VOL. 99, NO.148 (USPS 650-640)
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PUBLISHED SINCE 1889 BY THE STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
WEDNESDAY JUNE 21,1989
SUMMER WEEKLY EDITION
James Skinner, Overland Park junior, is rehabilitating at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
KU student optimistic Rapelling accident hasn't hindered his spirits
by Donna Eades Kansan staff writer
he suffered a severe closed-head injury that left him without the use of his legs. Skinner was in a coma for about a week after the accident.
Early reports said Skinner was taking a break from work on a school project when he fell from a stairwell railing. After a witness discrepancy was cleared, authorities said he had fallen while rappelling from the
James Skinner, slowly wheeling his chair down the hospital corridor next to his 81-year-old grandmother, slyly asked her if she was ready for another wheelchair race.
Family and friends smiled and laughed, the tension of watching Skinner attempt to manage his new wheelchair broken.
After more than two months in bed at the University of Kansas Medical Center, having a new challenge to mater, one that gets him out of his hospital into the way of busy nurses and hospital altes, seems to give energy.
crings.
"He's just a positive, ornery guy," said one of his nurses, Colleen Lundstrom.
In a situation where many people would give up skiing, Overland Park junior, who was injured in a rappelling accident on campus in March, stays optimistic by looking to the future.
Skinner doesn't dwell on how his accident could have been prevented. He doesn't talk about what he can't do. Instead, he concentrates on the possibilities open to him and his chance he has to meet. When he will be the time when he will leave the hospital and return to his industrial design studies at KU
No one knows what went wrong the night last March when Skinner fell 25 feet down the open airwell of the Art and Design Building.
ourth floor to the landing between
the second and third floors. Skinner
has no memory of the accident or of
the 48 hours before it.
"We beed at Gammons and had a little bit to drink," said Gerard Overby, Topea junior, who was with Skimmer the night of the accident. "But by the time we came back to the building it was a hard moment for our faculty to restrapelling. We were perfectly in control of our faculties at that time."
It was not the first time Skimmer and Overbey had rappelled together. Overbey taught Skimmer the basics of rappelling, which is used in mountain climbing, at a rock quarry east of Lawrence, Skimmer, a former high school springboard diver, learned quickly, Overbey said.
"He'd been rappelling several times without me, and I figured it was time for him to take some responsibility, that I didn't need to check if anyone "overhead" did. I didn't check his rope the night he fell."
Overbey stood at the bottom of the stairwell and acted as belayer the night of the accident.
In case of a fall, the belayer pulls on the rope to ensure the slow descent of the climber. If the belay绳 is not properly attached, a belayer will not be able to control the fall, said Rick Anderson, AUC outdoor education coordinator.
"It must have been hooked up wrong." Overbey said.
Although there are no specific rules against rappelling on campus buildings, KU police spokesman Schuyler Bayley does not recommend
"We would ask if someone sees a rappeller that you call from a blue phone and we would come over and ask them to come down." Bailey said.
Victoria Thomas, KU general counsel, said the University is not liable for injuries suffered on her floor. The evidence is clear evidence of negligence.
"If someone came and rappelled on the side of your house, no one would expect you to have a sign in front saying 'napping.' Thomas said.
Skinner attributes the accident to the combination of a vertical surface, which he had never attempted to rappel before, and hard, inflexible shoes. "The process of rappelling is real clear to me. The situation I was in just wasn't the best. If a rappelling teacher had been around, I would have been admisoned — severely." Skinner said with a wry smile.
Skinner said sports had always been a part of his life. He was active in competitive diving at Shawnee Mission South High School, but had put organized sports aside since he came to KU.
"I like to do active things, different stuff that people hadn't done before," he said.
In the evenings after dinner Skinner and friends from Kappa Sigma fraternity, in which he is a member, would challenge each other to dives from the high diving board at Robinson Center. Whoever was first in line would perform a dive, sometimes just a canniball, sometimes more difficult, and the others would follow suit.
"I would try not to stump them with something too difficult," Skinner said.
Movie productions in Kansas
Lance Ruke, assistant professor of industrial design, had Skinner in his class last spring.
"He's a creative leader in class," he said. "Nothing will prevent him from doing what he wants to do."
Filmmakers see Lawrence as an ideal spot to set the stage
See SKINNER p. 6, col. 6
Kansan staff writer
bv Donna Eades
Two years ago, it was Matt Dillon playing pinball in local bars. This summer it was Lloyd Bridges buying potato chips at Dillons.
Since the 1982 filming of the made-for-TV movie "The Day After," producers and directors have shown an increasing interest in shooting films
Since then, feature films "Kansas" and "Nice Girls Don't Explode" were filmed in the Lawrence area. "Twister" was filmed in Wichita and "Crazy Era" in Topeka, and "Dark Before the Dawn" was filmed in the Hugoton area.
Several TV movies and miniseries have also been filmed, including "Murder Ordained," filmed in Emporia, about a minister convicted of murdering his wife, and "The Parade," loosely based on the William Ihn play, *The Parade*. It is still going in to Topeca for the miniseries "Cross of Fire," about a central Indiana Klan leader in the 1920s.
1920s. Jerry Jones, coordinator of the Kansas Film Commission said There
were several reasons for increased interest in Kansas, particularly the Lawrence area.
He said Lawrence was a central location for a production team that needed to be able to reach all shooting locations within one hour.
The Flint Hills on the west side of Lawrence provided film makers with a virtually treeless prairie landscape, and Kansas City gave me just as much joy. Just outside of Lawrence were many small towns for rural settings.
"The biggest advantage in Lawrence is ease of movement," said Michael Stubbs, location man and the filming of "Cross of Fire."
"Time is money for us, and if we can film in Lawrence in the morning and in Vinkin in the afternoon, it's a real advantage." Stubbs said.
A second important reason for film makers' increased interest was the
"After' Cross of Fire,' word will go back to California that Kansas is a
One positive experience encourages other film makers to give Kansas a try. Stubbs said.
good place to work," Stubbs said. "Hollywood is a small community. Everyone hears, whether good or bad."
If Kansas offers certain advantages to film makers, it receives obvious benefits in return. Makers of "Cross of Fire" are expected to spend from $3 million to $5 million in Kansas before work is completed on June 28. Much of that will go into the service community and into the pockets of Kansas residents who work as extras or as production staff.
Another benefit to Kansas is the amount of publicity generated by a film crew and the celebrities that accompany it.
"Where else can you get the name Kansas printed in daily newspapers for days running?" Jones said.
"It was between us and Iowa for 'Field of Dreams,' and Iowa got it." Jones said. "Okahama beat us out for about 20 minutes worth of 'Rain Man.' We still lose more than we win."
for day training. The process of bringing in the revenue and getting the publicity was extremely competitive, Jones said
KU minority affairs head hired
Marshall Jackson is the new head of the Office of Minority Affairs.
by a Kansan reporter
marshall R. Jackson has been appointed interim director of the KU office of minority affairs. The appointment was effective Monday
He replaces Rosita J. Dorsey, who resigned recently.
Caryl K. Smith, dean of the department of student life, declined to comment on Dorsey's resignation.
Jackson was assistant director of the placement center, and had previously been assistant director of admissions. He worked in the admissions office for 17 years, including one semester as a bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Kansas.
"I want the job," Jackson said of the position opened by Dorssey's resignation. "I could return to my boss, but I think I will be a candidate."
No additional information was available as of yesterday, according to Robin Ewesole, director of university relations.
State tells agencies to expect '90 budget cuts
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — Spending by the 1989 Legislature has made state finances so tight that Gov. Mike Hayden's budget director has told agencies to reduce their budget requests for funds to levels deciding program cuts.
In a letter to agency heads dated June 15, Budget Director Michael O'Keefe said the level of spending approved this year, compounded by the drought situation, makes bare-bones funding for the fiscal year that begins July 1, 1990, "even more necessary than usual."
The letter became public Tuesday after members of the Legislative Budget Committee discussed the austere financial situation lawmakers will face when they convene next January.
While O'Keefe's letter is not specific, Rep. Bill Bunten, R-Topeka, chairman of the Budget Committee, said some state agencies are interpreting it as meaning they fce a 5 percent budget cut next year.
accept a level of funding that is 5 percent less than what they normally would expect to receive. But he does not know the level will force program cutbacks.
O'Keefe's letter merely points out that Hayden expects agencies to
Under the state's budgeting system, state agencies each year submit A. B and C-level proposed budgets. An A-level budget provides for no growth in spending, while the B-level provides for normal, inflation-driven growth and C-level allows for enhanced funding.
"The budget you will submit at levels A and B will require reductions in existing programs and functions." O'Keefe said in his letter.
"I encourage you to continue your efforts to review all means to achieve efficiencies, in order to continue service levels even at these reduced costs."
The austerity of the allocation results principally from the fact that the approved Fiscal Year 1990 budget expenditures are significantly greater than Fiscal Year 1990 revenues.
Level A funding is 5 percent less than B-funding, meaning O'Keefe's call for agency heads to request no more than A-level spending represents a 5 percent reduction from what would be a minimum request in a normal budgeting year. He did not save in his letter that agencies are
Michael O'Keefe budget director
budget director
being cut 5 percent from what they got for next fiscal year.
Buten said it wasn't clear to him whether Hayden is proposing to cut agenies' financing by 5 percent next year or what would be subject to the cuts. But he had not seen O'Keefe's letter.
Bunten he assumed demand transfers from the general fund for such things as income tax rebates to school districts and sales tax revenue to the highway program would be exempt.
However, another member of the Budget Committee, Senate Minority Leader Michael Johnston, D-Parsons, said it could mean "healthy cuts in local aid, because half the budget is in local aid."
budge is in town.
Hayden is on vacation this week.
O'Keefe, Chief of Staff Dennis Taylor
and Press Secretary Kathy Peterson were unavailable to comment on how the governor's requested reductions would affect various agencies.
Assistant Press Secretary Frank Ybarra issued this statement on behalf of the administration:
"The governor doesn't set the budget until November, after the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group meets.
"Not until then will we know what the financial condition of the state will be, and any speculative assessment of theARGET at this time would be 'mature'."
A 5 percent budget reduction would equate to about $125 million less spending from the state general fund
The 1989 session spent $56 million more than Hayden recommended.
The 1989 Legislature, at Hayden's request, cut taxes by $10 million to top collection of an income tax windfall the state realized because of changes made in the federal tax laws in 1986.
"The (Hayden) administration feels it is time to build the balances in the general fund," Bunten told members of the Budget Committee.
After reducing revenue by that much, the lawmakers financed Hayden's budget requests and added the $6 million.
O'Keefe wrote the agencies:
Johnston said even if the Legislature had accepted Hayden's budget recommendations and asked for his endorsement, "We still have some real problems next year."
"Estimated revenue growth is not sufficient to overcome that situation."
"The austerity of the allocation results principally from the fact that the approved Fiscal Year 1990 budget expenditures are significantly greater than Fiscal Year 1990 revenues, and significantly greater than the governor's recommendation.
Richard Ryan, director of the Legislative Research Department, told the Legislative Budget Committee that he expects the state to have ending balances of $325 million on June 30 and $151 million on June 30, 1990, based on actions of the 1989 Legislature.
O'Keefe said the general fund balance on June 30, the end of this fiscal year, could be as much as $380 million. However, he said, reduced revenue because of the tax cuts and spending authorized by the federal sure that balance "will be down rapidly in Fiscal Year 1990."
With no increase in revenue and no expansion of the budget, Ryan's figures projected a 821.7 million general fund deficit on June 30, 1991, based on current levels of expenditures.
The balances continue to drop sharply because the appropriations authorized by the Legislature would outstrip projected revenue by $174 million in Fiscal Year 1990 and by $172.7 million in FY 1991.