WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 7A
Twins identical in more ways than one
Amy and Beth innes encourage each other in every way possible
Beth, left, and Amy Innes, Phillipsburg freshmen, are identical twins, but say they are friends too. Beth said they had always been competitive with each other, but watched out for each other at the same time.
AARON LERNER/KANSAN
By Adam Pracht Kansan staff writer
Walk down the west hallway on the third floor of Gertrude Sellards Pearson-Corbin Hall and one might think that she was seeing double.
across the hall from her identical twin sister Beth in room 343.
Amy Innes, Phillipsburg freshman, lives in room 329 — right
Beth Innes,
Phillipsburg freshman, moved in last summer with one of their best friends from Phillipsburg.
Amy Innes arrived that fall and decided to be placed in her room by lottery and was happy to find her room was across from her twin sister.
Amy said that at first other residents thought that she and Beth were the same person.
Faces in the Crowd
kind of read each other."
Every face in the crowd and every
"Everybody here was just like, 'Oh, my gosh. I thought you just kept changing your hair when you were first here,'" she said. "They didn't realize that there was two of us."
name in the phonebook has a story behind it. So each week, staff
That connection existed from the very beginning. Mary said that when the nurse would check their vitals, they were often identical.
Alicia Sanson, Phillipsburg freshman and friend of the twins, said some residents found out that they were twins at a hall meeting when residents saw them both for the first time.
writer Adam Pracht chooses a
"They were kind of astonished to find out they were twins," she said. "I guess none of them really wanted to say anything because they weren't sure."
their story.
Amy and Beth's mother, Mary Innes, said the two seemed to depend on each other for support and friendship.
random KU student and tells their story.
"I think it's special for them to have a twin," she said. "They just
Amy Innes said that they each had a sense of what the other was about to do when they played basketball together. That connection
In high school, they had nearly identical GPAs. When they played on the same sports teams, their coaches rarely tried to distinguish them and called both of them just "Amybeth."
extends to every area of their lives. They finish each other's sentences, borrow each other's clothes and even seem to know each other's thoughts.
She said that Beth had been a constant friend through the years.
"I'm not used to being alone and I don't like to be alone." Amy Innes said. "I love people. I never really was alone. Beth was always there."
At the same time,
Innes' father, Rod Innes, said that they encouraged the two to develop their own interests and personalities.
"We tried to raise them like individuals, not two looking like one." he said.
Hesaid that they stopped dressing them in similar outfits once they were about four, and they asked their elementary schools to put them in different classes.
Although they were in some of the same activities in high school like dance and basketball, Amy Innes said that they had some different groups of friends and interests.
She said that they were very competitive growing up—especially in sports and in grades.
"It has its ups and downs,"
Amy Innes said. "For the most
part you have a best friend who's always there for you. We do fight as you can ask anybody on this floor. It's like the person who slams the door hardest wins."
But all of that competition was laid aside last year when Amy broke her third lumbar vertebrae from the cumulative stress of years of sports.
Rod Innes said that he felt helpless to help his daughter.
"She had a lot of pain with it," he said. "And that's what is hard to see her having difficulty with pain and there wasn't much we could do about it."
"I think she was influenced by it because her game in basketball picked up immensely when I couldn't play," she said. "Iwas like we played for both of us."
Amy Innes said that she had to wear a brace for several months as the bone healed. During that time, she said her sister Beth helped her in small ways. However, Amy Innes said that Beth's performance on the basketball court after the accident meant the most to her.
"I'd see her on the bench and she just inspired me," she said.
Beth Innes agreed that she was making an effort for them both.
As close as they are, it seems that after college they will go different directions. Beth wants to go the east coast, Amy to the west. Beth said they'd keep in close contact.
"I don't know if we could be that far apart," Beth Innes said, "But if we do, then we'll be on the phone every day."
aprachek@kansan.com. This story was edited by Jeremy Clarkson.
Contact Pracht at
Missing Florida girl may be 'Precious Doe'
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City homicide detectives are investigating whether an unidentified girl found beheaded here last April was a missing Florida girl.
Palm prints of the missing girl were expected to arrive in Kansas City today by overnight courier. The prints should tell detectives whether the missing girl, 5-year-old Rilya Wilson of Miami, is the same girl Kansas Citians know only as Precious Doe.
Precious Doe's decapitated body was found April 28, 2001, in east Kansas City. A searcher found her head three days later.
"This Miami lead appears to be promising, and we're going to pursue it, but we're holding back our excitement," said homicide
Capt. Randy Hopkins. "It's still very preliminary."
Miami-Dade police called Kansas City police Monday night about Rilya, who has been missing for more than 15 months. Florida authorities faxed copies of Rilya's palm prints to Kansas City yesterday, but the fax quality was poor.
Rilya, who should have been monitored monthly by child welfare agents, was reported missing only last Thursday.
Her grandmother, who was caring for the girl and two siblings, said she thought Rilya was in the custody of the Department of Children and Families, who had placed the child with her in late 1999 or early 2000.
The state, officials said, thought Rilya was living with her grandmother.
State revenue in April short by $50 million
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — The state collected about $50 million less in revenue than expected in April, aggravating the budget crisis, legislators said last night.
Word of the preliminary collection figure came from the Department of Revenue just ahead of the wrap-up session that starts today, when the Legislature must tackle a revenue shortage already estimated at $700 million.
"It's very disturbing and disheartening and compounds the problem," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Kenny Wilk, R-Lansing. "Fifty-million dollars in April is a big miss."
The preliminary tax collection for April was $415 million. State officials had expected about $465 million. Collections in March were $27 million below the forecast.
"I think it doesn't bode well for the coming months or the next legislative session," said Rep. Rocky Nichols, D-Topeka, a member of Wilk's committee. "It's a devastating, brutal dose of reality."
Legislators learned of the numbers as education officials and a group advocating the disabled called on legislators publicly to put more money into aid for public schools and social services.
Gov. Bill Graves already had scheduled a news conference for 11 a.m. today to discuss the April revenue collections. Budget Director Duane Goossen declined comment last night.
By law, legislators must use the official March 8 estimates — the ones that lawmakers said were overly optimistic — in completing a budget. But Nichols said the latest collection figures couldn't be ignored.
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