Speech creates atypical KU day

Officials keep security tight at fieldhouse

Life didn’t come to a standstill in Lawrence or at Kansas University because former President Clinton was on campus.

But things slowed down a little — thanks to tight security and traffic that rivaled game days at Allen Fieldhouse — on the same day students were finishing finals and trying to move out of the residence halls.

“I’ll move out later,” KU freshman John Benjamin said after realizing his residence hall parking lot was full of cars of people attending Clinton’s speech.

At the fieldhouse, security was visible. As the crowd entered, private staff from Manpower, which also works KU athletic events, searched purses. Small stacks of temporarily confiscated items, including water bottles, backpacks, umbrellas and a lawn chair, sat in the lobby.

During the speech, five Secret Service agents lined the stage exit, and several others were roaming the fieldhouse.

Officers from both the KU Public Safety Office and the Lawrence Police Department worked the event.

Afterward, Capt. Schuyler Bailey of the Public Safety Office said everything went smoothly.

“Wonderful,” Bailey said. “No problems whatsoever. It went great.”

Deputy Chief Mark Bradford of Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical said officials treated three people for heat-related illness. None was transported to the hospital.

Police Lt. David Cobb said the Lawrence Police Department brought in about 10 extra officers to help handle traffic around Allen Fieldhouse.

“In this area, it’s the same amount of traffic, the same amount of problems we’d expect to have with KU basketball games, so hopefully we’ll handle it the same way,” Cobb said.

Some attendees figured creative ways around the parking jam. Tawny Hiatt of Lawrence, for example, left her car near the fieldhouse at 7:30 a.m., then had a friend drive her to the speech.

“I’m right in the shade,” she said.

With all the hoopla, it was easy to forget it was the last day of finals on KU’s campus. Students were dealing with the situation.

“All the finals were scheduled in the morning, so I don’t think it was that big a deal,” said Ashley Truong, a law student.

But there was some fallout.

“They canceled our picnic,” Truong said of the law school’s annual end-of-year ritual. “There wasn’t going to be any parking available because of Clinton.”

City Manager Mike Wildgen said the hubbub didn’t put much of a strain on city services.

“We’re just doing the normal cooperation with the Secret Service and KU,” Wildgen said. “I don’t know. It may result in overtime.”

Staff writer Eric Weslander contributed information to this report.