KU
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY kansan Serving KU For 77 of its 101 Years
77th Year, No.103
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
Tuesday, March 21, 1967
ASC to act
Opinion polls may go
Bu JOHN MARSHALL
All Student Council (ASC) members will be given a chance to participate more actively in student government.
Tomorrow night, the ASC Committee on Committees will present several bills to the council which will abish "non-functioning" ASC committees and place more council members on executive committees.
The bills propose the abolition of the Student Opinion Poll, the
ASC Facts and Statistics Committee, and the Student Communications Board.
Kyle Craig, Joplin, Mo., sophomore and chairman of a Committee on Committees sub-committee, will present the bills to the council.
GREAT WRONG exists in student government as it now stands, Craig said.
university," Craig said, "and as it stands now, they are more concerned with legislating within the council itself."
"The people in student government have not been involved in the issues and problems of the
One of the new bills provides that all members of the Council on Student Affairs (COSA) also be members of the ASC.
"BY DOING THIS," Craig said, "ASC members, rather than 'outside' members would be more directly involved with student af- Continued on page 8
Continued on page 8
House committee passes smoke bill
By CHIP ROUSE
Kansas House Bill 1329, which provides for the sale of cigarettes on state college and university campuses, was passed yesterday by the House State Affairs Committee by a vote of 12-7.
The bill, sponsored by Republican Reps. Kenneth Winters of Prairie Village, and Bill Brier of Overland Park, will now be placed on the House Calendar, where it will be considered for adoption by the House.
PRIOR TO April 15, 1964, cigarettes were sold on state college and university campuses in Kansas, with profits generally going to various student organizations.
On March 15, 1964, the Kansas Board of Regents adopted a resolution calling for a halt to cigarette sales on the six state campuses.
The current legislation provides
for the resumption of cigarette sales on the six state campuses, with profits going to the student union funds at each school.
STUDENT GOVERNMENTS of
Continued on page 4
BULLETIN
WEATHER
The U.S. Weather Bureau forecasts partly cloudy skies and warmer temperatures tonight and tomorrow with a low of 35 to 38 degrees.
Precipitation probabilities are less than 5 per cent tonight and less than 10 per cent tomorrow.
HONOLULU —(UPI)— President Johnson proposed direct peace talks between the United States and North Vietnam in a letter to President Ho Chi Minh on Feb. 2, it was disclosed today. He rejected the offer.
Hanoi Radio broadcast the Johnson offer and Ho's reply as the President stopped here briefly on a fueling stop en route from his conference on Guam to Washington.
It coincided with disclosures in Saigon today by South Vietnamese Premier Nguyen Cao Ky and Chief of State Nguyen Van Thieu that Saigon also had made direct peace overtures to Hanoi and that its offer also was rejected.
Hanoi Radio disclosed that Johnson had made his peace offer through Moscow nearly six weeks before he called the Guam meeting of U.S. and South Vietnamese leaders. The Ho reply was dated Feb. 15.
Ho called for the unconditional cessation of the bombing of North Vietnam and the end of "other war aggression" as a pre-condition to peace negotiations, Hanoi said.
UDK Photo by Jerry Tammen
WHO IS THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL?
Gene Bollin, Raytown, Mo., senior, makes a decision, and adds his vote to those of other engineering students to choose "Learned Miss." Ken Mathiasmeier, Arkansas City senior, as a counter, will perhaps know the results after elections end today.
"Learned Miss" finalists selected
By DICK GROVE
Six KU coeds remain in the running for the Engineering School's "Learned Miss' title as voting concludes today in Learned Hall.
The six finalists are Louise Sorrentino, Manhasset, N.Y., freshman; Linda Neibarger, Tonganoxie sophomore; Cherie Shuck, Atchison freshman; Donna Mitchell, Lawrence junior; Peggy Vratal, Larned sophomore; and Laurie Wedell, Ofallon, Ill., sophomore.
The winner and her two attendants will reign over the 1967 Engineering Exposition, April 21 and 22, the weekend of the Kansas Relays. She also will enter the Miss Lawrence-KU contest under Exposition sponsorship.
Mike Spengel, Nokomis, Ill., senior and queen committee chairman, said this is the first year that engineering students have chosen the queen. In the past the queen was always chosen by a faculty committee.
"We want to encourage all the engineering students to vote so the queen can truly be representative of the school," Spengel said.
The winner of the "Learned Miss' title will be announced sometime before the Engineering Exposition in April.
KTA seeks causes of fatal accidents
By PAUL HANEY
The Kansas Turnpike Authority is reviewing the cause of accidents which have occurred on the turnpike since it was opened 10 years ago in an effort to learn how fatalities on the super highway can be reduced.
According to figures released by the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association, 38 persons were killed on the turnpike in 1966 compared with 26 for the previous year.
Figures also show 9.7 fatalities per 100 million miles of travel on the Kansas toll road compared with 2.8 fatalities for all U.S. turnpikes and 5.8 for all U.S. roads.
L. W. Newcomer, chief engineer and manager of the turnpike, said the 80 m.p.h. speed limit on the turnpike is not responsible for the high fatality rate. He said in accidents in which speed is a main factor, motorists do not drive slower because of a lower limit.
Speed not major factor
He explained the reasons for the turnpike having the highest turnpike speed limit in the country. The turnpike was the first four-lane highway "in this part of the country."
"Some drivers will drive 100 even if the speed limit is 60." Newcomer said.
The turnpike authority believed other turnpikes would adopt a speed limit of 80 m.p.h.
The state law says all speed limits "shall be reasonable and prudent." The turnpike authority believed the 80 m.p.h. speed limit met this criteria.
Eastern limits lower
Claude McCamment, state director of safety, said the limit for turnpikes in the eastern U.S. is 55 to 65 m.p.h. He said in Colorado the limit is 60 to 65 m.p.h. Comparable roads in Kansas have a limit of 75 m.p.h. at daylight and 70 m.p.h. at night.
McCamment said he urges motorists to drive 55 to 60 m.p.h. on the turnpike and interstate highways at night. He warned that driving faster causes motorists to overdrive their headlight beams.
Newcomer said the authority wants to protect its patrons. He said if they felt after analyzing data that reducing the speed limit would reduce accidents, the speed limit would be lowered.
Determining causes difficult
He said it is difficult to determine the exact cause of many one-car accidents.
He mentioned suicide as the cause of some turnpike deaths. He said in some cases notes are found in wrecked vehicles.
"We feel we're doing the public a disservice when we talk about this kind of thing," Newcomer said. "It might give some nuts an idea."
McCamment said last week at least three of last year's turnpike fatalities were suicides.
McCamment charged last week that the speed limit on the turnpike is 80 m.p.h. because "they have to hold it up there to make money."
Costs three cents per mile
Certain sections of the turnpike are more expensive to travel. For example, the section of road between the eastern terminal of the turnpike and the west Lawrence exit costs 80 cents for 27 miles or about three cents per mile.
The same section of road accounted for the largest number of fatalities on the turnpike last year, McCamment said.
Road needs repair
McCamment said the cost of driving the section is higher since land is more expensive in the eastern part of the state and because the road was constructed of concrete instead of macadam which was used west of Topeka.
"Quite a few places need to be fixed on the turnpike southwest of Topeka," Newcomer said.
He said a roughometer, a device which records the roughness of roads, was run over the turnpike last spring and that major trouble areas have been spotted.
"We're operating in the black; we're ahead on our bonds and we have money in the reserve," he said. "We're going to spend the money on extensive resurfacing."
This year the turnpike is doing "more than about half of all turnpikes" in terms of fatal accidents. Records show only one fatality on the turnpike this year.