THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Tomorrow's weather
Kansan
Warm and mostly sunny.
HIGH LOW 80 51
Tuesday
October 26, 1999
Section:
A
Vol. 110 • No. 48
Inside today
Lifelong Republican Pat Buchanan joined the ranks of the Reform Party. He made jabs at his former party throughout his speech.
WWW.KANSAN.COM
SEE PAGE 6A
Sports today
The men's club volleyball team recently won its own Sunflower Showdown,but they just want to get the word out that they exist.
SEE PAGE 7A
Contact the Kansan
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Editor e-mail: editor@kansan.com
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
He's got a ticket to write
Topeka junior Zeke Cunningham issues a parking ticket to an illegally parked car on campus. Cunningham, who has been with the University of Kansas Parking Department for four years now, said that obscenities and rude comments made by unhappy motorists no longer affected him. Photo by Kate Levenson/KANSAN
Obscenities, gestures are part of the job for parking employee
By Michael Terry
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
As Zeke Cunningham drives a white Ford truck through campus, a female student leans out her car window and yells an obscenity while giving him the finger.
Cunningham, Topeka junior and crime and delinquency major, has not done anything wrong. He's only doing his job — he issues parking tickets for the University of Kansas Parking Department.
For Cunningham, the student's reaction is nothing new.
"There hasn't been a day that I've worked that a student, faculty or staff member hasn't had that exact same reaction," Cunningham said. "It just becomes second nature, and you learn to ignore it."
As the KU cops reporter for the Kansan, I rode around campus with Cunningham on Oct. 20 from 3 p.m. to midnight to learn what a KU ticketer's typical shift was like. Cunningham's official title is "safety security officer I," because he works full time. Students who ticket parttime are referred to as "student ticket writers."
As we leave the garage to begin our patrol, Cunningham talks about a common parking department misconception.
It is 3 p.m., and we stand on the first floor of the parking garage by the Burge Union. He tells me that tonight's shift will not be typical. Instead of three ticketers, Cunningham and I are the only ones patrolling campus tonight.
(USPS 650-640)
"Everyone seems to think we're out lurking in the bushes waiting for them to park so we can issue them a ticket, and that couldn't be farther from the truth," he said. "We're out
doing our job like everyone else, and if we see an infraction we're obligated to go and check it out."
We drive toward Allen Fieldhouse, and it doesn't take long to find the first violator of the evening. A silver Pontiac is parked next to a yellow curb at lot 70 by the fieldhouse, with a vacant meter a few feet away.
Cunningham reaches for his handheld ticket writer while I watch. He enters the license plate number and the device searches for the vehicle's ticket history.
He tells me this is the first year ticketers are able to do this, and that it
helps to access the violator's past ticket pattern. The new program, conversion and equipment, cost the parking department $62,000.
He continues to scan the lot and tells about when a classmate found out Cunningham worked for the parking department.
The information comes back, showing numerous unpaid tickets. Without hesitation, Cunningham presses the print button and issues a $20 ticket.
"One day in class a guy sat next to me, and we started to talk," he said.
"The guy asked me where I worked
and when he found out he got up and moved, and never talked to me again." Before he issues another ticket,
Before he issues another ticket,
Cunningham asks if I want to do it.
After a quick lesson in ticket writing 101, he sets me loose to issue my only ticket of the night.
I press the print button and think that it feels good to be on the other end.
At 5 p.m., Cunningham opens the iron gate at 14th Street and Jayhawk Boulevard. He says it is time to shift
See PARKING on page 3A
Watkins warns women of the pill's recall
By Amber Stuever writer@kansan.com
By Amber Stuever
Kansan staff writer
Kate Treacy got a phone call from Watkins Memorial Health Center on Friday saying there was an emergency and that she must return the call immediately.
Treacy, Kenilworth, Ill., sophomore, who just had received a gynecological exam and been placed back on birth control pills, immediately thought the worst.
"He didn't say what was wrong at all," Treacy said. "I was scared. The way it was handled frightened me."
The problem was the sample packet of birth control pills Watkins gave her had been recalled by Ortho-McNeil, the New Jersey-based manufacturer of ortho tri-cyclen and ortho cyclen birth control pills.
Watkins chief pharmacist Cathy Thrasher
Randall Rock, Watkins chief of staff, said the medicine itself had no problems. The misalignment cause
Taking the wrong pill causes a higher risk of pregnancy.
said some refill rings were misaligned. For example, the Day 1 pill may have been aligned to where the Day 1 pill should have been.
irregular bleeding or spotting but no other health risks.
"It was a packaging
error rathe
than a med-
ical error"
he said.
Photo illustration by Melissa Thornton
that could have been affected. Those
women were advised to bring the rings to Watkins pharmacy, none have been
According the Ortho-McNell Web site, the problem possibly could have affected fewer
Watkins contacted about 18 women who had received refill rings that could
Treacy said Rock was helpful in informing her of the problem, and she knew that Watkins was not to blame. She said she understood the urgency in the problem.
Rock said women on the pill had no reason to panic. Those who had received potentially affected pills had been contacted by Watkins.
"We're talking about girls that are anywhere from 18 to 25 years old who are on the pill because they want to avoid getting pregnant," she said. "Definitely it's a concerning thing."
than 60 refill rings out of 5 million distributed since Mav.
Rock said women who received ortho tricyclen or ortho cyden may want to contact their vendor. They also can call Ortho-McNeil at 1-800-632-7497 with further questions.
Edited by Katrina Hull
Telemarketers target audience: campus students
By Lori O'Toole
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The Templin Hall resident and St. Joseph, Mo. junior said the calls, which occur every day of the week between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., irritated and disrupted him and his three roommates. One night last week, he received nine telemarketing calls in three hours.
Chrisy Heilkila, Great Bend freshman and Hashinger Hall resident, said she and her roommate also had a problem with tele-marketers.
She said she began receiving phone calls from credit card companies about a month ago.
Heikkila said the calls woke up her and her roommate in the morning. They usually came in pairs, she said, one for Heikkila, and another for her roommate about 30 minutes later.
Tiffany said he and his roommates wondered how the companies obtained their phone number and if the University of Kansas had anything to do with it.
Ken Stoner, director of the Department of Student Housing, said the department did not release student numbers this year or in past years.
"I have no idea how they're getting the numbers," he said, adding that companies could figure out which numbers reached the residence halls.
Linda Mullens, assistant vice chancellor, said it was against University policy to release or sell lists of names and phone numbers. She said there was also a state law that backed up its policy.
"There's a state regulation that prohibits taking names and addresses out of public records and using it for commercial use," she said. "Since we're a public institution, that applies here."
Stoner said that he was not aware of any student complaints to the department this year but that telemarketers had been a problem in the past.
"It goes in spells," he said. "We'll have a company go on a blitz campaign and call lots of students, but it's never been a very large problem."
Stoner said students should inform the department if they received repeat calls from telemarketers.
"There's probably not much we can do," he said. "If it is a problem or a nuisance, we can try to trace down the people and try to stop it."
Tiffany and his roommates have tried to slow the bombardment by asking to be removed from telemarketers lists.
Anna Hines, assistant director of Network and Telecommunications Services, said it was a strange coincidence that the telemarketing calls began after the student directory was published.
The KU Bookstores in the Kansas and Burge Unions sell student directories to KU ID holders for $2. However, those without a KU ID can purchase one for $4.
The residence hall phone numbers were easy to pick out of the student numbers since most begin with the new 312 prefix.
"The vendors try to find ways to the residence halls every year." Hines said. "You've got this group of students living in a condensed area so they have a big market, or at least they think they do."
Edited by Chris Hopkins
Local rockers to raise money for human rights organizations
By Emily Hughey
Kansan staff writer
Tonight at the Granada, five bands will rock their way to defending human rights.
By Emily Hughey writer@kansan.com
Rights. The University of Kansas chapter of Amnesty International will host a benefit concert at the Granada, 1020 Massachusetts St., to raise money for international human rights groups and for future Amnesty International events.
The Draft, 7 Days, Pillar, Hoistain and the Ray-Guns will perform beginning at 8 p.m. The cost is $4, doors open at 7 p.m.
Kyle Browning, Leawood junior and president of the KU chapter of Amnesty International, said the purpose of the concert was to raise both money and awareness for Amnesty International.
He said that the group would decide what to do with the money after the concert, but that Amnesty would probably give some of it to the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, another international human rights group. Browning said the committee needed funds because November was National Leonard Peltier Freedom Month.
Amnesty, Browning said, was an independent worldwide human rights organization not affiliated with any political
BENEFIT CONCERT
Who: Open to the public
■ What: Benefit concert with The Draft, 7 Days, Pillar, Holstein and the Ray-Guns.
■ When: 8 tonight.
Where: The Granada, 1020 Massachusetts St.
Massachusetts St.
Why: KU Amnesty International will
Why: RU Amnesty information donate proceeds to human rights organizations.
How much: $4 at the door.
Browning said he hoped that the concert would raise awareness to Amnesty's mission and that many people would attend.
ideology. He said the group was dedicated to missions such as defending victims of human rights violations and lobbying for the release of political prisoners.
"Of course I'd like to see the Granada full," he said. "But I'm keeping my expectations kind of low."
Erik Goodman, member of Amnesty International and Kansan editorial board member, said he was going to the concert both for the cause and for the bands.
"I'm especially interested in hearing the Ray-Guns," Goodman said. "They played at a concert with us last year. And as an Amnesty member it's potentially a good way to promote the group."
Kyle Marler, Kansas City, Kan., sophomore and member of The Draft, said he was looking forward to playing in the benefit concert.
"We're really trying to play different places and play to different people," Marler said. "This sounded like a good cause. Human rights are a really important issue."
Edited by Mike Loader