Kansan
Tomorrow's weather
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Partly cloudy with a high near 60 and a low near 38.
Sports: The Men's basketball team took out its road frustrations against Kansas State Saturday.
SEE PAGE 1B
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2000
Inside: Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz died Saturday. He was 77.
SEE PAGE 7A
(USPS 650-640) • VOL. 110 NO. 95
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Students face federal drug charge
Former athlete among accused
By Mindie Miller
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
A former University of Kansas track and football athlete and two other men
— one a KU student — were charged with federal drug and weapons violations Friday after they allegedly attempted to pay an undercover officer about $40,000 for cocaine in Kansas City. Mo.
Tywaune M. M. Aldridge, 22,
Christopher McFarlane, 36, and
Preston Gardenhire, 23, of Topea,
made their first appearances Friday
before Chief Magistrate Judge John Maughner, who ordered that the men remain in federal custody pending a bond hearing this week.
According to an affidavit filed by FBI agent Rick W. Young, the men allegedly met an undercover Kansas City police officer in a Westport-area parking lot Thursday and attempted to pay him about $40,000 for 2 kilograms of sham cocaine. Charges allege that the three men were arrested after they produced two plastic sacks of cash totaling about $40,000.
The affidavit also noted that police and federal officials seized two 9 mm pistols and a 40-caliber handgun.
According to a Kansas City Star article, the arrests did not appear related to a cocaine investigation that links two Kansas City Chiefs football players with the Kansas football program and several KU fraternities. University administrators and athletic officials have said they would cooperate with federal agents to resolve questions.
Aldridge.
Overland Park
senior, walked on to
the Kansas
football team in
1998 and played
in 11 games on
special teams.
Doug Vance,
assistant athletics
director, said
that the 6-foot,
190-pound junior
played in six
games during the
Akldridge: Charged with federal drug and weapons violations
1999 season, but left the team before the Oct. 30 game against Nebraska.
Aldridge also was a member of the Jayhawk relay teams during the 1999 outdoor season. Although he is pictured in the University's 2000 track and field media guide, he is not on the team's roster. Elliot Bloom, an assistant in the sport's information office, said Aldridge took himself off the roster because he was planning to have knee surgery.
The student directory lists McFarlane as a Lawrence senior. Todd Cohen, assistant director of University Relations, said school records showed that McFarlane was pursuing degrees in chemistry, biochemistry and microbiology. Records also showed that he graduated from a high school in South America, Cohen said.
Garage fees enrage post-game crowd
Mob upset about toll, confronts cops, others
By Sara Shepherd writer@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Parking night crew supervisor Zeke Cunningham, Topea junior, left work with a headache Thursday night.
An angry crowd gathered in the parking garage near Allen Fieldhouse where Cunningham was working about 9:45 p.m. following the University of Kansas women's basketball game against Texas. Many fans were surprised when they returned to their vehicles to find the parking garage gate still down. Its hours had been extended to 10 p.m. from 8 p.m. just a few weeks before. This meant that fans who wanted to leave the lot before 10 p.m. had to pay.
"I got a huge headache from dealing with all those people in the lobby yelling at me," Cunningham said.
According to a report from the KU Public Safety Office, about 50 people attempted to pay at one
machine in the garage lobby. Vehicles were lined up, waiting to get out of the garage, and cars in the front were left unattended at the gate while their drivers went to the lobby to get change. Parking garage patrons were yelling and cursing at police officers and parking employees, the report said.
"They were confused — they were frustrated," said Donna Hultine, assistant director of parking. "People were not happy."
Cunningham estimated there were about 150 vehicles in the garage at the time of the confrontation.
Hultine said that the line of cars was backed up to the lower level of the garage and that people couldn't tell cars were stopped with no drivers up front.
However, Cunningham said the group was hostile as it left the garage, honking and flipping off parking employees.
"Once the gates lifted, they were all able to go," Hultine said.
The crowd was freed about 15 minutes later when the gates opened automatically at 10 p.m.
"They didn't even realize what was holding up the line," Hutine said.
"Everyone in every one of the cars held their horns down," Cunningham said. "I've never seen
grandmas flip people off before."
Two officers from the KU Public Safety Office assisted with the situation. Sgt. Troy Maileen said the officers tried to explain the situation to angry parking patrons.
"We were just there to kind of calm the storm." Mallen said.
Hultine said the extended hours were steps that might end with the garage being metered 24 hours.
The garage gates have been staying down longer since mid-January. Hultine said. The gates had opened at 8 p.m. for several weeks before changing to 9 p.m. on Jan. 31. On Feb. 7, the hours were extended to 10 p.m.
Hultine said many regular garage patrons understood the system and its hours, but people who didn't use it often, such as Thursday's basketball crowd, were unfamiliar with the payment process and might not have noticed signs posted at the garage entrance.
Hultine said that by adding hours gradually, the parking department could see how the idea was working.
"It's not a done deal," Hultine said. "It's really sort of a proposal."
"We need to make sure we do a better job of educating those people," Hultine said.
David Mucci, director of the Kansas and Burge unions, explains his proposal concerning the Jaybowl to Marlon Marshall, St. Louis junior, Memorial Corp. voted Saturday to turn down Mucci's plan. Photo by Joaile Doaier/KANSAN
Life of Jaybowl spared with tie-breaking vote
By Erinn R. Barcomb
By Erinn R. Barcomb
writer @kanson.com
Kansas staff writer
The Jaybowl has been saved
The Jaybowl has been saved. The Memorial Corp. voted Saturday to keep all 12 Jaybowl lanes and concentrate on renovating the center instead of replacing the lanes with a comprehensive student center.
"It's taken a lot of time away from practice," said Scott Light, Andover junior and men's bowling team member. "But if we didn't do this, we wouldn't have had a place to go back and practice."
Light was one of about 25 bowling team members and Jaybowl supporters who attended the 10 a.m. meeting, wearing stickers proclaiming "Save the Jaybowl."
A vote to accept a plan by David Mucci, director of the Kansas and Burge unions, was tied 10-10. It was broken only by Memorial Corp. board president Kevin Yoder's rejection of the plan, after which applause rang out from the audience of about 75 at the Kansas Union. The board then passed the decision to keep the lanes.
The approved renovation plan would improve the lanes, change the decor and add a sports cafe to the Jaybowl. The plan is part of an already budgeted phase-three renovation plan for the Kansas Union, costing about $100,000. Renovations also would change other areas of the Union, including improving the stairwell.
"Currently, it's just not a facility that's really pretty to walk into," said Jeff Ussery, Tonganoxie senior and former member of the Kansas bowling team. "I don't think a lot of students want to walk into the Jawblow as it looks now."
Light said the changes in the lanes would be dramatic, and would include new ball returns and refurnishing the lanes.
"They will be as smooth as possible," Light said. "It will keep the lifetime of the lanes up, and they will be a whole lot nicer."
One of Mucci's arguments against keeping the Jaybowl had to do with money. He said the Jaybowl had experienced losses for the past five years. Mucci also said the number of
"It's taken a lot of time away from practice. "But if we didn't do this, we wouldn't have had a place to go back and practice."
Scott Light
Men's bowling team member
users averaged out to be seven bowlers per hour, which was fewer than a computer lab would draw.
Jaybowl supporters argued that bowling was on the rise, but expenses had increased.
Ussery said that according to the Brunswick Co., which would supply the new ball returns, lane renovations increased usage by eight percent in the first year and about half as much every year after that.
Mucci's plan, which would have cost about $800,000, would have eliminated the Jaybowl. The plan would have replaced the space with a lounge area, a stage, a copy center, computer lab and food and convenience services.
A petition asking the board to keep eight lanes in lieu of Mucci's recommendations circulated campus and gained a strong contingency, including an endorsement by Student Senate.
Marlon Marshall, St. Louis sophomore and Student Senate executive committee chairman, presented the Senate resolution to preserve at least eight bowling lanes. He said he thought the Jaybowl's biggest problem was a cosmetic one.
Mucci said, however, that if his proposal did not pass, he would rather see all of the lanes kept. Mucci said he thought bowling lanes would interrupt activities at the proposed stage or at the computer lab.
"It's like you're in bed with an elephant," Mucci said. "You can pretend it's not there, but it will get in the way of other activities. I think the alternative is feasible. I just don't think it is the most advantageous plan."
The debate and decision on the issue lasted almost two and a half hours.
KU center to rewrite state science tests
Bv Jim O'Malley
By Jim O Malley
writes@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The next step toward bringing the State Board of Education's controversial science standards into the classroom will be taken by — of all places — the University of Kansas.
Although the University consistently has opposed the State Board of Education's August decision to de-emphasize evolution in the state's science education standards, the Center for Educational Testing and Evaluation's contract with the Board requires it to write tests based on the new science standards.
The center, which has written tests for the Board since 1880, expects to have new tests completed by January.
sanity. The University has expressed so much opposition to the new standards that Board member Linda Holloway said she thought the University was campaigning against her. She said constituents had
complained to her that they were offended by the University's attacks on the the standards and didn't want their children to attend the University.
This puts the Center for Educational Testing and Evaluation in an awkward position. John Poggio, co-director of the center, said he appreciated the irony. The standards are controversial, he said, but it's the professional responsibility
of the center's staff to build tests to match the standards.
The evolution debate
"We're bound by contract." Poggio said. "If we found them totally flawed, we might refuse, but we're finding nothing outlandish that we can't professionally build tests for. They haven't crossed the boundary into the irrational."
See KU on page 5A
Poetry from the heart
Tanisha Jones, Wichita junior, reads a combination of poems related to African-American history. Jones, vice president of Black Student Union, took part in the BSU-sponsored Talent Showcase Saturday night at Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union. See page 3A for more information about the showcase. Photo by Selena Jabara/KANSAN