THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VOL.101, NO.112
ADVERTISING:864-4358
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
(USPS 650-640)
TUESDAY MARCH17.1992
NEWS:864-4810
Mike Beaton, Kansas City, Kan...protests a House abortion bill with a crowd of about 2,000 demonstrators in front of the Statehouse in Topeka
Finney vows to veto bill Anti-abortionists hope rally will sway Senate vote
By Gayle Osterberg
Kansas staff writer
TOPEKA — Gov. Joan Finney yesterday told about 2,000 anti-abortion activists gathered on the Statehouse lawn that she would veto a bill that would legalize abortion in Kansas.
"I will keep my word to the Kansas people," Finney said. "Tam pro-life."
The governor's speech began a two-hour rally that supporters hope will encourage state senators to back him.
The bill, which the House passed March 2, would
Shane Wenger, Olathe, recruits Abraham Lincoln's help during the Topeka rally.
keep abortion in Kansas legal in most cases if *Roe* is overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court
Just before the start of the rally, members of the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee voted 6-1 to send the bill unamended to the full Senate without a recommendation.
Committees can recommend that a bill be passed or not passed. They also may amend the bill and recommend the new version.
"I think this was the best possible action," said State Sen. Ed Reilly, R-Leavenworth, who heads the committee. "This is a bill that will have amendments to make it a better sense to take the whole issue unstairs."
Supporters of the bill said they did not expect the rally to have a great impact on the Senate vote.
"Most of them already know where they stand," said Amy Bixler, a lobbyist for the National Organization for Women who attended the committee meeting. "They know what amendments they want. They know what they want to see happen with this bill."
Senate Majority Leader Fred Kerr, R-Pratt, has tentatively scheduled the Senate to debate the bill tomorrow and take a final vote Thursday. The schedule will be finalized today.
The House passed the bill 82-41, two votes short of the 84 required for a two-thirds majority. The Senate must pass the bill with 27 votes to have a two-thirds majority.
Finney reaffirmed her anti-abortion stance in front of a crowd of activists representing Kansas communities including Lawrence, Wichita, Topeka. Salina and Atchison.
"A good many people have advised me not to address the issue of abortion," she said. "You cannot cure a social or moral problem by ignoring it. The bill currently before the Legislature is a proabortion bill. I will veto this bill if it comes to my desk."
The governor encouraged anti-abortion supporters to be diligent in voicing their beliefs, but to
Several Lawrence residents and at least one KU student cheered the governor's remarks.
A two-thirds majority vote in both the House and the Senate would be necessary to override the governor.
"We wanted to show our support for Joan Finney
and our views against abortion," said Diane Michels of Lawrence.
Michels was accompanied by her 12-year-old daughter, Chantel, who held up a sign reading "Lawrence for Life" that her 8-year-old brother, Ryan, had made the night before.
"I think people shouldn't do it because abortion is wrong," Chantel Michels said. "I think people should let the baby live to serve Jesus."
Carol Taylor, also of Lawrence, attended the rally alone.
"I came to make a statement just by my presence." she said.
Taylor said the bill does not resolve the issue. "Anything that allows us to kill a child is wrong," she said.
Patricia Trausch, president of KU's Students for Life, said she hoped the rally would influence lawmakers. She said the number of people who attended the rally was held while many worked.
"I talked to a lot of people who go off work and brighten their whole family," said Troussel Spring, Hillsborough.
State Sen. Norma Daniels, D-Dalley Center, a member of the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee, spoke against the bill.
"You don't have much time to reach out to influence others, to influence your senators," she said. "Let them know how many of you are there."
Peggy Jarman, a lobbyist for the Kansas Pro-Choice Action League, said that the majority of Kansans were pro-choice and that a rally would not change that.
"I believe that the senators are going to work this bill from the perspective that the majority of their constituents are pro-choice," she said. "Anti-choice people want to outlaw abortion. Obviously they are going to be unhappy with this bill, but that's not where most people are."
It would require that girls younger than 16 receive counseling before an abortion and that when getting the abortion they be accompanied by an adult who is at least 21 years old.
Specificity tnms in the bill womans posthit lab-
term业 bttm in the bill womans posthit laban epidemic of check kiting
The bill also would prohibit blocking access to and from clinics where abortions are performed.
State Democrats research checks
By Andy Taylor Kansan staff writer
Kansas' two Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have spent the past few days searching for answers after admitting that they bounced checks in the House's bank.
Rep. Jim Slattery, D-Topeka, whose 2nd district includes the University of Kansas, has planned a news conference on Friday to say how many checks he bounced.
Rep. Dan Glickman, D-Wichita,
said in a news conference yesterday
that he bounced more than 100
in a span of more than three
years.
The other Kansas congressional members, Rep. Pat Roberts, R-Dodge City; Rep. Jan Meyers, R-Overland Park; and Rep. Dick Nichols, R-McPherson, have not been accused of check bouncing.
The House voted during the week end to release the names of all persons whose checking accounts were overdrawn in the House bank. Each representative's staff was responsible for getting their checking account figures from the General Accounting Office.
Jim McClain, a press representative for Slattery's office in Topeka, said that although Slattery admitted to one incident of check bouncing, the congressman's staff continued to count the number of Slattery's checks being kept in the House bank.
"We are trying to get those records compiled right now," he said. "When this story first broke in October, Mr. Slattery admitted that the bank had found one check of his that was overdue and now is what that there were other checks."
He said that the House bank never notified Slattery or other congressional members of banking deficiency.
"Right now the staff is obtaining copies of statements and deposit slips from the House bank." he said. "We do know that the bank statements never showed a negative balance. It isn't fortunate that the public is being left with the perception that they overdrew thousands and thousands of dollars when actually the numbers given are
Jim Slatterv
Jim Petterson, a press representative for Glickman in Wichita, said that the congressman bounced 107 checks, totaling between $19,000 to $20,000. He said the situation never was brought to the attention of Glickman and his staff.
"He was never notified, and there was no way to know how much bounced," he said. "The first indication of ethics report released last year."
Petterson said that many constituents had expressed dissatisfaction with the accountability of their congressional representatives.
"People are frustrated and angry." he said. "This is embarrassing to Dan at work."
Burdett Loomis, professor of political science, said that the taxpayers' frustration would be apparent at the voting booth.
"There is no question that this will have an impact," he said. "There is a substantial anti-incumbent feeling down to balancing a checkbook."
Loomis said that partisan conflicts would grow with the situation.
"The Democrats, who control the House, have played this pretty bad. There is a real indication that the Democratic leadership acted out of touch. The best damage control would have been to release all the names at once, but for fear of embarrassment, the House should not to release the names," he said, referring to Speaker of the House Tom Foley.
The Associated Press contributed information to this story.
The Associated Press
Denials, regrets are abound as government opens investigation
WASHINGTON — The government has opened a criminal investigation of activity at the House bank, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office said yesterday — a new turn in the scandal that already has lawmakers struggling to cushion political fallout from thousands of bad checks.
The attorney's office is reviewing allegations of possible criminal conduct involving the bank, said Mark Liedi, spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Jay Stephens. Liedi would not say who might be involved or what type of conduct was under investigation.
A spokesperson for Rep. Matthew McHugh, D-N.Y., who ran the House ethics committee inquiry into overfishing, said there did not know about an investigation
Liedl said it was begun last fall after a General Accounting Office audit. The GAO said current and former House members had written 8,331 checks backed by insufficient funds from July 1989 through June 1990.
That audit led to a five-month House ethics committee investigation that had members scrambling to explain their overdrafts.
Lawmakers yesterday sifted through sloppily kept records from the bank in finding evidence that could soften the political damage from
Rep. Robert Mrazek, D-N-Y , listed by the House ethics committee as the author of 972 overdrafts in 39 months, arranged to bring his lawyer and accountant to a meeting with government auditors to review the records
"I have never bounced a check," said Mrazek, a candidate for the U.S. Senate in New York, in a statement. He complained that he was being lumped with representatives who chronically and deliberately wrote huge overdrafts when there were no funds in their account.
If Mrazek was in a fighting mood, Reps. Charles Wilson, D-Texas, and David Obey, D-Wis., were in a giving frame of mind.
Wilson told a news conference he would donate more than $2,000 to charities — $25 for each check listed as an overdraft. Information from the House ethics committee list given to the associated Press said he had 81 of them.
Obey said he was upset and embarrassed. He said he paid $1,300 to the House clerk — about $20 each for 64 weeks he said he and his wife had written
"I don't care where it goes," Obery said of the money. "I simply wanted us to pay the same overdraft fee that would be paid by anybody else."
KU police prepare for March Madness on campus
Bv Michelle Betts
Kansan staff writer
March Madness has begun, and KU police and administrators are gearing up for the revelers who could come to campus for post-game parties.
Lt. John Mullens, KU police representative, said officers from other police departments would help KU players post-game activities this semester.
Police will be enforcing all state laws and city ordinances, he said.
"We're talking about everything from all alcohol and cereal malt beverage laws, disorderly conduct, crime, property, things like that," Mullers said.
A city ordinance could be passed tonight at the City Commission meeting that would prohibit drinking of 3.2
Presently, it is against University policy to drink 3.2 percent beer on most of campus, but police only can ask via email, and policy to take their alcohol elsewhere.
Mullens said if the ordinance were passed, KU police would be able to violate a ticket if they were 21 years old. It is unclear whether they were 21 years old or not.
beer on campus, just as drinking is prohibited on public streets in Lawrence.
The ordinance could go into effect by March 27, the day of the NCAA Midwest Regional semifinal. Kansas is the top seed in the region.
*It is another tool we can use to prevent the drinking of liquor and beer on campus from the onset,* he said.
alcohol drinks so they would not be ticketed.
"I'd probably go on campus, and if a cop told me to pour my beer out, I'd pour it out, and then I'd leave," she said.
Kelly Wells, Lawrence graduate student, said the new ordinance would not stop her from going to campus to celebrate after a game.
Mullens said the officers would encourage people to pour out their
After the first round and second rounds of the NCAA tournament in Dayton, Ohio, Lawrence police officers, University of Kansas Medical Center police officers and officers County Sheriff's Department will assist inmates in controlling crowds if necessary, Mullens said.
Lt. David Cobb of Lawrence police said the department would give KU police as many officers as it needed for
crowd control and law enforcement.
After regionalists in Kansas City, Mo., they would be pushed by KKC's claims he said.
If the Jayhawks advance to the Final Four, officers from the Riley County Sheriff's Department, Kansas State University police and officers from the Kansas Highway Patrol will assist KU police, in addition to the other officers, he said.
Mullens said that more patrols would have helped curb violence at parties last spring, and that he expected ordinances and laws to be enforced more strongly this semester because of the addition of outside officers.
When the team lost to Duke in the 1991 national championship game, the celebration turned violent as fights broke out. The team's broken bottles and property was
This year, Mullens advised, people should wear shoes on campus if they are involved in post-game partying.
"Half, if not more, of injuries were people stepping on broken glass, cigarette butts or an occasional nail or twirl. "Mullens said.
However, some students said they all would celebrate on the HIlD, despite their disagreement.
"I went up to the fall after we beat
them and they didn't feel the body was
happy and hugged," he said.
People who often create problems for the police at post-game reveries are people who come to Lawrence from town on one foot with involvement with the University. Mullens said.
Jim Bailey, Oak Grove, Mo., sophmore, said he would go to the Hill after
The Road to the Final Four
Kansas vs. Howard, 7:05 p.m., Friday, March 20
Missouri vs. W. Virginia 30 minutes after the Seton Hall game, 11:25 a.m., Thursday, March 19.
iowa State vs. N.C. Charlotte, 30 minutes after the Kentucky game,
11:35 a.m. Friday, March 20.
Nebraska vs. Connecticut, 30 minutes after the Ohio State game, 6:35 p.m. Thursday, March 19.
Oklahoma State vs. Georgia
Southern, 30 minutes after the
Tulane game, start 11:15 a.m.
Friday, March 20.
Oklahoma vs. Southwestern
Louisiana, 30 minutes after the
DePaule game, 1:45 p.m., Thursday,
March 19.