Thursday. April 6, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 3
Industrial Vehicles International of Tulsa, Okla. tests its new seismic vibration machine at the Kansas Geological Survey on West Campus. The tests yesterday provided the company with information as to what's going on underground. Photo by Ellie Hajek/KANSAS
Shock waves shake West Campus
By Ryan Blethen writer@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
West Campus is not often the epicenter of action on campus. But for two days this week, things across Iowa Street have been shaking.
The lawn on the southwest corner of 19th and Iowa streets outside the Kansas Geological Survey was busy Tuesday and Wednesday with workers from Industrial Vehicles International of Tulsa, Okla., testing its new seismic vibration machine at the University of Kansas.
Liz Brosius, assistant editor for the Kansas Geological Survey, said that at one point during the testing she could feel the shock waves at her office in the Kansas Geological Survey building.
The machine, which is the only one of its kind, uses two different
energy waves, shear waves and pressure waves, to provide information as to what is underground. Shear waves go out in a side-to-side motion and pressure waves, or pwaves, are shot down in the ground and then bounce back much like an echo.
The Tri-Ax is the first machine that combines both the waves. They are not sent out at the same time, but switched on by the operator of the Tri-Ax. Until now, two machines were needed to produce the two waves.
James Bird, president of IVI, said the seismic vibration machine was developed to give a better idea of what the earth looks like underground.
"Using the two increases tenfold the kind of information you get out of the earth." he said.
The 60,000-pound machine is equipped with an eight-foot-wide
disk called a base plate. The base plate is in the middle of the Tri-Ax vehicle that is about two-and-a-half car lengths with five-foot high tires.
The Tri-Ax works by lowering the base plate to the ground. Then the operator flips the switch, which sends out the desired wave. The data is collected by a strand of microphones that stretch 60 feet across the ground. The microphones are connected to a wire that goes down a 400-foot deep hole. The microphones send the data to a nearby small green vehicle that has seismographs and other computers that process the data.
IVI decided to test the Tri-Ax here because of the short distance from Tulsa to the University, Bird said, and the Kansas Geological Survey has been doing this kind of research for years.
"When we run into science-relat
"Using the two increases tenfold the kind of information you get out of the earth."
James Biro
President of M
ed issues, we like to work with these guys here." Bird said.
Rick Miller, exploration services chief for the Kansas Geological Survey, said the Tri-Ax was here so IVI technicians could gain a better understanding of how it worked and work out any problems it might have.
The half-million dollar machine can also be used to find liquids such as gas and oil or discover where an earthquake could liquefy the ground, Miller said.
University names new general counsel
The University of Kansas has appointed a new general counsel.
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Col. James Pottorf Jr., a KU graduate, will be the new general counsel, Chancellor Robert Hemenway said yesterday. The general counsel's job is to advise faculty, staff and students.
By Doug Pacey
Pottorff will begin his post June 1.
He said in a press release that he was looking forward to his new job.
"He was the deputy general counsel at the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y." Dickinson said. "What he did there was advise the faculty, staff and issues. He'll do the same thing here." Potteroff was chosen from a field of 138 applicants. Dickinson said.
"It's always been my hope to return to Kansas, so this appointment is like a dream come true," he said. "KU is a distinguished institution of higher education with great leadership and an exciting future."
"I'm delighted to see him return to Kansas," Hemenway said. "He is very highly regarded, and I know he will play an important role on the University's management team."
The Douglass native earned his law degree from the KU School of Law in 1984 and served as articles editor for the Kansas Law Review.
Martin Dickinson Jr., chairman of the search committee and distinguished professor of law, said the University wanted someone who could legally practice law in Kansas, manage litigation and had general counsel experience in the academic field; Pottorff met those requirements.
Pottoff now is the assistant director of land warfare in the Oceans Law and Policy Department of the Naval War College, serving as Army liaison for legal issues and teaching
"It's always been my hope to return to Kansas, so this appointment is like a dream come true."
Col. James Pottorff Jr.
New KU general counsel
Jake
Carmichael,
Mulvane
senior, and
Molly
McNearney,
St. Louis
senior, shop
for soup bowls
in front of
Stauffer-Flint
Hall. The
money raised
from bowl
sales yesterday will go
toward the
Pelathé
Community
Resource
Center's food
pantry.
Photo by
Lucas W.
Krump/
KANSAN
classes in the international law of armed conflict.
Pottorff will replace Ann Victoria Thomas, who retired in December after serving as general counsel for 19 years.
Students taste success at Empty Bowl event
By Jessie Meyer
They got a taste of minestrone as well.
Kansan staff writer
For the past month and a half, volunteers have been making and decorating 106 bowls at Sunfire Ceramics, 102 New Hampshire St.
The nearly $500 raised by the Center for Community Outreach from the event will go to the Pélathé Community Resource Center's food pantry, said Jennifer McAdam, Kansas City, Mo., senior and co-director of Concerned, Active and Aware Students.
About 66 of the bowls were sold in all, and the extras will be for sale on Friday at the Sleepout event at Burcham Park, Second and Indiana streets.
The bowls sold for $8, which included a free bowl of soup, but soup was sold separately for $4 as well.
"A lot of people have been giving more than the $$," said McAdam, who volunteered yesterday. "It has been a big success."
Dylan Kruger, Lawrence junior,
said he bought a bowl because he
had volunteered before and understood
the needs of the community.
"You see that funds like that are really needed," Kruger said. "Kids
have to go out there and get the money for themselves."
The Empty Bowls event is part of the Into the Streets Week, which is a week of volunteering that promotes community involvement and awareness of issues from homelessness to illiteracy.
Anneliese Stoever, Overland Park sophomore and co-coordinator of Into the Streets Week, said she thought the proceeds from the event were much-needed.
"The Pélathé food pantry is completely empty." Stoever said. "We want to help them in as many ways as we can."
And that includes hands-on volunteer work.
Tomorrow, volunteers will continue to help the Pelathe center when they help cultivate and prepare its gardens for this summer's crops, said Rebecca Sutherland, University relations director for the Center for Community Outreach.
"The Pélaté gardens is something we've wanted to get going." Sutherland said. "This is a good opportunity to get started."
E. J. Reedy, Topeka junior and codirector of the Center for Community Outreach, said the gardens provided the rarely donated fruits and vegetables that balanced out the pantry selection.
"Fruits and vegetables are tough to get donated," Reedy said. "But because they are so important, this is a good chance to make a difference."
Legislature may create group to promote history of civil rights in Kansas
By Katrina Hull
By Katrina Hull writer@kansan.com
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Kansas played a role in the history of civil rights, and that's what state legislators say needs to be promoted.
Nicknamed "Bleeding Kansas," the state lost more lives in the Civil War proportionate to its population than any other state.
And on August 21, 1863, Lawrence was burned during Quantrill's raid. Even the Underground Railroad, which helped slaves to freedom, had about 30 stops through Lawrence
and southwest Douglas County. But, Jim Crow flourished and segregation prevailed, locally and statewide
But that all changed when Linda Brown, a little girl from Topeka, helped destroy the "separate but equal" doctrine that legally segregated the United States.
A proposal by State Rep. Jim Garner (D-Toptea) aims to create an 11-mem
These events represent a small part the role that Kansas played in civil rights history. And state legislators are trying to encourage the role with the formation of a state Civil Rights History Task Force.
ber task force that would make recommendations for promoting the history of civil rights in Kansas, including an emphasis on civil rights education and restoring historic sites.
"Kansas has a rich civil rights history, but I'm afraid we've done a good job of hiding it," Garner said. "I ask that we not squander a rich and stimulating part of our history."
And with a tight state budget, any new expense or program has the
The full House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on Garner's proposal today. The estimated cost of forming the task force is $24,500.
possibility of being deferred.
But State Rep. Barbara Ballard (D-Lawrence), a supporter of the proposal, said Kansas lacked an emphasis on civil rights education.
"We talk a lot about historical contributions in Kansas," Ballard said. "But when we look at civil rights, that's where there is a void."
The nation's civil rights history is incomplete without Kansas' contributions, said Jacob Gordon, associate professor of African American studies who teaches a course on the history of the civil rights movement.
He said that the 1954 Supreme Court
decision of Brown v Topeka Board of Education had a greater impact on the United States than the Civil War. Brown ended the "separate but equal" notion and led to the eventual desegregation of the U.S. public.
And Kansas' influence spread to Lawrence.
Steve Jansen, the director of the Watkins Community Museum of History, said the Underground Railroad didn't just run through Lawrence by accident.
16 was an intentional place where people came who were against slavery," he said. "While there was an initial flurry of sympathy toward slaves and Blacks, this area settled back into a relatively intolerant group."
Jansen described Lawrence as a typical Jim Crow town from 1870 to 1960, complete with segregation and even a lynching in 1882.
"I tell my students that, historically, civil rights started with Black folks," Gordon said. "But it includes all groups of people now. People are under the illusion that we don't have problems with civil rights anymore."
Empowerment What Does It Mean To You?
Empowerment means different things to different people Come share your ideas about the concept, what it means, and how it works.
Focus Group on EMPOWERMENT
April 10,2000
6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
Refreshments and nominal compensation provided. Spaces are limited. If interested in participating, please call Dr. Suzanne Boyd at (785)864-4720 or email us at suzanneb@ukans.edu
Sponsored by the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare