Wednesday February 24,1988
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
Vol. 98, No. 103 (USPS 650-640)
All-night city cab service dropped
By Christine Martin and Jeff Moberg
Kansan staff writers
The Lawrence City Commission decided last night to consider providing temporary cab service after the city's only 24-hour cab company announced yesterday that it would discontinue night service.
Ward Thompson, president of Transportation Inc. and owner of Yellow and Union Cab companies in Lawrence, discontinued service from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. after the City closed his job after Feb. 16 to take no action on his request that all city-licensed cab companies run 24 hours a day.
Thompson's attorney, Michael Riling, said last week that without the proposed requirement, competition would operate only at peak hours, when it was most profitable.
Bob Forbes, president of Corporate Coach of Lawrence, told the Commission that he didn't want the city to go without night service and offered to work with the city staff to provide a temporary cab service.
"All we could do for an interim time is to provide a limited service to the citizens of Lawrence," he said. "There's an awful lot of uncertainty here. I'd like to see Mr. Thompson's service start back up again like it should be."
Forbes' company is the only one that has placed a bid for Secure Cab, the University of Kansas' nighttime buses does free transportation for students.
Charles Bryan, coordinator of KU on Wheels, said the temporary service would not affect Secure Cab, which might go into effect next week. Secure Cab would run from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. on weekdays and from midnight to 3 a.m. on weekends.
Thompson said last night in a telephone interview that mandatory 24-hour service would improve service and competition.
But by discontinuing night service, Thompson said he could cut his office expenses by more than $500 a week.
"Everyone says it's a strong arm or a push by me," Thompson said.
Mayor Mike Amyx said he had received several calls yesterday from Lawrence residents who depended on 24-hour cab service.
"I think there's a real need that obviously has to be met." Amvx said.
City Commissioner Dennis Constance said that he doubted that Thompson's company couldn't make a profit after 6 p.m.
"If there is this major influx of phone calls, there must be business after 5 p.m." Constance said.
City Commissioner Bob Schumm said that the city should consider temporary service and not act on requiring 24-hour cab service.
"Are we getting bluffed out or not?" Schumm asked.
City Commissioner Mike Rundle agreed. "The people who need the service are being held hostage," he said.
Singer Michael Jackson finishes the last few bars of "Motown Medley." Jackson open- ed his 1988 world tour in Kansas City last night. See related story and photos, page 14.
He's bad
Med Center's revenue up
By James Buckman
Kansan staff writer
The University of Kansas Medical Center has increased revenue by $40 million since 1984, lessening its burden on the state's finances, according to a hospital administrator.
Eugene Staples, vice chancellor for administration at the Med Center, said the hospital had increased its revenue from more than $60 million in fiscal year 1984 to a projected $100 million in fiscal year 1988.
"Without question, I think we will be able to produce $100 million this year," he said.
Staples said the increase was caused by several factors.
Rates are now more equitable to the actual cost of treatment and service, and the Med Center has
The Med Center has contracts with about 33 agencies, Staples said.
For example, the Medicare program can have a great effect on a hospital's revenue.
Staples said all hospitals worked hard at accounting Medicare claims in order to be reimbursed at the highest rate possible. He said the Med Center had increased its efficiency in reporting to Medicare.
"We had a good reporting system that gave us a good reimbursement at the target-rate level." he said. "Now, had we gone in with the old report, we would have lost money."
State Rep Bill Bunten, R-Toppea, said the legislation was partly responsible for the increase in revenue at the state level.
modern equipment that has made the Med Center the place to go if you are ill," he said.
"We've been responsive to the need for the most
With the advanced equipment and procedures, the Med Center expects to attract about 1,500 more patients in 1982 than it did in 1984. The hospital also has decreased the average number of days spent by a patient in the hospital from 8.2 days to 7.4 days, Staples said.
Staples said some of the hospital's technological advances were equipment such as the kidney lithotriher, which can break up kidney stones with sound and the latest chemotherapy and cancer treatments.
"I think we've improved the image of the hospital in the community," Staples said. "It is looked upon as one of the leading hospitals in the area."
State Rep. Rochelle Chronister, R-Neodesha, said the new high-tech equipment had allowed the center to take better care of patients and to teach students better.
"Because of that, there is a better return on the money invested in the past," she said.
She said that the increased revenue did not necessarily mean that the hospital was making money for the state but that it would help defray the large costs of the center.
Staples said the Med Center's increased revenues paid for about 95 percent of its operating costs.
Bowden said the extra money would help the state by decreasing the drain on the state's general fund, which is made up of tax revenue. He said it would free some of that money for other projects.
Army unveils plan to destroy weapons
Incinerating chemical weapons at site safer than transporting them, official says
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Army announced yesterday that it intended to build incinerators at eight ammunition depots around the country to destroy old chemical weapons because it doesn't want to risk moving the munitions.
"We think we can exercise much better control on a combined federal reservation than we can transporting this stuff over many states and through cities and the like," said James R. Ambrose, the undersecretary of the Army and the official who made the final decision.
Ambrose's decision was hardly a surprise. The Army has favored on-site destruction of its old chemical stocks ever since it began studying the matter more than two years ago and just last December released an environmental impact study supporting that approach.
The weapons are stored at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.; Anniston Armory Depot, Ala.; Lexington-blue Grass Army Depot, Ky.; Newport Army Ammunition Plant, Ind.; Pine Belfurst Arsenal, Ark.; Pueblo Army Depot, Colo.; Tooele Army Depot, Utah; and Umatilla Army Depot, Ore.
Some members of Congress, however, including Rep. Larry J. Hopkins, R-Ky., have contested the Army's plans, saying the service hasn't demonstrated the safety of incineration chemical wean-
The service is now constructing a prototype incineration plant on Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, where another chemical weapons depot is maintained, to demonstrate the safety of the destruction process, Ambrose noted.
ons at storage depots located near population centers.
"We think these plants are extremely safe," he said at a Pentagon briefing. "We think the safety is greatly in excess of that required by any of the known rules and laws."
The Army's No.2 civilian leader said the service now hopes to begin building the eight incineration plants by 1989 or 1990.
Washburn considered for Regents financing; Koplik supports plan
By Flaine Woodford
Kansan staff writer
Under the proposed measures, Washburn would receive funds from a state operating grant, instead of state credit-hour aid and out-district tuition payments that the university currently receives. Washburn is also funded by the city of Topeka.
TOPEKA — Washburn University in Topeka might be one step closer to becoming a Board of Regents university if a bill debated yesterday in the Kansas House Appropriations Committee is passed by the Legislature.
Also, Washburn's budget requests would be reviewed by the Regents, instead of the State Board of Education.
The bill would not give the Regents control of academic programs but would place Washburn under the Regents financial administration. Under the bill, Washburn would remain a municipal university and not a Regents school.
Representatives from Washburn's board of regents attended the hearings and spoke in favor of the bill.
Marvin Schulte, vice chairman of the Washburn regents, said that the Washburn regents fully supported the bill because it would help improve relations between Washburn and the state.
Stanley Koplik, executive director of the Regents, said the Regents also favored the bill.
"It would be more efficient for one state agency to handle all of the state aid to Kansas universities," he said. "It would also create greater uniformity among the university budget requests that the state receives."
State Rep. Jack Shriver, D-Akansas City, expressed concern that the Regents would not be able to afford the added expense of Washburn, but
Koplik said that the Regents system did not have a pool of money that was used to fund the six Regents universities.
"We can handle Washburn at no additional cost." Koulik said.
The Regents schools are funded through appropriations from the Legislature, not by the Regents. The Regents submit revised university budget proposals to the Legislature.
Mark Tallman, lobbyist for Associated Students of Kansas, said ASK also supported the bill, although he said students at the Regents schools were worried that Washburn might draw money away from their schools.
"Students are concerned that this might be a step in the direction of adopting Washburn as a Regents school, but the bill must be evaluated in terms of what is best for the whole higher education system in Kansas," he said.
Topeka mayor Doug Wright, a member of the Washburn regents, said he was in favor of the bill and saw it as a move toward including Washburn in the Regents system.
Wright said he would be in favor of womens becoming a Regens university.
"I think it is necessary that Washburn be an integral part of Kansas higher education," he said.
Wright said he didn't think that Washburn would draw money away from the other state universities.
"I think the state should find funding for all the state's universities," he said.
No opponents of the bill testified yesterday, but State Rep Billon R-Topeka, committee chairman, are all the opponents to the bill?"
State Rep. Shriver answered, "They're in the committee."
Train accidents in Kansas make '87 a deadly year
By Ric Brack
Kansan staff writer
Eleven people died in train-related accidents in the Lawrence area in 1987. That number included four University of Kansas students who were killed at a railroad crossing one mile north of Lawrence in March.
"Kaasas, and the Lawrence area, had a bad year as far as fatal accidents in 1987."
tigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.
Final NTSB totals for 1987 Kansas train accidents still are not complete, but records show that 58 accidents were reported during the season. They resulted in 22 injuries and 10 deaths.
Inglis investigated the March accident but said in a telephone interview from his Denver office yesterday that the NTSB's official rulings on the cause of the accident still
hadn't been released.
Inglis said his investigation included toxicological testing that showed that all four students had various levels of alcohol in their blood. He added that almost all alcohol in excess of the legal maximum
The four students were killed at a crossing known as Laptad Corners while traveling to a sorority barn party. Like most of the 9,000 railroad crossings in Kansas, the crossing there was marked only by a railroad "cross-
A stop sign was erected at the crossing immediately after the accident. The Kansas Department of Transportation, Union Pacific Railroad Co. and Douglas County officials also plan to install automated gates with flashing red lights.
buck" sign.
Robert Cutter, a coordinating engineer for KDOT, said that Laptorn Cadors and at least three other crossings in the area had been approved for automatic devices but that it
could be another year before the equipment would be installed.
Inglis said that railroad crossing accidents were on the decline nationally but that a large number of crossings and a relatively large population in Lawrence combined to make this an especially dangerous area.
Railroads and public safety officers began educating the public about railroad crossing safety in the 1970s, Inglis said.