University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
KANSAN
Thursday, August 26, 1982 Vol. 93, No.5 USPS 650-640
Douglas County's new district attorney takes a short break from the legal work covering his desk.
Replaces Malone
New DA eases into office
By DON KNOX Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
Three stabbings in Lawrence yesterday morning and a bank robbery earlier this week have caught Jerry Harper by surprise, but the new Douglas County district attorney said yesterday his transition into office has been "smooth and otherwise uneventful."
been. Primarily a practicing attorney for his own Lawrence law firm, the 41-year-old Harper won a four-way Democratic race earlier this summer for the job vacated by Mike Malone. Malone accepted appointment as an associate district court judge July 15.
district; court judge July 13.
"They warned my wife that those kinds of calls would come upon occasion," Harper said of the 7 a.m. stabbing he responded to on the west side of Lawrence yesterday. "But I'm not really sure if she believed them."
and really sure he is. Despite the recent robbery and stabbings, Harper cited a well-trained office staff and a calmer-than-usual KU Country Club Week as helpful in making his first two weeks in office easier.
easier,
when you have 20 people who have been working here for two years," he said, laughing, "then there's not much of a change when a new face appears."
when a new teacher, a 1974 graduate of the KU law school, said he looked forward to the two remaining years he will serve as the county's district attorney.
district, where interest is in looking up people who insist on hurting people and damaging property," said Harper, looking from his office window in the southwest corner of the judicial and Law Enforcement Center. "Now it's out of control. It's out of control. It just a priority I have."
"Sure it's a challenge," Harper said of his new job, "but at age 41, I think have a good enough background to feel that I'm confident going to the community."
tributing something to the court.
The University of Kansas, Harper said,
always posed problems for the district
attorney's office merely because of its size
torney's office.
Anytime you take 15,000 or 17,000 people and in the same general area," Harper explained, "you're going to get a few who cause some trouble."
But Harper's connections with the University, he said, are "long and well-established."
Harper received both his bachelor and law degrees from KU, and his wife, Nan, works as a lecturer at the School of Journalism. And for 1½ years, Harper superseded students patiently to explain that allows him to defend inmates in both Leavenworth and Lansing penitentiaries.
Harper said he would not base the attorney's office success primarily on its conviction rate.
"We can do our job and do it well," Harper explained, "and still have acquittal. It doesn't mean we have failed."
Still, Harper said the tough-guy stand he has taken on the state's new drunk driving law will continue throughout his term.
"My sense is that people are very much aware of the new law," Harper said. "The position is that we will prosecute DWTs."
position is that which took effect, July 1, calls for a minimum fine of $200 and at least a 48-hour jail sentence. The jail sentence, Harper said, was suspended if a convicted drunken driver agrees to 100 hours of community service.
But Harper said "diversions" which would allow a convicted drunken driver's record to be wiped clean after six months would be hard to come by under his administration."
administration.
Said Harper: "It would take an impressive set of mitigating circumstances for me to divert a convicted DWI."
Harper said he wouldn't talk about his future as district attorney after his term expires in 1984.
KANU's remote is one and only
"Of course, there has been talk about me running in the regular election two years from now," Harper said. "But it will be awhile before I do decide - after all, I've only been on the job now for two weeks."
By BONAR MENNINGER
Staff Reporter
A KANU radio transmitting device that exports told station engineers was impossible to build has been constructed by the station and approved by the Federal Communications Commission. KANU officials said yesterday.
Director of engineering Brad Dick said the device, called the Remote Pick/up unit, or RPU, can transmit from remote locations in the area in a more efficient manner than previous transmitting systems. He said the device was the only one of its kind in the world.
only one of its airlines in the country.
Previously, all remote stereo broadcasts required two transmitters and two frequencies on which to operate. The RPU uses only one frequency and one transmitter. This cuts the cost of transmitting roughly in half, Dick said.
The idea of constructing such a device occurred to Dick last year. He said he approached several transmitter manufacturing companies
with the proposal but was told by industry expert that building such a device was impossible.
Several companies refused to sell the station equipment for the project because they felt KANU engineers would not understand how to use it.
to a paper on it, so that the man
"At the time I felt like. Don't tell me it can't be done." Dick said. "I guess they think all we do out here is chop wheat."
Dick said he took the technology used in building the RPU directly from concepts used in satellite operations.
The unit is a 10/by/19 inch box that has been installed in the colorful van the station uses as a mobile unit.
culminates over a year of research, con lation, and testing to meet the rigorous standards required by the FCC for manufacturers of radio equipment, Dick said.
satellite operations.
"Once we began to understand how the satellite system worked, we saw that it could be useful in this application," Dick said.
KANU is the most powerful radio station in Kansas, at 110,000 watts. It is an affiliate of National Public Radio, a national network of public radio stations.
boutline
The approval of the RPU August 18 by the FCC
radio stations.
Al Berman, director of development at KANU,
said the remote broadcasting unit had been
tested last year and was used to provide a live
remote broadcast of Chancellor Gene A. Budig's
inaugural address.
equipment. Dick said.
He said this was the first time such an approval had been granted to a public or private radio station in the United States. He said radio stations did not usually construct their own radio transmitters.
Police still looking for clues in stabbing
He said in the future the RPU would be used to provide live stereo coverage of bluegrass, jazz and classical music performances in the area, as well as political debates and the like.
By CAROL LICHTI
Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
The Lawrence Police Department continues to investigate yesterday morning's stabbing of three men, but officers say they still are unsure of exactly what occurred.
Three people were involved and all three were stabbed, said Assistant Police Chief Ron Olin in a press conference.
Fred "Doe" Wauge, Don Bay and Pat Woles were involved in the stabbings at 7 a.m. at 2513 Morningside Drive. Wauage and Bay were reported in stable condition last night at Law.
rence Memorial Hospital after they both underwent surgery yesterday morning. Wiles was treated and released.
Police said they were questioning two women who were at the scene when they arrived.
Bay was stabbed in the upper arm and Wauge received wounds to the chest puncturing a lung. Wiles had cuts on his fingers.
"I heard him (Wauge) say 'I can hardly breath,'" said a neighbor who called for an ambulance at Bay's request.
The neighbor said Bay knocked on his door at 7 a.m.
"I could hear the blood splatter on the ground before I opened the door," he said.
Prison system in Kansas divides Carlin, Hardage
"The other guy had a knife in his hand and stuck it in the door. He seemed pretty upset," the man said.
the unit
sure they found a six-inch homemade
knife stuck in the door of the residence.
Oln said that apparently all three men knew each other. "We have not determined who was the assailant and who was being assaulted. We have every reason to believe that the three men were the only individuals involved in this."
By BRUCE SCHREINER
The police have not made any arrests and no charges have been filed.
Staff Reporter
While an aide to Gov. John Carlin says vast improvements have been made in the state prison system during the past year, the latest prison release from the Kansas State Penitentiary in Lansing has given Republicans more leverage in their assaults on the penal system.
Authorities are still searching for two inmates who escaped from the prison Saturday.
who escaped in the night. gubernatorial candidate Sam Hertleden and yesterday that the state's prison system needed overhauling, but he conceded there were no easy answers.
State officials have sought ways to tighten security since last fall, when seven inmates, including five convicted murderers, escaped form KSP. It took seven days for all seven escapees to be captured.
"There is no single or simple way to alleviate the problems." Hardage said.
excapees have within KSP has been another headache for state officials. Both prisoners and guards have been wounded or killed within the past year.
In looking for answers to eliminate the problems of escapes at KSP, Hardage said more jobs should be created to keep inmates busy. Hardage cited inactivity on the part of inmates as a major cause of trouble.
"Prisoners should work to repay their debts to society," Hardage said. "They should be expected to repair state equipment, maintain the prison facilities and grow their own food, which would save the taxpayers money."
and save the taxpayers. Hardage, a Wichita businessman, proposed a comprehensive program that would increase security, modernize facilities, provide more incentives to correctional officers and complete construction of a medium security prison.
Last spring, the Kansas Legislature approved the appropriation of about $1 million for the start of a 500-bed medium security prison aimed at detaining the maximum security prison at Lansing.
Also, $7.1 million of revenue sharing funds were earmarked by the Legislature for construction work on the medium security prison in fiscal year 1982, said State Sen. August Bogina Jr., R-Lenexa.
Lenexa.
An added $5.6 million from the state general fund has been appropriated for construction in fiscal 1984, Bogina said.
Although Hardage supports the new prison's construction, he said current plans for the prison's location ruined the reason for building a new facility.
"Under that plan, all we would have is one medium security prison, and you would have non-violent offenders mixing with violent crime offenders."
new facility.
"I favor a medium security prison, but I do not approve of the way it is being carried out." Hardage said. "The prison is being built next to the maximum security prison, which was not the intent of the Legislature.
offline. On Swenson, Carlin's assistant press secretary, challenged the accuracy of Hardage's claim that the new prison would be built as an extension to the maximum security prison.
"I think he should check his information," Swenson said.
Swenson defended Carlin by saying the governor had accomplished more during the 90-day legislative session last spring than had been done over the past several years.
"The governor did more to improve prison See Prison page 5
It will be partly cloudy today with a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms.
40 percent chance of thunderstorms, according to the National Weather Service in Topeka.
Weather
The service predicts a high in the mid-60s and a low in the low 60s.
The extended forecast calls for little or no rain.
Members of the Bethlehem Pilgrimage walk east on Sixth Street in Lawrence on the way Israel. The four pilgrims, from Michigan, Washington, California and Montana, will arrive on the East Coast in November. See related story, page 5.