Staff photo
Wednesday, April 28, 1976
KANSAN
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
The University of Kansas—Lawrence. Kansas
Vol. 86 No.132
Richard Stanwix, Lawrence chief of police, said yesterday that some of the recommendations by the county attorney's office for improving the police department had already been implemented. Stanwix is shown here at a Lawrence City Commission meeting in February.
Chief Richard Stanwix
Report evaluates police conduct
By JOHN FULLER
There is no evidence of widespread corruption or criminal activity in Lawrence city government or the police department, attorney David Berkowitz said yesterday.
He reached that conclusion in his report on a three-month investigation of alleged human rights abuses.
However, Berkowitz announced that his office was seeking the officer of police Detective Ted Crady on several grounds. Crady was suspended yesterday without pay for the duration of the ouster proceedings.
CRADY ALSO is accused of buying a car in 1971 or early 1972 from a man named Joe Hickey. The police failed to properly register the car. Crady also is accused of falsely swearing under oath that he obtained permission from the police officers before securing release of the car.
In the ouster petition filed in district court, Craddy was accused of selling LSD in his home. He also charged that earlier this month that he didn't furnish LSD to the person named in the 1974 incident; and deliberately disclosing the facts. He has been convicted who was doing confidential drug work.
Crady, a seven-year veteran of the force, said he didn't do any of the things he had been accused of and that he would respond to the accusations in a couple of days.
Berkowitz explained that ouster proceedings were civil proceedings conducted before a judge. The prosecution is required to prove its case by a preproposal and then must be criminal cases where the case must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
BERKOWITZ SAID no criminal charges were filed against Crady because the status of limitations had expired on some of the alleged actions. Crady could be tried for perjury after the ouster proceedings, Berkowitz said, but a decision on that won't
be made until the conclusion of the proceedings.
"We felt that the best thing to do was to get him off the police force without worrying whether he goes to jail or not," Berkowitz said.
He said there would be no further court action resulting from the investigation.
The 15-page report that Berkowitz released was the product of an investigation undertaken by the county attorney's office Jan. 28, when three members of a special six-member committee established to inquire into mismanagement in city hall recommending and award investigations of alleged criminal activity in the police department.
THE COMMITTEE members said in their report they had received testimony from several police officers alleging that they were failing to range from the failure of supervisors to act on the existence of organized crime in the city, to sexual misconduct and theft of property.
Berkowitz's investigation cleared the department of most of the charges made against it but it also pointed out there were basic problems in the police department in the areas of discipline, communications and leadership. The report detailed the findings on how Berkowitz's suggestions on how the department's problems should be handled.
Some of the allegations and the investigation's results are:
-That there is organized crime in Laurel and that to action had been taken again.
Berkowitz and his chief investigator, James Huskey, interviewed 68 persons during the investigation. Berkowitz said that with few exceptions everyone cooperated fully. Two police officers refused to cooperate until they were subpoenaed and there was one misunderstanding with Richard Stanley, chief of files who would receive some personnel files on a temporary basis, the report said.
Berkowitz said there was no concrete evidence to substantiate either claim. The only evidence uncovered was that a police officer overheard someone giving the owner of a business a list of numbers which could be used to make more information. The report said it was more information could have been from something as innocent as salesman's order.
BERKOWITZ SAID because no formal charges had been filed on the allegations, except where absolutely necessary, he bailed them out of their allegations or who allegations were against.
--That an officer in the traffic division received a free car from a business that has
Lawrence officials offer praise for police studv, recommendations
David Berkowitz
See CHARGES page 10
"WE MUST WORK for a fair wage,good
"Everybody's got their faults but were trying our best to correct them," Lawrence Police Chief Richard Stanwix said yesterday in response to the county attorney's report on alleged criminal activity in the police department.
and JANET SCHMIDT
By JOHN FULLER and JANET SCHMIDT
"For a police department to go through such a thorough investigation is only a choice," he said. "We were shaped, shape, Manager Fred Pence last night. The chief has some faults but nobody's perfect; there was only one person in the room who was Jesus Christ and they crucified him."
City Commissioners Barkley Clark and Marieine Ang ersinger they said the report was proof that city government can and should be handled locally, reflecting their desire to keep the national Teamsters Union out of city politics.
Stanwick's reaction was generally supported by city officials and commissioners who praised the report for clearing the air of the charges and accusations that have been raised against the department since the investigations on city management began last year.
Carter wins Pennsylvania primary
Arngersinger said she liked the idea of having patrol officers on the board along with supervisors because it was the patrol officers who brought most of the alleged
CITY MANAGER BUFORD Watson said he liked the idea of the board because it relieved the police chief of the duty of making investigations individually.
working conditions and clean operations in all departments and continue working toward those goals in spite of pressure from both sides: those that investigating committees make nervous and those that feel equally wrong. "Clark said, 'What has been shown is that we have a good, clean, honest government.'"
Stanwick said he and other high ranking officers were currently rewriting the police department's rule book and manual, partially in response to the investigation's recommendations to clarify regulations and policies.
Stanwick said he would be in favor of the disciplinary board recommended by the report and wouldn't be against having a city administrator on it. The board would handle the investigations and pass its findings to the county attorney and the city manager.
improporties to the attention of the investigating committees.
The report shows the charge of massive organized crime in Lawrence "is almost a catastrophe."
Both Watson and Clark said they were relieved that no evidence of organized crime was found.
CLARK CONCURRED, saying, "The situation in the police department is parallel to the changes made in the sanitation department. There we have had a lot of new vehicles were enforcing packaging, purchasing new vehicles and building a city garage."
THE LAWRENCE Patrol Officers Assoc.
hasn't had time yet to form an opinion on
the proposed change.
The officials also had similar feelings on the most negative aspect of the report. They stood behind Ted Crady's decision to suspend Detective Ted Crady for his alleged illegal activities but said they thought Crady was innocent until proved guilty.
Watson said it was proper for the county attorney to file charges and that "it exonerates the other 99 people who work in that organization."
"If he's innocent, I'm behind him all the way." Pence said.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Jimmy Carter swept to victory in the Pennsylvania presidential primary election last night, stopping the Democrats who had tried to stop him, and gaining momentum in his campaign for White House nomination.
The former Georgia governor told
supporters the triumph means
"Wear a tie."
Carter was gaining 35 per cent of the popular vote in Pennsylvania's presidential preference election. Returns were tallied over the separate competition for delegates.
The early delegate count showed Carter supporters leading in that phase of the primary, too. But the figures were in agreement, the outcome will not be clear for days.
While Carter said he had swept aside every possible obstacle in his path, there remained the looming figure of Sen. Hubert who has skipped the primaries so far.
Humphrey, in Washington, said "I want to see the Democratic party win. If Jimmy Carter can win, I'm not going to try to stop him at all."
skipped Pennsylvania to make his stand in more promising conservative territory. He and Ford meet in the Texas primary on Saturday.
That hasn't been foreclosed. But Carter will be more difficult to head off now. He has won seven of the first nine primaries, but the only candidate entered in all the rest.
Pennsylvania Gov. Milton J. Shad, Snapp, Birch Bayh of Indiana, and Fred R. Harris, former Oklahoma senator, all campaign for governor. McCormack divided the vote. McCormack divided the vote.
Carter beat sen. Henry M. Jackson of Washington, with Rep. Morris K. Udall of rose-river city in the opposition of organized labor and a lineup of Democratic leaders, who put together a stop-Carter movement in an effort to get the race open for a late Humphrey entry.
in the preference vote, Carter led virtually everywhere. He trailed Jackson only in Philadelphia, where union and organization support counted most.
President Ford won without opposition in the Republican primary. Ronald Reagan
—Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace 48,674 or 10 per cent.
These were the figures with 36 per cent of the 9,638 preprints counted:
Carter 170,888 or $3 per cent
Jackson 138,526 or 28 per cent
In the separate delegate competition, which Jackson had said he would win, only 6 per cent of the precincts had reported. There were 31 Carter supporters leading for delegate seats, 25 uncommitted, 21 Shapp, 16 Jackson, 9 Tidall and 1 Wallace.
Pennsylvania Democrats will have 178 votes at their national convention.
The state's 103 Republican delegates will be formally uncommitted, but all almost of them have at least one vote.
-Udall 95,124 or 19 per cent.
Petitions help in defeating motorcycle park request
Petitions with the signatures of 96 local residents helped defeat a request last night by Lawrence High School motorcyclists and made a park be made available for trail riding.
The petitioners were presented at a public hearing of the Lawrence City Commission district board.
The hearing was for residents to present their views on opening Perry Park, north of 18th and west of Kasol, to motorcycles, and now banned from public parks by city law.
The commission voted 5-0 against changing the law. Mayor Fred Pence qualified his vote by saying that motorists should not be required by the county commission with their request.
One of the petitions against opening the park to motorcycleclubs was presented by a group of activists.
Cohn, who lives near Perry Park, said the park was already being used illegally by a group of people.
"It is incredibly noisy," he said. "So much so that you cannot sit on your patio chair."
"There is also a spill-over of riders on the
residential streets. This is very dangerous to children."
William T. Harris, 3418 W. 10th Terry, "I'll have quite a bit of biflue Kvelken in you." a bit of biflue Kvelken in you.
Steve Glass, Route 4 and a Lawrence High School student, presented a petition with 42 signatures in support of making the park available to motorcwclubs.
"What the people of Lawrence High School are trying to do is have a place where cyclists will get run out by the police or because of complaints." Glass said.
Brad Grob, Route 4, agreed with Glass and said trail bikers weren't licensed for riding in the streets, yet there was no place available in Lawrence for the riders.
Fred DeVictor, director of parks and recreation, presented the view that was in question.
"An evident need has been shown, but I don't feel that anything we have in the city would be compatible with motorcycles," DeVictor said.
In other business, the commission accepted an ordinance authorizing the installation of stop signs at 15th and Barker, 19th and Barker, and 27th and Alabama.
House, senate endeavors assessed by legislators
By JOHN MUELLER
Finances, highways and education dominated the session of the Kansas Legislature, area 176.
They disagreed, however, on nearly everything else about the session.
State representatives said the Kansas House had acted more responsibly than the Kansas Senate
"The House is closer to the grass roots and the people than the Senate is," said State Rep. John
"The Senate's a bunch of turkeys," said State Rep. Mike Glover, D-Lawrence.
STATE REP. LLOYD Buzzi, R-Lawrence, was unavailable for comment.
Glover and Vogel said that State Sen. Ross Doyen, who served his first term as president of the Senate this year, had given Senate Republicans more freedom than they'd had in the past.
State Sen. Arden Booth, R-Lawrence, had a different opinion of the House.
"I don't have time," Booth said. "I couldn't begin to list all the mistakes the House has made."
"they need to keep the troops in line more over there (the Senate)," said Vogel.
He also said that senators served on too many committees and couldn't devote enough time to them.
Glover said that the legislature had "a country climate atmosphere each year" and that Democrats are "more aggressive than Republicans."
Booth said that "Democrats offer amendments that sound great but not work."
"THE MAJORITY PARTY is the party of responsibility," he said.
Legislators also disagreed over finances, which Vogel said weren't perfectly predictable.
VOGEL AGREED that legislators should have exempted prescription drugs from the sales tax and said that such an exemption would eventually become law.
"We're assuming certain things," Vogel said, "that from 1768 to 1980 we'll have a 7.5 per cent increase in revenues and a 5 per cent increase in operating costs."
Glover said that the state's financial surpluses hurt poor persons, and that the legislature should have exempted food and prescription drugs from sales taxation.
Exempting food and drugs, he said, could have been done on a sliding scale based on income that would not have allowed him to do so.
He said, however, that exemplifying food might cost the state too much money without giving many dole.
"We don't have a surplus," Vogel said, "since the cost of living will catch up with the state's balance."
Booth said he wouldn't support any plan that would deplete the state's balances.
"Let's take care of what we've got," he said. "I'd feel comfortable with a balance of no less than 70%."
LEGISLATORS DENIED Gov. Robert F. Bennett's charges that the trucking industry lobby had been responsible for changes made by the legislature in Bennett's highway improvements proposal.
"I've never been approached improperly by lobbists." Booth said.
Booth said that people were "sick of super-four highways in large metropolitan areas" and that Bennett's plan, as amended, would call for "vast improvement" in the state's highway system.
Glover said that the highway legislation was regressive in that paying for it would affect the poor and elderly proportionally more than it would the wealth.
Legislators authorized $29.4 million a year in highway funds, and they got the money by increasing the state's fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees.
"I DON'T WANT to sound like a bleeding-heart
inflation," Glover said, "but the working poor are
not suffering."
Glover said that the highway legislation would be an important issue in fall election campaigns.
Vogel said Douglas County would benefit from the highway legislation's so-called '3R' program of funding.
The Kansas Department of Transportation has announced that the U.S. 56 repairs in Douglas have been completed.
Higher education, legislators said, had received adequate funding for the coming fiscal year.
"APPROPRIATIONS now are pretty good," Vogel said, "and we've been liberal in the past.
10 per cent OOE (other operating expenditures) will do the job this year."
Booth said that although University of Kansas professors had received 8 per cent salary increases from this year's legislature, they might not receive further increases next year.
"Watch out next year," Booth said. "We may have a hell of a battle over salaries."
Booth said that if Kansas wheat production was down this year, the resulting drop in state revenue would be worthless.
Glover said legislators appreciated student's lobbying efforts for higher education, which he said was not "a part of the job."
MANY LEGISLATORS, he said, often wrongly equate higher education with public elementary and high school.
Booth said the state would allow districts to increase their budgets by 107 per cent over the coming fiscal year, based on their FTEs (full-time equivalent students enrolled in the districts).
Power equalization, he said, resulted from federal court decisions that said children in poor schools had a right to the same education as that enjoyed by children in wealthy districts.
THE PROBLEM WITH FTE funding formulas, Booth said, was that a densely populated wealthy area could raise money with less effort than a sparsely populated wealthy area could.
Booth said public education had grown much faster than higher education, and attempts to fund public education involved the problem of power equalization.
Both said that Johnson County, for example,
could raise more money with less effort than the
company.
"In Hugaton," Booth said, "they've got oil wells and gold knocks on the school doors, but they just aren't there."
Booth said that state aid to education was preferable to local support because of the unpredictability of funding.
Vogel said that Lawrence schools were already power equalized and received 40 per cent of their resources.
BOOTH SAID THAT the legislature had made progress in eliminating per pupil expenditure
"When we started to equalize, the disparity rate was $1000 to $500 from richest to poorest," he said. "The disparities have doubled."
Vogel said that a reason for disparity reduction had been that the "smaller districts have pooled resources."
Legislators said that issues other than finances, highways and education had been important during the session, but they disagreed on which other issues had been important and why.
Glover said he'd concentrated on marijuana decriminalization, but the House and Senate voted to ban it.
"THE SPEAKER (Duane S. "Pete" McGill, R-Winfield) just hemmed and hawed around and what happened was that the Senate leadership didn't want to bring it up this year." Clover said.
See STATE page 8