Football: Matt Johner will start as quarterback against Utah. Page 1B
8
Drugs: High Times editor speaks on legalizing hemp at Kansas Union. Page 3A
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
NEWS 864-4810
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20.1996
ADVERTISING 864-4358
SECTION A VOL.103.NO.21
(USPS 650-640)
Safety demonstration causes false fire alarm
A fire safety demonstration gone awry at 7.30 p.m. last night caused the evacuation of Ellsworth Hall.
To make the annual residence hall fire safety program more realistic, the Lawrence Fire Department filled the building's uninhabited first floor with stage smoke and allowed students to walk through it.
What the fire department didn't anticipate was that the smoke would set off the building's smoke detectors, forcing the building to be evacuated.
Roy Alien, a public education specialist with the Lawrence Fire Department, said that policy required evacuation of the building even when causes of the alarm were known not to be a fire.
About 200 residents waited across the street from Ellsworth for about 20 minutes while resident assistants and the fire department checked the building for remaining people.
Janet Roecker, Ellsworth Hall complex director, said that she hoped the fire alarm was a learning experience for the residents.
"We don't like to have a fire alarm ever, but since it happened, I hope that people learned something from it," Roecker said. "At least an officer got to tell all of the students that there are no fire drills and that when the alarm goes off, they need to get out. I think they'll remember that now."
Kansan staff report
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Serbs halt struggle for separate state
SARAKUŒ, Bosnia and Herzegovina — Serbs have abandoned the struggle to secede from Bosnia, said the unrationalist Serb who will be part of the country's three-member presidency.
Momcilo Kraijnik, one of the most fervent fighters for an independent Bosnian Serb state, told reporters yesterday that postwar realities meant giving up secession for now.
"Utopia has cost us both too much blood," he said of the Serb battle to break away from Bosnia. The country's 31/2-year war left 200,000 people dead or missing before ending last year with the Dayton peace agreement.
"Our wish to separate will always stay," Krajisnik said. "But if we are not realistic, we have no future."
krajnisik rejected any special status for Muslim President Alijza lzetbegovic within the presidency, even though izetbegovic was elected chairman when he received the most votes in Saturday's election.
Yeltsin to transfer powers for surgery
The Associated Press
MOSCOW — Boris Yeltsin promised yesterday to transfer his full powers, including control over Russia's nuclear arsenal, to Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin for the period of his heart surgery.
Yeltsin's decree ended persistent speculation about who would be in charge during his absence.
According to Yeltsin's decree, Chernomyrdyn will enjoy Yeltsin's powers to the full extent, including the authority to control the strategic nuclear forces and tactical nuclear weapons, for which purpose he will be given the corresponding technical means.
Presidential representative Sergei Vastrzhemsky said the decree aimed to set out how the power transfer would be carried out and what its scope would be.
Yeltsin said he would issue another decree specifying when Chemomyrdin will take control. The date of Yeltsin's bypass operation has not been set.
Classrooms won't crumble
Regents OK repair plans
By Lindsey Henry Kansan staff writer
HAYS —The Board of Regents approved the six state institutions' planning list for the Crumbling Classrooms bond issue yesterday afternoon.
Regent John Hiebert said the Regents' approval marked the end of considerable effort to improve the state's universities on the part of the Regents, the universities, faculties and staff.
san.
"This has been a long time coming," Hiebert said. "The Board's approval is the culmination of two years of effort. It's very hard in the
last years to get legislative support."
In May, Gov. Bill Graves signed the Crumbling Classrooms bill, entitling the state universities to $161,130,000 in government bond money for vast improvements in classrooms. The University of Kansas, Kansas State University, Fort Hays State University, Emporia State University, Pittsburg State University and Wichita State University will receive shares of the government bond money for individual campus constructions.
Earlier in the year, the universities were assigned to schedule p'ans for campus facilities, the amount of government money to be spent on each building, and in which fiscal year construction would begin, said Laurence Draper, president of the University Council. The planning lists extend through the fiscal year 2000.
Each school's plans will allow the Regents' financial planners to determine when to sell the bonds to get the best returns, Draper said.
"The goal is to have the interest rate payback to be the lowest," he said. "That's why the list is scheduled over such a long period of time. With the projected lists, the Regents can know how many bonds to sell in each given year."
Shares of the bond money will not be divided equally among the six universities. Each school was allocated a certain amount, based on size and overall need.
According to the Regents' cash flow estimates, the University of Kansas will receive the largest sum of about $42.2 million. K-State will receive $32.3 million, while Emporia State will receive $14.8 million, the least amount.
buildings on the KU campus scheduled for classroom improvements during fiscal year 1997 include: the Art and Design Building, Dole Human Development Center, Robinson Center, the Spencer Museum of Art as well as Blake, Haworth, Learned, Lindley, Lippincott, Malott, Strong, Summerfield and Wescoe Halls.
Bill Caton, president of the Kansas Development Financial Department, said he estimated $4 million in monthly spending to aid the state's crumbling classrooms.
In other business:
The Regents approved a joint venture between the Kansas University Physicians, Inc. and the University of Kansas Medical Center, which would establish an ambulatory care center in western Johnson County. The center will be located in the former Cedar Ridge Psychiatric facility.
An amendment to the University's list of Rehabilitation and Repair projects was approved to include improvements to mechanical systems in the Burge Union. Financed by the Kansas and Burge Unions Repair and Improvement funds, the new project will total $150,500. Additionally, a request to re-roof Grace Sellards Pearson Hall for $130,000 was accepted. Housing System Repair, Equipment and Reserve Funds will finance the project.
Rainrops keep falling
The view from the seventh floor of Fraser shows the foggy, rainy day from yesterday. Sprinkles and showers lasted throughout the day.
Nation-wide efforts urge involvement Into the Streets week to attract volunteers
By Spencer Duncan Kansan staff writer
David Cade thinks that next week will introduce people to the Lawrence Indian Center and other organizations that need help.
Cade, interim director of the Lawrence Indian Center, said that his group is one of several groups who will participate in Into the Streets week. Into the Streets is a national effort to get students involved in volunteer work.
Cade also said that the week is good exposure for his organization, which provides food, clothing and services to low income people who live in Lawrence.
"When you provide services like we do, then it's hard to focus on people and P.R." Cade said. "Events like these bring people in
See SERVICE, Page 2A
Sunday the day to pop the question
By Sally Puleo
Kansan Correspondent
Proposing marriage may be easier Sunday.
September 22 is the autumn equinox and also Proposal Day.
The informal holiday occurs twice a
"Proposal Day is a very specific holiday," said John O'Loughlin, Proposal day founder. "A gift to someone on that day means you consider them a potential wife or husband."
"In 1976, my cousin had been going with a guy for years," he said. "He was happy going steady, but she was ready for more. She'd drop hints, but he wouldn't pick up on them. She got frustrated. I noticed others having the same problem."
O'Loughlin invented Proposal Day in response to a cousin's situation.
O'Loughlin, a 45-year-old mail clerk from Irving, Texas, is not married.
"I looked into it, but I think Proposal Day works best as an informal holiday," O'Loughlin said. "Like Valentine's Day, it only goes on with public support."
year, once on the vernal equinox and again on the autumn equinox. On these dates, day and night are equal, and are symbolic of balance in relationships, according to O'Loughlin.
Proposal Day is not recognized as a federal holiday, but O'Loughlin feels it is better that way.
O'Loughlin helped the holiday gain public recognition by contacting media outlets.
Sonja Melcher, Marysville junior, said that Proposal Day was too much like Valentine's Day. "I would be like, 'When did you get engaged?'" she said, "and half of America would say, 'Proposal Day.' Just like everyone
"It's just meant to get the ball rolling." he said.
"If someone wants to propose to me, I want it to be on their own, not because society says it's something they should do," Melcher said.
Melcher wants to be proposed to when her boyfriend is ready.
Shyra Darris, Wichita freshman, was recently proposed to by her boyfriend of 16 months.
says they were engaged on Valentine's Day."
"The way he went about it, I don't see how Proposal Day would have helped," she said. "I like to think of the day John proposed, not of the day that some guy thought up."
Darris said Proposal Day could be helpful for others.
"For those who are shy and nervous and shaky in the stomach, Proposal Day is a good holiday," she said. "It gives them the extra push they need when they really want to do it anyway."
Photo Illustration by Édmee Röriguez / KANSAN
Sunday, September 22, is Proposal Day; giving a significant other a gift on this holiday can signify a marriage proposal.
www.kansan.com
TODAY
INDEX
Lotto ... 2A
Television Listings ... 2A
Opinion ... 4A
Features ... 6A
Sports ... 1B
Scoreboard ... 2B
Classifieds ... 5B
Volleyball Preview ... 6B
weather: Page 2A
PARTLY SUNNY
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The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of the Kansan are 25 cents.