University Daily Kansan, February 8, 1983
Page 5
Phones
From page 1
increase is approved, the price of local phone service in Missouri will double.
Chaffee said that it was too early to say what the amount of the rate increase would be and whether it would have the same effect that the Missouri proposal would have.
"If we predict something too high they accuse us of floating a balloon. If we predict something too low, then we're sugar-coating the problem," he said.
THE KANSAS rate increase will attempt to recover money that is being lost from the bank.
Consumers will benefit from the divergence because of increased competition, said Bob Nichols of the Consumer's Union in Washington, D.C.
Consumers should be careful though, he said, because some companies might try to increase prices.
"They shouldn't get away with increasing rates to try to increase their profits," he said.
Nichols said that a ruling would be made within the next month that would further divide the assets of AT&T between the company and its subsidiaries, which would have an effect on the size of increases that Southwestern Bell requested.
Nichols said many Bell companies would ask for rate increases as the deadline for divestiture
THE DIVESTITURE has brought about other changes in the telephone system.
The changes have made it necessary for people to buy and pay for repairs on telephones.
For the first time, owners of Bell telephones must pay for repairs and those who own phones made by other companies may find it expensive and inconvenient to get them repaired.
By January 1844, Southwestern Bell must have completely turned its telephone sales operations over to American Bell, a company created after the ant-trust decision, Chaffee said.
The basic fee for a Bell phone repair after the warranty has expired is $27 for a rotary dial phone. The fee for a cordless phone is $30.
"Students will go to the Bell people to have their service started, but will buy their phone somewhere else." Chaffee said. "You can buy phones just about everywhere — grocery stores, electronics shops, even department stores. Everybody's getting into the act."
TERRY BURKART, an employee of Gibson's
Prison
From page 1
"A lot of people think it's shouts and towers and that sort of thing that control prisons. Your police are not in charge."
Ragsdale said guards had complained last year that they were required to show up too often and that they would be held accountable.
DENNIS RAGSDALE; hearings officer at the prison, said the hearing process for inmates who had committed a crime while imprisoned had been delayed. The prisoner had to spend less time at prison hearings.
He said also that officers used to complain that penalties had not been levied strictly enough because of the severity.
However, changes in discipline and the hearing process have satisfied most of the guards, he said.
he said some guards who had been hired in the past had quit because they did not know what life was like.
Rayal said new training programs had boosted confidence among guards at the penitentiary, because turnover among newly hired guards had been reduced from last year.
BILL STURGEON, director of training programs, testified that new training programs helped guards become adept at a variety of jobs.
Discount Store, 2525 Iowa St., said that the store had been selling telephones for a couple of months. The telephones sell for about $20 and are selling well, he said.
"We have people who have been there 10 to 15 years and have never had an opportunity to go on a journey."
But, the telephone must be sent back to the manufacturer for repair, he said.
Rayl said the prison had started a new three-member skawed team that searched for evidence.
Rayl said shakedeweds, the term for searching cells, had been performed regularly during the last year and had decreased the amount of illegal items available inside the walls.
George Paley, owner of The Natural Way Boutique, 812 Massachusetts St. said he sold his business to John Lloyd at $175 million.
The phones also have to be sent back to the manufacturer to be repaired, he said. One of the telephones. Paley sells must be sent to Mississippi to be repaired.
PALEY SMD that since the anti-trust decision he bad sold more phones.
"We haven't had any problems with people who have had to send in their only phones for repair yet," he said. "We would be more than willing to arrange for a rental phone for them."
"You have to watch out for the cheaper dial-telephones," Paley said. "Those are the ones I have heard the most complaints about. They aren't really a bargain."
The least expensive phone Paley sells is a $17
receiver, he said.
Southwestern Bell has filed a request with the Kansas Corporation Commission to get permission to sell some phones, Chaffee said. If the request is accepted, the company will be allowed to sell the phones that they are now leasing and to keep them left in inventory in Phone Service center stores.
IF THE PROPOSAL is accepted, the remaining phones would cost from $20 to $80. Chaffee said.
If the tariff is approved, each phone will come with a 90-day warranty if purchased from the Phone Service Center, and a 30-day warranty if the phones are already in place.
Ed Peterson, attorney for the Kansas Corporation Commission, said any utility the commission regulated must file such a request, called a business order, to change a standard business procedure.
About eight of every 10 service calls Bells receive are for repairs on the lines or switches in the system, rather than on the telephone itself, Chaffee said.
Anne Hellman, Overland Park senior, said she bought a phone about a year ago from a discount store because of its low price.
"I've never had any problems with it. But I've been lucky so far. I don't know where I'd take it if something did go wrong," she said.
Sister of murdered girl found dead in lake near home in Olathe
By United Press International
OLATHE The body of a 17-year-old girl who had been missing since the morning her sister was killed and her brother was severely beaten was discovered in a lake not far from the girl's home, Kansas City Metro Squad members said last night.
Authentices said the body of Kelly Rae Duffiela was found in an overflow drain of Frisco Lake in southeast Olathe. An 11-year-old boy playing near the drain spotted a leg sticking out of a piece of ice and informed police, who pulled the body from the water.
DUFFIELD had been missing since her 12-year-old sister, Janelle Lea, was beaten to death and her 15-year-old brother, Paul, was critically injured Jan. 28 in their duplex.
According to police, Duffield tried to call police but found that his telephone was not working. He then went to his neighbors' home but found that their telephone also was out of service. Police said the phone lines had been cut from outside the building.
John Duffield, the children's father, said he slept through the incident and was awakened shortly after.
JANELLE'S body was found in her bedroom of the lower level of the home. Both the girl and her brother had been beaten on the head. Police said there is no evidence of a struggle in the Duffield home.
GOP accused of stalling on tax bills
Police have no other clues or suspects in the case. They said.
Although the Senate president has promised an alternative within the week to severance'tax bills sponsored by Democrats, the Democratic leaders in the House and Senate said the Republicans were stalling.
By DIANE LUBER
Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
"The people are getting tired of the game playing that's going on in this Statehouse," said State Sen Jack Steinerger, D-Kansas City. "We've done absolutely nothing so far. They expect us to pass the governor's severance tax, fund the budget and go home."
SENATE PRESIDENT Ross Doyen, R-Concordia, said Sunday that an alternative severance tax bill would be introduced in the Senate this week.
Steineger denied that he was playing games when he introduced a bill that would cut the length of the 1983 session to 60 days.
"I hope it will provoke some rational and realistic thinking by Democrats and Republicans alike," he said.
WEAVER SAID, "Our number one priority is quality of education. We're seeing cuts on the federal level, and Reagan says education is the responsibility of the states. And it is.
Steineger, Senate minority leader and Fred Weaver, D-Baxter Springs and House minority leader, said decisions about how to raise revenue should be made before decisions about how to
"Instead of passing the severance tax and then funding schools, when we know how much money is available, the Legislature is asked to do it backwards," Steineger said.
"Whatever severance tax they appear to be talking about will have a significant effect on school finance. For the House to act on a school
House Education Committee Chairman Don Crumbaker, R-Brewster, said he expected the committee to recommend a school finance plan that would pay much money the state would have available.
"I've been around here long enough that I know the decision will be made in the last few weeks."
bill not knowing what severance tax we will have is of real concern to me."
THE COMMITTEE looked yesterday at three school finance bills. One of the three is Gov. John Carlin's plan, which would provide $400 million to school districts, a 14.4 percent increase over last year.
Carlin has proposed that the state pay 47.9 percent of school district expenses. His proposal would require an estimated $28.3 million increase in property taxes.
State Sen. Robert Talkington, R-Iola, said he did not think revenue decisions needed to precede the school finance plan.
"Then we'll see how much more we'll need," he said.
Any school finance plan should be based on what the schools need, he said. Some of the financing for schools will be provided by a severance tax that is agreeable to both houses.
STEINEGER SAID, "Democrats will not support increased taxes for average Kansans. Any general tax increase will be a Republican tax increase."
The Legislature should consider an increase in liquor tax, sales tax or motor fuels tax to supplement a severance tax, he said.
tax increase. But Talkington said the severance tax proposal discussed by Doyen would not be enough to finance state government.
"Even Carlin's plan won't provide enough," he said. "He's not going to raise the money he says he is."
House Speaker Mike Hayden, R-Altow, said Carlin's proposal to pay 47.9 percent of school district expenses with state money was too high for 1984.
Considering the high level of unemployment, low farm prices and the minimal salary increases other people are going to get, he said, Carlin's proposal to increase teachers' salaries by 8 percent is excessive.
STEINEGER SAID that if the Legislature was doing what the people wanted it to, it should be able to make decisions about the severance tax and school financing in 60 days.
Cutting the length of the session would save the state $960,400 dollars. Steinerger said.
Session length is unlimited in odd-numbered years, but the Legislature does not usually meet much longer than the 90-day limit that state law imposes in even-numbered years.
"Last November the people of Kansas spoke," Steineger said. "They sent a mandate to Topeka, and that mandate is Governor Carlin's severance tax.
"The choice for the Legislature is clear. We can either get down to business and pass the severance tax now, or we can mess around for another 60 days or possibly longer with alternatives dreamed up by oil and gas lobbyists."
BOTH TALKINGTON and Hayden criticized Steiner's proposal for a shorter session.
Talkington said that if Steinger had been serious about cutting the length of the session, he would have filed his request in advance of the session.
Glut allows developers to collect double rent
Hayden said, "When I started in the Legislature, the session was 60 days. The budget determines the length of the session. The size of this budget is $3 billion. In 1974, the budget was $1 billion. The number of fiscal decisions have tripled."
By United Press International
WASHINGTON — A developer partnership that hired a former General Services Administration leasing official as a consultant is collecting rent from the government and from private tenants simultaneously on the same space. The firm, Inc., located in Washington, officials said yesterday.
While the government pays $174,768 annually to rent the six-floor floor, the partnership of John F. Dohonho and Sons Inc. and Florenzo Lehm leaves part of the same area to private tenants.
GSA OFFICIALS said they had been unable to find a federal occupant for the 13,502 square feet of vacant space. Allowing the developer to take a double return is the only way the government can terminate the lease about a year before its scheduled expiration on Nov. 11, 1984, they said.
government will pay rent on the space until Dec. 17, during which time Donoho may renovate it or rent it out.
Kenneth Perrin, chief of utilization in GSA's regional leasing branch, acknowledged that the deal with Donohe, which employs former GSA leasing official Richard Gaskins, was unusual.
The Washington rental market is so glutted that the GSA saves money by approving the landlord's rate to be set at $129.
"It's a fairly new program, because we're usually not in that posture," he said.
ONE GSA REAL estate official privately questioned the way the lease was handled, saying that the government could have worked harder to find a private tenant itself.
Elen Dayton, a space utilization specialist in Perrin's office, said the agency twice advertised the space in a Washington newspaper in an effort to, it, privilege tenant, but found little interest
DONHORE'S LETTERS to GSA about the space were signed by Charles Mantincheck. Gaskins said he was not involved in any of the details of the album, although he was aware of it.
Perrin said he had mentioned the matter to Gaskim once.
Dykes gets approval from committee
By United Press International
appointment of former House Speaker Wendell Lady as a Regent after Lady's confirmation hearing on Wednesday. However, he predicted rough sledding for Lady when Senate hearings begin next week. The Regents oversee higher education in Kansas.
TOPEKA — The Senate Confirmations Committee has unanimously approved the appointment of a former University of Kansas chancellor to the Board of Regents.
The former charcelloir, Archie Dykes, president and chief operative of the Security Benefit Group, Topeka, still must gain approval from the full Senate.
In other action yesterday, the confirmations committee unanimously approved the appointment of John Wurth as Kansas Securities Commissioner, Richard Hayter as director of the State Energy Office, and Jerry Driscoll, Stephen Joseph, James Wiglesworth and Deborah Purce Jones to the Indigent's Defense Services Board.
Bill would cut cities' delay on foreclosures
CHAIRMAN FRANCIS Gordon, R-Highland,
said the committee probably would approve the
A bill was approved by a Kansas House committee yesterday that would permit quicker action by the city of Lawrence in recovering more than $1 million in delinquent special debts.
THE BILL will be debated by the full House later this session.
The House Assessment and Taxation Committee approved the bill, which would allow local governments to foreclosure on land for two years instead of the three-year wait now required.
are not paid.
Special assessments are used by developers and are used for sewer, street and sidewalk construction. The city finances the improvements by issuing general obligation bonds.
The city of Lawrence is owed more than $1 million in delinquent special assessments. Part of that amount will have to be placed on the 1984 lease. Isley if the delinquent assessments are not paid.
After the houses are sold, the special assessments become the responsibility of the homeowner. Some developers, when they are unable to sell the lots or houses, let the assessments become delinquent rather than pay them.
CITY COMMISSIONER Nancy Shontz said that she thought the bill would help the city to collect the delinquent assessments. She said, however, that a bill that would allow the city to foreclose after a one-year wait, as was originally proposed, would be better.
City Commissioner Don Binns said he was pleased with the bill, although it called for a two-year waiting period instead of one year.
"I think that's a reasonable compromise," he said.
The city staff will meet with developers and builders this afternoon to work out payment plans for delinquent assessments.
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