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Thursday, November 8, 1990 / University Daily Kansan
SEE THE CLASSIFIEDS
Student says modeling agency is to blame for bogus contracts
Kansan staff writer
Bv Yvonne Guzman
A KU student spent yesterday at a modeling school recruiting table in the Kansas Union, warning students to be careful about contracts they might sign with an agency affiliated with the modeling school.
Scott Pinkston, Lawrence junior, file a complaint in June against the agency. Model and Talent Management of Kansas City, Mo., after he was hired from an agreement between he and the director of the agency fell through.
MTM and the modeling school, John Casablancas Modeling and Career Center, operate out of the same building.
Casablanca representatives set up a table in the Union yesterday and will be there again today as part of its annual effort to advertise to students.
The models say they lost $7,125 together. The complaints have been forwarded to the attorneys general of Kansas and Missouri.
Pinkston said he was at the table to inform students of complaints he and seven other models had made with Consumer Affairs against MTM and Scheuermann Publications, a company he said promised to print his photograph and biographical information in a bimonthly trade publication for a $275 fee. The publication never was printed.
But Harlan Lambert, director of MTM and the man Pinkston made the agreement with, said MTM and MPM. But it was not responsible for the lost money.
Lambert said he was working for Scheuermann Publications at the time the contract was signed but was
Kelly Chestnut, attorney for MTTM and John Casablancas, a partner at fault was Scheuermann Publications. At the time Pinkston signed his to appear in the publication. Lambert to appear in the publication. And was working for Scheuermann.
not responsible for the money. He said he gave the money to Scheuermann.
So when he was recruiting models to be included in the publication, he was not representing MTM, Chestnut said
Since then, Lambert has resigned from Scheuermann Publications and again is director of MTM, Chestnut said.
Pinkston said he first encountered John Casablancas last fall when the company came to the KU.
In February, Pinkston went to MTM and eventually was approached by Lambert about appearing in the publication. At that time, Lambert was not working for Scheuermann
A dummy publication was scheduled for release in April, Pinkston said. When none was produced, he began to sat unicious.
That month, Pinkston called Betty Jean Lambert, co-director of John Casablanca, who told him that he could not find adequate office space.
Pinkston said when he called again after the official deadline for publication, June 1, and threatened to sue the company. She said that she did not know
where Wallis Schieuermann, owner of the publication company, was and that she was not responsible for the failed publication.
Pinkston then contacted Consumer Affairs in Lawrence Consumer Affairs communicated with MTM and Scheuermann Publications, Pinkston said. Both companies said they did not have the lost money
A few weeks later, Pinkston said he received a letter from Scheuermann. The letter included a request form for a refund. Pinkston said he returned the form but received no response.
Consumer Affairs wrote to Scheuermann to demand Pinkston's and the other model's money by Aug. 10, or all complaints would be forwarded to the attorneys general offices.
Chestnut said that Pinkston probably was cheated by someone but that he had misplaced the blame.
"There really isn't any connection at all (between MTM and Scheuermann)," Chestnut said.
Pinkston said that when he approached students at the table, he told them only what had happened to him. "They are very tired, they filed at the attorneys general offices.
Terry Glenm, director of the University Placement Office, said that after speaking with Pinkston on Monday, he asked John Casablancas to postpone its visit until Pinkston's charges could be investigated.
Vote ousts India's government
But after consulting with KU Legal Services, Glenn decided to permit the company to visit. Glenn is still investigating the charges.
The Associated Press
NEW DELHI, India – Prime Minister V.P. Sipah's embattled government yesterday was the first ever ousted by a Parliament vote, collapsing under political divisions over religious and castle bloodshed.
After the vote, Singh conceived his defeated Cabinet to endure his resignation letter to President Ramaswami. The two are expected to meet today.
"We aren't going with our heads down," Singh said. "This is a struggle. We struggled in government. We will continue outside."
The 11-month-old coalition government was shaken by continued separatist struggles in Kashmir and Punjab states, rising prices and Singh's program to raise the government budget. The policy launched widespread clashes and a wave of suicides among upper-caste Hindus.
The government was ultimately crippled last month when a fundamentalist Hindu group withdrew from the coalition in protest of a mosque dispute, which killed more than 363 people.
The 11-hour debate ended with a 346-142 vote against the government, with eight abstaining. It was the first time an Indian government was ousted by a vote of Parliament since India's independence in 1947.
"The Lok Sabha (lower house) has taken the right decision," said opposition leader and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. "The nightmare is over. The important thing is V.P. is out."
Singh remains caretaker prime minister when he is replaced. Venkataraman may appoint a prime minister to assignate or call for new elections.
A likely successor is Chandra Shekhar, who led a walkout from Singh's Janata Dal party and won a pledge of
support from Congress, the largest party in Parliament.
"One chapter is over." Shekhari said after the vote. He declined to elaborate on his plans.
India's rules of succession in the event of the government's fall are vague and leave some discretion to the president.
Unrest over Hindu attempts to raze a mosque and build a temple on the site raged even while lawnmakers met to oust Singh's government.
Four people were killed in Uttar Pradesh state and a 17-year-old student burned himself to death in New Delhi to protest the government's opposition to the temple project in Ayodhya, about 300 miles east of New Delhi. They said she was the 460-year old mosque stand on the birthplace of the warrior god Rama. They want to destroy the mosque and build a temple.