THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2008
NEWS
3A
CRIME
Suspect held for residence hall attack
BY FRANCESCA CHAMBERS fchambers@kansan.com
A man suspected of raping a freshman resident of GSP-Corbin Hall on Sunday, March 9, was arrested in Pratt County Tuesday.
The suspect, Kevin Towne, a 20-year-old Wichita resident, was arrested on charges of rape and aggravated burglary.
Towne made his first appearance in court Thursday and bail was set at $100,000. Towne will make his next appearance on April 3.
According to the KU Public Safety Office crime log, the suspect entered the room of a GSP resident and had sexual intercourse with the resident without her consent between 1:45 a.m. and 3 a.m. on March 9. The KU Public Safety Office said Towne was not a KU student, but he was an acquaintance of the victim.
Towne was also charged with aggravated burglary because he entered the victim's room without permission and refused to leave the room after the victim requested
his departure, according to the Public Safety Office's and Lawrence Judicial and Law Enforcement Center's reports.
Capt. Schuyler Bailey of the
Capt. Schuyl Public Safety Office, said he could not say why Douglas County was holding Towne in jail.
ID-based access system which residents must use at all times to gain entry to the residence halls.
Sheryl Wright, assistant to the district attorney, said the district attorney's office could not discuss the details of the crime yet because it did not want to jeopardize the trial.
She said during the day, guests did not have to sign in at the front
This is the first rape that has been reported to the KU Public Safety Office this semester and the fourth that has been reported this school year.
According to a report filed by the Lawrence Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, nine people were witnesses to the charges filed against Towne. Seven of the witnesses were KU students.
Jennifer Wamelink, associate director of housing, said all of the residence halls were secured by an
desk, but during security hours, 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., guests and the residents they are visiting are required to leave a photo ID at the front desk until the guest checks out.
Additionally, Wamelink said two to four student security monitors took turns making sure all the exits were secure and nothing out of the ordinary was occurring at the residence halls.
Wamelink said security hours had been in place at the dorms for at least 10 years but that the access systems were new this year. She said as far as she knew, there had not been any problems in the past
with unauthorized persons in the dormitories because the front desks were located directly in front of the entry ways.
This is the first rape that has been reported to the KU Public Safety Office this semester and the fourth that has been reported this school year.
Rapes were reported at Oliver Hall in September, and at McCollum and Lewis Halls in October. The suspect involved in the rape at Oliver Hall was released after no charges were filed. The suspects involved in the McCollum and Lewis cases were interviewed but released and the cases were passed on to the district attorney's office.
Wamelink said residents were responsible for their guests at all times.
"We do our best to have good procedures and processes in place to help students make good decisions, and safety is everyone's responsibility," Wamelink said.
Edited by Sasha Roe
Some states not compromising for Real ID law
NATIONAL
BY DEVLIN BARRETT ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - There are signs of a potential compromise to end the Bush administration's standoff with states resisting new standards for driver's licenses. For people who live in those holdout states, the dispute raises the specter of hassles at airports and federal buildings.
At issue is a law known as Real ID that would require new security measures for state-issued
driver's licenses. The Bush administration said the law, passed after the Sept. 11 attacks, will hinder terrorists, con artists and illegal immigrants. Opponents say it will cost too much and weaken privacy protections.
Unless holdout states send a letter by the end of March seeking an extension, their residents no longer can use a driver's licenses as valid identification to board airplanes or enter federal buildings beginning in May, Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff has warned. They would have to present a passport or be subjected to secondary screening.
Only three states — Maine, Montana and South Carolina — have not sought extensions or already started moving toward compliance. New Hampshire has asked to be exempted, but Homeland Security Department officials have not found the state's letter to be legally acceptable.
But on Friday, the agency granted Montana an extension
even though state officials did not ask for one and insist they will not follow the law.Gov. Brian Schweitzer, D-Mont., told The Associated Press that administration officials "painted themselves in a corner."
Chertoff has offered to phase in requirements over about 10 years. But with President Bush leaving office in January, a decision to move ahead with Chertoff's plan will rest with the next administration.
MIDWEST
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A semi tractor trailer cab sits partially submerged in flood water from the Meramec River at the intersection of state route 141 and Interstate 44 Saturday in Fenton, Mo. Levees broke in two places and caused flooding in outlying areas.
Levees break, flood
BY JON GAMBRELL ASSOCIATED PRESS
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — High water pouring down the White River could cause historic flooding in cities along its path in eastern Arkansas, forecasters warned Sunday.
The river, one of many out of its banks across wide areas of the Midwest, could top levels recorded in a devastating flood 25 years ago, National Weather Service meteorologist John Robinson said.
"There will be water going into areas where people have not seen it before, and may not be expecting to see high water," Robinson wrote in an e-mail to reporters Sunday.
A tributary of the White River, the Black River, ruptured a levee in two places Saturday near Pocaontas, said Renee Presslar, a spokeswoman for the Arkansas
Department of Emergency Management. That stream has been bloated by water pouring downstream from hard-hit southeastern Missouri.
Preslar said the levee breaks allowed flooding in outlying areas but she did not have details on what might have been damaged.
The Army Corps of Engineers worked through the night to plug the breaks with sandbags, and that work appeared to be holding as of Sunday afternoon, Preslar said.
"Right now, it's kind of a wait- and-see game," she said.
Corps of Engineers spokesman P.J. Spaul said the levee near Pocahontas was built in the 1940s. The levee district charged with its maintenance dissolved in the 1960s, leaving it to sag and have trees to grow up in its banks over the last 40 years, Spaul said.
THIS WEEK ON CAMPUS
Start and End at Maceli's, 1031 New Hampshire.
One mile Walk and 5K Walk/Run.
Registration 7-8am. Stretch and run with Red Dog, at 7:50am. Walk steps off at 8am.
A full breakfast, sponsored by NetworQ, will be served for returning participants from 8:30-10am.
Awards Ceremony 10am.
Registration is online at www.douglascountyaidsproject.org
Saturday, April 12th
Center for Community Outreach challenging. educating. empowering.
looking to volunteer?
Center for Community Outreach can help!
We have 15 volunteer programs working throughout Lawrence and can connect you to many local programs.
Contact us!
405 Kansas Union (in the SILC office)
864-4073 • cco@ku.edu
www.ku.edu/~cco
Contest Details:
- Only printed photographs may be entered (8x10, 8x12).
* Any KU alumni students, staff, faculty, or guardians are welcome.
- Any KU alumni, students, staff, faculty, or scholars may enter.
- Photographs must have been shot outside the United States.
- Only printed photographs may be entered (8x10, 8x12)
- Any KU alumni, students, staff, faculty, or scholars may enter.
- Each contestant may enter up to six prints.
- There is no entry fee for active members of Phi Beta Delta. The answer is correct.
- The entry fee for all other contestants is $3 per photo.
- There will once again be great prizes for the award winners.
- Winning and Noteworthy Photos will be displayed on campus.
- Selected photos may be published, with credit to the photographer.
- The deadline for entries is Friday, March 30th.
For Complete Photo Contest Rules and Contest Entry Forms, go to http://www.international.ku.edu/~oip/pbd/photos/
Attention Student Groups:
If your student organization is register with the Student Involvement and Leadership Center, you may get FREE ADVERTISING here in the Kansan through Student Senate!
Email Roderick Patton at kufan85@ku.edu for more information