8A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
HALL OF FAME
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2008
Jon Goering/KANSAN
Former Kansas athletes stand on the court Saturday at the men's basketball game against Baylor. The athletes were honored during half of the time.
New exhibit opens for former athletes
BY LUKE MORRIS
Imorris@kansan.com
Former Jayhawk athletes walked through the new University of Kansas Athletics Hall of Fame exhibit wide-eyed and nostalgic at the hall's grand opening Saturday morning at the Booth Family Hall of Athletics.
Many of the athletes and their families pulled out cell phones and digital cameras to take pictures of the exhibit.
The new Hall of Fame features more than 300 laser-engraved photos of legendary Kansas athletes and teams. And this is no small exhibit — the pictures take up 800 square feet of wall space. Kansas Athletics
Kansas Athletics Hall of Fame
Opened: Saturday, Feb. 9
Located: Back wall of the Booth Family Hall of Athletics inside Allen Fieldhouse
Hours: Monday - Saturday
10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Director Lew Perkins said the exhibit took about two years to complete.
sketches of the famous athletes and teams.
"I think this is a great tribute to all our former athletes," Perkins said. "We have such great tradition here and great
Bill Hougland, member of Kansas' 1952 men's basketball team, said that he enjoyed the new exhibit and that it was one of the best in the country.
"I was choked up. I was honored. I know how special it was then, and to have it happen now later in life makes it even more special!"
athletes so we wanted to make sure we had a great hall of fame. To me, history and tradition is very, very important, and recognizing these former athletes is one of the most important things."
TOM YERGOVICH
Former Kansas medley relay team
member
The original Hall of Fame was in Allen Fieldhouse and featured
"It gives a perspective of all the athletes we've had at the University who did so well and promoted the tradition that we have at the University," Houghland said.
F o r m e r
Kansas football
Now Leasing For Fall • Now Leasing, For Fall
and basketball radio announcer Max Falkenstein said that walking through the exhibit was like a trip down memory lane. Most of the names and faces on the wall spanned Falkenstein's 60 years behind the microphone for the jayhawks.
The exhibit's grand opening coordinated with the induction of the 2008 Hall of Fame class, which included members of the 1952 men's basketball national championship and Olympic gold-medal team, world-record setting runners and other teams with memorable seasons. Overall, 33 individuals and 15 teams were inducted in a private ceremony held just before the grand opening of the hall of fame.
Tom Yergovich, a member of the world record-setting distance medley relay team in 1967, said that the induction was very emotional for him and others.
"I was choked up. I was honored." Yergovich said. "I know how special it was then, and to have it happen now later in life makes it even more special."
The athletes were also honored during halftime of the men's basketball game against Baylor Saturday night.
Edited by Matt Hirschfeld
John Sullivan, Kansas City sophomore, said that he did not see the car hit Kanost, but the speed of the car drew his attention to the intersection.
Kanost was in the crosswalk, Starr said, and that Walton was drunk and driving way too fast.
Sullivan said, "and I thought a tire had popped."
TRIAL (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
Sullivan also testified that he did not see anyone in the crosswalk that night. The prosecution said that a bush could have blocked Sullivan's view that night.
"I heard a popping sound."
Donna Grammer, Starr's mother.
said that she was just glad that it was over for her and her son.
After each side presented final statements Friday, the jury deliberated for five hours. It will meet again today to continue examination of the evidence.
"But that's the thing, it is not over for these people," Grammer said. "There is a family who lost their son, and a family who is trying to give their son a second chance. They are both just trying to do what is right."
Edited by Jessica Sain-Baird
The Prosecution
Final arguments
Douglas County District Attorney, Charles Branson, made the prosecution's closing arguments.
Despite Walton's defense that he didn't know he had hit a person, Branson told the jury Walton did know. Branson said after the accident, Walton went back to Quinton's Bar & Deli, 615 Massachusetts St., where he told his friends something happened and they needed to leave. Walton said he had hit something: a pole, a car, a person.
Branson said to make that jump from car to person was absurd.
Branson said that when Walton and his girlfriend woke up the next day, they checked the Lawrence Journal-World for a story about the accident.
"Why? Branson asked the jury. "Car hits pole?" Car hits car? When was the last time that made the paper?"
"Car kills KU student. Now that would be front page news."
Branson reminded the jury of other points in the trial, such as how Walton's friends lied to the tow truck driver to get the car towed, and that Walton asked whether the mechanics would ask questions if he brought the car to
Branson said they checked the paper because they had reason to believe Walton had hit a person.
The prosecution detailed to the jury the drinks that Walton had that night in order to prove that Walton had consumed enough alcohol to be drunk. Since he left the scene, Lawrence police did not have evidence of how much alcohol was in Walton's blood at the time of the accident, beyond the conflicting testimonies of friends who were with him that night.
get fixed.
Branson said he wanted the jury to think about excuses, consequences and accountability.
Branson told the jury that Walton made a choice not to listen to his friend when he told Walton not to drive. He said whether his intoxication was voluntary or not, his friends advised him not to drive.
He said the hard consequence for Walton's decision to drive was Kanost's life, and that Walton was accountable for that life.
"That choice took a life."
Branson said to the jury. "Now you have a choice."
He told them they had the choice to hold Walton accountable for involuntary manslaughter while under the influence of alcohol.
He left them with a photo of Kanost's body on Kentucky Street the morning of Sept. 23, 2006.
The Defense
Tom Bath, Walton's attorney, reminded the jury that Walton admitted his guilt and turned himself in the day after the accident. Bath told the jury that despite advice from his friends, Walton talked to police without a lawyer. He said that while Walton was talking to police his sister called him to tell him to stop and get a lawyer.
Bath said Walton refused his sister's pleas to be quiet and told her that he just wanted to sit and talk to the detectives.
"It is only fair," Walton said, according to Bath's statement.
Bath said that the events of Sept. 23, 2006 were a tragedy and that Kanost's family was going through more than Bath could imagine. Bath said demining Walton for more than he was guilty could not make up for that.
"The verdict could never compensate the Kanost family," Bath said to the jury.
Bath did not dispute that Walton had been drinking, but said that Walton could have been drugged that night. One witness testified that Walton had complained about a drink tasting funny and his friends testified that they had "never seen him act like that before." Bath quoted.
"He left his girlfriend, left her at Quintin's when he knew she didn't have a ride. That is not normal behavior of a male college student," Bath said, "especially under the influence of alcohol."
Bath said that when Walton got in the car he didn't even go home. He just rode around downtown Lawrence.
"People that had known him since junior high school said they had never seen him act like that," Bath said. "That is not normal behavior distinctive to alcohol."
Bath said this argument created reasonable doubt about alcohol being the reason he could not effectively operate the vehicle.
Bath said Kanost's friends may have been mistaken about the placement of themselves in the crosswalk and distance of the car when they chose to enter the intersection.
All three witnesses testified Thursday that the defendant's car was south of 14th street when they entered the intersection. By the time they had made it only halfway across, the witnesses said, the car had made it to the 13th street intersection.
"He would have had to be going 120 miles per hour to cover that distance in the span of three steps." Bath said.
He said the witnesses would have wanted to think it was as safe as possible, but the trauma of the situation and their own intoxication could have skewed their perspectives.
Bath told the jury they are not deciding whether Walton killed Kanost, and that Walton admitted he did and was remorseful. What the jury was supposed to decide, Bath said, was whether Walton was guilty of the felony of involuntary manslaughter. Bath said Walton certainly drove in a negligent manner, but was only guilty of vehicular homicide, a misdemeanor.
BY RUSS BYNUM
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Strong winds cause trouble for rescue
PORT WENTWORTH, Ga. — Sugar that was still burning hampered the search Sunday for three other workers missing since the blast leveled portions of the plant.
Crews used construction cranes to shore up three badly damaged, 80-foot storage silos that rescue workers want to search for the missing men. One of the silos blew up late Thursday, possibly after combustible dust ignited.
Mounds of sugary sludge pouring out of the silos Sunday was solidifying, though, creating another obstacle to the recovery efforts.
"It is very difficult to get into these spots," Howard said.
Roy Howard, a Savannah firefighter, said his search team had to use power tools to tear down a refinery door that was glued shut with the sticky sludge.
Strong wind coming off the Savannah River made conditions even more hazardous for crews trying to prevent the silos and plant buildings from collapsing. Savannah Fire Capt. Mike Stanley said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Officials previously said the fire was extinguished, authorities said Sunday that fires still burned in the silos. Helicopters were to be brought in Sunday to pour retardant on the flames, said Sgt. Mike Wilson of Savannah-Chatham County police.
Imperial Sugar was one of the largest and oldest employers in this city of 5,000. The vast refinery was a network of warehouses, silos and buildings eight stories tall connected by corridors of sheet metal
The burned and twisted super structure near the blast area at Imperial Sugar Company plant, Friday, in Port Wentworth, Ga. is now the site of a recovery for missing workers. Six people are uncounted for and more than 50 people were taken to hospitals, after an explosion that ripped apart the plant Saturday night.
Seventeen workers remained hospitalized in critical condition
with severe burns. Three others were released Sunday, said Beth Frits of the Joseph M. Burn Center in Augusta. Company officials have
refused to speculate on when the plant might reopen, saying structural engineers needed to examine the damage.
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