The University Daily
'Hawks tough at home
Allen Field House advantage gives KU edge in big games. See story on page 9.
KANSAN
Cloudy, cool High, 45. Low, 20. Details on page 3.
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
Vol. 95, No. 102 (USPS 650-640)
Monday. February 25, 1985
Rodney Hull, KU forward, jumps on the back of center Greg the KU's 82-76 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners. Satur Dremiling at overseasual fans in Allen Field House after day's victory gave the Jayhawks 9-3 in the Big Eight.
FAA grounds city's only airline
By J. STROHMAIER Staff Reporter
Students planning to fly out of Lawrence for Spring Break will have to find other transportation because Capital Airlines, the city's only airline, was grounded Saturday.
The Federal Aviation Administration canceled the Manhattan-based airline's operating license because the airline allegedly kept false and inadequate records.
This is the second time in 11 months the airline, which operates as a commuter air service or an on-demand air taxi, has been grounded by the FAA. The airline used single- and multiengine aircraft to carry a maximum of 19 passengers.
Gary Cromer, general manager for Capital, said yesterday that the airline would apply for a new operating license sometime later. The airline with FAA officials to discuss specific violations.
"We're going to try to get re-certified, which will probably take around 30 days," he said.
THE AIRLINE serves Lawrence, Topeka, Salina, Manhattan and Kansas City, Mo. In Lawrence, the airline had only scheduled flights to and from Kansas City International Airport. Cromer said.
The FAA said Capital's license had been revoked because the airline maintained "inadequate pilot records regarding crew training and flight duty time, questionable pilot records involving crew training and an apparent falsification of information," and the use of inadequate weight information regarding baggage and passengers."
Cromer said none of the record-keeping violations affected passenger safety.
CROMER SAID THE airline could appeal the FAA's decision to the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington, D.C., but he said he probably wouldn't appeal.
In March 1984, the FAA suspended Capital's service for seven days because the airline flew an overcrowded plane. The FAA said the airline carried 20 passengers on a flight, one more than is permitted by its regulations.
roger Alberts, an employee of Air Services, a fixed-base maintenance and fueling operator for the Lawrence Municipal Airport pilots from the airport were employed indefinitely.
"We can appeal it, but during the appeal we can't run flights at all," he said, "and there is no telling how long the appeal will take."
Capital Airlines offered 11 flights daily from Lawrence to KC1, he said.
"IT IS USED, but not as much as you would think it would be," he said. "It's mostly used for the Haskell (Indian Junior) College students, and a lot of foreign students use it."
Albers said not many people would be affected by the loss of the airline because most Lawrence residents used other transportation to get to KCI.
Albers said that students who planned on flying home out of Lawrence airport during Spring Break would have to rely on other transportation to KCI.
"There is a limousine service and a bus service that goes to KCI," he said.
Flory endorses bill on bad-check fines
By NANCY HANEY Staff Reporter
A proposal before the Kansas Senate that would fine anyone who wrote bad checks would be a welcome move. Jim Flory, district attorney, said Saturday.
The proposal, soon to be debated in Judiciary Committee hearings, would impase a fine that would be used to help district attorneys' offices finance prosecution of bad check writers. The fines would range from $5 to $75.
The bill, drawn up by the Kansas District Attorneys Association, would allow county or district attorneys to collect a fee for the services that are returned to a merchant by a bank.
Under the bill, the worthless check was written for at least $10, the district attorney's office could collect $5. The fee increases in proportion to the amount of the check.
FOR EXAMPLE, a person who has written a worthless check between $10 and $100 could be charged $10. The maximum fee, for a worthless check written for $500 or more, is $75.
Flory said he thought the bill, if passed, would not only help Douglas County, but district attorneys' offices around the state.
"There are some offices around the state that don't have the staff to enforce worthless check laws," he said. "It would definitely belin statewide."
"I would want to see that clarified before it is passed," Flory said.
Flory said the only part of the bill he didn't like was a clause that stated the fee could be collected from any party involved in the violation.
IF THE VIOLATOR was the person押
for the enforcement of the law. Flory said,
he liked the bill. Otherwise it might be
the merchant — who has already lost money
from accepting a bad check - who would be required to pay.
Flory said the district attorney's office didn't get involved in a worthless check case until the merchant who received the check had no other way left to collect his money.
When a check presented to the merchant is sent back to him stamped "insufficient funds," Flory said, the merchant must send a check asking for payment within seven days.
The merchant can charge a service charge of at least $3 for the bad check. Flaired. say if the amount of the check and the service charge are not paid within the week, the case will be given to the district attorney's office and treated as an intent-to-defraud case.
A PERSON WHO knowingly writes a bad check can be charged with theft by attempting to defraud, Flory said. If the check was written for less than $150, the case would be treated as a misdemeanor over $150 would be a felony charge, he said.
Floy said current laws allowed merchants to charge more than $3 for a worthless check, where he says it should be avoided.
"If the merchant has a sign in his store stating the fee, it is considered that you have entered into a contract with the merchant and that whatever he feels is sufficient." Flory said.
Flory said a check returned because of insufficient funds was usually not treated as an intent-to-defraud case.
"It's probably not an intent to defraud, but just a case of someone not practicing very good bookkeeping skills," he said.
A check returned because of a closed account usually can be prosecuted easily, he said.
"A case when a person writes a check on the fifth of the month when the account was closed on the third is usually a pretty solid intent-to-de fraud case." Flory said.
Three slain in Liberal bodies found by store
By United Press International
LIBERAL — Three family members — thought to be a boy, his mother and grandmother — were found slain yesterday in downtown. Liberal police said yesterday.
Liberal police, who were meeting with. Seward County law officers and Kansas Bureau of Investigation agents last night, the victims or the manner in which they died.
According to a statement released last night, investigators were pursuing what Police Chief Rick Kistner said were "significant" leads.
The manager of Convenience Plus Store, who declined to identify himself, confirmed last night that the the bodies of the three were found behind the store in Liberal, which is in the southwest corner of the state near the Oklahoma border.
"You'll have to talk to the police about that." the manager said.
TOM KITCH OF Kitch Funeral Home in Liberal, where funeral arrangements are being handled, said he thought the three lived about a block from the store in a house in the 1000 block of Lincoln.
No motives for the slayings have been established, and police said they had no suspects by late yesterday.
Neglected works find fans at Oskaloosa's Book Barn
Kistner said investigators expected some type of break in the case within 48 hours.
A LIBERAL POLICE dispatcher, who also declined to identify herself, said no further statements were expected until this morning since next of kin still had not been notified.
The bodies were taken to the Sedgwick County coroner's office in Wichita for examination. Kistner said.
Robert M. Daniels, a physician on call as coroner last night in Sandwick County, said he received a call about 5 p.m. from Liberal State Hospital where were being transported by airplane to Wichita.
nowever, Daniels said he expected the autopsies would be performed by William Johnson.
By HEATHER R. BIGGINS Staff Reporter
Little Caleb Miller wrote in his early reader a warning to classmates about the consequences of stealing his property.
He never dreamed that his textbook would be considered a treasure 153 years later.
Discovery of the bodies was first reported at 12:45 p.m. yesterday, Kistner said. Investigators said they thought the three were killed early yesterday morning.
"I know there was a boy and two women, but we haven't found any family yet," Kitch said.
Seated at a conference table in Spencer Research Library on Friday, librarian
MONDAY MORNING
Kitch said he thought the three died from stab wounds.
William Mitchell tapped Caleb's faded script and
said, "Now this is a find."
Spencer Research Library purchased the textbook from the Book Barn in Oksalaoa and has added it to its rare children's books collection. The library was knocked at the boy's warning print in 1832.
Do not steal this book my friend.
For fear the rope might be your end.
For honesty is the greatest fame.
In the small farming community of Oksalaosa, the Book Barn occupies a metal-framed building holding thousands of treasures at prices as low as a quarter.
And underneath is the owner's name.
On Saturday, the smell of old, musty books enveloped the Book Barn's air like a grandmother's sweet perfume. Seventy-eight-year-old Louise Barker sat in her worn, wooden chair and waved greetings at those who wandered in.
THE BOOK BARN, open Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., was built in 1869 after State Librarian Roy Fox expressed concern over library books that nobody seemed to be reading. He contacted Barker, who then served on the Oksalaoska's Library Board, and together they helped to build the Book Barn — a refuge for unread books.
"Just take your time," Barker told a couple. "That's what you need here, some advice."
Now libraries from the Northeast Kansas Library System, which comprises 13 counties, can send unread books to the Book Barn. The Book Barn then sells the books for an average of 50 cents, and money made from the sales pays for rent and utilities.
"Libraries, especially small ones, can't afford to keep books that nobody is reading." Barker said. "So they send them here because somebody may still want them."
Dale Young, an expectant mother and a KU sophomore who lives between Lawrence and Osakaoka, weeded her way through the crammed shelves and stuffed book boxes on
See BOOKS, p. 5, col. 1
Margaret Holroyd, Margaret Baker, Louise Barker and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., has a wide selection of books that sell Daisy Premera, left to right, are volunteer workers at the for 25 cents for paperbacks and 50 cents for hardback books. Book Barn in Oskaloosa, The Book Barn, open Saturdays The books are donated by area libraries and individuals.