UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, May 3, 1994
Vandals drain oil from buses
7A
By David Wilson Kansan staff writer
About 2,700 Lawrence public school students had to walk or be driven to school yesterday morning after vans drained motor oil from 41 school buses Sunday night.
The vandals unscrewed the plugs on the undersides of the buses, which are owned by Mayflower Contracting Services, and let the oil drain out onto the Mayflower parking lot at 930 E. 30th St. The plugs were stolen by the vandals, police said.
Each bus lost four gallons of oil. Damage was estimated at $25,000, said Tim Dennis, facility manager for
Mayflower Contracting Services.
Dennis said that a backhoe was used to rip up the parking lot in spots where the oil had been drained. The piles of gravel, asphalt and soil dug up by the backhoe are awaiting testing by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Dennis said about 3,000 students from Lawrence High School, the three junior high schools and 17 elementary schools ride the bus every day. Only about 300 students were able to ride the bus yesterday morning. Those students were taken to school by buses that were parked at bus drivers' homes on Sunday night.
The buses were repaired yesterday
afternoon and will run today, Dennis said.
He said that bus drivers drove their routes in their personal cars and told students waiting for the bus that there would be no bus service because of the vandalism.
Tate said he did not know who might have drained the oil.
Lawrence police are working on leads based on evidence found at the scene but did not have any suspects yesterday afternoon.
Brad Tate, principal of Lawrence High School, said that the number of absences yesterday at Lawrence High was not unusually high because most students do not ride the bus.
Smoking banned at high school
By Cheryl Cadue
Kansan staff writer
Lawrence High School students who smoke will have to walk at least three blocks to have a cigarette.
Brad Tate, Lawrence High School principal, brought the proposal to the school board, which passed it a week ago. Under the new law, student smokers will be suspended for three days if they are caught smoking within sight of the school.
At the beginning of the 1993-94 school year, the Lawrence School Board adopted a district-wide policy that banned smoking on its school campus. However, neighbors of the school complained about the cigarette butts and trampled grass left by students who crossed the street to have a cigarette.
"If I can see for two blocks from the edge of campus, and I see you smoking, you've had it," he said. "Now if students want to smoke, they have to hike."
John Tacha; school board president, said the policy seemed to be curbing the amount of trash and damaged yards near the school.
"At first glance, it seems to be doing what we wanted it to," he said. "It's keeping them off the neighbors' yards."
Students can reduce their suspension time if they participate in a smoking clinic given by the school nurse. Three students have been caught since the policy took effect. Tate said.
The American Civil Liberties Union had expressed an interest in the policy change. However, Tate said, the organization could do nothing because the policy was not violating the students' constitutional rights.
Steve Lopes, president of the state's ACLU division, said his organization was not involved with changing the school policy.
"The ACLU is not going to be messing with this," he said.
Karen Lyerla, a Lawrence High school teacher, said the new policy only pushed the student smokers farther into the neighborhoods, which
caused more tardiness and more skipped classes.
"The intent is good, but I think Lawrence High has far more pressing problems that need to be dealt with," she said. "This is not a battle I would choose to fight."
Lyerla, who smokes, said she drove around during her lunch break to have a cigarette.
Mike Jump, Lawrence High junior, said that he did not smoke but that the penalties for getting caught were too harsh.
"They shouldn't be suspended for three days just for having a cigarette," he said. "If they need a cigarette, I'm sure it's hard."
Adam Blackwood, Lawrence High senior, said the school board and high school administration were overreacting.
"I don't see how it's a very big problem," he said. "All the policy did was make the neighbors mad. They need to have a smoker section at the school like they use to."
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