Marshall Chronicle Newspaper Archives
March 30, 1999 Page 1

Marshall Chronicle (Newspaper) - March 30, 1999, Marshall, Michigan50 cents Vol. 120/ No. 19i ©,999 Tuesd£iy March 30,1999 HRONI 52233 Weather • Today Mostly sunny with a high near 65. Tonight, partly cloudy. Low in the upper 40s/ South wind 10 to 20 Mph, • Tomorrow Windy and becoining mostly cloudy. Continued warm. High in the mid 60s. Hews m Brief LANSING,-Mich. (AP) — What is expected ta become one of the fiercest political fights in Michigan next year took shape Monday as U.S. Rep. Debbie. Stabenow announced she will challenge U.S. Sen. Spencer Abraham. Thè tussle figures to be one of the top national struggles of the election season.; Democrats consider Abraham, a first-term Republican from Auburn Hills, vulnerable to an upset by the right opponent. Stabenow, a Democrat from Lansing, says she’s ready to take him on now that former Gov. James Blanchard has taken himself out of the race. \ Stabenow formally announcéd her bid Monday in news conferences in Southfield and Lansing. Abraham, a former state GOP chairman, welcomed her to the race with a full-page newspaper advertisement questioning her position on key issues. In declaring for the Senate, she positioned herself in the middle of the political spectrum in favor of saving Social Security and Medicare, education improvements, a bill of rights for medical patients, a balanced budget and tax relief LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The City Council oil Monday approved a $10 million settlement of a wrongful death lawsuit filed after a mentally ill, homeless man died during a struggle with officers in the Lansing jail. The council voted 6-0, with two members absent, to approve the settlement with Edward Swans’ relatives. >‘ Swans, 40, stopped breathing minutes after beihg shackled by his wrists and ankles to a waistband while lying face down in a city jail cell in February 1996; At ;le^t three doctors testified that Swans died as a result of a. struggle with officers and their restraint bf him. Federal and Ingham County prosecutors cleared police of wrongdoing. The Lansing Stale Journal reported that under the settlement, Swans’ five children will get $4.05 million. Attorneys for the family would get $3.5 million. Swans’ father would get $ 1.35 million, while Swans’ four siblings would get $337,500 each. Swans’ family won a $12.9 million judgment from a federal jury in April 1998, but the city appealed. As part of Monday’s agreement, the city will withdraw its appeal and the family will accept $10 million, the State Journal said. DEARBORN, Mich. (AP)^ Gasoline prices-statewide rose by an average 7,1 cents a gallon in the past week, the second consecutive week of increase, AAA Michigan said Monday. ' In metropolitag Detroit, prices increased 4.4 cents in the past -week to an average of $ 1.151 per gallon. The statewide average is up 7.6 cents from a ye^ ago. The average in the Detroit area was 4.3 cents higher th^ a year ago; ; The auto club’s surve^.of 300 stations ¡showed prices for a gallon of unleaded, self-serve, regular ranging from $1.049 cents to $1.249 statewide, arid from 99.9 cents to $1.179 in metropolitan Detroit. Seventh graders visited Madison Elementary and the sixth gr^ade at the Middle School last Friday dressed as famous people of the 20th Century. This is all part of a project called the Twentieth Century Project made possible by a generous grant of $4,900 from the Marshall Community Foundation and the YACkers. Students have been studying the greats of the century all school year. First, they generated a list of more than 600 names. Each of the 215 seventh graders then chose one of the names to research. They wrote biographies which will be bound into a book, one for each student. Friday’s Living History Day was filled with celebration for those who made the century great; After visiting the younger grades, students attended an assembly. Master of Ceremonies John Marsh interviewed long-time Marshallite Harry Thompson, born in 1907. Thompson spoke ¿bout his life through the decades. Students were encouraged to ask him questions. At the end of the interview, someone asked him the secret for his long life. He told students that he ate right, exercised, believed in God and prayed a lot, gave up smoking over 45 years ago, didn’t drink, and kept himself clean. This was followed by several (above) Seventh graders who competed in the Living History Day contests line up on stage to receive a round of^ applause from their classmates. {right) Winners of “Best-Imitation of Character” were Emily Mills as Shannon Miller, Brad Phillips as Adoif Hitler, and Noah Kerr as John Lennon. Master of Ceremonies John Marsh awarded the kids toys as prizes before all the seventh graders headed upstairs for a Coca-Cola® autograph party. Chronicle photos/Diana Wenner dance ro.utines. Sarah' South performed the Charleston as taught by Bobbi Waite Smith A troupe of seventh grade swing dancers, taught by high schoolers Lindsay Cox and Jenny Stulberg, perfonned next. Fads of the ccntury were featured as students had the opportunity lo interact through participation in a goldfish eating contest (the crackers, not the real ihing), a hula hoop contest, yo-yo Li^nlesl, and paddle ball contest. Last on the agenda was a custufne contest. Winners for “Most Fiasily Recognized Character” were Amy Vanderm'eulen as Lucille Ball, Darrick Hurd as Charlie Chaplin, and Josh de Jong as Mark Twain. Winners for “Most Creative Costume” were Nate Heisler as 'deques Cousteau, Doug Brotherton at seven m OSSEO. Mich, (Ai>) — For the second time in four months, a deadly explosion rocked a Hillsdale County fireworks factory,'this time killing five. The explosioii and resulting fire was reported about 8:30 a.m. Monday at Independence Professional Fireworks Co. near Osseo, Hillsdale County Sheriff Stan Burchardt said. A Charred wall was all that was left of a small building that exploded.just 100 yards from the structure destroyed in . the December blast that killed seven employees. Several cars near the site were , also' damaged, Burchardt said. “This one’s not near the explosive blast as the previous one, but same deadly result,” said Ken Hersha with the Michigan State Police Fire Marshal Division, one of first officials to reach the scene. The bodies of two men and two women were found at the scene Monday, Burchardt said. Company owner Robert Slayton was found alive, but died at Kalamazoo’s Bronson Hospital shortly after 10 p.m. Monday, said a hospital switchboard operator. Hillsdale County Medical Exàminer Dr. Thomas Noll told the Detroit Free Press that Slayton’s wife Patricia, 39, of ^ Òsseo, Rick Wiggins, 30, of North Adams and Scott Burton, age and hometown unavailable, were missing following the explosion; Burchardt said dental and medical records would be needed to positively confirm their identifications. Donald Dunning Jr. told the Free Press that one of the dead is his wife, Leàh Dunning, 34, 9f Pittsford.    — With the investigation into the Dec. 11 explosion still open, Btrrchardt said he was shocked when Monday’s report came in. “When I heard about it, I couldn’t believe it,” he said. Melinda Kays, who owns Mel’s Diner about a mile and a half away from the factory, said Monday’s tragedy didn’t compare to December’s. “The last time it sounded like a sonic boom. This time, ho one heard a thing,” Ms. Kays said. Agents with thoa federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco arid Firearms, which investigated the December blast, and Michigan State Police were Combing through debris at, the factory Monday. They planned to be back at the’site today. /“Obviously, beeausc tl^-ivS is a tragedy twice in a row, we’re going to look at everything from a pubIic sarety standpoint in make sure nobody else gets huii here,” said Mark Hady, the resident agent in charge. “They won’t be operating for quite some rime, if ever at all, again." The December explosion killed six wornen and.one man and injured 1 Mother people. Investigators have said they m.i> never fully know what causeil that blast, which'occurred in a shell assembly room where workers paicked fireworks with black powder, A former employee, Walter Adams, told the Free Press the building is where the firework^ w e re a s sc m bled . fro m h i g h I y explosive raw materials. “Even static electricity can set it off,” he told the newspaper. “We had some solutions that we had to mix by hand, using our fingers and going very slowly since even the friction cou'ld cause it to ignite.” A man who answered ihe phojie Monday at Indcpertdenec refused to comjTient on the explosion,    ; The factory was never shut down after the December blast,, said Maura Campbell, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Consumer and Industry Services, which licenses fireworks maiiufactUrers. She said a report and possibly citations from that, investigation would have been issued next week. “That .was a very complicated investigation because, unfortunately, so much of the evidénce was obliterated,” she said. Several people in Osseo, located about 80 miles southwest of Detroit and^ 15 miles north of the Ohio state line, wondered why the plant was allowed to reopen.' . “They couldn’t pay me enough to go to work there,” said Jesse Hill, who has lived in nearby Hillsdale all his life. “A lot of people are concerned.” Among them is Paula Watters^ who lives a quarter rnile from the factory and lost her cousin^ Joyce Carr, in the December blast. “We were so angry when we heard them testing fireworks.. We didn’t think they’d let them reopen. We didn’t want them to,” she told The Blade of To led o, Ohio. “Now we’re reliving it all over again. Every time a car backfire.s wc go crazy.” Independence, is among the country’s largest makers of display fireworks shells. The 26-year-old c o m p a n y made a n estimated 1.3 million fireworks shells last year. In an average year,' it provides fireworks for up to 65 Fourth of July celebrations, and other events throughout the year.. Independence makes all of its products by hand, using materials such as nitrates, sulfurs, charcoal and black powder. i -i as Dr. James Naismith, and Jacob Topinka as Stevie Wonder. Winners of "Most Knowledge of Character” were Sfvan Shamam as Michael Jackson. Sara Mestemaker as Salina, and Beau Hutchings as Walt Disney, Winners of “Best Imitation of Gharacier" were Brad Phillips as Adolf Hitler. Emily Mills a.s Shannon Miller, and Noah Kerr as John Lennon. Following the assembly, students attended a party where they swapped autographs i;n an autograph hook.made especially for them. They also played a 20th Century trivia same. hoping to identify rioters LANSING. Mich. (AP) — .East Lansing police said Monday they arc preparing to circulate photos of people they say caused the • ost trouble during a weekend riot planned days in advance.    - “We plan on putting out a top JOO list and then identifying, those people,” said Lt. Kevin Daley, “We’ve been receiving great support so far. People are seeing, pictures of people they recognize and calling/in.” A melee that started Saturday night — even before; Michigan State's basketball team 1.0St to Duke, in the NCAA semifinals touched off showdowns between, police and •riotcrs^ihal' lasted until nearly 5; a.m. Sunday. “It started around half-time," .said Chris Bergau. a 20-year-old Lansing Community College student who watched events unfold. ‘‘People were like, ‘Yeah, vve gotta do it. Whose couch are vve going to burn?'” About 230 police officers, included mounted patrols, fought to control the mob Saturday night and into early Sunday morning before it was finally dispersed. Between 5,000 and lO.OOO people were in the streets, and some started fires, broke windows, burned cars and b ro k e d own lights a n d s ig n s before the rampage ended. "F. very one knew ... that there was going to be a riot.” said Bergau. of Lansing. “It wasn't a protest against Duke. It wasn't a protest for MSU.; ... There was going to be a riot, win or lose."    * ' . Daley said that students from other universities told police they learned early in (he week that at least some people in East Lansing were primed to go out of control. “What we're finding out now is that people were invited to East Lansing to participate in this event," he s^id.“You just don't have people running around with fluids to start fires. They were freezing beers to throw them better.'' Bergau said the party started with almost a concert atmosphere. At the C e d a r Village apartment complex near campus. people were bodys'urfing across groups of students and having à g.ood time. But when people started pushing cars into huge bonfires, Bergau said things changed; “It got pretty irrational, because they didnU have enough sense to stop." He watched drunken students stand in the bonfires and try to leap.over them. “People were definitely a danger to themselyes,''Bergau said'. Gary Stollak, a Michigan State psychology professor, said he isn't sure w'hat can be done to discourage the rampages that have struck East ...Lansing in the past 20 inonths, including a riot last May that began as a student. protest over biui on drinking at a popular tailgating spot on campus. “We are admitting people to college who wouldn't ha\'e been in college in the 1920s and '3()s and '40s,'' he said. “I look at these students, and a significant n u m be r are bitter, fi- u s t ra ted, angry people.The textbook is beyond them, the professor is boring. : ‘'They';rc bored, and uhat they want t,o do is he distracted,' :l'm amazed there isn’t iiioreol this.'/ •ServiriQthe 'City of Hospitality' since 1879