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The University Daily Kansan
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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Fridav. Januarv 19,2001
Sports: Kansas will play Texas A&M tomorrow afternoon in Allen Fieldhouse.
See page 1B
(SPS 650-640) • VOL. 111 NO. 73
Inside: A water main break flooded a block of Massachusetts Street last night.
For comments, contact Lori O'Toole or Mindie Miller at 864-4810 or editor@kansan.com
SEE PAGE 3A
Gas explosions continue to rock town
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Blast injures three; KU students worry as families evacuate
Melissa Carr/KANSAN
By J. R. Mendoza editor@canasan.com Kanasa w editor
HUTCHINSON — The explosions rocking Hutchinson are making some University of Kansas students from the area concerned about family and friends living in the south central Kansas town.
Police evacuated hundreds of people — including children at three schools — after an explosion yesterday at a mobile home park was blamed on a natural gas geyser, one of several that sprouted on the city's east side.
The blast followed Wednesday's explosion and fire that leveled two businesses in downtown Hutchinson, injuring two people — two days after fire destroyed a Hutchinson hotel under construction.
Cousins Cathy and Maya Tillman,
both Hutchinson juniors, heard about the explosions from Maya Tillman's roommate, who is also from Hutchinson. The Tillmans immediately called their families and were relieved to find out they were unmined.
Maya Tillman's family lives around the corner from the mobile home park and had to be evacuated, she said. She said her mother told her that the family would stay at the Hutchinson Fairgrounds. She said she was frightened for her family.
According to a representative for the American Red Cross, 72 families were registered to stay at the fairgrounds. Mayor Patrick McCreary said that it would be two to four days before the families were allowed back into their neighborhoods.
"I thought it was crazy," Cathy Tillman said. "Nothing like that ever happens there. It's big news."
"That's really scary for it to be so close to home," Tillman said.
Carmen Vieyra, Hutchinson sophomore, said she was also concerned for her family.
"I hope they are not anywhere near an explosion," Vieyra said. Some of yesterday's viewers, which
created plumes of vapor mixed with soil, reached as high as 30 feet, police said. The cause was being investigated, but an expert from the Kansas Geological Survey said the source might be a disconnection in an old gas well in the area.
Police said several blocks of houses were evacuated after the fire at Big Chief Mobile Home Park. Students from St. Teresa's and
Three injuries, including two serious, were reported in the mobile home explosion. At least two burn victims were airlifted to a Wichita hospital.
Avenue A elementary schools and a third school were also moved, and residents being warned to notify police if they discovered sinkholes on their property.
Officials also evacuated employees
More information
For updated information from The
Associated Press,
Go to kamsan.com
from Underground Vaults & Storage, a facility in Hutchinson that houses such treasures as the original film negative of The Wizard of Oz, some secret U.S. government documents and thousands of medical research biopsies encased in wax.
Hutchinson Fire Chief Gary Frazier said five natural gas leaks had been reported on the city's east side.
A couple planning their wedding at a party supply store suffered minor injuries in Wednesday's explosion, which destroyed the store and a furniture shop. Six employees at the two stores were not injured.
A block-long section of the downtown area was evacuated after the blast, which cut power to much of the area, including the Reno County courthouse.
— The Associated Press contributed to this story.
— Edited by Joshua Richards
Students struggle with leaving family farms
By Sarah Smarsh
By Sarah Smarsh writer.kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Some University of Kansas students' decisions affect more than their own paths in life — they also shape the future of their families' legacies.
Chadd Clary, Ft. Scott junior, fills the bins with grain for the cattle he feeds for a farmer south of Lawrence. Clary is the fourth generation of his family's farm near Nevada, Mo. Clary said he enjoys farming, but finds the income to be unstable and too risky to make it a lifelong career. Photo by Thad Allender/KANSAN
Students who come to the University after growing up in the agricultural community deal with the big questions eventually met by the average student — what career to pursue, which opportunities to take, where to settle down. But they must also plot their lives with another factor in mind — the family farm.
The fate of those farms usually lies with their youngest residents, and many farms are slowing to a halt due to waning agricultural interest within their newest generation. Record numbers of "farm kids" are deciding to pursue an education for work in another trade.
Adrienne Smith, Leavenworth senior, is a math major with a passion for traveling. She also represents her family's sixth generation on their farm in Leavenworth County. Smith said that, after going out to see the world, she will edge her ambitions back to her agricultural roots.
"The farm is really important to everyone in our family, and we don't want to lose it." Smith said.
But holding on to tradition has its challenges. Smith's family gave up growing soy beans and wheat in the 1980s—about 100 years after the family farm began
— as earning a profit proved too difficult with their minimal acreage. Her dad became an accountant, and her mother utilized some of the land for gardening. The Smiths maintain six horses, but the cattle that once grazed their land are gone.
The Smiths' struggle to keep their farm afloat is a common one
for family operations. The commodity markets have not been kind in recent years. Kansas wheat prices fell in 1998 to where they stood in 1866. Over half of Kansas farm income now comes from federal subsidies, according to the Kansas State Board of Agriculture.
farms totaled about 69,000; in the decade since, more than 10,000 of those farms have shut down. The financial hardship of the business plays a big role in young people's apprehension about farming.
In 1990, the number of Kansas
"it's too much of an erratic income," said Chad Clary, Fort Scott junior. "You can have a drought, or you can have too
The exasperated mentality of today's potential farmers might pose as great a threat to family farms as does any turn of the weather.
much water. It's just dependent on so many things."
Clary said that, for practical reasons, he won't make farming his livelihood. He is now pursuing a
mechanical engineering degree.
Clary, the fourth generation on his family's farm, grew up working land — about 600 acres of soybeans, wheat and milo — in southeast Kansas and southwest Missouri. He now works for a farmer outside of Lawrence and
See STUDENTS on page 3A
Naismith to tighten hall security after thefts
By Lauren Brandenburg
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
A recent string of thefts at Naismith Hall is one reason that the hall's management is taking steps to tighten security in August, said Jason Olds, property manager.
Olds, who has worked at Naismith for six years, said this year had been a bad year, with a more-distinct pattern than before to the thefts from residents' rooms.
"We had a rash of them over break," he said.
Naismith does not close during breaks. Olds said he knew of at least six reports of thefts since Thanksgiving.
Lauren Brown, Omaha, Neb., freshman, said she had left her room locked when she went home during break and found it locked when she returned, but her stereo was gone.
She said the only people allowed into her room during break were maintenance workers. She had received a notice before break, she said, that she needed to move furniture so workers could clean the showers and work on air vents.
Four floors above, Leslie Zarda, Shawnee freshman, reported that $200 in quarters was stolen from a container in her closet. Someone had to have a key to access the room, she said.
Down the hall from Zarda, Nick Kastl, Lawrence freshman, said he noticed his leather jacket and cologne were missing when he changed clothes and wanted to wear his jacket.
All three students said they told employees at the desk about the thefts and were told to file police reports.
Olds said that Naismith staff first tells students to call the police and file a report. The next step, he said, is a criminal investigation, with which he and his staff would cooperate.
The three students said they questioned whether maintenance workers might be responsible because they had received notices saying work would be done on air vents during break.
Olds said resident assistants and maintenance staff should have been the only ones in the rooms. He said staff members inspected each room to make sure windows were shut, doors were locked and curling irons were unplugged. He said they may have changed filters as well.
"I am concerned that, yes, it appears that there is a breach of security somewhere in the system." Olds said.
He said he suspected someone who should not have access to the rooms, possibly a former employee. still had a key.
Olds said he wished he would have advised students to remove any valuables from their rooms but would be sure to do it next year.
"When you're living in a community environment, whether the door is locked or not, I wouldn't recommend leaving your laptop there for three weeks. That is something I've learned."
KU students travel to D.C. to attend the March for Life
By Sarah Warren
writer@kanson.com
Kansas staff writer
Collins graduated from the University of Kansas in December but returned this weekend to board a bus with more than 100 students and travel 22 hours to Washington, D.C. to participate in the 28th annual March for Life.
Alison Collins is ready to take a stand and march for what she believes in.
by anti-abortion activists to protest the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in the Roe vs. Wade case. The march will take place on Monday, which is the 28th anniversary of the decision.
"I graduated but I cleared my schedule because I think that a lot of times people who are pro-choice are more involved in the media," Collins said. "It's nice to see people who are pro-life making a stand."
The group, which leaves today, was organized by the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center. This is the
second year in which students from St. Lawrence have attended the rally. However, Collins, who was a member of KU Students for Life, said that members of St. Lawrence weren't the only students who attended the event.
"It's not a requirement to be Catholic to go," Collins said. "Last year we had non-Catholics and people who weren't even pro-life go on the trip just to see what it was all about."
Collins also said that she believed
that the numbers of KU students going on the trip jumped from 40 to 100 because of tomorrow's inauguration of George W. Bush, who opposes abortion except in cases with special circumstances.
"I think that there's been a strong pro-life movement in Lawrence," Collins said. "I think a lot of it has to do with the election of President Bush and his possible appointment of pro-life Supreme Court justices."
Justin Phelps, Wichita junior,
attended last year's march and will
attend Monday's march. He said that the 2000 event was an exhilarating experience.
“It's shoulder-to-shoulder packed in before the march,” Phelps said.
“It's a half a million people praying and being excited just to be there. It's awesome.”
"A lot of people carry signs throughout the march." Phelps said.
Phelps, who is a member of KU Students for Life and St. Lawrence, also said that the march is set in a very passive environment.
"But it's very peaceful. I don't remember anything bad happening there last year."
Phelps said that last year's group attended both an AIDS hospice and the Holocaust Museum, which he said he thought were appropriate for the event, because in his view he is protesting murder.
"Conception is a miracle to Catholics," Phelps said. "It is a work of God. It is not our place to say who lives or dies."
— Edited by Sydney Wallace