SNOW
Kansan
Weather
Today: Partly cloudy with a high of 19 and a low of 12.
Tomorrow: Snow with a high of 26 and a low of 11.
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Tuesday, December 12, 2000
Sports: The men's basketball team will try to rebound from a tough loss to Wake Forest when it takes on DePaul.
SEE PAGE 1B
Inside: Student Senate develops a student book exchange plan.
SEE PAGE 3A
(USPS 650-640) • VOL. 111 NO. 69 For comments.,contact Nathan Willis or Chris Borniger at 864-4810 or e-mail editor@kansan.com
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Student reports hall date rape
Allegation is second in past three weeks
By Rob Pazell
By Rob Pazell
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
A University of Kansas student said she was raped late Thursday evening on the seventh floor of McCollum Hall, marking the second acquaintance rape reported in the residence halls in the past three weeks.
"They had been with each other earlier in the evening." Mailen said "It was a routine, typical situation, nothing out of the ordinary."
Sgt. Troy Mailen of the KU Public Safety Office said early in the evening, the two students had been watching TV and had gone out to eat.
He said there was no indication of alcohol or drugs involved, and the factors indicated that it was an acquaintance-rape situation. Mailen said the crime still was under investigation.
That incident marked the third rape on campus this semester and the fourth of the
"It's important that students know that we are not immune to these crimes on campus," Mailen said.
year. It also was the fourth sex crime reported in the residence halls this semester.
Mailen said that acquaintance rape was an underreported crime on campus and that victims rarely came forward.
"We've seen two this past month and they came forward," he said. "We know that they occur, and hopefully, in working with the community, we can get these victims to come forward."
Mailen said for these crimes to be prevented, potential victims needed to send a clear message of no.
"Not I'm not sure' or 'Well, we shouldn't be doing this,' but 'No,'"" Mailen said. "Both parties need to understand that they don't have to go any further than their expressed desire."
Kelly Parker, Olathe freshman and resident of McColum Hall, said she had never thought of McColum as unsafe.
"There's always people around," Parker said. "It surprises me that it actually happened there."
— Edited by Kimberly Thompson
Blood Sport:
AN EVOLVING SUBCULTURE
This dead pit bull is a victim of a Lawrence dog fight. Dog fighting has become part of the culture of street-smart young menwho fight dogs to demonstrate power and make money. Courtesy of the Lawrence Humane Society
Owners abuse pit bulls' loyalty in fights to the death
By Leita Schultes
Kansan staff writer
Jeremy Garcia stood in an alley at dusk, watching two snarling dogs pull against their collars and their owners' grips.
Their short hair stood up in mohawk fashion along their spines. The street lights reflected off their bared, white teeth.
A crowd — dozens of men and a few women — stood around a slab of concrete and a makeshift wooden fence. Like Garcia, they were there to see a dog fight between a pit bull and Doberman pinscher.
Minutes later, the pit bull dispatched yet another Doberman challenger, ripping off its leg and leaving the defeated dog writhing in pain on the cold concrete.
The 65-pound, red-nosed pit bull lunged at the tall, slender Doberman, and sunk its teeth into the fleshy skin of the Doberman's neck, ripping the esophagus and spraying blood onto the pavement. The Doberman dropped to the ground, lifeless.
Dog fighting once was the domain of rural breeders who organized fights in barns to profit from sophisticated betting operations. Now, dog fighting has become the blood sport of choice for young males in Lawrence who demonstrate their masculinity through their pets in impromptu fights held in garages, alleys and other urban locations.
Midge Grinstead, executive director of the Lawrence Humane Society, said the society now sheltered — and in many cases euthanized — at least 50 dogs a year that were the battered survivors of such dog fights. She estimated that another 50 dogs never made it that far.
Despite the carnage the Humane Society sees from illegal dog fights, arrests in Lawrence are virtually nonexistent, and police say the law is difficult to enforce.
Who fights and why
Grinstead said she felt helpless to end the cruelty and dog fighting that occurs in Lawrence and Douglas County.
"They're not stupid," she said. "They know we're looking for them."
"They' are the young. working-class
men — most between the ages of 16 and 24 — who fight their dogs. Grinstead keeps a list of nearly 60 names, and she watches more than 30 addresses.
Grinstead often hears about fights, but she always gets there too late.
Grinstein said it was easy to spot the fighters. Hang out for a night in East or North Lawrence or Massachusetts Street downtown, she said, pointing out that strutting owners often parade their brawny dogs up and down the streets.
Garcia, a Lawrence resident, said walking his pit bull C章 (pronounced Cheena) down the street was a far cry from having a poodle on the end of a leash. People notice the muscles swelling beneath his dog's shiny, red coat. Sometimes, he said, police officers will comment on what a nice dog he has.
"When you walk down the street, you
feel like you're somebody," he said.
A tough-looking dog can do a lot for its owner's image. A fight-winning dog can do ever more.
Just ask Sam, a fan of pit bull fighting and friend of pit bull fighters, who asked that his real name not be used because animal fighting and gambling are illegal.
"You're gonna always respect the pit bull." he said.
He gestured to the television. The rappers on TV have power, money and success. Many also have pit bulls, and young kids are after the whole package — the image of looking tough.
But pit bull fighting is about more than displaying masculinity.
It's a sport, said Dan, a regular fight spectator, who also requested that his real name not be used. He compared it to boxing, where two men beat each other
to a pulp, or cock fighting and even bull fights in Spain. He said dog fighting was just another form of entertainment.
when you're there, it's just like watching a boxing match," he said. "I don't see anything wrong with it. It's just a sport." Sam, who regularly goes to fights, said his friends did it for the money.
When the fight starts, the money flies. Bets soar to $500, Sam said, and with a good dog that survives several fights, an owner can make up to $5,000.
Garcia said a "good dog" could survive up to 10 fights. The largest bet he ever saw, $4,300 in cash, was between the owners of two dogs that fought to the death.
The rightmost so is minutes
"Those dogs were so loyal," he said.
See ILLEGAL on page 7A
Classes continue despite icy, cold weather
University of Kansas students nestled in their beds with visions of a snow day dancing in their heads got a rude awakening yesterday morning.
By Meghan Bainum
Kansan staff writer
The University of Kansas went on with classes as usual, despite the layer of ice and snow that coated trees, cars and roads.
Because the car scraping was difficult, and driving to and walking on campus was slippery, many students such as Roy McLellan, Stillwell senior, thought the University should have canceled class.
"The airports are closed, every other school district is closed, and I heard today was the coldest day in Kansas history," McLellan said. "The worst part was having to walk to class because I couldn't get the ice off my car. I couldn't scrape it off."
Provost David Shulenburger said the University would be kept open and classes would continue unless it was physically impossible to move around on campus.
But the roads were not in good condition for the ride to class. Sgt. Mike Pattrick of the Lawrence Police Department said there were 60 to 70 vehicle accidents reported in Lawrence from the morning until 5 p.m. He said there may have been others that were not reported.
But Eichten, like many students, got to
Kate Eichten, Topeka freshman, said only about half of the people in her residence hall went to class. The other half were saying that class was canceled. Echten checked, found out that the University was open, and decided to go to class.
But yesterday, Shulenburger said. "Campus was clear, the busses were running, so of course, the University is going to hold classes."
Today: Partly cloudy, High 19 Low 12.
Wednesday: Snow, High 26 Low 11.
Thursday: Partly cloudy, High 37 Low
27.
■ Friday; Scattered Showers. High 48 Low 33.
THIS WEEK'S FORECAST
class only to discover that they only had to do an evaluation of the class and then leave — or that their teachers weren't in class yet because of the University's inclement weather policy, which allows teachers an extra hour to get to their classes
mursday: Partly cloudy, High 37 Low 27.
"I had to get up for a 8:30 evaluation," she said. "Why do teachers get an extra hour if students have to be there on time?"
But Shulenburger said students were not required to attend classes and encouraged them to use their best judgment.
"We don't have a mandatory attendance
policy, and if students felt like they couldn't have gotten in safely they should not have come in." Shulenburger said. "Our staff do have show-up times, so it's important to give some flexibility to them."
Still, not all students felt the University was in the wrong for having class yesterday.
Mary Segebrecht, Lake Quivira sophomore, said that while a day off would have been nice, it wouldn't have been practical for students or the University.
Shulenburger said the next time bad weather blew in, students should assume they have class as usual.
"I think it's important to go the last days of class," she said. "There's usually a lot of important information they cover."
"The University deals only with adults, and adults can make a decision for themselves whether they will come to classes or not," he said. "Everyone should assume we would always have school."
Edited by Kimberly Thompson
Commission to review housing limit
By Matt Merkel-Hess
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The City Commission will look again tonight at a proposed housing ordinance that limits to two the number of unrelated people who could live in a house in single-family neighborhoods.
The Planning Commission, an advisory body to the City Commission, voted against the proposed ordinance at a public hearing more than a month ago. Tonight, the City Commission will have the option of directing city staff to draft an ordinance, or to do nothing.
"We really don't know what will happen," said Mayor Jim Henry. "It's going to be completely wide open."
Public comment will be limited to three minutes per individual, and the commission is asking that only new information be presented. The public comment period will not exceed two hours.
If the commission does decide to move forward and direct city staff to draft an ordinance, there would be two more hearings of the ordinance at commission meetings in the spring before it became law, said Dave Corliss, assistant city manager.
Henry said nothing would be decided while students were on winter break.
"Whatever happens it's not going to be finally decided tonight," he said.
Holly Krebs, student rights committee chairwoman, said that representatives from Student Senate would be at tonight's meeting and that she hoped other students would come. She did express concern that students wouldn't find out about the results of the meeting because today is this semester's last edition of the University Daily Kansan.
"If the City Commission wants to be working with students, placing the first hearing on the Tuesday night before stop day is not the most effective way to deal with this," she said.
Krebs said she hoped the number of unrelated people allowed to live in single-family homes would remain at four, but she said three would be a better compromise if the commission felt it must do something.
"It wouldn't affect nearly as many students, but it would effect some," she said.
Arly Allen, a neighborhood leader, said he was caught offguard when the commission decided to hear the issue before the New Year. He also said a compromise of three rather than two unrelated people would be "totally worthless" because he said three people would still have a higher buying power than a single-parent or working-class family.
"A change to three would only be a slow death for the neighborhoods, not the rapid death we're seeing now," he said.
Edited by Clay McCusiston
City Commission meeting 6:35 p.m., City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.
The City Commission will be discussing the proposed housing ordinance that would limit the number of unrelated people who can live in single-family neighborhoods.
he commission can decide to move forward with the proposal, or do nothing.
in they decide to move forward, city staff will draft an ordinance and then two public readings of the ordinance will be held at commission meetings during the spring semester.
x
---