Football | JOE KINVILLE: QUITTER TO STARTER, 1B Volunteer | Student aids the elderly in spare time, 6A
Friday, Sept. 17, 2010
Central Michigan Life
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
[cm-life.com]
Office professionals ratify union contract Agreement means no wage increases this academic year By Amelia Eramya Staff Reporter
A new contract with CMU office professionals will mean no wage and benefit increases for at least the first of three years. The terms of the agreement mean CMU’s 340 office professional staff can receive an increase the second and third year of the contract, determined by the wages of professional and administrative staff. Karen Bellingar, president of UAW Local 6888 and executive secretary of the school of engineering and technology, said mediation went smoothly and members voted in favor of the proposed contract Wednesday. “With all the circumstances that we are looking at, I think it’s a fairly good contract,” she said. Currently, wages for professional and administrative staff are frozen for 2010-11 fiscal year. Office professionals originally rejected a proposed
contract in June. However, Bellingar did express the disappointment she and the members had with not receiving an increase of wages for the first year of the contract. “The main thing was we did get a one and a half percent increase in our retirement funds for people hired after 1996,” Bellingar said. In 1996, the state of Michigan offered the Michigan’s Public School Employees Retirement System, a benefit plan for office professionals at CMU, Eastern Michigan University, Western Michigan University and several other institutions in Michigan who retired before then. Kevin Smart, director of employee relations, said those who could not retire or chose not to were expected to start contributing more to their retirement fund. Office professionals will receive a 1.5 percent increase in retirement funds for the second year and a .5 percent increase for the third year. “We have been at 6 percent for the last eight years,” Bellingar said. By the third year, Office
Assault outside EHS Building
By Ryan Czachorski Senior Reporter
An unprovoked assault occurred Thursday night north of the Education and Human Services Building. The assault happened around 8 p.m. and, by 10:30 p.m., no suspect had been apprehended, said CMU
Police Officer Jeff Card. “We’re definitely still in the early stages of the investigation,” he said. No information was released about the victim. The Central Alert System began sending out calls to campus at 10 p.m., alerting students of the incident. The male suspect was de-
By Maria Amante Staff Reporter
Senior Airman James A. Hansen was killed in a controlled demolition explosion in Iraq Wednesday morning. The Athens senior was majoring in public administration at CMU. He was 25. Hansen was a member of the 46th Operations Support Section at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Rich Hansen, Jr., James’s brother, said James was well-known for his carefree attitude. “He had a live-by-the-moment, make the most out of each day personality,” Rich Hansen said. James was a drummer and a runner and he completed a half marathon in Iraq on Monday, his brother said. Survivors include his brother, parents Richard, Sr. and Emily, and his grandmother, Maria Aiello. The two brothers attendAthens senior James A. Hansen was killed Wednesday morning in Iraq during a controlled demolition explosion.
Courtesy photo
If anyone has any information on the incident, they are asked to call the CMU dispatch line at 7743081 or the tip line at 7741874. Watch cm-life.com for more information. university@cm-life.com
‘We provide a lot of services other departments don’t provide’
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Student, airman killed serving in Iraq Remembered for making ‘the most out of each day’
scribed as approximately 6 feet tall and wearing a darkcolored, hooded sweatshirt. His race is unknown. Card said no more information could be released about the assailant. “We’re looking for anyone with information to contact us and to use caution tonight,” he said Thursday.
photos by libby march/staff photographer
Officer Scott Malloy of the CMU Police Department stops by the office of Calkins Hall director Cathy Warner Wednesday afternoon during a standard walk through CMU’s campus.
ed CMU at the same time and lived in an apartment in Deerfield Village, one of Rich’s favorite memories of his brother. “It was great because it was the first time we lived together in about four years because I moved out when ( James) was 16,” Rich said. “It was great, just to see him grow up a little bit more.” James Hansen most likely joined the military because of his father’s experience in the Air National Guard, Rich said. “My dad was in the Air National Guard and recently retired from the military,” he said. “( James) wanted to get out and see more of the world, try new things.” James was taking courses online and Rich said he was three or four courses away from his undergraduate degree. He planned to use his public administration degree to further his career within the Air Force. He was in the Airfield Management Field, and he “wanted to go as far as he could with that,” Rich said. studentlife@cm-life.com
Mount Pleasant Police Department has most calls despite jurisdiction size By Ryan Czachorski Senior Reporter
Editor’s note: Every Friday, CM Life will publish an in-depth piece, examining different issues. Area police agencies received more than 46,000 emergency calls requesting services in 2009. Just shy one call of reaching 18,000 of that total is Mount Pleasant Police, which has a smaller area of jurisdiction than both the Isabella County Sheriff’s Department and Michigan State Police Mount Pleasant Post. Jeff Browne, public information officer for Mount Pleasant said the MPPD’s jurisdiction lies within the city limits and they handle most cases involving the collegiate population. The amount of calls they receive
rise and fall based on where students live. “We had a lot of the young men and young women moved out to the new apartments, so we saw a dip then,“ Browne said. “But for whatever reason, the numbers seem to be coming back.” The sheriff’s department and state police combined for approximately 17,408 calls in 2009. Emergency calls for the two branches are routed through Central Dispatch and are assigned to the closest car, not a specific department. Separate numbers for the two branches were unavailable. As of Tuesday, the sheriff’s department and state police combined for about 13,100 calls so far this year and, as of last week, city police received more than 13,000. Those numbers show a projected increase in response calls for city enforce-
ment and both the county and state police. Neither Browne nor Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski could definitively pinpoint any reason the numbers varied. CMU Police received approximately 12,000 calls during 2009. Police Chief Bill Yeagley said trying to average out the data and make predictions may not be accurate, as trends
change on a day-to-day basis. “To say we get ‘x’ amount of calls a day is a bit inaccurate,” Yeagley said. “A Tuesday night and a Saturday night aren’t the same thing.”
Balancing jurisdiction Mioduszewski said his department sees a lot of calls
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Former county jail officer sues county Termination for supporting sheriff’s opponent, plaintiff says By Sammy Dubin Staff Reporter
A former Isabella County Jail officer is suing the county for more than $25,000 in damages, alleging she was fired for supporting the sheriff’s electoral opponent. Former Sgt. Susan French
said she was fired in May for supporting Deputy Kevin Dush in the 2008 election against incumbent Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski. However, officials say French was fired because of past performance-related infractions and not being truthful. “Especially with supervisors with the criminal justice system, we expect them to be honest,” Mioduszewski said. “We expect them to put in a good day’s work.” The most recently discovered job violation was found through an investigation con-
ducted by the jail’s administrator Lt. Tom Recker. Through interviews with other corrections officers, Recker determined French was allowing her shift to watch DVDs in the jail’s master control room. According to court documents, Recker allowed the watching of videos during down time as long as the viewer did not purchase them while on duty. But Recker said that was never the case. “There is no way that administration would allow (supervisors) to watch movies for
the purpose of entertainment when supervising,” he said. “There is no down time.” French declined to comment on the matter.
No confidence letter Victor J. Mastromarco, French’s attorney, said the sheriff’s department was looking for reasons to fire French. “They’re masking the real reason for firing her,” he said. The point of friction for French’s firing, he said, was
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