1. Monday, December 26, 2011 Metro Final
Grown-up
Lions ready
for playoffs
SPORTS, 1B
NBA SEASON PREVIEW
PISTONS
RE-ENERGIZEDSPORTS, 1B
Handy tips to
lessen hassle
of gift returns
YOUR MONEY, 1C
Metro Detroit
embraces
holiday spirit
METRO, 3A
Fewer people
are walking
down aisle
INSIDE, 2A
Election buzz
is quieter in
Iowa this time
NATION, 7A
Volunteer Julie Schleh of
Chicago helps serve
Christmas lunch to senior
citizens at Mario’s in Detroit.
Elizabeth Conley / The Detroit News
Detroit — The number of alcohol-related car
crashes has declined across Metro Detroit and the
state over the past decade, according to police sta-
tistics.
Alcohol-related injury crashes in Michigan have
plummeted 38 percent — 6,485 in 2001 to 4,007 in
2010, according to audit information analyzed by
The Detroit News.
Alcohol-related fatal crashes also have declined.
In2001,Michiganhad419,andthenumberdrop-
ped to 264 last year, according to the report.
The trend even extends to the Christmas and
NewYear’sEveholidays,whenpoliceofficialsworry
about increased incidents of drunken driving.
For example, the number of alcohol-related fa-
talities during the Christmas holiday — which lasts
typically the four days around Dec. 25 — has fallen
from10 in 2001to six in 2010 in Michigan, according
to state police.
Several factors are behind the trend, experts
said.
“It’s not one particular thing,” said Lynn Sutfin, a
spokeswoman for the Michigan State Police’s Office
ofHighwaySafetyPlanninginLansing.Thefederal-
ly funded agency works to reduce the number of fa-
talities and injuries on the state’s roadways.
“It’s a combination of things,” she said. “Some of
it is due to a decrease in overall crash fatalities,
some of it is due to people making smarter deci-
sions; vehicles have better safety features and the
roadways have improved.”
Nationally, deaths in crashes involving drunken
Drunken
driving
crashes
plummet
BY CHARLES E. RAMIREZ
The Detroit News
Numberofaccidentsresultingin
injuries,deathsfalls inMichigan
Please see Crashes, Page 14A
Detroit — Three years ago, Will
Bullard was done with his college
basketball eligibility and living
near Seattle.
He hadn’t finished his degree,
and his basketball career appeared
done. Then he got a random phone
call — from a Harlem Globetrotters
representative.
“I hung up
because I
thought someone
was trying to
play a trick on
me,” Bullard said.
“My plan was to
go back to school
to finish my
classes, but they
called me in for
the interview and tryout.”
Bullard, 27, returns to Detroit
tonight at The Palace of Auburn
Hills, taking the court to kick off
the Globetrotters’ 86th year — and
thankful he was able to transform
his early life of misfortune and
dysfunction into prosperity.
His road to playing for the
Globetrotters wasn’t easy — he
spent three years in foster care,
never played a full season of high
school basketball, moved between
three colleges and didn’t get ac-
claim until he was discovered after
finishing second in a college slam-
dunk contest in 2008.
Bullard’s childhood was any-
thing but ideal. One of six children,
he grew up with a mother who was
addicted to heroin. From ages12 to
15 he was bounced around to five
different foster homes in Romulus
and Detroit.
Will Bullard dunks one for the Harlem Globetrotters.
Ren Xun Kwok
FROM HARD KNOCKS
TO HARDWOOD
After rough childhood,
Detroiter walking on
air with Globetrotters
BY ROD BEARD
The Detroit News
“YOU CAN TAKE ME OUT OF DETROIT,
BUT YOU CAN’T TAKE DETROIT OUT OF ME.”
Will BullardPlease see Globetrotters, Page 13A
In town
When: 7 p.m.
tonight
Where: The
Palace
Tickets: Ticket-
master.com;
prices range from
$12-126.50
Index
Today’s
weather
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138th year, No.126 © The Detroit News
Printed in the USA
•
Advice.......................12A
Classifieds................10B
Comics ......................6C
Deaths......................13A
Horoscopes..............12A
Lottery.......................2A
Movies......................12A
Nation ........................6A
Opinions ...................15A
TV, Puzzles.............5, 7C
Detroit — Umar Farouk Ab-
dulmutallab, the so-called “un-
derwear bomber,” shares traits
with other terrorists including a
keen focus and sense of purpose,
says a local handwriting expert,
who compared his handwriting
to some of the United States’
more notorious criminals.
Abdulmutallab pleaded guilty
Oct. 13 to attempting to blow up
an airplane over Detroit on
Christmas Day 2009. His plea to
terrorism charges, which he read
aloud in court, was from a 16-
page handwritten manifesto
aimedattheUnitedStates,which
he warned would suffer a “great
calamity” for its treatment of
Muslims.
The confessed terrorist’s man-
ifesto was written in a tight, spi-
dery scrawl that reveals a “fright-
ening intelligence,” said Ruth
Holmes,aBloomfieldHills-based
handwriting expert whose testi-
mony in court cases has been
used to verify the authenticity of
written documents.
Those same characteristics
are evident in the writings of con-
victed terrorists Timothy
McVeigh, the Oklahoma City
bomber, and Ted Kaczynski, the
Unabomber, said Holmes, owner
of Pentec Inc.
Those traits in the bombers’
handwriting aren’t unique to ter-
Expert: Underwear bomber’s
handwriting shows terror traits
BY GEORGE HUNTER
The Detroit News
Please see Bomber, Page 14A
Ruth Holmes, a handwriting expert, goes over the written manifesto of
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on Nov. 1 at her office in Bloomfield Hills.
Ankur Dholakia / The Detroit News
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