ON THE WEB THE Ke tuc WILL HE STAY 0R WILL HE GO? Rajon Rondo announces at 1 pm. today if he's going pro. Check kykernel.com for updates all day long. Tuesday, April 4, 2006 Celebrating 35 years of independence Two days later, South Campus shooter still unknown UK police searching for leads By Megan Boehnke MKENTUCKYKERNEL When a bullet came through her dorm room window early Sunday morning, Anna Campomanes had been asleep for almost an hour. She woke up to the startling sound of gunshots and quickly ran down the hall to the 12th floor lobby of Kirwan Tower. - “I saw a couple of police, but all the sudden there were 16 cop cars and I realized, this is re ally serious,” the pre-nursing freshman said. When she didn’t see anyone get into the ambu- lance, she returned to her room and tried to go back to bed, but was having trouble sleeping when she noticed the blinds were messed up. “I tried to fix it because I thought I had done it." she said. That was when she saw the bullet hole. “I was like ‘Holy crap. is this a bul- let hole? Oh my gosh.‘ ” The bullet that entered Campomanes’ room was one of about 10 that police believe were fired at around 3:18 am. The police originally believed that about six shots were fired. but have since found more shell casings. said Maj. Joe Monroe. About 100 people, both students and non- students. had gathered in the courtyard of the complex to watch what police believe to have been a fraternity-related step show when a ver- bal altercation between two individuals turned into a physical one. Monroe said. Roscoe Dalton, who is not a UK student, was involved in the fight and was treated for cuts on his face and lip and an injury to the back of his head, Monroe said. Police do not know who else was involved in the fight or and have no leads in the identity of the person who fired the gun, but they are reviewing “a lot” of See Shooting on page 5 PREPARING FOR SPRING . ‘ , ~ w...~‘ .- meusum | sun 2 Tim Thacker, with the UK grounds crew, shovels mulch yesterday on Central Campus. The ground crew was spreading mulch in preparation for spring. although yesterday certainly wasn't indicative of spring weather - the weather was chilly with a strong wind. Republican leader DeLay decides to call it quits By Jonathan Weisman and Chris Cillizza m: wtsamcron POST WASHINGTON w Rep. Tom DeLay, R- Texas, a primary architect of the Republi- can majority who became one of the most powerful and feared leaders in Washing- ton. told House allies last night he will give up his seat rather than face a re-elec- tion fight that appears increasingly un- winnable. The decision came three days after his former deputy chief of staff, Tony C. Rudy. pleaded guilty to conspiracy and corruption charges. telling federal prose- cutors of a criminal enterprise being run out of DeLay‘s leadership offices. Rudy‘s plea agreement did not implicate DeLay in any illegal activities. but by placing the influence-buying efforts of disgraced Re- publican lobbyist Jack Abramoff directly in DeLay's operation. the former aide may have made an already difficult re-election bid all but out of reach. DeLay, who will turn 59 on Saturday. did not say precisely when he would step down, but under Texas law, he must either die, be convicted of a felony. or move out of his district to be removed from the No- vember ballot. DeLay told Time magazine that he is likely to change his official resi- dence to Alexandria. Va.. by the end of May. He said he informed President Bush of his decision yesterday afternoon. “This had become a referendum on me.“ he told Time in an article posted on the magazine’s Web site. “So it‘s better for me to step aside and let it be a referendum on ideas. Republican values and what's important for this district.” "I‘m a realist. I've been around awhile." he added. “I can evaluate politi- cal situations.” Asked if he had done any- thing illegal or immoral in public office, DeLay replied: “No.“ MMM.thzsm Grounds crew works daily to ma By Chris Miles m: KENTUCKY mm The plate on his desk reads “ ‘Til the Battle is Won." the motto of the UK athletic depart- ment. But for Donnie Mefford. UK‘s sports turf manager. that battle is always being waged. In more ways than not. Mefford is the man behind the magic for most of the major sports teams at UK. “I work specifically with the athletic depart- ment on all of the fields here at UK‘ Mefford said. “My crew is responsible for the day-today maintenance and game preparation of six dif- ferent sports fields." His territory includes Commonwealth Stadi- um. Shively Field (baseball). the soccer and soft- ball complexes and outdoor facilities for tennis and track and field. His maintenance crew works year-round to help with the upkeep and appearance of each of the playing fields. a task that requires work that never seems finished. Put simply. at any given point in the year. there is some team playing on some field at UK. Mefford is responsible for those fields. “We don‘t have down time.“ Mefford said. “Schedules are always expanding. tiara"ar*’U'Kv*s*atiu¢ fields “Like right now. we have baseball and soft . ball. spring soccer and spring training in foot- ball." he said. “Then school is out and we start 3 summer camps. Then. in the fall. we have foot- ball. men‘s and women‘s soccer and baseball. “It never really does stop." Mefford‘s office is squeezed into a niche be tween the football practice facility and the base- . ball field. It‘s an office that connects to a garage filled with equipment of all sorts. an office with no windows whose walls are lined with detailed calendars and schedules of half a dozen UK . teams and a tdpof-the-line weather system that consists of a computer and a TV that is more of— , ten than not tuned to the Weather Channel. This is Mefford‘s command center From here. Mefford can mobilize his field crew team and the equipment it needs in order signs and logos on the fields and keep the grass- es healthy At the same time. he is responsible for moni~ . toring weather patterns in order to figure out just how much a field may or may not need to be mowed and wetted down. Similarly. he is the ; man who calls the shots on whether or not a See Turf on page S UK's soccer field is one of the several that are maintained year-round by the Turf Man- agement team headed by Donnie Mefford. Mefford and his staff are responsible for daily upkeep of the fields and deciding whether or not to delay or postpone a game because of weather. nan use | sun ky Ke rnel www.kykernel.com Three file elections claims Unlike last year, no violations alleged against prez candidates By Sean Rose m: remucxv mu Three elections violations claims are now under investigation after last week’s relatively smooth Student Government elec- tions. Two claims accuse 86 Senate candi- dates of hanging posters in unauthorized spots around campus. The final violation re port claims that someone campaigned for presidential candidate Jonah Brown _ who won the election u too close to the polls. John Edwards. elections investigator for SC and outgoing general manager of WRFL-FM campus radio. said the claims didn't seem too serious overall. “It was a relatively clean election, if this is all that‘s coming from it,” Ed- wards said. “Some of these are simple mistakes." Edwards said the viola- tions wouldn‘t cause any- t ing near the controversy .. that game last year aftter Those spen ing violations y presidential candidates TUIES are sparked a dispute that did- ° n't produce a clear winner Important until five months later. In mom- ‘ when a Fayette Circuit Court awarded the presi- ° dency to Becky tormq the Ellingsworth. UK initially integrity 3. appealed the ruling but lat- , er dropped its request. of the Brittany Pauly. a mem- ‘ ber of the so Election election.” Board of Supervisions that monitors the election. Jonah Brown filed a claim against an un- 55 New”, known person campaign- ing for Brown in the classroom building. (‘ampaigns are not allowed to be con ducted with in 2.“) feet of the polls. and Pauly says she saw the person lobbying for Brown; at the time. however: she was working at a ' poll and couldn‘t investigate the incident. “That one‘s going to take some time to figure out who exactly it was." Edwards said. He said he has established that the i person wasn‘t Brown or his running mate. Mallory Jenkins. Brown said he had not heard any specifics of claims but that he would coop- ‘ erate if he needed. When the going gets turf : “Those rules are important in monitor- ing the integrity of the election." Brown KatieCouric set to leave NBC's 'Today' show By Howard Kurtz mewisumcmn POST NBC executives expect Katie (‘ouric to leave the “Tikiay” show and accept an offer from CBS to become the first woman to an- chor an evening newscast on her own. with an announcement of her departure likely as early as this week. according to well-placed sources at both networks and others famil- to cut. trim and replace turf. create and paint de- 7 iar With th“ negotiations. The tentative plan is for a two-step process in which (‘ouric first announces her departure from NBC. which would like to give her a warm send-off after a decade in which she helped make “Today" the toprat» ed morning program. Meredith \‘ieira. co» host of ABC's “The View" and host of the " syndicated “Who Wants to Be a Million» aire." has been offered the job of replacing . Couric and is seriously considering it. some ‘ of these sources say. An announcement that (‘ouric will suc- i ceed Bob Schieffer as anchor of the “CBS _ Evening News" will come later. in part be- cause the final contractual details which will include a regular spot on “60 Minutes" have not been worked out. the sources say. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the contract talks have. not been i completed. Couric's pending departure has been the focus of intense media speculation. both be cause of her celebrity and the historic na- ture of the move. Three women ._ Barbara Walters at ABC. Connie Chung at CBS and Elizabeth Vargas. who was elevated in Janu- ary at ABC's “World News Tbnight“ have coanchored alongside men. But Couric would be the first woman in broadcast net- work history to fly solo at 6:30 pm. Couric‘s spokesman declined to comment Monday. as did the press offices at NBC and CBS. Newsroom: 25H!!!