The University Daily
University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
KANSAN
Vol. 90, No.148
Monday, June 23, 1980
Director may be picked without Affirmative Action
By MARK PITTMAN
Staff Reporter
The permanent director of the office of Alfirmative Action may be chosen soon without the outside search that the office often recommends for other departments.
The position of permanent director became vacant last Thursday when Bonnie Ritter submitted her resignation. Ritter had been on leave for two years and she taught at the University of Texas at Arlington.
Vickie Thomas, University general counsel,
said Saturday that Dial Shankel, executive vice chancellor asked her opinion a week ago about the status of his education. Edwards from acting to principal director.
Thomas said she told Skankel that under the KU Affirmative Action plan persons holding acting positions could be considered for permission, as much of which they had been serving in an acting capacity.
Thomas said she based her decision on a section that said whenever positions were available, an attempt must be made to identify, consider and promote within the University
individuals who would further affirmative action goals.
Bob Shelton, associate professor of speech and drama, said the KU administration last week requested that Edwards be granted a less than part-time appointment from the speech division. Edwards was given a doctorate in that department last spring.
The division decided to defer action on the appointment until they were assured of an adequate search for permanent director of Al-firmative Action.
Shelton said that if Thomas had said an appointment without a search was legal then "that's stretching the rules, the letter and the spirit of affirmative action."
Shelton said the move from acting to permanent director was not a promotion, it was a rehearsal.
"If it were an academic department," he said,
"It would not be permitted."
The former acting director of Affirmative Action, Clarence Dillingham, said that if Eddie was involved in a lawsuit against him.
would be another example of the University's promoting from within.
Dillingham said the recent promotions of Del Shankel to acting chancellor, Robert Cobb to executive vice chancellor and Vickie Thomas to executive vice chancellors were examples of "in-house nominations."
Dillingham said the job description for acting director, under which Edwards was hired, was significantly different than the job description for permanent director.
"There will be at least one word that will be changed," he said, "that change from acting to permanent will make a lot of difference in the pool of applicants.
"I for one might be interested in applying for the permanent job."
Dillingham characterized a search that was limited to the KU campus as a "sham."
"Mike has displayed a level of competence at the job," he said. "He certainly would be the most skilled."
Dillingham said there should be a wide pool of applicants for the permanent post and that an open search would attract many top-flight minority applicants.
Turnpike exit sparks debate
By MARLIN BERRY
Staff Reporter
A. K. and Charlene Winter live on a farm northwest of Lawrence that was homesteaded by his parents more than 100 years ago. If a proposed Clinton-Lecompton turnip interchange becomes a reality, the Winters will lose part of their land.
Richard ice and his family also live on a farm adjacent to the proposed site and will lose land if the exit is built. Ice grew up on the farm now he had access to water, which he built and he does not like the idea of losing roos.
The proposed turnpike interchange was
presented last week in testimony before a special interim committee on transportation in Topek
THE HEARING was requested by Tom Kelly, 519 Abbey, a former marketing representative for Southwestern Bell, who bought 200 acres of farm land near the site last year. Kelly plans to buy the property, an exclusive housing development with swimming pools, tennis courts and riding stairs.
Kelly said he thought of the turnip excite in March 1979. He bought the 200 acres from Cecil
Kelly told the state Transportation Committee that a new turnip excision is needed to provide
better access to the Clinton and Perry Lane areas. He also told the committee that a new exit would benefit his development property, making room for commuters to get to and from Topeka.
The proposed interchange would be eight miles west of Lawrence and 12 miles east of Topeka. It would be the first addition to the turnpike since the $160 million toll road was completed in 1956.
KELLY SAID last week that the interchange would have several benefits besides providing the main access to the new housing development, whose homes would sell for $100,000 and
they would sell between $10,000 and
see TURNPIKE back page
Union losing thousands to bad checks
Ry CHICK HOWLAND
Staff Renorter
Said Prepbeat to the box full of bad checks totaling more than $2,000 sits on the desk of Warner Ferguson, associate director of the Kansas Union. Ferguson said Friday that the union would lose over $5,000 because some checks would never be paid.
The amount of returned checks has Union officials worried and has forced them to consider several possible systems designed to curb the problem.
"The Kansas Union has been a relatively easy place to cash checks," Ferguson said. But due to the increase in returned checks, that is likely to change.
THE UNION HAS raised the fee for check cashing from 10 cents to 25 cents. But Ferguson won against it and the union won.
The Union makes no profit on check cashing.
he said. The fee from casing checks is used to offset the losses, and pay for handling and labor.
The Union is considering putting in more automatic teller machines like the one that is already there. It encourages the use of these machines to take the burden of the Union, Ferguson said.
The Union has considered not casing checks for those people who have automatic teller cards. Ferguson said that an automatic teller machine would not give out money if there was nothing on its account, but there was nothing stopping that person from casing a check with the Union.
Ferguson said that half of all the bad checks were from Lawrence banks.
The Union is studying other possible steps designed to reduce the number of bad checks,
A STUDY OF a national check verification system is being done by the Union. But Ferguson
said the system would probably be too expensive.
The system is run through a computer terminal that would be set up in the Union. In just 30 seconds, the system could verify any check in the U.S. The problem, he said, was that the system could only check 67 cents per check. The Union would then be forced to charge 75 cents in order to cover costs.
"The people who really want to write bad checks will usually do it," Ferguson said. "It all comes down to how much of a cost we want to pass on to the student."
Another system under consideration is a local computer system. It would check whether the person was a KU student and his check casing history at the Union. If the student had previously cashed a bad check, then the check would be refused.
see CHECKS back page
Mall's feasibility questioned
By RANDY MARTIN
By RANDY MARTIN
AMANDA RALKERES
And LAURA LUCKERT
Staff Represent
Staff Reporters
Lawrence shopping center owners, who have vacancies in all but one of their shopping centers, say a downtown mall would be impossible for Lawrence to support. But the Lawrence/Douglas Community Compact will allow a major mail developer are still purchasing a $40 million downtown mall.
OF THE SEVEN shopping centers in
one, the Malls Shopping Center,
is fully accessible.
On July 17, the Jacobs, Visconsi and Jacobs firm will return with their proposal for a downtown mall and the city commission will choose between building a mall on the edge of Lawrence or downtown, where the project would have to be tax supported.
The controversy began one and a half years ago when Jacobs, Visconi and Jaciens, shopping mail developers from Cleveland, Ohio, bought an option on 63 acres of land on the corner of Armstrong Road and Iowa Street to build a major shopping mall. When the Lawrence City Commission zoning permits, local merchants demanded that the mail be built downtown or not at all.
But people favoring the new mall said last week that the current types of stores would buy a share in an opening.
Steve Clark of W.T. Thomas Inc., which owns the Malls Shopping Center, said that although his company had tenants, a new regional shopping center could not survive.
"We are building a regional shopping center in Arkansas similar to the proposed one for downtown." Clark said. "We had a very hard time setting renters."
CLARK SAID that until the banking community get aggressively no one is going to start a
CHUCK ISAACSON/Kansan staff
"Let me put it this way, if Lawrence asked our construction company to build the mail and rent warehouse, how would we do it?"
Steven Hird, manager of the Westridge Shopping Center, Sixth and Kasaloid streets, is shown in front of him when he is trying to navigate new demands and the uncertain economy. Hird said Lawrence should move down a new downtown mall to find more space.
But Garner Stoll, planner for the planning commission, said that survey results showed a large percentage of persons in Lawrence would buy department store goods.
"We have several large department store chains interested in Lawrence," Stoll said.
STOLL SAID THAT it is not desirable to
overbuild because it results in vacant stores and a bad appearance. He doubled Lawrence would
Glenie West, vice-president of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, said that 1,100 Chamber members had been registered.
see MALL back page
Larry Stemmerman, head of the Lawrence Fire Department's Arson Investigation Unit, exits the chapel charmed at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1230 Oread, yesterday afternoon after a preliminary search for clues. The fire caused an estimated $15,000 damage to the building and killed three people. A man was taken into custody of the fire is under investigation. Stemmerman is using a device to check for possible gas leaks.
Ministries chapel damaged in fire
Staff Renorter
Bv TOM GRESS
Fire gutted a small chapel at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread, Sunday afternoon, causing an estimated $15,000 damage. Seven KU students in the building's basement at the time of the fire escaped injury.
THE PASTOR OF THE Ministries, a non-denominational church operated by the Presbyterian Synods of Mid-America, is the Rev. Jack Bremer. This Easter, Bremer and the 31 hostages being held in Iran. He said he has no connections between the fire and the trip.
The cause of the fire has not been determined but the head of the Lawrence Fire Department's Arson Investigation Unit, Larry Stemmerman, spent most of yesterday afternoon and early evening sitting through a briefing on the fire at the Kansas Bureau of Investigation for tests.
"We don't have any basis for that thought," Buber said, "I don't think they can be explained."
Fire department investigators did not say that arson was the cause of the blaze, only that the fire was under investigation. Investigators then noticed two witnesses at the scene of the fire.
A ladder company and an engine company responded to the one alarm fire. Firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze but were unable to save the chapel's contents.
The contents, mostly cushions and tables were completely destroyed and valued at $5,000. Another $10,000 damage was done to the structure.
THE INSIDE of the chapel was completely charred. Ironically, the only item left standing was a communion table with a candle on the candle appeared unharmed by the blaze.
Services were held in the building's large chapel yesterday morning. Bremer told investigators he worked in his office after the service, until 11 a.m.
Before leaving, Bremer checked all of the doors, including the door to the small church.
Bremer credited a smoke alarm with giving the residents an early warning.
"We had an integrated smoke alarm system installed a short while ago and did what it was supposed to do," he said. "It was so much easier than doing that. The building can always be shut down."
"I can't believe this happened," he told investigators.
Weather
Today's forecast calls for clear skies with high temperatures in the upper 90s. Skies will be mostly clear with variable winds from the south at 10-20 mph. The overnight low temperature will be in the low to mid 60s with a 20 percent chance of
Skies again will be clear tomorrow with the high temperature expected to be between 99 and 55. There is a slight chance of thundershowers tomorrow night with lows expected to be in the 70s. Temperatures will continue to be in the 90s on Wednesday with a slight chance of thundershowers.