The University Daily
Bill contains stricter penalties
Inside, p. 7
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Drivers beware
KANSAN
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Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
Vol. 94, No. 90 (USPS 650-640)
WARM
High, 62. Low, 30.
Details on p. 2.
Wednesday morning, February 1, 1984
Includes no large spending cuts
Reagan to present '85 budget
By United Press International
WASHINGTON — According to documents released by congressional sources yesterday, President Reagan will propose a $262 billion election-year budget for fiscal 1985 that seeks no large spending cuts or tax increases but raises military spending. The documents also said that a projected $180 billion deficit will accompany the budget.
The budget, which the president will send to Congress today, sees a 13 percent "real" inflation-adjusted increase for military spending, $5 billion in social welfare spending cuts and millions of new jobs, according to the leaked documents.
one the $7.8 billion in new taxes next year, $3.9 billion would be provided by requiring employees to pay Social Security and income taxes on employee-paid health insurance pre-tax and $4 billion would come from closing tax loopholes.
The proposed budget projects a deficit of $177 billion in 1868 and $180 billion in 1867, congressional sources said. Fiscal 1955 begins Oct. 1.
THE LARGE, CONTINUING deficit may be an election-year issue for critics of Reagan. Reagan vowed in his 1980 presidential campaign that he would try to balance the budget by 1984. Taking advantage of another may have been less likely.
Taking advantage of another major,
election-year issue — education — the
country is facing.
from money deposited in special accounts, used to pay future higher education expenses of dependent children be excluded from federal income taxes.
Taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes under $40,000 would be allowed to deposit up to $1,000 a year in these accounts tax-free and those with incomes between $40,000 and $60,000 would be eligible for a partial tax
Federal student aid based on need would fall by about $325 million, but certain programs, such as college work study, would be increased as part of the administration's emphasis on self-help.
Rep. Jim Jones, D-Dokla, chairman of the House Budget Committee, said there were "no surprises" in the Reagan budget proposal. "It's sort of an update of the '84 budget," he said after a Capitol Hill briefing.
SENATE REPUBLICAN leader Howard Baker was briefed along with other Republican leaders on the budget early in the day by administration officials. He called the deficit figures "scary," but said it was "a good bid."
SENATE DEMOCRATIC leader Robert Byrd called the proposal "another spend and borrow budget," saying it would be at the same time as Medicare cuts.
The plan proposes $305 billion for the military, which includes the right to
enter into long-term contracts and spend money over several years. This is an increase of $47.4 billion from this year, because the increase, after accounting for inflation
The budget, they said, proposes $2 billion in spending cuts in social welfare programs. The cuts are a huge investment to be made in each of his past three budgets.
In addition, Reagan will seek another $8 billion for development and production of nuclear weapons, congressional budget, compared to last year's $6.4 billion.
THE LARGEST OF THE cuts — totaling 8.2 billion — are in Medicaid, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, subsidized housing, energy assistance, food stamps, school lunch and child nutrition programs. Supplemental Security Income and other low-income programs
No cuts are proposed in the basic Social Security program.
Another $1 billion would be cut from the Medicare program — only half of the amount Reagan initially suggested and $1.2 billion would be cut by delaying and limiting cost-of-living increases and federal retirees, Capitol Hill sources said.
The spending cuts actually would be restraints on the growth of spending, holding it back from levels it otherwise would attain through inflation.
See BUDGET, p. 5, col. 1
Reagan's proposed budget
Taxes
Jobs
Social Programs
Reagan's proposal will include $7.9 billion in tax changes and loophole closings for fiscal 1985, including a new levy on people whose companies provide generous health insurance plans. It also allows for tuition tax credits for parents who send their children to private schools.
Reagan will make a strong budget plea to Congress to enact a $2.50 an hour youth subminimum wage, saying the regular $3.35 an hour minimum wage is a barrier to them getting summer jobs. The budget projected average unemployment of 7.8 percent in 1984.
The president will ask Congress for a record $318.1 billion for health and welfare programs and will renew past proposals for Medicare and Medicaid patients to pay more of their medical bills. The proposal reflects a $21.9 billion increase in spending over last year.
Education
President Reagan will recommend that the Education Department receive $15.5 billion for fiscal 1985, about 1 percent more than this year. About 48 percent of the request is for elementary and secondary schools and 42 percent for assistance to college students.
Space
The president will propose a $7.37 billion fiscal 1985 budget for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration — up $302 million over this fiscal year — to begin a space station, resume the Mars exploration program and complete the final space shuttle, Atlantas.
Nutrition
Reagan will propose a reduction in spending for federal nutrition programs by 3 percent to $17.2 billion, with part of the cut coming from an expected reduction in unemployment that could reduce food stamp rolls and another from increased aid from states.
Justice
Reagan will propose a record $3.7 billion for the Justice Department, with key increases to help share more illegal drugs, drug dealers.
KUMC walkway is called useless by students, staff Construction funds ran out before bridge finished as designed
By DAVID SWAFFORD Staff Reporter
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The 130-foot steel expansion bridge that stretches over 39th Street at the University of Kansas Medical Center apparently is the path not taken.
Ridicuie is often heard. And some students and staff members are calling the $300,000 structure
"I've never used it. I've never seen anyone use it," said Sonja Brown, Meriden junior in the School of Nursing. "I think it's stupid. It's easier walking across the street."
The enclosed bridge was built last summer as part of the $5 million Archie I. Dykes Library
Originally, the bridge was supposed to connect the library, on the north side of 39th Street, with the rest of the Med Center on the south side of the street.
BUT BECAUSE OF construction delays and inflation, the University ran out of appropriated funds.
As a result, construction ceased. To walk across the bridge now, one must walk to the sidewalk beside 39th Street, enter the glass enclosed structure, walk up four flights of stairs, pause, walk down four flights of stairs and exit back outside on the opposite sidewalk.
See BRIDGE, p. 5, col. 2
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – The $360,000 expansion bridge that hovers above 39th Street at the University of Kansas Medical
Center doesn't get much use. These medical students walking under the bridge yesterday said that they never used it.
KU building needs repairs to stop fumes
By STEPHANIE HEARN
Staff Reporter
But KU officials said the new system for eliminating toxic toxins emitted by art materials has made the process easier.
An architect has begun designing a new exhaust system to alleviate problems created by hazardous fumes in the KU Art and Design Building.
"I have no idea when the exhaust system will be installed," said James Canole, associate director.
A recent report conducted by two KU employees detected serious ventilation problems in the building's silk-screening and spray-painting rooms.
Joe Waters, of KU architectural services, is working on a design for an exhaust system that would send polluted air out of the silk-screening room instead of allowing the toxic fumes to escape.
A committee studying the problem met Friday but has not yet decided how to remedy the ventilation problems in the spray painting room or in other areas of the building, he said.
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS has access to $30,000 that the Board of Regents had authorized for work on the building at a Regents meeting last October. Canole said
If the money needed for repairs exceeds that amount, he said, KU officials will submit a request to the department.
since the building opened in 1977, fumes have lingered in classrooms, causing complaints of bad air.
Waters said that one reason faculty and students had been bothered by fumes was because rooms in the building were being used differently, or they were way they were designed to be used.
Jerry Moore, associate dean of fine arts, will meet next week with fine arts faculty members to determine how the rooms need to be changed to accommodate the instructors.
After assessing what materials will be used in rooms and what kind of ventilation is required to use these materials safely. Moore said he would give the information to Canole.
Raymond Schweigler, chief of staff at Watkins Memorial Hospital, said that over the last six years, students had come to the hospital for acute poisoning and irritations because of exposure to toxic fumes.
PHIL BLACKHURST, art department chairman, said a few repairs to correct design problems in the ventilation system had been made when the University's budget allowed
In 1880, Eileen Murphy, associate professor of design, suffered from a rash when vapors from laquer thinner drifted down a hallway and into her office.
Richard Varney, who teaches in the windowless spray painting room, has told his students that he can make paintings with water.
To convince the students, Varney blew his nose during a spray-painting session. When students saw all the colors on the tissue, they believed him.
According to the Center for Occupational Hazards in New York, continued exposure to many art materials can result in chemical pneumonia, asthma, skin problems, liver and kidney damage, and mercury and lead poisoning.
Car chase in county slowed by lack of road identification
By JILL CASEY Staff Reporter
Eventually the driver weaved his way into Lawrence during the evening rush hour, and the officers stopped chasing him. Members of the Kansas Highway Patrol later apprehended the 17-year-old driver in Lawrence after he had bailed out of the car.
For nearly 20 minutes Monday, law-enforcement officers were involved in an automobile chase that reached speeds of 85 mph over a maze of gravel county roads.
THE DANGEROUS pursuit may have ended sooner if the officers had been able to communicate their locations on the rural roads. Sergeant Don Dahlquijot said yesterday
In the car, the driver had been carrying a 12-gauge shotgun. No shots were fired.
"There was confusion about where they were at as they were going along those streets."
Law enforcement officers aren't the only ones who have had problems dealing with the problem.
In the past, ambulance and fire emergency vehicles have often been slow in reaching their destinations in rural parts of Douglas County Commissioner Nancy Hebert said.
County road signs are few and far between, she said, which has hindered drivers who are used to driving in the city.
The new system will number township roads according to their distance from the south and east Douglas County lines. For example, a township road with the number 1500 will be west county line. A road with the number 1550M is 15.5 miles north of the south county line.
The Douglas County Commission recently approved a grid system for classifying the
"But we had to make the decision on the bottom line of the emergency needs that could be made."
Some people who live in the rural areas of the county are opposed to the number system,
DURING AN EMERGENCY, callers could provide their location with a grid description.
Although no one was hurt during Monday's chase, Liebert said, "there have been really bad accidents and emergency vehicles can belo more if more time is saved."
AT ONE POINT during the high-speed chase, five squad cars were involved. The incident began after Lawrence police responded to a domestic disturbance in the 600 block of Woodside Avenue, where parents had called to report that their son had left home with the car and shotgun.
Templin mail-holding policy illegal
Bv TODD NELSON
Staff Reporter
Templin Hall violated federal postal service regulations when it refused to give mail to residents who had failed to pay fines imposed by a U.S. postal service spokesman said yesterday.
Hershel Ferguson, acting superintendent of postal operations in Lawrence, said that Templin's policy of withholding mail from residents violated postal rules because the mail
became the addressee's property when it was delivered.
Ferguson said he knew of only two residents who had their mail withheld. But Templin officials said mail had been withheld several times in the last two years.
THE PROBLEM HAS been cleared up, Ferguson said, and the hall will no longer withhold mail. He did not say whether further action would be taken.
Fred McElhenie, director of residential programs, said that although the office of McElhenie is not responsible for the data.
residence halls use in collecting fines, he had not approved the mail-withholding policy.
McElhennie said that he first heard of the policy after it had been changed.
Bill Watkins, Templin Hall assistant resident director, said that for the last two years the hall's policy had been to withhold residents' mail when they refused to pay lines or when they refused to discuss the problem.
Mike Osterburk, who became director of Templin last semester, said that he was
See MAILHOLD, p. 5, col. 2
Candidates criticize Reagan foreign policy
By United Press International
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Seven of the Democratic presidential contenders last night repeatedly attacked President Reagan's handling of foreign affairs, particularly in Central America and the Middle East, in a debate at Harvard University.
Sen. John Glenn urged the Reagan administration to scrap its hardline approach to Nicaragua and open negotiations with the Sandinistas.
Former Vice President Walter Mondale criticized in general the administration's use of the military, saying "the principle has to be that
As the candidates debated, the House Democratic leadership, intensifying pressure on President Reagan, last night proposed a resolution calling for the "prompt and orderly" withdrawal of the 1,500 U.S. servicemen in Lebanon.
force is used as a last resort and not as a first resort."
THE RESOLUTION, which was to be submitted to the House Democratic caucus today, sets no deadline, but House Speaker Thomas O'Neill, D-Mass., said the language means withdrawal should be "immediate or right away."
It also says that within 30 days after passage of the non-binding resolution the president should explain to Congress how the withdrawal of the
U. S. members of the multinational peacekeeping forces are accomplished or why it is important to O'Neal's O'Neal
O'Neill indicated the Democratic caucus may not take a final position on the legislation today, and said any legislation would not come to the Senate. O'Neill said Feb. 21 from the Washington's birthday祭.
HOUSE DEMOCRATS are scheduled to meet Wednesday to discuss a resolution telling Reagan to come up with a plan within 30 days for the withdrawal of the Marines, who suffered their 259th casualty Monday since being ordered to peacekeeping duty in September 1982.
In the debate, Glenn complained that "we see
See DEBATE, p. 5, col. 5