THE UNIVERSITY DAILY IKANSAN
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2008
NEWS
5A
CRIME
Rachel Anne Sevmour/KANSAN
Police officers monitor and greet KU fans at 11th and Massachusetts streets after Kansas defeated Memphis in the NCAA Championship game Monday night. Fans as they spilled out into Massachusetts street from businesses, bars and home to celebrate the victory.
Police stay busy during madness
BY FRANCESCA CHAMBERS
fchambers@kansan.com
Police officers stayed busy Monday night even though Massachusetts Street was barricaded from traffic and a storm cut fans' celebrations short.
Sgt. Paul Fellers of the Lawrence Police Department said that more police officers were located downtown Monday than on Saturday and that Monday's victory drew more people to the streets. Fellers said more fans took to the roofs, trees and poles.
Fellers said he was concerned about people climbing on street sign poles specifically because if a fan had shaken one loose the fan could have hurt himself and other people in the crowd.
He also said he was worried about the fans who were climbing on signs
above businesses because they could have been electrocuted.
Fellers said the low electrical lines in combination with the lightening after the game could have been disastrous for fans on the signs and in the crowds.
Fans climbed on several businesses' lighted signs, but as of Tuesday afternoon, Yokohama Sushi, 811 New Hampshire St., was the only business to have reported damage to its sign.
U. S. Bank, 900 Massachusetts St., Papa Keno's, 1013 Massachusetts St., and St. Lawrence Dance Academy, 1117 Massachusetts St., all reported broken windows. Presto gas station, 602 W. Ninth St., reported a broken window Saturday.
"They only come up, take the beer from your hand and walk off," said Sarah Bracciano, Leawood graduate student. "Very good men."
Fellers said overall he thought fans celebrated responsibly in relation to the number of people who were on Massachusetts Street.
A few fans said they thought police acted courteously in relation to the amount of illegal activities that were occurring on the streets.
Kiley Miller, Kansas City, Kan. graduate student, said she did not think the police could have done much more to control crowds and ensure safety than they did Monday evening.
Fellers said he noticed a lot of fireworks, but he said downtown was a relatively safe atmosphere after the game.
After Saturday's celebration, at least four residents reported damage to the hoods of their cars and several others reported damage to other areas of their vehicles.
Because police blocked traffic to Massachusetts Street, fewer Lawrence residents reported criminal damage to their vehicles than Saturday. Only three residents reported damage to their vehicles.
"Inevitably, with a crowd that size, and there is a percentage of those individuals who have consumed alcohol, inevitably you will have some things like that occur," Fellers said.
Fellers said he was not surprised about the amount of damage that was done to vehicles after the games.
Fellers said the number of fans who partied downtown in the dreary weather did not surprise him. He said he thought fans would have filled the streets even if the rain was pouring.
Edited by Patrick De Oliveira
CONGRESS
No timetable set for withdrawl from Iraq
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — The top U.S. commander in Iraq told Congress Tuesday that hard-won gains in the war zone are too fragile to promise any troop pullouts beyond this summer, holding his ground against impatient Democrats and refusing to commit to more withdrawals before President Bush leaves office in January.
Army Gen. David Petraeus painted a picture of a nation struggling to suppress violence among its own people and to move toward the political reconciliation that Bush's said a year ago was the ultimate aim of his new Iraq strategy, which included sending more than 20,000 extra combat troops.
Security is getting better, and
Iraq's own forces are becoming more able, Petraeus said. But he also ticked off a list of reasons for worry, including the threat of a resurgence of Sunni or Shiite extremist violence. He highlighted Iran as a special concern, for its training and equipping of extremists.
But when it came to promising or predicting a timetable for further withdrawals, Petraeus didn't budge. He said he had recommended to Bush that he complete, by the end of July, the withdrawal of the 20,000 extra troops. Beyond that, the general proposed a 45-day period of "consolidation and evaluation," to be followed by an indefinite period of assessment before he would recommend any further pullouts.
CRIME
Celebrity pathologist to be retried for fraud
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PITTSBURGH — A federal judge declared a mistrial Tuesday in the fraud case against celebrity pathologist Cyril Wecht, who was accused of using his staff at the county coroner's office to do work for his lucrative private practice.
Federal prosecutors said they were ready to retry Wecht, who gained fame by inquiring into the deaths of well-known figures including Elvis Presley, JonBenet Ramsey and Vincent Foster. A new trial date was set for May 27.
U. S. District Judge Arthur Schwab made the announcement after the jurors, for the second time,
gave him a note saying they were unable to reach a verdict on any of the charges against Wecht. Jurors deliberated the 41 counts for more than 50 hdurs over 11 days.
Wecht's lead attorney called the prosecutors' decision to retry Wecht "a bizarre ending to one of the most unfair trials in history."
Wecht, who resigned as county coroner after the federal charges were filed in 2006, said he continued to be hired by other Pennsylvania prosecutors and private parties during nearly three months of jury selection, trial testimony and deliberations. Wecht said he conducted 100 autopsies and testified in two other counties in homicide cases.