University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, March 29, 1989
Campus/Area
3
Francisco's goals include city growth
Editor's note: This is the third of six City Commission candidate profiles. The candidates are running for three available spots on the commission. The election will be April 4.
by Carrie Harper Kansan staff writer
Marci Francisco, 38, said that she could offer a broad range of views
and experiences to city government.
Francisco, an assistant director of facilities planning at the University of Kansas, was a Lawrence city commissioner
from 1979 to 1983 and served as mayor for two years. Since then, she has remained active in Lawrence.
Francisco is a member of the League of Women Voters, the Lawrence Preservation Alliance and the Oread Neighborhood Association. She also participates in the Main Street Design Committee, the Kansas Grassroots Arts Coalition, the Lawrence Bicycle Club and the Lawrence chapter of the National Organization for Women.
Francisco placed fifth in the primary election with 2,139 votes.
Adding to the city staff, making recycling a part of city sanitation program and maintaining existing water and sewer lines are three primary needs of Lawrence, Francisco said.
"The city government needs to keep pace with the growth of the community."Francisco said.
r Francisco said that neighborhood plans, the Comprehensive Downtown Plan and historic surveys would help迪蒙决定 what to preserve
The city needs to address the special problems of redevelopment in existing neighborhoods. Francisco said. She said that she would propose improvements in the streets with improvements and maintenance of existing infrastructure.
The city needs to make decisions in compliance with codes and regulations and make city policies that address the issues of existing neighborhoods. Francisco said.
Francisco received a bachelor's degree in environmental design in 1973 and a bachelor's degree in architecture in 1977, both from KU.
The delays in the environmental impact statement about the South Lawrence Trafficway indicate that we should not be the best one. Francisco said.
Francisco said that the city may have overlooked better, less expensive options because the solution to the traffic congestion problems was presented before a discussion of the problems themselves.
Francisco said that if the city passed a bond issue, it should be subject to petition so the public would have an opportunity to vote.
"Lawrence residents will be paying for a state road with city, county and federal taxes," Francisco said. "If the Legislature votes to increase our gasoline taxes and vehicle fees, should include some state funding."
Francisco said that when people think about a suburban mall in Lawrence, they think of what they see outside of Kansas City and Topeka.
Drug testing decision raises questions
Francisco lives at 1008 Ohio St
by Jennifer Corser
The recent Supreme Court decision supporting some mandatory drug testing has brought disagreement about whether it is necessary and appropriate.
Kansan staff writer
Ellinor Schroeder, professor of law, said that the court's decision raised questions about the possibility of a mandatory drug testing of other workers.
"The court has certainly given the green light for drug testing," she said.
Last week, the Supreme Court approved drug testing for some workers entrusted with public safety or those in sensitive government
jobs. The decision specifically applied to railroad workers involved in accidents and U.S. Customs Service employees who wanted jobs dealing with drug-enforcement or involving firearms.
Questions could be raised about whether a worker carrying a large sum of money is in a sensitive situation, or even if secretaries are in a position to need drug testing, Schroeder said. And the big question the court may have to decide is random drug testing.
Those in opposition claimed that drug testing was an unconstitutional violation of the Fourth Amendment and the right to privacy. However, supporters of the testing have called
drug abuse a national emergency.
"There was absolutely no evidence that there was any drug use among customs people," Schroeder said.
Schroeder said that the court was wrong in its decision.
Despite any opposition, the court usually does not reverse its decisions and probably won't this time unless there is a change of justice, she said.
"I don't see that as likely because anyone in the current administration will probably support drug testing," she said.
James Demney, director of the KU Police, said that he supported his department's policy of testing job applicants.
He said that the tests provided
rurther information about an applicant, including whether he or she could be trusted with a gun.
Oriously, that's a common thing. will have to be approached very carefully," he said.
KU Police officers also are tested if they are suspected of drug use, Denney said. However, testing of current officers has not been used
Another controversy about mandatory drug testing involves the accuracy of the tests. Some say the tests can produce false positive results.
Mark Magee, vice-president in charge of the laboratories at Clinical Reference Laboratories, Inc. in Lenexa, said that the drug tests the
laboratory used were more than 99 percent accurate. That is because any positive result is tested two more times using different types of tests.
Drug tests use antibodies to detect the presence of drugs and other substances in urine or blood. The antibodies will react only to the particular drug for which the sample is being tested.
According to a brochure published by the Syva Co, a Palato Calif., company that manufactures drug tests, the time that must pass before a drug can be detected varies with the type of drug and influence the accuracy of drug tests include an individual's metabolism and frequency of drug use.
E. Joseph Zurgu/KANSAN
Slattery sponsors new bill to protect rural hospitals
Taking charge of the action, David Russell, Oklahoma City, Okla., junior, makes a move against his cponent, Doug Bukaty, Wellsley, Mass., sophomore. Russell yesterday defeated Bukaty 8-1 in the 195-pound weight class in the first round of a wrestling championship at Robinson Center. The championship was sponsored by Recreation Services.
Wrestling tactics
by John P. Milburn Kansan staff writer
Something is being done to stop climbing health costs and to prevent the closing of rural Kansas hospitals, Rep. Jim Slattery said yesterday.
Slattery, D-Topeka, has sponsored a bill with other House members to subsidize the cost of treatment at rural hospitals.
President George Bush has recommended more than $2 billion in Medicare and Medicaid
Medicare is a federal health insurance program for people 65 years and older. It helps pay hospital costs, stays in skilled nursing facilities, physician's charges and some additional
Medicaid is a federal program that helps pay for health care for poor, blind, elderly and disabled persons and for low-income families with children.
Slattery said the bill was designed to address the problem of health-care reimbursements to patients with heart conditions.
In 1983, fees were fixed for some procedures performed by hospitals. Slattery said the practice was unairy to rural hospitals where costs were higher and fewer varieties of drugs were done.
The new bill would revert rural hospitals to the method known as reasonable cost reimbursement. Money was given to the hospitals based on what they charged for service.
Slattery said the current reimbursement rate for hospital is 15 percent of an urban hospital's cost.
there is growing support for this bill and band support from other congressmen," he said.
He said congressmen were concerned with inner-city hospitals because care was provided for people with no insurance or other ways to pay for services, causing the hospital to lose money. The new bill would provide compensation, he said.
In 1983, fees were fixed for some procedures performed by hospitals. Slattery said the practice was unfair to rural hospitals where costs were much lower and fewer varieties of operations were done.
The second part of the bill would raise the level of reimbursement to doctors in rural areas to that of urban hospitals. Slattery said rural hospitals in states like Kansas had difficulty attracting doctors because they could earn more in other states for performing operations. The difference in compensation could be several thousand dollars, he said.
Financing this portion of the bill would cost the federal government $200 million, but much of the money would come as payment scales were readjusted. Top levels of payment in rural areas would be increased compensation for rural areas would be reached in three to five years, Slattery said.
The bill is still in committee and could take a long time to be passed with the Bush administration asking for further cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. Slattery said.
D. Kay Clawson, executive vice chancellor of the University of Kansas Medical Center, said compensation was needed for providers of primary care in rural areas. He said there was a disparity in the amount of money given under the federal programs to physicians.
Clawson said the main concern of most medical associations was rising malpractice insurance rates, which force physicians to pay much more before starting a practice. The amount was much higher than in other states, causing new doctors to go to other states to begin their practices.
KU construction worker listed in serious condition
Inter-cerebral bleeding cause of his collapse
by a Kansan reporter
Donald Pugh, 44 was listed in serious condition yesterday, said Stormont-Vail spokesman Mistee Leighty
Inter-cerebral bleeding caused a worker to collapse at the construction site of the new science and technology library on Monday, said a U.S. government department at Stormtorn-Vail Regional Medical Center in Topeka.
Inter-cerebral bleeding is bleeding into the brain which can be caused by the breakage of blood vessels.
Because of incorrect information supplied by Lawrence Memorial Hospital. Pugh was incorrectly identified in vesterday's Kansan.
Lt. Jeanne Longaker, KU police spokesman, said police arrived at the scene at 4:50 p.m. and the Douglas County Ambulance Service transported Pugh to the Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
Fugh, a construction worker for F4R Air Conditioning of Dallas, Texas, was working on a platform under the northeast corner of the new science and engineering campus, numbered in his right arm, according to a KU police report.
Pugh, then in critical condition,
was transferred to Stormont-Vail at
10 p.m. Monday, Leighty said.
He managed to climb down to a platform four feet below where he was working before he collapsed.
Pugh is from Murchison, Texas.
Fowler supports second high school
Editor's note: This is the third of five Lawrence School Board candidate profiles. Three spots on the board will be filled in the April 4 election.
by Carrie Harper Kansan staff writer
Alice Fowler, 54, said she represented the people who normally
speak up. She said she was a product of the Lawrence school system, having lived in Lawrence all of her life.
Fowler, who was elected to
was elected to the school board in 1985 and serves as president, is a clerk-typist for
the lawrence Fire Department. She said she would like to continue working on the board, using the knowledge gained during the past four years.
Although the decision did not come easily, Fowler said she thought a second high school was the correct decision because waiting would not alleviate Lawrence's School overcrowding problems.
The board now must look at the options for the second high school before the bond issue is presented to the public next spring, she said. The boundary lines for the new school district need to provide a more balanced student population in each school, Fowler said.
"Equity addresses socio-economic and racial issues as well as facilities," Fowler said.
rowter said there were some children who fell through the cracks in education.
"The district feels that a child's economic background should not determine the quality of education he or she receives." Fowler said.
She said basic skills needed to be emphasized in school curriculum even if it meant cutting back on the amount of homework sure those basics were not lost
University of Kansas
Fowler lives at 412 Locust St.
"When things like this go on and,
on the students don't profit, the teachers don't profit and the
school doesn't profit." Power said.
Get involved with the University and the Football Program by participating in the 1989-90 Crimson Crew.
Crimson Crew
All interested freshmen, sophomores and juniors are asked to attend an informational meeting in room 135 in Parrott Athletic Center on:
Any questions, call the Football Office at 864-3392
Thursday, March 30 at 5:00 p.m.
Although she did not expect the district to need binding arbitration. Fowler said she would support adding a provision for it to teachers' contracts.
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