4A
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NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2008
WHISTLE (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
much in a time when cost-cutting and energy-saving efforts are in place all over campus.
"People tend to pick the low-hanging fruit and I think the whistle is low-hanging fruit," Riat said. "It cost us nothing to turn it off in order to generate savings. Nobody is waiting for the whistle to blow. It doesn't seem like an essential element to signify the end of a class or that its time for a class change. Classes always begin and end
whether the whistle blows or not."
John Burnett, 1978 graduate said the absence of the whistle would definitely be a change, especially because campus was so large.
Burnett said he had class in Learned Hall but had to walk back to Phi Delta Theta between classes, and the whistle gave him enough time to make it back.
"It was a signal to tell professors when to wind it up." Burnett said.
He said that although the whistle served a practical purpose, it also had another purpose.
"It's part of the environment of campus," he said.
Adam McGonigle, Wichita junior and student body president, said it didn't seem likely that Student Senate would be able to assist in funding a possible return for the whistle.
"I don't think so, because Student Senate typically does not allocate
money towards maintenance of any part of the campus, whether it be landscaping or maintenance to a building," McGonigle said. "But it is possible that somebody could try and look into it and make some sort of exception to that. But I'm not aware of anyone attempting to do that."
While Student Senate won't be funding any whistle project, one possible solution would be to formulate a resolution asking the
University to reconsider and overturn the decision.
"I remember being scared to death by it during my visit as a senior in high school," McGonigle said. "It's certainly something that's been important to this campus, but in terms of what Student Senate can do, I don't know if there is anything."
Because a donor came forward to fund a new whistle five years ago, it is possible that a donor could
again help keep one of the longest Kansas traditions alive.
"How much does it cost to run that thing?" Millan said. "$3,000? I would think somebody could come up with that. I definitely would if I could. It's just very disappointing to hear this. I really hope somebody can come forward and donate some money to the University and get it started back up again."
— Edited by Scott Toland
CAMPUS
Event, students focus on alcohol awareness Demonstration shows drinking effects
BY BRANDY ENTSMINGER bentsminger@kansan.com
Five students will consume alcohol on stage at the Lied Center tonight.
J. J. Siler, Overland Park junior and vice president for risk management for the Interfraternity Council, said the demonstration was a part of "Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself," an event designed to show students how alcohol could impair reaction times.
"You don't realize how much two drinks of alcohol does to a 150-pound woman," Siler said. "It's pretty astounding to see it first-hand."
Anguiano said.
Siler helped organize the event and said five students, all over the age of 21, would perform field sobriety tests after consuming different levels of alcohol. A sixth student will perform the same tests without drinking.
Sgt. James Anguano, of the KU Public Safety Office, will be administering the tests and speaking to attendees about the repercussions of alcohol consumption.
Laura Diaz Moore, staff attorney for Legal Services for Students, will also present at the event. She said she thought there seemed to be a lot more alcohol crimes in the fall because students weren't as busy and had more time to go out. She said that many students were unaware of their rights and responsibilities.
Moore said she would be informing students about what Legal Services for Students did, but that specific advice would be almost impossible to give because every situation was different.
"It raises awareness to not only legal consequences, but also everyday consequences of alcohol."
ELECTION
Palin's party affiliation questioned
Siler said the event would also include a presentation by John Drees, community education specialist at the Lawrence Memorial Hospital. He said the presentation would give students a picture of what happened at the hospital after an alcohol-related accident.
Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, left, waves to the crowd next to her husband Todd during a campaign rally Sunday in Fallon, Mo.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
This is the first year "Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself" will be open to the entire campus community. In the past, the event was open only to the greek community. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Lied Center.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's husband, Todd, twice registered as a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, a fierce states' rights group that wants to turn all federal lands in Alaska back to the state. Sarah Palin herself was never a member of the party, according to state officials.
Questions about a third-party link to John McCain's new running mate emerged Tuesday as the latest issue facing the McCain campaign in the midst of the Republican National Convention.
Questions had swirled about Sarah Palin's affiliation with the Independence Party and with former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan. Voter registration records and past news reports, however, show Palin never registered as a member of the Independence Party, and backed Steve Forbes' presidential campaign in 2000, not Buchanan.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
have advocated secession from the United States, though that is not a goal listed in the party's platform.
"Supporters of Barack Obama are engaged in an fortunate and nasty smear campaign," McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said, specifically citing issues related to Palin's politics.
Voter registration records show Sarah Palin registered in May 1982 as a member of the Republican Party and has not changed her affiliation. Todd Palin has been registered undeclared since 2002. Fenumiai said.
Gail Fenumiai, director of the Alaska Division of Elections, said Todd Palin twice registered under the Alaskan Independence Party — in 1995 and 2000.
Palin did address the Alaskan Independence Party's state convention by video earlier this year, welcoming the party to Fairbanks.
Some members of the party
"Your party plays an important role in our state's politics," she said in the video, which is posted on the party's Web site. "I've always said that competition is so good, and that applies to political parties as well."
Obama spokesman Bill Burton objected to Rogers's accusation of a smear. He pointed to comments by Lynette Clark, the chairman of the AIP, who told ABC News that Palin and her husband, Todd, belonged to the party in 1994.
Obama advisers and surrogates have linked Palin to conservative former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan. An Associated Press story from Alaska, dated July 17, 1999, stated that Palin, then the mayor of the small town of Wasilla, was wearing a Buchanan button during a Buchanan visit to Alaska.
But in a letter to the Anchorage Daily News a week later, Palin wrote: "When presidential candidates visit our community, I am always happy to meet them. I'll even put on their button when handed one as a polite gesture of respect. ... The article may have left your readers with the perception that I am endorsing this candidate, as opposed to welcoming his visit to Washilla".
A week after that, the Associated
Press reported that Palin would serve as a co-chair of Forbes' campaign.
Still, the Miami Herald this week quoted an e-mail from Obama Florida spokesman Mark Bubriski that stated: "Palin was a supporter of Pat Buchanan, a right-winger or as many Jews call him: a Nazi sympathizer."
GOVERNMENT
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department refused to prosecute former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for improperly — and possibly illegally — storing in his office and home classified information about two of the Bush administration's most sensitive counterterrorism efforts.
Charges dropped against Gonzales Former U.S. Attorney General absolved of wrongdoing
from special secure facilities without proper authorization is a misdemeanor crime.
Mishandling classified materials violates Justice Department regulations, and removing them
A report issued Tuesday by the Justice Department's inspector general said the agency decided not to press charges against Gonzales, who resigned under fire last year.The report by Inspector General Glenn A. Fine found that Gonzales risked exposing at least some parts of the National Security Agency's terrorist surveillance program, as well as interrogations of terrorist detainees.
Some aspects of the surveillance program explicitly referred to in the documents were "zealously protected" by the NSA, the report found. Fine referred the case to the Justice Department's National Security Division to see if charges should be brought against Gonzales.
But prosecutors dropped the case after an internal review that began earlier this year, said Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd.
"After conducting a thorough review of the matter and consulting with senior career officials inside and outside of the division, the NSD ultimately determined that prosecution should be declined." Boyd said in a statement.
The lack of charges against the nation's former top law enforcement officer infuriated the Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, John Conyers, D-Mich., who demanded to know why.
The report is the latest to take Gonzales to task for mismanagement at the department during his 31 months as attorney general. The criticism could foreshadow the results of an ongoing investigation by Fine's office about Gonzalez' role in the 2006 firings of nine U.S. attorneys. That inquiry is expected to be finished within months.
"Like all other department employees, Gonzales was responsible for safeguarding classified materials, familiarizing himself with the facilities available to him
... for storing these materials and observing the rules and procedures for the proper handling of classified materials," Fine's report stated.