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Kansan
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Wednesday, April 25, 2001
Sports: Junior Brent Behrens has separated himself from the Kansas track pack.
SEE PAGE 1B
Inside: Ben Walker and Marlon Marshall reflect on their Senate accomplishments.
SEE PAGE 3A
(USPS 650-640) • VOL. 111 NO. 128
For comments, contact Lori O'Toole or Mindie Miller at 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Zeke Cunningham, left, and Steve Brull stand next to a police car Monday outside of Carruth-O'Leary Hall. Cunningham and Brull are the newest additions to the KU Public Safety Office. Photo by Thad Allender/KANSAN
KU police force hires new pair
Trainees begin working to achieve officer status
ay Amanda Begin
writer@kansas.com
Kansas staff writer
Brull, 25, and Cunningham, 24, joined the KU Public Safety Office force Monday and spent their day getting acclimated with the office, which included registering for a parking permit and staff ID. Sgt. Troy Mallen of the public safety office arranged a six-week, in-house training schedule for the newcomers.
Steve Brull and Zeke Cunningham receive their parking permits and KUIDs Monday. Soon, they'll learn how to use firearms, hand-cuffs and police radios.
The two will spend this week learning about the history of the department, patrol tactics and procedures. Next week, we'll take a student life tour, meet with Chancellor Robert Hemenway and ride along with the parking department.
The pair replaces two officers who left the
This is nothing new for Cunningham, a former parking department employee.
"But as an officer, there will be less students who hate me." he said.
Brul said he had previous training as a hospital security officer in Hays.
After Mailen applies what he calls the "inhouse flavor" of public safety work, the two will attend a nine-week academy that begins in June at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center near Hutchinson for more rigorous training and police education. This
After 15 weeks of training in Lawrence and at the academy, the two won't be quite ready to patrol the beat alone, Mailem said. They'll have eight weeks of field training and two weeks of evaluation. He said they should be on their own in November.
Mailen said the two would be trainees for one year and then promoted to police officer status — right where they want to be.
includes seminars about Kansas laws, physical agility tests and a driving test.
department for personal reasons, and brings the staff to 26 people total.
"I've been on campus for four years and I didn't necessarily want to leave the University," Cunningham said.
Brul said he was more concerned about getting his furniture from Hays to his new apartment than he was about his new job.
"I'm just going to start as an officer and see where it takes me from here," Brull said.
—Edited by Jennifer Voldocx
Day on Hill draws Fastball local bands for Saturday
Erin Adamson
Linnie Adanson
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The hills around Potter Lake will echo with the vibrations of live music Saturday when bands take to the stage for the Day on the Hill music festival.
The 16th Day on the Hill will be from noon to 6:30 p.m. Saturday on west Campanile hill.
The band that wins the KJHK Farmer's Ball tonight at the Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St., will kick off the festival.
Local favorite Brent Barry and the Secondhands, The Youngblood Brass Band from Wisconsin, Omaha-based Pomeroy and The Daybirds from Kansas City, Mo., will perform during the day. The festival will end with Fastball, which will perform its hits "The Way," "Was I Out of My Head" and "You're an Ocean."
Alex Kissel, live music coordinator for Student Union Activities and the festival, said he expected a successful festival.
BAND
LINE-UP
The Baxter Springs junior added that SUA's budget constraints made planning the festival and booking bands a challenge.
Musicians that have performed at Day on the Hill in the past include Pearl Jam, They Might Be Giants, The Urge, Gin Blossoms, Matthew Sweet and Urge Overkill.
SUA is co-sponsoring the event with Coca-Cola, KJHK, Prepress, Sun Promotions, Chipotle, UPS and Student Senate.
"Talent fees are going up for bands and budget are staying the same."
To-be-announced winner of the KJHK Farmer's Ball
Buses will run from Daisy Hill to the festival from 12:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
SUA is promoting the festival with a series of announcements on KJHK and with posters and flyers on campus and around the city.
Brent Barry and
the Secondhands
The Youngblood
Brass Brand
Pomeroy
The Daybirds
Fasball
Kissel said. "It's a popular day, so it's pretty hard to get headliners."
He said SUA spent $22,000 to put on the festival after sponsors helped defray $8,000 in costs.
Product and food vendors will also participate in the festival. Kissel said vendors including Virgin Records and Chipotle Grill would have booths.
Between 4,000 and 5,000 people are expected at the event, based on past festival attendance. Kissel said attendance varied depending on the popularity of the headling band and the weather.
"The challenge is to get a lineup that will please the student body," he said. "We have a lot of styles of bands and make it as diverse as possible."
Traci Pillard, Salina sophomore, will head the security crew for the festival this year. She said that the crew had never had problems, but that to insure safety of the bands and the audience, they would guard the back of the stage and the parking gates.
Edited by Leita Schultes
By Brandon Stinnett
Kansan staff writer
Heads turn and eyes widen as a 300-pound black man wearing a dark-brown sweater and khaki pants ambles through the door at Lawrence's Jet Lag Lounge.
Patrons line up to shake his hand and a man in his early 20s with blond curly hair springs from his barstool and asks him to autograph his beer coaster.
Jason Whitlock, as usual the center of attention, signs more autographs and fans take turns posing for photographs with him.
As lead sports columnist for The Kansas City Star and host of a morning radio sports program broadcast in five states on WHB 810, Jason is one of the most recognizable media personalities in the Midwest.
A former college football player, Jason's in-your-face commentary has gained scores of critics and fans, who describe him with seemingly contradictory adjectives: smug, playful, arrogant, good-natured, insightful and immature. The real Jason may be all of those things. He is a man who writes serious columns about non-sports issues like the death penalty, takes in a troubled teenage cousin and serves as the boy's surrogate dad, and pulls potty-humor pranks on friends and philosophizes about the importance of farting in his life (more on gas later).
Seven years after he arrived in Kansas City and started writing columns for The Star, Jason Whitleck's opinions are still educating and offending readers and listeners.
"
I've had people tell me he's a butthole, and I've had people tell me they love his columns, that he's a breath of fresh air." Joyce Whitlock Jason's mother
"Often get them out," he said. "They who don't agree with his column," said Mike Fannin, The Star's sports editor. "Part of my job is to educate people, 'Look you don't have to agree with his opinion.'"
Supporters praise Jason for taking stands that others shy away from, while detractors accuse him of saying things just to create controversy. His mother, Joyce, now in Indianapolis after nine years living in Kansas City, has heard both sides.
"I've had people tell me he's a butthole, and I've had people tell me they love his columns, that he's a breath of fresh air," she said.
His prominence in Kansas City has reached celebrity status;
See WHITLOCK on page 8A
Audition shakes up Murphy Hall, scares students
By Amanda Beglin
By Amanda Begin
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Marcus Johnson, Memphis, Tenn., junior entered the theater at 8:39 p.m. wearing camouflage and carrying a stick. He screamed at the actors and the director, said director Doug Weaver.
Auditions for two University Theatre productions were temporarily stopped Monday when an actor burst into a Murphy Hall theater and proceeded to try out in his own spotlight — something the cops would hear about soon after.
"He was asking who was in charge, and he was saying these strange things and getting in people's faces," Weaver said.
Johnson said the rude behavior was his objective—he had decided to take on the persona of a drill sergeant for his audition.
Weaver said Johnson walked from person to person, yelling military-like phrases at the actors. Johnson said he got especially angry at a female bystander.
"I wanted to do something that involved everyone, and it went pretty much the way I thought it would," he said. "I basically scared the crap out of everyone."
"I'm sure I'll see her again," Johnson said.
"I'm going to have to give her a hug."
His audition was interrupted by an ex Marine who watched the incident with displeasure. Weaver said.
"He got in his face and shouted him down." Weaver said of the ex-Marine, who was also auditioning for Butterfly Kiss and Ski Degrees of Separation. "He told (Johnson) that he wasn't worthy of wearing the uniform, and he took his hat off and threw it down."
Johnson said he broke his ruler-sized stick over his own knee during the confrontation
with the ex-Marine. Afterward, Johnson took his hat from the floor, handed his audition sheet to Weaver and walked toward the door. He "gave a pleasant 'thank you'" at the door as he was leaving, according to the police report and information two students gave Weaver after the incident.
Weaver contacted the KU Public Safety Office 15 minutes after the disturbance to file
Weaver said he was grateful the ex-Marine took over the situation.
"I shook his hand and thanked him afterward," Weaver said. "He was in a much better position to deal with it than I was."
"I wanted to catch people by surprise and it worked," he said. "I mean, they called the cops for God's sake."
Johnson said he turned around in the lobby, looked at his shocked audience and said, "Tm Marcus Johnson and that was my audition."
Lt. Schuyler Bailey of the KU Public Safety Office said that if a criminal report had been written, it would have been for disorderly conduct.
an informational report — neither Weaver nor the actors who were auditioning thought it was necessary to file a criminal report about the incident.
"If he wasn't supposed to be there, it could be criminal trespass," he said. "But there was nothing extreme here, so it would have been a misdemeanor charge."
Johnson will be contacted and informed that his behavior was out of line and that the Public Safety Office had been notified of the incident, according to the report.
Weaver said Johnson's audition was a rarity.
“I’ve seen an oddity here or there, but nothing like that,” he said.
- Edited by Leita Schultes
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