4A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN GUN SAFETY
NEWS
THURSDAY, MARCH 16.2006
Risks seen as small
BY DAVID LINHARDY
editor@kansan.com
KANSAN CORRESPONDENT
A 27-year-old Eudora man couldn't believe Lawrence Police Department seized his MAK-90 semiautomatic rifle from the trunk of his car.
The man declined to be identified for this story.
The man had been trying to sell his gun at a pawnshop Feb. 17 when police seized the weapon and cited him for having a gun within 200 feet of a bar.
The citation came under the recent revision to city ordinance 7976, which now prohibits possession of knives and firearms within 200 feet of businesses that serve alcohol.
Business owners, city management and Lawrence residents all have differing views on the ways to increase downtown safety and control weapons near nightlife spots.
City officials met with owners of alcohol-serving businesses March 6. Eileen Strong, owner of Strong's Antiques and Alnee's Coffee shop, 1025 Massachusetts St., hoped the meeting would create common goals for increasing downtown safety.
"The majority of establishments reported that they have had very few incidents that generate safety concerns," city attorney Scott Miller said. Another meeting is scheduled for April.
Business owners disagree with commissioners
At the Feb. 14 city commission
meeting, commissioners briefly mentioned the possibility of mandating closing times for bars. Jerry Neverve, co-owner of Red Lyon Tavern, 944 Massachusetts St., thinks such ideas are ignorant.
"I think everybody downtown would fight that," Nevere said. "This is a college town. If we try to curtail activity, it's going to have a significant economic impact."
In the past, City Commissioner David Schauer had questioned continuing to approve liquor licenses for downtown bars,
"You have one unfortunate incident downtown and people tend to over-react"
Jerry Neverve
Owner, Red Lyon Tavern
but Strong doubted such ideas would ever see fruition, nor does she think it should.
"I heard five years ago the City Commission isn't issuing any more liquor licenses," Strong said.
Strong said she hoped the city commission wouldn't focus on the Granada shooting, which she and Nevere said was an isolated incident.
"You have one unfortunate incident downtown and people tend to overreact," Neverve said. "The vast majority of places down
here take care of their customers.
The state level
State senators passed Senate bill 418, which allows the state to issue licenses for citizens to carry concealed weapons Wednesday 30-10.
Rep. Barbara Ballard (D-Lawrence) flatly opposed the bill.
"Kansas has some of the most lenient gun laws in the nation," Ballard said. "My constituents overwhelmingly are not in favor of concealed-carry.
Schauner also opposes concealed-carry laws.
"I think it's a negative, period." Schauner said.
Schauner also worries about self defense bills that allow a person to "shoot first and ask questions later." House bill 2577 states that a person, without attempting to flee first, can use deadly force against to prevent "great bodily harm" or to stop someone from breaking into a house.
Some Lawrence residents favor such concealed-carry and self defense laws. Lisa Day, who lives in eastern Lawrence, has spent most of her life in northeastern Kansas. She said law-abiding citizens want to protect themselves. "If criminals are afraid that their intended victims might be armed, they will think twice about committing those crimes," Day said. "Fail and prison don't scare them anymore. But death will."
Edited by Cynthia Hernandez
IRAQ
Declassified papers show al-Qaeda presence
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration Wednesday night released the first declassified documents collected by U.S. intelligence during the Iraq war, showing among other things that Saddam Hussein's regime was monitoring reports that Iraqis and Saudis were heading to Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks to fight U.S. troops.
The documents were released via a Pentagon Web site at the direction of National Intelligence Director John Negroponte.
Many were in Arabic — with no English translation — including one the administration said showed that Iraqi intelligence officials suspected al-Qaeda members were inside Iraq in 2002.
The Pentagon Web site described that document this way: "2002 Iraqi Intelligence Correspondence concerning the presence of al-Qaeda Members in
Iraq. Correspondence between IRS members on a suspicion, later confirmed, of the presence of an Al-Qaeda terrorist group. Moreover, it includes photos and names."
The release of the documents, is designed to allow lawmakers and the public to investigate what documents from Saddam's regime claimed about such issues as weapons of mass destruction and al-Qaeda before the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003.
FINANCES
Anthony S. Bush/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tanya Diaz, 5, of Bonner Springs, waves a Mexican flag at the Statehouse in Topeka, Tuesday, at the annual rally for immigrant rights. Several hundred people gathered to promote civil rights and benefits for Hispanics.
Banks adapt to immigrant needs
"The number one mistake that banks make is to translate their
One-third of U.S.-born Hispanic residents and over half of all Mexican immigrants lack bank accounts, according to 2000 figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. But there's no single formula that meets the diverse needs of the Latino market.
Even as Congress debates their legal status, banks are tailoring their products to meet the country's newest residents where they work and live, creating special mortgage packages that don't require traditional documentation.
BY GARANCE BURKI THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
brochures. They think having their information on a pamphlet in Spanish will produce magical numbers for them," said Laura Castro de Cortes, a consultant at Latino Banking Solutions, based in Omaha, Neb.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — One of Maria Carrillo's clients said thieves jumped him on payday because they knew he'd leave the check-cashing business with his pockets full of cash. How was he to know he could open a bank account in this country, Carrillo said, if he was still struggling to read in Spanish?
Many undocumented Latino immigrants shy away from mainstream lenders for fear that giving over personal identification could result in deportation. The USA Patriot Act requires banks to ask customers opening an account for their name, date of birth, address and a taxpayer identification number.
But in recent years, the number of products available to the undocumented has mushroomed.
In Illinois, non-citizens can now qualify for state-administered mortgage loans by providing a government-issued alternative to the Social Security number. In Kansas City, Moe., a family-owned bank with just eight branches started selling stored-value cards, a "starter" product that's not a bank ac
count, but gets clients ready to open one.
Dual-account cards are another popular option for clients who want to send remittances home. Many banks now offer savings accounts that feature a sub-account in Mexico, accessible via a Visa or MasterCard-branded debit card.
In Garden City, several companies are offering their employees payroll cards. It's another alternative to a bank account, and lets employers deposit workers' earnings directly to an account in the company's bank, which employees can then draw on from an ATM.
Bank of the West has installed a waterproof ATM inside the Holcomb IBP/Tyson meatpacking plant. The ATM can cash checks quickly to accommodate workers' short breaks, and can be hosed down when the factory gets a wash.
"You've got to meet people where they are," said Lydia Contreras, marketing officer for Central Bank of Kansas City.
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