6A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
MUMPS
THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2006
Suspension overruled
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OTTAWA - A high school student in Franklin County who was suspended from school for 12 days because he has not been immunized for mumps has been allowed back early.
David Brockway, 15, was forced to leave school Monday and would have missed his prom and a music trip during the suspension. But the family said school officials on Tuesday decided to allow them to sign a waiver allowing the boy to return to school.
turn to school
John Brockway, his father,
told school officials at a board
meeting Monday that his son
shouldn't be barred from school because another child at Ottawa High School had mumps. He also said immunization appeared to be ineffective anwav
Six cases of mumps had been reported in Franklin County as of Tuesday, county Health Department Director Barbara Conus said. All six people either had the vaccination or had the disease before.
School officials were acting on a state form that John Brockway had signed, which states that students who are not immunized can be excluded from school in the case of a vaccine-preventable disease outbreak. Brockway had claimed a religions exemption
from immunizations for his children.
"I thought we had hit a wall." Brockway said of the board meeting.
Principal Justin Henry said the language on the waiver is specific to mumps.
Superintendent Jan Collins said Tuesday that the school had to research whether districts have to follow the original form. Officials called Brockway's family on Tuesday afternoon to deliver the news.
specie to handle "On the one hand, I wanted to take a stand," David Brockway said. "If worse came to worse, I might have just gone and got the vaccination. But things worked out."
Flood proposal finds foes
GOVERNMENT
BY SAM HANANEL THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon said Wednesday he would file a lawsuit this week to stop plans for a man-made spring rise on the Missouri River.
Nixon said a plan by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to release water from upstream reservoirs next month could flood hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland in Missouri.
The corps proposed the spring rise to encourage spawning by an endangered fish, the pallid sturgeon. Agency officials say they are taking precautions to minimize the risk of flooding.
Corps officials have said water levels in the six upper reservoirs feeding the main stem of the river likely will be high enough for a release to take place after
May 1.
May 1. Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court left in place a lower court order that found flood control and navigation are the highest priorities for managing the river.
ing the river. Referring to this week's legal developments, Nixon said the corps was moving forward with the spring rise despite its failure to analyze possible flood problems in an environmental impact statement, as required by federal law.
"Releasing water during a time of year when the lower Missouri River Valley experiences frequent rainstorms substantially increases the risk that prime farmland will be flooded and that many Missouri farmers will take a financial hit," Nixon said in a written statement.
"The corps' hurried process for evaluating potential alternatives failed to adequately account for these serious impacts. We're suing to stop this wasteful and risky spring rise," Nixon said.
In a separate statement, Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt said it would be "irresponsible" for the corps to move forward with the without an environmental impact statement.
permanent corps.
"I want the corps to reconsider this ill-conceived plan." Blunt said. "And if they do not, we will vigorously pursue all available legal options."
The lawsuit seeking an injunction will be filed in federal district court in Minnesota, Nixon said.
Catching some air
Corps officials had planned for two spring rises this year but called off a pulse scheduled for March 1 because water levels in reservoirs that feed the river were too low.
Ben Brosh, 17, rides his bike in the halfpipe at Veterans Memorial Park in Woodbridge, Va.
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