(Iowa City, Iowa), 2006-02-15
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THE INDEPENDENT DAILY NEWSPAPER FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA COMMUNITY SINCE 1868 The Daily Iowan WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2006 WWW.DAILYIOWAN.COM 50¢ UI’S CYBER SOLDIER TRAINS EYES ON ARMOR Hygienic UI researchers will use virtual reality to test and design improved body armor for the U.S. Army Laboratory crumbling ‘[The building] doesn’t work as a laboratory and is a hazard to the state of Iowa. — Mary Gilchrist, lab director BY BRYCE BAUER THE DAILY IOWAN Walking through a myriad of narrow hall- ways with exposed pipes hanging from asbestos-filled ceilings, state lawmakers toured the UI Hygienic Lab in Oakdale Hall on Tuesday night. The tour — dubbed the “crumbling-infra- structure tour” by lab workers — was meant to demonstrate the need for a new $35.6 mil- lion building. “[The building] doesn’t work as a laboratory and is a hazard to the state of Iowa,” lab direc- tor Mary Gilchrist said. The Hygienic Lab helps in the detection and prevention of diseases, such as influenza, as well as bioterrorism and various other items. The facility, which is actually a hodge- Aaron Hall Holmgren/The Daily Iowan podge of seven different structures, was built UI research assistant Amos Patrick projects a three-dimensional Bradley vehicle in a six-walled virtual environment known as “the portal” in the in 1917 to be a tuberculosis sanitarium; it is Engineering Research Facilities on Tuesday afternoon. The virtual environment is part of the UI Virtual Soldier Research Program. the oldest such lab in the nation. Aside from the aforementioned aesthetic BY ERIKA BINEGAR a simple virtual-reality game. The program, started in Octo- problems, lab officials complain that the THE DAILY IOWAN Instead, he was demonstrating ber 2003, has received a total of GRANTS RECEIVED facility is poorly located, lacks wide-open the various uses of the program’s $9.8 million in funding over the workspace, and is infested with rodents. 1 Wearing oversized 3-D glasses PC-based software — which can be past 2 ⁄2 years. It is housed in the FOR RESEARCH They also contend that the building is the and gripping a video-game con- used to test vehicles, prior to mak- UI College of Engineering’s Cen- • $2.54 million award for research most inefficient on campus, and heating and troller Tuesday, Anith Mathai ing a costly prototype, or to teach ter for Computer-Aided Design. on digital humans from U.S. Army cooling difficulties interfere with the lab maneuvered a proportionate soldiers how to fix a vehicle by “There’s obviously a need for • $64K from Caterpillar work. Bradley Fighting Vehicle, an showing them how to do it virtually. better and more extensive • $45K from Rockwell Collins “There are weeks in the summer when we armored vehicle larger than a And now, with help from a armor,” said senior projects • $72K from Honda America R&D can’t operate because it is too hot,” said Jack Hummer, with a flick of his recent grant of $1.6 million from manager Steve Beck, adding • $920K from the U.S. Army TACOM Cameron, the associate director of the lab. thumb. the U.S. Army Soldier Systems that the current armor protects • $1.75 million, five-year Because of the inconveniences, he said, the But, as he stood surrounded by a Center in Natick, Mass., UI soldiers from death but not loss partnership with Caterpillar lab was missing out on chances for funding six large film screens in a room researchers will use their digital of limbs. • $1.2 million contract from the and research. U.S. Army TACOM called “the portal,” the researcher software to help test and design UI junior Joe Dammann, a “Every quarter, we are losing opportunities with the UI Virtual Soldier armor for soldiers via a digital source: http://www.digital-humans.org/main.htm to do things because of this building’s inflexi- Research Program was not playing human model called SantosTM. SEE VIRTUAL SOLDIER, PAGE 3A bility,” he said. SEE LAB, PAGE 3A BYRNE JUSTICE ASSISTANCE GRANT Prescription drug abuse rising Cuts cause A recent survey shows local groans abuse of prescription BY COLIN BURKE THE DAILY IOWAN drugs is increasing Proposed cuts in local law- among Iowans enforcement grants that have provided hundreds of thou- BY MEGHAN V. MALLOY sands of dollars locally drew THE DAILY IOWAN harsh criticism from city and county officials this week. Forget about weed and cocaine. Even In President Bush’s proposed Pulkrabek Harkin meth. The newest drugs Iowans are abus- 2007 budget, programs such as Johnson County senator ing are easier to get than many think — the Byrne Justice Assistance sherriff prescription medicines from licensed Grant could be reduced, if not additional officers, and upgrade physicians. eliminated. The administra- equipment. After a recent survey of records by the tion’s proposal estimates $327 If lost, they said, those efforts Iowa Board of Pharmacy Examiners million will be saved if the pro- would be hampered. revealed an increase in the number of gram is liquidated. In fiscal 2006, Johnson Coun- Iowans abusing prescription drugs, some General programs such as ty received $56,774 from the professionals were concerned about how this “are not able to demon- program; in 2005, it received to stop people from refilling unnecessary strate an effect on reducing more than $94,000, the Justice prescriptions. crime,” states the Department Department reported. “It’s hard for us to monitor, especially of Justice section of the pro- Johnson County Sheriff Lonny because it’s a legitimate prescription posed budget. Pulkrabek said he was concerned from a doctor,” said Chris Johnson, a staff But local officials disagree, Nick Loomis/The Daily Iowan the slashed funding would affect pharmacist at the UI Student Health UI sophomore Darin Mellor fishes Adderall that has been prescribed for him out of its saying the grants have allowed more than just equipment. Service pharmacy. them to fight methampheta- bottle on Tuesday afternoon in his Iowa City apartment. Many students use the prescription mine production and use, hire SEE POLICE, PAGE 3A SEE ABUSE, PAGE 3A drug to help them study. SPARTAN DIET PORN BAN KAZAKH SLAYINGS INDEX 39 4 C The Hawkeyes use a A bill in the state Legislature The execution-style killing of a leading Arts 7A © © second-half run to eat up would require libraries to install critic in Kazakhstan has opposition Classifieds 4B Becoming cloudy, Crossword 6B 28 -2 C Michigan State and stay atop Internet filters to prevent people figures charging that the government windy, 80% chance of Opinions 6A rain/sleet/snow later the Big Ten. 1B from accessing porn. 4A is using death squads. 8A Sports 1B 2A - The Daily Iowan - Iowa City, Iowa - Wednesday, February 15, 2006 NEWS The Daily Iowan Internships that broaden lives Volume 137 Issue 143 BREAKING NEWS STAFF done work in the field in the working and providing for their Bushnell, a history and Phone: (319) 335-6063 Publisher: BY STACEY PERK William Casey. 335-5788 past,” said Bushnell, who stayed families, she said. Even those E-mail: [email protected] SPECIAL TO THE DAILY IOWAN political-science major, said Editor: across the street from Toul capable of working are poor, applying for the scholarship Fax: 335-6184 Spending the summer in a CORRECTIONS Jennifer Sturm. .335-6030 Sleng, a torture prison during because the fields are too con- and fundraising was worth it. Managing Editor: small guesthouse room and Call: 335-6030 the time of the Khmer Rouge. “I taminated, and they can’t “I know it’s hard to get Alex Lang. 335-5855 sharing a bed with your room- wanted to go to Cambodia, make a living off of the land, enough financial support to do Policy: The Daily Iowan strives for Metro Editors: mate may not be an ideal because I had a friend, Chivy she added. things in countries such as accuracy and fairness in the reporting Drew Kerr. 335-6063 summer for most UI students, Sok, former Human Rights Cen- Regardless of many Cambodi- Cambodia — but do whatever of news. If a report is wrong or mis- Jane Slusark. .335-6063 but, for Alexis Bushnell, it ter co-director, who grew up ans’ difficult living conditions, they can to get there and have leading, a request for a correction or a Danielle Stratton-Coulter . 335-6063 was a “powerful experience.” under the Khmer Rouge.” Bushnell said, “They don’t want that experience,” she said. clarification may be made. Opinions Editor: “I had lived in a developing Khmer Rouge, a communist you to feel sorry for them.” The experience Bushnell took PUBLISHING INFO Erik Owomoyela. .335-5863 country before, when I studied group in Cambodia known for Without the $3,000 in aid with her was a life-changing one. The Daily Iowan (USPS 143.360)is Sports Editor: abroad in India, so it wasn’t the genocide of approximately from the UI Human Rights published by Student Publications Inc., Jason Brummond. 335-5848 hard to get used to living in Her experience in Cambodia, she 1.7 million people between 1975 Center and other donations, it E131 Adler Journalism Building, Iowa Arts Editor: Cambodia,” she said. said, made her feel strongly about and 1979, tortured people using would have been difficult for City, Iowa 52242-2004, daily except Meghan Sims . 335-5851 Last spring, she was one of helping victims of land mines, starvation and forced labor, Bushnell to get there. Saturdays, Sundays, legal and universi- Copy Chief: seven UI students the UI Cen- and she plans to continue this Beau Elliot.