FRIDAY, MAY 3, 1996
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS 864-4810
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
SECTION A VOL.102,NO.150
ADVERTISING 864-4358
(USPS 650-640)
TODAY KANSAN
SPORTS
Jayhawk ace
Kansas senior Josh Belovsky has become the Jayhawks' top pitcher. Page 1B
CAMPUS
Cinco de mayo
Celebrations are planned for Sunday that will celebrate Mexican culture. Page 6A
falcon
NATION
Economy surges to life
White House staff is ecstatic,but financial markets are fearful. Page 7A
Warlord vows all-out assault
WORLD
Liberian rebel leader calls off a cease-fire and orders troops to attack. Page 9A
WEATHER
WARM
High 80° Low 54°
Weather: Page 2A
INDEX
Opinion ... 4A
Nation/World ... 7A
Features ... 12A
Sports ... 1B
Scoreboard ... 2B
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.
Caught in the web
Everybody knows the tragedy of addiction to alcohol, drugs, gambling, but what about the Internet?
it's 5 a.m. I turn over and beat my pillow. From the other side of my apartment I hear a high-pitched squeal, followed by a slightly lower-pitched grinding. I moan, peep through the blinds, see that it is still dark outside and realize that the noise is my roommate's computer modem.
I roll over onto my stomach, pull the covers around my ears, and moan again. How could any normal human possibly want to get out of bed at 5 a.m., much less sit in front of a computer?
At 8:30 a.m. I am jolted awake by the buzz of my alarm clock.
"Good morning," my roommate calls from her study. I can hear her computer chattering away. She is blind and uses a voice synthesizer to read what appears on the computer screen. Could she still be on-line? I'm not sure. She could just be typing a paper.
4
It's 12:30 p.m., and I decide to go home and find something to eat besides vending machine food and find my roommate eating lunch and watching her favorite soap opera. We talk for a few minutes, and when the soap opera ends, she goes back to work. I hear the squeal and grind of the modem as leave.
At 2:30 p.m. I call home but the line is busy. We have call waiting, so I know she is on-line.
By 12:15 a.m. I'm making noise in the kitchen and wake my roommate. We talk for a few minutes and then I announce I'm going to bed. She says that she's awake now and thinks she might check her e-mail before she goes back to sleep.
I lay in bed and listen to the squeal and grind of the modem. "Amazing." I think to myself.
"Hi, I'm an addict"
Was I simply one of those people who could never catch up with the times, who fought modern progress at every turn? Sure, I had an e-mail account, but my seldom used it. I'd done my share of surfing the 'Net too, but when it came down to it, sitting in front of a
computer felt too much like work to me.
I turned the idea over for several days, thinking back to a magazine article I had read about people "addicted" to the Internet.
I imagined a room full of people who have been to hell and back and whose only hope was to help each other.
"Hi, Joe," everyone else would answer in unison.
"Hi, my name is Joe and I'm an Internet addict," someone would say.
They would trade stories about endless nights in chat sessions or
checking out Web sites, and compare carpal tunnel syndrome aches and pains.
The scenarios seem silly compared to what I know about alcoholism. Families being destroyed or careers ruined by an obsession with the Internet didn't seem all that possible.
But as I tossed the idea around among friends, everyone had a story about someone they would call an "Internet addict." I couldn't help but wonder if this exploding technology, that promised every-
See INTERNET, Page 5A
Undercover cops to staff liquor stores
Bv Amv McVev
Kansan staff writer
Underage drinkers beware: Tonight, the clerk at the liquor store down the street may be an undercover cop.
"The goal of this program is to discourage minors from attempting to purchase alcohol," Police Chief Ron Olin said. "This is not an effort to spearhead arrests toward minors but a joint effort by local businesses and the Lawrence Police Department to emphasize that it is illegal to purchase alcohol beverages if you are a minor."
In an attempt to crack down on the increasing problem of underage purchases of alcohol in Lawrence, police will be posing as clerks in area lounge stores.
Police announced the program, Cops in Shops, during a press conference yesterday.
Police have been preparing to implement the program for about a month, Lawrence police Lt. Ed Brunt said.
John Webb, owner of Webb's Fine Wine &
Spirits, 800 W. 23rd St., said he would be
participating in the program but that he felt
pressured by police to do so.
"We are going to be doing this for basically two months and take a look at its effectiveness," he said.
Brunt said a majority of the liquor stores in Lawrence have agreed to work with police, even though cooperation was not mandatory.
Webb said that in the past five years he has seen a rise in the use of fake IDs. He stressed that the problem stemmed from the number of fake IDs being made — not the liquor stores intentionally selling alcohol to minors.
"Try not doing it and see what they'd do," he said. "They'd sit here and watch until you made a mistake."
"I don't want any underage business," he said. "And I have never gone out on 23rd Street and made someone buy from me."
Tom Dangermond, manager of Patterson Liquor, 846 Illinois St., on the other hand said he thought the program would help retailers address the growing problem of underage drinkers in Lawrence.
"The liquor store owners face a rather severe penalty if they sell to minors," he said. "I think it is a good idea to try and
deter underage drinking from buying in my store. To me it is taking a little heat off the retailers."
Chad Coellner, Salina freshman, said that the new program would discourage him from purchasing liquor from a liquor store this weekend. But he doesn't think it will last.
"It won't make that big of an impact," he said. "They can't bust everyone. I think they are going a little overboard."
Cops in Shops was a program developed by The Century Council, a national, not-for-profit organization founded in 1991. It is supported by more than 800 distillers, vintners, brewers and wholesalers. Its headquarters are in Los Angeles. United States Ambassador to Mexico, John Gavin, is the chairman of the council.
"So, if you are underage — don't try it," Brunt said.
Area liquor stores participating in the program will post signs reading "Warning: police officers may be posing as store employees," and signs on beer coolers, reminding customers that the participating shop will check for identification, Brunt said.
Legislature approves crumbling classrooms
Revised bill will provide millions for improvements
By John Collar
Kansan staff writer
The Kansas Legislature brought music to Stanley Shumway's ears yesterday.
"This is wonderful news," Shumway said. "It's quite important to the band program to have adequate rehearsal space."
With the Legislature's approval of the Regents' crumbling classrooms plan, the University's associate dean of fine arts said he was pleased that music students soon would have expanded rehearsal and storage space in Murphy Hall.
Yesterday, the House voted 82-40 to adopt a conference committee report containing the proposal. A part of the bill that had delayed its passage was removed from yesterday's version. The section had stated that the Legislature should approve moving certain state agencies out of the Capitol.
The Senate later adopted the report 39-0. The bill now will go to Gov. Bill Graves. The $163-million capital improvement project virtually is assured of going forward because Graves endorsed the proposal earlier this year.
"I think it's monumentally important," said Ted Ayres,
regents general counsel and director of governmental relations.
"Iif we don't take care of our students, we've let them down," he said.
He said providing safe and adequate facilities was vital to the Regents system.
The University of Kansas would receive about $53.2 million. About $8 million would be used to expand Murphy Hall, and $12 million would go to renovate Joseph R Pearson Hall.
At the May meeting, the Regents are scheduled to begin allocating funds to each university.
important to the band program to have adequate rehearsal space."
Stanley Shumway associate dean of fine arts
However, the universities will face another decision.
Stopping the Crumbling
Funds from the 10 major projects in the proposal, including Murphy Hall and Joseph R. Pearson Hall, have been cut
$8 million
Fund that the University of Kansas will receive from the Regents' crumbling classroom proposal;
Murphy Hall
Joseph R. Pearson Hall $12 million
Americans with Disabilities improvements
1
Repair and Renovation $20 million
Fire code improvements $4.2 million
Classroom improvements $4.9 million
because the original projects were budgeted for $288 million, $125 million more than bond issue, said Warren Corman, Regents director of facilities.
He said all the Americans with Disabilities Act and fire-safety projects would be completed.
Corman said each school would have the option of raising private funds to make up the difference or cutting funds for the projects.
Lindy Eakin, associate executive vice chancellor, said the Regents were waiting until the measure was signed by the governor before informing the universities of their options.
"It's still unclear how the Regents will deal with it," Eakin said.
Corman said that no actual work could begin until the bonds were sold, which is expected to occur in September.
He said that small projects related to ADA and fire-safety improvements could begin as early as this fall.
The Regents can begin interviewing possible architectural firms for the major projects before the funds are available, Corman said. Completion of the JRP and Murphy Hall projects tentatively is scheduled for the summer of 1999.