CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, July 1. 1992
3
KU OKs revamped anti-abortion rally
By Anne Grego
Kansan staff writer
The on-again, off-again anti-abortion rally scheduled for July 11 at Memorial Stadium is on again.
But on Monday night the Pro-Choice Coalition and the Women's Student Union canceled their event that was scheduled at the same time as the rally in the stadium.
The occurrences that led to the rallies are as follows:
April 22 -- Students for Life, a campus ant-abortion abortion request center.
July 11 program focusing on a family theme, according to University Events Committee minutes.
Students for Life approached the state's largest anti-abortion group, Kansans for Life, to ask for help in staging the event. Students for Life is not affiliated with Kansans for Life, said Joseph Reitz, faculty adviser for Students for Life.
June 12 — The president of Kansans for Life said in an article in the Lawrence Journal World that the money raised at the July 11 rally would be donated to anti-abortion candidates running for congressional
office and for the Kansas Legislature.
Such a political fund-raiser would
be a powerful tool to undermine
violate Board of Regents rules.
June 16 — The University Events Committee met with Students for Life to discuss the issues raised in the Lawrence Journal World article.
June 17 — Students for Life withdrew the request to use the stadium and canceled the rally. In a statement it cited the possibility of violence as the reason for the cancellation
"We were not out to create a confrontation," Reitz said.
Kansans for Life said in a June 25 press release that KU administrators
pressured the students to withdraw their request to use the stadium. Reitz and Ann Eversole, director of the Organizations and Activities Center, denied asking for the withdrawal.
The Pro-Choice Coalition and the Women's Student Union requested to have a "positive show of support for the pro-choice movement" on July 11 on the Hill, according to University Events Committee minutes. The request was tabled until the Pro-Choice Coalition and the Women's Student Union could provide more information about the event.
June 24 — The Pro-Choice Coalition and the Women's Student Union proposed to the Events Committee a July 11 picnic on the Hill.
The groups changed the event because they did not want to be seen as confrontational, said Jeannette Bonjour, president of the Women's Student Union. The committee approved the request.
Representatives of Kansans for Life and Lawrence Kansans for Life requested to use the stadium for a program identical to the event planned by Students for Life. The committee approved the request.
Monday — The Pro-Choice Coan
tion and the Women's Student Union, citing security concerns, canceled their picnic.
"We didn't feel we could guarantee the safety of a small number of people on the Hill." "Bonjour said."
In a statement released Monday, the Pro-Choice Coalition and the Women's Student Union encouraged their members to participate in a prochoice rally, which is being planned by state chapters of the National Organization for Women on July 11. NOW has not filed any request with the University, Eversole said.
KPL, residents debate power line risks
By Ana Kostick
Kansan staff writer
When Steve Smith found out that his young children could have greater chance of getting cancer, he decided to do something about it.
Smith, who lives at 501 Tennessee St., is one of 40 active members of the Pinckney Neighborhood Association who have joined forces against Kansas Power and Light's proposal to increase the voltage in the transmission lines along a one-mile stretch from Sixth and Vernont to Fifth and California streets. One of these lines runs across Smith's front yard, just 10 feet away from his children's upstairs bedroom window.
Smith is worried because some studies have shown a link between regular exposure to the electromagnetic fields, or EMF, given off by high-voltage transmission lines and cancer, especially in younger children. Smith cited several studies, two of which appeared in the American Journal of Epidemiology, that found two to three times the expected incidence of childhood cancer in children living near power lines with EMF levels of 2.5 milliwaves.
The new transmission lines would carry 115,000 volts instead of the 69,000 volts of the existing lines, said
Michel' Quakenbush, KPL media relations director.
She said increased voltage was necessary to serve the growth in the community. All of Lawrence's power lines are connected, and the lines in the Pinckney neighborhood are the weakest links in the chain.
Quakenbush said the current EMF level was at 70 milligauss and that the new lines would actually decrease the EMF level to 27 milligauss.
Pinckney residents said that although KPL claimed the new lines would decrease the EMF level, its readings were inconsistent.
Smith and Tolly Wildcat, coordinator of the neighborhood association, said the association asked a KPL-representative to take readings of the power lines. The readings showed a level of between 2.5 and 7 milligauss. So KPL's estimate of 27 for the new lines is not a lower reading than for the existing lines, but a higher one.
"The more we read about studies financed by the Environmental Protection Agency and even the power companies themselves, the more convinced we are that our health and the health of our children is endangered by this project." Wildcat said.
drafted an ordinance that would require KPL to hold public hearings and obtain permits for new projects.
The association and KPL representatives have met several times to discuss options, and the association has
Although KPL acknowledges the concern of the Pinkney residents, Quenbushen said KPL would stand by its decision until a definite correlation between adverse health effects and power lines was proven.
Communication between the neighborhood association and KPL has included a June 15 meeting to discuss possible options.
KPL proposed nine alternatives,
including burying the lines or rerouting
them which would cost between
$690,000 and $3 million. KPL would
pay for five of the options ranging
from $690,000 to $765,000, but would
not pay the last four options, costing
between $2.2 and $3.0 million.
"We believe the folks who wanted to re-engineer the project should pay." Quakenbush said.
The Pinckney neighborhood is not alone in its interest. Concerned citizen groups across the country are fighting and often winning the battle to rereoute high-voltage lines away from homes and schools. Smith said state legislatures in Michigan, Rhode Island, Illinois and Tennessee had introduced bills to temporarily ban power line construction while research on EMPs continued.
"This is not just a small issue." Smith said. "Every day we get a call about another local government getting things done."
John Ralston, associate professor of physics and astronomy, said the problem could not be resolved until all the facts were available.
"We understand physics. We don't understand living systems," he said "As long as the people on both sides don't understand it, they'll be able to distort it."
Ralston said that because reports on the safety of EMPs were contradictory, people should be conservative in their judgments.
"If that project were in my neighborhood," he said, "I would be sufficiently concerned to read the studies."
The association is awaiting input from the Kansas Corporation Com-
panion.
Although there is no definite proof that a link between power lines and cancer exists, Smith said, he will not risk his family's safety until the studies prove otherwise.
"My children's bedrooms are upstairs, even closer to the lines," Smith said. "If it is an extreme concern of mine, and if there is a possible link, I have to be on the side to take caution."
Steve Smith shows how he measures the magnetic field from power lines near his home in the Pinckney neighborhood. Smith said studies showed these readings were two to seven times the amount that could cause cancer.
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