Tuesday, October 21, 1997
The University Daily Kansan
Section A·Page 5
Writing bad checks costly; may bounce students into jail
Severity of crimes often unrealized
By Mary Corcorran
mccorcoran@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Student checking accounts can be delicately balanced, leaving little or no room for extra expenses or mathematical errors.
With this in mind, some students decide to ignore their tight budgets and stretch their limited funds by writing checks that may not be covered by their accounts.
Writing a worthless check can be considered both a misdemeanor and a felony by Kansas law,depending on the amount of money involved.
Mercantile Bank of Lawrence has certain rules of thumb it follows if it receives checks not covered by their patrons' accounts.
"We look at the length of time the person has had the account, the average account balance and the frequency of overdrafts," said Janice Toebben, senior vice president.
Checks can be returned to either the merchant or an outside credit agency, she said.
Outside credit agencies, which track down writers of bad checks, include the Lawrence Credit Bureau and the National Checking Service.
Depending on the agency, a person can be charged between $10 and $50 once found by a checking agency. The service fee is in addition to any fee charged by the merchant who originally received the check.
Target follows a worthless check policy to prevent losing money from bad checks.
"We send the check through the bank twice," said Kevin
Law 21-3707
Giving a worthless check is a level-seven felony if the check is written for $25,000 or more.
Giving a worthless check is a level-nine felony if the check is written for at least $500 but less than $25,000.
- Giving a worthless check is a misdemeanor if the check is written for less than $500.
Giving two or more worthless checks within a five-year period is a level-nine felony, regardless of the amount of the checks.
Day, Target team leader. "Then, we send a letter to the guest asking them to take care of the check. We also charge them a fee."
If a person does not take care of the bad check, Day said, Target sends the check to another service. Until the person pays for the check, he or she cannot write checks at Target.
The KU police department said worthless checks were not an a big problem at the University of Kansas. However, many students do write bad checks at University merchants, including Wescoe Terrace and the Kansas Union Bookstore.
In order to prevent repeat offenders, Wescoe Terrace keeps a list of bad check writers and will not allow them to write checks at the food court.
Larry Schmidtberger, business manager at the Kansas Union, said that bad checks often came through the Union.
"We only cash personal checks up to $25, and we charge a $5 fee to students for any returned checks," he said. "Bad checks are always a problem. Any check returned is a problem."
GTAs optimistic health-care plan will be started by summer 1998
University's contribution to plan still not determined
By Mike Perryman
Kansan staff writer
University of Kansas GTAs and officials were positive after hearing assurances yesterday morning that a health-care plan could be implemented by the summer of 1998.
The public hearing of the Kansas Health Care Commission in Topeka was attended by KU GTA union members, Provost David Shulenburger and student body president Scott Sullivan. Of concern was a proposed regulation addressing the University's contribution to a GTA health-care plan.
After agreeing on a contract in September, both the University and the GTA coalition presented a plan to the Commission in which the University would pay for 75 percent of GTA's health care.
The University still does not know what its contribution as the employer will be, Shulenburger said.
"It was important that the University state its case and support the GTA health-care proposal," he said.
Stephen Mathis, new chairman of GTA negotiations, said the GTA contract stated that all health-care benefits would be determined by the Health Care Commission.
"The Commission's decision is crucial," he said. "They have the final say. If they decide 50 percent, we're stuck with it; we have nowhere else to go."
The hearing left many questions unanswered but was a positive step toward an acceptable health-care plan for GTAs, Mathis said.
No Health Care Commission members were at the meeting, but representatives were there to take comments and answer questions.
"There really wasn't much legal substance, but the Health Care Commission staff made assurances that a health-care issue would be worked out." Mathis said.
The Commission intends to use the student health plan as a model. he said.
Richard Buck, former chair of GTA negotiations, said the student plan only required students to pay 20 percent of the cost of treatment at Watkins Memorial Health Center. The most a student would pay in a year would be $1,000.
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SHOWTIMES FOR TODAY ONLY
Yard Sale to Benefit Breast Cancer Research
KU AD CLUB and The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation would appreciate your donations for a benefit Yard Sale.
Why:
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. All proceeds will aid the Foundation in their research.
When:
Saturday, October 25. Before and After the KU-Nebraska game. Starting at 8 am.
Stauffer-Flint Hall, on KU Campus.
Where:
- Jones New York - Jones Sport - Rena Rowan - Chaus Chaus Sport - Alfred Dunner - IB diffusion - Graf Telluride Cambridge Bush Walker Arlando City Girl
We have cleaned out a six store warehouse with over 5,000 items to start and more added each day. Sizes 2-20 mixed in short lengths and petite sizes.
Wed. Oct. 22nd-Sun Oct. 26th
SUA
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Wednesday at 7 & 9:30pm
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