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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SECTION TWO
TUESDAY, JANUARY 11, 1994
Marc Greenberg, assistant professor of Slavic languages and literatures, recently returned from a six-month stay in Slovenia.
Jim Schultz, owner of Hunters. 91.9 Massachusetts St., is closing his doors after three years of owning the business. He said that one of the reasons the store was closing was increased competition from the two Lawrence outlet malls.
KU professor sees changes in Slovenia
Slovenia declared its independence from Yugoslavia on June 25, 1991, after a four-day military occupation by the Yugoslav People's Army. It has maintained peace since then, but two of its neighbors, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia, are involved in a civil war.
Marc Greenberg, assistant professor of Slavic languages and literature, has visited Slovenia several times over the past ten years. His wife, Marta, was born in Slovenia. This last trip was the first time he visited the country since it became an independent nation.
Changes in the language were not the only differences Greenberg had a chance to study during his trip abroad.
By Susan White Kansan staff writer
Greenberg's main purpose for the trip was to do research at the Slovene Academy of Arts and Sciences in Ljubljana for a book he is writing about Slavic dialects. He will use data collected from the academy's dialect archives to reconstruct the changes the Slovene language has undergone from the medieval period to the present.
Media images of civil war in the former Yugoslavia often dominate views of that region, but a KU professor saw a different perspective during a recent trip to Slovenia.
"Society is changing. Suddenly you have people with a lot of very extreme opinions coming out of the woodwork," he said. "They were suppressed before. You didn't have racism before. Views were not expressed in newspapers. Now it is quite acceptable."
"I didn't expect there would be so much of it," he said. "I knew it was there, but I didn't know that it was so vehement."
The civil war in the former Yugoslavia has had less of an effect on the country, he said. Slovenia has remained neutral throughout the war, but about 30,000 Bosnian refugees live in the country.
Instead of focusing on the war, the Slovenes have focused on building a democratic government and capitalist economy.
This has led to several changes during the transformation process, Greenberg said. People have become concerned with making money and spend more time working and less with their friends and family than they had in the past.
"It was surprising how busy people were. They had no time to relax and enjoy life anymore," he said. "It is hard to go from a society where everything basically was taken care of for you. Health insurance, disability benefits and pensions were all paid for. They were living really well."
The Slovenes now must make sure they can provide for the basic needs of their families because the government no longer takes care of everything, Greenberg said.
Merchants evaluate mall's sway
Opinions are mixed about Tanger's effect
Since last May, the Douglas County unit of Social and Rehabilitative Services has increased its staff levels but still faces budget cuts. Page 3.
By Cheryl Cadue
Kansan staff writer
Jim Schultz, owner of Hunters in downtown Lawrence,
began his going-out-of-business sale Sunday.
Hunters, 919 Massachusetts St., has sold clothes in Lawrence since 1984. But competition with area chain stores finally cut into Schultz's profits.
Heather Welborn, an employee for The Wallet Works in the Riverfront Plaza, said that she noticed more people buying higher priced items and that the store was busy through Christmas.
Caring costs
"There is not another downtown in the whole Midwest that hasn't been decimated by strip centers, shopping centers and the addition of good highways that enable people to drive to other towns," Schultz said. Schultz, who has owned Hunters for three years, said his profit shrank slightly from last year's Christmas because competing with new stores and the Tanger Factory Outlet Center, 1035 North Third St., has meant cutting prices and spending more money on advertising.
But Melissa Padilla, assistant manager for Bass Shoe Factory in the Riverfront Plaza, said the new mall might have hurt business in the old mall.
shoppers away from the downtown shopping areas.
The impact of the Lawrence Riverfront Plaza, 1 Riverfront Plaza, which opened in 1990, and Tanger, which opened in November 1993, had concerned downtown merchants when plans for the centers were announced. They worried the malls would draw business from downtown. In other cities across the nation, malls have drawn
"When the Riverfront opened, it hurt us for about a year," Schultz said. "When the newness of that mall wore off, we even started getting people from Topeka."
"I know a lot of people go downtown because of the unique shops, though I think parking might be a problem," Welborn said.
"According to the merchants I've talked with, a greater number of people are shopping downtown Lawrence," Moody said.
But Linda Lester, owner of The ETC Shop, 928 Massachusetts St., said that the Riverfront Plaza had not affected downtown Lawrence and that she did not expect Tanger to hurt downtown businesses. Lester said mall management and downtown businesses had developed a good relationship.
"It's a different type of person that shops at the mall than downtown Lawrence," Lester said. "Downtown Lawrence is unique, different and unusual, and people do come from out of town to shop."
Bob Moody, city commissioner, said the relationship between downtown merchants and the outlet stores had been very good so far.
"We had heavy traffic all month, but I think our percentage might have been higher if not for the Tanger Outlet," she said.
Officer training
John Gamble/KANSAN
Ron Anderson, Saline County Sheriff's Department, left, backs slowly toward two police cars while Michael Terry, McPherson Police Department, right, and other officers cover Anderson's car. Anderson was playing a felon during a simulation at the University of Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center south of Hutchinson. The officers were part of the 128th graduating class from the academy, which trains all police officers in Kansas. See story, Page 3.
The man in the driver's seat
KU graduate Robert Eaton described as a "nuts and bolts" guy, rolls up his sleeves and leads Chrysler through a new era in Detroit as Lee Iacocca's successor as chairman and chief executive
By Brian James Kansan staff writer
chiet executive officer.
In the spring of 1992, Chrysler Corp.'s board of directors took that advice one step further. In a surprise move, it hired Robert Eaton to replace the 68-year-old Iacocca, who was stepping down after 14 years as the head of the Big Three automaker
Throughout the 1980s, the cigar chomping, former Chrysler chairman Lie Iacocca told television viewers, "If you can find a better car, buy it."
Eaton, who graduated from the University of Kansas in 1963 with a mechanical engineering degree, took the wheel at Chrysler as chairman and chief executive officer in January 1993.
Many close to the auto industry say that Eaton has been a driving force in helping Chrysler — and Detroit, for that matter — rebound from a rocky past.
"Having the chance to lead Chrysler at this point in time has to be the best job in the whole auto industry, period," Paton said.
Iacocca repeatedly has asserted that Eaton was the right man for the job.
"in my book, Bob Eaton has everything it takes to continue the moment
tum we have started at Chrysler and to build an even stronger company for the future," Iacocca said in March 1992 at the press conference announcing Eaton's appointment.
But make no mistake about it: Chrysler was not searching for another Jacococe — a celebrity representative and chairman who appeared in advertising campaigns and became a household name.
Chrysler's board members wanted a "nuts-and-bolts guy," someone who could relate to the production and manufacturing end of the business. They wanted someone who could get under the hood and work.
They wanted Bob Eaton.
Eaton, 53, is not flamboyant. He's not Mr. Rock n' Roll, as one industry analyst noted.
And Eaton shies away from any thought of becoming a polished pitchman like the telegenic lacoca.
"I doubt I'd have the appeal" to emulate a camera on camera, Eaton said.
But Eaton is a giant in his own right. Recruited from General Motors Europe, where he was president, Eaton knows the car business. He considers his versatility and experience two of his greatest strengths.
"With the exception of finance and sales, I've been in essentially every part of the business," he said.
Car curiosity
Born in 1940 in Buena Vista, Colo., Eaton moved with his family at age 4 to Arkansas City, Kan., a small town of about 12,000 people near the Oklahoma border.
Eaton was tinkering with engines by the time he was 9 years old. As a junior high student in the early '50s, he dismantled a 1935 Ford, and in the course of three to four years he fixed or replaced every significant part.
"I learned a lot when I was your age." Eaton said during a speech in May at the Arkansas City High School Commencement. "But if I'd quit learning then, I probably wouldn't be able to change the oil filter on a car today."
Eaton's interests in engineering mechanics and problem-solving led him to the University, where he studied engineering, eventually earning a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering in 1963.
He remembers KU professors George Forman and Robert Holnitz as among his most influential mentors.
George Forman, professor emeritus of mechanical engineering, recalls Eaton as a strong "B" student.
"Bob was a good student, very likable, personable. He had a strong grasp of engineering." Forman said.
Robert Umholtz, associate professor of mechanical engineering, said that Eaton had earned A minuses in two engineering courses he had taught in 1961 and 1962.
Eaton said he had gained more from Umholt than solid grades.
"I had a particular problem in one of Umholtz's classes, and he restored my confidence in myself," Eaton said. "That was crucial."
Forman remembers that Eaton was a respected and talented individual.
a respected and talented individual.
"Bob had good judgment, not only with school, but with leadership decisions." Forman said.
Eaton served as vice president of the Engineering Student Council, as president of two professional groups
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See CHRYSLER, Page 9.