Sludge in your eye
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
January 21, 1987
Vol. 97, No. 78
(USPS 650-640)
Diane Dultmeier/KANSAN
Above: Monty Jacobs, DeSoto resident, shows his trust in Bo, one of his pet lions, by putting his hand in the lion's mouth. Bo is a two-year-old
African lion. Below left; Opal, a female lion, is not as friendly as Bo Female lions are less tame because they are the hunters, Jacobs said
DeSoto man enjoys company of lions
By LISA A, MALONEY
Staff writer
Monty Jacobs says that man's best friend is not his dog, but his lion.
Jacobs, a DeSoto resident and owner of Jacobs Manufacturing, a steel fabricating company, is raising two African lions named Boa and Opal, on eight acres of land just outside of DeSoto.
"They're just basically family pets," Jacobs said. "The kids play with them."
Bo and Opal are not the only animals Jacobs and his family own. They also keep several South American ostriches, quail, five dogs, three horses and one cat. Jacobs also is planning to purchase a Bengal tiger — or two — in April.
But Jacobs said if he had his way, he would only have lions.
"they're no different an animal than a dog," he said. "They make exceptional pets, if they're raised from cubs. These animals grow on you and become part of the family."
No state or federal regulations for lions exist if the animals are kept as pets, said Charles Stumpf, the Kansas veterinarian in charge
of the United States Agriculture Department's division of animal inspection and veterinarian services.
If the animals are to be shown or bred, then the owner is required under the Federal Animal Welfare Act to apply for a license and have adequate housing for the animals. The housing is subject to inspection. Stumff said.
"These aren't something that's held in by barbed wire and chicken wire," Jacobs said.
He added that the Agriculture Department license stated that the animal did not come from the wild and that it listed the seller's license number.
Jacobs said many people had an image of lions as ferocious killers. The animals' strength and power were respected, but not feared he said.
"You're playing with something that's a whole lot bigger than you are." Jacobs said.
"You've got to be the dominating source with these animals," he added. "Neither of the two animals nave claws, so they're pretty much safe except for the teeth."
See LIONS, p. 6, col. 3
INSIDE
Residents advised to lock doors
Piper's pit
Chris Piper made a free throw with five seconds left and Danny Manning rebounded Piper's missed second free throw, giving the Jayhawks a 71-70 victory over the Missouri Tigers last night in Allen Field House. See page 11.
Senators speak
Student senators gathered yesterday in the rotunda of the Statehouse to express deep concerns about the University's budget crisis. See page 3.
By TODD COHEN
Since last December, two Hashinger Hall residents have been attacked and robbed while sleeping in their unlocked rooms. However, some residents still leave their doors unlocked. Ann Isely, resident director of Hashinger Hall, said yesterday.
Staff writer
Eric Young, Hashinger Hall president, said a flier was sent to all residents immediately after. He said he had planned to urge residents to lock their doors.
Iisely said Hashinger would have a hall meeting Sunday night to get residents involved in a safety task force. The task force would have residents work together to improve safety.
Most residents are very conscious of the need to lock their doors, but they don't.
But Sgt. John Brothers, KU police department spokesman, said police could do little to prevent residence hall crime because they couldn't
"They have a lot of people they trust in the hall." she said.
station an officer in every hall.
Between August and December, 1986, 24 burglaries and 38 thefts in residence halls, plus seven burglaries and 35 thefts in residence halls parking lots, were reported to KU police.
Lewis Hall proved the most crime-free, with no burglaries or thefts. At the other end, six burglaries and 13 stewards were reported at McColumb Hall.
If all students locked their doors.
See HASHINGER, p. 6, col. 3
Students may find new codes taxing
Bv IOHN BUZBEE
Staff writer
Last year's tax overhaul will take a bite out of some scholarship checks starting this year, and students may get hit from other directions as the federal government pares down its tax code.
Scholarships for room and board now will be taxable. Fellowships will be taxable, as will graduate teaching assistants' fee waivers and any other scholarship money except that for expenses and costs directly related to classes.
"I think this is the dumbest thing they've done yet," Jerry Rogers, director of financial aid, said yesterday. "I can't understand why, if the government is trying to get more money out of taxes, they would do it that way."
The federal government last year enacted sweeping tax-overhaul legislation designed to simplify income tax laws.
The Kansas University Endowment Association has been putting a statement on its scholarship checks warning students that the scholarships may be taxable, said George Stewart, vice president for administrative services at the Endowment Association.
Vicki Thomas, University general counsel, said the new tax probably wouldn't break students but might mean a smaller refund.
"It's going to be some burden. You're going to have less net income," she said, adding that other tax changes might also hurt students.
But this year, if only part of the scholarship was used for books and tuition, and if the parents counted the student as a deduction, he or she would be out of luck.
Students who are counted as an exemption on their parents' tax return won't qualify as an exemption on their own tax return.
For example, a student who last year received a scholarship and earned a small amount at a part-time job would pay no taxes. The scholarship would be exempt, and the student could count a personal deduction against the job income.
"It will hurt some if they've had a summer job," said Susan Wachter, assistant athletic director for business.
No one, including the Internal Revenue Service, knows exactly what the laws will mean, Rogers said.
Legal Services for Students has had a steady stream of graduate students seeking advice about the laws, and anthna Woolk, Legal Ser- tice.
Several academic departments have been sending graduate students to Legal Services for advice. Woelk said. But advisers there don't have all the answers, either.
"The IRS cannot answer all the questions." she said.
Wachter said the athletic department would meet with scholarship recipients to explain the laws as much as possible.
For instance, the code says scholarships granted before Aug. 16, 1986, will be exempt from taxes because of the old law. It is unclear what this means for scholarships confirmed before that date but awarded after.
The IRS still must draft regulations to enforce the tax overhaul Rogers said those regulations should clear up some ambiguities that now exist in the tax code.
Thomas said scholarships confirmed before Aug. 16 probably would be exempt. In any event, only money received after 1988 could be taxed.
It also is unclear what would be exempt as expenses related directly to classes, and who would determine this.
Stewart said the IRS probably wouldn't draft any regulations soon.
But John Patterson, University comptroller, said he expected the IHS to draw up guidelines to help his staff stay compliant before the regulations were drafted.
"They're kind of slow in getting around," he said. "There's so many changes in the new law that it will take a long time getting to it."
"It's hard for us to estimate what the actual impact is going to be." he said.
Staff writer
By CAROLINE REDDICK
Committee ponders bill on death penalty
TOPEKA — Proponents of the death penalty appeared before the House Federal and State Affairs Committee yesterday to support a bill proposing legislation to reinstate the death penalty in Kansas.
Spectators, many of whom oppose the bill, filled the room and lined the hall.
Opponents of the bill will speak before the committee at 1:30 p.m. today in Room 526 S of the Capitol. The hearing is open to the public.
The first speaker at yesterday's meeting, Attorney General Bob Stephan, spoke strongly in favor of the bill. Stephan said that opponents' arguments that each death penalty case would cost state courts $1 million or more because appeals were just a smoke screen.
"Such an issue shouldn't be determined on cost." he said.
"Kansas has used the death penalty only 24 times since 1862. This historical data will ensure that the death penalty is not used inappropriately," he said. "The constitution will safeguard wrong use.
"It would be imposed rarely and only under proper conditions."
John Petersen, chief counsel for
The director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Thomas Kelly, used a lighthouse analogy for the death penalty. He said a lighthouse communicated danger to a ship's crew and showed a dangerous route. A death penalty would do the same, he said.
Former Gov. John Carlin vetoes a bill reinstating the death penalty four times while in office.
"It is impossible to know how many ships change course and don't end up on the rocks because of the lighthouse's warning." Kelly said. "Just as it's impossible to know how many burglaries that a good burglar alarm system keeps away
"We do know that the death penalty is not a deterrent if it's available
Hayden supported the death sentence by lethal injection in the gubernatorial campaign last fall.
"Murder in the first degree is the ultimate crime and it should receive the ultimate penalty."
Gov. Mike Hayden, urged the committee to quickly approve passage of the bill to the House.
"We're confident that the bill meets constitutional safeguards." Petersen said.
Nicaragua war becoming rampant, Slattery says
TOPEKA — U.S. Rep Jim Slattery, D-Kan., said yesterday that Nicaragua was moving toward a rampant civil war that the Reagan administration could prevent.
Staff writer
Bv PAUL BELDEN
Speaking at a press conference marking the return of an 18-person Kansas delegation from a nine-day tour of Central America, Slattery, a member of the delegation, said, "I think the contrasts may very well display the need to destroy major targets in Nicaragua" in the next six months.
He said unless the United States
moved to stop the contra war, "we are going to see scenes in Nicaragua that will remind us of the '60s and early '70s."
Even so, the contra never will be a large military threat to the Sandinista
He said the only reason the United States had not yet sturred for a
Predicting that the showdown vote on contra financing in the U.S. Congress would take place in October, Slattery said he favored a cease-fire between the contra and Sandinista forces until that time. He also supports an increase in U.S. humanitarian aid for the region, he said.
diplomatic resolution of the contra war was because Oliver North and John Poindexter and Eliot Abrams, assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian committed to it personally and deeply.
Slattery has consistently voted against military aid for the contras.
Slattery said he supported giving incentives such as access to U.S.
He said that if the Reagan administration were to invest 1 percent of its 1988 military budget in economic aid for the region, that would be its best possible national security investment.
markets and international aid to Nicaragua if the Sandinistas would agree to ease their control over internal dissent and move toward free elections.
The Sandinistas share the blame for the continuing war, Slattery said. Before the region can have lasting peace, they will have to show their willingness to compromise by setting a date for free elections in Nicaragua, allowing the opposition newspaper La Prensa to reopen and assuring neighboring nations that they will not export the Sandinista revolution.
But based on his observations, Slattery said, he thought the majority of Nicaraguans supported the Sandinistas.
"The Sandinistas are not nearly as great a security risk (for the U.S.) as would be a widening of the contra war," he said.
Although the Nicaraguans were friendly and open, an escalation of the war could ignite latent anti-U.S. feelings, he said.
Nicaraigua under Sandinista rule is different from Cuba under Castro, Slattery said, because the Sandinistas have ordered no mass murders.