Multimedia Reporting (Bradford-Utsler)

By Dan Hoyt

With finals week approaching many on-campus residents have begun scrambling to pack-up their possessions and get ready to ship out for the summer, but packing can be a daunting task.

Tricia Woodward Complex Director for Templin and Lewis residence halls said many residents refuse to plan ahead and always wait until the last minute to try to get out. The Department of Student Housing has the final day to stay in the dorms in on Friday and Friday night many students will still be scrambling to move as many of their possessions out as quickly as they can.

“They usually just don’t think about anything beyond their finals, which I can understand since they need to be focused on their school work,” she said. “But they need to put a little thought into it.”

While some on-campus residents struggle to move out, some communicate with their roommates to work together and move out smoothly.

She has been conducting meetings with her assistant complex directors--A.C.D.s-- and her resident assistants--R.A.s—over the past several weeks to discuss problems they will encounter while getting everyone moved out.

Woodward has been changing her staffs schedule to help her R.A.s. during finals week R.A.s wont have any desk duty, where they sort mail and help residents with problems that need immediate attention. All the R.A.s will be in the building by 8 p.m. every night during finals week.

“I understand that these are students too and I want them to be able to have some free time, but be able to get their duties done this week,” Woodward said.

She said she needs her residents out as soon as possible because on the May 22 they will be moving students in for several summer camps going on at the University of Kansas. Having all the repairs on the rooms will be a hard task for the maintenance crew the days after her residents are out.

It means a lot of stress on her part as well, since she has to be around to deal with the transition from spring to summer and that’s a big transition to occur in four days.

She said she has been encouraging her residents to turn in any maintenance requests as soon as they can so they can have things fixed and working when they move out. That will also give the maintenance department a place to start when they go into rooms.

Rebecca Deeds, Little River sophomore, is a resident assistant in Lewis Residence Hall. Even with the decreased desk duty her week will be extremely stressful since she has her own finals on top of worrying about her residents.

“I know they’re busy and I know that during this week I’m going to be a little short tempered and I don’t want to deal with them being lazy and waiting until the last minute to leave,” she said.

Packing up is a lot easier if residents plan and communicate with their roommates said Deeds. That means people living together should make sure everyone does some work to get their rooms cleaned up if one resident leaves without doing any work the others are just stuck with picking up.

Deeds said being organized is the key. Residents may not be able to pack up their computers yet, but they can do small things like take down their posters and do the dishes.

“So many residents just take off without saying anything and then their roommates get real mad at them, that’s no way to end several semesters living together,” she said.

Deeds said she has asked her residents to check out at the same time as their roommates, both to save time for her and them. If they check out together if Deeds finds anything that needs cleaned she can get them to clean it together.

If any of Deeds superiors check the room and it’s not to their standards Deeds will end up cleaning, so she has extra motivation to make sure her residents do a good job.

Deeds said the biggest problem will be if she finds anything wrong with the room that needs repaired. If she finds a hole in the wall and one of her residents put it there they will end up paying for it. She’s expecting to have some trouble with this since some rooms were damaged when residents moved in and if they didn’t put those damages on the paperwork they did when they moved in, they will get charged anyway.

“I’m expecting to have a lot of drama over this. The rooms aren’t always completely in perfect shape and if they don’t notice they things wrong they could end up being charged and paying a fee for something you didn’t do isn’t very fun,” Deeds said.

To help keep students from paying they can make sure they fill out maintenance requests as soon as they can. If the problem is fixed or scheduled to be fixed it’s easier to get around the fine Deeds said.

“I just hope my residents make it through finals week without breaking anything they’ll get charged for and I know they’ll be tempted,” she said.

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22 years ago Allison Frizell’s life was taking her down the path she always dreamed of. She was happily married, her husband Trip, just finished law school, and she was pregnant with the couples first child. Since she was young she dreamed about staying at home to care for her kids. The couple had no reason to believe anything was wrong. Her pregnancy was normal. On April 3rd 1984 she gave birth to the couples first son Tom. Allison now had the family she wanted.

Six months after Tom’s birth, Allison began to suspect that something might be wrong with Tom. She didn’t think that Tom was progressing the same way that her friends babies were, but she quickly blew that off convincing herself that she was just an overreacting mother. Tom’s progress did not improve. By one year old, Tom was not speaking, he didn’t make eye contact and his muscles looked very relax. Allison knew something was wrong with her first son.

When Tom was two and a half years old, Allison asked her neighbor who was also a therapist to tell her exactly what she thought was wrong with Tom. Her neighbor told her that Tom was showing a lot of signs of autism and she was right. Within six months Tom was officially diagnosed with autism and non-verbal. The diagnosis crushed Allison because it meant she would have to accept the loss of not having a healthy child

Tom’s autism changed the Allison and Trip’s lives. They moved from Kansas City to Lawrence for Tom to participate in programs conducted through Community Living. Now they are working with CLO to create Midnight Farms, which will be a rural facility, just south of Lawrence, which will give autistic people and care takers alternative living options to the city.

In January 2005 CLO and the Frizell’s began to pursue Allison’s dream creating Midnight Farms. Midnight Farms will be a small community spread out on 40 acres of farmland southeast of Lawrence. It is intended give autistic and mentally handicapped people a place to live the most normal life possible. This type of living arrangement for the mentally handicapped will be the first in Kansas.

Allison Frizell, co-creator of Midnight Farms said, “We hope to create a community of families taking care of people with special needs, that work together to support each other.”

Frizell got the idea to creat Midnight Farms while reading a magazine about autistic children about 15 years ago. The magazine featured an article about a father whose son had spent an entire summer at Bittersweet Farms and how benefical the experience was to his son. Since reading this Frizell has dreamed about Tom living in this type of environment, even if she would have to create it.

Last year, 40 acres of farmland was purchased for Midnight Farms. During the last seven months the Frizell’s have been working with land developers, planners and financial advisors to write grants for funding. They are currently working on the final details of the plans. Final plans are scheduled to be finished within the next month. Next month they plan to meet with the Douglas County Planning Commission to have the project approved.

Once the plans are approved they hope to plan to begin construction quickly. By the end of next year they hope to complete their first home and a large activity center.

The activity center will feature six horse stalls, an indoor horse arena and a large meeting area that can be used for banquets. Its estimated cost is $300,000

Midnight Farms will have four to eight separate homes on the farm. Each home will have one couple or family living in them. These couples will be care providers for one or two mentally handicapped people living with them. It will have an approximate ratio of 1 to1 for care takers to mentally handicapped, which is the ideal living conditions for people with disabilities.

Jim Sherman, professor of applied behavior and science at the University of Kansas said, “A 1 to 1 ratio is best for the people with disabilities because it gives them the most normal living environment possible. This ratio allows them to build a solid relationship with there caretakers”

Each couple hired to live in these homes will have to go through an extensive training program overseen by CLO supervisors. Midnight Farm will also have full time CLO employees working there. Sherman said, “The job of a caretakers is to help a person develop the most normal and independent life possible, but not everybody can be helped. Success depends on the individual.”

Midnight Farms will also feature many unique opportunities for disabled people that would not be able to experience by living in urban areas. These features include a green house, horseback riding, a small amphitheatre, walking trails and a pumpkin patch. These features were chosen by the Board of Directors, consultants and experts about disabilities.

Midnight Farms will provide more than recreational opportunities for the disabled. It will also provide them therapy, which should help to improve their lives. The therapy is based heavily on the laws of learning. It is intended to teach them new behavior that will allow them to interact in the everyday world.

According to Sherman, 47% of disabled people who received intensive amounts of treatment (40 to 50 hours a week) showed signs of improvement that allowed them to be in a normal classroom by 2nd grade. This compared to 10% who received little or no treatment.

Construction of Midnight Farms will take time. It will be completed in different phases. Currently Frizell believes it will take 10 years to complete the entire project.

If and when Midnight Farms is finished she will have lived the dreams she has wanted. She said, “If this happens the way it is planned now, I will be the happiest person in the world.”

Check out these links to learn more information about autism and programs for autistic people http://www.clokansas.org/pages/services.htm http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm http://home.tbbs.net/semisweet/about-us/

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The Kansas Beef Council is honoring the state’s $6 billion industry, beef production, by declaring the month of May “Kansas Beef Month.” Restaurants around the state will feature new creative beef entrees. Zesty radio ads will be promoting with pride an industry that has been a part of the state’s identity since the early Kansas City stockyard era. After all, Kansas is the top cattle processing state in the nation, with 7 million head processed in 2005. It may be known as the “Wheat State,” but the wheat industry actually brings in less than half the revenue of the cattle industry. Kansans are proud of this “cash cow” industry.

“This month is to draw on the significance of the cattle industry to our state’s economy,” said Todd Johnson, executive director of the Kansas Beef Council. “There’s a long history here, and a lot of success.”

Does eating meat aid in global warming? Researchers from the University of Chicago say so. photo from macveg.com

That success, however, could be aiding in global warming. Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin, professors of Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago, researched and conducted data analysis of diet, energy and global warming. According to their tabulations, 6 percent of the greenhouse gases emitted in the United States are from meat production. In other words, if we were a strictly vegetarian society, the amount of gases that trap heat in the atmosphere would be 94 percent of its current value. Their report reached mainstream media in April, spurring a debate about whether such numbers are significant. For Kansas, one of the top cattle producers in the country, this means that global warming catalysts are right here, on small landlocked farms, away from threats like hurricanes that are arguably results of the greenhouse effect. However, few expect a drastic change in the American diet any time soon, even as the effects of global warming continue to rise.

Scientifically, it’s clear that a carnivore diet is less energy-efficient. Each step on the food process has a 10 percent efficiency rate. The first step is the food producers, or the plants. The next phase on the meat-eating ladder is feeding the plants to the livestock. Then, that livestock is fed to humans. If that middle step were cut out, the world’s crops could conceivably support 10 times more humans.

"We've been aware of this for a while," said Johannes Feddema, associate professor of geography at the University of Kansas. Feddema has done extensive research on global warming and land surface changes. "Whether or not you eat meat makes a big difference in terms of your energy use."

Chris Brown, assistant professor in geography and environmental studies at the University of Kansas, simplified the concept to students in his Principles of Environmental Studies class with a relatable situation.

“You’re taking out the middle man. Think of how much money you save, for example, if you go directly to a warehouse to buy something instead of through a retailer. You’re going to get a much better deal.”

The middle man won’t be going anywhere any time soon. The average American consumes 55 pounds of beef annually. In the United States alone, 182 million tons of methane are emitted from agriculture each year, with 172 million of those tons directly due to livestock. Approximately 173 million tons of agriculture-related nitrous oxide are emitted per year.

In Kansas, the meat packing industry creates more than 18,000 jobs, and the state has 32,000 cattle farms. These farms can, however, partake in environmentally friendly tactics to curtail the harmful emissions of methane and carbon dioxide and the use of fossil fuels. Joel DeRouchey, an environmental specialist in Kansas State University’s department of animal science and industry, said one of the most helpful ways is simply preventing the land from containing large pile ups of manure.

“The manure can run off into nearby lakes and ponds on the property, and it also emits quite a bit of methane,” DeRouchey said. “A lot of farms are careful to do this, but a lot of farms also aren’t.”

Pamela Martin, one of the co-authors of the study, said the effects of methane emissions were largely ignored compared to other aspects of the fight on global warming. Methane is, in fact, more potent and harmful to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, but less of it is emitted.

“Our point was to bring attention to the fact that food production is associated with a significant amount of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in the United States,” Martin said. “Our personal dietary choices can significantly affect personal emissions budgets.”

Vegetarian Food Pyramid. photo from www.westbrae.com

Although a more plant-based diet is healthier for the environment, many Americans have qualms about giving up nutritional sources they think can only be found in animal products. B12, for example, maintains a sheath around nerve fibers and promotes normal growth of bone cell activity. Ann Chapman, registered dietician at Watkins Health Center, said going vegetarian requires research of what food can replace those important nutrients found in animal foods.

“Honestly, you can just take vitamin supplements in many cases, including B12,” Chapman said. “One concern with a vegetarian diet is it’s usually lower in calories because it’s very rich in fiber, which fills you up more quickly.”

In Kansas, a place that dedicates an entire month to its cattle industry, eating less meat requires stepping out of comfortable food boundaries, Brown said. He is not a vegetarian, but he does limit his beef intake.

“It’s sort of an identity of Kansas. People have to change a sense of who they are,” Brown said. “But it can be done. Don’t take meat out of your diet entirely, but when you do eat it, for the sake of the environment, try eating grass-fed meat.”

Debbie Yarnell, owner of Homespun Hill Farms near Baldwin, feeds and finishes all her beef with an all-grass diet. They are never in a feedlot, and she doesn’t allow her cattle to defecate or urinate in her property’s pond. Although she started out running her farm this way for moral reasons, she’s learned over the years that her methods are friendlier to the environment. Because the cattle are never in confinement, “you never get this big, sloppy manure mess you’d get otherwise,” Yarnell said.

The grain-fed versus grass-fed issue is debatable, DeRouchey said. The environmental friendliness of the facility also has to do with whether there is a water source, or if the cattle use a water trough. Grass- feeding cattle does not determine the amount of manure run-off in that water source. But Yarnell makes sure to plot manure around the pastures to avoid both run-off and a build up.

Despite the efforts of Yarnell and other small farms in Kansas, many large facilities in other areas of the state hold more than 100,000 cattle in very small confinement. Beyond the obvious malodorous issues, the manure run off and methane emissions in these lots are both unavoidable and detrimental. There’s concrete evidence that changes in climate directly correlate with methane emissions. Scientists find methane in bubbles on the surfaces of polar ice sheets.

“It’s proven that human activity changes the environment, and it’s proven that beef production is a part of what is causing these changes,” Feddema said.

Despite the mounting evidence from his research and other sources, Eshel said he doesn’t foresee any significant change in the American diet.

“Our report produced a lot of attention, but basically people just do what they do,” Eshel said. “People aren’t going to stop eating meat just because Professor Joe Somebody from Chicago wrote a paper.”

Feddema said the only possibility for a decrease in meat consumption is through self-interest, as obesity becomes more and more of a problem. But he agreed with Eshel’s outlook.

“I sure haven’t seen the burger stand lines here getting any shorter,” Feddema said.

Watch the trailer of "An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's new documentary on global warming, out in theaters May 24

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People who take the Graduate Record Examination starting in the fall of 2007 will notice some big changes to the format of the exam. Educational Testing Service, the company that administers the exam, is revamping it to provide more accurate information about the capabilities of test-takers.

The exam has long been used by many graduate schools and programs to measure a student's aptitude for succeeding in graduate coursework. Dawn Piacentino, associate director of GRE client relations at ETS, said that the new GRE exam will place more emphasis on real-life scenarios and include more diverse reading passages in some sections. To make the exam more relevant and valuable to graduate admissions departments, ETS will eliminate analogies and place less dependence on vocabulary. The new exam will rely on a fixed format to create a standardized benchmark for determining success.

"The revised exam will better focus on skills that are necessary for success in graduate school, Piacentino said. "In both the verbal and quantitative sections, test-takers will be responding to test questions that are closer to the kinds of activities they will be involved with regularly in graduate school."

Time Makes The Difference The GRE has both computer-based and paper-based structures. The following graphs serve as comparisons between the lengths of each part of the exam on the two different forms. (Click for enlargement) Source of graph data: Educational Testing Service

Most graduate programs at the University of Kansas require GRE scores for admission consideration, with the exception of some music, art, and design programs that put more emphasis on portfolios or work completed in the field, instead. The School of Journalism prefers GRE scores from applicants but will accept LSAT and GMAT scores for certain graduate programs. GRE scores are combined with grade point averages, letters of recommendation and other evidence of academic work and experience to determine admittance into programs.

The revised exam is also intended to help administrators in these programs better select graduate students in the application process. Carole Ross, assistant dean of the graduate school and international programs at KU, said she hopes the changes will provide more accurate information to the University.

"We hope it will teach us more about the quality of our graduate students," Ross said. It might provide faculty with better information of the applicants skills and abilities."

The exam will change from an adaptive format to a more fixed format. Questions on the original exam once used computers to modify questions to suit the difficulty levels of each test-taker as they answered more questions on the exam. The new exam will not adapt to each test-taker, but instead will create more of a standardized benchmark to gauge a test-taker's ability.

The new exam will also tackle security issues. The original exam relied on the same pool of questions for all the tests given throughout the world. Piacentino said that five years ago ETS discovered that test-takers in Asia were memorizing questions as they took the exam and then posting them on the Internet for test-takers in different time zones to view. In response to this issue, the revised exam will use a brand new test form and set of questions each day the exam is given, preventing memorization.

The new exam was slated to begin this year, but Piacentino said its release was pushed back to 2007 to accommodate for the extensive changes.

The changes will prompt an increase in the price of the exam, too. Though the new exam won't hit testing centers until 2007, this July the price of the exam will increase from $115 to $130. The increase will allow for greater accessibility. The revised exam will be administered on 29 different dates and will increase from being given out in 600 testing areas worldwide to 2,500 areas worldwide, to include test-takers who live in more rural areas that originally did not offer the exam.

"More people will also be able to take it now," Ross said. "Not as many students will petition for admittance into graduate programs because they dont live in an area where the test was given."

Ross said the inability for students to take the test because they lived in rural areas is most common in international students. Ross said 6,000 international students are currently enrolled in graduate programs at KU. International students who are already enrolled as undergraduates at KU can take the exam on campus. The exam is also offered in Hays, Overland Park, Pittsburg, Topeka and Wichita.

Over 500,000 people take the GRE worldwide each year. With the increase in testing facilities those numbers are expected to go up. ETS hopes the increase in test-takers will make the exam even more valuable to programs and students.

While the changes are expected to improve the exam, they have also prompted faculty members and students to question the previous validity and relevance of the GRE. John Poggio, professor of psychology and co-director of the Center for Educational Testing and Evaluation in the School of Education, said the significance of the GRE to graduate admissions processes should be considered to determine the benefit of the changes.

"The exam serves a small slice of the pie about trying to determine a person's readiness for graduate studies," Poggio said. "The real question is how much weight do you give it, because if you made the exam 180 degrees different and it has relatively little weight, who cares?"

Poggio said the School of Education has a minimum combined score it likes to see when examining applicants, but has a history of sometimes disregarding the scores of some students that fall below the mark, if other elements of their application make up for it.

"We don't use it as one single hurdle that must be passed," Poggio said. "It is just one piece of all the information that we consider in the admissions process."

While the GRE is intended to measure the abilities of a student, Poggio thinks the exam misses out on measuring some crucial components that contribute to the overall success of a test-taker. He said that it can't predict the persistence of students who have been successful in their undergraduate careers.

Amber Hall is one person who thinks the exam is an inaccurate predictor. Hall, Spring Branch, Texas senior, will graduate with honors and distinctions in psychology and applied behavioral sciences in May and she will attend a graduate program in family and child studies in the fall. Though Hall exhibited strong academic skills throughout her classes and activities at KU, her mediocre GRE scores failed to reveal the same strengths.

"Obviously my lower score does not reflect how capable I am as a student," Hall said. "If they could make an examination to measure how hard of a worker you are or the perseverance you had when it came to school, I think it would be a different story. A standardized test can't predict how hard you will work as a student no matter how smart you are."

Hall said she thinks the exam could be improved for potential graduate students if it was more tailored to suit the different areas of real-life graduate study. She said she thought the old GRE used analogies, vocabulary and math problems that she will never see in her graduate coursework. She said the exam didn't correctly reflect all the work and learning she accomplished during her time as an undergraduate.

ETS hopes they have an answer for Hall's concerns when the new GRE exam rolls out next year.

Valuable Links

GRE Website

KU's graduate school's Website

Jay Cutt's GRE review and planning Website

Educational Testing Service's Website

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Cindy Rivera, library assistant at Watson Library, remembers that in the old days, libraries had “little old men” who stood at the library entrance and people could not get out until they checked people’s backpacks to be sure that there was a date stamped in the back of library books.

Today, technology checks the books, instead. A door-way security system prevents books from being stolen.

A gateway security system at Watson Library checks people.

“I think that it is a lot harder to steal library books nowadays than that it used be because of the technology,” Rivera said. “The system is very sensitive.”

Today, automation plays a significant role in libraries at the University of Kansas. Technology has replaced what people have to do by hand. However, technology has not lightened the work. The information explosion and continuous technology-upgrading keeps libraries just as busy. Libraries hire more people than they used to.

“We have plenty of work to keep us busy,” Miloche Kottman, program manager of cataloging at Watson Library, said. She said she needed to install patches and upgrades, and always has people to retrain. “Even if the technology makes it faster for us to work, there is actually more for us to do,” she said.

According to Kottman, there was still a card catalog system when she started to work at Watson Library in 1983. “Windows was not invented yet, so a lot of work was done by hand,” she said.

Each library has a portion of the entire collection collesponed to the school’s areas of study, Kottman said.

Today, KU library has several library venders for cataloging. One of the cataloging systems that Watson Library uses is called “Voyager.”

Voyager was introduced July 27, 1999. The library sent a request for purchase to library venders and asked what venders could do, what would be the cost and so on. The venders did presentations of what their systems could do. Some members of the library visited venders, solicted input and finally decided which system to purchase

Sometimes Voyager shuts down because of problems related to a server.

“Last time, we got a lot of the problems because we got a new server and new version of Voyager,” Kottman said. After the upgrading, Voyager did not work well on the server and it took a while to figure out what the problem was. The problem with the server is fixed, but there are still problems related to the upgrade. The vender handles the problems case by case.

Kottoman said KU libraries were “held hostage” by the venders. If the venders do not invent new technology, the libraries can not apply it.

“In library literature, KU libraries are pushing for venders to do more automation of the cataloging systems and they are changing the cataloging rules,” Kottoman said. The new cataloging rules that might simplify the process are coming out in 2008.

According to Kottman, recently, the Chinese orders have switched to a new book-order system that enables records to appear online immediately. However, some books are out of print. “We have to buy used books from somewhere else, and in that case, we have to call and fax them,” Kottman said.

Watson Library still needs extra people to work on the many tasks that technology cannot do. The library adds a number of new and used books (most of them are degital articles or books) each week and the total number keeps doubling. In 2004, the library added 77,732 books; it increased to 83,469 books in 2005, Kottman said.

Rivera, who works in the marking section at Watson Library, said keeping up with the number of books added every week is her challenge now. She is also working on a project to reclassify thousands of old books with old ID numbers and without tattle tapes.

There are two types of the tattle tape. Green one is used for peperback books, and white one is used for hardback books.

A tattle tape is a sticky strip that has a magnetic socket in it; it is put down either the spine of the book or inside one of the pages. They put it in the books so they can not be stolen. Once it is in place, if someone tries to go though the gateway at the library door, it sets off the alarm unless it has been desensitized. When a book is checked out at the circulation desk, a staff member desensitizes the tattle tape.

Rivera said it is the same technology that many stores use for their products. A mark is put on the price tag so that nobody can steal the product. She also said most libraries have a security system like this.

Thanks to security, the number of books stolen has decreased, Rivera said.

“The tattle tape is hard to see and it has become a lot harder to steal our books, than it,” she said.

She said the tattle tape system has been in use for about ten years. The older books do not have a tattle tape on them.

Many new and old books that have not tattle-taped pile up on a desk at Watson Library.

She has had projects for people to go in the stacks and put tattle tapes on the books, but there are still a lot of books without tattle tapes.

“One of our goals is putting tattle tapes on all books,” Rivera said.

She also said that while some books are stolen, most of books are just lost because sometimes students pick them up and put them back in the wrong place.

“That happens a lot,” she said. “We have millions of books and it is hard to keep track of them.”

She said the library has people whose job is just to look for books that are in the wrong place. Automation can tell her whether the book is in the building, but if it is in the wrong place, they have to look for it in a number of stacks.

At this point, she said, no technology can replace people in terms of finding books.

Related Links:
The University of Kansas Libraries
ID Recall Systems

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Nine-year battle to make animal cruelty a felony ended last month

Betsy McLeod returned home last September to find her bunny’s cage empty. The bunny, Coco, wasn’t hiding under the bed or with McLeod’s roommates though. She was dead.

The bunny that McLeod, Overland Park sophomore, bought nearly three months before had been thrown off her balcony by a man who claimed he was too drunk to know what he was doing. “He blamed it on his alcoholism,” McLeod said.

On Sept. 28, that man went to court for charges of animal cruelty. He was sentenced to probation and fined $200. McLeod said she thought it was nothing more than a slap on the wrist for his actions. At the time animal cruelty was not considered a felony in the state of Kansas, though. Today, intentional animal cruelty is a felony according to the Senate Bill 408.

Contributed by Holly Romero.

Quentin the ferret was one several animals rescued from neglect by the Human Society. Holly Romero, Colorado Springs, Colo., senior, adopted Quentin last semester.

For Midge Grinstead, director of the Lawrence Humane Societ, the bill was a nine-year battle. The bill finally passed unanimously through the house in March. Just last month Gov. Kathleen Seblius signed the bill into law.

“It not only passed, but it was a slam dunk,” Grinstead said.

According to the bill people convicted of intentional animal cruelty will be sentenced to a minimum of 30 days or a maximum of one year in jail. While in jail, they must have a psychological evaluation. They would also be fined $500 - $5,000 depending on the severity of the abuse. Once convicted a person cannot own an animal for the next five years.

For McLeod though, the bill came to late.

“I wish they would have made it a felony a long time ago,” McLeod said. “It should have been a felony.” The Lawrence Humane Society performed more than 750 investigations on animal cruelty and neglect last year according to Grinstead. About 20 percent of the investigations resulted in the animals being removed from the home.

If you can take in an animal that’s been abused or neglected it’s an amazing thing.

-Holly Romero, Colorado Springs, Colo., senior

Dogs, especially larger breeds such as pit bulls and rottweilers, account for a majority of animal cruelty cases, Grinstead said. The most common type of abuse for all animals the Humane Society sees is neglect, though. Under the new law, neglect isn’t automatically a felony; only on the second offense of neglect can a person be convicted of a felony.

Animals that are removed from homes because of abuse or neglect are taken in at the Humane Society. After the police department gives releases for the animals, they can be adopted. Background checks for animal cruelty are done on anyone adopting a pet.

Contributed by Holly Romero.

Holly Romero and her boyfriend, Dan Miller, hold Romero's pet ferrets, Baz, left, and Quentin. Quentin was neglected by his previous owners before being adopted from the Humane Society by Romero.

People interesting in adopting an animal rescued from abuse are informed about the animal’s history before adopting. Knowing the history of the pet doesn’t discourage people from adopting though.

“I think they all want to help,” Grinstead said. “People are very sympathetic and want to adopt.” Holly Romero, Colorado Springs, Colo., senior, is one such person. Last fall she went to nearly every pet store in Lawrence in search for another ferret, but ended up at the Humane Society. Quentin, a neglected ferret, arrived at the shelter with a family of ferrets.

“If you can take in an animal that’s been abused or neglected it’s an amazing thing,” Romero. “I immediately fell in love with Quentin.”

The Humane Society told Romero that Quentin came from a home with a number of pets that had been neglected. Grinstead remembers when the ferrets arrive at the shelter they were invested with fleas and underweight. When Romero first brought Quentin home he was less active than her other ferret, Baz.

“He slept a lot and seemed exhausted,” she said. “It would take Quentin awhile to come out of the cage, like he was scared.”

Quentin is more active and less timid now, Romero said.

The Humane Society has an adoption process and application for all animals. Watch the video to learn more about the process and what students don't often think about before adopting a pet.

Today, the fleas and fears are gone, but Quentin deals with a more permanent problem because of his neglect.

“He doesn’t have good use of his back legs,” Romero said.

From what she had been told, Quentin’s legs suffer from being caged and walking on the wire floors of the cage for too long.

Romero said the new law would give people more of a reason to not abuse their animals. Not that people should need a reason to not abuse their pets, she said.

Posted by Rachel Seymour at 01:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When the phone chimed for the 200th time, Melissa Coons, Overland Park junior, had had enough. Her phone would go off in class, while she was at work, and even while she slept. It seemed as though it never stopped ringing. Her life had been disturbed enough by her ex-boyfriend’s relentless text messaging. She finally decided to change her phone number.

Most phones that are currently being sold are compatible for text messaging. Most providers are selling phone plans that include text messaging packages. However, going over your alotted texts costs ten cents for every extra text message.

This is an increasingly common occurrence in the new technological savvy world of cell phones. Text messaging has opened the door to another medium of conversation. However, when the conversation is unwanted, it is called another thing: harassment.

Yet, this type of harassment is gaining more notice after a recent case in Wisconsin. A 26-year-old man sent his 19-year-old ex-girlfriend over 1,000 text messages in a one month period. Charges on the woman’s phone totaled $146.40. Each message that was sent to her after her monthly allotted text messages were used were ten cents a piece. The woman was eventually forced to change her phone number.

Text messaging is a way for people to send short messages to each other on their cell phones without actually speaking into the phone. It is a popular way for teens and young adults to communicate and is gaining popularity in today’s fast paced world.

State officials are starting to notice text message harassment and are taking action. Oklahoma legislators passed House bill 1804 in March 2005 making harassment by sending numerous text messages a criminal act. The new law states that it is against the law for anyone to use telecommunication or electronic communication, regardless of whether a conversation ensues or not, to annoy, threaten, harass, or annoy the person at the called number. The law goes on to state that anyone who is involved in or knowingly permits someone to make repeated calls or electronic communications or simultaneous calls or electronic communications with the intent of harassing the called number to be breaking the law.

“The texts would just keep coming. My phone bill was horrifying,” said Coons about the ordeal.

In Kansas, there are a couple laws that pertain to phone harassment. Kansas statute pertaining to telephone harassment says that making a telephone call, whether or not conversation ensues, with intent to abuse, threaten or harass any person at the called number is against the law. It is also against Kansas law to make or cause someone’s phone to repeatedly ring, with intent to harass any person at the called number. Kansas has yet to revise this statute to accommodate other, newer forms of communication such as text messaging. There have been no efforts to attempt to change the current statutes as of yet.

“It’s really creepy that people are doing this. I think that people should just get a life,” said Adam Turk, Baldwin senior.

Currently, the Lawrence Police Department files all types of phone harassment under the same category so it is unknown how many text message harassment cases have occurred in Lawrence.

“I have some friends that have had similar things happen to them. It’s just not fair that someone else can do this,” said Coons.

Most states have laws like Kansas that do not single out text message harassment. The laws apply to telephone use in general.

Posted by Megan Heffley at 01:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Lynne Braddock-Zollner doesn’t want future generations of Lawrence residents to look at the Lawrence Register of Historic Places and see only high-style, architecturally advanced, commercial and residential properties.

Braddock-Zollner, the city’s Historic Resources Administrator, knows that if this happens future residents will say, ‘Wow, look how everyone lived,’ - a clear contrast to the city’s history. Instead, the mission of the Historic Resources Commission (HRC) and of the Lawrence register is to preserve the entire character of the community, from the fine commercial properties to the poor worker’s home, so that generations can have a tangible account of the city’s history.

“The important part is giving something tangible to what we read about in history books. They [Lawrence residents] don’t just read about it, they can go and visit these places,” Braddock-Zollner said.

This fall the HRC added Grover Barn, the only structure still standing in Lawrence today with a direct connection to the Underground Railroad, to the city register of historic places. The city commission is now considering a proposal from the Underground Railroad Association of Douglas County to transform the barn into a museum. This summer the site will be vacant for the first time since 1982, when it was renovated and extended to accommodate city fire station No.4. The additions of properties like Grover Barn to the register guarantee the preservation of their historical significance. But they also give property owners the prestige and attention that is necessary to fund projects that could bring the history of these structures out from the text books and into the lives of residents.

Historic Grover Barn will be left vacant this summer when firefighters at Fire Station No. 4 move to a new location as part of the city's public safety plan.

The HRC and the Lawrence Register of Historic Places were both set up through the city’s conservation of historic resources code, chapter 22, with the intent to identify, protect and preserve historic sites within the city of Lawrence. To date, there are over 90 Lawrence properties and 10 historic districts individually listed on the city, state and national registers. The state and national registers, governed by the Kansas State Historical Society and the National Parks Service, respectively, serve as models for the city of Lawrence’s mission to protect and maintain the character of historic sites and properties that make them significant to the city’s history.

According to the Underground Railroad Association's proposal to the city commission, in 1857 abolitionist Joel Grover began construction of a barn on his property, located on what today is Stonebarn Terrace in Lawrence, Kan. He documented the construction of the barn - where he acquired the wood and stones- in a diary now showcased in the Kenneth Spencer Research Library on the University of Kansas campus. Soon after the barn’s completion in 1858, it began serving as an Underground Railroad station; sheltering abolitionists and the African-American slaves they were helping escape from slave territories throughout the south.

In January 1859, Grover and his wife, Emily, welcomed to Grover Barn abolitionist John Brown and a group of 11 slaves escaping slaveholders in Missouri. This stop would be Brown’s last along the Kansas Underground Railroad and the most researched and famous event to transpire within the walls of the barn.

Judy Sweets, co-founder of the Underground Railroad Association of Douglas County, said it is not only the rich history of events that transpired within the barn but a desire to commemorate the actions of the Grover family that lead the association to propose the development of The Grover Barn Underground Railroad Interpretive Center/ Abolition Museum.

“The thing about the Grovers is that they were a young couple, they had an 18-month child when the group came in with John Brown. We feel that they were just so courageous to let these slaves stay there, because they could have been fined or sent to prison,” Sweets said.

Sweets and the association proposed the abolition museum to the city in February. If city commissioners accept the proposal, the most recent addition to the barn would showcase interactive wall maps of Underground Railroad routes, photographs, artifacts and interactive exhibits. All oriented toward teaching visitors the unique history of Grover Barn and of the Kansas Underground Railroad, as well as linking the site to the struggle for freedom that was occurring at a national level prior to the civil war.

According to the proposal, the barn would stay “close to the original appearance, with minimal exhibits.” Sweets said that museum visitors would enter the barn after viewing the educational exhibits of the modern museum. “Then people could go into the actual barn and see the ax’s marks on the wood, the actual stone and the place where the slaves were,” Sweets said.

Since the February proposal, the city has shown interest in the museum. Sue Hack, city commissioner, said the abolition museum is a perfect example of creative reuse of a historic structure. However, the city will not approve the plan until they are certain that the association has the funding to operate and maintain the building.

“As to funding, business plans, etc., those are still in the planning stages,” Hack said.

Sweets said the association hopes to raise $250,000 by December 2007 and is currently working on a market analysis to present to city commissioners upon its completion later this year.

Although there is no financial gain for a property after being added to the Lawrence Register of Historic Places, there are a number of other incentives. For the city, placing a site like Grover Barn on the register guarantees that even if the property is relinquished to private hands any changes to that structure must be approved through a design review process by the HRC and the city commission.

“I think that it gives some level of security that the building, or at least the façade of the building, will be maintained for the pleasure of the public,” Braddock-Zollner said of the city’s incentive to have Grover Barn added to the register.

Unlike the city register, financial incentives through tax credit programs are available to properties listed on the state and national registers of historic places. However, because the architectural integrity of Grover Barn was compromised through various additions and modifications, it is ineligible for listing on either the state or national register.

Nevertheless, Sweets and the association believe that the addition of the barn to the Lawrence register will help the development of the abolition museum in ways far beyond documenting the historic site. The association believe the listing will attract corporate and private donors who are looking to contribute to a historic site.

“I think that when talking with possible donors the fact that it is on the [city's] historic preservation register will help,” Sweets said.

For example, the listing of Grover Barn on the register may make it eligible to receive funding from a federal bill, currently being entertained, that would establish a national heritage area for much of eastern Kansas, including historic properties within Lawrence. The establishment of the Bleeding Kansas and the Enduring Struggle for Freedom National Heritage Area would allocate $10 million to heritage tourism efforts in parts of Kansas and Missouri.

“I think this [Grover Barn] would be one of the major sites on the national heritage area if that were passed,” Sweets said when talking about foundations and grants that may contribute the development of the museum.

As a preservationist, the designation of properties like Grover Barn to the Lawrence Register of Historic Places eases two of Braddock-Zollner’s primary concerns about historic properties.

The first is that the building will be used. “It has been proven that buildings that are used have a longer lifespan than buildings that sit vacant,” Braddock-Zollner said.

At Grover Barn, for the prospective owners of the Underground Railroad Association, the listing on the register will help attract the necessary funds to develop the abolition museum which will attract residents, visitors and tour groups to the site each day.

The second concern is that the building is being used in a compatible way, so as not to harm the historic integrity.

Regardless of the city’s decision about the proposed museum, the listing of Grover Barn on the register guarantees the protection of the structure and of the historical significance the property brings to the community.

Watch here to learn more about the history of Grover Barn.

Read the Underground Railroad Association of Douglas County's proposal for an abolition museum.

Posted by Elyse Weidner at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Summer is approaching quickly and students are finding themselves busier than ever. As if the struggles of finals aren’t enough, students are also immersed in the summer internship search. With over 50 percent of KU students pursuing internships, it has become a staple before full-time employment.

Internships may be one of the most important factors leading into full-time employment. However, they don’t just serve as employment opportunities. They have become a way for students to decide whether or not their projected career path suites them.

Now it isn’t about saying you had an internship. They act as quality resume components, indicators of career paths, and a helpful tool for companies. Internships have become more essential than ever, and students must learn how to approach the situation.

Check campus bulletins for internship opportunities

“Internships are important because they are positioning experiences,” said Jennifer Jordan, director of career services for the School of Business. “They allow students to assess what they like.”

Jordan said that doing an internship before graduation is important because it gives students the chance to change their minds about their career path. Without the intern experience more newly graduates have to go back to school.

“They are deciding they don’t like the doors their major opened,” said Angela Haar, general manager of ESPNplus.

Haar, who took eight internships when she was in college, suggests that students take as many internships as they can find because no one wants to spend extra money on schooling they don’t have to go through. According to collegeboard.com, the average costs for a public four-year university has risen 7.1 percent from last year. Patricia Noland, career development coordinator for the School of Journalism said in order to prevent spending extra money on school start internships before your senior year. In fact most employers would rather hire an intern that has at least one semester left in school.

Large companies are starting to implement internship programs. Companies like ESPN and Bernstein and Rein have strong internship programs with strict guidelines. “We pride ourselves on our internship program,” said Marcos DeLeon, vice president of human resources for Bernstein and Rein.

Bernstein and Rein, an advertising agency in Kansas City, has a 10-week program that starts in June. They hire only eight interns. Each of these interns is required to be majoring in advertising and have at least a semester left.

“We have these requirements because they are beneficial to us and the student,” DeLeon said.

Bernstein and Rein tries to hire interns that they could potentially hire full-time in the future. They make sure the students haven’t graduated for two reasons: so they can change their major if they decide against advertising, or so the students know what areas they need to work on after their internship.

DeLeon said that he doesn't want college graduates to dislike their jobs. Internships can help prevent this.

Shane Ewing, Boulder, Colo., junior has an internship on Wall Street this summer. He said it was important to him to start early because he has no idea what he wants to do when he graduates.

“I have never done an internship before, but everyone is telling me I need to do it now so I don’t end up going back to school for another four years,” Ewing said.

If a pre-graduation internship doesn’t work out, it is still better to get one before entering the workforce. Jordan said that it looks better on your resume. Timeliness is important, but having the experience is the most valuable part.

In order to put themselves into a good position to obtain an internship, there are many steps students can take.

“Go to the career fair, use your networking, start early, be open-minded and have a polished resume,” Jordan said.

There are many more internships offered then there are students that apply, but competition is still fierce. This is why it is important to be as prepared as possible.

“Students all want the same ones (internships), because quality internships can be hard to find,” Jordan said.

However, this is a trend that is changing. Paper-pushing internships are becoming more rare. The economy has helped this situation.

“Since most internships are paid, the slow improvement of the economy has created better internships,” Jordan said. “Now companies can afford them.”

With all the opportunities available there are a number of places students can look. Bulletin boards placed throughout the university, surfing through the University online database and meeting with career placement advisors are just a few of the ways to apply.

“There really is no excuse not to have an internship,” Haar said. “I would much rather hire a student that has had one.”

Posted by Nicole Braman at 12:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Angel Alvarez, owner of Tortas Jalisco, can’t say no to his never-ending requests for Mexican Coca-Cola served in a tall one liter scuffed and scratched glass bottle. It’s what his customers prefer. The bottle he said is a lot of the attraction for Mexican consumers. It is something from home and the sense of nostalgia makes them loyal to the drink. Many consumers said “it just tastes better.” Alvarez thinks the quality of Coca-Cola in a glass bottle is better, fresher and smoother.

Coca-Cola bottles are shipped from Mexico. They contain the secret Coke formula but use cane sugar instead of corn syrup as in the United States. Mexicans purchase the beverage for approximately $1.50 at local Mexican Markets, Checkers grocery store and some restaurants.

Customers loyalty may be put to the test however if glass bottles become obsolete. Mexican lawsuits over glass cuts and injuries especially in children and economic concerns has bottlers considering switching to plastic. A move that worries Jesus Zuniga, owner of Burrito King and the newly opened La Mexicana Supermercada on 23rd St. because he isn’t sure if as many people will buy it in plastic bottles.

He and his wife Margarita hear from their customers about the sale of Coca-Cola in Mexico. One customer, Margarita said, hadn’t seen a glass bottle in months and he just came from Mexico. She said large cities such as Mexico City have already turned to plastic bottles.

The glass bottles sold at La Mexicana Supermercado, which opened just last month, are already seeing changes. One is the plastic screw cap some now have instead of the metal crown. The other is the price. An individual bottle, which stands taller than the rest of the beverages at one liter, sells from $1.25 there to $2.00 at Tortas Jalisco.

Zuniga said he can’t keep up with the sales. He keeps the Mexican Coca-Cola stocked but by noon one day last week, it was already half sold.

“It is a better tasting drink in a bottle,” he said. “You can tell it’s from Mexico.”

Cane sugar is used in Mexican cola instead of corn syrup as in the United States. Depending on who is drinking the difference can be subtle or distinct. Coca-Cola’s secret formula is altered in regions around the world depending on their sugar supply.

Each bottle at his store is labeled with a Department of Agriculture stamped nutrition label in English. The Coca-Cola is bought in Mexico at a cheaper price than it is in the United States. It is then shipped to Omaha, Neb., Chicago or Dallas.

The price of a case of 24 bottles has increased in recent years. Zuniga said it used to be $17 per case and now it is $27. He barely breaks even he said. He attributes the rise to higher gas prices. His wife said she doesn’t know if it is because of a shortage but she knows in many states the glass cola is not available anymore. Their distributor in Chicago informed them that next month they may not have the cola in stock and if they do it could go up to as high as $38 per case.

Margarita said they would continue to buy glass bottles until their customers didn’t want to pay for them.

“We will keep buying it and pass the price on to our customers,” she said. “We will give them a choice between glass and plastic. It will be up to our customers how much they want to pay.”

Emilio Lara, a regular customer at Tortas Jalisco, said that because he likes the Mexican Coke so much better he would buy it in a plastic bottle, even if it were more expensive.

Another reason there may be an increase in price she predicts is that the U.S. government may be trying to ban imported goods. Alvarez said Coca-Cola doesn’t like the sell of Mexican cola in large companies and they don’t want the bottles to be exported for free.

Checkers, the only grocer retail that sells Mexican Coca-Cola sees a similar demand. Scott Drevnick, manager, said they just ordered a case and it almost all sold in one day. He said they sell international foods because they like to cater to as many people as they can.

Hispanics are a growing number in Lawrence. The 2000 United States Bureau of Statistics reports there are 188,252 or 7 percent Hispanics in Kansas. Kansas’ 2000 population was 2,688,418. In Lawrence, there is a Hispanic population of 2,921 or 3.6 percent. Hispanics are 12.5 percent of the United States population.

Mexico recycles their bottles to cut down on costs. Alvarez said in general more plastic is being sold in Mexico now. The Jarritos beverages sell plastic three liters, especially for large families he said.

Raul Perez owner of La Estreya, a Mexican market tucked in Holiday Plaza on 25th and Iowa Streets said he hasn't heard of any plans for plastic bottles to start coming in, but he doesn't think it would deter sales. He has seen more plastic Jarritos beverages being shipped to his store over the past two years. Perez said his coca-cola sells well at $1.50 per bottle. He buys a case for $22.50 up from $19.50 just last year.

Time will tell if glass bottles will become obsolete in Lawrence. Coca-cola is a staple of many people's diets in the United States and because many Mexican consumers won't stray from their Mexican recipe the container change may not change the price.

Visit Coca-Cola Web sites:

Posted by Erin Castaneda at 06:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This allergy season seems to be in full swing at the University of Kansas. With beautiful blooming flowers, green grass and sunny days inevitably come itching noses and red eyes for those who are allergic to pollen and mold.

According to the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology, this allergy, frequently called hay fever, affects 35 million people in the United States. It is triggered by allergens such as pollens or molds.

The most common allergies include pollens, molds, dust mites, animal dander (dead skin flakes from animals with fur), foods, medications, cockroach droppings and insect stings. Most of these allergies are in full swing during the spring.

Dr. Randall Rock of Watkins Health Center said the current allergy season might be particularly bad news for allergy sufferers. He said that the relatively mild winter last year allowed for early blooming of many plants. He also said that the current increase in moisture would increase mold spore counts.

Click play to view video on seasonal allergies at KU

Bryan Busby, chief meteorologist at KMBC 9 NEWS, agrees that last winter's mild weather is to blame for the early start of allergy suffering. He said temperatures were above normal and there was not much snow or precipitation, both of which made plants come up sooner in the season.

"Plants were 'fooled' into thinking winter was over, so they started to sprout out of the ground earlier," Busby said.

Not only were the plants fooled, but so were millions of allergy sufferers. People with allergies didn't expect to have allergy problems right after Christmas. Busby said that viewers of his show caught him off-guard in late winter when they demanded a pollen count.

"I remember getting calls from viewers in February complaining about the pollen, and officially those readings aren't taken until much later in the year, so I couldn't give them a number for them to gauge their discomfort," He said.

Latricia Bradley, Kansas City sophomore, said she noticed her allergy problems started much earlier than usual. "I am usually allergy-free until May or June, but this year it all started in March," Bradley said.

If the weather is dry this season, people who are allergic to pollen may sniffle even more. Ed Roberts, a meteorologist at the Kansas City Weather Podcast, said that drier weather leads to a longer pollen season.

"The simple premise is that with nothing to wash the pollen out of the air, the pollen remains suspended," Roberts said. "The pollen does not move until either a different air mass moves in, or rain helps to wash some of it out."

Jennifer Schack, meteorologist at Channel 6News, said the average high temperature in January of last year was 52.5 degrees fahrenheit. Two record high temperatures were broken in January:one on January 1 at 66 degrees fahrenheit, and again on January 15 at 65 degrees fabrenheit. And, Schack said, according to official Lawrence records, we only had a "trace" amount of precipitation during the entire month of February.

"January went down as the third warmest January on record here in lawrence (records began in 1893), and the warmest on record for Topeka and Kansas City," Schack said.

The relatively dry weather last winter could be a relief to those allergic to mold, since it needs moisture to grow and release mold spores. But with the recent increase in precipitation, the mold spore count should start to go up and then there will be many more mold spores in the air to irritate those with allergies.

The amount of wind also affects allergies. Dr. Gillian Shepherd, MD, chair of the Education Sub-Committee of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, said that the amount of wind also affects pollen counts.

"On windy days, or for days after high winds, pollen counts are high because the pollen has been spread throughout the air,” Shepherd said.

Overall, Dixon said that a person's allergy season experience depends on which allergen they are allergic to, and how much of that allergen is present in the area.

"In any given year, due to weather conditions, different pollens and molds may be more prevalent, leading some people to have a better allergy season, and some to have a worse one," Dixon said.

Some people who are genetically disposed may suddenly develop allergy symptoms. Kristin Moody, Wichita sophomore, said she has been experiencing more allergies than ever before this spring. Her allergies seem to have sprung up out of nowhere.

"It's weird, because usually I don't have allergies. But for weeks now my nose has itched and I've had a dry cough," She said. "I like spring, but why do flowers have to pollinate?"

Kristin is not alone. Nearly 35 million people suffer from allergic rhinitis, or seasonal allergies. Dr. William Dixon of Student Health Center said that people may develop allergies after a move or being repeatedly exposed to an allergen.

"Someone who moved to Lawrence may be fine for several years, and then develop overt allergy symptoms," He said.

Fortunately, many non-prescription medications are now available to alleviate allergy symptoms effectively. Claritin and Allegra are two allergy medications that just recently became over-the-counter. Rock said that he has not experienced a significant increase in student visits to the Watkins Allergy Clinic. He attributed this to students finding over-the-counter medications useful in treating allergy symptoms.

“With effective, lower-cost allergy medication now available without prescription, the number of visits to our clinic may be impacted by appropriate self-care choices,” Rock said.

LINKS:

Click here to see today's pollen and mold count

Check out Children's Mercy Hospital pollen count

See ABC News video on allergies

Posted by Anna Bassham at 02:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Women’s soccer is a non-revenue sport at the University of Kansas, but for a team that won the Big 12 Championship in 2004, its facilities pale in comparison to that of the 2005 Big 12 Champions – Texas A&M.

Aggie Soccer Stadium, according to Texas A&M’s official athletics Web site, opened in 1994 and has a 3,000 seat capacity. The stadium also includes a press box and 500 reserved seats for fans. The scoreboard at Aggie Soccer Stadium features a color light board and statistics screen in addition to a game clock and score display. The stadium’s drainage system makes, as the Web site says, “postponements and cancellations of practices and matches all but a thing of the past.”

Kansas’ official athletics Web site makes no mention of stadium capacity, a press box, an extravagant scoreboard or a state-of-the-art drainage system.

Instead, it merely mentions that SuperTarget Field opened in 1995 and is “one of the top soccer facilities in the region.” A modest claim when high school fields are its main competition in the region.

Candace Dunback, Kansas Athletics media relations office manager, said via email that SuperTarget Field’s capacity was 1,000 before a microburst in March destroyed nearly all of the seating at the field.

Fans who attend a home Kansas soccer match will notice that, rather than a press box, there is a press table between the team benches, seating is on a first-come, first-served basis and the scoreboard is generic, at best.

SuperTarget Field’s most inconvenient characteristic, though, is its drainage system. If heavy rains hit the field, the team and its fans must usually travel to Hummer Sports Park in Topeka for games.

“That sucks because it takes away from students who would want to come by,” said Erin Ferguson, who played soccer for Kansas from 2004 to 2005. “We don’t get as much support that way. That’s also like, that (the field in Topeka) is not our field.”

About the only characteristics the two fields have in common are that each have covered team benches and are near their respective training facilities.

Off the field, Texas A&M soccer players enjoy a “spacious” locker room and a “luxurious” players’ lounge.

Kansas soccer players get the pleasure of sharing their locker room with visiting basketball teams. Jim Marchiony, Kansas associate athletics director, said the Kansas rowing team was the only other Kansas team that shared its locker room with visiting teams and didn’t know if it was common for teams around the Big 12 to share locker rooms.

“We don’t have to have the fancy stuff,” said Emily Strinden, a sophomore on the Kansas soccer team. “I guess maybe it keeps us humble, but it would be nice to have a locker room that we don’t have to share with the visiting basketball team.”

Strinden said sharing a locker room with visiting teams could be problematic. She said on one occasion a visiting coach dumped over a water jug in the locker room out of frustration for how the team was playing. Strinden said the water eventually molded and made the locker room smell for months.

Ferguson said she found sharing a locker room irritating for another reason.

“I think the main thing with that is having to have someone – whether it be a coach or one of the girls – be like, ‘Hey guys, make sure to lock all your stuff and don’t leave anything out,’ because there’s always the risk of theft,” Ferguson said.

Help may be on the way, as Marchiony said several upgrades were on the horizon for the soccer team.

First and foremost would be new bleachers to replace the ones lost this spring. Marchiony also mentioned a press box for the complex. However, the most significant upgrade Marchony mentioned was a new surface for the field, citing the current one’s draining issues.

Unfortunately for the soccer team, no timetable has been set for the resurfacing. Strinden said she thought they were next in line for an upgrade after the rowing team received a boathouse. Marchiony said the new surface wasn’t guaranteed but was important to the athletics department.

“That’s on our radar screen as something that we really want to do and we’ll look to actively fund-raise for it,” Marchiony said. “The top priority is to redo the field.”

The players may have no control over what upgrades are made or how long it takes for upgrades to come, but Ferguson said there was one thing players could do to facilitate upgrades from the department.

“I would say we’re disappointed that we don’t get enough recognition for being such a strong team, but I think that as we keep getting better, we’re going to get more stuff,” Ferguson said. “If we keep proving ourselves and keep winning, they can’t ignore us.”

Aggie Soccer Stadium official Web page: http://www.aggieathletics.com/facilities.php?FID=1

Jayhawk Soccer Comples official Web page: http://kuathletics.cstv.com/facilities/kan-supertarget-field.html

Posted by Shawn Shroyer at 09:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)