University Daily Kansan / Thursday, March 5, 1987
9
U.S.-Soviet peace activists seek summit in Lawrence
By BEN JOHNSTON Special to the Kansan
Lawrence residents should support city leaders' efforts to improve U.S.-Soviet relations, four Lawrence residents who traveled to the Soviet Union in February said at a peace forum last night.
Sandra Praeger, Lawrence mayor; David Longhurst, city commissioner; Bob Swan, Lawrence insurance salesman and peace activist; and George Mikkelson, KU professor of Slavic languages, attended a three-day peace conference in Moscow during their visit.
"We suffer from a disease in this society that is far more dangerous and ravaging than AIDS, and that is anti-Russianism." Mikkelson said.
"Our city leaders have taken flak from their editors to the editor in the Journal-World because people feel they should be here conducting the city's business," Mikkelson said. "Personally, I feel very proud of the
fathers and mothers of the city who accepted the invitation."
Longhurst said, "It's very difficult being a public official and dabbling in things outside your area. The easy way to do that at all, but it's too important not to."
The trip did not help his re-election campaign, Longhurst said. He was eliminated from the field for the April 7 city commission election by a margin of 20 votes. The top six vote-getters in the primary will be on the ballot in April.
"I don't think the trip enhanced my chances, but I don't think it was responsible for my dismal showing. But between seventh and sixth" he said.
The four Lawrence residents said they felt optimistic about U.S.-Soviet relations after returning from Mossov, where the Russian-backed Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Swan said, "Gorbache is trying to transform that society into something that will not resemble a classical totalitarian society. He has already changed some fundamental institutions, such as the press.
Swan also said he was optimistic about Lawrence being the site of a summit meeting if one is planned to take place in the United States.
"After they make up Gorbachev's itinerary, I think Lawrence will be seriously considered at least as a stopping point." he said.
Swan said he had talked with Gov. Mike Hayden about establishing a Kansas commission for the improvement of U.S.-Soviet relations.
"Lawrence is seen as the gateway to the United States by Soviets because of the efforts of the city to improve relations, and Lawrence would play a key role in any efforts the state makes." Swan said.
Praeger said, "It's important that the city and the University work together in a cultural exchange."
More than 740 miles of highways may be built in southern Kansas
The Associated Press
The bill calls for the new highways to be constructed over a five-year period at a cost of $722 million, paid in cash. The state's state11-cent tax on motor fuels.
TOPEKA - More than 740 miles of new highways would be built, radiating east and west from Wichita across southern Kansas, under a bill endorsed for passage today by the Senate Transportation Committee.
The committee endorsed the bill on a 7-3 vote with three Republicans casting the dissenting votes: Senators Ross Doyen of Concordia, Dick Bond of Overland Park and Ben Vickrident of Salina.
Only one major change was made in the proposal before it was endorsed. State Sen. Joe Norvell, D-Hays, succeeded in amending the measure to construct a diagonal route from Great Bend to Hays rather than follow existing roads to Russell.
Norvell said the diagonal route would cost $72 million more to build than the Russell proposal.
State Sen. Bill Morris, R-Wichita and committee chairman, said debate in the Senate on the bill would have to wait until it was clear that it would have bipartisan support.
State Sen. Jeanne Hoferer, R-Topeka, also added a minor change to the bill, adding an interchange to the bypass proposal for west Topeka between Interstate 70 and I-470. Hoferer wanted to provide an entrance off I-70 directly to the new
However, he said, a cost analysis showed 1,200 more cars a day would take the diagonal road rather than the Russell route and the diagonal road would result in savings of $74 million over 20 years.
"Hays is the transportation hub of northwest Kansas," Norvell said. "The facts are clear: the proposed northwest passage through Hays is a financial investment and not a financial drain."
There was no discussion about building four-lane highways to meet interstate standards, or the option of expensive "super-two lane" roads.
state history museum.
However, the committee discussed the wisdom of moving ahead on a massive highway construction program that was unwarranted and too expensive.
State Sen. Robert Frey, R-Liberal, rejected the contention lawmakers were being forced to act too quickly, noting that similar highway plans have been studied since 1956.
"It has been a long, slow, tedious process which has gotten us to this point." Frey said. "It began well over years and ages; the plea to do it is not that important thing to do. We should move now. This has been studied long enough."
The bill calls for an independent management team to establish priorities and construct on a "first and foremost basis" a variety of projects.
--for public review at the Lawrence
Public Library, 707 Vermont St.
Lawrence City Hall, Sixth and
Massachusetts streets, and the
Douglas County Courthouse, 11th
and Massachusetts streets.
The statement will be available
Several three-inch-thick volumes of the statement were delivered to commissioners at their meeting yesterday by Frank Hempin Jr., county public works department director.
A proposed draft statement released by the county last year drew fire from environmentalists concerned about the Baker Wetland northern part of the threatened Northern Crawfish frog and rare native grasses that are in the trafficway's proposed route.
A public hearing on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed southern Lawrence trafficway, or bypass, is April 20. Douglas County Commissioners decided yesterday.
Environmental hearing set for April
By a Kansan reporter
"The DEIS has been fine tuned," Hempin said yesterday. "There are more details on the Northern Crawfish frog."
STUDENT SAVE 28% WHEN YOU ADVERTISE IN THE KANSAN GROUPS:
However, Hempen emphasized that the statement was a draft and not the final report.
"The door isn't shut. We're looking for additional input," he said.
ing or additional input," he said. County Commissioner Nancy Hiebert, the trafficway's prime supporter, said the draft was an important step toward construction on the 14.3-mile trafficway.
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