NEWS
4A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2006
Hashinger NATION
given to public areas where students can gather to study either in the floor lobby or in the middle of each wing.
For the moment, spaceships, peace signs and other funky artwork can still be seen painted on the lower level floor walls, but when the hall is finished, the walls will be blank for new artists to leave their mark.
Perhaps one of the most striking new architectural differences involves the main floor hallway.
Instead of the traditional straight walkway, a curvy pathway will break off into individual rooms, including a conference room, a costume and sewing room for theatrical performances and a multipurpose workroom.
For students who lived in Hashinger and want to live there again, residency is guaranteed through a program called "Home Away From Hash" aimed at keeping the hall traditions alive.
McCollum Hall has two floors for these students to help them feel like they never left. These students have the priority option of filling out an intent to return application that would give them access to residency in Hashinger when it reopens next year before any other applicants.
Liza Murray, Paola freshman, who lives in McCollum one floor above the Home Away From Hash participants, said she noticed a difference between the former Hashinger residents and the rest of the hall's residents.
"There are more posters on the walls and doors. The floor is a lot more decorated," she said.
Traditional Hashinger events are still carried on at McCollum, including Open Mic Night, Elevator Music, and Hash-O-Ween.
Edited by James Foley
Robber holds up bank with pellet gun
BY OLIVIA MUNOZ THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
EXETER. Calif. — Ending a 10 1/2-hour standoff, SWAT officers stormed a bank Thursday and seized a robber who had taken eight hostages with what turned out to be a pellet gun, authorities said.
The officers moved in after using a pack of Kool cigarettes to trick the man into letting go of his last hostage in the predawn hours. They left the cigarettes just outside the front door, and when he let the hostage retrieve them, officers pulled her to safety.
No injuries were reported.
"This is a great ending for everybody involved," sheriff's Lt. Keith Douglas said.
Jess Martinez, 47, an unemployed car salesman, was being held on bank robbery and hostage-taking charges, according to police. He turned down a request by The Associated Press for an interview.
Martinez entered the Bank of America branch Wednesday afternoon and demanded money, police said.
He took eight people hostage after employees alerted police, but released three of them within 10 minutes, and set two more free about 10 p.m. in exchange for fried chicken, authorities said.
After midnight, the three remaining hostages _ all bank employees _ tried to escape, but Martinez grabbed one and pulled her back inside, Police Chief Clifton Bush said.
About 3:30 a.m., as police were rescuing the final hostage, another SWAT team stormed the bank and captured Martinez without a struggle, authorities said.
Bon Holman/The Associated Press
During negotiations, some of the hostages were able to call family members.
Margie Riportella, who with her baby daughter was among those first released, said the man was carrying a briefcase and appeared to be unstable.
She said he kept all the hostages in the middle of the room.
A police officer escorts a hostage out of the Bank of America in Exeter, Calif., Wednesday, during a standoff with an armed suspect holding multiple hostages in Exeter, Calif. The man accused of holding a group of bank employees hostage for 10 hours in the small California town has been booked for bank robbery and seven counts of holding hostages.
Officials say Army stretched, but goals attainable
WAR IN IRAQ
By NICK WADHAMS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DIWANIYAH, Iraq — The top U.S. commander in Iraq acknowledged on Thursday that the U.S. Army was stretched but insisted forces here were capable of accomplishting their mission and any recommendation to reduce troops further would be dictated by the situation on the battlefield.
force in Iraq. However, his comments are likely to fuel a debate inside the U.S. government over whether the United States can sustain the fight long enough to break the back of the Sunni Arab-led insurgency.
U. S. officials said Gen. George Casey was speaking about the Army in general and not specifically about the 136,000-strong
"The forces are stretched ... and I don't think there's any question of that," Casey told reporters. "But the Army has been for the last several years going through a modernization strategy that will produce more units and more ready units."
ter J. Schoolmaker on Wednesday and that the Army chief of staff feels he can sustain missions around the world. Casey was adamant that the troops in Iraq were getting the job done.
Casey said he had discussed manpower strains with Gen. Pe-
"So, yep, folks are stretched here but they certainly accomplish their mission, and the forces that you've seen on the ground are absolutely magnificent," Casey added.
In Washington, President Bush brushed aside talk that the United States could not prevail in Iraq.
not we can win victory in Iraq, our commanders will have the troops necessary to do that. If the question is, Can we help keep the peace in a place like the Far East? Absolutely." Bush told reporters.
"If the question is whether or
Meanwhile, the U.S. command announced that two more American soldiers died Wednesday — one in a bombing south of Baghdad and a second of wounds suffered in a rocket attack in Ramadi. At least 2,238 members of the U.S. military have died since the war began, according to an Associated
Press count.
At least 11 Iraqis were killed Thursday in attacks around the country, police said.
Also Thursday, the military released five Iraqi women detainees, a move demanded by the kidnappers of American reporter fill Carroll.
Officials said the women were part of a group of about 420 Iraqis to be released Thursday and Friday and that their freedom was not connected to efforts to free Carroll, who was seized in Baghdad on Jan. 7.
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