THEUNIVERSITYDAILYKANSAN
SECTION TWO
FRIDAY.MAY1.1992
Defending a people, preserving a way of life
Attorney specializes in American-Indian affairs, battles for Kickapoo
By Andy Taylor
Kansas staff writer
He rarely wears a suit or a silk tie. He likes turquoise boie ties and flannel shirts. He wears hips boots instead of Gucci lappers.
And Lance Burr does not work in a new office complex with smoke-colored glass. He goes to work in a cramped studio or story-house near downtown Lawrence.
It is a lifestyle that Burr, attorney general of the Kickapoo Tribal Council, says he prefers - no frills, casual life as a Lawrence attorney.
"I believe in the Indian way," he said. "I think it is the appropriate way to reach things."
He said the American Indian way of thought centered on basic needs, a concern for nature and life without worries.
Butattimes,hisworriesinvolvestubborn lawmakers and the federal bureaucracy.
As the legal leader of the Kickapoos,
Burr travels several times a week to the tribral office in Horton, about 50 miles north of Lawrence. And when he is not talking with tribal officials, he is debating tribal issues with state lawmakers in Tooeka.
Burr's biggest legal battle, the Kansas Legislature's ongoing efforts to prohibit casino gambling on the Kickapoo reservation near Horton, is what put him in the headlines. But colleagues say he is known for his knowledge of American Indian legal affairs.
"He is one of the leading authorities in the area, " said Don Bread, professor of tribal law at Hassell Indian Junior College. He says his uniqueness in the field of tribal law."
Gov. Joan Finney signed a compact with the Kickapoos in January that gave them the authority to build casinos on their reservations. The compact was refused by Secretary of Interior Manuel Lujan, who examines treaties between tribes and state governments.
Before Lujan gave the Kickpoop plan a thumbs down, the Kansas Legislature intervened and passed a bill that would prohibit casino gambling in Kansas.
Burr, 49, is a leader in the fight to bring equality to reservations, part of a national effort by American Indians who use their sovereignty to raise revenue on native lands. He now devotes most of his practice to American Indian legal affairs.
"We have the situation where the powerful senators are calling the right people and telling them not to sign the compact," he said.
Burr, who has represented the three other American Indian tribes in Kansas, the Sac and Fox, Potawatomies and Iowa tribes, said he was frustrated with moralists turning into decision between good and evil.
"Our governor wants to honor the treaties, and she is doing everything possible to honor them," he said. "As
soon as that happens then we hear people wanting to raise a moral issue out of it.
Burr said lawmakers were not grasping the scope of the issue.
"If they are going to argue about morality, let's talk about some real morality like General Dynamics, Lockheed, Boeing, Columbia Savings and Lincoln Savings," he said in reference to government contractors and savings and loans that were investigated for various crimes. "I don't want to talk about mobsters. There aren't any mobsters in Indian gaming."
His voice grows louder as he continues to talk about dealing with state legislators. He takes a long pause and asks his frustration with a cup of water.
"Those people make me mad," he said cuilytely.
Continued on Page 9
file photo/KANSAN
Lance Burr is attorney general of the Kickapoo Tribal Council
Germany struggles with transition to reunification
The Associated Press
BERLIN — Not long ago, the newly united Germany seemed to have so much going for it — size, economic strength, new global influence — that some people feared its potential power.
Now a nation known for order and efficiency has trash in the streets, trains that won't run, a budget deficit, political chaos and a chancellor criticized by his own Cabinet.
What happened to the country that seemed, just a year ago, to be on the threshold of becoming an impact player in the new world arena?
War's end.
"I keep thinking about why things turned so sour," said Heinrich Vogel, director of the German Institute for International Studies in Cologne. "Now everybody pites us."
Vogel said Germany, like other Western nations, was having difficulty adjusting to the fiscal and philosophical realities of the Cold
"We have approached the end of an era, the end of the old Germany being part of the Western system as it was, deeply embedded and defined by the Cold War," he said. "Now, it's the morning after. It's a new ball game and nobody has figured out the rules."
Germany's problems start at the top, where Chancellor Helmut Kohl faces unprecedented dissent and turnover in his fractious, three-party governing coalition.
On Monday, Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher — who helped thaw the Cold War with his overtures to Moscow, but was criticized for being out of touch with its aftermath
— abruptly announced he was resigning after 18 years
The head of the Free Democrats, the coalition partner responsible for filling the Foreign Ministry, immediately nominated Construction Minister Irmgard Schwaetzer to fill the post.
Heinrich Vogel German Institute for International Studies
She was dumped the next day by the other Free Democrat leaders, who instead nominated Justice Minster Klaus Kinkel. That choice
was then opposed by the Christian Social Union. also part of Kohl's coalition.
Kinkel has been criticized as a technocrat without the vision needed to define Germany's new responsibilities as it becomes less and less dependent on the United States, diplomatically and economically.
This dispute — which some Cabinet members have used to take their own shots at Kohl's weakened leadership — comes at a time of economic problems for a nation that last year seemed recession-proof.
Just as the Foreign Ministry debacle was unfolding, public employees began an escalating series of strikes that have halted mass transit, garbage pickup, mail deliveries and other services throughout western Germany.
The public sector unions are demanding 9.5 percent wage increases to cope with the relatively high 4.7 percent inflation and tax
increases imposed last year to help troubled eastern Germany.
Hans Tietmeyer, vice president of the powerful central bank, the Bundesbank, warned this week that the government must urgently cut spending and said current wage talks would determine whether Germany was sent spinning into a dangerous and unnecessary wage-price spiral.
He also said Germany's once-nonexistent budget deficit was exceeding acceptable limits.
All these problems come on the heels of elections in two western Germany states that saw surprising gains by far-right parties opposed to the increasing number of foreigners living in Germany.
Kohl has been accused of pandering to such sentiments by pushing for tighter restrictions on refugees.
Wheee!
(Above) Climbing out of the EVAC rescue chute, Lawrence firefighter Shaun Coffey is helped by Douglas County Ambulance paramedics, Larry Deters, left, and Scott Dieker. The rescue chute is designed to safely evacuate trapped people from the upper floors of burning buildings. The chute, demonstrated at Nalsmith Hall, reached 90 feet to the roof of the building. The outer layer of the chute is made of a special material, GENTEX, that is heat resistant up to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit.
(Right) Holding onto the EVAC Rescue Slide, Mike Ferris, left, vice president of marketing for EVAC Systems Inc., and Douglas County Ambulance paramedic Larry Deters, twist the chute to prevent the people inside from falling too fast. Although the people inside the chute can control their rate of descent, twisting the chute is used as a preventive measure. The demonstration was for the benefit of the Lawrence Fire Department, which is thinking of purchasing a slide.
Deaths unsolved two decades later
Dewey, an agent with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, had helped crack the infamous Clutter family murders in 1938. The unidentified Trump Capone's thruurer in Cold Blood.
ENSIGN — When Richard and Clara Anton were found shot to death in 1974 inside their burning home on a southwest Kansas farm, Al Dewey rushed to the scene to investigate.
No arrests have been made in the June 30, 1974, slayings, and few clues were ever found. But the case still is open and investigated three times yearly, said Janet Henning of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
But although the Clutter case was solved in case the Inconte case puzzel 1234567890000000000
The Associated Press
A passing motorist saw the fire that night and called the Gray County sheriff and fire departments.
The bodies of Richard Anton, 48, and Clara, 47, were found in the basement, where they were living while their home was being remodeled.
Investigators disregarded an early murder-suicide theory. An investigation of the couple's five children — Greg, Mark, Dave, Margo and John — was stalled because authorities could not find a motive for the slavings.
The investigation then focused on a
Richard Anton found a rattlesnake—without its rattle — in the back window of his car. A garage that housed a train destroyed by fire, along with the trains.
Richard Anton also told the county sheriff that once all but one of the lug nuts were removed from truck.
The biggest clue may have been in Richard Anton's collection of antique and modern trains, which was valued at $30,000. Some rumors mentioned organized crime, said Judge Jay Don Reynolds, who was the Gray County attorney when the slayings occurred.
Richard Anton installed coin-operated elevator music in motel rooms in Kansas City before he moved to Ensign, Revnoils said.
series of threatening incidents leading up to the killings.
After those incidents, Richard Anton told the sheriff that somebody may be out to get him, the Dodge City Daily wrote in a story after the Antons were killed.
"Many people thought since music is a crime-controlled business, he must be more sensitive to the music."
No leads were developed on that theory, and Reynolds stressed it was only a theory. Other rumors continue to float around about the case.
"Any sort of glimmer gave us a lot of false hope," he said.
'Doonesbury' cartoonist plans summer furlough
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Fans who depend on a daily fix of the comic strip "Doonesbury" may be in for a rough summer.
The strip's distributor, Kansas City based Universal Press Syndicate, says artist Garry Trudeau is taking a vacation. But to avoid causing Trudeau's followers to go cold turkey while he's away June 1 through Sept. 5, the syndicate will supply its 1,400 subscribers with reruns.
Trudeau "wants some time away from the drawing board," Lee Salem, editorial director at Universal, said of his work. "I don't say what the artist sketched were."
It's not the first time "Doonesbury"
has been furioused on the strip
began in 1970. Trudeau took a 20-month leave of absence in 1983 and 1984 to update his characters and work on other projects.
That caused avidfanidin Milwaukee to form the Society of Addicts of Doonesbury. The group is grateful for the reruns, said Mordecai Lee, a former Wisconsin state senator who's a spokesperson for the group. But, he added, "We know it won't provide the recommended daily adult requirement."
In the strip's absence, he said, "We will try to find satirical amusement by simply reading news stories about George Bush and Dan Quayle — that should offer some form of entertainment."
Bush and Quayle are among Trudeau's favorite targets.