Lansing State Journal from Lansing, Michigan • Page 10

Lansing State Journal www.lansingstat8jsiirnal.com MICHIGAN Around Michigan Michigan Tech to raise tuition HOUGHTON Michigan Tech University will raise tuition and fees by 4 percent for the next academic year. Under the new budget, freshman and sophomore in-state students will pay $4,530 in the 2000-2001 school year, while juniors and seniors will pay $4,744. fears linger for Jackson residents "How do I explain to my daughter that the cleanup crews have to wear protective suits and we don't?" Gas spill Officials assure them no health threat exists from pipeline rupture Associated Press BLACKMAN TWP. State environmental and health officials continue to face skepticism from neighbors over the long-term impact of the pipeline rupture in this Jackson County community. Blackman Township resident Debbie Lindahl told officials Thursday night that her 5-year-old daugh Debbie Lindahl Biackman Township resident Sills said reaction to gasoline varies, but that children likely are more sensitive to it than adults.

Health officials said residents who feel ill should leave the area and contact them. Jery folds lawyer Woman critical after fall from ride uafilty off killing wife ter has experienced headaches since her family moved back home. "I'm a stone's throw away from the cleanup," she told a panel of experts from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. "How do I explain to my daughter that the cleanup crews have to wear protective suits and we don't?" The spill, which dumped about 75,000 gallons of gasoline on June 7, forced the evacuation of some 600 homes. Thursday's forum at Jackson Northwest Elementary School was the second since the accident and drew 150 residents, far fewer than the 1,000 who turned out for a l'llti I I'- Passenger hits beam on small roller coaster at Michigan's Adventure Associated Press MUSKEGON A Belmont woman was critically injured Friday when she fell from a moving roller coaster.

Authorities said Susan Carroll, 38, fell from the coaster at Michigan's Adventure Amusement Park in Muskegon about 2:45 p.m. She was transported to Muskegon's Hackley Hospital where she remained in critical condition Friday evening, a hospital spokeswoman said. Dwight Roesler, a paramedic supervisor with White Lake Ambulance, said crews responded to the park and found Carroll unconscious with numerous rib fractures and possible internal injuries. Roesler said it appeared the woman struck a wooden support beam after falling from the "Zach's Zoomer" roller coaster car on one of its curves near the park entrance. Camille Jourden-Mark, the park's general manager, said it appeared Carroll ignored signs banning photo-taking while the coaster I Teenagers guilty yn beating death FLINT Three teenagers been found guilty of beat--ing a homeless man to death because they thought he short-; changed them after buying them beer.

Mark A. Gonzalez, 16, and Ryan A. Kendrick, 17, were found guilty Thursday of first-1" degree murder, assault with in-- tent to do great bodily harm and conspiracy to commit assault with intent to do great bodily Michael D. Worden, 16, was found guilty Wednesday of second-degree murder and the two assault charges. The family of victim Michael Harris, 34, said he was a troubled intelligent father of three who lost his marriage, identity and direction in life to bouts of alcoholism.

A fourth teen, Ricky Beggs earlier pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in order to cooperate with authorities and get a lesser sentence. Gonzalez and Kendrick face mandatory life in prison without 'parole; Worden faces up to life in prison. Their sentencing has been set for July 19. Some object to sky-diving dog MUSKEGON At least one member of the local Humane ciety is objecting to the inclusion of the skydiving dog in the Mus--'kegon Air Fair this month. Air Fair officials say Brutus the diving Dachshund has performed safely more than 700 I- times, and the act was investigat-v ed and approved by the Humane Society in Arizona.

They have no plans to cancel his July 22-23 performances. Husband charged with killing wife BAY CITY A 37-year-old man whose wife died two days after he allegedly set her on fire pleaded innocent Friday to open murder and extortion charges, the Bay County prosecutor said. Rameshbhai Patel originally charged with one count of assault with intent to commit '1 inurder and four counts of extor-- -tion after Monday's attack. But Vimalaben Patel, 36, died Wednesday at St. Mary's Medical Center in Saginaw.

Funding approved for icebreaker CHEBOYGAN The U.S. Senate has approved $110 million in funding to replace the Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw. The legislation, which is part of the Military Construction Appropriations Bill, passed the Senate Friday. "The new icebreaker will ease the Coast Guard's difficult job of assisting Great Lakes travel during the winter months," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit.

The Coast Guard announced in March its plans to decommission the 290-foot vessel. The new cutter would take over Mackinaw's role and be used for search and rescue operations and skimming oil spills on the Great Lakes. The bill also included $17 million for an Army National Guard maintenance shop in Lansing. From wire reports raucous public hearing June 15. Many residents already have joined efforts to sue Wolverine Pipe Line Co.

over the leak, DEQ toxicology specialist Robert further his affair with Chrzanowski is far-fetched. After the verdicts were read, he said he planned to appeal. Prosecutors don't think Chrzanowski is connected to the slaying, but she is under state scrutiny over her assigning thousands of dollars in indigent cases to Fletcher. Prosecutors said Fletcher shot Leann Fletcher, 29, in the right ear with a single shot from a .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol, shortly after the couple returned from target practice at a nearby firing range. Fletcher told police he was in the bathroom and his wife was in the bedroom when he heard a bang.

He said he came into the room and found his wife lying in a pool of her own blood. Prosecutors say evidence shows Leann Fletcher was shot at close range. Legghio contended authorities misinterpreted physical evidence and were too quick to target her husband. Much of the case centered around the blood evidence. Prosecutors said the shirt Fletcher was wearing the day of the shooting shows a distinctive blood pattern on a cuff, suggesting Fletcher was just inches from his wife when the fatal shot was fired.

No such blood spray was found on his wife's hands or body, though blood was found "basically all over the place" on the gun, a scientist testified. A defense expert on blood spatter testified he found no evidence of blood mist on the shirt. Sentencing is scheduled for July 2 1 Saturday July 1,2000 Jackson County Health Department Officer Ted Westmeier told residents that 533 of nearly 600 banking water samples have been returned and that all but three have tested negative for contaminants. Those homes tested positive for gasoline from a leaky storage tank that was discovered and removed years ago, he said. Current levels of gas in the air measure less than 1 part per million.

Sills said the average gas station trip can expose someone to up to 100 ppm and that dizziness or nausea happens when someone is exposed at 1,000 ppm. is in motion. Carroll, Jourden-Mark said, was riding alone in the coaster's third car. Her daughters and other family members were in the fourth and fifth cars. The park employee who supervises the ride sent the cars through one cycle of the ride then kept the train moving for a second turn on the curves, Jourden-Mark said.

After the coaster left the station for the second time, the woman apparently turned in her seat to photograph the family members behind her, Jourden-Mark told The Muskegon Chronicle. "Before it reached the lift hill, she turned around in her seat and tried to take pictures of her kids," Jourden-Mark said. "In our opinion, at this point she was not seated properly in the ride." After falling from the coaster car, Carroll fell onto the railroad-tracklike structure but did not fall to the ground, Jourden-Mark said. "She came out of the car and went onto the edge of the track," Jourden-Mark said. "At that point, it's 3 feet above the ground." The roller coaster is a "junior coaster" designed for small children and their families.

Riders must be at least 42 inches tall. Sending the ride around of a second circuit was a mistake, Jourden-Mark said. the city's "blight coordinator." Million's job is to help property owners get repairs for their blighted or abandoned homes, Galford said. She'll also work directly with neighborhood groups to work on problem areas. Another of Million's jobs is to maintain a database of vacant and abandoned homes, Galford said.

He described the list as being "totally fluid" because more than 100 homes are added to and removed from it within a year's time. City hall also has expanded its code-enforcement teams, each of which previously included a housing inspector, a police officer and an assistant city attorney to crack down on problem homeowners and neighborhoods. Two additional housing inspectors are now assigned to the teams. The city also has developed a policy of boarding up every vacant home within three to seven days of its reported abandonment, Galford said. The next step will be to change Grand Rapids' housing code so the city can more aggressively attack blight and reduce the Housing Appeals Board's caseload, he said.

teEH (nam 3 lift" IJViV. JOSE JUARZAssociated Press Found guilty: Michael Fletcher is escorted out of a courtroom Friday in Pontiac after he was convicted of second-degree murder. Fletcher convicted of second-degree murder after August slaying By Alexandra R. Moses Associated Press PONTIAC A lawyer was found guilty Friday of second-degree murder for killing his pregnant wife in a scheme that prosecutors said was to further his affair with a judge. Michael Fletcher, 30, faces up to life in prison for the Aug.

16 shooting death of Leann Fletcher at their Hazel Park home. Prosecutors maintained he staged the shooting to look like a suicide or an accident; his lawyer contended he played no role in his wife's death. Fletcher had been charged with first-degree murder, but jurors found him guilty of the lesser charge of second-degree murder. A conviction on the first-degree murder charge would have meant a sen tence of life in prison with no parole. Fletcher also was found guilty of a felony firearms charge.

Fletchers head dropped as the murder verdict was read, but then he lifted it and stared straight ahead and showed no other emotion. His mother started crying uncontrollably and was consoled by her husband. They didn't make any statements afterward. Leann Fletcher's parents also were crying as the verdict was read. Afterward, they hugged the prosecutor.

"We know in our hearts that he did this," said Leann Fletcher's mother, Gloria Misener. "I'd like to know why, why not divorce?" "I can't get my baby back," said John Misener, Leann Fletcher's father. The Miseners have primary custody of the Fletchers' 3-year-old daughter, Hannah. The jury of 10 men and two women heard two weeks of testimony. Jurors deliberated about 22 hours over four days.

Two jurors said Friday that their deliberations took so long because they lacked evidence or witnesses to prove Fletcher killed his wife. Still, they said, the entire jury emerged confident in their verdict. "There were no witnesses to put him in the room," said juror John Patterson of Hazel Park. "But we worked it through and determined that she couldn't have shot herself, so it must have been him." The jurors described a painstakingly thorough deliberation, in which they almost immediately ruled out the notion that Fletcher committed suicide. They ultimately settled on the second-degree murder conviction because they couldn't establish Fletcher acted with premeditation.

"You know that they went to the Grand Rapids halves total of empty homes Associated Press GRAND RAPIDS In just over a year, the city's anti-blight program has nearly halved the number of vacant or abandoned homes in Grand Rapids. A list of 642 empty homes assembled in April 1999 has since been reduced 49 percent to 329, James Galford, director of the Neighborhood Improvement Department, said Friday. "We're very pleased with the program but I think that it's testimony to the residents of our community that we have had that much improvement or movement in a year," Galford said. A total of 133 vacant homes have been reoccupied, 48 have been demolished and 126 are being rehabilitated. Six more homes are being repaired through a new financing program aimed at fixing up the most run-down homes.

Even with its success, Galford's agency is stepping up its efforts to reduce the list even further, The Grand Rapids Press reported. Virginia Million, a veteran official of the city's Housing Inspections Department, recently was appointed tJ rlkarlvantaaps nf Emotional verdict: Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Greg Townsend hugs Lindy Termarsch, Leann Fletcher's older sister, Friday after the conviction. firing range, so you know there was some evidence it was premeditated, but we couldn't prove he planned it in advance," said juror Scott Frush of Royal Oak. Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Greg Townsend told jurors Fletcher didn't love his wife, professing his love instead to a judge with whom he was having an affair. He showed the jury letters, e-mails and cards that Fletcher sent to Warren District Judge Susan.

Chrzanowski. Defense attorney Brian Legghio said in his closing argument that the idea that Fletcher killed his wife to Expires 73100 cost Expires 731 00 Expires 73100 Includes parts and labor, excludes tires and batteries. Not valid other offers. 1 Maximum discount is $30.00. I Expires 731OC ILDEA AR ARE, INC FREE Estate Planning Seminar "Paaffiinig yapanc LHlaDonse Dim Ocdleir" Reduce taxes Avoid the expense and delay of probate Document your wishes ft 2-Wheel Disc or Drum: Install New Pads Or Sr 9-Uhooi nic nr flnim- Inctall Mpui Paris f)r CHOOSE THE LOCATION NEAREST YOU! Shoes.

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