THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2009
NEWS
3A
LAWRENCE White Owl to stand trial in January for violation
A Judge set a January trial date for Jimmy "White Owl" Tucker at a hearing in Douglas County District Court this morning regarding accusations that he violated a protection order.
In the case, Tucker is accused
Tucker, a 64-year-old Lawrence man, was arrested Nov. 5 for failing to appear in court, according to Douglas County District Court records.
a protection order Sept. 8. He failed to appear for his court date Oct. 30, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Tucke
Tucker
is currently being held in the Douglas County Jail on a bond of $5,000. His jury trial is set to begin Jan. 27 at 9 a.m.
Tucker is also accused of a second violation of a protective order and will have a hearing on that charge Nov.19.
Tucker was cited for an unrelated theft Aug. 28 after police say he admitted to stealing three books from Anschutz Library. According to records from the KU Public Safety Office, the stolen books were valued at $227 and police say the crime occurred between February and August of this year.
Tucker is scheduled to appear before Lawrence Municipal Court on Dec. 31 in connection with this charge.
Brazilian University in uproar over outfit
INTERNATIONAL
BY TALES AZZONI Associated Press
SAO PAULO — Brazil's case of the pink mini-dress that went viral on the Internet has left many scratching their heads: How could it be that an outfit, no matter how short, would cause such an uproar in a tropical nation where skimpy clothing and tiny bikinis barely raise an eyebrow?
The answer, a Bandeirante University official said, is not in the pink dress, but in how Geisy Arruda, a 20-year-old tourism student, chose to wear it. In expelling her from the university — where she has since been reinstated — officials said she paraded provocatively and raised the dress.
"There are hundreds of girls wearing miniskirts on this campus every day, and nothing has ever happened," Vice Dean Ellis Brown said at a news conference Tuesday. "The size of the dress was never discussed — her behavior was."
Arruda has vehemently denied acting provocatively, telling the private Agencia Estado news agency. "It's a big lie that I raised the dress."
In reversing the decision to expel Arruda, Brown said the school was opting for educational rather than disciplinary action.
The media attention has made the case a hot topic in Brazil. But Maisa dos Santos, 38, a maid in Rio de Janeiro, called the dustup absurd. She guessed it was the result of different attitudes in Sao Paulo, known in normally carefree Brazil as a city
that is all work, no play.
"The people in Sao Paulo, they're just squares. There was nothing wrong with that girl's dress," Santos said. "If I had a body like hers, I'd show it off, too. Besides, here in Rio, it's too hot to wear much clothing."
Sen. Eduardo Suplic, who represents Sao Paulo state and had called on the university to reinstate Arruda, will hold a series of seminars to discuss the broader implications of the case, including behavior in an academic settings and attitudes toward women. Brown said
Brown didn't say if or when Arruda would return to the university. She has not made any public
statements since being reinstated.
Arruda said previously she would be afraid to go back.
Her lawyer, Nehemias Domingos de Melo, said there must be safety guarantees for Arruda to return. Earlier, he
cursing Arruda turned up on the Web, quickly made headlines across Brazil and drew attention around the world to the Oct. 22 incident.
Videos of students ridiculing and
had said that she had been contacted by two other colleges offering her a full scholarship, but Tuesday afternoon he told the O Globo newspaper those were apparently fake phone calls.
Arruda was forced to put on a professor's white lab coat to cover her short, pink dress and was escorted away by police amid a hail of insults by students, some chanting "whore, whore."
The case drew widespread protests in Brazil — from government officials and a national students union to an online movement among local celebrities and others, who used the color pink to frame their Twitter profile photos and send messages of support.
ELLISE BROWN
Bandeirante University
vice dean
"The size of the dress was never discussed — her behavior was."
Civil police in the city of Sao Bernardo do Campo outside Sao Paulo, where the university is located, said they will investigate the students accused of heckling Arruda. The university said earlier that some would be suspended. But Brown said
along with Arrudas reinstatement, the heckling students would not be punished.
Arruda's expulsion prompted a demand from the Education Ministry that the university explain why it had kicked her out. The Ministry said in a Tuesday statement that an explanation was no longer needed because the student was reinstated, but that it would continue to follow the case closely.
Geisy Arruda poses at her home in Sao Paulo Saturday wearing the same dress that she was expelled for wearing on campus at Bandeirante University in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil. The Brazilian government went on an explanation Monday from the private university that expelled Arruda for wearing the dress to class.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LEGAL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
This is the former Tory Island home of filmmaker Neville Presho pictured in 1976 before it was demolished. Presho has won eur4,000 (569,000) in damages after his Irish island home was transformed into a parking lot while he was overseas. Presho successfully sued Patrick Doohan, after he returned from New Zealand to find no trace of his six-bedroom house.
Filmmaker victorious in property lawsuit
BY SHAWN POGATCHNIK
Associated Press
New York Gov. David Patterson meets with reporters in his office at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y., on Tuesday. With New York's Legislature unable to agree on ways to address a $3.2 billion deficit in an extraordinary session, Gov. Patterson is setting additional sessions for next week
DUBLIN — A Northern Ireland filmmaker has won €46,000 ($69,000) in damages after a judge ruled that his Irish island home was transformed into a parking lot while he was overseas for six years.
Presho successfully sued developer and hotelier Patrick Doohan after he returned from New Zealand to find no trace of his six-bedroom property beside the island's harbor. In its place stood a septic tank and parking lot for Doohan's newly built 12-room hotel, which remains the only one today on Tory.
The case of Neville Presho captured national attention because of the apparent callousness of his treatment at the hands of the insular 170-strong community of remote Tory Island. Police investigating the vanished house found only a wall of silence.
High Court Justice Roderick
Presho said Tuesday that his home had become "a car park surrounded by boulders to prevent nibritated drivers from driving into the harbor"
Murphy ruled that he couldn't determine who set fire to Presho's property in 1993 or knocked down its stone walls in the following months while Presho was living 11,600 miles away.
Presho said he resettled in New Zealand in 1988 but returned after getting a 1994 letter from Donegal County Council warning that his Tory property had suffered mysterious damage.
NATIONAL
New York Senate fails to vote on bill
Associated Press
BY MICHAEL GORMLEY
ALBANY, N.Y. — After weeks of uncertainty and pleas for action by Gov. David Paterson, New York's Senate failed to vote on a bill legalizing same-sex marriage during a special session Tuesday.
By evening, Paterson put same-sex marriage on agendas for new special sessions for Monday and Tuesday. Later, standing with supporters of the bill, Paterson said he had a commitment by the Senate to bring the issue to a vote by the end of the year, although its outcome remains uncertain. He urged senators who support the measure to ignore "an almost cowardice about battles."
Advocates and opponents say the Senate lacked the 32 votes needed to approve the measure, which Paterson strongly supports and the Assembly already passed
"I implore them that I would rather see an up or down vote, than no action at all," the governor told reporters. "Historically, I think we have lost touch with how movements of equality were reached. There were a lot of ups and downs," he said, citing
the civil rights movement as an example.
"If this bill is put on the floor, there are a lot of people whose consciences will let them vote for the bill, but who just don't want to stomach all the activity around them if they take a position before the vote," he added.
The Rev. Jason McGuire of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, which opposes same-
sex marriage, called it a "crushing blow" to same-sex marriage advocates.
"I'm a little hesitant to call it dead yet," MeGuire said. "It's never over until it's over ... but if they had the votes it would have gone to the floor."
McGuire acknowledged the issue could re-emerge before Jan. 1, but said he doubted lawmakers would be inclined to consider it
The Senate convened and adjourned after less than 30 minutes, the vast majority of which was spent honoring members who were military veterans. Same-sex marriage wasn't debated or on the agenda.
next year, when they all face reelection.
McGuire said last week's special election for New York's rural 23rd Congressional District showed a resurgence in the power of the Conservative Party, which opposes gay marriage, and "marginal" incumbents won't want to risk their seats for the issue.
In the congressional race, Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman forced the more moderate Republican nominee, Dierdre Scozzafava, to suspend her campaign by passing her in the polls and in fundraising. Hoffman narrowly lost the race to Democrat Bill Owens.
When asked if he feels the bill will eventually be approved, he said: "I'm very optimistic."
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Thomas Duane of Manhattan, refused to comment even on whether he wants it to get to the floor, where approval is uncertain.
KANSAS CITY Construction worker dies in falling crane accident
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One worker was killed and another injured Tuesday when a crane tipped over at the construction site of a Kansas City, Mo., performing arts center, police said.
The two men were in the bucket of the 100-foot-tall JLG Lift when it fell away from the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and landed across a platform of steel beams at about
1:40 p.m., officials said.
One of the men was pronounced dead at a hospital, said police spokesman Darin Snapp. The other was listed in serious but stable condition and was able to talk. Snapp said both men were in their 30s, but their identities were not immediately released.
The men were installing steel panels on the building for Detroit-based subcontractor Midwest Steel, said Kyle McQuiston, spokesman for Kansas City-based general contractor JE
Construction on the 13-acre site began in 2006 and is scheduled to be finished in 2011. The $400 million center will be the home of the Kansas City Symphony, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and the Kansas City Ballet.
McQuiston said the construction site had no previous fatalities or injuries.
Dunn Construction Group
Workers were sent home for the day while investigators examined the site, said JE Dunn president Dan Euston.
"We have an onsite safety
Crane accidents kill up to 82 construction workers each year in the United States, according to the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration.
Associated Press
team down there and are working with investigators, both local and any federal agencies, to determine what caused this accident," Euston said. "We're very deeply saddened by this event. Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the families."
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