august 4, 2010
DESCRIPTION
Central Michigan LifeTRANSCRIPT
By Eric DresdenEditor in Chief
Michigan voters are one step closer to deciding the new leader of the state.
The Detroit Free Press re-ported Democrat Virg Bernaro and Republican Rick Snyder will face off over the next few months leading up to the Nov. 2 general election.
Bernero, the Mayor of Lan-sing, beat out Speaker of the House Andy Dillon for the Democratic nod in Tuesday’s
Michigan pri-mary election.
“At this point we’re feeling good with what we’ve done to date,” said Bernero cam-paign spokes-man Jamaine Dickens on Tuesday afternoon.
Meanwhile for the Repub-licans it was a bit more of a fight with Ann Arbor busi-nessman Snyder beating out Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, Attorney General Mike Cox, U.S. Representative Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland, and State Senator Tom George, R-
Kalamazoo all running for the position.
The Snyder campaign did not return calls from CM Life.
Polls from the Free Press just before the election showed Snyder had a slight lead of 26 percent of votes ahead of Cox, who had 24 percent and Hoek-stra, who received 23 percent of the votes.
Snyder is running on the campaign platform of “re-inventing Michigan” while Bernero is running on the idea of “making Michigan work
again.”In Isabella County 44.04
percent of people voted for Snyder, while Cox followed
by receiving 25.98 percent of votes.
For the Democrats in Isa-bella county Bernero received
67.83 percent of the vote, while Dillon 32.17 percent.
Sean proctor/photo editorCharles Joseph Scicluna, a Chesterfield junior, walks into the Isabella County courtroom prior to being sentenced for the April 11 hit-and-run accident that left 20-year-old Matthew Dominique Green, a Mount Peasant junior, paralyzed from the waist down.
By Joe BorlikSenior Reporter
A Chesterfield junior was sentenced to up to five years in prison Monday for the drunken driving accident in April that critically injured a 20-year-old Central Michigan University student.
Charles Joseph Scicluna, 21, was sentenced to no less than 18 months and no more than five years in prison in Isa-bella County Trial Judge Mark Duthie’s courtroom.
“I do find that prison is ap-propriate in this particular case,” Duthie said.
Scicluna was charged with operating while intoxicated causing serious injury and leaving the scene of an ac-cident causing serious injury resulting from an April 11 hit-and-run accident.
Scicluna sentenced to up to five years in hit-and-runVictim dragged more than 1000 feet, possiblyparalyzed
A Scicluna | 2A
photoS by amelia eramya/Staff photographerCammie McConnell, 9, leads the prayer for the daily devotions of the Baptist Children’s Home of Mount Pleasant, 1715 E. Bellows St. Monday.
Tori McConnell, right, and Deborah Richard, 12, of Park Hill, New York, take down laundry in the backyard of the Baptist Children’s Home of Mount Pleasant, 1715 E. Bellows St. Monday. Richard said the family rarely uses the dryer because it causes humidity in the home.
Richard wanted to be a part of BCH to better her life and decisions.
“I wasn’t really listening to my mom, so I chose to come to (BCH),” she said.
Tori, 36, and Rob, 36, Mc-Connell, of Mount Pleasant, are just two of several house parent ministries that care and guide children in need of assistance.
The Baptist Children’s Home of Mount Pleasant, 1715 E. Bellows St., currently houses eight children along
with the McConnell’s daugh-ters, Alexis, 11, Bailley, 10, Cammie, 9, and Desiree, 7.
The home is run solely on church and individual dona-tions.
Although the children choose to leave their house-hold due to troubled circum-stances, they still have the desire to return home, Tori said.
“Our goal is to reunite the children with their family if at all possible,” she said.
Doing goD’s workBefore becoming involved
with BCH, Rob held a job at a prison.
“It was good money,” Tori said. “(But) there was no sat-isfaction from the job.”
About six years ago, Tori and Rob filled in as Youth Leaders at Trinity Bap-tist Church of Alma. Dur-ing their time as leaders, a presentation about Baptist Children’s Home was made, and both Tori and Rob in-stantly knew it was what
they wanted to do.“That was just what we
were looking for,” Rob said. The McConnells sold their
home in Stanton and headed to Mount Pleasant in August of 2005 to begin their journey doing God’s work, Tori said.
Since then, a total of 23 children have been in the Mount Pleasant home.
“(We) try to get the whole broad spectrum of the physi-cal, spiritual, and emotional
Mount Pleasant residents give children hope, guidance
By Amelia Eramya | Staff Reporter
One year ago Deborah Richard was kept awake by the sound of gun shots and gangs scuffling in a
neighborhood full of violence in Park Hill, New York.
“You can’t sleep at night,” said Richard, 12. “All gangs do is shoot people.”
In September of 2009, she discovered an escape from her undesirable surroundings.
Baptist Children’s Home, a non-profit home for children in troubled circumstances, has housed more than 1000 individuals in Indiana, Michigan, India, Southeast Asia and Liberia.
A home | 2A
museum director starts new job, 6a
[cm-life.com]
mainstage | Event will feature local musicians this year, 2A
Mount Pleasant, Mich.central michigan lifecentral michigan lifecentral michigan lifecentral michigan lifecentral michigan lifecentral michigan lifecentral michigan lifecentral michigan lifecentral michigan lifecentral michigan lifecentral michigan lifecentral michigan lifecentral michigan lifexxxxxday, Mon. xx8, 2007
obituary | Former band director Norman Dietz dies at age 91, 3A
90 Years of Serving as Central Michigan University’s Independent Voice
Bernero, Snyder to battle in governor’s race
Virg Bernero Rick Snyder
Both win in Isabella County
seeking sanctuary
Michigan Gubernatorial Race in Isabella County
Name Percent Number ofVotesRepublicansMike Bouchard 10.37% 481 Mike Cox 26.7% 1238 Tom George 1.27% 59 Pete Hoekstra 20.4% 946 Rick Snyder 41.21% 1911 Write-In 0.11% 2
Total ... 100.00% 4637
Name Percent Number ofVotesDemocratsVirg Bernero 67.91% 804 Andy Dillon 32.09% 380 Write-In 0 percent 0
Total ... 100.00% 1184
InSIdew More coverage on the winners, 3A
By Ryan TaljonickStaff Reporter
Republican Kevin Cotter won the primary election for the 99th district Repub-lican state legislature repre-sentative, beating his oppo-nent Chrstine Alwood 56.86 percent to 43.11 percent.
Cotter said winning the primary feels good, but is only the first step in his campaign.
“I’ve got a great team of supporters,” he said. “It’s just the beginning.”
Cotter said he must now prepare for the general elec-tion on Nov. 2.
“We will extend our reach out to voters who gener-ally vote in the general elec-tion,” he said.
Cotter said his main fo-cus is turning the economy
around. “In the past I have not
pursued political office,” he said. “I made the decision to run for this seat back in November, motivated out of frustration.”
He plans on helping to build and strengthen small businesses in the 99th dis-trict.
Cotter said he and his wife are planning on start-ing a family soon and want to help create a stable econ-omy in Michigan.
“We’re really concerned about what it might look like 18 to 20 years down the line when our kids are making the decision as to where they’re going to settle down,” Cotter said. “I’d like
Cotter wins 99th GOP race, defeating AlwoodWill face Sessoms in general election
A cotter | 2A
2A || Wednesday, aug. 4, 2010 || central michigan life cm-life.com
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APPOINTMENTS AVAILABLE
TODAY!
ToDayw AwalkintheparkforWorldBreastfeedingWeektakes place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Nelson Park, 714 W. Broadway St. Breastfeeding education and story sharing will be included after the walk. For more information call 772- 3856.
ThursDayw TheZiibiwingCenter’smusicandcomedynighttakes place from 6 to 9 p.m. at its 6650 E. Broadway Road location. The event will feature the music of Kevin Chamberlain and the Rockhoppers and comedy by Buddy Big Mountain. Free food and face painting will also be available. For more information call 775-4750.
w Afarmersmarket selling locally grown produce takes place in the morning at Island Park, 331 N. Main Street.
w Acellphonecollectiondrive will occur at the Sheriff Department’s tent Isabella County Youth and Farm Fair between 4 and 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday. The phones will be refurbished to emergency-use-only-phones and distributed to individuals at risk for abuse.
aug. 14w ComedianJeffDunham will perform ventriloquism at 9 p.m. at the Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort, 6800 Soaring Eagle Blvd. Tickets cost $40, $59 and $69. For more information call 800- 585- 3737.
WEATHER
Corrections
© Central Michigan Life 2010Volume 91, Number 96
Central Michigan Life has a long-standing commitment to fair and accurate reporting. It is our policy to correct factual errors. Please e-mail [email protected].
EVENTS CALENDAR
ToDay High 90/Low 66 T-Storms
ThursDayHigh 85/Low 61 Mostly Sunny
FriDayHigh 79/Low 58Partly Cloudy
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
amelia eramya/Staff photographerFenton senior Meghan Labby falls in the sand after missing the ball on the volleyball courts at the Towers Residence Halls. Every Wednesday, Labby and friends gather at 5 p.m. to play volleyball. “I’m not good at it,” she said, laughing. “It’s just a bunch of friends getting together and having a good time.”
By Maria LeoneStaff Reporter
CMU’s MainSTAGE con-cert is set to be a different show than previous years.
Instead of bringing in one big name act, several local musicians will be fea-tured at this year’s event on August 22 by Rose Pond.
“Local bands have al-ways contacted Program Board looking for a spot on Main Stage and now they will get their chance,“ said Miranda Endre, music chair of Program Board.
The musical acts set to appear are Jetpack On!, Klass Witta K, and Finding Clyde, she said. Endre add-ed another possible musi-cian to play may be guitar-ist and singer Joe Hertler.
“Back when the band was formed last August, we were only playing house parties, and playing Main-STAGE was one of our fu-ture goals,” said Ryan Ho-ger, Jetpack On!’s guitarist.
Hoger said he hopes the audience will react posi-tively to their show.
“It is awesome to see people dancing to your songs and singing your lyrics,” Hoger said. “It will definitely be interesting to see what the incoming freshman think... especial-ly since, unlike Rubbles, alcohol won’t be involved,” he said.
Hoger said fans can ex-pect some new tunes this year. He and his bandmates are extremely excited to play MainSTAGE.
A survey and question-naire was given to students
via Facebook and e-mail to vote for artists to be featured at MainSTAGE, and 1,000 people voted to showcase local bands, En-dre said.
“I believe it will be very campus friendly because a lot of these artists are or were CMU students and a lot of CMU students have heard of or know these bands,” she said.
Endre also said by having local musicians play at the concert, Program Board will be able to reserve their spending for bigger named artists throughout the year.
New Boston senior Dan-ielle Gucciardo said she is excited for the event be-cause it will let incoming freshman know CMU sup-ports local talent.
“It will be good for the new freshmen, but less people might not attend because I think that having bigger named artists at-tracts a larger crowd,” she said. “Hearing some of the local artists previously, I know they are talented.”
Endre said the show will be relatively cheap because the artists just want a large venue to spread awareness of their bands.
“I think MainSTAGE is an awesome part of cam-pus because it showcases everything the campus has to offer.” she said. “It’s there that I found Program Board and it’s made my time at Central so much better because of it.”
MainSTAGE will feature local talent
The victim, Matthew Dom-inque Green, was pushing an out of gas car eastbound on Bel-lows Street near East Campus Drive with a relative.
At about 3:20 a.m., Scicluna’s vehicle sideswiped Green’s car, pinning him underneath the moving vehicle. Green was dragged more than 1,000 feet and through an intersection.
Green is currently paralyzed from the waist down and has lost more than 40 percent of his skin along with muscles and bone, said Denise Green, Matthew’s mother and associate vice presi-dent of diversity at CMU.
Denise Green told the court-room her son will have scarring from the road burns for the rest of his life.
“He has had so many recon-structive and skin graft surgeries that I have lost count,” Denise Green said.
She said her son was working on having a successful semester. He had plans to study abroad and also take Japanese in the fall, something he had wanted
to do since his freshman year.Denise Green said her son is
currently in rehab trying to get stronger and more indepen-dent. She said the next two years will determine if he ever walks again.
“When a doctor uses the term ‘nightmare’ to describe what has happened to your son, you know you are experiencing a tragic situation,” she said.
She said her son is trying to wrap his mind around the fact that he may be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Denise Green also expressed some of her son’s sentiments.
“Why did this happen? Why was I hit? I know I am blessed and grateful to be alive but this is so hard. I can’t feel my legs, I can’t even go to the restroom on my own,” she said, voicing her son’s frustrations.
Risa Scully, chief assistant prosecutor attorney, said the accident should have been pre-vented.
Scully said it remains uncer-tain what Scicluna’s blood alco-hol level was at the time of the crime. When drawn about 12
hours after the incident, it came back as .01, she said.
She said a passenger told Sci-cluna to stop but he continued driving at a high speed, dragging the victim.
Matthew Green’s flesh, blood and portions of his watch, belt, shoes and other items were em-bedded underneath the car and on the road, Scully said.
“Life as Matt had known it is over, life as his family had known it is over ... There is nothing that any of us can do to change things,” Scully said. “The only just way to hold him accountable is to issue a prison sentence.”
Scicluna took a plea agree-ment in June and had two mis-demeanor charges dropped: failure to stop at a property damage accident and reckless driving.
Scicluna’s lawyer, James Veld-huis, described his client as a college student well-aware aware of the seriousness of the tragedy.
“I’m truly sorry for what hap-pened and the pain and suffer-ing I caused,” Scicluna said to the courtroom.
scicluna |continued from 1A
well being of the child,” Tori said. “(We’re also) teaching them how important physi-cal fitness is.”
Rob and Tori are mem-bers of the Mount Pleasant Striders and every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sat-urday, the BCH of Mount Pleasant runs as a family.
Every night around 8:30 p.m., the children gather with Tori and Rob to pray, discuss the bible and apply
biblical stories to everyday life situations.
“For the most part, the children who come are re-ceptive to hear the plans that God has for them,” Tori said.
On Sundays, the fam-ily walks to the First Baptist Church of Mount Pleasant, 1802 E. High St.
“I feel good about this fam-ily because it’s a Christian home,” Richard said. “We play games and eat breakfast, lunch and dinner together.”
The children also are ex-pected to sign a statement of good faith to help guide them to their goals.
“Some of the children leave because they don’t follow by what they said they would,” she said.
Alexis, one of the McCo-nnell’s daughters does not like the fact that the children come and go in their home.
“You get attached to them, and then they have to go away,” she said.
But it is worth the oppor-tunity to help the kids, Rob said.
“The kids want to be here, they want to change,” he said.
home |continued from 1A
“Back when the band was formed last august, we were only playing house parties, and
playing MainStage was one of our future goals.”
Ryan Hoger, Jetpack on! guitarist
In last weeks story about Firstbank it should have said Firstbank is one word.
Last summer edition
This is the last summer edition of Central Michigan Life.The newspaper resumes publication with its back to school edition on Aug. 19. them to have the option of
staying in Michigan if they choose to.”
On the other side of the ticket, Democrat Toni Ses-soms won the primary, re-ceiving 43.79 percent of the Democratic vote, with Peter Gallinat and Carl Hamann receiving 20.91 percent and 35.31 percent respectively.
Cotter and Sessoms will face off in the general elec-tions later this year on No-vember 2.
“We’re going to stick to our principles and continue to run a very clean campaign,” Cotter said.
roaD millage FailsThe proposal for a 2-mill
tax increase has been squashed by Isabella County voters 63.11 percent to 36.89 percent.
The proposed millage would have had a lifespan of 8 years and would have raised about $869,000 in revenue for the city of Mount Pleasant if approved.
That money would have been put towards road proj-ects and repair, said Tony Casali, Isabella County Road Commission manager during a presentation to the Mount Pleasant City Commission on July 12.
library millage FailsThe Chippewa River
District Library Millage failed on a vote of 1624 to 1251.
cotter |continued from 1A
www.cm-life.com[NEws]
central michigan life || Wednesday, aug. 4, 2010 || 3A
By Kristyn wollStaff Reporter
This one time, at Central Michigan University...
Forest Hill Central High School’s band is one of several schools visiting CMU to prac-tice marches and music.
Max Quick, a junior at FHCHS and trombone player in the band, joined band in sixth grade when he was given a choice between band, choir or orchestra as an elective.
“Band camp is hard work, but after you work hard enough it is really fun,” Quick said. “There’s pressure involved but you just have to keep playing and have fun doing it.”
An average day for the band students starts at 8 a.m. with practice, learning drill routines and 18 pages of new music a day. Rehearsal lasts until 8 p.m. when the hard work is broke up with a fun activity for the stu-dents like dances, movie nights and contests.
“People don’t realize the ef-fort these students go through to put on a half-time show for the football game, but they have fun doing it, so band camp has
really become their highlight of the year,” said John Destefano, FHCHS’s director of bands.
Destefano said this is the 26th summer that Forest Hill Central High School has trav-eled to CMU to practice their marching band routines. The high school’s band has 320 stu-dents which is one-fifth of the student population, he said.
Alex Harris, a junior at FHCHS, plays the snare drums. He started his involvement with marching bands in sixth grade as well.
“I’ve talked to my friends from other schools and they’ve told me that their band is really unpopular, but not with our school,” Harris said. “We have all different types of kids that want to be in band, everyone wants to give it a try because it’s kind of like the cool thing to do.”
Harris decided to play drums as soon as she joined marching band, because she was influ-enced by her father’s legacy as a drum player.
“My parents always yell at me because even when I’m not here practicing, I’m at home tapping on the dinner table,” Harris
said. “It’s become a big part of my life, and I’ll always have it as a hobby and an interest.”
Kyle Sherman, a junior at FHCHS a tenor drum player joined band three years ago. At first he didn’t feel as expe-rienced as some of the other players.
”When I first auditioned, it took me 10 hours to learn the piece that they wanted me to play,” he said. “Last summer I practiced for two hours, and this summer I got it down in a half-hour, so camp is definitely helping.”
The camp of 250 students and 25 chaperones arrived at CMU Sunday afternoon and will leave Thursday.
“My job is to make (student’s) high school experience a four year process of teaching them to learn life through music, grow with music, and use mu-sic to help change their life for the better,” Destefano said. “It’s great to watch the students do-ing something that they really enjoy and bond with each other while doing it.”
amelia eramya/Staff photographerJacob Foster, a freshman from Grandville High School and Cameron Wark, a senior from Grandville High School practice playing their tubas at Central Michigan University during their band camp’s section rehearsals Friday.
Grand Rapids high school band comes marching in
By Joe BorlikSenior Reporter
The Mount Pleasant man who drove the Chevrolet Cor-vette in an accident which killed 18-year-old Carolynn Ashley Cosan in May is fac-ing two felony charges.
Cody David Weisenburger, 18, was charged in Isabella County Trial Court with one count each of operating with the presence of drugs causing death and negligent homicide. Weisenburger turned himself into police Thursday, Isabella County Prosecutor Larry Burdick said.
Burdick said Weisenburg-
er was released after posting 10 percent of a bond total-ing $20,000 with $10,000 on each charge.
Operating a vehicle with a controlled substance, in this case marijuana, carries up to 15 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.
Negligent homicide car-ries up to two years in prison and/or a $2,000 fine.
Burdick would not com-ment on how much mari-juana was in Weisenburger’s system.
Weisenburger was driving at a high speed headed north on Vandecar Road when the accident occurred May 14.
The vehicle lost control,
crossed over into oncoming traffic, went through a ditch, hit a tree stump and ended up rolling several times, Isabella County Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski said.
He said the car went through a resident’s yard be-fore landing in a field, leav-ing debris along the way.
Weisenburger was ejected from the car during the ac-cident, while Cosan had her seatbelt on and kept rolling with the vehicle. Cosan was found dead at the scene.
Weisenburger is sched-uled for a pre-trial confer-ence at 8:15 Thursday.
mount Pleasant man faces charges in cosan’s death
By Melissa TorokStaff Reporter
Norman Dietz is remem-bered as someone com-pletely devoted to music at Central Michigan Univer-sity.
Dietz, a retired band di-rector and Central Michi-gan University graduate, died July 27 at the age of 91.
Dietz was the Director of Bands at Central Michigan University for 30 years.
“He lived and breathed it,” said Norman’s young-est son Richard Dietz, a Detroit resident. “He was totally devoted to music education.”
Norman Dietz was Presi-dent of the student body, a member of band and per-formed with student jazz groups during his years at CMU.
Norman Dietz graduated from Central State Teach-ing College, later renamed Central Michigan Univer-sity, in 1941. He then en-listed as a musician for the US Army during World War
II where he arranged and performed music for radio broadcasts. Norman Dietz returned after the war to complete his Masters de-gree in brass technique and composition at Michigan State University.
“He was always looking for the opportunity to make students a better person and a better performer,” said 1970 CMU alumnus John Dietz.
John Dietz, the oldest of Norman’s three sons, said his father had a special way of engaging the students.
“He gave them a sense of responsibility to ‘make the music happen,’” John Dietz said.
Norman Dietz returned to Mount Pleasant to be the band director at Mount Pleasant High School and Central State Teaching Col-lege. He took over as CMU’s band director in 1947 and later founded the sym-phonic wind ensemble in the 1960s. Both his march-ing band and symphonic wind ensemble received national recognition.
He retired in 1979 and moved to Sarasota, Fl. with his wife Margaret Bush Di-etz.
“I received e-mails from people across the U.S.,” John Dietz said. “They said he made them feel impor-tant, challenged them and because of him they were a better person.”
One of Norman Dietz’s former students John W. Beery wrote a biography ti-tled “On the Edge of Sound: The Life and Career of Nor-man Dietz” to recognize the professor’s achievements.
Norman Dietz continued to actively compose, con-duct and perform music after retiring. Many of his works were published and went on to be performed nationwide.
A memorial service will be held October 23 at Delta Center Cemetery in Lan-sing, Mich. Memorial gifts may be made to the Nor-man C. Dietz Scholarship Fund at Central Michigan University.
Former band director dies at 91
By Rachael woodsStaff Reporter
Though Ron L. Nelson is facing one of the hardest fights in his life against can-cer, he isn’t going it alone.
Friday morning, Health Professions Building room 257 was filled with members of the CMU Physician Assis-tant program who gathered to show support for Nel-son, adjunct professor and president of the American Academy of Physician As-sistants.
He was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer six weeks ago.
“We’re amazed at how much he’s done for the pro-gram and the profession, and at how one person can do so much,” said Laura Maxwell, Fenton graduate student.
Each of the more than 90 students in the program sported light blue matching T-shirts as a sign of unity and solidarity for Ron’s in-volvement and presented him with a giant check made out for $548.80, the
amount raised from their T-shirt fundraiser.
The money will be do-nated to a cancer research charity of Nelson’s choice.
After the presentation was made, Nelson uttered an emotional “Wow!” as he faced the room full of stu-dents and faculty members.
“I’m overwhelmed,” Nel-son said. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you!”
In spite of his ailment, Nelson remains very posi-tive, both with his progno-sis and the opportunities this challenge will provide him.
“Adversity changes per-spective,” he said. “Each day becomes a good day ... I am a better teacher because of this.”
Nelson has taught at CMU for 12 years and he serves as adjunct faculty at Western Michigan University and Grand Valley State Univer-sity as well. In addition to being the president of the AAPA, he is also President/CEO of Health Services As-sociates, a medical consult-ing firm for hospitals and
practices in rural or under-served communities, and the co-founder of the Na-tional Association of Rural Health Clinics.
He was also named CMU’s Preceptor of the Year in 2007-2008.
Dr. Ahmad Hakemi, di-rector of the physician as-sistant program, said he is impressed with Nelson’s re-action to his diagnosis and “despite the bad news, he never lost an hour of lec-ture,” even wearing a che-motherapy bag on his hip during class.
The students’ responses to the news were likewise optimistic.
“I’m very hopeful,” Max-well said. “It was a shock. He’s very positive and he knows the steps he needs to take.”
Nelson will continue teaching throughout his treatment and he said he’s looking forward to the chance to grow in overcom-ing this adversity.
Physician assistants show support for professor battling cancer
republicansIn yesterday’s primaries, Michael Fred-
erick Trebesh won the republican ticket for state senator of the 33rd district.
w Steve J. Jackson and Terry L. Turnwald both won seats as 6-year Isabella County road commissioners, and Dave Livermore was chosen to fill a 2-year term.
w George A. Green won County Com-missioner District 1, Roger L. Trudell won his party’s nomination for county com-missioner district 3 seat with 62.85% of the vote.
w Ronald J. Ives and Larry E. Miller won the republican nominations for Chippewa Township precincts 1 and 2, respectively.
DemocraTsw Jerry M. Campbell won the primary
for 4th district congressional representa-tive, and James A. Hoisington won State Senator for the 33rd district.
w Toni Sessoms won the democratic nomination for State Representative with 62.04% of the votes.
w John Haupt and Bill Dailey won the nominations for County Commissioner districts 2 and 4, respectively.
w Harrie Bleecker won the primary for Chippewa Township Precinct 1 Delegate.
millagesw The Chippewa River District Library
Millage failed on a vote of 1624 to 1251.
Results from Tuesday’s primary
4A || Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010 || Central Michigan Life cm-life.com/category/sports[SportS]
By Aaron McMannSenior Reporter
DETROIT — CMU head coach Dan Enos has identified his starting quarterback for the 2010-11 season — for now.
Enos revealed Friday during the Mid-American Conference Football Preview at Ford Field that sophomore quarterback Ryan Radcliff is the leader for the starting job heading into summer workouts.
Radcliff will take snaps as the No. 1 when the team begins summer camp Friday. Players report back to campus Thurs-day.
“It will ultimately be won in the fall, but Ryan Radcliff is the guy who at the end of spring sepa-rated himself,” Enos said.
T h e 6-foot-2, 212-pound Radcliff began spring
camp as the most experienced among CMU’s quarterbacks. He played in seven games last season, going 10-of-21 for 115 yards and two interceptions.
Junior Derek Rifenbury made just one appearance last season, getting a few snaps in CMU’s 48-0 win against Alcorn State. A.J. Westendorp was redshirted last season.
Radcliff also saw the most playing time of the three quar-terbacks in April’s spring game, taking every snap for the White team and going 25-of-41 for 229 yards and an interception. Rifenbury and Westendorp split time for the Maroon team.
“We felt that in the spring he was just a little better throw-ing the ball and understand-ing what we were doing,” Enos said. “He was just a little further ahead.”
But Radcliff is expected to re-ceive some additional competi-tion from 6-foot-1, 206 pound junior Brandon Fricke, who transferred to CMU from Gross-mont Community College (El Cajon, Fla.) in May, and fresh-man Kyle Smith.
Fricke, a pocket-passer,
Enos tabs Radcliff starting QBas summer practices begin Friday
threw for 780 yards and eight touchdowns while helping lead Grossmont to an 8-3 record in 2009.
Smith holds the Pennsylvania state record for career passing yards (8,544), touchdown passes (118) and single-season touch-down passes (50). He led Lan-caster Catholic High School to a state championship in 2009.
NOTESCMU was picked by the me-
dia Friday to finish the 2010 sea-son second in the Mid-Ameri-can Conference West Division. Temple was selected to win the East Division title and MAC championship, while Northern Illinois was picked to win the
By Aaron McMannSenior Reporter
DETROIT — Ask anyone who follows college football their opinion on the Bowl Champi-onship Series.
It tends to go one way: a bet-ter system needs to be devised to determine a true national champion.
While debate continues to rage over the BCS and a poten-tial playoff system, BCS Execu-tive Director Bill Hancock met with members of the media Fri-day at the Mid-American Con-ference Football Preview at Ford Field to make the case for the BCS and shoot down the idea of a playoff system.
“I would ask you to think about not just the postseason but the whole spectrum of col-lege football all together, be-cause that’s what the commis-sioners have to do,” Hancock said. “They just can’t view the postseason independently.”
Hancock, now in his fifth year
M i d -A M e r i c A n c o n f e r e n c e M e d i A d AY
BCS: No plans for playoff in next 4 yearsat the BCS and former director of the NCAA Final Four for 13 years, is opposed to a playoff format. He said there would be backlash from teams left out whether the NCAA adopted a four, eight, 12 or 16-team playoff.
He cites ‘bracket creep’ – an increased number of teams competing in the postseason – as one of the reasons a plus-one model, essentially a four-team tournament, was shot down a few years ago.
With the increased number of teams in the NCAA tournament, the regular season is beginning to lose its importance, Hancock said.
“We know we have the best regular season of any sport,” he said. “We think the bowl system is so important top to bottom in college football—at the end of the season, everyone has a chance to play in a bowl. The BCS allows us to match No. 1 and No. 2.”
While that isn’t enough for most critics who say the BCS
favors the bigger conferences, Hancock points to the over-whelming support for the BCS among the college football com-munity.
According to a fact sheet circulated to media members Friday, “93 percent of all head coaches prefer the traditional bowl arrangement to a playoff.”
“As long as the coaches and college presidents oppose a playoff, then a playoff won’t happen,” Hancock said.
All 11 FCS conferences help manage of the BCS.
CMU head coach Dan Enos, who came from the Big Ten, an automatic qulifying conference, declined to give his take on the BCS.
“I’ve always felt that my job as a coach is just to coach and do the best I can,” Enos said. “Ul-timately, with the BCS and all the decisions they make, I don’t have any say in it anyway.”
“It will ultimately be won in the fall, but Ryan Radcliff is the leader for the starting
job heading into summer workouts.”Dan Enos, CMU football head coach
CM Life Senior Reporter Aar-on McMann and Staff Reporter John Evans sat down with Mid-American Conference Commis-sioner Jon Steinbrecher for a few minutes Friday during the MAC Football Preview at Ford Field.
John Evans: Given the suc-cess of certain teams and play-ers in recent years, do you feel that there’s more a respect level for the MAC on national stage?
Jon Steinbrecher: I believe so. The things I could point to as part of that is that we gained our new contract with ESPN that started a year ago. It assist-ed us as we were in our nego-tiations last fall and winter for new bowl contracts, when we secured five contracts for the first time in league history. Yes, I think those are things that people point to. We have good name recognition. We have to continue to grow on the field and keep pushing so that we’re getting multiple teams in (the) top 25. I think that’s critical as we move forward.
Q & A: MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher
West. The Holland Sentinel re-
ported last week that A.J. Wes-tendorp could miss up to three weeks after spraining his right ankle during conditioning on Thursday.
The contract for CMU Sports Network play-by-play man Ryan Schuiling was not renewed last week. Don Chiodo and Brock Gutierrez will handle duties for football and men’s basket-ball games. GVSU alum Justin Hoff has joined the staff and will handle sidelines reports and serve as the voice of CMU women’s basketball, baseball and softball.
Dan Enos
Aaron McMann: While the MAC lost the International Bowl after it decided to cease operations, it gained the Hu-manitarian Bowl. Do you feel like that ended up being a posi-tive in terms of notoriety?
JS: I’ll take it as a positive. The International Bowl was a very good partner – we enjoyed our experiences there. But the Humanitarian Bowl, it was my first time out there last year, boy do they do just a marvelous job. We had a great experience – they had a record TV rating with our game out there. I think our folks, when they go out there, they’re going to have their socks knocked off. The community really embraces the event, it’s a marvelous facility to play in and it’s a good matchup for us. I like playing against the WAC and playing against people that we don’t spend a lot during the regular season getting a chance to match up against. I think those things are very positive for us.
AM: In terms of the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, with the
Big Ten adding another team (Nebraksa) next year, do you see that bowl becoming more important in the future in that MAC schools could play Big Ten schools regularly?
JS: We would hope so. We’ll see how it plays out. History has shown the last few years that hasn’t occurred a lot, but we hope more and more to have the opportunity. At the same to-ken, the Sun Belt is a very good partner. We’re pleased that they are providing a secondary or back up partner and we’ll forward to matching up with whomever.
Visit cm-life.com to read the rest of the interview, including Steinbrecher’s thoughts on the BCS, the state of the MAC in re-gards to explansion and more.
FILE PHOTO BY SEAN PROCTORSophomore quarterback Ryan Radcliff was named the starter by head coach Dan Enos following spring practices. Radcliff went 25-of-41 for 229 yards in April’s spring game.
cm-life.comCMU softball head coach Margo Jonker inks four-year contract, adds four
players to 2011 roster.
6A || Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010 || Central Michigan Life www.cm-life.com[News]
By Ryan TaljonickStaff Reporter
A new Mount Pleas-ant liquor store is aiming to have a wide variety of choices.
K&S Liquor, 4855 E. Blue Grass Rd., opened last Friday.
Owner Norm Shamoun said opening day was a bit quiet, but he was pleased with the number of customers that came into his store.
“It was decent for peo-ple not knowing it was open,” he said.
Shamoun said he will go to great lengths to ob-tain any beer or liquor requested by his custom-ers.
“I like challenges,” he said. “If I don’t have it, I will find a way to get it.”
Shamoun currently stocks more than 300 types of liquors and beer.
He’s excited to stock a new item — whipped cream that contains al-cohol.
“It looks like a can of Cool Whip, but it’s liquor — it’s crazy,” he said. “Anything unique or cool, I’m going to have it.”
The store includes a make-your-own six-pack section where custom-ers can create a six-pack with craft beers of their choice.
The store also stocks hookahs and hookah supplies, a large variety of candy and even silly bands, shaped elastic wrist-bands that are be-
coming increasingly pop-ular, Shamoun said.
Shamoun said he even-tually hopes to stock a variety of fountain pop and sodas from around the world.
“‘If we don’t have it, we will get it,’ that’s my mot-to — unless it’s illegal of course,” he said, laugh-ing.
Shamoun also plans on stocking eggs, bread, sandwiches and other ev-eryday necessities.
Shamoun said he wants to keep the locals happy while bringing in new customers.
“I want it to be a place where you can come with your kids too,” he said.
Alex Hutchinson works next door to K&S Liquor at the census bureau. She’s glad the new party store opened.
“I’ve been in there a couple times,” she said. “It’s a convenient loca-tion and they’re always very friendly.”
Shamoun said he re-ceived his liquor license in February and spent about six months putting his business together and stocking its shelves.
“I used all local con-tractors to keep the mon-ey in the county,” he said. “Union Township gave me a little bit of prob-lems, but it all worked out in the end.”
New liquor store opens on Blue Grass
Photos by sean ProCter/Photo editorJay Martin, the new director of the Museum of Cultural and Natural History, looks through the Cultural History storage room in search for items to put into a new exhibit this fall. “We have a fantastic collection here,” Martin said. “It’s little things you put into an exhibit that people can connect with.”
“‘if we don’t have it, we will get it,’ that’s my motto — unless it’s
illegal of course.”Norm Sharmoun, K&S Liquor owner
By Connor sheridanNews Editor
Jay Martin belongs in a mu-seum.
But that’s no insult to Mar-tin, the newly hired director of the Central Michigan University Museum of Cultural and Natural History and academic museum studies program.
His primary aspiration is to lift the museum, which is now quar-tered in Rowe Hall, to a place of greater prominence and national prestige.
“The museum is older, it’s in a facility that was never de-signed to be a museum in the first place,” Martin said. “I want to have the best teaching facility that one can have, the day I retire I would like to walk out of a state of the art museum.”
Martin said the best thing a university museum can provide is a link between the academic programs that are present at the university and the public, a link he hopes to strengthen.
“How many of those people who are across Mission from the university every day of their
lives really get a chance to ex-plore what’s happening here and what’s happening in all the aca-demic disciplines here?” Martin said.
Martin was appointed by Pa-mela Gates, interim dean of the College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences.
She said he was chosen through a nationwide search for a candidate conducted after for-mer director William Pretzer left to work at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. in 2009.
“His credentials as an educator of history and museum director, in conjunction with his vision for the museum and museum studies program here at CMU, provided the search committee with the confidence to offer him the position,” Gates said in an e-mailed statement.
Martin will work with former interim director of museum studies and assistant professor of anthropology Cathy Willermet. She said she is excited to begin working with him.
“I think we’re extremely fortu-nate to have attracted him here, because he’s one of those real
people who has the energy to do them both (directing the mu-seum and museum studies pro-gram),” she said.
Martin, a Jonestown native and former Great Lakes mariner, has worked at several colleges and museums across the nation including Southeastern Louisi-ana University.
His primary inspiration, how-ever, comes from the Children’s
Museum of Indianapolis.“Most of my inspiration
comes from children’s muse-ums, ideally I’d like to have a museum that focuses on hands-on activities for children and families,” he said. “We have to be able to use modern technol-ogy to reach out, and to use it as a learning tool.”
Jay Martin new CMU museum director
Jay Martin, the new director of the Museum for Cultural and Natural History opens a drawer in the Natural History storage room, revealing several specimens of the Summer and Western Tanager.
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