SPORTS: The Kansas men's basketball team has released its schedule for the 1993-94 season. Page 8.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
VOL.102, NO.158
WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 1993
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
(USPS 650-640)
NEWS:864-4810
Kansas River flooding could get worse
River brings memories of 1951 flood
Kansan staff writer
By Carlos Tejada
Aptaining hanging on the wall in the Lawrence Riverfront Plaza shows happier times; the Plaza on a sun-lit day with a restrained Kansas River gurgling farply along its banks.
The window beside it tells a different story.
Since Monday afternoon, the foaming river has swallowed its banks and completely submerged Burcham Park, located on the south bank. Workers at the mall spent that afternoon sandbagging entrances along the promenade on the north side of the mall and roping off the west end of the promenade, where waves lapped over the edge and sprayed onlookers.
Paula Phillips, director of emergency preparedness for Douglas County, said the water rose to 21 feet on Monday at the water-measuring station in Lecompton, ten miles upstream. Flood level is 17 feet.
While the river was down to about 18 feet yesterday afternoon, Phillips said the river would rise again tomorrow to about 21 feet.
Rod Brebmy, assistant city manager, said the rising water posed little danger to lives and property but was still unpredictable.
"We don't know what another two or three feet will do to the south side of the river, but we know the north
side with the levee is absolutely safe," he said.
Larry Crump, a spokesperson for the Army Corps of Engineers in Kansas City, Mo., said the reason for the high level of the river could be found 80 miles upstream. The high amounts of rain the state has received this year have completely filled the reservoirs at Milford Lake, near Junction City, and Tuttle Creek, near Manhattan. Crump said the Corps had decided to release 22,500 cubic feet of water per second from Milford and 22,000 cubic feet per second from Tuttle Creek.
Crump said that the amount of water released from Milford had been cut down to 10,000 cubic feet per second because of soil erosion at a point near the Milford dam. The result was a lower water level yesterday and today. Once the area is reinforced with stone, the original rate of release will be restored and the river will rise again to about 21 feet.
He said he did not know whether the river would rise even more but would not dismiss the possibility.
"Once we start the flows again, they will probably continue throughout the rest of the month," he said.
"More water is coming down, and we don't have those readings," he said.
Bill Seckington, an Ottawa resident who lived in Lawrence during the flood of 1851, said he had not seen the river so high since the flood more than 40 years ago.
"The first impression is that it looks more like an ocean, with waves and whitecaps, than the old Kansas River," he said.
Heather Lofflin / KANSAN
See related stories. Page 7.
Erica Countess, 15, Lawrence, leans over the railing and watches the river with Kristen Countess, 12, Bethany, OH... on the west end of the promenade at the Lawrence Riverfront Mall Monday.
North Lawrence businesses lose about $1.2 million
By Carlos Tejada Kansan staff writer
Wilma Gates, resident of the Jaya-hawk Motel, 1044 North Third St., surveyed the damage that three feet of flood water did to her apartment.
Wet compact discs and saggy tapes litter the floor. Her furniture smells of raw sewage. The carpet squishes with each step. The worst part for her, however, is the photo album that now contains only strips of colored paper.
"Every time I go in there, I cry," she said of her apartment where she has lived for two-and-a-half years.
North Lawrence's water level has receded since the recent flooding, but the emotions of residents and businesses have not. While some have praised relief efforts, others say Lawrence officials have not acted with speed or forethought in dealing with the flood.
Maxine Kinker, co-owner of Roger's Food Center, 608 North Second St., said the Lawrence City Commission's response to the flood was an example of the second-class status many give to North Lawrence.
"I feel like North Lawrence has been a stepchild long enough for this city," she said. "I've never had to work so hard to get people's attention."
She said many basic services in North Lawrence, including sewage systems and road repair, have been ignored. She said the city's treatment of the crater on the south side of the North Second Street underpass was only one example.
According to the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce and the Douglas County Emergency Preparedness office, North Lawrence businesses lost $1.2 million in damages and lost revenue due to road closures. Kinker said the loss revenue was the larger part of the $50,000 her store lost in the flood.
Ruth Cheek, manager of Fisca Oil Co. Inc., 740 North Second St., also said North Lawrence was treated as a second-class part of the city.
"We're considered a slum area," she said. "North Lawrence slum rats."
However, she said she was satisfied with the commission's treatment of the flood.
Bob Moody, city commissioner,
said accusations of a lack of concern
for North Lawrence were unfair. He
said the commission already had
voted to spend about $2 million to
improve streets and to bring in pumping
equipment to deal with such a
flood before the flood occurred.
"If almost $2 billion in improvements is neglect, then I don't think we can please those people," he said.
He also said those who complained about the commission's lack of forethought should question whether they themselves were insured against flooding.
Kinser said she was not insured and that her current insurance company did not offer flood coverage. She said her former company charged too much for insurance premiums and only covered $10,000 in damages. She such coverage was too small for a business like Roger's.
Rusty Thomas, owner of State Radiator Inc. 613 North Second St., said some businesses simply felt lucky to have survived.
"We lost business Monday morning," she said. "But we didn't lose our lives, I guess we're lucky."
Protesters picket during unrelated wedding
Melissa Lacey / KANSAN
Phelps protests homosexuality; disrupts nuptials
Jay Henderson, left, camp minister for the First United Methodist Church, 946 Vermont St., listens as the Rev. Fred Phieps of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka discusses his views on homosexuality.
By Todd Puntney
Kansan staff writer
Puffing nervously on a cigarette and noticeably shaking, Molly Price was an angry bride on her wedding day.
With a cold, hard stare she watched about 15 protesters waving signs outside Danforth Chapel Saturday reading "No flags in Heaven," "No tears for queers" and "God gave fags up."
But the only connection between her wedding and the protest, led by the Rev. Fred Phelps and members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, was timing.
rice's wedding was scheduled an hour and a half before a memorial service for Greg Barker, a former KU student who died from AIDS complications last month.
But because a state law prohibits demonstrations one hour before and after a memorial service, Phelps, an
anti-homosexual activist, pickedet during Price's wedding.
"They have the right to do this, but why do that have to do this at my wedding?" Price said.
repeated requests from the wedd-
ding party, passing cars with drivers
hurtling insults at the picketers, and a
minor scuffle that was broken up by
KU police not budge Phelps.
"Maybe they ought not to schedule a wedding on the same day they're going to have a fag funeral." Phelps said. "But this is a wonderful way to start any decent Bible wedding, with a lot of good Bible preaching about the home, which is God hates fags. The bride is happy to have us here."
Price said she was far from happy.
"This is my day. Why did they have to ruin it for me?" Price said. "This is the only thing that went wrong with my wedding."
Phelps said he was picketing the memorial service because it was being held three weeks after Barker's death on June 30.
"This guy died of AIDS, and; they had a quiet funeral on July 3. We don't bother utility funerals," he said. "But they're making a propaganda epic out of this dead piece of human flesh. This
even a memorial service for that fag — this is just a living fag propaganda ploy."
Jay Henderson, campus minister at the First United Methodist Church, 946 Vermont St., led the memorial service.
"Memorial services are held after the burial," Henderson said. "This is an opportunity for friends in Lawrence, who were unable to attend the funeral because it was out of town, to gather and share in their grief and sorrow."
Henderson said he wanted people to know that most pastors treated people with care and compassion.
"I'm ready to do what I'm called to do, which is to proclaim the good news of resurrection and eternal life," he said.
Henderson approached Phelps, who lectured him for about five minutes.
"Id like to tell you, sir, that people like this deceased, living a life predicated on lies, engaged in the riskiest conduct known to man or beast, played Russian roulette with all the chambers full of bullets, and he lost." Phelps said.
Human pin cushion
Kansan staff writer Todd Puntney delivers a firsthand account of the ancient practice of acupuncture.
See story. Page 6.
Coach of the year
Kansas baseball coach Dave Bingham was named the District VI Coach of the Year. Bingham led Kansas to the College World Series last season
See story, Page 8.
Dave Bingham
Minority pupils launched into science
By Susan White Special to the Kansan
The countdown began, the rocket launched, and the cluster of people went crazy.
The group was not watching a shuttle liftoff at Kennedy Space Center, but one of several rockets launched Thursday by 14 Lawrence junior high students involved in the Minorities/Women Pre-College Engineering Enrichment Program. The KU-sponsored program runs July 6 to July 30.
Before building their rockets, the students learned about rocket theory with the aid of regular household items such as balloons, soda cans and water rockets, said John Valaske, Lawrence graduate teaching assistant and instructor of the science part of the program.
The students have been taking daily classes on science, mathematics, computer skills and study skills, along with engineering seminars. The classes are part of an engineering enrichment program for junior high students.
Valasek divided the students into three groups: the Alphas, the Betas and the Gammas. The groups took turns doing different jobs. One group launched its rockets, another group recorded the altitudes of the rockets, and the third group retrieved the rockets.
Valsake said the project was constructed to improve the students' understanding of rocket theory and physics.
"We want the students to take a hands-on approach to learning, with a little bit of science and physics at a level they can understand," he said.
rorenice Boldridge, director and organizer of the program, said the program was designed to encourage female and minority students who are entering the eighth grade to take an early interest in science and math.
"What research is finding is that these students are turned off by math and science at the junior high school level." Boldridge said.
level. Boldridge selected the students for the program by talking to counselors at Lawrence junior high schools. African-American, Hispanic, Native-American and Asian students who liked math and science were targeted for the program.
program.
In addition to attending classes, the students take field trips every Friday. They have visited the General Motors plant in Kansas City and the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson. On July 23 they will visit the Lawrence water treatment plant.
Boldridge said she sent three proposals to the department of engineering to get funding for the minorities program. She received enough money to fund the program for this summer and next summer.
ragar aazaiar, West Junior High School student, said she liked the setup of the program.
"It's very educational and fun," she said. "There are not really any bosses, so it is not boring."
Mohanboldridge, West Junior High School student said the program was challenging.
really any bosses, so it is not boring." Elizabeth Boldridge, West Junior High School student
said the program was challenging.
"I would like to be in architectural engineering," she said
The students said they enjoyed the program and the activities held in and out of class.
Brian Vandervliet / KANSAN
Lawrence residents Hagar Jazaien, left, Tom Valasek,
front, and Elizabeth Boldridge search the sky for a soaring
rocket.
"I like to be challenged with math and science. I love them both."
Lysette Faucher, West Junior High School student, said she enjoyed her math class.
"We were doing robotics in class, and we made boxes out of paper for robot characters," she said.