University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, November 6, 1990
Campus/Area
3
Security is eyes,ears of campus
By Debbie Myers
Kansan staff writer
Had a Sept. 23 fire in a Facilities Operations sheds on Sunflower Road gone undetected, it could have destroyed that department's administrative records, halted its activities and cost the company thousands in property loss.
However, a KU security officer noticed the fire in a metal trash bin outside before it spread to the inside of the shed.
"In another five minutes it probably would have engulfed that building, with an unknown amount of damage being done," said Bob Porter, associate director of physical plant facilities operations. "As it was, it was limited to a few hundred dollars."
The fire was the most recent example Porter could give of the many times when campus security officers saved the University of Kansas money by reporting problems when they found them.
"They're the eyes and ears of this operation when most of the folks aren't around," Porter said. "If things that they didn't detect were left to go until some of our staff came around, it could be a disaster."
KU police Lt. John Mullens had similar praise for the eight KU security officers and their two supervisors.
"I hate to use the cliche, but they are the unsung heroes to a certain extent," Mullens said. "They are about as low-keyed an operation that exists. They see that a lot of very minor problems get taken care of before they become costly problems."
Mullens said the KU security unit became part of the community services division of KU police about to install a new security services Operations for several years.
The security officers walk through 76 academic and administrative campus buildings during 10-hour shifts each night on and weekend days. Mullens said. They look for unlocked doors and windows; water chemical spills and other maintenance problems; and safety problems.
Although the security officers do not take physical action to correct these problems, they do alert the proper authorities.
John Burton, who has been a security officer since 1969, said his job was sometimes dangerous because he patrolled places where biological hazard signs were posted and when they were in experiments sometimes escaped.
For instance, Burton said in the past he had encountered a boa constrictor being used for an experiment in Snow Hall.
"He was about six to eight feet long, but he was harmless," Burton said.
He said that because the job required patrolling campus buildings with only a flashlight, keys and a camera, or the company, the job could get lonely.
"You can kind of do your job without being a bothered at a lot," Burton said. "And most of the people who are loners. They like to be left alone."
He said helping people was his favorite part of the job.
"If you can help somebody who has fallen down or been hit by a car, it makes you feel pretty good," Burton said.
Classified employees call for more support
Kansan staff writer
By Yvonne Guzman
Cindy Riling, president of KU Classified Senate, is not sure which gubernatorial candidate would do more for classified employees, but she intends to keep an eye on the winner and the loser.
Classified employee need continued support for salaries and retirement benefits, she said.
"We're really concerned about what's going to happen next year," she said. "We have to beware."
Classified employees include police officers, clerical workers, housing employees and food service workers. All classified employees are employed by the state.
"We're not the government, but we're what makes the government work," Riling said.
The Kansas Council of Classified Employees, a group representing the classified employees of KANSAS SUDAN REPUBLICA.
drawn up a position paper that it will present to the Legislature when the new session convenes
The KCCE paper requests a 7.5 percent pay increase. Rilpa said.
But the most important goal pertaining to salaries is to complete the Comprehensive Classification and Job Rate Study by 1992, Riling said.
Commissioned during former Gov. John Carlin's administration, the study was designed to reclassify state employees so their salaries would be raised to private-sector levels.
But the study was discontinued while one category of employees, library staffers, was yet to be tested.
Brad Eden, a member of Classified Senate's executive board, said that library employees at Regents schools were making less than their counterparts in private business, while other classified employees had achieved salary parity.
The last time any upgrading was done was about two years ago, Eden said. A group of nurses threatened to sue the state, so their salaries were evaluated and their salaries upgraded.
Riling said that KCCE also requested an increase from 1.4 percent to 2 percent in Kansas Public Employees Retirement Service finance-monitoring plan and a subsequent investment plan that might be threatened next year.
The retirement plan, which was implemented last year, awards employees who have worked for the company for at least 5 years.
"It is important for morale purposes," Riling said.
Other requests include a new pension plan and a leave plan.
Some employees were upset when the Legislature voted to give itself a new pension plan that was more generous than the one granted to classified employees. Riling said.
"We're only asking for parity every year," she said.
The current leave schedule for classified employees allows 12 days off during the first year of employment, whereas unclassified employees receive 22.
Equally important are requests for continued support for the Margin of Excellence, tuition waivers for classified employees as class space is available, subsidized child care, more comprehensive health coverage and access to university buildings for disabled students. Riting said.
"That's asking a lot given the fiscal situation, " she said.
Rilking said that she knew it was unlikely that classified employees would get a response about all the concerns they had but that it was necessary to let the state know what they needed.
A time to give
Alan Reeves, Manhattan sophomore, and Melissa Diehn, Overland Park junior, schedule a blood donation appointment for Trish Jaulove, Chicago freshman. The blood drive, sponsored by the Interfraternity Council, the Panhellenic Association, the scholarship
halls and the American Red Cross, will take place Nov. 13-15 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Kansas Union. Appointments can be made today and tomorrow at tables in front of Wescoe Hall and in the Kansas Union, and walk-ins are welcome.
Lawrence discusses prejudice
By Holly M. Neuman
Kansan staff writer
About 20 Lawrence residents told a local task force last night that racism was thriving in community businesses.
Last night's public forum at South Park Recreation Center, 1141 Massachusetts St., was the second in a series of eight forums organized by the Task Force on Racism, Discrimination and Human Diversity appointed by the Lawrence City Commission.
Cynthia Turner, Lawrence resident, told the group that Black citizens in Lawrence had problems tinder-related to the city because of the racial climate.
"This city is sitting on a keg of dynamite," she said. "Whether they realize it or not."
Turner said qualified citizens were denied jobs because of their skin color.
Fred Cooper, Lawrence resident,
said he had experienced discrimination in downtown businesses in.
"They can't treat one customer better than the other," he said. "Everybody's money's green."
The task force is gathering information it will present to the city commission. Included in the report will be an evaluation of racism and discrimination in the community, as well as proposed solutions to the problems.
City to convert railroad track into hiking and biking trail
Bv Mike Brassfield
Kansan staff writer
Lawrence will convert an abandoned section of railroad track in the southeast part of town into a biking and bike trail, a city official said yesterday.
Fred DeVictor, director of Lawrence parks and recreation, said he expected the city commission to approve a contract to add a limestone surface to the trail. The contract is on the consent agenda of today's city commission meeting.
W. A.Dunbar and Son Trucking and Excavating inc., a Lawrence company, submitted the low bid of $5,000. DeVictor said. The company has also been level and resurface it with hard limestone.
The new trail will be similar to the 10-mile Kansas River levee trail maintained by the city,
he said. The trail will run east of Haskell Indian Junior College from 23rd Street to 29th Street
Devician said he expected work on the trail to begin in about a week. The trail probably will be completed by mid-April.
DeVictor said the $5,900 used to resurface the trail would come from money raised from salvaging the material removed from the railway.
The city bought the stretch of railway from Sanfe Fte Railearlier in the year for $7,500. The city removed the rails and ties during the raids to save them to a salvage company for $13,000. he said.
DeVictor said the project was made possible by federal legislation under which agencies can regulate the use of a computer.
Clark Coan, co-chairperson of the Kansas Rails-to-Trails Coalition, said the coalition and
the Lawrence Bicycle Club approached the city commission with the idea for the project in 1986.
Coan said the Lawrence trail would be one of about 750 rail-trail in operation in the United States. The Kansas coalition is part of a national rails-to-trail campaign responsible for converting more than 3,000 miles of abandoned railway corridors into hiking and biking trails.
Coan said he hoped the Lawrence rail-trail could be expanded in the future. He said there was a good chance that Sante Fever eventually would abandon the railroad tracks that run from 23rd Street and Haskell Avenue north to the downtown area.
DeVictor said that if Sante Fe abandoned the downtown tracks, the rail-trail could be constructed.
Coan said the Kansas Rails-to-Trails Coalition had projects in Topeka, Wichita and Manhattan.
The Landon Trail, which runs between Topeka and Overbrook, is 20 miles long.
Coan said that before abandoned railways were converted into nature trails, they first had to undergo the process of "rail-banking," in order to convert them with the Interstate Commerce Commission.
If abandoned sections of railroad are not railbanked, ownership of the property reverts to the bank.
Coan said Sante Fe recently announced it was abandoning more than 790 miles of railroad in
"We think these corridors should be converted into rail-trails so an interconnecting trail system could be formed in Kansas," he said. "This is a golden opportunity to expand our trail system because once these corridors are gone, they're lost forever."
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