Natural history reservation hums with life
Staff Writer
Bv SUZANNE BURDICK
In the northeast corner of Douglas County a collection of animals from deer mice to snapping turtles to red-bellied woodpeckers live unmolested. In the midst of all lives Henry Fitch.
Fitch is the superintendent of the University of
Ana'i natural history reservation, a 500-acre tract
with 64 acres of forestland.
The reservation is humming with life now, he says. "This is the most active time for animals, after the long winter's map, when they first come out of hibernation and begin to off a recent collection of animals on his back northe."
Fitch helps up a snaky-looking creature about 2 feet long.
"No, it's not a make," he says. "It's a legessig iarder—the glass elizard is so-called because its name is made of glass."
IN NEARBY CAGES were white-footed deer and harvest mice, an oppusum and a skink lizard. On a table are tarsel of aerobat and chestnut ants and a jar of tadpoles just hatched.
Fitch says he has collected those animals for a
Kansas animals class that he is teaching at the KU Reegents Center in Overland Park.
Fitch, professor of systematics and ecology, teaches courses at KU on animal natural history and animals of Kansas. He has lived on the reservation for 30 years, studying and recording the wildlife.
The reservation is very active. Fitch says he has a wide range of projects, including a soil study, aquatic research, and fish reef restoration.
Although the reservation is administered by the division of biological sciences, students from systematics, biology, entomology and other classes take advantage of the area.
"ONE OF THE MAIN advantages of the reservation is "the proximity to campus," Fitz says. "A professor can bring his class over here and get in a field trip from one hour to the next."
An additional 404 acres known as the Rockefeller Experimental Tract extends north of the reservation and are used for experimental and research purposes.
However, on the reservation, it is not permissible to do any experiment that would interfere with the
Anyone is welcome to visit the reservation, except those who break the rules, he says. The rules forbid any activity that would disturb the natural progression of life on the reservation.
"Here the animals have priority," he says.
FITCH INCLUDES as hazardous acts the bringing of domestic animals to the area, perkining, camping
Riding horses or off-road vehicles such as motoris-
der would make trials and scare away animals, he
could.
"There are people who would come out here and would pick walnuts, grapes, mushrooms, blackberries," he says. "This would make a big difference in the food supply available to the wildlife."
"People should come to enjoy the area for its plant and animal life," he says. "They should come to
Fifth says that one or two people will have a much better chance of seeing wildlife than will a group of people who are talking to each other and making a commotion.
SOME PEOPLE come every weekend in the spring to watch birds, he says, and there are more than 130 species.
The reservation pond maintains a diverse aquatic life, including muskrats, water snakes and red
"You might even see a deer if you come early in the morning." Fitch says.
The Fitches live in a house the University built soon after he became the reservation superintendent.
Fitch says that neither he nor his wife, Virginia, has ever found it lonely living on the reservation. They have three children, two whom decided to become biologists.
In one corner of the comfortable living room, a copperhead snake lies in a handmade glass cage. Under a table lies a box of small jars filled with lizard shards, also for Fitch's class on Kansas animals.
Fitch, whose specially is in vertebrates, says he probably can recognize any bird or mammal on the
"STILL, I CULD take a group of students on a field trip and find things that I would not know.
"Listen," he says, cooking his ear toward a loud bird call. "That's a red-bellied woodpecker."
"I if I hear a bit sound that I'm not familiar with, I go to a lot of trouble to run it down. This time of year the weather is really warm."
Fitch, who has published a number of papers and several books, says his paperwork helps to keep him informed.
I've been working on a series of projects, usually several at one time, in different stages of the project.
Fitch says he had one spider project that lasted several years.
Recently the glass lizard has been one of Fitch's favorite subjects. He currently is working on a major
"There are about 105 species of spiders on the reservation." he says
HE LISTS THE EASTERN wood rat, the prairie vole, the narrow-mouthed toad, the five-lined skink, the copperhead snake and the blue racer snake as some of the species he has studied.
His wife, who works as an audio reader at KU, has authored several books on the topics of author on some of the projects and publications.
See PRESERVE page three
Staff Photo by TIM ASHNER
Piaauback
...berney was a fine time for impromptu tumbling on the grass at Central Park, Seventh and Kentucky streets. The durable wrestlers are 18-year-old Brian O'Leary (leeft), 18, and 20-year-old Joe O'Neill (leeft).
Groups blast Senate on recent budget cuts
By GENELINN And SARAH TOEVS
And SARAH TOEV Staff Writers
Six Senate committees met Monday through Friday two weeks ago to hear budget requests from about 55 student organizations. Then the full Senate met three nights last week to approve, amend or refuse the committees' recommendations.
Student groups that received substantial budget cuts during the Student Senate budget hearings last week have started voicing their criticism of the Senate Budget process and making plans to get the money they need.
Several groups praised Senate committees for their fairness but blasted the full Senate, saying that it did not follow the committees' recommendations closely
The Senate allocated approximately $465,000, which will be collected in student funds.
THE SENATE VOTED not to fund the Hockey Club, even though the Sports Committee recommended it be given the bill amount.
One group upset with the outcome of the hearings is the KU Ice Hockey Club, which
Joel Herman, club president, said he was angered by the Senate's action.
"I yelled a lot after I found out," he said. Herman said he thought the club should have been funded because it was a relative large group with many members and joined recognition for KU by competing in hockey at the intercollegiate club level.
angled by the Senate's action.
"I vailed a lot after I found out," he said.
C Philc, Senate treasurer, defended the senate's handling of committee recomma-
tations.
The Senate voted to cut the hockey club's funds because the club had approached the Senate several years ago and agreed to seek a deal. But after which it would become self-sufficient.
See SENATE page five
Herman said the group originally made that agreement because of plans to build an ice rink in Lawrence, which had since been dropped.
"The senators looked at the recommendations carefully and if they had strong feelings they voiced their opinions," he said. "This is as it should be."
Senators changed their minds Thursday night, however, and raised BALSA's allocation to $547 after hearing pleas from group representatives.
ON THE OTHER HAND, she said the Academic Affairs committee had been fair to BALSA, but out in the group's budget from $1,229 to $447.
The group now has to play most of its games at Kemper Arena in Kansas City.
probably go back to the Senate to request a special allocation soon. Another group critizing Senate action is the Black American Law Student Association, which finally received, after several votes, its full $447 committee recommendation.
"I think the Senate showed deep unfeeling and unconcern for groups of people who traditionally have been discriminated against, we beauen, BALSA treasurer, said Friday.
The Senate first decided to cut BALSA to $135, because it and other minority student groups did not have large enough memberships to warrant the money they were
"I was present during committee deliberations, and they treated all the kills."
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Vol. 88, No. 131 Tuesday, April 18, 1978
Lawrence, Kansas
Revamping of bond program eyed
Rv IEFF TEVIS
Staff Writer
The Douglas County Commission is eyeing a possible savings of millions of dollars by rewapping its general obligation bond program.
The Kansas Legislature recently passed a bill that enabled any municipality to issue water tariffs.
"It was not an expected piece of county commission chairman, said another."
But the county would not make a profit by reissuing the general obligation bonds, according to Robert Colvin, boss of Merger Enterprises in Kansas City, Mo. The county, instead, would reduce
the amount of interest it has to pay on its indebtedness.
The situation would be the same if a person had a bank loan at 9 percent interest and went to another bank to get a loan at 7 percent to pay it off, Corbin said.
"THE WHEELE CATCH is to issue new bonds at a lower interest rate," he said. "They (the county) may even be able to save millions."
Previously, only revenue bonds, those which are issued for and paid back by revenue-producing projects, could be refunded.
Firefighters request southwest firehouse
General obligation bonds, those which are paid by the tax base of the municipality, are subject to a 10 percent bond.
By JAKE THOMPSON
Staff Writer
Someone will have to die in a fire in southwest Lawrence before city officials build a new firehouse in that area, according to a nine-page statement submitted yesterday by local firefighters to the city commission.
The statement was made in response to former Mayer Marinie Angergersten's recent comments that the United States is "going to war" with
Mike Penner, president of the local 1596 of the International Association of Firefighters, said yesterday that the statement was designed to make the public aware of the problems the department faced in reaching fires in the southwest part of the city.
Penner said the city would probably not act on problems in that part of the city until the mayor came forward.
The plan said, "A new southwest and north Lawrence station appear necessary in the near future. It is recommended that a detailed study encompassing hydrant placement, water pressure, equipment filling and station location be carried out."
THE STATEMENT to the city said that a 1964 Planning Commission recommendation called for a new firehouse in "the southwest near Oustaid and 32rd streets."
The plan concluded by saying that no new facilities should be developed until such a study was completed. Penner said that no study had occurred.
"All you have to do is to look at Kansas City and the deaths there in the Coates House fire," he said, "to see it takes a city's a city sits down to discuss the problems."
This was repeated in a 1767 report to the city commission entitled "Plum, 35," as well as a 1770 report.
"Plan 85" also said that the maximum
distance from a firehouse to a residential house should be no more than three miles.
BUT, RESIDENTS living on Bermuda, Ei Dorado, Riamer, Glacier and other streets in that area, the firefighters' statement said, live more than four miles away from the nearest station, station No. 2. Station No. 2 is at 1941 Haskell Ave.
Response time—the time it takes for a fire truck to get to a fire—averaged eight to 11 minutes in the southwest region, the statement said.
The statement accused the city of neglecting to check fire hydrants. It said that the fire department had discovered recently, while inspecting some hydrants, that a great number registered only one, two or three pounds of water pressure and did not work at all. Hydrants normally have from 60 to 80 pounds of pressure.
City officials were in Manhattan yesterday at a Big Eight Cities meeting and had not read the statement by last night. But Mr. Carter said that he had no comments on the firefighters' statement and that the mayor, commissioners and the city manager would probably discuss their stands tonight in an executive session after the city commission
THE FIREFIGHTERS' statement concluded by saying that the fire department had fewer firefighters for each thousand population than it did 20 years ago.
Penner said the fire department went to three daily shifts in 1971, instead of the previous two. There were 47 men for two shifts and now are 56 for three shifts.
Penner said as a result of the shift change they were only from 12 to 19 men on daily duty.
"Instead of the number of firemen increasing with the population, it has become more expensive."
The impact of the Legislature's action is widespread, considering that a municipality is any governing body with the power to elect its own districtates, cities, counties and townships.
Darlene Hill, Douglas County budget director, said that more than $9,560,000 in public debts from the Judicial and Law Enforcement building and the bridge construction program was involved in the possible bond reissuance.
To issue new bonds, the county first would have to call for all existing bonds to be brought back. New bonds then would be issued with an equivalent amount to original investors.
The resulting interest would be used to help pay the debt from the new bonds.
THE MONEY THAT previously was tied up in the old bonds then could be partially invested in federal notes or bonds by a trustee bank or escrow agent.
However, some questions have been raised by Charles Stough, a Lawrence lawyer and former bond counselor for the City of Boston municipalities into investment positions.
He said fluctuating interest rates were a possible downfall to the program. If interest rates were to rise, the county would be at the same rate of interest it is paying now.
Colvin agreed that if the county delayed on reissuing the bonds until interest rates went back up, there would be less of an advantage.
"We reduced the interest rate from 9 percent to only 6.5 percent. That means that in the next 23 years we will save close to $3 million," Lenz said.
He said most municipalities interested in a reissuance would be those that issued bonds during the high interest periods from 1969 to 1971 and from 1975 to 1976.
LAWRENCE MEMORIAL HOSPITAL reissued $8 million of its revenue bonds last summer and Don Lenz, hospital administrator, said he was happy that they
Douglas County Commissioners said they probably would meet sometime later this week with Stough and representatives from the county's fire支队, inescapable the possible merits of a resistance.
"There is no guarantee that the county will do this. It just an option." Colvin said.
Stough said bonding houses probably would support bond reissurance because they would profit from large transaction fees would be involved if new honews were issued.
"I just don't know who has more to gain-
the county or the bonding houses," Stough
said.
Prospects for treaty passage good
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN Capsules From the Associated Press, United Press International
WASHINGTON—Prospect for final Senate ratification of the canal treaties were boosted yesterday when Sen. Dennis DeCointi, D-Ariz., and the Panamanian government said they would accept a compromise definition of the canal treaties and vote on the second treaty, is scheduled for this evening. See story page two.
Stock market wave hits new high
NEW YORK—The stock market, riding the crest of a powerful rally, rolled up another sharp gain yesterday in trading that far outlasted the New York Stock Exchange volume record set last Friday. Yesterday's session still had more than an hour to go when volume on the Board surprised Fridays' peak. Analysts said the upsurge that began last week tended to feed on itself, attracting additional buying by investors anxious not to miss further gains.
Weather...
Skies should clear today after yesterday's rains. Highs will be in the 60s today, dropping to the mid 30s and low 40s tonight.
Locally ...
"Holoacoust," an NBC television miniseries about Hitler's treatment of the Jews, has stirred controversy across the country. Part three of the series will be shown tonight and the conclusion will run tomorrow. For local reactions to the series, see story page five.
County considering dousing fireworks sales
By JEFF TEVIS
Staff Writer
Shortly after July 4 last year, the Lawrence City Commission asked the Douglas County Commission to consider the use and use of fireworks on a county-wide level.
The proposal was initiated by complaints from Lawrence area doctors and health officials, who were appalled at the number of children injured every year.
"Some people put fireworks up there with apple pie and apple but, the fact remains that people are hurt every year." John MacArthur, Lawrence fire chief, said recently.
Last year, the City Commission banned
the use of bottle rockets within the city limits. Their sale was already illegal because of legislation passed several years ago that required the construction of any fireworks within the city limits.
The city then sent a letter to the County Commission asking that it consider a county-wide ban on the sale and use of fireworks.
"ANYTHING WE CAN do to discourage their use will be helpful," Marnie Arngersinger, mayor at the time, said in the letter. She also said that the city was considering a complete ban on the use, as well as the sale, of fireworks.
City law already prohibits the use of any fireworks within the city limits on all but clearance by police.
Since the time of the letter, the county commission has delayed action on the issue because it was determined that
"MAYBE THE WOULD help reduce fires, injuries and mishaps all over," he said.
Peter Whitenight, county commission chairman, said.
The commissioners agreed that a public bearing may be called to discuss the impact of this law.
Kasberger said the purpose of the bans would be to encourage large supervised public displays, instead of the private use of fireworks.
According to fire department records, a firefighters-related to incidents within the past two weeks.
"I sincerely doubt that we do anything on this. It's pretty late in the year to enact legislation for July," Beverly Bradley, county commissioner, said.
these are directly attributed to bottle rockets.
The fires caused an estimated $1,770 in property damage, but the cost to the city for sending trucks out ranged from $1,000 to over $15,000 in damages to $15,000 for the two-year period.
Still, even with all of the evidence against fireworks, city and county officials agree that enforcement of a ban would be nearly impossible.
"People will do anything, regardless of local legality." Whitjent said.
"IT MAY SLOW it down some, but people all still find some way to get them." Kushner
State law already limits the sale of fireworks to the period of June 27 to July 5. According to the law, only common Class A fireworks may be sold in Kansas through combustion, can be sold in Kansas.