University Daily Kansan, March 24, 1983
Page 11
Blind oppose plan to bar dogs from zoos
By DIANE LUBER
Staff Reporter
TOPEKA - A dog may be more than a man's best friend, especially when the dog serves as the man's eyes.
"To use a dog guide is an investment in a relationship," Charles Hallenbeck, KU professor of psychology, told the New York State Affairs Committee yesterday.
Hallenbeck, who is a member of the National Federation of the Blind of Kansas, testified against a bill that would allow zoos, under certain conditions, to deny access to guide dogs accompanying blind people.
Hallenbeck the use of a guide dog was sometimes necessary. But he sometimes uses his guide dog when it is not under your control, and you maintain his relationship with the dog.
IF A ZOOM WOULD provide a free kennel for guide dogs and a free guide for blind people, the bill, already passed in July, would allow zoo to deny access to the guide dog.
But the use of a guide dog in some situations is unnecessary and may even be dangerous.
prohibiting a guide dog from amusement parks or escalators, he said, but he would never take his guide dog "King" into either of those situations.
The bill's proponents, including State Rep. Sandy Duncan, R-Wichita, and members of the Kansas Association of Zoos, said they were concerned about guide dogs being in areas where visitors are allowed to wander among animals.
"Our concern is as much for the dog as it is for the zoo animal," said Ron Blakely, director of the Sedgwick County Zoo.
MYSTERIOUS DISEASES could be transmitted to the guide dog from the zoo animals, he said. And the behavior of both the guide dogs and the zoo animals is unpredictable when they are exposed to the presence of their natural enemies.
State Senator Norma Daniels, D-
Valley Center, asked Hallenbeck
between he, wife visiting a zoo, would
be visiting his dog in a kennel
provided by the zoo.
"I would rather rent a motel room and leave him in a motel nearby," he
Richard Edlund, another member of
the Federation, said blind people could decide when using their guide dogs was inappropriate.
"We ought to rely on people's common sense." he said.
The bill represents one more restriction on blind people, he said.
"It's a bite here and a bite there and
pretty soon, you don't have any rights
with me."
EDLUND OPPOSED THE zoo bill, as well as an amendment that would have specifically listed grocery stores and eating establishments in the town. Dum doom would be permitted.
"We feel that if legislation is to be passed which states specifically where dog guides cannot go, that same legislation should also make it even more clear where they can go." Byington said.
Michael Byington, a jobbist for the Kansas Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, had requested the amendment.
Even though current law states that guide dogs are admissible anywhere that the public is invited, he said, his organization has documentation of which people have been denied access to grocery stores and restaurants.
EMPLOYEES OF THOSE businesses, especially young employees, do not always understand the definition of public accommodations, he said.
Many blind people carry cards with the state's "white cane laws" printed on them, Byington said. If grocery stores and restaurants are specifically listed, those problems of access could be easily dealt with.
Eduland said that specifying grocery stores and eating establishments in the law was unnecessary and might even be unnecessary but not specified in the law more difficult.
Duncan said he had not consulted any organizations for the blind before he introduced the bill, and Blakely said they should have discussed them withizations to try to resolve the problems.
"The bill is dead," said Wint Winter Jr. Dr. Lawrence.
HALLENBECK AND Edlund persuaded at least two committee members.
State Sen. Jan Meyers, R-Overland Park, agreed.
Park, agreed. "It doesn't look healthy," she said.
"It does not look heard y." she said.
Winter predicted that the committee would probably recommend that the Senate not pass the bill.
Carlin criticizes gas contracts
By United Press International
WASHINGTON — Gov. John Carlin said in House subcommittee hearings on natural gas deregulation yesterday that take-or-pay contracts used by the natural gas industry must be restricted to protect consumers.
Carlin, who spoke on behalf of the National Governors Association, criticized the contracts, which require pipelines to pay for gas under contract even if the pipeline has cheaper supplies available.
Northwest Central Pipeline Co., which buys and sells natural gas in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming and Colorado, has raised the price of crude oil from $47.68 per barrel. The increases were automatically passed through to the customers.
President Reagan has proposed deregulation of all natural gas by 1965.
THE COMPANY SAID take-or-pay contracts to it buy more land and retail relatively low-cost gas from wells in the Kansas Hugoon Field, Carlin said.
City would keep Hall of Fame
TOPEKA — The Kansas All-Sports Hall of Fame were bounced permanently in downtown Lawrence, under a mayorly approved yesterday by the Senate.
A vote is expected today on the measure, which would transfer administration of the Hall of Fame from the Kansas Department of Administration to the Kansas Historical Society.
Fame, housed in the Elizabeth M. Watkins Community Museum, 1047 Massachusetts ST, be moved to the new historical museum being built in Topeka
LAST WEEK, State Sen. Ron Hein,
R-Topeka, suggested that the Hall of
State Sen. Wint Winter Jr., R-Lawrence, appeared before the Senate Wars and Means Committee and asked him to Hall of Fame remain in Lawrence.
Legislator wants competency testing
The Hall of Fame was established in 1972 and now includes displays of more than 600 artworks.
By JEFF TAYLOR Staff Reporter
TOPEKA — A Hugoton lawmaker yesterday told the House Education Committee that his competency-testing bill would reduce the number of remedial programs needed at Kansas Board of Regents universities.
State Rep, Keith Farrar, R-Hugoton,
testified before the committee on behalf of the proposal, which would require incoming freshmen to take a test measuring their English and math skills.
"I don't think we could say this would do away with the need for remedial programs at our universities," he said.
FARRAR ASKED THE committee to hold the bill for study during the summer.
Under Farrar's proposal, students who failed the exam would not be barred from enrolling in a Regents university.
However, should the proposal be signed into law, a school district could lose 0.25 percent of its state budget allocation, if fewer than 90 percent of the college-bound students from that district failed the exam.
Farrar said the Legislature should consider lowering the proposed 90 percent passage requirement to as low as 60 percent.
In opposition to the proposal, John Kopee, of the Kansas Association of School Boards, told the committee that they had no reason for college than they were in the past.
He said taxpayers had been misled by publicity that students were no longer required to pay.
BUT FARRAR TOLD the committee that student performances on American College Testing exams had declined in recent years.
An increasing number of students entering colleges seemed unprepared to handle college work, he said. This lack of preparation forced the state to finance additional remedial programs at the universities.
But Kopke said more students were taking the ACT, which lowered the test results. In the past, only better students had taken the ACT test, he said.
Also, he said, some students who had not taken college preparatory classes in high school decided after graduation that they would亦 remedial programs were necessary.
Farrar said the state was spending too much money for remedial programs because students should be trained in these areas, but work before entering a university.
Representatives on the committee generally reacted favorably to the proposal, although some members raised concerns about the penalty that was imposed. The school districts with poor student performances on the competency test
HOWEVER, HE SAID, the state would have to continue financing some of its colleges. In other words, state students might not be prepared for course work at Kansas universities.
Farrar said the penalty would encourage school districts to work harder in preparing students for college and suggested that the State Board of Education keep track of the test results.
The Board of Education could evaluate the reasons that some school districts send better students to college than other school districts did. he said.
STATE REP. LLOYD Polson, R-Vermillion, said he backed Farrar's proposal.
"We are sending kids to school who are very inadequately prepared, deserts," she said.
Chris Graves, legislative director of the Associated Students of Kansas lobbying group, said her group favored study of the legislation.
"We, of course, object to a test which may be in any way radially and/or obliquely."
Graves said ASK objected to penalizing school districts for poor student performances and suggested the state should pay teachers with teaching or learning problems.
Legislature ponders measures to outlaw false identifications
By DIANE LUBER
Staff Reporter
TOPEKA — Possession of a fake I.D. will be a crime if a bill, already passed by the House and now being studied by a Senate committee, becomes law.
The Senate Transportation Committee heard testimony on two bills yesterday that would tighten state laws governing fake L.D.s.
Chris Graves, legislative director of the Associated Students of Kansas, told the committee that take LD's were to obtain and were frequently used.
The first bill, as explained by its sponsor, State Rep. Robert Vancurm, R-Overland Park, would specify the documents a person could use to obtain a duplicate driver's license or non-driver identification card. The documents would include a birth certificate, a marriage license, a
BOTH THE BILLS will help remedy the problem of minors using false identification cards to illegally purchase alcoholic liquor or beer, she said.
The bill would make it a crime to lend an document of identification to someone attempting to obtain a duplicate license or I.D. card. It would also raise the penalties provided in the law.
"I am sure I am not the only one who knew of people during high school and college who either altered an existing driver's license or regularly obtained a license from someone older." Vancrum said.
passport and a student identification card bearing the student's picture and birthdate.
"INFORMATION PREPARED by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicates that we have thousands more licenses than we have people in the 21 to 44 age bracket," he said.
Steve Montgomery, an attorney for
Graves suggested that the committee might consider putting a certified school transcript back on the list of acceptable documents because a high school transcript might be one of the few forms of identification young people who do not go to college would have.
The documents people could use to obtain driver's licenses have always been at the discretion of the department, he said. Over the years the number of acceptable documents has increased to 36.
BUT THE DEPARTMENT wanted to let the committee know that if they passed this bill, it would not make exceptions for people who did not have the types of documents specified, he said.
The second bill, drafted by the House Federal and State Affairs Committee, would make it a crime to possess a duplicate or false I.D. and would raise the penalty for manufacture of a false I.D. from a company in Chicago. The bill which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and $5,000 in fines.
THE HOUSE HAS already passed both bills.
Graves said that although ASK had opposed raising the drinking age, it had not denied the existence of an alcohol abuse problem at universities.
"It really takes the burden off us," he said.
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The Board of Class Officers Presents The All-Campus Musical/Variety Show
ENCORE!
MOVIES: SPOOFS AND GOOFS
TONIGHT AT 7:05 p.m. ON CABLE 6
A SPECIAL PRESENTATION!