Arbor Update

Ann Arbor Area Community News

Cheap Rides to the Airport

Posted by Matt Hollerbach on 11. November 2004

The Michigan Student Assembly is again offering its highly popular AirBus service for students. The program offers cheap rides to and from the airport during major academic holidays.

Busses depart from Bursley, Mosher-Jordan, and State St. by the Law Quad. Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Michigan Union Ticket Office, located on the ground floor of the Union near the food court. Riders may also purchase their tickets at the pickup locations at an increased rate.

Thanksgiving break reserve tickets are available now, and Winter break tickets will be available December 1. The program is open to anyone with a valid M-Card.

AirBus Links:
Thanksgiving Break Schedule
AirBus Home
Michigan Union Ticket Office
Questions: MSAairBus(at)umich.edu

More Voting Irregularities

Posted by Matt Hollerbach on 11. November 2004

In addition to the reports from Ohio, there are some other statistics coming to light that cast doubt on the results of the recent election.

This article shows some alarming statistics on how Florida’s electronic voting machines performed last Tuesday. Pay attention to the % change columns for Republicans vs. Democrats.

Additionally, there were 175,000 provisional ballots cast as a result of poll challengers in Ohio. That figure comes from Republican Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell; The Dems say as many as 250,000 were cast. Challengers in Ohio were deployed exclusively by the GOP and affiliate organizations and only to urban areas and areas with large minority populations.* Statistically, the areas that had the honor of the challengers’ presence supported Kerry 4 to 1.

Compare all these numbers to the number of votes the networks report Bush having won by – about 137,000. Even if we can’t say Kerry won Ohio, a recount would be in order if Bush wants his victory to be credible.

More info:
Common Dreams: Kerry Won
YubaNet.com: Worse Than 2000 – Tuesday’s Electoral Disaster
UsTogether.org: Surprising Pattern of Florida’s Election Results

  • NOTE – In training sessions run by the GOP, challengers were told that they would be paid $10/hour and instructed to challenge as many voters as they could. The Democrats had many volunteer lawyers register as challengers to gain access to polling sites; they were tasked with, essentially, challenging the challengers. They were specifically instructed not to challenge a single voter. They also did it for no pay.

Nader Requests New Hampshire Recount

Posted by Murph on 10. November 2004

The Nader/Camejo campaign has requested a hand recount of ballots in New Hampshire, treating it as an audit of machine voting. The recount does not target electronic voting machines, which have been the target of the most criticism to date, but optical scanners also made by Diebold:

Nader/Camejo has requested a hand recount of the vote in New Hampshire because of reports of anomalies favoring President Bush in towns that used the Diebold AccuVote optical scan machines. A hand recount will either rule out the possibility of machine error or show a discrepancy in the Diebold machine and the actual vote—either way voters need to know.

While optical scanners may seem an odd target for an attack on Diebold’s accuracy, they make sense when considering that there’s actually something available to hand count.

U-M Frats Suspended for Hazing

Posted by Ari Paul on 10. November 2004

From the Detroit Free Press:

Three fraternities at the University of Michigan, including Zeta Beta Tau, have been suspended by their national organizations after charges of hazing and other violations, officials said Friday.

U-M officials began investigating five fraternities and two sororities after reports last month that included drunken fraternity pledges being forced into a car’s trunk and drunken sorority pledges being touched by fraternity members after their clothes were removed.

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Posted by MarkDilley on 9. November 2004

The Transgender Advocacy Project of the Washtenaw Rainbow Action Project (WRAP) and the UM Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Affairs (LGBTA) present the 6th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Saturday, November 20th, 2004
UM Michigan League
911 N. University (at Fletcher St.)
Ann Arbor, MI

In memory of people killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice in the previous year.

6:00 PM—Gather in front of the Michigan League (south entrance) at the University of Michigan for a short march (the march will be
canceled in case of rain, snow, or extreme cold)

6:30 PM SHARP—Begin march (unless canceled)

7:00 PM—Public reading of the names and brief biographies of those being remembered and a “Speak Out”. This portion will feature a talk by K. Foula Dimopolous and open reflections to audience members who would like to share additional thoughts. Location: Koessler Room, 3rd floor, Michigan League. Refreshments will be provided.

8:15 PM—Showing of the award winning documentary film, Ke Kulana He Mahu (2001, 67 mins.) Location: Koessler Room, 3rd floor, Michigan League.

This event is organized by the Transgender Advocacy Project, a
committee of WRAP, with support from the UM LGBTA. Co-sponsored by: Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians & Gays (PFLAG) Ann Arbor; Rowan Educational Network; Oasis TBLG Outreach Ministry of Michigan; UM Transforum; Triangle Foundation; Gay Lesbian Straight Educational Network (GLSEN)-Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti; and, the Eastern Michigan University Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Resource Center

For more information or to co-sponsor or assist with this event,
please contact Dan Leonard at WRAP at 734.995.9867 or Jennifer Almquist at LGBTA at 734.763.4186 send e-mail to:
or

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Transgender Day of Remembrance was started in 1999 as a response to the growing issue of anti-transgender violence leading to death. Last year, the Transgender Day of Remembrance was observed in 110 locations in 8 countries. For additional information, please visit . Remembering Our Dead is a project of Gender Education & Advocacy, Inc.

Stone Soup

Posted by MarkDilley on 9. November 2004

Come on out for the SOS Stone Soup Community Cook-Off!

When: This Sunday, November 14, 2004, from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Where: Washtenaw Community College’s Student Center Building
Why: To celebrate the power of community and observe Homeless Awareness Week
How: Just come on out—it’s free and open to the public!

Join your friends, neighbors and fellow community members for a tempting, taste-testing extravaganza and activities for everyone! Ten gifted competitors will present their best soups and stews for judgment by your discerning palate. You’ll find the recipes for your favorites in the 2004 SOS Stone Soup Community Cookbook, which will be available at the Cook-Off for a suggested donation of $10.

A panel of local judges has reviewed recipes submitted by community members and selected the top ten for competition in the Cook-Off. A recipe entry form (PDF) is available on the SOS website at www.soscs.org. All recipes accompanied by a donation of any size to SOS Community Services are guaranteed publication in the 2004 SOS Stone Soup Community Cookbook. Recipes received after Monday, November 1 will be held for next year’s Cook-Off and Cookbook.

SOS Community Services responds with care and respect to families in need by working in partnerships that result in economic, family, and residential stability. SOS offers Housing Crisis Services, Homeless Family Services and Homeless Children’s Services to families throughout Washtenaw County.

All proceeds from the Cook-Off and accompanying Cookbook will benefit the SOS Emergency Food Pantry. To find out more, contact Kathryn at 734.961.1207 or kathrynt@soscs.org or visit www.soscs.org

Remember the Stone Soup story?

Tough times had come to a small town, and famine had overwhelmed the townsfolk. People began hoarding food, wanting to keep every last bit to themselves. One day, a peddler came through town to stay for the night. He needed to eat, but knew that food was in short supply. So, he decided to make Stone Soup. Using only water and stones, he cooked a big pot of soup and told everyone who passed by how tasty his soup would be. As word spread about the delicious Stone Soup, the townsfolk emerged from their homes, offering contributions of carrots, cabbage and other tasty ingredients to the pot. The result was great soup and a great lesson about the benefits of coming together and sharing as a community.

Suit Threatened Over Proposal C

Posted by Murph on 8. November 2004

An Ann Arbor medical marijuana user has filed complaints against Police Chief Oates and City Attorney Postema over their stance that Proposal C is invalid. The complainant, Mark Rowland, is also considering a class-action lawsuit against the city.

From the Michigan Daily, City could face suit over pot proposal:

Chuck Ream, who led the fight for the passage of Proposal C as chair of the Washtenaw Coalition for Compassionate Care, says the city is interpreting a 23-year-old Ypsilanti case too strictly in order to justify continuing prosecutions against marijuana users.

“(The city’s) premise is unsound when they say there is no ‘wiggle room’ under the Joslin case,” Ream said. For support, Ream points to language in the Ypsilanti case saying police can use “choice and discretion” when deciding whether to prosecute.

In this case, the police should chose to support the proposal, Ream said. He admitted that the Ypsilanti case means that the city does not have to follow the proposal, but he sees its overwhelming passage as a “mandate” from the citizens of Ann Arbor.

Both Ream and the City Attorney are referencing Joslin v. 14th District Judge, 76 Mich App 90 (1977) Beyond the court’s comment on a police officer’s “discretion” in that case, the concurring opinion states,

I concur in holding that the City of Ypsilanti cannot by ordinance prohibit the enforcement of state criminal statutes by city police officers. We leave intact, however, the remainder of the ordinance which in effect provides the Ypsilanti police with a choice in dealing with marijuana offenses. . .Encouragement should be given, however, to good faith efforts on the part of the city to reflect conditions existing in the local community as long as there is no direct conflict with statewide legislation.

The opinion would seem to indicate that, while the section of the ballot inititive forbidding the police from applying state law is indeed invalid, the rest of the ordinance is still good, and it is a matter of choice, not legality, on the part of the police to ignore the results of the initiative.

Power Outage Temporarily Cripples U-M Servers

Posted by Rob Goodspeed on 7. November 2004

A power outage at an Ann Arbor area computing center has taken offline many University websites and services, including mail.umich.edu, email delivery, and IFS servers. According to this notice, University officials expected to have most services back online by 9 p.m., although at the time of this posting mail.umich.edu was still offline. The message was posted on the University’s gateway website, which was unaffected:

11/7/04 Data Center Power Outage

A hardware failure in the Arbor Lakes data center’s electrical infrastructure late this afternoon caused the outage of several UMCE services. Impacted services include:

  • IMAP E-Mail
  • E-Mail delivery
  • AFS (aka the Institutional File System)
  • portions of www.umich.edu & some related web sites
  • portions of login.itd.umich.edu

Update: The damage caused by the abrupt loss of power to the UMCE systems was more extensive than initially anticipated. ITCS System Administrators continue to work to restore access to affected services. The cause of the original power outage was repaired at 6:00pm.

Last Updated: 9:00pm Sunday November 7th

EDIT 11:50pm, by Murph: Updated with most recent text of notice.

Comment [2]

"Dueling North Quads" Posted to Site Library

Posted by Murph on 7. November 2004

I’ve posted an article Dueling North Quads: A Criticism of Supporting Land Uses to the site library, inspired by two stories in today’s Ann Arbor News:

>Private dorm will open first
>New dorm’s impact generating worry

Comment [2]

Milan Township Development Plan Canceled

Posted by Brandon on 6. November 2004

One of two giant developments proposed for the Milan area has been canceled by the developer:

An Oakland County developer has withdrawn its plan for a huge development of about 9,000 homes and commercial and community buildings on 4,900 acres south of Milan, leaving Milan Township officials puzzled and some residents relieved.

Glenn Oswald, a spokesman for Crosswinds Communities of Novi, said the lack of infrastructure, primarily for water and sewer service, and the cost and time that would be required to install it were the main reasons behind the decision not to proceed.

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