KANSAN
The University Daily
University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
Thursday, June 24, 1982 Vol. 92, No. 150 USPS 650-640
Police not happy with city contract
By ANDREW DeVALPINE Staff Reporter
Lawrence police officers are angry.
Tuesday night the Lawrence City Commission chose the city's contract proposal over that of the Lawrence Police Officers Association.
Failure to compromise indicated a total lack of support for the police force, Gary Sampson, chairman of the LPOA, said yesterday.
"We've got a lot of officers who are proud of this department. They've chosen to make a career of it. But the commission in essence is much more likely to appreciate the department," Sampson said.
MONEY WAS NOT the main issue. Sampson said.
"the differences between our offer and their offer were negligible."
While there is a lot of frustration in the department in the wake of the negotiations, it is important to note that
"We have more pride than that," Sampson said. "A strike is an ultimate movement, and so far the professionalism within the department has kept the officers from it. We don't."
But, he said, if a strike does occur, it will only happen because the police officers were not trained to handle such an event.
One of the plans submitted by the LFOA, and received by the commissioners, was a development plan.
This kind of program is needed, he said, to keep good, experienced police officers on the job.
The idea behind the plan was that further career development was needed to keep a paired team together.
AS THE SYSTEM works now, a police officer can earn the maximum salary paid after six years on the force. The only way to obtain a salary increase after the first six years is to move up in the hierarchy, he said. That means to desk jobs and technical service jobs.
Now there are not enough officers patrolling the streets, according to Sampson, because so many of them have been moved inside.
With a career-development program, a patrol officer could keep on developing skills and, as he met certain criteria, he would earn salary increases.
"That way, after 20 years, he'd be making more money as a patrol officer, and we could keep good officers on the streets," Sampson said.
The number of officers on the streets was another bone of contention for Sampson.
We have enough people but they're not on
Bullet police
Gary Sampson chief negotiator for the Lawrence Police Officers Association, listens to city commissioners during a study session Monday afternoon
Commissioners accept city contract for police
By KATE DUFFY Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
City negotiators won out over police in a 4-1 vote by city commissioners Tuesday.
City commissioners voted to accept the city negotiating team's contract proposal giving police officers an 11 percent raise during a two-year period.
Commissioners said lowered tax revenues and fear of future fiscal problems determined
The city's "last and best" offer called for a
six percent cost of living raise in January 1983 and a five percent raise in January 1984.
THE POLICE PROPOSAL called for the same cost of living wage adjustment, along with a 2.5 percent average increase in July of both years, for a 16 percent total wage in
After Monday's study session with commissioners, Gary Sampion, chief negotiator for the Lawrence Police Officers Association, said their request was not exorbitant.
"The 2.5 percent a year would take into consideration the police officer's merit and commitment," said Jeffrey Hunt.
not asking for big bucks. We just want to be appreciated."
But after Tuesday's vote, Sampson he said he was not surprised.
"It was a loaded situation," he said.
"Everything went toward the city staff."
SAMPSON, WHO SAD this was his last year as chief interrogator, accused the city of punishing the LPOA for taking the labor dispute to the City Commission
Under a 1975 resolution, commissioners select a proposal after an impassance occurs between the two groups.
The resolution is supposed to keep us moving forward," Sampson said. "McClain took
inyong call," the contract. There's no
may they can follow it.
Jackie McClain, Lawrence's employee relations director, was the chief negotiator for the company.
The city offered the police a 13.5 percent wage increase in mid June after a federal mediator talked with the two sides, LPOA officials said. The dispute was thrown in the commission's lap.
BUT McCLAIN DISAGREED, saying that the proposal was 'fair, equitable and facially consistent'.
always make the best proposal. She also said the city had not made promises that the salary hike would remain the same after mediation.
Both sides agreed the resolution outlining the city's relationship with employee associations needed clarifying and possibly some reworking.
Sampion said an arbitration system would be the most efficient and equitable way to resolve contract disputes. Under arbitration, a neutral third party would be called in negotiations, a neutral third party would be called in
If a party would be called in
See City page 8
Weather
Today will be partly cloudy with high temperatures in the mid-80s and a 30 percent chance of thunderstorms, according to the Weather Service in Topeka. Winds will be 10 to 20 mph.
The low tonight will be in the upper 60s, with a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms.
Tomorrow will be partly cloudy with a high in the mid-70s.
Scrubbing in the Rain:
Saughtown, Charming Chang and Gloria Schutzle, 2001 Vermont. St. found trash bags to be best rest beds. Carmen Rains, during this weeks heavy rains.
Photo by J. SHARP SMITH
Hinckley tests begin
By United Press International
WASHINGTON-Presidential assailant John W. Hinickley Jr. began a new round of mental evaluations yesterday at a heavily guarded federal hospital to determine whether he has "recovered his sanity" and is eligible for release.
Hinckley was transferred late Tuesday to St. Elizabeth's Hospital, where psychiatrist will serve as a consultant.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Barrington Parker ordered the 27-year-old loon committed
Although Swaggerty had been one of the people interviewed by an investigative team sent to Texas, Olim said that he did not become a suspect in the ease issue and questioned Monday after being knocked in lower car doors in lower car doors.
for a psychiatric evaluation and told psychiatrist to file a report on his condition by Aug. 2.
Hinckley's acquittal shocked many Americans and sparked a new drive to reform the insanity plea, called the "rich man's defense" by at least one lawmaker.
A SENATE subcommittee announced it would hold a hearing today on whether the law allowing the insanity defense should be changed. The witnesses include at least three members of the Hickley jury—foreman Lawrence Coffey, Nathalia Brown and Maryland Copelin—who have said they bowed to pressure from the other jurors to favor acquittal.
Richard V. Swaggerty, Waskom, Texas, came to Lawrence on his own accord about a car theft he was accused of, Mike Malone. Douglas County district attorney, said yesterday.
Police arrest suspect in Swanson shooting
Police arrested a 25-year-old man Monday for the Memorial Day murder of Mark Swanson, a longtime inmate.
But numbers will grow
Heavv rains delay breeding of insects
By ANDREW DEVALPINE Staff Reporter
Alas, nothing short of Armageddon will relieve us of their nuisance.
Mosquitos, ticks and chiggers are on the threshold of a major assault, and the heavy rains of this spring ensure a burgeoning population of all of these pest enemies. BEU. K professor of entomology Dr. Frid Friday.
But, true to a world that thrives on iron, the heavy rains experienced thus far have actually delayed breeding of these pests. Beer said. And it is that we don't need it much, according to the National Weather Service in Topoka.
"Normally, we'd have a big population of mosquitos now." Beer said.
THE BREEDING has only been delayed, however not canceled. Beer said.
But because mosquito larvae need stagnant water to mature in the persistence of the rains ensures constant run-off, which denies the mosquito ideal breeding grounds. Beer said.
"Look for a big mosquito problem. We'll be hit harder later," he said.
Dick Hack, director of environmental health for the city of Lawrence, is doing his best to stem
Hack is in charge of a larvaeac program that is designed to nip the mosquito population in the
He and an assistant go to known breeding areas around town, such as ponds and large areas of standing water in city parks, and they dump green, gelatin-in covered tablets called
The capsule disintegrates when it hits the water and the larvicide is dispersed
"We need two to three days, preferably a
BUT THE EFFORT has been hampered so far by the constant rain, Hack said.
week, for this larvae to take effect. As it is, it's washed away with the new rains," he said.
Hack said he would treat 30 to 40 areas around town. But the program only helps control breeding. Once the larva matures into an adult, there is not much anyone can do, he said.
Years ago Lawrence had a fogging program to combat adult mosquitoes. Trucks would go up and down alleys distributing a residual spray. Hackers discontinued about 10 years ago for two reasons.
FIRST, THE SPRAY was hard to control. The city received complaints of the pesticide on cars and clothes and drifting into houses. Hack said
Second, he said, was the concern for the environment.
"I lots of people are against spraying chemi-
cals period. My Mike Wilden, assistant city man-
Starting a new spraying program is unlikely, he said.
Wilden pointed out that such a program would not be cost-effective when considering the manpower involved and the equipment needed for a city the size of Lawrence.
"With the river just north of us you may be able to kill some, but the mosquitoes would come
Because of their affinity to moist soil, and the extent of its saturation this year, ticks and chiggers will enjoy ideal breeding grounds for weeks to come. Beer said.
BUT TICKS AND chiggers, both of which are mites, prefer moist soil. Bee said. So their chances of being washed away are negligible compared to those of the mosquito.
Mosquito control is done best by neighborly cooperation, Hack said.
"But if you do all of these things and your neighbor doesn't, then it does not any good."
If mosquitoes are already a problem, he said, people should trim vegetation so the living adult does not get overworked.
back hall.
Hack's office so far has been concerned only
with mosquitoes. Ticks, he said, are a concern only from time to time. Usually a case of Rocky Mountain spotted fever has to be reported before he will deal with the mites.
TO INHIBIT THE breeding of mosquitoes, he said, people should keep the downspouts on houses clear, fill in holes in the yard and make sure there is no place where water can stagnate.
"Right now I wouldn't say it's anything to
obey," he said.
"Traditionally, old-timers believed that if we made it past July 4 without much rain, then chickgers not be a problem," Beer said.
But this year there is so much soil wetness that the chigger population will be out en masse. Beer
This concept was based on the fact that the soil would be too dry for chippers to breed in.
As with mosquitoes, the chigger and tick problem has been delayed by the rains.
Fortunately for the mosquito, maturation time from larva to adult is only two weeks. Those that survive flood runoff can rapidly repopulate, and with an exponential increase, Beer said.
"This way they can explosively increase their populations," he said.
Beer foresees even bigger problems for next year.
"With higher populations this year, more will be around to sustain themselves against catalysmic events next year." Beer said. "And if those events don't occur, the bugs and mites will be able to start earlier and with larger populations.
Only torrential rains all summer or repeated freezes and thaws well into next spring offer us any hope, Beer said. For now, either seems possible.