CAMPUS/AREA UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, October 20, 1995
3A
Paying for more parking
Parking board sees primary garage plan
Park-and-ride system to be evaluated at next meeting
By Sarah Wiese
Kansan staff writer
Solving parking problems at the University of Kansas doesn't necessarily have to be an either-or situation.
The combination of a parking garage and a park-and-ride system might be the best solution, said some members of the parking board at yesterday's meeting.
The two options simply would serve different groups.
Board member Joe Collins said the garage would be attractive to campus visitors, alumni and people with convenience in mind.
A park-and-ride system would serve people looking for a low-cost parking option, Collins said.
"You're addressing two totally different constituencies," Collins said. "Unless there's some humongous cost associated with the park-and-ride system, I don't see why we can't do both."
The board yesterday saw the preliminary proposal for a parking garage north of the Kansas Union.
The proposal, created by Barton-Aschman Associates, included estimates for three garage plans ranging in size from 850 to 1,050 spaces and costing from about $7.5 million to about $9.5 million.
The proposal would increase all permit rates, but not nearly as much as the two-garage proposal rejected by University Senate Executive Committee last spring.
Don Kearns, director of parking, said the location of the garage was the key to its success.
"We can't build a parking deck if we can't pay for it, so it has to be built in a location where we can keep it full year-round," he said.
The garage would be a much-used option not only for campus regulars, but also for visitors to Adams Alumni Center, museums and football games, Kearns said.
The parking board didn't make a decision, but members voiced a variety of thoughts on the garage.
Jim Lapoint, board member, said that open parking spaces elsewhere on campus worked against the garage.
Stevie Case, Olathe sophomore and board member, said the primary users of the garage should pay the majority of the cost.
"I'm still concerned that students will get stuck with the brunt of garage costs when we're not positive it will be mainly student parking," she said.
In two weeks, members will evaluate a park-and-ride system.
The board is scheduled to present its recommendations about both parking options to SenEx Nov. 14.
Fossils shed light on bird origins
Every so often, something new comes along that changes the science community's way of thinking.
By Kathy Daneman Special to the Kansan
It happened when the sun was recognized as the center of the universe. It happened when Earth turned out to be round. And it has happened again.
Two KU researchers have discovered a fossil that suggests the origin of birds was earlier than previously believed, according to a report in the October 10 issue of Nature magazine.
Larry Dean Martin, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Kansas University Museum of Natural History, and Zhonghe Zhou, Beijing graduate student, have discovered a 145-million-year-old bird fossil, Confuciusornis sanctus. The fossil is radically different from Archaeopteryx, the bird long believed to be the ancestor of modern birds. The fossils were found in China last year.
Confuciusornis, or the holy Confucius bird, is the world's oldest beaked bird. About the size of a pigeon, it's the oldest known bird with body feathers. Archaeopterx had feathers only on its wings and about 80 sharp teeth.
Archaeopteryx was first discovered in 1861 in a limestone quarry at Solnhofen in Bavaria.
In 1860, a Solnhofen quarry worker had found the impression of a single feather that was evidence that birds existed in the late Jurassic period, some 150 million years ago. Since then, five more specimens of Archaeopteryx have been found in the same region.
Institute for Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing. Besides the three fossils found before the report was written for Nature, three more fossils still remain at the Institute.
Neither Confuciusornis nor Archaeopteryx could fly by taking off from the ground. The two birds had similar body skeletons. They had long fingers and claws that enabled them to climb trees.
"They only flew to get from one tree to another," Martin said.
The study of the Confuciusornis will continue.
the discovery of Confuciusornis in China means that Archaeopteryx isn't the first bird. The origin of birds might have been in the middle Jurassic or early Jurassic period, Martin said.
"What it tells us is that birds were widely distributed," Martin said, "and had already evolved into different things."
Zhou has been nominated for the second highest award offered by China's National Academy of Science. He is the second paleontologist ever nominated. If he wins, he will be the only paleontologist to receive this honor. Zhou has found half of all Mesozoic bird fossils discovered in China.
Despite the similarities between Confuciusornis and modern birds, it became extinct. Roughly 70 million years later, the beaked bird reappeared.
Hou and Zhou had been looking for bird fossils of the Cretaceous period when they spotted Confuciusornis. The remains were transferred to the
Confuciusornis was discovered last year in Liaoning province by a Chinese farmer. The farmer brought the remains to a nearby collector's home, where Chinese paleontologists Lianhai Hou and Zhonghe Zhou discovered the significance of the find, Zhou said.
Hou and Allen Feducetta, Heninger professor of biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, are the other two writers of the report.
"We have an ongoing program in China," Martin said. "We hope this will be a long and fruitful relationship between KU and the Institute for Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthroplogy."
solving world hunger, one autograph at a time
Matt Flickner/KANSAN
Shawntel Smith, Miss America 1996, signs an autograph Thursday at SuperTarget. The event was sponsored by Fruit of the Loom.
Miss America visits Lawrence
Shawntel Smith visits SuperTarget, speaks at Lawrence High School
By Phillip Brownlee Kansan staff writer
SuperTarget shopers were surprised yesterday to find Miss America in the women's clothing section.
"I just came in to pick up some groceries, and then I saw the limousine," said Amy Easton, Lawrence resident.
Shawntiel Smith, who was crowned Miss America last month, was signing autographs next to a store banner advertising short-sleeve sweaters for $14.99.
past the underwire bra display.
The line of admirers extended
Easton got in line and picked up an autographed picture for her 13-month-old son. John David.
"I thought it would be fun to put it in his scrapbook," she said.
Smith's appearance was part of SuperTarget's grand opening activities and was arranged by Fruit of the Loom, which is a national sponsor of the Miss America contest.
"Target is a big account of ours," said Kay Norris, assistant to the vice president at Fruit of the Loom.
Smith's SuperTarget visit was squeezed between an appearance in Houston yesterday and her singing the national anthem at a basketball game in Oklahoma City tomorrow.
On average, Miss America flies more than 20,000 miles a month.
and is in a different city every 18 to 36 hours, said Bonnie Sirang, Smith's official traveling companion.
Smith said she didn't mind the hectic schedule.
"It's very demanding and challenging, but this is something I've wanted to do for a long time," she said. "It's wonderful, and I'm enjoying it."
Smith, who is a 24-year-old business administration graduate student at Oklahoma City University, also spoke yesterday at Lawrence High School. She discussed a school-to-work program she is promoting nationwide.
Reagann Urish, Lawrence High junior, said that she found the speech interesting but that not everyone paid attention.
"We kind of disrespected her," she said.
Theft trend: two computers byte the dust
By Scott Worthington Kansan staff writer
KU police reported yesterday that two more computers have been stolen from campus buildings.
This time, a Zenith 248 computer valued at $2,699 was stolen from a room in the Dole Human Development Center and an M-Tech computer valued at $1,600 was stolen from a room in Learned Hall. In both cases, the thieves stole just the central processing unit, leaving behind monitors, keyboards and other multimedia components.
According to the report, the Dole center theft occurred between Oct. 9 and 15. The suspect was able to open a locked door without damaging it and remove the computer.
Pam Willits, administrative assistant for the Life Span Institute, said the computer must have been stolen in the evening.
"We don't know if it's an inside job or not," Willits said.
"The sad thing is now we have this $1,500 scanner that we can not use."
The Learned Hall computer was stolen between 9 p.m. Tuesday and 9:20 a.m. Wednesday from a lab in the mechanical engineering department. The lab has a combination lock, but it is possible that the door was left open during the time of the theft, said Ron Schorr, lab shop supervisor of the mechanical engineering department.
Schorr said there was a similarity between this theft and the one from the chemical engineering department in September. In both cases only the central processing unit was stolen.
"I'm guessing that the same people came back and hit my lab," Schorr said.
Schoor said he has changed the lock combination and now routinely checks to see if the door is shut.
"I would like to think it wasn't students." Schorr said.
"I have a feeling it was an outside job."
Both of the latest victims expressed concern about the rate at which computers are disappearing on campus.
Willits said it was difficult to keep track of computers, which are continually taken out of the building to maintenance and upgrades.
"I think it's pretty ridiculous when you have to keep tying things down," Willis said.
Employees now have a heightened awareness of crime, she said.
"Everyone has become so paranoid — you go to the bathroom, you lock your door." Willis said.
"I'm concerned something is starting to happen around campus," he said.
Schoerr said in the past his department had not seen a need to invest in security. That's changed.
"I think it's a different situation now," Schorr said. "If we do not have a security system, there's a good chance we will have computers stolen."
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