3A
Thursday, September 29, 1994
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Commissioner takes heat from students
By Carlos Tejada Kansan staff writer
The fler being distributed around campus this month begins with the words, "Why would I want to register to vote? There's at least one person who hopes that you won't."
According to the flier, that person is Jim Chappell, Douglas County Commissioner. To back up the claim, the flier quotes Chappell from a radio interview on July 18 discussing a sales tax proposal on the Nov. 8 ballot.
But Chappell said yesterday that the quote was taken out of context by local media and misrepresented his view of KU students.
"It's like whispering to the first person in line, then going to the end of the line and hearing how the story has changed," he said.
The flier, which encourages students to register to vote, quotes Chappell from a radio interview on KLWN, a local AM radio station:
"There are 25,000 people ... who come here and live for nine months and pay no taxes here, and they are a major contributor to our jail population and to our municipal court population and to our court system, and those people don't pay anything for that. If there is a way to bring them into the tax equation and at the same
The flier is being distributed by the Student Political Awareness Task Force, a Student Senate organization that wants to encourage students to register to vote.
time not raise everyone else's property tax, then I think the sales tax is the way to go."
Since the flier was printed, the Lawrence Journal-World and the Kansan both have printed items saying Chappell had called KU students "transients," although neither quoted him directly.
But Chappell said the backlash was unfounded. He said he never called KU students transients and did not imply that they were.
"The students are the best thing to ever happen to Lawrence and Douglas County," Chappell said. "We have the jewel of Kansas up on the Hill."
The Kansan acquired a tape that contained only the part of the interview that was quoted in the flier. It proved Chappell said what the flier claimed he said.
But Chappell said had the rest of the 15 minutes been heard by students who took offense, his views on students would have been fairly represented. He said they used county facilities and paid for those services through taxes passed on in rent and grocery prices.
"In that way, they pay property taxes like everybody else," he said.
Before becoming a commissioner, Chappell owned several apartment complexes around the city that housed students. However, he said, he had sold all but one since getting into politics.
Marc Wilson, co-coordinator of the Student Political Awareness Task Force, said the quote was a clear-cut statement, no matter what preceded or followed it in the original interview.
"It's pretty plain what it means," said Wilson, Hiawatha senior. "Nobody's putting words in his mouth."
Wilson said one of the intents of the task force was to get students interested in local politics. He said politicians such as Chappell would continue to write-off students unless they got involved.
"Students don't participate" Wilson said. "They don't seek out those contacts. And without registering to vote, they have no say."
To that end, the task force will set up a voter registration booth every Wednesday in front of Wescoe Hall and every Thursday in front of the Kansas Union until the Nov. 8 election. Wilson said most students were eligible to register.
Sales tax to fund new prison
By Carlos Tejada
Kansan staff writer
Sometime during the debate between a Douglas County official and a KU student group, the proposed sales tax on the Nov. 8 ballot got lost.
But to county and Lawrence officials, the proposed sales tax is a necessity. Issues such as jail overcrowding, high property taxes and funding for social services won't go away, officials say, and something will have to be done soon.
The county proposed a one-cent sales tax on every dollar's worth of merchandise sold in the county, said Craig Weinau, county administrator. If the tax passes, a compact disc marked $15 would be sold for $15.15, not including state sales tax.
The money is badly needed, Weinaug said. The county must pay for a new jail, which already is overcrowded and must be alleviated by law.
"We need to build a bigger jail," Weinaug said. "It's going to happen whether we like it or not."
Plus, state law prohibits counties from raising property taxes beyond a certain level—a level the county has reached, said Jim Chappell, county commissioner.
The money would go for capital improvements to the county's four towns. Lawrence would use the money for parks and recreation improvements. Both Lawrence and the county would use some of the money to pay for community health agencies.
Chappell said that while the sales tax would affect students, raising property taxes eventually would as well.
"If property taxes are raised, Mr. Dillons is going to raise the price of eggs to pay his rent," he said.
Should a one-cent sales tax pass the ballot on Nov. 8, it would pay for various city and county projects in increments. It would raise $7 million each year.
Just the tax ma'am
$12.2 million Lawrence
$11 million
improvements. Construction of
$8.2 million Expansion of
a larger jail.
Remaining funds will be used by Baldwin City, Eudora and Lepton for capital improvements and relief of property taxes.
Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department, Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center and the Visiting Nurse;
KANSAN
Paul Kotz / KANSAN
Brent Helliker, Kansas City, Kan., senior, helps Bonnie Cable, Lawrence senior, register to vote. The Student Political Awareness Task Force, which was in front of Wescoe Hall yesterday registering students to vote, has distributed fliers that condemn County Commissioner Jim Chappell for a comment he made during a radio interview.
Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity house faces possible destruction by city
Daron Bennett / KANSAN
The Alpha Phi Alpha house, 1014 Mississippi St., faces possible demolition if fraternity members do not present a reconstruction plan to the city. The house has been abandoned by the fraternity for four years.
By Ashley Miller Kansan staff writer
The Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity nus about six weeks to decide what to do with their house at 1014 Mississippi St.
The house, which has been abandoned by the fraternity for about four years, is in a state of almost complete disrepair. Windows have been knocked out, doors are missing and the roof is gone. The top few stairs have collapsed and broken furniture is scattered throughout the first floor.
"That house is totally open from the third floor to the basement," said Gene Shaughnessy, chief building inspector for Lawrence.
Gayle Weyland, an environmental inspector for Lawrence, said a resolution for Nov. 8 had been submitted to the city commission by the city's building inspection office about the house. A resolution is an order setting a meeting time to discuss a problem. At that time, the owners of the house may tell the commission if they plan to do anything with the house.
If someone representing the fraternity does not appear at this meeting, the city is free to do whatever it wants
with the property, Weyland said. The city probably will hire a contractor to demolish the property.
The city does not have to notify the fraternity of the demolition, Shaughnessy said. However, it did have to notify Alpha Phil Alpha of the resolution on Nov. 8. A notice was sent to the fraternity's graduate chapter, Beta Lambda in Kansas City, Kan., because that chapter owns the house.
Two resolutions already have been filed concerning the Alpha Phi Alpha house. The first was adopted in January 1983 and the second in November 1990. Then, in January 1991, a representative of Alpha Phi Alpha's graduate chapter presented a reconstruction plan for the house to the city commission. Alpha Phi Alpha was permitted to keep the house, but the plan was never completed.
As temperatures drop, those people build fires, which also creates an immediate hazard because there isn't much left of the house.
Shaughnessy said that it would not take long for a fire in the house to grow out of control and spread to
neighboring houses
"There is evidence that fires have already been set in the house," he said.
Guy Howard, vice president of Alpha Phi Alpha, said the fraternity did not know that the house was being discussed in November. The graduate chapter had not notified the KU chapter yet.
"We're not going to let the house just be taken from us," Howard said.
Alpha Phi Alpha plans to create a reconstruction plan for the house to take to the Nov. 8 hearing, Howard said. The seven active members of the fraternity plan to attend.
"It's not that we don't care about the house," he said. "It's very historical to us. We just don't have the finances right now."
Alpha Phi Alpha is the first Black fraternity on campus to have a house. If the fraternity does use the house again as housing, Howard said chapter meetings would be held there and Alpha Phi Alpha would invite high school students to visit Lawrence and see the fraternity.
"Those are the type of things the house has been used for in the past," Howard said.
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