The University Daily Kansan
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Today: Partly cloudy with a high of 50 and a low of 25
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Sunday: Partly cloudy with a high of 45 and a low of 26
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Friday, March 2, 2001
Sports: The Jayhawks will play their last home game Sunday against Missouri.
SEE PAGE 1B
(USPS 650-640) • VOL. 111 NO. 102
Inside: A University team is building a robot with cognitive abilities.
For comments, contact Lori O'Toole or Mindie Miller at 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
SEE PAGE 3A
Plea entered in highway death
WWW.KANSAN.COM
By Lauren Brandenburg
writer @kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
A 16-year-old Shawnee boy was pressured to drink at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house in September the night he hit the car of a Lawrence resident, killing her, defense attorney Tom Bath said in court yesterday.
Sean Scott pleaded no contest yesterday in Johnson County District Court to the felony charge of involuntary manslaughter. The charge came in December for a Sept. 16 car accident on Kansas Highway 10 that killed Felicia "Lisa" Bland, 39, who died from head injuries received in the accident.
Brenda Cameron, an assistant district attorney prosecuting the case, said Bland was dead when officers from the Kansas Highway Patrol, Olathe Police Department, Lenexa Police Department and Johnson County Sheriff's Office arrived at the scene.
Cameron said officers determined from witness accounts that Sean had been weaving in and out of traffic in his white Chevrolet Camaro at an estimated 90 mph before crossing the grassy median and ending up in the oncoming traffic lanes.
At the scene, Sean admitted he had been drinking, Cameron said. At the hospital, she said,
Sean admitted he had been drinking "a lot."
Sean's blood-alcohol content was .15 — almost eight times the legal .02 limit for a person under 21 years old and nearly twice the .08 limit for adults.
Sean's attorney, Tom Bath, explained Sean's activities earlier that Saturday night in this way;
Sean had driven to Lawrence to visit his older brother, Mike, initially intending to go to the KU football game. Mike and some of his fraternity brothers accompanied Sean To The Wheel, 507 W. 14th St., where he was joined by his parents and drank alcohol.
At 6:45 p.m., Bath continued, Sean and Mike Scott left The Wheel and returned to the fraternity house. Mike then left, leaving Sean at the house. Two or three fraternity members provided alcohol to Sean and then began taunting him for not drinking. Sean then "consumed shots of rum."
Cameron said Sean's mother had given Sean's keys to Ashley Williams, Shawnee Mission freshman, earlier in the night because Sean had been drinking, and Williams put the keys in her purse. Later in the night, fraternity member Patrick Sullivan, Fairway sophomore, saw the keys and hid them behind
See JUVENILE on page 2A
Timeline of the case
According to Mathew
Hefteley, Kansas Highway
Patrol trooper:
According to Matthew
Sept.16
Sean Scott goes to the Rhi
the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, 1540 Louisiana St., to meet his brother, Mike Scott. A fraternity member drives the two to the Wheel, 507 W. 14th St.
Sean Scott drinks at the Wheel.
Sean and Mike walk back to the fraternity, where Sean drinks more.
$\textcircled{4}$ Sean is supposed to go `to` Memorial Stadium with his family to watch the football game. He decides to drive to
Lenexa to see his girlfriend instead.
Sean takes Kansas Highway 10 toward Lenexa. He crosses the median and hits another car about 15 miles east of Lawrence. The driver of the other car, Felicia "Lisa" Bland, dies at the scene.
According to Johnson County District Court records:
Dec. 6
Sean is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the juvenile division of Johnson County District Court.
Dec. 7
Sean's first appearance in court. Judge
sets bond at $50,000.
Jan. 8
Continuation of
Sean's first appearance
Feb. 5 Hearing to set a trial date or for Sean to enter a plea is postponed until Feb. 14.
Feb.14 The hearing is postponed until March 1.
Feb.14
March 1
Sean pleads no contest to involuntary manlaughter. Judge orders that Sean be placed in juvenile custody.
Sean's sentencing at 9:45 a.m.
March 15
Kari Kelley / KANSAN
Mary Kay marketing
Cosmetics from the girl next door
By Sarah Warren
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
For the residents of Lewis Hall's seventh floor, Alison Thompson is their buddy, neighbor and friendly, local Mary Kav supplier.
Thompson, Hays sophomore, entered the wild world of Mary Kay in August when she was recruited while attending a Mary Kay skills class.
"When I realized how much money you could make and how flexible it was, I signed up the next day," Thompson said. "In August and September I went to optional training sessions."
Then, in October, after learning more about Mary Kay and the products, Thompson officially opened shop as a Mary Kay consultant. She said that she opted for what the company called a "power start." To complete her power start Thompson had to give facials to 30 people in 30 days.
To reach her goal, Thompson held skill classes, where she would give facials to women and earn money selling Mary Kay products.
"I've done them in study rooms and lobbies and my room and I've gone to houses," Thompson said. "Whatever is convenient for the particular customer."
Even with all her efforts, it seemed that Thompson would be a few faces short. So, to make the 30-person goal, she had to enlist the help of her friends.
"We rallied people on my floor and we ended up having 32 faces," Thompson said. "We finished 10 minutes before my weekly Mary Kay meeting."
Alison Thompson, Hays sophomore, right, helps Lara Kantack, Sioux Falls, S.D., freshman, choose makeup colors that complement her complexion. Thompson has been selling Mary Kay cosmetics from her seventh floor Lewis Hall room since August. Photo by Jamie Roper/KANSAN
At the meeting, the Mary Kay crew recognized Thompson's completion of the goal.
"The they presented me with a pin that says that I did the power start, which I wear to all my Mary Kay functions," she said.
Maren Bradley, Kansas City,
Mo., junior and a Lewis seventh
floor resident, said that she wasn't
surprised when Thompson
announced her new status as a Mary Kay consultant.
"I was definitely not surprised at all," Bradley said. "She's got
really nice skin and she has a really great personality."
See STUDENT on page 3A
Vote recount may eliminate KU candidate
By Erin Adamson
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
A Douglas County miscount of votes in Tuesday night's City Commission primary election means that University of Kansas student Jennifer Chaffee might not be advancing to the general election Tuesday, April 3.
After Tuesday's election, Chaffee was in sixth place out of twelve candidates. The primary selected six out of 12 candidates to compete for three seats in the general election.
Douglas County Clerk Patty Jaimes, said when the ballots were run through the counting machine, they were saved on the machine and the totals were printed out.
"We weren't instructed to hit zero to cancel out the old totals, and they got counted twice," Jaimes said.
Chaffee, recount her eliminate her from general election ballot
Tuesday night's count showed
Chaffe beating Adam Mansfield by 10 votes, 570 to 560. But Jaimes said after the counting error was discovered and corrected, Mansfield had a one-vote lead, 522 to 521.
Jaimes said that the recount was complete and that those votes would not be counted again. The county is now waiting for votes from provisional ballots to be counted.
This morning the Douglas County Commission will look at 46 provisional ballots and decide which are valid. Jaimes said most of the provisional ballots were cast by people who might have voted without being registered. The Douglas County Commission will review the provisional ballots and announce the final official vote.
Chaffee is still waiting for the results.
"The right thing is going to happen," Chaffee said. "I'm not going to worry about it either way."
"I think it's kind of silly to lose by one vote," Chaffee said.
She said the close race wasn't what she had expected.
Chaffee said one good thing about the close race was that it highlighted the problem of voter registration, something she said she hoped to work for if she stayed in the race.
"We decided we would try to do a really big push to remind people to register that aren't registered," Chaffee said. "We're going to try to hit some of the coffee shops and bars."
She said she wanted to make students get out and vote in the general election.
"If we make that clear that it's just a little difference of them going and voting, that could have a big difference on the town," she said.
Mansfield could not be reached for comment.
The five candidates who will definitely advance to the general election are Sue Hack, Marty Kennedy, Erv Hodges, David Dunfield and Scott Bailey.
Either Chaffee or Mansfield will take sixth in the race.
The candidates that were eliminated on Tuesday night were Kevin Polian, Craig Campbell, Mark Lehmann and University of Kansas student Brett Logan.
- Edited by Jennifer Valadex
Delta Force kicks off its campaign
By Brooke Hester
Mills, who is running for student body president with the coalition, said the Bottleneck's relaxed atmosphere suited Delta Force.
Justin Mills was all smiles last night at the Delta Force coalition kick-off party at the Bottleneck, 737 New Hampshire St.
Kansan staff writer
"I'm pretty excited," Mills said.
"We've got a good turnout here."
Mills and Kyle Browning, vice presidential candidate, thanked the crowd for coming out.
platform. He expected the coalition to announce its platform on Wednesday.
"Kyle and I are still narrowing down some of the ideas," Mills said.
"The ideals we have and the way we go about doing things in terms of long-term commitment are things we're proud of." Browning said.
Browning cited Delta Force initiatives such as fall break, the Hilltop Child Care Center and the city-wide bus system as things that gave the coalition credibility with voters.
Mills said that the coalition was still in the process of developing a
woman, is also running with the coalition. She said she was excited to start campaigning and cited Delta Force's clean campaign record.
Katie Bartlett, Student Senate Executive Committee chair-
This is the fifth year the coalition has been in existence. Mills said the coalition's history spoke for itself
"Delta Force has never been convicted of a campaign violation," Bartlett said.
"It definitely gives us more credibility," he said. "We definitely not afraid to go off our past successes and learn from our past failures."
Ben Burton, who ran unsuccessfully for student body president
last year, echoed similar sentiments last night. He also said that although this was the first year the VOICE coalition had been in existence, he didn't consider it to be a new coalition because Bankston ran student body president Ben Walker's campaign last year.
Bankston said that Burton's allegations were ridiculous.
Harris could not be reached for comment last night.
"I'm not running under the name United Students because I'm not Ben Walker and Hunter Harris isn't Marlon Marshall."
- Edited by Melissa Coolev
Delta Force vice presidential candidate Kyle Browning, right, and presidential candidate Justin Mills share a laugh during the Delta Force kick-off party. The two candidates enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere in the Bottleneck last night.
Photo by Thad Allender/KANSAN
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