The University Daily
Amyx named mayor
*Lawrence city commissioners choose Mike Amyx to lead city. See story on page 6.*
KANSAN
Stormy skies High, 65. Low, 41. Details on page 3.
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
Vol. 95, No. 128 (USPS 650-640)
Wednesday, April 10. 1985
Jo Black/KANSAN
A Lawrence fireman throws a smoldering mattress from a second-story window at a Blue Heron Island St. The house, owned by Mayor Mike Amyx, sustained $18,000 in smoke and fire damage yesterday. The fire started when a space heater cord shorted out, Lawrence fire officials said.
Fire sweeps local home; no one hurt Space heater short starts flame in house owned by the mayor
By KATHY FLANDERS Staff Reporter
An electrical short started an early afternoon fire on the second floor of a house near downtown yesterday, causing about $18,000 in damages to the house. Lawrence fire officials said.
No injuries were reported in the fire at the house, 1132 Irhobe Island St., which is owned by Mavor Mike Amyx.
The fire occurred in the upstairs apartment of the house, which is divided into two apartments. Susan Kindell and her two children, Leonard and Ruzetta, lived in the upstairs apartment where the fire occurred. Blanche Hamilton lived in the downstairs apartment.
Hamilton was the only person home when the fire began.
Ma) Dan Murrow of the Lawrence police said the cause of the fire was an electrical short in the cord of a space heater on the second floor.
MORROW SAID THE damage included extensive fire damage to the front half of the second story, extensive smoke damage to the entire second story and some smoke damage to the first floor of the house.
The fire department received a report of the fire at about 1:30 p.m. Firefighters arrived at the house a few minutes later. By 2 p.m., the fire was under control
p.17. The fire was out.
"When we arrived, flames were coming out of the second-story front windows." Morrow said. "There was also a lot of smoke. We did a search of the building, but no one was inside.
fire from spreading. Firefighters took the sheet rock panels off the walls to open up all the wall cavities and prevent the fire from starting again.
"The fire started in the bedroom. The flames went up the wall and into the attic space. Because of the age of the house, there were no fire walls in the building to stop the fire from spreading."
THE FIREFIGHTERS had to get to the attic to wet down the wood. The house had been remodeled, and a drop ceiling had been installed, which caused problems for the firefighters. Morrow said.
"There were two ceilings up there." Morrow said. "One is over the rafters, with an attic space between the two. We had to go through two barriers to get to the attic."
"We spread salvage covers — tarps — on the first floor to minimize the water damage. We tried to use as little water as possible upstairs to prevent water damage."
Hamilton said, "I heard a pop upstairs. I sounded like glass popping. I ran upstairs to get their dog out, but then I got out as fast as possible.
possible.
"I didn't even stop to call the fire department. There was a lot of smoke in the house."
MORROW SAID THE windows in the front part of the upstairs had broken from the heat of the flames, and that was what Hamilton heard.
heard.
"There was a lot of stuff stored up there," Morrow said. "There was a lot of stuff stored throughout the house."
The contents of the room were still smoldering after the fire was out. Firefighters threw smoldering clothing, wall insulation and charred furniture out the second-story windows and onto the ground.
second story.
Four fire trucks and about 16 firefighters responded to the call. Two Lawrence police patrol cars blocked off Rhode Island and 12th streets for more than 99 minutes to prevent cars from getting near the fire. Two ambulances waited in the 1200 block of Rhode Island Street in case of an emergency.
Hamilton tried the tenants of the house were trying to buy the house from Amyx before the fire. Amyx said the house was insured.
sured.
"If the insurance takes care of the fire damage," Hamilton said, "we plan to go ahead and buy it."
Amyx said, "We were in the process of trying to work out an equitable agreement We had been negotiating for about 60 days."
Amyx expressed concern for the tenants yesterday.
"I'm going to try to do anything I can to help them," he said. "I've contacted friends of mine to try to make arrangements for them to have a place to stay."
Blanche Hamilton, who lived on the first floor of the house at 1132 Rhode Island St., waits outside as firefighters clean up after the fire. Hamilton was the only person in the house when the fire started.
Death penalty dies as veto bypass fails
By NANCY HANEY Staff Reporter
The vote. 78-47, was short of the necessary two-thirds majority of the 125-member House required to override a veto.
TOPEKA — The Kansas House came six votes short yesterday of overriding Gov. John Carlin's voto of a death penalty bill.
House required to oversee
the bill would have reinstated capital
punishment by lethal injection for people
convicted of pre-meditated murder in
connection with rape, sodomy or aggravated
kidnapping.
The original vote of the House, taken in February, was 72-46. The bill passed the Senate early last week and was vetoed by Carlin on Thursday.
State Reps. John Solbach, D-Lawrence; Jessie Branson, D-Lawrence; Betty Jo Charlton, D-Lawrence, all voted against the bill.
State Rep. Clyde Graeber, R-Leavenworth, sponsor of the bill in the House, said the death penalty was the most severe punishment for the most severe of crimes.
soGregber said he had results of a Media General-Associated Press poll indicating that 74 percent of Kansans polled wanted the death penalty reinstated.
"CAPITAL PUNISHMENT is not an act of vengeance but rather is reasonable protection for law-abiding citizens in our society." he said.
"They feel the death penalty would possibly prevent a continuation of the violent crimes and vicious murders we have seen in our state over the past decade," he said.
State Rep. Theo Cribs, D-Wichita, said the death penalty would not deter criminals.
Sobach said, "It doesn't deter if a person is executed four or five years after the crime."
GRAEBER SAID, "Capital punishment is the mark of a society that holds dear the lives of its citizens. A society that holds life cheap imposes weak penalties for the taking of life."
State Rep. Joe Knopp, R-Manhattan, said juries shouldn't decide on such a severe form of punishment at the death penalty.
punishment as the death penalty.
Knopp said Graeber and others who voted
for a medical malpractice bill weren't consistent if they voted for the death penalty.
"YOU'RE BEING inconsistent when you support the malpractice bill and say that we have to legislate what juries can do because they are falible, and then give those same juries the power to take a person's life." Knopp said.
Knopp said a doctor in a malpractice case would be better represented by a lawyer than an accused murderer.
Voting on the death penalty is an important decision. Knopn said.
"None of the decisions we make here are as close to life and death as this one," he said. "Ten years from now you'll have to live with the decision you make today."
EVERYONE HAD an opinion on the death penalty before the vote was taken, Solbach said. He said he hadn't expected the vote to be much different from the one taken in February.
He said he had been faced with voting on the legislation four times during his career as a representative.
"Each time it's been more apparent to me that the arguments for capital punishment don't stand up," he said.
some legislators had argued that by not reinstating the death penalty, the state was allowing society's worst members to continue to be a part of society. But Solbach said that argument was unfounded.
he said the state allowed murder if it was in the form of self-defense.
in the form of sex education.
"We're justified to protect ourselves," he said. "But we're not if we got into the business of methodically executing people."
business or municipality. Solbach also said he opposed the death penalty because it was irreversible and expensive to the state.
under the bill, he said, a person accused of a crime would face at least two trials before being sent to death row. The first trial would determine whether the defendant was guilty. If convicted, the second trial would determine whether the person should be sentenced
The convicted criminal also would be allowed to appeal the caseThe whole process, Solbach said, could last three to seven years.
Student aid proposal angers college groups
By United Press International
WASHINGTON — Student and college groups yesterday denounced a compromise between President Reagan and Senate Republicans on federal student aid, charging the measure would drive a financial wedge between rich and poor.
The proposal, reached last Thursday as part of an overall budget-cutting compromise, would slash student assistance by about $2.2 billion over the next three years.
Most of the criticism is directed at a proposal to impose an assumed annual cost of a college education, which is $8,000, when deciding the amount of federal aid available to a student, based on financial need.
to a student to study.
**IF A STUDENT selects a college where the annual tuition tops $8,000, it would be up to him and his family to make up the difference — which could be several thousand dollars — without federal assistance.**
"Clearly, this cap would have an impact on student choices — with only the wealthy being able to go to expensive private schools," said Kathy Ozer, legislative director for the United States Student Association.
That package included a $4,000 annual cap on federal assistance to any student and would have denied aid to a student whose family income topped $32,500.
Under the compromise, the $4,000 cap was replaced by the assumed annual cost of an college education of $8,000 in determining aid. And the limit of $32,500 for a family income of an assistance recipient was raised to $60,000.
Higher-education groups, as well as congressional staffers, said some members of Congress left town for their Easter recess a bit confused by the compromise, falsely believing the $4,000 cap had been doubled to $8,000.
By TAD CLARKE
Lichtwardt has dream of equal rights for homosexuals
Staff Reporter
Her life story could be part of a script for a soap opera. At age 26, Ruth Lichtwart had been married, divorced and now is active in gay rights and other minority issues.
saw it as a challenge.
The latest challenge for Leichwardt and other members of GLSOK has been financing this year's Gay and Lesbian Awareness Week. The activities began yesterday and continue through Sunday.
continue tuition.
Last week the Student Senate Finance
Commission denied financing for the week's
times, and the event was canceled. But
later in the week, several students and
faculty contributed enough money to allow
GLSOK to resurrect GALA Week.
rights and other duties. Lightwardt, Lawrence junior, was elected director of Gay and Lesbian Services of Kansas three years ago by the toss of a coin. She didn't especially want the job, but she saw it as a challenge.
GLSOK to reside
Lichardt says she became director of
GLSOK in almost the same hapazard
manner.
Lichtwardt says she has enjoyed being director. But she isn't planning to run for re-election in May.
"A WOMAN WHO was probably very capable was pretending to take over, but she had alienated a lot of people," she says. "So when we were holding the elections, someone just nominated me. I abstained in the voting and it was a be. She and I went upstairs and flipped a coin, and I won."
"It it's been a lot of hard work and there have been times when I've burned out on it," she says, "but I feel I've accomplished something. Of course I haven't done it on my own. This organization has a lot of good people in it."
"I MET A BOY there who was gay and just coming out." Lightward says. "He made no bones about it. We basically came into the gay community together."
"I married a guy I had dated for one semester in high school," she says. "I started college about a year after we had been married, and the director of GLSKL when we were still married.
people. Lightwardt has been active in the gay culture since her junior year at a private high school in Kansas City, Mo.
gay community in Kansas City introduced Lichtwardt to a new life, she says. But her life changed when she was married in 1980.
"The marriage broke up purely because we couldn't get along, not because of my activities with GLSOK."
Lichtward says some people on campus have questioned whether she is a lesbian.
have questioned whether she did a good job.
She says, "People come up and say to me,
'You're not gay, you're too nice' — which I take as a personal insult.
'PEOPLE CAN assume whatever they want. Hopefully, they will stop and wonder
why it's important for them to make those assumptions."
Something she still hasn't adjusted to is her campus motory. But Lichtwald says she isn't afraid to speak out on controversial issues.
**issues**
"she sits sit back and do nothing about what upsets me. But I prefer to do something," she says, "I have very little tolerance for people who complain but don't do anything."
Lichtwardt says she was embarrassed by the attention she received last semester after "Fagbusters." T shirts appeared on campus.
"Fagbusters!" the teacher I made me feel kind of funny. "All this information I got made me feel kind of funny, and says 'It accomplished some good things' GLSOK needs a spokesperson. I'm unable to speak for all gay students by any means, but at least I've been able to be somewhat of a voice."
"ACTUALLY," I THINK most people couldn't care less whether I existed. I can't say I've never really cared what other people think about me, but I'm at the point where I think about myself is more important."
tant.
Steve Imber, Lawrence senior and author of a petition distributed last spring calling for a campus vote on Senate financing of GLSOK, says he considers Lichtwardt a friend, not an enemy Imber was one of the students who helped sell the "Fagbusters" shirts last semester.
See LICHTWARDT, p. 5, col. 1
Ruth Lichtwardt, director of Gay and Lesbian Services of Kansas, relaxes in the GLSOK office. Lichtwardt, who will not run for re-election in May, last week that her job had been difficult but rewarding.
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