xt75mk65750k https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt75mk65750k/data/mets.xml The Kentucky Kernel Kentucky -- Lexington The Kentucky Kernel 2006-04-05 Earlier Titles: Idea of University of Kentucky, The State College Cadet newspapers  English   Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. The Kentucky Kernel  The Kentucky Kernel, April 05, 2006 text The Kentucky Kernel, April 05, 2006 2006 2006-04-05 2020 true xt75mk65750k section xt75mk65750k OPINIONS

IN OUR OPINION When the grades are tallied, 56 President Becky
Ellingsworth failed to live up to her campaign promises PAGE 6

 

Wednesday, April 5. 2006

Gas leak to close Rose Strete again

By Dariush Shata
THE KENTUCKY KERNEL

A leaky underground gas pipe that
caused the closure of Rose Street on
Thursday is leaking again, officials
said, and though another closure is in
order to repair the leak, it is not seri-
ous enough to merit a similar emer-
gency response.

Just before noon yesterday, UK p0
lice were alerted to the smell of gas af-
ter someone made a 911 call from a
cell phone. Several UK officials, in-
cluding UK Fire Marshal Garry Beach
and Emergency Management Special-
ist Travis Manley, came to the scene,
along with Lexington Fire Depart-
ment personnel, who were called just
as a precaution.

A technician from Columbia Gas
was called to the scene and was able to
detect the gas leak with instruments,
but said the leak was not large enough
to be a concern. .

“It’s not serious enough right

now,’ Beach said, standing a few feet
from the spot where the leak was de-
tected, and where occasional whiffs of
gas could be smelled. “I wouldn’t be
standing here if I thought it was a se
rious situation.”

Manley also said Columbia Gas
has assigned the leak at lower priority
than Thursday night’s leak.

“They labeled it as a priority two,”
Manley said. “The levels of gas were
only (detectable) in the street and very
low."

Columbia Gas will return to repair
the leak within 72 hours from the ini-
tial inspection yesterday afternoon.
Until then, Rose Street remains open.
Once the repairs commence. Rose
Street will be closed just as it was
Thursday night.

“If they dig this up, we’ll have to
close from Columbia (Avenue) all the
way to Rose Lane,” Beach said.

The initial leak was detected
Thursday night by a UK police officer
on bike patrol. The Lexington Fire De-

 

Celebrating 35 years of independence

partment was called to the scene and
the area was blocked off for three
hours - including a closure of Rose
Street from Patterson Drive to Colum-
bia Avenue — until repairs were fm-
ished.

In the meantime, UK officials have
taken precautions in case the leak
worsens. On Thursday, the Delta Delta
Delta and Alpha Delta Pi sorority
houses, along with St. Augustine’ s
Episcopal Chapel, were temporarily
evacuated while fire department per-
sonnel checked the buildings for gas.

“We did speak with those sorority
houses and told them if they smelled
any odor to dial 911 right away," Man-
ley said.

Beach said he still isn’t sure why
the leak has reappeared.

“Those (Columbia Gas) guys
seemed to do a real good job last time,
so I don’t know,“ Beach said.

Email
dshafa@kykernel.com

 

 

 

SG voter turnout at UK ranks last in SEC

 

 

 

WWI STAFF

UK students line up to vote during Student Government elections last week at the WT. Young Library. This year 349 more students voted than did In the last election.

STUDENT APATHY AT'LARGE

By Tim Wiseman and Sean Rose
THE IIENTUCIIY mm

Although more UK students hit the polls
for Student Government elections last week
than did last year, the school still trails all
other Southeastern Conference schools in
voter turnout.

Last week, 11.9 percent of UK students
voted in elections, the lowest among the 12
universities in the SEC this year, even with

Percent of Student Voters

 

‘\
M" \s I” \‘b

349 more students voting than last year. UK
kept its polls open 44 hours longer this year.
but the increase was far less than the pre-
dicted gain.

“In general, UK has a very apathetic stu-
dent body when it comes to student body
elections," current 86 President Becky
Ellingsworth said.

Florida had the highest turnout. with 29
percent of its students voting in elections
earlier this spring.

I Online Voting Available

“People really get involved here." said
Sandy Vernon, office manager for Florida’s
Student Government. “They put a lot of
money into advertising — TV ads. flyers.
everything. It’s just the nature of the cam-
pus."

The average turnout for the SEC schools
was 18.1 percent, as all but four schools had
turnouts below 20 percent.

“There‘s a problem with apathy W peo-
ple just don't care about SG elections," said
Brittany Loper. the vice president-elect at
Alabama. “The people who do care vote."

Alabama uses on—campus polling for its
elections. but the majority of the SEC has
moved to some form of online polling. As of
this spring, eight schools have voting over
the Internet.

The move to online voting helped spark
turnout at most of the schools, including
Louisiana State.

Last year. a school-record 9,000 students.
or about 30 percent of the school. voted in
LSU‘s election when the school allowed stu-
dents to vote through their university e-
mail. Turnout dropped to 4.500 students
this year, but Crawford Lavoy. executive as-
sistant to the LSU SG president, said that
decrease was a reflection of a lopsided elec-
tion.

“I would theorize it was a couple of
things «— the move to online voting made it
very accessible to students and there was a
very intense election last year." Lavoy said.
“Typically we have a large problem with
voter apathy at LSU. It comes down to tick-
ets getting out and telling students they
need to go vote.

“This year there was just one ticket, and
everyone saw it was dominant."

UK's 80 Senate mandated that freshman

SeeVoteonpage3

www.kykernel.com

site of
gas leak

Stretch of
Rose
Street to
be closed
for
repairs
within
the week

Sophomore guard says
he plans to hire an agent

By Chris DeLotell
TWWL

Rajon Rondo has
played his last game in a
Kentucky uniform.

In a move that many
expected, the sopho-
more point guard an-
nounced this afternoon
that he will enter the
NBA Draft. But Rondo
surprisingly said he
plans to hire an agent.

By doing so. he
would lose his final two
years of college eligibili-
ty.

“1 am confident with the feedback I've
received about by draft status." Rondo
said in a news conference at Memorial
Coliseum. “I believe I can compete for a
strong position in the first round. I am
not afraid to do what it takes to become a

See Rondo on page 4

Partisan
debate
renews
rivalry

By Chris Miles
THE krNruckv kERNti

The UK College Democrats and Col-
lege Republicans met in the Center The
atre at the Student Center last night in
the second annual open debate between
the two sides. which dealt primarily with
current political issues, especially those
that deal with students.

Moderated by Horace Bartilow. an as-
sociate professor of political science.
each side was presented with seven gen-
eral questions covering the subjects of
wiretapping. campaign finance. the Iraq
war. immigration. same sex marriage.
the Iranian nuclear debate and renew-
able resources.

"There were a lot of good minds up
there," said Drew Trimble, a political sci-
ence and communications sophomore.
“It was exciting. they touched on a lot of
modern topics."

Throughout the debate each team re-
iterated the political stance of their re-
spective parties.

Christopher Thacker. a student in
UK's College of Law. spoke about cam-

SeeDeNteonpage3

WET-1915

 

 mm | Wednesday, April 5, 2006

$LII7QI
  • Summer classes will be held at our Lexington, Darwille, Lawrenceburg and WinchesterCIark County campuses. Summer sessions begin May 9, June 8, June 9 and June 22. > General Education courses tranfer to UK to other four‘year institutions in Kentucky. Bluegrass Community 8. Technical College offers one of the lowest tutition rates in the state. ) Now is the time to apply for summer and fall semesters! Find out more by calling 859.246.6200 or visit our web site at wwwbluegrasskctcsedu for class schedules, application and registration information. Bluegrass W Community and Technical College Wrmlmw~umwmmmm Awumwnsm—m V . . O at Northern Kentucky Universi- courses available in iii Mnmmmn Kentucky ? 'l'alre summer l-‘Illl Session: May 8 - August 5 intercession: May 8 — May 27 NKU also offers a variety of fivc— to eight-week sessions. To see session dates, please visit: httpo://uprm.nitn.m BENEFITS 0 Small classes 0 Personal Attention 0 Progress in your chosen degree program 59 512—5220 :fatiti-B3'l-9948 www.nku.edu NORTHERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSI'TY' Don’t delay! Kama? QUALITY-MADE, COMMUNITY-DRIVEN Saddam charged with genoCide a..————a BySolomonttoore immerses Iraq's special criminal court filed genocide charges against Saddam Hussein on Tuesday, charging that the de posed dictator ordered a se- ries of military attacks in 1988 that killed as many as 100,000 Kurds. Six aides, including Sad- dam’s cousin, Ali Hassan Ma- jid, known as Chemical Ali, also would stand trial for the Anfal campaign, which in- cluded attacks against civil- ian populations using mus- tard gas and sarin nerve agent. The trial could prove far more complex and sweeping in scope than the ongoing Du- jail case, which involves the massacre of at least 148 Shiite townspeople in 1982. That tri- al is scheduled to resume Wednesday with further testi- mony from Saddam. Tribunal officials said they have accumulated a vast body of evidence, including Baathist command docu- ments and hundreds of wit- SG Continued from page 1 elections next fall must have some form of online voting. and SG President-elect Jon- ah Brown said he is opti- mistic that online voting could work for all elections in the future. “Implementing online voting is another way at drastically increasing voting in a way this university needs to do." he said. Ellingsworth said she agreed that online voting could encourage more vot- ers. Debate Continued from page I paign finance, paralleling the views of the Republican Par- W- “Spending money for campaigns is a form of speech. It follows the spirit of the First Amendment,” Thacker said. Thacker and his col- league Matt Kirby, also a law student on the Republican side. explained the current political corruptions that have afflicted the govern- ment, more specifically Re- publican Tom Delay who re- ness statements. to present at the genocide trial. Investiga- tors exhumed mass graves throughout the semi-au- tonomous region of Kurdis- tan and conducted forensic tests that allegedly confirm traces of banned chemical agents. The Anfal campaign was launched, in part, as retribu- tion for an alliance between Kurdish peshmerga soldiers and Iranian troops during the Iran-Iraq war, according to a 1993 Human Rights Watch Re port on Anfal. But investiga- tors also say the campaign, which destroyed 2,000 vil- lages, was part of a wide- spread ethnic cleansing effort. to rid swaths of the northern province of Kurds. In the course of eight at- tacks, Saddam’s army de- ployed chemical weapons with truck-mounted rocket launchers and crop duster planes. according to Human Rights Watch. The victims, most of whom were civilians, died of asphyxiation and chemical burns. Other victims were killed “From what students have told me it seems like generally they’d be more willing to vote if they were online," she said. Some of the SG represen- tatives from other schools that spoke with The Kernel pointed to Tennessee as a model for online voting. which has Internet voting available around the clock for two days. This year, UT saw 7,163 students vote. or about 28.1 percent of the school — the second-highest rate in the SEC. Even with online op- tions, however, students still might not cast their votes. the adviser to Georgia's SG signed yesterday, are neither new or unique to today‘s con- gress. “Money for campaigns means the message gets out. If you restrict money. you re- strict the message," Kirby said. Harry Kahne. political science and economics fresh- man and member on the De- mocrat panel. pointed out the opposite. “It’s the law of the land according to the Supreme Court, that money is not speech.” Kahne said. “That would empower the rich and then only the rich could speak." Kahne said that subject and the current scandals in— volved with it are extremely by conventional attacks or rounded up and executed by firing squads. Still others were buried alive, according to survivors’ testimony Kurdistan still suffers from the legacy of the cam- paign. Hundreds of villages were reduced to ruins. Others are fouled by chemical pollu- tion in the soil and well water. Many Kurdish communities endure staggeringly high rates of cancer, stillbirths, liv- er problems and other ail- ments associated with chemi- cal poisoning. Still pained by muted glob al outrage during the Anfal campaign, many Kurds have eagerly anticipated the expo- sure the genocide case would generate. But it was unclear Tuesday whether the trial would have to be delayed until the conclusion of the Dujail case. Saddam has a right, under Iraqi law. to attend both trials. A US. diplomat also sug- gested that the Anfal case could be cut short if Saddam receives a death sentence in the Dujail trial. “It is an ab- said. “Apathy is certainly a word that gets used a lot," Ed Mirecki said of the school’s recent drop in voter turnout. “(Maybe) it‘s not apathy but a sort of compla- cency, like ‘Things are OK; I don't have any major gripes.m Almost 2,000 fewer stu- dents voted in this year’s UGA election than did last year. “This was a considerable drop-off." Mirecki said. “I think some of the students felt some of the campaigns were not as aggressive." No matter how hard campaigns work, though. Ellingsworth said students serious and matter to all Americans. Another tough issue that both panels addressed was the current Iraq war and what the political strategy and exit strategy should be, if one is even needed. “The Iraqis must take more responsibility for polic- ing and self sovereignty." said Harry Neack. a political science junior debating for the Democrats. “We need to set a timetable. and it needs to be quick." Matt Ballard, an econom- ics senior, rebutted this state- ment. “It is a long and slow process," Ballard said on the strategy for Iraq. “Democra- cy is not going to form solute requirement that 30 days after the denial of the fi- nal appeal, the sentence must be carried out.” the diplomat said. Despite the voluminous evidence in the Anfal case, 1e gal experts said that making the genocide charge stick could be diffith because it requires prosecutors to prove that Saddam had command responsibility and his intent was to destroy, in whole or in part, a religious, ethnic or na- tional population. “On the face of it, the genocide (charge) is not irre- sponsible, but it is very diffi- cult to prove," said Raymond Brown, an international lawyer who served as a de- fense attorney in the Special Court of Sierra Leone. Observers also worry that the tribunal will be over- whelmed. The Dujail trial, which has a much narrower focus, has been marked by mishaps including the assas- sination of two defense lawyers, the replacement of two judges and Saddam’s fre- quent outbursts. must hold up their end of the bargain. “A lot of the UK students are very apathetic with these types of things." she said. “Student Government always tries to communicate with the student body but it’s a two-way street More often than not we don‘t get the response that we’d like." As he prepares to lead 80 next. Brown sees UK‘s low turnout as another area in which 80 must improve. “I‘m still disappointed to be honest." Brown said. “We have to do a better job to reach more students." E-mail newsra, kykernelcom overnight." Similar back and forth di- alogue continued on all sub- jects presented to the panels. Both sides had a couple of minutes to answer each ques» tion that was presented. fol- lowed by the other side doing the same. “It could have been a lit- tle more exciting with more of a crossfire." Trimble said on the debate format. Still, both sides were able to make their case. “There were a lot of intel- ligent viewpoints on both sides," said Richard Becker. a political science freshman. Email newsm kykernvl. com —~—w 0n the War in Iraq -————*m “Democracy is not going to form overnight." Matt Ballard member of UK College Republicans economics senior “We need to set a time table and it needs to be quick." Harry Neack member of UK College Democrats political scrence rumor Wednesday, April 5, 2006 I PAGES! 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" Vi.“ _ l ‘v Q .y‘i'i; i=- i ,, ,‘i‘s" ..-» pg.“ H‘ t 2* m -15.. .~ Great location — one block from campus Swimming pool maintenance On-site management 24-hour emergency Individual leases Full—size washer 8. dryer in each unit Picnic area with barbeque Full kitchen grills Private bedrooms and private bath ooms available r Cable television 8: high-speed internet available Fitness center Fully furnished units «E's» , ‘ 3" ‘5' .R‘l't» . .‘ ‘2 Km . 1 2 V“, a” - a Q‘ n »-»"ri~.~.rm.iitymanaged m 111 Am Mr \N «warm (‘f()MMUt~iITH¥S \ Chris DeLotelI Asst. Sports Editor PharmZS‘HflS I [him Wednesday April 5. 2006 PAGE 4 l , OHIO 0 A GAME 2: UK 3, OHIO 0 Cats sweep of Ohio halts scoreless streak By Ryan Kuhn m: unrucxv mm The streaks are over. UK both snapped a nine-game los- ing streak and six-game scoreless streak yesterday by shutting out Ohio University yesterday in both games of a doubleheader at the UK Softball Complex. UK freshman Jess Trueblood and senior Amy Kendall each pitched complete game three-hitters. respec- tively, as the Cats took game one 7-0 and game two 3-0. “It felt good to go out and play with confidence against a good team,” said junior Katie Campbell. who start- ed at catcher for UK in both games. “We definitely got our spark back to- day" Campbell led the Cats on offense. going 6 for 7 at the plate with a home run and three RBI’s. UK coach Eileen Schmidt wasn‘t surprised by Camp- bell’s numbers. “Katie hit the ball great today,” she said. “She has been seeing the ball re< ally well in practice the past few days and she carried it over to today” UK ran into a rough part of its schedule over the past few weeks, playing three SEC teams are current- ly ranked in the top 15 in the nation. Both Campbell and Schmidt said they were happy to have a break from SEC play. “It‘s great to play a team outside of the SEC," said Campbell. “Today was good for the whole team. We’re seeing the ball better now." UK was shut out six straight times last week in series with Tennessee Continued from page 1 top guard in the NBA." and Alabama. The Cats’ performance against those teams had Schmidt questioning her team’s effort. Schmidt admitted that she didn't expect this type of performance from the team. “I expected this game to be a lot more work for us," she said. “They are a really good team and they played us really well earlier in the season." UK defeated Ohio 6-3 on March 4. during the Frostbite Classic in Lex- ington. Schmidt also felt that her pitching enjoyed the break from con- ference play “Amy and Jess did really well," she said. “It’s tough for them when you’re playing teams like Tennessee who will hit the ball out of the park when you miss by an inch.” Kendall and Trueblood were most efficient with runners on base, strand- ing seven Bobcat baserunners in the two games. The Cats return to the field today for another doubleheader with West- ern Kentucky. Game one begins at 5 pm. Schmidt was eager to see how her team will perform today “It’s nice to be out of the SEC, but we’re still playing tough teams," she said. “Ohio was very tough and West- ern will be good tomorrow." UK improved to 16-22 with the wins while Ohio fell to 17-19. Schmidt said that she was proud of her team's performance yesterday “We had a great day today" she said. “We played really well as a team both games.” E—mail sportsmkykernelcom SPORTS BRIEFS Vlornen'slgtoll finishes fourth at Lady Senior Ali Kicklighter fired a 4- over-par 148 (73-75) to lead the UK women’s golf team to its second con- secutive top-five team finish yesterday, as the Cats concluded the 13th annual John Kirk/ Lady Panther Intercolle- giate in fourth place. The Wildcats carded a two-round total of 625 (314- 311) in the 36hole event hosted by Georgia State University at the Eagle’s Landing Country Club in Stockbridge, Ga. “This was another top-five finish for us and we had two golfers finish in the top 10.” UK head coach Stephanie Barker said. “On these two-round events, it is going to come down to just a couple of strokes and we were within five strokes of the lead today” Kicklighter, who has now posted a team-leading four toplO individual fin- ishes this season, concluded the final round tied with Memphis’ Stacey Tate after both players shot 148 over the course of the two-day event. Tate, how- ever, won the playoff for the individual crown by notching a par on the first hole, while Kicklighter managed a bo- gey. Sophomore Beth Felts concluded play tied for fifth place after shooting a 73 on the final day to finish with a 151 (78-73). Felts and Kicklighter each charted their second consecutive top-10 individual finishes. “Ali really played aggressive all day" Barker said. “She put herself in good position to win the tournament. I was also very impressed with the way Beth played today shooting a 73." Augusta State University claimed the tournament title after shooting a tournament-low 301 on the final 18 holes to finish with a 620 (319-301). Memphis and intra-state rival Louisville finished tied for second with 6215. comm not: on mums mom 0M!" HIDE Anartments $375/mo. Student Price Utilities included. Furnished studios. CALL ABOUT OUR SPECIALS! (859) 254-6400 0W 0/ Stucdem‘ KIM, CAMPUS CALENDAR Visit the Website for Event Details WWWJKYIDU/CAMPUBCALMM /—_——\___J UK Spring Blood Drive central kentucky “We don’t want to see Rajon leave, but we understand this is a dream of his, and we‘re confident that he’ll be suc- cessful at the next level," Smith said. “We support our players when they make a decision to further their career" ‘ , ,_ T Ay A o I Rondo said he is confident of his Pr" draft status. “I spoke with a lot of people that I ' " trust. so I‘m very confident and hopeful- g. ' ' ‘ ROI ph A "der'son Bldg ly I'll succeed." he said. “This season I think I did enough of the little things to raise my stock.” ., The former McDonald’s High School _ » , 9 a m 1'0 5 p m All-American who led the Cats in points. ' ‘ r '” ' ' ° . steals. assists and rebounds this season plans on being drafted in the lottery \ . . ii l l Bl D ' ' H “ “That‘s what my intentions are." he UK sophomore pomt guard Rajon Rondo shakes hands with head coach Tubby Smith yesterday azer | "I "9 a said. “I‘ve been told I could be picked at Memorial Coliseum. Rondo announced that he will leave UK early and enter the NBA Draft. anywhere from the lottery to the late first round. I‘m striving to put in the While. Rondo‘s per-game averages Smith praised Rondo‘s contributions 3 1'0 8 m hard work and be a lottery pick." went up in nearly every category this to UK basketball the past two years. 0 0 Head coach Tubby Smith said he .3. ., ' i . I ' suppOrts Rondo’s decision. --r -' .- : ' ' . ( ' ' . ' _. . cm Rondo‘s high level of confidence was season. he battled inconsistent jump “He’s done some amazing things for enough for him to decide to hire an shooting and finished with a shooting a player his size.” the coach said. “He’s ° agent. percentage Just above 48 percent. He ac- as scrappy mean and tough as they TOMORROW Apr“ 6 “I definitely want to be 100 percent in knowledged that he needs to improve on come. He’ll overcome any obstacles that what I‘m doing." he said. noting that he that facet of the gameprior t0 the draft. are there. . . hopes his decision to get an agent will I have to try to improve my Jump Both Rondo and Smith described A I r. Force ROTC_ Armor help his draft status. “Some people say 1 shot. he said. noting that NBA scouts their emotlons on the dec1s10n as y should test the waters (by not hiring an are enamored With his “defense. the way “mixed.“ agent), but I‘m very confident that I’ll I play ball pressure and leadership on “I'm happy because this has been a impress the scouts." the court. . . dream, but sad because I‘m leaving my N00“ 1'0 4 P m Smith did not play a big role in Ron- ‘Smith said the questions over Ron- teammates.“ Rondo said. ' ' do’s decision to hire an agent. do s Elitllllil‘tykmtlsihmt atre overblrtlwn. d f d‘YOI‘il feel hagphy flnh Rajon}; Smirtlh “It'su tothe famil 'Smith said.“In . “ in ere's 00 muc ma e o sai e’s staye eat y, es onet e _ Rajon's srltuation. if yhe's made that it.“ he said. “His job is going to distrib- things that we've asked him to do and [fee cool Re.” T ’hi“ choice, and he's firm in it. there are cer- ute the ball, penetrate and find people he’s going to compete against the best.” tain people in the business who can open and play defense. (Shooting) is not E-mail guide him." why people are drafting him." cdelotellrwkykernelrom . Rememberrto stud .- I Tbm€_’5-5.t€th€ Ommwtes Be part of the $10,000 College Sch . y , -. . - Thefirst 1.0005hidentstoregbterfora sdiolarshipwilltecetvoammtd CollegeSdtoIarfiileyW; - Registerformoftenitomm * ungmmmmrfi’WIn" ' " ‘ Mia”). - ' M f j mmmmmwm . 1 2 . , »_ .