University Daily Kansan, March 2, 1984
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CAMPUS AND AREA
Local officials go to sessions on city policy
By SHARON BODIN Staff Reporter
Two Lawrence city commissioners and Assistant City Manager Mike Wildger will travel to Washington, D.C., this weekend to represent Lawrence in the National League of Cities conference.
The conference, which runs tomorrow through Tuesday, is a series of seminars on city government policy, and on the problems city officials must deal with.
Wildgen, who has attended the conference several times, said the three officials would attend seminars about the federal deficit for fiscal year 1985, antitrust liability and natural gas regulation.
THE DEFICIT seminar will focus on the potential effect that plans to reduce the federal deficit would have on cities. It will also cover how urban programs will be treated in President Reagan's fiscal 1985 budget.
The antitrust seminar will deal with a 1982 Supreme Court ruler that makes cities liable for violations of federal antitrust laws. Many cities have been sued recently by people challenging municipal regulation of cable television, licensing and contract practices, legal regulation and waste disposal plans.
The seminar will tell city representatives of pending legislation in Congress that would limit the liability of cities under antitrust laws.
The natural gas regulation seminar will cover efforts to change federal controls over natural gas prices. Last year, Congress could not resolve differences over the controls. Congress probably address the issue again this year.
COMMISSIONER ERNEST ANGINO said yesterday that he planned to attend a seminar on methods of financing projects to update the infra- networks. He also scheduled to cover ways of financing water purification and treatment.
Mayor David Longhurst, City Manager Buford Watson and Duane Schwada of Town Center Venture Corp., the city's developer of record, are in Washington for a conference on downtown development.
Pinkeye outbreak plagues students
By the Kansan Staff
"It was painful, but more irritating," the Deerfield, III, senior said yesterday. "Wednesday it happened to the other eye. I wore sunglasses and skipped classes two days because it hurt so much."
Sunday night, Karen Nelson went to sleep with a feeling that something was scratching her left eye. She shook her woke with her eye swollen shut.
Many students at the University of Kansas, especially those living in fraternities and sororities, have a great deal of experience commonly referred to as pinkeye.
THE NAME OF the virus is conjunctivitis. Cases reported on campus and in Lawrence have not been acute.
"It seems to be very contagious," said Raymond Schwegler, chief of staff at Watkins Hospital. "People spread it by rubbing their eyes and then coming into contact with others, such as by shaking hands.
I've heard of several cases on campus."
Schwegler said that the source of the virus was unknown. Watkins physicians are treating the virus with an antibiotic, he said, and students with an infection should stop by the hospital.
Rensselaer McClure, a physician at Watkins Hospital, said, "I've been seeing quite a few cases. We all have been seeing quite a few."
He said that in most cases the patient got it in one eye and later in the other eye.
Club's carnival brings a bit of Rio to Lawrence
By PHIL ENGLISH Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
Some KU students will miss the biggest celebration of the year, the four-day Brazilian Carnival, in their home country next week.
But a student organization, the Brazil-Portugal Club, hopes to recreate the spirit of the original carnival in Lawrence Saturday with samba music, dance and unusual masks and costumes.
The club will sponsor the sixth annual Brazilian festival tomorrow at the Lawrence Opera House, 624 Massachusetts St.
John Vincent, professor of Spanish and Portuguese and faculty adviser for the festival, said the carnival was held at the Mardi Gras festival for Brazilians.
"On the KU campus, there are about 20 Brazilian students," Vincent said. "At the festival last year there were over 300 people from all over the state."
The festival has earned the reputation as the wildest party in Lawrence,
"The carnival is a part of a large scale party." Vincent said. "The whole country is expected to play music, dress and sink in costumes for a week.
The interest in the festival has increased within the past six years, he said, because of a growing cultural interest in the celebration by Latin American students as well as KU Spanish majors.
"The idea for the festival, as well as the word carnival, comes from an ancient Roman tradition of celebration before fasting." Vincent said. "The word carnival is taken from what the word carnival was taken, translates to 'remove the flesh.'"
Geraldo Sousa, Brazilian graduate student, said the festival was once celebrated for religious reasons but reasons in an excuse to have widespread parties.
"The festival is one of the greatest tourist attractions for the country," Sousa said.
TOPEKA — After heated debate on the merits of minimum competency testing, the Senate yesterday approved a bill that would require students in grades two, four, six, eight and 10 to take the tests over the next five years.
Senate OKs competency-test bill
The measure passed on a 24-14 tally, with State Sen. Tom Rehom, D-Kansas City, leading the charge against it. Rehom urged the Senate to adopt an amendment that would have required local school boards to give achievement tests rather than minimum competency tests each year.
By United Press International
"IF 100 PERCENT of the students get 100 percent on this test, you haven't got much." Rehorn said. "We could use our money in a better way."
asked on minimum competency tests, Rehorn said the test standards were so low that they did not push students toward excellence.
Citing examples of questions that are
State Sen. Fred Kerr, R-Pratt, urged that the bill be passed.
"This is an important vote," Kerr said. "Competency-based testing was recommended by education groups, the governor and the interim committee (on education), and is something we should take seriously."
State Sen. Charlie Angell, R-Plains, also argued against the bill, saying that
it encouraged schools to focus their studies primarily on the subjects in the test. Students who prepare for the test are more likely to learn than minimally competent, he said.
The bill would require that the tests be given each year for the next five years. The Legislature would review it now, and it would see two years to see if changes were needed.
Debate also centered on whether the final test should be given in the 10th or 11th grade. The bill, in its original form, required that the final test be given in
State Sen. Nancy Parrish, D-Tokpa,
successfully amended the bill to move
the ban on private schools.
KU police captain resigns, goes west
By JILL CASEY Staff Reporter
The former captain of the KU Police Department doled out some personal belongings, including a few plants, to his former co-workers yesterday morning and then went home to gather his family's belongings for their 1.500-mile trek to the West.
COURTNEY SAID yesterday that he had regrets about leaving Lawrence, but that he was looking forward to returning to the state where he was
John C. Courtney, who has been captain of the department since 1982, will begin his new job Monday as assistant chief of police in La Grande, Oregon.
Courtney will be employed by La Grande's local police department,
"We're very sorry to see him go," said Jamie Dunney, director of the KUPU.
During that time, Courtney reclassified the jobs within the department and set up new hiring procedures.
BECAUSE OF THE new classification system, Denney said, division
commanders in the department are given more responsibility and control.
The wheels are already in motion to replace them for Courtney. Demore was ready.
Three people have formally applied for the position, he said, but more have verbally expressed their interest. The deadline for applications is 5 p.m.
A committee made up of Denney, Jeff Polack, chairman of Student Senate's student rights committee and another member has been selected to interview the applicants.
Bill would let Carlin appoint board
By United Press International
TOPEKA — Members of the state Board of Education would be appointed by the governor instead of being elected by the public under a constitutional amendment given tentative approval by the House yesterday.
Seventy-four House members, led by Speaker Mike Hayden, R-Atwood, sponsored the resolution, which needs 84 votes to pass on final approval today. If the resolution is then approved by the House, it will be the final decision at the November election.
Rep. Gary Blumenthal, D-Merriam,
supported the proposed amendment,
saying the elected board has not
worked effectively.
House Minority Leader Marvin Barkis, D-Louisburg, a co-sponsor of the bill, said 99 percent of the people who voted for Board of Education members that they were voting for, but only voted for the person who lived closest to them.
"I think that those who have looked to the state Board of Education have not seen that group provide the consistent leadership that is needed," he said.
Rep. Bill Brady, D-Parsons, disputed statements that an appointed board would disenfranchise voters. Brady said the public would have the chance to vote on whether it wanted an appointed board.
An opponent of the resolution, Rep. Denise Apt. I.R., said she was airlied by Gov. John Kasich after the vote.
much power in the governor's office because his appointees then would appoint the state education commissioner.
"The state Board of Education as an elective body is only 16 years old," she said of complaints that the board was ineffective. "It is still evolving."
Currently, the 10 members of the board are elected from 10 districts.
If the resolution became law, the board would be comprised of nine members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. Four appointments would be made in January 1985, when five governors resigned in 1982 would be forced to terminate their position two years early.