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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
--intentions still tell me that is true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not."
Details, page 2
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
Thursday
March 5, 1987
Vol. 97, No. 109
(USPS 650-640)
Reagan admits deal was ransom
United Press International
With the address, Reagan hoped to turn the corner on a scandal that played out in secret over 18 months and left his administration crippled after details of the arms deal became public in November.
WASHINGTON — Ronald Reagan, fighting to revive his presidency ad recapture the public trust, admitted for the first time last night that arms sold to Iran served as ransom for U.S. hostages and said, "It was a mistake."
"I didn't know about any diversion of funds to the contrasts," he said. "But as president, I cannot escape responsibility."
BILL Skeet/KANSAN
In a 12-minute speech broadcast to the nation from the Oval Office, Reagan assumed full responsibility for the consequences of his 18-month overture to Teheran's radical Islamic government and for the scheme to divert arms sales profits to Nicaragua, he never, he reiterated that he had no knowledge that money had been siphoned from the sales for the contrasts.
"Let's start with the part that is the most controversial," he said. "A few months ago, I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best
Reagan voiced confidence that investigations by Congress and independent counsel Lawrence Walsh will trace the suspected diversion of profits from the Iran arms deals to the contras.
Heeding the advice of friends and detractors, Reagan welcomed the highly critical Tower Commission report, which after a three-month review concluded that the policy was a tragic mistake. He embraced all of its recommendations.
In the brief address, his first substantive comment on the scandal in three months, Reagan acknowledged that his initial plan to reach out to him quickly "deteriorated in its implementation into trading arms for hostages."
"This runs counter to my own beliefs, to administration policy and to the original strategy we had in mind," Reagan said. "There are reasons why it happened, but no excuses. It was a mistake."
Reagan's previous public discussions on the scandal, a Nov. 13 address and a Nov. 19 news conference, were slightly tainted by his own shaky recollections and a chronology later found to have been sanitized to
minimize his role.
Reagan said poor record keeping by aides "led to my failure to recollect whether I approved an arms shipment before or after the fact." The Tower Commission concluded he "most likely" provided approval
before the first Israeli delivery of arms to Iran in late summer of 1985.
"I did approve it, I just can't say specifically when. Rest assured, there's plenty of record keeping now going on at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."
Local man places trash into dreams
By JOHN BUZBEE
Staff writer
Les Blevins isn't a trash man He's a dreamer.
But trash is a vital part of his dream. Using junk mail, soda pop cartons and corncobs. Blewins themselves from her utility bills.
"We've been called the Saudi Arabia of trash, the Middle East of refuse," said Bleivens, who thinks that the Islamic State has dence on foreign energy sources.
U. S. farmers are in trouble, he said, and the poor need help heating their homes.
Blevins has built, and hopes to market, a furnace that he said could heat a home in the middle of winter using waste paper "and unpaid utility bills," he added jokingly.
"It's a grass roots, poor man's approach to solving the problems of gas bills," he said.
Yuppies won't be using Blevens' furnace to heat their townhouses. His furnace usually needs someone to watch and refuel it, so working couples are out, he said. And it probably would make too much pollution for the city.
Blevins a mechanic by trade,
has a school bus, motorcycles,
lawnmowers and other vehicles
scattered around the backyard of
his rural home near Lawrence.
Although the furnace is his first
project, he has ideas for more.
In 1979, Blevens decided that a potential energy source was going up in smoke. A year later, he built
and tested the furnace. He then applied for a patent and wrote the U.S. Department of Energy for a grant to build more.
But the department told Blevins that his furnace was no different than a wood-burning stove.
"I thought that was arbitrary and showed a lack of concern for people at this level," he said. The furnace actually uses a different process than wood-burning stoves, he added.
Washington is too far away to understand the resources and needs of people in the Midwest, he said.
"Maybe if I'd asked the fedrs for a billion — something they understand — they might have been more interested in it." he said.
He turned to the state, where the reaction wasn't much better at first. But, Blevins said, the state is closer to the rural residents he wants to help and now is starting to warm up to the idea of trash-heated homes.
Philips Bradford, act president of Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation, said "We're talking with the teams with him to see what can be done."
Blevins said his furnaces could sell for about $2,000. But during a furnace's 50-year lifetime, buyers could save from $15,000 to $30,000, or $500 a year, he said.
But the corporation, which was created by the state to foster economic development, hasn't seen money to Blevins, Bradford said.
Les Blevins on sits 60 pounds of waste paper that will be burned in his incinerator to heat his home. Blevins has been using the incinerator since 1992 and hopes to provide other rural Kansas homes with the device to save money on energy bills during the winter months.
Donors feel duped by Krishna pitches
By LAURA BOSTROM Staff writer
Cindy Harger was waiting in her car in the Sundance Apartments parking lot two weeks ago when the "Jayhawk patrol" pulled her over for "smiling without a license."
Harger, Jackson Hole, Wyo.
sophomore, gave the two men a $10
check made out to APP Projects,
which the men said would benefit
underprivileged boys. They gave her
a corduroy KU hat in return.
Harger and other students who recently donated to APP Projects, or Appalachian Projects, did not know that the charity was tied to the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, known to its members as ISKCON and to many as the Hare Krishnas.
Two men also came to the apartment of Amy Buchele, Topeka junior, in December. Buchele also lives in the Sundance Apartments.
The men told Buchele and her roommate that the management had been complaining that they weren't partying enough. They asked the women to pay a fine for their offense. The two gave them two "Snoopy" stickers and a "Snoopy" hat and asked for a donation to a boys school.
Buchlee's roommate gave the solicitors a $$ check made out to the Nandapam Boys School. Buchlee was approached about two weeks ago and asked to give to APP Projects but refused.
Buchele and her roommate didn't know that the Nandagram Boys School also is tied to the Hare Krisnah church.
None of seven donors contacted knew that the charities were affiliated with the Krishna church, and not have donated if they had known.
One KU student, after donating to the Nandagram school in December, called the Information Center for details about the school. KU Info then notified the Consumer Affairs Association, 819 Vermont St., about the solicitation.
For their donations, students received receipts that said, "Nandagram Boys School. Providing a position for our students in the community, Food Relief, Trade Skills."
The receipts list no address or phone number, only a federal tax identification number that was audited by Shina church in Moundville, W.Va.
Moundsville, which has a population of 12,500, is a coal and manufacturing town that is home to 650 Krishna followers. About 200,000 tourists a year visit the 5,000-acre Krishna community, known as New Vindaban, and its main attraction, the Palace of Gold.
Tim Miller, religious studies lecturer at KU, visited New Vindranab two years ago. Miller teaches a new religious movements course at KU, and the Krishna church is one of the groups he has studied.
He described the palace as "fabulous, with ornate decor, stained with gold of gold" of the palace's 35,000 square feet exterior is covered with 24-karat gold.
self a part-time Krishna, often leaves his jewelry business to volunteer for APP Projects.
Robert Bauer, who considers him-
Bauer said from the Palace of Gold that the Nandagram school and APP Projects were run from the palace.
APP Projects comprises the Nandagram school, a food program for the needy and a wildlife park. Bauer said.
Bauer said the Nandagram school in New Vrindaban was a non-sectarian boarding school for children with emotional problems.
Bauer said that Appalachian Projects did not depend on the church for funds. Krishna people set up the church, but the church does not finance the project.
"You can say it's tied to the church, but it's an independent production." Bauer said "It is not run covered of shaved-headed monks."
The school has its own board of directors, and money collected for APP Projects finances APP Projects exclusively, he said.
Miller said he knew of a Krishna parochial school in New Vrindaban, but he did not know if the Nandagram school was the same one.
Miller said he thought Krishna disciples ran the school, with the purpose of educating Krishna children in their own traditions.
Prabhuupada's followers worship the Hindu god Krishna. Krishnas believe that they can elevate their consciousness through the expression, by chanting, of fervent love, Miller said. Devout followers are vegetarians and devote themselves completely to Krishna.
Almost 21 years ago, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupala, an Indian, founded the modern Hare Krishna movement, whose members have been stereotyped by association with airport solicitation, shaved heads and long robes. Prabhupada died in 1977.
Bauer said many Krishna volunteers were '60s radicals who identified with some Hindu teachings and saw value in the sect's projects.
Bauer said Krishna solicitors traveled across the United States and phoned the results to New Vrinandab about once a week. Bauer said he thought the Lawrence solicitors already were gone from the area.
Bauer said Krishnas solicited at places where crowds gathered. For example, many Krishnas solicited at the Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
Jackie Tibbets and her daughter, Joni, Olathe residents and KU basketball season ticket holders, were approached by an APP Pro staff member parking lot behind Robinson Center at the KU-KState basketball game
Tibbets said the solicitor told her she was being "fired" for not cheerful enough, gave her a corduroy KU jacket. But she did not donate any money.
Bauer said that the solicitors are told to give out Nandiam or APP Projects brochures if a potential donor asks for more information. The society acronym, ISKCON, and its Moundsville address are listed on the
See NANDAGRAM, p. 6, col. 4
StudEx upholds vetoes
By LISA A. MALONEY Staff writer
Kansas House passes education bill
Jason Krakow, StudEx chairman,
told committee members that the
revenue code process had not followed proper procedures during the hearings. He said he was willing to continue.
But the process is correct, but that they should be corrected.
Del Bynum, president of BSU, and Steve Ellis, president of the forensics team, said that their groups would be invited to a full Senate, which meets Wednesday.
The Student Senate Executive Committee, in a special session yesterday, voted 7-2 to uphold the committee's veto Saturday of revenue code status for the Black Student Union and the KU Forensics team.
Krakow said only the finance committee had the power to recommend to the Senate that it revoke status from revenue code groups who sought to renew their status. Groups which sought initial revenue code
See STUDEX, p. 6, col. 3
Community college control would transfer from Board of Education to Regents
By CHRISTOPHER HINES
The Kansas House approved a bill yesterday that would centralize the administration of higher education in Kansas.
Staff writer
The bill, approved 63-60, would transfer control of Kansas' 19 community colleges from the State Board of Education to the Board of Regents and admit Washburn University of Topeka into the Regents system.
Bill supporters said it would enhance the quality of Kansas higher education and reduce costs, but opponents say they are financing for community colleges.
"We will have a better understanding of the state's overall educational needs and have less duplication of programs under the new plan," she said. "It's the only logical step to take."
But State Rep. Ron Fox, R-Prairie Village, opposed the bill and considered it a first step in admitting
'We have been involved in so many other issues concerning the University that it is hard for us to put energy into this one.'
James Biff legislative liaison for KU
Washburn into the Regents system
"The state is having enough problems financing the present Regents institutions without adding more money." A bad precedent in that direction.
If approved by the Senate and signed by Gov. Mike Hayden, all legislative actions concerning higher education then would be implemented through the Regents, giving the state more centralized control over higher education institutions.
The bill would divide the current nine-member Board of Regents into two subcommittees, with the Regents chairman a member of both commit-
One committee would control the University of Kansas, the six other Regents institutions and Washburn. The other committee would control the 19 community colleges.
James Biff, a legislative liaison for KU, said the University was monitoring the situation and had taken no public position on the issue.
"We have been involved in so many other issues concerning the University that it is hard for us to put energy into this one," he said.
Although KU may have taken no position concerning the issue, some community colleges see the bill as a threat to their very existence.
Charles J. Carlsen, president of Johnson County Community College, said the bill would reduce the local college boards to mere advisory committees for the Regents. He said that 81 percent of the revenues that support the college come from the local community.
"There is a direct correlation between community participation
and college financing," he said. "The community is very important to the future of our college."
Under the bill, the Regents also would plan and coordinate public higher education. It would be responsible for approving new courses and instruction, easing the transfer of credit from one Regents institution to another.
The Regents also would play a role in deciding the entrance requirements for high school students to all secondary education institutions in Kansas.
However, the bill would leave the control of technical and vocational schools to the state board. And the board would continue to supervise primary and secondary schools, which includes kindergarten through 12th grade.
Dale Dennis, an assistant commissioner on the state board, said the board doubted the change would improve Kansas higher education.
But Apt said the bill would reduce the responsibilities of the board, leaving it more time to improve the quality of primary and secondary education.
Mighty mice
Gunther Schlager, chairman of KU biological sciences is using more than 600 mice for his blood pressure research which he began in 1964. See story page 3.
Reboundina
The Kansas Jayhawks will try to bounce back from two consecutive conference losses when they play the Oklahoma State Cowboys tomorrow night in the first round of the Big Eight Conference Tournament. See story page 13.