1996-11-25; Central Michigan Life

              Central Michigan LIFE
Volume 79, Number 40
Mt. Pleasant,  MI 48859
©1996 CM LIFE
77 years of serving the community
MONDAY
November 25, 1996
16 pages
Second accident occurs at intersection
■ Jenison man critically injured in
two-vehicle accident on the corner
of Main and Maple streets
By Dave Borough
LIFE Staff Wrtter	
A Jenison man is in critical condition after his
1995 Olds Achieva was struck by an alleged drunk
driver near the intersection of Main and Maple
streets early Saturday morning.
Jason Alan Snell, 20, of Jenison was transported
to Central Michigan Community Hospital and
later transferred to St. Mary's Medical Center of
Saginaw for injuries stemming from the accident.
According to a St. Mary's spokeswomen, Snell
has remained in the intensive care unit where he
has been "unresponsive" and his condition is listed
as "very critical."
Central Michigan University Police Detective
JefTPickler said CMIT police attempted to make a
traffic stop on a 1983 Ford at Washington and
Bellows streets for an individual who was suspected of operating under the influence of liquor.
While in pursuit, the driver of the Ford did not
stop for officers and continued traveling northbound on Main Street at a high rate of speed in the
left lane. Snell appears to have been driving
northbound in the right lane when the two cars
collided at approximately 1:45 a.m. pushing Snell's
car into a tree in front lawn of the Phi Sigma
Sigma house.
Police later discovered the Ford, driven by the
21-year-old male, was a stolen vehicle.
He is facing five felony counts. Count one, unauthorized driving of another automobile-stolen
motor vehicle; count two, control substance-possession of marijuana; count three, fleeing, causing
serious bodily injury-police officer; count four,
operating under the influence of liquor-causing
serious bodily injury and count five, license suspended-second offense.
His bond was set at $180,000, which has not
been posted, and he will be arraigned in 76th
District Court today.
Other information on the driver could not be
released until his arraignment.
Robert McGee, Whitehall sophomore, lives at
515 S. Main St. and was watching a movie when
the accident occurred.
Damaged
cord causes
fire in
Merrill
By Michelle Eickmeyer
LIFE Staff Wrtter	
LIFE Photo/Brandon Sullivan
Mount Pleasant officials look over two vehicles involved in an accident at approximately 2 a.m. Saturday morning at the comer of Main and Maple
streets.
"We could hear the sirens then a big crash," he
said.
Police immediately handcuffed the driver of the
Ford, he said.
McGee said other police and the fire department
were on the scene quickly. He said they pulled
Snell out of his car through the back window.
The driver of the Ford received minor injuries
and was treated at CMCH.
Neither of the drivers are CMU students. This is
the second major accident to occur at Main and
Maple streets in the past month.
A Sunday morning fire in
Merrill Hall caused extensive
damage to the dorm room of
four students.
Jerome Kirkland, Flint
sophomore, was the only resident of room 210 present when
the fire started. The three
other residents had gone home
for the weekend.
According to CMU Police
Detective Jeff Pickler, the fire
was caused by an extension
cord that was run across the
carpet.
The cord was run from
behind a dresser across the
floor near Kirkland's bed.
Pickler said the cord was weakened by being repeatedly
stepped on. This caused a slow,
smoldering fire to ignite on the
carpet.
Kirkland was awakened after
he felt something warm on his
leg and  found   that the  exten-
Sova's parents claim
police violated son's
constitutional rights
By Emily Gerkin
LIFE Staff Writer
LIFE Photo/Sabrina Burton
The fire in Merrill Hall Sunday morning caused approximately $10,000 in damage.
sion cord had started his carpet
on fire, Pickler said.
Pickler said Kirkland tried to
extinguish the fire himself with
baking soda. After that did not
work, he called 911.
Officers Therman Looman
and John Vinson were the first
to respond to the call.
Upon    entering    the    room,
Looman made repeated
attempts to extinguish the fire,
Pickler said. Vinson evacuated
the residents and helped direct
the fire department.
The police officers were
responsible for pulling the fire
alarm in the building.
Rob        Trepanier, Shelby
Township   junior   and    Merrill
resident assistant, said he left
his room after the fire alarm
was pulled and could not see
down the hall.
"There was too much smoke,"
he said. "It was the thick, black
kind."
Trepanier said he attempted
to go down the hall toward the
See FIRE Page 2
The first detailed explanation presented by Gary and Victoria
Sova concerning their son's fatal shooting by Mount Pleasant City
Police Officers has been presented in a massive brief filed Oct. 7 in
federal court in Bay City.
The brief was filed in response to the defendant's motion filed
Sept. 4 for summary judgment for dismissal.
Thomas Sova was shot and killed by city police officers April 21,
1994 at his parents home after a 911 call was made by neighbors
because Thomas was threatening suicide.
Thomas' parents are suing the City of Mount Pleasant; the Mount
Pleasant Police Department; Mount Pleasant Director of Public
Safety Martin Trombley; Sergeant Douglas LaLone; Officer Jeffrey
Shell; and Officer Daniel Gaffka for wrongful death and also are
alleging a violation of their son's state and federal civil rights.
The plaintiffs' brief claims the defendant officers, LaLone, Shell
and Gaffka, violated Thomas' constitutional rights and that the
policies, training and supervision of the Mount Pleasant City Police
and Trombley were inadequate.
The suit claims the individual officers violated Thomas' Fourth
Amendment right, specifically by the officer's use of deadly force to
effect the arrest or seizure of Thomas.
The brief claims the defendant's are relying solely on the testimony of the police officers involved and choose to ignore most of the
non-police eyewitness accounts of the events on April 21.
Attorneys for the family said the police story is "patently onesided and. . .glaringly misleading." The brief goes on to accuse the
city police of "white-washing" the event to avoid taking the respon-
See SOVA Page 2
Park Library working to correct equipment errors
By Angela Cook
LIFE Staff Writer
Park Library has began to take measures to
ensure the technology within the building is kept
up-
According to Jerry Edgar, manager of Libraries
Business Services, the library has taken measures
to cut down the problems with the copy machines,
computer printers and microfiche readers.
The problems started occurring approximately
three months ago when the vendor, Copy Duplicate
Processing, who is in charge of repairs of various
machines in the building, experienced personnel
problems, Edgar said.
As a result unqualified people were hired to fix
the technology within the library, Edgar said. Also
because the vendor was sometimes not available,
preventative maintenance was not performed.
Now this seems to have changed and the vendor
has taken care of the problem, he said. A full time
technician has been hired and is on hand at the
library to perform repairs and preventative maintenance.
"I think we've turned a corner on this," he said.
"But it's going to take* some time."
Also in an effort to alleviate the problem, more
student personnel will also be hired to perform
tasks to ensure the machines do not break down.
They will be doing tasks such as filling copy
machines with toner, fixing paper jams, and filling
copiers with paper.
This measure will help the copiers to not break
down as much, Edgar said.
According to Edgar, the microfiche* machines frequently are in need of repair.
"They have to have maintenance under the best
conditions," he said. "They suffered from the lack of
attention all the other machines have."
According to Mary Hendrixon, Shelby junior and
microfiche  assistant  in  the  library,  as  of Friday
See MAINTENANCE Page 2	
LIFE Photo/Sabrina Burton
Kristen Ricks, Charlevoix sophomore, tries to repair one of the
out of order copiers in the library.
Ziemba
charged
Ronald Ziemba, Troy sophomore, was arraigned Friday
in Isabella County District
Court on charges related to
the two-vehicle collision Oct.
31. The accident resulted in
the death of Michael
Kirk pa trick, Rochester senior.
Ziemba has been charged
with operating under the
influence of liquor causing a
death. A preliminary examination has been set for 8:30
a.m. Dec. 5.
According to court officials,
the examination will determine if there is enough evidence to bound the case over
to Circuit Court.