SPORTS: The Kansas baseball team split a double header with Iowa yesterday. Page 6.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
KANSAS STATE
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
TOPEKA KS 66612
VOL.102.NO.120
MONDAY, MARCH 15, 1993
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
Report to force field house safety upgrade
(USPS 650-640)
Kansan staff writer
NEWS:864-4810
By WILL LEWIS
Officials say crowds must be more restricted
Allen Field House will see tighter regulations and more safety features next basketball season in its attempt to comply with a 1991 state fire marshal's report.
*What we want to do is control seat*
ing to 15,800 when everyone is in the building," said Ed Meyen, executive vice chancellor. "It's important for us to keep it at that level. We have to exercise every option we have to control the crowd and manage the numbers."
The building's advertised capacity is 15,800.
Meyen said overcrowding had not been a problem in the past, but that more would be done in the future to increase enforcement.
Crowd monitors will make sure fans are not blocking aisles or wandering around the building in search of a better seat, Meyen said.
"They do everything they can to make sure it doesn't exceed capacity," he said. "We're just doing more in the future to make sure that's true."
A $1.9 million increase proposal in capital improvement funds to provide the additional exits needed will be
Ross Boelling, chief of fire prevention at the state fire marshal's office, who wrote the report, said the lack of exits and width of the stairways topped the list of concerns.
presented to the Senate Ways and Means committee tomorrow, Meyen said.
A report conducted December 10, 1991, by the state fire marshal's office said the upper balcony of the field house seated 2,540 people more than could safely exit the building.
Until the provisions are funded and constructed, a careful eye will be kept on the number of people who enter the field house, he said.
Emergency lighting, a fire sprinkler system and a fire alarm system will be installed to comply with other sections of the report stating the field house is deficient in these areas, he said.
"I think we need to be responsive on any potential safety problem." Meyen said. "We're pushing for our resources to do this."
One way to control the number of fans is to allow only reserved seating, in which every season ticket holder would sit in the same seat for the entire season, he said.
Boelling said it was essential that the numbers be controlled.
we prefer to find ways to accommodate the crowd and allow flexibility for students," Meyen said.
Any time you have a large number of people in a confined space like that we just want to make sure that there's adequate ways for exit," Boelling said.
in a pane situation, it's hard to tell what people would do."
Reducing the number of seats in the building is one option, he said.
"That would allow them to operate safely within the capacity of exiting that they have," Boelling said.
Bernie Kish, director of ticket operations and sales, said he did not know if tickets would be cut, but that student representatives of the KU Athletic Center might have to devise a lottery system for students ticket holders if demand increased.
Because of all the sporting events going on, not enough time has been available to give consideration to the various options, he said.
Police arrest suspect in shootings Victim's estranged husband held in double homicide
By Mark Kiefer
Kansan staff writer
Lawrence police arrested a 35-year-old man early yesterday in connection with the Saturday morning shootings that left two Lawrence residents dead.
John L. Pease, 47, and Linda M. Smith, 34, were found dead by police in their apartment in Sunrise Place, 837 Michigan St., at 5:02 a.m. Saturday. Autopsies conducted by Carol Moddrell, Douglas County coroner, determined that both victims died of gunshot wounds to the head.
At 9:02 p.m. Saturday, a man called 911 from a Chanute restaurant claiming to be responsible for the two Lawrence deaths. Mike Myers, a dispatch officer with the Chanute police department, said Lawrence police arrived in Chanute at 11:23 p.m.
Lawrence Police Chief Ron Oln said that investigators talked with the man in Chanute before bringing him into the Douglas County jail at 4:15 a.m. Sunday. He said that police recovered a handgun from the man, and that tests were being done to determine if the gun was the weapon used in the murders.
"All of this has transpired really quickly, and we have a lot to do before handing it to the district attorney." Oln said.
Olln said the man was Smith's estranged husband whose last known address was in Wichita. He said that the man had been camping out in the Lawrence area for some time but would not say where. Olln said that the man was a suspect before he called the Chanute police.
Neighbors said that Smith had evicted her husband from the apartment about six weeks ago and that Pease had recently moved into the apartment.
The Smith's 12-year-old daughter, whose name has not been released, was spending the night at a relative's house and was not in the apartment Saturday morning.
Police said there were no signs of forced entry into the apartment.
Neighbors in the apartment complex said that it was common to hear arguments between Smith and others in the apartment.
"There were a lot of times when people had to open up their windows and yell at them to shut up," said Peter Mallouk, Prairie Village senior, who lives in an apartment across a courtyard from Smith's apartment. Mallouk said that he did not hear the gunshots Saturday.
Brian Hutchinson, Wichita junior, lives less than 20 feet from Smith's apartment and also said that he did not hear any gunshots. He said he found out about the shootings at 6 a.m. when police came to his door to question him.
Jennifer Pratt, Seattle junior, lives behind the Smith apartment and also said that she did not hear the shots. She said that the nearness of the murders gave her an uneasy feeling.
"It was uncomfortable to see a body bag going by my window at nine o'clock in the morning," she said.
- Douglas County District Attorney Jerry Wells said that he expected to file charges against the man today.
Goin' to the Big Dance
By David Dorsey and Matt Doyle
Kansan sportswriters
The Jayhawks won the regular season Big Eight Conference title by three games but they lost Saturday to Kansas State in the semifinals of the conference tournament.
No.2 seeded men to face Ball State in Midwest region
Kansas, 25-6, is the second seed in the Midwest Region and will play the No. 15-seeded Cardinals, 26-7, Thursday at the Rosemont Horizon in Rosemont, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. The game time will be announced tomorrow.
But the team will put the season's triumphs and struggles behind it as it prepares to play Ball State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, said Kansas coach Roy Williams.
The Kansas team met yesterday afternoon at Williams' home for ice cream and brownies to watch the announcement of the NCAA Tournament pairings.
Daron J. Bennett / KANSAN
"It wasn't a jump up and down kind of thing," Williams said about when the bracket was announced.
In the post-game news conference, senior guard Adonis Jordan hangs his head. The top-seeded Jayhawks fell to Kansas State Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the Big Eight Conference Tournament at Kemper Arena.
"We are very happy to still be playing. We're looking at it like we have one game left now in the season. Our 25 wins can't help us and our six losses cannot hurt us."
"We just couldn't hit any open shots near the end of the game," he said. "K-State got us into their type of ball game, a slow-paced game."
Kansas' inability to hit shots in the final six minutes against K-State was the downfall for the Jayhawks, said Justin Bogart, Tonganoxic senior.
The top four seeds in the Midwest Region are Indiana, Kansas, Duke and Louisville. Kansas defeated Indiana and Louisville earlier this season.
Jarrod Nichols, Garden City sophomore,
Kansas had won its last eight contests against Kansas State.
"I thought we were a No. 2 going in," Williams said. "I think our strength of schedule really helped us."
The last time K-State defeated Kansas in the Big Eight semifinals was in 1988, when Kansas last won the national championship.
Kansas' last two trips to the Final Four.
1988 and 1991, came after the Jahawks lost in the semifinals of the Big Eight Tournament.
After Saturday's 74-67 loss to Kansas State in the semifinals of the Big Eight Tournament at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo. Kansas fans were left wondering what NCAA Tournament seed the Jayhawks would get and where they would be sent.
"If that was an omen and you could guarantee that, I'd love it," Williams said.
"We should have won this tournament easily," Nichols said. "There's no team in the Big Eight that can beat us when we are playing at our best."
said Kansas should not have lost in the conference tournament.
10. SMU
Men's team
Jayhawks in Midwest ... twice
The basketball teams were both placed in Midwest regions. The men's team will be the No. 2 seed and will play Thursday in Rosemont, Ill. Tip-off time will be announced tomorrow. The team will play on Wednesday at California at Alten Field House at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Tickets are $3.50. See both men's and women's brackets on Page 7.
15. Ball St.
2. KANSAS
Women's team
Women's team 1 Vanderbilt
KANSAS
California
Women will face California
The NCAA tournament selection committee filled in those particular yesterday morning. The who is the California Golden Bears. The where is here — 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Allen Field House.
Kansan staff report
The Kansas women's basketball team knew it was going to the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship. What it lacked were the details, such as who and where the Jayhawks would play.
The team gathered yesterday in the lobby of Naismith Hall to watch the pairings on television. At 11:45 a.m., many team members cheered and jumped up from their seats when they saw the Kansas pairing announced, relieved to learn where and who they would play next.
"I'm delighted we're at home," said Kansas coach Marian Washington. "It's very good for our fans and for the University. It will help us get off to a good start."
Tickets for the contest will cost $5 for adults and $3.50 for students.
See story, Page 3.
Sporting physics
Lied's first show to be 'Secret Garden'
By James J. Reece
Kansan staff writer
Musical to be part of KU Concert Series
the new Lied Center, which has been under construction since 1991, will hold its first major show in September.
Jacqueline Davis, director of KU's Concert Series and director of the center, said a professional touring company would present "The Secret Garden," a musical based on the 1911 children's book.
The production will not be the first event in the center. A summer music camp for high school students and other activities will be held there to test the acoustics.
The first KU event held in the center will be the chancellor's convocation Aug 22
Davis said that continuing the musical production Friday fulfilled a year-and-a-
"It's the kind of experience that makes people happy. This story celebrates
life."
Jaqueline Davis Director of KU's Concert Series
half-old dream of her own and a request by Christina Hixson, executor of the Erust F. Lied Foundation of Omaha, Neb., which donated $10 million for the center's construction.
instruction.
"She said, 'I want this place to be a build
The words stayed with Davis when she planned the performance.
ing everyone will want to come to." Davis said, recalling Hixson's words when the women met two years ago.
"I wanted an event that was special," Davis said of the search "That was always in the back of my mind."
in the back by my hands.
She said she first considered "The Secret Garden" when she saw it on Broadway in October, 1991.
Sherman Warner, producer of the musical, said that the show spent 92 weeks on Broadway and closed in January.
The story, adapted from a book by Frances Hodgson Burnett, is about a young orphan who moves to England to live with her uncle. There she finds a secret garden in disrepair, and, while working to restore it, adapts to her new family.
"I saw it in New York and the response to it was very positive," Davis said. "It's the kind of experience that makes people happy. This story celebrates life."
Lied Center grand opening
The Lied Center will open this fall with "The Secret Garden."
Performances
Sept. 28 Tuesday
29 Wednesday
30 Thursday
Oct. 1 Friday
2 Saturday
3 Sunday
Matinee performances will be on Oct. 2, and KU students can get tickets for the Sept. 29 performance at half price.