MONDAY, OCT. 22, 2001
NEWS
Hepatitis A cases spring up in two Kansas counties
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 5A
People visiting those areas should get vaccinations. Watkins officials say
By Matt Norton Kansan staff writer
Officials at Watkins Memorial Health Center are recommending that students visiting Reno and Barton counties during the holidays get vaccinated against hepatitis A.
The 83rd case of the liver disease since November 2000 in Reno county was documented last week in an elementary school student in Hutchinson. Twelve cases of hepatitis A have been reported in Barton County, including an employee at a Perkins restaurant in Great Bend this month.
Myra Strother, chief of staff at Watkins, said the vaccine was recommended for anyone who traveled to or lived in communities that have prolonged outbreaks of hepatitis.
Strother said hepatitis A usually caused vomiting, diarrhea and jaundice. Symptoms appear one month after exposure to the virus, and a person who is infected is contagious from two weeks before to one week after jaundice starts, Strother said.
She said that no medication existed that treated hepatitis A once it started, but once a person recovered from the disease, that person was immune for life.
At Watkins, the vaccine for hepatitis A, which comes in two
Hepatitis A symptoms:
Hepatitis A symptoms:
- vomiting
- diarrhea
- jaundice
Hepatitis A vaccine:
- two shots, usually six months apart
- costs $22 per shot for students
  over 18, $20 for students under 18
Dual hepatitis A and B vaccine:
- three shots
doses, costs $22 per shot,
Strother said.
$45 per shot (only available to students over the age of 19)
Students can also choose to receive the Twinrix vaccine, which has been approved to combat both hepatitis A and B, Strother said. Hepatitis B is spread through contact with the blood and body fluids of an infected persons and can be fatal, she said.
The Twinrix vaccine costs $45 dollars for each of three shots, she said.
Dustin Bauerle, Nickerson junior, said he was at home last summer when an outbreak at a Sonic in Hutchinson created a scare.
He said he went home for a couple days over fall break and would be going back for Thanksgiving. He said he didn't know of anyone who had contracted the disease and wasn't concerned about it.
Bauerle said he probably wouldn't get the vaccine.
Contact Norton at 864-4810
Regulation may hurt sand, gravel industry
The Associated Press
WICHITA — Kansas' $125 million sand and gravel industry is warning that a newly passed water use regulation designed to protect groundwater could eventually spell the industry's end.
Still, the regulation's intent is not to drive anybody out of business but rather to protect a "finite" natural resource, Taylor said.
The regulation requires sand and gravel companies whose digs cause groundwater evaporation to buy water rights when they expand or move to a new location.
said.
Moses agreed that groundwater was a valuable resource. But he said evaporation from sand pits accounted for such a small amount of Kansas water use that
Because no rights are available in western Kansas, where the state's largest pits are located, that means operators who exhaust an existing site would simply have to go out of business, said Woody Moses, a representative for the Kansas Aggregate Producers Association.
Lisa Taylor, a representative for the Kansas Department of Agriculture, said sand and gravel operators would "just have to wait" until a water right "became available to purchase."
He said pits could actually help the water table in some arid regions by holding surface runoff that would otherwise be lost.
it had virtually no effect on groundwater.
Moses said Kansas sand and gravel companies supplied material for 95,000 miles of roads in rural Kansas as well as materials for other industries like insulation and glass manufacturing.
He said buying water rights, especially if companies were forced to outbid other industries seeking them, would not be feasible.
"I don't see the state doing without a sand and gravel industry," he said. "I think it'll be up to the Legislature to solve the problem."
"Sand and gravel are not high-value commodities," he said. "What we'll see is operations moving to Oklahoma or Colorado and trucking into Kansas. It'll cost counties and townships more for gravel, and it will move jobs and money out of Kansas."
Moses said the trade group would probably seek help for the issue from state lawmakers.
The regulation also would require sand and gravel companies to obtain an industrial use water permit by Dec. 31, but that would not cause trouble for the industry, Moses said.
Woman lights husband on fire after argument
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City man has second-degree burns on his face, neck, chest and hands after his wife doused him with gasoline and set him on fire, police said.
The Associated Press
Jackson County prosecutors have charged Dorothy Robinson, 41, with first-degree domestic assault and armed criminal action for the incident early Friday.
for the neediest. Her husband, Herbert L. Robinson Jr., who is in his early 30s, was taken to the hospital, but his injuries are not life-threatening. Dorothy Robinson suffered burns on her hands and was in a hospital under guard Friday.
The couple had been married
Family members told police that Dorothy Robinson was angry at her husband who was at a casino Friday until about 3 a.m. Dorothy Robinson had a bucket of gasoline and a book of matches while she waited in a bedroom for his return, police said.
for about four months and lived with his family, police said.
When Herbert Robinson arrived, he went to the bedroom, and the couple argued until emerging from the room in flames, police said.
The husband rolled on the floor with a blanket to extinguish the flames while relatives doused the couple with cornmeal, police said.
Alcohol Awareness Week 2001 October 22-26
Schedule of Events
Tuesday - Fatal Vision Goggle Game with KUPD 11:00 AM-2:00 PM at Wescoe Beach
Wednesday - Information Tables
11:00 AM - 3:00 PM at Wescoe Beach
Thursday - Afternoon NABS (Non-Alcoholic BeverageS) 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM at Wescoe Beach
Friday - Hawk Night Event - Pumpkin Carving Contest, Psychic Readings, and a scary movie! 9:00 PM - 1:00 AM in the Kansas Union
Come by to get information and play games. Learn about the new Laws in Kansas concerning drinking and driving Remember to drink responsibly.
Sponsored by: Watkins Memorial Health Center, BACCHUS/GAMMA, Hawk Nights, SHAB, SafeRide, Campus Blast, KU Legal Services and KU Public Safety
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