4A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 2009
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Prairie Village senior Mark Pettersen, right, joined Alex Trebek for the "Jeopardy!" College Championship that aired this week. Petterson earned $5,000 for being selected, and students can watch Friday to learn whether he qualified for the semifinals.
JEOPARDY (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
said Petterson was someone who hoarded all sorts of knowledge and tried to be well-versed in everything.
"I played Trivial Pursuit with him this past year and, basically, he knew everything on every card," she said.
While Petterson does not get to keep all of the $16,200, he did earn $5,000 for being one of the 15 students chosen to participate in the tournament. He still has a chance to make it to next week's semi-finals.
The "leepardy!" College Championship is slightly different from the regular game show. Each day this week three students from colleges across the county compete against each other. The winners of each game as well as the next four highest money earners will go to the semi-final and final matches next week.
SIBLING RIVALRY FOR 200
But long before Petterson made his "Jeopardy!" debut he had to audition for the show.
The process of making it onto "Jeopardy!" began as a contest last year between Petterson and his
brother, Joel, Prairie Village freshman. The two took the show's preliminary online quiz to see who could get the higher score. Nearly 10,000 students nationwide took the test, said Maggie Speak, "Jeopardv" contest coordinator.
Both brothers received high enough scores to be invited to Chicago in October for an in-person audition where each had to play a pretend game of "Jeopardy!" and do a 30-second video interview.
Several months later Petterson received a phone call from a producer of "topardy!" The phone call came at an inopportune time — Petterson was sitting in the emergency room with a bloody chin. A ladder had hit him in the face when he was painting houses earlier that afternoon.
"The ironic thing was that I was actually too poor to pay for stitches, so they super glued my chin together," Petterson said.
The producer told Petterson that he was one of the students chosen to appear on the 21st "Jeopardy!" College Championship.
Petterson thought the call was a prank.
Fortunately for Petterson, the call wasn't a prank, and he soon found himself flying to Los Angeles to spend a week filming the show.
"He's a little bit different than what you would consider a 'leopardy' contestant," Speak said. "He's got an air of a rock and roller about him."
Speak described Peterson as "surprise game player"; a contestant who plays quietly and then makes big moves.
But Peterson, a self-proclaimed "slacker," said he has a knack for remembering facts.
"I don't know how I've accumulated these random bits of knowledge," Petterson said. "I don't read the dictionary or encyclopedia."
He's already bought tickets to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa with his prize money and hopes that next time he has to go to the emergency room, he can avoid the glue.
"Hopefully, I'll win some money and the next time I can get my face repaired correctly," Petterson said.
Edited by Chris Hickerson
POLICY (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
Jay Wren, the father of Jason Wren, a freshman who died from suspected alcohol poisoning March 8 in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house, said he thought the changes were positive.
not another KU student dies from alcohol."
"I know it will save lives and I only wish they had been in place before, but this is exactly what needed to be done," Wren said in an e-mail. "There is no doubt this will save lives."
Roney said that she expected many students to react negatively to the parental notification policy and that those reactions probably factored into the reason the policy had not been addressed before.
"I don't really like it at all," Bea Kilat, Salina freshman and Lewis Hall resident, said of the changes. "I think the University should be doing something, but I just don't completely agree with my records being released to my parents without me being able to sign a release form or something like that."
Kilat said she thought she should have more control over her records because she was a legal adult.
Another change would require freshmen such as Kilat to complete a mandatory online alcohol assessment within the first six weeks of class. The change will go into effect for the fall semester.
ONLINE ASSESSMENT
The University has formed the Community Alcohol Coalition to continue to assess alcohol use on campus and to provide a community approach to the problem.
"I don't know how much more it'll do because a lot of it falls to the parents?" Patyk said. "I think the University's doing all they can, especially because it's an institution not a parent. At a certain point, you're an adult. The University can't watch every single move every 40,000 students make. It's not feasible."
The coalition includes Mason Heilman, Lawrence junior and student body president; the chief of Lawrence Police, a representative of the Lawrence Bar Owner's Association, Roney, and athletics director Lew Perkins.
Jori Krenzel, Chanute freshman, said she didn't know whether the policy changes would stop people from drinking, but she said she would take advantage of the new ammesty policy.
would not be enough to curtail abusive drinking on campus.
She said she thought more could be done to help students be better aware of alcohol poisoning and how to deal with it.
Roney said more new policies and changes were expected in the coming weeks and months.
"I think all these policies are good, but I think campus should do more programs to help students identify alcohol poisoning," Krenzel said.
She said she wished the University provided more proactive programming to inform students about how to help friends who show signs of alcohol poisoning.
Stephanie Patyk, Wichita junior, who worked with the University as part of an alcohol task force last year, said she thought that the policy changes, while an improvement,
Alexandra Garry contributed to the reporting of this story.
STATE
— Edited by Liz Schubauer
Associated Press
Overdose case decision appealed
BY ROXANA HEGEMAN
WICHITA — Prosecutors are asking an appellate court to overrule a federal judge and allow them to present evidence linking a Kansas clinic to all 59 overdose deaths mentioned in an indictment against a doctor and his wife, rather than limiting the case to just four deaths.
A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver will hear arguments Wednesday in the case of Dr. Stephen Schneider and his wife, Linda. The Haysville couple was arrested in December 2007 after a grand jury returned a 34-count indictment alleging they wrongfully prescribed drugs and overbilled for medical services.
The indictment alleges the couple's actions resulted in numerous
overdoses, including 21 deaths specifically charged in four of the counts. Prosecutors also claim an additional 38 patients of the clinic died from overdoses.
In his January ruling, U.S. District Judge Monti Belot did not question the validity of the evidence. Instead, he questioned the need to present that much information and said doing so would just confuse the jury.
He also said the trial would go on forever with no useful purpose if every death were included.
The Schneiders content they are innocent and that the federal government is improperly interfering in the doctor-patient relationship.
In their appeal, prosecutors argued that the judge exceeded his authority by amending an indictment that had been returned by a
grand jury.
Belot also limited each side to just 10 days of testimony.
The Justice Department contends that time limit is unreasonable, given the complexity of the case.
Defense attorneys argued the judge's decision was proper, noting the defendants still face the same penalty of 20 years to life if convicted of a single death.
"Trial courts have the authority — indeed the duty — to exclude evidence that is confusing, misleading and time consuming" the defense wrote.
However, defense attorneys have questioned the scientific reliability of the testimony expected from some of the government's expert witnesses and will ask the appeals panel to prevent those people from testifying.
INTRUST encourages responsible credit card spending.