THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VOL.101.NO.124
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
THURSDAY,APRIL 2,1992
(USPS 650-640)
ADVERTISING:864-4358
NEWS:864-4810
State senator opposed to full GTA fee waiver
By Greg Farmer and Gayle Osterberg Kansan staff writers
TOPEKA — The head of the Senate Ways and Means Commission said yesterday he intended to stand firm in his opposition to a 100-percent fee waiver for graduate teaching assistants.
State Sen. Gus Bogina, R.-Shawnee, said he refused to succumb to threats that GTAs at the state level have been made against him.
The committee will debate now an amendment proposed by State Wint. Wint Winter Jr., R-Lawrence, to put a 100-percent waiver for GTA's back into the Board of Regents budget.
Some KU GTAs have made moves toward forming a union that they say would advocate for better compensation.
Governor Jan Finney and the House of Representatives had recommended that the 100-percent fee waiver be approved, but a Ways and Means Committee also voted to drop the current 75-percent level to save $641,966.
Winter reintroduced the 100-percent fee waiver yesterday at a committee hearing, but debate erupted and Bogina decided to postpone a vote on the motion until today.
"If they do form a union, I will suggest that we drop the fee waiver from 75 to 50 percent."
Winter said that he had the votes to pass the amendment yesterday but that Botina post-poned the vote until today in an effort to sway committee members.
"If they think they can force us into something,
Bogina said he would oppose the 100-percent fee waiver because GTAs had made him angry by discussing the possibility of unionizing.
Sen. Gus Bogina
they're wrong," he said. "If they do form a union, I will suggest that we drop the fee waiver from 75 to 50 percent. Unionizing will only affect them negatively with me, and I think some of my colleagues agree."
Head of the Senate Ways and Means Committee
Dan Murtaugh, GTA in English, said that he and other GTAs wanted to form a union in order to advocate for the 100 percent fee waiver, health
insurance and increased stipends.
"By unionizing, we can form a strong front," Murtaugh said. "We hope that lawmakers come to the realization that they can't maintain first-class universities on a shootering budget."
Winter said he did not think the unionization of 27 AS should affect the fee-waiver issue
"But some senators are trying to use that
against me in the fee-waiver argument," he said. "The attempt was to create the implication that GTAs are a bunch of radical crazies out there who would form this union and we shouldn't back down."
But Winter said the 100-percent waiver was something that had been needed for years and was especially important as national competition for top graduate students was increasing.
He said he hoped the unionization issue would not affect the committee's decision.
But State Sen. Joseph Harder, R-Moundridge, she wished he甘ADA had not threatened to form
"I would have liked to consider this issue on its own merit," Harder said. "The threat might hurt the GTAs chances more than it helps."
John O'Neal performs a series of short plays to students at Broken Arrow Elementary School, 2704 Louisiana St. O'Neal, who also performed Wednesday night, at Liberty Hall, is the 1992 SWouth Society resident artist. See story. Page 12.
Bush promises aid for former Soviets
The Associated Press
Spinning lore
WASHINGTON — President Bush pledged yesterday that the United States will help finance a $24 billion international aid fund for the former Soviet Union, rejecting criticism that he has been too slow to support democratic reform in the collapsed communist superpower.
"This isn't any Johnny-come-lately thing, and this isn't driven by election year pressures," Bush said at a White House news conference. "It's what's right for the United States."
Even as Bush announced his program, Democrat Bill Clinton accused the president of moving too slowly on economic and humanitarian aid to the former Soviet republics. At a speech in New York, Clinton had said that Bush's foreign policy was erratic.
Earlier this month, former President Richard Nixon had said U.S. support for Russia was weak.
Bush said, "Some people will attack you for doing too much and some for not doing enough. I think this is right."
The $24 billion aid fund would be extended by financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, with principal backing from the Group of Seven, a league of nations including Germany, Japan, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and the United States.
Bush said that, apart from the international fund, the United States would provide $600 million in new credit guarantees for grain purchases by Russia, as well as a total of $500 million in aid for Ukraine, Armenia and other
former republics of the now defunct Soviet Union.
The money pledged would be in addition to the $3.75 billion in agricultural credits approved by Bush since January 1991.
Bush and other administration officials were at a loss to say how much the overall plan would cost U.S. taxpayers. The plan repackaged many earlier proposals, including a long-stalled $12 billion request to Congress to replainn loan funds of the IMF. The only significant new expense appeared to be the $1.1 billion increase in agricultural credits.
"The stakes are as high for us now as any that we have faced in this century," Bush said.
The aid announcement marked the reemergence of foreign policy on Bush's election-year agenda after nearly three months of silence.
Instead of tackling foreign issues, Bush has focused largely on domestic policy since his critics charged that he was not paying enough attention to matters at home.
Foreign aid, in particular, has been a sensitive topic because many people in the United States think that their money should not be sent overseas to help former adversaries. Bush played down the cost, saying, "It's not a tremendous amount of money."
Bush also asked Congress to repeal legislation that restricted corporations in the United States from doing business in the former Soviet markets.
Bounced checks draw collection agency calls
By Andy Taylor
Kansanstaffwriter
Stern and persistent voices sounded from Donna Davies' telephone answering machine during spring break.
"They sounded like police officers," said Davies, Tulsa, Okla., sophomore.
The voices were of employees of a Kansas City, Kan., collection agency demanding that she pay for a bounced check she wrote one month ago to a Lawrence restaurant.
Davies said she did not realize she had bounced a check and told the collectors she would pay before spring break.
"I was going to pay it the Friday before spring break, but I didn't get the money from my father," she said.
Davies said she recently paid the check and learned a lesson about managing a checking account.
"We have found that college students don't know how to keep a checkbook," McDavitt said. "It is usually their first time to have a checking account, and they don't have much experience in maintaining a balanced account. Older people very seldom bounce checks."
Bob McDavitt, a representative of CheckRite, a collection bureau in Kansas City, Kan., said college students were novice checkbook managers.
McDavitt said a correlation existed between the number of checks bounced and the status of the national economy.
"There has been an increase in bounced checks, but it is starting to level off," he said. "Because of the increased interest, starting to regain a steady salary."
UNDER THE INFLUENCE
McDavitt said businesses all over thecountrvusedCheckRiteto
collect their money
He also said the dollar amounts of bounced checks varied widely.
"We have some checks for as little as one dollar and some for as much as $25,000," he said. "Most are in the $30 to $50 range."
When a business gives CheckRite a returned check, the bureau calls or writes the customer. McDavitt said that if a customer did not respond, CheckRite turned the matter over to its lawyers who would take the customer to small claims court.
"Very seldom do we go to court," he said. "More than half will pay after we ask them on the first try."
Barbie Yowell, a secretary at Kief's Audio and Video, 2429 Iowa St., said the store used CheckRite to collect lost money.
Lawrence businesses set their own check policies and often use collection agencies.
"There has been an increase now over previous years," Swaggerty said. "But it's not a big problem when you compare it to the total number of checks that go through here."
Marlene Swaggerty, office manager at Weaver's Department Store, 901 Massachusetts St., said she had noticed an increase in bounced checks.
"As long as they pay the agency, we don't care if they write another check." she said.
Bounced checks elected affect officials as well as college students. Last month, members of the U.S. House of Representatives admitted that they bounced thousands of dollars of checks in the House's own bank.
Swaggyter said the store's computer, which is hooked to CheckRite's system, could tell whether a customer's check had bounced at another store that used CheckRite.
KU drunk driving arrests double in '92's first quarter
Campus police raise surveillance during late hours
By Michelle Betts
Kansan staff writer
KU police have arrested more drunk drivers in the first three months of 1992 than they did throughout last year, said Burdel Welsh, KU police representative.
Welsh said that the increase could be attributed to patrol officers' increased training and awareness of what to look for in a potential drunk driver.
Also, two years ago, the KU police began overlapping patrol shifts between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., when many drunk drivers are on the streets, Welsh said.
Welsh said that KU police had arrested 53 people since Jan. 1 for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Last year, KU police arrested 39 people for DUI, a 254.5-percent increase over 1990, when 11 people were arrested, according to the KU police 1991 annual report.
It is not the most intoxicated driver who always causes the most problems, he said.
Drivers who are intoxicated catch police officers' attention by committing a traffic violation, misjudging the distance to a curb or stop sign or weaving from side to side. Welsh said.
The overlapping shifts gave officers more time to learn about and deal with DUI.
"It is the borderline driver that does the most damage," Welsh said.
Under penalty of law
The punishments for conviction under Kansas state law for operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs include:
First conviction
“... not less than 48 consecutive hours nor more than six months’ imprisonment, or in the court’s discretion 100 hours of public service, and fined not less than $200 nor more than $500. enroll in and attend a drug arrest or alcohol and drug safety action program or treatment program ...”
Second conviction
"... not less than 90 days
nor more than one year"
imprisonment and fined
not less than $500 nor
more than $1000 ... the
person convicted must
serve at least five
consecutive days
imprisonment before the
person is released,
sation, suspension or
reduction of sentence or
parole ..."
Source: "Kansas State Statutes Annotated"
Third conviction
"... not less than 90 days
nor more than one year's
imprisonment and fined
not less than $1000 nor
more than $2500 ... the
person convicted shall
be released from
suspension on probation,
suspension or reduction
of sentence or parole
until the person has
served at least 90 days'
imprisonment."
"They're the ones who don't think they're drunk."
"The arrests are relative to traffic patterns, and there is a decrease in traffic during the summer," Welsh said.
He said that the high rate of arrests made so far this year might not continue for the rest of the year.
Michael Gier, Daily Kansan
He said that the majority of the drivers arrested for DUI were not students.
"Students are very used to walking and biking and taking the bus," Welsh said.
An alternative to driving drunk is taking Secure Cab, a free service provided by A-1 City Cab and Student Senate.
MaryEllen Henderson, coordinator for KU on Wheels and Secure Cab, said that KU students often used the services.
Use of Secure Cab has increased 45
percent from last year and has increased 61 percent since last semester. Henderson said.
Jennifer Zucco, head of Greeks Advocating Mature Management of Alcohol, said that she had tried to set up a "party partner" system this semester among KU sororities. She said that sorority chapters liked the idea but that they had not participated.
Secure Cab service starts at 11:00 p.m. daily and takes its last calls at 2:45 a.m. It will take students to their homes, not to bars. The phone number is 864-5AFE and a KUID is required.
The system would require sororits to have a "partner chapter" to drive people to off-campus apartments or residence halls from a sorority house after a party or function.
More arrests
"In theory, people love it, but it is hard for women of one chapter to call women of another chapter and ask
The number of arrests for operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs on campus has risen dramatically in the last three years.
Source: KU Polic
Michael Gier, Daily Kansan
Source: KU Police
them to drive them unless they have close friends." Zuccos said.
Lawrence attorney Don Strole, who handles many student DUI cases, said that he had noticed an increase in the number of people seeking legal advice about DUI arrests.
"There certainly seems to be a lot more people coming in," he said. "It seems there are more DUIs now than in the past."
Penalties for DUI depend on the number of times the driver has been arrested, and they become more severe as the number of offenses increases, according to state law.