MONDAY, NOV. 26, 2001
LOCAL AND STATE NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3A
Native American dances appeal to eyes, spirit
By J. R. Mendoza Kansan staff writer
Dancing is more than a weekend activity for the members of the Kiowa Cultural Club. It's a way of showing individuality and remembering ancestors while connecting with members of different cultures.
As a part of First Nations People's Heritage Month, the club performed Native American cultural dances and songs Tuesday night for a group of about 20 people in the Kansas Union. The Multicultural Resource Center, First Nations Students Association, Office of Multicultural Affairs and Student Senate sponsored the performance.
Club members performed varied dances. One featured three dancers, each wearing different, colorful costumes, dancing together for a couple of numbers before performing individually. The dancers showed off their unique moves while a singer
sang and kept time on a drum.
A Grass dance was part of another routine. Performer Chris Whitewolf, Haskell student, said the dance represented the older generation. Whitewolf's costume included strands of white yarn representing grass swaying in the wind.
Although the costumes were an important part of the performance, group members like Cully say the dances were pleasing to the eye — and the spirit.
Lance Cully, a singer in the group, said the dancers' costumes, which could cost more than $1,000 to make, were either made individually or inherited.
"The songs come from a long time ago," Cully said. "It's like a healing."
Jay Mule, one of the dancers, said he started dancing when he was young.
"I've been introduced to different cultures all my life. I was kind of absorbed into that type of atmosphere."
"I was surrounded by different tribes," Mule said. "I've been introduced to different cultures all my life. I was kind of absorbed
Jay Mule Dancer
into that type of atmosphere."
Brady Tapedo, the club's sponsor, said the group had about 20 members. He said about 12 of those members performed.
Theresa Milk, Wanblee, S.D. graduate student, said the event was important because it introduced others to the Native American culture.
LAURIE SISK/KANSAN
"The dances are beauty in motion," Milk said.
Contact Mendoza at 864-4810
Jay Muel, a University of Kansas alumnus and member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma performs the Fancy War Dance.
City considering changes to Union Station
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Leaders of Union Station are proposing changes outside the structure in an effort to bring more people into the struggling landmark.
All the proposals are preliminary and face several obstacles. They are based on the theory that having more people living, working and driving around Union Station would increase traffic at the station.
The ideas include building a link with other downtown activity centers; adding an elevated walkway to the west end of the station and a traffic circle at a nearby interstate exit; using part of a nearby park for new housing and increasing office space at the U.S. post office in the neighborhood.
Union Station leaders have shown the ideas to community leaders ranging from Mayor Kay Barnes to Hallmark executives but there are no written plans or cost estimates.
Ultimately, Union Station leaders hope to convince the public and private sectors to raise tens of millions of dollars for the station's operating endowment. Station leaders also want to be part of a city sales tax election.
"I ask myself, 'How does a university get its endowment up?' "said Turner White, Union Station's chief executive. "It gets there by having a program of work that people believe in."
So far, city officials have made no commitments, especially in light of other projects that need city money, such as the police department and expanding Bartle Hall.
"My initial reaction was, 'Interesting,' " said Vicki Noteis, the city's development director. "I know Union Station has been working on plans to make Union Station healthy, and this
goes far beyond that."
Union Station reopened two years ago after a renovation, which was partly financed with the nation's first bistate cultural sales tax. The new complex, controlled by a nonprofit corporation, houses Science City, three theaters, two restaurants and several small shops.
Attendance at Science City and its theaters has never approached projections, resulting in multimillion-dollar operating losses beyond what the station's endowment could cover. Local foundations have covered the extra losses, but foundation officials have indicated that they will not keep doing that.
So station leaders have brought in more exhibitions, and have begun renovations and changes at Science City.
fall. Station leaders also want city officials to consider a city-only sales tax election to beef up the endowment from $28 million to at least $100 million.
They also have lobbied to be included in the next bistate cultural tax, expected to go before voters next
Many of the area's activity centers - Union Station, 18th and Vine, the Kemper complex, the Freight House District and the future Performing Arts Center -- are too spread out to reach easily by walking.
The process of making the connections, however, faces several obstacles, including politics, land acquisition and money.
Conceptually, these are good ideas," said Notes. "We have to concentrate on keeping our investments as closely connected as possible."
Nevertheless, the new urban planning ideas fit with several of the city's own planning goals, from better connections between attractions to a more livable downtown.
Senate to vote on new center for housing concerns
By Luke Daley Kansan staff writer
Major steps could be taken toward establishing the Off-Campus Student Services Resource Center during the final full Student Senate meeting of the semester.
The Off-Campus Student Services Resource Center would be located in the Kansas Union
Senate will vote on the bill that asks for $17,000 for the creation of the center on Wednesday.
Center would be focus near the Senate and Organizations & Leadership offices, according to the proposal.
Grant Butler, hold-over senator, said that the money would be used for salaries, setting up an office and starting a Web site.
Some of the services the center would provide include informa-
What happened:
Student Senate committees passed a bill giving $17,000 to help start the Off-Campus Living Student Resource Center last week.
What's next The bill
will go to full Senate for
a final vote on
Wednesday.
vide instruction on types of housing available to students in Lawrence and advising for students who have off-campus housing problems.
The Finance and University Affairs committees both voted in favor of the bill, which then sent it to the full Senate for a final vote.
Michael Roessler, graduate senator, said that there could be some minor changes to the bill, but he expected Senate to pass it.
There has been confusion among some senators as to which party has been more involved with the work of launching the center — Delta Force orVOICE.
Branden Bell, holdover senator, said that VOICE submitted the original proposal to start the center, but it didn't get the money from the reserve account task force at the time.
He said that it didn't surprise him that the proposal received approval for the money from the committees, since Delta Force adopted the issue and the coalition is the majority in Senate
Butler said that both Delta Force and VOICE should take credit for the center.
"I think just about everyone wants to do it," Butler said.
Contact Daley at 864-4810
Higher natural gas prices not expected with cold weather
The Associated Press
LAWRENCE — Although winter officially begins at 1:21 a.m. Dec. 21, forecasters say winter weather may hit the state much sooner — possibly within 10 days.
possibly within 10 days. The good news is that suppliers of natural and propane gas say they have plentiful supplies this year and consumers should not suffer the high prices they faced last winter.
A front moving into Kansas from the northwest should drop temperatures into the mid-20s early Tuesday and Wednesday, said Mike Akulow, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Topeka. High temperatures are expected to be in the low to mid-40s.
"If this pattern persists, then I think we could see our first snow in 10 days," Akulow said.
It's difficult to predict what to expect for the entire winter, Akulow said.
"It will be colder than normal in the central plains down to southern Iowa," he said. "That cold air could sink just a little bit farther."
Temperatures through much of November have been from 10 to 15 degrees above normal, the weather service said, and that has helped the nation's supply of propane and natural gas remain well-stocked.
"We don't expect the big price spikes of last year," said Justin Holstin, executive vice president of the Propane Marketers Association of
"If this pattern persists, then I think we could see our first snow in 10 days."
Mike Akulow
Topeka meteorologist
Kansas.
Conroy, the nation's second largest propane gas storage facility, currently stores 27 million barrels, Holstin said. Nationally, the total is 70.6 million barrels in storage, which is higher than last year, he said. Currently, the price of propane is from 85 to 95 cents per gallon, he said.
There is also good news for natural gas consumers. Warmer weather this fall has kept gas usage low and production is up from what it was before last winter, officials with the Natural Gas Supply Association said.
cents per gallon
The National Energy Information Center expects Midwest propane prices to average $1.13 per gallon for the winter. The average expenditure per household is predicted to be $1,013.
The average price of natural gas for 2001-2002 in the Midwest is expected to be $6.69 per thousand cubic feet, according to the information center. It said the actual average price last winter was $9.49 per thousand cubic feet.
Intra-party strife besets Republicans
The Associated Press
TOPEKA—The two great political camps appear to have selected their candidates for most statewide offices, the races allowing voters to choose between different views of government.
It just so happens that all of the candidates are Republicans running in August primaries.
In three statewide races - governor, attorney general and insurance commissioner - a conservative candidate faces one considered moderate.
A similar split is evident among potential candidates for state treasurer, though the race is more crowded. Only the secretary of state's race seems likely to avoid having a contested GOP primary.
"I don't know if there's been an intentional effort to have a state of moderates and conservatives," said state GOP Chairman Mark Parkinson. "It's unfortunate, but that's the way things seem to be developing."
During the mid-1950s, Gov. Fred Hall described himself as a disciple of President Eisenhower and advocated
The conflict within the Republican Party has existed for decades.
During the 1970s, Senate President Richard Rogers derided the "cavemen" of the Republican Party. They responded with a bumper sticker for Bob Dole's Senate re-election campaign in 1974 that proclaimed pride in being "Cavemen for Dole."
In 1994, while Bill Graves, who considers himself a moderate, coasted to an easy victory in the governor's race, David Miller engineered the conservative takeover of the party organization that made Miller state chairman.
What makes the dispute intense this year is the number of open statewide races.
policy that angered more conservative legislators.
In the Republican attorney general's race, Sen. David Adkins, of Leawood, is the moderate, though some conservatives describe him as liberal. His opponent is former state Rep. Phill Kline, of Shawnee, once dismissed by prominent moderates as the "poster boy for the religious right." Both dispute the more critical descriptions of them.
The race for the GOP nomination for insurance commissioner is between Sen. Sandy Praeger, of Lawrence, and Bryan Riley, of
Wichita. Praeger is a moderate who, like Adkins, is sometimes tagged as a liberal. Riley, 1998 nominee, hasn't been identified with the conservative wing, but his free-market rhetoric indicates a fit.
The Republican state treasurer's contest pits Sen. Lynn Jenkins, a Topeka moderate, against Shawnee County Treasurer Rita Cite, a conservative. Johnson County Treasurer Dennis Wilson, a Shallenburger ally, also could get in the race.
Watching the conflict are Democrats, who hope Republicans remain angry and divided after the Aug. 6 primaries. Because of the GOP's historical dominance, Democrats often don't win statewide offices without GOP conflict or an unpopular Republican incumbent.
Tom Sawyer Kansas Democratic Chairman
"I'm hoping these primaries are pretty bloody," said state Democratic Chairman Tom Sawyer. "The infighting seems to be at its peak right now."
"I'm hoping these primaries are pretty bloody."
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