THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
MONDAY FEBRUARY 2, 2009
NEWS
3A
ORGANIZATIONS
New group hopes to teach students fiscal responsibility
BY BRIANNE PFANNENSTIEL
bpfannenstiel@kansan.com
Students for Prosperity, a new student group, said it aimed to inform students about how to be more fiscally responsible in the wake of an economic decline.
Andy Haverkamp, Hoyt sophomore, student senator and SFP member, said the group planned to host seminars for students that would bring in finance professionals to teach students about personal finance. The seminars would show students how to do things such as balance bank accounts, take out loans and purchase housing.
"For a person to manage their money and use it and save it wisely is something every student should learn," Haverkamp said. "There's no reason to be living from paycheck to paycheck. In an economic climate like we're in right now, every student needs to have an understanding of where their money is going."
Another way SFP plans to keep students informed about their money is to shed light on the way Student Senate spends student fees, which currently cost students more than $400 a semester.
"I've been here for five years now and I've noticed that the student fee keeps increasing," said Mike Conner, Shawnee grad student and SFP chair. "There's not really a voice on campus asking why we're increasing particular fees."
Conner said the group planned to use the Web site KUpedia to make senators' voting records more accessible. Currently, students can access voting records through the Senate Web site, but there is no explanation of the bill that was voted on.
Conner said the updated version would allow students to see a senator's name and the bills they had voted for and against. Students will also be able to sign up to receive voting information in e-mail newsletters. Conner said both measures would increase transparency within Senate, keep students updated on how their money is being spent and give students the information they need to make informed decisions in the April elections.
lack Connor, Overland Park senior, student senator and SFP member, said the group would like to remain nonpartisan and would not be endorsing a specific coalition. Connor ran with ConnectKU last year, but said that senators from opposing coalitions had already joined the group.
how to get involved
"Coalitions don't really have a stance one way or the other regarding student fees," Connor said. "They're like minded people who oppose waste and oppose fees. It's
Students for Prosperity will be hosting a membership drive in the fourth floor lobby of the Kansas Union this week where students can sign up to be on a mailing list. Its first meeting is at 8 p.m. on Feb. 8 in the Pine Room in the Kansas Union. For general information and meeting updates, visit the Students for Prosperity group on Facebook.
about coming together and finding common ground."
On Thursday, the Senate Finance Committee approved SFP's request for the $200 in general funding that every student group on campus is eligible to receive. However, after this initial funding, SFP plans to
stay financially independent from Senate by having fundraisers and seeking funding through its national counterpart organization, Americans for Prosperity.
- Edited by Sam Speer
WILDLIFE
WildEarth Guardians grades agencies on actions to protect praire dogs
BY SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
Associated Press
This photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows a black-footed prairie dog near its burrow. On Monday, the environmental group Wild Earth Guardians is releasing its annual report card on the efforts made over the past year by three federal agencies and a dozen states to protect prairie dogs. Most of the states received falling grades. North America's five species of prairie dog have lost more than 90 percent of their historical range because of habitat loss, shooting and poisoning according to the group.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. While groundhogs will get all the attention Monday, a report being issued by an environmental group says their cousins, the prairie dogs, are in dire straits across the West.
WildEarth Guardians says in its report to be released Monday that North America's five species of prairie dogs have lost more than 90 percent of their historical range because of habitat loss, shooting and poisoning.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
It grades three federal land management agencies and a dozen states on their actions over the past year to protect prairie dogs and their habitat.
Not one received an A.
Most grades even dropped from the previous year, but Arizona improved to a B — the highest grade of all the states in prairie dog country. That state reintroduced 74 black-tailed prairie dogs to a small southeast parcel in October.
the group said, state wildlife officials weren't actively conserving prairie dogs.
New Mexico, home to the Gunnison's prairie dog and black-tailed prairie dog, earned a D — the same as last year — because,
"It's hard to see the prairie dogs that are missing when you drive across the West because our modern society has no perception about what it was like before we started poisoning prairie dogs," said Lauren McCain, WildEarth Guardians' desert and grassland projects director.
McCain said prairie dogs were an important part of a grassland ecosystem. They are food for hawks, golden eagles, foxes and endangered black-footed ferrets, and their burrows offer shelter for a variety of other species.
Of the five species, the Utah prairie dog is classified as threatened and the Mexican prairie dog as endangered. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has issued preliminary findings that the black- and white-tailed prairie dogs may warrant federal protection, and the Gunnison's prairie dog is a candidate for protection in part of its range.
McCain said all the animals needed federal endangered species protections.
Until Arizona's reintroduction, the animals had not been seen in that state for nearly 50 years.
Many people in the West, especially ranchers, consider prairie dogs varmints that destroy grass and cause erosion.
McCain said misperception had resulted in wasteful government programs. She said various agencies had financed and encouraged the poisoning of prairie dogs for years while other agencies pumped millions of dollars into recovery efforts aimed at other species that rely on the prairie dog.
"We're hoping that the report card will highlight some of the these inconsistencies in government management of wildlife," McCain said. "These are species that we really do need to protect instead of wasting taxpayer dollars, which is a big concern for a lot of people."
Of the federal agencies, the Bureau of Land Management received the lowest grade: D-minus, the same as last year. The report accuses the agency of exempting energy development companies from complying with rules that would protect prairie dog colonies
and habitat
Bill Merhege, deputy state BLM director for lands and resources in New Mexico, said the agency took numerous steps, such as moving well pads and roads to avoid prairie dog colonies and prohibiting prairie dog control on land it manages.
"We do what we can on public lands," Merhege said. "Unfortunately, with interspersed landownership, what you do on one section doesn't necessarily follow through on another."
The group graded the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at a C, up
from D the previous year, while the U.S. Forest Service stayed at a D grade.
The group gave an F grade to Kansas, Nebraska and North Dakota. Colorado, Montana, South Dakota and Utah got D grades, and Wyoming earned a D-plus.
CRIME
CRIME Family looks to clear wrongfully accused man
LUBBOCK, Texas — A Texas man's family will return to a courtroom this week with the hope that they'll be able to clear his rape conviction from more than two decades ago.
Tim Cole was sentenced to 25 years in prison on charges that he raped a Texas Tech student in 1985,but DNA from the crime scene showed last year that a convicted rapist,not Cole,had committed the crime.
The vindication is bittersweet: Cole died in prison of an asthma-induced heart attack in 1999. He was 38 years old.
Still, his family will ask an Austin judge on Thursday to overturn the conviction, paving the way
for a pardon by the governor and, eventually, expunging Cole's record.
"That's vindication," said Cory Session, Cole's brother. "We need exoneration. We are extremely hopeful that this process will actually get him cleared."
The case against Cole relied primarily on identification by Michele Mallin, the victim in the attack. The Associated Press does not identify rape victims, but Mallin has come forth publicly to help clear Cole's name.
Attorney Jeff Blackburn of the Innocence Project of Texas along with others working on Cole's behalf allege the photo lineup used in 1985 was flawed. Mallin picked Cole out of a photo array of standard jail mug shots except for Cole's photo, which was a Polaroid.
Blackburn said Mallin planned to attend Thursday's hearing, and so would Jerry Wayne Johnson, the man that the DNA test indicated was Mallin's actual attacker.
Johnson, who is serving time in a Snyder prison for two other rapes during the 1980s, has been trying for more than a decade to convince authorities that he raped Mallin. In 2007, he eventually sent a letter to Cole addressed to his mother's home in Fort Worth, admitting to the rape and offering to help prove Cole's innocence.
"If this letter reaches you, please contact me by writing so that we can arrange to take the steps to get the process started," wrote Johnson. "Whatever it takes, I will do it."
Cole's family received the letter and contacted both a reporter
and the Innocence Project.
"We're anxious to hear what (Johnson) has to say," Session said. "It'll be a very emotional court hearing, and it will take us all back."
Lubbock County prosecutors have acknowledged the DNA test shows Cole was not the rapist. No one is expected to oppose the effort to overturn Cole's conviction, Blackburn said.
The hearing Thursday in the 299th District Court in Austin is the first step in the process.
For now, Session said, the family is just concerned with having Cole's name cleared. However, he did not rule out pursuing civil damages for his brother's wrongful conviction.
Associated Press
STUDY ABROAD FAIR
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4TH
10:30 AM - 3:30 PM 4th floor lobby of the Kansas Union
WHERE ARE YOU GOING?
KU OFFICE OF STUDY ABROAD
Office of Study Abroad, 108 Lippincott Hall // 785.864.3742 // www.studyabroad.ku.edu // osa@ku.edu