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Friday, January 22, 1988 / University Daily Kansan
Student faults policy
By Kathleen Faddis
Kansan staff writer
President Reagan's foreign policy is discouraging Central American refugees from seeking political asylum in the United States, a KU graduate student said last night.
Marc Becker, a teaching assistant in Latin American history, spent last year working with Central American refugees on the U.S.-Mexican border. He spoke at the MEX conference of policies toward refugees at the Latin American Solidarity's annual rice and beans dinner.
Becker was a paralegal last year
with the Overground Railroad, a group that assists Central American refugees applying for refugee status in Canada. He said the Canadian refugee program was not dependent on the policies of the government.
The problem the refugees have with the United States is that they are fleeing countries that the United States is supporting, he said.
The U.S. government spends $600 or $700 million a year to help the government of El Salvador and doesn't want to admit there's something wrong in that government that would create refugees."
Sue Schellie/KANSAN
Becker said he worked almost exclusively with refugees from Guatemala and El Salvador.
KU graduate student Marc Becker speaks at the Latin American Solidarity's annual rice and beans dinner about his work with Central American refugees along the Mexican border.
he said.
Rhonda Neugebauer, president of Latin American Solidarity, said the rice and beans dinner, an annual event since 1978, is meant to show solidarity with the Central Americans, who often have no more than rice and beans to live on.
The group's function is to educate people about U.S.-Latin American medical care and provide medical aid for citizens of Nicaragua and El Salvador.
The group opposes U.S. intervention in Latin American countries, Neugebauer said.
Becker said changes in U.S. immigration policies caused fear among the refugees that there would be mass deportations.
"A lot of the refugees from Central America were staying in Mexico rather than coming into the United States," he said.
Becker described conditions along the lower Rio Grande, which he said was the most common crossing point for refugees coming from Central America. He compared the area to a police state.
Becker taken the physical and mental abuse of several Guatemalan refugees by U.S. immigration officials. He said many refugees were greeted by the U.S. border patrol upon entering the country and were immediately placed under arrest.
Most of the refugees end up in the Port Isabel Detention Center in Texas unless they can find someone who can pay their bond, he said.
$100,000 winner satisfied with state's first jackpot, despite large bite of taxes
By Jeff Suggs
Kansan staff writer
For Francis Whisler, winning the jackpot in the Kansas Lottery was more than just a dream.
"It all went so fast," he said,
before I had time to think, I had
worse.
Whisler, of Russell, won $10,000 Saturday night in the lottery's Up and Away contest. He'll never see $24,000 of it.
Barbara Frick, spokesman for the Kansas Lottery, said federal taxes took out 20 percent and state taxes took out the percent of the jackpot winnings.
Frick said that lottery prizes of $599 or more were reported to federal and state tax authorities and that
'T.
I the lottery was not advertised as tax-exempt or tax-free. My goodness, they will take $24,000, so that still leaves a good amount of money.'
Francis Whisler lottery winner
winners who received prizes of more than $5,001 had their taxes automatically taken out.
Whisler said he wasn't upset about the deduction.
lottery was not advertised as tax-exempt or tax-free," he said.
"Oh. I think it's all right. The
"My goodness, they will take $24,000, so that still leaves a good amount of money."
Walter Adam of Topeka won $10,000 on a lottery ticket on New Year's Day. He said the taxes were too high.
It will be several days before Whisler receives his lottery check. When he does, he and his wife plan to use most of it for retirement.
Whisler, who buys only a few lottery tickets a week, said people shouldn't spend all their money to try to win big.
"If they can afford it," he said, "play all they want. But don't play it too steep.
Official stresses health care
Watkins nurse says many foreign students overlook services
Bv Stacv Foster
Kansan staff writer
Foreign students at the University of Kansas often are unaware of the health services available to them and that ignorance could be dangerous in an emergency, a KU health official said yesterday.
The official, Lequetta Diggs, registered nurse at Watkins Hospital, asked foreign students at a workshop on health services at KU to call the hospital when they have questions, preferably before falling sick.
The workshop was organized by the office of foreign student services.
At the beginning of each semester, foreign students are invited to visit the hospital so they can become better acquainted with the services. They receive information
on health insurance, get their blood pressure checked and get a tuberculosis skin test.
Charles Yockey, chief of staff at Watkins, said that foreign students who visited the hospital benefited because they learned what was available to them.
"In many countries, there is far more state-supported health care," Yockey said. "Foreign students don't even think about it until they need medical help."
A visit to Watkins is not required of foreign students. But that should change for next year's school term, when all incoming students will have a mandatory immunization and tuberculosis skin check. Yockey said that would be made official by the start of next semester.
School of Nursing stresses recruitment to boost declining enrollment
By Davana Yochim
Kansan staff reporter
Declining enrollment in the School of Nursing has forced University of Kansas Medical Center officials to place more emphasis on recruitment.
The image of the hard-working, underpaid nurse has plagued the nursing profession for years. That was reflected in enrollment figures, which reached a three-year low in the fall.
Enrollment at the nursing school dropped to 231 students this fall. In 1865, 294 students
before," Clifford said.
Rita Clifford, assistant dean of the school of nursing, said that for the past four years, the school had emphasized recruiting to nurses and that it has missed the bad image of the nursing profession.
"We're trying to reach the non-traditional student, such as the one who wants a career change or one who has not been in school
"We want to update the image of nursing," she said. "We want people in the community to see that nursing is a field that has highly intelligent and highly skilled individuals that are able to think on their feet."
To battle declining enrollment figures the school has used recruitment strategies such as advertising and monthly open houses. The school also has participated in high school career days.
Clifford also attributed the decline of interest in the nursing profession to a change of values.
"This generation of women, where this is primarily a woman's profession . . . has grown up with the idea that they are not engaged by sex in career choices." Clifford said.
Clifford said she thought youths placed a higher value on earning money and a lower value on helping people.
"There is a perception that nurses are poorly paid because of the shortages, the rapidly changing standards, and the highly charged nature."
Clifford said the starting salary for nurses in the Kansas City area was $2,000.
Judith Hefley, director of community relations at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, said the decline in enrollment at the school directly affected the hospital.
Hefley said the hospital had programs to encourage nurses to work there.