Fuel Cells: KU professor researches fuel alternative to gas. Page 3
Plasma: KU students donate plasma for quick cash rather than humanity. P.
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KS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 3
PO BOX 2585
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
NEWS 864-4810
ADVERTISING 864-4358
WEDNESDAY. JULY 16, 1997
SECTION A VOL.103.NO.156
(USPS 650-640)
Montana sues Sega for breach of contract
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Joe Montana has sued Sega of America Inc. for $5 million, claiming the company breached its contract with the former star quarterback on a football video game.
Montana had granted the videogame maker an exclusive worldwide license involving the game, according to court documents filed Friday in San Mateo Superior Court. The game was to have been on the market by May 1.
Joe Montana
Montana was to have received up to 7 percent of sales, as well as fees totaling $825,000, the lawsuit said. But after negotiating, Sega sent a letter to Montana telling him the contract no longer applied.
The suit seeks $5 million in general, special and punitive damages. The suit claims Montana lost money and other business opportunities during six months of negotiations with Sega.
Jury awards $26.6 million to fired 'Seinfeld' fan
MILWAUKEE — A jury awarded $26.6 million yesterday to a former Miller Brewing executive who sued the company for firing him after he discussed a racist episode of "Seinfeld" with a female co-worker
Jerold Mackenzie was fired from his $95,000-a-year job in 1993 after he told co-worker Patricia Best about the episode and she complained.
In closing arguments yesterday, Mackenzie's lawyer, Gerald Boyle, said Mackenzie had been targeted by executives who had wanted to get rid of him.
"They were out to get this guy," he said. "I am telling you right now what happened to that man is so indecent that it cries to heaven for vengeance."
Mackenzie was fired because his conversation with Best was the last in a series of bad management decisions, said Mary Pat Ninneman, the company's attorney.
She said the company had reprimanded Mackenzie in 1989 after allegations of sexual harassment
In the lawsuit, Mackenzie claimed Miller, Best and a company executive had interfered with his employment.
Poisoned chicken feed forces plant closings
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — At least four Arkansas poultry plants have been shut down this week because of dioxin in chicken feed, temporarily idling about 2,100 workers.
Federal officials ordered producers who used the feed contaminated with dioxin to keep the chickens from being killed before they are tested. About 1 million birds are in limbo, said Travis Justice of the Arkansas Farm Bureau.
Officials found unusually high levels of dioxin in two Tyson chickens last fall and traced the dioxin to ball clay from a Mississippi mine. Two Arkansas feed makers used the clay, which prevents feed from clumping, and sold it to chicken growers as well as some catfish farmers and egg producers.
Dioxin is considered a probable carcinogen at high enough levels, but the Food and Drug Administration said the danger was in cumulative lifetime exposure, not in eating a few chickens raised on the feed. The chickens fed the contami-
The chickens fed the contaminated feed may be salvageable
"They could separate out fat where (dioxin) might be concentrated and sell the portion below the acceptable level," said Jacque Knight, a representative for the Department of Agriculture.
GTA health care proposed
University also to chip in for tuition and campus fees
The Associated Press
By Una Hart Kansan staff writer
Last year's chants of "Two, four, six, eight, let's go negotiate!" have ended with a tentative three-year agreement between the Graduate Teaching Assistants' Coalition and the University of Kansas.
with the University for better pay and improved working conditions in September 1996.
The coalition began negotiating
Much of the debate has centered around whether GTAs, who are not full-time employees, should receive health-care benefits. All full-time state employees receive health-care benefits.
The agreement provides for the
team, said that the agreement would be presented in the fall to coalition members for ratification. Even though all GTAs will be affected by the agreement, only coalition members may vote. About 250, or 25 percent, of GTAs belong to the coalition.
University to pay tuition for GTAs who work 40 to 50 percent of a full 40-hour work week. For GTAs who teach between 10 percent and 39 percent of a 40-hour week, a portion of the tuition would be paid.
For a GTA taking 12 credit hours during the 1997-98 academic year, the proposed benefit would save a Kansas resident $1,172 and a non-resident $3,856.
If the agreement is ratified, it will be sent to the chancellor, the Board of Regents and the state Department of Administration for review. The agreement would take effect on the first day of the month after it is approved by the Regents and the
The proposed agreement also has provisions for the University to pay campus fees for three credit hours per semester for GTAs with 40 to 50 percent appointments. GTAs with appointments between 10 percent
See BIGOTRY,Page 2
and 39 percent would have a portion of their campus fees paid.
Richard Buck, doctoral candidate and chairman of the negotiating
Summer fun in the fountain
Lawrence resident Neil Kitos, 12, enjoys a break from the heat and cools off in the Chi Omega fountain yesterday afternoon. Kitos was part of a day-care group that took a field trip to the campus for some fun.
GR Gordon-Ross / KANSAN
A bus heads down Jayhawk Boulevard yesterday carrying KU students attending summer classes. Student leaders anticipate an increase in passengers because of KU on Wheels' new annual passes.
New annual bus pass popular with students
By Tamara Miller
Kansan staff writer
KU on Wheels began selling an annual bus pass for the first time during last semester's fall enrollment, and the change has made Scott Kaiser, Overland Park sophomore and Senate transportation coordinator, confident.
"About twice the number of people are buying the annual pass over the semester pass," Kaiser said.
Student body president Scott Sullivan, Leawood senior, said KU on Wheels had improved its image and promoted sales by offering the annual pass.
Revenues now are above target, and Kaiser predicted that the bus passes could bring in almost $400,000. Last year, KU on Wheels sold 3,667 bus passes. Kaiser said he thought this year they would sell more.
"By the time we're done, we may sell 4,000 bus passes." Kaiser said.
During summer orientation, the semester bus pass costs $55 and the annual pass is $105. This fall, the semester pass will cost $60 and the annual pass will cost $110. The discount on bus passes is available only during enrollment, Kaiser said. This will give students an incentive to purchase passes during enrollment.
Bus passes will be sold at the options table during new student orientation, but only students attending orientation will be able to buy the
passes at the discounted rate.
Until last spring, students purchased passes each semester. Kaiser said the annual pass was more convenient for the students and for the transportation system.
Sullivan said that in the past it was harder to project a budget because revenue came in throughout the year. The one-time purchase of annual bus passes will bring revenue in at the beginning of the year, which will make budget estimates easier.
Kaiser said that the projected revenue might be attributed to an increase in freshman enrollment. He also said that many of the older students are buying bus passes this year instead of parking permits.
"Parking prices went up but KU on Wheels passes are the same price," Kaiser said.
A yellow parking permit, which is used mostly by off-campus students to park by Robinson and Memorial Stadium, increased $20 this fall to $75 for 12 months. Metered parking in those lots is 50 cents an hour.
Kaiser said riding the bus was also attractive to students because they could ride through campus and avoid parking problems and the walk up the hill.
Bus passes will be sold during the KU on Wheels bus pass sale from 8:30 to 4:30 p.m. Aug. 18-22 in the Kansas Room of the Union.
"It's obviously the best bus buy you can get," Sullivan said.
TODAY
INDEX
Opinion ...4
World News ...7
National News ...8
Classifieds ...9
Sports ...10
SUNNY
Weather: Page 2A
Lawrence attracts residents in droves
New apartment construction surges
By Graham K. Johnson
Kansan staff writer
Jason McClasky still had Lawrence in his heart two years after he graduated. So he was pleased to find that a 1996 boom in apartment construction would give him plenty of housing choices when he finally returns to Lawrence this August.
McClasky, a 1955 KU graduate, who's returning to Lawrence to live. He'll commute to his job in Topeka.
The acres of new apartments McClasky found were a result of a 1996 explosion in apartment construction, the likes of which city officials have not seen in decades. A growing population and a perfect location have fueled the development of large apartment complexes in Lawrence.
"Last year was an unprecedented year. We had probably five large complexes go up at once," said Jim Sherman, a Lawrence building inspector.
There's no doubt that the population of Lawrence is growing. The
Sherman speculated population growth might be fueling the boom.
Most of the construction was in Lawrence. Almost 1000 of the 1300 apartments constructed in Douglas County were built within the Lawrence city limits.
"Well, I know that the population has increased quite a bit, and I assume that not everyone who is coming to Lawrence wants to buy a house, so they get an apartment," Sherman said. "I assume that whoever's developing these properties has guessed that they can rent them."
1990 census counted 65,208 residents in Lawrence. By 1997, Lawrence had grown to 78,131, according to Lawrence City Planning Department figures.
However, Fred Sherman, city and county planner, disputed the notion that a growing population was the driving force behind the new apartments. He suggested that other factors were at play.
"I don't think that population drives the number of units. It's usually that the population is a result of the number of units," said Sherman, who is not related to Jim Sherman
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