MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3A
Week of safety awareness begins today
By Jenna Goepfert
jgoeppfert@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Increasing awareness of campus safety resources is the focus of Campus Safety Week, which begins today and ends Thursday.
The events, sponsored by Student Senate's Campus Safety Advisory Board, will cover a new theme every day, including traffic safety and safe sex. Campus and city safety organizations will present related topics each night at various campus locations.
Members of the board will distribute hot chocolate and flyers
with information about the day's theme on Wescow Beach from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day.
Board members will offer a campus safety survey at tables on Wescoe Beach. The survey also will be distributed at residence and scholarship halls, fraternities and sororites, said Andy Knopp. Manhattan junior and chairman of the advisory board.
The survey's intent is to provide the board with an agenda for the next year and a half.
"I'm sure we'll hand out a lot of hot chocolate," Knopp said. "And I'm really hoping to get over 1,000 surveys returned."
Knopp said the committee
hoped to use student suggestions to decide the distribution of the campus safety fee, a $2 fee which full-time students are required to pay every semester. The money can be used for lighting and other safety issues.
"A lot of people I talk to say, Yeah, we need better lighting,' and, 'We need more blue phones," Knopp said. "Other people have different ideas about what we need. So this is a chance to get out there for a week and spend some time seeing what it is students want us to do with their money."
Finding support and funding for free-access campus telephones is one of Knopp's goals.
The board also wants to promote awareness of a new permanent e-mail address, safety@ku.edu, which will provide a centralized place for students to send concerns and comments about campus safety, Knopp said.
John Mullens, assistant director of the KU Public Safety Office and member of the advisory board, said safety issues were relevant as students prepared to leave for winter break — especially theft and an increase of traffic accidents due to inclement weather.
Mullens said common sense
CAMPUS SAFETY WEEK PRESENTATIONS
Today — Sex and Personal Safety
Lecture by Dennis Dailey, who
teaches Human Sexuality in
Everyday Life; Kansas Union
Ballroom, 7:30 p.m.
Tomorrow — Traffic safety, SafeRide and transportation issues Panel discussion, time and location TBA
was one of the most important lessons this week's events could teach.
Wednesday — KU Public Safety Personal safety tips presented by the Lawrence Police Department, Alderson Auditorium, 7:30 pm.
Thursday — Personal Safety Self-defense workshop, Robinson Center mat room, second floor, 7:30 p.m.
“Don’t run stop signs, use a lock on your room.” Mullens
said. "Basically, in 32 years, I've never seen a dorm room that was actually broken into."
Endangered Species Act could change under new bill proposed in Congress
— Edited by Nicole Roché
By Lindsey Hodel
hodel@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Parts of the Endangered Species Act may be in danger.
A new bill has come before Congress to exempt private property, military lands and all plant species from the act. Rep. James Hansen, R-Uttah, proposed the bill on Nov. 18 in an effort to eliminate many of the costs and hassles associated with the 1973 Endangered Species Act.
"The act places huge burdens on landowners," said Tracey Shifflett, a representative of Hansen's resources committee. "When landowners suspect they have an endangered species on their land, they have to contract studies that cost the builders and the government a lot of money."
The bill is sparking local action
from members of KU Environs. Members are planning a letter-writing campaign to oppose the legislation during their meeting at 8:30 p.m.on Dec. 3 in the Kansas Union.
Celeste Fish, Pittsburg junior, has already written a letter to U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Kan., stating her opposition to the bill.
"I told him how detrimental to the environment it would be," she said. "I'm going into work in sustainable development, and this bill scares me because it would make my job in the future much harder."
Issues of homeland security and cost of enforcement are other reasons why Hansen proposed the exemptions, Shifflett said. The bill would offer more leeway for military bases, which do not comply with the act.
"The Homeland Security Act is
putting higher demands on the military," Shifflett said. "If they don't have the space and the resources to do that, they can't effectively protect our country."
Because this year's Congressional session has adjourned, the bill will be reintroduced next year. The bill, although dead, could make it easier for somebody else to pass the changes, Shifflett said.
Stacy Fagan, Wellington junior and a member of the Air National Guard, said military strength and environment compliance did not have to clash.
But Fagan said she felt preserving the environment was important. "Overall, I think the military should stay out of environmental issues," she said.
Edited by Erin Ohm and Jessica Hood
Mail flow remains steady
Christmas rush brings little change to local post offices
By Jenna Goepfert
goeppfert@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Although the rush to mail Christmas cards and packages is in full swing, it's a stable time of year for the Lawrence post office.
But that stable flow of mail doesn't mean students and residents should wait to send their Christmas greetings.
Lawrence Postmaster Bill Reynolds recommends cards and letters be mailed by Dec. 15 for delivery by Dec. 25. Packages should be mailed by Dec. 10.
"People do a better job of early mail ing than they used."
to," he said. "I think they're more conditioned to us. Retailers are helping us, putting their Christmas stuff out at Thanksgiving."
The Lawrence post office began seeing a slight increase in packages at the end of last week.
The post office sees an increase in Christmas mailing from Lawrence residents while students are busy or leaving town for winter break, Reynolds said.
"A lot of students are worried about their finals that week before and it's not a great time for them to be sending Christmas cards," Reynolds said.
Laura Johnson, Overland Park junior, has been preparing her Christmas cards for a week and hopes to have them sent this week. She said she mailed cards last year and didn't have a problem having them delivered on time.
"I like to get them out a little bit early, just so you can enjoy them more," Johnson said. "When you send them all at the same time, you get bombarded with them."
Reynolds said it was important to mail things early because the nationwide mail system received large increases in mail during the Christmas season. It is also a good idea to ship mail early in case of inclement weather near the holiday, he said.
Reynolds also recommended the sender put his or her address, the delivery address and a list of the package's contents inside the box or envelope in case of an accident
Edited by Jessica Hood and Amanda Sears
Red Lyon Tavern
944 Mass. 832-8228
A touch of Irish in downtown Laurence