Lawrence Plagued By Bogus Checks
By JOHN McCORMACK
Kansan Staff Writer
Lawrence, like any other city in this age of credit cards and computers, is plagued by those people who write the "rubberized," bogus checks.
In 1969 alone, the Douglas County attorney's office handled about 260 court cases against people who had written checks which were either insufficient in funds or had no account.
THESE CASES included 33 felonies and 231 misdemeanors. In total, more than 31 per cent of all the court cases registered with the county attorney's office in 1969 were for bogus checks.
One local businessman reported that he had a file cabinet crammed with more than $3,200 worth of bad checks for the year ending in June, 1970. He added that many more bogus checks had been written to his store, but those on file were the checks on which he would never be able to collect his money.
The $3,200 deficit was not the only loss due to the uncollectable checks. He said for each bad check written to his store it would cost him $5 worth of time and expenses to investigate these checks.
ULTIMATELY, though, it's not the businessman who pays for bogus checks; it's the average citizen who is forced to pay higher prices for his purchased goods. Another businessman, for example, said he had to charge, on the average, about 1 per cent extra on all goods sold in his store to cover the added expense
caused by bogus check writers.
The average citizen must suffer more than the higher prices he must pay for his purchased goods. In Douglas County, a portion of each tax dollar pays a county attorney to spend almost one-third of his time working on bogus check cages.
The state of Kansas provides stiff penalties for those convicted of writing fraudulent checks. For those convicted of a misdemeanor, involving any amount below $50, the law provides a fine of no less than $25 and no more than $100, and/or imprisonment in the state county jail for no fewer than 30 days and no more than one year.
**IF A PERSON** is convicted of a felony, for bogus check writing, he could get a fine of no less than $100 and no more than $5,000 and/or imprisonment in the state prison for no less than one year and no more than five years.
Council Meets Briefly; No Action Passed
The University Council held its first meeting of the academic year Thursday afternoon in Blake Hall, but did not pass any resolutions.
The main issue of debate was whether or not an amendment to the Senate Code which would give students and faculty equal representation on the University Council, in the University Senate and on SenEx should have been tabled.
Immediately after the amendment was introduced, the motion to table it was introducec and passed.
Several council members expressed a desire for an agenda before each meeting to enable them to give thought to motions before voting.
After a half hour,the meeting was adjourned by Frank Zilm, chairman.
The next meeting will be October 15.
Petitions Due Sept. 22 From Senate Candidates
Elections for freshman class officers are scheduled for October 7 and 8.
John S. Friedman, chairman of the Student Senate Elections Committee, announced that freshmen students interested in running for the offices of class president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer should pick up petitions at the Student Senate Office in the Kansas Union.
The completed petitions must be returned to the Student Senate
Soviets Orbit Space Satellite
moon once every hour and 59 minutes.
MOSCOW (UPI)—The Soviet's Luna 16 space satellite orbited the moon at a height of only 66 miles Thursday, re-opening Russian exploration of the lunar surface 14 months after their last failure and the triumph of America's Apollo 11.
The official Tass news agency announced in a brief dispatch that the unmanned sputnik, launched Saturday, had moved into "a circular orbit as the moon's artificial satellite" and was circling the
There was no official word as to whether Luna 16 would try to land or would merely relay data to its earth controllers while spinning through orbit.
The largest railway in North America is the Canadian National Railway, which operates about 35,000 miles of track.
office with the signatures of 50 other freshmen and a $5 filing fee. Petitions must be filed by 5 p.m. Sept. 27.
Friedman, Prairie Village senior, said freshmen were not represented on the Student Senate now because Senate elections were in the spring. Friedman did say, however, that provisions would be made for freshman student senators to be elected next fall.
Friedman also said there was a vacant seat in Oliver College for a student senator. All students enrolled in Oliver College are eligible to run for this office. Petitions and procedure forms and other information on filling Senate vacancies may be picked up in the Student Senate Office.
Questions about the freshman class elections can be answered by either Friedman or his cochairman Mary Jane Logan, King City senior, at the Student Senate office.
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