Tomorrow's weather
RAINING
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PO BOX 3585
TOPEKA, KS 66601-3585
Kansan
and rain.
Tuesday
April 28, 1998
Section:
A
Vol. 108 • No. 146
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North Carolina forward Antawn Jamison announced that he will enter the 1998 NBA Draft after completing his degree through summer school.
SEE PAGE 6B
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Partial-birth abortion ban becomes law
"Politics has not been a factor in my decisionmaking process, and I am disappointed in those who have chosen to discuss it in political terms... This
issue is too serious to be driven by politics."
Bill Graves Kansas governor
Kansas will allow abnormal fetuses to be terminated
By Brandon Coppe
bcopple@kanson.com
Kansan staff writer
Gov. Bill Graves signed into law yesterday a bill that considerably will tighten state law governing abortion.
In a press release issued after he signed the bill, Graves called the decision the most difficult one he has faced as governor.
"Politics has not been a factor in my decision-making process, and I am disappointed in those who have chosen to discuss it in political terms," Graves said in a message to the House of Representatives, where the bill originated. "This issue is too serious to be driven by politics."
Much of the speculation around the bill
focused on Graves' re-election campaign in the fall. David Miller, abortion opponent and chairman of the state Republican party, is contemplating challenging Graves in the primary.
a veto of the bill would have given Miller a starting point in the race from which he could attack Graves' stance on social issues.
The bill, which will go into effect later this year, outlaws partial-birth abortions performed by evacuating the tissue inside a fetus's skull. Since his election in 1994, Graves has supported a ban on those procedures.
The fetal abnormality provision contained in the bill was the most controversial provision. It prohibits abortions of severely deformed fetuses that could survive indefinitely outside the womb with artificial life support systems.
Sen. Sandy Praeger, R-Lawrence, an abortion-rights advocate, said she supported Graves' decision because the bill contained a provision that would allow abortions at any time to protect the life or health of the mother.
Physicians will be required to keep records of abortions they performed after the 22nd week of pregnancy. For an abortion performed on a viable fetus, a physician must report the exception that allowed the abortion — the mother's health or fetal abnormality
"He's done the right thing and the courageous thing," she said. "My friends in the prochoice community might be surprised to hear that, but it's important that we recognize that the bill doesn't put any restrictions on the first and second trimester, and it adds a protection for the health of the mother."
Praeger said she thought Graves' action would bring a prompt end to the legislative session.
Legislators return to work today. They will consider action on legislation vetoed by Graves and will finish work on omnibus appropriations — the bill that contains all state appropriations not provided for in other legislation.
Praeger said that the Legislature would not deal with abortion again this year and that she hoped the issue would be put to rest for awhile.
"Many people in the pro-life community have said this bill is enough," Praeger said. "I hope they're right about that."
KANSAS ABORTION LAW
The bill Governor Bill Gravas signed yesterday prohibits assisted suicide, partial birth abortion, and abortion after the fetus is viable (can survive outside the mother)
Other states that ban partial-birth abortion: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Utah.
States with restrictions on post-viability abortions: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Writer tells good,bad aspects of television
By Aaron Knopf
aknopf@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Barnhart, who earned a master's degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School, spoke yesterday at room 100 in Smith Hall in a lecture sponsored by the Department of Religious Studies. About 25 people attended the event, which was free.
Today's television comedies and dramas reflect the mix of jadeenth and idealism that exists in American society at the end of the 1990s, said Aaron Barnhart, *The Kansas City Star* TV writer.
Television has an undeniable power in society, but this power has a downside. Barnhart said.
"This insidious talent of television to appropriate our deepest feelings and use them to sell us something is perhaps the most troubling add-on of American civilization," he said.
Barnhart divided his lecture into a discussion of sitcoms and dramas.
"Situation comedies are extremely cynical," Barnhart said. "But the flip side is they are also excruciatingly sentimental."
Barnhart showed videos of several examples, including a clip from an episode of "King of the Hill," an animated comedy on Fox, to illustrate his point.
Sitcoms, such as "King of the Hill," often portray social messages with subtlety, he said.
In the show, Hank Hill and his wife smoke cigarettes for the first time in years and reminisce about an earlier age when they did not worry about the dangers of cigarettes.
Courtroom and police dramas, such as "Law and Order," reflect a fundamental change in society's belief about crime and punishment. Barnhart said.
"By their nature, dramas can be more overt about their religious, spiritual and moral messages," he said.
People who watched "Perry Mason" enjoyed seeing Mason bringing the guilty to justice and helping free the innocent, he said.
Barnhart said that "Nothing Sacred" drew its topics from ongoing debates among Catholics. He showed a clip in which a priest admits to his colleagues that he has AIDS.
Barnhart cited "Law and Order" and the recently canceled "Nothing Sacred" as examples of dramatic shows with such messages.
"Somewhere along the way, our sympathy changed," Barnhart said.
He said the defense attorney became a magnet for public resentment, too worried about the rights of the accused to care about the victim.
He said that people now watched shows where prosecutors and detectives forced guilty people to confess their crimes through tough methods.
Tomson-DeGreef said he was impressed by Barnhart's speech.
Michael Tomson-DeGreef, Lawrence junior, said he attended the lecture because of his fascination with the portrayal of religion on television.
"I realized how hard his job must be to find insightful things to say about television," he said.
Four wheeled artwork
Jenny Hart, Lawrence senior, shows off her car in front of the old Lawrence train station. Hart is the coordinator of a parade of art cars that will take place this weekend. Photo by Roger Nomer/KANSAN
Oliver residents take a stand for their courts
Residents fear new lot would serve only basketball fans
By Marc Sheforgen
msheforgen@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Plans to tear down basketball and handball courts at Oliver Hall in favor of more parking spaces have more than 400 Oliver residents and KU students upset enough to sign a petition.
Oliver residents may have no say in what happens to the existing courts, but their petitions are demanding that new ones be built, said Nathan Jared, Atlanta freshman and next year's Oliver Hall government president.
Two full-size basketball courts and three handball courts will be torn down to create close to 200 new parking spaces.
Jared said he, Oliver residents and other KU students used the basketball courts regularly and found it unfair to have them removed.
"From what we understand, there's pretty much nothing we can do about it," Jared said.
Don Kearns, director of parking, said that concerned students should rest easy. He said the parking department would work with the student housing department to plan for a new outdoor
recreation facility. But those plans will not go into effect until the existing parking lot is expanded, Kearns said.
Jared said that as he understood it, the new parking spaces would accommodate patrons of Allen Field House. He said that it was unfair to take away one of the best luxuries of Oliver so that more people could park for basketball games.
But Kearns denied this, saying that the new spaces would be available only for residents of Oliver.
"We don't want encroachment from other people to come in on their area," he said. "This is strictly for the students in Oliver."
Residents of Oliver and other students play basketball on the courts as late as one or two in the morning, weather permitting, Jared said.
"It's huge around here," he said. "When it's nice, you don't want to go all the way to Robinson to play. Every time we go over to Robinson, there's always lines."
Doug Riat, associate director of Design Construction Management, said that the plans for the re-configuration of parking lot 112 were under way and that construction would begin once the design was finalized.
"We would like to begin construction this summer," Riat said. "We would have less impact on the students if we could get that work done in the summer months."
Andrew Rohrback / KANSAN
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