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KS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PO BOX 3585
TOPEKA, KS 66601-3585
UNIVERSITY DAILY
kansan
LOW 26
Monday
December 1, 1997
Section:
A
Vol. 108 . No. 70
Online today
Vol.108·No.70
Check out the lowdown in Hollywood all the latest deals, movies and castings.
WWW.KANSAN.COM
http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/
Sports today
Forward Lynn Pride and the Jayhawks defeated Cal State Northridge 79-66 yesterday for third place in the Prairie Lights/Hawkeye Classic.
SEE PAGE 8A
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AIDS: it's NOT going away
(USPS 650-640)
Annual event has local impact
By Sarah Chadwick schadwick@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
World AIDS Day
The United Methodist Kansas Area AIDS Taskforce will hold a memorial service at 7:30 p.m. at the Centenary Methodist Church, Fourth and Elm streets
The Spencer Museum of Art will be accepting quilt panels for the AIDS quilt at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow.
Lawrence resident Rich Crank's exhibit, "Pass the Compass," will be on display from 10 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. today at Artframes, 912 Illinois St.
Queers & Allies will hold a candlelight vigil at 1 p.m. today in front of Wescoe Hall.
Queers & Allies will have an information table today in the lobby of the Kansas Union to distribute condoms and AIDS information.
Last year. 362,004 people nationwide died of complications of AIDS and 581,429 new cases of AIDS were reported, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
According to the Watkins Health Center, one in every KU 500 students is HIV positive.
Day.
In an attempt to educate the public about AIDS and remember those who have died because of the disease, people will gather today to commemorate the 10th annual World AIDS
This year's theme is "Give Children Hope in a World with AIDS." The theme stems from the fact that more 1.5 million children world-wide had been infected with AIDS as of 1995. The World Health Organization estimates that by the year 2000, that number will rise to 5 million.
Kansas does not keep track of how many people have been infected with HIV, but it does keep numbers on how many AIDS cases have been diagnosed and on how many people have died of complications of AIDS, sald April Ramos, Douglas County AIDS Project director.
There have been 76 reported cases of AIDS in Douglas County, Jefferson County and Franklin County since 1981. The Douglas County AIDS Project has served 39 AIDS patients in that time, and it had 15 new patients in the first 9 months of this year, Ramos said.
In honor of the World AIDS Day, the United Methodist Kansas Area AIDS Taskforce will have a memorial service at 7:30 tonight at the Centenary Methodist Church, Fourth and Elm streets.
"It is a service of blessing and remembrance," said Diane Stiles, a Douglas County AIDS Project volunteer. "It's an ecumenical interface service with short speakers from a variety of ethnic and religious groups. People will light candles in memory of someone who has died of AIDS."
The Douglas County AIDS Project, KU Queers and Allies and the Center for Peer Health Promotions at Watkins Health Center will have information tables set up at the Kansas Union today to promote awareness of the disease.
"We are promoting World AIDS Day with an info table in Watkins and at the Union," said Amy Foppe, Lawrence senior and coordinator for the Center for Peer Health Promotions. "We will provide information dealing with HIV and AIDS, and red ribbons will be passed out for people to wear to support World AIDS Day."
The Spencer Museum of Art will be accepting quilt panels for the AIDS quilt at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow. The event was planned for today, but the museum is not open on Mondays, Ramos said.
Poster exhibit reminder that AIDS epidemic a world problem
By Ann Premer apremer@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
In recognition of World AIDS Day, a local art collector is exhibiting his collection of AIDS-awareness posters today at Art-Frames. 912 Illinois St.
Lawrence resident Rich Crank's exhibit, "Past the Compass," features 32 posters from around the world that promote safe sex and AIDS acceptance and awareness. The exhibit will be on display from 10 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. today. At 7:30 there will be a reception and informal discussion.
Crank, who is a librarian at Anschutz Science Library, said that he began collecting the posters in 1993 after a friend died from complications of AIDS.
Rich Crank works on an exhibit of AIDS posters for World AIDS Day. The posters are from Crank's personal collection. They will be on display from 10 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. today at ArtFrames, 912 Illinois St.. Photo by GR Gordon-Ross/KANSAN
"This was something I could do to get the message out to people and to remind them to stay safe," Crank said. "I think the message isn't there enough."
In 1994, Crank first displayed a collection of 25 posters at ArtFrames. Since then his collection has grown to more than 100
posters, and he has had two exhibitions at the University of Kansas, one in the Kansas Union Gallery and one at the Multicultural Resource Center.
The majority of the posters for this exhibit are foreign. The exhibit includes posters from France, Germany, Mexico, Japan and Sweden.
He said that he had obtained his posters through AIDS organizations and friends. Crank said he had a variety of posters but that he tried to find ones that addressed gay men's issues. He said that he also was trying to find posters that dealt with the rising infection rate of minority women.
"I think it's important for people to realize that it's an international problem."
Crank said.
See POSTER on page 3A
Infection rates do not discriminate
By Ryan Koerner
rkoerner@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
After 17 years, the AIDS epidemic has not gone away. In fact, more than 30 million people worldwide are infected with AIDS, or have contracted HIV.
KU Guerses and Allies wants to make sure that fact is understood.
"People sort of look at it as a gay disease and think that we should be the ones to do something," said Corrina Beck, Queers and Allies member and Kansas City, Mo., junior. "We totally disagree with that, but we think something needs to be done."
In observance of World AIDS Day, Queers and Allies will operate an information table in the lobby of the Kansas Union today to distribute condoms and AIDS information. At 1 p.m. the group will hold a candelight vigil at Wescoe Beach. The vigil will include a moment of silence at 1:17 p.m., when the Campanile will chime 17 times in observance of each year of the AIDS epidemic.
"It will be a moment of silence and a moment of mourning," Beck said. "Not only that, but also we want the whole day to be a celebration of people who are living with AIDS."
It is easy to forget that people don't just die of complications of AIDS—they also live with it, Beck said.
"It can be a full and wonderful life. World AIDS Day is a celebration of that life," she said.
Kevin King, Queers and Allies publicity co-chairman, said it was important for the group to take an active role in today's events.
"The lesbiagiatrans community has been greatly impacted by the whole AIDS epidemic," said King, Topea senior. "It has now become a greater concern than it was before to the heterosexual population. As long as people are suffering from this particular disease, we want to make sure that we, at the very least, observe it."
King said the observation of the day, which is in its 10th year
AIDS facts
One in every 500 KU students is HIV positive.
362,004 people died of complications of AIDS in the U.S. last year.
581,429 new AIDS cases were reported in the U.S. last year.
AIDS is the leading cause of death among men ages 25 to 44. It is the third leading cause of death among women in the same age group
It is the sixth leading cause of death for people between 15 and 24.
One in every four new cases of HIV infections occur in people under age 22.
Half of all new HIV infections occur in people under the age of 25.
HIV is spreading almost six times more quickly among women than among men.
American women with AIDS die 33 percent faster than men with AIDS.
3,000 women are infected with HIV each day; 500 women die from AIDS complications each day.
Worldwide, women are the fastest-growing group of new HIV infections. By the year 2000,15 million women will be infected with HIV.
Sources: Watkins Memorial Health Center, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization
should remind people that the advances in HIV and AIDS treatment have not come close to eliminating the disease.
"What we want to accomplish is a heightened awareness and a reminder to everyone that even with all the steps that we are making and the progress with treating the disease, it is still very much a significant factor in everyone's life," King said. "Everyone should continue to realize that."
See AIDS on page 3A
KPL explosion north of town kills two men injures others
Ron Guy, Lawrence resident, died at 1:25 p.m. Saturday at the University of Kansas Medical Center as a result of the Nov. 24 Kansas Power and Light explosion north of Lawrence.
By Corrie Moore
cmore@kansas.com
Konpson staff writer
Duane Tenpenny, Topeka resident, died at the scene. His funeral was last Saturday in Topeka.
The KPL Lawrence Energy Center
explosion left Guy, 57, and Charles Price, a 35-year-old resident of Kansas City, Mo., with burns covering 90 percent of their bodies.
Guy and Price were flown by helicopter Monday to the Med Center. Price remains at the Med Center in critical condition.
Danny Bolden, Lawrence resident, was treated at Lawrence Memorial Hospital for smoke inhalation and was released last Monday.
Guy was a maintenance coordinator and had worked for KPL for 36 years.
The explosion occurred at 4:43 p.m. Monday during maintenance work on a 4,160-volt breaker. An electrical failure caused the explosion and fire, said George Norton, KPL manager of public information.
Guy's funeral will be at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Warren-McElwain Mortuary in Lawrence.
Guy, Tenpenny and Price were completing maintenance work on the volt breaker.
Norton said that KPL workers were saddened by the event but were continuing to do their jobs.
The sheriff's office, Douglas County rural fire department and KPL still are investigating the incident.
Norton said that there was no new information about the cause of the explosion.
"The investigation of the incident continues and continued through the holiday weekend," he said.
Steve Johnson, KPL division manager, said that the coal-fired plant had never had an explosion such as this before.
CLARIFICATION
In Tuesday's paper it was incorrectly reported that the Kansan general manager and marketing adviser were members of the Kansan board. They are ex-officio members and do not vote.
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