o g al of n t
h i t he in m d.
Merchants look forward to upswing in local economy
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following story was written by Kansas reporters John Hyatt, Janet Majure and Jain Penner from statistics and interviews with professionals of the firm, official firms, businessmen and bank officials.
The national economic dolrum has seeped into Lawrence, but the local economy is in comparatively good shape and on the verge of an upturn, according to local spokesmen and available
Decreased construction and declining markets for the products of local firms caused a higher unemployment rate in Douglas County this winter than the year before. Unemployment rose from 2.8 per cent in October to 5.4 per cent in February, which represented 1,450 persons seeking work.
Edson F. Mills, director of the Lawrence Job Opportunity Center, said recently he expected a potential job opening at Johnson & Johnson.
"Construction has been hit the hardest, but there are a number of projects coming up that should be considered."
SIGNIFICANT EMPLOYMENT gains also are expected in trade, agriculture and government. but
area manufacturers expect to hire only 50 to 100 workers during the coming months, according to
Despite the bad employment news during the last few months, local consumers have continued buying, though they may be more selective and more conscious of price than before.
A recent survey of Lawrence merchants found that most of them were satisfied with stable business conditions and expecting increased sales during the spring quarter.
City sales tax figures show that retail sales for the first two months of 1975 were $24,294, 186, or about $50,000 more than for the same period last year. However, adjustment for inflation in retail prices makes the current sales volume worth about $21 million in last year's dollars.
MERCHANTS and businessmen in several different businesses gave the following insights into the Lawrence economy:
Few standard Volkwagens are sold, Servio said, because most people want extraes such as air condensers.
Automobile dealers Only the local Volkswagen dealer reported "treendous" sales. Robert Scripo, sales manager for the outlet, said people wanted better gas
mileage but still looked for convenience and comfort.
Volkswagen's Rabbit, a new sub-compact car,
has sold well in Lawrence, he said.
A Chevrolet dealer and a Ford dealer both reported slow sales since December.
The business manager for the Chevrolet dealership said small models were outselling big cars, but the Ford spokesman said his sales were evenly distributed among the model sizes. Neither thought the rebates on certain models offered last year would be effective for Ford Motor Co. had afflicted their sales much.
DATSUN SALES BENEAT increasing in January, and more people are looking at foreign cars and considering buying, the general manager of the Datsun dealership, said.
"About 50 per cent of the people who are looking have large domestic cars that they are considering for their homes."
Both the Datsun and Chevrolet dealers said their customers shoped around before buying more than
they used to. They also said many people couldn't afford to make large down payments.
Sales apparently are about even with last year. Two slight gains and another two slight losses in bottoms.
afford to make large down payments
Furniture and Appliances:
There is no noticeable shift toward buying used furniture and appliances, according to one used
Miller said furniture sales would improve if interest rates on consumer loans went down.
Rick Miller, co-owner of a furniture store, said cash sales were increasing and credit sales were decreasing. At his store sales are about evenly split between cash and credit payment.
"ABOUT 90 per cent of my customers have been buying used furniture for a long time. The young people that buy it are doing it because their parents did," he said.
Another dealer said that he expected sales to increase during April and May, and that Lawrenc
business in Lawrence isn't all that bad as it is in towns like those with the automobile industry," he said.
Clothing:
Four Lawrence clothing sellers said that they had sold about the same amount of clothing so far this year as last, but that customers were more interested in special sales than before.
SHOPPERS MAY be looking around more before they buy, Al Huck, owner of the University Shop, Suspension.
"A lot more people have become price and quality conscious. They still have money to spend, but they want to be sure of what they're getting before they spend it." Hack said.
Lawrence S. Flannery, president of Weaver's Inc., said the nationwide recession had badly affected the clothing business on the East and West coast business in Lawrence was doing well. Groceries
Three new supermarkets opened in Lawrence during the past year, and one that was destroyed by fire last June reopened in November. Three grocers estimated that their sales volumes were slightly from last year, but two attributed the drop to increased competition.
KANSAN
See MERCHANTS page 2
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
Vol. 85-No.134 Friday, April 25, 1975
AURH OK's guidelines for structure
The University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
Kansan Staff Renorter
By JAIN PENNER
The Residents' Assembly of the Association of University Residence Halls (AURH) voted Thursday to accept a task force proposal that establishes guidelines for the operational organization of the AURH.
The proposal sets up four branches of the AURR and specifies the duties of the branch. The AURR is responsible for
According to Mike Taraboulis, AURH vice president, one of the major changes proposed for legislative organization is that attendance at Residents' Assembly meetings be mandatory. Only three excused students a semester would be allowed each member.
Taraboulos said changes made in the executive organization include assignment of communications committee to the secretary and the communications coordinator, and designation of the treasurer as coordinator of the Residents' Advocacy
THE JUDICIAL organization section of the proposal outlines the duties of the AURH Judicial Board and the Board of Appeals. According to the proposal, the Judicial Board serves as an interpreter of AURH guidelines and an appeals board for cases involving residents who cancel their contracts and want refunds exceeding the specified contract vacating rate.
Taraboulos said major changes made in the committee organization were the elimination of the communications committee and the stipulation that all AURH Assembly members except hall presidents serve on a committee.
By Staff Photographer DON PIERCE
Another task force report, which defines special improvements, was approved by the board.
THE REPORT defines special improvements as "a broad term referring to the purchase or rental of physical space or equipment which are additions to the residence hall or replacements of specially purchased special improvements."
A task force spokesman said the report had been compiled on request of the Advisor to the General Secretary and was no existing definition of special improvements and there had been a controversy over whether residence halls could use special improvement funds to purchase
Intermittent heavy rains kept students guessing Thursday afternoon. Many came to campus unprepared for the rain and were drenched by the surprising spring showers. Paul Wassmer, Paola freshman, takes advantage of a brief lull in the downpour to pedal home.
the task force thought that residence balls should be able to use special灵敏
See AURH page 7
April showers
Legislature approves university budget bill
By RICHARD PAXSON
Kansan Staff Renorter
TOPEKA - After almost three months of study and debate, the Kansas Legislature gave final legislative approval Thursday for fiscal 2016. University of Kansas budget for fiscal 2016
There was no opposition to a second conference committee's version of the appropriations bill for the state colleges and universities when the House approved the bill and forwarded it to Gov. Robert F. Bennett for his signature.
A spokesman for Bennett said Thursday night that Bennett would probably announce Wednesday or Thursday whether he would approve or veto the bill. Bennett is expected to approve the $26 million appropriation since its provisions are substantially the same as the budget recom- manded to be made to the legislature in late January.
APPROVAL OF the budget bill was among the last acts of this legislative session. The session ended when both houses adjourned about 10 Thursdight.
The bill provides a 10 per cent faculty salary increase and a 15 per cent increase in
other operating expenses at the state
schools. Under the provisions of the bill,
the University will receive $28,703,462 for
other operating expenses. $5,430,613 for
other operating expenses.
The second conference committee's version of the bill restored a $100,000 special allocation for the replacement of scientific teaching equipment that was cut from the bill by the House Ways and Means Committee.
The committee also approved an additional $50,000 allocation for internal planning and auditing. Deleted from the bill was $85,000 for the reeferencing of Strong Hall.
THE BILL WAS sent to its first conference committee when the Senate deleted it and amended it, but then it was born at Kansas State University which had been approved by the House. After that controversy was settled, the bill was returned to Congress, and it became the committee's version of the bill.
But a new conflict developed, this time over a $15,000 appropriation for the purchase of multiuse insurance for students at Penn State. The bill was sent to a second conference
committee, which eventually approved the insurance purchase and set the stage for final House and Senate approval of the appropriations bill.
APPROVAL OF funding for the Board of Regents schools came just after the House approved a $23.7 million increase in salaries and fringe benefits for state employees.
According to the Associated Press, a conference committee that was studying ways to reduce the costs of the pay bill considered banning pay raises for all state employees receiving $20,000 a year or more, and reducing the number of professors in that salary class. The recommendation wasn't included in the committee's final version of the bill.
In other action Thursday, the House and set to vote. Row Bennett a $22,750 application to the Helen Spencer Spenser Museum of Art, on which construction at KU is to begin.
A bill that would have prohibited the consumption of alcoholic beverages in the state except in private residences was killed on Thursday when it taken on it before the end of the session.
New parking permit fee schedule unanimously approved by Council
By TRICIA BORK
Kansan Staff Reporter
University Council approved Thursday a proposal recommending several changes in the university's charter.
The proposal submitted by the Parking and Traffic Board was passed unanimously, but with the recommendation that the new parking permit and fines system next year.
RICKYE SAID part of the problem was that the board had to deal with all complains about parking problems but had no authority to do anything about them. The large turnover of board members because of the conflicts and complaints surrounding the board makes it hard for the board to operate, he said.
Phill Fricke, chairman of the Parking and Traffic Board, said the changes would result in the same budget for fiscal 1975-76 as the board operated on in fiscal 1974-75.
Charles Kiesler, professor of psychology, said he wasn't concerned about whether the budget remained the same, but about how much he had spent. He was upset and fined and how that money was spent.
Several council members raised questions about the shortage of parking spaces in reserved areas and the need for new permits at the assignment of parking permits.
"Without that overlap of members each year, it's very difficult to carry out the duties of the board," he said. "the work has become more important, and they really old, when they're all complains."
The proposal provides that the price of residence hall permits be decreased from $17.50 to $15 a year; that the price of green (X- and O-zones) permits be decreased from $27.50 to $25 a year; all other county permits be included from $27.50 to $7.50 a year; and that the entry fee for X- and O-zones be increased from 20 cents to 25 cents an entry.
THE PROPOSAL also provides that the price of service per immigrant be increased from $10 to $14 a year and creates services for travelers and loading a Daisy Field Extension lot also.
The council approved a request from the School of Architecture and Urban Design for permission to record grades of plus and minus in school subjects, and transcripts of students in that school.
will be created just west of Iowa, with a fee of $5.
Charles Kahn, dean of the school, requested the change because, he said, evaluation in the courses is difficult because of the nature of the courses and requires a finer mesh to allow distinctions to be made. He also approved for a trial period of three years.
In other action, the council approved several changes in the wording of the University Senate code concerning titles of University administrators and offices. The Senate code required that changes resulted from a need to keep the code up to date with titular changes.
Council rejects purchase of nursing home
By DAVID HAIDER
Korean Staff Reporter
A motion urging the county to negotiate for the purchase of Cherry Manor nursing home was soundly defeated Thursday by the Douglas County Comprehensive Health Agency.
The council voted by secret ballot with 19 members against the motion for purchase of the nursing home, eight for and one abstention.
A feasibility report, made by a committee appointed by the city and county commissioners and the health planning council, was submitted before the vote. The report related
Cherry Manor would be used primarily for Medicaid patients.
operating costs, maintenance costs and financing of Cherry Manor, and cited reasons against purchasing the nursing home.
Members urging the passage of the motion said that the quality of county care for Medicaid patients would improve if the patients were in Cherry Manor.
THE FEASIBILITY report concluded that the home could be operated by either the city or county government entirely from the city or county government maintained above 84 per cent. The report estimated for yearly operating costs was $328,886, a reduction from the 1974 cost of $355,706 by a number of cost-saving measures. In addition, yielded total Medicaid fees of $456,250.
Frank Jordan, administrator at Cherry Manor, said that current standards of care at the home cost nearly $20 a day for each patient. He said that these standards of care probably couldn't be maintained on Medicaid fees of $1.25 a day.
Council members had recommended before the vote to encourage the county commissioners to retain approximately 40 private hospitals with the health department of Medicaid patients.
MEMBERS OF THE Douglas County Comprehensive Planning Council questioned the availability of capable administrators at the salary suggested in the feasibility study. The study recommended a new administrator approximately $13,000.
Some council members objected to approving the purchase motion because the cost would be nearly $1 million for the facility in the form of a mill tax levy increase for the taxpayers. All county commissioners agreed that they approved of a suggestion to allow the taxpayers to decide the issue.
Use of the south wing of Lawrence Memorial Hospital as a nursing home also was discussed by council members. A dispute followed among council members who believed the expansion was obtained for the use of the wing after hospital expansion was completed.
THE COUNCL. suggested using the county's Valleyview nursing home for
IN EFFORT to reduce unnecessary committees and to reduce the number of multiple committee assignments of faculty members who work in a section to the code. The new section states that except in cases such as committees to search for and screen candidates for administrative positions, no committees are tasked to existing committees rather than to create new ones.
Jordan said that Cherry Manor had many people from countries other than Douglas
Approval of the motion was expressed by some council members because of the uncertainty of whether private nursing homes would accept Medicaid patients.
Medicaid patients. However, the home has only 61 beds available compared to 100 beds at Cherry Manor. Valleyview is owned by the nursing home and is operated as a private nursing home.
Mrs. Raymond Cercil, council member, said that by having a nursing home that was owned and operated by the county, the chances were better for Douglas County patients to stay close to relatives and friends.
The council also approved two changes recommended by the Organization and Administration committee in the Senate rules and regulations.
One change, which was approved by the Board of Regents last year, governs the use of the College Level Examination Program in college. The College Entrance Examination Board.
Under the new policy, the University has to accept credit awarded at another institution at a lower level than the University might otherwise accept.
The final change stems from concern by students about the availability of textbooks and states that it will be the responsibility of faculty members to make sure that the necessary materials are ordered and textbooks and supplies are ordered in time to assure their availability.