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The University Daily Kansan
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Today: Snow possible with a high of 33 and a low of 25
Tomorrow: Snow possible with a high of 30 and a low of 23
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Tuesday, December 5, 2000
Sports: The Kansas basketball team has been concentrating on its rebounding skills.
SEE PAGE 1B
Inside: Ceramics and sculpture students will try to raise scholarship money during their annual holiday sale.
SEE PAGE 3A
(USPS 650-640) • VOL. 111 NO. 64 For comments, contact Nathan Willis or Chris Borniger at 864-4810 or e-mail editor@kansan.com
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Two hospitalized after taking drug
By Rob Pazell
by Rod Pazell
writer@kanson.com
Kanson staff writer
A KU student and a Lawrence resident were hospitalized early Sunday morning after taking a drug known as Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate or GHB, the Lawrence Police Department said.
The report said John Loper, Overland Park freshman, and Heath Schmidt, Lawrence resident, were unconscious after taking the popular "club" drug in a seventh-floor room of Naismith Hall.
Lawrence-Douglas County Fire and Medical transported them to Lawrence Memorial Hospital. Although Loper and Schmidt were unconscious when found, Loper was treated and released Sunday. As of yesterday, Schmidt was listed in
good condition by Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
Hospital.
Sgt. Mike Patrick of the Lawrence Police Department said the investigation was ongoing as to how the two men obtained the GHB. He said it tended to be tied to rape cases, but it had been gaining popularity for recreational use.
According the Watkins Memorial Health Center, the drug was tested for possible medical uses in the United States but has never been approved for any medical use. The FDA issued a warning in 1990 to consumers to stop using the drug.
Randall Rock, chief of staff at Watkins, said the drug was a powerful synthetic drug that acted as a depressant on the central nervous system. Some possible side effects of the drug are dizziness, nausea, vomiting, confusion, seizures, respiratory depression, unconsciousness and coma,
The drug's most common form is in an odorless, colorless liquid, which can be easily distributed from a dropper into drinks where it dissolves, leaving only a weak salt taste if any.
Rock said the drug was dangerous and students should avoid it, especially if they were using other drugs.
"When ingested with alcohol or other drugs, it can be life threatening," Rock said.
The drug also can produce anterograde amnesia, which is memory loss of the events that follow taking the drug. For this reason, it has been used to facilitate rape or assault.
Edited by J. R. Mendoza
Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate (GHB) is a powerful synthetic drug that acts as a depressant on the central nervous system. GHB is most commonly an odorless, colorless liquid that leaves only a weak salt taste, if any, when put in drinks.
GHB
Side effects of GHB:
dizziness
nausea
vomiting
vomiting confusion
seizures
respiratory depression
can be fatal
anterograte amnesia
unconsciousness
unconsciousness
coma
Man charged with attempted bank robbery
A Lawrence man who attempted to rob a downtown bank Thursday was charged Friday in federal court with one count of attempted bank robbery.
Paul David Lee, 57, walked into First Bank, 900 Massachusetts St., at 12:30 p.m. carrying a BB gun that looked like a handgun and demanded money.
Lawrence Police Sgt. Mike Pattrick said Lee held employees hostage in the bank for about 15 minutes before surrendering to police.
He did not have a bomb as police were initially told, Patrick said.
Police locked down local businesses and closed several downtown streets during the standoff.
No one was injured in the standoff.
People shopping and eating on Massachusetts Street also were removed from the area.
The Lawrence Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. If convicted, Lee faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison without parole.
Lee appeared at 1:30 p.m. Friday in U.S. District Court in Topeka, and was temporarily detained. A detention hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
Attempted bank robbery is a felony count, and the case now will go through the federal court system.
Lauren Brandenburg and
Meghan Bainum
Final touches
Greg Hughes, St. Louis senior, works in Marvin Hall on a roadside hotel model for Bruce Johnson's third-year studio architecture class. The class has been working for about a month on their motel projects, which are due Friday. Photo by Selena Jabara/KANSAN
Lawrence is the 51st community recognized by the League, and joins cities such as Houston, Orlando, Fla., and Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Bike lanes, attitude contribute to title
Lawrence recognized as 'bicycle friendly'
Two-wheeled transportation in Lawrence is cranking into high gear after the league of American Bicyclists named the city a bicycle-friendly community.
Kansan staff writer
By Mark Minter Hoss
writer@kansan.com
Kansasan writer
By Matt Merkel-Hess
"This is a step forward to encourage bicycle-friendly facilities and a bicycle-friendly attitude in the community," said Aaron Bartlett, Lawrence transportation planner and bicycle coordinator. "We see this as an opportunity to bring about more change."
The award will be presented to the city at the Tuesday, Dec. 12, meeting of the City Commission at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.
Bartlett said the city developed a Bicycle Work Program, a guide for bicycle-related improvements in Lawrence, which identifies where future bike lanes and paths can be developed and sets up an education and awareness program.
Lawrence received the award because of its comprehensive bike plan, commitment to developing bike routes, paths and lanes and overall friendliness toward bikers.
Patrick J. McCormick, communications director for the League of American Bicyclists, said bicycling was increasingly viewed as a quality-of-life indicator, as are crime statistics and the quality of schools.
"You can have a really nice community with bike routes and all the bike lanes, but if you don't have a friendly community, it doesn't matter," he said.
In addition, he said the attitude toward biking as a viable form of transportation in Lawrence was important.
"A lot of people see the designation as being a metaphor for being a good
"This is a step forward to encourage bicycle-friendly facilities and a bicycle-friendly attitude in the community."
Aaron Bartlett
Lawrence transportation planner and
bicycle coordinator
place to live," he said. "It also means the community takes care of its citizens by helping them become more fit by exercising."
McCormick said the league, a bicycle advocacy and education group based in Washington, D.C., chose bicycle-friendly cities based on a variety of criteria. The Bicycle-Friendly Communities Program began in 1995.
"It takes working through the process of local government and regulations, coming up with a plan, and really doing something to make the community better in terms of bicycling," he said.
Phillip Smetak, owner of The Bike Shop, 818 Massachusetts St., said the City Commission had caught some flak during the past few years for not creating enough bike lanes, but the plans had been created and several roads already had been retrofitted with bike lanes.
"The projects are already there, but it takes a while for a large-scale project to be implemented," he said.
Smetak said Critical Mass bike rides could have a positive impact by keeping bicycling issues visible, but only if the rides were well organized such as this fall's second Critical Mass bike ride.
"I think everyone agrees that it could be better and should be better, but in general, I believe most people are pretty satisfied with the bicycling conditions in Lawrence." Smetak said.
For more information on the League of American Bicyclists see www.bike-league.org.
- Edited by Amy Randolph
Courts deal Gore setbacks; hope lies with Florida court
The Associated Press
Democrats warned of legal and political fireworks if the GOP led state Legislature intervenes to propel George W. Bush to victory.
The U.S. Supreme Court thrust the agonizingly close presidential election into deeper uncertainty yesterday, setting aside a ruling that allowed Al Gore to benefit from recounts and asking the Florida high court for more information.
The Supreme Court decision did not setattle the contested race or unangle any of the legal knacks tying up the election of a 43rd United States president, but it did deny Gore the clear-cut court victory he sought to sustain his presidential quest.
Furthermore, Circuit Judge N. Sanders Sauls rejected the Democrat's unprecedented contest of the election.
tney won. We lost. We're appealing" to the Florida Supreme Court, said Gore attorney David Boies after Sauls' ruling. "We've moved one step closer to having this resolved."
On Day 27 of the longest, closest presidential race in a century, Saul delayed his verdict to review the high court decision. Gore wants recounts in two counties and a reduction of Bush's totals in a third to reverse the vice president's minuscule 537-vote deficit in Florida — where 25 electoral votes and control of the White House are at stake.
Denied a legal slam dunk, both sides claimed some measure of victory.
"It's not bad news. It's not good news," said Ron Klaen, Gore's legal and political adviser. "It's just no news."
Bush called the Supreme Court ruling "a very strong statement on our behalf." While posing for pictures in front of a garland-strung hearth, Bush told reporters he was dispatching running mate Dick Cheney to Capitol Hill to meet with GOP leaders to continue making plans for a presumptive Bush presidency.
But no news is bad news for Gore, who is being told by advisers that the patience of voters and Democratic lawmakers will soon expire without a legal victory, recounts and a show of progress toward erasing Bush's lead.
Trying to maintain Gore's standing on Capitol Hill, campaign chairman William Daley and running mate Joseph Lieberman conducted a conference call with Democratic lawmakers to discuss the developments. One senior official who participated in the call said there was no sign of surrender from the vice president's troops.
Gore's presidential dreams are tethered to the case before Saulis, who heard two days of weekend testimony on Gore's unprecedented petition to overturn the results of Florida's presidential election.
"We need to have these votes counted," Klain told CBS before the high court ruling.
Both sides vow to lodge appeals if they lose the case before Sauls, setting Gore's case on a track that could lead once again to the high court in Washington. The judge was expected to rule late yesterday.
Republicans increased pressure on Gore to step aside.
"America needs to move forward, not be bogged down by the desperation of one man's obsession," said Rep. J.C. Watts, R-Okla, the fourth-ranking member of the House.
In Florida, the state's House speaker, a Republican, prepared to approve a special session to choose presidential electors — presumably supporters of Bush. But the effort was moving slowly and lawmakers still needed the consent of the cautious Senate president, Republican John McKay.
Bush's political operatives have signaled to McKay that they approve of his go-slow approach, fearing backlash from voters under an intense public relations campaign by Democrats.
Bush himself urged caution.
"We ought to take this process one day at a time." Bush said.
A Washington Post-ABC News survey suggested that 56 percent of Americans want the Legislature to avoid the unsettled presidential election. Equal numbers want Congress to butt out, though the U.S. Constitution gives state and federal lawmakers a role in the Electoral College process.'
See GORE on page 2A