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PAGE 6A
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2012
PARKING
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Higher costs mean pricier parking tickets
Despite rising costs, students can still dispute tickets
RACHEL SALYER
rsalyer@kansan.com
Because Chi Omega doesn't have enough parking spaces, Lindsey Mitchell, a sophomore from Pratt, decided to buy a yellow permit and park at Memorial Stadium, but she estimates that she spent hundreds of dollars on parking tickets last semester.
"I am not a big sports fan," Mitchell said. "I never knew when the games were, and time after time, I got ticket for being parked there on game days."
The tickets Mitchell received are just a portion of the 18,062 tickets issued by University Parking and Transit last semester, which ran from Aug. 22, to Dec. 16, 2011.
- Ticket numbers decreased 19 percent from fall semester 2010, when 22,306 tickets were issued, but the revenue generated from tickets increased 5 percent.
During fall
2011,$436,260
zones or spots and for parking after parking privileges have been revoked.
Parking ticket prices had not increased in several years, and the change in pricing was necessary to keep up with rising costs, said Angela Lumpkin, University Parking Commission chairwoman.
"The parking department is self-sustaining." Lumpkin said. "It literally has to pay for everything that has to do with parking, and when the cost to operate goes up, they have to make up that revenue."
However, students do have more options than simply paying the ticket. The University Traffic Court is composed of law students that have the power to
in tickets was paid, up from fall
2010 when $413,645 was paid.
"A lot of the decisions that are rendered in court will cause the parking department to implement change."
Ticket prices were also raised in fall 2011, an average of $5 for most offenses and $50 for parking in handicapped designated
JAKE LOWENTHAL Traffic court chief defense attorney
overturn parking tickets
In fall 2011,
634 parking
tickets were
appealed,
though many
have not been
decided yet.
During fall
2010, 459
tickets were
appealed, and
126 were overturned, or 28 percent.
Students can choose to appeal in writing, which generates a faster decision, or state their case in person before judges, who are law students. Applications can
be filed online or forms can be picked up at the parking and transit office.
It is $5 to apply, but if you win your case, your fee will be paid by the Parking and Transit office.
Traffic court screens all cases before acceptance, so it is important to include as much information as possible on your application, said Jake Lowenthal, a second-year law student from Maui, Hawaii, and chief defense attorney of traffic court.
Lowenthal said it is important to appeal your ticket if you think you have a legitimate case because changes are implemented by Parking and Transit through appeals.
"We have meetings with the parking department to get on the same page of common problems we see," Lowenthal said. "A lot of the decisions that are rendered in court will cause the parking department to implement changes."
Changes are also made because of feedback given to parking and transit, Lumpkin said.
"They aren't trying to make your life miserable," Lumpkin said. "Tickets are issued to keep things running smoothly. We are responsible and responsive, so if there is a problem, providing comments can correct that."
Edited by Taylor Lewis
The University's parking department issued more than 18,000 parking tickets last semester. Students can appeal their parking tickets to The University Traffic Court by filling out an application and paying a $5 fee.
RACHEL SALYER/KANSAN
ODD NEWS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
College students visit a statue of Jesus Christ at Whitefish Mountain Resort in Montana. The U.S. Forest Service said yesterday that it will re-authorize a permit for this 57-year-old, as it had been facing eviction because it's on federal land.
Jesus statue won't face eviction at ski resort
HELENA, Mont. — The mountaintop Jesus can stay at a northwest Montana ski resort — for now.
The religious statue, which has been on federal land since 1955, was allowed to remain in place for at least 10 more years after the U.S. Forest Service reversed its eviction order Tuesday. The initial decision came amid heated debate over the separation of church and state.
The agency had faced a firestorm of criticism from religious groups, the state's congressman and residents after it decided last year to boot the
Jesus statue from its hillside perch.
After the agency's about-face, opponents promised a lawsuit within the week. They argue the statue's free placement is unconstitutional.
The statue has been a curiosity at the famed Big Mountain ski hill for decades, mystifying skiers with its appearance in the middle of the woods.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which argues the religious statue does not belong on public land, said it anticipated the agency's reversal. It argues that the Forest Service was breaching separation of church and state by leasing land for the Jesus statue.
Associated Press
NATIONAL
Pending bill could alter online privacy
MICHAEL CLARK
mclark@kansan.com
A controversial bill regarding retention of Internet records passed through committee and was approved for consideration by Congress in December.
The Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011 would require Internet providers to retain archives of every subscriber's online activity for up to 18 months, including phone records, credit-card numbers, websites visited and bank-account data.
Max Ayalla, a senior from Kansas City, Kan., who works at Information Technology, said he's worried about the information's security.
"If someone hacks into the data, it would be disastrous," he said.
Another issue is the measure's effectiveness and legality. Under U.S.Code Title 18 Chapter 121, to obtain the records from Internet providers, no probable cause is needed; the government would only have to request a warrant or find a judge who is willing to give them one. Subscribers with no criminal record are also subject to requests.
Supporters of the bill argue that law enforcement is unable to track child pornographers under current laws.
"Child pornography may be the fastest growing crime in America, increasing an average 150 percent per year," stated Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) in a news release. "These disturbing images litter the Internet, and pedophiles can purchase, view or exchange this material with virtual anonymity. Investigators need the assistance of ISPs to identify users and distributors of online child pornography."
Critics of the bill see ineffective legislation with high potential for abuse.
Professor of Law Stephen McAllister said the Jan. 23 ruling in Jones v. United, which declared the warrant-less attachment of a
Child pornographers often use proxies such as The Onion Router, which mask a person's Internet protocol address, or submit illicit material through public Wi-Fi.
A commercial provider of an electronic communication service shall retain for a period of at least one year a log of the temporarily assigned network addresses the provider assigns to a subscriber to or customer of such service that enables the identification of the corresponding customer or subscriber information under subsection (c)(2) of this section.
THE BILL AT A GLIMPSE
"It poses numerous risks that well outweigh any benefits, and I'm not convinced it will contribute in a significant way to protecting children," said Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) in a judiciary hearing.
Source: H.R. 1981, Section 4, Article a, subsection 1
It is the sense of Congress to encourage electronic communication service providers to give prompt notice to their customers in the event of a breach of the data retained pursuant to section 2703(h) of title 18 of the United States Code, in order that those effected can take the necessary steps to protect themselves from potential misuse of private information...
Source: H.R. 1981, Section 4, Article b, Subsection 1
GPS device to a suspected cocaine dealer's SUV unconstitutional, may call the bill's legality into question.
"To the extent it may permit government effectively to engage in surveillance - without a warrant
- of citizen's use of the internet might concern several U.S. justices," he said. "Justice Sotomayor in her separate opinion mused
about whether the Court would have to consider new ways of looking at expectations of privacy in the digital age, and she gave examples of all sorts of activities that might be monitored, like Internet and cell phone usage, but in which people would expect privacy."
The bill currently has 39 co-sponsors.
Edited by Taylor Lewis
NATIONAL
Test scores falsified at university
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES - A senior administrator at Claremont McKenna College resigned after acknowledging that he falsified college entrance exam scores for years to publications responsible for ranking the small school among universities, an official said.
An investigation was launched after inaccuracies were detected in the SAT scores reported for the class entering in fall 2011, college president Pamela B. Gann told staff members and students in an email message on Monday.
The senior admissions official sole responsibility for falsifying scores sent since 2005 to publications such as U.S. News & World Report, she said. The name of the official was not released.
"As un institution of higher education with a deep and consistent commitment to the integrity of all
Claremont McKenna, located in a small town 30 miles east of Los Angeles, is currently ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the ninth-best liberal arts college in the country.
No one at the college has explained what would drive the senior administrator at such a prestigious institution to falsify the figures.
However, college admissions experts said the incident came amid growing competition among students to win acceptance to a top school and among colleges to lure top students.
our academic activities, and particularly our reporting of institutional data, we take this situation very seriously," Gann said.
The 1,200-student campus places a strong academic focus on political science and economics, and boasts graduates including actor Robin Williams and U.S. Rep.
David Dreier.
The school said reading and math SAT scores were each inflated by an average of 10 or 20 points. For example, the school reported a median SAT score of 1410 instead of 1400 for the fall 2010 entering class, Gann said.
The college has hired a law firm to conduct an independent review of its admissions-related data processes and has been reaching out to agencies that use the data ranging from education publications to Moody's to set the record straight, said Max Benavidez, a spokesman for the school.
U. S. News & World Report will not change its current rankings but will evaluate the impact of the falsification on the school's profile, said Robert J. Morse, director of data research for the publication. These scores have a weight of 7.5 percent in determining a school's ranking.