University Daily Kansan, March 23, 1983
Page 3
Lost dentures prompt I.D. bill
By JEFF TAYLOR
Staff Reporter
When their eyes were clear and the twilight years were far away, some couples made young promises to grow old together and keep their teeth in the mouth.
Now that the years have passed, those teeth apparently aren't so easy to maintain.
An Olathe lawmaker said yesterday that he had asked the Legislature to do something about a biting problem that he thought the state needed to consider.
Some elderly people in nursing homes have a problem keeping track of their dentures, he said. And come when he gets to the hospital, probably not such a funny precedent.
STATE REP. EDGAR Moore, Rolahe, Monday told the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee that he supported a bill that would require new dentures and other removable dental pieces to have the person's name or Social Security number engraved on them.
Moore said he originally drafted the bill to help law enforcement officials identify denture wearers who die in fires and other disasters.
After the bill was introduced, he said, the Kansas Association of Nursing Homes endorsed the measure as a way
for nursing home employees to identify who owned which dentures.
"This issue is a far cry from the severance tax, reappraisal or classification," he said. "The nursing homes are quite anxious for it. I guess they've had a problem there where dentures get mixed up. Sometimes they get lost."
The Senate committee generally favored the proposal, he said, but some senators had reservations about the expense of engraving dentures.
HOWEVER, MOORE SAID, he expected the cost would be nominal. Those people now wearing dentures are likely to have their teeth marked, he said.
Thomas Krauss, Phillipsburg, a leading forensic dentist in the state, said that denture wearers who died in stings or fires were often hard to identify.
By engraving a denture wearer's name on the back, inside part of the lower- or upper-plate, Krauss said, a body could be more easily identified.
The strong muscles and tendons that surround the mouth often survive disasters, he said, so teeth or dentures may be lost if painful in determining a body's identity.
Krauss said engraving a person's name into a set of dentures would cost more.
dentures for at least 10 years," he said. "I've found a very good response among my patients.
"I've been doing it on my own
"It is a beautiful service, it really is." HAROLD CHAPMAN, OWNER of Autumn Manor, 1800 W. 27th S., said he thought the proposal was a good idea, because mix-ups were common in homes for the elderly.
"You would have to pert' near work in some of these places to appreciate it," he said. "We've found people sometimes with a set and one-half in their mouth. They're not really stealing."
He said people sometimes just forgot whether their dentures were in their mouths and picked up a set lying on a table.
Mary Lou Warner, administrative assistant at Lawrence Presbyterian Monor. 1421 Kasol Dr., agreed that the staff would help identify a set that was found.
She said dentures were sometimes tossed accidentally in the wastebasket or left on a dinner tray and then thrown into the garbage.
Jerry Harper, Douglas County district attorney, said he had not heard much about the proposal and said his client's many problems with missing false teeth.
"We have not had an epidemic of missing teeth, but obviously something like that would be helpful," he said.
Western Civ teacher 'forced' to quit
By DAVID POWLS Staff Reporter
A former instructor of Western Civilization said yesterday that he had been forced to resign from his teaching assistantship position shortly before
Procunier and Van Zandt met the morning of March 11 to discuss the complaints, Procunier said. He resigned that afternoon.
Craig Procunier, Lawrence graduate student, said that Joseph Van Zandt, the program's assistant director and Caney graduate student, had refused to support him when some students complained about unclear course requirements and about his behavior in class.
Staff Reporter
"It was either resign or get fired." Procunier said. "Van Zandt said that I was a public relations problem.
HE SAID THAT it was a policy of the program to notify instructors of student complaints.
PROCUNIER SAID THAT the Western Civilization program's directors were too concerned about backing students, and less concerned about instructors and the quality of their teaching.
"He had a chance to speak with me about the matter, but he chose not to," Seaver said. "This is the first time in the 45-year history of the program that an instructor has resigned during a semester."
"I thought administrators were supposed to support their teachers."
James Senver, director of the program, said that he was sorry Procter and Gamble
complains. "A number of students had made complaints," he said. "We tried to adjudicate the matter."
"I think the many student complaints that were made and our meeting were the catalysts for him to resign." Van Bossingh was dissatisfied with the administration.
Procunier said he had been accused of encouraging students not to attend classes.
He said he also was accused of talking about his childhood during discussions and walking out of class during a discussion.
"I never did any of those things," he
Van Zandt has taken over Procunier's Western Civilization sections
Russell Martin, Topeka sophomore, said that although he had never been told to skip classes or readings, he did not have the skills having a class once during a discussion.
said. "Besides, teachers don't run popularity contests. The moral of this story is that if they want you gone, they can do it."
SHE SAID THAT Procuierm a reference to his childhood only to the fact that he is not a child.
"He said he couldn't force us to do the work, but that we would pay for it on the exams if we didn't," Hill said. "I think he expected a lot from us."
Neither student was aware of complaints this semester about Procunier.
Van Zandi denied that he had forced Procurier to resign.
Procunier has accepted an offer by the philosophy department to teach an introductory philosophy course next semester and pass in the department three years ago.
Karin Hill, Mayetta sophomore, one of Procumier's students, said that students never were told to skip classes or readings.
Anthony Genova, chairman of the philosophy department, said, "Craig is strong academic record and the competitor that he did for us three years ago."
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