1996-02-19; Central Michigan Life

              •V"1"**
Central
Michigan
LIFE
MONDAY,
FEBRUARY 19,
1996
VOLUME 78, NUMBER 62
Central wrestlers move
up in MAC race
The Chippewas defeated
Ohio University this
weekend in a crucial MidAmerican Conference
meet. CMU will host the
MAC championship meet
this year.
PAGE 6
ARTS
&
ENTERTAINMENT
Grammy winning tenor
saxophonist visits CMU
Todd Williams, Grammy
winning tenor
saxophonist, performed
with CMU's Jazz Lab I
Friday in Warriner
Auditorium.
PAGE 8
CAMPUS
Little Sibs Weekend full
of fun, excitement
Nearly 400 CMU
students, little siblings
and friends enjoyed
games and prizes at Las
Vegas Night. A carnival
also took place this
weekend to celebrate
Little Sibs Weekend.
PAGE 3
MOUNT PLEASANT, MICHIGAN 48859
©1996 CM LIFE
(517)774-3493
1 2 PAGES
Residents suspect arson in Main St. fire
By Jennifer Ackerman
LIFE Features Editor	
At least 12 people, including
children and adults, escaped
unharmed after a Mount
Pleasant residence was
destroyed by fire early Saturday
morning-
Mount Pleasant fire officials
said the fire appeared to have
started on the front porch of the
residence, located at 1025 S.
Main St. A subsequent report
from the department said the
fire appeared "suspicious in
nature."
The house was rented by six
people, five of which attend
CMU.
Kelly Chamberlain, of Mount
Pleasant, was playing cards
when the fire started.
Saturday morning at the
scene, he said he had strong suspicions the fire was intentionally
set.
"Someone   definitely   started
the fire,** Chamberlain said.
"If I wouldn't have seen it
when I did, we would've have
been trapped upstairsT he said
Officials arriving at the scene
shortly after 4 a.m. saw the
house engulfed in flames. Four
people were upstairs playing
cards when the fire broke out.
Steve Tapia. Holland senior,
was sleeping upstairs in the
house.
"You had to run through the*
fire to get out/* he said.
Tapia said the fire spread from
the porch to the rest of the house
within "no more than five minutes."
Mike Ruby, of Shtkpherd, also
was playing cards.
Ruby, who lived in the house.
also believes the fire was arson.
"There's no way around it -
there's no wires on the porch," lie
said.
Both Chamberlain and Ruby
said they noticed another fire
started in a garbage can across
the street.
The second firv was extinguished before it caused any
damage.
"It blows my mind because little kids could've died.** Ruby said
referring to visitors who were
staving at the residence. "If any
of us would've been sleeping - it
would've been a totally different
situation."
Ruby said he lost a $600
mountain bike, ski equipment
and all his clothes, among other
things. "It sucks."
"It doesn't affect me as much
as my roommates," Ruby said,
noting that one lost his entire
art portfolio, while the other lost
his computer system.
"I just lost everything I had. I
don't have to worry about
school," Ruby said.
Damages are estimated at
$175,000.
A $5,000 reward was posted
for information about the fire,
which is still under investigation
LIFE Photo/Erik S. Scherb
A house located at 1025 S. Main was destroyed by fire Saturday
forcing six people (five CMU students) from their home.
by   the   Mount   Pleasant   Police know why someone would have
Department    and    the    Mount intentionally started the fire.
Pleasant Fire Department. "We're confused," he said.
Chamberlain   said   he  doesn't
GROUP
LIFE Photo/Jason Flowers
Members of the gospel group Fortress practice Sunday afternoon following the
Young Ambassadors for Christ congregation. The congregation meets every Sunday
at noon in Anspach room 162.
Attorneys receive
30-days to review
woman's  testimony
By Chris C. Davis
JFEJ Staff Writer
The defense team n'presenting suspended Michigan State
Police trooper David Joseph
Johnson was given a 30-day
period to review preliminary
hearing testimony given
Thursday from a woman who
claims Johnson raped her last
fall.
David Feinberg, an East
Lansing attorney representing
Johnson, said more than 30
police officers and numerous
others turned out at 76th
District Court for nearly two
hours of testimony in a show of
support for Johnson.
Johnson was charged with
third-degree criminal sexual
conduct, which involves using
force or coercion to achi€»ve penetration. A conviction of the
crime carries up to a 15-year
prison sentence plus mandatory
testing for AIDS and oth€>r sexually transmitted diseases.
Feinberg said he thought the
woman was being truthful to an
extent in her testimony, but that
her case larked the crucial element of being able to prove force
or coercion was used to achieve
wrongful penetration.
The woman, a 20-year-old
from the Mount Pleasant area,
told police she met Johnson at
the Wayside Central, 2000 S.
Mission St.. on the <*vcning of
Nov. 2. While at the bar, she*
drank more than usual, but did
not become intoxicated.
Th€> two danced several times
during the night before leaving
the bar at 2:30 a.m., she said. A
friend accompanied Johnson
and the woman to the friend's
Lexington Ridge apartment,
3700 K   Deerfield Road.
The* woman's friend went
inside the apartment, leaving
Johnson and the woman in the
parking lot around 3 am. The
woman testified she and
Johnson were kissing passionately below, he lifted her onto
the   trunk   of   a   vehicle   in   the
See CSC Page
10
Computer Services eyes
completion date for new
By Todd Fettig
LIFE  r.cJ.tor
CMU's new entrance ramp to
the information superhighway
should be open to traffic sooner
than first expected.
Keith Nelson, associate director of Computer Services, said at
Friday's Board of Trustees meeting that CMU's new mainframe
should be up and running by the
time      students      return      from
spring break.
That's about three weeks
ahead of schedule, he said.
CMU's Board of Trustees
voted Dec. 1 to replace the old
IBM 3090- 180T mainframe with
what Computer Services officials describe as a better all
around model.
The new system packs with it
more memory and more than
twice as many MIPS, or millions
of instructions per second.
"Both of those things add up to
Car strikes,
injures
18-year-old
pedestrian
An 18-year-old Shepherd
woman was transported to
Central Michigan Community
Hospital Friday evening after
she was struck by an oncoming
vehicle driven by a CMU student.
According to reports from the
Mount Pleasant Police
Department, Layne Richmond,
was walking from the northwest to the southwest corner of
Mission Street near the intersection of Broomfield Road at
approximately 9:40 p.m. when
she was struck by a vehicle. The
vehicle, driven by 21-year-old
Rebecca Kirstein, Troy sophomore, was traveling westbound
on Broomfield Road.
A police department
spokesperson said neither the
driver nor the pedestrian saw
each other prior to the accident.
According to Sue Paul, nursing supervisor at CMCH,
Richmond's condition was stable Sunday, but would not
release any other details.
No charges have been filed at
this time and the incident
remains under investigation.
March 11
mainframe
increased response times, with
room to grow," Nelson said. "It
does have a lot more horsepower."
And more horsepower means
less headaches for mainframe
users.
"Response time on the mainframe will not be a problem,"
Nelson said. "It's more than double than what we have now. If all
See MAINFRAME Page 10
New board member may take
graduate courses at Central
By Jeff Haywood
Lift   Staff Writer	
CMU's newest Board of
Trustee member may be taking
on more responsibilities on campus     as a student.
"I was looking at CMU's graduate courses and thinking of
matriculating there myself,"
said William T Johnson, who
was appointed to CMU's Board
of Trustee's last week by Gov.
John Kngler.
A college campus is nothing
new to tht* 50-year-old Johnson.
After receiving his bachelor's
degree from Ohio State
University in 1969 and Juris
Doctor degree from Capitol
University Law Center in 1972,
Johnson has gone on to earn two
more degre*»s while1 starving as
chairman of OmniBank, Inc., in
Detroit.
Most recently, Johnson graduated from a thrive year extension
program with honors at the
University of Delaware Stonier
Graduate School of Banking in
1994. But he added his college
career is not over.
I  believe  education  is  a  life
long pursuit," Johnson said.
If approved by the Michigan
Senate, Johnson would serve the
remainder of the eight year term
of Robert Young, who announced
See TRUSTEE Page 10