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NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 2007
POLICE
Officer charged with criminal sexual conduct
BY COREY WILLIAMS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DETROIT — A police sergeant is accused of pulling couples over with his cruiser and forcing them to engage in sex acts while he watched, threatening them with penalties if they refused.
Detroit Sgt. Roosevelt Tidwell, 39, pleaded not guilty Thursday and has been suspended from his job with pay.
A 21-year-old Detroit woman told investigators that she and a male friend were driving through
Chandler Park early on Feb. 7 when a Detroit police officer pulled them over.
The officer took their identification and got in the back seat of her car, then told the male friend to perform a sex act on the woman, according to court records. He threatened them with a a $500 ticket if they didn't, according to court records.
The woman said the officer also fondled her breast and forced her to fondle him. The officer then told her to get out of the car and demanded her cell phone number.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Tidwell later called the woman several times. The woman secretly taped at least one call and gave the tape to investigators.
Tidwell confronted two other women and two men early April 14, Worth said.
They told investigators the officer pulled up to their vehicle in a police car, took their identification and told them they could go to jail or perform sex acts while he watched.
The women were told to perform sex acts on the two men, and one
couple was forced to have inter-
course, according to court records.
The victims said that the officer shone his flashlight on them and that they saw him masturbating. When a second patrol car approached, they said, the officer told them to stop and "be cool" before waving the other patrol car away.
A magistrate entered the not guilty plea to charges including five counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Tidwell is being held in the Wayne County jail in lieu of $1 million bail.
The fully constructed University of Kansas bridge is judged after its completion Thursday afternoon. Eleven universities participated in the Steel Bridge competition as part of the Society of Civil Engineers Mid-Continent Regional Conference.
BRIDGE (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
Anna Faltermeier/KANSAN
bridges, once assembled, are judged on display, construction speed, lightness, stiffness, efficiency and overall performance.
During the judging for KU's steel bridge, the infrastructure collapsed. Josh Crain, Overland Park junior and team co-captain, said the company who made the red box trusses that lined the base structure did not weld them correctly.
A total
of 2,500 pounds is used in the weight judging. When the load got to 1,250 pounds, the welding went out.
"It was really disappointing," Crain said. "But there is a momentum going into next year to help the program grow."
The collapsed did not disqualify the team, but did heavily penalize
Crain said the team was young and had a lot of room for improvement. He said the University's program was different than others, because it was all voluntary and an out-of-class commitment. He said Kansas State University's program got credit through a mandatory class, making it easier for people to get involved.
their overall score, ranking the team in the bottom half, Crain said.
Clay said that last year the KU team was disqualified for a similar problem. After weight had been placed on the structure, it deflected an inch — which was the disqualification length.
The KU team of about 20 engineering students has been prepared
ing since September, when they started designing the structure. Joe Pattison, Overland Park junior, said the team looked at what other successful teams had done to create its own original design.
Anna Faltermeier/KANSAN
After creating a design the team liked, the design was sent to Builder's Steel Co. in North Kansas City, Mo., to create the steel pieces. Only six members of the KU team actually constructed the bridge. The team worked to weld and create holes in the pieces to lessen the weight.
Pattison, a first-year member, said he was impressed with Kansas State University's assembly.
Justin Clay, Kansas City, Kan., senior, looks over at teammate Paul Cross work while holding up part of the University of Kansas' bridge. Claver was captain of the KU Steel Bridge team this semester.
"K-State looked like they didn't even use nuts and bolts," Pattison said. "Everything just clicked into place. It only took them about six minutes."
Pattison said there were many intricate rules while constructing the bridge, including dropping anything in the "river" and the way it's assembled. Pattison said the team needed tall members to reach across the "river" and attach the pieces together. The KU bridge was
constructed in 24 minutes.
Other members of the KU chapter of ASCE took positions as conference chairs and coordinators. Kris Finger, Lawrence junior, is the fundraising chair for ASCE, and decided to be a conference chair. He brought back the concrete bowling ball competition. He is one of the four individual competitors, who will create a concrete bowling ball and have it judged on appearance, shape, and ability to roll down a lane.
Theresa Rohlfs, Topeka senior, chose to be the Steel Bridge competition chair. She said she had been working to prepare for the competition since last Spring. "It's great to see it all come together," Rohlfs said. "For a few moments, you kind of wonder if it's all going to come together. And now it's finally happening."
Kansan staff writer Danae De-
Shazer can be contacted at
ddeshzer@kansan.com.
Edited by Lisa Tilson
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— Edited by Kelly Lanigan
GTA (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
BURRITOS (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
was not being reconsidered.
"It's a provost's prerogative to make that decision and he did," Bretz said. "It was done in full debate and with a lot of discussion."
"I think delivery is mainly for pizzas and Chinese food," Zuniga said.
Kansan staff writer Nathan Gill can be contacted at ngill@kansan. com.
Bretz said that the current interpretation of the University's code was that graduate students could vote on policy issues within their departments, but not on personnel issues, which include hiring, promoting or giving tenure to faculty. She said that last fall's change, which made the hiring process more uniform across the University, helped promote fairness in the hiring process. She also said it protected the University from potential lawsuits
"Faculty vote on faculty,"Bretz said. "It would not be appropriate for graduate students to vote on faculty."
Bretz also said that since faculty advise and grade graduate students,
He said he couldn't make enough money from burrito delivery orders to justify the overhead costs of hiring delivery drivers and buying insurance.
some students might feel pressure to please existing faculty by voting for some hires over others.
Bretz said that in many academic departments, undergraduate and graduate students were involved in recommending faculty hires — but not voting. She said that such students were involved in the recommendation process by listening to presentations made by potential hires and by giving their opinions to voting faculty.
"That doesn't mean that a student's opinion wouldn't be influential." Bretz said of last fall's change. "Student input is part of that process, and it's important."
Emmons said that cooperation with The Crossing had helped spread word about Big 12 Burrito. He said word of mouth about the restaurant had spread so fast that several people, unaware that the restaurant was only open until midnight, left phone messages after it closed Saturday night pleading for burrito deliveries.
He said Big 12 Burrito and The Crossing would offer joint promotions when the fall semester started.
— Edited by Kelly Lanigan
Zuniga said Big 12 Burrito could find success, but he said no burrito business in Lawrence would be able to make a fortune. He said he had seen several Lawrence burrito restaurants close since Burrito King opened 12 years ago.
Kansan staff writer Matt Erickson can be contacted at merickson@ kansan.com.
Qdoba Mexican Grill, formerly at 10th and Massachusetts streets, closed earlier this year.
market value for their book," Monk said. "We don't use the middleman, if you will."
BOOKSTORE (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
Monk said a student coming in for
Beat The Bookstore's network also allows each franchise to gauge a textbook's value at universities across the country, instead of its value at just one school. Monk said this translates into higher buyback prices for students.
Keating said the account was a popular option at the University of Georgia store where he worked for a
buyback might have an accounting book that won't be used at the University of Kansas during the next semester, but will be used at the University of Texas. Beat The Bookstore would offer the student
Beat The Bookstore will also offer a store credit system where students can receive a slightly higher buyback price if they put their buyback money into an account with the store. Those students will not have to pay sales tax on that money when they use it to buy textbooks later.
DAN KEATING Beat The Bookstore co-owner
"We may not have everything, but what we do have will be a better deal."
"We may not have everything, but what we do have will be a better deal," he said.
a higher buyback price than the wholesale price other bookstores would use, and then ship the book to its UT location.
Keating agreed that Beat The Bookstore might not have the extensive selection of university-owned bookstores.
Tim Norris, director of KU Bookstores, predicted that Beat The Bookstore might have trouble keeping stocked with all the textbooks students need. Norris said KU Bookstores made sure to carry books for every course, even graduate-level courses with very few students.
"They called it their 'delayed gratification policy,'" he said. Norris said KU Bookstores may partner with other campus book-stores around
week while preparing to open his franchise.
the country to form a network for bypassing wholesalers in the future.
KU Bookstores sells used books at 75 percent of their new retail prices, and it offers students 50 percent of the retail price for buybacks when a book will be used again the next semester. If no instructors will use the book the next semester, the student will receive the highest buyback price offered by one of the major textbook wholesale companies.
Kansan staff writer Matt Erickson can be contacted at merickson@ kansan.com.
Edited by Trevan McGee
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