SAD
The University Daily Kansan
Weather
Today: Partly cloudy with a high of 101. Low of 75.
Tomorrow: Partly cloudy with a high of 97. Low of 70.
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Wednesday August 30, 2000
Wednesday, August 30, 2000
Sports: Kansas coach Roy Williams hasn't let his decision to stay change his outlook.
SEE PAGE 1B
(USPS 650-640) • VOL. 111 NO. 06
Inside: Lawrence dog owners are lobbying for an open space to let dogs run leash-free.
(USPS 650-640) • VQL 111 NO. 06 For comments, contact Nathan Willis or Chris Borniger at 864-4810 or e-mail editor@kansan.com
SEE PAGE 3A
WWW.KANSAN.COM
No relief in sight for heat wave
By Lauren Brandenburg
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
With yesterday's high at 96 degrees, a representative for the National Weather Service joked that there must be a cold spell going through Lawrence.
But the National Weather Service said the heat index remained in the triple digits — at 105 degrees — because the humidity was hovering around 50 percent. And the higher the humidity, the higher the heat index, said Don Rogers, meteorologist for the National Weather Service.
Even after today's heat break, Randall Rock, chief of staff for Watkins Memorial Health Center, encouraged students to drink plenty of water.
"This week has been extremely difficult for individuals to stay adequately hydrated." Rock said.
Students continue to go to Watkins this week with heat-related problems, he said, and some have required intravenous fluid drips to get rehydrated.
Michelle Lauerman, Lenexa sophomore, said she carried a water bottle around with her to make sure she did not become dehydrated. Lauerman said she walks up the hill on 14th Street
More information
Provost David Shulenburger issued restrictions on University water usage.
See page GA
every day to get to class and would continue to carry a water bottle as long as the heat was on.
"By the time you get to the top, you're really hot," she said. "It makes the hill worse."
Although the Lawrence-Douglas County Fire and Medical Department responded to grass fires on campus
Monday, a battalion chief reported that there were no heat-related fire or medical emergencies at the University of Kansas yesterday.
The National Weather Service predicts no relief for the rest of the week, with today and tomorrow hot and sunny with highs between 100 and 105 degrees.
For the weekend, the National Weather Service predicts "dry and unseasonably hot daytime temperatures," with highs between 95 and 103 degrees.
"People should take temporary permission to be couch potatoes," Rock said. "Or at least to avoid exercising in direct sunlight with the heat."
— Edited by John Audlehelm
Students sweat out warm weather woes
Clinton Enyeart, Kansas City, Mo., sophomore, pulls a batch of food out of a hot oven as Mike Colburn, St. Louis sophomore, assists. Both are residents of Stephenson Scholarship Hall, which has seen temperatures rise to 102 degrees inside the residents' rooms without air conditioning. Photo by Craig Bennett/KANSAN
By Melissa Davis writer@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Nora Wood's roommate came home Sunday to find her passed out on the floor of their apartment in Jayhawker Towers.
Wood, San Luis Obispo, Calif., junior, said she had fainted from heat exhaustion because her air conditioner was broken. She said she had got up to answer her phone and then blacked out.
"I was sitting on the couch when I heard the phone ring. I got up to answer it, and that's the last thing I remember," she said.
Wood said that since June 4 — when she moved in — the air conditioner in her apartment had gone out five times, sometimes at the hottest part of the day.
"This time, the air has been broken since Tuesday," she said. "They told us that the air was to be working 100 percent, but it hasn't, and I haven't slept two nights in a row because it is so hot."
Wood said she thought the housing department was neglecting the welfare of students.
"The housing department is giving me the run-around," she said. "She nobody wants to accept responsibility for this. This is like a big slap in the face. They don't care about our welfare."
She said that it had been a week since she complained about the problem and that maintenance still had not been to her apartment.
"This doesn't happen off campus because they know they wouldn't get away with it." Wood said.
Phil Garito, associate director for housing maintenance, said the housing department was working to solve the air-conditioning problem.
"the air conditioners in the towers are at maximum capacity," he said. "They were not designed for 100 plus-degree weather."
Garito said he had been informed that the air conditioners needed to be updated but that it would be a tricky procedure.
"The downside to replacing all the air conditioners would be shutting down all
See SCORCHING on page 6A
Engine fire destroys car in new parking garage
By Karen Lucas
Kansan staff writer
One car was destroyed and another damaged in a fire late yesterday morning in the new parking garage next to the Kansas Union.
No damage estimates were available for the fire, which apparently started in the engine compartment of a car parked in the garage at 10:38 a.m., said Sgt. Troy Mallen of the KU Public Safety Office.
There were no injuries and a preliminary investigation indicated that the fire likely was accidental.
Mailen said the
More information
Unextinguished cigarette
butts have sparked six
small fires on campus.
See page 2A
office received a call at about 1458 a.m. The responding officer saw smoke billowing from the first level of the garage, and he located the vehicle on fire.
Street:
Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical arrived at 10:56 a.m., Battalion Chief Bill Stark said. The fire was contained to the west side of the lower level, and it took firefighters 15 minutes to bring it under
located the venue for Public safety officers evacuated the garage and blocked traffic on part of Mississippi Street.
control.
"Someone said a red Blazer was parked next to the car on fire, and it was my car," she said. "I honestly couldn't do anything but laugh. I just had my whole brake system fixed two days ago, so it's just sort of ironic."
Emily Derusseau, Lawrence senior and owner of the sports utility vehicle, said she saw fire coming out of the parking garage when she arrived there.
A sports utility vehicle parked next to the car on fire sustained heat damage and had to be towed.
"I was flagged down on the street and told there was a car smoking on the lower level of the parking garage," he said.
Mike Norris, student parking officer, said he was working in the parking booth near the Union when the fire broke out.
Norris said he then drove into the garage, and as he was entering the lower level, he saw the fire.
Several other vehicles had minor smoke damage. Mailen said.
Firefighters enter the recently completed parking garage near Memorial Stadium. The car fire yesterday destroyed one car and damaged another. Photo by Jamie Roper/KANSAN
The first-level entrance still was blocked off yesterday afternoon, though people parked on that level were allowed to remove their vehicles. Motorists had to use the Oread Avenue entrance because the first level was inaccessible.
"The flames were clearly visible from my position, and the entire lower level was full of smoke," Norris said.
Mailen said the entrance would remain closed until investigators could assess the structure and clean up. It would be at least
this morning before first-level parking would be available, he said.
— Edited by J.R. Mendoza
City plans to limit student housing
By Matt Merkel-Hess writer@kansan.com
Staff writer
Oit-campus student housing could be limited under a proposed change to city housing ordinances.
The proposal would reduce the number of unrelated people who could live in single-family homes in single-family neighborhoods from four to two.
Affected areas include East Lawrence and the Centennial and Pinckney elementary school neighborhoods, 2145 Louisiana and 810 W. 6th St. respectively.
"We find it a problem that the
Properties rented to unrelated people — students or otherwise are causing a variety of problems such as party houses, displacement of families and declining enrollment at citycenter elementary schools, said Lawrence resident Arly Allen, who is leading the proposal.
Allen said he thought students should not live in single-family homes or neighborhoods.
We find it University has abdicated its role in providing housing," Allen said. "The bulk of students are forced to find
their own accommodations wherever they can. And the behavior pattern of teen- to 24-year-olds is different from the behavior pattern of their parents."
Groups of students can afford to pay more for housing than families can, Allen said, displacing families to areas such as West Lawrence. Fewer families means fewer children at center-city schools, which could result in school closings.
Holly Krebs, chairwoman of the Student Senate student rights committee, said the proposal was unfair to students and the links between students to the problems mentioned were tenuous.
"Students are not the only ones who have unusual life schedules," Krebs said. "There is a huge expansion of West Lawrence and Southeast Lawrence where the homes have bigger yards, newer schools and less traffic. There are tons of reasons why families are leaving the city center."
Krebs said not all students were disruptive and that the new disorderly house ordinance should be given time to take effect to see if problems diminish in neighborhoods.
Other cities such as Lincoln, Neb., Stillwater, Okla, Columbia, Mo., and Ames, Iowa
— all hometowns of Big 12 universities — already have ordinances limiting unrelated people in single-family homes to two or three persons, said David Corliss, assistant city manager.
"Courts have given city commissions and city councils room to establish their own regulations." Corliss said.
Allen said the proposed ordinance change was not aimed at students and that two unrelated people could still rent homes in single-family neighborhoods.
"When you have two students or two people in a home they don't behave like a group," Allen said. "The behavior is more like a single family."
The draft ordinance will be presented to the Lawrence City Commission Tuesday.
- Edited by Clay McCusistion