SPORTS
CoRec football team Kathy Says Okay demolishes Bruce Hall's Cinderella story in the Intramural Championship game. PAGE 1B
SPORTS
The soccer team is only three victories away from earning its first Big 12 Conference Championship. PAGE 1B
KANSAN
FRIDAY. OCTOBER 22, 2004
VOL. 115 ISSUE 45
www.kansan.com
New drinking age group's goal
BY STEPHANE FARLEY
sfarley@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
PUNISHMENTS FOR UNDERAGE DRINKING
The University of Kansas Political Activist Club doesn't think it is fair that 18-year-olds can vote but can't sit at a counter in a bar and have an alcoholic beverage. According to law, you must be 21 to do so, but that's a law this group wants to change.
The club's goal is to get the drinking age lowered to 18.
The club will begin lobbying the Legislature in January 2005 but has already spoken with staff members for U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore (D-Kansas) and Ralph Nader, Reform Party presidential candidate.
Lowering the drinking age is not about going out and getting plastered, but about a balance in the adult responsibilities given to us, said Krystal Werth.
Here are facts and consequences for underage drinking in Lawrence:
A minor is anyone below the age of 21.
An arrest can be made and a citation issued simply for a minor possessing an alcoholic beverage—e.g. an opnapping pco.
age, not just consuming one.
A minor can be charged for pro
A minor can be charged for providing alcohol to other minors.
A minor can be issued a citation for possession of alcoholic beverages on private property.
If convicted for transporting an
Wichita sophomore and vice president of the group.
If an 18-year-old can be given the responsibilities of an adult—including voting, marriage and military service—
open container of alcohol, a minor can be sentenced to a sixmonth jail sentence and fined up to $200. The judge can suspend your driver's license on the second conviction.
If convicted for possessing, purchasing or consuming alcohol, a minor can spend up to 30 days in jail and be fined $300 to $500. The minor is also required to perform up to 40 hours of community service, attend an alcohol education program and his or her license will be suspended for 30 days.
SEE PUNISHMENTS ON PAGE 6A
then he should be able to have a drink,
Werth, 19, said.
Right now people younger than 21 face legal punishments for drinking underage, but that doesn't keep some
from drinking.
Werth said it was not really a matter of whether people were drinking,was a matter of whether that person was legally or illegally drinking.
The drinking age was changed from 18 to 19 on July 1, 1985. The next year, the age was raised to 20, and in 1987 it increased to 21. Before 1985, 18-year-olds could only drink 3.2 percent alcohol.
The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 required all states to raise the minimum age to 21 for the purchase and public possession of alcohol.
States that do comply with the Act face a reduction in federal highway and transportation funding.
More than likely, the proposal for lowering the drinking age would go
SEE DRINKING ON PAGE 6A
Amanda Kim Stairrett/Kansan
Jared Loehr, Overland Park sophomore, started a club at the University of Kansas to lower the legal drinking age from 21 to 18.
Follow the flop
Jack Halbrook, Overland Park freshman, waits for the next card to be dealt during a Texas Hold 'Em tournament last night at Abe & Jakes Landing, 8 E. Sixth St. More than 80 people participated in the tournament. All proceeds were donated to meningitis victim Andy Marso, St. Cloud, Minn., graduate.
Buses to test biodiesel fuel
Transportation Board preparing for test run before Thanksgiving
BY LAURA FRANCOVIGIA
francovigia@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Steven Bartkoski/KANSAN
Campus may smell faintly of doughnuts or french fries once biodiesel fuel testing for University busses begins, according to the Kansas Soybean Association.
Tim Akright, KU on Wheels president and University of Kansas Student Senate transportation board coordinator, said the board was aiming for one Jayhawk Express bus to test biodiesel fuel before Thanksgiving Break.
However, he said he didn't think campus would smell like Krispie Kremes.
Some kinks still need to be worked out before the trial run, which could last one or two weeks. can begin.
The cost has not been a factor so far, said Akright. Overland Park senior. He said biodiesel fuel costs about 25 cents more per gallon than regular diesel fuel.
The board needs to discuss issues such as how to deal with complaints, where to store the biodiesel fuel, what state regulations exist for biodiesel fuel and what standard emissions the board will aim for.
KU on Wheels currently operates on
The board needs to discuss issues such as how to deal with complaints, where to store the biodiesel fuels, what state regulations exist for biodiesel fuel and what standard emissions the board will aim for.
a budget of $1.6 million per year and uses 100,000 gallons of diesel fuel a year.
The trial run will help the board work through its concerns about biodiesel fuel. Akright said.
Biodiesel fuel may jell in extremely low winter temperatures, and buses may lose power more easily in the winter while using biodiesel fuel.
"We don't want to get to the point where a bus could fail or not get up a hill." Akright said.
Akrent said the buses already had trouble driving up Naismith Drive in winter conditions.
Steve Munch and Jeff Dunlap, student body president and vice president, ran with the KUnited coalition last spring on a platform to switch all of the University's buses to biodiesel fuel.
SEE BIODIESEL ON PAGE 6A
Numbers up at Symposium
BY NIKLA ROWE
nrowe@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Attendance increases for Black Leadership conference
More than 550 African-American high school students met yesterday at the Kansas Union to learn about the University of Kansas, college life and the importance of being a leader.
The turnout for the 19th annual Black Leadership Symposium was larger than expected this year.
"We planned for 500 students but 535 showed up," said Pamela Scott, associate director in the Office of
The Black Leadership Symposium is an opportunity for high school students to be exposed to different aspects of college, Scott said. It is also an opportunity for students to learn about what college has to offer, Scott said.
"We hope to give aspirations to, or course come to KU, but to get to college in general." she said.
Multicultural Affairs. "Every year it gets bigger; the turnout is great."
Jalisa Mathis, Junction City High School sophomore, said that she didn't know yet if she would go to the University, but she knew that she
would go to college after she graduated. She came to the symposium to see how people cared about black education and said that the event reminded her that whatever she believed she could achieve.
"It did give me a chance to see a different part of KU," Mathis said as she watched the Inspirational Gospel Voices perform during lunch.
Scott said the lunch was the most social and fun event. National Pan-Hellenic Council sororities and fraternities performed step shows and then talked to students about their chapters.
Emma Watson (left), Overland Park senior, Nicole Thomas, Kansas City, Kan., senior, and DeAnna Watson, Grandview Mo., junior, perform an original dance during the Black Leadership Symposium yesterday at the Kansas Ballroom in the Kansas Union.
SEE SYMPOSIUM ON PAGE 6A
The University Library Kelan
111 Stauster-Flint Hall
1435 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence, KS 66045
(785) 864-4810
© 2014 The University Dalton-Kenyon
The University Daily Kansan
Regents
© 2004 The University Daily Kansan
The Kansas Board of Regents approved an 11-acre land grant for a new Multidisciplinary Research Center located on the University's West Campus. PAGE 3A
A New Greek House
The greek community is holding an auction tomorrow night to raise money for Habitat for Humanity and "The House that Greeks Built." PAGE 3A
Index
News Briefs ... 2A
Weather ... 2A
Opinion ... 4A
Birds ... 1B
Comics ... 5B
Crossword ... 5B
Classifieds ... 4B
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