Wednesday, April 9, 1975
University Daily Kansan
3
Foster homes debate . . .
From Page One
The objections of the residents and land owners in the area fall into two main categories: the effects of the children and the physical effects of the project itself.
Mrs. Kenneth Daniels is worried about the Village's proposed sewage lagoon, which would be located at the bottom of her gently slipping property. She said the slope of the land would drain the sewage into the river. The residents added, in addition, the southwest breeze that many the residents will blow the smell of sewage into her house, she said.
"It's just not like a home," she said.
Daniels voiced complaints common among her neighbors. Like others she is afraid that having an "institution" in the area will devalue the surrounding land.
It's just not like a home... she said.
But. But.
The children who will be housed in the project.
DANIELS SAID SHE and others would worry about the children roaming the area at night, and expressed concern that the teacher would disrupt the school bus and classroom.
"People have come to the country to avoid the city, congestion, pace and stress of urban life," she would infringe on their rights for which they originally invested their life's earnings and efforts in providing desirable homes for their children as well as themselves," she said.
Isabell Allen, a land owner in the valley, said she wasn't worried about the children's behavior, but was concerned about their number and their proximity.
Although the county commissioners are only considering approval for the building of two houses, there are plans on the drawing board for three houses in the village. The total number of children in the project could reach 70 or 80. ONLY A FEW of the families in the area
support the proposed project. One of them is Charles Oldfather.
Oldfather, professor emeritus of law, said he was upset by the attitudes of the other residents. He said they were saying the law was unfair and that they didn't want it in their back yard.
He said their objections to the lagoon were groundless. Oldfather said that he had a sewage lagoon on his property and it didn't smell.
Another resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said she had a neutral position with the police.
"I can't see why it would be a bad thing. They (the other residents in the valley) can't give up now because they've gone all over," he said. "They just don't want it here," she said.
She said residents shouldn't be too concerned with the lagoon site since they kept horses on the land between the houses and the lagoon site.
LANCE BURR, who would be the director of the project, said the lagoon shouldn't be a concern. The state would have to make tests on the area and approve the site before the lagoon is built. The state does not approve the site, then an entirely new location will be sought, he said.
Burr agreed with some who oppose the project and think that it would be better to put the children in foster homes but said there weren't enough good foster homes for them. She hoped that she could have fewer children in each house but that it wasn't economically practical.
Burr said funds for the house, at a projected cost of $100,000, had already been pledged, and the land for the site donated. Parents of each house will earn a salary of $680 a month and will receive free food and use of a van for the house.
Burr said the project was supported by private contributions and also received $13
a day for each child from the state for daily expenses...
STONEBACK VOICED a frustration over having to vote down a project that he believed was in the best interest.
"I try to represent the people in my area. It's kind of hard to represent all the people. I'm not against the concept, but I agree with people—it's the wrong location," he said.
Stoneback said he thought that many of the people who supported the project, including the other two commissioners, themselves aware of both sides of the issue.
Stoneback said he had driven to Topeka twice and had talked with the principal at the school the Topeka Village children attend. He said that even though the children were supposed to be thoroughly screened to eliminate delinquents, the school official had told him there had been discipline problems with the children.
There also are serious differences between the Lawrence and Topela sites, he buys. The law firm's remote and its sewage lagoon doesn't threaten other residents in the area, he said.
Johnson's trial set for May 14
Al Bryan Johnson, 23, is scheduled to go triathlon 14 in Lunafield, Neb., on one day of the week.
Johnson was sentenced here Nov. 5, 1974, to a 5- to 20-year prison term in the Kansas State Penitentiary after he pleaded no contest in Douglas County District Court to a charge of raping a University of Kansas woman student Feb. 3, 1974.
NUCLEAR PROPULSION SCHOLARSHIP
The Navy has a special program for college sophomore men who are majoring in engineering, math or a physical science. If you're accepted for the Navy's nuclear power candidate scholarship program, and sign up right now, we'll pay your tuition and scholastic fees plus $100 a month during your junior and senior years. Upon graduation you'll get a chance to train in nuclear propulsion as an officer in the United States Navy. So, if you're interested, call now, collect:
LT. JIM GROMELSKI Navy Information Team (816) 374-2376
or contact
Professor of Naval Science Room 115—Military Science Bldg. (913) 864-3161
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