Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • 27

The Detroit News. PETE WALDMEIR i Section detT Macomb County Showing faith Council votes to pray at Warren's meetings Page5C Livingston County Visual appeal Downtown standards guide Brighton growth Page6C The Datrolt Newt Online All day. every day. http:detnews.com 3C 4C 5C 6C Wayne Oakland Macomb Livingston Sunday, September 24, 2000 Car accident Mils former Tiger U's accident occurred. "He was looked up to as a role model." One of Rodriguez's companions, an unidentified woman, was in serious condition at Detroit Receiving Hospital; the second companion, a male, was uninjured.

The unidentified driver who hit Rodriguez was hospitalized in serious condition. Rodriguez lived in Mexico, but frequently visited friends in Detroit. He was in town Saturday to sign autographs at the Gibralter Trade Center. Aurelio Rodriguez was 'really loved' in southwest Detroit. By Maureen Feighan The Detroit News DETROIT Retired Tigers third baseman Aurelio Rodriguez, whose roots still ran deep in southwest Detroit's Latino was struck and killed by a car Saturday.

Rodriguez, 52, had just left the El Rancho restaurant with two com panions when a car driven by a woman, who police believe may have had a seizure, jumped the curb at the corner of Calvary and West Vernor and struck Rodriguez. The accident threw Rodriguez into the air and pinned him under a nearby Subaru. Bystanders moved the car and Rodriguez was taken to Henry Ford Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. "Everybody really loved him," said state Rep. Belda Garza, D-Detroit, who was shopping at a nearby grocery store when the York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles before ending his career with the Chicago White Sox in 1983.

A favorite among the Tiger fans, Rodriguez hit .237 in his career, and never hit better than .253 in a complete season, but was known as an outstanding fielder. He won the Gold Glove symbolizing the best fielder at his position in 1976. Smile remembered Green: Rodriguez was always happy, friendly. Page ID Alfonso Avila, whose family owns El Rancho, said the modest Rodriguez was known throughout Detroit's Latino community as a celebrity. "People would stop him all the time and say 'How ya Avila said.

"He was a celebrity in southwest Detroit." Rodriguez played 17 years in the majors, starting in 1967. He was acquired by the Tigers in (971. After his stint with the Tigers ended in 1979, Rodriguez played for the San Diego Padres, New Detroit News file photo Former Detroit Tiger Aurelio Rodriguez, who died Saturday, was a favorite among local fans in the 1970s. am na l7 rnw nrvn a Schools moving class into cyberspace pi. 1 1 1 0.

HI 1 1 Vn af terns mm Someone blew it in the earlier probes of Detroit cop shootings Detroit Police Chief Benny Napoleon better be careful what he wishes for. I Ie just might get it. On Friday, Benny's boss, Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, finally bit the bullet and agreed to ask U.S. Attorney Janet Reno to assign some Justice Department gumshoes to investigate the incredible series of questionable fatal line-of-duty shootings by Detroit Police in recent years. "I welcome it," Napoleon said.

"The FBI, the CIA, the IRS. Whoever they want to send. We have nothing to hide." Of course, Napoleon added hastily, in a large metropolitan police department like Detroit's, there will always be a few bad apples. But by golly, nobody's covering up for them. It may well take the FBI, the CIA and the IRS before this investigation's over.

Neither the Detroit Police internal affairs sleuths nor the Wayne County prosecutor's office has exactly distinguished itself in attempts to establish why so many woundings and killings have been traced to so few officers over the last five years. According to a Detroit News check, one guy, a PO named Eugene Brown, has killed three people and wounded nine in the short span of seven years on the job. Thankfully, he finally was pulled off the street while the police brass consulted their Ouija board for answers. The result: Brown may just may, mind you be charged or disciplined sometime in the future because both police and prosecutorial investigators have done a sloppy job. In short, a whole lot of stories didn't jibe but nobody really has pressed too hard to find out why.

Now, this is not meant to be a blanket indictment of Dennis Archer, soon-to-retire Prosecutor John CHair, the entire 400-person Detroit Police department or even Chief Napoleoa But somewhere, somebody's got to have dropped the balL Alas, it could be a team effort. O'Hair has been playing out the string for two years, awaiting retirement. His chief assistant, George Ward, has been in charge but running for (and losing) his boss's job at the same time. Not a very good double trick. Neither Archer nor Napoleon has been anxious to emphasize police problems.

Archer's got his hands full with water and sewerage troubles, public lighting outages, a bus system that doesn't deliver, casinos that may never move to the riverfront and schools in a constant turmoil. And it hasn't even snowed yet this year. Napoleon essentially is a lame duck, with his sights set either on replacing Archer if the two-term mayor chooses to leave to join Democrat Al Gore (should Gore win the presidency) or becoming Wayne County Executive Ed McNa-mara's anointed successor. And you thought you had some tough decisions to make, right? Is Janet Reno the right person to run with diis hot potato? Should she hand it off to Detroit US. Attorney Saul Green Or send in a team from Washington? Good questions.

It is prudent to recall that Saul Green was McNamara's corporation counsel prior to Saul's appointment to head the Detroit U.S. Attorney's office. Consequently, if McNamara wants Napoleon as his successor, well, I wouldn't want Green guarding that chicken coop. Benny's right. It may just take the FBI, the CIA and the IRS to sort this one out.

Read Pete Waldmeir on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday in The Detroit News. Send e-mail to Archer request is hailed, criticized By David Shepardson and George Hunter The Detroit News DETROIT More than 200 protesters gathered outside police headquarters Saturday, calling for an end to police shootings and the resignation of Chief Benny Napoleon. The demonstration was an unusual stew of diverse groups including UAW Local 600, Amnesty International, church groups and motorcycle clubs. It came one day after Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer said he will ask Atty. Gea Janet Reno to investigate all fatal shootings by Detroit police in the past five years, as well as the hiring of 19 officers who have been convicted of corruption in the past five years.

Don't expect any action soon from the U.S. Justice Department, however. Ultimately, the city could end up being forced to sign a consent agreement that would allow the federal government to monitor the department's investigative practices. Or the Justice Department could take a more limited approach, simply reviewing the fatal police shootings over the past five years as the mayor requested, along with procedures and training. Officials said that if the Justice Department investigates, it will most likely be by the Civil Rights division's special enforcement unit, with dozens of FBI agents and prosecutors carefully reviewing every scrap of paper generated in police probes of fatal shootings.

i By Janet Naylor The Detroit News CLAWSON Clawson High School never closes. Ditto for high schools in Romeo, Grosse He and Howell, and charter schools in Dearborn and Southgate. These schools and seven others in Metro Detroit are among the freshman class of the Michigan Virtual High School, where learning is online 247 and teachers may be hundreds of miles away. About 400 of Michigan's brightest high schoolers have joined this experiment in what's often called "distance learning." The high school is an offshoot of the Michigan Virtual University, which offers college-level courses and corporate and industrial workforce training. The high school version was created earlier this year with $18 million in start-up money approved by Michigan Gov.

John Engler and the Legislature. Most of the high scffoolers attend virtual classes in labs or media centers during the school week. But they can do their lessons at home as well. At Romeo High School, students take their classes entirely outside of school, spending at least 10 hours a week in addition to regular class time. They're taking college-level Advanced Placement courses in calculus, government and even human geography the kind of courses they'll need to compete for admission to prestigious universities that expect their incoming freshmen to have had advanced classes.

MVU doesn't create the courses. Instead, it contracts with existing universities, commercial on-line schools and workforce training programs to provide programs. To some educators and business leaders, this expansion of public schools into cyberspace is the anecdote to one-size-fits-all education, an epiphany arriving just in time for Generation Wired. Please see CYBER, Page 2C W) T- i Steve Perez The Detroit News Cardinal Aswad Walker, pastor at the Shrine of the Black Madonna, was among the more than 200 protesters who marched around police headquarters for nearly two hours Saturday calling for an end to police shootings. the Gestapo out there." Twenty months ago, the chief of the Washington, D.C, police department like Detroit asked the Justice Department to investigate its police shootings.

No report and no federal charges have been brought Please see COPS, Page 2C gation finds the truth," said Arnetta Grable, whose son was killed four years ago by a police officer. She was among those at Saturday's demonstration. "This police department is corrupt to the core. When the facts do finally come out, the people at the top will all start tumbling down," said demonstrator Jabari El-Amin, a longtime friend of Errol Shaw, who was killed by police Aug. 29.

"I feel this federal investigation is long overdue. Everyone keeps saying how they want Detroit to be a world-class city, but we're getting third-world police protection. "It's out of control. We have a police state in Detroit; it's like little to mollify Saturday's demonstrators. For two hours, they marched around police headquarters with signs that read "Give Benny the Boot," "Disarm the Most Dangerous Gang in Detroit The Police" and "Protect Me, Don't Kill Me." "I hope this federal investi us ticm uiai any icvicw 'ould be long and involved, said A Richard Friedman, a University of Michigan law professor.

Archer's announcement did A Release of oil reserves could be Gore's Pander Bear GEORGE WEEKS Rep. David Bonior, D-Mt. Clemens, in urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) "to accelerate its investigation into whether oil companies are involved in price gouging Michigan drivers." She said "fuel costs are up 40 percent from last year, and the cool weather is just beginning." As noted in a Sept. 18 News article by News Lansing Bureau Chief Charlie Cain, candidates in the high-profile 8th Congressional District race have been downright civil toward each other and vowed to keep a focus on issues. Can't say the same about the subsequent actions of supporters of the two nominees, who both are Lansing-area state senators.

Republican Mike Rogers says Emily's List, a group supporting Democrat Dianne Byrum, is "scaring senior citizens with deceptive flyers" about his record. The Michigan GOP, meanwhile, is running a TV ad contending Byrum "put herself before Michigan's school kids" because she missed a vote on the school aid budget the day of a fund-raiser for her at the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mt. Pleasant. George Weeks is The News' political columnust. His Sunday column appears in the Metro section; his Tuesday and Thursday columns appear on the Opinion page.

Write him at 209 N. Seymour, Lansing. Mi. bad idea to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Now that we are 46 days away from the election, they've changed their minds.

I agreed with them that it was a bad idea in the past and I still think it's a bad idea today." Clinton's decision was lauded by U.S. Rep. Debbie Stabenow of Lansing, this fall's Democratic challenger to Republican U.S. Sen, Spencer Abraham of Auburn Hills. "Since March 9, I have been urging President Clinton to release the strategic oil reserves to lower gas prices here in Michigan.

Ilome heating is a necessity, not a luxury. Michigan families must be able to afford to heat their homes," she said. Stabenow also joined U.S. The late Sen. Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts was an odd but classy candidate for president who won New Hampshire's 1992 Democratic primary and then faded in Michigan and elsewhere.

He was a serious fellow who focused on the federal deficit and other important issues that failed to resonate with voters. But he added to political lexicon with the memorable way he described some of his opponents: "Pander Bear." I thought of Tsongas after Al Gore's call for releasing some of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, to force down gasoline and heating oil prices. President Clinton quickly ordered the release of 30 million barrels of oil from the as of this writing planned Thursday night-Friday morning stops in Oakland and Saginaw counties. A town hall-style meeting with workers at a Saginaw-area plant is expected. Gore, meanwhile, is to tape an hour-long "Town Hall Forum" Tuesday with 150 young adults at the University of Michigan.

It will be broadcast at 8 p.m. that night. Bush says the reserve "should not be used in an attempt to drive dow oil prices before an election for short-term political gain." He aptly called it "an insurance policy" against supply disruptions or in case of war. Bush said Friday: "Ten months ago, the president and vice-president thought it was a emergency stockpile. That's about 10 million more barrels than were used during the Gulf War.

As Gov. John Engler said Friday, tapping the reserve for a temporary fix "a classic case of too little, too late. A clear political ploy a risk to the current economy." It's an issue sure to be raised this week during a Michigan visit by Gore and by his Republican opponent, George W. Bush, who TheDetroiliCews SEEPAGE Inside: Royal Oak hotel is crackdown target Washington Hotel is scene of assaults, arrests, overdoses, suicides, other deaths..