WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2002
NATION
THEUNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 5A
Evolution debate moves to Ohio; board discusses science standards
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Hundreds of parents, teachers and students gathered Monday to hear scientists who support teaching evolution square off against backers of "intelligent design" as the state school board struggles to develop science standards.
Sandy Epling brought her 11-year-old son to the panel discussion so he could better understand her family's rejection of evolutionary theory. Epling believes in creationism and home-schools her son, Jacob.
The school board must decide by year's end what Ohio's 1.8 million public school students should learn about life. Teachers will not be required to follow the standards, but the state's new standardized test that 10th grade students must pass to graduate will be based on the guidelines.
The board said about 1,500 people attended the discussion, which it held in a downtown auditorium to accommodate the crowd.
“It's important for them to hear the truth as well as what we consider the lies,” she said. “It only makes the truth stronger.”
The state's current science guidelines have been criticized as vague, especially in the life
"Maybe it is compatible with biblical creationism, but it certainly is not that. The question is, should teachers be permitted to tell students the controversy over intelligent design?"
sciences section, which avoids the word evolution and recommends covering "change through time."
Jonathan Wells Discovery Institute fellow
A new draft includes evolution but not "intelligent design," the idea that life is too complex to have happened by chance and therefore must have been designed by a higher power.
Critics say intelligent design is a disguise for creationism, which courts have barred from public schools as a religious expression. Supporters argue that intelligent design doesn't specify the designer, and that the theory isn't about religion.
"Maybe it's compatible with biblical creationism, but it certainly is not that," said panel member Jonathan Wells, a fellow from the Discovery Institute in Seattle. "The question is, should teachers be permitted to tell students the controversy over intelligent design?"
Lawrence Krauss of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and Kenneth Miller of Brown University told the board there is no scientific controversy, that intelligent design is not science and has not undergone rigorous critique by respected scientific journals.
"There is an agenda here, and it's not science," Krauss said. "Why discuss something that's opposed to the scientific method in a science class?"
Several board members have pushed for other views to be taught alongside evolution, and the board's standards committee appears to favor allowing alternative ideas into classrooms.
"That's scary," said Pam Keiper, treasurer of Ohio Citizens for Science, a group of parents, teachers and students who support the teaching of evolution. "I hope the board members understand from the debate that intelligent design is not science and that it should not be in a science class."
'Springer' guest on trial for murder of ex-wife
SARASOTA, Fla. — A man went on trial yesterday for allegedly murdering his ex-wife hours after they and another woman appeared on a ferry Springer Show episode about secret mistresses.
The Associated Press
Ralf Panitz beat and stomped Nancy Campbell-Panitz, leaving her so disfigured that a sheriff's deputy who recently had met her could not identify her, prosecutor Charlie Roberts said in his opening statement.
But defense attorney Geoffrey Fieger told the jury that Panitz was drunk and had passed out the
The show aired July 24, 2000 — the same day authorities say Campbell-Panitz was killed in her Sarasota home. Earlier that day, a judge had ordered Ralf Panitz to get out of the house after his ex-wife claimed she feared him.
The couple had been divorced
since 1999 but continued living together off and on, even after Ralf Panitz secretly married Eleanor in March 2000. According to court records, Eleanor Panitz thought if Nancy Campbell-Panitz was publicly confronted with their marriage, she would leave them alone.
day of the crime, and suggested that Panitz's nephew was the more likely assault.
Ralf and Eleanor Panitz and his grown nephew, Markus Panitz, watched the segment from a neighborhood bar and drank heavily, according to court records. Detectives contend the group then left the bar for Nancy Campbell-Panitz's house, where Ralf Panitz beat and stomped her to death. Ralf Panitz was the only
In an episode taped in May 2000, Panitz, 42, and Campbell-Panitz, 52, appeared along with Panitz's new wife, Eleanor. The segment was titled "Secret Mistresses Confronted" and featured their contentious love triangle.
Fieger said Panitz was so drunk from downing beer and rum-and-cokes that he couldn't even stand at the bar, much less commit murder.
one charged.
Ralf Panitz could get life in prison if convicted.
"He is so snockered, his head is laying on the bar, he's snoring loudly." Fieger said.
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Fieger, who plans to call Springer as a witness, is a Michigan lawyer known for defending suicide doctor Jack Kevorkian. He also sued the Jenny Jones Show over the shooting death of a male guest who confided a crush on another man.
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"Death & Afterlife in Ancient Egypt: The Theban Tomb of Sennefer"
Nigel Strudwick, Professor, Cambridge University, Curator of Egyptian Antiquities British Museum, London
Wednesday, March 13, 4:00-5:00 pm Alderson Auditorium, Kansas Union
For more information: contact the Religious Studies Department: Professor Paul Mirecki 864-7252, or pmirecki@ku.edu • Free and open to the public
6th & Wakarusa • 312-9057
The KU School of Fine Arts and Kansas Union present
Brown Bag Classics
Make your lunch a classic. Join the Music & Dance Department for free, noon-time performances. Just bring your lunch because drinks are on the Kansas Union.
University of Kansas
January 23 Pirates Review
January 30 Vince Gnojek, Saxophone
February 6 KU Horn Ensemble
February 13 Instrumental Collegium Music
February 27 KU Harmonie
March 6 Keith Wright, Flute
March 13 Amir Khorspour, Piano
March 27 Pamela Hinchman Voice Studio
April 3 Melanie Hadley, Piano
April 10 Paul Stevens, Horn
April 17 KU Saxophone Quartets
April 24 KU Tuba, Euphonium Consor
May 8 BA Woodwind Quintet
Wednesdays, 12:30 pm to 1 pm, Alderson Auditorium, Level 4, Kansas Union
School of Fine Arts
Plano courtesy of Vaccaro's Plano and Organ of Overland Park
Awards are offered to both graduate an undergraduate divisions. Each will include a cash prize and a gift certificate from the Mt. Oread Bookshop.
See the Snyder web site for complete information: http://spencer.lib.ku.edu/snyder/2002
Closing Date: March 29th, 2002 5:00 p.m.