V
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAS STATE HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
TOPEKA, KS 66612
VOL. 101, No. 145
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
FRIDAY,MAY 3,1991
ADVERTISING:864-4358
(USPS 650-640)
NEWS:864-4810
No criminal charges filed against police
By Vanessa Fuhrmans
Kansan staff writers
No criminal charges will be filed against police officers who fatally shot a 22-year-old American Indian man last week, but an internal investigation into the officers' prior conduct will continue, the Douglas County district attorney said yesterday.
"Based upon the verdict of the coroner's jury and my own independent prosecutorial review of the case involving Gregory Sevier, I drewETER charges will be filed," said District Attorney Jim Flory at a news conference.
After a little more than a day of hearing testimony, six inquest jurors ruled Wednesday that the shooting death of Sevier was justifiable. He was shot and killed April 21 by two Lawrence police officers who were his residence at 1627 E. 18th Street Terrace at the request of his mother.
Internal investigation will continue
However, a juror attached a note to the verdict form saying that the jury had concerns "about how the events were handed from the time police ended until the final confrontation before Gregory Sevier and the officers."
The jury came to its decision because it realized that it could only rule on whether officers Ted Bord-Ann and Scott Sutherland had broken the law, Flory said.
"I indicated that the focus of the legal issues was very narrow," he said. "The coroner's inquest was not." He noted it. It focused on a very narrow issue.
Flory said the jury had some concerns that could not be addressed in the inquest. He added that he welcomed an investigation by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation to determine whether civil rights were violated during the shooting incident.
i don't think the matter is closed," he said. "If anything can be done to learn from this experience, it should be done."
Ron Olin, Lawrence chief of police, said in a joint news conference with Mayor Bob Walters and City Manager Mike Wilden yesterday that he had ordered two additional reviews of the Philips's conduct during the incident.
"I have ordered the internal affairs review of the case to assess whether our officers complied to general procedures and procedural instructions." Ohn said.
He said Bordman and Phillips would remain on paid administrative leave until the reviews were concluded.
"I intend to consider the reinstallment of the officers only after a careful review of their actions and when they are deemed physically and mentally prepared to return." Olin said.
"The repercussions to the officers are very drastic. Both are very shaken by this incident, as are the members of the police department.
In addition to the internal affairs review, the department's training unit will look into the incident, he said.
"We wish to make any steps possible to minimize danger to citizens and officers," Oln said. "If there is a need, we will work for the future, we wish to do so."
The police department is executing a plan presented to the city manager includes training by the U.S. Department of Justice police supervisors on conflict management and cultural diversity, Olin said.
Steps Included in the Plan of Action presented by Chief of Police Ron Olin on March 25th.
- Discussion of the goals and objectives with employees in small group settings.
- A statement re-emphasizing the Lawrence police department's goals and objectives.
- The addition of 27 officers for community-oriented, non-intervention purposes.
- New guidelines on media contacts.
Olin said the shooting death of Sevier had a profound effect on the way the police department was per-
- Accreditation program consisting of a long-term examination of the department policies, procedures and practices.
ceived by both its members and the community.
Park memorial shows support in Sevier death
"We hope to move rapidly toward a period of reconciliation and healing," he said.
By Eric Nelson
Kansan staff writer
Members of the Lawrence community had the opportunity yesterday to show their support for the family of Greg Sevier, 22, who was shot fatally by police officers April 21.
About 4 p.m. yesterday, the family arrived at South Park, 12th and Massachusetts streets, where a tepee had been erected Wednesday as part of the effort to remember the seven local American Indians killed in the past 14 years.
"I think that is where a lot of the strength is being drawn from right now," he said.
Spencer Guoaddle, Wichita resident and cousin of Greg Sevier, said people visiting and telephoning the family had been supportive.
The support in the American Indian community always has been strong, he said, but the support is not exclusive.
"It's not just one race of people that this involves" he said.
Guoladle said that the family had ties with the entire community and that people from many backgrounds had come to visit the family
Guoladle said the tepee would be in South Park until tomorrow and then would be moved to the cemetery on the Haskell Indian Junior College campus. He said he was unsure of who had organized the vigil.
Maureen Perico. Lawrence resident, stopped at the vignell with her husband Brad and their 3-year-old twin daughters.
She had been friends with the Sweirs for years and had worked with Greg Sevier's mother, Orene. She had given birth to support and "just had for courage."
Perico said she had heard that a part of the vigil was to protest the all-white jury in the inquest, but she was not sure of the participants' rights. She was more concerned about showing her support to the Seviers.
See related story
Page 5
Nathan of the Umaha tribe blesses supporters of a vigil remembering local American Indians who have been killed in the past 14 years.
Turkey closes main route into Iraq
The Associated Press
Action stifles allied effort to relieve refugees
SILOPI, Turkey — Turkey closed its main border route into Iraq today, cutting the overland flow of allied relief to Kurdish refugees in the region. U.S. military officials confirmed
There was no comment from the Turkish government. The action comes after Turkey's Kurdish rebels and Iranian officials threw three Turkish officials last week.
About 7:30 a.m. today, Turkish authorities blocked the border crossing at the Habur River Bridge six miles northwest of Zakho, the center of the allied relief effort in northern Iran.
"You better believe it is affecting our operations," said U.S. Army Col. Bob Flocke, a chief spokesperson for the allied effort. "We've been driving convons across the bridge every day."
At the bridge this morning, three vehicles of a U.S.-Canada military medical team, seven U.S. Marine commandos, and two truckers were kept from crossing.
Most of the supplies have been trucked overland, though a portion is flown in by helicopter. The Turkish navy does not no action today to halt relief flights.
A U.S. Army official said the U.S. Embassy was involved in talks with the Turks to try to open the border
Kurdish guerrillas killed three Turkish officials and wounded nine others at a club in the eastern town of Kucuk. The attack included the local governor, the blitz.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson declined to comment.
The flareup in the seven-year-old battle by Kurdish separatists comes as the guerrillas reportedly have expanded their bases in northern area where allied forces are now bringing camps for Iraqi Kurdish refugees.
"There has been some indication that the Turkish government is unhappy with an article by a member
The same day, the guerrillas blew up a Turkish military vehicle with a land mine and attacked a police station in tickets in other towns in the southeast.
est-ranking official killed by the separatists.
A senior allied military official offered another explanation for the border closing.
of a press," the official said.
Yesterday, the allies plunged 50 miles deeper into northern Iraq, taking control of a zone that includes the city of Mosul. Saddam Hussein's opulent villas.
Turkish authorities have arrested British journalist Robert Fick, whose recent report in the London newspaper the Independent alqur'anic militants had been stealing foodstuffs from some of the camps east of Siloni.
The government charged him with insulting the Turkish army.
The border closing came as U.S. British, French and Dutch forces were expanding relief efforts for the Kurds.
security zone created when allied troops entered northern Iraq on April 20 was necessary to lure more of the Kurds down from their mountain camps, where they fled in terror of Saddam after a failed revolt.
The push eastward, which the Iraqi government was notified about Wednesday, created a 70-mile strip along the Turkish-Iraqi border, U.S. Lt. Gen. John Shalikashvili told reporters.
The zone extends south from the Turkish border up to 30 miles.
Shalikashvili, who heads the multinational operation to rescue the Kurdish refugees, estimated 20,000 to 30,000 already have returned.
"It is clear that a trickle is turning into a stream," he said.
Military leaders said widening the
The United States and its allies have been building a tent city outside Zakho for refugees not able to return home.
See Page 3B
The Board of Regents Qualified Admissions proposal advocates establishing criteria for high school students entering Regents institutions.
Although the proposal remains the same, the way high schools evaluate secondary education soon will not. Are qualified admissions out of date?
Tax bill is no miracle, just a quick fix
TOPEKA — It took 99 days for the Legislature to develop a tax package, and it night. It is still two steps away from enacting law and amounts only to a panacea.
By Joe Gose
After legislators from the House and Senate worked two days in a conference committee to reach an agreement to pass the $138 million package, 21.1
Kansan staff writer
Originally, the bill was to have devoted almost $72 million to property tax-relay through school district financing, which still would require about $23 million in state program cuts.
If the bill is approved by the House today, it would still face a threatened vet by Gov. Joan Finnew.
The committee left the amount
devoted to local school districts blank on its final report, but even with the $55.1 million that now is required by law to be allocated to school districts, the State General Fund would be $15 million in the red.
"This is not a lucrative bill as far as the State General Fund," said Senate Majority Leader Kerr Kerr, who was dedicated to the general fund."
However, before the tax package was developed, the state programs were facing almost $200 million in cuts.
Any restoration of the Board of Regents budget, which now faces a 2.8-percent cut in present financing, would come out of the general fund.
State Sen. Wint Winter Jr., RLawrence, said that the tax increase would have a positive long-term
effect.
"The cuts in higher education would have been grim and gross in reality, not only this year, but for the next two years," he said. "Higher education would have been devastated."
Winter said there would be a 2.5 percent salary increase and a 2-percent or 3-percent increase in the operating budget.
money to the Regents budget.
Winter said State Sen. Gus Bogina, R-Shawnee, would be a tough adversary when it came time to restore
"I'm confident in the next two days there will be some restoration in higher education," he said. "Whether it's going to be $4 million or $8 million, I don't know. But there was going to be a freeze on the operating budget and no salary increase."
"We aren't done with that budget yet," he said. "I can't see any restoration, they didn't raise enough money. As the Senate position stands to date, we are still short $15.1 million."
Although Bogina had said earlier in the session that he would restore money to the Regents budget, he said he was ready to seek to cut the budget even further.
However, State Representatives Sandy Praeger, R-Lawrence, and John Solbach, D-Lawrence, said they did not think Bogina would be able to prevent the House from restoring at least some financing to the Regents.
But both admitted that the vote on the bill today would be close.
New figures show a rise in the ranks of jobless
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits hit the half-million mark again in April, as the ranks of those seeking help rose for the second straight week, government officials said yesterday.
"It's another half a million who lost jobs and are filling for unemployment," added Robert Brusca of Nikko Securities. "It's a very high error, and it's very disturbing."
"This is the recession biting at the personal level," said staff member, chief economist at the National Monetary Bancor of New York.
For the week ending April 20, the number of people filing unemployment claims for the first time rose by 2,000, pushing the total to 500,000, the Labor Department reported.
Analysts, though cautioning that the number can be extremely volatile, said that yesterday's data on jobless claims showed that the recession did not abate last month.
Tomorrow, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its overall unemployment figures for April. In advance of the report, many analysts predicted that the unemployment from 6.8 percent, possibly lowered by 7 percent, they predicted that businesses would cut 150,000 to 200,000 more jobs.