1997-02-12; Central Michigan Life

              Central Michigan LIFE
Volume 79, Number 60
Mt. Pleasant,  MI 48859
©1997 CM LIFE
77 years of serving the community
WEDNESDAY
February 12, 1997
18 pages
Crime reports lower
than last year's totals
■  But   larcenies  are   still   on   the   rise;
numbers have increased from 339 to 384
By Dave Borough
MEE- Staff Wi iter	
Reported crimes at Central have fallen or
remained steady, with the exception of larceny,
during the past year.
Capt. Ron Williams, associate director of the
Central Michigan University Police, said overall
with the exception of larcenies the numbers indicate  in   a  general   sense  the  crime   reports  were
inWOi.
"Relatively speaking Central is a safe campus,"
Williams said. "We look at the numbers periodically and there are times when we need more or less
Washington St.
focus of safety
improvements
By Michelle Eickmeyer
l .A   A.^fi yA:.v	
City officials move forward by improving
Washington Street's crosswalks, curbs, gutters and pavement
Duane Ellis, director of Mount Pleasant
Public Works, said the section of Washington
Street between Preston Street and
Broomfield Road will be under construction
later this year.
He said the project is in the design stage.
The major changes in the road are directly
related to pedestrians, Ellis said. The main
goal of the project is to "improve pedestrian
safety."
The first step will be to change the location
and number of crosswalks. There are currently eight, or nine places to cross
Washington, Ellis said. With the new plan
there will he four.
He said this should increase driver's
awareness of pedestrians and give them a
better idea as to where to expect them to be.
The crosswalk located at the south end of
Lot 22. which is used primarily by Towers
residents, will be moved north to the corner
of Ottawa Court and Washington, Ellis said.
"This will create a three-way stop."
Other pedestrian exits from Lot 22 will also
be changed. The majority of the changes will
be small and not very noticeable, he said.
Ellis said, the plans for the reconstruction
include tearing out the existing street,
installing an improved drainage system and
See REPAIRS Page 2	
Library plans
to upgrade
equipment
By Julia Jones
LIFE Staff VVn-er	
Students disappointed in Park
Library's equipment performance
may soon see a ray of hope with new,
up-to-date copiers, printers and microform
readers.
At the end of this month, the library will
begin replacing current copiers, printers and
microform readers with new equipment by
Commercial Equipment Company, said Gerry
Edgar, manager of Library Business Services.
Edgar hopes to have the new machines
implemented by   March 9.
The process will take place over spring
break and the library will try to avoid as
much disruption in service as possible, Edgar
said.
According to Edgar, Copy Duplicating
Products of Southfield has been providing
copy service at the library for six and a half
years.
"We've off and on had problems with availability with machines,'' he said.
The older machines have been causing
problems for quite some time, he added.
"It's   time   to   upgrade   and   use   late   90s
instead of late 80s equipment," Edgar said.
Both Copy Duplicating Products and the
new vendor, Commercial Equipment
Company, submitted proposals to the library
to upgrade equipment.
"The new company was better able to provide us with the quality and quantity that
people who use the library deserve," Edgar
said. "That hasn't been the case for awhile."
See NEW Page 2	
emphasis on a certain type of crime."
For the 1996 year, reported sexual assaults were
down five from 10 in 1995; non-aggravated
assault, which includes assault and battery-type
cases received 13 complaints, down from 20;
aggravated assault, which includes hitting someone with a weapon went up one to three and intimidation/stalking went up one to nine complaints;
operating   under   the   influence   of
violations
ns   f->r
liquor decreased 119 from 124.
The two biggest crimes committed on campus
were larcenies and malicious destruction of property.  Larcenies  increased   to  384   from  339  or   13
CMU Police Report Crime Report
1995 vs. 1996
400
»9      2jji
r
300
2(H)
IB
204        214                     ,
■ ■
KM)
.I        .I
ll
0
__■ Hi
Larcenies
Malicious destruction
of property
■ ■
1995
1996
percent, in lwu ariu miilic:
ertv increased to 219 from 20 4
■icstrvtM''1'* of nr<»n-
20
Non-aggravated
assault
10
■
Sexual
assault
aggravated  intimidation/
assault stalking
See CRIME Page 2
LIFE Graphic/Jeff Haywood
LIFE Photos/Gabriel Guerrero
WINTER
SOLSTICE
(above) Orchesis Dance Theater
members rehearse a dance routine
named "Winter Solstice" Monday
night in the Student Activity
Center for their performance April
11-12. (left) Ginny Goldberg, Utah
senior, and Chris Vanderrnissen,
Escanaba sophomore, perform
movements from the dance routine "Winter Solstice" by Yvette
Crandall.
New sports facilities will relocate,
finance $750,000 intramural fields
,oftbal I 2
By Kevin Ryan
LIFE Sports Writer
With construction of the new-
indoor sports complex cutting in
on the current intramural fields,
tht*' Intramural Sports program
will receive part of a $38 million
dollar bond to buiid new facilities.
A new $775,000 intramural
facility will be constructed on a
unversity-owned plot of land
located just west of Kewadin
Apartments.
CMU had previously leased
out the plot as farm land.
The facilities, designed hy
Peter Gorton, campus/space
planner at Facilities
Management, will feature a larger storage shed, four regulation
size softball fields, three new flag
football fields and two soccer
fields.
Two of the softball fields and
all the football and soccer fields
will have lights for night games.
LTp   to   341    parking   spaces   are
planned for the future.
The old light posts and structural system for the fences at the
current intramural fields will be
used at the new facility, but new
fencing will be used, Gorton said.
The new facilities will offer
more benefits to the Intramural
Sports program, he added.
"The irrigation will be much
better and there will be a better
structure for storage of materials
and equipment," Gorton said.
"Intramurals will have a better
time managing and maintaining
the entire facility."
Once finalized, construction for
the new facilities could begin as ,
early   as    this    summer,    CMU
Athletics Director Herb
Deromedi said.
"The whole deal is a win-win
situation for the athletes and the
students," Deromedi said. "It's a
nice area, there will be lights and
better parking. But 1 must say, it
hasn't been finalized yet
Stan Shingles, asso
director of the Stu<
Activity Center and he*,
the Intramural Prog:
said he was pleased wit!
university's plans.
"The    money   has    b<
allocated  to assume th
it   will   be   a   top-notcr
facility," Shingles  said.
"I'm excited the university decided to
enhance one program
(athletics)       without
making another  program   (intramural)   a
liability. I'm glad the
university considered
everyone involved in
the decision.
"I think it's a great
situation because it's
going to allow us to
see what our program needs are,"
Shingles said.
Qualified
students
will get
$40 refund
By Angela Cook
LIFE Staff Writer
_l\?,
the expense of the
Dining Service workers, students will get
their room and board refund.
-John Fisher, director of
Residences and Auxiliary
Services said, qualified students living in the resident
halls will tentatively receive a
<"P'±v> iciunu ±jj *\px:.   I.
This is a one time refund,
and will be distributed to resident hall students who are living in the resident halls spring
semester, and have a current
dining service contact as of
March 1.
The refund will go out to
approximately 4,900 students,
Fisher said.
The refund money stems
from the $1.50 pay cut Dining
Service workers took when they
bid for the labor portion of
Dining Services. Fisher said.
"That's basically where the
refund comes from." he said.
Originally students living in
the residence halls were told
the projected savings would be
about $130.
On Jan 15, 1996, the university announced it would subcontract the labor portion of
dining services to ARAMARK.
Despite this announcement
and refund projection, both the
union and ARAMARK were
asked to resubmit bids for the
labor portion of Dining Services
after an arbitrator ruled the
university did not give the
union bid fair consideration.
Based on the second bids the
labor portion of Dining Services
was awarded to the American
Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees Local
1568.
As a result of the acceptance
of the union bid, the saving is
lower than last year's expected
amount, Fischer said-
According to Linda Philo,
president of AFSCME Local
1568, the refund should not be
any lower than ARAMARK's
projected refund because the
union bid was significantly
lower than ARAMARK's bid.
"AFSCME saved the iuniver-
sitv- more money with the second bid then ARAMARK did,
$400,000 more, so what sense
would this make? They always
use the union as a scapegoat,"
she said. "If I was a student, I
would be asking some questions."
Despite the lower amount of
the refund, Fischer said he is
See REFUND Page 2	
Softball 3
New Parking Lot-341 spaces
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LIFE Graphic/Jeff Haywood