TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22. 2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 5A
Learned additionslightly skewed
By Jenna Goepfert
jgoepertf@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The framework of the threestory, $15 million engineering building in front of Learned Hall is still going up — and a few inches to one side.
A construction worker knocked out a survey stake on the east side of the building and put it back in a few inches away from its original position, said project manager Steve Scannell, design and construction consultant on
the project.
"The contractor's field superintendent mentioned that whoever drove over it put it back in the ground without telling anybody," he said.
Because measurements were made from the misplaced stake, several columns were built offcenter before supervisors realized the stake was misplaced, he said.
"They found out later — oops, something's not right and figured out what happened," Scannell said.
Scannell said the consultant
architect and engineer checked the new column placement and made sure the building would still be structurally sound.
"You won't even be able to notice when the building is finished." Sorem said.
Robert Sorem, associate dean of engineering, said the change would not be a problem.
Scannell said the change would not affect the cost or construction deadlines for the building, which will have 82,000 square feet of classroom and research space. The building is
still expected to be finished by Fall 2003.
"It's just one of those things that happens in construction," Scannell said.
George Oruoch, Nairobi, Kenya, senior and engineering student, said he wasn't concerned about the building's future because the structure had been inspected.
"I'm actually not mad about it because we're human and we make mistakes," he said.
Edited by Lauren Beatty
Murder trial raises more questions
The Associated Press
OLATHE — Prosecutors continued their murder case against John E. Robinson Sr.yesterday, as Robinson's brother and sister-in-law testified about their adoption of a baby girl whose mother the Olathe man is accused of killing.
Don Robinson said that after 10 years of marriage, he and his wife, Helen, were still unable to have children. John Robinson agreed to help, his brother testified, and the couple gave him $5,500.
On Jan. 10, 1985, the couple flew from Chicago to Kansas City, signed some documents and met their new daughter, Don Robinson testified in Johnson County District Court.
It was 15 years later that the couple learned that the child they raised as Heather Tiffany Robinson was really Tiffany Stasi, whose mother, Lisa Stasi, John Robinson is accused of killing.
"No way I would have expected that," Don Robinson said.
John Robinson, 58, of Olathe, is charged with first-degree murder in Stasi's disappearance and presumed death; her body has never been found.
He is also charged with capital murder in the deaths of Suzette Trouten, 27, of Newport, Mich., and Izabela Lewicka, 21, a former Purdue University student. Their bodies were found in barrels next to a storage shed on John Robinson's 16.5-acre property near LaCygne, about 60 miles south of Kansas City.
The bodies were in varying stages of decomposition, with nearly a foot of fluid inside the barrels. DNA evidence has linked the victims to John Robinson's mobile home in Linn County.
John Robinson also awaits trial on three murder charges in Missouri.
Helen Robinson, who had taken fertility drugs in effort to have a child, testified that she and her husband tried several adoption agencies in Illinois before turning to John Robinson. Her brother-in-law said he could help and that he knew of an attorney who could arrange everything.
"We were looking legally," she said.
When the couple learned that John Robinson was arrested, they began to become suspicious about their daughter's adoption.
Helen Robinson testified that their daughter found a missing person report for Lisa and Tiffany Stasi on the Internet that included a photo similar to the one they received in 1985 from John Robinson when the adoption occurred. It was a photo of Tiffany with a black background and yellow dress.
Later, Helen Robinson found the photo, compared it to the
Internet picture and knew there was a connection.
The couple said they trusted John Robinson. They allowed him to handle all arrangements, because the attorney, Doug Wood, was "kind of cranky" and it would be easier. The Robinsons never attended any adoption hearings or were interviewed by social workers. Don Robinson testified that the couple had expected to be questioned but figured Kansas laws were different.
Prosecutors appeared to be nearing the completion of their case, which has included more than 75 witnesses, including women who communicated with John Robinson via telephone and the Internet about bondage, discipline and sadomasochistic sexual relations.
The Robinsons were only the second and third family members to testify in the trial, which entered its 11th day.
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