KANSAN
University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
Monday, September 21, 1981 Vol. 92, No. 21 USPS 650-640
Miller ends his public career
By STEVE ROBRAHN Staff Reporter
The "Super Sheriff" has hung up his guns.
He was, perhaps, the most famous Kansas Lawman since Wyatt Earp, but former Kansas Attorney General Vern Miller has opted for the relative calm of private legal practice.
"I don't like to admit that I've 'mellowed'
Miller said recently, "but there's really no
peace."
MILLER'S LAW enforcement career, which was anything but mellow, spanned three decades and ended in January when he stepped down from his Sedwick County district attorev post.
Between 1949 and 1975, Miller rose from a Wichita motorcycle cop to national prominence as a drug-busting state attorney general who began springing from car trunks to make arrests.
Instead of train robbers and horse thieves sought by gun-slinging lawmen of frontier days, Miller's targets were protesters, doe smokers and drug pushers.
His unorthodox and sometimes shocking style earned him the title of "super sheer", but Miller (2015) has become one of his greatest works.
He fulfilled his promise to "land in the middle of the drug-ridden hippie commune at Lawrence with both feet" when he was Kansas attorney general from 1971 to 1975.
MILLER SAID he couldn't recall exactly how many raids he made in Lawrence during those years, which some people remember as a time of resentment and paranoia.
He faced down a mob of anti-war protesters at the University of Kansas once during the early 70s and ordered arrests after demonstrators refused to clear the street.
"Protesters had already burned the (Kansas) Union," Miller said, "when I got a call at home in Topeka that demonstrators had a street blocked."
When he arrived, Miller said he told a beckoning crowd to get off the street or be arrested.
Lawrence and KU police wanted to know they were in the state's chief law enforcement officer, he said.
If it meant fighting, we were ready to fight." Miller recalled. "If we hadn't acted, that boiling disturbance would have grown and more buildings could have been set on fire."
POLICE STARTED making arrests when Miller gave the word.
Although Miller's presence was felt strongly in Lawrence, elsewhere in Kansas he raided taverns and fraternal clubs for bingo and cocktails. He also clipped liquor by the drink on airplanes and trains.
The badge, the guns and a lawman's close brushes with death all are behind him now. Miller, 52, said he has given it all up for the sake of his family.
"There were so many times when I should
Monday Mornina
have got it, but I didn't," he said in the style of an aging gunfighter.
People have threatened to get even with Miller if they ever get a chance, he said, but most are still unaware.
"I'm sure there are people who intensely
say that, and I don't have anyone
whole I consider a problem."
FOR INSURANCE, Miller keeps three Dobermans pinchers as family but he said the dogs need more.
Miller's yellow ranch-style home lies on 10 acres southeast of Wichita. He has a small red barn and corral behind the house for his children's pet donkey and horse.
In the evenings, Miller can sometimes be seen riding a dirt bike with his 8-year-old son on a track beside a long gravel driveway leading to the home.
"Private practice has been good," he said as he swept his arm proudly to call attention to a new clinic.
Water sking with his family and working out with a punching bag in the garage keeps him in shape. he said.
He said he liked country music and thought
television shows such as "Starsky and Hutch" were stuned.
"I guess it's because I've seen so much better in real life," he said. "A movie or TV show has to be pretty good to keep my attention."
HIS WIFE, Paula, to whom he was married in 1975, said she hoped people who have threatened her husband would cool off and change their minds
More than six years have passed since Miller made his last raid in Lawrence, and although most of the people he arrested were "punks," he said, college campuses seem to have changed.
"It appears to me that there's a different attitude and a different approach to scholastic opportunities on campuses now," he said. "When I was attorney general it was a period of new drug involvement and perhaps some resentment and turmoil about the Vietnam War."
Miller and large bands of officers converged on college town during a morning hours
Sometimes Miller's anti-drug posse would line a highway for more than a mile as it rolled into efflorescence.
"I knew the general paranoia of the times," said Tim Miller, a KU student during the early 70s. "I'm sure there was a lot of toilet flushing (of drugs) going on then."
RUMORS WOULD sometimes spread through Lawrence that Vern Miller would be coming that night but often the reports were false, said Miller, who is in relation to the attorney.
"Your odds weren't really too bad," he said. "He would only come after 10 or 20 people when there must have been 10,000 (pot) smokers in town."
Another former student, who asked not to be identified, said his life was disrupted after being arrested for possession of a small amount of marijuana during Miller's first raid in 1971.
"He had his own idea of how to stop the hippie
touch," the former student said. "It was crazy and
scary."
"It got so bad that I used to sit in bed at night
fantasize about blowing off coals."
The drug raids on Kansas campuses probably cost Miller the 1974 governor's election.
See MILLER page 10
Carlin discusses issues at party picnic
Bv JOE REBEIN
Staff Reporter
Gov. Carlin's handsake was firm as he moved among the small crowd greeting new aquarium
or one two people called Carlin aside, to bend
bareback on personal issues, or to get his opinion
fairly.
The crowd, made up of prominent Douglas County Democrats, was a friendly one, but it was also anxious to see Carline-re-establish the party's strength in the face of mounting Republican pressure.
CARLIN WAS the featured speaker at the 1981 Democratic Fall Picnic at the Vinland fairgrounds in southern Douglas County. It was
one of the first steps on a long campaign for the governorship in 1982.
"We share much in common," Carlin said. He knew that an old concrete foundation at the farground
BEYOND THE podium was the old brick school house where his wife Karen attended second through eight grades. The horse stalls and refreshment stands in the fairground were
"We both believe in higher education and the high priority it has in Douglas County and the Pacific Region."
Carlin said President Reagan was going to be challenged on his newest budget proposals.
"If it will be a challenge to him in a political sense," he said. "It would have been better if he had not."
session when a great euphoria existed about the victory in Congress. Now there has been time to see some response from his cuts especially Wall Street's reaction.
"There is a difference between projected action and reality. "A negative response from the public will complicate things for the president's new proposals."
Carlin said Kansas was not in the same position as other states were because of the
Carlin also focused on the severance tax, a tax he lobbed heavily for last year.
"Kansas is fortunate because we can manage it. We aren't in a lot of other states but are struggling for money."
"The severance tax is not a philosophic issue."
In this 1970 photo, Vern Miller and Johnnie Darr, current Sedgwick County sheriff, examine drug paraphernalia seized during a drug raid. Miller has continued his fight against drugs and alcohol during the 70s.
Board of Regents approve Med Center tuition increase
By LISA MASSOTH Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
Poor students with medical school aspirations, think twice.
The Kansas Board of Regents approved a 22
school of Medicine Friday at Hammond monthly
And just as on one area of the Med Center is being increased, another has fallen victim to President Obama's policies.
THE REGENTS also discussed possible cutting of federally funded grants and other programs at both the Lawrence and Kansas City campuses.
This double blow comes at the heels of many problems the Med Center has been experiencing
Its billing system has been dubbed antique and inadequate, it is having problems paying its utility bills and employee problems plagued the Med Center last spring.
The 22 percent tuition hike is to help cover a projected $343,000 shortfall at the Med Center in the fiscal year 1982, and applies only to students in the School of Medicine.
TUITION for in-state students will increase from $3,000 to $3,660 a year for students in a four-year curriculum. Out-of-staff students will now pay $7,230, instead of $6,000.
However, Richard Von Ende, executive secretary of the University, said Friday that 75 percent of the students in the School of Medicine received state-funded, full-ride scholarships, and about another 13 percent receive Department of Defense or some other scholarship.
In addition, many of the students receive a $500-a-month living stipend, with the stipulation that they will practice medicine in a critically underserved area of Kansas.
"About 90 percent of the students are on some kind of full ride," Von Ende said.
TE scholarships have been adjusted See REGENTS nage 5
Class pre-enrollment may be possible for 1983
By SHARON APPELBAUM Staff Reporter
University officials are hesitantly predicting that KU students will pre-enroll in the fall of 1982.
If Chancellor Gene A. Budig has his way,
attendants will sign up for classes next November.
for the semester.
An early enrollment committee will meet for the first time this week to begin compiling a report.
ROBERT COBB, executive vice chancellor,
agreed that the 1982 date was possible, but added
yesterday, "to make a conclusion on a lot of ifs
is very problematic."
The committee, which Cobb appointed last week, must determine whether the University should have early enrollment, and if so, the type of system, costs and a time line.
to know what we're doing and how we're doing it," said Richard Mann, director of institutional research and the convenor of the six-member committee.
He added that no matter what the committee decided, the Allen Field House enrollment system would have to change soon. He said that in the next few years the machines used to process enrollment cards would be obsolete and vendors would stop sunloving them.
"In three to five years we'll have to get out of it," he said.
AS AN ALTERNATIVE, the University could use mark sense entries similar to answer sheets
'Before we can state a specific date, we have
committee must examine changed costs and improved technology.
The University of Kansas now uses this system for incoming freshmen who pre-enroll in the
The committee must also decide between the two systems presented in the report.
The 1979 committee, of which Mann was a member, favored a computer terminal system.
Under that method, a student brings an ad-viser-approved schedule to an operator at a computer terminal. The operator works with the student to type out a schedule on the computer.
But Mann predicted that the committee would pass by the question of keeping fall enrollment and go on to consider the best method for early enrollment.
The committee's principal task is to update an early enrollment study from 1979. Cobb said the
MANN SAID the computer could signal which sections were closed, so the student could switch to the right section.
"At the end, he just walks to the end of the line and sets his calendar printed out," Mann said.
The other system under consideration requires
The schedules are fed into a computer that comes up with a schedule as close as possible to the actual time.
all students to bring in a schedule at the same time, alone with two or three alternative classes.
ROTH SYSTEMS give certain students higher priority in getting classes, as the letter schedule follows.
Mann said the computer for the batch system would be programmed to allow certain students into certain classes first. For example, business maitres would fill Business 240 classes first.
Both systems would accept only those schedules inscribed with an adviser's signature.
Both systems would require more advising, Mann said. Enrollment would last at least four weeks, allowing more time for students to visit their advisers.
IN 1879, the estimated cost of using the INCREMENTAL SURFACE MODEL was Mann predicted the actual cost would be lower.
For example, the cost of paying operators was estimated at $37,750, based on one enrollment every 6.3 minutes. But Mann said the enrollment rate at Iowa was one enrollment every three minutes, so the cost of operators' salaries could be cut in half.
Cost would also change if terminals were bought instead of leased. The 1979 report said purchased terminals would be cost-effective if they lasted three years.
The 1979 report suggested setting up a computer terminal room where students could preenroll, enroll late or add and drop classes.
But Cobb asked the new committee to look into borrowing the terminals the University already had.
The batch system would not require the 15-20 terminals, but Mann said the University would have to buy a special computer program.
Collectors bring four-wheeled history to Sunday classic Chevy exhibition
Darin Cunkin, Topka, put finishing touches on his father's 1957 Chevrolet Nomad at the classic car show held yesterday at the Mall's Shopping Center, 23rd St.
BvPAMALLOWAY
Staff Reporter
Oh for the days of duck tail haircuts and bobby socks, "Teen Angel" on the radio and a '57 Chevy.
More than 250 people saw relics of those good old days as they admired an assorted collection of '55, 56 and '57 classic Chevy cars and trucks yesterday at the Malls Shopping Center.
THE SHOW was sponsored by the Kaw Valley Classic Club of Lawrence.
A pair of brown fuzzy dye dung from the rearview mirror of a shiny, black '57 BelAir station wagon that was one of 21 classics featured at the show.
Engling entered a restored '55 Chevy with a trailer in the show.
up to today. Now people are thinking, 'Why didn't he keep that old car?'
"The real definition of a classic is a car that was very popular when it was new," said Oral Englinghoff. Lawrence resident and one of the most influential clubs in the popularity of these Chevys has followed it "clear
N nine trophies were awarded according to the year and classification of the car. The cars were divided into modified, restored or original classes. Trucks were in a separate category.
THOSE CARS classified as originals have all their original parts and are "few and far between," said Walt Spencer, a member of the Lawrence club for 2% years.
The local show provided a chance for competition locally and enabled people to see how their cars ranked with others, said David Bunker, president of the club.
He said restored cars were in their original condition except for necessary repairs. Cars are placed in the modified division if they have had a broken rear suspension or a way been customized by their owners, he said.
Contestants came from all over the area, but a
See CAPS page 5
Weather
The National Weather Service in Topeka forecasts temperatures in the upper 80s today and partly cloudy skies with a chance of rain this evening. The weather will be warm in the upper 80s. Winds today and tonight will be out of the south at 5 to 15 mph.
Tomorrow's temperatures will be in the upper 80s again, with a low in the 50s.