LJWorld.com / E-mail writer escapes detection, apologizes for site bashing prof

Archive for Friday, June 6, 2003

Chief justice reminds court workers to use state computers only for state work

June 6, 2003

Court officials Thursday were unable to determine which state-owned computer was used to send e-mails promoting a Web site critical of Kansas University professor Dennis Dailey.

"We were not able to decipher who sent the e-mails," said Ron Keefover, spokesman for the Kansas Supreme Court.

Earlier, the e-mails had been traced to a computer somewhere within the Kansas Judicial Center, which houses the state's Supreme Court and Court of Appeals.

Keefover said a search of the center's internal e-mail program came up empty. A more thorough search, though possible, would be impractical, he said.

"There's somewhere between 100 and 200 computers in the building," he said, adding that whoever sent the e-mails used the Yahoo.com message system.

"Because that's a Web-based system, there would be some records we wouldn't have access to," Keefover said.

Also, he said, the e-mails could have been sent from a public-access computer in the law library and might not have involved a state employee.

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Rather than continue searching, Keefover said, Chief Justice Kay McFarland distributed a memo reminding court employees that using state computers for personal reasons violates state policy.

Sen. Susan Wagle, a Republican from Wichita, in March accused Dailey of showing pornographic videos, promoting pedophilia and harassing students in his Human Sexuality in Everyday Life class.

A recent KU investigation found the allegations to be without merit.

The e-mails, posted on the Journal-World's "Reader Reaction" message board, called readers' attention to an anti-Dailey Web site posted by a group calling itself "Opposition to Publicly-Funded Pornography" or OPP. The site included an altered photograph of KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway adorned with a Hitler-esque mustache.

The e-mail address -- oppforks@yahoo.com -- was listed on the Web site.

The site was taken down Wednesday after a spokeswoman for Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said a search for the e-mails' sender was under way. It was replaced with a two-sentence apology.

OPP's creator, who remains anonymous, later posted an apology on "Reader Reaction," claiming the site was a parody that "helped flesh out the debate in favor of Dailey."

The writer encouraged others to "avoid the temptation during breaks or lunchtime to view local news websites and follow the links asking you to comment on stories!"