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News in Brief
Monday August 25,1997
NEWS FROM AROUND THE NATION AND WORLD
Cashing in on Kemper: Profs get fellowships
Kansan staff report
Five additional KU faculty members on the Lawrence campus received W.T. Kemper Fellowships for Teaching Excellence during surprise classroom visits Friday.
Provost David Shulenburger, Peter Thompson, dean of the School of Fine Arts, and other KU officials interrupted James Hidgon Jr.'s organ studio class in Bales Organ Recital Hall.
"Would you like to sign up for organ lessons?" asked Higdon, professor of organ, before he accepted his award.
Other Friday recipients of the fellowship, which includes a $5,000 award, were: Jeff Aubé, professor of medicinal chemistry, Robert Goldstein, professor of geology, Donn Parson, professor of communication studies, and Annette Stanton, associate professor of psychology.
A seven-member selection committee, made up of KU faculty, students, and a KU alumnus chose the Kemper fellows from nominations submitted by colleagues and students.
Fourteen professors have now received the awards funded by a $250,000 gift from the William T. Kemper foundation. The KU Endowment Association matched the amount of the gift.
Six additional professors in Lawrence and at the KU Medical Center will receive awards next week.
State
Placing ban on alcohol becoming popular at KSU
MANHATTAN—Two fraternities at Kansas State University are planning to ban alcohol in their houses, echoing a national trend.
"We know that students ... still too often are making poor decisions," said Jon a t h a n Brant, executive vice president of the National Interfraternity Conference. "Maybe we just need to eliminate alcohol. Why should the fraternity houses provide (alcohol) when the majority of their members are under age?"
Nationally, 34 of the 63 fraternities represented by Brant's group have showed interest in adopting alcohol-free housing. At Kansas State, Sigma Nu and Phi Delta Theta said they would get rid of booze inside their houses by July 2000.
Another Kansas State chapter, Sigma Phi Epsilon, already has banned alcohol-related parties, though it does allow limited drinking in individuals' rooms.
"Work hard, play hard" is Sigma Phi's motto, said chapter vice president Brandon Clark, 21. "And playing hard doesn't
necessarily mean getting smashed."
Some reasons for the changes: Fraternities fear being held liable for drinking-related incidents on their property, they're figuring out it's better to drink less or in a controlled atmosphere and they want to bury the "Animal House" image.
Parents of fraternity recruits are asking about the chapters' stances on alcohol and applauding plans to restrict drinking.
"Parents eat that up. They love it," said Joe Kordalski, an officer at the Phi Delta Theta house at Kansas State.
Still, the vast majority of chapters nationwide have yet to commit to keeping houses alcohol-free. Brant said that less than 10 percent of local chapters nationally have come up with formal rules.
National Teamsters in turmoil; Hoffa wants Carey out
WASHINGTON — Teamsters President Ron Carey should be "removed and disqualified" from a rerun of the race for the union's top job while investigators probe his campaign fund-raising practices and links between union money and
the 1996 election, challenger James P. Hoffa said yesterday.
While never pointing a finger directly at Carey, court-appointed election overseer Barbara Zack Quindel last week refused to certify last December's Teamsters balloting that showed Carey winning re-election. She called for a new contest, but Hoffa claims the fund-raising concerns should bar Carey from running
Carey: Fund-raising may cost him union presidency.
Carey has no intention of stepping down, said Teamsters representative Matt Witt.
Hoffa said that appointing an interim leader would prevent Carey from using the president's post to his advantage.
"We have affidavits where people said,
"I was paid by the (union) to go out and campaign (for Carey)," "Hoffa said.
"That's illegal. If he's there, they're going to do that again."
Witt told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that Teamsters' staff members were given strict instructions about election rules. "If anybody was campaigning on union time, they were doing so in direct conflict with instructions they had been given by the union."
Hoffa has suggested that a federal court appoint a trustee to run the union while a new presidential campaign is held. Witt said that would take at least five months.
"The union has very important business to conduct over the next six months," Witt said, citing the Teamsters' upcoming battle against efforts to expand the North American Free Trade Agreement, negotiations with freight haulers and enforcement of the union's new contract with United Parcel Service.
"Ron Carey has no intention of leaving it to the government to run the union and carry out those responsibilities." Witt said.
Senate and FBI investigators have been scrutinizing the union's relationship with the Democratic National Committee since a memo signed by Richard Sullivan, the party's former finance chairman, surfaced last month.
In the memo, Sullivan asks Washington political consultant Martin Davis to funnel about $1 million in Teamsters donations to several state and local Democratic Party affiliates.
"There's been some allegations with respect to the DNC, although those allegations and those acts have never been carried out," Carey said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I was not aware of this, as and the elections officer (Quindel) clearly put out, I was not involved."
Mentally disabled man gambles benefits away
JANESVILLE, Wis. — Joe Murphy fought red tape for two years to get more than $40,000 in federal disability benefits owed to him for being mildly mentally retarded. He needed only a few weeks to blow it all gambling.
"I was going to the moon," he said. "Gambling, gambling, gambling — all the way from video poker to the blackjack table."
The Social Security Administration hadn't intended to give the money directly to Murphy, a manic-depressive with an IQ of about 70 who admits to a gambling problem.
It was supposed to go to a "representative payee," which is a relative, friend or other person who helps manage the funds.
After Murphy's experience, the Chicago office, which oversees Janesville, reviewed its interviewing procedures, focusing on how to determine whether someone with mental disabilities is capable of handling his or her own benefits.
"It's very unusual for Social Security to pay benefits to someone when it's clear they have a problem with money," Trollner said.
"At the time the local office in Janesville talked to him, there was no record from a medical source of his being incapable. He presented a convincing argument that he was quite capable of managing his own affairs," Trollinger said.
The therapist's report wasn't enough to certify Murphy incapable, he said. And Murphy had been receiving monthly disability checks on his own behalf and for two of his three children, adding to the evidence that he could handle the money.
Murphy blames the government for giving him the money he demanded when they knew he couldn't handle it.
Scamming couple caught following alleged racism
JONESBORO, Ga. — Sandra Benson
stood crying in the backyard of her burned-out house, surrounded by words of hate — racial slurs spray-painted on a white fence and storage shed.
She told reporters and investigators that she was being punished for loving an African-American man in this predominantly white suburb about 15 miles south of Atlanta.
Authorities say the fire was motivated not by hate but by the interracial couple's greed — an insurance fraud scheme that stretched from New York to Georgia, netting the two nearly $1 million and leaving two-burned out homes in their wake.
Benson, 36, and her boyfriend, Freeman Berry, 45, were indicted on Aug. 7 by a federal grand jury on 23 counts of insurance fraud and mail fraud for settling false claims for the house fires, two car accidents, three household accidents that caused disabling injuries and three break-ins. They're free on bond.
The couple's attorney, Michael DuPonte, said they were innocent. Berry and Benson did not return telephone messages seeking comment.
The FBI said the scam could have continued had the couple not cried hate crime. There had been two fires at black churches in the Jonesboro area, so local and federal officials took the case seriously.
"That was the beginning of the end," U.S. Assistant Attorney Katherine B. Monahan said.
International World Youth Day draws one million to greet pope
PARIS Pope John Paul II offered tough challenges and affectionate encouragement
than 1 million faithful attending Mass — one of the biggest crowds he has seen in years
At the closing World Youth Day ceremonies, the Pope, standing under a white umbrella to shield him from the sun, counseled his young followers to be strong in seeking meaning in life.
Pope: Preached encouragement at Mass.
"The world is wonderful and rich. It
before us countless treasures," John Paul II said in his final homily before returning home to Rome. "But in the end, it does not satisfy our spirit."
Police estimates of the crowd at the Longchamp racetrack in western Paris were twice what organizers expected, but it was what French President Jacques Chiric predicted when he greeted the pope Thursday.
Young people waved flags from more than 100 countries and held signs. One homemade poster, colored with crayons, read, "Hello, Pope, we love you!"
The pope, eager to keep the enthusiasm of young Catholics high, announced the next rendezvous — Rome in 2000.
On the record
A KU student's 1991 red Toyota Corolla SR5 was stolen between 9 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 13, from the 1600 block of Edgehill Road, Lawrence police said. The car was valued at $7,000.
A KU student's 1994 Mazda Miata was damaged between 11 a.m. and 11:02 a.m.
Monday, Aug. 18 in the 900 block of Tennessee, Lawrence police said. The damage was estimated at $300.
■ A KU student's housing permit permit was stolen between 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Wednesday from lot #102, KU police said. The permit was valued at $75.
A men's silver Mongoose 21 SR mountain bicycle was stolen between 8 p.m. Wednesday and 8:30 a.m. Thursday from the Delta Tau Delta fraternity, Lawrence police said. The bicycle was valued at $550.
A KU student's housing parking permit was stolen between 5 p.m. Wednesday and 9 a.m. Thursday from lot #105, KU police said. The permit was valued at $70.
Corrections
On-campus
A Friday column in the 'Kansan" did not fully explain the on-campus meeting announcement rate structure. Campus organizations may place notices of their meetings in the "Kansan's" classified at the following rates:
Ads running one to five days and three lines or less: The rate is $1.30 per line per day.
Ads running one to five days and four lines or more: The rate is 75 cents per line per day.
Ads running six days or more and up to three lines: The rate is $1 per line per day
Ads running six days or more and four lines or more: The rate is 60 cents per line per day.
Again, the purpose of the the "Kansan" putting these ads in the classified section is to assure organizations that their announcements will publish on their their desired publication date(s).
Misquote
In Friday's story on Kemper awards winners, the "Kansan" quoted Professor Charlene Muelenhard as saying that she did not know what she was going to do with the money she received, but that she might take her family on vacation. The quote should have been attributed to Professor Helen Alexander.
Back to School
An error in the August 18, 1997 article, "Jayhawks take to the road; plates will soon be available," of the University Daily Kansan reported that $5 from the sale of University of Kansas vanity plates will go the KU Endowment Association. While the exact amount is not determined, by law it will range from $45 to $50, depending on administrative costs.
ET CETERA
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