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Coach: Depth of men's basketball bench key to Kansas' success. Page 1B
KANU: Cutbacks force radio station to limit broadcasting hours. Page 6A
E UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
NEWS 864-4810
ADVERTISING 864-4358
SECTION A VOL.103, NO.78
THURSDAY. JANUARY 16. 1997
Klan cancels Salina trip because of weather
SALINA - Officials in Salina decided they could not stop Ku Klux Klan Knights from coming to town to protest the Martin Luther King Jr., holiday. But icry Arkansas roads are keeping the group away, at least temporarily.
Thomas Robb, national director for the group based in Harrison, Ark., said yesterday that the Klan had decided to postpone its Saturday visit until a later date — probably in April or May. No date has been set vet.
"Right now in Arkansas, I can't even get out of my driveway," Robb said.
About 15 members of a Klan rally team from Arkansas planned to bring their annual protest of the King holiday to Salina. It was the only rally the group had planned to protest the day honoring the slain civil rights leader, although it holds educational rallies year-round across the nation.
The Rev. T. Ray McJunkins said he and other church leaders had asked residents to focus on the positive by attending several celebrations this weekend to honor King, instead of focusing on the Klan's visit.
"I really have mixed emotions on it," he said of the postponement. "One would immediately expect it's a victory, but I really don't look at it as a victory. It just causes me to wonder exactly what's going on."
(USPS 650-640)
Yeltsin's health mirrors condition of his nation
MOSCOW — Boris Yeltsin lies in the Kremlin hospital. But it's Russia, stuck in a state of perpetual crisis, that needs urgent treatment.
The president's week-old bout with pneumonia — only the latest setback to his shaky health — has put the country on automatic pilot at a time of severe economic and social distress.
"The country is much sicker than its president," Vitaly Trtekyakov, editor in chief of the liberal newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta, wrote.
In addition to reviving concern about who is running Russia, Yeltsin's latest illness has once again altered the political landscape. His pneumonia — coming on the heels of his half-year absence for heart problems and his bypass surgery — has triggered a new round of noisy politicking by his opponents and wider calls for his resignation.
Few people expect the 65-year-old leader to step down, but there are doubts that he will ever again be a vigorous, every day president.
Perhaps more importantly, it has created a widespread presumption that Russia is unlikely to have a full-time leader for the remaining 1/2 years of Yeltsin's term — even if he fully recovers, as doctors predict.
For now, though, Yettin's authority remains unchallenged, even if it's up to his aides and other officials to try to nurse Russia to good health.
—The Associated Press
TODAY
INDEX
SUNNY AND COLD
Television ... 2A
Opinion ... 4A
National News ... 5A
Scoreboard ... 2B
Horoscopes ... 4B
Classifieds ... 5B
Weather: Page 2A
--smaller thefts might have occurred.
McCollum 'Bandit'nabbed
Anonymous letters explain incident
By Stephanie McDuff Kansan staff reporter
Police arrested a KU student yesterday afternoon on counts of burglary, felony theft, and felony criminal damage to McColllum Hall that occurred on New Year's Eve and Day.
Steven Hipp, Wichita freshman, is suspected of causing more than $11,000 in damages to the hall.
Police said that there are no other known suspects in connection with these crimes, but that more arrests may follow.
The allegations included damaging an elevator, a wooden table, an ice machine, and turning on a water spigot that caused flooding in the basement of the hall.
Hipp posted bond set at $2,500 and will appear at court at 3 p.m. today.
Immediately following the incident, letters were posted by unknown individuals claiming that they had purchased copies of master keys for rooms in McCollum Hall.
In the letters, a group calling themselves "The Bandits", accepted responsibility for the acts of vandalism that occurred.
Early Tuesday morning, The University Daily Kansan received a copy of a note left by "The Bandits," and a letter written by an anonymous person claiming to be a housing employee, explaining how this incident occurred.
The note from the Bandits, later confirmed by police as authentic, said that the individuals had broken into McCollum Hall using stolen master keys with the intent to burglarize more than 100 rooms.
The note from the Bandits went on to say that the vandalism to McCollum Hall was created only to divert the attention of staff members as the Bandits looted rooms for cash, credit card numbers, and ACUS calling card numbers.
Police said that the validity of the burglary accusations made in the letters were unknown because no reports of theft had been made by students that definitely could be linked to this occurrence.
No while thefts have been reported in direct connection to these incidents at McColllum, Chris Keary, KU police sergeant, said that
Keary said that if residents found any items missing, or their room disturbed in any way, they should immediately report it to the police.
Police are also investigating two thefts at Ellsworth Hall to see if there are any connections to the vandalism in McCollum.
Police would not specify how they were able to confirm the suspect's involvement in the incidents. They would only say that Hipp was one of 80 to 100 residents living in McColum Hall during the break.
In the letter received by the Kansan, the housing employee described the events of Dec. 31, and early Jan. 1, as follows:
Keys stolen from residence hall
Around 8:30 pm. Dec. 31, people kept get-
Housing department decides to change hundreds of locks
See MCCOLLUM, Page 2A
Kansan staff report
After a rash of vandalism and two anonymous notes claiming someone had copies of the master keys to McCollum Hall, the University of
Kansas responded by changing hundreds of door locks earlier this month.
locks had been changed, but were not told why these changes had been made.
Although a McCollum Hall resident was arrested yesterday, Stoner said that he and other housing officials would continue to question whether they made the right decision in changing the locks.
As students returned to their McCollum Hall rooms after winter break, they were told that their
Ken Stoner, director of the department of student housing, said the information was withheld from students to protect the ongoing police investigation of the anonymous threats.
Stoner said that housing officials remained unsure if the stolen master keys were actually in the hands of the authors of the anonymous notes. He said it was more important for the department to replace the locks in case the threats later proved to be valid.
See HOUSING, Page 2A
Slip slidin' away
No matter how hard the fall, a layer of snow softens the blow. Twelve year-old Jesse James takes a seat while sledding behind Elwisorth Wash
yesterday afternoon. Jesse, the son of Bessie James, Lawton, Okla., junior, is a student at South Junior High School.
Support for marijuana spreading
Multiple uses based on historical studies
By Emily Vrabac Kansan staff writer
Marijuana and the medical profession mix, but for now the law confines that combination to California and Arizona.
In November, voters in the two states approved initiatives to allow patients to grow and use marijuana if they have a doctor's recommendation. Fifty-six percent of California voters and about two-thirds of Arizona voters supported the initiatives.
Now that using marijuana for medical purposes has been approved in those states, marijuana supporters in other states, including Kansas, are beginning to emphasize its medical benefits.
Marijuana supporters tout many uses for the drug, most of which are not backed by research but are historically documented.
The Federal Bureau of Narcotics launched acampaign in 1941 to emphasize the harmful effects of the drug and was successful in deterring Americans from using it.
Before 1941, marjana was used to treat menstrual cramps, epileptic seizures, migraine headaches and insomnia.
In recent years, marijuana backers have advocated more uses for the drug, including treating glaucoma, softening the side effects of chemotherapy; increasing the appetites of AIDS patients; and treating multiple sclerosis.
Scientists said these claims were difficult to research because marijuana had more than 60 active substances. Each substance would have to be isolated, and its individual effects studied before obtaining federal medical approval.
Mike Stiles, an ophthalmologist at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan., has studied the effects of marijuana on patients with glaucoma.
"THC, an active ingredient in marijuana, has been shown to lower eye pressure on the optic nerve, but it does it temporarily, only for a few hours at a time," he said.
Stiles said several forms of THC had been created, but each had side effects that countered the drug's benefits.
"They tried to use an oral version, but in order to help the symptoms,
doses had to be too high to avoid central nervous system side effects," he said. "They also tried a drop form, but it caused eye surface irritation."
Stiles said that some patients take the matter into their own hands, despite the law.
"I have had a couple patients who happen to use marijuana recreationally and have continued to use it to try to help their glaucoma," he said.
Stiles said doctors and pharmacists try new drugs with the hope of helping patients, but some, such as marijuana, don't work.
"The bottom line is that the safety index isn't very good," he said. "The dosage to achieve treatment produces too many side effects."
Many KU students have taken the initiative to research marijuana's
Varied reasons given for safety precautions
Kansan staff report
A majority of the students interviewed said that residence hall staff did not explain to residents why they received the new keys. Most said they just found a flier telling them to come and pick up new keys.
Upon returning to campus, the residents of McCollum Hall were given new keys to their rooms, but they were not given an exact reason why their locks had been changed.
Students who asked why they were getting new keys, were told by desk assistants that the master keys had been lost.
Michelle Long, Decatur, Ala., junior, said that she had been told by staff members that the residence hall changed the keys because some of the keys were from past years.
Residents in McColum said they thought it was somehow inevitable that burglaries would happen once in a while.
"Considering the size of the hall, I think there are some people who do things like that," Long said. "You don't pass a morality test to be a resident. People aren't what you think they are."
Robert Ross, Topeka freshman, said he was shocked by the news of the burglaries.
"It concerns me a lot definitely," Ross said. "In fact, I never thought this dorm is safe. I even don't trust people in the dorm. I know there are different kinds of people and 99 percent of them are good people, but 1 percent of them are not, I guess."
Another resident, Bassem Alkathlan, of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, said he felt insecure knowing that somebody broke into residents' rooms during the break.
"The news surprises me," Alkathilan said. "I left my passport and money in my room during the break. But I did not notice anything wrong with the dorm when I got back."
Helping hemp
medical uses.
"I'm all for it," said Jeff Jachowicz, Chicago, junior. "I've done reading and studying on it, and I don't think there have been any bad effects. I think the benefits strongly outweigh the harms."