VOL. 100, NO.49 (USPS 650-640)
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSTAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
THURSDAY NOV. 2, 1989
ADVERTISING; 864-4358
NEWS: 864-4810
Hunger strike launched
Tomas Staroardter/KANSAN
Former student says rights denied
Fred Markham says his rights were violated. He began a hunger strike yesterday at his home.
By Angela Baughman Kansan staff writer
A former KU student began a hunger strike yesterday because he said the Kansas Civil Rights Commission denied his civil right to file a retaliation complaint against a Lawrence corporation.
Fred Markham, 40, who worked on a master's degree at the University of Kansas in 1979, plans to continue his hunger strike until the KCRC agrees to accept his complaint. KCRC officials declined to comment pending investigation of a related employment discrimination complaint by Markham.
Independence Inc., 1910 Haskell Ave. is a social service agency for persons with disabilities.
In a prepared statement, Markham said, "I'm going on a hunger strike Wednesday, Nov. 1, 1898, at 6 p.m. because the state has denied me my civil right to file a retaliation complaint against Independence Inc. because of the way they responded to my employment discrimination complaint."
poles. Bob Mikesic, acting director of Independence Inc., said he could not comment on the situation pending investigation of the complaints.
Markham, 222 Yale Rd., a freelance writer, said he filed an employment discrimination complaint with the KCRC and the Lawrence Human Relations Commission against Independence Inc. because he was discriminated against because of his disability. He has cerebral palsy, which causes impaired muscular power and coordination from brain damage.
He said he had written articles for Independence Inc.'s newsletter for the last two years, and he subsequently applied for a position with the company. He said that he asked if his disability would be an issue for the position, and that he was told it not.
Markham said he applied for the position by the stated deadline in November 1988. He said he was one of the top seven applicants and that he was informed by former staff of the company that all the applications had been rescinded.
He said he then was told that the person who was hired for the position had submitted an application one month after the deadline, and that Independence Inc. told him he needed it. Markham said his information from the company clearly stated the deadline.
"That leads me to suspect there were some wrongdoings," he said. "What bothers me is they had a board member come over and tell me I needed an electric wheelchair and a voice synthesizer before I
was emplovable."
was employed.
Markham said none of his articles for the newsletter had ever been turned down until after he filed his employment discrimination complaint.
"I was told at first that my articles were too long," he said. "Then I was told that the articles were not relevant to disability issues. However, after I went to the board, I was promised that all
of the 'missing' articles would be published in the next issue.
"That made me wonder why all of a sudden they were acceptable, yet at the time they were written, they were not accepted or printed."
Markham said he then went to file a retaliation complaint against the company with the KCRC, but when the KCRC learned that Independence Inc. had published two of
his articles after he filed his original complaint, they declined to accept his new complaint.
He said the KCRC told him he had no grounds for a retaliation complaint because he was not an employee of Independence Inc. and two of his articles had been published after his first complaint.
palmieri Markham said that, according to a state statute, retaliation did not have to be continual.
Recycling company ready to resume collecting
By Chris Evans Kansan staff writer
With two of three partners remaining, the men who offered to bring recycling to the University of Kansas are ready to give students the service that they promised two months ago.
River City Recycling is back in business.
Earlier this semester, Akin, John Hebert and Kirk Devine — then all owners of River City Recycling Co. — told University officials that they wanted to begin daily pickup of recyclables on campus. They then struck a deal with members of Student Senate and Environ., a student environmental awareness group, to begin a pilot program to collect aluminum cans from campus buildings.
"It was a mess," said Mark Akin, co-owner of the firm. "But by next Wednesday, we expect everything to proceed as we planned."
Since that time, disagreements between Devine and the other two
Yesterday, Akin met with Devine to sign papers dissolving the partnership.
Because of recent developments, the Senate bill requesting financing for aluminum can containers on campus will be brought to a vote Wednesday, said Jeff Morris, student body vice president.
owners brought Senate negotiations to a standstill.
"All of Student Senate knows that the company's been messed up for a month and a half and that's kind of
Mortis said that for the bill to pass, Akin and Hebert would need to convince senators that management at River City Recycling was reliable.
scary," he said. "But I feel confident that it will pass."
If financing is approved, he said,
containers will be ordered during the
week after the Nov. 8 meeting. The
program would then be in place when
students return for spring semester
classes.
See RECYCLING, p. 5
Ortega points finger at U.S.
Sandinistas may cancel free elections
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The White House yesterday denounced Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's decision to end a truce with the U.S. backed contras but brushed off talk about renewing military aid for the rebels, saying "We don't want to give him any excuse" to cancel next year's elections.
The administration said President Bush was consulting with leaders in Central America to bring diplomatic pressure on Ortega to reverse course.
"It is obvious that he's afraid of the ballot box," White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater said, referring to presidential elections set for Feb. 25 in Nicaragua.
Congressional leaders also reacted angrily to Ortega's move, but House Speaker Thomas S. Foley, said, "I can't conceive of the House moving now toward providing military assistance. That's not in the direction of the peace process."
Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his efforts to start a regional peace accord, said in an interview on the Cable News Network, "It's, indeed, very sad to go back to the military fight."
Ortega, at a news conference in Managua, suspended the 19-month cease-fire with the contras, citing
continued rebel attacks. He also hinted that he might cancel the elections. He accused Bush of "supporting terrorism in Nicaragua."
He added, "Now it will depend on the Yankee Congress and the Yankee president that these elections take place on Feb. 25." Later, Alejandro Bendana, secretary general of the Foreign Ministry, said Nicaragua has no plans to cancel the elections.
When asked about prospects for renewing military aid for the rebels, which would require approval by Congress, Fitzwater said, "We don't want to go that route. We want to get free elections."
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States wanted the contrast to honor the cease-fire and would cut off U.S. humanitarian assistance to rebel forces that engaged in offensive operations.
However, he said Ortega's Sandista army "has violated the ceasefire from the day it was imposed. It has conducted regular offensive sweeps against the resistance, resulting in over 100 killed in the last five months."
In a compromise with the White House, Congress earlier this year approved $49 million in non-lethal aid for the Contras.
Joan Finney announces gubernatorial candidacy
By Derek Schmidt Kansan staff writer
ROPEKA — Proposing a moratorium on tax increases, Kansas Treasurer Joan Finney announced yesterday that she would run for governor in 1990.
"Kansans have heard campaign promise after campaign promise about lowering taxes and returning windfalls, only to have them fall by the wayside," said Finney, 64, a Democrat who has been state treasurer since winning that office in 1974 after switching political parties.
"Over past administrations, we have been asked to open our pocketbooks for large increases in sales taxes, gasoline taxes, motor vehicle registration taxes, not to mention the failure to fully return the income tax windfall," she said.
Finney pledged not to raise taxes if elected.
Finney
"I make this proposal because controlling taxes is the single most important thing we can do to return fiscal responsibility to state government and economic well-being to taxmavers." she said.
Republican Gov. Mike Hayden, who will seek re-election in 1990, was in Wichita yesterday and could not be reached for comment.
reaches to
Finney, a Topeka native, kicked off her campaign yesterday morning by announcing her candidacy to about 100 people at Jayhawk Tower in downtown Topeka. She followed with announcements in six other cities statewide.
Finney confirmed last week that she would run for governor, but yesterday's announcement made her the first Democrat to launch a campaign to unseat Hayden. Former Democratic Gov. John Carlin said last month that he would not announce his decision on whether to run until May. Some political observers have concluded that Carlin's delay constituted a decision to run.
Finney said that investing in education would reduce overall spending in welfare payments, criminal justice and prison costs. She also said that small farmers and small businessmen deserved better economic opportunity.
"I want government realistic enough to live within its means, but optimistic enough to invest in our future," she said.
Finney pledged to run a positive campaign but said she would compare her leadership record with that of any opponent.
"The optimism of Kansas is simply not compatible with the negative innuendo, smear tactics and ill will of many recent political campaigns," she said.
"I will, as I have always done, devote my time to telling voters what the issues are and what is important to me, what my policies will be and about my overall vision of fair, responsible and intelligent government," she said. "I am counting on the support of a lot of people to win this election."
History museum's horned rabbit exhibit to travel across U.S.
By Anita Meyer
Kansan staff writer
Although biologically impossible, the jackalope, a cross between a rabbit and an antelope, has inhabited bars, souvenir shops and imaginations of tall-tail spinners all over the world since before the 20th century.
Genrich said the exhibit would be presented by the Traveling Visual Arts Program, co-sponsored by the Friends of Wichita Art Museum Inc. and the Wichita Art Museum.
Ruth Genrich, director of public education of the Museum of Natural History, said that the jackalope legend, along with information about a real horned rabbit, would be part of a traveling exhibit done by the museum.
She said that she and other museum faculty members had been working on the traveling exhibit for more than a year. The museum has had a jackalope exhibit since Spring 1988.
"When we finished the exhibit, we said,
'This is really good.' "Gennrich said.
She said she then approached Darrell Green, director-coordinator of the Visual
Arts Program of the Kansas Arts Commission and Wichita Arts Museum.
"He liked what we had, so we began to put together a traveling exhibit," she said. "The reason I started this is because I'm a rabbit freak."
Gennrich said she thought the jackalope legend probably stemmed from sightings of rabbits with Shope's *Papilloma* DNA virus that caused horn-like growths to occur.
"In 1917, Forest and Stream published a story about rabbits with horns." she said. "Then there were letters to the editor that said they'd seen the same thing. Also, we
know there have been drawings of rabbits with horns in beastariens in France."
From here, she said, folklore probably began. She said the folklore prompted her interest in jackalopes.
The jackalope display at the museum contains actual specimens of horned rabbits.
"The reason I was interested in doing the exhibit is there are usually facts underlying myths," she said. "Why do people come up with stories like this? They're trying to explain the world around them. They take what they know and try to apply it. They're trying to explain what they're seeing."
One of these specimens, Gennrich said, will be sent in the traveling exhibit.
"We know when the new one was collected and where, and we didn't know much about the old one," Genrich said.
be sent in the a traveling. The museum is preparing a specimen that will replace the one that will go in the traveling exhibit.
She said the first rabbit had been collected around 1981 but few had been sighted since then.
"People just don't hunt rabbits for food like they used to," she said.