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The Inside Front
3.9.4
Friday February 2,2001
News
from campus, the state, the nation and the world
CAMPUS
Ex-director appointed to new University post
Margareta O'Connell, former director of the office of Study Abroad, has accepted the position as assistant to the dean for special programs. O'Connell and Diana Carlin, dean of international programs, are working to define her new job, Carlin said.
O'Connell will work on updating and coordinating many of the files within the department. She will develop a current list of former KU students that studied abroad along with international students that came to the University. This will allow for regular contact and fund raising by the department, Carlin said.
O'Connell was replaced as director of study abroad earlier this semester because of restructuring within the department. Carlin wouldn't comment on the decision to give Susan Gronbeck-Tedesco the position. O'Connell said she did not know the reasons for her removal, but would not comment further.
Michelle Ward
Senate passes rules for reserve account
Student Senate passed a bill Wednesday night establishing criteria for allocating money from the reserve account, which holds money that had been allocated to student groups by Senate but hadn't been spent. Its balance is approximately $428,000.
"It sets a limit, and says, 'Hey, this is how much money we'll spend for the rest of the year,' " Walker said.
Ben Walker, student body president and co-sponsor of the bill, told Senate the bill was necessary.
At the end of the fiscal year, 50 percent of funds in the unallocated account, which Senate uses to grant money to student organizations, will be transferred into the reserve account. The other 50 percent will go into the unallocated account for the following year.
The balance of the reserve account is not supposed to fall below $150,000 unless money is needed to maintain vital functions of Senate. Any expenditure from the reserve account must be at least $1,000, and any project that uses reserve account funds must bene fit a substantial number of students or have a lasting effect on the University.
The new reserve account regulations will go into effect in 2002, Walker said.
— Brooke Hesler
Haskell to inaugurate first female president
sports complex. She has been interim president at Haskell for a year.
For the first time in Haskell Indian Nations University's existence, it will have a woman president.
Karen Swisher will be inaugurated as Haskell's fourth president at 10 a.m. today in the Warner E. Coffin
Immediately following the inauguration, her presidential portrait will be unveiled in the President's Room at the Stidham Union. At 2:30 p.m. the Haskell Cultural Committee will sponsor a ground-breaking ceremony for Haskell's new museum and cultural center on Barker and Pawne streets, said Freda Tapedo, executive assistant to the president.
A powwow will take place at 6:30 p.m. at the Coffin Sports Complex. The event is open to the public.
Tonight's powwow will be a little different, though. Wanders dancers normally only dance with either the northern or southern tribes, Swisher will dance with both to represent all Native Americans, King said.
The powwow is an Native-American tradition that honors its ancestors and its tribe, King said. Every tribe has its own powwow traditions.
The powwow will consist of native food, a drum circle, an honor dance and songs to honor Haskell's new president.
Anthony Reyes
Men burglarize home, steal cell phone, VCR
Two men, one armed with a gun and a baseball bat, forced their way into a Lawrence residence about 3:35 a.m. yesterday in the 200 block of Illinois Street, Lawrence police said.
Sgt. Mike Pattrick said four people were sleeping in the residence and heard the men force the door open. The men went from room to room looking for money, but did not find any. The home's two residents escaped out a bedroom window after the men had searched that room, leaving the two guests in the residence as they ran to call police from Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
The men left with a Qualcomm Sprint PCS cell phone and a VCR, which were valued at $700, Patrick said.
Police are continuing an investigation but do not have a description of the two men, Patrick said. Police are asking anyone with information to call 843-TIPS.
Hleitschmidt said that because the checks had been negative, the decision was made to let residents back in their homes.
— Lauren Brandenburg
Residents return home after gas explosions
Hutchinson residents were ordered to leave their homes after the explosion Jan. 18 in the Big Chief Mobile Home Park that destroyed a trailer and killed two people.
A leaking cavern at Kansas Gas Services' Yaggy Field seven miles northwest of the city had been the suspected source of natural gas pockets that were discovered after an explosion at two downtown businesses on Jan. 17.
HUTCHINSON — Two weeks after being forced to evacuate after a natural gas explosion, about 60 residents were allowed to return to their homes yesterday.
That cavern was sealed on Jan. 21, but natural gas continues to spew out of deep, old wells in the town.
Plans are being made to allow residents who want to move their trailers out of the park to do so, Heitschmidt said.
Each day officials have been checking the area for signs of natural gas. Hutchinson Police Chief Dick
Mobile home residents continued to return to the park in southeast Hutchinson on Wednesday to pick up belongings and vehicles.
Meanwhile the Kansas Geological Survey began seismic testing on Wednesday where a "thumper truck" was used to supply images of the earth under Hutchinson using vibrations, hopefully determining the path that the gas is taking from Yaggy into Hutchinson.
If the path can be identified, drillers will have a better idea where to dig holes, and the gas beneath the ground can be vented.
The Kansas Gas Service so far has identified 21 sites for drilling relief wells to allow the natural gas under Hutchinson to vent, Johnson said.
NATION
Ashcroft's confirmation disappoints Democrats
WASHINGTON — Former Sen. John Ashcroft won confirmation as attorney general yesterday, completing President Bush's Cabinet and overcoming a ferocious Democratic assault on his conservative views and personal integrity. The vote was 58-42.
"The president of the United States, George W. Bush, is entitled to have his selection as attorney general." Majority Leader Trent Lott said a few moments before the roll was called on the most contentious confirmation fight in a decade.
Democrats claimed a consolation prize, saying the 42 votes against the nomination would be enough to sustain a filibuster against future Bush administration nominations that they deemed too conservative. The votes in opposition were the most against any attorney general in the nation's history.
Vouching for the nominee's honesty and integrity, he brushed aside weeks of attacks by Democrats, including many of Ashcroft's former Senate colleagues. "I don't know that person" they're depicting, Lott said.
- The Associated Press
By Amanda Begin
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff write
Inactive phones to combat abuse
For a victim of domestic abuse, any link to the outside world could mean the difference between life and death — even if that link is in the form of an abandoned cell phone.
The Donate a Phone Campaign allows inactive cellular phones to be reprogrammed and distributed to victims of domestic violence. The phones are programmed with 911 and two non-emergency phone numbers that the victim can call if threatened.
The campaign is an opportunity for the nation to support women's safety, said Sharon Sullivan, vice president of the February Sisters Association, a KU women's studies organization.
"When women are trying to escape and they don't have car keys or a place to go, at least they have their phone," Sullivan said. "It's so important for women to leave and get help."
The Wireless Foundation, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Motorola designed the program and hope to collect one million cellular phones, according to the campaign's Web site.
And with the February Sisters Association, the campaign already has ties to Lawrence. The association announced Wednesday that it would collect phones for the campaign.
Phone donations will be taken between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 12, through Friday,
Feb. 23, at the University Theatre
box office in Murphy Hall.
Donations will also be taken at
any performance of The Vagina Monologues.
Cellular phones of any brand and in any form of disrepair can be donated, as well as the corresponding batteries and chargers, according to the campaign's Web site. www.donateahone.com.
Chad Reasoner, information specialist at Headquarters Counseling Center, said the idea of safety being a phone call away was comforting.
When the phones are refurbished, they are completely cleared so donors will not be charged for any air time. Local wireless carriers doneate free emergency air time so that the recipients will not have to pay any charges.
"This program allows a shorter amount of time between having a problem and accessing someone for help," she said.
Edited by Leita Schultes
ON THE RECORD
A vehicle struck a parked vehicle's open driver-side door at 8:55 a.m. Wednesday in the Allen Field House parking lot, the KU Public Safety Office said. Damages were not listed.
A KU student's purse containing a Motorola cell phone and make-up, was stolen from a Jayhawker Towers apartment between 5 p.m. Jan. 23 and 6 p.m. Tuesday, the KU Public Safety Office said. The items were valued at $2.50
A hanging red parking permit was stolen from a KU staff member's car between 7:30 a.m. Tuesday and 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, the KU Public Safety Office said. The car was parked in the faculty lot at the intersection of Sunnyside Avenue and Illinois Street, and had damage to a window. The parking pass was worth $95.
A vehicle hit a parked vehicle at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the south Robinson parking lot, the KU Public Safety Office said. Damages weren't listed.
A KU student was arrested early yesterday morning for operating under the influence, failure to report an accident and leaving the scene of an accident, the KU Public Safety Office said. A witness in a car behind the student said the student swerved his car into a parked car on
Jayhawk Boulevard at 1:58 a.m. and then drove away. A KU police officer found the student nearby in his parked car, questioned him about the accident and asked him to take a sobriety test. With a resulting blood alcohol level of .220, he was arrested, and his car was towed. The parked car had less than $500 damage to the driver-side rear view mirror, the KU Public Safety Office said.
A KU student's amplifier and speaker were stolen between 10 p.m. Jan. 26 and 1 p.m. Saturday from a car in the 500 block of Fireside Drive, Lawrence police said. The items were valued at $800.
A KU student's stereo was stolen between 10 and 10:30 p.m. Sunday from the 1800 block of Massachusetts Street, Lawrence police said. The stereo was valued at $270.
A KU student's tires were damaged between 1 and 3 p.m. Saturday in the 1100 block of Massachusetts Street, Lawrence police said. The damage was estimated at $200.
A KU student's Ford Explorer was damaged between midnight and noon Jan. 26, Lawrence police said. The damage was estimated at $500. The location within Lawrence was unknown.
ON CAMPUS
The KU Running and Jogging Club will meet for its daily run at 4:30 p.m. today at the oak tree at the east entrance of Robinson Center, Call Michael Rossel at 312-3193.
The Ki Alikido Club will meet from 10 a.m. to noon tomorrow at 207 Robinson Center.
KU men's HorrorZontals ultimate Frisbee team
will practice at 1 p.m. tomorrow at the field between Robinson Center and Watkins Memorial Health Center. Call B.P. at 312-1066 or check out www.Zontals.com
The KU Traditional Karate Club will meet from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday at 207 Robinson Center. Call Rachel Fuller at 312-1990.
ET CETERA
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