2
Tuesday, January 31, 1978
University Daily Kansan
Senate okays new criminal code
WASHINGTON(AP)—The Senate passed a massive bill last night that would consolidate and overhaul the entire body of the U.S. government, developed piecemeal during the last 200 years.
One major goal of the legislation is to provide greater uniformity and certainty in punishment for federal crimes. But the bill also has a host of other provisions, including a sharp reduction in penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana.
Passage of the recodeification measure, by a vote of T2-15, came after eight days of debate. It was the culmination of nearly 12 years of effort. The task began in the year of independence, when the National Commission on Reform of Criminal Law was set up.
The legislation, which would not take effect until two years after passage, now goes to the House where a judiciary sub-committee will draft bargains around the middle of February.
ATTORNEY GENERAL Griffin B. Bell
the bill would make literally hundreds of
hours of work for the company.
In two previous Congresses, the bill—known then as "S-1"—beogamed down in disputes over provisions that critics assailed as regressive and repressive. The present compromise version, stripped of the most contentious provisions of last year by the late Sen. John L. McCellan, D-Airk, and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.
the conservative McClellan was the driving force behind the recidification until his death last November. Not only was he chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, but he also served on the reform commission appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Kennedy took over leadership of the effort to win Senate passage of the bill, which he described in the opening debate as the "biggest federal government's law enforcement policy."
"THE MOST IMPORTANT reform in the entire bill involves the criminal sentencing process," Kennedy said, adding that the wide disparities in sentences now imposed
by federal judges had a devastating impact on the criminal justice system.
The bill provides for the creation of a seven-member commission to establish guidelines for sentencing persons convicted of federal crimes.
A federal judge could impose sentences outside the guidelines but he would have to give a written explanation. A defendant could appeal a sentence exceeding the maximum penalty for a crime and give a sentence below the guidelines. Under present law, sentences cannot be appealed.
The bill also would phase out parole, except in exceptional circumstances, and reduce the time off a prisoner could return for his sentence. The court ordered his sentence to no more than 10 percent.
KC firemen charge bad conditions cost lives
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)—Firefighters accused city officials yesterday of providing faulty equipment and inadequate manpower, as the number of known dead in the weekend Coates House hotel fire climbed to 17.
The toll made the blaze the worst in Kansas City, Mo., history, surpassing an apartment fire that killed 15 in 1924. A fire in 1906 killed 16 in adjoining Kansas City, Kan., when a blaze swept through the Chamber of Commerce building.
Three more bodies were pulled from the rubble of the 110-year-old hotel early yesterday, raising the number of known victims. The bodies remained unaccounted for, police said.
KANSAS CITY firefighters have battled six fires, three of them large, in the past three weeks.
After the Coates Hotel blaze Saturday, the firefighters battled a Sunday morning blaze on the east side of the 6300 block of Brookside Avenue. The fire apparently started in a brookside barbecue restaurant and spread to six adipiing businesses. The
firefighters fought the blaze for four hours before bringing it under control.
Just after the Brookside fire was under control, another fire was reported in an apartment building at 3919 Warwick Blvd. The fire was caused by tenants homeless and injured four firefighters.
Early yesterday morning, another fire forced evacuation of about 450 residents and caused thousands of dollars damage to the homes. Twin Oak apartments in Kansas City, Mo.
Kansas City, Mo. 's 9-month-old fire protection plan underwent its most severe test Saturday during the Coates fire and fire fighters said yesterday the plan's defects could be measured by those who died in the hotel.
MEMBERS OF Local No. 42 of the International Association of Fire Fighters charged yesterday that the cost lives when fire roared through the historic Coates House Hotel. The union struck the city two years ago over the issues of more manpower and work rule changes, but returned when some compromises were reached.
Firefighters asked Charles B. Wheeler Jr., mayor, to seek a state probe into the fire protection program, and Wheeler agreed. Kenneth Carnes, Missouri public safety director, said he would head the investigation.
Firefighters charged that the new pum-
which went into effect May 1, left resposing
fire equipment without enough manpower to
carry out rescue operations. And they said
lack of manpower left some Emergency
Rescue Vehicles sitting in stations.
Wheeler praised the work of the fire
fighter who called the attacks by fire
fighters public.
"THESE NO doubt that people died because of a lack of manpower," Louie Wright, one of the first firemen at the scene, told reporters yesterday.
He said he used a ladder that had malfunctioned previously, when it collapsed at a fire their Eve's Eave and left a fireman dangling from a fourth-floor window ledge. Wright said he and others had to try four times before the ladder would hold for rescue efforts Saturday.
Wright charged that because of man-
Rhodesian guerrillas unconvinced
A senior aide to Mugabe said that Carr
a authority would make him a virtual
dialer.
"The divisions are on important issues." Young told reporters after emerging from a two-hour morning conference on this issue in the United States and nation. The talks are continuing today.
Late Sunday, Nkomo and Mugabe served notice that their only aim was to continue fighting until they had secured a total transfer of power from Rhodesia's white
RABAT, Malta (AP) - The United States and Britain failed to persuade black guerrilla leaders yesterday to abandon their bloody five-year war against Rhodesia's white government and accept a plan for a nuclear agreement leading to black majority rule.
Other provisions under dispute included the length and control of a cease-fire between the guerrillas and Rhodesian government troops and arrangements for a six-month transition to black nationalist rule.
THE GUERRILLAS, British delegates said, rejected the British-American plan because of provisions the Australian minister-designate, powers to oversee the transition, head the police and command the national army as well as supervise one-man, one-e vote candidate.
Despite their intensive efforts, Young and Owen acknowledged that they failed to shift the Patriot Front leaders, who represent an estimated 20,000 guerrillas inside and outside Rhodesia, away from their pledge to Iran Ian Smith's white government by force.
Andrew Young, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and David Dewan, British Secretary said yesterday that the talks with Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo—co-leaders of the militant Fatturacre yielded no agreements on major issues.
"If the British do not throw Mr. Smith out, we will do it." Nkomo said. "The war will go."
NKOMO AND Mugabe demanded that the
out a session, saying he had been insulted by one of SMITH's envoyes. They resumed yesterday with only two of three moderate leaders present.
Patriotic Front—not the moderate black nationalists living inside Rhodesia—be designated to take over power from Smith's government and lead the country's 6.7 million blacks through the necessary steps toward independence.
power cute, equipment could not be repaired or speedily in the department repair shop.
"There's only so much you can do to keep certain pieces of this junk on the streets," he
The internally based moderates, who said they represented the majority of Rhodesia's blacks, opened negotiations with Smith last December. The negotiations were aimed at changing how the country managed a universal suffrage. The talks broke off last week when Bishop Abel Muzorewa stormed
Smith sought the meetings to head off an imposed solution from outside, such as the British-American peace plan, that would allow American forces to front into any black majority government.
The Rhodesian leader also wants safeguards for the future of the nation's 263,000 whites and representation in any new parliament.
Wheeler promised to investigate the allegations.
Carter spoke at a nationally televised news conference, his second this year. He pledged to pursue the "failsafe" system and the atomic-satellite ban with the Soviet Union. Carter said the Soviets had held him during its fall and that it would not exhale, during its fall and that it would not exhale.
The President said he knew more than the public knew about what searcher found in the file.
President to ask USSR to ban atomic satellite use
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Jimmy Carter promised yesterday to ask the Soviet Union not to send up any more atomic satellites like the one that fell on Canada and said "we would be glad to forego the loss of any such satellites altogether."
In recent times the Coates House housed the poor, the elderly and the transients, but once it was the most fashionable hotel and trysting spot for the city's elegant people.
"If we cannot evolve those failsafe methods," Carter said, "then I think there ought to be a total prohibition against earth-orbiting satellites. I would favor at this point to prohibit earth-orbiting satellites to prohibit earth-orbiting satellites with atomic or radiation material in them."
Calling for more rigid precautions by all nations, the president said the United States and the Soviet Union should try to develop a "sure-fire" safety system to keep such nuclear-power satellites from falling to earth or into the earth's atmosphere.
"It was a unique building. It was the premier hotel in this city for a number of years." Milton Perry, chairman on Historic Preservation, said yesterday. "The ballroom—the New Years' Eve ball there is the most important in the city about the turn of the century."
unt two American wildlife scientists had found radioactive wreckage from the satellite, which plunged 10-40 feet under a 40-foot crater into ice on the Thelon River in the Northwest Territories. The wreckage was described as structural tubing and a smashed metal bowl.
Canadian officials said earlier in the day
The two Americans showed no signs of radioactive contamination, officials said.
At his wide-ranging news conference, Carter also said:
- Rejection of any phase of his tax jobs and inflation-fighting programs could aggravate the nation's economic problems.
- It would be a great painful balance between conflicting priorities.
- If necessary, Carter said, he would try to exert influence on Congress through the American people to keep his programs intact.
- He has no intention at this time to intercede in the nation's coal strike by invoking the Taft-Hartley Act, which would require miners to return to work for an 80-day cooling off period. Nonetheless, he has not scheduled his demands for an end to the strike do not look good.
U.S. oil appetite increases trade deficit
WASHINGTON (UPI) — The American appetite for foreign oil helped push the U.S. trade deficit for 1977 to a record $26.7 billion, more than four times higher than any other year in history, the government said yesterday.
The President said he hoped the United Mine Workers and the coal operators would come together to create a clean, efficient
The Commerce Department said 1977 imports totaled $146.8 billion while exports were $120.1 billion. Purchases of oil, much of which comes from Arab countries, were measured at $42.1 billion. This was $9.9 billion-or $31 percent--above the 1976 level.
LISTED IN the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, the Conte House originally was the home of James Conte and Eldridge of Lawrence. Construction was interrupted by the Civil War, when the building's foundation was used as a stable for the horses of Union cavalry.
The $26.7 billion deficit in 1977 swamped the
1982 recessions by a $3 billion in 1972.
The total deficit of $14.5 billion is
"Heavy dependence on imported oil continues to dominate the U.S. foreign trade picture and a large deficit must again be expected in 1978," said Courtney Slater, the Commerce Department's chief economist.
The Commerce Department said imports and exports during December reached record highs as shippers attempted to catch up from the two-month dock strike, which slowed the movement of goods at eastern and coastal ports.
The 1977 deficit was on target with administration projections.
In December, exports climbed to $11.03
billion while imports reached $13.60 billion, the first time ever that goods flowing into and out of the United States have hit those levels.
The resulting December deficit of 2.03 billion was nearly identical to November's $2.08 billion. December marked the 10th quarter of the year. American trade hedger has been in the red.
The size of the deficit has become increasingly worrisome to President Jimmy Carter. He said he would impose House favors pursuit of a basically freetrade economic policy but has been under pressure from some members of Congress and the industry to impose protectionist measures.
A trade deficit means that more dollars are leaving the United States to pay for foreign goods than the United States is earning from the sale of its goods abroad.
Trading with other nations is an important factor in the overall American economy.
Generally, when this occurs, domestic employment and production suffer.
Government economists already have projected that the deficit for 1978 would be near the same level as last year, although exports should increase somewhat and
Nearly 60 percent of American exports go to Canada, Japan and countries of Western Europe, and most of these countries have an offshore base in the United States as fast as the United States recovered.
Besides oil, another reason for the growing deficit has been weak economic performance by nations that trade with the United States.
Kersey Coates, a Philadelphia Quaker who settled in Kansas City in 1854, soon bought an interest in the structure. He revived the project in 1866 by investing $10,000 and using bricks from his kiln operations.
imports, particularly oil, should decline
in conjunction by about 30 percent in
both 1976 and 1985.
Had foreign economies expanded at the same pace, American exports would be about 10 percent higher than they are now, according to the congressional budget ol-
Besides oil, other imports that posted sharp increases in 1977 were: new cars, up $1.7 billion; iron and steel, up $2.2 million; sugar, up $2.2 million; Sugar imports down by $7.5 million.
On the export side of the ledger, wheat and corn fell a combined $2.28 billion; coal was off $256 million and iron and steel were off $225 million.
Soybeans rose by $1.08 billion and machinery and transportation equipment
FILMS
Wednesday, Feb. 1
Alain Tanner :
LA SALAMANDRE
With Jacques Denis, Bulle Ogier,
Jean Luc Bideau. $1.00; 7:30 & 9:45
p.m. Woodruff Aud.
Thursday, Feb. 2
Revolutionary Feminist Filmmaker
Yvonne Ranier:
LIVES OF PERFORMERS
$1.00, 7:30, Woodruff Aud.
Fri. & Sat., Feb. 3 & 4
Director HAI Ashby with David Carradine, Ronny Cox. Based on Doug Guthrie's music and life. $15.00; 3.30; 7.00 & 9.30. Woodruff Aud.
BOUND FOR GLORY
Midnight Movies
DIRTY DUCK
Legislature passes farm resolutions
Dir, & Animator Charles Swenson.
Music—Flo & Eddy, Rated X. $1.00,
12:00 midnight. Woodruff Aud.
Khashan, TOPEKA—Both houses of the Kansas Legislature dealt with agricultural matters yesterday, the House endorsing a Senate resolution backing the American Agriculture movement and the Senate passing a measure urging President Carter to restore Agriculture Department budget cuts.
From the Kansan Wire Services
political maneuvering on the House floor for a time threatened that resolution, which expressed support for the family farm and the American Agriculture movement.
The senators responded more directly to Carter's budget cuts. They passed a simple Senate resolution—which did not go to the House—urging Carter to restore $7.3 billion in cuts from the USDA budget. The resolution, introduced by Sen. Ron Hanen, also included a bill that would Bennett for personal delivery to Carter at a meeting in Washington yesterday.
Bennett is scheduled to join about a dozen farm state governors today in Washington for a meeting with Carter. An aide said the governor plans to hand Carter the resolution at a 1 p.m. meeting at the White House.
Under the president's budget proposal for next fiscal year, the Department of Agriculture would get $3.7 billion less than they received this year.
In other action, committee hearings were held yesterday on a pair of bills sponsored by Senator Tom Hicks.
A rash of weekend fires, including the Coates Hotel tragedy in Kansas City, Mo., made the hearings particularly timely in connection Federal and State Affairs Committee.
The committee heard testimony on two bills. One would require the installation of automatic fire warning or extinguishing systems in residential, hotel, motel, lodging or boarding buildings that were constructed or substantially renovated.
The other would require the installation of fire alarm systems activated by smoke detectors to be installed in any hotel, dormitory, lodging or rooming house.
In other action, the House endorsed a bill by Rep. E. Dean Shelor, D-Minneapolis, that would modify the way people run for election to local school boards. New persons petitioning to be candidates must obtain signature of 50 electors. Shelor, saying some western Kansas districts do not support the number suggested the number of petitioners simply be no less than 10 percent of the total electors in the district.
Another House bill would allow municipally owned utilities to transfer security deposits from long-dormant accounts to a city fund under certain conditions and would raise the amount of security deposits by the utilities from 3to 9percent.
The House approved a Senate bill bringing Kansas into compliance with federal law regarding information in the criminal justice system. The bill also would provide guidelines for collecting, storing and distributing information to setting up a Privacy and Security Advisory Board to assist the director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
The Senate took emergency action to pass a bill that would change computation of unemployment insurance payroll taxes from $175 million to rather than the old $4,200 wage base, changed last year. Lawmakers said speedy action was necessary to prevent collection of an excess of $17 million from the taxpayer. The House bill was sent to Gov. Bennett.
In other action, the House approved a resolution congratulating art teacher Gertrude E. Furney of Russell for being chosen Russell County's 1977 Man of the Year. She is the first woman to receive the award.
Gene Wilder as
"THE WORLD'S GREATEST LOVER"
IT'S THE
"IRRESISTABLE & IRREVERENT"
PG
O
'CLOSE ENCOUNTERS of the Third Kind''
CINDY WILLIAMS R
CINDY WILLIAMS Rut
AS ROSEI
Eve 7:25 & 9:15
Sat Sun Mat 2:40
Eve 7:00 &
9:30
Sat-Sun 2:00
THE FIRST NUDIE MUSICAL
IT'S THE STAR WARS OF NUDIE MUSICALS!
NOW Cinema Twin
John Travolta
R R R R Eve 7:15 & 9:45 Sat-Sun Mat 2:30 NOW Cipome Tuwi
NOW Cinema Twin
SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER R
CATCH IT!!!
If you can't beat
Eve 7:15 & 9:25
Sat Sun 1:45
Hillcrest
First Love R
Eve 7:25 & 9:30
Sat-Sun 1:55
Why doesn't anyone tell you there's a difference between making love and being in love?
Hillcrest
JANE FONDA PETER BOYLE
• DONALD SUTHERLAND •
STEELYARD
BLUES ★ PG
A SMALL BAND OF LUNATICS DO UNTO THE SYSTEM WHAT THE SYSTEM IS TRYING TO DO UNTO ALL OF US . . .
"A Delightfully Funny Poke at Stuffed Shirts" --ANT BREEDERS WEEKLY
EVENINGS 7:35 & 9:35 Hillcrest
Hillcrest
Worlds of Fun TALENT AUDITIONS
An audition team will visit 10 campuses in four states during January and February of 1978 looking for the best in Midwestern collegiate talent.
Most available jobs are for singers or dancers; but comics, magicians, jugglers and unusual novelty acts will also be considered. Sorry - no jobs are available for actors or strictly instrumental acts.
Performers can earn over $3700 working six days per week in the summer, and Spring and Fall weekends, it's fun, exposure, and excellent experience, too. If you've never seen Worlds of Fun's productions, ask the opinion of a friend who has seen them. You'll be surprised.
When you audition, you'll have 3-4 minutes to display your talents. We suggest you provide your own accompaniment. However, a competent pianist will be available (please bring your sheet music in your key). A record player and tape machines will be available for your use.
THE CLOSEST AUDITION
KAN. UNIVERSITY Jan. 26, 1978: 3:00 P.M. And February 3, 1978: 5:00 P.M.
Ble Roon. Kansas Union (2nd, Flight)
TOPEKA GENERAL ADMINISTRATION February 4, 1978 10:00 A.M. - Ramada Inn
Southtown, 3847 T. Toopea Ave.
REGISTRATION BEGINS 30 MINUTES PROBLEM TO AUDIENCES. FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION, CALL 917-548-7420 OR WRITE "PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT"
444-452-7996.
Worlds of Fun
ANNUAL OCTOBER
TIME 7-9AM
FIRE 1-12AM