Friday
September 13, 2002
Vol. 113. Issue No. 17
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KANSAN
Football team faces Southwest Missouri State at home opener on Saturday p.1B
ABC issues citations, MIPs
Photo illustration by Lindsey Gold/Kansan
ABC employees visit bars, retailers and restaurants to find underage drinkers and those who sell to them.
By Michelle Burhenn
Kansan staff writer
They roam the bars and liquor retailers looking for the underage drinkers that hide their faces behind their glass or quickly hand off their beer bottle to a nearby friend.
They're the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, better known as the ABC.
And sometimes when an underage drinker is cited, the bar or liquor retailer that sold them the drink gets busted, too.
that sold them the drink gave them
From July 2001 to July 2002 in Lawrence, ABC agents, dressed sometimes in uniform but more commonly in street clothes, handed out 158 minor-possession citations and 29 citations to bars and liquor retailers.
irs and liquor retaliation.
"Our goal is to reduce underage drink
ing, and the real reason for that is the negative effects," said Pete Bodyk, operations officer at ABC. "It would be great for us to go out and be in these bars and parties and find no underage drinking."
When agents check a bar, they look for drinkers that look young or act suspicious, Bodyk said. ABC — which is operated out of the Kansas Department of Revenue — usually hands out a citation, but sometimes arrests are made.
"If you are cooperative and cordial, you'll get that in return," Bodyk said. "It's less paperwork for us and better for you."
After they issue the MIP citation to the underage drinker, agents determine if the fake identification the drinker used qualifies for the "fake ID defense."
If a fake ID isn't reasonable or if there wasn't a fake ID used at all, the ABC
issues a liquor citation to the business that sold the underage drinker the liquor, Bodyk said.
Agents also use control buys to check on businesses. ABC sends teen-age volunteers between the ages of 18 and 19 and 6 months with a youthful appearance to local businesses to attempt to buy liquor. They are allowed to carry only their real ID and if the cashier asks how old they are, they are required to tell the truth, Bodyk said.
From July 2001 to July 2002, the ABC did 28 control buys. Only five purchases were made, which wasn't a major change
truth, Bodyk said. "If they make a purchase, they come out and give to the agent who goes back in to issue the citation," Bodyk said.
SEE ABC ON PAGE 6A
Liquor stores try to halt underage drinking
By Michelle Burhenn
Kansan staff writer
Cashiers are trying to cash in on underage drinking at two local liquor stores.
liquor stores.
Dan Blomgren, co-owner of Cork & Barrel Wine and Spirits' two locations at 2000 W. 23rd and 901 Mississippi streets, gave his cashiers $25 when they confiscated fake identification.
cation.
"We get at least one a week," said Blomgren, who co-owns the stores with his wife Jill. "We have stacks of fake IDs."
lake IDs. Blomgren and other liquor store owners in Lawrence said they do
The water we drink
SEE HALT ON PAGE 6A
Options available when filtering tap water
By Nathan Dayani Kansan staff writer
Alternatives to drinking tap water should be sought carefully, said Peggy Thomas, water-quality technician for the city of Lawrence.
"Anytime you attach something to your plumbing, you're introducing another element where you could get some sort of contamination or possible effect on that line," she said.
Thomas said residents who wanted to filter their tap water should use a filtered pitcher stored in their refrigerator rather than attaching a filter directly to the tap.
Thomas said a bacteria like ecoli could be introduced to a kitchen counter and subsequently infect a water filter.
"Drinking water is strictly and much more stringently regulated than bottled water," she said.
Thomas said bottled water should not be used as an alternative to tap water.
Contact Dayani at
ndayani@kansan.com. This story was edited by Nicole Roche.
City meets regulations, but some doubt the cleanliness of their drinking water
By Nathan Dayani Kansan staff writer
With neither filter nor apprehension. Peggy Thomas drinks water straight from the tap.
the tap.
"We truly have a good quality of water," said Thomas, a water-quality technician for Lawrence.
She said the city's water, which comes mostly from the Kansas River and the Clinton Reservoir, met or surpassed state and federal regulations. With brown water occasionally emitting from local sinks and reports of pollution in the Kansas River, others are not as confident about the area's tap water quality.
Stan Loeb, acting director of the University of Kansas environmental studies program, said students often asked him if the tap water serving both Lawrence and the University was safe.
"The answer is, yes, it's safe — it has to meet federal clean-water drinking standards," he said. "But is it clean enough that I would allow my children to drink it? The answer is no."
Thomas said the water department received some complaints about the smells and tastes of local drinking water, which people often assumed to have unhealthy implications. These aesthetic
Aesthetics and health
issues have no bearing on the water's safety, she said, and were not a public health concern.
Thomas said if the water department ever breached a state or federal regulation, it would have to formally notify the public about the problem and how the department would address it. The department has not had to do this in the 21 years she has worked there, Thomas said.
Lawrence meets water standards through a multi-step water treatment process. The process includes the addition of carbon to remove organic contaminants and control tastes and odors, disinfection with chlorine to kill microorganisms, filtration and the addition of chemicals, such as fluoride which prevents tooth decay.
The water sources
Loeb said he didn't think the water department had any problems meeting acceptable water-quality standards established by the Environmental Protection Agency and Kansas. He is concerned with contaminants found in the Kansas River before the water-treatment process at its two water treatment plants, Loeb said.
it's unfortunate that we're cleaning
SEE WATER ON PAGE 7A
The city of Lawrence is the sole provider of public drinking water for both the city and the University. Although several steps are taken to treat water before it is ready for consumption, many people still worry about the odor, color and taste of the water that comes out of taps and drinking fountains.
Aaron Showalter/Kansan
Inmates reform Wescoe
By Molly Gise Kansan staff write
Pieces of Wescoe Hall are going to jail. The Lansing Correctional Facility has taken seats, two rows at a time, from the building's two lecture halls.
reupholstered by Their handiwork is part of Kansas Correctional Industries, a program of the Kansas Department of Corrections. The program creates a productive environment for inmates while teaching them skills, said Tom Vohs, deputy director for Kansas Correctional Industries.
When the seats are reinstalled, they will have been repaired, refinished and reupholstered by Lansing inmates.
"They also get an opportunity to work as part of a team where productivity is emphasized," Vohs said.
Sandra Gautt, vice provost for faculty development, said the decision to contract the prison program made financial sense.
Tyler Longpine/Kansan
Wooden seats replace the old seats in Wescoe Hall auditoriums while they are being refurbished by inmates from Lansing Correctional Facility.
done in stages or else the two rooms ing other repairs in the Wescoe auditori would have been unusable for a semester, she said. Fixing the chairs and mak- SEE WESCOE ON PAGE 7A
The restoration of the seats had to be
Suspect identified in Oliver Hall rape
By Michelle Burhenn
Kansan staff writer
A suspect has been identified — but not arrested — in Saturday's reported rape in Oliver Hall, said Lt. Schuyler Bailey of the KU Public Safety Office.
of the KU table using The 19-year-old Lawrence resident who is not an Oliver resident or a KU student was identified after police interviewed students and non-students and took phone calls from concerned individuals, Bailey said.
An 18-year-old KU student reported Sunday that she was raped by a man she did not know sometime between 4 and 5:30 a.m. Saturday at her room in Oliver.
Bailey said the suspect was probably checked-in after 11 p.m. by another Oliver resident.
Diana Robertson, associate director of housing, said she didn't see a need for increased security.
"The suspect was believed to be a guest so there doesn't appear to be a breach of safety," Robertson said. "We'll continue to emphasize the importance of safety in the dorms."
Robertson said resident assistants conducted floor meetings Monday night in Oliver Hall. She could not confirm that the victim had moved out of Oliver Hall.
Contact Burhenn at mburhenn@ kansan.com. This story was edited by Sarah Hill.
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