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Volleyball: Stephanie Blackwell proves height isn't everything. Page 1B
Euthanasia: Right-to-die lawyer to discuss ethics of death Tuesday. Page 3A
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
NEWS 864-4810
ADVERTISING 864-4358
WEDNESDAY. OCTOBER 16. 1996
SECTION A VOL.103 NO.39
(USPS 650-640)
King Hussein makes historic West Bank visit
JERICHO, WEST BANK — Jordan's King Hussein made his first visit to the West Bank yesterday since losing the territory to Israel in the 1967 Middle East War and pledged support for Yasser Arafat. "My brother Arafat and I are a team," he said.
With the historic visit — the first by an Arab leader to the autonomous enclave — Hussein also signaled his public acceptance of Palestinian rule in the West Bank and put more pressure on Israel to accelerate the pace of the peace process.
"I am happy to be on Palestinian land," Hussein said. Hussein said he and Arafat would cooperate closely to ensure the Jewish state's new hard-line government kept promises made in peace agreements with the Palestinians.
BRAZZAVILLE, CONGO — The death toll from an outbreak of Ebola in Gabon has risen to 10, and at least four more have been infected with the deadly virus, the World Health Organization said yesterday.
Ebola virus strikes again, kills 10 in African nation
This is the fourth time the virus has struck Africa since it appeared in Zaire in 1995, killing 245 people.
Thirteen others have become infected, and two are critically ill, according to the World Health Organization.
Kassankongo Yao, an epidemiologist with the organization, said that there had been deaths in other villages but that officials did not know if the deaths were tied to Ebola.
The latest outbreak began in July when a forest worker contracted the disease, according to Gabon's Ministry of Health.
Driving privileges earned through Michigan law
LANSING, MICH. — Four teenagers were carefree as they drove on a country road on a rainy afternoon. Secondly later, a truck slammed into their car, leaving 15-year-old Colette Barnes and two others dead.
The World Health Organization has sent a team of specialists to Gabon to investigate.
One of Colette's friends — also 15 and driving with a leaver's permit but without the required adult in the car — had run a stop sign.
Colette's parents have crusaded for a law passed last month, effective in April, that allows Michigan teens to start learning to drive earlier — at 14 3/4 instead of 15. But it has a three-step process that sets stricter requirements for training, calls for more parental involvement and limits the hours teens may drive.
The law makes Michigan one of a growing number of states to establish multi-step, or "graduated," licenses that slowly give teen-agers more driving privileges as they gain experience behind the wheel.
BRECKENRIDGE, COLO. — For the first time, overweight people outnumber normal-sized ones in the United States, according to government statistics released yesterday.
Heavy people outweigh the nation's normal-sized
She noted the development of the remote control, which keeps people on the couch, and fear of crime, which provides more reason to stay inside.
The reasons are not entirely clear. Katherine Legal of the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Md., who outlined the data, said many small reductions in physical activity may be to blame.
Albert J. Stunkard of the University of Pennsylvania offered a different reason. "It's just eating too much," he said. "Physical activity hasn't increased enough to make up for it."
The Associated Press
Freshmen face charges
Two KU students spend night in jail
By Andrea Albright Kansan staff writer
The Douglas County district attorney's office charged two KU students with aggravated robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and kidnapping at their first court appearance yesterday.
Michael A. Horner and Dominik D. Kilpatrick, Lawrence freshmen, were each
charged with three felonies stemming from a robbery that occurred Aug. 11 at Sonic Drive In Restaurant, 3201 W. Sixth St., Lawrence police said.
Homer and Kilpatrick were questioned and arrested Monday and spent the night in jail.
Lawrence police Detective John Lewis said bail had not been set until yesterday's appearance because of the seriousness of the alleged crimes. The judge set bail at $25,000 for each man.
The men were assigned lawyers by the court, and a preliminary hearing was set for Oct. 23 to determine whether there is sufficient evidence for a trial.
Michael Madsen. owner of the restaurant.
said Horner and Kilpatrick took a hostage at gimpoint to get into the then-closed restaurant.
"They had tried to get in the night before but couldn't because of store policy." Madsen said.
But the next night, the men allegedly took a 16-year-old male hostage and forced employees to open the door.
"This kid is withdrawn from his family and school," Madsen said. "It doesn't seem fair, and it doesn't seem right. I want to prosecute to the full extent of the law."
Once the men were inside, they forced the hostage, three employees and Madsen into the store cooler at gunpoint. Madsen said.
When everyone was locked inside the cooler, Horner and Kilpatrick took almost $7,000 police said.
Madsen said the incident had changed his perspective about what was important in his life.
Madsen said he was most angered by the anguish that the crime had caused the hostage.
"We've spent over $1,000 beefing up security," Madsen said. "Now we have an armed guard here at night."
Madsen said he had upgraded security at the restaurant since the robbery.
"When that guy had a gun pointed at the back of my head, I just wanted to hold my wife again and see my week-old son," Madsen said. "I'm glad I'm still here."
This is the story of a KU student who lost $2,500 in one night at a casino. It's also a story of how a gambling addiction can make life-long dreams go ...
BUST!
B ud sits on a milk crate watching Seinfeld reruns on his black-and-white television. The telephone rings, but Bud doesn't move
He is afraid of who may be on the other end of the line. Debt collectors have taken almost everything he owns and left him with an empty apartment.
"I don't have shit for furniture," taments Bud, a KU senior from Florida. "I have no food. I can't pay my bills."
Bud has a problem. Like 9.3 percent of college men and 2.4 percent of college women, according to a 1996 Harvard study, he is a compulsive gambler. The study also reported that 25 percent of male students and 8 percent of female
Bud lost more than a year's tuition at Kansas City, Mo., casinos last year. He also emptied his savings account and tapped out a trust fund.
Gambling addicts tend to:
students have some gaming problems. Gambling has risen recently among college students, research shows, and KU students are among those filling the parking lots of new casinos that have opened in Kansas City since 1994.
- experience periodic loss of control of gambling
deny there is a problem
be preoccupied with gambling
allow gambling to escalate in frequency and amount
Students who live close to casinos are more prone to gambling addictions than those without casinos nearby, says Michael Frank, associate professor of psychology at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. Five casinos operate within an hour's drive of the University of Kansas. Three are in Kansas City, and the Flamingo received permission to operate from the Missouri Gaming Commission last Friday. It will open for business Friday. One is in St. Joseph, Mo., and the other on the Kickapoo Indian reservation about 50 miles north of Topeka.
have addictive behavior that continues despite adverse consequences, such as loss of job or friends
Each casino can provide the thrill that feeds Bud's addiction, but the high has its downside.
think irrationally
isole herself or himself from friends who don't gamble
Bud has changed his phone number several times in the past three years to avoid bill collectors, and he still screens calls. But it's not just the electric company he is afraid of.
"I owed a bookie over a grand, so I took off," he said. "I'm sure he's still after me."
He managed to get his father to pay his tuition, so he is enrolled in classes this fall. But his parents do not know that he is broke or realize that he is a compulsive gambler.
Bud has been on the run since last semester and fears that using his real name in the newspaper would help a bookie — or a bookie's friends — find him.
❤❤❤
But not every student who visits a casino is an addict.
"I like to watch all the people gamble," she said. "I also like to take chances."
Brenda Daly, Bonner Springs senior, said she went to a casino at least twice a month to have fun.
Daly usually plays the dollar slot machines, and she won $1,200 one day. She estimated that she won about 80 percent of the time. But she admitted that she had gotten carried away a few times dropping tokens in the slot machines.
"If I start to feel like I'm becoming addicted, I stay away for a while," she said. "But I don't think I could ever become addicted."
Brian Truelsen, Northbrook, Ill., senior, visits a casino about five times a month to try to win at Caribbean stud poker, blackjack and roulette. He said about half his friends also gambled, and he went to a casino to have fun and win big money.
"Free or inexpensive alcohol also draws many college students," he said.
Brett Dolezal, Hoffman Estates, Ill., graduate student, said student gamblers should calculate ahead of time how much money they can afford to lose.
See BUSTED, Page 5A
Provost testifies in investigation of payroll system
Software for processing paychecks comes under inquiry by state
By Eric Weslander Kansan staff writer
TOPEKA — A state committee is investigating the University of Kansas' pavilion problems.
The committee will use the testimony to make a recommendation to the Legislative Coordinating Council on the progress of the state's use of technology.
"This guy sounded like he was new and that he had just walked into a land mine," said Sen. Marian Reynolds, chairwoman of the committee. "Basically, he just said that they have made a number of changes and that they were trying to play catch-up."
Provost David Shulenburger testified yesterday at the Statehouse in Topeka to the Joint Committee on Computers and Telecommunications. The committee is composed of three state senators and three state representatives. His testimony addressed some of the steps the University was taking to adjust to the state's new human resources and payroll system.
Since its implementation in January, the Statewide Human Resource and Payroll (SHaRP) system has been an enigma at the University. Employees have complained of missing or late paychecks, and some payroll personnel have been befuddled by PeopleSoft, the program they use to enter their departments' payroll information.
"There was a challenge by one of the committee members to the SHaRP system," Reynolds said. "We had heard that even though we had spent all of this money, that the system was not in use at certain places. One of the committee members wanted to know why."
One of the factors that prompted the investigation was the Department of Administration's observation that the University, Kansas State, and the University of Kansas Medical Center had a version of the system that differed from the other four Regents universities, which are not having problems with PeopleSoft.
Reynolds said she had learned from the testimony that the University's extensive involvement with research was one reason for the discrepancies. Time spent on research is more difficult to document, which can cause pavcheck problems.
She said Shulenburger's testimony helped the committee see that the University was using the system and was trying to fix the problems.
"The changes that must be made are both technical and procedural," Shulenburger said in a memo to faculty and staff last week. The changes will include hiring six new programmers and reassigning three current University programmers to the PeopleSoft problems.
Lindy Eakin, associate provost for support services, said he did not know why the state was investigating. He said it was normal to take some time adjusting to a large, complex system such as PeopleSoft.
"There's sort of this knee-jerk reaction of 'Call them in and see what's going on,' Eakin said. "We don't know what issue they're really after. They call us, we come."
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The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of the Kansan are 25 cents.