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NEWS

Student, family face animal cruelty charges

Jon Styf
May 31, 2007

An MSU student and her family were charged with torturing and killing animals at their Lapeer County farm. Kate Mills, an animal science junior and 4-H Club queen, was charged with a felony count of animal killing and torturing, and misdemeanor counts of cruelty and abandonment, animal burial, and for possessing an unlicensed dog, according to the Lapeer County 71-A District Court. Mills was released on a $5,000 personal bond and is scheduled to appear in court at 9 a.m.

COMMENTARY

Prolonged military stays show Bush's hypocrisy

It seems ironic that the president who orders and requires America's military servicemen to serve in combat zones was, himself, part of a plan that gave him an extra month's vacation and early release from his military "obligation" when the country was engrossed in the unpopular Vietnam War. "223 days 'til MSU," (SN 5/29), deals with Mathew Brady's inability to return stateside and begin a productive life in a civilian setting at MSU because of military requirements.

NEWS

History came alive with MSU professor

Colleen Maxwell
May 30, 2007

Friends for more than 50 years, there wasn't much Gordon Guyer didn't know about Frederick Williams. "He was one of a kind," he said. Williams loved history, MSU sports and hunting, but it wasn't those things that made him stand out. His passion - that's what did it, Guyer said. On May 17, the two talked on the phone and planned a get-together for the upcoming week, when Guyer would be home from seeing his granddaughter graduate from the University of Kansas. Williams, a long-time former MSU faculty member, died May 20, at the age of 89 - before Guyer could return to Michigan. "He said to me, 'I'll feel better and when you get back, you'll come over,'" said Guyer, president emeritus of MSU.

COMMENTARY

Democrats must work together to gain power

Drew Winter's column "Despite Dems' status, progress still lacking" (SN 5/25), while relevant, was a sad excuse for an op-ed and was equally as unproductive. Winter basically says we shouldn't support minorities and women in politics.

MSU

Pesticide effects on MSU inspire a new film series

Craig Trudell
May 30, 2007

Nearly 50 years ago, student Richard Snider heard a crunch with each step he took on, what were then, Michigan Agricultural College campus sidewalks. The crunch came from a pesticide called DDT, which was dropped over campus by World War II jets in pellet form to combat elm bark beetles and mosquitoes. Now an MSU professor, Snider recalls research conducted by one of his mentors that warned strolls through campus would be without the sound of chirping birds if the crunches continued. In a new documentary filmed and co-produced by nine, MSU students, "Dying to Be Heard" sounds off on research conducted by MSU Professor George Wallace on DDT, and its deadly effects on birds and other wildlife on campus. Findings from Wallace's research were used in Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring," a book that helped plant the seed in the modern environmental movement.

COMMENTARY

Blood donation ban reveals prejudice

There is something unsettling about pervasive stereotypes in American culture. They get into minds and stay there despite contrary evidence and logic. Although many ethnic and racial stereotypes have become largely unacceptable in this modern age, those regarding the lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender community somehow seep into our culture and are viewed as having legitimacy. This was most recently made apparent by the Food and Drug Administration's reaffirmation last week to ban gay men from donating blood. The policy was enacted in 1983 with the intention of preventing the spread of HIV through blood transfusions.

NEWS

University to demolish 380 student apartments in 2008

Colleen Maxwell
May 30, 2007

After removing 128 apartment units from Spartan Village in 2002, Housing and Food Services are at it again. Another 380 units - 34 buildings - are expected to be razed in 2008 for Phase 2 of the Zone One Demolition project. The MSU Board of Trustees approved the planning of project at the May 9 meeting, and the estimated cost is $3 million. From 1957-58, 1,536 apartments were built, and originally were used as family housing. Many have since outlived their functionality, said Fred Poston, vice president for finance and operations, at the May 9 MSU Board of Trustees meeting. The apartments are relatively small, said Spartan Village resident Julie Hilliker, but it is not anything that affects her lifestyle to the point where she thinks they should be removed. "So you have older floors - it's not the end of the world," she said.

MSU

Connected to Algiers

Rachael Zylstra
May 30, 2007

Elise, Mich. — Students in Algiers, Algeria gathered in a classroom Tuesday for an experience of a lifetime. With some wearing green and white MSU T-shirts sent by the university, students of Cheikh Bouamama High School awaited a video conference call from students from a Junior Achievement class at Ovid-Elsie High School in Elsie, Mich. The class, taught by business department teacher Bonnie Ott, aims to educate and update students on international relations and global business. The call, a result of the Partnership Schools Program, or PSP and MSU's College of Education, was designed for 11th- and 12th-grade students from both schools to share cultural and technological similarities and differences.

SPORTS

SN reporters weigh in on changes

SM — It's a new era for the football team. New coaching staff, new players and now fans will receive their first taste of the team's new jerseys for the 2007 season. The new uniforms have an old school, traditional look to them.

MICHIGAN

Coyote pups spotted, authorities weigh in

Ryan Beene
May 30, 2007

At the northern border of Ingham County where Shiawassee and Clinton counties meet, Jamie McAloon-Lampman was foraging for mushrooms in a wooded area on her property and found something she didn't expect. She and her husband stumbled across a litter of coyote pups, with the parents nowhere in sight.

NEWS

MSU profs improve global H2O quality

Brian McVicar
May 30, 2007

Two MSU professors are on a mission to make sure the world has enough clean water to drink. Leading a team of researchers from three countries and five institutions, the two men aim to improve the way water is purified. After receiving a $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation, Tom Voice and Volodymyr Tarabara, from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, joined with scientists from Duke University, France, Russia and the Ukraine to develop a membrane-based water purification method. The method uses a membrane, which Tarabara describes as a thin layer no thicker than a piece of paper, with holes to filter water.

COMMENTARY

Literary inferno

A man in Kansas City, Mo. fired up the grill Sunday and set aflame his book collection. During the past 10 years, Tom Wayne ran a used book store, Prospero's Books, and during that time accumulated thousands of books. Recently, when he attempted to clear out some of his collection he found he could not even give the books away.

NEWS

Mich. colleges, universities face more state budget cuts

Pete Nichols
May 30, 2007

MSU faces a cut of more than $5 million in state funding this year and could take a decrease of more than $13 million in the current fiscal year. Instead of receiving the $13 million this year, the money could be paid to the university in the 2008 fiscal year, which begins Oct.

COMMENTARY

Liberal family life

For a very long time, most Democrats have been content enough to keep that John F. Kennedy book on its shelf without taking any real political action.

NEWS

223 days 'til MSU

Craig Trudell
May 29, 2007

Army Pfc. Mathew Brady carries a wrinkled ticket stub from an MSU men's basketball game in the left breast pocket of his desert camouflage uniform. It was with him on his mother's birthday in November when an enemy soldier fired a grenade at his army convoy's Humvee south of Baghdad. Brady's mother, Cindy, received a call on her cell phone and said her face must have gone white when she answered. "After I heard 'This is sergeant,' I didn't even hear the name," she said.