Tuesday, December 7, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 3
Hall closings force some to pack early
By Lori O'Toole
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Carrie Rand, Lewis Hall resident, will have two finals on Dec. 16, the last day of finals.
All of the residence and scholarship halls, except McCollum Hall, will close that night at 11, making finals week a little more difficult for students like Rand because they will have to pack for a month-long break in between study sessions.
Rand, Blue Springs. Mo., sophomore, has a total of five finals
between Dec. 14 and 16. She said she would pack her car on Dec. 13, three days before she would leave, so that she could have enough time to study.
Ken Stoner, director of the Department of Student Housing, said the halls had closed the night of the last final for at least the past 10 years.
"We've never had problems with student complaints," he said. "If there's a special case that a ride can't arrive until the next morning, we always accommodate them."
Stoner said there had been only a handful of incidents during the past several years when a student needed to stay an additional night.
Kelly Conner, Kingman sophomore and Hashinger Hall resident, has a final the day before the hall closes.
She said she liked her final schedule this year, better than last year, when she had a final on the same day the hall closed.
"I just remember having to clean my room, pack and take my final all on the same day."
Conner said, "You can do it over the course of the week, but if you have a final at 3:00 on the last day of finals, you don't want to do stuff before. And then when you get back from your finals, you only have four hours before you have to be out of the dorm."
Rand said she was not upset with the closing schedule because she lived only 45 minutes away
Edited by Jessie Meyer
Break makes students easy targets for thieves
By Michael Terry
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Winter break is just around the corner, and as students get ready to take finals and leave for the holidays their chances of becoming victims of burglary increase.
Sgt. Troy Mailen of the KU Public Safety Office said that just before and during the winter break, students became increasingly susceptible to theft.
"Students get preoccupied with taking their finals and getting ready to leave for the holidays and forget to take a few safety precautions," Mailen said. "One mistake students commonly make is loading their vehicle a day or two in advance trying to get a head start on the holiday exodus from the University."
Mailen said that when students loaded their vehicles early they tended to leave items in plain sight where anyone walking by could see them.
"It only takes a minute for someone to enter an unlocked vehicle and remove an article from it," Mailen said. "It only takes a a couple of seconds to secure a vehicle and deter possible thieves."
Mailen said that if students were set on loading their vehicles early they should take a few precautions, so they could reduce their chances of becoming victims.
"Keep all items in a secure place like a glove box or the trunk, and always lock the doors and trunk each time you make a trip from your vehicle to your room." Maillen said. "This is especially important for students living in University hous-
TIP FOR SAFETY DURING BREAK
Lock your doors each time you leave your room.
- Don't load your vehicle until the day you areSend to know.
day you are now)
When loading your vehicle keep items out of plain sight and, if possible, secured in the glove box or trunk
If you see suspicious activity immediately call the KU Public Safety Office at 864-5900.
ing where thousands of students will be leaving for the winter break at the same time."
throughout the year, he said.
Mailen said students didn't realize that someone could be watching them and selecting them as possible targets. It's important that students remember that burglaries don't just happen during breaks, but
Dave Nobles, Leesville, La., freshman and McCollum Hall resident, said he planned to wait to load his vehicle until his finals were done.
"I'm not really worried about my room," Nobles said. "I trust the people on my floor, and I'll just make sure my room is locked every time I leave. As far as my car goes, all I have in there is a tape deck, some tapes and two cherry air fresheners, so I don't think thieves will be targeting my vehicle any time soon."
Mailen said the KU Public Safety Office would continue to patrol campus through winter break.
"It's important for students to remember in the end the responsibility for one's belongings lies in the hands of the students and not the police," Mailen said.
Edited by Jamie Knodel
New Wichita clinic for crisis pregnancies battles resistance
The Associated Press
WICHITA — After five years of planning and neighborhood resistance, a new medical clinic that operators say will help women through crisis pregnancies has opened next door to Dr. George Tiller's abortion clinic.
Those involved with Choices Medical Clinic said, they are not connected with the sidewalk protesters who regularly picket Tiller's clinic.
Dena Vogler, administrator for Tiller's clinic, declined to comment on the clinic's opening.
The clinic will work to help women through crisis pregnancies, to prevent abortions when it can and to counsel women who have abortions afterward to "shift the paradigm of how we deal with a crisis pregnancy," said Scott Stringfield, the clinic's medical director.
Choices Medical Clinic defines crisis pregnancies as those that are unwanted, unaffordable or those in which a fetus has a lethal condition. The goal is to offer complete prenatal care. Stringfield said. In most cases, that means clients will be referred elsewhere for their medical care.
Clients will see a video, "Before You Were Born," which shows footage of a fetus from the fourth to 12th weeks of pregnancy, and they'll receive 3-D sonograms. Both are designed to encourage women to bond with the life in their wombs, Stringfield said.
He said the 3-D sonogram, the
only one of its kind in the state, is one of the features that makes the clinic different from other crisis pregnancy clinics.
Another is its hospice services for women whose fetuses have a lethal congenital condition. A third is its location, next to Tiller's clinic, and the "opportunity to give women an option," he said.
But Stringfield and Tim Wiesner, the clinic's executive director, said they've had to distance themselves from other abortion opponents. "We're not directly linked to those people," Stringfield said.
Alice Grim, a day-care provider who lives to the south of the clinic, disputes that claim. She said she has seen protesters use the clinic property as a staging area and for meetings.
Neighborhood residents protested the zoning change required for the clinic in 1994, saying it would create havoc. The City Council turned down the zoning change and backers of the clinic filed a lawsuit.
In 1995, a judge said the city had acted arbitrarily in denying the request, and a year later the council dropped its legal fight.
Ground was broken for the clinic about a year ago.
Stringfield and Wiesner said the clinic depends on contributions, which have come from 36 states and several foreign countries. Wiesner and a nurse are the only paid staff.
Stringfield is an assistant director of the Via Christi Regional Medical Center family practice residency program.
Have a good holiday and hurry back
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