2A
The Inside Front
Friday April 10,1998
News
from campus, the state the nation and the world
On CAMPUS;
Committee for Voter Awareness to have first meeting. In the NATION:
Although more twisters hit Tornado Alley — the area from Texas up through Oklahoma, Kansas and into Nebraska — more people are killed by the tornadoes that hit in Dixie.
WASHINGTON: America's foreign-born population is reaching levels not seen since the turn of the century. In the World
IRAQ: Although it has met its obligation to provide information about its nuclear weapons program, Iraq is still concealing the scope of its biological weapons program.
CAMPUS
Voter awareness group tackles University elections
The recently formed Committee of Voter Awareness is holding its first meeting at 1:30 p.m. today at the Jayhawk Room in the Kansas Union.
During the meeting, the group, which formed this week, will introduce its objectives to students, recruit volunteers and make an educational banner to be hung on Wescoe Hall.
Mark Auerbach, Warren, N.J., senior and president of the Committee of Voter Awareness, said the committee's objective was to inform people about where the polling sites will be and the exact elections dates.
"The purpose is to educate people about elections at KU," Auerbach said, "and address the problem of low local participation."
Auerbach said during the last eight to 10 years, student participation in elections had been between 11 and 17 percent.
"We have a goal of 25 to 30 percent for this year," Auerbach said. "By telling people where and when elections are, we can help accomplish this goal."
Both Delta Force and Campus Cause donated $35 to the committee. Senate donated the educational banner.
Julius Williams, assistant director of minority affairs and committee adviser, said students were responding positively to the concept of the organization.
"We are interested in a stronger participation of different constituents on campus, to broaden the whole election process." Williams said.
He paid the group was independent from any candidate.
"The purpose is to stimulate voter turnout," he said. "The interest is purely participation. This semester has been a different semester, with a higher degree of activism.
-Marcelo Vilela
"Students are genuinely concerned with the conditions of the KU campus and election is a crucial part of campus climate."
NATION
Twisters shake the South causing numerous deaths
Tornado Alley is in the Plains, but the Southeast is the country's twister death row.
Although more twisters hit Tornado Alley — the area from Texas up through Oklahoma, Kansas and into Nebraska — more people are killed by the tornadoes that hit in Dixie.
The reasons given for the disparity include the different housing, geography and population density and the greater tendency of tornadoes in the Southeast to strike at night.
Between 1950 and 1997, the Tornado Alley states of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri had 13,808 tornadoes, according to data compiled by the National Storm Prediction Center and analyzed by The Associated Press. In those storms, 1,132 people died.
In Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee North Carolina and South Carolina, there were 9,178 tornadoes and 1,648 deaths.
For example, Alabama, where at least 32 people were killed by tornadoes Wednesday, ranked third in the nation in the number of tornado deaths during that 47-year period, with 290 killed. It ranked only 13th in the actual number of tornadoes.
One major factor making the Southeast more dangerous when tornadoes strike may be the number of mobile homes there. Census figures show the Southeastern states have more mobile homes than other regions of the country.
High immigration rates lead to a crowded country
WASHINGTON — America's foreign-born population is reaching levels not seen since the turn of the century. Some people see problems ahead; others see business as usual in a nation of immigrants.
About 9.6 percent of U.S. residents were born elsewhere, the Census Bureau said yesterday, citing 1997 figures. That is the most since 1930, when 11.6 percent of U.S. residents were natives of another country. The foreign-born share peaked at 14.7 percent in 1910 because of the massive European immigration a century ago. But today, Latin America and Asia are the
But today, Latin America and Asia are the primary source of newcomers.
But K.C. McAlpin, deputy director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, worries that the rapid influx of new arrivals is leading to crowded schools, higher crime rates, urban sprawl and increased government costs.
In addition, he said, after the flood of immigrants at the turn of the century, Congress effectively closed the doors in the 1920s, taking a 40-year time-out to digest the new arrivals. "Nothing on the horizon at the moment suggests we are going to do the same thing," he observed.
Aviation safety measures to address random crashes
WASHINGTON — Top U.S. transportation officials want to get regulators, airlines and manufacturers to work in unison on safety problems instead of just reacting to the most recent crash. They are planning to lay out a new safety agenda next week.
While the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Department will not discuss the new agenda or even its precise roll-out date, the main goal is expected to be eliminating plane crashes that occur even when there is nothing
wrong with the aircraft
Such crashes accounted for 25 percent of all of the commercial airplane accidents worldwide from 1987 to 1996 — killing 2,396 people, the FAA said. That does not include the 228 people killed in last summer's crash of a Korean Air jumbo jet on Guam, in which investigators believe a perfectly operating plane was flown into the side of a mountain.
One possible remedy is the mandatory installation of advanced ground-warning indicators in airplanes. A few airlines are already installing them.
WORLD
Iraq provides information on nuclear weapons arsenal
UNITED NATIONS—Iraq has met its obligation to the United Nations to provide information about its secretive nuclear program, but it continues to conceal the scope of its biological weapons program, two U.N. reports said.
In the past six months, U.N. experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency found no new evidence of nuclear weapons during 211 inspections, according to the report on Iraq's nuclear capabilities.
Before that, the report noted, Baghdad had tried to obtain material for nuclear weapons from a foreigner and failed to turn over documents to support its claim it had abandoned its hidden nuclear program.
The two reports said Iraq still needed to be more forthcoming about its biological and nuclear weapons programs if it hopes to have crippling U.N. economic sanctions lifted.
The findings come as the chief U.N. weapons inspector, Richard Butler, completes a six-month review of Iraqi cooperation on inspections, including the recent visits to so-called presidential sites Baghdad had previously declared off-limits.
—The Associated Press
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ON THE RECORD
A KU student's wallet and contents were taken between 10:45 a.m. and 10:55 a.m. Tuesday from the Oliver Hall cateria, the KU Public Safety Office said. The items were valued at $25.
A KU student's 137 CDs, six video game cartridges and two CD cases were taken between 4:40 and 5:40 p.m. Monday from an Oliver Hall room, the KU Public Safety Office said. The items were valued at $2.111.
A KU student's credit card and two laptop computers were stolen between 5 p.m. March 21 and 9 p.m. March 29 in the 1200 block of Ohio, Lawrence police said. The items were valued at $6,140.36.
The doors and hood of a KU student's car were scratched between 6 p. m. Sunday and 6 p. m. Monday in the 2300 block of Ridge Court, Lawrence police said. The damage was estimated at $1,000.
By Sara Anderson sanderson@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Students to hit cultural beat in powwow
The eighth-annual Spring Ppowow will have something for everyone, said Rhonda Levaldo, public relations chairwoman for the Native American Student Association.
"Dancing on the Hill Indian Style," will begin at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow in Anschutz Sports Pavilion. The free event will include traditional dances, dance competitions and displays of Native American arts, crafts and jewelry.
"It will be interesting for non-natives because we involve all the visitors that come," said Levaldo, Acoma pueblo, N.M., junior. "It's not just for Native Americans."
Elyse Towey, NASA president and Napa Calif, senior, said a powwow was an opportunity to celebrate and honor Native American culture.
Dancers will perform from 2 to 5 p.m. The Grand Entry of all participating dancers will start at 6:30 p.m. Dancers can register for the dance competitions between 5:30 and 6:30.
"Powwows are a time for a lot of different people to get together and are traditionally a sort of celebration of our survival as indigenous people," she said. "When we dance, it's almost a prayer to thank the creator for the survival of our culture."
Levaldo said the powwow would include intertribal dances in which all participants would be invited to dance. She said she wanted audience members to participate.
"The 'Round Dance' is one example of a dance for everyone," Levaldo said. "It's a friendship dance where everyone dances in a circle and holds hands. We want them to get involved and not just be spectators. We don't want them to be separate from us."
Levaldo said dancers from across the country traveled to different powwows in the United States. She expected dancers from the western states to attend the University's powwow.
Levaldo said the purpose was to try and involve students at the University of Kansas in the Native American community and, introduce them to NASA.
Another goal of the powwow is to break down stereotypes. Towey said.
People are not sure what powwows are or why Native Americans have them, Towey said.
"Powwows are not just to dress up and dance but to celebrate," she said. "People don't understand some of the dances or why people are dressed in a certain way, so they are hesitant to join. They don't understand, so the stereotypes are perpetuated."
Levaldo agreed.
"We want them to have the experience, to come and find out what it is and to educate them," she said.
Last year, about 2,000 people attended the powwow, Levaldo said. She said she was hoping to see the same number this year.
"We started working on this at the beginning of the fall semester. It seems like it's taken forever for it to come, but now we're all saying it's too soon."
Towey said NASA would honor some of the people who helped during the Rock Chalk Revue protests in March and the affirmative action rally. She said special invitations had been sent to the Hispanic American Leadership Organization, Black Student Union and the Asian American Student Union.