University Dallv Kansan, March 3. 1983
Page 8
House kills bill against paramilitary acts
By United Press International
TOPEKA — A bill aimed at prohibiting paramilitary activity in Kansas was shot down by the House yesterday as legislators cited potential infringements on the right to bear arms.
"The intent of the bill was to address pretty radical activity that is being taught and could be used against Kansans," said the sponsor of the measure, State Rep. Robert Frey, R.Liberal, referring to a paramilitary unit that last year in Wesken where 55 participants were killing and demolition techniques.
"Apparently that didn't come through to the members of the house," he
said. The vote could be categorized as an endorsement of that type of activity, he said.
"I am shocked," he said.
AS TWO armed Kansas Highway Patrol troopers made a rare appearance and observed debate from the gallery overlooking the House floor, representatives voted 42-07 and killed a man at least 61 votes to approve a bill.
Despite the House vote, the move to prohibit paramilitary activity might not be dead. Frey said he tentatively planned to re-introduce the measure by tacking it on as an amendment to an unspecified bill.
House Speaker Mike Hayden, R-Atwood, said the House vote was not an
endorsement of terrorism or paramilitary activity.
"I think they probably thought it might intrigue upon personal rights,"
In an earlier interview, Frey said the paramilitary bill was designed to outlaw organizations such as the Posse Comitatus, whose members are suspected of slaying two law enforcement officers in North Dakota.
ONE OF THE most vocal opponents, State Rep. Dean Shelor, D-Minnelo, said that paramilitary activity in Kansas was not related to racial bigotry. Instead, Shelor, a rancher, said some paramilitarists were Kansas farmers who favored gold and silver for currency and who thought that paper
money should be declared illegal. He also said some farmers challenged the constitutionality of federal taxes.
She尔说 that Posse Comitatus meant "the able-bodied law of the county." He criticized Attorney General Robert Stephan who he said had abused his power and distorted the views of paramilitary groups such as the Posse Comitatus.
"I didn't like his insinuation that those farmers out west are tearing this state apart," Shelor said. "I'm fearful we're coming up with some legislation that has nothing to do with racism in the state of Kansas."
Frey said his bill was derived from model legislation written by the Jewish Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith.
Panel approves bill to update property valuation
By United Press International
TOPEKA - A Senate panel yesterday approved a bill that would begin statewide reappraisal of real property, even though other lawmakers are expected to disagree on it.
The measure goes to the full Senate for consideration after winning adoption by the Senate Assessment and Taxation Committee on a voice vote. Although lawmakers have agreed for the measure, the system is inequitable, the controversial measure is expected to meet much opposition because of disagreement
over how reappraisal should be conducted.
State Sen. Paul Burke, R-Leawood, chairman of the panel, said the bill would authorize the gathering of data over the next four years on current property valuations from all 105 counties. The gathering of information for statewide reappraisal was last done in 1963.
"None of the information can be used to change anybody's assessment until the Legislature can review the information going to be five years down the road."
1968. The information would be filed in a centralized state computer. County appraisers testified during hearings that they objected to the centralized computer because they said it would allow the state to look over their shoulders and it would diminish their duties.
The bill would require county appraisers to submit the updated property values to the state annually until
THE CENTRALIZED computer would be used make sure that the process is being done according to law and to determine what sales-assessment ratios are being used by county appraisers. Burke said the reappraisal process could cost more than $50 million.
The 1988 Legislature would have to
Burke said that although lawmakers generally agreed the reappraisal process must be started, they disagree over whether a classification amendment to the state constitution should be passed along with the reappraisal bill. That could jeopardize the bill's passage, he said.
approve the property valuations before reappraisal could begin.
CLASSIFICATION, which is supported by Gov. John Carlin, would allow different types of property to be assessed at different rates so that an appraisal shift onto homeowners and landowners could be awarded under reappraisal.
Reagan grants panels access to EPA files
By United Press International
WASHINGTON — President Reagan yesterday agreed to give all congressional subcommittees investigating the Environmental Protection Agency access to agency documents, but the offer has been criticized by the chairman as a "cosmetic charade."
Reagan ordered that the agreement granting one House subcommittee access to the papers should be extended to the other five panels investigating the handling of the toxic waste cleanup program, financed by the $1 billion Superfund.
He took the action in response to a letter from Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich. (R-Democratic).
DINGELL WROTE Reagan Tuesday and told the president that his panel
had found "specific information of criminal conduct and other wrongdoing" at the EPA. He reminded the president of his statement last month that he would not use executive privilege to shield wrongdoing.
"Any and all documents are available to Congress," deputy press secretary Larry Speakes told reporters.
Speakes also said Justice Department officials would meet promptly with Dingell to seek all information he has.
Rep. James Scheuer, D-N.Y., a subcommittee chairman, rejected the Reagan offer outright.
"It's an unacceptable arrangement," he said. "I wouldn't be a party to an agreement that would 'abridge the House rules. We just want to do things the way it' been done before."
Congress voted Ame Gorsuch Burford in contempt Dec. 16 for refusing to give Superfive enforcement files to the House Pubic Works, oversight subcommittee on the case of Eliot Leviatis, D-Ga. She cited orders from Reagan and exclusive privilege.
The administration agreed last month to give Levitas' subcommittee access to the documents with procedures to keep what the agency calls "enforcement-sensitive" portions confidential. The administration can imitate such procedures, but the subcommittee can gain access after following the prescribed processes. Many of documents have been shared with the other subcommittees.
MEANWHILE, a coalition yesterday said the EPA's plan to weaken air pollution standards for soot and dust
would cause "hundreds of extra deaths and thousands of extra illnesses" each year.
The coalition of nine groups, ranging from the League of Women Voters to the United Steelworkers of America, wrote a bluntly worded letter to Burford
They told Burford that under the new EPA rules to be released this month Americans would breathe significantly more soot and dust into their lungs, increasing their chance of severe respiratory ailments.
"THE WEAKENING of the health standards is planned despite analyses prepared for the agency showing that hundreds of extra deaths and thousands of deaths have to be anticipated from the weakened standards," the coalition said.
Bill would let police seize more in arrests
TOPEKA — Police could confiscate, during arrests, money and property assumed to have been acquired through drug dealings, under a measure that the Senate tentatively approved yesterday.
A final vote is scheduled today.
m. police services
Needle can be used drugs and
automobiles used in transporting
drugs. They can also retrieve money
used for phony drug purchases.
Under the bill, when police raid someone's home, they could take drugs and money found in the home that could be tied to drug sales, said State Sen. James Francisco, D-Mulvane.
If the state cannot prove the money was acquired through drug sales, it would have to return the property.
IF THE STATE could later prove that such assets as stocks and bonds had been purchased with drug property also could be seized, he said.
Money that the state seizes would be added to the state's general fund. An amendment attached to the bill during Senate debate yesterday would prevent the state from seizing a residence. Other houses owned by the arrested person for real estate purposes could be seized, however.
Rented homes or vehicles used for selling drugs could not be seized during an arrest if the owner was not
aware that the property was being used for drug sales.
Francisco said the state might be able to confiscate enough money to pay for new jails, which could solve the problem of over-crowded prisons.
NO ESTIMATES were available on how much money the state could retrieve by confiscating property, he said.
Francisco said other states, including Florida, had significantly added to their revenues by passing a law requiring the state to keep contested property.
He said the states sometimes sold the seized property, such as luxury cars, boats and airplanes, cheaply to residents of the state.
FRANCISCO SAID Sedgwick County Sheriff Johnny Darr had asked him and State Sen. Paul Hess, R-Wichita, to enclose the bill. Darr told Francisco that sheifrs departments across the state had made arrests, but had been able to seize only drugs, even when large sums of money were found in the house along with the drugs.
And, he said, if police seized property that a bank had a lien on, the bank could secure its loan.
Witches gather on mountain in Mexico for convention
Pharmacists are excluded from the bill, Francisco said, because they are legally authorized to fill prescriptions.
By United Press International
TUXTEPEC, Mexico — Witches from the United States and Latin America — those not grounded by a cursed economy — flew into Mexico yesterday to open a four-day center for apprentices in a brief initiation ritual for apprentices.
The Fourth Annual International Witches Congress, which was to open early today on a reliably mist-shrouded mountain, is suffering this year from austery and inflation, according to its organizer.
WHILE 500 wizards, astrologers and witches gathered at the convention in 1982, "this year we couldn't invite many important witches," because of high costs and airfares within Latin American organizer Antonio Vazquez Alba said.
This year's event will be one of the smallest ever, drawing only 150 U.S. and Latin American occultists.
The coven is being held in Tuxtexe, 180 miles south of Mexico City, in the state of Oaxaca, a predominantly Indian district that is the center of Mexico's indigenous folklore and white magic.
The "white" witches will discuss herb healing, "the powers of the mind," and how to combat black magic, said Vazquez, who is president of the Futurology and Imagination organization.
KVM
The event was to begin just after midnight yesterday with the secret initiation of 100 apprentices on the slopes of the nearby mountain. No details of the ceremony were revealed.
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