Wednesday, December 1, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 7
Potter Lake past rich in sunken treasures
KU pond has history that goes deeper than the algae on its surface
By Kimberly Thompson Special to the Kansan
Murky, algae-covered water lies quietly between dense trees and among grassy slopes. Although the scene is peaceful now, Potter Lake has seen much excitement from purposely misplaced cadavers to starry-eved lovers.
When the University of Kansas began rapidly growing in 1910, the campus could not continue to rely on city water reserves for fire prevention, so a two acre, four-million gallon reservoir was constructed. It was later named after T.M. Potter, a Peabody stockman and state senator.
Instantly popular, students began using the lake for fishing, swimming and even bathing. In 1924, a diving tower and pier were added along with dressing rooms and lifeguards, but later a downtown pool opened, and swimming in the lake was banned.
Becky Holcomb, Olathe senior, tries to give her dog Sierra a lesson in obedience yesterday at Potter Lake. The lake has been the site of practical jokes and movie-showings among other things. Photo by Nick Krug/KANSAN
Sean Williams, 1978 graduate, grew up in Lawrence and remembers spending his youth at the lake.
"We had picnics on the west side and went frog hunting and fishing for perch," he said. "Later we would lie out on the hill and listen to the bells from the Campanile."
Potter Lake has been the site for many activities. In the 1940s, a golf course was built around the lake, but students stopped using it after the war because of overgrown foliage.
The class of 1943 added a recreation area behind Curruth-R'O'Leary Hall complete with a dance floor and barbecue grills. Students used the frozen lake for ice skat
ing parties and Lawrence residents sat at the edge of the lake to watch Fourth of July fireworks explode above Memorial Stadium.
In 1988, Student Union Activities projected the movies "Deliverance" and "The Creature from the Black Lagoon," onto screen-like bed sheets hoisted atop a floating raft. Most recently the lake was used to discard stadium goal posts ripped down by fans celebrating a football victory against the University of Missouri.
Potter Lake is also a notorious place for pranks. In 1911, during a regatta, the University Daily Kansan reported that a whale was spotted in the lake, and a boat was sent to investigate. The boat capsized and supposedly, the whale spent the rest of the afternoon swimming happily.
During the 1970s, students came up with interesting ways to sled down the surrounding slopes. Stewart Crow, 1972 graduate, remembers "ice blocking."
"Students would take a 100-pound block of ice behind Carruth-O'Leary, put a towel on it, and ride it down the hill," he said. "If you got going too fast, though, you would find yourself in the lake."
Students also used trays from Gertrude Sellars Pearson-Corbin Hall for sledding, according to Betsy Swift, 1974 graduate.
Another infamous prank occurred in 1974 by a "human cannonballer" named Lorenzo Wesselini. The Kansan reported that Wesselini set up a 150-foot ramp aimed at the lake, climbed into a 3-foot Plexiglax ball, and attempted to travel through six barriers of chicken feathers and four flaming hoops. Although his attempt failed, and he rolled off the plank, he still managed to please the gathered audience.
One of the most memorable pranks from the lake, Williams recalls, involved a cadaver stolen in 1984.
"There were speculations to the true nature of why the cadaver was stolen, but it was found on a beach towel next to the
lake wearing a Porkie hat, sunglasses, and the words 'University Daily Kansan' written on his chest," he said.
The cadaver was taken from Snow Hall's biology lab. Police were not amused with the joke, Williams said.
"In the 1970s, couples would go to the lake on Friday or Saturday nights and really find themselves," Swift remembers. "There was a woodstock-type atmosphere around the lake from dusk until dawn."
Potter Lake also is known for its romantic setting; lovers have been found on blankets close to the water or as far away as the Campanile.
Potter Lake has experienced tragedy as well. By 1921 six students had drowned, the first death occurring in 1911. A group of engineering students returning from a party at Marvin Hall decided to go swimming in the lake. One student got halfway across and drowned.
Last year, Potter Lake was declared polluted by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment because of undesirable plant growth, dissolved oxygen depletion and algae buildup. There are no immediate plans to purify the lake.
However, in 1974, Potter Lake was drained in an effort to improve the water condition. A bathtub, pay phone, parking meter and manhole cover were among the sunken artifacts found.
Potter Lake now exists among the roots and leaves of gnarled old trees as a peaceful natural setting, but beneath the water's smooth surface, an abundance of University and Lawrence history secretly lurks.
Edited by Katie Holman
Police use pepper gas on protesters at trade gathering
The Associated Press
SEATTLE — Police fired red pepper gas today as thousands of protesters took to the streets in a successful effort to disrupt the opening ceremonies of the 135-nation World Trade Organization.
The Clinton administration had hoped the event, the largest trade gathering ever held in the United States, would showcase the benefits of free trade. But demonstrators
loudly protested the Geneva-based organization, which they contend has a lack of concern for environmental and worker rights issues.
Police said they fired rounds of red pepper gas into groups of demonstrators who had chained themselves together and were lying in the streets in an attempt to prevent delegates from making it to the opening sessions.
WTO officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the opening
ceremonies were delayed because U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was unable to get to the theater where the starting sessions were being held.
Police inside the hall, which had only a scattering of delegates more than an hour after the appointed start time, said the ceremonies were delayed because the official motorcades could not get through the protesters.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and WTO Director General
Mike Moore also were scheduled to talk at the opening ceremonies.
Police used red pepper gas on several hundred protesters after warning them they were violating city law by blocking an intersection.
"We're basically putting a human face on the WTO," said Teamsmets union President James Hoffa. "It has to consider human rights and worker rights along with trade."
But some officials from other countries expressed outrage that
the protesters had been allowed to delay the proceedings.
Mohammed Asfour, the Jordanian minister of industry and trade, said he had not been able to get to the convention center because the odor of gas used by the police was wafting above the official entrance designated for his use.
"People like us who came from thousands of miles and to find no organization — it's very sad," Asfour said.
FBI. Mexican authorities search for bodies on border ranches
The Associated Press
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico—FBI forensic experts joined Mexican soldiers and skimmasked police yesterday in searching two desert ranches near the border for the bodies of more than 100 Mexican and U.S. citizens, apparent victims of a drug gang.
A convoy of 16 vehicles, many with U.S. license plates, rumbled through the white gates of Rancho de la Campana, 10 miles southwest of Ciudad Juarez — joining scores of Mexican soldiers and police already working around the baby blue buildings in the hilly, scrub desert. Some
vehicles had newspaper taped on the windows to conceal what, or who, was inside.
Mexican Attorney General Jorge Madrazo said in a television interview that investigators suspected the victims were killed by the Juarez drug cartel, once Mexico's largest cocaine smuggling outfit. He said more than 100 people could be buried on the ranches just across the border from El Paso, Texas, with 22 believed to be U.S. citizens.
"We believe these people were killed for their knowledge or for being witnesses to drug trafficking," said Assistant FBI Director Thomas Pickard in Washington. "Most of the information we
have shows these individuals were buried there at least two to three years ago, so it's not a recent situation."
Authorities were led to the ranches by an informant who approached the FBI early this year, said a federal law enforcement official in Washington who spoke on condition of anonymity. The informant said there might be as many as 100 bodies there, including people who had been providing information to U.S. drug agents, the official said.
Pickard said digging began late Monday and part of one body had been recovered by midday yesterday. Attention seemed concentrated around a concrete barn-
like structure where workers were using a backhoe.
Pickard said elaborate preparations were required to decide where to start digging, to secure the sites and to cover the sites with ground-piercing radar, using techniques the FBI developed in Kosovo. The FBI sent forensic teams to Kosovo twice this year to exhume bodies in a search for evidence of war crimes by Serbs.
The local International Association of Relatives and Friends of Missing Persons says 196 people were missing since 1990 in the Ciudad Juarez-El Paso area, the newspaper El Diario de Juarez said.
FBI forensic experts joined Mexican soldiers in searching two desert ranches near the border for the bodies of more than 100 Mexican and U.S. citizens, apparent victims of a drug gang.
Jason Williams/KANSAN
KU professor researches the reasons behind rhythm
By Kara Ammon Special to the Kansan
Great musicians can play a piece without ever missing a note. But they often miss a beat, a KU researcher says.
Christopher Johnson, professor of instrumental music education, wants to find out what causes musicians to play rhythms certain ways, so music educators can teach better.
Through his research he hopes to discover what a musician does to make a piece "musical" — a type of performance that moves the listener.
"It's not just playing the right note, but it's when you play it," Johnson said. "I think that's the thing that gets overlooked the most in a performance."
Johnson is researching rhythmic performance, something rarely studied. He first became interested in the subject when he was conducting bands before he came to the University.
He said he conducted many performers who would never miss a note, but constantly played the wrong rhythms.
"I was fooled by that," he said. "I was amazed by their technical facility, but they wouldn't play with the beat."
He said that when musicians played, they wanted to make the piece sound "musical." No one really knows exactly what makes a performance "musical," but elements such as phrasing, playing in tune and timing all contribute to the process.
"I think a lot of what makes music 'musical' are the changes in rhythm," Johnson said.
For his experiment, Johnson is recording faculty members and friends playing Beethoven's fifth symphony on the keyboard. The musicians start out by playing the score exactly as it is written. The second time, Johnson tells them to interpret the piece and make it "musical." The third time, he tells them to make it even more "musical." He then compares each of the performances.
Johnson uses Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) sequencers, which are used by multimedia composers to create and alter compositions. Johnson said the MIDI program told him exactly when the musicians played a note, down to the millisecond.
By looking at the data, he can tell when the musician sped up or slowed down and when they delayed the onset of certain notes. He is then able to see the pattern the musician followed.
After analyzing the data, Johnson hopes to find ways to better instruct the rhythmic part of music. He said this would benefit others because most people's lives are enhanced in some way by music.
"If I can find a way to teach such that students do play better, then we have better performers out there," Johnson said. "I think that impacts people's lives in a lot of wavs."
- Edited by Rebecca Sutherland
Events sponsored by DCAP, Watkins Health Center, PRSSA, American Association of World Health
World AIDS Day
December 1,1999 AIDS-End the Silence Listen, Learn, Live!
10am-2pm KS Union & Wescoe Beach Pick up your free condom,red ribbon and HIV testing information
5:30pm Spenser Art Museum View panels from the Memorial Quilt, hear live entertainment
1:00pm Listen for the Campanile Nineteen bells will ring to celebrate the 19th year of fighting HIV in the United States
7:45pm First United Methodist Church
Attend the Candle Light Vigil
All are welcome!
For more information call 864-9570
watkins health service
Holiday Gift Market Give gifts that make a difference
Handcrafted International Gifts finely carved animals, woven baskets, pottery jewelry, toys, creches, musical instruments. Purchase of these fairly trades handicrafts benefits the artisans and their families.
like goats, pigs, chicks, sheep, and yards of concrete, all distributed through Heifer Project and Lawrence Habitat for Humanity
November 27 - December 2
ber 27 - December 2
10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 9pm
at the ECM Center 1204 Oread Avenue
For more info call:
ECM Office 843-4933
Sponsored by: Peace Mennonite Church and Ecumenical Christian Ministry
1