CAMPUS / AREA
University Daily Kansan/Friday, March 20,1992
3
Marnee Dietnch/KANSAN
Spring has sprung
The tulips in front of the chancellor's residence help mark today as the first day of spring. It won't seem like spring this weekend,
Budget goes to Student Senate
Kansan staff report
student Senate Finance committee began budget hearings last night, needing to cut almost half the money requested by 45 different student organizations.
Student organizations requested $134,844.69 for the next year. Senate can allocate $71,406.
Stuart Comfort, student body treasurer, gave his report to committee members last night.
The budget Comfort proposed was $2304.31
over the limit.
To come up with the proposed figure, Comfort and Kevin Sigourney, administrative assistant, look over the requests.
"We have cuts only on the first go-around because to have both would cause mass confusion." Comfort said. "Once it is balanced, we are not going to add some place without cutting from somewhere else."
Comfort said he followed the generalfunding guidelines set by the finance committee. Restrictions include set dollar amounts for office supplies, advertising, printing and postage.
In making his recommendations, Comfort said he had the advantage of looking at past finance records that other members of the committee did not have.
The first goal is to get a balanced budget, he said. Then, the committee can add to budgets if they desire.
Kurt Broekelman, co-chairperson of the Finance Committee, said Comforts proposal was important.
"His recommendations give us a good starting point for discussion," he said. "They get us going in the right direction." ***
The committee will finish hearing Comfort's report tonight, then begin deliberation on the budget.
Local man with disability 'writes the songs'
By Ranjit Arab
Kansan staff writer
Jan. 6 is a date Fred Markham will never forget.
As Markham sat in his Lawrence living room that night watching The Nashville Network, he discovered that a song he wrote had reached O.1on Billboard magazine's country music charts.
The song, "Love Me," performed by Collin Raye, was not the first chart-topping hit for Markham. However, like his previous successes, Markham silently remained out of the spotlight.
Born with cerebral palsy and using a wheelchair, Markham chose to write his songs under pseudonyms. In this case, the lyrics are attributed to Max T. Barnes.
Markham, Lawrence resident, spoke through his interpreter and home care attendant, Erin Williams. He said fame and fortune were never his main concerns as a songwriter.
Markham first started writing eight years
ago to ease the pain of a girlfriend's departure.
"When she walked out the door, she said,
'Remember Fred, that's the thing about love,' and then she left, "Markham said.
To help overcome his loneliness, he wrote a poem, titled "That's the Thing About Love."
When he later showed the poem to his ex girlfriend, Markham said, she suggested he turn it into a song.
With the aid of musicians, Markham had music arranged to the lyrics and recorded a demonstration tape.
Country singer Don Williams performed the song on his 1984 album, "Cafe Carolina." In 1985, it reached No. 1 on the country charts.
In the eight years since he wrote "That's the Thing About Love," Markham said he feared that publicity and royalty fees might prompt the government to cut his health care aid.
As a result, he quietly watched his songs climb the charts and accepted flat rates that were far less than the amounts he could have received from royalty payments.
His publisher, John Estes, of Entertainment Enterprises Inc., in Austin, Texas, told Markham that the royalty payments from the song would have allowed Markham to become self-supportive.
Markham decided to take credit for future songs.
With the success of "Love Me," however,
Markham recently signed a contract with Estes that will give him a 6-percent royalty fee on future songs.
Estes said the 6-percent fee would have been more money than the $2,500 flat rate he paid Markham in December.
"I know how important it is for people to realize that people with disabilities can be as talented as anyone," Markham said.
To Markham,however,more is at stake than an issue of money.
Erin Williams said Markham usually wrote three to four hours a day on his computer, typing through the aid of a head stylus.
She said Markham had recorded another demonstration tape and had just sent it off to the publisher.
House tentatively approves finances for Hoch planning
By Greg Farmer and Gayle Osterberg Kansan staff writers
TOPEKA — Plans for the reconstruction of Hoch Auditorium cleared another hurdle yesterday as the House tentatively voted to include $1 million for planning in a capital improvements bill.
And State Sen. Wint Winst Jr., R-Lawrence, said he was optimistic that the Senate would pass a law requiring new laws.
The House will take final action on the bill today.
Gov. Joan Finney did not include the planning money in her budget proposal, but lawmakers inserted the finances early in the committee process.
Area representatives are optimistic about Hoch's future.
"Every step so far has been positive," said State Rep. Betty Jo Charlton, D-Lawrence. "It has momentum, so we're hoping to keep it on there."
State Rep. John Solbach, D-Lawrence, said the state was obligated to finance the reconstruction because the state was self-insured, which means the Legislature does not purchase insurance but agrees to pay for a loss from the state's general fund.
*If the self-insurance policy is going to work,
the state is going to have to stand behind it," Solbach said. "I has saved the state a great deal of money over the years. If we lose a building, we're going to have to replace it."
Chancellor Gene Budig said he was pleased with the vote.
Winter said yesterday's vote was good news for supporters of higher education, but he said he expected a better response from the Senate.
"This addresses one of our highest programmatic priorities," Budig said. "Replacement of Hoch is central to the well-being of our instructional programs."
"I think the vote will help create an environment in the Senate to consider financing the entire project," he said. "I think what the House has done is a good start, but I want more."
Earlier this month, Winter proposed a bill that would provide the entire $18 million for reconstruction this year.
Both Winter's bill and the House appropriations bill await consideration in the Senate. Won't be up for vote until next week.
Winter said he thought there was a good chance that the committee would forge a compromise of the two bills that would provide the entire $18 million this year.
"There's a good enough chance that we will finance this project that I am putting in a lot of time," he said.
Justin Kane (KANSAN)
Speaking at a panel discussion, State Rep. Joan Wagnon, D-Topeka, center, Mary Turkington, left, and Donna Whiteman discuss the role of women in politics.
Kansan staff writer
Bv Shelly Solon
Program discusses role women play in politics
When former Kansas House of Representatives majority leader Donna Whiteman first arrived in the Kansas Legislature in 1983, she said she was amazed that the only women the male legislators could relate to were their wives.
But Whiteman, Kansas Secretary of Social and Rehabilitation Services, said the past few years had brought tremendous change for women in politics.
"in 83, there were two women in the state Senate and 23 in the House," she said. "Now there are 10 women in the Senate and 37 in the House. Kansas has been traditionally progressive with having women in politics when compared nationally."
Whitman was one of the three panelists last night at a program titled "Women in Politics: Change Agents," sponsored by the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center. The presentation was in the Kansas Union and focused on women in politics.
Ann Gardner, editorial page editor for the Lawrence Journal-World, moderated the panel which also included Mary Turkington, executive director of the Kansas Motor Carriers Association and registered lobbyist in Kansas, and State Rep. Joan Wagnon, D-Topeka.
"Women who are the 'first women' in the Legislature need to break that cycle," she said. "Women in politics need to be willing to promote and give other women the opportunities they had. I got the opportunity and so did others, but we can't keep the goodness all for ourselves. We have to empower other women."
Whiter ran said that women were emerg- ing in poh_utes but that society still suffered from "first_ovan syndrome."
wagnon said women in the Legislature were involved with many issues in addition to traditional women's issues.
"If you look at the Kansas House, women are debating everything from sewers and taxes to transportation," Wagnon said.
Turkington said that as a lobbyist, she saw women changing the face of the Legislature.
"Before it was one-man one-vote, the legislators involved the community and understood the community." Turkington said. "With one-man one-vote, it was more likely to see single-issue candidates emerge. But as women have increased in the Legislature, they have used their ability to draw people together and achieve consensus on many issues. They have let people know that the issues discussed affect everyone."