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Wednesday, August 30, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
Local firms targeted for asbestos Lawsuit cites unsafe removal During the removal process, chief KDHE inspectors ignored all
By Beth Behrens Kansan staff writer
The Environmental Protection Agency filed suit this month against Kansas Power and Light Co. and A. A Mactal Construction Co., Inc. for unsafe removal of asbestos at the Lawrence Energy Center, northwest of Lawrence
Greg Crawford, a public affairs officer for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said the Kansas City, Kan, construction company improperly removed 4,200 square feet of asbestos in February 1988.
The EPA is suing Mactal for failing to keep the asbestos wet during
removal and storage at the Lawrence site.
Crawford said the reason for keeping the asbestos wet was to keep fibers from the asbestos from becoming airborne.
He said that breathing the fibers was hazardous because it could cause lung cancer and asbestosis, the symptoms of which including coughing and fatigue after slight exertion. He said the development of both illnesses could take from 20 to 30 years.
Dale Armstrong, EPA spokesman,
said construction companies in Kansas were bound by law to inform the EPA and KDHE when they removed asbestos from buildings in the state.
During the removal process, KDHE inspectors inspect sites to control adherence to removal policies.
"The inspectors will check the site, tell the contractor and get the violation corrected," Armstrong said. "That does not exempt the contractor from penalties. That is pretty much what happened in this case. KDHE forwarded a record of the violations to the EPA."
According to the suit, the national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants and the Clean Air Act require that construction companies keep asbestos wet during removal and storage.
Jim Ludwig, KPL information specialist, said the company was informed of the suit, but he could not comment until the lawyers could examine the suit. John Rosenberg,
chief legal council for KPL, was not available for comment.
KPL is liable because it is named as owner of the facility in the suit. KDHE also could assess fines, but Crawford said the department had not taken formal action yet. The maximum fine KDEH could assess is $500,000 each day for each violation.
Another site named in the suit was Southwest High School in Kansas City, Mo., for asbestos removal during June and July, Mactain again failed to keep the asbestos wet during removal and storage. The company also did not dispose of the asbestos at a designated disposal site.
The EPA asked for the maximum fine of $25,000 for each day of each violation from KPL and Mactal, or $125,000 from KPL and $425,000 from Mactal.
Ethnic issues cloud race for Pepper seat
The Associated Press
MIAMI — Voters streamed to the polls to fill the late Claude Pepper's seat yesterday in an ethnically diverse race between a Brooklyn-born Democrat and a Republican hoping to become the first Cuban-American elected to Congress.
Lawyer Gerald Richman, in his first run for elective office, faced GOP State Sen. Ieana Ros-Lehtinen in the election made necessary by Pepper's death at 88 on May 30. Pepper, a Democrat, had held the seat since its inception 27 years ago.
Ethnic-bloc campaigning dominated the short, tense race between Ros-Lehtinen, 37, and Richman, 48, for the remaining 14 months of Pepper's term. Richman had come under
fire for declaring, "This is an American seat."
Election officials predicted turnout of about 43 percent, far higher than normal for a special election.
Richman, who is Jewish, hoped to capitalize on the 30,000-plus edge that Democrats, mostly Blacks, Jews and retirees, hold in voter registrations. Ro-Leshten, who was born in Havana, looked to the Hispanic community, which makes up more than 40 percent of the vote.
Polls in the final week of the race all indicated it was too close to call. Turnout was heaviest yesterday morning in Cuban-American precincts, where Ros-Lehtinen was ahead.
By contrast, north Miami Beach condominium precincts, where Richman was said to have the advantage, were projected to have a 46.3 percent voter turnout.
"It's been a very controversial election," said Dade County Elections Supervisor David Leahy. "There has been a tremendous amount of media exposure, and we think both camps are getting a lot more people out to vote."
The GOP hoped to add to its 10-8 majority in Florida's congressional delegation, while the state Democratic Party tried to erase its recent image of disunity and decline.
Pepper's seat is one of five openings in the U.S. House. The others were caused by the resignations of Tony Coelho, D-Calif., and Jim Wright, D-Texas, and the August deaths of Mickey Leland, D-Texas.
and Larkin Smith, R-Miss., in plane crashes.
Ros-Lehlritten had refused to appear with Richman during the campaign, charging that his "American seat" message was bigoted.
However, the same charges were made against her campaign about a Spanish-language mailing that urged Hispanics to show how American they were, even though they weren't English speakers. Didn't she didn't speak English like Richman.
Richman's said his "American seat" remark was an appeal to voters to decide on qualifications, not birthplace. He also said it was a response to GOP National Chairman Lee Atwater's statement that the party wanted to elect a Cuban-American.
Lawrence to obtain a European 'sister'
By Doug Fishback Kansan staff writer
A delegation of city officials from Eutin, West Germany, is scheduled to arrive in October to formalize Lawrence's first sister city relationship.
Carol Shankel, who heads the Lawrence Sister Cities Advisory Board, said the 10-member delegation would be in Lawrence from Oct. 24 to 27. One of the delegation members has been empowered to sign a sister city agreement while here.
The delegation will include a high school principal, a doctor and the Eutin tourism society president, Shankel said.
Lawrence City Commissioner Bob Walters said a resolution to join with Eutin and an official letter of welcome probably would be presented at the Sept. 5 commission meeting.
Lawrence's ties with Eutin date to 1964 when Helmut Hueisbergen, KU German professor, visited the northern German town, looking for a site for an advanced University of Kansas German summer institute.
The institute began in 1866, and KU students have gone to Eutin every year.
Charles Loveland, who heads the Lawrence Friends of Eutin committee, said the summer institute was the vital link between Eutin and Lawrence.
"That in itself is a long relationship." Huelsbergen said.
"It's really the thing that has forwarded the sister city relationship" he said.
After years of academic exchange, the two cities will find new ways to share culture. Loveland said.
The delegation's visit will open the
door to a high school exchange program and a sharing of art and music and municipal group exchanges, he said. One such group is the Eutin fire brigade, which has hosted KU institute students at picnes, he said.
"Other kinds of exchanges are limited only by your imagination." Loveland said.
Huelsbergen said Eutin and Lawrence shared features that made the proposed match a good one.
Eutin, like Lawrence, is in an agricultural region, he said. It is in the state of Schleswig Holstein, the only which Holstein cattle were developed.
Though Eutin has no university of its own, it is less than one hour's drive from the university at Kiel University. The students have studied, lufsberg being
Eutin's tradition of poetry and opera have earned the city the nickname, "Weimar of the North," Huelsbergen said, and the potential for cultural exchange is great.
A long history of exchange is important when a city chooses its first sister relationship, Shankel said. She said the years of contact between Lawrence and Eutin played a large role in the advisory board's support of the proposed relationship.
Other cities have shown interest in joining with Lawrence, she said, including Chalmières and Besançon, France, and Izumi, Japan.
"We'll take the time to get better acquainted," she said. "We don't want to do too many things at once, I think."
Shankel said there were no immediate plans to enter sister city relationships with any of these cities.
"I think it will be a really exciting visit," Shankel said.
ANNUAL JAYHAWK TRIATHLON
Sunday, Sept. 10, 1989 9:00 a.m.
Pomona Lake
- Swim .5 miles • Bike 17 miles • Run 5 miles
Entry information: $20 per individual entry
$45 per team entry
Pick up applications at 208 Robinson - 864.3546
Entry deadline: 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 6, 1989
Sponsored by
KU RECREATION SERVICES
Treasurer Workshop
Treasurer Workshop
Tuesday, September 5th
7 - 10 pm
Kansas Room of Kansas Union
KU RECREATION SERVICES
A treasurer's workshop for Student Senate funded organizations.
It is requested for all treasurers of Student Senate- funded organizations. Other treasurers are welcome to attend.
Applicable accounting and business procedures.
...
campus Dungeons and Dragons club in the
world. Our expected membership this semester is 250. We have a single world where all players are free to mingle and interact in a full world setting run by 20 DM's.
1st meeting: Wednesday the 30th, 6 p.m. in the Pioneer room, Burge Union. Want to DM? Show up between 2 and 5 pm. Want a schedule of meeting times? Questions? Can't make it? Call 749-5035. HOLLOW UNION ACCESSIBLE
WELCOME TO ADVENTURE!
in Alderson Auditorium
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS SAILING CLUB
The KU Sailing Club meets every Wednesday night in parlors A and B of the Kansas Union at 7:00 p.m.
Information on:
- Learn to sail classes
- Club Racing
For more information call 843-6814
- Intercollegiate Racing
- Parties
Introductory meeting Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
We've Got The LOWEST Beer Prices InTown! also featuring...
Saturday: Miller Pony Nite (50 cent grenades)
Monday: $2.75 Pitchers
*Try Our Red Beers!
Tuesday: $2.75 Pichers
Tuesday: Mich Dry Nite ($1 bottles)
Wednesday: 50 cent draws
Thursday: $1.25 16 oz. Tall Boy
Friday: Free burgers in the bull pen
$1.00 cans
MON-THURS 3-Midnight
FRI & SAT 1-Midnight
*Game Days 11-Midnight
OZARK CANOE TRIP (Blue Springs Resort, Niangua River)
864-3477
SEPTEMBER 1 - 4
2 nights camping & 2 days canoeing
INFORMATION MEETING Wednesday, August 30, 8:00 p.m. Regionalist Room
COST: $35.00 (Canoe rental, tents, 6 meals included)
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Thurs., Aug., 31; 12:00 noon
Contact Student Union Activities for more information.
THE YOU FAMILY'S
Hunan 4th Anniversary
Free Delivery Live Jazz
5 to 10 p.m. everyday
6 to 9 p.m.
every Friday & Saturday
$2.95 and up everyday
inner $6.95' per person
Sun. Brunch $4.35 per
Free Delivery 843-8222
1516 W. 23rd Street