The weekend's weather
Tomorrow: Sunny, dry and mild.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
HIGH LOW
54 46
Sunday: Partly cloudy, but continued dry.
HIGH LOW
65 42
Kansan Weekend Edition
Friday
November 19, 1999
Section:
A
Vol. 110 • No. 66
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
WWW.KANSAN.COM
(USPS 650-640)
Watkins defendants want suit dismissed
By Katie Hollar
By Katie Hollar
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
No court date has been set, but the University of Kansas has responded to the petition issued by Wayne and Connie Griffin in September.
Angela Griffin was a student at the time of her death.
The Griffins allege that the University, Watkins Memorial Health Center and Randall Rock, Cheryl Hickert and Robert Brown, three Watkins health-care providers, are responsible in the death of their daughter, Angela Griffin, in September 1997. Their petition asks for $150,000 for wrongful death and survival action.
In a four-page answer, the defendants replied to each of the 18 accounts listed in the Griffin petition.
The defendants admit to some of the factual counts:
On or about Sept. 25, 1997 Angela Griffin was treated at Watkins. She was examined by Hickert, nursing practitioner, and mononucleosis was diagnosed.
Hickert and Brown, physician, are employed by Watkins
- Douglas County Court has jurisdiction in the case, and the venue is proper in Douglas County.
The defendants said they lacked sufficient information to admit that Angela Griffin attempted to follow the treatment recommended, as the Griffins' petition alleges, so they deny that count.
See UNIVERSITY on page 2A
EVENTS CALENDAR
A group of Mexican workers take a break in front of a boxcar at attracted many immigrants and their families to work for the rail- the Santa Fe Railroad in 1921. The Oakland community in Topeka road in the early 1900s. Contributed photo
Tonight
"Picasso at the Lapin Agile" at 8 p.m. at Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murphy Hall
KU Student Recital at 7:30 p.m. at Swarthout Recital Hall in Murphy Hall
Anne Beretta, Mi6 from 6 to 9 p.m. at The Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St.
Son Venezuela at 10 p.m. at The Bottleneck
- "Porgy and Bess" at 2 and 8
n.m at the Lied Center
- "Picasso at the Lapin Agile" at 8 p.m. at Crafton-Preyer Theatre
Sugar Daddies, Chicken Hoof at 10 p.m. at The Bottleneck
Tomorrow
Sundav
- "Pictures from an Exhibition: What did Ravel do to Mussorgsky?" KU Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. at the Lied Center
Student recital Emily Griebel, mezzo-soprano, at 7:30 p.m. at Swarthout Recital Hall
Index
News . . . . . .3A
Nation . . . . .7A
Classifieds . . .7B
Coupons . . .3B
Game times . .1B
Horoscopes . .2B
Movie Listings . .5A
The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of the Kansan are 25 cents.
Railroad ties: Family roots run deep for Mexican-American students
By Michael Terry
writer @kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
When Joanna Martinez walked down Campanile Hill in 1990 and entered Memorial Stadium to receive her diploma, she looked up into the stands and caught a glimpse of her family.
Her father, Joe, was there, and mother Gina, older brother Damien, younger sister Patricia, younger brother Xavier, and a circle of cousins and inlaws all turned out to celebrate not only Joanna's special day, but also a special day for the whole family.
"The sight of my family brought a smile to my face," Joanna Martinez said. "Even though my dad's parents were never able to see me graduate, I would like to think they would be proud of what I have accomplished in my life."
Joanna Martinez also is part of a special family of Kansans who can trace their roots from Mexico to Topeka's Oakland community to the University of Kansas.
Theirs is often a family story of hardship and discrimination: but, for the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of these immigrants, it also is a story of success.
Joanna Martinez remembers her grandfather, Jose Martinez, who came from Mexico in 1918 in search of a better life.
"He traveled around working odd jobs for the first 20 years until he was able to find a permanent job," Joanna Martinez said. "In the early 1940s, he was able to
land a job with the Santa Fe Railroad as a car man's helper and began raising a family in a part of Topeka that is known today as Oakland."
Topeka's Oakland neighborhood bounded by the Kansas River to the north, Billard Airport to the south, Seward Avenue to east and the railroad tracks to the west, has been one of the centers of the Hispanic community for years.
Decades later it is often the grandchildren of those who settled in Oakland who, along with Joanna, make up the University's homegrown Hispanic community.
Building a home in Oakland
Valerie Mendoza, who has studied Mexican migration into the United States and is now working on a book about this subject called Beyond the Border. She said there were thousands of Mexicans such as Joanna's grandfather who came from Mexico to work on the Santa Fe Railroad in the early part of the 20th Century.
Mendoza, assistant professor of history whose old grandparents started a new life in Oakland, said Topeka was an especially popular place for Mexican immigrants to settle.
"The Santa Fe Railroad provided
The Mexican Revolution, which was occurring at this time (1910-1920), caused political unrest and wide-spread poverty throughout Mexico.
affordable housing and many Mexican immigrants lived right next to the tracks in Oakland," Mendoza said. "The housing was run down and the first immigrants had to work to improve their houses, but it was still better than living in a boxcar like many of the first immigrants were forced to do."
"This caused Mexicans to migrate to the United States and eventually
See BINDING on page 6A
Senior sendoff
Seniors on the Kansas football team want to beat Iowa State in the final game of their college careers.
See page 1B
Bonfire tragedy
Bontire tragedy Eleven students were killed and 28 were injured while constructing a log pyramid to be used for a football game bonfire at Texas A&M. See page 7A
...
Drumming for diversity
KU students and faculty were among those attending the Kansas Institute on Indian Education's powwow and conference in Lawrence.
See page 3A
An uneven film
Kansan movie critic Brendan Walsh says that Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow isn't much to look at above the shoulders but that it is still an enjoyable flick.
See page 8A
The start of a long road
After two practice-like exhibition games, the men's basketball team is set for its first regular-season game against Fairfield, a team Kansas knows little about.
See page 1B
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