University Daily Kansan, November 22, 1983
Page
NEWS BRIEFS From Area Staff and Wire Reports
:
Missouri seeks legal action against designers of Hyatt
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The state of Missouri has taken initial steps to discipline people involved in the design or construction of the Hyatt Regency hotel, where 114 people died when a catwalk collapsed in July 1981, the Kansas City Times reported yesterday.
The Times said that the state Board for Architects, Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors met Sunday in St. Louis and formally asked the Missouri attorney general to begin legal action to suspend or reconsider the fees of several architects and engineers involved in building the hotel.
Assistant Attorney General Paul Spinden refused to name the individuals because of pending legal action. He said that the board had reviewed the findings of an inquiry that had been under way for more than two years.
The National Bureau of Standards also investigated the disaster, which injured about 200 people reported that the walkways in the location were unstable.
Student pleads not guilty to charge
A KU student pleaded not guilty Thursday in Douglas County District Court to a charge of aggravated assault and aggravated battery in an attempt to kill his mother.
William Bemis, Hays senior, will be tried on those charges at 9 a.m.
Jan. 9 in Douglas County District Court.
The complaint, which was filed Nov. 9, alleges that Bemis struck Wilkerson with a stick.
Man injured in hit-and-run accident
A 26-year-old Lawrence man suffered minor injuries last night when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver near 12th and Mississippi streets, police said.
Douglas J. Degn, 26, 2020$^2$; W. 27th St., suffered cuts and bruises to his lower right leg in the accident. He was transported by Lawrence County Ambulance to Lawrence Memorial Hospital, where he was treated and released.
Degus was unable to get out of the way, police said, and, as the car struck him, he used his hand to try to jump over the front end of the car.
Police said Degn was standing beside his car when he saw a car that was heading north on Mississippi Street veer to the right toward him.
The car struck Degr in the leg, police said, throwing him onto the hood and over the top of the car. Police described the car as a red compact, and red paint from the car was found on Degr's pants.
Five groups chosen for Encore show
Five groups of fraternity and sorority members were chosen last night to present shows based on the theme "Beyond the 20th Century" during the second annual Encore production sponsored by the Board of Class Officers
Encore will be Feb. 23-25 in Hoch Auditorium
Fifty percent of the show's proceeds will be donated to the Lawrence United Fund, 40 percent will go to participating groups to defray expenses and the remaining 10 percent will be used to pay operating expenses.
Groups selected to participate in the show were: Beta Theta Pi and Alpha Delta Pi; Phi Gamma Delta and Kappa Alpha Theta; Delta Upsilon and Chi Omega; Kappa Sigma and Delta Delta Delta; and Sigma Nu and Alpha Chi Omega.
ON THE RECORD
WOMEN IN TWO rooms in Ellsworth Residence Hall reported to KU police that a man entered their rooms early Saturday morning. Two women in one of the rooms said that the man fled when they awoke and saw him in their room. A woman in another room said that a man entered her room about 2:45 a.m. Saturday and fled when she recognized him. Police have a suspect in the case.
IN ANOTHER INCIDENT at Ellsworth, a woman reported that sometime between 12:45 and 1:45 a.m. Wednesday a man entered the women's bathroom while she was showering. Another woman had been in the room for about midnight. Police do not know whether the same person was involved.
AN EIGHT-POUND turkey and $75 in cash were stolen sometime between 2:30 and 6:30 a.m. from an apartment in the 1600 block of Haskell Avenue, police said. Entry was made by removing a screen, breaking a window and crawling through the window. Police have no suspects.
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Benefits to faculty from retirement plan are cited
By PAUL SEVART Staff Reporter
A Board of Regents plan for phased retirement would benefit both Regents schools and faculty members, the chairman of the Regents committee that worked on the proposal said yesterday.
The Regents last week approved a legislative proposal that would allow its schools to offer incentives to unclassified employees between ages 60 and 65 who wanted to work between half-time and quarter-time.
Richard Mann, the committee chairman and director of information systems at the University of Kansas, said the proposed legislation would require health insurance to be a time health-insurance and retirement benefits for such a faculty member.
“This is a very modest step,” Mann said, “to simply see if there is something we can do to give faculty members incentives. It's one that we think has advantages to both the faculty member and to the University.”
UNDER PRESENT LAW, Mann
sition to the employee's retirement
tribute to the employee's retirement
and health-insurance plans for an employee who is working less than
The plan would help faculty members by allowing them to keep a connection with the University while not losing benefit. The plan should not cost the state any more money.
And, for instance, if a faculty member was reduced from full-time to half-time, the other half of the allocations are allocated for each unclassified salaries.
"The opportunity to give the faculty member flexibility is there, and it gives the University some flexibility." Mann said.
NO PRESSURE COULD be exerted by a faculty member to enter the phase of gasification.
said, because it would require the two agreement of the University and the faculty member. Therefore, the plan would be made only when it would benefit both parties.
take the phased-retirement option, Carothers said, is difficult to guess because faculty members' motivations would vary.
'The Regents' proposed legislation also would allow unclassified employees to retire at 60, instead of the present age. It provides compensation for accumulated sick leave.
James Carothers, president of the University Senate Executive Committee, said he favored the proposed changes.
"IT WOULD LET the individual maintain a University connection and not have to suffer a loss in benefits at point of full retirement." Carrothers said.
The proportion of faculty who will
"At that stage in your career, you have a wide variation of difference." Carothers said. "Some don't want to give up a minute of full engagement in the profession. Others want to take full retirement as soon as they are financially secure." He content to teach in order to maintain access to research facilities."
Also, Carothers said, many don't know enough about the plan to decide. One suggestion has been made to appoint a faculty member on each of the seven Regents campuses to advise the employees about their options.
Mann said that employees between ages 65 and 70 would not be eligible for the incentives, although they might receive some benefits from some capacity. The Regents committee wrote the proposal that way because *i*<sup>-1</sup> faculty *t*'d retire at age 65
City Commission discusses lower gas rates for KU
BY JOHN HOOGESTEGER
Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
The Lawrence City Commission yesterday began discussions on the possibility of giving the University of California a boost to keep the school from switching to fuel oil.
In a study session with representatives from Kansas Public Service Co., and from an arbitrating company, the commissioners debated the benefits of using KU a break because it is the biggest consumer of natural gas in the city.
EARLIER THIS MONTH, KPS requested a 4.5 percent rate increase for natural gas. KPS, which serves only Lawrence, works under a franchise with the city and rate increases must be approved by the City Commission.
KPS is not regulated by the Kansas Corporation Commission, the state utility regulator that recently reported that the price of natural gas in Kansas increased by 9 cents from August to September, but the average cost in the state was 34 percent below the national average.
Normally the city and KPS agree to take the request to arbitration, however this time the city decided to first conduct the study session.
Most of the commissioners' concerns centered on information the commission received from Tom Anderson, director of Facilities Operations, saying that KU would switch to fuel oil if prices went any higher.
KU USES ABOUT 10 percent of the natural gas in the city. Last year, KU switched to fuel oil for 58 days. KPS lowered rates for all interruptable
customers to encourage KU to return to natural gas.
Interruptable customers are non-residential customers who can be cut off when the gas company is short on gas. The interrupted customers are价钱 before their gas is shut off so they can switch to alternative fuel sources.
Now, however, with escalating natural gas prices and low fuel oil rates, KU and other interruptible consumers are switching to fuel voluntarily.
Lou Drees, of Drees, Dunn, Lubow and Co., told the commission that the phenomenon was fairly recent and would have to be considered when establishing new gas rates. Drees's report was attributed for Lawrence and KPS since 1978.
DREES SAID THAT natural gas
would be cheaper to burn when
when fuel oil prices were lowering.
rapidly. Only in the last two years have fuel oil prices dropped, creating the problem with interruptable customers.
Drees said that the ideal solution would be to set a rate that would be 1 cent below fuel oil, and also to establish a fee for fuel oil, as as a customer would not be profitable.
Under the franchise agreement, KPS is allowed to make a 13 percent return on equity. Last year, the company paid $50 million to get KU to start using natural gas again.
Commissioner Ernest Angino said that much of the problem was caused by the glut of fuel on the market and that the rate relief would have to be equal enough to keep KU on natural gas after a "pass-through" increase.
Pass-through increases are price increases from the gas company's
Police watch tapes of goal posts' fall, analyze crowd control
By MICHAEL PAUL
Staff Reporter
"I must have spent 45 minutes on the show, first 52 seconds," Denner said.
Despite efforts by police to deter them, football fans tore down the north goal post in 52 seconds Saturday. They must have been fast learners — they would have lost the goal post in to seconds, James Denney, director of KU police, said yesterday.
Police officers looked at tapes yesterday of Saturday's game between Kansas and Missouri to analyze what had happened at the game and to determine when the police lost control of the crowd, he said.
"I am a strong opponent of using force to protect goal posts," he said.
BUT HE REACHED no conclusions after looking at the tapes, he said, and will continue to look for other ways to help kids play after games and protect goal posts.
Scattered skirmishes broke out after the game when officers attempted to control the crowd rushing onto the field. The players, billy clubs and Mace with rcdy fans.
Denney said that he would meet with athletic department officials today to
"There's got to be a better way," he said.
discuss what had happened after Saturday's game.
Denney said the tapes showed that 1,500 to 2,000 people began to gather along the sidelines with 44 seconds left in the game. Extra workers had lined up at the side. Denney said, and officers thought that people would not go through them.
"It worked in the Kansas State Democrat. "Only about 25 or 30 people attended."
But it did not work at Saturday's game.
THE TAPES SHOWED that the
Denney said that the officers were under orders not to injure anyone while trying to prevent the goal posts from coming down.
officers tried to keep control for about 30 seconds after the fans ran onto the field toward the north goal post, Denney said. But after that, the officers no longer tried to stop the fans from tearing down the posts.
Denney said that when the six officers saw the fans begin to run toward the south posts and saw that the posts could not possibly be defended, they followed orders not to try to stop the crowd.
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