SINCE 1889
First step
Parsons woman walks again with help from Med Center program See page 6.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, OCT. 22, 1985, VOL. 96, NO. 42 (USPS 650-640)
Mild Details page 3
Rehearing on status requested
By Jennifer Benjamin Of the Kansan staff
The University of Kansas Alumni Association on Friday requested a rehearing before the State Board of Tax Appeals in Topeka on the association's tax status.
The board denied the Alumni Association property tax exemption in Douglas County on Sept. 18, saying that the association wasn't a true alumni association.
The board has 30 days to decide whether to grant the Alumni Association a rehearing, Linda Terrill, general counsel for the board, said yesterday.
Brad Smoot, a Lawrence attorney representing the Alumni Association, said a rehearing would be beneficial.
"Another hearing will give the board a second opportunity to look at the law, the facts and any new legal arguments." Smoot said.
If the board denies the association a hearing, he said, the association will appeal to Shawnee County District Court.
In September, a 3-2 decision by the board said the Alumni Association wasn't a true alumni association because its membership wasn't restricted to alumni only, and therefore it didn't meet statutory requirements.
If the association isn't a true alumni association, it can't be included under a bill passed this year by the Kansas Legislature that exempts alumni associations from personal real estate taxes on their buildings.
Enforcement of the board's ruling would require the association to pay nearly $65,000 in taxes for 1984. The first half of the $65,000 was paid under protest in December 1984. The second half hasn't been paid yet.
The Alumni Association, which has been operating for more than 100 years, moved into the Adams Alumni Center, 1626 Oread Ave., in June 1983.
Before that time, the Alumni Association had its offices in the Kansas Union and was exempt from personal property and real estate taxes because it was on state property.
According to state law, buildings that aren't on state property do not receive tax exempt status unless they are used only for religious or educational purposes.
KU seeks use of excess revenue
By Gary Duda Of the Kansan staff
More than $800,000 in unanticipated revenue lies temporarily out of the reach of University officials who say they need it for programs.
The extra money was collected partly because more students enrolled this fall than last fall, creating a surplus in student fees. Administrators must wait until the Kansas Legislature allocates the money to the University of Kansas before KU can use it.
Keith Nitcher, director of University business affairs, said yesterday that the Kansas Board of Regents would ask the Legislature to authorize that would release 894,000 for this year.
Nitcher said that when the Legislature assembled in January it would decide whether he supported a bill.
Richard von Ende. KU executive secretarv.
said that because the University had more students enrolled this fall than expected, the revenue per student would be insufficient.
This semester, the University's enrollment hit a record high of 27,141. The University can receive only a set amount from the state for the 1986 fiscal year. The University collects the tuition and turns it over to the state, which allocates it.
Because of a surplus in student tuition revenue this year and a carry-over balance from June 1, Nitcher said, the University found itself with an excess of $804,704. He said this money wasn't in the current fiscal year's budget.
"The University in 1986 is authorized to receive $7,999,312 from student fees," he said. "Because we have more students this fall than the previous year, we have more fees than we
KU received $330,000 in unexpected tuition
this fall, Nitcher said. The same probably could be expected for the spring and summer, but to a lesser degree.
Nitcher said the University originally had presented its new and improved programs request to the Regents in June for fiscal year 1987. He said the University estimated what student tuition revenue would be when a KU budget was submitted.
He said the University couldn't always be precise when it estimated its revenues because even though the enrollment numbers might be constant, the status of the students could change.
"Some of those students were paying the full-time fee, some were paying partial fees." Nitter said. "Some were residents and some were non-residents."
He said the University had to rely on revenue and expenditures from past years to determine budget needs.
The Regents recently authorized KU to submit to the state a fiscal year 1987 budget of more than $195.5 million
University officials in September submitted A-, B- and C-level budget proposals to the state. The A-level proposal is the minimum amount KU administrators say the University needs to operate.
The B-level proposal is the most realistic proposal, and the C-level proposal is what KU officials hope to get for the University.
The University's fiscal year 1987 proposed budgets were A-level, $821,501.98; B-level, $183,724.53; and C-level, $195,526.507.
Over the past seven years, Nichter said, the University has asked the Legislature to release money. He said that sometimes the Legislature would and sometimes it wouldn't.
Battenfeld men await hall construction
See MONEY, p 5, col.1
By Bob Tinsley Of the Kansan staff
Of the Kansan staff
The brick walls continue to rise, but it will be mid-November at the earliest before residents of Battenfield Hall can move into their new addition, the director of University housing said yesterday.
Of course, that all depends on the sometimes fickle fall weather.
Construction has been delayed because of the recent bouts of rain.
The original completion date for the addition was Oct. 9, but Battenfeld residents were told in September that the completion date would be Oct. 15. The cost of the project will be $276,000.
The prolonged project is causing the men of Battenford to grit their teeth, hold their ears and learn to cope with life at a construction site.
"We're coping," said Gene Alloway, Parsons senior and Battenfield president. "I get up early, so the noise doesn't bother me."
Alloway said he hoped the addition would be finished in time for the hall's open house Nov. 23. Battenfield alumni, residents' families and residents of the other seven scholarship halls are invited to the event.
The general contractor for the project is B.A. Green Construction Co., Inc.
Bob Green, president of Green Construction, estimated that about six weeks of work time had been washed out by rain.
Link Hughes, a bricklayer on the project said, "Out of 10 days, we got to work three. Seven days out of the last two weeks it rained."
See RENOVATE, p. 5, col. 2
Walt Spencer, a welder for B.A. Green Construction Co. Inc. 1207 Iowa St.
grinds a weld on a handrail on the $276,000 Battenfer Hall addition, which is
scheduled to be completed in mid-November. Spencer worked on the handrail yesterday.
Santa Claus comes early to local stores
By Sandra Crider
By Sandra Crider Special to the Kansan
At nearby Wal-Mart Discount Cities, 2727 Iowa St. Dracula masks are right down the aisle from rows of holly-sprigged wrapping paper.
Not far from the grimming plastic jack-o'-lanters and the bags of candy corn in Gibson's Discount Center,
2523 Iowa St., a glowing nativity scene is nestled in a forest of illuminated Christmas trees.
said, and the store keeps records of what sells throughout the season. The store then orders the next year's holiday items in January and February.
Gibson's also keeps seasonal records and communicates with holiday merchandisers about what sells and what doesn't, said Marquita Jacka, assistant manager. She said new items were often marketed because of suggestions from the retailers.
Jacka said Christmas began so
'We have a lot of merchandise to move in a short amount of time so the sooner we get it out the better. People will start buying it as soon as we display it.'
— Marquita Jacka assistant manager, Gibson's
Patrons of these stores yesterday expressed sentiments ranging from eagerness to disgust about the arrival of the Christmas season in October.
"It kind of gets you into the holiday spirit," Kathy Ledom, 4133 Wimbledon Drive, who was browsing at Wal-Mart, said yesterday. "I think it's too early, but I'll never get tired of Christmas."
But Ben Shore, Route 2, looked at the Christmas decorations and
"It's way too early," he said.
"They shouldn't put it out 'til after Thanksgiving. I'm going to get tired of it before then."
One of Wal-Mart's assistant managers, Beth Dearinger, said the store had begun displaying Christmas merchandise a week ago. Wal-Mart begins planning for Christmas a year in advance, she
Tim Humphrey, a merchandise stocker at Wal-Mart, said the store already had sold a lot of Christmas trees and decorations. While trimming a plastic tree with Styrofoam balls, Humphrey said it would require a lot of effort for him not to lose the holiday spirit before Dec. 25.
early for department stores because the season was short for them, although it seemed long to the consumer.
"We have a lot of merchandise to move in a short amount of time so the sooner we get it out, the better," she said. "We buy it instantly and buy it as soon as we display it."
Andy Tubbs, 2115 Kassid Drive, who was shopping at Wal-Mart, also said the early barrage didn't bother him.
"It reminds me that Christmas is coming, and I get ideas soon," he said.
Christmas comes early in Lawrence, at least at some area stores. Tim Humphrey, a merchandise stocker at Wal Mart Discount Cities, 2727 Iowa St., yesterday prepared some Christmas trees for display.
Blood donors down in fall campus drive
"When you get your sign-up tables raised out, it doesn't help." Eden Keefe, Wichita regional dentist, underwent blood services, said yesterday.
The Red Cross came to campus hoping to collect 900 pints of blood. A spokesman at the Red Cross in Detroit, Mich., told reporters Oct. 17, 1473, met only 742 pints.
Concern about AIDS was only one of the things that kept donors away from last week's American Red Cross Blood Drive at the Kansas Union.
By Bob Tinsley Of the Kansan staff
Keefe said the Red Cross camp drive usually met its goal, and hoped the drive would fare better when it returned in the spring.
"We need to reassure people that donating blood is safe and I will definitely be hitting that in pre-publicity," she said.
Keefe said many of the students who braved the rain to sign up came to the drive with many questions about AIDS.
However, they needn't have worried, she said.
"So the risk of contracting AIDS is like zilch." she said.
Keefe said once the blood was taken from the donor, the needle and tubing used and the sack containing the blood were taken to a machine called a hematom. The tube is then heat-sealed and the needle and tubing are discarded. A needle is used only once.
The Red Cross regional office in Wichita requires 1.620 pints of
blood each week to supply 135 hospitals. Last week's projected goal for the region was 1,775, she said.
"When we drop off at KU, it really puts us in a bind because it means we're not meeting the goal filling the hospital shelves," she said.
The hospitals' demand for blood was constant and goals must be met weekly, she said.
After blood is collected at a drive site, it is taken to Wichita and tested for various contaminants, including AIDS, she said. Separation of plasma and red blood cells also is done at this time if necessary. The blood then is distributed to the regional hospitals. Contaminated blood is incinerated.
"You can't make up for it next week," she said. "You need this week's totals to meet the target."
The Wichita region comprises 101 counties, most of them in Kansas and several in northern Oklahoma.
Keefe said 58 would be donors were deferred during the drive, and 35 others were unable to give a sufficient quantity of blood.
Keefe said she didn't know whether any of the blood tested in Wichita was found to contain the HTLV-III virus, which is thought to cause AIDS.
Donors were screened by the Red Cross staff before they were allowed to participate. Keefe said. They were asked to fill out a form asking 20 to 30 questions about their health.