WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3A
Suspects in murder of student released
By Erin Beatty
ebeatty@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Although disappointed by the news that suspects in her daughter's murder case have been released, the mother of a slain KU student said she was not going to stop her efforts to get them convicted.
Jeanette Stauffer's daughter, Topeka senior Shannon Martin, was stabbed to death in Golfito, Costa Rica, during a research trip in May 2001.
The first arrest in the case was that of 27-year-old Katia Vanesa Cruz Murillo in November of last year. Cruz then tied two other suspects to the case, 38-year-old Luis Alberto Castro and 50-year-old Rafael Zumbado.
Cruz is still in custody, but both Castro and Zumbado were cleared of murder charges Nov. 29 because of insufficient evidence.
"It is tough to know they're out there roaming the streets," Stauffer said.
She said a friend of hers in Golffito saw Castro walking the streets with a young girl, about 15 shortly after being released.
Stauffer said she was convinced that Castro, also known as "Caballo" and Zumbado.
Martin
also known as "Coco," were involved in the murder of her daughter.
The Costa Rican judicial investigation unit, el Organismo de Investigacion Judicial, is in charge of investigating the case. OIJ official Martin Matamoros said the investigation was still in progress, although he couldn't comment on the specifics.
Stauffer said she was frustrated that people with tips about the case would not come forward — despite her offer of a $50,000 award — because police did not protect informants.
"Obviously, it requires somebody to come forward, but why would anyone come forward with Caballo and Coco walking the streets?" she said.
Stauffer is still working on the case with her lawyer, Pedro Irigonegaray, she said.
"The evidence is not sufficient at this time." Irigonegaray said. "But we're hoping we'll have the necessary evidence in the future to proceed for a trial."
Stauffer is not going to give up.
"I'm not stopping," she said. "I'm just totally worn out."
Student Senate pleased with progress
By Caleb Nothweir
cnothwehr@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Elected student leaders at the University of Kansas are looking back on a semester of representing students during financially tough times.
One of the more important jobs Senate has taken on this past semester was communicating to students where their tuition dollars were going, said Student Body President Jonathan Ng.
"We're representing students in one of the toughest budget years in the history of the state of Kansas," Ng said. The student Tuition Advisory Committee, created earlier this fall, has worked to inform students on the budget situation, Ng said.
Another notable accomplishment of first semester, Ng said, was registering about 3,500 KU students to vote for the November election.
Edited by Amanda Sears
This mid-way point also serves as a time to review the progression of campaign platform issues for Ng and his coalition KUnited.Those issues include a new Multicultural Resource Center, more centralized information services and more opportunities for public transportation.
Ng said preliminary plans were in the works for a new Multicultural resource center on campus. The next step was to send a fund-raising proposal to Kansas University Endowment. Ng said.
"I'm pleased in the direction the project is heading," Ng said, "Obviously we have a long way to go."
Ng compared the progress of the project to the future recreational facility, which was a Senate issue five years ago, but is just now being constructed.
"It's unrealistic for students to get a new MRC over night," he said.
Not all senators agree that adequate progress is being made on these issues.
Kit Brauer, holdover senator and Denver junior, said he was unhappy senators have not made efforts to
bring the Yellow Bike public transportation system to the University, which was a campaign platform issue from KUnited.
During the spring semester, N said he wanted to see more project that will directly affect KU students.
Loren Malone, student body vice president, said one such project would be a possible renovation of the covered bus stop in front of Stauffer-Flint Hall. Malone's vision would turn the bus stop into an information center, complete with television broadcasting KU news, bulletin boards, and calenders that feature monthly activities. Malone said she was still looking for a source to fund the renovation.
Other student senators said they were happy with the legislation Senate has passed so far this semester.
Adam Obley, holdover senator and Topeka senior, said online voting in student senate elections would be an important reform.
"It means that more students will
vote." Oblev said.
Obley said there was little he would have done different during the fall semester.
"I wish they would have made buses free for state elections, but otherwise I have no regrets," he said.
"I think we're going to be running on a tighter budget than usual for a half-way point," said Kyle Johnson, finance committee chair and Wichita junior.
Some senators are worried about the financial state of Senate, because it channels money to student groups.
Johnson said Senate might receive a boost to its budget from money from student groups who didn't use all of their senate-allocated funds last year. But, the finance committee may still have a tough job next semester.
"We're definitely have to watch how we spend money this spring," Johnson said.
—Edited by Jessica Hood
Med Center doctors make calls via Internet
By Lindsay Hanson
lhanson@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
A shortage of doctors in rural Kansas has driven doctors' visits in some small towns to video.
The state's only headquarters for such an operation, the Center for TeleMedicine & TeleHealth at the University of Kansas Medical Center, is also one of the only places for medical attention that comes via video, said Dan Ginavan, Kansas video network project manager at the center.
The center gives rural health patients who might be too sick to drive for several hours to the Med Center immediate access to specialty doctors. Forty hospitals in Kansas are connected with doctors specialized in more than 20 fields, Ginava said.
The video conference doesn't compromise a regular doctor's appointment, Ginavan said. Stethoscopes and dermascopes, which magnify images of skin conditions, can be hooked to the machine to be analyzed immediately in Kansas City, Kan.
A Med Center doctor sits in front a bank of monitors and a camera and directs a nurse at the remote location. Sometimes patients forget they're not in the same room as the doctor, Ginavan said.
"The more often the two work together, the better it goes," he said.
The Northeast Kansas Center for Health and Wellness in Horton refers up to eight patients per week to a
video doctor. Sonjia Clay, head registered nurse for the video consultation department, said the service had proved invaluable to local patients.
Horton calls on an oncologist, who specializes in cancer, a dermatologist and a neurologist, among others.
Clay, who acts as the "hands" of the consulting doctor, said cancer patients had come needing help within 24 hours.
"It meant the difference in having them diagnosed early rather than waiting several months to see a doctor in the city," she said.
Help might be more immediate, but it's still not instantaneous, she said. The oncologist consults via video once a week and the dermatologist makes himself available once a month.
Ginavan said that, although the program had been in place since 1991, some kinks still existed.
"We're really working with dermatology right now," he said. "Dermatologists like to touch. The nurse can touch it and describe what she's feeling, but that's just not the same thing."
The center coordinated 2,207 consultations in 1999, growing considerably since the center's first consultation between the Med Center and a Hays hospital in 1991, Ginavan said.
"It hasn't been tried yet, but it's arguable that a medical student today could open a practice which dealt in large part with video conferencing," Ginavan said.
—Edited by Matt Gehrke
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