Showdown game goes to the wire The Kansas women defeated Missouri 70-66 with tough play from Sade Morris and Shaquina Mosely. 1B
FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2007 WWW.KANSAN.COM VOL.117 ISSUE 108
THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 1A
The home opener against Western Illinois starts Sunday. 1B
shelter
This Saturday a talent show at Murphy Hall will benefit the Salvation Army.
3A
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7A
basketball recruit
You can call him a starting quarterback. You can call him a Rockhurst senior. But this fall Conner Teahan only has one title that matters: freshman Jayhawk. 7B
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© 2007 The University Daily Kansan
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>> STUDENT SENATE
Wireless Internet to blanket campus
BY ASHLEE KIELER
Details were released by the University Information Services for the wireless Internet expansion project. The completion date is set for December 2008.
Strong, Wescoe and Fraser Halls will be the first buildings to receive wireless.
The expansion, which has a price tag of $2.6 million, will begin immediately, and Denise Stephens, vice provost of Information Services and chief information officer.
The new blanket of wireless will be in all academic areas, such
as classrooms, academic labs and common rooms, Stephens said.
Student Senate passed a bill on Jan. 31 securing funds for the initiative. Students will see an increase in campus fees of $5 each semester for the next five years, which will be about $254,000 a year.
The University agreed to match student funding and foot the bill for operations and maintenance.
The first stage of the project will likely go unnoticed. It begins by setting up the technical equipment changes to support the expansion;
With funding in place, work will begin on the back end. Stephens said.
Stephens said.
"The campus currently receives about 16 percent wireless coverage," Stephens said. "When the expansion is completed, we will have close to 100 percent coverage."
Allison Lopez, public relations and marketing manager for Information Services, said there will be 700 new wireless access points installed during the expansion, increasing total access points to 900.
"This reflects the time we live in," Stephens said. "People want access to networks and their information
Stephens said the expansion came at the right time.
wherever they are."
Lopez said a larger list of buildings getting the expansion will be available later this spring.
Clay Turner, Tulsa, Okla., senior, agreed that students should be able to access the Internet no matter where they were on campus.
"Sometimes the signal in Wescoe is so low you can't get access," Turner said.
Kansan staff writer Ashlee Kieler can be contacted at akieler@kansan.com.
Edited by Will McCullough
CONSTRUCTION
Tearing up Mass Street
BY MATT ERICKSON
According to the plan, work would begin in mid-April to install the waterline on Massachusetts Street from North Park to 11th streets in hopes that section would be finished
City staff, downtown business owners and an outside consulting firm decided Thursday morning on a timetable for the construction to present to the city commission.
Installation of a new waterline will disrupt parking and traffic on parts of Massachusetts Street downtown this spring and summer, but the work should be wrapped up by early fall.
by the weekend of commencement which takes place May 20.
The project is a continuation of the waterline replacement that limited parking and traffic on Massachusetts Street from Seventh to Ninth streets last summer. The project began in other downtown areas two years ago.
Immediately after commencement, work would begin on Massachusetts Street from 11th to Ninth streets. The city hopes to be done with this section by early September, in time for the start of the football season.
SEE WATERLINE ON PAGE 4A
GAME DAY
Early birds get Krispy Kremes
BY KYLE CARTER
Dick Vitale and the game-day crew won't be around this time, but students arriving early to Saturday's game against Texas will have something to do, thanks to the student group Rock Chalk Responsible Choices.
The group will be giving out free Krispy Kreme donuts to the first 750 students who arrive at Allen Fieldhouse, starting at 9 a.m. A live band featuring three KU football players will play before the game. Christian Moody will speak about the groups priorities to the students who show up.
Rock Chalk Responsible Choices is a student group funded by a $2.75 million grant given to the NCAA from Anheuser-Busch to help prevent alcohol abuse on college campuses. The Rock Chalk Responsible Choices group at Kansas aims to "combat the irresponsible choices that can arise in a perceived thriving party scene," according to www.ncaa.org.
Nick Sterner, the group's president, said he wanted to increase awareness about future events and entertain students in an alcohol-free environment.
"We just want to add to the atmosphere, give everybody some sugar and hopefully get people pumped up for the game." Sterner said.
Dan Parker, McPherson junior, camped out with a group from Pearson Scholarship Hall for the game and said he would be there Saturday morning for the event.
"I'll be up here camping out anyway, so it's nice to have something to do other than working on my homework." Parker said.
Sterner said the group planned to host pre-game events for football games next fall as well, possibly featuring a band playing on the hill.
Kansan staff writer Kyle Carter can be contacted at kcarter@ kansan.com.
Edited by Kelly Laniqan
SPRING BREAK
In your own backyard
Exploring Kansas offers eclectic mix of unique landmarks
BY JOE HUNT
Not going to Cancun for MTV's Spring Break this year? No problem. Who needs partying on a beach when you can see the world's largest ball of twine or the world's largest hand-dug well?
Small towns in Kansas often have some sort of unusual attraction to lure drivers off the roads and out of their cars. In Sedan, it's a yellow brick road. In Greensburg, it's a thousand-pound meteorite and a really deep well. It doesn't really matter how exciting the diversion sounds, travelers like Lindsay Cullen, Madison, Wisc., sophomore, said sometimes it's just nice to get off the road.
"You want somewhere with shade, because it's hot outside." Cullen said.
"When I'm just bored in the car, I need to get out."
The World's Largest Ball of Twine
Take the world's largest ball of twine, for example. Located in Cawker City, it was started in a barn by a bored farmer. The ball is made of nearly 8 million feet of twine. It has been a work in progress since 1953, and Linda Clover, official caretaker, said anyone could add to it free of charge.
The following six places may not be as exciting as Cancun, but they sound interesting.
"Ive found yarn on it. I've found string on it. I've found a little bit of everything on it." Clover said. The
ball is so large it was moved to its own roofted area. Now it's accessible 24 hours a day.
Clover said that the ball was surprisingly popular with students.
The Dalton Defenders Museum
"During spring break they just come here like crazy," Clover said. "It's just lots of fun. We know people joke about it, but we don't mind that."
In Coffeyville, tourists can go to the Dalton Defenders Museum. The museum honors the brave citizens of Coffeyville that died in a gunfire with the Dalton brothers.
SEE STRANGE ON PAGE 4A
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Concrete statues are posed in The Garden of Eden in Lucas, Kan. The Garden of Eden is one of many landmarks that make Kansas unique.