Agency to study debtor jails
WASHINGTON (UPI)—A new federal agency named to scrutinize consumer credit will undertake this month to find out why, among other things, debtors are still going to jail in some parts of America.
The National Commission on Consumer Finance, cite "widespread abuses" in the financing field, announced Sunday it has summoned a star-studded group of witnesses to testify on methods now used to collect consumer debts.
held in Washington June 22-23
The hearings by the commission, authorized by the 1968 "truth in lending law," will be
"We believe there are wide spread abuses of creditor remedies which place a particularly harsh burden on unsophisticated or uneducated low income families," said Robert Braucher, commission chairman.
"Indications are that these abuses have had severe economic and social consequences on thousands upon thousands of American families."
such currently legal and "all too frequent" situations where;
- A housewife can be sued if she refuses to make payments on a washing machine that doesn't work. If the store where she bought it has turned the loan over to a finance company and the company sues, she has no defense.
- A driver whose car has been repossessed can be sued for the difference between what the car brought at public auction and the full amount of his auto loan.
According to the commission staff, of particular interest are
- Families who believe their debts have been wiped out by court bankruptcy action can later be sued by finance companies charging fraud in their loan application.
- Debtors can be ordered by a court to pay the full amount sought by a lender without a hearing—either because they signed a contract with a fine print clause agreeing to the action or because a process server deliberately threw away the summons for them to appear in court.
Racial issue proves big Wallace theme
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (UPI) — "What kind of a deal would a man make for 250,000 votes?"
The backers of George C. Wallace supplied both the question and the answer, contending that, if elected, Governor Albert P. Brewer, Wallace's opponent, would name 175 blacks to the state highway patrol.
Brewer took over the governor's chair two years ago when Laur-leen Wallace, who was elected as a stand in for her husband, died of cancer. Wallace soundly whipped Brewer last Tuesday in a runoff primary in which Brewer was attempting to win a four-year term of his own.
Although Brewer hammered away on a variety of issues, including schools, law and order, and taxes. Wallace hit upon the one that jarred the voters into action.
He warned repeatedly of the "black bloc vote" and said if he suffered defeat, blacks would take over the reins of state government and hold them for "the next 50 years."
"Don't you let them niggers beat us," he remarked to a friend at the Barbour County 'court-house, where he cast his ballot election day.
Brewer, who called the campaign the "dirtiest" he'd seen in his political career lamented that race was "the one issue we couldn't win against."
Wallace, long accustomed to having Alabama voters rubber stamp his every campaign bid, found himself in trouble following the first primary May 5. Brewer, while failing to get a majority, had outpolled him by 11,000 votes and Wallace faced an uphill fight.
On the night of the first primary, as he sat in front of his color television set and watched Brewer take the lead, he began to talk more and more about something he'd mentioned, but had not emphasized, in the first campaign—the "black bloc vote."
By the time he made his speech to campaign workers that night, Wallace had apparently decided on the issue, which he rode right down to the wire.
In the speeches that followed, Wallace repeated over and over that Brewer received "250,000 black votes" and asked what kind of a deal would a man make for 250,000 votes?" Wallace forces answered their own question in newspaper advertisements.
Wallace produced returns from black precincts in the first primary which indicated Brewer carried them by tremendous margins. "Why there's more opposition in Soviet Russia," Wallace cracked.
Seeking to again take the initiative, Brewer was forced to play down his "performance, not promises" pledge and make some promises.
He said he would reduce the cost of automobile tags and abolish the sales tax on drugs and medicine—which he called a "tax on misery."
Despite this, and the pointea references to tax hikes during the Wallace administration, Wallace set the tempo of the runoff campaign.
Brewer could not stem the Wallace tide.
When it was over Wallace wished Brewer "luck" and said his election had assured Alabama a continued "place in the sun."
Social welfare school offers summer study
Eight summer institutes for social workers will be offered by the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare at four sites in late June and early July.
Programs on supervising youth on probation will be offered at the Broadview Hotel in Wichita June 23-24 and at Fort Hays Kansas State College, Hays, June 30-July 1. Lecturers will be Profs. Ray R. Price and Forrest L. Swall, who also is assistant dean of the School of Social Welfare.
Social work and family planning will be discussed by Mrs. Mildred Webb Sigler of the KU faculty and guest lecturers July 7-8 at the Broadway in Wichita and June 30-July 1 at the Holiday Inn, Kansas City, Kan.
Consultation as a mental health service is scheduled for June 23-24 at the Broadview in Wichita. Profs. John C. Baird and Larry L. Brown will instruct.
Six morning periods will be led by Prof. Goodwin Garfield on "Social Work with Groups" at the University of Kansas Union. Dates will be June 23-25 and June 30-July 2.
Smith, Stitt to head staff of '71 Jayhawker
Prof. Louis L. Frydman will offer sessions on changing perceptions of mental disturbances July 7-8 at the Broadview in Wichita and at the Ramada Inn in Lawrence July 14-15.
Scott E. Smith of Indianola, Ia., and Ronald W. Stitt of Shawnee Mission will be the editor and business manager respectively of the 1970-71 Jayhawker, the magazine-yearbook of the University of Kansas. The two were chosen by the Jayhawker Advisory Board, a student-faculty body.
The Jayhawker is published in magazine form four times during
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1970 KANSAN 11
the year. When assembled in a post-binder cover, it serves as a yearbook.
Smith, Indianola, Ia., is the business manager for the 1969-70 Jayhawker. He was a junior in the School of Business but is changing career objectives and will enroll this fall in the School of Education.
Stitt, Shawnee Mission, has been personnel manager for the business operations of the Jayhawker. He will be a senior majoring in chemistry and premedicine.
June 8-13-Darlene Austin June 15-20-General Assembl June 22-27-Saints'n Sinners June 29-July 4-The Pride
Yuk Down
Hillcrest Shopping Center
Live Music Every Night
(except Sunday)
— All Summer —