NSAN
2008
AFTER THE CHAMPIONSHIP Following a busy off season, Self is coaching a young team. SELF | 1B
FORMER PLAYER NAMED INTERIM HEAD COACH Former Kansas baseball player Ritchie Price was selected for the position at South Dakota State University. BASEBALL | 1B
MEN'S BASKETBALL TICKET PICK-UP
THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2008
WWW.KANSAN.COM
VOLUME 120 ISSUE 49
SEEING PINK
Group focuses on breast cancer awareness
thanie Brooks, Mendota Heights, Minn., senior, watches a video in the Susan G. Komen bus that was outside of the Adams Alumni Center on Monday. Brooks was volunteering as a peer health educator to help spread teness of breast cancer and practicing safe breast health.
Allison Richardson/KANSAN
Komen Foundation vehicle parks at Adams Alumni Center
BY JOE PREINER jpreiner@kansan.com
National Breast Cancer Awareness Month is rolling to a stop, just as the Susan G. Komen On the Go tour did Monday.
The pink mobile breast cancer education center parked in front of the Adams Alumni Center for one of the final stops on its nasonwide tour.
The Komen On the Go vehicle gives passers by the opportunity to learn about breast cancer. The pink trailer, one of two owned by the Komen Foundation, expands into an awareness center. Flat-screen televisions and laptop computers provide information on the issue of breast cancer.
Nick Blake, a Komen On the Go team member, works full time with the touring center. He said breast cancer affected everyone.
The Komen On the Go canpaign began four years ago and has gained ground on its way to the now national tour. Now in its fourth year, the tour covers between 20 and 25 states and stops in about 150 cities during a six-month period.
"There are so many passionate people," Blake said. "People leave here feeling empowered and encouraged. It's a really positive reaction."
The Komen Foundation raised more than $275 million in the past year, and invested about $1 billion in breast cancer research during the last 25 years. According to its Web site, an estimated 180,460 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed this year.
Aftan Martin, Lawrence senior and a volunteer for Komen On the Go, said most of the students she talked to were all for the cause and well informed.
Breast cancer, while primarily affecting
women, also affects men. Although their risk is low, men still possess the necessary tissue for developing it. The Komen Foundation aims to address everyone affected by the disease, regardless of sex.
Eric Hammond, Overland Park sophomore, braved the wind and cold to learn more about the disease.
"I don't know anyone personally who has breast cancer," Hammond said. "I want to keep it that way."
women or older people. Younger people need to realize it's never too early to be aware of the disease." Blake said. "It can happen to almost anyone, at any age."
The most effective way for people to
avoid breast cancer is early detection. The Komen On the Go center provided information on how to perform self-exams, and stressed the importance of annual mammograms for women.
"It's taboo to think that it's just for
Edited by Kelsey Hayes
RESEARCH
Texting has g2g for student drivers
BY FRANCESCA CHAMBERS fchambers@kansan.com
When Gina Littlejohn, Lenexa sophomore, was driving to high school one morning, she received a text message.
Littlejohn waited to respond to the text until she came to a red light, but before she was finished the light turned green. Littlejohn pushed on the gas pedal without looking up and immediately felt her car stop and then quickly bounce backward. She had hit the car in front of her.
Luckily for Littlejohn, the passenger in the other car was a friend's mother, so legal action was not taken. But Littlejohn had to admit to her parents she had been text messaging when the accident occurred.
In a study by Paul Aatchley, associate professor of psychology, 72 percent of the 321 KU students he surveyed said they texted while driving. Atchley's study, conducted last fall, looked at why students talk on their cell phones while driving.
Athley said he decided to begin another study that focused only on texting after he found a "surprising" percentage of students who said they texted while driving even though they knew it was dangerous.
The number of car accidents associated with cell phone use in Kansas has almost doubled in the past five years, according to the Kansas Department of Transportation's Web site. Although cell phone use accounted for only 0.5 percent of the total number of accidents in 2007, 161 people were injured and seven people were killed. Text messaging is not its own category on KDOT's accident evaluation form, and Bob House, a research analyst for KDOT, a new form would take effect in January for the first time since 1990, although text messaging is not listed on it either.
No laws in Kansas ban drivers from using phones or other mobile electronic devices. Only seven states and Washington, D.C., have laws regulating cell phone use while driving. California was added to the list just last month after investigators confirmed that a commuter train engineer was text messaging when his train collided with a freight train, killing 25 people and injuring more than 130 others.
The Kansas Legislature discussed a bill in 2000 that would have required drivers to use hands-free devices, but the bill did not pass.
StateRep. Barbara Ballard (D-Lawrence) said telecommunication companies blocked the bill. Ballard said some legislators might be interested in reintroducing the bill, but she said she thought the push for legislation would have to be initiated by car insurance companies.
Ballard said she would most likely support a bill that regulated cell phone use while driving if it were brought before the Kansas House of Representatives again.
Ballard said this was a safety issue because people "might end up getting injured or killed because of your negligence."
Lawrence considered similar legislation in 2006, which would have made it the first city in the United States to regulate cell phone use in vehicles, but the bill died in the Traffic Safety Commission before reaching the City Commission.
Some KU students said they occasionally text messageed while driving even
Photo illustration by Chance Dibben/KANSAN
A survey of 321 KU students found that 72 percent of them send text messages while driving.
though they knew it wasn't safe.
"Anything that takes your attention off the road while you are driving is dangerous and stupid," Tyler Thress, Wichita senior, said. "While a law is a nice idea, I think it will be difficult, if not impossible, to enforce."
Some students don't text and drive — not anymore at least — and LittleJohn is one of
them. Her parents took away her text messaging until this summer, more than two years after her accident. Littlejohn said she intended to keep the feature this time.
"I pretty much had to beg them to give it back, and now I never text and drive," she said.
Edited by Lauren Keith
PHILANTHROPY
Local chapter of Engineers Without Borders works to improve quality of life in Bolivia
A group of KU engineering students, Engineers Without Borders, is working to improve communities in developing nations. The group is scheduled to return
to a village in Azacillo, Bolivia, in December before its final trip there next summer.
The group will work to improve the water quality and create environmentally
sustainable infrastructures for the community.
index
FULL STORY PAGE 6A
Sigma Nu officially revived after the fraternity lost charter in 2005
Classifieds. 4B Opinion. 5A
Crossword. 4A Sports. 1B
Horoscopes. 4A Sudoku. 4A
GREEK LIFE
and reorganization applications to finally regain its charter.
FULL STORY PAGE 3A
Sigma Nu fraternity was shut down after complaints of hazing three years ago, but it has completed the petitioning
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2008 The University Daily Kansan
THIRD'HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL'SCORES BIG
Disney's hit franchise landed at No. 1 at the box office, taking down the fifth installment of the "Saw" horror series. FILM | 4A
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