1996-01-29; Central Michigan Life

              ******
Central I  ICC
Michigan LIlL
MONDAY,
JANUARY 29,
1996
VOLUME 78, NUMBER 53
MOUNT PLEASANT, MICHIGAN 48859
©1 996 CM LIFE
(517)774-3493
14 PAGES
SPORTS
CMU    wrestlers    defeat
perennial power Miami
Central maintained a grip
on first place in the MidAmerican Conference
with an impressive win
over the Redskins.
PAGE 8
'Winter Wonderland
draws  ballroom   dancers
to U.C.
The Jack Saunders
Orchestra provided the
musical background for
approximately 35 couples
who danced their cares
away Saturday evening.
PAGE 10
CAMPUS
CMU  students  watch  as
Dallas defeats Pittsburgh
CMU students watched and
enjoyed the game as the
Cowboys beat the Steelers
27-17 in Super Bowl XXX.
PAGE 3
Petitions OK'd - recall effort makes it to ballot
By Jennifer Pawlowski
LIFE Assistant News Edilot	
City official* finished verifying
signatures Friday on petitions to
recall tour Mount Pleasant City
Commissioners.
According to Paul Preston, city
manager, the commissioners
being recalled will have time for
an appeal, and the county clerk
has 60 days to schedule a recall
election.
Petition eftbrts for the recall
began in the fall after the City
Commission voted 4-3 to recommend widening a portion of High
Street to allow room for a left-
turn lane.
The four commissioners under
the recall are Kenneth Bovee.
Gerald Cassel, Donald Sowle
and Robert Trullinger.
"The commissioners have a
certain  period of time  in which
they can review the signatures
and make some sort of appeal to
the signatures," Preston said.
Sowle said he feels the recall
efforts are based completely on
one decision the commission
made, which was to recommend
widening High Street.
"I have confidence in the voters of Mount Pleasant that they
will reject the idea of single-
issue politics," he said.
TVullinger also said he feels
the recall focuses around single-
issue politics.
"It's one issue (the petitioners)
have been very emotional about,
but I think they're wrong about
how the people of Mount
Pleasant feel," TVullinger said.
"The vote now on the recall of
the four of us will demonstrate
that the people of Mount
Pleasant have been behind the
widening of High Street all
along," he said.
Preston said he has heard
indications that the recall election will be scheduled for sometime in April.
Preston said the petitions for
each commissioner had approximately 1,400 signatures on
them.
The minimum number of valid
signatures required was 1,223.
Asian Heritage Week celebration comes to a close
Lion dance celebrates
Lunar Chinese New Year;
Asian Heritage Week
By Liz Wishaw
LIFE Staff Writer
Two lions, a trio of dancers
and a section of drums and
cymbals rang in the Lunar
Chinese New Year Saturday
afternoon in Moore Hall Kiva.
As part of the festivities for
Asian Heritage Week, the Lion
Dance lasted 20 minutes with
the two lions jumping, dancing
and weaving to the rhythm of
the drums.
Students from Chung's
School of Praying Mantis in
Midland performed the Lion
Dance with three students
wearing masks and dancing
around the lion.
The two lions moved around
the bottom of the auditorium as
different members of the school
exchanged places and went
underneath the lions. Two students are needed for the lion,
one each in the head and the
tail.
"The Lion Dance is a traditional Chinese martial art,"
said Henry Chung, owner and
instructor of Chung's School of
Praying Mantis.
The dance concluded with
Chung as the head of the lion.
The lion bent low and ate cab-
bage that had oeen placed in
the  center of the  auditorium.
The lion tore at the cabbage
and spit it back at the audience.
"The cabbage should have
been lettuce," Chung said. "It
has symbolic meaning and is
part of the legend."
According to Chung, the
green lettuce represents symbolic life and brown means
death. It brings joyfulness,
goodness and spring to the
room.
"The dance is a traditional
part of training," he said.
"Muscle tone and control is
needed in the dance."
He said the head of the lion is
35 pounds and is quite a chore
to hold one-legged stances with
it.
"It is a control discipline, and
the training brings the whole
system together," Chung said.
"There are different skits for
the Lion Dance and this is the
one we perform," he said.
Another version of the performance is the Dragon Dance,
with dragons in place of the
lions.
Gabriel Chien, history professor, said he shortened and
deferred from his original topic
of discussion, "The Four Little
Dragons and Their Confucian
See LION Page 2	
Students of Master Henry Chung's School of Praying Mantis
Asian Heritage Week Saturday afternoon in the Moore Hall Kiva
UFE Photo/Jonnah Sptoley
rro the Lion Dance that
U of M group acts up against stereotypes
By Liz Wishaw
LlPE Staff Writer
Racism, homosexuality, divorce and
stereotypes were a few of the issues a
University of Michigan group focused
on Saturday evening.
Students from the University of
Michigan - Ann Arbor performed short
skits, songs and monologues about
stereotypes in society Saturday.
The performing group, Descendants
of the Monkey God, is a semester old
and has taken the act to such schools
as Notre Dame, Wayne State
University and Ohio State University.
The performance in Moore Hall Kiva
included 19 performers who write,
direct and produce the skits themselves, according to Mae Gong, a member of the group.
The events of a young woman's life
were detailed in a slide show presentation followed by four group members performing the song, "Stranger"
with a keyboard, acoustic guitar, violin
and drums backing up the vocals.
The song lyrics detail the life of an
Asian-American and his or her struggle with not being accepted in America
by the mainstream.
A skit called "The Doctor" focused on
an Asian doctor who wanted to experi
ment on an Asian male and give him
powers of mental greatness.
The skit, "Willy," had a parental
advisory on it because of profanity. It
told the story of a young man who is
hounded by a salesman and then
becomes irrational.
The topic of sexuality was brought
up in the skit, "Family Values.* A
young Asian man comes out about his
homosexuality and lets his parents
know that his 'significant other* is not
a female but a white male.
"Eric and Marine" dealt with racism
See PERf=ORMPaoe 2
Woman dies from injuries
in house fire
By Chris C. Davis
LIFE Staff Writer	
A Shepherd woman was pronounced dead Thursday evening
from injuries sustained in a
house fire earlier that day.
According to reports from the
Isabella County        Sheriff's
Department, 64-year-old Audrey
Clark was pulled from the blaze*
at 4481 E. Blanchard Road in
Shepherd, but later died at
Centra! Michigan Community
Hospital
Early indications are the fire
was accidental, but further
investigations are ongoing, fire
department officials said. The
house was declared a total loss.
The residence, which was a
converted farmhouse, was
described as "built to burn" by
Shepherd Fire Chief Don Brown.
The Tire took nearly three and a
half hours to bring under control, reports said.
Both Audrey Clark and her
husband, Charles, were awakened by their barking dog shortly after 6 a.m. Thursday morning. The two attempted to escape
the house by climbing out the
bedroom window.
Charles Clark managed to
make his way through the window, but when he turned to
assist his wife, she could not be
seen, authorities said.
A funeral for Audrey Clark is
scheduled today at 2 p.m. at
Helms Funeral Home, 330 S.
University Ave. In addition to
her husband, Clark is survived
by her fiw children and her
brother, George Grim, also of
Shepherd.
Relocation of two local services may
benefit Isabella County residents
By Dorothy Nelson
LIFE Slaf* Writer	
Two Mount Pleasant services
have plans to further benefit the
community by relocating to a
larger location, according to a
county administrator.
Central Michigan District
Health Department, 1222 North
Drive, and the Isabella County
Central Dispatch, 804 E. High
St., are in negotiation with the
City of Mount Pleasant to purchase 5.2 acres of land, said Kim
A. Higgs, Isabella County
administrator.
The land is located on the
southwest corner of the intersection of Isabella Road and
Preston Street. It is being purchased for $55,000 Construction
of the building will cost approxi
mately $2 million and will begin
when the financing procedures
are complete, Higgs said.
"The businesses have outgrown their current facilities,"
he said "We thought that it was
more economical to consolidate
the two facilities, though their
services will not interact.**
Health Officer Mary Kushion
said they will offer the same services, just more of them. The
expansion will provide room for
additional exam rooms and
office space for the staff and
administration.
**I think that we will be a lot
more efficient," she said. **We
will be able to service a lot more
clients who need the services.
We have a waiting list now and
it will eliminate that."
The additional space also will
allow Isabella County Central
Dispatch employees to work in a
more efficient environment, said
Director Richard Beltinck.
There will be more room for
the equipment and a relaxed
temperature control, Beltinck
said. It will be less crowded and
there will be fewer distractions.
"Our basic function won't
change," he said. "But I think
that it will enable us to offer a
better service."
Isabella County also has presented a proposal to the state to
build a State Police Post on the
land, Higgs said. The cost of construction will increase to $9 million, and Isabella County is hoping to get a commitment by
March I, he said.