THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VOL.101.NO.107
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
(USPS 650-640)
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TUESDAY, MARCH 3. 1992
NEWS:864-4810
House approves abortion legislation
By Gayle Osterberg Kansan staff writer
Kansas house members yesterday passed a bill that would change abortion laws in Kansas, despite weekend abortion advocates to change the vote.
The bill now will go to the Senate, which already is feeling pressure from supporters on both sides.
The final House vote, 82-41 with two abstentions, was two short of the 84 votes required for a two-thirds majority vote.
Lawmakers have speculated that Gov Joan Finney, an anti-abortion advocate, would veto the bill in its present form. A two-thirds majority would be required in the House and the Senate to override a veto.
State Rep. Sandy Praeger, R-Lawrence, said that many legislators had been pressured by anti-abortion forces during the weekend to change their votes.
Praeger, who was in the bipartisan group that drafted the bill, said she was pleased and surprised by the support the bill had received in the House.
"I thought it might be closer," she said.
Two other Lawrence representatives, Betty Jo Charilton, Democrat, and John Solbach, Republican, also voted for the bill, which would make abortion legal in most cases, with some limitations on late-term abortions.
Praeger said that she had received numerous letters and phone calls from students.
Some of these letters came from two ki groups: the Pro-Choice Coalition and the Conservative Coalition.
Patricia Trausch, Spring Hill freshman and president of Students for Life, said that about 60 students helped mail form letters to state lawmakers.
The organization particularly opposes the section of the bill that would prohibit blocking access to and from health care clinics where abortions are performed, she said.
That section is totally unacceptable,
Truch said. "They are saying you
don't have the power."
She said that the bill was not a compromise, as supporters have claimed.
"But I don't know if the compromises
would be true to give would be
Beth Powers, Lawrence graduate student and a member of the ProChoice Coalition, said that the bill was a compromise because it spelled out regulations on abortions.
"The things which previously had not ever been put down on paper as requirements are there, like requiring counseling for minors," she said.
Powers said the group planned to increase its efforts now that the bill had reached the Senate, where it was detected to meet with more opposition.
Senators already are feeling the heat. State Sen. Wint Winter Jr., RLawrence, said that he received eight phone calls yesterday afternoon.
Winter said that he was pro-choice, and would vote in favor of the bill if he were to vote today.
Derek Nolen/KANSAN
Pre-aame lineup
Approximately 500 students line up outside Allen Field House for Kansas' game against Oklahoma State. Fans flocked early yesterday afternoon to the field house and began to filter into the arena at 4:45 p.m. Long lines formed in part because of a new policy prohibiting students from saving seats. For more on game seating rules, turn to Page 3.
19-year-old charged in Indian's slaying
By Michelle Betts and Jay Williams Kansan staff writers
Homicide suspect may be tried as adult
A man was formally charged with the death of Christopher Bread yesterday, and the district court is scheduled to decide tomorrow whether he will be tried as an adult.
Marvin Schaal, 19, was formally charged yesterday with aggravated vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of an injury accident, said Jerry Wells, Douglas County District Attorney.
Wells refused to go into detail about the evidence involved in the Bread case or any of the case specifics.
He said the charge was increased from vehicular homicide to aggrigated vehicular homicide because Schaal allegedly was driving while intoxicated.
Schaal, 1900 W. 31st St., is detained at the Douglas County Jail and bond is set at $15,000. If he is released under bond, he is to live with his parents, continue his employment and not consume alcohol or drive.
Schoal is the first person to be charged in connection with any of the deaths of four American Indians skilled in Lawrence during the past three years. No one has been charged in the other three deaths.
The two-year statute of limitations on the case would have expired less than seven hours after Schaal was arrested Sunday.
A closed hearing is scheduled at 2 p.m. tomorrow to decide whether Schaal will be tried as an adult. He was 17 years old at the time of the alleged homicide.
According to court documents, the prosecution did not want his case tried in juvenile court because of the severity of the charges.
Loren Anderson, Douglas County
Sheriff said. "We weren't ready to
arrest him Friday or last week. It couldn't have come together any faster."
Bread was found dead in a death March, 2, 1990, one and a half miles east of Lawrence on 15th Street. Autopsy reports indicate that the buried skull and tail marks on his body
The first of the four deaths occurred in April 1898 when John Sandoval, 19, was found drowned in the Kansas River.
Cecici Dawes Jr.,21, a former KU student, also was found drowned in the Kansas River in October 1989.
Harry Oliver, 72, was killed Dec. 4,
1989, in a hit-and-run accident.
Anderson said that no evidence linked Schaal to the other deaths, and that he did not expect any further arrests to be made in connection with Bread's death.
The maximum penalty for aggravated vehicular homicide is 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The maximum penalty for leaving the scene of an injury accident, a Class A misdemeanor, is one year in prison and a $2,500 fine.
Stephanie Silvers, a Lawrence resident who was at the arraignment, said she was Schaal's girlfriend.
Schaal's family refused to comment.
"I don't think he did it," she said
Daryl Dwyer, an owner of D&D Tire Inc., 1000 Vermont St., said Schaal had worked there since Aug. 5.
"He was a very satisfactory employee, above average," he said.
Ed Boerger, a neighbor of Schaal,
said that he had known him for one
year and that the two men often used
citizens band radios.
"He used to run on the CB," he said. "His handle was 'jack rabbit.' He seemed like a really nice guy."
Court rejects ban on indecent broadcasts
The Associated Press
Free-speech advocates praise decision
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court yesterday refused to let the government prohibit indecent radio and TV broadcasts, letting stand a ruling that a round-the-clock ban violates free-speech rights.
The court, with two dissenting votes, rejected arguments by the Bush administration and advocacy groups that the ban should be reinstated to protect them and the privacy of all listeners and viewers.
Justices Byron White and Sandra Day O'Connor voted to hear arguments in the case, but four votes are needed to grant such review.
Justice Clarence Thomas did not participate in considering the appeal. He was a member of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia when it decided the case.
In other words, we use the following:
**Agree to decide whether a Montana man convicted of fondling a child may be forced to attend a therapy program for sex offenders.**
In other action, the court:
The court said it would review a ruling that said requiring Dianlali Imm to receive treatment
would force him to admit guilt and violate his right against self-incrimination.
Agreed to decide whether the government improperly confined some immigrant children
The justices said they would consider reinstating Immigration and Naturalization Service regulations that required locking up illegal-alien children who could not be released to relatives.
■ Agreed to review the federal mail-fraud conviction in Minnesota of a man who said his trial wrongly was held without him after he failed to appear and could not be located.
The justices said they would study Michael Crosby's argument that his conviction, after a trial in absentee, violated federal rules of criminal procedure.
*Refused to kill a lawsuit against New Jersey officials stemming from a 13-year-old battle to force Princeton University eating clubs to admit women members.
The court, without comment, rejected the state's arguments that the federal盐应 by two formulas.
Peggy Charren, president of Action for Children's Television, which was a party in the lawsuit that led to the Supreme Court action on broadcasting, called the decision a victory for free speech.
"It's a victory for people to know that the place to take care of children is the off button in the home." she said.
the appeals court ruled in May that the government may not prohibit indecent broadcasts 24 hours a day. The appeals court said there must be materials permitted when such material is permitted on the airwaves.
Since then, the Federal Communications Commission — pending the outcome of its high-court appeal — has not tried to bar indecent material broadcast from 8 p.m. until 6 a.m. daily. Those are considered hours when parents can exercise more control over the listening and viewing habits of their children.
Indecent material is defined as descriptions of "sexual or excretory activities or organs" in terms "patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broad cast medium."
Legally obscene material has no constitutional protection, but material that isindeed does
The24-hourban,requiredbya1988federallaw.
There must be a safe-harbor exception to the FCC's regulation of indecent broadcasts, the appeals court said.
was not implemented pending the outcome of a court challenge led by broadcasters and free-speech advocates.
The appeals court here, in striking down the law, said it had a duty to check the constitutional excesses of Congress.
The FCC always has barred obscene broadcasts at all times. Obscene material is defined by high-court rulings as that which appeals to prudent interest and lacks serious artistic, literary, political or scientific value.
The indecency standard is a broader one and, for example, may encompass "dirty words" and language parents feel is inappropriate for children.
The high court in 1978 ruled that the FCC could bar, during hours when children might be listening, the broadcast of a monologue by comedian George Carlin in which he uses seven words depicting sexual and excretory functions.
On a related issue, the court in 1989 struck down a ban on all sexually oriented "dial-a-port" telephone messages but said Congress may take some steps to shield children from indecent messages.
Women's Student Union protests KJHK talk show
By Shelly Solon
Kansan staff writer
Some members of Women's Student Union say that the "John Boss Show" on KJHK is offensive and that Boss receives special treatment from the station.
But Boss, not the radio talk-show host's real name, and the station's general manager say complaints against the show are unfair.
Derek Nelson / KANSAS
KJHK will respond this week to WSU members who sent letters to Mike Kautsch, dean of journalism, about the content of the show. KJHK is a laboratory of the School of Journalism.
John Boss hosts a radio call-in show about campus issues on KJHK.
WSU members sent about 12 letters three weeks ago. Kautsch said he for-
The call-in talk show airs from 40 5
p.m. Monday through Friday.
Kristin Lange, student body vice president and WSU member, said many people had heard something offensive on the show.
"There are more than a few people who are upset about the show." Lange
said. "It's not as if he was someone who happened to get the show. He was chosen and receives preferential treatment."
Leawood, said that the complaints had no foundation and that they would not affect the show.
Boss, a third-year law student from
He said he never had a problem with women's groups and never said
"A lot of people disagree with my opinions," Boss said. "If they didn't, I wouldn't be doing my job. It's not 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.' We're holding a forum for controversial campus issues."
anything rude about women.
Jennifer Roth, WSU member and former KJHK staff member, said that people were concerned about how the station was handling the situation.
"The people in radio and TV want to get the show syndicated," she said. They're only concerned about the audience so make if it gets broadcast nationally."
Roth said Boss had violated KJHJ's participation contract. The contract states, among other things, that an employee must appreciate cultural diversity and avoid sexually harassing and prejudiced speech.
Tim Menseniek, general manager, said he would send out letters to those who wrote with concerns. He said the letters invited them to appear on the show to discuss the grievances and to meet with him.
He said the public could not convince him to yank the show off the air (they were).
"Wetake into account how we serve the public," Mensendiek said. "But the station has done nothing wrong, and John Boss has not violated his contract. The people who wrote letters just oppose the style of the show and his right to be on the station."
He said controversial shows such as Boss' were popular now.
Mensendiek said Boss' popularity on campus led a few KJHK staff members to believe he received special favors.
"They don't see the long-term possibilities of the money and benefits this show could bring to KJHK if it were broadcast on a national basis," he said. "After taking a 5 percent cut this year, wened to think about income to survive."
Tom Volek, assistant professor of radio-television, said the show could be syndicated if it was marketed well and hit a certain chord with broad-
NCAA BASKETBALL
Coach Roy Williams and the No. 3 Kansas Jayhawks last night clinched at least a tie for the Big Eight Confer-
encise title for the second consecutive year. Kansas improved its record to 22-3 overall and 10-2 in the Bin.
Roy Williams
Eight by defeating No. 12 Oklahoma State State 77-64. The Jayhawks can win the conference title tomorrow with a victory at Iowa State. Kansas avenged last month's loss to the Cowboys.
See game coverage, Page 6