budget | granholm to veto portions of six bills, 3A | campus vibe How does Windows 7 compare to Mac Snow Leopard? 1B
soccer| Team aims for regular season MAC championship, 6A
Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009
Central Michigan Life
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
[cm-life.com]
Music building emergency
Messages upset students, faculty University looking into why four alerts were sent Monday By Kelli Ameling Staff Reporter and Jake Bolitho Senior Reporter
Warren freshman Ben Lazarus was not the only one in his family notified by the Central Alert system late Monday. His mother and grandparents at his house in Warren also received messages from the Central Michigan University Police Department at around 11 p.m. “They got the underscore message,” Lazarus said. “They were really worried about the safety of myself and my sister.” Phone calls were sent out by the Central Alert message system after a hydrochloric acid chemical leak was detected in the Music Building. People inside the building were asked to evacuate immediately. The first message was unsuccessful. Instead of a notification from the CMU Police, an incomprehensible computer message was relayed out to those who were signed up to receive the alerts. The next two messages gave updates on the building’s evacuation, and the fourth gave an “all clear” message. The first message was sent at about 10:30 p.m. and the last was sent at
about 11:15 p.m. CMU Police Chief Bill Yeagley said he does not know what caused the problem with the messages, but it will be analyzed. Originally, the plan was for only two messages instead of four. “I have folks gathering data today to figure out what went wrong,” he said. “I always take it very seriously when things don’t work as they are designed to.” Precaution Yeagley said the decision to send out the notifications late at night was not required, but the department decided to take precautionary action anyway. “That’s always a judgment call,” he said. “If I’m going to make a mistake, I would rather have too much information.” At about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, CMU Police sent an e-mail to the campus community saying it is looking into the problems with the alert system. Comments posted on cmlife.com shortly after the incident were critical of the system. “It was very worrisome to get text messages and e-mails about some incident, but no information about the incident,” read one comment. “Thankfully I decided to check cm-life. com and found the information here. I know of a couple of other
photos by paige calamari/staff photographer
Fowlerville senior Cory Steffke carves a design in a pumpkin Tuesday at Halloween U.S.A., 1203 S. Mission St. Steffke, an art major who would like to work at a tattoo parlor, has tattooed pumpkins in the past to practice the craft.
creative carvings Students use different tools to craft unique pumpkin designs By Joe Borlik Senior Reporter
A music building | 2a
Student illnesses close area schools Mount Pleasant district, Renaissance to reopen next week By Maryellen Tighe Staff Reporter
Mount Pleasant Public Schools and Renaissance Public School Academy, 2797 S. Isabella Road, are closed for the rest of the week because of high numbers of student illnesses. “The (Mount Pleasant) high school has 47 percent of students absent (Tuesday),” said Mount Pleasant Public Schools Superintendent Joe Pius. “We made the decision to close down the school district for three days.” Renaissance Public School
Academy had 22 percent of the student body absent, said Business Manager Brandy Reihl. “When (the public schools) decided to close, we decided to close,” Reihl said. Sacred Heart Academy, 302 S. Kinney Ave., did not have the necessary amount of absent students out to close, said principal Denny Starnes, but does not have busing available because it shares with the Mount Pleasant school system. The Health Department is seeing a sharp spike in the number of cases of influenza type illness, especially among the K-12 age group, said Director of the Central Michigan District Health Department Robert Graham. The seasonal flu generally
Fowlerville senior Cory Steffke carves a clown design in a pumpkin Tuesday night at Halloween U.S.A., 1203 S. Mission St. Steffke, an employee of Halloween U.S.A., plans to display the finished pumpkin within the store.
A schools | 2a
Pumpkin carving can be a serious business. Cory Steffke and Ashlynne Potts have been carving pumpkins for as long as they can remember. Steffke uses various carving tools for to add variation on his designs for pumpkin carving. “Freehand” carving is his favorite as opposed to following patterns taped on the pumpkin. “I like doing surrealist, abstract and subconscious art,” the Fowlerville senior said. “I’ve done pumpkins with bones, grim reapers, scary faces and intrigue designs.” Steffke and his co-worker Potts carved their first pumpkins of the year Tuesday night at Halloween USA, 1203 S. Mission St., where they both work. Just for fun, he dressed like Frylock from Aqua Teen Hunger Force while he carved an evil clown and Potts dressed like Master Shake while she did a Me-
dusa-style design. Potts won a pumpkin carving contest in Kalamazoo two years ago for her design of an abstract eye. “We all grew up carving pumpkins, it’s just fun,” Potts said. “It beats bobbing for apples, that’s for sure.” Future endeavors Pumpkin carving also is a way for Steffke to practice his future job as a tattoo artist — he has tattooed pumpkins. Currently an art student, Steffke plans on interning at Heritage Tattoo, 1222 S. Mission St., after graduation. “I got my first tattoo when I was 16,” he said. “It’s two tribal dragons on my back representing my two grandfathers that passed away. Ever since then I fell in love with tattoos.” Steffke’s body is covered in 11 tattoos expressing himself including characters from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, the cover to Tool’s “AEnima” album and A carvers | 2a
[inside] NEWS w Enhanced driver’s license available at all Secretary of State offices, 3A
sports w Senior Reporter Dave Jones discusses football, 7A
campus vibe w Student a cappella group holding concert Saturday, 4B
CM-LIFE.com w Check the Web site for a story on the SUSO forum.
weather w Rain showers High 63/ Low 48
economic development
New hotel, water park on Pickard Street by 2011 Construction to last 12 months, say Tribe officials By Joe Borlik Senior Reporter
The Soaring Eagle Inn and Conference Center at 5665 E. Pickard St. will be torn down and replaced with a new hotel and indoor water park. Demolition will start in March and construction will begin immediately afterward, said Mary Kilmer, spokeswom-
an for the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe’s Migizi Economic Development Company. Kilmer said the Tribe is expecting 12 months of construction, and the new hotel and water park is planned to open in early 2011. “(The renovations) will be a good thing for Soaring Eagle, Mount Pleasant and the surrounding communities,” Kilmer said. “All the feedback I’ve received so far has been excitement.” The three-star, 120-room hotel will feature food and bever-
age facilities, a restaurant that overlooks the golf course and a 45,000-square-foot water park, Kilmer said. The water park will feature various slides and rides, a snack bar, a retractable wall or roof to let sun in during the summer and an adult pool separate from the kid’s area, according to the company statement. Kilmer said she was unsure of the project’s cost. Moving forward Kilmer said when the Tribe purchased the property, the
AF@E LJ C@M< K?@J J8KLI;8P
:DL mj% 9fnc`e^ >i\\e
I\Xc K`d\ :_Xk @ejkXek 8eXcpj`j G_fkf Jc`[\j_fn :DL Jgfikj Lg[Xk\j
intent was to demolish the existing hotel and build a family resort complex. The original hotel was built in 1964 and Kilmer said when the Tribe bought it in 2007, the building was expected to be around for 10 years. According to a press release, Bonnie Sprague, the Soaring Eagle Inn and Conference Center’s general manager, has been working to find employment opportunities at the casino for her staff who will not be needed during the construction phase. The existing 44-room Green
Suites facility and the Holiday Greens Golf Course will remain open during the new hotel’s construction phase. “We look forward to job creation and new economic opportunities for the members of the Tribe and the surrounding communities,” Sprague said in the release. The Migizi Economic Development Co. hired the Native American-owned Thalden Boyd Emery Architects to work on the project. metro@cm-life.com
Zd$c`]\%Zfd PFLI )+ ?FLI E<NJ JFLI:<