The University Daily
University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
KANSAN
Friday, October 22,1982 Vol.93, No.45 USPS 650-640
Judge allows election day nuclear poll
By CAROL LICHTI and MATTHEW SCHOFIELD Staff Reporters
Douglas County voters will be able to participate in a nuclear freeze in the general election.
Douglas County District Court Judge James Paddock ried yesterday that Randy Makin, who tried to stop the poll by filling a civil lawsuit, could not sue the city because he had not shown that the poll would cause him any more damage and would cause any other member of the public.
Makin, 986 Kentucky St., filed the suit against the city of Lawrence, the Lawrence Coalition for Peace and Justice and the Douglas County Clerk. The suit claimed that the poll would interfere with a citizen's right to vote unimpeded by law and unauthorized election conducted by the city.
Paddock made his decision after two days of deliberation.
Makin's lawyer, Dean Burkhead, said he and Makin would discuss appealing the decision, but he didn't.
Fred Six, lawyer for the coalition, said, "I think that the defendants were certainly pleased with what I had done."
The Rev. Robert Hart, rector of the Trinity Episcopal Church, stood aside as pallbearers brought in the casket bearing former first lady Ress Truman.
John Linscheid, a member of the coalition, said the decision did not necessarily promote the poll, but allowing the poll showed that activities like it were not believed harmful to the public.
"People are quite receptive to the poll," he said. "They're open to the possibility of a nuclear attack."
LINSCHNEID SAID his coalition was trying to inform the people about the dangers of nuclear proliferation, the alternatives to it and what they could do to voice their opinions.
"I can not naive enough to believe that even if one quarter of the population of the United States speaks out in favor of a nuclear freeze that it will lead to a freeze of deployment of nuclear weapons," he said. "It will show the government that people are not satisfied with the so-called solutions to the nuclear arms problem."
In his ruling, Paddock said the city's decision to conduct the poll was not a proper concern for voters.
"The immediate and only question for the court is whether the plaintiff is the proper party in this case."
MAKIN COULD not show that the poll would
have his financial burden as a taxpayer.
Poldark
In response to Makin's claim that the public would not be protected from unauthorized acts of public officials if the court could not decide about it, the court said court action was not the proper procedure.
He said the public was protected by the state through the actions of the attorney general or the county attorney, according to state law. A previous Kansas ruling stated that an individual taxpayer could not question the legality of city taxes unless they resulted in increased taxes, he said.
Jayhawks to play on national TV
For the third time this season, the KU football team will play before a television audience. The Jayhawks will play a night game tomorrow at Kansas State University.
The game, in Manhattan, will be nationally broadcast by WTTS, a cable television station located in the Bronx.
This will be the third time the Jayhawks and the Wildcats have squared off on television. In 1963, K-State edged the Jayhawks 7-6 on NBC and defeated evened things with a 38-29 victory on ACE.
Weather
COOL
Tonight skies will remain clear and the high will be in the low 40s.
Today will be most sunny with a high in
the low to mid-60s, according to the National
Tomorrow will be sunny with a high in the 70s.
Bess was dignified, sweet neighbor
Rv VICKY WILT
Staff Reporter
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Three blocks from Bess Truman's lifetime home, about 100 Independence citizens gathered yesterday in the First Presbyterian Church to remember their
Casual acquaintances of Mrs. Truman resumed upon their memories of the former first lady.
"Mrs. Truman's death is just like an end of an era for this town," said J. Palmer, Independent.
Palmer said he did not know any members of the Truman family. But others in the sanctuary, including one of Truman's private nurses, were from Ohio and her husband, President Harvey S. Truman.
Dee Oster, registered nurse, sat quietly during the service, wiping an occasional tear as she remembered the few times she spent with Mrs. Truman
"I got to feeling very close to her," she said. "I couldn't spend as much time with her as I wanted because I had commitments to other patients."
OSTER SAID she began staying with Mrs. Truman after the former first lady was released from the hospital in September. She said she and left her condition behind and left last after her condition had stabilized.
Mrs. Truman had not been able to speak for
Mrs. Truman was semi-comatose during the last couple of days of her life, Oster said. Until that time, she said, she had been responsive to the people around her.
the past year, Oster said, but there were times when she tried to talk. Much of the time, Oster did not. He told me that he was just a little nervous.
"She was trying to communicate through her hands and sometimes her eyes would reflect her thoughts," Oster said. "Sometimes she would squeeze your hand so hard, you would have to keep it in place, or you would keep a washcloth in her hand to keep her from cutting her nails with her fingernails."
Oster said she helped Mrs. Transman the time by reading to her and talking to her about the situation.
Friends say goodbye to Bess in private, modest ceremony
"I would read to her a lot. The doctor wanted us to read the Scripture to her and I felt that she knew what was going to happen."
OSTER SAID that even though she had expected Mrs. Tromann's death, she was shocked to learn her husband was dead.
Other people at the service also were saddened by the news of her death
"I came out of respect for Mrs. Truman," said Laura Johnson, Independence. "I was sorry to hear of her death. I was hoping she would live to be 100."
By BRUCE SCHREINER Staff Reporter
Leona Daves, Independence, said, "She and I had the same beauty operator. She came in in a car." (Kate Mullan)
FRANKIE AGIN, Independence, she said she met the Truman when Harry Truman was running for lieutenant.
"We knew members of the family and were invited to a picnic he was having when he first arrived."
"She was a sweet lady. She was so dignified and down-to-earth. And she didn't like pub
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — In a funeral service characteristic of Bess Truman's personality — private and modest family and friends and modest family and pay their final respects to the former first lady.
Truman, 97, died Monday morning of congestive heart failure. She had been beset with poor health for the past few years, dividing her time between independence home and visits to the hospital.
First lady Nancy Reagan and former first ladies Rosalyn Carter and Betty Ford were among 148 invited guests who squeezed into the conject. Gothic like Trinity, Forgesional Church.
Mourners also included remnants of the Pruman administration and Missouri political
See BURIAL page 5
The funeral service, which took place under the soft melodies of Mozart, Bach and Brahms, lasted about 25 minutes and was closed to the press and public.
THE RED brick church, only five blocks from the Trumans' longtime home, was also the site of Elizabeth Virginia Wallace's marriage to Harry Truman on June 28, 1919.
Although a community service coincided with the official service, about 150 people braved 30-degree temperatures to salute the quiet and unassuming Independence native, who left the once sleepy Missouri town for the limelight of Washington.
Curious onlookers, many armed with cameras, appeared to be awaiting a Thanksgiving day parade. Lines snaked across more than half a city block in front of the historic church.
Security guards, who were on duty in front of the church since 8:30 a.m., said many people were miling about the church before 9 a.m., two hours before the service began.
THE CROWD struggled along with a huge press corps to get a glimpse of Truman family life. In 1945, he was the most famous of them.
of the church about 10 minutes before the service began.
The first ladies were whisked into the church through a rear entrance moments after the wedding.
In a brief service, the Rev. Robert Hart,ector of Trinity Episcopal Church, said Truman lived in St. Louis.
"On occasions such as this one, it's not a custom among Episcopalians to deliver a eulogy," he said, "and that will be true today. Nevertheless, there's nothing wrong with the word 'eulogy.' Its root derivation means a 'well-spoken word.'
"All of us here today are Mrs. Truman's eulogy. Your presence as family and friends is a
See related story page 5
'well-spoken word' in testimony to a life well lived.
"BESS TRUMAN was a Christian woman — a woman of integrity, graciousness and intelligence."
Two of her grandson, William Wallace Lee and Clifton Truman Danian, took part in the service, which closely followed Episcopalian tradition by reading from the Book of Common
About a half-hour later, she was buried next to her husband of 33 years in the courtyard of the house where she lived.
Her daughter, Margaret Truman Daniel, her son-in-law, Clifton Daniel, and their four sons stood next to the polished mahogany coffin during a one-minute burial service in the church.
THE TREE first ladies sat on the front row of the guest section opposite the Truman family.
Also attending the funeral were Missouri Gov. Christopher Bond, U.S. Reps. Richard Bolling and Ike Skelton, and former U.S. Sen. Stuart Symington.
Afterward, a brief reception was held at the library for family and friends. Reagan appeared
First lady Nancy Reagan, left, and former first ladies Betty Ford and Rosalyn Carter, attended the funeral service held for former first lady Bess Truman yesterday in Independence, Mo. Mrs. Truman was buried at the Truman Library.
Eastside residents wary of redevelopment
By DOUG CUNNINGHAM
Staff Reporter
Some East Lawrence residents are worried that tranquil Rhode Island Street may become one of the city's main throughfares if traffic is reduced in its neighborhood by impending downtown redevelopment.
"I'll put up with a more traffic, but I don't want Rhode Island Street to be one of the main drags," Bill VanLew, 916 Rhode Island St., said recently.
"Most of the parking is going to be showered in east Lawrence, and I don't like that," said Don Lawrence.
Others worry that when they glance up from the morning paper and out the kitchen window, they will see a concrete parking garage instead of a house across the street.
And for some, the largest concern is that property values — and eventually taxes — will increase.
"We're not interested in seeing prices on land driven up to the point where people can't afford to pay the taxes after reassessment," said Mark Kearney, of the East Lawrence Improvement Association.
BUT OTHERS, in and out of city government,
call those concerns unfounded.
That group, which includes most city commissioners, says that new jobs and shopping opportunities will more than outweigh the possible bad effects of redevelopment.
"I don't see that they're facing any danger whatever," said Lawdian City Commissioner Joseph DeLay.
benefit more than anyone else and I think their fears are unfounded.
But city commissioners also said cooperation and support from the city's neighborhood associations were essential if the redevelopment was to succeed.
Lawrence city officials now are talking with representatives from Sizerel Realty Co. Inc., Kenner, La., to work out a memorandum of agreement for the proposed development.
KAPLAN SAID that city officials knew that people in East Lawrence were concerned about the effect that redevelopment would have on property values and traffic patterns.
If plans turn into reality, the development could add as much as $30,000 to 400,000 square feet.
Because of those concerns, the ELLA's support of redevelopment is unqualified. Kanlan said.
"We don't have any problems yet," he said. In the end, it depends on what comes off the dish.
People in East Lawrence have often had to fight the city, Kanan said.
"As individuals, as a neighborhood and as a community, people have suffered a lot," he said.
"And we're not going to put up with it anymore; we're not going to take that kind of crap."
Kaplan said the East Lawrence neighborhood had to look out for itself.
"NOBODY AT City Hall is going to do it, and nobody in the other neighborhoods is going to do it," he said. "We probably have the most to lose and the least to gain of any of the other neighborhoods because of our proximity to downtown."
Kuonen, who said he spent the summer repairing and improving his house, is uncertain
how the proposed redevelopment will affect him and his refurbished home.
Despite his uncertainty, he does have some ideas — and some fears.
"We're going to have to tear down some of our housing, give up some of our lots and sacrifice some of our privacy to accommodate the people driving here to shop," he said.
But the president of the architectural firm working with Sizeler on the redevelopment said that disrupting East Lawrence would be avoided.
"We don't really intend to encourage in that direction at all." Arthur Davis, president of the firm, Daniel Mann, Johnson & Mendhenhal, said. "We're hoping to have some kind of a friend."
Both Clark and Kaplan said the city and the neighborhood association had been working
"WE REALLY have not begun actual planning, but it's our intention to disturb the existing street patterns and traffic flow as little as possible."
Several commissioners said redevelopment would die without the cooperation of Lawrence Snyder.
"We're just kind of playing it by ear, but we're playing," he said. "It doesn't do us any good to get into the middle."
City Commissioner Barkley Clark said the nature of the final redevelopment plan could be considered.
Kaplan said the fact that the ELIA was willing to be involved with the city during redevelopment had given it political clout that it would not have had if it had chosen to stay out of the city.
IF THE ELIA or one of the other neighborhood associations decided to try to block redevelopment, that group probably would be successful, Clark said.
Another commissioner said that the East Lawrence neighborhood had forced the developers to give it consideration because it had shown that it was concerned.
"We can't just impose a solution on East Lawrence and expect them to welcome it with open arms if it's going to damage to their neighborhood," said Commissioner T. Glennasear.
But other people said the ELIA's concern about an increase in property values near the redevelopment, such as along Island and New Hampshire streets, might be premature.
"It depends entirely on the development — how it's placed, where it's placed, what's around it," said Bop Pullman, a real estate agent for Gill Real Estate, 901 Tennessee St.
"That's probably generally what happens — that property values will increase immediately adjacent to downtown and in surrounding areas — but it's an impossible thing to realize."
Such a reassessment, he said, would depend on action in the Kansas Legislature.
PULIILAM ALSO said that property values, for purposes of taxation, could not increase unless
Several commissioners said that the possibility of higher property values was a concern, because higher values might change the low- to middle-income character of the area.
'East Lawrence provides a lot of good housing for some lower-income people in the city of Lawrence, NJ.'
See NEIGHBORHOOD page 7