Student raps, works for accounting degree, 6A
Friday, Feb. 25, 2011
Senior thrower Whitney Johnson survives broken home, 1B
Invisible Children | Ugandan native visits campus, helps spread message, 5A
Central Michigan Life
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
[cm-life.com]
student government
Pro bono legal clinic beginning March 21 Resource website in development By Brad Canze News Copy Chief
CMU students contemplating legal action will be able to receive free advice at the new pro bono legal clinic come March 21. Student Government As-
sociation President Brittany Mouzourakis announced the opening of the proposed clinic at Monday’s meeting. Three licensed attorneys, all CMU instructors, have agreed to participate in the clinic which will offer its services to students on a by-appointment basis. Hope May, associate professor of philosophy and religion, will be one of the attorneys volunteering their time for the
clinic. May is a full-time professor who still practices as an attorney, but she limits herself to taking on one case at a time to focus on her work at the university, she said. Matt Coffey and Gerald White, each finance and law assistant professors, also agreed to volunteer their time at the clinic. Mouzourakis said she has talked to the three for some time, and they formally agreed to participate during a meeting
Feb. 15. May, the director of CMU’s Center for Professional and Personal Ethics, is also building the legal clinic’s website, which is up but unfinished at http:// legalclinic.cmich.edu. “I’m doing the website as part of the Ethics Center ... so we’re contributing that and some other resources down the road,” May said. When finished, the website will include an application
students can file to set up an appointment with one of the clinic’s attorneys, as well as documents and legal resources for students to use. Already up on the site is information about small claims courts, tenantlandlord agreements and a copy of Mount Pleasant’s nuisance party law. The clinic will be primarily run out of Mouzourakis’ office in the Student Organization Center in the Bovee Uni-
Cheatham informed police of sex offender status
CMU offers ‘no real improvements,’ union president says By Ariel Black Senior Reporter
hand-in-hand, she said, and if they can no longer do that at the bar, they will stay at home where they can. She said the smoke shack has not brought their revenue up, but it has kept some regulars from leaving. “I have friends who bartend, and they said business definitely has gone down for them,” said Jenna Roberts of Mount Pleasant. “If a bar lets you smoke somewhere, they’re going to get a bigger crowd because Michigan has so many smokers.” Saginaw graduate student Thomas Wheatley said he only smokes occasionally. He said the ban has not affected his habit, but understands that his smoking friends are upset by it. The decision to
The Union of Teaching Faculty will picket next week to inform the campus of its grievances accrued in its efforts to secure greater job benefits. Union members are set to appear from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday outside the Education and Human Services Building to express unhappiness with administrators’ most recent proposal regarding benefits and job security . Jim Eikrem, an assistant communication and fine arts professor and UTF president, made a speech on behalf of UTF about the ongoing bargaining with administration at the Feb. 17 CMU Board of Trustees meeting. “We presented them with a cost-effective way to address some of the discrepancies in terms of salaries and benefits,” Eikrem said. “They came back with no real improvements, and there were no increases in wages or benefit security.” Eikrem said the proposal administration came back with seems unacceptable, but the next step is to keep the dialogue going. Robert Martin, associate vice provost of Faculty Personnel Services, refrained from commenting on Eikrem’s speech because he did not attend the meeting. “The UTF and CMU bargaining teams have been meeting on a regular basis since early January,” Martin said in an e-mail. “We have exchanged proposals on numerous issues. I anticipate continued good faith efforts by both teams during this spring semester in an effort to reach a mutually satisfactory contract at the earliest possible date.”
A smokers | 2A
A UTF | 5A
By Maryellen Tighe Staff Reporter
A wrestler | 5A
[inside]
NEWS
w Adjustment to new digs continues for Grace Church, 3A
sports w Linebacker Nick Bellore preparing for NFL combine, 1B w Men’s basketball still has shot in MAC West, B4
cm-life.com w Watch for tonight’s Ke$ha coverage with a story, photos and a video! w VIDEO: Watch students react to the rise in gas prices Thursday afternoon
A pro bono | 2A
UTF to picket proposal over benefits, job security
Former wrestler did not disclose student status
Former CMU wrestler David A. Cheatham informed area police of his sex offender status before arriving on campus last fall. The 19-yearold Zeeland freshman, said he wrote a full disclosure statement, which was reviewed by a d m i s s i o n s, David Cheatham housing and local police, before he arrived on campus. But he neglected to tell police he was going to attend CMU. He pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the Michigan Sex Offender Registry Act Wednesday. “(Cheatham) failed to notify the police department or any other law enforcement agency that (he is) a CMU student,” said his attorney, Charles Moses. “That is a violation of this act.” Cheatham first registered as a sex offender at 14, when he was convicted in 2006 of seconddegree criminal sexual conduct with a person under the age of 13, according to Michigan’s Public Sex Offender Registry. Judge Mark H. Duthie reduced the felony to a high court misdemeanor as part of the plea process. “(He lowered it) in part because he felt like that was proportional to what happened here,” said Isabella County Prosecutor Larry Burdick. “My
versity Center. “This has been Brittany’s project from the beginning,” said Dave Breed, SGA vice president and a Muskegon senior. Mouzourakis said the completed application will include an option for students to specify whether they would rather see a male or female attorney to take matters such as criminal sexual conduct into consideration.
andrew kuhn/staff photographer
Mount Pleasant resident Jenna Roberts lights up Wednesday night outside Marty’s Bar and Grill, 123 S. Main St., in downtown Mount Pleasant. Roberts is just one of the smokers affected by the smoking ban. “If they let you smoke, then they’ll probably have a bigger crowd cause Michigan has a lot of smokers,” Roberts said.
Out in the Cold By Mike Nichols | Senior Reporter
Businesses see decline with smokers home, avoiding winter weather
M
ount Pleasant smokers are feeling the cold more than their nicotine-free counterparts this season. Since the May 2010 enactment of Michigan’s Smoke Free Air law, which made it illegal to smoke inside restaurants and bars, smokers have been forced to either wait to leave or light up on the sidewalks of the establishments. In the cold winter months, this has made getting a nicotine fix very unpleasant for some.
“There’s a percentage of people that stay home now because it’s too cold,” said Melissa Gross, a bartender at Rubbles Bar, 112 W. Michigan. “I would if I smoked.” Alison Foster, a bartender at Marty’s Bar, 123 S. Main St., said a couple of regulars and the owner’s brother helped build what they call the “Smoke Shack” or the “Butt Hutt” just behind the bar. The wooden shed has a heater for smokers to stay warm inside while they light up. “The heat might not be much, but it’s better than standing outside,” said Mount Pleasant resident Sharon Biernacki. “Since they built this, we’ve started coming here.” Foster said business has dropped about 25 percent for Marty’s since the ban. Regulars like to smoke and drink
Gas prices on rise amid crisis abroad By Theresa Clift Staff Reporter
The crisis in Libya is causing humanitarian strife worldwide and economic difficulty in the wallets of local drivers. Gasoline prices in Mount Pleasant increased to $3.39 a gallon on average Thursday with no expected date for a decline. The cause of the spike in prices has been partially attributed by media to the ongoing political turmoil in the oil-rich country. Coyne Oil President Dave Coyne said the prices are rising purely because of speculation. “Traders are driving the prices up and making money,” Coyne said. “They are making the price of a barrel go up just
by trading it.” Many people are filling their tanks to try avoid the hike and are actually making the situation worse, he said. “It’s creating a shortage as the media is promoting it by saying it’ll go to $5 a gallon,” Coyne said. Farmers are especially worried because when gas prices go up, it greatly affects their industry, he said. Many students are avoiding the pump as much as possible. Jackson junior Andru Russell did not fill his tank yesterday, but is concerned about upcoming traveling plans. “If the prices stay up it’s going to make the drive down to Florida for spring break a lot more expensive than we planned,”
Russell said. Mike Lewis is avoiding the expense for as long as possible. The Howell senior noticed prices hovering around $3.25 less than a week ago. He joked that he has concocted an alternate plan. “The gas prices make me want to mimic Lloyd Christmas from ‘Dumb & Dumber’ — trade my car in for a scooter,” Lewis said. “Hopefully I can get at least 70 miles to the gallon on that hog.” It is uncertain when the gas prices will go down, but Coyne said there is some good news. “We think that it’s going to drop faster than it went up,” he said.
Ashley miller/staff photographer
Jackson junior Ashleigh Claucherty pets her dog, Mya, while waiting for her gas to finish pumping Thursday afternoon at the Shell station, 1911 South Mission St. “My whole paycheck is going to go into my car,” she said on the potential of raising gas prices.
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