Lansing State Journal from Lansing, Michigan • Page 7

www.lsj.com Lansing State Journal Tuesday, April 3, 2007 7A a Iports: Thousands 01 iiavt; Hft IIP HUJ1 4I" WW 1 Hf I Pli lf-v-''v -t Somalian unrest, of athletes to feel impact of decision rights group says J7V-r'T MOHAMED SHEIKH NORAssociated Press Injured man: Relatives take a wounded Somali man on a stretcher Sunday to Medina Hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia. Several hundred people have been killed since Thursday, and more than 220 wounded, most of them civilians. Local reaction Tve coached in the fall (in Illinois), and it certainly makes a difference in the level of the play. When the top end gets a lot better, it will drag the rest of the talent up." Steve May, Holt volleyball coach "Everyone talks about basketball so much, but boys golf will really be affected by it A lot will be up to the courses and if they will let us on in the spring. It's a demanding time for, them.

There are twice as many boys golf programs as girls golf programs." Tom Hunt, East Lansing athletic director and CAAC president "I was fortunate enough to coach some college prospects, and we were able to have the Joanne McCallies of the world come into our gyms and watch kids firsthand. Now, we won't have those opportuni flic because the fighting could resume at any time to "clean al-Qaida elements from Mogadishu." Ethiopian troops were seen reinforcing close to insurgent strongholds in the southern part of the city. About 4,000 Ethiopian troops are in Mogadishu, said Western diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information related to security matters. The casualty figures were the first to be compiled since the battles began Thursday, said Sudan Ali Ahmed, chairman of the El-man Human Rights Organization. The group said 381 people were killed and 565 were wounded in the fighting, which started when Ethiopian troops with tanks and attack helicopters launched an offensive to crush insurgents linked to an Islamic group driven from power in December.

The tolls were calculated from hospital figures, local groups and burials but do not include Ethiopian soldiers that may have been killed, he said. The numbers may be higher as bodies have not been collected from back streets in the south of the capital The UN. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Somalia said many of the wounded still need help. "Trapped by the fighting, many wounded are unable to access TB locked to avoid infecting others. He said he did not heed doctors' instructions to wear a mask in public "I'm being treated worse than an inmate," Daniels, 27, said last month.

Extremely rare case Though Daniels' confinement is extremely rare, health experts say it is a situation that U.S. public health officials may have to confront more and more because of the spread of drug-resistant TB and the emergence of diseases such as SARS and avian flu. "Even though the rate of TB in the U.S. is at the lowest ever this last year, we live in a globalized world where, if anything emerges anywhere, it could come to our country right away," said Mark Harrington, executive director of the Treatment Action Group, an American advocacy group. The World Health Organization warned last year of the emer- Continued From 1A "I just think it's a bump in the road that we have to adjust to.

It's going to take three or four years to completely make a mind-set change," Ovid-Elsie athletic director Rex Peckens said. "We as a state have to make a mind-set change." MHSAA Executive Director Jack Roberts said the changes will affect "thousands" of athletes who will not be able to play the sports they'd planned. "(Boys basketball and girls basketball) on the same nights will draw bigger crowds because people are more apt to watch two varsity games. That's a plus," said Portland junior Lindsey Pettit, who plays both basketball and volleyball "The minus of it is people don't adapt well to change. I think that will hit people the most." Coaching changes At least four schools will have an opening for a basketball coach.

Everett's Johnny Jones said he will decide this week which program he will coach. Morrice's Kris Smith the Associated Press' Class Coach of the Year last fall Eaton Rapids' Willis Whitmyer and Ithaca boys and Alma girls coach Bob Anderson also must choose. Lower courts had first ruled in favor of the eventual winners, Communities for Equity, in 2001. That Grand Rapids-based group originally was composed of parents but now includes coaches and students, according to its Web site. The MHSAA member schools, numbering more than 700, have remained overwhelmingly adamant about fighting the lawsuit, which said Michigan's schedule limits the exposure of the state's female prep athletes and hurts their chances of winning sports scholarships.

Decision criticized Roberts said Monday that although Michigan is eighth nationally in high school-aged population, it's fourth in girls high school sports participation. "(This loss) discourages our membership to feel that when they decide something that they believe is in the best interest of boys and girls, that it can be overturned by the voices of a few and the legal process," Roberts said. "They felt democracy matters. They thought that with good intentions they designed programs that are intended to benefit boys and girls, maximize participation, that those poli- you Get Yoweri Museveni was holding talks on the fighting with Eritrean President Isaias AfwerkL Eritrea is accused of backing the Islamic movement that was driven from power in December by its rival, Ethiopia, along with U.S. special forces.

The U.S. has accused the courts of having ties to al-Qaida. On Saturday, a Ugandan member of the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia was killed by a mortar. Uganda has about 1,400 troops in the force, the only contributing country so far. The Islamic movement stockpiled thousands of tons of weapons and ammunition during the six months it controlled Mogadishu.

The militants have long rejected any secular government and have sworn to fight until Somalia becomes an Islamic emirate. The country has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mo-hamed Siad Barre and then turned against each other. others safe we'll end up blaming the victim." In the United States, which had a total of 13,767 reported cases of tuberculosis in 2006, public health authorities rarely have put TB patients under lock and key. In the Phoenix area, only one other person has been detained in the past year, said Dr. Robert England, Maricopa County's tuberculosis control officer.

Daniels lived in Russia for 15 years and returned to the United States last year after he was diagnosed. He said he was constantly coughing and authorities locked him up after he walked into a store without a mask. County health officials would not discuss the case. But England said the county would not force someone into quarantine unless the patient would not follow doctor's orders. "It's very uncommon that someone would both not want to take treatment and will willingly put others at risk," he said.

1 ties be as lik Paul Hungerford, Fowler athletic director, and former girls basketball coach at Pewamo-Westphalia "I'm kind of glad they changed. -I just got back from Indiana and a club volleyball tournament and these teams are so used to playing with each other. Volleyball is my main sport, so it's going to help." Tasha Stambaugh, Morrice junior who plays both basketball and volleyball, on how clubs from other states have had a four-month head start on Michigan cies would prevail, would survive scrutiny." Michigan was the last state to play volleyball in the winter, and one of two to play girls basketball outside of winter. Hawaii girls play in the spring. "Future generations of Michigan high school girls who want to participate in athletics will get the equal opportunities for which they have long waited," said Nee-na Chaudhry of the Washington-based National Women's Law Center and one of the lead attorneys in the case.

Contact Geoff Kimmerly at 377-1252 or gkimmerlylsj.com. The Associated Press also contributed to this report. medical facilities and lie unattended in the streets," it said. Ethiopia claims it has killed more than 200 insurgents during the offensive; the figure could not be independently confirmed. General cheats death On Monday, Gen.

Abdullahi Ali Omar, the commander of Somalia's army, narrowly escaped a roadside bombing as he drove in a government convoy from his hotel, a sign the insurgency is still strong. One soldier was injured in the. blast, said presidential spokesman Hussein Mohamoud Hussein. "An al-Qaida cell was behind the explosion," he said. "They want to kill key government officials.

They want to do here what they are doing in Iraq." International efforts were under way to resolve the crisis, with European, African, Arab and U.S. diplomats expected to meet in Cairo today. In Eritrea, Ugandan President up to keep Tm being treated worse than an inmate." Robert Daniels 27-year-old tuberculosis patient gence of drug-resistant TB. The new strain, found throughout the world, is resistant not only to the first line of TB drugs but to some second-line antibiotics. Detainee uncooperative Dr.

Ross Upshur, director of the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto, said authorities should detain people with drug-resistant tuberculosis if they are uncooperative. But a paper Upshur co-wrote on the issue in a medical journal earlier this year has been criticized. "Involuntary detention should really be your last resort," Harrington said. "There's a danger that www.geefarms.com Openl As insurgents fight government, dead are mostly civilians By Salad Dimi Associated Press MOGADISHU, Somalia Fierce fighting between Ethiopian-backed government forces and Islamic insurgents in Somalia's capital has killed 381 people mostly civilians in the past four days, a Somali human rights group said Monday. The fighting abated long enough Monday to allow thousands of people to flee the ruined city on foot and in donkey carts, cars and trucks.

Some 47,000 people mainly women and children have abandoned their homes in the last 10 days, according to the U.N. refugee agency. Since February, nearly 100,000 people have fled the violence. Lull follows truce Monday's lull appeared to follow a truce between Ethiopian forces and insurgents, brokered by the capital's dominant clan. But Deputy Defense Minister Salad Ali Jelle said the accord was "null and void," and warned residents to go Man with Patient refusal to wear mask raises civil liberties issue By Chris Kahn Associated Press PHOENIX Behind the county hospital's walls, a tuberculosis patient sits in a jail cell equipped with a ventilation system that keeps germs from escaping.

Robert Daniels has been locked up indefinitely, perhaps for the rest of his life, since July. But he has not been charged with a crime. Instead, he suffers from an extensively drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis, or XDR-TB. It is considered virtually untreatable. County health authorities obtained a court order to lock him up as a danger to the public because he failed to take precautions Speed: Drivers welcome change Continued From 1A "It was about 73 (mph) in the outlying areas, about 68 in the city," said LL Thad Peterson, who runs the Traffic Services Section for the State Police.

Officials expect speeds downtown likely wUl not rise much, possibly one or two miles per hour. Shreck said MDOT, the State Police and City of Lansing all signed off on the speed limit increase. But in 2005, when the idea was first raised, the Lansing Police Department was anything but on board with the change. "Our concern was the people coming off the exits," said city police LL Bruce Ferguson. "We wanted to see the studies.

They answered all of our concerns." And for drivers such as Ashley Herrick of Lansing, the change is welcome and practical "It's quicker," said Ashley Herrick of Lansing, who drives part of the stretch nearly every day. "To slow down to 55, it does hold people up. And I think people speed through there." Staff writer Nicole Geary contributed to this report. Contact Derek Wallbank at 267-1301 or dwallbankbj.com. Stop beating around and get to the NEW Gee Farms! Full Service Nursery Landscaping Irrigation Installation Rare Unusual Plants Truck Loads of Trees Arriving Daily -v 1 A Now Available Jk(d Smite? Anil I 4 tout o)o) AfrCs EE FARMS Michigan's Largest Retail Nursery Ice Cream Parlor Bakery Now 517.769.6772 14928 Bunkerhill Rd.

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