The University Daily
KANSAN
University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
Thursday, November 20, 1980 Vol. 91, No.63 USPS 650-640
Managers' surprise entries cause Wood Creek evictions
By BRIAN LEVINSON and TIM SHARP Staff Reporters
Eight residents of Wood Creek Apartments, 255 N. Michigan St., were served eviction notices last week after unannounced entries by the tenants and found the tenants in violation of their leases.
Wayne Hundley, deputy attorney general and chief of the state consumer protection division, said the unannounced entries violated the Landlord-Tenant Act.
Eviction notices were issued to tenants who had pets and to those who had people living in the apartments permanently who had not signed leases.
The act says landlords must give "reasonable notice" to tenants before entering apartments, except in cases of "extreme hazard involving the loss of life or severe property damage."
SOME WOOD CREEK tenants said they never received advance notice that the managers, E.L. and Alta Weems, were going to enter their apartments. For example, they said, when smoke detectors were installed in all the apartments, the voice of the entries was not given until a week later.
The Weemses refused to comment on the entries.
Larry Claeys, a representative of Modern Management Co. of Slous City, Iowa, which is co-manager of the apartments, was in Lawrence during the 1960s, leading to David Davenport of Modern Management.
Claeys said yesterday that the procedure the managers followed regarding the entering of
apartments was the same as the procedure they had used in the past.
"They send a letter to a tenant after they have done maintenance work stating that they have entered the apartment and describing the work done." he said.
Despite the manner in which the violations were discovered, Claeys said all eight eviction notices would be enforced. She said the notices would have been discovered eventually.
"Two of the violations were discovered because tenants saw that other tenants had pets and wondered why they weren't allowed to have pets." (An earlier report of between being excited or getting rid of the pet.)
CLAEYS SAID his assistant, Gary Bender, told Mrs. Weems on Tuesday that she had to give tenants "reasonable notice" before entering apartments in the future. Claeys said that the Wemees' actions in the past violated both the tenants' leases and the Landlord-Tenant Act but that he was not going to take any punitive action against them.
At least one Wood Creek tenant, who asked not to be identified, has contacted the Douglas County Legal Aid Society about the possibility of bringing action against the Wee曼ers. According to the report, the residents of the Douglas Legal Aid Society, several problems face tenants who try to bring action against the managers.
"There are no specific penalties in the Landlord-Tenant Act," Treater said. "If the tenant can prove harassment by the manager, then the tenant can try to get an injunction issued against the manager. The problem is, judges are reluctant to issue injunctions."
Such injections, he said, would prevent the manager from making unannounced entries into the warehouse.
JOHN SOLBACH, state representative of the 45th District, said, "A tenant could bring suit against a manager for trespassing if the owner was in violation of the Landlord-Tenant Act."
Solbach said the alleged violations of tenants at Wood Creek probably would be upheld in a court, meaning that even if the searches were not in compliance with the act, any improprieties discovered during such searches still would be the basis for evictions.
Protections governing searches are not given to civil law like they are to criminal law, he said, and the lawsuit concerning the searches would be classified under civil law.
Steve Walton, Olahe first-year law student and Wood Creek resident, said he had been bothered by an unauthorized entry that had occurred in August.
"We had two cats. When they discovered them, they told us we had to get rid of them in 60 days or face eviction," he said. "It doesn't bother me that we can't have pets, but I think it is unconscionable that they violated the Landlord-Tenant Act."
The eight tenants evicted this week also were given the choice of correcting the lease violations or being evicted, but unlike Walton, they opted to leave.
Even though Modern Management Co. reprimanded the Weemses in its warning not to conduct unannounced visits in the future, the team cooperated, according to one tenant who is being evicted.
She said Mr. Wewens entered her apartment yesterday to check the toilet. She said there was nothing wrong with the toilet and she had a broken plumbing problems to the management.
Jimmy Gravely, Kansas City M., mo., senior, leads 93-year-old Missouri McKissack as part of his program, an independent study project, includes poetry reading, storytelling and bldg design.
CHRIS TODDI/Kansan staff
Confusion, complaints mark first day of election
Campus election voting problems confuse students
Some students experienced problems voting yesterday, and others did not realize they could vote, John Guillory, independent candidate for student body vice president, said yesterday.
Guillary told he spoke with graduate students
called the Student Senate office for information.
There also were some freshmen and sophomores who did not realize they could vote for student body president and vice president, Guillory said, and some thought they had to vote in certain Nunemaker districts that no longer exist.
Octavio Viveros, chairman of the Senate Elections Subcommittee, said he had not received any complaints about voting and was aware of students being told they could not vote.
He said all students could vote in student body presidential and vice presidential elections. Students can vote for senatorial candidates in their schools, he said, and freshmen and sophomores who are not yet in schools can vote for Nunemaker candidates.
After marking his ballot for Student Senate elections given him by Jim Pope, Eladira freshman, right, goes to the junior, deposits it in the ballot box at the Satellite Union. The voting places will be open from 7:30 to 8:45 a.m.
Students who live off campus also can vote for the Off Campus Senate seat. Students living on campus will not be voting for a living group seat in this election.
Students who want to vote must have their student IDs with them, Viveros said.
Voting booths will be open until 4:30 this afternoon on the fourth floor of Wescock Hall, at the Information Booth on Jayhawk Boulevard and in Union, Union, Union, the Satellite Union and Robinson Center.
From 5:30 to 7:30 tonight, booths will be open at Oliver, Corbin and Lewis residence halls; Alpha Gamma Delta, Kappa Alpha Theta and Epsilon Delta, Sigma Tau fraternity; and Sellars Scholarship Hall.
Defendants in slander lawsuit granted state representation
By RAY FORMANEK
Staff Reporter
Three defendants named in a $1.5 million slander lawsuit filed by a KU anthropology professor will be represented by the state in a hearing tomorrow in Douglas County District
Bruce Miller, assistant attorney general, said yesterday that he was assigned to the case by Robert Stephan, attorney general, after state counsel was requested by one of the defendants.
In addition to Lundsgaarde, Nancy Sempolski, KU doctoral student, and Eugene Scott, former visiting assistant anthropology professor, are being represented by the state.
The request was made by Henry Lundsgaarde, KU anthropology professor, who was named with six others in a lawsuit filed Oct. 15 by Crawford, another KU anthropology professor.
Miller said Stephan granted Lundsgaarde's request based on a Kansas statute that allows state defense of public officers and employees against them are related to their employment.
Representation for the other defendants has not been determined because they haven't been prosecuted.
Crawford's suit stems from a complaint filed in January 1977 by two doctoral students, who alleged that Crawford used improper research methods to subjects and that he misused federal grant money.
The complaint was filed by Bempolski and Liz Murray, KU doctor candidate in genetics. Murray is one of the defendants named in the other representation has yet to be determined.
The complaint led to several investigations into Crawford's research techniques during a federally funded trip in May 1976 to Belize, formerly British Honduras.
Crawford's lawsuit charged that the defendants harassed him and alleged that they combined to injure his reputation and diminish his earning power.
Two of the investigations still are being conducted by the national institute for health, which graduated from the University of Wisconsin.
"We handle lots of cases," he said. "The attorney general's office represents between 200 and 300 state employees a year in job-related actions."
Completed applications for Spring 1981 Kansan editor and business manager are due at 5 p.m. today in 105 Flint Hall. Applications are available at the office of Richard Long Hall, at the Student Senate office in 108B of the Kansas Union and in 105 Flint.
Miller said it was not unusual to have the state represent employees in legal matters.
He said his office represented about 15 KU employees during the last year.
Weather
It will be sunny today, with the high temperature in the low- to mid-50s, according to the National Weather Service in Teppeh. It will be from 8 a.m. to 10-28 mph.
Skies will be clear tonight, and the low will be in the mid- to upper-20s.
It will be sunny tomorrow, with a high in the 60s.
first day of election Election complaints triggered by campaign posters, letters
By MIKE ROBINSON Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
After a relatively quiet campaign, the first day of Student Senate elections was marked by the filing of three election complaints with the Senate Elections subcommittee.
Octavio Viveros, chairman of the subcommittee, said complaints had been filed by David Henry, Larry Metzger and Sue Heley, and Bert Coleman and Brent Abnett.
Henry is a candidate for a liberal arts and sciences Senate seat, Metzger is the Spectrum Coalition's candidate for student body president, Heyley is a fine arts senator, and Coleman and Abbott are the presidential and vice-presidential candidates for the Impact Coalition.
IN HIS COMPLAINT, Henry charged that David Adkins and Dumianingham, members of the Impact Coalition, removed copies of a letter written by Henry and four other students that were removed from Spectrum Coalition. The letters were removed from Fraser and Wescoe halls Tuesday night.
The complaint said that Henry did not actually see Adkins and Cunningham taking down the letters. However, Henry said the two Impact members were seen in the buildings late Tuesday night at about the time the letters were taken down.
Adkins and Cunningham denied the charges and said they were in the buildings to replace Impact posters, which they had heard were taken down.
The complaint filed by Coleman and Abbott criticized the same letter that Henry charged
Their complaint stated that the letter was misleading and totally incorrect' and was misrepresented.
It also said the letter was written and distributed with the cooperation of the Spectrum Coalition. Metzger and Henry denied the accusation.
The letter, which was signed by Henry and
Coleman and Abbott pointed out that Henry is
not a member, though he is not a member of the
Smooth Coitation Cells.
four students involved in past Senates, was written without the knowledge of Spectrum, Henry said, and was meant as the expression of a independence, non-coallition-aligned students.
THE COMPLAINT said that the Spectrum members were seen yesterday handing out copies of the letter on campus and that there was a definite connection* between the letter and Spectrum.
The third complaint, filed by Metzger and the Spectrum posters, of Impact had removed Spectrum posters.
The complaint said that after returning to Wescoe shortly after putting up posters, Metzger and Heyle found Spectrum posters in trash cans. They said that John Best, an impact candidate, told them members of his coalition had torn down the posters.
Best yesterday denied the statement.
Viveros said his subcommittee would investigate the complaints next week, when the effects of the violations on the campaign could be determined.
POSSIBLE PENALTIES range from a $10 to
a fine to removal of a senator from his seat,
Sir William Duff.
Viveros, Metzger and Coleman all expressed regret over the filing of the complaints. Metzger said his complaint was not a reflection on the Impact Coalition as a whole.
Coleman said that he was disappointed and the Metgger had tried to run an "above board" attack.
To his knowledge, no member of Impact had taken down Spectrum posters, he said, and he had told his candidates to "keep their hands off" the Spectrum material.
The coalitions worked well together with mutual respect, Viveros said. However, some members of coalitions may have "become more nervous" in the final week of the campaign.
Complaints must be filed by 8:30 tonight.
City asks tenant to vacate toy factory
By JENNIFER LISTON Staff Reporter
City officials yesterday asked the former owner of a condemned building at 600 Massachusetts St. to leave or face eviction by the city.
In a letter delivered to the former owner, Bryan Anderson, the city asked Anderson to remove his belongings from the building but did not specify a date.
Anderson, who now rents the building from the city, said last week he would not leave unless the city evicted him, but he could not be reached yesterday for comment.
Mike Wildgen, assistant city manager, said he did not start moving out, the city would evict him.
"If that's what we have to do, we'll do it," he said.
ANDERSON, WHO owns a woodshop and factory in the building, has been renting the building from the city since August and was supposed to move out by last Saturday. Anderson said he was working on several projects and was planning to move all of his belongings out of the building.
Anderson has been fighting to save the building since the city decided last year to condemn it and build a 25-space lot on the site, which is across from City Hall.
The building fired debate between the City Commission and Anderson's supporters.
TWO MONTHS AGO, Anderson hired an architect to draw up a plan for a parking garage on the existing City Hall parking lot in an attempt to stop the city from demolishing the building.
Some Anderson supporters, angered by the condemnation, have started a petition to stop the city from demolishing downtown buildings until the city has a comprehensive downtown plan.