistant News Editor
A lawsuit, filed by the parents
of a Mount Pleasant man who
was shot and killed by city police
in 1994, has been moved to the
U.S. District Court in Bay City,
but the plaintiffs' lawyer says he
thinks the suit should stay right
where it was.
"There was nothing we could
do, we are not happy,** said
Richard Dietz, attorney for the
plaintiffs, about the move.
Gary and Victoria Sova's 23-
year-old son, Thomas, was shot
to death April 21, 1994, after
police were notified he was
attempting   suicide   outside   his
Charter
school
issued
deadline
By Brian Seymour
LIFE StaffWriter	
Weeks after an audit raised
questions about business practices at Concord Academy in
Petoskey, CMU's Charter
Schools office has given the
school 60 days to respond to
"some issues."
Robert Mills, director of
Charter Schools, said CMU has
"been working with (Concord)
very closely. We asked for some
information from them to clari-
On March 6, CMU asked the
board at Concord for additional
information regarding questions in an audit done early this
year.
"We've asked them to demonstrate how they think they're in
compliance with our contract in
which we've authorized them to
act as a charter school," Mills
said. "We've given them 60 days
to respond and after that 60-day
period we'll reassess or reevaluate where we're at."
Some of the problems raised
in the audit include:
•Monies paid to Educare,
Inc., a nonprofit corporation run
by Concord co-founder Dennis
Cross, for school equipment,
furniture and supplies without
taking competitive bids.
•The academy paid Educare
nearly $81,000 in public tax dollars for set up work done by
Cross and his partners, Steve
and Kim Overton.
•The academy didn't follow
state-required business practices during the period covered
by the audit.
See CONCORD Page 2
home at 222 N. Fancher St.
The lawsuit was filed June 13
in Isabella County Circuit Court
but was moved to U.S. District
Court Dec. 1, 1995.
"The city did it because they
don't want it tried in Mount
Pleasant," Dietz said.
Victoria and Gary Sova, as the
personal representatives of
Thomas Sova's estate, are suing
the City of Mount Pleasant; the
Mount Pleasant Department of
Public Safety, police division;
Martin Trombley, director of
Mount Pleasant Public Safety;
Sgt. Douglas LaLone; officers
Jeffrey Shell and Daniel Gaffka.
Patrick Aseltyne, attorney for
the defendants, was unavailable
for comment.
Dietz said having the trial in
Bay City will mean the jury
hearing the case will probably
not be from Isabella County. The
reason, he said, is because the
U.S. District Court, where the
case will be tried, picks its juries
from 21 different counties as
opposed to the Isabella County
Circuit Court which chooses
members just from the county.
And that, Dietz said, is exactly
the reason he thinks it was done.
Dietz said he disagrees with
the move because the incident
happened in Mount Pleasant so
that is where he thinks the trial
should be.
"The people who sit and judge,
the jury of peers, should be from
Isabella County," he said.
Dietz said he was put in a position where he was forced to add
a U.S. constitutional violation of
Thomas Sova's civil rights,
which made it possible for the
city, without a hearing, to move
the case to a federal court.
The lawsuit states the defendants deprived Thomas Sova of
his Fourth and 14th Amendment
rights including: "Freedom from
the use of excessive and unreasonable force; Freedom from
unreasonable searches and
seizures; and Freedom from the
deprivation of life and liberty
without due process."
Victoria and Gary Sova also
are suing the defendants for a
violation of Thomas Sova's rights
as protected by the Michigan
Constitution, assault and battery by LaLone, Gaffka and
Shell and for wrongful death.
According to the lawsuit, officers assaulted, battered and
using excessive force took the
life of Thomas Sova.
Trombley is being sued for
"negligent hiring, failure to take
corrective action against officers
with a known propensity to use
See LAWSUIT Page 6
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CATCHING
SOME
RAYS
LIFE Photo/Christina N. Bowles
Marie McDonald, Farmington Hills junior, leans over the edge of his roof to talk to
pedestrians below while catching some rays Wednesday afternoon.
Health execs highly concerned with pot use
By Emily Gerkin
LIFE StaffWriter
Health officials are concerned
about CMU's future freshmen
after national studies concluded
marijuana use among high
school teens has doubled in the
last five years.
The government's National
Household Survey on Drug
Abuse last September found
after a decade of decline, a growing number of teenagers are
smoking pot. The numbers have
almost doubled between 1992
and 1994.
"We  are  definitely  concerned
about our feeder system, the
upcoming freshmen," said Mark
Minelli, manager of health advocacy services. "They seem to be
coming from some perspective
that pot is not harmful."
And Minelli attributes that
low-risk perception for the
increase in marijuana use.
"When the perceived risk is
down, the use is high. Younger
people aren't seeing pot as
harmful and that's because of all
the debate that is going on," he
said.
According to a study by the
University   of  Michigan,   34.7
percent of high school seniors
said they had smoked pot in the
past year. Only 25.6 percent
think occasional pot smoking
put them at "great risk."
Hemp organizations have
sprung up around the country,
inducing events like Hempfest
'95, where more than 20,000
people gathered in Seattle to
promote decriminalizing pot.
"There is a lot of debate out
there as to whether or not we
should legalize marijuana like
parts of Europe, but that won't
reduce the problems we have
with it," Minelli said.
Charles Carroll, of Ball State
University, published a book
titled "Drugs in Modern Society,"
in which he listed the pros and
cons of legalizing pot.
According to his book, some
arguments in favor of legalizing
the drug are "based on the high
economic cost of prohibition and
the war on drugs, the elimination of violence linked with
abused drugs and the reduced
popularity of the legalized
drugs."
Some     arguments      against
See DRUG Page 6	
Total strangers work together to save children from danger
By Jeff Haywood
LIFE Staff Writer	
Wayne Barrett and Richard
Childs had never met before
March 6, but by the end of the
day, the two together would be
heralded as heroes.
Wayne Barrett, a CMU custodian for almost 25 years, was
walking out to his mailbox just
after 11 a.m. when the school
bus driven by Childs stopped to
drop off Barrett's five year-old
son.
Childs, a substitute bus driver
who had driven buses full-time
for 12 years, pulled the bus into
Barrett's driveway at 7730 S.
Curtis Road and proceeded to
back out into the street.
"I was backing up real slow to
make sure I didn't hit any mailboxes," Childs said.
Barrett was walking back to
his house when he heard a
strange noise.
"I turned and saw the electric
pole and wires had hit the top of
the bus," Barrett said.
With 10 years of experience in
the fire department, Barrett
knew that everyone should be
safe on the bus as long as they
didn't try to get out.
Childs said he saw Barrett
pointing excitedly towards the
bus, but said he had no idea
what was going on.
"I hadn't felt a thing," Childs
said.
Childs stopped the bus and
Barrett explained to him that
the bus had backed into a nearby
guide wire that was supporting
an electric pole which had fallen
on the bus.
There was no way to see the
guide wire with the bright sun
and snow," Childs said.
Childs, who had worked in the
oil fields for 32 years, also knew
the best strategy was to stay on
the bus and wait for the power to
be shut off.
After a brief discussion with
£/   In the excitement, I
Pi   couldn't  remember
my  name,  but   I  could
remember  my address.
WAYNE BARRETT
CMU custodian
Childs, Barrett ran back inside
his house to call 9-1-1 and Childs
radioed the bus base.
When Barrett picked up his
phone, he heard static on the
line and feared that the electricity from the downed power lines
was disrupting the phone lines.
But Barrett's call went through
and he related all but one piece
of information to the operator.
"In the excitement, I couldn't
remember my name, but I could
remember my address," Barrett
said.
Meanwhile, Childs was
attempting to calm the 12
kindergarten children on the
bus.
"I told the kids that I would
take care of them and that they
would be fine," Childs said.
After calling 9-1-1, Barrett
thought the situation was under
control until he stepped outside
and found a new problem - the
11,000 volts flowing through the
bus had begun to burn the rear
bus tires.
Barrett quickly called 9-1-1
again and told them that the fire
department also was now needed and ran outside and informed
Childs of the burning tires.
Childs decided to try to move
the bus out from under the lines,
but ironically, a safety hatch on
top of the bus designed to help
passengers escape in the event of
a roll-over had caught the electric wire and the bus was unable
to break free.
"But when the bus stopped
moving, the tires stopped burning and I thought Wow! We're
safe!" Barrett said.
However, soon the tires started burning again and black
smoke began to creep into the
bus.
With electricity visibly arching
from the back of the bus to the
ground accompanied by the
humming of electricity and with
no rescue workers present yet,
Barrett and Childs made a difficult decision.
"I told Mr. Barrett we had to
get   these   kids   off  the   bus,"
See HEROES Page 12