CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, October 5, 1993
3
Species protection pursued
Act's amendments still to be decided include ecosystem By Liz Klinger
Kansan staff writer
As more and more land in the United States is developed, Enviros president Amy Trainer, Derby sophomore, is joining the race to save this country's ecosystem.
Trainer hopes to get 1,000 students to sign a petition lobbying Sen. Nancy Kassebaum's support for proposed amendments to the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Trainer said the amendments would strengthen and clarify the act.
"Right now it mainly protects individual species, whereas with the new amendments it will protect the whole ecosystem," Trainer said.
signatures.
Trainer said she had between 200 and 250
Since the act was passed 20 years ago, about 180 species have become extinct before they could be included on the endangered species list, said Diane Debinski, assistant professor of environmental studies. About 4,000 species are being considered for endangered species status, she said.
Debinski said 90 percent of the money designated for endangered species legislation was spent on endangered "charismatic mega fauna" — categorized as cute, fuzzy animals such as bears. She said "enigmatic microphone" such as crustaceans receive significantly less attention.
"We need to partition the money out in a more equitable way and not just give it to the mammals and the birds," Debinski said. "If you protect the whole ecosystem, you get more than one species protected."
Trainer is working on another letter to Kassebaum that would accompany the petition.
"I feel like the more signatures, the
greater the impact. "Trainer said.
Derek Schmidt, Kassebaum's legislative assistant handling environmental issues, said issues such as the North American Free Trade agreement and appropriations bills were delaying the amendments in U.S. Congress.
"There's been a great deal of interest from Kansas," Schmidt said, "The fact that it's not at the top of the list right now doesn't mean that it's not important. I think there's no question that the act will be amended. The only question right now is priorities."
Ryan Boyce, Overland Park senior, said he would support the amendments.
"I think we're just beginning to understand the impact of one species on another species," Boyce said. "If we could find out sooner, we could probably help the species more. The current bill is not sufficient, so it definitely needs amending."
Students can receive information about the amendments and sign the petition tomorrow and Oct. 15 in the Kansas Union lobby from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Proposed changes
How proposed Endangered Species Act amendments would improve the Act:
Direct the development of multi-species recovery plans that include species in possible danger of extinction as well as those already endangered
Establish a method for developing habit conservation plans for both listed and poten-
Allow citizens to file suit immediately in emergencies threatening the well-being of an endangered species
Clarity that federal agencies are authorized to issue necessary regulations to enforce the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
Raise authorization levels by 1997 to $10 million for the Department of Interior, $20 million for the Department of Commerce, and $4.3 million for the Department of Agriculture
Source: National Wildlife Federation KANBAN
--robbed the store. The suspect left the scene before officers arrived. Witnesses gave police a partial description of the suspect and his car.
Group working to put Hispanic channel on cable
By Brian James Kansan staff writer
Kansan staff writer
A group of Hispanic students and others at the University of Kansas once again are circulating a petition to bring a Hispanic channel to Lawrence cable subscribers.
Gustavo Alvarado, San Ramon, Costa Rica, junior, said the group, which includes members of several KU Hispanic organizations, has collected more than 700 signatures from KU students and faculty. The group wants Sunflower Cablevision of Lawrence to put Univision, a Hispanic broadcasting network on the company's channel lineup.
But Alvarado said that Sunflower Cablevision had told the group different stories about how to request a cable channel.
When no action was taken last semester, Alvarado was told that the group would need to present a petition to the cable company before a Hispanic channel could be added.
Alvarado said that last fall a group of KU students unsuccessfully asked a Hispanic channel in Lawrence. Sunflower told the group that it would not need to collect signatures and that the station would add the channel in the spring, he said.
Dennis Knipfer, manager of Sunflower Cablevision, said that any group requesting a new channel did not have to file a petition.
"We were never told we needed a specific number of signatures but that if we showed there was a large interest, we would have a possibility of getting a Spanish-speaking channel."
"We consider all requests, basing them on cost and general interest to the community," Knipfer said.
But Alvarado said he thought that past requests had not been taken seriously enough.
"I feel like now we must get more than enough people involved in this to really show them that the community wants this," he said.
Knipfer said that Sunflower did not want to risk raising cable fees by adding new channels but said that there was probably a large student interest in having a Hispanic one. Alvarado said that many Hispanic students had wanted a Hispanic channel to follow events in their native countries.
Roberta Johnson, chair of the Spanish and Portuguese department, said a Hispanic station would benefit many people, including the approximately 3,000 KU students studying Spanish.
"Listening is extremely helpful but it gets you to another level of comprehension when you can relate a sound to a picture," she said.
Richard Devinki / KANSAN
Audra Darner, KU graduate assistant, and Mike Pisani, Lawrence junior, teacher's aide, take the Hilltop Child Development Center kids for a walk on campus. The kids usually play at the center, but taking advantage of yesterday's temperatures in the 80s, they left the playground behind.
Sunnv davs
Organization aims to unite KU Muslims
Muslim Student Association has only mosque in Lawrence
By Carlos Tejada
Kansan staff writer
The house at 1300 Ohio St. looks like any other house on the block.
But inside lies Lawrence's only mosque — a Muslim house of worship — and the headquarters of the Muslim Students Association's KU chapter.
Most mosques have domes and spires, said Hamed Ghazali, the imam, or spiritual leader of the group, but Lawrence zoning regulations forbid adding to the building.
The MSA formed in 1963, Ghazali said. The chapter at the University of Kansas formed in 1976. Ghazali said the group has brought the Muslim communities of Lawrence and KU together under common laws ever since.
"It's a semi-government," he said. "Thought the name says it's a student organization, it's really much bigger."
Ghazali said the laws affect aspects of life such as marriage and worship.
On a wall in the prayer room, two sets of five fixed clocks show times when prayers are called and times when prayers are performed. The imam leads the different prayers through a loudspeaker. Ghazali said as many as 75 people attend prayers, depending upon the day and the prayer.
The group also sponsors discussions and publishes information about the religion of Islam. Ghazali said such a mission is important because most KU students see Muslims portrayed as terrorists in the media.
"People just pick on this topic and start to propagate rumors about Islam," he said.
Ghazali said such a comparison is like basing Christianity on David Koresh, the religious leader of Waco, Texas, who died in a shoot-out with government agents.
The group also takes political stands, said Naser Alzayed, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia graduate student. This semester it protested the arms embargo placed upon Bosnia, where its Muslim-majority is losing a war against neighboring Serbia and Bosnian Serbs.
CAMPUS BRIEFS
But Alzayed said the members do not always agree. Some members supported the U.N. coalition in 1991 during the Gulf War, while others supported Iraq. He said the group remained together anyway.
"The different opinions were never a problem between people," he said. "We never got any problems out of that."
Lawrence man charged with theft in Friday robbery
A 24-year-old Lawrence naan is still in jail after being arrested Friday in connection with a robbery at the Checkers store, 2300 Louisiana St.
Chad Beers was charged with aggravated robbery, felony theft and obstruction of the legal process. He remains in Douglas County Jail on $100,000 bond. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.
A Checkers employee told police Friday morning that a man armed with a knife
Detectives spotted the car a short time later at 19th and Maple streets in southeast Lawrence. A brief car chase ensued and ended when the suspect hit a curb and struck a tree. He then tried to flee on foot. Officers caught the suspect a short distance from the accident, and he was taken into custody.
Car dealer offers free CPR classes open to 60
Eagle Subaru, 2112 W. 29th Terrace.
Free adult cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, classes will be offered from 6 to 9 p.m. tomorrow at Ellena Buick Jeep
The course is open to 60 participants, who will be certified in CPR by the end of the evening. Another CPR course will be offered Oct. 13 and a child and infant CPR course will be offered Oct. 20.
For more information and to register, call Pat Mayo, coordinator of the event, at 843-7777.
Second Street sink hole by Johnny's now filled
Northbound traffic on North Second Street will no longer have to detour through surrounding neighborhoods because of a large hole in front of Johnny's.
Tavern, 401 N. Second St. The hole developed in June after a sewer pipe collapsed and washed out the earth under the road. The street reopened on Friday.
The hole prevented left turns into Johnny's parking lot.
Jorge Reyes, Johnny's bartender, said he was glad the hole was gone.
"We had a busy weekend, but I don't know if it was because of the hole being fixed or not," Reyes said. "It does make things easier."
Briefs compiled from Kansan staff reports
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