1992-02-12; Central Michigan Life

              3iBK^eESSSB!»ft£i«Si)i*SJ
,££B&&^2£*£3&k3^^
*r^:mr;iSB^imwtr----m, wm-'.WM
Central
Michigan
LIFE
WEDNESDAY
February 12, 1992
18 PAGESj
iiMOUNT PLEASANT,
MICHlGAH,488Sa
,i, .' ■ SSkk"      ,iK—
i4t4r9?J$V ^££1
!(517) 774-3493
*^I£&&HI VOtUMC-^^bMBER 58 I
Building boom could go up in smoke
State's 50-50
proposal would
hurt University
By Jennifer Chrisman
LIFE Assistant News Editor
The campus that three years
ago had a building boom will consider itself lucky just to have a
new building if documents circulating in the state capitol become
public policy.
"The proposal endorsed by the
governor is that, in the future,
the state of Michigan will pay for
50 percent of university buildings." said Leonard E. Plachta.
CMU interim president.
"That comes as quite a shock. It
makes it much more difficult,"
Plachta said. "I get pessimistic
about trying to run this University in a good way with (inadequate funding)."
The draft proposal — given to
university presidents Jan. 28 by
Patricia Woodworth. director of
the Department of Management
and Budget — calls for 50-50 cost
PROGRAM
[CONSTRUCTION   §p^lL^
The addition to
Park Library
The proposed
music building
The primary
electrical system
The Capital Outlay Process has 22 steps in the categories above. Design includes
three subgroups: schematics and study, preliminaries, and contract documentation.
Five others are in early planning stages: underground utilities. Powers Hall. Ronan
Hall and athletic facility renovations, and academic building repair.
I   I   i   i  o
ri
» «'■ i'i'i
r^cc
v^. ,\rA~ry~r~Tr
Music building one of several
projects that could face the ax
sharing of new construction and
renovations.
"They're very significant
changes." said Jerry Scoby,
executive assistant to the president for Budget and Planning.
"(But) DMB has been looking at
changes in the capital outlay area
for a number of years."
And the proposal isn't a warning of wrhat might come in the
future, but instead a map of the
fiscal road Michigan is taking,
said Greg Morris, executive assistant to the president for Govern
mental Relations.
A joint DMB-gubernatorial
creation, the proposal is consistent with Gov. John Engler's
budget presentation Friday suggesting the state hold on capital
outlay projects, said Bill Kerans,
deputy director of the DMB.
In the budget recommendation, Engler called for a 24.1 percent decrease in Capita! Outlay,
reducing the total to $147.4 million, which also represents a
transfer of payment duties from
Capital   Outlay   to   the   Depart
ment of Treasury.
"Given how tight the state
budget is, we can't go around
spending (a lot) of money for capital outlay," said John Truscott,
Engler's press secretary. "The
universities will have to indicate
(capital outlay) is a priority by
putting their own money toward
it."
Some schools — such as CMU
— can't afford to build without
the state providing more than 50
percent of construction costs.
See PROPOSAL Paqe 2
By Jennifer Chrisman
LIFE Assistant News Editor
and Mary Church
LIFE Staff Writer	
CMU's music building might
sing a new song — or no song at
all — if funding changes circulated by the Department of Management and Budget and
endorsed by Gov. John Engler are
implemented.
One change calls for 50-50
cost-sharing, which could make
the $25 million music facility a
dream instead of reality.
CMU couldn't possibly come up
with its $12.5 million half, said
Kim Ellertson, vice president for
Business and Finance.
"I doubt we can come up with
$2 million for one of these projects," Ellertson said of the music
building and a proposed $27.4
million addition to Park Library.
CMU. however, still plans to
send proposals for the library
project to the State Building
Authority this month, said Bob
DeBruin, former member of
CMU's now-defunct Capital
Planning Committee.
The SBA is a state agency
created in 1964 to issue municipal bonds for capital construction
after projects receive the necessary legislative and executive
approvals.
Engler's budget recommendation Friday and DMB Director
Patricia Woodworth's proposal
given to university presidents
Jan. 28 in Lansing indicate the
state will choose carefully which
projects to finance — if any.
CMU's capital outlay request
for fiscal 1992 - 93 contains eight
projects in different planning
stages. DMB will consider the top
three.
"If Patricia Woodworth's proposal actually becomes the way of
doing business, well probably
have to take a look at our top
three," said Leonard E. Plachta,
CMU interim president.
See BUILDINGS Page 13
STRATEGIC PLAYING!
LIFE Photo/Ken Willow
Isaac Smith, 13 (left), Noah Smith, 9 (right), and 8-year-old Neoma Smith of Mount Pleasant play "war" in a vacant lot at the west end
of Cherry Street Monday afternoon.
Preliminary exam for
alleged murderer is
slated for Thursday
By Brian D. Bell
LIFE Asststant News Editor
The preliminary exam of a
Midland man charged with killing a Mount Pleasant man is
scheduled for Thursday.
The exam for John Jay Pets-
nick — the 22-year-old man
charged with second-degree murder in connection with the beating death of Timothy Bliss — is
set for 9 a.m. in Isabella County
District Court.
Bliss died about 7 a.m. Feb. 1
from injuries resulting from a
fight about 1:45 a.m. in the parking lot of Wayside Central, 2000
S. Mission. Petsnick allegedly
knocked Bliss to the ground, got
on top of him and pounded his
head into the pavement.
During the exam, the prosecution must provide sufficient evidence to convince District Court
Judge Peter D. O'Connell there is
probable cause to believe a crime
was committed and to bind Pets-
nick over for trial in Circuit
Court, said Tom Evans, a Midland attorney representing Pets-
nick.
"Frankly, it's a relatively easy
burden to meet and it's designed
to weed out exceptionally weak
cases," he said.
O'Connell could find evidence
■ John Jay Petsnick is
charged with second-
degree murder in connection with the beating death
of Timothy Bliss.
■ Petsnick's preliminary
exam is 9 a.m. Thursday.
■ Second-degree murder means the person
intended to cause someone's death, do great bodily harm or acted with willful and wanton disregard
for the consequences.
supporting a lesser charge or
inadequate evidence to support
any charge at all, Evans said.
Second-degree murder indicates the person intended to
cause someone'e death, do them
great bodily harm or acted with
willful and wanton disregard for
the consequences. If convicted,
Petsnick could face life imprisonment.
He was arraigned Thursday in
District Court and remains
lodged in the Isabella County
Jail. Bond is set at $100,000; 10
percent is needed to make bail.
Petsnick's family is trying to
generate bail money, Evans said.
INDEX
News  3
State, Nation, World  3
Opinion 4
Police Log '... 5
Arts, Entertainment  8
Sports  10
Full-Court Press  11
Crossword  15
Comics  14-15
Classified Ads  14-15
WEATHER
Wednesday, mostly sunny
during the morning, increasing
cloudiness during the afternoon. High 20 to 25. Wednesday
night, mostly cloudy. Low in the
teens.
Students watch Harkin's Iowa caucus win
By Lori Robinson
l IFF Staff Writer
DES MOINES, IOWA —
While every presidential candidate except Democratic Iowa
Senator Tom Harkin wrote off
stopping at the Iowa Caucus, 29
CMU students and tv/o faculty
members spent the day meeting
the press and precinct constituents.
Del Ringquist, political science
chairman, and Jim Wieghart,
journalism chairman, attended
the election year's first caucus
with members of their team-
taught special topics class. Campaign '92.
Political reporter David Yep-
sen of the Des Moines Register
took time off his beat Monday
morning and updated the students on the status of the 1992
Iowa Caucus.
"The fruits of an  Iowa victory
Kemp gives CMU some goop! press
By Crystal Harmon
LIFE Staff Writer
^ DES MOINES, IOWA —
CMU students once again made
the national news Monday.
This time it wasn't for burning cars. It was for exemplifying
Republican ideals.
"Jack Kemp, secretary of
Housing and Urban Development, spoke of Central students
during a Bush-stumping Caucus Day speech. The speech was
broadcast on C-SPAN and other
national media.    • -•,- -. , ,,
W "We are experiencing .the best
of times, and, paradoxically, the'
worst of times,* Kemp told an
audience of about 250, including
29 CMU students. "We have
homelessness and poverty;
despair and drugs; a lack of
affordable housing.
"But at the same time, it's
also one of incredible opportunities. How else can you explain
the fact that in the world today,
students from Tiananmen
Square to Central Michigan
University quote Lincoln, quote
Jefferson, quote Martin Luther
King?
"The  quotes and-the words
are  of libertarian  democracy,
small 'd', small '1/ These values,1
the * opportunities  tbj^dvance
one's self, are the values upon
which the Republican party was
predicated."
Kemp said in his speech,
delivered at a luncheon in the
Des Moines Marriott Hotel, the
Bush administration hopes the
restructuring of capital and creation of new jobs will create 20
million new jobs in the next
eight years.
"Then we will ensure that we
can develop the talents, hearts
and minds of those young people
in the back of the room," he said,
again referring to the CMU stu-
' dents ^^^'^^^-^^!®^^K^.-^:.^;d :^;
• See STUDENTS Page 17
are not delegates," Yepsen said.
"It's media attention. It's a good
opportunity   for   people  to  raise
hell about the ethical issues and
the economy."
Although    Yepsen    predicted
Harkin as the big winner in the
country's first official contest, he
said it would be construed as a
loss unless he took a larger share
of the delegates than any previous nominee. Former President
Jimmy Carter netted 59 percent
of Iowa's Democratic delegates in
1980.
The students witnessed grassroots political efforts when they
broke up to attend five Democratic and three Republican caucuses.
In Polk County. 10 of the 16
constituents who attended the
District 21 caucus quickly organized for Harkin while five declared themselves uncommitted
and one argued for Massachusetts' Paul Tsongas.
The lone Tsongas supporter,
Janet Woods, eventually convinced another constituent to
support the former U.S. senator,
thus earning him a delegate.
"He's  not  going  to  pander to
See IOWA Page 13