University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, November 1, 1989
Campus/Area
3
Jayhawk mascots among trick-or-treaters
Groups hit streets for needy
By Chris Evans
Kansan staff writer
Several KU students don't think trick-or-treating is just for kids or just for candy.
Melissa Solomon, Tulsa, Okla., sophomore, lays in a coffin at the Kansas Union Gallery. Students could get their picture taken in the coffin as part of SUA Halloween activities.
Last night, members of various campus groups, including KU's Jayhawk and Baby Jay mascots, hit the streets to trick-or-treat for canned food to give to Lawrence's hungry.
Mark Montgomery, head mascot and Wichita senior, said he, residents of Sellards Scholarship Hall and members of KU Students Against Hunger Inc. had independently planned to go door-to-door for the food.
Montgomery said that Kathy MacNaughton, mascot team member and Sellars Hall social chairman, told him about plans made in her hall.
"They were planning to do this in the scholarship hall," he said. "I was thinking about it before that and brought it up at the mascot meeting. Kathy told us what was going on, and we went ahead and merzed them."
Coffin Queen
Karin Dones, president of KU Students Against Hunger, said members of her group also were planning to trick-or-treat when she found out about the preparations being made at Sellards Hall.
"I thought I'd call them and make sure we covered different areas," she said.
Denes, Prairie Village sophomore, and residents at Sellars worked out neighborhood zones that each group could cover.
Denes said that members of KU Students Against Hunger were able to collect about 500 cans of food in 1988 for the Salvation Army.
"I don't think I had a single person turn me down last year," she said. "People a lot of times will give you grocery bags full of food. They might give you half a bag at one house and then you just take it and fill it up at the next house."
Montgomery said his squad took mascot suits out and let squad members rotate in and out of them.
MacNaughton, Overland Park sophomore, said that costumed trick-or-treaters and uncostumed drivers went out last night. Those who went door-to-door dropped off the cans periodically with the drivers of the cars. The cars carried the weight from there.
"Since we have six people on the squad this year, we're trying to do more for the community," he said. "We're letting them know that we're not just a sports section."
Stull spooks attract few spectators
Patrolling deputies report slight traffic increase by cemetery
By Lisa Moss
Kensen staff writer
Curious reporters were the spokiest demons the Douglas County Sheriff's Department had to deal with last night while patrolling the Stull cemetery.
Mik Shanks, deputy officer, said there was only a slight increase in traffic past the cemetery last night.
Legally, the cemetery property is private, so anyone caught on the property would be charged with criminal trespassing.
Three KU students drove to Stull last night to see the old church, but they were turned away by an officer.
Mark Coatney, Linwood graduate student, said he and his friends thought it would be interesting to see the church and the cemetery because he had heard that Satan would appear.
He said he also had heard that if a bottle was thrown against one of the walls of the church it would not break.
He said he did not know that it was illegal to walk around the cemetery.
"We were just sitting around watching horror movies, and we thought it would be a good idea," he said.
"I have to keep my mind open. I don't believe anything unless I see it first hand." she said.
Harris said that she had no intention of vandalizing the cemetery but that she wanted to see it. Because she was not allowed to, she went to watch "Pet Semeter", a Stephen King film.
Christy Harris, Linwood junior,
joked about seeing Satanic devil
worshippers.
Ginger Burke, Linwood junior,
said that three years ago she had
visited Stull on Halloween and had
driven around the cemetery.
"We spooked each other," she said. "I would have liked to have gone up there tonight."
gone up there tonight Burke said that she had heard the church had burned down and
"We kind of expected a lot of people out here," she said.
was rebuilt twice. She said that when it was rebuilt the same rafters stood standing and that they had sat sadly writing on them.
Iona Spencer, Stull area resident, said she wished people would stop writing about Stull every year.
Spencer vowed she would guard the cemetery last night because her relatives are buried there, and she did not want any vandalism to occur.
Psychologists say transient is mentally fit for murder trial
She said she was scared to be at the cemetery but not for traditional reasons.
"I'm scared of the live ones with two legs walking around," Spencer said. "I'm not scared of the ones in the cemetery. Anyone who reads the Bible knows they don't come back from the dead."
Two sheriff department officers were watching the cemetery and church.
About 9:30 p.m., Spencer said she thought more people would turn out closer to midnight, which was when the devil, according to legend, would appear.
Kansan staff writer
By Jim Petterson
they would have sent me to prison."
Paraphrasing the transient's comments. Huerter said William told him, "I had to play the nut role or
The transient charged in the July 1988 slaying of a 9-year-old Lawrence boy is mentally competent to stand trial, two Larned State Hospital psychologists testified yesterday.
Larned staff psychologist Robert Huerter testified that John William, 28, made comments to him that indicated William may not have been incompetent when he was sent to Larned.
Both psychologists testified that although William was capable of understanding the charges against him and participating in his own defense, he still had serious mental and emotional problems.
William is charged with first degree murder, or in the alternative, felony murder and aggravated kidnapping in the death of Richard Settlemver.
settleryme's mutilated body was discovered floating in the Kansas River on July 14, 1988.
Both Huerter and Charles Befort,
chief psychologist at Larned State
Hospital, testified during questioning by Jim Flory, Douglas County district attorney, that William was competent to stand trial based on personal observation and input from other hospital staff members.
"He has serious enough problems to cause him serious problems in life, but I don't think the problems will keep him from functioning properly as a defendant," Befort said.
Kansas law states that a defendant must be able to understand the charges against him and be able to participate in his own defense before he can be tried.
James Paddock, Douglas County
District Court judge, said he would announce his decision tomorrow morning regarding William's competence to stand trial.
Under cross-examination from defense attorney Margie Wakefield-Green, Befort testified that William was "not the most competent person I have ever seen in the world."
He said that William's condition had continued to improve during his stay at Larned until he had "crossed the line" to mental competency.
"But he was not an 'A' student in degree of competency" Refent said
Herbert Modlin, a psychiatrist
from the Menninger Foundation, Topeka, testified that William was delusional.
"He has pretty good contact with reality until he gets into the July events," Modlin said. "Then he presents his own version of what happened, which is pretty hard to swallow. He is delusional in that instance."
Modlin also testified that William might have problems participating in his own defense.
"He rejects the insanity plea, plea bargaining and the idea that he is mentally incompetent," he said. "He's convinced that he is right."
Modlin's testimony was based on two conversations he had with William, one in February and one on Monday.
Yesterday's competency hearing was the third such hearing William has been through.
based on expert and other testimony, Paddock must determine whether William meets the mental competency criteria outlined in Kansas law.
If Paddock rules that William is competent, William's trial will begin Nov. 6 in Douglas County district court, Flory said.
Financial aid could be just a computer search away with new data base
By Doug Fishback
Kansan staff writer
Financial aid at the University of Kansas has entered the computer age with the recent installation of a data base that will match eligible students with any of 24,000 financial aid sources.
The system, called College Aid Sources for Higher Education, was
opened for student use Oct. 23, said Jim Williamson, graduate assistant in the financial aid office. Since then, 12 people have used the service, he said.
For a $12 fee, students can fill out a personal information sheet including questions ranging from race and
said. "It's been really positive," Williamson said. "I have yet to hear any complaints."
religion to activities their parents are involved in. A financial aid office staff member then punches the data into the computer, which sifts through thousands of nationally offered scholarships to form a list of those the student would be eligible to receive.
son said. After about three days, students are notified that they can pick up the information at the financial aid office in a report that can run from 10 to 20 pages.
The computer prints the list, along with an application calendar and sample application letters, William-
Williamson said that on a trial run, the computer had found 17 financial aid sources for him.
it really does work, the member in the office of financial aid, said that the
program was produced commercially by National College Services Ltd., a Gaithersburg, Md., company that compiles a list of nationally offered scholarships.
Jeff Weinberg, associate director of financial aid, said that about 275 KU scholarships had been put into the computer as well.
He said that KU's scholarship search program provided the same
service as other programs for a much lower fee. Weinberg said other programs charged as much as $50 or even $100.
He said that at $12 per search, 400 students would need to use the service this academic year for the financial aid office to be able to pay off the cost of the computer and printer and to lease the $1,800 software again next year.
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