State Roundup

Ann Arbor
U-M’s Coleman to spend week with  alums in India
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Strengthening ties with alumni in India and pursuing collaboration with schools and researchers in that country will be the focus of a visit later this year by University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman.
Coleman will spend about a week in India in November, The Michigan Daily reported on its website.
Coleman’s fifth international trip as Michigan’s president will include stops in Mumbai and New Delhi. She also has visited Brazil, China, Ghana and South Africa on behalf of the university.
Plans are for Coleman to reach out to alumni living and working in India.
“They have a lot of MBA graduates, and now BBA graduates, who are generally visible people in their communities,” said Jo Rumsey, vice president for International Alumni Relations at the University of Michigan Alumni Association. “They take the initiative. They get out there ahead of others. India’s alumni ... have been pretty active in wanting to stay in touch with the University.”
University research has benefited from relationships in other countries, according to the school. The school is involved in a Science Without Borders program in Brazil and is conducting medical research in Ghana.
“We’re exploring some interesting opportunities for some new educational exchange study abroad programs” in India, said Mark Tessler, vice provost for International Affairs.
Research projects between University of Michigan faculty and faculty at schools in India also could be pursued, he said.
The India trip should be beneficial to the university and India, according to Coleman.
“We are not going to set up a campus in India. We’re not going to try to recruit students,” Coleman said. “We’re not going for any of those things that would just be helpful to us.”

Alanson
Soldier’s medals arrive in Mich. — 42 years later
ALANSON, Mich. (AP) — The family of a northern Michigan soldier recently received a box of his medals — 42 years after he died fighting in Vietnam.
Doug Tanner, of Petoskey, was killed in the war in 1970 at age 20. Relatives in the Petoskey area of northern lower Michigan recently received a box with his medals, including a Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
The medals were discovered in a basement in Georgia, said Tanner’s brother, Mark Tanner of Alanson. The home belonged to a Defense Department official who was supposed to send the medals to the Tanner family but never did, the brother told the Petoskey News-Review.
The box was found by relatives of the deceased official while going through his possessions.
Mark Tanner said his brother “was a little lost in life” when he enlisted and was counting down the days until he was discharged.
“We got a letter from him right before he died,” the brother said. “He had 155 days of service left. He was looking forward to getting released.”
But then Doug Tanner volunteered for the special mission and was killed while rigging mines along with two other volunteers.
The medals that should have been delivered include a Bronze Star, an Army Commendation Medal, a Good Conduct Medal and the Purple Heart.
Now that the medals have been delivered, Mark Tanner said he wonders why it took so long. The official whose assignment was to deliver them was retiring, so perhaps the medals slipped through the cracks.
“But why didn’t he pass them along?” Mark Tanner asked.
Whatever the reason, the medals traveled with the official when he retired to Georgia. Late in 2012, the man’s daughter and great-granddaughter were sorting through his effects when they came across a trunk holding with the medals.
“They said, ‘This isn’t right. Dad should have delivered them,’” Mark Tanner said.
“We have a mystery,” he said. “The Army dropped the ball ... but things happen in life. ... Now, 42 years later, we have the medals. We have a happy ending.”

Flint
Man killed during funeral for victim of earlier murder
FLINT, Mich. (AP) — A man was shot and killed this weekend at a Flint church where another homicide victim’s funeral was being held, authorities said.
Police Chief Alvern Lock told Mlive.com  the shooting happened Saturday afternoon inside Full Gospel Christian Church and that the gunman fled and was still at large Sunday.
The man who was killed at the funeral was identified as 28-year-old Steven Lawton.
People were at the church for the funeral of Gerrell Tyler, who was shot Dec 30. He was Flint’s last homicide victim of 2012.
“It’s crazy because my cousin can’t even be buried the proper way,” Tyler’s cousin, Bennie Johnson, said.
Johnson said he didn’t hear any shots inside the church Saturday, only someone yelling for everyone to get down.
Another cousin, Shauntele Clay-Johnson, said she was in the front of the church during the shooting.
“Something really needs to happen in Flint,” she said. “I’m still in shock that somebody came and did that at a funeral in church.”
Lock said it was unclear if Tyler’s funeral and Lawson’s killing were connected.
“No one expects to come to a funeral and see someone shot,” the chief said.
Former City Councilman Delrico Loyd and Tyler were classmates at Flint Northwestern High School. Loyd called the killing at Tyler’s funeral “one of the saddest things I’ve heard happening in the church in my life.”
Loyd, an associate pastor at North Star Missionary Baptist Church, said the slaying shows the community needs spiritual renewal as much as it does law enforcement.
“When people don’t even respect pastors, what does that tell you?” he said. “Police presence is fine, jobs are fine, but we have a heart problem. ... Until they find refuge in something positive, and not violence, we will continue to have this problem.”

Pontiac
Drunk, unlicensed woman with child hits patrol car
PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — Southeastern Michigan authorities say a woman driving drunk, with a suspended license and an 8-year-old child aboard crashed her vehicle into a parked police car.
The Oakland County sheriff’s department says in a news release that a deputy had parked his car in Pontiac about 1 a.m. Saturday when he “heard a vehicle accelerating at a high rate of speed and then heard a crash.”
The department says the 28-year-old Pontiac woman and the child weren’t injured. It says the woman was arrested for drunken driving, driving on a suspended license and child endangerment.
The release says the woman was taken to the Oakland County jail.

Lansing
UAW to protest at Snyder’s State of State speech
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The United Auto Workers and other labor unions are calling on members to protest before and during Gov. Rick Snyder’s third State of the State address in Lansing.
The Republican governor’s speech is scheduled for Wednesday evening in the state Capitol.
The UAW and other unions are planning to be outside to protest GOP policies they say are hurting the middle class. They’re especially upset about a new law ending requirements that workers pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment.
The UAW wants members to bring families, friends, co-workers and children to the demonstration.