KNOW YOUR Internet MEMES, 1B
CM-Life.com | CM Life will sit down
Robert Brooks
with team Brooks/Mcneely to discuss the SGA election at 6:30 p.m. today in the first of two live online video broadcasts
Colleen McNeely
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
[cm-life.com]
SGA election voting will require special online registration Have your say starting Monday By Brad Canze News Copy Chief
Students looking to vote in the Student Government Association election next week will have to go somewhere they may have never gone before. Since having been held on http://vote.cmich.edu for several years, SGA elections will be held on http:// cmich.orgsync.com, the university’s official network for registered student organizations. “It is semi-inconvenient, because you have to go on and register, but in the long run, it moves toward having this one website as a hub for all RSO activities,” said Garden City senior Brittany Mouzourakis, the current SGA president. Ashley Miller/staff photographer
Clare resident Keri Cicciarelli, right, and her daughter Emma Gibis, 2, watch as Sahara, a pit bull mix, catches a “pop-fly” on Tuesday morning in the backyard of the Isabella County Animal Shelter, 1105 S. Isabella Road, in Mount Pleasant. “I want this dog really badly,” Cicciarelli said. “If I had the cash in my pocket, we would take her home with us right now.” In 2010, the shelter adopted 642 dogs and 706 cats. All dogs at the shelter are spayed or neutered, up to date on appropriate shots, wormed, treated for fleas, tested for heart worms and microchipped prior to adoption. According to Isabella County Animal Control, dogs adoptions have been slightly less so far this year compared to 2010; however, the shelter maintains a 90 percent adoption rate of the animals.
International Film Festival starts today Condensed selection to help with distance, focus By Randi Shaffer Senior Reporter
Film lovers will not have to travel as far to get their movie fix during this year’s Central Michigan International Film Festival beginning today. As a member of the film committee, a faculty-based board that oversees the Film Society at CMU, assistant professor of libraries Stephanie Mathson said this year’s film festival will offer fewer films, but in closerto-campus locations, to achieve a better focus.
“When we cut the number of films and cut the number of days, it sort of made sense to cut the number of locations,” he said. By reducing the number of showings of a certain film from three to one, Limarenko said, he hopes students and community members will make more of an effort to attend that one showing. “To have it spread over two different weekends ... it spreads the audience,” he said. “We felt by condensing it and focusing it on a long weekend that we could basically get more butts in the seat(s).” Another new feature of this year’s film festival is the Michigan Filmmaker Day. Limarenko said about six
“With fewer films, we’re hoping to create a more focused event,” she said. “We have half the films that we did last year, but again, I think we really tried to get quite a variety of drama, comedy, foreign films and documentaries.” The festival has been condensed from a two-weekend event into a five-day event ending Sunday, showing 13 films at three locations. Films will be shown at Celebration! Cinema, 4935 E. Pickard St., the Charles V. Park Library Auditorium and the Bovee University Center Auditorium. Eric Limarenko, faculty adviser for the Film Society at CMU and manager of video facilities, said this is a change of venue from last year, when films were also shown at the Broadway Theatre, 216. E. Broadway St.
Featured Films w "The Lottery (2010) w "Waiting for Superman" (2010) w "Annie Hall" (1977) w "Curse of the Jade Scorpion" (2001) w "Casino Jack and the United States of Money" (2010) w "Raise the Red Lantern" (1991) w "Howl’s Moving Castle" (2004) w "The Messenger" (2009) w "Is Everybody Happy?" (2010) w The "Michigan" Series (2010) w "Hunting Blind" (2010) w "Regional Roots" (2009) w"The Maid" (2009)
A film | 2A
inside today’s issue ... NEWS
NEWS
SPORTS
cm-life.com
cm-life.com
w President Ross will testify today in Lansing about proposed cuts to higher ed funding, 3A
w Fancher Street to undergo construction this summer, 8A
w Baseball loses at Notre Dame, 5B
w Watch our video coverage of Tuesday’s Plus-size Fabulous, Thin Happiness event
w Catch up with crime and accidents at cm-life.com/ police-log
SGA elections w w w
Go to www.orgsync.com and register as a CMU student. Voting begins at 12:01 a.m. April 4. Voting ends at noon, April 7.
Inside w Read our coverage of Tuesday’s SGA debate, 3A
Tom Idema, assistant director of Student Life, said any CMU student can go on to OrgSync and register. He said there were 3,991 CMU students registered on OrgSync as of Tuesday afternoon. SGA Elections Chairwoman Kristin O’Brien said a major reason for the change was to ensure only currently
A voting | 2A
Blue light phones see low number of calls Some unaware of tool in case of emergencies By Randi Shaffer Senior Reporter
While walking across CMU’s campus, students might notice glowing blue lights stationed in numerous areas — and they might wonder what they’re for. But upon closer observation, they’re in fact emergency phones — the primary on-campus tool available to assist students who run into trouble. CMU Police Lt. Cameron Wassman said there have been 77 9-1-1 calls made through campus phone lines from Aug. 25 through the beginning of this month. Nineteen calls have been made from the blue light emergency phones. Though the number is lower than what he expected, he thinks it is a good thing. “That also shows that people are using them for their primary purpose and not making business-type calls,” Wassman said. When a pedestrian feels unsafe and is in the vicinity of a blue light emergency phone, he or she can push the red call button located on the yellow box.
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The phone call is routed to CMU Campus Police through a 9-1-1 dispatch line. Wassman said 26 of the phones are located across campus. “It does really help us out with our goal of keeping us safe,” he said. “You push the button, it dials our number and you’ll be connected to dispatch and you can start speaking.” The phones first began appearing on campus 20 years ago, Wassman said. The most recent phones were installed two years ago. Phones are usually installed in either secluded areas such as distant parking lots or areas with high foot traffic. Mark McDonald, the director of networks for the Office of Information Technology, said though the cost of every unit is different, the average cost for a phone is about $500 to install, including equipment, installation and labor. Each phone is supported
A in-depth | 2A
i s a b e ll a c o u n t y d e p a r t m e n t o f c o r r e c t i o n s
Students face crime on a daily basis with internship By Mike Nichols Senior Reporter
Michael Johnson spends five days a week dealing with former convicts. The Dearborn senior majoring in criminal justice has interned for the Isabella County Department of Corrections in the probation department since January. He and Traverse City senior Lucas Craig are the only two CMU interns in their field. Johnson completed his 300 hours on Friday. He said the experience of becoming involved with the lives of criminals was a major culture shock. “The first two weeks I was taken aback by how these
people live their lives,” Johnson said. “Seeing some of the homes was pretty traumatic.” The interns’ jobs are to assist to the field agents, commonly referred to as probation officers. They meet with those on probation, and sometimes do in-home visits and investigative interviews, analyzing the probationers situation. They then write up a presentence investigation report and submit it to a judge for evaluation. Johnson said for every five minutes of action they see, there is a week of paperwork. He said the work involves seeing tragic circumstances. He described entering a
trashed home with pills scattered all over the floor and a neglected dog that had left feces everywhere. He said the overwhelming smell reminds him of the importance of the work they do in attempting to give offenders a chance to rehabilitate. “Sometimes if you take the extra 10 minutes with someone instead of treating them like a number, they’ll actually turn into a pretty good person,” he said. “It’s a much harder job than just arresting people — you have to make them effective, productive citizens again.” The interns are closely supervised by John Spooner, a probation agent for Isa-
bella County. Spooner has 15 years experience in the field and said the interns’ workload has given the staff a breather. “They do a lot for us,” he said. “All of them have been outstanding.” Craig is double majoring in sociology and psychology with a concentration in criminal justice. He said the material he learns in class has helped him with his work, although nothing could have prepared him to deal with the criminal structure in society. “Being a student, I never took it to heart as personal,” Craig said. “Working here,
paige calamari/staff photographer
Dearborn senior Michael Johnson, front, and Traverse City senior Lucas Craig work on bench warrant paperwork on Tuesday morning in the adult probation office at the Isabella County Courthouse, 300 N. Main Street. Both Johnson and Craig began their internship in January and each had to complete a total of 300 hours of work.
A corrections | 2A
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