Friday inside
Investigation ongoing The Lawrence Police Department is investigating a suspected two-year run of embezzlement from the Xi chapter of the Sigma Kappa sorority. A 33-year-old woman is a suspect. PAGE 3A
Faces in the Crowd
One freshman in Hashinger Hall developed friendships with
his high school teachers. He may have also found a career path.PAGE3A
Moving on, moving up
Kansas soccer defeated Oklahoma last night in the first round of the Big 12 Conference Tournament. PAGE 7A
Long time coming
Kansas will try to end three decades of losing against Nebraska when they face the Cornhuskers tomorrow at Memorial Stadium. PAGE 7A
Red menace
Nebraska fans are invading Lawrence for tomorrow's game, selling out Memorial Stadium and filling local hotels. PAGE 7A
Weather Today
49 27
Partly cloudy and cold
Two-day forecast Tomorrow Sunday 4539 5138
Mostly cloudy Cloudy and cool Josh Molaren/KUJH-TV
Talk to us
Tell us your news. Contact Michelle Burhenn-Rombeck, Lindsay Hanson or Leah Shaffer at 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
index
Briefs 2A
Opinion 4A
Sports 7A
Sports briefs 9A
Horoscopes 10A
Comic 10A
KANSAN
Friday, November 7, 2003
vol.114 Issue No.55
The Student Newspaper of the University of Kansas
Lawrence denied debate
By Steve Schmidt
sschmidt@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The winning sites for the 2004 presidential and vice presidential debates came out yesterday and Lawrence wasn't on the list.
Clenece Hills received the news yesterday morning. Hills is the president of
the Lawrence Sesquicentennial Commission. She was in charge of the group that started filling out the application to host a debate. The University of Kansas eventually joined the campaign.
Although the Commission on Presidential Debates didn't tell her exactly why Lawrence did not get the go-ahead. Hills had her ideas.
"I think it's not too hard to figure out if
you look at the cities they did select," Hills said. "They all are much larger than Lawrence."
All four sites chosen are located in, or close to, major cities: University of Miami. Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Washington University in St. Louis and Arizona State University near Phoenix. Lawrence was one of 14 applicants for the debates. Hills was upset
that Washington University in St. Louis was chosen for a third-straight election year. She said she thought the main reason was that she heard the school has a venue specifically for the debate.
"If they have built a facility for the debate, that puts everyone else at a disadvantage." Hills said.
Garry Stewart, a volunteer at last night's Ramadan Iftar Party, offered more food at one of the tables at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries building. Stewart said the evening was a success, but getting all of the food out was a little hectic because more people showed up than were expected.
Courtney Kuhlen/Kansan
Feast ends fasting
Ramadan dinner builds interfaith and culture within the community
Martha Nichols, Lawrence resident, talks to Bazigha Turaf, Lee's Summit, Mo., freshman, at last night's Ramadan Ittar Party, which brought together members many different religions. Nichols said she had great interest in inter-religious communication between different groups. "The food is also wonderful," she said.
Courtnev Kuhlen/Kansan
By Meghan Brune
mbrune@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
SEE DEBATE ON PAGE 6A
Members of KU Crescent, a Muslim student organization, hurried to feed a traditional Indian meal to more than 300 people at the Ramadan Iftar Party last night.
The dinner, held at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave., was originally planned for 200 people, but because of the high interest, KU Crescent decided to invite more people.
Steaming plates of rice and curry were passed over the heads of hungry guests.
"We didn't want to turn anyone away," Sohel Khan, Crescent president said.
The goal of the group was to bring together a mixture of people to discuss Ramadan and learn about each other.
"We want to build interfaith, intercultural friendships." Khan said.
Khan, a student at the University since 1990 when he was an undergraduate, said he had always had the idea to start an intercultural group with the objective of sharing a liberal view of the Muslim religion.
Khan said he thought that there was a widespread misconception about Muslims based on the conservative Muslims shown in the news.
the Muslims began at sunset with the maghrib prayer. Khan said that Muslims around the world faced toward Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, for prayers.
After the prayer, Kahlil Saad, the group's vice president, handed out a date and a glass of water to all guests.
SEE RAMADAN ON PAGE 6A
The life of a student-soldier from Kansas to the war in Iraq
By Amanda Kim Stairrett
astairrett@kansan.com
Kansan stair writer
Before Charles Bartles was injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq, he was working on his master's thesis in Russian in his off time.
In the attack, Bartles lost part of his right arm but not his positive outlook.
"I definitely want to finish my degree when I get back," he said from his hospital room.
According to the U.S. Department of Defense, 2,195 Americans have been wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom as of November 6, 2003. Since May 1, 2003, 241 have been killed. On Oct. 23, Bartles, a sergeant in the Army Reserve and University of Kansas graduate student, was injured and evacuated from Baqouba to Balad, Iraq. From there he was flown to a military hospital in Gen
many.
On Oct. 30, he was transferred to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., His step-father and mother, Ken and Nancy Robbins arrived in Washington, D.C., Wednesday evening from Yankton, S.D.
Bartles
Ken Robbins said Bartles kept in contact while in the Middle East, sending emails and calling if someone in the same area had been injured.
"He called me the day it happened," Robbins said. "He wanted to tell us himself."
Robbins said if Bartles had not been wearing a flack jacket, he probably would not have lived. He said Bartles' therapy was going well because of his
disposition.
disposition.
"His attitude's real positive," Robbins said. "He's looking forward to moving back to Lawrence."
back to Lawrence Bartles said Lt. Col Trip Buckenmaier, an anesthesiologist from Walter Reed tried a new procedure where a tube was ran into his arm to put anesthetic near the nerve's center.
"It was a new procedure, which saved me a lot of pain," Bartles said.
Robbins said that although he was not sure, he expected Bartles to be home on medical leave in two to three weeks.
Bartles is now able to move around his hospital room and will be more mobile after a procedure today. He will be getting a $70,000 prosthesis, which will allow him more movement.
Bartles was not initially going to be stationed in Iraq; Robbins said they had
SEE IRAQ FROM PAGE 6A
Memories of tornado persist in Lawrence
By Steve Schmidt
sschmidt@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Diana Lee was always cautious when it came to severe weather alerts, but on May 8 of this year something kept her eyes from the television.
Lee saw a tornado forming on the horizon and headed toward her apartment in the southern part of Aberdeen Apartments & Townhomes complex, near Clinton Parkway and Wakarusa Road.
Even half a year later. Lee still vividly recalls where she was before the twister hit.
Tomorrow marks six months since a tornado touched down in Lawrence. The tornado ripped through the area around Aberdeen Apartments, destroying or damaging at least 52 single-family homes, 32 duplexes and 11 multi-family buildings in Lawrence.
"I was watching the weather and saw that it was coming this way," Lee said. "When I put those two things together, I said 'I have to get out of here.' I wasn't thinking anything else other than 'I want to be away from this area.' It was really scary."
Within moments she was on the phone demanding her husband pick her up. The next thing she recalled was driving away under a dark backdrop.
"When I left the sky was ominous-looking and rumbling," Lee said. "I think we left just in time."
The next day residents unfurled large blue tarps across damaged roofs. Lee said you could see inside the second floor of the hit buildings, like life-size doll houses. The three buildings that suffered the brunt of the damage were leveled about a month later so they could be completely rebuilt.
The tornado cut through three apartments in seconds with winds approaching 150 miles per hour. One of the buildings was about 50 vards away from Lee's home.
When she returned to the site she said debris, such as roof shingles, trash and wood were laving all over the ground.
As of Tuesday, workers were still rebuilding parts of the complex. Mike Stultz, Aberdeen owner, said construction was 96 percent complete. Eighty percent of the buildings were fixed within 60 days after the storm, Stultz said.
Dara Sims, Olathe junior, lives near the reconstructed buildings. She said the sound of hammers, saws and other equipment has calmed down, but was quite unbearable a month ago.
Lee, a Council Grove native who graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law last year, fled to a friend's apartment. Fortunately, her building was left undisturbed except for a broken post on her deck. Other residents weren't as lucky.
"I don't really hear it now," Sims said. "Eight o'clock in the morning, yeah, it was pound, pound. It was real annoying."
When she moved into the her nearby apartment on Aug. 1, the three buildings were nothing but a gathering of cement blocks.
Although the tornado made quite an impact on Lawrence, the damage could have been a lot worst, said Matt Laubhan, KU weather lab manager.
The Russell senior said the tornado was relatively weak and was actually beginning to lift as it headed toward the city limits.
"If the storm would have hit Lawrence in its prime we'd be dealing a very, very
4
SEE TORNADOS ON PAGE 6A
8