The University Daily
Andropov balks Soviet leader dismisses arms talks Inside, p. 2
KANSAN
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Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
WARMER
High, 47. Low, 23.
Details on p. 2.
Vol. 94, No. 85 (USPS 650-640)
Wednesday morning, January 25, 1984
Crossing near fatal wreck cited in study
Six intersections listed as dangerous are in Oread area
By JILL CASEY Staff Reporter
Two of the 10 intersections recently determined as Lawrence's most dangerous are within a block of the corner where a 23-year-old KU law student was killed Sunday in a car accident.
Christopher Nourot's car was struck at 10th and Kentucky streets by another vehicle traveling east on 10th. The driver's side door was broken, so he had to leave the vehicle. Police said he died immediately
Within a block of the accident are two of the intersections named in the private study - 11th and Kentucky streets, and 10th and Vermont streets.
THE TWO INTERSECTIONS ranked first and eighth on the list. Four other intersections named in the top ten are also in the Oread Neighborhood, where the accident occurred.
TrafTran Engineering, 2500 W. Sixth St., conducted the study, which was based on Lawrence Police Department accident reports from the last three years and data from other
The study, which shows the potential economic gains of improvements, was submitted last week for publication.
to the Lawrenceville city of the engineering firm, said yesterday that improvements to any intersection along Kentucky Street would "improve conditions on that particular corridor."
The engineering firm concluded that if the city made the improvements proposed by the study, accidents at any particular dangerous location could decrease as much as 80 percent.
See Traffic, p. 5, col. 4
City's 10 Most Dangerous Intersections
Money troubles plague students at Med Center
STATE REP, JESSE Branson, D- Lawrence, has been serving in the Legislature since the scholarship program's inception.
By DAVID SWAFFORD Staff Reporter
KANSAS CITY — Financial trouble is no stranger to students enrolled in the University of Kansas School of Medicine. They're thirsty for money.
But they are seeing their only source of state aid evaporate, and by 1986 that source will be almost dry.
"ITTS APPALLING THAT THE Legislature is using scholarships to lure students into family practice. Family practice pay is far less than other specializations," Wilmer said. "Also, there are so many needless students in the program that they are being sent to areas which are so parsimply populated that they cannot even make a living."
Bills would change driving penalties
See Doctor, p. 5, col. 1
will be unmissed.
"I haven't been on the scholarship program but I do know students who have been. Now they're really scraping for pennies," said Catherine Willner, Wichita sophomore in the School of Medicine and president of the Medical Students Assembly at the College of Health Sciences.
"We're making every effort to come up with additional sources of money," she said.
THE KANASS Legislature established the program in 1978 to pay tuition of first-year medical students who agreed to practice in underserved parts of Kansas, after graduation, for as long as they received the scholarships.
Because of fears of a surplus of physicians in the state, the Legislature is reducing the number of scholarships given to students entering the School of Medicine.
In fact, the only reason the program still exists is the shortage of physicians specializing in family practice, said A.J. Yarmat, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
Written out of a book size,
"I think it's awful that qualified students are not going to school because they don't have the money," she said. "Medical scholarships should not be used to cut class size."
"The facts speak for themselves," he said. "There has been a slow, steady increase in the amount of doctors practicing in the state. The Legislature has acted very realistically."
She said that because classes were so large at the Med Center, the scholarships caused competition among students destined for the same locale after graduation.
By ROB KARWATH Staff Reporter
Willner told of another side.
TOPEKA — Traffic violators may soon be counting points as well as fine dollars if the Kansas Highway Patrol and the Department of Revenue can sway the Legislature to revise procedures for suspending driver's licenses.
Under two proposals now before the Senate Transportation and Utilities Committee, Kansas would shift to a system of points to determine whether drivers' licenses should be revoked.
welfare department. Harley Duncan, secretary of revenue, yesterday told the committee that the state should adopt a point system dealing with both major
and minor offenses to make traffic laws uniform in Kansas.
"It will achieve a more consistent application of penalties." Duncan said.
Under present laws, judges give out many different penalties for the same offense, he said.
different penalties for the same offense, he said. Addressing one proposal, Kansas Highway Patrol officers and officials from the Department of Revenue told the legislators that the state should develop a uniform point system for suspending driver's licenses. The system would increase penalties for repeat offenders and drivers convicted of serious violations.
Under the state's current system, if a person is convicted of three moving violations in a 12-month period, the Division of Motor Vehicles can suspend the driver's license. If none of the offenses occur, the state can send the driver a driver's education program instead of revoking his license.
THE DIVISION OF Motor Vehicles in the Department of Revenue would manage the point
that Power is currently shared by the department and the state's courts. The plan would still require courts to fine violators.
system and would be given the sole authority to restrict suspend or revoke licenses.
IN SOME CASES the court can suspend, revoke or restrict a license, such as for vehicular
Soviet leader rejects request for arms talks
In his first response to Reagan's conciliatory address Jan. 16, Andropov seemed to quash hope that last week's five-hour meeting between Secretary of State George Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko would lead to progress.
"The American leadership, as all signs indicate, has not given up its intention to conduct talks with us from positions of strength, from positions of threats and pressure." Andropov said
sald. He cited the deployment of the first 572 intermediate-range U.S. missiles in NATO countries, the presence of U.S. Marines in Lebanon, American policy in Central America and October's U.S. led invasion of Grenada as barriers to a resumption of negotiations.
See License, p. 5, col. 1
MOSCOW — Soviet President Vuri Andropov yesterday rejected President Reagan's call for a resumption of arms talks and said that it was "hopeless" to expect a U.S.-Soviet thaw while new American missiles were in Europe.
The text left no doubt that the Kremlin would maintain its refusal to resume arms control negotiations. The Soviets broke off talks in Geneva late last year on both intermediate-range and strategic nuclear weapons
By United Press International
Andropov's remarks were carried by the official Tass news agency in an advance text of a question-and-answer interview which appeared in today's editions of Pravda, the Communist
ourselves to a power diplomacy in respect to us are a hopeless thing," he said. "We resolutely reject such an approach."
ANDROPOV, 69, HAS not been seen in public for 159 days and is believed to be recovering from one or a variety of ailments. He has maintained a presence, however, by policy statements in the form of letters, articles and speeches read by surrogates.
Andropov said that "only one thing" would be required for a resumption of talks.
In another response to Reagan, Tass called a report released in Washington, which charged the Soviets with arms treaty violations, an "odious smear blitz."
In his address Jan. 16, President Reagan attempted to improve the climate prior to the Shultz-Gromykov meeting. But Andropov asked that he explain that it did not contain a simple new idea."
By that, he said, "we will judge whether the United States has serious intentions to conduct a dialogue with us."
"Before it is too late the United States and NATO should display readiness to return to the situation that had existed before the commencement of the deployment of the Pershing-2 and cruise missiles," he said.
Andropov also seemed to complain about last weekend's first testing of the U.S. satellite-killer weapon, saying that "the problem of preventing an arms race in outer space should not be put
Tass said that the White House made the accusations to cover up treaty violations
By TODD NELSON
Scholarship-hall residents were unaware of PCB leak
Staff Reporter
Last year housing employees removed from a scholarship hall an electrical transformer that had leaked a toxic chemical near the dining area, the KU director of housing said yesterday.
Residents of the ball said they had not been aware of the problem at the time.
J. J. Wilson, the director of housing, said the transformer was removed from a basement utility room in Grace Pearson Scholarship Hall, and the light fixture was leaked and leaked poly-chlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.
PCBs, which are mixed with oil to insulate
transformers, can cause severe skin irritation and are suspected of causing cancer. The chemical's danger depends on its concentration.
Workers removed the transformer following an Environmental Protection Agency investigation for PCB contamination at the University of Kansas.
or Institute N JANUARY 1983, an EPA inspector discovered more than 60 facilities operations transformers at the University that violated federal toxic chemical guidelines.
At least 10 of the transformers were leaking PCBs at the time of the inspection.
PUBS at the time of the impairment
The EPA ordered a cleanup that cost the
See PCBs, p. 5, col.1
New contraceptive receives mixed reviews in Lawrence
By MARY SEXTON Staff Reporter
People wait for the miracle contraceptive — effective and with no side effects — but every time a promising product appears, disappointment seems to linger.
A new contractive device billed as safe, convenient and effective, is not turning out to be secure.
And some Lawrence physicians and pharmacists still are not convinced it's safe.
The "Today" vaginal contraceptive sponge, which was introduced in the Lawrence area in November, is not available at Watkins Hospital and only offered by physicians who have expressed much enthusiasm for the product.
"My impression so far is not particularly favorable," Raymond Schwegler, Watkins physician, said this week.
The few women he has seen who used the sponge had problems with it, he said.
According to the manufacturer, the contraceptive is about 90 percent effective if used consistently and according to instructions.
THE CONTRACEPTIVE — a 2-inch round, white, polyurethane foam sponge that contains a spermicide — has been tested and compared with the diaphragm in effectiveness. It is inserted into the vagina and covers the cervical opening, which prevents sperm from entering.
The information included with the product says that pregnancy should not occur if the sponge is in place. It also says the sponge may be inserted up to 24 hours before intercourse and must stay in place at least six hours after intercourse.
The instructions also say that the sponge is easily removed. But in several cases removal hasn't been easy.
See Sponge, p. 5, col. 1
Jim McCrossen/KANSAN
A felled utility pole doesn't have much use. Neither does the truck that last night slammed into the pole at the intersection of Ninth and Illinois streets, leaving several Lawrence residents and Gertrude S. Pearson and Corbin halls without light. See story on p. 9.
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