SPORTS
Texas Christian guard Royal West will challenge the Kansas football team Saturday. Page 1B.
CAMPUS
A former KU student receives the Freedom of Information award from the Kansas Library Association. Page 3A.
CLOUDY High 83° Low 61° Weather: Page 2A.
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
VOL.104,NO.18
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 15,1994
(USPS 650-640)
NEWS:864-4810
End of baseball season a bummer for fans
'Greed' blamed for loss of Americana
By Colleen McCain
Kansan staff writer
The baseball season ended yesterday with a fax instead of a fastball.
After a 34-day players' strike, 26 of the 28 major league teams voted to cancel the games remaining this season, including the World Series.
MAJOR LEAGUERS: Players look to do something with the season over. Page 1B.
Acting commissioner Bud Selig officially declared the cancellation via fax machine, saying the completion of the season was no longer practical.
"This is a sad day," Selig said in his statement. "Nobody wanted this to happen, but the continuing player strike leaves us no choice but to take this action."
Gone are the pennant races, expanded playoffs and the World Series.
For KU student Jeff Brandberg, an integral
part of life also is gone
"To me baseball is life," the Atlanta junior said. "It's the national pastime, and it's wrong that politics got in the way."
Brandberg said the sport of baseball never would die, but its image had been badly tarnished.
"I miss the game, and I hate the business of baseball," he said. "It's sad to see it crash and burn."
The cancellation means that for the first time since 1904 there will be no World Series. And for the first time since professional baseball leagues began in 1871, a major league season was played with no conclusion.
James Carothers, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, has taught a class about baseball literature. He said players and owners threw out 90 years of history and tradition because of egos and greed.
"This is about as bad as it could get," he said. "And both sides are inexcusable."
Kansas baseball coach Dave Bingham said fans would have limited patience with the sport after ending the season on a sour note.
"I think that people out there may get to the point where they're tired of this relationship between management and players and just decide to put their money someplace else," Bingham said at a press conference yesterday. "Right now my family has season tickets siting at home that we're not able to use."
Mark Steinle, Olathe junior, said fans found it difficult to pity wealthy players who wanted more money.
"I guess I would side with the owners because I can't relate to players' problems," Steinle said. "What's wrong with making $1 million a year?"
Players' yearly salaries, which remain a point of contention for both parties, now average nearly $1.2 million.
See BETS, Page 5A.
Tim Bialek, Gardner senior, participated in
Cultural diversity celebrated
HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH
By Nathan Olson
Kansan staff writer
Hispanics at KU will spend the next four weeks celebrating diversity in their nopulation.
Hispanic Heritage Month, which begins today and continues through Oct. 15, will focus on this year's theme, "Sharing our celebration, celebrating our diversity."
Gloria Flores, associate director of the Office of Minority Affairs, said that the month was a celebration of identity.
"The basic purpose of the month is awareness and celebration of Hispanic culture," she said.
The Hispanic culture consists of people from Spain, Central and South America, Flores said. They represent a unified yet diverse segment of the population.
KU's first celebration of Hispanic Heritage month took place three years ago when President Bush declared Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 Hispanic Heritage Month, Flores said.
She said that this year, Chancellor Del Shankel would officially proclaim the month Hispanic Heritage Month.
The celebration begins Sept. 15 because on that date in 1821, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Panama declared independence from Spain. In addition, other nations such as Belize, Chile, Mexico and Brazil celebrate their independence days during Hispanic Heritage Month.
The month will include discussions, lectures by Hispanic professionals, films by Hispanic directors, and dances. The month culminates in two events: a speech by Linda Alvarado, co-owner of the Colorado Rockies, on Oct. 21, and the United States Hispanic Leadership Conference Oct. 27 to Oct. 30 in Chicago.
Wetland debate is complicated, crucial
See MONTH, Page 5A
Julianne Peter / KANSAN
Roger Boyd, professor of biology at Baker University, describes the balance between plant and animal life at the Baker Wetlands. The Wetlands are located on 31st Street between Louisiana and Haskell streets.
By Carlos Tejada
Kansan staff writer
Ecosystem supports variety of life
Wetlands.
The word has been bantered about in public hearings, Douglas County Commission meetings, impact studies and area newspapers since the South Lawrence Trafficway debate surfaced a year ago.
But people following the debate from afar may wonder. What on earth is a wetland? Is it a durable part of nature, as trafficway supporters say, or an ecosystem fragile beyond belief, as its opponents say?
The question is more than academic. Work already has begun on the western end of the trafficway, a four-lane thoroughfare that would loop south and west of the city and is designed to ease Lawrence's traffic problem. And eventually it will have to go east, either south of the Wakarusa River or straight through the wetlands on the southeast side of Lawrence.
Two of the proposed routes, one of which goes through the Baker Wetlands and the other through the Haskell Wetlands, would cause environmental damage, opponents say. But the Wakarausa route would not be used by commuters and would not solve Lawrence's traffic problem, county officials say.
Experts disagree on the effect of the trafficway on the wetlands. But they all agree the wetlands are not easily understood.
The Baker and Haskell wetlands, which were once the same habitat, now are separated by a natural waterway south of 31st Street. And on a dry September day, that waterway is
--the only water to be seen. The ground is dry and cracked, and the environment looks like an unwatered lawn during the summer.
but the wetlands are resilient enough to survive such dry spells, said Roger Boyd, professor of biology at Baker University in Baldwin. Boyd said under the earth, crawfish were burrowing and waiting for the water to return in the winter. And the plants poking through the mud are arrowleaf, which only grows in mud or in water no deeper than three feet.
"When the water comes in in the spring, you can see all kinds of neat stuff swimming there," Boyd said.
Farther south, ditches create pools that provide homes for muskrat, mallards, blue heron and a variety of frogs. Tiny circular plants called duckweed cover water surfaces with a green sheet.
Boyd said both wetlands were rich and diverse environments. He said he and other professors so far had found more than 500 species of plants, 210 species of birds, 36 species of reptiles, 22 species of mammals and 16 species of fish. Boyd, who specializes in birds, said he had timed the rate at which he could spot different bird species in the past, and one morning identified 70 species during a two-hour period.
"I shouldn't have any difficulty getting 100 species," he said. "I don't know any one-mile area anywhere where I can get 100 species."
The wetlands also serve an important biological function, Boyd said. Found in lowland areas near rivers, wetlands absorb the excess water that runs over riverbanks. The dense soil and thick roots also absorb pollutants and bacteria, keeping water clean.
Boyd said the proposed 31st Street route for
See WETLANDS, Page 8A.
How wetlands form
$\textcircled{1}$ Wetlands consist of lowlands near rivers. $\textcircled{2}$ The rivers sometimes flood, going over their natural levees and covering the land. $\textcircled{3}$ When the waters fall, some remain in the lowlands, creating wetlands.
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$\textcircled{3}$
Micah Laaker/KANSAN
Tori Amos Bearing her soul through music isn't easy for Tori Amos. But it's the secret to her soulful, personal lyrics. Page 49.
Sticky fingers: campus burglaries are up
By Manny Lopez
Kansan staff writer
From parking permits to car stereos to televisions, more people on campus have been reporting their belongings missing.
Although campus crime overall has been declining the past three years, burglaries have been on the rise, KU police said.
From 1992 to 1993, the number of burglaries on campus increased 94 percent. While 291 on-campus burglaries were reported last year, by Aug. 31 of this year, 169 had been reported. But Sgt. Rose Rozmiarek of the KU police said most burglaries occurred during the holiday season.
Burglary, or the unauthorized entry into an area with the intent to steal something or commit a felony, is not a problem only for students. Faculty and staff also are victims of campus thefts, she said.
Rozmiarek said she was not sure why the number of on-campus burglaries had increased, but said she thought it could be that more burglaries were being reported.
Rozmiarek said people could help prevent burglaries by locking doors, even if they were leaving for a minute, and keeping valuables such as jewelry out of sight. People who live in residence halls should leave expensive or unnecessary valuables at home or locked somewhere other than in their rooms.
People should use common sense and pay attention to where they put their belongings, she said.
Another preventative measure is engraving valuable materials. Rozmiraek said etching a driver's license number on computers, stereos and other large items could help police return recovered items.
Rozmurek said anyone could check out an engraver from the KU police department in Carruth-O'Leary Hall. Engravers can be checked out on a 24-hour basis and are free to use.
"If we find property and it is engraved or photographed, it is easier for us to locate whose property it is," Rozmiarek said.
Although not everyone is lucky enough to get their property back, getting money from insurance sometimes helps.
Mike Gurley, operations superintendent for State Farm Insurance, said buying renters insurance was one way to get reimbursed for stolen items. Before buying insurance, he said, students should check to see if they are covered under their parents' policies.
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