2A
The Inside Front
Monday August 23,1999
News
from campus, the state. the nation and the world
CAMPUS
KU faculty suprised with Kemper awards
Three more faculty members received $5,000 checks and surprise visits from Provost David Shulenburger during their classes Friday.
Ron Francisco, professor of political science and Russian and East European studies; Allen Ford, professor of business; and James R. "Pete" Shortridge, professor of geography, were awarded W.T. Kemper Fellowships for Teaching Excellence.
Jim Martin, president of the Kansas University Endowment Association, and Mark Gonzales, community president of Commerce Bank, were also present when the awards were handed out.
The W.T. Kemper Foundation donated $250,000 to the University of Kansas to reward teachers and advisers. The Endowment Association matched the amount, enabling the University to award $100,000 during five years.
award $200,000 during five years.
Eleven faculty members have now received their awards and checks. The surprise patrol will make visits today to other faculty and will wrap up the tour Aug. 24, 25 and 31, when they travel to the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City and to the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita.
The awards recognize outstanding teachers and advisers as determined by a seven-member selection committee.
On Thursday, eight faculty members were honored.
STATE
- By Amanda Kaschube
FBI looks into possible theater terrorism
MERRIAM—The FBI is investigating the smoke bombing of a Merriam movie theater over the weekend as a terrorist incident.
The incident probably is related to about a dozen similar incidents elsewhere in the country, FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza said Saturday.
About 1,000 people were evacuated from the 20-screen Cinemark theater complex Friday night after someone ignited two crude smoke bombs that emitted noxious fumes — possibly chlorine gas — in and near one theater.
Lanza said the bombs consisted of two 20-ounce drink cups that had been filed with chemicals and then set on fire.
The bombs were not designed to explode and no one was injured.
Lanza said the technique and the bombs resembled those found over the last couple of months at theaters in Dallas, Chicago; Joliet, Ill.; and in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Wisconsin.
Similar devices also were found at Cinemark corporate offices in Plano, Texas, and at some theaters owned by Kansas City's AMC Entertainment Inc.
Lanza said the bombers seem to be focusing on newer multiplex theaters. He said he knew of no serious injuries at other theaters.
NATION
Hurricane hits Texas misses coastal cities
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Hurricane Bret, the biggest storm to hit Texas in nearly 20 years, roared ashore Sunday with horizontal sheets of rain and 1.25-mph winds that whipped and bent palm trees and forced thousands of people to flee inland.
The rapidly developing storm made landfall about 6 p.m. in sparsely populated Kenedy County, about 70 miles south of Corpus Christi.
Businesses and homes were shuttered from Brownsville to north of Corpus Christi, and highways leading inland were packed with bumper-to-bumper traffic for miles.
Forecasters warned about tornadoes spawned by the storm, a foot or more of rain and a storm surge that could approach 25 feet.
"The good news is that the core of the hurricane ... is not over the more populated areas," said Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center.
Sagan biography reveals scientist's passion for pot
SAN FRANCISCO—The late astronomer and author Carl Sagan was a secret but avid marijuana smoker, crediting it with inspiring essays and scientific insight, according to Sagan's biographer.
Using the pseudonym "Mr. X," Sagan wrote about his pot smoking in an essay published in the 1971 book "Reconsidering Marijuana." The book's editor, Lester Grinspoon, recently disclosed the secret to Sagan's biographer, Keav Davidson.
Davidson, a writer for the San Francisco Examiner, revealed the marijuana use in an article published in the newspaper's magazine Sunday. "Carl Sagan: A Life" is due out in October.
"I find that today a single joint is enough to get me high ... in one movie theater recently I found I could get high just by inhaling the cannabis smoke which permeated the theater," wrote Sagan, who authored popular science books such as "Cosmos," "Contact," and "The Dragons of Eden."
In the essay, Sagan said marijuana inspired some of his intellectual work.
"I can remember one occasion, taking a shower with my wife while high, in which I had an idea on the origins and invalidities of racism in terms of gaussian distribution curves," wrote the former Cornell University professor. "I wrote the curves in soap on the shower wall, and went to write the idea down."
Sagan died of pneumonia in 1996. He was 62.
GOP hopefuls sign gay-related pledge
WASHINGTON—Several Republican presidential candidates have pledged to oppose allowing gay or lesbian couples to adopt children and to promote the right of organizations such as the
Boy Scouts to
exclude homosexuals, a gay rights group said Friday. The Human Rights Campaign said former Vice President Dan Quayle, radio host Aaron Keyes, publisher Steve Forbes, conservative activist Gary Bauer, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah and commentator Pat Buchanan signed
Quayle: Did not sign pledge to oppose gay rights.
the pledge before last week's Iowa straw poll.
Officials at the Forbes and Hatch campaigns confirmed their candidates had signed; Bauer's campaign could not be reached; and officials at the Buchanan, Keyes and Quayle organizations said they hadn't heard about it, indicating those candidates hadn't signed it.
Sen. John McCain of Arizona and the GOP front-runner, Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, did not sign, HRC said in a statement. Neither did Democratic candidates Al Gore, the vice president, or Bill Bradley, the former U.S. senator from New Jersey.
WORLD
North Korean press criticizes war games
TOKYO—Military exercises between the United States and South Korea show the two allies' rising militarism, making a second Korean War "unavoidable." North Korea said yesterday.
America and South Korea have been conducting war games to simulate a coordinated response to a North Korean invasion as part of their annual joint military exercises.
"The United States and South Korea are in a belligerent relationship," said an editorial in the Rodong Shinmun, the newspaper of the North's ruling Workers' Party, monitored in Tokyo by the RadioPress News Agency. "A second Korean War has become unavoidable."
The two Koreas fought a war from 1950-53, after the peninsula was divided into the communist North and capitalist South following the 1945 liberation from Japanese colonial rule.
The United States keeps 37,000 troops in South Korea under a defense treaty.
-The Associated Press
ON THE RECORD
A KU student's wallet was stolen between 1:30 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. Wednesday in the 2500 block of West 31 st Street, Lawrence Police said. The wallet was valued at $30.
A KU student's purse and MasterCard were stolen between 2 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. Wednesday in the 2500 block of West 31st street, Lawrence Police said. The purse was valued at $94 and was recovered.
A KU student's Trek mountain bike was stolen between 10 p.m. Wednesday and 9 a.m. Thursday in the 1900 block of Vermont Street, Lawrence Police said. The bike was valued at $700.
A KU student's Trek mountain bike was stolen between midnight Thursday and 2 p.m. Friday in the 1300 block of Tennessee Street, Lawrence Police said. The bike was valued at $200.
A KU student's receiver and DVD player were stolen between 2 a.m. and 9 a.m. Friday in the 1700 block of Louisiana Street, Lawrence Police said. The equipment was valued at $1,000.
A KU student's Visa card was stolen between 5 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. Friday in the 1400 block of Crescent Street, Lawrence Police said.
A KU student's 1981 Honda was stolen between 12:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Saturday in the 2400 block of West 25th Street, Lawrence Police said. The car was valued at $500.
A KU student's trumpet was stolen between midnight Thursday and 2:25 a.m. Friday in the 900 block of Vermont Street, Lawrence Police said. The trumpet was valued at $500.
A KU public safety officer was dispatched to the KU parking department at 12:16 p.m. Aug. 16 on a report that two males were harassing students, the KU Public Safety Office said. The men were soliciting magazines outside the department without University or city permits, and the men were escorted off campus.
A KU public safety officer was dispatched to Kurata Thermodynamics Lab at 7:34 p.m. Tuesday on a report of a fire in a dumpster, the KU Public Safety Office said. The fire was extinguished, and the man who started it was given a warning and then released. .
A KU public safety officer was dispatched to McCollum Hall at 11:44 p.m. Wednesday on a report that a man was attempting to steal bicycles from the rack, the KU Public Safety Office said. The man reportedly was driving a maroon or brownish full-sized van and drove off when he was spotted.
A KU Public Safety officer was dispatched to Corbin Hall at 8:12 p.m. Thursday on a report that a man was harassing a KU student as she walked home, the KU Public Safety Office said. The man was cited for disorderly conduct and then released.
Safety office gets computers adds to staff
By Michael Terry
By Michael Terry
writer@kanson.com
Kanson staff writer
The Public Safety Office is aiming at getting rid of its paper trail within the next five years.
Sgt. Troy Maileen said that the office still needed two additional officers, but that he expected the positions to be filled by next year.
The new computer system is part of a series of improvements to the office during the next several months, such as $30,000 worth of laptops for patrol cars and last salver's hire of a new public safety officer.
With the help of a grant it received last spring, the office is installing a computer-based Record Management System to file reports with.
"One of the most significant additions was the hiring of Shawn Reynolds, a new public safety officer, April 26, to help patrol the KU campus," he said. "Reynolds has already went through his academy and in-house training, but he still had 11 weeks of field training with a shift sergeant before he can patrol the campus on his own."
A $22,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice COPS office made the purchase the five new laptops possible.
Lt. Schuyler Bailey said the short-term goal was to make the paper trail more efficient, but the main goal was to put everything on the computer system within the next five years.
"Going paperless' just makes everyone's job a little easier than before." Bailey said. "Now that officers will just have to go and download their reports into the computer, then they will have more time to spend patrolling the streets."
"This breath tester is a newer model that actually has a computer memory to record the time and the level of a person's blood alcohol level," Mailen said. "It can store up to 50 separate tests and helps the officers to judge the time between the preliminary observation period and the administering of the test, which is supposed to be 15 minutes."
The office also purchased a new preliminary breath tester to help officers better judge the intoxication levels of suspected drunk drivers.
The office will also hire a student to help create and maintain new Web site.
ON CAMPUS
Edited by Kelly Clasen
KU Environs will have a weekly meeting from 7:30 to 8:30 tonight at the International Room in the Kansas Union. For more information, call 864-7325.
OAKS, Non-Traditional Students Organization,
is sponsoring a brown-bag lunch from 11:30
Interactions, informal worship and conversation on a variety of topics, will take place at 9 tomorrow night at Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave.
a.m. to 1 p.m. tomorrow at Alcove E in the Kansas Union and from 11:45 a.m. to 1:15
Wednesday at Alcove E in the United States
The HorrorZontals M Ultimate Frisbee Club will have an informational meeting and practice session at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow at the north end of Shenk Complex, 23rd and Iowa streets. Bring a light shirt, a dark shirt and water to drink. Contact Will Spots at 841-0671 or e-mail wspatsofs.falcon.cc.ukans.edu
The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the
ET CETERA
student newspaper on the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of the Kansan are 25 cents. Subscriptions can be purchased at 119 Stauffer-Flint Hall.
The University Daily Kansas (ISSN 0746-4962) is published at the University of Kansas, 119 StufferFlint Hall, Lawrence, Kan. 66045, daily during the regular school year, excluding Saturday, Sunday, holidays and finals periods, and Wednesday during the summer session. Periodical postage is paid in Lawrence,
The Kansan prints campus events that are free and open to the public. When information is submitted, the event's sponsor, name and phone number must be on the form, which is available in the On Campus mailbox in the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. Items must be turned in two days in advance of the desired publication date.
Kan. 66044, Annual subscriptions by mail are $120.
Student subscriptions of $2.33 are paid through the student activity fee.
Postmaster: Send address changes to the University Daily Kansan, 119 Stauffer-Flint Hall, Lawrence, Kan. 66045.
Forms can also be filled out online at www.kansan.com/services/oncampus — these requests will appear on the UDKI as well as the Kansan. On Campus is printed on a space-available basis. On Campus is a free service provided by the Kansan to the University community.
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