stat e ne ws.co m | T he Stat e N ews | f riday, ja n ua ry 24, 2014 |
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campus Editor Nolly Dakroury, campus@statenews.com CITY EDITOR Katie Abdilla, city@statenews.com Phone (517) 432-3070 Fax (517) 432-3075
Stepping up to save
lives
gove rn m e nt
13 bills introduced harsher penalties for sex trafficking By Geoff Preston gpreston@statenews.com THE STATE NEWS nn
lansing – The Capitol was buzzing on Thursday afternoon as members of the Michigan House of Representatives introduced 13 bills sponsored by 17 state representatives that would call for harsher penalties for individuals and groups involved in sex trafficking. The bills also would provide additional support to victims with resources from the state, as well as nonprofits and private companies. Some of them also will give law enforcement additional power to carry out the laws already in place.
Julia Nagy/The State News
Critical Care resident Jayme Hoffberg, left, and veterinary technician Rose Wahl comfort Daley as he donates blood Tuesday at the Small Animal Clinic. Wahl keeps photos of current and past donors on her whiteboard.
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or Boxer/Pitbull mix Daley, donating blood isn’t a ruff time. In fact, it often ends with treats. The Veterinary Teaching Hospital blood donor program currently has about 70 volunteer dogs and cats who donate blood to help other animals. Veterinary technician Rose Wahl said the volunteer base
they have is incredible. When a dog or cat is in dire need of blood, she often can call in volunteers and they’ll rearrange their schedules to make sure they can save other animals. “It’s very fun to see the service it provides and to see everyone pulling together to save one dog,” Wahl said. Critical Care resident Jayme Hoffberg started her residency at the hospital in 2011 and her dog Daley became a
courts
w e at h e r
More witnesses testify in alleged I-96 shooter trial By Marissa Russo mrusso@statenews.com The State News nn
T h ree new w it nesses testified in the trial of the alleged I-96 shooter on Thursday at the Livingston County Circuit Court in Howell, Mich. M S U a lu m nu s R au lie Casteel, 44, has been accused of the shooting spree that occurred in October of 2012 on I-96. On Oct. 18, Tony Shepherd said he made the drive from Indiana to buy antiques for his job. He said he was driving on M-52, south of Perry, Mich., when he heard a loud noise and felt his vehicle react. After pulling over, he noticed his car had been shot. “It was rather unnerving,” Shepherd said. “The bullet was in line with the passenger. It was just unnerving.” Shepherd said he saw a red car pass beside him and thought it was where the shots were fired from. J a m e s S m i l e y, w h o worked for the Special Investigation Force for the Michigan State Police, or MSP, at the time, also was called to the stand. On Nov. 5, 2012, Smiley went to Casteel’s home in Wixom, Mich., to confiscate his vehicle and weapons. Casteel was described as acting normal, pleasant, and cooperative with the police when they were at his home. Smiley returned and arrested Casteel later that day. Wixom police Det. Sgt. Ron Moore, the final witness called to the stand, went through each shooting that occurred during Oct. 16 and 27 in 2012. By Nov. 5, 2012 there were about 150 people on task force, including MSU police, and roughly 2,960 tips on the case had been reported. So far there have been 45 witnesses to the incident. The trial will resume on Monday and could come to a close next week.
donor right away. As a critical care resident, Hoffberg wanted her dog to help out. “It’s great to see his blood going in and saving another animal,” Hoffberg said. — Julia Nagy, The State News
More online … To see a video about the blood donor program, visit statenews.com/multimedia.
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Donor requirements Dogs: Must be at least 50lbs 1-7 years of age Cats: Must be at least 10lbs 1-7 years of age To donate contact: Rose Wahl (517) 432-4546 walshr@cvm.msu.edu SOURCE: veterinary Teaching hospital blood donor progr am
The Michigan House of Representatives introduced new bills to crack down on human trafficking Dur i ng t he past few months, legislators have introduced 10 additional bills regarding new ways to help prevent human trafficking. “Today is a very important day in our statewide fight against human trafficking in Michigan,” Rep. Kurt Heise, R-Plymouth, said during the press conference. “This knows no partisan boundaries, this is what people sent us to Lansing to do.” The bills come largely as a result of the Michigan 2013 Report on Human Traffick-
“This knows no partisan boundaries — this is what people sent us to Lansing to do.” Rep. Kurt Heise, R-Plymouth
ing that was commissioned to find problem areas in the state. He said he hopes to see the bill through the Michigan Senate by this summer. Heise said he doesn’t think there will be much opposition to the bills in the state senate aside from the issue of forfeiture, or the collection of money from pimps after being arrested for human trafficking. “Forfeiture has always been an issue that has been batted around,” he said. “I think we are prepared for that.” Rep. Klint Kesto, R-Commerce Township, sponsored the bill that would make forfeiture legal. He said he believes it is important for property to be seized if that person is connected with sex trafficking. “We have to hit them where it counts,” he said during the press conference. Heise said the issue didn’t meet much resistance when the representatives were drafting the bills. “I’ve not found anything that is out of the ordinary,” Heise said following the press conference. “The issue is so important on so many levels that there were no partisan disagreements that we encountered.”
Sub-zero temps could threaten safety By Juliana Moxley jmoxley@statenews.com THE STATE NEWS nn
The continuous snowfall and sub-zero temperatures in East Lansing have been posing a threat to student drivers on and across campus since the start of the semester. Although the roads on campus have been accessible and the lesser of concerns lately, the same can’t be said for the roads in the surrounding area. East Lansing police Capt. Jeff Murphy said the snow-covered roads have caused several accidents in the area this week. “Any time we have weather extremes, whether it’s snow, ice, heavy rain, anything that changes the road conditions (can) trigger a lot of accidents,” Murphy said. Murphy said it’s important for drivers to adjust to the weather by decreasing speed and increasing following distance during the winter months. On Thursday night, the MSU Physician’s Office released a statement to students warning them about severe weather conditions to follow this weekend and providing tips to stay warm and prevent health emergencies. Hospitality business senior Kevin Madaus encountered some winter weather troubles of his own while driving his 2005 Chevrolet TrailBlazer on US-131 back to East Lansing after Christmas break. He said his car was totaled in an accident. “I was changing the song on my iPod when all of a sudden I felt my car hydroplane and then my car started sliding sideways,” Madaus said. “I hit a snowbank and my car rolled on its driver side.” Michigan Department of Transportation communications director Jeff Cranson said it’s all about speed when it comes to tips for how drivers can remain safe on the ice and snow covered roads. “You gotta slow down in these kinds of conditions,” Cranson said. “The pavement might look dry, and that’s where the term ‘black ice’ comes from.” Although the roads might be covered in salt, Cranson said it becomes ineffective when temperatures get into the negatives. Murphy said the worst areas for causing car accidents are US-127 and I-496, where the speeds limits are higher. “We try to get to those (areas)
as soon as possible and first because we know from experience that if we don’t get to those first then they cause more accidents because people are distracted by damaged cars,” Murphy said. Getting to Madaus’s car wreck in the middle of the most recent winter storm was not so simple though. “I was scared and didn’t know what to do because I was four hours away from home and knew it would be more than four hours until someone could come pick me up,” Madaus said. Car accidents are not only a distraction to other drivers on the expressway, but on main roads as well, such as on Grand River Avenue. When car accidents block roads, drivers often cut across lanes and cause other accidents to occur, Murphy said. He said ELPD tries to be on the scene as quick-
ly as possible to clear the road. “You don’t need to leave the damaged vehicles in the road,” Murphy said. “If they are able to be moved to a safe spot until the police officer gets there, then that’s fine.” Construction management junior Ryan Konen said he hasn’t had any trouble lately with sliding on ice while driving on MSU’s campus, but he has heard frequent accounts of people slipping on icy sidewalks. Since Konen runs on MSU’s cross country team, traveling amongst the treacherous ice patches on the sidewalks has been a challenge when he and his team go out for a run. “Some of the sidewalks are a little bit icier, especially on River Trail,” Konen said. “Roads aren’t too bad, I thought snow removal was pretty well when they opened campus back up.”
Crossword
L.A. Times Daily Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis
421 E.Grand River
Beat Michigan!
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351-4210 www.sbsmsu.com
Across
1 Start of a word ladder 5 Word ladder, part 2 9 Word ladder, part 3 13 Muscat native 15 Rough words 16 “A Death in the Family” author 17 Tech giant 18 Alienated 20 Parts of wedding scenes 22 Word ladder, part 4 23 Buttocks muscle 25 Clothing 30 Deadly biter 31 Bites playfully 33 Touch-y service company? 34 It might be twisted 36 “!” on a road sign 37 “West Side Story” song, or a hoped-for response after experiencing the transition in this puzzle’s word ladder 39 Positive particle 41 Advertising target 42 Like some cereals 43 Filter 44 Political initials since 1884 47 Tut, e.g. 49 Pudding starch 52 Word ladder, part 5 54 Picnic downer 55 Get-together request 60 Blue dyes 61 Word of dismissal
62 “__ kidding?” 63 Part of an address, maybe 64 Word ladder, part 6 65 Word ladder, part 7 66 End of the word ladder
Down
1 Be extremely excited 2 Modern messages 3 Devours 4 Showed reverence, in a way 5 “The Gold-Bug” author 6 Once, old-style 7 Fragrant compounds 8 North or South follower 9 God of shepherds 10 Whisking target 11 Broad size 12 “The Simpsons” character who says “Okily-dokily!” 14 “Got it!” 19 Bring to life 21 Submerged 24 Cat’s perch, perhaps 26 Diner freebies 27 Anxious 28 Glaswegian’s negative 29 Original Dungeons & Dragons co. 32 Brand originally named Brad’s Drink 34 “__ you” 35 One just born
36 Change symbols, in math 37 Wee bit 38 It may be inflatable 39 Father 40 Cheerleader’s shout 43 “Holy cow!” 44 Accompany 45 Spots on a peacock train 46 Astronomical distance 48 Resistance-related 50 Slangy “Superb!” 51 Corinthian cousin 53 90-year-old soft drink 55 Missouri hrs. 56 Sound at a spa 57 “There’s __ in ‘team’” 58 Prevailed 59 Sign of perfection
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