2A
The Inside Front
Wednesday April 1, 1998
News
from campus and the nation
Former Kansas basketball standout Terry Brown pleaded guilty to a battery charge.
On CAMPUS:
The vehicle tires of three graduate students and a University employee were found slashed Saturday.
Former Rep. Bella Abzug, an influential leader of the women's liberation movement, died yesterday at 77
A federal appeals court ruled that the National Archives must surrender about 820 hours of Nixon's White House tapes to the former president's estate.
women's liberation movement, died yesterday at 77.
Postmaster General Marvin Runyon unveiled the first electronic stamps Monday.
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that lie-detector evidence can be banned from trials.
Former basketball player gets probation for battery
Former Kansas basketball standout Terry Brown pleaded guilty to a battery charge yesterday in Douglas County District Court, said District Attorney Christine Tonkovich.
Tonkovich said that Brown was placed on probation for 12 months. She said if he violated his probation, he could be sentenced to six months in the Douglas County Jail.
Brown was placed on probation after agreeing to a plea bargain yesterday morning during his trial, Tonkovich said.
Brown, the former KU men's basketball record holder for career three-point field goals made, was arrested Jan. 1 on charges of battering his girlfriend.
Jonathan Jones, Brown's attorney, could not be reached for comment.
Tires slashed on four cars Saturday on West Campus
Three University of Kansas graduate students and a KU staff member left Nichols Hall shortly after midnight Saturday and found that tires on their vehicles had been slashed.
Sgt. Chris Keary of the KU Public Safety Office said that the tires were punctured with a knife.
"It's very likely that they were related," he said. "We will investigate them as if they were."
The vehicles were parked east of Nichols Hall, which is located on West Campus and is primarily a research building.
The staff member, who did not want to be identified, said that she first thought her tire was flat.
She said she filed a report with the police after a mechanic inspected her vehicle.
The damage to the tires was estimated at $435.
— Laura Roddy
Nixon tapes to be given from archives to estate
WASHINGTON — Score one for Richard Nixon.
In a legal battle that has been running almost since Watergate, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday that the National Archives must relinquish about 820 hours of Nixon's White House tapes to the former president's estate. The tapes have never been made public.
The three-judge panel's unanimous ruling covers all of Nixon's recorded musings on personal matters and is based on a Supreme Court decision from 1977.
"It is clear that the Nixon estate, alone, is entitled to full custody and control over tape recordings containing purely personal and private material," the judges wrote, upholding a district court ruling.
The National Archives has been fighting to hold on to the material by arguing that because private and historically significant matters are mixed together on the recordings, the fragile tapes could be destroyed if personal segments were snipped out to be sent to the Nixon Library and Birthplace. Historically important segments that are adjacent to personal matters could be lost, it said.
But the appeals court said archivists could edit personal material out of copies of the tapes without damaging adjacent portions. And the judges seemed unconcerned about the possibility that the original tapes, which already have deteriorated significantly, could be harmed further if private portions were deleted from them.
Women's political activist dies of surgery problems
NEW YORK — Former Rep. Bella Abzug,
whose New York brass and wide-brimmed
hats made her one of the most influential
and recognizable leaders of the women's
liberation movement in the 1970s, died yesterday at 77.
She died of complications from heart survery.
Along with activists such as Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan, Abzug was in the vanguard of the emerging feminist movement. One of the last of the old-style New York liberal Democrats, she was a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War and a bitter foe of President Nixon.
"Bella was an original," said former New York City Mayor Ed Koch. "The women of the world, not just the country, owe her a great debt. She stood up for them as nobody else. She was their champion."
With the slogan "This woman's place is in the House — the House of Representatives," Abzug beat Rep. Leonard Farbstein, a seven-term Democrat, in the 1970 primary in Manhattan's Upper West Side. She then defeated talk-show host Barry Farber in the general election and became the first Jewish woman in Congress.
Raising her raspy voice against the barriers she said kept women out of politics, Abzug helped pave the way for scores of women who followed her to Congress.
Stamps from computers the new future of postage
WASHINGTON — No more liking and sticking, just clicking, for some folks, Postmaster General Marvin Runyon proclaimed yesterday as he unveiled the first electronic stamps.
The e-stamps were approved for testing and, if all goes well, businesses and individuals will be able to print their own postage using personal computers and the Internet.
"The (postage) we unveil today represents the most significant new form of postage payment in three-quarters of a century." Runyon said.
luring ceremonies at the National Postal Museum.
He then wielded a computer mouse to create the first computer-generated stamp
The move toward electronic postage comes 78 years after approval of postage meters and 151 years after the United States issued its first postage stamps.
"This is the future," said Runyon. "Postage directly from a personal computer."
The system approved for testing was developed by E-Stamp Corp. of Palo Alto, Calif., but other companies are working on similar products, postal officials said.
Lie detector reliability questioned in court cases
The new stamp prints out on a regular computer printer as it puts the address on an envelope.
WASHINGTON — Lie-detector evidence can be banned from trials, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday, citing concern about its scientific soundness. But the justices left open the possibility that polygraph results might have to be allowed in some cases.
"There is simply no consensus that polygraph evidence is reliable," the court said, rejecting 8-1 a California airman's claim that he had a constitutional right to tell a court-martial jury that he passed a lie-detector test.
Some courts allow the use of lie-detector results in criminal trials, but most state and federal courts ban it. Yesterday's ruling allows each court to continue its own policy.
The ban on use of lie-detector results in military trials is a valid means of advancing the legitimate interest in barring unreliable evidence, said Justice Clarence Thomas for the court.
But four justices among the eight-member majority said a future case might present a more compelling argument that some defendants have the right to use favorable polygraph results.
GTAs to fight legislation in Kansas Senate
By Susie Gura
By Susie Gura
sgura@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
The battle of health care and employee status among graduate teaching assistants has sparked more support at the University of Kansas.
During the Senate Executive Committee meeting yesterday, members briefly discussed issues such as health care and employee status that concern GTAs.
A proposal in the Kansas Senate would eliminate the employer contribution for GTA health insurance unless GTAs to work 1,000 hours a year. It also would override the Public Employees Relations Board rule that recognized the GTA union.
Scott Sullivan, student body president, said a resolution against the proposal was being written.
"I'm sure that you are all aware of the situation of the hours and the overruling of the employee status," Sullivan said. "We are against the proposal and are working with the provost on the issue."
Sullivan said that Provost David Shulenburger had fought against the resolution during the Health Care Commission meetings.
"Either the provost or a member of his staff has been present at every meeting supporting the GTAs," Sullivan said.
Partha Mazumdar, Pittsburgh graduate student, said the resolution should not be decided by the Senate.
"One legislator deciding is a bad idea," Mazumdar said. "It should not be a public administration decision."
On March 23, eight GTAs and Provost Shulenburger attended a Senate subcommittee meeting in Topeka to discuss health care and the status of public employees.
Mark Horowitz, Graduate Teaching Assistant Coalition organizer, said Shulenburger argued on behalf of health care for GTAs but did not comment on GTAs as public employees.
"He said he was in no position to comment on the issue." Horowitz said.
Horowitz was one of the GTAs who attended the meeting.
"We were pleased that the provost was arguing on our behalf for health care, but were disappointed with the University for not commenting on our public employee status." Horowitz said.
A resolution asking the chancellor to make a statement in support of GTAs probably will be debated during Student Senate committee meetings tonight in the Kansas Union.
ET CETERA
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ON THE RECORD
- The glass window pane and interior door of a KU student's apartment were damaged between 7 p.m. March 24 and 8:30 a.m. Saturday in the 1000 block of Maine Street, Lawrence police said. The damage was estimated at $150.
A KU student suffered an aggravated battery between 9 p.m. Saturday and midnight Sunday in the 1100 block of Tennessee Street, Lawrence police said.
A KU student's mountain bike, color TV and CD/disco tapee were stolen between 9 p.m. Saturday night and midnight Sunday in the 1100 block of Tennessee Street, Lawrence police said.
A KU student was issued a notice to appear in court at 9:20 a.m. Monday for possession of drug paraphernalia in a Hashinger Hall room, the KU Public Safety Office said.
A KU student's bicycle and cable lock were taken between 11 a.m. March 21 and 5 p.m. Sunday from a bicycle rack outside of Templin Hall, the KU Public Safety Office said. The items were valued at $825.
A fire extinguisher was taken from the first-floor Hashinger Hall laundry room, the KU Public Safety Office said. The extinguisher was valued at $38.
■ A KU student's video game controller was taken from an Ellsworth Hall room between 7:30 p.m. March 20 and 8 p.m. Sunday, the KU Public Safety Office said. The controller was valued at $30.
A KU student's vehicle was damaged between 6:20 and 7:25 p.m. Monday in lot 8 on Sunny-side Avenue, the KU Public Safety Office said. The damage was estimated at $100.
and you tell us what else...
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The Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center
Auto Mechanics for Beginners
Wednesdays, April 8, 15, 02, 1998
7:00-9:00 p.m.
Byron's Autohaus, 648 N. 2nd Street
Byron Edmondson, Certified Mechanic
Signed by the Eugene Leaguer Higher Education Center, 115 Strontua Hall,
University of Kansas. For more information, contact Tangu Kao at 804-352-8434.
The registration fee for this workshop is just $15.08.
Registration and pre-payment are required. Call today.
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