CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, January 21, 1994
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Volunteer is Truman nominee
KU student says she finds work rewarding
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By Angelina Lopez Kansan staff writer
in high school, Jennifer Ford, Lawrence junior, spent her summers working with senior citizens, the mentally ill and the homeless.
She said she didn't volunteer to help these people because she was forced to or because her parents had coerced her into it.
off.
Ford has been a volunteer for one organization or another her entire life, and her commitment has paid
She was a volunteer every summer because she loved it.
Ford has been chosen as a finalist for the Harry S. Truman Scholarship, a $30,000 scholarship awarded to those interested in a career in public service. She is one of 200 finalists who may qualify for the 85 scholarships, which are intended for graduate school.
Ford has volunteered for everything from rest homes to the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence, 1520 Haskell Ave. Currently, she is involved with Project Acceptance, a half-way house and drop-in center for the mentally ill.
"Community service has had a profound impact on how I look at myself and the world," Ford said.
Ford, who is majoring in political science and religious studies, said she was interested in ethics, morality and the motivation behind volunteering.
"I think volunteering is an invaluable experience for the volunteer, and a real and significant way to combat social problems," Ford said. "It enables people
with different backgrounds to work together to build a sense of community, and it fosters mutual respect and tolerance."
At the University of Kansas she is the elections commissioner for the Student Senate, a member of the Student Lecture Series Board and a student delegate to the University Honors Council.
Her support of non-profit organizations has not gone unnoticed. Ford is the first student to become a voting member of the board of directors of the United Way of Douglas County. She also has been appointed to Lawrence's Recycling and Resource Conservation Advisory Board.
"She really believes in what she is doing," said Mary Klayder, assistant director of the honors program, who assisted Ford in entering the scholarship competition. "She really wants to create structures by which other people can become involved in non-profit organizations."
Jennifer Ford, Lawrence junior, is one of 200 finalists for the Truman Scholarship. She has done volunteer work for the last several years and also is involved in many KU activities.
Potter Lake safe, frozen; students go ice skating
Warmer weather next week could make ice unsafe
By Susan White Kansan staff writer
Potter Lake may have enough ice for skating now, but warmer temperatures this weekend could make future trips out on the ice dangerous.
John O'Brien, professor of systematics and ecology, said that a lake should have at least four inches of ice on it to be safe. Potter Lake has more than that now.
4 Should that happen, the risk of falling through will increase.
Although the weather is supposed to get warmer over the weekend, the ice on the lake should stay frozen, O'Brien said. However, if the weather stays warm through next week, the ice will begin to thaw.
"As the central body cools, the lower the body temperature is and the slower a person's responses are," Rock said. "The chances of getting out of the water are less as the body reacts to the cold."
Pat Sisco, Chicago freshman, plays hockey on Potter Lake. Sisco said he would skate on the lake as long as temperatures remained below freezing at night.
William Alix/KANSAN
Randall Rock, a physician at Watkins Memorial Health Center, said that if a person should fall into the water, that person should get out quickly because as the skin gets cold, hypothermia could develop.
Anyone who falls in the lake should be brought out as soon as possible and taken to a warm place out of the wind, he said. If the victim has a serious condition, such as hypothermia, he or she should be taken to Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
Sgt. Rose Rozmiarek, KU police, said the police department had not experienced problems with students skating on the lake in the past because temperatures had not been low enough in the last few years for Potter Lake to freeze. Although she did not know whether the lake was frozen enough to be safe, she said the police department did not have the authority to prevent people
from skating on it.
"There is no city ordinance that restricts people from going on the lake, so there is nothing we can do to keep them off it," she said.
Matt Johnsen, Aurora, Ill., senior, took advantage of the frozen lake Wednesday. "It's my last chance to skate on Potter Lake," he said.
Senate denies further funds for Who'sinations
By Heather Moore
Kansan staffwriter
Who'sinations, an alternative student paper, may have a difficult time making it to the printer in the next few months.
Student Senate's Finance Committee did not pass a bill that requested $6,340 for Who'sinations.
The Student Senate gave nearly $7,000 to Who'sinations last year, but now the paper needs more money to pay for increased publication costs brought on by increased readership. The paper has a circulation of 12,000, and it costs Who'sinations $1,585 per issue to publish.
The main reason the bill failed was because of a rule which states that funds cannot be allocated to an organization whose primary purpose is for the fulfillment of academic requirements.
Alan Pierce, non-traditional senator, said Student Senate couldn't fund an organization that offers college credit.
"Other publications don't offer credit," he said. "Who'sinations is trying to get hold of the media fee."
An ad on the back page of the December issue of Who'sinations requested editorial and design interns, offering college credit (up to six hours at KU) to those who qualified.
Travis Harrod, Student Executive Committee Chair, said that the ad made it sound like
Who'sinations gave course credit.
"The English department has a group that advises campus publications and they give the credit." he said.
Harrod said that these advisers were never members of Who sinations.
"On the surface, the ad violates the rule," he said. "There is a question of precedence. Student Senate does have the prerogative to say no any time because of financial reasons."
Bill Ye, Who sinations publisher, said the problem was due to an odd technicality.
"No one on the full time staff receives credit," he said. "We wanted to have some interns who needed experience but weren't full time to work."
"This is one of the largest venues for student writers who aren't in the J-school," he said.
Ye said that the interns needed to be given some credit because they couldn't be paid.
Jack Cohn, assistant professor of English, said that students had received credit for many activities, including Who sinations
"Who'sinations is not giving academic credit," he said. "The students contribute their labor and get credit from their department."
Despite the lack of funds, Ye said that Who'sinations would stay in the game.
"We're going to keep up advertising even though we don't have a full ad staff," he said. "We have an issue coming out in February, but we'll have to start worrying about it in three months."
By Liz Chadwick
Kansan staff writer
Youth charged with assault, murder
The trial of a Topeka man allegedly involved in an attempted car jacking and murder in Lawrence will begin in Douglas County District Court on Feb. 2.
Abraham Orr is charged with first degree murder and aggravated assault.
According to police reports, Orr, then 17 years old, and three other youths attempted to rob a Lawrence man, Edward Lees, of his Isuzu Trooper last September. Lees was sitting in his car with his girlfriend and her two children watching the sunset on Sept. 18, when four youths approached Lees and demanded he hand over his keys. When Lees refused and attempted to back away, Orr allegedly shot him. The youths then fled to the turnpike where they were apprehended by police.
Orr is the only one of the four youths being tried as an adult.
Orr's lawyer, Randy McGrath, had moved to suppress statements Orr made the evening of his arrest on the grounds they were not made voluntarily.
McGrath named various factors for Judge James Paddock to consider in making the ruling, such as the fact that Orr, one month shy of his 18th birthday, was not allowed to phone his parents. When Orr made the request, the officer told him he could do so after the interview. McGrath also wanted the length of the interview by police, which lasted four-and-a-half hours, and the fact that the officers conducting the interview wore guns to be considered by the judge.
Paddock ruled that Orr's statements given the night of the murder could be used in court.
Paddock responded to McGrath's requests for suppression in a memorandum. He said it would be better police practice to permit a minor to call his parents when he makes the request.
However, the judge also stated in his decision that the defendant was no stranger to police practices and that Orr had committed crimes in the past that would have been felonies if committed by an adult.
McGrath had no comment about Paddock's decision.