WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1995
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS 864-4810
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
ADVERTISING 864-4358
SECTION A VOL.102,NO.38
(USPS 650-640)
TODAY KANSAN
SPORTS
A quarterback's best friends
Center Jim Stiebel and the Kansas offensive line keyed the Jayhawks win against Colorado. Page 1B
CAMPUS
Trimming the fat
University governance has ideas KU can use to prepare for budget reductions. Page 5A
Selena murder trial begins
NATION
Jury selection got off to a slow start in the trial of a fan accused of killing the Tejano singer. Page 7A
WORLD
Israel frees prisoners
Officials released about 300 prisoners yesterday to comply with the Israel-PLO agreement. Page 8A
WEATHER
SUNNY AND WARM
Weather: Page 2A
INDEX
Scoreboard . . . . . . . . 2B
Horoscopes . . . . . . . . 6B
National News. . . . . . . . 7A
World News . . . . . . . . 8A
Features . . . . . . . . 12A
The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is free. Additional copies of the Kansan are 25 cents.
KU students come out of closet
Gay organizations celebrate National Awareness Week
By Hannah Naughton
Kansan staff writer
For some KU students, simply walking through a door will have a special meaning today.
LesBiGay Services of Kansas will celebrate National Coming Out Day from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. today in front of Strong Hall. At 12:20 p.m., people will walk through a mock closet door to symbolize the process of coming out. LesBiGay S OK also will have a table next to one sponsored by Straight Allies, said Joe Cuevas, co-director of LesBiGay S OK.
Many members of KU's homosexual community said that coming out could be scary but that it needed to be done.
"If you aren't out, you are never able to express yourself," Cuevas said. "If you are with friends, and they don't know and they make comments like 'faggot' or 'dyke'" — just hearing that can really tear a person apart.
- GAYRIGHTS ISSUE: The Supreme Court heard arguments for and against Colorado's anti-gay rights amendment. Page 7A
Samantha Korshin, St. Louis senior and co-director of LesBiGayS OK, said it could be dangerous to be out because of the rise of political coalitions. These coalitions, like the religious right, believe that people choose to be homosexual and that their rights do not deserve protection, Korshin said.
In Lawrence, the Simply Equal amendment protects people from being discriminated against based on their sexual orientation.
"If I move out of Lawrence to a place with no ordinance protecting these rights, my girlfriend and I could be stopped from living in a certain place," Korshin said.
The risk of losing friends, family, jobs and homes can keep many people from coming out, she said. She gained a greater pride in herself after she decided to out herself.
"Being out is a way of protecting ourselves
by forming a community that sticks together as a whole. It's the only way to survive," Korshin said. "National Coming Out Day recognizes the process of outing as being very difficult in society. It's also a celebration of being out."
Brenda Daly, Bonner Springs senior and director of Straight Allies, said that she had
experienced some of the anti-homosexual persecution as a straight supporter.
"There are people who don't appreciate the fact that straight individuals do support homosexuals." Daly said.
Tyler Voggesser, Des Moines freshman, said he could be considered a homophobe. He said that homosexuals had a right to express their emotions but that they did not need to do it in a public setting such as in front of Strong Hall.
Rob Feito, St. Louis freshman, said he didn't have a problem with homosexuals expressing the fact that they have chosen to be homosexual. However, he said, making a big production of it in front of Strong Hall would cause a lot of anger.
"They don't need to make a big deal about it," Feito said.
Daly said that a man once sat next to her on the bus and noticed she had buttons on her backpack supporting homosexual rights. He called her the gay population's whore and told her that homosexuals were garbage, she said.
Brenda Daly has been involved with Coming Out Day for the past three years. Each year, people walk by voicing hateful remarks, she said.
"Students have the same morals their parents do and they think it's not normal to be out." Daly said.
Arrested athletes not charged
By Scott Worthington
Kansan staff writer
Two Kansas football players who were arrested Monday in connection with an armed robbery outside Jayhawker Towers were not charged yesterday in Douglas County District Court.
"Further investigation was required before we could bring charges," said Rick Trapp, assistant Douglas County district attorney, who said that he could not comment further on the case.
The men were released from Douglas County Law Enforcement Center at 2:30 p.m. yesterday, police said.
Dion Johnson and Elliott Shaffer, both freshman linemen from Detroit, were arrested Monday on charges of aggravated assault and theft of services for allegedly robbing a taxi driver at knifepoint. Shaffer also had been arrested on a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.
KU Police will continue to investigate the case, said Rose Rozmiarek of the KU Police.
The focus of the police investigation may be on the taxi driver — William Jones — said Ron Simonis, owner of Ron and Fe's Taxi.
comment.
"I understand they're going to talk to my driver." Simonis said.
According to the police report, the two men pulled out a $100 bill to pay for a $65 taxi ride from Kansas City International Airport to Jayhawker Towers. The driver then said he didn't have any change except for a $20 bill. One man then allegedly pulled a knife and demanded the $20 bill before both left without paying the fare.
Jones could not be reached for
It is unclear why the driver had so little change. But Simonis said it was uncommon for taxi drivers to carry much cash for change.
"If they do, they're crazy," he said. Johnson declined comment, and Shaffer could not be reached for comment.
Students who are feeling bad
now are looking for any possible
way to get better.
Charles Yockey Watkins chief of staff
Students question fast prescriptions
Bv Joann Birk
Kansan staff writer
But Charles Yockey, chief of staff at Watkins, said the health center had been criticized unfairly for being too eager to prescribe antibiotics.
Many students walking into Watkins Memorial Health Center today likely will walk out of the health center with an antibiotic or prescription in hand.
"We have the reputation that if you get sick we will give you an antibiotic, but that is not true," Yockey said. "There are a lot of people who come here thinking they'll get an antibiotic, and they leave empty handed."
The doctor then gave Woods erythromycin, which did not give him an allergic reaction but did not help his symptoms.
Colin Woods, Edwardsville, Ill. freshman, said he went to Watkins after having an allergic reaction to doxycycline, which he received at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. He said a doctor at Watkins prescribed tetracycline for him, which is an antibiotic in the same class as doxycycline.
"I said, 'I don't know much about medicine, but aren't those in the same family?" Woods said. "She looked down, pushed the prescription away, and said, 'yeah, you are right.'"
Yockey said that prescribing antibiotics was a complex decision
But some students have said doctors at Watkins are not as careful as they should be with prescriptions.
that involved some guess work. Antibiotics treat bacterial infections but do not treat viruses. The trick, Yockey said, is telling which illness can be cured with antibiotics.
Doctors also must educate patients who want an immediate cure for their ailments.
"Students who are feeling bad now are looking for any possible way to get better," he said.
Students often are determined to get antibiotics and do not understand that over-prescribing and misprescribing antibiotics has risks, Yockey said.
The risks include allergic reactions, yeast infections in women and developing resistant antibodies that are immune to antibiotics.
Resistant infections have caused controversy in hospitals throughout the nation, but, Yockey said, it was not necessarily a problem at outpatient facilities such as Watkins.
Yockey said that repetitive use of an antibiotic could cause a resistance or allergic reaction to a class of antibiotics. There are six classes of antibiotics, and if a patient develops a resistance or allergy to one antibiotic, they are resistant to all antibiotics in that class.
Bob Emerson, staff pharmacist at Watkins, said the three most commonly prescribed antibiotics at the health center were cephalexin, doxycycline and erythromycin, all generic broad spectrum antibiotics. Last October these three antibiotics were prescribed almost 200 times.
"Our tendency would be to give an antibiotic if there is any chance of helping." Yockey said.
Students say noisy neighbors must turn stereos down
Phillip Brownlee
Kansan staff writer
Michela Stemmons was home at 1 a.m. when her doors began to rattle and her walls started to shake.
"The music was incredibly loud," the Olathe senior said. "It was driving me crazy."
Stemmons' neighbors turned their stereo down after she asked them, but they weren't happy about it.
But it wasn't an earthquake that had her apartment vibrating — it was her neighbor's stereo.
"They were jerks," she said. "He gave me a blank stare and seemed like he could care less."
Stemmons, like many Lawrence apartment renters, has learned that loud music makes for lousy neighbors, no matter how good the fences are.
Because of noise complaints, the police make several calls a night each weekend to ask apartment renters to turn their stereos down, said Rick Nickell of the Lawrence Police Department.
If the noise continues, offenders are cited for disturbing the peace. However, most people are cooperative, he said.
Bill Nelson, Omaha, Neb.; Jason Dinneen, Overland Park; and Kenneth Hillman, Oklahoma City, Okla., are glad that they haven't been cited by police, but they are
The KU sophomores share a townhouse at Shannon Plaza, 2100 Heatherwood Dr. and received an eviction warning last week from their landlord. The warning said that if there are any more noise complaints within the next two weeks, the students have 30 days to move out. If there are complaints after that, they have 60 days to vacate.
still in big trouble.
The students said that they hadn't intentionally disturbed their
"When the noise continues, and I get continual complaints, then I get fed up," said John Hartwick, property manager for Shannon Plaza, who evicts two or three tenants a year because of noise.
neighbors. Their walls were just thin.
"We hear our neighbors flushing their toilets in the morning," Nelson said.
"I would knock on their door, but they would never open," the neighbor said.
"It's a lack of respect," she said.
"I don't care if they drunk.
Stemmons said she was frustrated with her neighbors because they should have had more common courtesy.
But one of their neighbors, who wished not to be identified, said that before the students were given the eviction warning, they played loud music any time and all the time.
That's not an excuse."
Jeremy Patnoi, Englewood, Colo., junior and one of Stemmons' roommates, agreed, although he was concerned about provoking their neighbors.
"They would probably do it more if they were mad at us," he said. "When we are wanting to go to bed, they are still wanting to party."
But hearing a neighbor's music isn't always bad.
Jonathan Johnston, Winfield senior, said he enjoys listening to his neighbor play the piano every day.
"When you come home from class, it's nice to hear soothing music coming through the vents," he said.