Section A • Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Thursday, March 5, 1998
Increase in deer population has more caught in headlights
By Ronnie Wachter
rwacher@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Deer-related accidents are on the rise in Douglas County partly because of an increase in the deer population, said Lt. Don Crowne of the Douglas County Sheriffs Office.
"The mating season is over, and that usually means that at this time we see fewer deer accidents," Crowe said. "But it hasn't slacked off much, and it's going to pick up again soon."
Steve Stackhouse, director of law enforcement at the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, said the state deer population had grown significantly during the last year.
"The deer population in Kansas is at an all-time high." Stackhouse said.
He said that drivers needed to be most cautious at dusk and dawn when the changing levels of light make deer hard to spot.
Crowe said that deer travel more often during the mating season, which extends from late August to November. During that time, the sheriffs office handles an average of three accidents a day involving deer.
However, this winter, the sheriff's office has handled an average of one deer-related accident per day, Crowe said.
"It ited to that you could go two or three weeks at this time without one, and it seems like we can't do that anymore," he said.
Stan Whitley, information specialist for the Kansas Department of Transportation, said that in 1996, 246 deer-related accidents occurred in Douglas County, and that number had been on the rise.
"The number of deer accidents in Douglas increased by 25 percent from 1995 to 96." he said.
Whithey said that the Department of Transportation's statistics for 1997 would not be released until late April or early May.
He said Douglas County ranked fourth among heavily populated Kansas counties in deer-related accidents in 1995. Nearby Shawnee County was ranked first.
A deer jumped out in front of Mark Cowardin, Joplin, Mo., senior, when he was driving down a Douglas County road in January.
Cowardin said he was driving home from his mother's house at 11 p.m. when he spotted a deer standing on the side of
"I let off the gas and slowed down, and it ran out right in front of me and stopped," Cowardin said. "That's when I hit the brakes and hoped I wouldn't hit him."
Cowardin could not slow his mini van down enough, and he hit the deer.
the road.
He said the accident caused $1,400 in damage.
"It hit square in the middle of the van," Cowardin said. "It busted the grill and pushed the radiator back a few inches. But the deer got up and walked off."
Crowe said drivers needed to watch for areas where deer might exist in large numbers. He said that deer were most likely to cross roads near streams or lowlying areas.
"If you see a deer, don't count on it doing something predictable," Stackhouse said.
Deer become confused when the deer feels it is in danger. Stackhouse said this was why deer jump in front of moving vehicles or freeze when seeing headlights.
"Another thing that causes a lot of accidents is that deer travel in packs," he said. "Often, the driver will spot one and concentrate on avoiding that, and then another one that they didn't see will jump out and cause an accident."
Librarian won't hush info seekers
Duane Wagler
Special to the Kansan
Rholes became the first person to hold the title of assistant dean for information services at the University of Kansas when she was hired last fall.
Rholes began working at her $70,000-per-year position on the third floor of Watson Library in January. She will be coordinating services between the reference and access services in Watson Library, along with planning programs to improve services at the library at Edwards Campus, formally known as the Regents Center.
Julia Rholes, assistant dean for information services, stands in Watson Library. Rholes is the first assistant dean of information services at the University. Photo by Geoff Krieger/KANSAN
Rholes said she was looking forward to the challenge of coordinating services. However, she said she wanted to work at the reference desk and the circulation desk to stay in touch with the students and faculty.
"If you never see the user's frustration first hand, it's hard to speak for them," she said.
Rholes said she welcomed comments from students and faculty regarding ways to improve Watson Library.
Marilu Goodyear, associate dean of libraries, said Rholes' recent experience working with electronic information as head reference librarian for Texas A&M helped her secure the
"There is something very rewarding for a public service library to work with users," she said.
"She came from an environment that has used a lot of electronic information for a number of years, and she has a lot of experience in implementing those kind of services," Goodyear said.
The electronic revolution has changed the way libraries operate and communicate, Goodyear said.
"All of a sudden the distance between here and the Regents Center isn't that significant," she said.
Rholes emerged as the clear favorite out of three people interviewed for the position, said search committee chairman Brad Schaffner, Russian & East European studies librarian.
"She had a wide breadth of experience," he said.
A Texas native, Rholes graduated from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts with a bachelor's degree in biology and a minor in art history.
She then acquired a master's degree in zoology at the University of Texas before landing a job in 1974 as an information scientist at American
Cyanamid, a chemical company in New Jersey. While working at American Cyanamid, she received a master's of library science degree at Rutgers University.
Rholes worked as reference librarian at Texas & A&M from 1978 through 1997. Her work ranged from government documents to maps before she became the head of reference.
Faster modem speeds exist but KU switch no time soon
By Agron Knopf
By Aaron Knopf
aknopf@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Modem manufacturers have announced plans to use the new v.90 standard, which will allow modems to transmit data at 56 kilobits per second.
However, University of Kansas students and faculty who access the Internet through the University's dial-in service should not rush out to buy v.90 modems with the expectation that these modems immediately will provide faster access speeds.
The University will continue to use modems based on the v.34 standard, providing a top connection speed of 33.6 kilobits per second, said Wes Hubert, assistant director of academic computing services.
Hubert said his department probably would begin testing v.90 modems this summer.
"As soon as we see what the actual numbers are for the difference it makes in speed, we'll let people know," Hubert said. "If there really is a significant performance increase, then we'll do all we can to get the lines here upgraded quickly."
Hubert said the difficulty that academic computing services had a few years ago upgrading to v.34 modems would keep the department from moving to v.90 modems too quickly.
"We had at least half a year of lots of connection problems," Hubert said of the move to v.34 modems.
The problems stemmed from the modems' firmware, internal software that controls the workings of the modems, Hubert said. He said modem vendors continued to release firmware upgrades throughout that first year until they solved the problems.
vices would not upgrade until the modem vendors worked through these problems.
11 the University decides to move to v.90 modems, it also will have to upgrade the telephone lines it uses to connect its bank of modems. Hubert said.
The University would have to connect digital lines into its modern bank rather than traditional analog phone lines, he said.
"At home, you'll have an analog phone line," Hubert said. "The modem is generating tones to go out of your analog lines. At some point in the telephone switching system, it's converted to digital signals for the rest of the telephone system. There can't be any additional translations to analog taking place in that 56K path."
Bill Klein, assistant director of networking and telecommunications services for network systems, said that using v.90 modems would cause some technical challenges for the University.
"The technology is so demanding on the telephone network that you have to engineer it precisely to get the maximum benefit," Klein said. "We don't want to put up that service until we do it correctly."
Hubert said that academic computing serreferrals result in hiring
The v.90 standard replaces two competing specifications for 56K modems: x2 and X56lex.
K56flex and x2 modems were available throughout much of 1997, but the modems were not compatible with each other.
Anyone who purchased x2 or K56flex modems should contact their modem manufacturers for information on upgrading those modems to the v.90 standard.
Several web sites also contain information about upgrading K56flex and x2 modems to the v.90 standard. The official K56flex Site is at http://www.56flex.com. U.S. Robotics has an x2 information page at http://x2.usr.com.
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Thursday, March 5, 1998
* FREE Birthday Cake 12:20 p.m.
Lobby, Level 4, Kansas Union
Friday, March 6,1998
- 60 Years of Media Celebration 7 p.m. - midnight
- Wooldridge Andiortium, level 5, Kansas Union
A tour through six dates of film and television, including activities from caravans, music videos, short films and comedies to international cinema. Cautional screening, please free to enter and exit as you please.
- Jaybowl Concert 9:30 p.m. - midnight
Jaybowl, Level I, Kansas Union
Below 10-No Big and No Ryan will perform a free concert in the Jaybowl. Billions and Clow In The Dark Bowling available for a low price.
- Laser Storm Game 3 - 7 p.m. * Kansas University Balloon Rifle, Kansas University Trap, or no eight players are called for battle and armed with a wheel barrow. Traps face off, hiding behind partial bird walls, industrial barns and the shell of a laser-blast-scared automobile.
CELEBRATION
Directed by Francis J. Cullain
Scenic and Costume Design by Dennis Christie
Lighting Design by Margaret Glimore
Purchased leather tickets are on sale in the KU box offices; Murphy Hall,
864-3982, Lied Center, 864-ATRS, SUA Office 864-3747, 121 public $6 students,
111 senior citizens; VISA and MasterCard are accepted for phone orders.