WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11,2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 3A
City's law violates constitution, says citizens' committee
Committee plans to sue city America mourns the attacks with silence, remembrance
By Lindsey Hodel
Kansan staff writer
The City of Lawrence may have a federal lawsuit on its hands within the next month.
The Citizens' Rights committee, a group of local landlords and tenants, announced its plans to file a federal lawsuit this week with the city over three housing ordinances.
The committee is claiming these ordinances are unconstitutional.
The city passed an ordinance last year that prohibits more than three unrelated persons from living in a house in a single-family district.
Two more ordinances passed last year require landlords to register rental properties in single-family zones every year and to allow searches of the property every three years.
Bob Ebey, member of the Citizens' Rights committee, said the city's ordinances went against the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unwarranted property searches.
"The ordinance violates the tenants' right to privacy, and the majority of landlords are also against the ordinance: Many landlords are refusing to register because they don't believe in the ordinance," he said.
On June 18, the committee alerted the city to its plans to sue in federal court.
Under federal law, the city received120 days to respond to the group's claims. The city's
120-day deadline ended yesterday.
Because the city commission did not respond, Ebey said he had no doubt that the Citizens' Rights committee would progress with its plans and file a federal lawsuit.
Ebeysaid committee members decided to file in federal court instead of city or state court because they thought they would have a better chance.
"We feel the city and state governments would automatically decide in favor of the city," he said.
He said the group had set a tentative date to file the suit, but the final decision would not be made until after an open meeting Sept. 25 at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vermont St.
Mayor Sue Haek said she was not worried about the threat of a lawsuit.
"Our legal advisors have told us we are on good footing," she said.
Hack also said the commission did not anticipate making any changes in the ordinance.
"This was a decision made by the former commission," she said, "and it is a decision reinforced at the commission election in the spring. But it takes three votes to pass anything in the commission, so you can never say never."
Hack said the ordinance dealt with public safety issues and only helped students.
"The main purpose of the ordinance is to check up on landlords and make sure tenants are living in safe conditions," she said.
Neighborhood Resources Department handles the registration of rental properties in
Lawrence. Barry Walthall, code enforcement manager with the department, said more than 1,700 properties had already been registered with the city.
"Many landlords registered before they were required, and we haven't come across any that are refusing to register," he said.
Walthall said he did not have an opinion about the lawsuit against the city.
Todd Hippensteel, St. Louis senior, was affected by the ordinance.
Hippensteel and four roommates moved out of their house last year at 1809 Mississippi St. after the passing of the ordinance.
"Our landlord told us he was going to raise the rent because he was getting pressure from the city. He didn't tell us we had to move out though, so he wasn't really following the ordinance," he said.
Hippensteel said he was not sure whether he would support the committee's lawsuit against the city.
"I do believe the ordinances discriminate against students," he said, "but I would have to think about all the factors before deciding how I feel about the lawsuit."
However, Jared Zuckerman, Kansas City, Kan, freshman, said he didn't think the ordinance affected students that much.
"There are so many opportunities to find a place to live that students probably won't have trouble, even with the ordinance," he said.
Contact Hodel at lhodel
@kansan.com. This story was
edited by Erin Ohm.
The Associated Press
NEW YORK—The nation will remember last Sept. 11 mostly in silence, with few sounds other than bells tolling, military jets roaring in tribute and the reading of victims' names.
At the World Trade Center, felled by two of the four hijacked jetliners, family members and dignitaries will read the names of the 2,801 dead and missing Wednesday morning, an hour-and-a-half recitation to begin and end with moments of silence and include readings of the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address.
The city's remembrance will begin with a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. Eastern time, when the first plane hit the trade center—and end just before 10:30 a.m., when the second tower collapsed.
Cities across the country will fall silent for moments in the morning and throughout the day. In Los Angeles, houses of worship will ring bells at 5:46 a.m. and follow with a moment of silence.
A ceremony was planned at the Oklahoma City National Memorial, which marks what was once the worst act of terrorism on American soil. In Chicago, where the Sears Tower is once again the nation's tallest building after the collapse of the 110-story trade center towers, residents will observe three minutes of silence before an interfaith prayer at Daley Plaza.
In New York, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is scheduled to
lead a long line of people reading the victims' names in alphabetical order. Others include Secretary of State Colin Powell, actor Robert De Niro and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
A ceremony at the Pentagon, where 184 people were killed, begins at 9:30 a.m. and includes a moment of silence, the Pledge of Allegiance and musical selections by military bands.
Thousands are expected to gather in the Pennsylvania field where the fourth hijacked plane crashed. The ceremony at 10:06 a.m., the time of the United Airlines Flight 93 crash, will include a moment of silence and a reading of the 40 victims' names as bells toll.
Ceremonies nationwide will rely on symbolism and historical references.
Barbara Minervino, who lost her husband, is not going to the city's ceremony but said keeping speeches out of the anniversary remembrances was a good idea.
"There are no words, really, that anyone can say, that would heal the heart, that would change the moment, so silence is probably best," Minervino said.
But Mary Beth Norton, a professor of history at Cornell University, said, "Wordless ceremonies or repeating things written in the past strike me as a statement that we're almost not up to commemorating an event of this magnitude properly."
President Bush will visit all three disaster sites today, traveling from the Pentagon to Pennsylvania to New York's ground zero.
Bush will address the nation
"There are no words, really, that anyone can say, that would heal the heart, that would change the moment, so silence is probably best."
Barbara Minervino wife of victim
tonight from Ellis Island, with another symbol, the Statue of Liberty, as his backdrop. He said hoped it would remind "America again of our moral calling, our higher purpose as the beacon of liberty and freedom for people around the world," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said.
Anniversary planning came as the Bush administration raised the terror alert for the first time to code orange yesterday, signaling a high danger of attack. Officials said the alert was prompted by specific and credible threats to American embassies overseas.
"We are not recommending that events be canceled," Attorney General John Ashcroft said. He said the government asked Americans to "mark the anniversary with heightened awareness of their environment and the activities occurring around them."
Chicago is one of many cities that plans a military飞over to mark the anniversary. Military helicopters will buzz Boise, Idaho; the Iowa National Guard will fly over Des Moines; and F-16 fighter jets will fly over Bismarck, N.D.
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