thursday,august 28,2003
news
the university daily kansan 34
Teen driver faces murder charge
By Joe Hartigan
jhartigan@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
A man from Lee's Summit, Mo., has been charged with second-degree murder after a car crash resulted in the death of a Lawrence resident.
Judith Vellucci, 56, was killed in the automobile accident Monday evening.
day morning.
Vellucci's car was struck by a vehicle driven by 19-year-old Nam Ouk Cho, a resident of Lee's Summit, Mo. Vellucci was pronounced dead at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
Police said Cho was fleeing the officers at the time of the accident.
dent.
Cho was treated and released from Lawrence Memorial Hospital before being arrested and placed in the Douglas County Jail.
Cho has been charged with second degree murder and fleeing and eluding police.
and eluding police Sgt. Mike Pattrick of the Lawrence Police Department said the police were unsure why
"We suspect drugs and alcohol," Pattrick said. "Why else would a person drive like that?"
Cho was running from the police.
would a person Patrick said the police were contacted by a citizen at 6:10 p.m. about a reckless driver who was driving into oncoming traffic in the southbound lane of the 1400 block of Massachusetts Street.
According to a police press release, the police first began chasing Cho's vehicle at 6:13 p.m. on West Ninth Street. Officers unsuccessfully attempted to
stop the vehicle at the intersection of Ninth and Iowa streets, and continued chasing the vehicle.
Nieder streets, lined
It is not known if Vellucci was wearing her seatbelt at the time of the accident.
The vehicle then fled west on 9th Street and south on Kasold Drive before colliding with Vellucci at 6:18 p.m. at 31st and Nieder street, killing her.
Cho's first court appearance will be today at 5:30 p.m.
- Edited by Doyle Murphy
Blackboard errors frustrate students
By Robert Perkins
rperkins@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The Sobig worm isn't the only thing causing computer problems at the University of Kansas.
Blackboard, the online teaching aid, is experiencing problems that are slowing its response time and causing frustrations for students and teachers alike. Though it hasn't stopped working completely, Blackboard's slowness has made it frustrating and difficult to use.
Joel Abrahamson, Grand
Forks, N.D., sophomore, said he had given up on using it for the time being.
time being.
"It's just been crawling," he said. "It took five to 10 minutes for a page to load. It's kind of ridiculous."
Abrahamson, a chemical engineering student, said he was somewhat worried that he might miss important announcements on Blackboard, though he figured his teachers were having the same problems.
problems.
"I think that the teachers are aware of the limitations of Blackboard and are staying away from
it right now," he said
Jerree Catlin, the associate director of Information Services, said she had contacted Blackboard's technical support people and that they were working on the problem.
She said that while they had ruled out the worm and several other possible culprits, the team still hadn't pinpointed the exact cause of Blackboard's performance issues.
So far, the team has figured out that Blackboard runs normally when the system is rebooted, though it slows down
"If I were a student or faculty member, I'd probably be losing my patience with it right now too," she said.
too," she said.
Catlin said the technical support team was working as hard as possible to find the problem because it knew that many people depended on the online service.
Still, she wasn't sure when it would be fixed.
would be fixed. "My hands are tied until we diagnose the problem," she said.
Edited by NeeleySpellmeier
Teacher shoots self during police pursuit
The Associated Press
HUTCHINSON - A psychology teacher at Hutchinson Community College shot herself to death yesterday as officers closed in to question her about the shooting death of her husband, authorities said.
authorizes sale
Lianne Jainee Stafford, 61, died at a hospital of a gunshot wound to the chest, Reno County Undersheriff Dennis Stofer told The Hutchinson News. Her husband, a physician, was shot and killed
Tuesday night at a medical office building across from the Hutchinson Clinic.
son Clinic.
Robert Stafford, 60, was dead on arrival at the nearby Hutchinson Hospital.
The 1.53 p.m. shooting came during a search by officers from Reno, Harvey and McPherson counties.
A Reno County sheriff's captain found the woman's sport utility vehicle parked in a cul-de-sac northwest of Hutchinson at 1:18 p.m., Stofer said.
“Initially, we couldn't tell if she was in the vehicle.” Stofer said. “We called for additional officers. While waiting and surveying the area, the officers heard a gunshot.”
area, the officer visited. The shot came from behind a sand dune 50 to 75 feet off the road, Stoffer said. Officers found Lillian Stafford, suffering from a single gunshot wound in the left chest, probably from a .38-caliber handgun similar to one used Tuesday night, said Hutchinson Police Chief Dick Heitschmidt.
Office Chief Dick Yokoyama
Emergency crews initially
found a pulse and respiration as they began CPR, but Lillian Stafford later died at Hutchinson Hospital, Stofer said.
On Tuesday, police said they received a 911 call at 9:17 p.m. about a shooting.
Assistant Police Chief Dave Higdon said the doctor was found in an office area with a single gunshot wound to the chest. Higdon said he was not breathing and had no pulse when taken to the hospital.
when taken to the hospital. Police had not established a motive for the doctor's shooting.
Controversy clouds committee meeting
By Paul Kramer
pkramer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
A heated debate over a proposed blood drive bill in the Students Rights committee highlighted the first Student Senate meetings of the year last night.
meetings of the year, and
The bill, to allot $1,496 on
behalf of the community blood
drive for advertising in The University Daily Kansan, found
opposition from gay rights advocates who found the bill discriminatory.
The opposition to the bill centered on one of the Food and Drug Administration regulations for giving blood. According to the FDA, any man who has had sexual intercourse with another man since 1977, is disqualified from giving blood.
The bill was initially passed, then re-opened by motion, then tabled for two weeks until the next committee meeting.
next committee meeting
Proponents of the bill made a plea to again re-open the bill because if tabled, the deadline for advertising in the Kansan would pass, and the bill would be void.
After much discussion a and compromise in language to a friendly amendment, the bill was re-opened and finally passed. Because it is a friendly amendment, the bill can be amended throughout the process. The full Student Senate will vote on the bill during next week's session.
The friendly-amendment added a mandatory $500 campaign to raise awareness about the FDA's policy for those who want to give blood.
The initial word choice of the friendly-amendment would have called the FDA policy discriminatory, but was not acceptable because it would have made that campaign partisan, and against rules and regulations for funding.
The argument is that the University of Kansas code of student rights and regulations says there
cannot be discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Travis Weller, student rights committee member and a former chair of the committee, questioned what message incoming freshman would take from a bill that gave money to a program that excluded certain members of the student body from participating.
Kyle Johnson, student executive chairman said the discrimination came from the federal government not the University. And according to Johnson, the University's general counsel has agreed that giving funds for blood drive advertising does not break University code.
iniversity code. Nick Lawler, architecture senator and author of the bill, said he was against the FDA policy but still thought the bill was necessary.
sary. "It is shown that advertising in the Kansan brings more people to the blood drive," he said. "And although I disagree with the policy, giving blood is so important."
ley, giving blood the Lawler said petitioning the FDA and protesting were ways to get attention, but not giving funds only hurt the community.
only hurt the commen Anne Domann, panhellenic blood drive chair, said Kansan advertising was the most effective way to get people to the blood drive.
drive.
"We handed out fliers, but they usually just get thrown away," she said. "Everyone looks at the Kansan. It's by far the best wav."
Kansan. It's by Sarah Burris, outreach chair for Queers and Allies, said she was disappointed that Senate would pass a bill she thought was fundamentally discriminatory, with or without the amendment.
"I think its nice of senators to stand up," Burris said. "But I think what they have done was lip service to Queers and Allies. I would like to see some of them out there giving the information."
—Edited by Nikki Overfelt