Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 65

Section Wednesday, July 22, 1998 BUSES AT STAKE Vote on SMART will be Aug. 4 Rides for workers, disabled, are at issue. Election '98, Page 3B. BRIAN DICKERSON How Kevorkian became a law unto himself Failures of law and medicine opened the door for him to lead the assisted-suicide debate, columnist writes. Page 7B.

FORMER FORO COUNSEL DIES William Gossett helped steer automaker in '50s Former president of American Bar Association was 93 and had suffered from Parkinson's. Page 4B. He! Detroit Jfvce Vxcss WO AC Engler chooses his running mate Fbsthumw to succeed departing Binsfeld far FettllLFE of i pregmirt girl. Judge had blocked Kansas abortion DALE ATKINSAssociated Press Sen. Dick Posthumus, R-Alto, left, enjoys Gov.

John Engler's announcement The two have been friends since the late '60s. The nomination is expected to be confirmed by the state GOP. RICHARD 'DICK' POSTHUMUS By Dawson bell Free Press Lansing Bureau LANSING It took Gov. John Engler only 10 days to name his choice to succeed departing Lt Gov. Connie Binsfeld.

And he did it by tapping someone he's known for 30 years Senate Leader Dick Posthumus. Posthumus, 48, has represented Kent lection i County in the Senate since 1982. But his ties to Engler go back to the Future Farmers of America in the late '60s. Their friendship was cemented at Michigan State University, and in 1972, when Posthumus managed Engler's first run for elective office in the state House. Unlike Engler, Posthumus stuck Obituaries Page 4 Your Faith Charity Page 5 Have news to report? Call us at 1-313-222-6600 the girl Tuesday, is expected to testify as to her emotional condition, according to the girl's attorney, Edward Greenup, and the parents' attorney, Lauren Tomayko.

Tomayko has been conferring with the American Civil Liberties Union. Michael Steinberg, ACLU litigation director, declined to confirm involvement. However, ACLU attorney Elizabeth Gleicher said the organization will hold a news conference Thursday. After taking their daughter to a doctor several times since March after she began complaining of stomach pains, the girl's parents learned July 6 that she was 27 weeks' pregnant. The girl then told them her 17-year-old brother, with whom she shared a bedroom in the family's small two-bedroom apartment, raped Please see ABORTION, Page 2B stand trial of bribery She is accused of soliciting a bribe by telling three city department heads at a March 19 committee meeting that she would vote to pay them for overtime if they sold tickets to her political fund-raiser.

Under questioning by prosecutor Dave Portuesi, Councilman Dan Woodhouse, who was chairman of the committee that studied compensatory time, testified that Sankuer offered her vote in exchange for ticket sales. Public Services Director Robert Slavko, who attended the meeting, testified that he felt compelled to sell the tickets after Sankuer's comment. However, Slavko said it was he who later asked Sankuer for the Please see SANKUER, Page 2B fight 1 choice for lieutenant governor on the Republican ticket in 1998. Personal: Married to Pamela Bartz, 1972. Four children.

Background: Executive vice president, Michigan Beef Industry Commission, 1974-79; Republican legislative staff, 1979-82; elected to the Senate in 1982. Lifelong farmer. KENEI SATODetroit Free Press I tr i with farming as well as politics, and continues to run a family farm near Alto, about 20 miles east of Grand Rapids. The Posthumus nomination will be presented to the state Republican convention in late August. But affirmation is a given.

In announcing the selection, Engler said his choice was "not a decision based on friendship, but on merit." "Dick is the most qualified, the most experienced, and he has proven himself over a lifetime. He is capable of stepping in and leading, just as he has led the Michigan Senate with distinction for the last eight years." Posthumus long had been considered the favorite to succeed Binsfeld, who announced July 10 that she would not seek a third term with Please see POSTHUMUS, Page 2B that there were no other colleges nearby offering the certification. OCC's Academic Senate, a consortium of professors, administrators and students responsible for maintaining academic standards, approved the program. Last spring, OCC hired a coordinator, massage therapist Janine McKay. "Massage therapy has grown tremendously in the last few years," said McKay, who practices in Rochester Hills and works mostly on chiropractic patients.

According to the American Massage Therapy Association, a professional trade group, Americans spend $2 billion to $4 billion a year on massage therapy. The group, based in Evanston, ffl.t estimates that there are 120,000 to 160,000 certified mas-Please see OCC, Page 2B 3 By Ilaina Jonas Free Press Staff Writer The parents seeking a late-term abortion for their 12-year-old girl allegedly impregnated by her brother will ask a judge Friday to give them back their daughter. Macomb County Probate Judge Pamela Gilbert O'Sullivan has scheduled an emergency hearing on the request from the girl's parents who are seeking to reverse the judge's decision that made the girl a ward of the court. The girl is 28 weeks' pregnant; full term is 40 weeks. Gilbert O'Sullivan's decision last week also prevented the Sterling Heights couple from taking their daughter to a Wichita, women's clinic for an abortion.

The family moved from India last year and is not proficient in English. A psychiatrist from Children's Hospital of Michigan, who examined WARREN Sankuer to on charges By Kim north Free Press Staff Writer Warren Councilwoman Gloria Sankuer learned Tuesday that she will stand trial on charges that she solicited a bribe from a public offlcial. And Mayor Mark Steenbergh and his appointees' political fund-raising methods are sharing the spotlight with the councilwoman. In a preliminary examination in 37th District Court in Warren, visiting Judge Kalem Garian ruled there is probable cause to try Sankuer, a 59-year-old freshman council member known for her stances against pornography and profanity. Sankuer will be arraigned Aug.

5 in Macomb County Circuit Court on the misdemeanor charge, which is punishable by up to two years in jail. Age: 48. Residence: Alto, a crossroads village about 20 miles east of Grand Rapids. Education: BS in agricultural economics and public affairs management from Michigan State University, 1972. Occupation: Michigan Senate majority leader.

Gov. John Engler's Three days to 734 On Saturday, the telephone area code for western Wayne County, Including Downriver, and for Monroe and Washtenaw counties will change from 313 to 734. Remember to revise the area code on printed materials, such as stationery, business cards, invoices, labels, product packaging and Internal Sanilac records such as phone lists. i St. Clair Macomb uaKtana 2 fJ 313 Source: Amerilech Dam fm Pns Genesee (ivingstora BOYS Choir 01 D6trOit Theodore choir Tuesday during a reception for prospective sponsors at Thai Chi restaurant SeeKS members, fUIldS inDetroitCaUl-313-961-9253forinformationaboutauditions.

OAKLAND COUNTY Teen mom gives son to social worker Massage therapy to debut as OCC program in fall V- i BY JACK KRESNAK Free Press Staff Writer Saying she simply could no longer care for her 2-year-old son, a tearful Gwen Christian gave him back to a social worker Tuesday and faced the likelihood that she will lose her parental rights. The 18-year-old Christian, whose horrid life in Michigan's foster care system was detailed in an article the Free Press printed in February, had been doing well with her son, Santoy, in a program for young mothers operated by the Lula Belle Stewart Center in Detroit, officials said. But on Monday, after a fight with another mother living in Lula Belle Stewart's apartment building at Webb and the Lodge Freeway, Christian left with Santoy. She later called her social worker at the Southfield-based Orchards Children's Services, which is supervising San-toy's care, and said she could no longer take care of her son. "I just can't do it financially," Christian told the Free Press on Tuesday before giving Santoy to the Orchards worker.

"I can't" She expected that Santoy would be placed with foster parents who are related to the children of her sister, Trishawn Christian. However, child welfare officials refused to say where Santoy would be taken. It was a troubling end to an even more troubling story about a teenaged mother who is a product of the foster care system. BYTAMARAAUDI Free Press Staff Writer After a year of research and job-market analysis, officials at Oakland Community College decided that some students would be well-served by removing their clothes and lying on a table. The college has determined that massage therapy is one of the next hot fields, and starting next fall, its Highland Lakes campus will offer a certification program in the field that is shedding its tawdry image.

According to area massage thera-pists, OCC is one of the fe colleges in the state to offer certification. The college's research ment surveyed massage therapists all over the county and determined that there was a great demand for trained i labor, OCC spokesman George sonis said. Then officials determined PAULINE LUBENSDetroit Free Press file photo Gwen Christian, 18, faces the prospect of losing legal custody of her son, Santoy, in a hearing next month. "I can't provide him the things he needs," she says. Since being placed in her first foster home at age 6, Christian has been beaten with fists and electrical cords, sexually abused and exposed to Satanism.

The sexual abuse of her and her sister led to the rape conviction of their adoptive father, Lamont Christian, who is still in prison. Please see MOTHER, Page 2B ml 1st.