FRIDAY. AUGUST 26. 2005
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 3A
ON THE RECORD
♦ A 23-year-old KU student and a 22-year-old reported an $800 Las Paul guitar, a $200 Sony Playstation 2, a $1,100 HP Pavilion computer and $3,385 in other valuables stolen sometime between 3:30 and 7:20 p.m. Aug. 23 from the 900 block of Indiana Street.
◆ A 24-year-old KU student reported a $400 Prada purse and a $40 Guess wallet stolen from a vehicle sometime between 2 and 5:25 p.m.
Aug. 23 in campus lot 90.
♦ A 21-year-old KU student reported $300 in damage to a vehicle window and a $40 purse stolen sometime between 2:45 and 3:30 p.m. Aug. 2 in campus lot 90.
A 22-year-old KU student reported $215 in valuables stolen on 11:25 p.m. Aug. 23 from the 600 block of Massachusetts Street.
♦ A 19-year-old KU student reported $205 in valuables stolen from a vehicle sometime between 2 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. Aug. 21 from the 1000 block of Emery Road.
*An 18-year-old KU student reported $26 in valuables stolen sometime between 5 and 6 p.m. Aug. 24 at the KU Recreation Center.*
ON CAMPUS
- Free cosmic bowling in the Jaybowl of the Kansas Union from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. tonight, tomorrow and every Friday and Saturday night of the semester.
♦ Foam dance party on Wescoe Beach from 7 to 10 tonight.
Swimming, a DJ and prizes at the Lawrence Public Pool in Watson Park, Seventh and Kentucky streets, from 8 to 11 p.m. tomorrow.
COURTS
Professor battles ticket, no matter the costs
BY STEVE LYNN
slynn@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITE
Moving violations and parking tickets are inevitabilities of driving, and most people plead guilty and pay the fines.
Not Zamir Bavel.
He claims he was not speeding and has been attempting to prove it.
"People should know, especially students, that fighting is not a lost cause," said Bavel, professor of computer science at the University of Kansas.
Bavel has been working pro se, or without attorney, in district court to prove his innocence by demonstrating that an officer of the Lawrence Police Department did not receive adequate training to use a radar gun, he said.
In municipal court, he was found guilty of speeding near the intersection of W. 19th Street and Ousdahl Road, in March 2004.
If he wins in district court in late September he will avoid a $45 fine, and gain vindication. So far he has spent nearly $1000 defending himself, and said he was hoping to create a landmark case law.
He spent the bulk of the $1000 on a polygraph test, which turned out to be inadmissible in Kansas court, he said.
"It should not cost anything, especially with my help and advice, which anyone can get for free," Bavel said.
For his efforts, Bavel has received local and national attention, including interviews with media organizations and numerous phone calls and e-mails.
"I can't cross the street without people encouraging me," he said. "Everybody likes the idea of fighting for the good man and improving the Lawrence Police Department."
Traffic tickets given in Lawrence have increased during the past two years, but trials contesting these tickets have not.
On Oct. 1, 2002, Lawrence created
Number of traffic tickets given by the Lawrence Police Department
TICKETS INCREASI
Tickets, not trials
1999, 20,579
1999, 17,976
2001, 15,624
2001, 16,677
2003, 18,327
2003, 24,008
Source: Lawrence Municipal Court
a traffic unit with a $2.2 million federal grant, said Sgt. Dan Ward of the Lawrence Police Department. The unit included seven vehicles, six officers and one sergeant.
Traffic tickets given by the Lawrence police department decreased from 20,579 in 1999 to 15,624 in 2001. But since 2002 tickets increased from 16,677 to 24,008 in 2004.
These days, Lawrence police continue to issue more traffic citations, said city prosecutor Jerry Little. But the number of trials have not increased, he said.
If people do choose to fight their tickets, many represent themselves, Little said. That officers don't often appear in court is a misconception, he said.
"Officers show up 99 percent of the time," Little said. "If they don't show, they're at risk of losing their jobs."
The more common scenario is that a prosecutor would lessen the charge from a moving violation to a parking violation, he said. This prevents an insurance company from raising rates. Fines increase with each citation, he said.
Speeding tickets are difficult to defeat, Little said. One has to prove that the radar gun was wrong or that an officer did not receive sufficient training, he said.
Operating a radar gun is a complicated task. Bavel said.
they should receive 24 hours of classroom instruction and 16 hours of field supervision, according to a training manual written by the National Highway Traffic Safety Authority, he said.
The trial
Before police operate radar guns,
The Lawrence Police Department has no set training requirement, Little said.
"We're not required to follow their recommendations," Little said. There's no law that says we have to follow them."
when Bavel cross-examined the officer who gave him the ticket, the officer said he had no classroom instruction and little field supervision, he said. The officer had been issuing traffic citations for nine years, Bavel said.
Errors in measurement of a vehicle's velocity can occur when an untrained officer operates a radar gun, Bavel said.
The officer had been trained and certified at his old job and at a law enforcement academy he attended, Little said.
For instance, a radar gun's reliability decreases significantly when an officer fires it at a car from an angle approaching 90 degrees. Even power lines and power stations could skew results, he said.
"The judge has to decide whether he has training and field experience," Little said.
"I know the judge must be irritated by my mistakes in the courtroom. He has bent over backwards to allow for the fact that I do not have legal experience." he said.
The judge has also accommodated needs related to Bavel's hearing loss, he said.
Though Bavel said he had acquired some knowledge of radar gun operation, his lack of legal expertise showed.
Ward said he could not comment on how radar guns function because of Bavel's ongoing trial.
"He allowed me to come close, as long as I didn't intimidate the witness," he said.
Edited by Kellis Robinett
CORRECTION
A map in Wednesday's University Daily Kansan contained an error. The busstop in front of Learned Hall was improperly located. The correct map appears below
Sources: KU on Wheels www.ku.edu
NATION "Redneck Woman" in trouble
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The state attorney general wants the country singer who made the song "Redneck Woman" a hit to stop "glamorizing" the use of smokeless tobacco at her concerts.
"Many young people attend your concerts and purchase your music and T-shirts;" Summers wrote in a letter he sent to Wilson Thursday. "Because your actions strongly influence the youth in your audience ... I ask you to take steps to warn young people of negative health effects of smokeless tobacco use."
State officials said Gretchen Wilson can be seen on concert jumbo screens pulling a can of Skoal from her pocket while performing her new song, "Skoal Ring."
The title of her song "Skoal Ring" refers to the wear mark left by carrying a can of smokeless tobacco in a pocket of blue jeans. In the final verse of the song, Wilson sings that she gets turned on by the taste of smokeless tobacco on her man's lips.
That may violate the 1998 settlement between states and tobacco companies forbidding tobacco ads targeting young people, Attorney General Paul Summers said.
Wilson won wide acclaim and a Grammy with her debut single "Redneck Woman."
Calls to Wilson's representatives at her music label Sony Music Nashville were not immediately returned Thursday.
The landmark $206 billion tobacco settlement "provided that advertisements such as this would be and should be prohibited" Summers said.
The Associated Press
THIS WEEK ON CAMPUS
Freshmen!
Applications for the freshman student senate election are still available online at www.ku.edu/~election or in the student senate office. Applications are due to the student senate office to the 410 Kansas Union on Friday by 5:00 pm.
The elections will be on September 6th and 7th.
Lawrence Journal - World The Kansas City Star USA TODAY The New York Times
The Collegiate Readership Program
August 26, 2005
PAID FOR BY KU
Student Senate has begun accepting applications for the following replacement senator positions:
- Graduate and Law Senator
- Non-traditional Senator
- Engineering Senator
Applications can be found online at www.ku.edu/~senate and will be due to the student senate office in 410 Kansas Union by 5:00 pm, Friday September 2nd. If you have questions regarding your eligibility or the applications process, visit the website or contact us by phone, 785-864-3710.
KU CULTURAL INDIA CLUB cordially invites you to attend
"AZAAD"
a cultural show portraying the patriotic sentiments of India, on occasion of India's independence day.
Venue: Woodruff Auditorium, KU Union
Date/Time: August 27, 2005 5:00-7:00pm
We also have an ethnic dinner after the show. Tickets for dinner are $8 each.