Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 1

GUARD FOR 168 YEARS METRO FINAL THURSDAY October 7, 1999 Vx'y 50 ivnL outside fi-ttiunty metropolitan area 35 cents octors act incentive Mostly sunny, pleasant. High 59. Low 47. DETAILS, 70 PACE ID Foes strike a familiar chord, and the key is 'D' PACE 2B Vandals paint U-M buildings with green slogans to lower draa: costs 3 until 2000 ByBOAZHERZOG free press business writer RIPPING RIVALS College jokes are winners for spirit, not originality insurer, hopes to begin testing the program statewide in three or four large physician-group practices in February or March. If Blue Cross likes the results, the program could expand.

Company Vice President Kevin Seitz said doctors in the program will have goals for lowering the average cost per prescription of certain drugs. The program is designed to prevent doctors from thinking they can ration or avoid writing prescriptions in order to meet a goal that Blue Cross set to pay physicians to prescribe cheaper medications "Doctors should only have one interest at heart, and that's what's best for the patient's health," said Ron Pollack of Families USA, a Washington-based advocacy group for health-care consumers. "This compromised that standard." Blue Cross, the state's largest health' Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan will roll out a test program early next year that will give certain doctors cash bonuses to prescribe generic and other lower-cost prescription drugs. Designed to rein in rapidly rising pharmaceutical costs, the experiment is drawing criticism from consumer advocates and doctor groups who say the incentives may enable doctors to profit at the expense of their patients. By M.L ELRICK FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER Please see DOCTORS, Page 5A 1 1 Even in Mozambique, Spartans are busting the Wolverines' chops.

"What is the difference between a puppy and a of fan?" e-mailed an MSU agricultural economist working abroad. "Eventually puppies grow up and stop whining!" Before you Michigan fans start, er, complaining, consider that U- MOTOR CITV Shifting gears toward women Principals feel the pressure They're squeezed by students, community and now Adamany plans Mi ore women are moving from passenger to motorcycle owner, enjoying the traditionally male experience. PACE IE i fans who heeded the Free Press' call for the best jokes about the MSUU-M rivalry returned fire. Jason Mailloux, a 1999 Michigan graduate, chimed in with this about Saturday's football showdown between third-ranked U-M and llth-rated State: "Michigan will win Saturday because the MSU players will forgo the game, preferring instead to participate in the cere- LIGHTS OUT FOR FANS How many students does It take to screw in a light bulb? At U-M it takes two: one to change the bulb and the other to brag about how they can change a bulb like all the Ivy League schools. At MSU it takes 1,002: one to change it, one to burn it and a thousand to riot over it.

More fans' jokes, Page 5A 1- monial couch-burning." Rising above countless jokes about keeping Spartans off your lawn by putting up goalposts or getting Wolverines off your porch by paying them for the pizza was original comedic fodder born of Michigan State's March riots. Nearly a third of Michigan fans threw jabs Aq i-f 7 1 i if III if MPTI Nil III 111 tr ill i IIMVTf il if li Vlj Please see JOKES, Page 5A THE WAY WE LIVE Fisher Body job inspired writer Kids' author Christopher Paul Curtis started scribbling during breaks from the Buick door-hanging line in Flint. PACE 1C NATION WORLD Leaders scramble to save test ban Clinton pushes for a delay as the Senate poises to reject nuclear weapons treaty. PACE 4A LOCAL NEWS First and last look at Mormon temple The public is invited to tour the white marble building in Bloomfield Hills. No outsiders will be allowed to enter after it's dedicated.

PACE 2B BUSINESS Deadline for Ford: 11:59 p.m. Friday The automaker's plan to spin off the Visteon parts division snarls last-minute bargaining with theUAW. PACE 1C Photos by M.J. AVILADetroil Free Press Sick of seeing red in traffic? Expect orange State highway cones will return for more construction in 2000 By MARIO G. ORTIZ FRLE PRESS EDUCATION WRITLR Osborn High School principal Stanley Allen keeps an eye on the hallway, above, this week.

Among his concerns are security and academic achievement. At left, he counsels a student on difficulties with an instructor. ByJEFFGERRITT free press staff writer i y. 1 i i Principal Stanley Allen directed traffic in the hallway intersection at Osborn High School, called "the corner" because during class changes, hundreds of his students bump through like Manhattan commuters. Allen had been bustling just as hard.

So far that recent morning, he helped search book bags as students filed through metal detectors, investigated an alleged assault on a female student, fielded and made dozens of calls, combed hallways for tardy students, and met with administrative staff members to discuss low MEAP scores. When asked about his biggest headaches, Allen cited two security threats: fires real and false alarms and the potential violence from street gangs that operate in Osborn's neighborhood in northeast Detroit. "That's when I get stressed out, because I can't control it," he said Tuesday. Detroit Public Schools principals have demanding jobs, vthey say. What may raise their stress level more are pro- state plans to spend a record $1.38 billion on roads in 2000, but metro motorists shouldn't jam up as often as they did this year when they faced six huge projects and a daily dose of road rage.

Still, you'll see plenty of orange cones. The biggest local headache: A $50-million bridge and ramp reconstruction project over the Grand Trunk Railroad near 1-94 and 1-75 the so-called Dequindre Yard Project. That is expected to affect 163,000 motorists a day. The Michigan Department of Transportation will try to maintain two lanes in each direction on 1-94 but backups are expected, MDOT spokesman Gary Naeyaert said Wednesday. U.S.-12 in western Wayne, Telegraph Road in Oakland County, and 1-94 and M-14 near Ann Arbor also will get a heavy dose of brake lights.

Perspective and reader letters. 14A posed changes from the reform plans of interim district chief David Adamany, and the Republican-led state Legislature. Principals expect serious changes in the way they work as Adamany is poised to give them unprecedented powers to find ways to meet high academic goals, while the Legislature aims to abolish their union. In testimony to state lawmakers last month, Adamany said that as chief executive officer, he could not ensure accountability when principals, assistant principals and the central office administrators, who supervise principals, Please see PRINCIPALS, Page 6 A Please see ROADWORK, Page 10A Detroit teen's shooting death jolts family, Mends INDEX Bridge 2G Business 1C Classified Index 12D Comics 7G.8G Corrections 2A Crossword 7G Editorials 14A Horoscope 2G Jumble 130 The List! 6G Motor City 1 Movie Guide 3G Obituaries 53 Sports 10 Television 4G.5G The Way We Live 1G Volume 169, Number 156 1999, Detroit Free Press Inc. Printed in the United States For home delivery call 313-222-6500 By DAN SHINE FREE PRESS TAFF WRITER 'I Instead, Annette Towns will kneel next to a mound of freshly-turned dirt in a Redford Township cemetery today and say a prayer for her baby.

She then will go to her northwest Detroit home and welcome Darryl's friends to share an ice cream birthday cake with her. "He was my shadow," Annette Towns said. "He was a mama's boy. He'd stay with me all the time." Darryl was shot Sept. 9, the victim of a minor neighborhood dispute with a friend he had known since both were toddlers.

The shooting still reverberates in the close-knit northwest Detroit neighborhood and has left Darryl's friends with a couple of troubling questions: If a good kid Today should be Darryl Towns' 16th birthday. The Cody High School sophomore should be talking about junior varsity football, the homecoming dance last weekend and getting a driver's license. He should be flashing a smile to his mother when she asks where he wants to eat for his birthday dinner (Red Lobster would have been his likely pick) and causing her to roll her eyes as he went from store to store in the mall to pick out his gift. He should be wrapping his mother in his 6-foot-3 frame and crouching down to give her a kiss as thanks for a memorable birthday. Darryl Towns, above, was killed Sept.

9. Right, the teen's mother, Annette Towns, and his brother, Kevin Scott, say Darryl's death is still hard to believe. Tr jf -r Please see TOWNS, Page 7A 6 6 7 sii 1 1 6 dl Hi 5 GABRIEL B. TAITDetroit Free Press luMlM! Mum.