WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 1996
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS 864-4810
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
SECTION A VOL. 102, NO. 7
ADVERTISING 864-4358
(USPS 650-640)
SPORTS
Brew signs deal
Former Kansas cornerback Dorian Brew signed a three-year contract with the Miami Dolphins yesterday. Page 4B
CAMPUS
Victoria Silva joins the University of Kansas as the new environmental specialist.
Recycling post filled
Page 3A
NATION
Crazed gunman shoots ex-wife
St.Louis man commits suicide under Gateway Arch after fitness center slaying. Page 3B
WORLD
Bomb blast in Ukraine
Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko escapes assassination attempt with minor injuries. Page 3B
WEATHER
HOT AND HUMID
High 92° Low 72°
INDEX
KU Life ...1B
Sports ...8A
Opinion ...4A
National News..3B, 4B
World News...3B
The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of the Kansan are 25 cents.
Moon beam sears scientific world
Jupiter's Io emits ray, says KU prof
Independence Day's alien death rays have nothing on a discovery made in a basement computer lab in Malott Hall.
Thomas Armstrong, professor of physics and astronomy, and graduate students in his department compiled the first concrete evidence of an electron beam originating from one of Jupiter's moons. Io.
strong and his team found long-awaited proof that Jupiter and to worked together to form a giant electric generator. NASA, which commissioned Armstrong's work, is scheduled to release the findings at a news conference of the Committee for Space Research in Birmingham, England today. Armstrong already appeared on Kansas City television Friday to talk about his involvement with Gallieo.
"It's like a huge version of the beams in ID4 they used to destroy the White House," Armstrong said. Io's beam could disintegrate the White House instantly, and it would kill a person in a spacecraft caught in the beam, Armstrong said.
Using data from the spacecraft Galileo, which has been orbiting Jupiter since December 1995, Arm-
Astronomers have known for decades that radio noise from Jupiter tends to be more intense when Io is in a particular position in its orbit, Armstrong said.
"It has been far from obvious why that should be the case until now," he said.
— in the clouds, in the atmosphere,
in free space. it's alive electrically," Armstrong said.
Armstrong and his team discovered that Jupiter's immense magnetic field caused atomic breakdown in Io's tumultuous atmosphere. Atoms are boiled down to electrons and nuclei. Electrons have a negative charge, while nuclei, which are made up of neutrons and protons, have a positive charge. This process leaves the moon saturated with charged particles, Armstrong said.
Jupiter's powerful magnetic field focuses lo's electrons into a large beam, much like an earthly power plant pumps electricity through wires. But lo's flow of electrons is wireless and immense, about the diameter of three or four Kansas counties, Armstrong said.
"On Io, current flows everywhere
Source: Staff research
Evidence of this cosmic beam of electrons came from the raw data sent by Galileo's energetic particle detector. As part of Galileo's 19 separate investigations, the energetic particle detector records the number, size and direction of electronically charged particles bombarding the spacecraft.
Galileo passed through Io's electron beam quickly enough that it was not destroyed, but radiation will completely erode the spacecraft within the next few years, Armstrong said. The craft was exposed to a continuous dose of radiation up to 100 times the lethal level on its close approaches to Jupiter.
Chris Brull, Prairie Village graduate student, wrote the program that converted the volumes of raw data
from Galileo into about 700 pages of
tableless graphs.
Dena Pisciotte/KANSAN
Shawn Stone, a Bemidji, Minn., doctoral student, was overseeing the data conversion when Armstrong discovered the decisive graphs.
"he scared the heck out of me, actually," Stone said. "My back was to him. He stamped his foot on the floor, and he was pretty excited. I
can't repeat what he said. But it was something like, 'Now there's proof.' At that time, it all felt worth it."
Stone had canceled a golfing trip to Minneapolis and worked most of a Friday night so that Armstrong would have proof of the beam for a meeting with NASA's energetic particle team in Washington.
See GALILEO, Page 2A.
Wet and wild
Wendi Keleman, swimming instructor at the Lawrence Aquatic Center, 741 Kentucky St., crawls across the wading pool with the children of the Level 1 class. The long awaited opening of the center finally arrived Monday but only to those lucky few who were taking swimming lessons. The pool will open to the public Saturday. See story on page 3A.
Edmée Rodriguez/KANSAN
Grad student charged with child porn
Kansan staff report
A University of Kansas graduate student was arrested and charged last week with crimes related to distributing child pornography on the Internet.
Christopher Saemisch, 38, from Chesterfield, Mo., was charged Thursday in a federal court in San Jose, Calif., with possession of child pornography, possession of child pornography with the intent to distribute and conspiracy.
The FBI has launched an investigation into a pornography ring involving 15 men that spans the United States, Canada and Europe. Saemisch was arrested by the U.S. Customs Service on charges stemming from his involvement in the ring.
Saemisch was a graduate student in the University's School of Fine Arts and was working toward a master's degree in music therapy.
University Relations said Saemlsch was not enrolled at the University for the Fall 1996 semester.
If convicted on the federal charges, Saemisch could spend at least 10 years in prison and face a $250,000 fine.
KU student resigns post with State Legislature
Republican seen leaving office of Democratic minority whip
By Pete Brumbaugh Kansan staff writer
Looking for the right computer in the wrong place may have cost a student more than a part-time job at the Statehouse in Topeka. It may also jeopardize his bid to win a seat in the State Legislature.
Kansan staff writer
Finney said he had been clearing out some files in the Republican fund-raising committee office when he came upon a disk that he couldn't open on the office's Macintosh computers. He went down the hall to McKechnie's office, looking for an IBM-compatible computer.
Steve Finney, 25, Topeka graduate student and chair of KU College Republicans, resigned his parttime position with the House Republican campaign committee after being seen leaving the office of Minority Whip Ed McKechnie, D-Pittsburg, on June 23.
That's when he ran into Paul Gage, a house aide to Minority Leader Tom Sawyer, D-Wichita. Gage said he asked Finney what he was doing in Democratic offices and Finney explained he was looking for a computer.
"I opened the door, stepped in and noticed that the lights were off," Finney said. "I thought that was strange. So I locked the door and left."
"This looks bad," Gage said.
"Yeah, it probably does," Finney said in response. McKechnie reported nothing missing or tampered with, according to Haver's Capitol Revort.
"Yeah, it probably does." Disney said in response.
Finney resigned his post the following week, denying reports that he had been forced to quit or be fired
"I knew the word was going to spread," he said. "I figured it would blow up into something it wasn't, so I thought it would be easier for everyone involved if I resigned."
Finney said that he had only been working part-time
"I didn't see it as a big deal at the time,and I still can't see what the big deal is."
Steve Finney chair of KU College Republicans
Steve Finney
and figured there were more progressive things he could do with his time.
"I didn't see it as a big deal at the time," he said, "and I still don't see what the big deal is."
Finney is running for the Shawnee County legislative seat now held by State Rep. Nancy Kirk, D-Topeka. He said the Democrats were trying to capitalize on his mistake to aid Kirk, and Statehouse Republicans agree.
Chad Edwards, the legislative assistant to House Speaker Tim Shallenburger, R-Baxter Springs, said he thought the Democrats were using the incident to their advantage.
"They're just using it as political leverage," Edwards said. "It's McKechneh's job as minority whip to help his party win seats, and he's getting as much political mileage out of this issue as possible.
"Obviously, Steve made a mistake, professionally. But I don't think he did it with wrong intentions."
Meanwhile, Finney would like to get over this speed bump and focus on his campaign.
"Crazy things such as this get in the media," he said,
and "it makes for exciting campaigns.
"This may be the biggest year ever in Kansas politics," said Finney, who plans on continuing as chair of the College Republicans. "Dole running for President, (there are) two Senate races, all the seats in the House are up for grabs. It's just a great environment for students to get involved in. I'm glad I'm a part of it."
Firm hired to examine KU's image
By Spencer Duncan Kansan staff writer
The University of Kansas is looking for a little advice on how to prepare for the future.
Chancellor Robert Hemenway hired consulting firm Fleishnan-Hillard, Inc. last month to examine the direction the University must go in the next few years. The firm will determine how the University is viewed by people on campus and across the state and will help the University create a marketing plan as it moves towards the 21st century.
Members of the focus groups said they were asked to describe the University in 10 words or less, come up with a slogan for the University, describe their likes and dislikes about the University and describe the direction they would like the University to move.
Fleishman-Hillard will conduct more than 1,000 phone interviews with Kansans from across the state, Burg said. The intent is to understand how people in all parts of the state perceive the University.
In the past month the firm has held 10 brainstorming sessions, said Mary Burg, assistant to the Chancellor. Representatives of Fleishman-Hillard sat down with undergraduate, graduates, faculty from the Medical Center and law school, deans, staff and alumni.
The focus groups will continue through the end of summer, and then telephone surveys will begin.
"As you plan for the future you need to be aware of the way you are perceived," Hemenway said. "We have to know how we are looked at in order to get our message out."
"We need many different perspective to help us with a vision," Hemenway said. "I think that Fleishman-Hillard can help us with that."
"They meet with the consultant and talk about their visions, the future and what is next for KU," Burg said.
Fleishman-Hillard, Inc. is a national firm with offices in Kansas City, Mo.
Tom Hutton, director of University Relations, said the University did not want to use its own departments for this project.
"It's hard for anyone here to be objective," Hutton said. "We are going to be more sensitive to criticism or even to praise. Fleishman-Hillard has no reason to be biased toward the University, and their findings will be accurate."
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Hemenway said the project is being paid for by the Kansas University Alumni Association.
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