Tomorrow's weather
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Kansan
Warmer with showers
LOW
48
Online today
Wednesday
May 5, 1999
Section:
Discover hundreds of little-known uses for well-known products.
http://www.wackyuses.com
Sports today
Vol.109·No.145
College tennis continues to have a smaller fan base than professional events.
WWW.KANSAN.COM
SEE PAGE 1B
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Contact the Kansan
News: (785) 864-4810
Advertising: (785) 864-4358
Fax: (785) 864-0391
Opinion e-mail: opinion@kansan.com
Sports e-mail: sports@kansan.com
Editor e-mail: editor@kansan.com
Five people were killed in Wichita and Haysville, where homes in the Lakeshore trailer park were hurled into a nearby lake by winds of more than 200mph. Forty-five people were killed and hundreds more were missing or injured Monday after three dozen tornadoes slammed into Oklahoma and Kansas, some wiping out entire communities. KRT photo
Storm sparks student concern
Tornado aftermath leaves many worried
By T.J. Johnson tjohnson@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
(USPS 650-640)
Daybreak yesterday offered the first chance for officials and residents in tornado-ravaged areas of Kansas and Oklahoma to assess the damage caused by the storms. It also was a chance for KU students from the affected communities to contact their families.
Heath Cooper, Wichita junior, said he attended high school and had many family members in the hard-hit community of Haysville. He said he called home and learned that his family was safe but that the town was heavily damaged.
"I think everything down there is pretty torn up," Cooper said. "My grandma and my cousin both lost their houses in it, and a place I used to work at was pretty torn up."
"I'm just thankful that everybody is OK." he said.
Cooper said his grandmother was baby-sitting one of her grandchildren when the tornado hit Haysville. She took the child into her bathroom to wait out the storm. After the storm passed, the bathroom was the only part of her house left standing, Cooper said.
Jessica Schnebel, Oklahoma City freshman, said she tried to contact her family after she heard about the storms but was unable to get a telephone call through to them. When she did contact her family, she learned that they had all made it through the tornado that devastated parts of the city.
She said that her family lived north of
the area hit by the storm and that their house was not damaged, but her father, a physician, was called in to help people who had been injured in the storm.
The damage was caused by a series of storms that stretched from southern Oklahoma to central Kansas Monday night. Several tornadoes were spawned, causing extensive damage in areas around Oklahoma City and Wichita.
About 45 people are thought to have been killed in the storms, the majority in Oklahoma City. In addition, an estimated 2,400 homes and businesses were destroyed in Oklahoma and Kansas.
The severe weather continued into the afternoon yesterday, with sporadic
reports of tornado touchdowns near Buhler, McPherson and Manhattan, according to the National Weather Service.
Donna Tucker, associate professor of atmospheric science, said outbreaks such as the one on Monday were not uncommon in the Midwest.
"In this part of the country, tornados are more common than they are in any other part of the world." Tucker said.
She said it was too early to tell just how severe the outbreak had been because the damage reports from areas hit by the tornados had not been studied, making it difficult to gauge their strength.
- Edited by Liz Wristen
Five most destructive tornados in Kansas history
May 25, 1995, Udall. 80 dead
April 26, 1991, Andover
17 dawn
June 8, 1966, Topeka. 16 dead
June 17,1978, Osage County. 16 dead
June 10, 1958, El Dorado.
15 dead
Storm death toll increases to 43
The Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY — The death toll stood at 43 yesterday after fierce tornadoes destroyed entire neighborhoods in Oklahoma and Kansas. One monstrous twister chewed across miles of Tornado Alley for four hours Monday.
The combined Oklahoma-Kansas death toll makes this the deadliest tornado outbreak since 42 people were killed last year in Florida.
The largest twister formed about 45 miles southwest of Oklahoma City and cut a path at least a half-mile wide. Although many tornadoes are short-lived, this one stayed on the ground for about four hours, said Wayne Ruff, a National Weather Service meteorologist. Local TV stations followed it with live broadcasts.
The damage "looks like the Murrah Building, but instead of nine stories tall, it's spread out over a large area," said Jon Hansen, Oklahoma City assistant fire chief, referring to the federal building bombing in 1985.
More severe thunderstorms with scattered twisters rippled across the Plains yesterday morning, and tornado warnings were posted for parts of central Oklahoma. A tornado watch covered much of the rest of the state.
In Washington, President Bill Clinton declared 11 Oklahoma counties and one in Kansas federal disaster areas.
About 150 miles north of Oklahoma City, a tornado spawned by the same storm system tossed mobile homes like tins, damaged houses and killed at least five people in Wichita and its suburb Haysville. Hospitals treated more than 100 people.
"It is worse than what you can see," said Bob Thompson, a fire battalion chief in Sedgwick County. He said that more deaths were possible, and that dogs were used yesterday to search through the rubble.
Chad Harris was with seven people inside his mobile home in Haysville when it was flipped and demolished. Two of his companions were critically injured.
In Oklahoma, the dead included 11 people in Bridge Creek, about 30 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, said Ben Frizzell, spokesman for the state Office of Emergency Management.
"I have no trailer," Harris said. "We all rolled in it. It was the worst experience in my life."
Others died in Oklahoma City and nearby Oklahoma towns Midwest City, Moore, Del City and Norman.
See OKLAHOMA on page 2A
Senators not expecting a lot from tonight's board re-vote
By Nadia Mustafa
nmustafa@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Although the elections commission's hearing board will publicly re-vote tonight on Student Senate campaign complaints, most senators do not expect changed results.
On April 19, the board ruled on 19 complaints, including allegations against the YUO coalition, Delta Force and the
recreation task force. But the commission scheduled an open re-voting session this week based on advice from the Douglas County counsel, Wint Winder, who determined that the board's secret voting violated the Kansas Open Meetings Act.
Jennifer Watkins, executive commissioner, said she did not expect the board's decisions to change because the act did not require the board to hear new evidence or to conduct new deliberations. She said the commission had been unaware that it was violating the act when the board had conducted closed hearings upon advice from the University general counsel.
The board will vote at 7 p.m. at the Oread Room in the Kansas Union.
"I'm glad we got it figured out," Watkins said. "It will be corrected in the future. We're going to go ahead and vote so that it will be public record. This is more a public announcement than anything else."
Jennifer Watkins, elections
Victoria Thomas, University general counsel, said that she had not yet thoroughly read Winter's letter but that she respected his opinion.
The board will re-vote on a complaint alleging that the YOU coalition distributed campaign materials to off-campus apartment complexes that had no soliciting policies. The board had fined YOU $50 for the violation.
More than 1,200 students from Douglas County took classes at Johnson County Community College last fall. Illustration by Jeff Shumway/KANSAN.
Amy Cummins, graduate senator, filed the complaint during elections last month. She said that she thought it was important for the board to re-vote in public but that
JCCC leeching KU students, credit hours
Bv Kellv Clasen
See COMMISSION on page 6A
Ryan Werner recognized a few familiar faces from around the campus on his first day of Spanish class this semester.
On Thursday evenings from 6 to 9 p.m. Werner, Spearville sophomore, and 21 other University of Kansas students meet to take a fourth-level Spanish class.
Special to the Kansan
But something's different. These students don't meet for class at Wescoe or Fraser Hall. They are taking a class at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park. Werner said that out of the 23 students enrolled in the class, 22 were KU students who will transfer the completed community college credit hours back to the University.
Patricia Long, dean of students at JCCC, said 1,241 students from Douglas County took classes in Johnson County last fall. About half of those were enrolled for one to six credit
"The teacher asked us on the first day where we were from, and we almost all said KU. It was really kind of funny at all." Werner said.
hours.
About 600 KU students take classes at community colleges each semester.
"Many of those are probably KU students." Long said.
The cost per undergraduate credit hour at the University of Kansas is $68.05. Long's estimate means that if these 600 or so KU students averaged three credit hours each at JCCC, the
University would have lost about $122,490 last semester,and $244,980 last year.
Associate Provost Lindy Eakin said that such calculations weren't so simple.
"If we were to have a significant increase in students leaving KU, then there would be some impact on revenue," Eakin said. "But there is not a direct one-to-one relationship on cost."
However, he said if the class the student wished to take was full and the University would have had to create another class and find another teacher for the student to be able to take it, the University did not lose sig
Eakin said the financial calculation was similar to selling basketball tickets at Allen Fieldhouse. If there are seats in the fieldhouse that no one buys a ticket for, and the basketball game still takes place, revenue has been lost.
"If there is space in the class, and we could have put that student in the class and collected tuition, we have lost the revenue," he said.
See COMMUNITY on page 5A
Visitors not excused from parking permit troubles
kreimer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Bv Kristi Reimer
Friends and family visiting students at the University of Kansas don't have free rein to park at the Visitor Center parking lot despite the sign at the entrance that reads "visitor parking."
Like elsewhere on campus, a pass is required to park at the Visitor Center.
Tracie Bell, Paola freshman, who lives in Hashinger Hall, found out the hard way when her boyfriend visited from Overland Park. He parked at the Visitor Center and got a ticket.
the sign says 'visitor parking.' Bell said. "There's nothing that says you need a pass."
The parking department's rules state that visitors must park at meters or in designated visitor parking areas.
But Margey Frederick, coordinator of visitor services,
But Margery Frederick, coordina-
tioned said the Visitor Center was designed primarily for prospective students and their families. A pass is required from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be obtained from the Visitor Center. After 5 p.m., the lot is open.
"A kid may come to visit another kid in Templin," Frederick said. "Technically, he's a visitor, but he's not going through our program."
Frederick said she was working with the parking department to helm eliminate the confusion.
The sign at the entrance will be changed to indicate that
Donna Hultine, assistant director of parking services, said the parking department would cancel a first-time ticket.
"It's not uncommon for someone to come in and say, 'I'm a visitor,'" Hultine said. "We tell them next time you need to get a pass or park in a certain lot after a certain time."
the lot is for Visitor Center parking only and that a pass is required. Frederick said.
Hultine said she also was working with Frederick to crack down on students who park at the Visitor Center lot and try to move their cars in the morning.
Faculty and staff are not exempt from ticketing either
"We had a mandate from the chancellor that there were to be 100 spaces for visitors only," she said. "A staff or student permit wouldn't qualify."
Edited by Sarah Hale