Second Section
Mass. St. skating limits set
By BRAD ADDINGTON Staff writer
The Lawrence City Commission last week approved an ordinance prohibiting skateboarders from downtown Massachusetts Street from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week and until 8 p.m. Thursdays.
"We struck a happy medium by letting them skate during hours that do not conflict with the hours that the stores are open downtown," said Mavor Mike Amvx on Sunday.
Mike Wilden, assistant city manager, said the ordinance's restrictions also applied to all streets half a block west and east of Massachusetts Street. The maximum penalty for violating the ordinance is a $25 fine.
Larry Flottman, who works at Arensberg Shoes, 825 Massachusetts St., opposes skateboarding downtown.
Erik Anderson, 1544 Alvamar Drive, a Lawrence High student who skates, said, "I can see during business hours that they would want to keep skaters off because people are coming out of stores."
"I don't think it's a safe practice," he said. "Bicycles are not allowed on the sidewalks, and I would think that bicycles and skateboards would be similar in speed."
"I see a real conflict between pedestrians and skaters, and we must have some guidelines and set times that people can skate," he said.
Lawrence High student Eddy Shipp, 1621 W. 27th St., said, "It's kind of ridiculous. I think it's just that the mayor doesn't like skateboarding, and sometimes it's the pedestrian's fault."
At a commission meeting last month, Amyx he saw a pedestrian get hit by a skater outside his father's barbershop, $ 841_{2}$ Massachusetts St.
Both Anderson and Shipp said they preferred to skate on the KU campus by Wescoe Hall.
"There are more things to do tricks off of, like planters, railings and walls." Shipp said.
KANSAN file
Local skateboarders will have to find other places to skate, because the Lawrence City Commission passed an ordinance restricting skateboarding downtown.
Fossil find may be new insect type
By MIKE HORAK
Staff writer
A Harvard professor will help determine this fall whether two KU students discovered a new species of insect when they uncovered a fossilized insect wing near Lone Star Lake last April.
Al Kamb, assistant curator of invertebrate paleontology at KU, said the 300-million- to 350-million-year-old fossil would be shipped to Harvard next week for detailed study.
"It's not a major find in the sense of finding a complete dinosaur skeleton, but in terms of invertebrates . . . it's significant." Kamb said.
"The fossil could turn out to be a previously unknown species of insect," he said. The wing probably came from a type of dragonfly.
Frank Carpenter, a specialist in comparative zoology at Harvard, will prepare a report on the insect fossil this fall.
Scott Garrett, St. Louis senior, and Barton Douglas, Hazelwood, Mo., graduate student, found the fossil in a thin layer of shale below the dam at Lone Star Lake.
Garrett and Douglas were at the lake at a friend's suggestion to collect plant fossils.
Both were looking in the rock for nodule formations, which commonly indicate that a tiny plant or animal has been preserved inside.
Nodules are formed though chemical reactions that occur after a plant or animal dies, Douglas said. Snake nodules are a little harder than the surrounding shale and therefore can be identified.
One of the nodules that Garrett and Douglas collected during an April excavation contained the wing.
When the nodule broke open this spring, the fossil was revealed.
The nodule was soaked in water, frozen and heated so it would crack open. Douglas said.
"It it was in very good shape, and you could see every vein in the wing." Garrett said. "We didn't find any other parts of the body."
Garrett said the three-inch fossil appeared brown on the black rock.
Insect wings are rarely found because they are fragile, Kamb said.
He said the insect likely lived near land masses around the Lone Star area. Most of Kansas was submerged in a shallow ocean when the insect was alive.
"It lived before the time of the big dinosaurs," Kamb said. "This was when most of life was confined to the sea."
Some plants, insects and amphibians were beginning to develop, he said.
Garrett said he did not care about the fossil's value; he is just happy he found it.
"It has academic significance and may fill in one of the pieces of the puzzle of how life evolved," Kamb said.
He said he doubted that the fossil would be worth a lot of money.
"This is by far the best thing I've found, and I've been collecting fossils since I was 5." he said.
"If I hadn't been told that it was rare, it would probably be sitting on my shelf at home."
Although Garrett realized he had collected something out of the ordinary, it was not until Kamb told Douglas that the fossil could be rare that he knew he had an important find.
"We made one mistake in collecting it," Garrett said. "We sprayed it with lacquer, thinking it wasn't too important. That was the wrong thing to do. Now they (Harvard) won't be able to do some of their detailed experiments on it."
Both students said that it was just a matter of luck that they stumbled on the ancient wing. They had hunted for fossils at Lone Star only twice before.
"You just keep looking until you get lucky. It was definitely luck. The only thing you need to know is where to look." Garrett said.
"Since we found it, I have been back a lot," Douglas said. He said friends had him take them back to the site hoping to find similar rocks.
The wing find has piqued both students' interest in fossil collecting.
Kansas officials say radon tests are inconclusive
Garrett said he spent only about one or two weekends a year collecting specimens.
Fossil and rock collecting is a hobby for both students.
Staff writer
Bv BRIAN BARESCH
About 21 percent of Kansas homes surveyed by the state have enough radon gas to warrant further testing, but officials caution that no conclusions can be drawn yet, because the survey is incomplete.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment surveyed 1,000 houses, including 27 in Douglas County, last winter and this fall. The department has fallen and winter during the heating season.
Radon is an invisible, odorless gas that is formed as uranium and radium decay. Scientists estimate that each year 5,000 to 20,000 lung cancer deaths in the United States can be attributed to radon, the department said.
One house in five in the survey had a radon level of more than four picocuries a liter, the level at which the Environmental Protection
Agency and the department recommend testing again, for longer periods, to verify the results. The highest reading so far in the state was in Johnson County, at 27.2 picocuries.
A picocurie is one-trillion of a curie, a unit used to measure an amount of radioacoustic energy.
Radon in outdoor air is dispersed too much to be dangerous, but when radon collects in a house it poses a danger to inhabitants.
Levels between four and 20 picocuries are considered above average for residences, the department said, with a health risk roughly equivalent to smoking one pack of cigarettes a day. In this range, the EPA recommends taking action within a few years to reduce radon.
Levels above 20 picocuries can be equivalent to smoking several packs of cigarettes a
day, and more than 300 picocuries require immediate action or relocation.
Benjamin Friesen, KU director of radiation health and safety, said the University had no immediate plans to test campus buildings for radon but would do so when money was allocated for it.
Pieter Berendsen, a scientist with the Kansas Geological Survey who is helping with the state's survey, said that when radon is inhaled, it can stay in the lungs and decay. This releases several million electron volts of energy, which can easily cause cancer.
ries of radon, and the highest level was 6.8.
Berendsen said most of the homes surveyed in Kansas fell near the bottom of the 4-20 picocurie range. That range is a range that exceeds the exact level of danger is uncertain, he said.
Four of the 27 homes surveyed so far in Douglas County had more than four picocu-
Homeowners who want to test their homes for radiation can call the department for a list of companies certified by the EPA as qualified to test for radon, said Craig Schwartz, a radiation control inspector for the department. The company will send a test kit, which the homeowner will operate and return to the company for analysis. The test costs about $20. Schwartz said.
Schwartz said readings could vary from room to room and season to season, so the survey is designed to record worst-case figures.
The tests involved collecting air samples in a charcoal canister for two days in the lowest livable area of a house during the cold season when windows are kept shut and outside air is not circulated as much. Radon levels may be lower when the whole house is considere*
He said apartments were not being tested. Apartments above ground level probably will have much less radon, because gas seepes from the ground. Ground-level and basement apartments will have levels reflecting those in the survey.
Radon comes from uranium and radium found naturally in black shale, which sometimes can be seen in outcroppings around Lawrence.
for a year. Schwartz said.
Uranium goes through several stages as it breaks down, but radon is the only gas created in the process. If the radon is created more than a few feet below ground level it doesn't escape into the air, he said. But houses built very close to black shale may have a problem, especially if the basement wall is cracked.
It's a Prize-Winning Opportunity to Have Fun Help the Arts . . . Meet Performers and Win Free Gifts
The University of Kansas Performing Arts announces the 1987-88
While compiling ushering hours, student ushers will also have the opportunity to meet artists, attend special receptions and support the arts.
At the end of the 1987-88 performance season, corps members will be eligible to win special prizes including:
Students selected for the Usher Corps will usher at various Performing Arts events including performances for the Concert Series, Chamber Music Series, New Directions Series and University Theatre.
*Dinners for two at local restaurants
*Kansas City Royals tickets
*and much more
Lawrence hotels
*Free weekends for two at Kansas City and
*and much more
Get involved in the arts
Join the Performing Arts Usher Corps
An informational meeting and interviews will be held in early September...
Applications are being taken in the Murphy Hall Box Office
AIM HIGH
FOR THE CHALLENGE YOU WANT... THE REWARDS YOU DESERVE
You may be eligible for 2- through 4-year scholarships that can pay full college tuition, textbooks and fees, plus $100 tax-free each academic month.
Look into your future as an Air Force officer. Challenges ... and rewards for a career with pride and commitment. Contact:
Challenge without reward is incomplete. Air Force ROTC offers both. You'll receive leadership and management training, and after graduation you'll be an Air Force second lieutenant.
Detachment 280—The University of Kansas 108 Military Science Building (913) 864-4676
(913) 864-4676
LEADERSHIP EXCELLENCE STARTS HERE
87 SCHOLARSHIP 3
Diabetes Seminar
Wednesday, September 2,1987 6:30-8:30 p.m.
This seminar is designed for the KU student with diabetes mellitus and for any interested members of the University and Lawrence communities.
WHERE: Watkins Memorial Hospita
Student Health Services The University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
Second Floor Conference Room
COST: There is no charge.
TO REGISTER: Call 864-9500