Gays find more than sex at KC's Liberty Memorial
Rv.JOHN WHITESIDES
Staff Writer
KANSAS CITY, Mo.—On any night the cars circle the drive, guided by their own intricate set of easy-to-follow instructions. A flash of the brakes, a switch to high-bear headlights, a wave of the arm—anything to signal an interest, to show the other person a willingness to meet.
It's cruising time at the Liberty Memorial Mall in Kansas City, Mo, which for years has been a favorite gathering spot for homosexuals in the Kansas City area.
Located in Penn Valley Park, across from the Crown Center complex, the Memorial has long been a place for gays to meet other gays, to socialize and possibly pick up a companion for the evening.
"Gay people have to have someplace to get together, and this is a good place for that," says one person who frequents the area. "It's a younger crowd, and it's very easy to meet people, particularly in the summer. In the summer, everyone is more relaxed. They're out of their cars running around in
the bushes and stuff. In the winter, everyone stays in their cars more."
THE HIGH concentration of homosexuals in the mall area also has made them an easy target for beattings and muggings, and the Mall Liberties Union that the Kansas City Police Department is harassing homosexuals at the Memorial. The ACLU has said it would consider filing charges against the police if the man was a homosexual.
one ACLU became interested in the problem of
morning promosexual after the arrest
May 31 of 19 persons at 11 a.m.
"THEY STOPPED our detective and told him that he didn't belong in the park if he wasn't gay." Meyer
The detective ordered the crowd to disperse. When
The directors of the ACLU voted to defend the persons arrested in the incident and are awaiting the outcomes of remaining court cases before deciding whether to file suit against the police department.
it didn't, those present were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and drinking in public.
David Waxhee, ACLU general counsel, said the ACU had two major complaints against the police. The officers who were in charge would leave the mail area and arresting them if they did not violate freedoms of due process and assembly.
"THERE ARE also a few ordinances that we think are unconstitutional and are used to harass gays," says.
The ordinances allow the arrest of any sobeying lawful police commands. Waxsey said dinances might not dictate clearly what type inmands might be given and under what mistreats they might be given, and were use scrimmately by police in dealing with homosexual
Police usually arrest homosexuals on charges of
"Basically we have a situation where the police are denying these people their constitutional rights and are harassing them because they are believed to be homosexuals." Waxse said.
impeding traffic, disorderly conduct, drinking in public and lied and indecent conduct.
He said representatives of the ACLU had met informally with the chief of police and the general counsel for the police department to discuss the situation, but had not resolved any differences.
'THEY DENIED there was any harassment of gays and made the general kinds of statements you'd want to make,' she said.
Meyer said he was aware of the ACU's intentions to战屏 suit against the police, but wasn't concerned by them.
"If they want to file suit that's their periget, but we're not going to do anything different," he said. "We have limited manpower and we try to enforce them on priorities. Homosexuality is a low-priority item."
"Look, we're not going to rid the city of that kind of activity, but we have to try to resolve complaints," Meyer said. "If the activity drops to a level where it does not disrupt community activity and we receive no complaints on it, then we won't concern ourselves with it."
memorial had decreased since the doors to the public restrooms were welded shut Nov. 1.
HOWEVER, AT least one lawyer familiar with the situation disagreed with Meyer.
"That an outright and vicious lie," Gary Alban, Kansas City, K安, attorney said. "They (police) go up there all the time—at 15 minute intervals in cars, and unmarked cars are always around there."
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Alban said police had two prime methods for dealing with homosexuals on the mail.
Staff Photos by ELI REICHMAN
"Another method is for the detective to go in the
KANSAN
See LIBERTY page 14
"One is to go in and arrest everybody they see," he said. "That's fairly direct. They round-up everyone who sees it."
Friday December 2,1977
who is awaiting acceptance into the KU School of Law, enjoys camping and trains three to four times a week on the walls of Fliat Hall
occurring stone walls is hardly an ordinary hobby, but Jeff Baird, Lawrence, regularly practices it as a form of bobby. Baird,
Climbing the wall
Major violations found in scholarship halls, dorm
By LINDA FINESTONE Staff Writer
State fire inspectors said yesterday that they had found major deficiencies of the state fire prevention code in Lewis Hall and Watkins and Miller school halls.
Templin Hall and Stephenson Scholarship Hall also were inspected yesterday.
Gordon Sailors, one of five inspectors from the state fire marshal's office, said yesterday after inspecting Lewis that the fiberboard ceilings in its hallways and lobbies did not meet code requirements for the interior finish of the building.
Because fiberboard emits toxic smoke and fumes when it burns, Sailor said, it did
He said that the ceilings would have to be replaced or painted with flame retardant paint.
"IT COULD BE quite expensive to quote $35 to cover about 100 square feet."
Lewis, a women's residence hall, has seven floors. The first floor is a main lobby, with six floors of two wings of individual rooms.
Sailors said, otherwise, Lewis Hall was "in pretty dry good shape."
Merton Hickman, fire inspector, yesterday inspected Watkins and Miller scholarship halls. He said he would work with the major corrections be made to both buildings.
Watkins and Miller, which Hickman said were very similar, each have two fire escapes—a starway escape on the north side and an upper escape on the south side of the buildings.
Hickman said he would ask that the ladder ascends at both buildings be replaced with a new one.
HICKMAN ALSO SAID he would ask for
applied fire-rated doors leading to
Libraries to stay open longer during finals
3y MARY-ANNE OLIVAR
Watson Library and three University of Kansas branch libraries will stay open more hours during daily to compley with students' interests. (Larry Robert Malnowski, associate dean of libraries.)
The libraries will close one hour later Monday through Thursday, six hours later Friday and one hour later on Sunday. Saturday's schedule remains the same.
Starting Monday, Watson Library, the Science Library in Malott Hall, the Englewood Hall and the Music Library in Murphy Hall will be open the following hours: Monday through Friday. 8 a.m.; to Saturday, from 5 p.m.; and Sunday, 2 p.m. to midnight.
"Another problem is that people have finished their papers by the time the hours increase and they bring back enormous quantities of books." Chittenden said.
However, libraries have opened more hours in the past for finals and have not been used as much as expected. Carl Chiticam associate reference librarian, said recently.
ACCORDING TO A users survey conducted in spring 1978, the limited number of hours libraries were open was the most common complaint.
are following departments of the library will be open; serials, microforms, reserve, circulation, reference. The Art Library on the third floor of Watson also will be open.
"two years ago the libraries were open more hours and it didn't seem to take," she
"In order to open the libraries more hours, we will have to take student assistants from stacking books and tagging labels to attend people," she said.
BILL DEACON. ASSISTANT science
librarian, agreed that students did not use the libraries in the past.
"It seemed unnecessary to have such hours," be said, "I'll be all for it, though. if the library is used, even if it's only for study."
Although library officials say the increase in hours will not attract many more users, a number of students are pleased with the new schedule.
Frances Fischer, library assistant of the Science Library in Malot, said that the Science Library should always be open more hours because students need to use the library.
library to do research for papers and also to study.
A number of students said they used the
Martin users are in a different situation Watson users, according to Bryan Broe
"Marvin is almost always crowned before a major test or a midterm. Since Marvin has no study lounge, the library is the only place you can study," he said.
STUDENTS WHO USE the Science Library in Malott will be able to stay longer in the library instead of studying in the hallway.
Although libraries have opened before during finals, Malinowsky said that this year the decision was prompted by a case made by Steve Leeben, student body president.
The minority students who are interviewed by the committee also will go through the regular admissions process. Lowman said the committee resulted from a
when they want because they have a key to the door. Fischer said.
Lowman said that the committee was made up of faculty members who volunteered to give their time, and that no funding had been given to the committee.
The group, comprised of Med Center faculty, this month will interview minority students who have already applied to James Lowman, dean of the Med Center.
nowever, the change will not affect graduate students who can use the library
Leben said he proposed that Jim Ranz, a professor at the open the library more hours with help from friends.
Minority admission board formed
Malinowski said the extra library hours would cause financial and staffing problems.
Lowman said yesterday that the committee would give to the admissions panel a priority list of minority students the committee recommends for admission.
Ranz appreciated the offer, Leben said, but declined it because students who work in it were sick.
Bv NANCY DRESSLER
Staff Writer
The faculty will then consider the possibility of maintaining the committee.
concern to continue the Med Center's affirmative action policy.
A decision on whether the committee will become permanent will not be made until the current enrollment admissions process is completed in February. Lowman said.
"A frequent problem is that minority students feel they can't get into a professional school. This committee would convince them that the can make it," he said.
Lowman said there had been a constant concern on a national level about the enrollment of minority students in professional schools.
Currently, 6.5 per cent of the students enrolled in the School of Medicine are members of minorities, according to Walter M. Anderson, who admissions and records at the Med Center.
The committee will not actively recruit
students this year, Lowman said, because the admissions process is already near
THE GROUP HAS set some tentative guidelines concerning recruiting and screening of minority students. The guidelines will become official during next two weeks and the release of the guidelines until further action is taken on them by the committee.
Rippeau's illness has made the future status of the committee uncertain, Lowman
"Personally, I feel a committee such as this would be helpful in recruiting minorities if the faculty agreed to it on a permanent basis." he said.
hazardous areas, such as laundry and furnace rooms.
Wooden doors now in both halls do not meet the code, Hickman said. He said he would suggest that approved solid-core doors be installed for one hour, be installed in both buildings.
Hickman also said fire extinguishers in both halls needed to be checked for fire.
Hickman praised some improvements that bad man made in Walkins and Miller's team.
BEFORE, DOORS HAD to be pulled to the inside, which could have made exiting during a fire or an emergency difficult, he said.
Hickman said approved fire alarm systems and smoke detectors had been installed in both buildings. Fire escape doors had been equipped with panic bars, he said, and the doors had been corrected to swing away to the escapes.
This year's annual inspection of University of Kansas buildings started Nov. 7 with the inspection of KU educational buildings.
During two weeks of inspections before
Thanksgiving vacation, inspectors found major deviations from the code in Hoch Auditorium, Watson Library, Haworth Hall and Memorial Stadium.
The inspectors returned to KU this week to inspect and award hospital halls to the new facilities. The Soffler Place Apartments
Ellsworth and Joseph R. Pearson residence halls, Grace Pearson and Pearson inspectors, Richard J. Inspectors inspected earlier in the week. Inspectors found all buildings in compliance with the National Fire Protection Association Code and the code code adopted by the Kansas Legislature.
GERTRUDE SELLARDS PEARSON-
Corbin residence hall and Douthart,
Sellards and Battenfield scholarship halls
also were inspected this week. Except for
minor faults, inspectors said these buildings
compiled with the code.
Larry Laubhan inspected Stephenson
S scholarship Hall yesterday and said he
would like to see the scholarship
"I was somewhat surprised," he said. "It was in pretty good shape.
when I walk into a building, I usually See FIRE page eight
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN-
Capsules From the Associated Press, United Press International
Sadat puts off Cairo peace meeting
CAIRO—Egyptian President Anwar Sadat yesterday delayed opening his Cairo peace talks with Israel until mid-December in hopes that some of his former Arab allies might reconsider and decide to attend.
Meanwhile a group of high-level Arab leaders met at an 'anti-Sadat' summit in Libya. Syrian President Hatzenfouz Assad joined the group, but was careful not to condemn Sadat. See story page two.
Sadal
HEW wants new sterilization rules
WASHINGTON - The Department of Health, Education and Welfare proposed new regulations yesterday to guarantee that forced sterilizations are
The new rules also would forbid or limit federal funding of hysterectomies performed only to sterilize women. See story page two.
Smith. blacks discuss majority rule
SALIBURY, Rhodesia—Two Rhodesia-based black groups agreed yesterday to start table talks with Prime Minister Viran Ministeer on a one-man, one-city settlement.
Another group invited to take part said it would boycott the meeting until after Dec. 8. See story page two.
Dole won't run if Ford, Reagan do
Dole
"I would defer to Ford or Reagan." Dole said, "but that doesn't mean I can't be looking."
WASHINGTON - Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan, said yesterday he would not seek the Republican nomination for president in 1980 if either former President Gerald Ford or Ronald Reagan entered the race.
Also yesterday, the man who ran a strong Senate campaign against Dole in 1974, former Democratic Rep. Bill Roy, said he had decided whether he would run for Sen. James Pearson's Senate seat, but he refused to reveal his decision. Roy said he would make an announcement in mid-December.
Locally . . .
"Everybody's nuts about things about Kansas," says Tom Averill, instructor in English. Apparently he's right—a calendar锭 with historical and offbeat facts about Kansas proved successful last year and sales of the 1978 version have been strong. Averill's research for the calendar led to the discovery of interesting facts about county-seat wars and divorce rates of the 1800s and to some nutty characters in the state's past. See story page eight.