Campus garden often sees theft

When botanical technicians Hope Rankin and Peter Murray arrive at the Beal Botanical Garden every day to work on the more than 5,000 different plants found there, their duties don't always include routine upkeep of the grounds and plants. The 5-acre garden, which is always open for public access, is occasionally the site of vandalism or theft. The garden's curator, Frank Telewski, said garden technicians have to make repairs about once a month because of vandalism. The amount of time and money it takes to repair the garden depends on what was stolen or damaged, Telewski said. "Damage to our structures is probably our biggest problem because of the amount of labor involved in taking care of it," Telewski said.

Car causes gas spill, station to be closed

Ten to 15 gallons of gas spilled at the Speedway gas station at Abbott and Lake Lansing roads on Sunday after the driver of a Plymouth Sundance backed into a pump.

Local crisis center seeks volunteers

The Listening Ear Crisis Intervention Center is looking for new volunteers to help operate its crisis phone lines and run the center.

Commission to hold meeting about melee

The independent commission will meet to receive public testimony regarding the April 2-3 disturbances at 7 p.m.

Lecture offers advice on avoiding identity theft

By Tara Thoel Special to The State News About 3,000 Detroit business executives were victims of identity theft in 2000, which lends evidence to a trend that many identity theft crimes happen in the office, an MSU associate professor said Saturday. Criminal justice Associate Professor Judith Collins, who also is director of the MSU Identity Theft Partnerships in Prevention, spoke at the Kellogg Center on Saturday as part of the "Saturday Seminar" lecture series.

Walk aims to support research of cancer

A walk will be held on Saturday, Oct. 15 to show support in fighting against breast cancer. The walk will be put on by the MSU Women's Resource Center and will start at the Capitol.

Faculty, students dig up university's past

For more than 100 years, students have been walking on top of history. Hidden just a few feet beneath the sidewalks lying east of the MSU Museum, artifacts like padlocks and keys, pieces of champagne bottles and a stove were discovered within the remains of the first MSU dormitory, Saints' Rest, by a group of students and faculty. On Friday and Saturday, the findings were shown to the public for the first time as part of the Sesquicentennial Academic Convocation weekend. This event showed some of the spots the group worked in this summer, accompanied by posters and displays of some of the discovered artifacts at the Saints' Rest excavation, which was launched in early June and recently completed. "It gives people a very good sense of the history of the institution," anthropology Professor Bill Lovis said.

Vet students hold drive for pets affected by hurricane

A truck of pet food and supplies collected by MSU veterinary students is en route to Louisiana State University, where more than 1,000 pets of Hurricane Katrina evacuees are being housed. Veterinary technology sophomore Amy Schupska and others from the College of Veterinary Medicine put on a pet food and supply drive last weekend.

New Catholic charity center to be blessed

Carl F. Mengeling, Bishop of Lansing, will bless the new St. Vincent Catholic Charities Service Center, 2800 W.

ASMSU to advocate lower meter rates

MSU has the highest on-campus parking meter rates in the Big Ten, but ASMSU hopes to change that. Student Assembly members of ASMSU, MSU's undergraduate student government, voted Thursday to advocate for lower parking meter rates on campus. It costs $1.50 per hour to park at most metered parking spaces on campus - 50 cents more than the average price at Big Ten schools, and 90 cents more than the student meter rate at the University of Iowa. "It's ridiculous that we pay more than a quarter dollar for a quarter hour," said Derek Wallbank, Communication Arts and Sciences representative for the assembly. Wallbank introduced the idea to ASMSU after he was surprised to notice meters were cheaper at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, because it's in a downtown area. Last school year at an All-University Traffic and Transportation Committee meeting, Wallbank raised the issue at but it was too late in the semester for committee members to do anything, he said. The committee, or AUTTC, is made up of students, faculty and other representatives from the university and makes recommendations to Vice President for Finance and Operations Fred Poston. There are two representatives from ASMSU on the committee, including Wallbank, who plans to work with the MSU police to come up with a proposal to give to the All-University Traffic and Transportation Committee. "ASMSU hasn't proposed much to AUTTC in the last few years, so we don't have any institutional memory of how best to do it," Wallbank said.

MSU hosts horse competition

By Melissa Kayko Special to The State News Horses neighed sporadically and hooves clomped against the hard cement floor as Jodi Pepper gave her horse a quick pat at the MSU Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education on Saturday afternoon. While closing up the pen for her horse, Camera Loves You, which already displayed a first-place ribbon won in an earlier competition, Pepper relaxed and waited for the competition to wrap up and for the results to be announced. "I put in a lot of hard work," the high school senior said, adding she took care of the horse for a year for the annual competition at MSU. After raising them for a year, teenagers from Michigan gathered to present their horses, with names such as Benns Navigator and Northern Moon, at Saturday's 4th Annual Michigan 4-H Standardbred Show and Sunday's Great Lakes 2005 Yearling Sale. Pepper was one of 12 students who competed in the Michigan 4-H Standardbred Program, which offers an opportunity for Michigan 4-H members to look inside the harness racing industry and work with Standardbred race horse breeders while they complete tasks in taking responsibility for a horse that could later be sold at the Yearling Sale. The program is organized by the Michigan Harness Horsemen's Association, the Michigan Standardbred Breeders Association and the MSU Extension.

Volunteers walk to promote awareness of suicide

By Katie Looby Special for The State News The sun was bright as more than 60 walkers put one leg in front of the other Saturday to raise money for suicide awareness in Lansing for the first annual Lansing Out of the Darkness Community Walk for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Traffic survey deems Sparty crossing safe

Any questions about the safety of the restructured intersection in front of the new bronze Sparty statue on campus have officially been put to rest, civil and environmental engineering Associate Professor Tom Maleck said. "Whatever problem there was, it went away," said Maleck, who wrapped up a traffic study at the new intersection of Kalamazoo Street and Red Cedar and Chestnut roads last week. Maleck, who works with the MSU Department of Police and Public Safety on traffic issues, said he was asked to conduct the study at the new intersection by deputy police Chief Mike Rice.

Anti-drunken driving group holds 5K walk

The Michigan state office of Mothers Against Drunk Driving held its annual 5K Strides for Change walk on Saturday. The walk was held at Hawk Island County Park, 1601 E.

Internet fraud targeted at students as school year begins

Two MSU students lost hundreds of dollars last week when they responded to separate fraudulent e-mails, and police and campus officials want students to know what e-mails they should avoid to prevent even more thefts. "What we would like the students to remember is that they shouldn't respond," MSU police Sgt.

Deadline to change password approaching

As much as half of the MSU community has yet to update MSU NetID passwords, and the deadline to change them is quickly approaching, said Rich Wiggins, senior information technologist for Academic Computing & Network Services. "We're really concerned about having a large number of folks who don't know why they can't get in and overwhelming our help desk," Wiggins said. MSU upgraded its authentication system and one of the requirements is a "strong password," Wiggins said, which is one that has at least one capital letter, one lowercase letter, one numeral and is at least eight characters long.

Documentary explores MSU history

Holmes, Williams, Morrill, Snyder, Hannah, Wharton. They aren't just names of buildings around campus - they're characters in an hour-long documentary on MSU's history scheduled to air on local Public Broadcasting Service affiliate WKAR in October. The documentary was created as part of the sesquicentennial celebration, which marks MSU's 150th anniversary.

MSU hosts extreme sport event

When most people think of dodgeball, two things come to mind - an elementary school gym-class activity or a 2004 movie starring Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller. Students who came out to watch Thursday's Extreme Dodgeball competitions at the rock on Farm Lane got something in between. The competitions, which were brought to campus by Comcast and the Game Show Network, or GSN, featured a Thursday afternoon matchup between teams from MSU and the University of Michigan. "It's the same game we played in elementary school, but with attitude," said Jerome Espy, Comcast's Michigan spokesman.

City set to receive evacuees

East Lansing is ready to receive victims of Hurricane Katrina. The city announced it has 150 rental units available and 90 spots open in its public school system for displaced persons Wednesday. "We did a quick survey of landlords by phone and asked them what the availability was," Deputy City Manager Jean Golden said.

Police briefs 09/09/05