Carnival marks end

Six-year-old Stefan Lindahl wishes he had the help of a giant robot to save Spartan Village Elementary School from closing."We could make a big giant robot and have the robot pick up Spartan Village and move it, and put up a sign that says 'destroyed' to trick the guy who wants to close it," he said."We could move to where no one could find it."After nearly 50 years of elementary education on MSU's campus, the international school, 1460 Middlevale Road, is set to close its doors next week.

Students await trial after disturbances

Ingham County Circuit Court will hear the cases of two more MSU students charged for the March 28-30 disturbances.Tony Warren waived his right to a district court preliminary examination Friday in the East Lansing 54-B District Court, 101 Linden St., before Judge Richard Ball.Ingham County Assistant Prosecutor Marie Wolfe said Timothy Ricker, also being charged, would be waiving his right to a preliminary examination later this week.Both Warren and Ricker are being charged with unlawful assembly and preparing to burn less than $200 in property.The disturbances followed MSU's men's basketball team March loss in the NCAA tournament.

E.L. water park to open Saturday

The East Lansing Family Aquatic Center will open its doors on Saturday, weather permitting. In past summers about 800 to 900 residents and guests have splashed around in the 375,000-gallon pool each day, East Lansing recreation coordinator Ken Elwert said. The Aquatic Center, 6400 Abbott Road, is open 11 a.m.

Project Pride to help clear out E.L. homes

East Lansing is joining up with residents to help clean up the city. The city's recycling program, Project Pride, annually helps residents clear out their homes, garages and yards by setting up drop-off points for donated household items and recyclables. One hundred volunteers will help collect recyclables from 8 a.m.

Police briefs 05/29/03

Annual sci-fi writers' workshop approaches

The 35th annual Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop will be held from June 8 to July 19 at Van Hoosen Hall. The workshop is sponsored by the College of Arts and Letters. It will host six nationally recognized science fiction and fantasy authors including: • Howard Waldrop • Nalo Hopkinson • Richard Russo • Kelly Link • Scott Edelman • Maureen McHugh • James Kelly Editors from SCI FI and Science Fiction Weekly also will be on hand for the Writers-in-Residence workshop. For more information go to www.msu.edu/~clarion. Stephanie Korneffel

Partisan ASMSU politics lead to disqualifications, vacancies

Empty seats in ASMSU's conference room will be a theme at the start of the fall, despite the reinstatement of 10 representatives to MSU's undergraduate student government. The All-University Elections Committee announced May 15 that they rejected the appeal of about 28 other ASMSU candidates after they were disqualified for being endorsed by political organizations in the March election.

Transition to new campus e-mail system brings mixed reactions

You've got new mail. Students, faculty and staff members totaling 26,390 have upgraded to the new MSU e-mail system, mail.msu.edu, since its March launch. But the transition has been bumpy, computer lab officials say.

Police briefs 05/29/03

Groucho Marx helps high school students break into record books

Groucho glasses in hand, Joe Kavanagh stood before his fellow East Lansing High School students telling them to prepare to enter the history books.Kavanagh and 799 of his fellow students at 509 E.

Grads sworn in as lawyers

Kelley Hart watched friends do mock court competitions in the MSU-Detroit College of Law moot court room, but on Tuesday she was the one in front of the judge. Hart and eight other MSU-Detroit College of Law graduates were sworn into the State Bar of Michigan by Michigan Supreme Court Justice Steven Markman. "Usually when I go to the courtroom people are at each others throats," Markman said.

Safety belt law to be strictly enforced

East Lansing residents might be belted with tickets during the next two weeks if they don't buckle up. The Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning kicked off its "Buckle Up or Pay Up" campaign on Monday to raise public awareness about wearing safety belts. Extra officers will be placed on the streets in designated zones around the Lansing area to find drivers not wearing safety belts.

Police briefs 05/22/03

Forum held after student finds racially offensive message

An open forum was recently held at the Owen Graduate Hall lobby to discuss racial hostility after a graduate law student found offensively written remarks in the hallway. The student, who did not want to be identified, said he walked by a bulletin board on the hall's fourth floor when he noticed the comments, which were anti-Semitic and anti-Arab in nature.

RHA will fill recently vacated VP post in fall

The internal vice president for the Residence Halls Association has chosen to leave the position. Chris Harper, former Wilson Hall General Assembly representative, decided to leave MSU.

COGS president steps down, treasurer up

James Ciszewski has stepped down as president for the Council of Graduate Students. Ciszewski, who resigned for personal reasons, had been reelected as COGS president in April. The position has been filled by mathematics graduate student Kimberly Yake. Yake will serve as COGS president for a year, ending her duties as the council's former treasurer. President commitments include chairing COGS meetings, acting as a student liaison with the MSU Board of Trustees and participating in various academic council committees. The council represents all graduate students in the academic governance system and provides services to students such as copying and loans. Stephanie Korneffel

Gardening grows new program, certification

The Horticulture Gardening Institute has joined forces with the American Horticultural Society to provide an online learning environment for gardening devotees. Since 2002, the institute has matched experts in the field with gardeners through the online experience. The institute is a collaborative effort among MSU Extension's Master Gardener Program, the MSU Gardens, MSU Global Institute and the Department of Horticulture. The new program allows the society to undertake online education opportunities as well as certification. The society is one of the oldest member-based gardening organization in the nation, which offers gardening resources through its self-published magazine The American Gardener, a book program and Web site, www.ahs.org. The first project formed by the collaboration is "The Art and Science of Container Gardening." The project will play host to the society's experts, a checklist of activities, potential resources, a review of the project and a co-branded certification of the project. For more information on the container project visit www.gardeninginstitute.com Stephanie Korneffel

'U' receives award for pioneering food laws

The MSU International Food Laws Certificate Program received the 2003 National Award for Excellence in College and University Distance Education. The award comes from the American Distance Education Consortium, a collaboration of state and land-grant institutions offering educational programs through the Internet. The MSU Institute for Food Laws and Regulations was the first worldwide program to provide international food laws through a Web site.

Police briefs 05/21/03

E.L. stores, bars search for new ways to fight old summer slump

With many students leaving East Lansing for the summer, local businesses are forced to find alternative ways to bring in customers.Businesses try to take advantage of big summer events such as the East Lansing Art Festival and the Great Lakes Folk Festival to attract customers.Liz Murphy, manager of Harper's Restaurant & Brewpub, 131 Albert Ave., said she finds creative ways to lure people into the restaurant.