THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2008
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
9A
SAFETY
Break lends itself to burglary
Students can minimize chance of theft while out of town
Contributed by Francesca Chambers
Simple home alarm systems are available for purchase at Target year-round for less than S20. Schuyler Bailey, Police Captain at the KU Public Safety Office, said alarm systems can deter thieves, but he said many people forget to set their home alarm systems when they leave.
RY FRANCESCA CHAMBERS
fchambers@kansan.com
Schuyler Bailey, captain of the KU Public Safety Office, said KU students who were leaving town for spring break could follow several common-sense steps to minimize the risk of having their valuables stolen while they were gone.
LOCK UP
Jenny Rollwagen, Minneapolis freshman and resident of Naismith Hall, said she usually left her car open when she moved her things in and out of her dorm before break.
"I don't leave my computer out or anything, but if its just clothes, I don't think anyone would take clothes," Rollwagen said.
But Bailey said because a large number of students were moving items out of their residences, such a crime would be more likely to go unnoticed.
He said that students who lived in the dorms should be particularly concerned with this type of theft because it regularly occurred there.
Bailey also said some thieves walked down dorm halls looking for doors that were unlocked.
He said that occasionally drunk students looking for someone would wander into a room, but that usually it was people looking for something to steal.
"Which is why we strive so hard to repeat that even if you are in your dorm, lock your door," Bailey said.
He said he did not know how commonly this occurred off campus, but he said if it happened in the dorms, he would imagine it happens elsewhere.
Rollwagen said she has had people open her door in the middle of the night, but as far as she knew, drunk friends had always been the perpetrators. She said she would lock her door and take her valuables home over break, but she felt confident that the staff of Naismith would protect the residence hall.
because there's a bunch of newspapers stacked up," Bailey said. "It's a real quick giveaway no one is at home."
GET AN ALARM
Bailey said alarms can come in handy, but only if students remembered to set them. He also said students who installed alarms would need to find someone who would be responsible for the alarm if it went off.
Bailey said students should check with their apartment complexes before installing alarms.
Scott Martin, Northbrooke, Ill., senior, said he did not know anyone who has had their apartment broken into, but he was still worried about a
break-in because he owns a number of expensive items.
Martin said his apartment is equipped with an alarm system but he has not activated it because it would cost him money to do so. Martin compared paying to have his alarm system activated and actually having a break-in to buying a winning lottery ticket.
"What are the chances?" Martin said. "It's just another bill coming in."
Two types of alarms that stick onto doors and windows via double-sided adhesive tape and do not require tools for installation can be bought from Target for less than $20.
STOP YOUR MAIL
Edited by Madeline Hyden
Provost to review permit plan
PARK & RIDE
BY ANDY GREENHAW agreenhaw@kansan.com
The KU Parking Commission voted 5 to 1 to approve a recommendation to decrease the price of Park and Ride permits. The proposal would decrease the Park and Ride cost from $205 to $100 and increase the price of every other parking permit by $30, except for reserved permits and garage gold permits, which would increase by $100 and $50.
If KU Provost Richard Lariviere approves the recommendations, which he should receive today, the price changes would go into effect next fall.
"We want to lower the Park & Ride permit so that it becomes the cheapest option," Hultine said. "There's a culture here and we're trying to shift the culture in small bites."
Hultine said that this would be the last time parking permits would be increased for a few years.
The goal of the proposal is to motivate more students to choose Park and Ride rather than parking on campus, said Donna Hultine, director of Parking and Transit.
"If we can bring in at least $300.000, I'm confident we won't have to ask for an increase anytime soon," she said.
The Parking Department projects that the changes would increase its revenue by more than $315,000.
Bailey said that students should either have their mail stopped while they are on break or arrange for someone to pick it up for them.
Hultine said the department would use $160,000 of that amount to operate two new buses on the Park and Ride route. The rest would go toward other expenses such as paying for the increasing cost of fuel and parking lot maintenance.
Kathy Reed, the only dissenting voter at the meeting, said she didn't think the price changes were fair to faculty.
"These increases are very high for those poor folks who are just trying to make a living," she said. "The reality of it is that we won't utilize Park and Ride as much as you expect us to."
Hultine said that because parking on campus is so limited, there were few other solutions to decreasing the parking congestion on campus.
"We have to come to terms with the fact that we're not getting any new parking," she said. "We see where the administration's priorities are and we know that we're
most likely going to continue to lose parking."
Tuesday's Parking Commission meeting also included discussions about the possibility of allowing all students and faculty to have free access to all KU buses.
If the proposal passes through either Student Senate or the next student referendum on April 9, it would require a $20 to $25 increase to individual student fees. Danny Kaiser, assistant director to Parking & Transit, said the department would be willing to contribute about $1.4 million to help pay for the proposal.
"It will serve as a statement that institutionally we are willing to put down this kind of investment for students so that they aren't paying for all of it with student fees," he said.
Only 22.8 percent of KU students currently use bus passes, according to statistics provided by the Registrar's office and Parking and Transit, but Hultine said she expects to see a 20 percent increase in ridership if students were given free access.
Edited by Russell Davies
》 GOVERNMENT
Admiral in charge of Middle East retires
BY ROBERT BURNS ASSOCIATED PRESS
"Any time you are out for a walk you say, 'Oh, they're not home
WASHINGTON - The Navy admiral in charge of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan announced Tuesday that he was resigning following press reports portraying him as opposed to President Bush's Iran policy.
Adm. William J. Fallon, one of the most experienced officers in the U.S. military, said the reports were wrong but had become a distraction hampering his efforts in the Middle East. Fallon's area of responsibility
includes Iran and stretches from Central Asia across the Middle East to the Horn of Africa.
"I don't believe there have ever been any differences about the objectives of our policy in the Central Command area of responsibility," Fallon said, and he regretted "the simple perception that there is." He was in Iraq when he made the statement.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates told a Pentagon news conference that he accepted Fallon's request to resign and retire from the Navy, agreeing that the Iran issue had
become a distraction. But Gates said repeatedly that he believed talk of Fallon opposing Bush on Iran was mistaken.
"I don't think that there really were differences at all," Gates said, adding that Fallon was not pressured to leave.
"He told me that, quote. 'The current embarrassing situation, public perception of differences between my views and administration policy, and the distraction this causes from the mission make this the right thing to do,' unquote," Gates told reporters.
MIDDLE EAST Critics blame Musharraf for inability to stop violence
Musharraf quickly condemned the "savage" bombings, which ripped through a police headquarters and a business located near a house belonging to Bhutto's widower. The president said in a statement that the government would continue to fight terrorism "with full force."
But some enraged Lahore residents blamed Musharraf. They gathered in small groups Tuesday on the city's main Mall Road, chanting "Musharraf is a dog! Musharraf is a pimp!"
LAHORE, Pakistan — Pakistan's crisis deepened after two suicide bombings killed 24 people and wounded more than 200 in this normally peaceful city Tuesday, and pressure grew for more dialogue with militants as a new government prepares to take office.
It was the first major act of terrorism since former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party announced over the weekend that they would form a coalition government aimed at reducing the powers of President Pervez Musharraf, a U.S. ally.
With such attacks now spreading from unruly tribal regions to the eastern cultural capital of Lahore, an increasing number of Pakistani are questioning Musharraf's approach to countering al-Qaida and the Taliban. Musharraf's opponents say punitive military action has only fueled the violence.
The winners of last month's elections accused the former army strongman of destabilizing the country with military operations against militants near the Afghan border and even suggested that rogue forces were trying to undermine Pakistan's return to democracy.
Associated Press
KU OFFICE OF STUDY ABROAD The University of Kansas
ATLANTIS
CHEMISTRY
Thurs, March 13
Spencer Museum of Art Auditorium
"About Face: WWI, Plastic Surgery, and the American Beauty Revolution, 1915-30"
Spencer Museum of Art 1301 Mississippi Street Lawrence, Kansas www.spencerartku.edu
A reception follows in the Central Court.
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Auditorium
7 PM Friday, March 14
"Mobilizing Art : The Visual Culture of U.S. Intervention in the First World War"
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art 4525 Oak Street Kansas City, Missouri www.nelson-atkins.org
The Murphy Lecture Series is sponsored by the Spencer Museum of Art, the Kress Foundation Department of Art History at the University of Kansas and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The lectureship was established in 1979 through the Kansas University Endowment Association in honor of former chancellor Dr. Franklin D. Murphy.
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