VOL. 101, NO. 80
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
FRIDAY JANUARY 24,1992
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NEWS:864-4810
Finney proposal would tax the basics
Cost of utilities and gasoline would increase if plan passes
By Greg Farmer and Gayle Osterberg Kansan staff writers
If Gov. Joan Finney's 1982 budget proposal earns approval from the Legislature, KU students could notice an increase in their cost of living.
Finney proposed to repeal sales tax
exempt from $3 items, including utili-
tative goods.
The governor has said her plan does not raise taxes to finance public education. But the plan would raise the amount taxaivers said in state sales tax.
Finney told the House Taxation Committee that removing these exemptions and taxing those items could be used to increase the number of taxes created by her school finance proposal.
Natural gas, electricity and water customers do not pay a state sales tax, but the Kansas Department of Revenue estimated that taxing utilities at the current 4.25 percent rate would generate almost $66 million.
Larissa Johns, manager of customer accounting at Kansas Public Service, said the average customer paid about $45 a month. If a sales tax were imposed at the 4.25 percent rate, customers would pay about $23 more each year.
State Rep. Sandy Praeger, R-
Lawrence, said removing the exemptions would hit low-income families the hardest.
*Most of these exemptions are there for a good reason, so I'm not really disputing them.*
State Sen. Wint Winter Jr., R-Lawrence, agreed that it would be difficult to cut exemptions because most are essential.
"They fall on services most basic to our existence," he said. "Heat and water are pretty fundamental — bread and butter stuff."
Bob McBride is president of M & M Oil Co., which owns five service stations in the Lawrence area.
McBride said he noticed a decrease in sales when prices increased.
"Everybody is on some type of budget, he said. "It just depends on how they want to spend their dollar. Of course people who depend on driving to work are the same number of gallons, but what creeat-nal trips are that,'saftaefied."
McBride said fluctuating gas prices would make implementations of a new tax on the oil market.
"It it's not like buying bread for $1," he said. "I just don't think it would generate enough money for the trouble it would cause."
Kristi Fogel, Ann Arbor, Mich., junior, moves her presently tax-free laundry from the dryer to the folding table at Duds 'n Suds 918 Mississippi St. Under Government's plan, the sales tax exemption for 35 items would be repealed.
KU student charged in CMSUBurglary
Police make second arrest in Dec.1 theft
Kansan staffreport
A KU student was charged Wednesday with felony theft in connection with the burglary of the Central Missouri State University locker room during a December basketball game in Allen Field House, according to a KU police report.
More than $14,000 worth of clothing, jewelry and cash was reported stolen from the locker room Dec. 1.
Nicole Emrick, 21, who is listed in the KU directory as a sophomore from Trumarsburg, NY, has been charged with 13 counts of felony theft, said Burrel Welsh, KU police representative.
Welsh said Emrick was arrested Wednesday night after an interview with KU police.
He said KU police identified Enrick early in the investigation but were not sure about the nature of her involvement.
Emrick helped transport stolen
property from the field house, Welsh said.
She was released early yesterday morning after Mannie's Bonding Co. posted a $13,000 bond, according to the police report.
Bob Frederick, KU athletic director, said about 20 percent of the stolen property had been recovered.
"Until the legal process has run its course, we probably won't get it back," he said.
Frederick said many people had reacted to the theft by contributing money to compensate the players' losses. Several thousand dollars have been collected, he said.
Welsh said Jeff Holly, a former KU student, was charged in December with 13 counts of felony theft and one count of burglary in connection with the Dec. 1. burglary. Holly possessed some of the stolen items when he was arrested, Welsh said.
Possible beheading of sorority women only rumor, police say
By Michelle Betts Kansan staff writer
Talk builds, gangs unlikely
Rumors flew in Lawrence throughout the past week about the possibility of gang members raping and mutilating KU sorority women as part of initiation rituals.
According to one rumor, gangs from Kansas City, Topeka or Wichita were coming to Lawrence to prey on sorority women. The gang initiate allegedly would have to rape and decapitate a woman and put her head on the front porch of her sorority house.
Other versions of the rumor said initiates would look for blond or Catholic women. Some said gangs were going to cut off women's arms and legs and throw the torsos on sorority house lawns.
"It's all unconfirmed," he said. "We don't have anything to substantiate that it has happened in the past, or will happen."
Burdel Welsh, KU police representative, said the rumors had no factual basis.
The Lawrence rumors spread quickly. On Wednesday, Kansas State University sororites were worried that gang members were coming to
Some rumors included all of the abovedetails.
Manhattan for their initiations, Welsh said
Lt. Mike Hall, Lawrence police detective, said the police had no information suggesting that the gang initiation rumors were true.
"It's a cruel hoax," he said.
Hall said Lawrence police had received many phone calls about the rumors.
Welsh said KU police had received 45 to 50 calls Tuesday, and had received more since then.
Sarah Gard, Panhellenic president, heard the rumors and sent letters to the presidents of individual sororites.
"I think it rose quickly and died
quickly," Gard said.
She said she told presidents to inform sorority members of proper safety precautions to take when they were out at night, such as calling Secure Caband not walking alone.
"I thought it was a hoax " she said
Welsh said the rumors might have been started by one source. A sorority member's roommate, who was not in a sorority, may have heard the story from her manicurist, he said.
Jamie Follon, member of Alpha Gamma Delta, did not believe the rumors.
The stories were strengthened when a prank caller, identifying herself as a Lawrence police officer, called one of the sorority houses and warned members about gang initiations, he said.
Hall said that although there had been some gang-related violence in Lawrence, police had not found evidence of established gangs in the city.
Kevin Johnson, director of court services, said raping and mutilating people was not a usual gang initiation activity.
"The initiation rite is commonly for an (initiate) to be beaten by the other members," he said. "I'm not saying there isn't any other type."
Johnson said Lawrence did have the potential for intense gras activity.
"With gangs, you can't count anything out," he said.
Australian ball team may skip '92 Olympics
The Associated Press
MELBOURNE, Australia—The Australian basketball team, considered a medal-contender at the Olympics, is thinking about boycotting games against the United States if magic Johnson competes.
"I would have thought that in any contact sport, anybody HIV-positive would basically not play," center Ray Borner said Wednesday. "It's common sense."
"I've been involved in lots of games where people have been bleeding. Even if they have to leave the court, the initial contact could be enough to get infected. It's a long shot, but it's possible."
But the team's physician, Dr. Peter Harcourt, called the issue "a storm in a teacup" and said that some comments were not informed.
- "The only way you might pass (the disease) on is if you come in contact with infected blood and you've got an open wound or maybe it's splashed in the eve," he said.
The 'issue arose when an Australian Olymp' *n.* Federation physician suggested that the Australian team boycott the U.S. team if Johnson competed. Dr. Brian Sando, the senior medical director of the federation's basketball program, said Johnson represented a realistic thrat of passing on the AIDS virus.
Johnson, who retired as a player with the Los Angeles Lakers after testing positive for HIV, has said he would like to play for the U.S. team in Barcelona, Spain, this summer.
The Australian coach, Adrian Hurley, said a decision to play against Johnson would be "entirely up to the players."
Borner said he would support forfeiting a game if Johnson played.
"It it was a choice of playing for gold or staying off and taking silver, I'd take silver," he said.
Mark Bradtike, another center, agreed and called for mandatory HIV-testing for all Olympic competitors.
Phil Smyth, the team captain, said that if it could be proved that he would not be in any danger, he would play against Johnson.
Australia's basketball program in recent years has sent players to major American colleges and the National Basketball Association. Its team is considered one of the strongest at this year's Olympics. The 1988 team finished fourth at the Seoul Olympics, losing the bronze medal to the United States.
INSIDE
Trading places
A British professor moves to Lawrence for a year exchange. Page 3
Belly dancing fans
A Lawrence woman extends her hobby to the classroom and teaches 15 women the secrets of belly-dancing.
Forty-seven nations promise to provide the former Soviet Union with desperately needed food and medicine.
Nations offer help
Superbowl Sunday
Page 7
Page 6
New Student Senate vice president is already a veteran
The Bills and the Redskins get set to determine which team is the best in the National Football League.
Page 9
By Jay Williams
Kansan staff writer
Kristin Lange has a problem.
"I stick my neck out and I just can't keep my mouth shut," the new student body vice president said.
Lange was elected by a vote of 28-26 Wednesday night by student Senate.
Lange said that before Wednesday, she did not know she would be nominated. The Salma senior said that she should have done so of her time so that she could graduate.
"Student Senate is the last place I ever thought I would be," she said. "won by two votes and I am in this office."
She said that everybody she spoke with congratulated her, which also surprised her.
Sitting in her new office yesterday, Lange spoke about her surprise at where she found herself.
The campus spotlight started to shine on Lange during a protest at Strong Hall in the spring of 1990. The protest came after an incident in which a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity struck a female pizza delivery driver and uttered a racial slur.
Instead, she dropped nine credits and plans to spend an extra semester
"I went to listen to what people would
say, "she said. Then somebody ask
me to speak to women in our
colonies."
Lange spoke, and the ball started rolling.
Within a week, Lange said, she and others founded the Women's Student Union. She remains active in the organization today.
In the past few years, Lange also has dealt with personal turmoil.
"We tackle whatever happens to be in front of us," she said.
In her senior year in high school, Lange said, she was raped by an acquaintance.
She said that she was in denial about the rape for a long time.
Since helping to found Women's Student Union, Lange has been an active representative for women's causes on campus.
"It's difficult communicating it to men, but there are certain things women do not do," she said. "I think twice before I walk out at night."
"It was an odd mix of fear and rage," Lange said. "I would be afraid, and then think it was ridiculous to feel this way."
While trying to come to terms with being raped, Lange also went through a drug-rehabilitation program after her freshman year at KU she said.
But Lange said the program did not
solve all the problems she faced.
"It is easy to say you're a drug addict," Lange said. "When you are not using, you are doing something right every day and you think everything is OK. Then you realize there are other things going on you need to straighten out."
With her life in better order, Lange said she decided to run for Student Senate last spring.
John Robertson, graduate senator; said he first heard about Lange in the 1991 election. Lange was a member of the Impact! coalition. Robertson ran with the Facts coalition.
"She seemed to be campaigning 24 hours a day," he said. "She is the most energetic person I have ever met."
In Senate, Lange gained prominence for supporting the removal of former student body president Darren Fulcher, who also was a member of Impact!
When the Judicial Board upheld the motion to remove Fulcher, Lange said she did not revel in the decision.
For her stance, Lange said she paid a price. She received hate mail and her house was vandalized, she said.
Senate voted to expel Fulcher in September after charges were made public that he had battered his ex-girlfriend.
"That semester has maybe damaged this campus forever," she said. "I did what I had to do. I did not enjoy it and I still do not enjoy it."
"I would not be surprised if people challenge my ability to chair," she said.
Lange said that she feared that the stand she took during the Fulcher incident might hinder her activities as vice president.
Robertson said he had complete confidence in Lange. He said Lange was a pragmatic person, with strong beliefs.
"I think she will make things happen without sacrificing her principles," he said. "She has a balance I wish had."
Troy Radakovich, Student Senate Executive Committee chairperson, said that Lange's training would be on-the job but that should not be a problem.
He said that Senate would leave the difficult fall semester behind.
"I think everybody is looking to get certain things accomplished and have this semester go as easy as possible," Radakovich said.
Lange, a women's studies major,
said a career in politics did not interest her. She said she might like to work in a women's shelter.
"I want to be independent and to keep in control," she said.
Kristin Lange