20A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 2004
Wichita to work on police equality
About half of black officers feel they've been victim to discrimination
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WICHITA — Black police officers represented by the attorney who recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of four female officers are complaining about widespread discrimination within the city's police department.
The attorney, Lawrence Williamson, said the black officers were making their views known in hopes of resolving their complaints without a lawsuit.
The suit Williamson filed two weeks ago for the female officers said they had experienced sexual harassment and were treated unequally in pay, assignments and promotions.
Williamson represents 30 to 40 black officers who are among 63 in the 645-member department. Female officers total 71.
On Thursday, Mayor Carlos Mayans scheduled a meeting for this week to discuss the allegations from the black officers and other police department con-
"T hat's just a blatant example of
the insensitivity the majority of the Police Department has exhibited toward females and minorities."
Lawrence Williamson
Attorney
cerns.
"These are issues we need to really address," said the mayor, who expressed support for Police Chief Norman Williams.
He will meet with the chief, as well as City Manager George Kolb and Vice Mayor Carl Brewer.
Williams, who is black, has been chief for four years. He challenged some of the allegations from the black officers.
"This organization has promoted diversity, not only in the hiring process but in the area of promotions," he said. "We have strived as an organization to be a rainbow, from top to bottom."
The officers complained that they were subjected to racial epithets from white colleagues, that they are treated unfairly in promotions and discipline and that they have been denied assistance while handling calls, Williamson said.
"They don't get the same support in the field as Caucasian officers do." Williamson said.
The police chief, who met with black officers recently, questioned the allegations.
"Show me where we haven't backed somebody on a call," Williams said. "You can't compromise safety in this organization."
The black officers have also complained to civil rights leaders,
including the Rev. Lincoln Montgomery and local NAACP leader Kevin Mvles.
Myles declined to comment on their allegations other than to say, "It's bad."
The union's president, Kevin Lager, said he had no formal or casual complaints from black officers.
Williamson said the black officers also questioned their representation by the Fraternal Order of Police.
Lager said the issue is being spread by city leaders to draw attention away from stalled negotiations on a new contract for the police officers, at a stalemate after 16 months.
"No one's ever complained to me." Lager said.
Williamson characterized that comment as "ridiculous."
"That's just a blatant example of the insensitivity the majority of the Police Department has exhibited toward females and minorities." Williamson said.
Midwesterner named poet laureate
LINCOLN, Neb. — Great Plains poet Ted Kooer of Nebraska will be the next poet laureate of the United States.
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington officially announced the appointment Aug. 12.
"Ted Kooser is a major poetic voice for rural and small town America and the first poet laureate chosen from the Great Plains," Billington said. "His verse reaches beyond his native region to touch on universal themes in accessible ways."
Kooser, 65, replaces Pulitzer Prize winner Louise Gluck in the eight-month position.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kooser will assume the post in October.
The poet laureate's job carries with it few specific duties, allow-
"I really want to throw myself into this and
do what I can to further people's interest in poetry. I see part of my job as being a promoter of poetry of all kind."
Ted Kooser Great Plains poet
ing writers to work on their own projects.
The post includes an office at the Library of Congress, a $35,000 salary and an obligation to deliver and organize readings.
include Robert Frost, Gwendolyn Brooks and Rita Dove.
Previous poets laureate
"I really want to throw myself into this and do what I can to further people's interest in poetry," Kooser said. "I see part of my job as being a promoter of poetry of all kinds."
Kooser has written 10 collections of poetry, most recently "Delights & Shadows," published this year.
His 1980 collection, "Sure Signs," received the Society of Midland Authors Prize for the best book of poetry by a Midwestern writer published in that year.
His 2000 collection, "Winter Morning Walks: One Hundred Postcards to Jim Harrison," won the 2001 Nebraska Book Award for Poetry.
in a number of periodicals including The New Yorker, The Hudson Review and Prairie Schooner.
Kooser said he had always been dedicated to writing poetry that people can understand.
Kooser's work has appeared
"What I think poetry can do is give people fresh ways to look at the world," Kooser said. "I attempt in my poems to take ordinary things and look at them in a new light."
An Iowa native and poet since age 18, Kooser graduated from Iowa State University in 1962 and earned his master's degree in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1968.
He is a visiting professor and teaches writing in the University's English department.
Howard Fricke, secretary of administration, told a legislative building committee Friday he hopes to have a better idea of what it would cost to renovate Docking by October.
TOPEKA — State officials hope to have a clearer picture later this fall about the cost of renovating the Docking State Office building near the Statehouse and the future space needs for state employees.
Topeka awaits costs for beautification
Earlier estimates have placed the cost of renovating Docking and the older Landon building, located east of the Statehouse, at between $60 and $100 million.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Legislators must sign off on any proposal to renovate or replace state office buildings.
"We are approaching a life-safety issue in both buildings and something needs to be done," Fricke said.
Architects GLPM, of Lawrence, are conducting the review at a cost of $89,000, Fricke said.
Renovating Docking and applying the new standards could mean the state would be able to consolidate Landon employees in Docking and look for other uses, Fricke said, including turning the building over to private developers.
The building is also a state historic site.
Caleb Asher, spokesman for the Department of Administration, said recent renovation and movement of the Department of Transportation to the nearby Harrison Center had freed space in Docking.
Application of new space standards meant more free space in Harrison.
Currently, Docking is home to the Department of Revenue, Capital Police and Social and Rehabilitation Services.
Landon houses the state treasurer's staff, Department of C
"We are approa ching a
life-safety issue in both buildings and
something needs to be done."
Howard Fricke Kansas Secretary of Administration
rections, Department of Administration and the division of budget.
The state purchased the Landon building in the 1980s, which was previously the headquarters of the Santa Fe Railroad.
Fricke said deferred maintenance to that building made it inefficient for the state to renovate it to current standards.
Docking, though, is structurally sound, Fricke said, and it is anticipated that it could be renovated cheaper than replacing it and Landon combined.
Rep. Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, said officials must also consider the expense of temporary housing for those agencies if they are moved out of Docking during a renovation.
"I think we need a capital area plan to know where we're going. Piecemeal never works," Neufeld said.
Other legislators questioned why the state appeared to have surplus office space when there was a concern about lack of facilities during Gov. Bill Graves' administration.
Asher said the agency instituted a better property management system to get a clear picture of how much space and how much it was spending annually for leases.
For example, the state leases about 700,000 square feet in Shawnee County alone at a cost of $8.8 million.
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