SINCE 1889
Famous names
Walt Disney,
William Perry,
find obscurity
at KU.
See page 3.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
GYMNASIUM
Sunny Details page 3.
TUESDAY, JAN. 28, 1986, VOL. 96, NO. 84 (USPS 650-640)
Terry Burkart/KANSAN
Stan Haehl, a licensed masseur, massages Priscilla Smith's back. Smith, Kendall Park, N.J., sophomore, was part of the masseur's demonstration
Hands find new purpose at KU
Staff writer
By Russell Gray
About 30 Ellsworth Hall residents methodically and mercilessly rubbed each other out last night.
The victims went quietly, some even smiling and dozing. The weapon was the human hand, and the method was massage.
The students were participants in a demonstration by Stan Haehl, a professional masseur.
Hachi, a certified massage therapist, was contacted by Ruth Mesloh, a resident assistant at Ellsworth, to give an educational vet fun demonstration to residents.
"One good thing about massage," Haehl said, "is that since it's all touch, anyone can do it."
After pairing off, the participants agreed to massage each other's hands and face for about 45 minutes following Haehl's demonstration on Priscila Smith, Kendall Park, N.J., sophomore.
"I thought it was fantastic," Smith said.
After a few minutes of attention from Jean King, Olathe sophomore, Nikos Mills, Quito, Ecuador, sophomore, said, "I think it's great. It's wonderful."
King said the massage was a good way to relax, especially when the masseur was someone she could trust.
One key to a good massage is to achieve relaxation through touch. Haehl said. The basic massage is one of systematic pressure to the entire range of the body.
Haeli said that if the hands, face and feet could relax, the entire body could relax. The hands, face and feet can be relaxed very quickly, although they are areas often overlooked by amateur masseurs, he said.
Haehl said that most people requested that he work on their necks and shoulders but that most enjoyed the hands and feet massage after trying it.
Haeli said another key to massage was to consider the body as a whole — spiritually, mentally and physically. This makes it important for the client to feel safe and comfortable, he said.
Haehl said the mental and physical states of a person were related. Feeling relaxed physically can improve one's mental state, he said.
Ulrika Nilsson, Goteborg,
Sweden, freshman, said a
massage might help her relax
before a test.
Haehl said it also was important to make the client comfortable by talking with the client. What some people enjoy, others may not, he said.
"Afterwards, you can just go out and get a beer." she said.
For example, Haehl said, he prefers to work with nude clients for accessibility, but covered the client for modesty and warmth.
Haehl and the participants used oil during the massages to
reduce friction and retain heat.
Most massages begin at the back since it's a safe area for a stranger to touch and carries a lot of tension and strain. Haehl said.
After the back, the masseur works the legs, rolls the client over and works the front of the legs, then the arms, chest and face.
Ticklishness is something the masseur can overcome by letting the client know what the masseur is doing next and using a firm touch. Haehl said.
He said that massages usually cost $20-30 an hour and that there were a few masseurs in Lawrence who occasionally advertised in the classified ads.
Haehl attended the Boulder School of Massage and Therapy in Boulder, Colo., one of several massage schools in the country.
He is working on his master's degree in fine arts at the University of Nebraska. He said he wanted to go into stage direction after graduating.
Gun ordinance will be drafted bv the city staff
By Juli Warren Staff writer
Staff writer
The Lawrence city staff will draw up a proposed handgun ordinance within the next two weeks after considering personal recommendations from city commissioners, Mike Wilden, assistant city manager, said yesterday.
City commissioners appeared clearly divided on the question of a handgun ordinance after hearing city staff recommendations at a study session yesterday.
In December, Commissioner David Longhurst proposed looking into a city ordinance that would impose a waiting period to buy a handgun. A 21-year-old University of Kansas student shot herself in October with a pistol she had bought two hours earlier.
Ron Olin, Lawrence assistant chief of police, told the commission the results of a review of Longhurst's proposal.
Olin said that monitoring the commercial sale of handguns would require an additional full-time police officer and that the department couldn't monitor private sales.
Checking the backgrounds of potential handgun buyers would require hand searches of court records and computer searches of Kansas
Bureau of Investigation and FBI records. Olin said.
The police department would have problems checking whether a potential handgun buyer had a history of drug abuse or a history of mental illness, which Longhurst proposed, said Olin.
He said it would be possible, however, to check whether a buyer had been convicted of a felony, drunken driving or making a terrorist threat or whether the buyer was 21 or older.
Questions about felony convictions and age are asked on the federal firearms license, Olin said, but are not always truthfully answered. The license is filled out when a gun is purchased.
Mayor Mike Amyx and Commissioner Ernest Angino expressed opposition to the proposed ordinance.
"I'm not sure the need exists," Amvx said.
Longhurst said he had two purposes for proposing the ordinance.
Angino said the legal aspects of background checks worried him.
"There's a tremendous potential for liability with very little to be gained from the whole thing," Angino said.
See GUNS, p. 5, col. 1
Bowl break criticized; water supply sufficient
Staff writer
By Barbara Shear
The minute did not cause any problems for the water department, said Bob Leach, assistant utility director of Lawrence.
Lawrence Water and Sewer office employees were not flooded with problems Sunday during a minute designated before the Super Bowl to "take care of personal business."
"Evidently, too many people didn't pay attention to the minute." Leach said yesterday. "We didn't have to go down to the plant because we were worried that we didn't have enough water."
The campus also survived the pregame countdown.
"We didn't have any problems," said B Porter, physical plant associate director. "The period in between classes would probably cause more problems than the minute did."
To ensure that no one missed a single exciting moment of the Super Bowl, NBC designated 60 seconds for people to take a bathroom break
before the four-hour telecast of the game.
While its intentions might have been good, the result of this minute made some Super Bowl fans wonder how NBC could make any money.
"I watched the game with two friends, and while the minute was on we wondered how much money NBC was losing during this time." Kyle Cox, Shawne junior, said. "I thought it was pretty stupid."
Mike Barnhart, Lake Quivira junior, also thought the pregame minute was pointless.
Ron Sturdy, Lawrence junior, said,
"We sat around and talked about how stupid it was."
"Anyone could have gone to the bathroom during the commercials." he said. "They probably lost a lot of money."
"The break wasn't even during the game," Sturdy said. "The network probably wanted to make sure people got back to see the commercials."
Leach agreed, "Most people probably went ahead and went when
See BOWL, p. 5, col. 4
High premiums a headache
Costs hinder Watkins doctors
By Brian Whepley
Staff writer
Doctors at Watkins Hospital have been hit by rising malpractice insurance rate, a cost which eventually could be passed on to students, the hospital's director said last week.
Although Watkins doctors are in the lowest premium category because they don't perform surgery, their insurance premiums went up from about $600 a year in 1983 to $3,600 in December 1985, said Strobl. R.W. McClure, a doctor at Watkins, said the problem for Watkins physicians was that they couldn't increase their income to make up for the rising cost of their premiums.
James Strobi, the director, said the student health fee could increase to cover the rising cost of malpractice insurance premiums for doctors at Watkins. The fee is $56 a semester and has increased only $5 since the fall of 1981.
Doctors in private practice can pass along their rising insurance costs to their patients, he said.
"There's no way that we can raise our income without a raise in salary." McClure said.
According to recent Kansas Medical Society figures, the average insurance rate for family practitioners rose from $1,400 in 1980 to an anticipated $13,500 in 1986. The rates have gone up even more for physicians who practice surgery or obstetrics.
A survey of KMS members indicated that 78 percent of the members prescribed additional tests for patients because of their fear of malpractice suits. Fifty-one percent said they had limited their practices to medical procedures that were less risky.
McClure said Watkins' physicians had not limited their practices.
"The concern of a lot of people is that people who truly suffer should be compensated. We don't want to take away the legal rights of patients." Lawrence Magee Watkins physician
Obstetricians have been hit harder
by the increases than most physic-
ticians.
The high risk involved in delivering babies has resulted in 28 percent of Kansas obstetricians and family practitioners who delivered babies to leave their specialty. Another 33 percent have considered doing the same, according to the survey.
'We practice medicine in exactly the same way,' McClure said.
Lawrence Magee, Watkins physician, said one of the reasons he left his family practice in Washington County, was the high cost of malpractice insurance for obstetrics. Family practitioners in rural Kansas deliver babies, but not often enough to justify the high cost of their premiums.
The dramatic rise in malpractice suits and settlements has depleted the Kansas Health Stabilization Fund. The fund was established to pay malpractice settlements against doctors and is financed by part of the malpractice insurance premiums. The fund had assets of $9 million on July 1, 1985, but it had 380 lawsuits totaling $35 million pending against it.
Because of the danger of the fund going bankrupt, the Kansas House Judiciary Committee is discussing a bill that would limit settlements and punitive damages in malpractice cases but would increase legal penalties against doctors who commit malpractice.
Magee said. "The concern of a lot of people (physicians) is that people who truly suffer should be compensated. We don't want to take away the legal rights of patients."
But, he said, the high settlements have gotten out of hand.
Bills such as the one before the legislature would restore some order to malpractice rates, he said. For now, Watkins physicians need help paying their insurance bills, Magee said.
Incident leaves two wounded
By Brian Whepley Staff writer
Maj. Ron Olin of the Lawrence Police Department said police received a call at 7:49 p.m. reporting a medical emergency involving either a stabbing or a gunshot. The police responded and found that the man who had been shot, a white male about age 50, had barricaded himself in the apartment.
One man was stabbed and another shot shortly before 9 p.m. yesterday in a house at 1319 Vermont St., Lawrence police said. The man who was shot barricaded himself in a first-floor apartment before he was captured after 9 p.m., police said.
Police also found a black male with a stab wound to his stomach in a second-floor apartment. The man was taken to Lawrence Memorial Hospital, 325 Maine St., where information concerning his condition was unavailable.
Andrew Piekalkiewicz. 1320 Vermont St., said he saw police arrive at the apartment before 8 p.m. paramedics took the stabbing victim to a waiting ambulance. Piekalkiewicz said that after the ambulance left, another black man came out of the house and was told by police to lie on the ground.
Olin said he did not know whether the second black man was involved in the incident.
Lawrence police surrounded the house, closed off the 1300 block of Vermont Street and had neighboring residents turn off their outside lighting.
Officers attempted for an hour to make contact with the suspect, who had fled into an unlocked first-floor apartment, police said. Police
entered the apartment about 9:10 p.m. and found the man sitting in a chair. He surrendered without resistance, police said.
The man was put into a police car and taken to Lawrence Memorial Hospital with a small-caliber gunshot wound to his lower right pelvic region, Olin said. The man's condition was unavailable last night.
The gunshot victim was in police custody last night, and at that time no charges had been filed against the black man who was stabbed.
Olln said officers were conducting a search of the crime scene but had not found the weapons yet. He said police did not know exactly what had happened at the house.
Nine Lawrence police officers have been assigned to the case and are interviewing witnesses, Oln said.
"There were a number of witnesses in the room," Olin said.
Springsteen nabs 3 music awards
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Blue-collar rocker Bruce Springsteen won three American Music Awards yesterday for his 18-month-old "Born in the USA" album, while nine other artists or groups won two awards each at ceremonies that ended with a stirring first anniversary salute to "We Are the World."
Country singer Willie Nelson won two awards as a solo artist and another two as a member of the country supergroup, Highwayman, which
is comprised of Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash.
Also winning two awards each were sexy-voiced newcomer Whitney Houston, hard-rocking Huey Lewis and the News, soul queen Aretha Franklin, country singer Crystal Gayle, veteran country group Alabama, funk group Kool and the Gang and Stevie Wonder.
Springsteen won favorite male vocalist, album and male video artist, all in the pop-rock category. The awards capped Springsteen's year
long success with a world tour that helped boost sales of his "Born in the City" album.
Neither Nelson nor Springsteen attended the televised 13th annual American Music Awards show at the Shrine Auditorium. The awards honored nominees in 27 categories of pop-rock, country and soul-rhythm-and-blues.
1
A special ceremony honored the creators of "We Are the World," the pop charity anthem which has raised $44 million to feed the hungry in the United States and Africa.