University Daily Kansan / Thursday, December 3. 1987
3
Campus/Area
Local Briefs
KU employees may give views on health plan
KU employees who wish to express their views on the new state health insurance contract will have opportunities in Topeka today.
At 4 p.m., the state Health Care Commission will meet at the Insurance Department, 420 S.W. Ninth St.
At the same time, Gov. Mike Hayden will begin his four-hour "Tell the Governor" session. Until 8 p.m., any state employee can meet privately with Hayden at his capital office to discuss any state issue.
In another development, Attorney General Bob Stephan said in an opinion released yesterday that the commission had the authority to establish participation charges for state employees' health insurance. A state senator had questioned whether the participation charge could be based on a state employee's income level and smoking habits, as the new contract does.
Police arrest man after motel robbery
Lawrence police arrested a 29-year-old Lawrence man early yesterday in connection with an armed robbery about two hours earlier at the Super 8 Motel, 515 McDonald Drive.
Police reported that the robbery occurred at 12:42 a.m. when a man entered the motel lobby and threatened to shoot workers, although workers said they didn't see a gun. The man left the building with $114.
Police arrested a man in a picku truck about two hours after the incident in the 800 block of New York Street. The man in the pickup truck met the description witnesses gave the police and had cash in the front seat. No gun was found.
Police still are investigating.
The man was being held without bond in the Douglas County Jail late yesterday before his arraignment.
No leads found yet in fire, bomb cases
KU police have found no leads in the Nov. 7 fire that destroyed a vacant building behind the facilities and operations building, a KU police official said yesterday.
Although the building was scheduled to be demolished in January, the official said that the fire's origin remained suspicious and that it still would be classified as an person. No one was injured in the fire.
KU police also have no new leads concerning an explosive that blasted a window in Wescoe Hall earlier this semester.
The explosion occurred about 1:45 a.m. Oct. 3 on the second floor of Wescoe. Window fragments were blown into the building, but no injuries were reported.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation was to have completed an analysis and returned it to the KU police department, but the analysis has not been completed.
Lawrence resident is Rhodes nominee
Two seniors at Harvard University, one of them from Lawrence, were chosen yesterday as Kansas this year's Rhodes scholarships.
They are Marilynn J. Richtarik of Lawrence and Richard Yoonsik Chin of Leawood.
Work plans protect elm at library site
By MICHAEL MERSCHEL
Staff writer
To people watching construction crews carve space for a new science library, the future of a 50-foot American elm tree near the Military Science building looks bleak.
Staff writer
From staff and wire reports.
sinking soil. But people knowledgeable about trees and the project said promises made three years ago to protect the tree are being kept.
That isn't obvious, according to Lt. Commander Elaine Roberts, Naval ROTC instructor.
From her office on the ground floor of the Military Science building directly across from the tree, Roberts and others have watched workers dig dangerously close to the tree, she said.
Roberts came to the University of Kansas after fall 1984, when students were protesting science library construction plans that would have eliminated the tree. KU officials then revised the blueprints to spare the tree.
She said she didn't think workers were intentionally harming the tree, but that she would be surprised if the tree survived.
Roberts said she thought the plans might not have been careful enough, because it looked as if workers had dug out some of the tree's roots.
"Maybe it will live, I don't know," she said. "But there are some pretty traumatic things going on 10 feet from it."
But Rolf Borchert, professor of physiology and cell biology, said the excavation probably wasn't harming the tree.
Although it is difficult to tell a tree's condition even after a thorough examination, Bocorchert said, "It's very important."
Elm trees have root structures that extend in radius a little bit farther than their crowns. Digging appears to be far enough away from the treg to be of no danger to its roots, he said.
And even if the roots were damaged on one side.
The tree is still in a much better situation than the trees along Jayhawk Boulevard. Borchert said.
the tree could probably live on roots that spread out in other directions.
Robert Johnson, project supervisor for construction company R.D. Andersen, Inc., said crews had not excavated within several feet of the tree's roots. His blueprints include an estimation of where the tree's roots are. The blueprints show no plans to dig near the roots.
"We're not at a depth or even close enough that we're even going to hit any roots." Johnson said.
Every effort is being made to protect the tree, he said, even though it's difficult to work around it on roofs.
Douglas Riat, assistant director of facilities planning for construction administration, said construction crews had been good about complying with requests to protect the tree.
Construction of the new science library has some people concerned about the future of the large American elm tree nearby.
Man receives ticket for salvaging deer
Staff writer
By AMBER STENGER
The leader of a one-man ministry was ticketed recently for salvaging two dead deer he found on Missouri and Kansas highways.
Jesse Ray Tucker, reverend and sole member of Good Samaritan Ministries from California, said he salvaged the deer so he could distribute the meat to needy families in Lawrence.
"I always try to help feed the needy and give them clothes," he said. Tucker said this was the first time he had ever salvaged game from highways and that he would not do it again.
rucker loaded both deer into his van. He said one was badly smashed and the meat was spoiled. He did not
Tucker was ticketed for salvaging game without a permit. He can be fined a maximum of $1,000 or serve six months in the county jail for each charge. Tucker will appear Dec. 11 in Douglas County District Court.
Tucker found the deer on separate days the last week of November. One was found on Interstate 70 between Kansas City and St. Louis. The other was found on Highway 24-40 between Lawrence and Tonganoxie.
distribute any of the spoiled meat. The other deer still was warm when he found it, he said, so he skinned and cleaned it.
He then distributed some of the meat to friends of his Lawrence relatives and their neighbors. He said he gave meat to four families.
Officials from the Kansas Wildlife and Parks Commission issued Tucker two tickets and confiscated the remains of both deer.
Richard Harrold, assistant chief of law enforcement for the Kansas Wildlife and Parks Commission in Topeka, said that when motorists find deer on highways they are supposed to contact law enforcement officials. The officials then inspect the deer to determine whether the deer is a male or female, edible, the motorist cannot take the deer. If the deer is edible, it is tagged and the motorist is issued a permit and is allowed to take the deer.
Dick Hack, environmental health inspector for the Douglas County Health Department, said he recommended not eating game killed on highways.
that is also made clear that Harrold said deer meat spoils more quickly than other game because internal gas forms quickly in a deer.
15 KU women compete in Miss Kansas contest
Four place in top five at pageant
By AMBER STENGER
Staff writer
Fifteen KU students participated in the Miss Kansas USA Pageant last weekend at the Hyatt Regency in Kansas City, Mo.
Despite their best efforts, Cynthia Decker, a junior at Kansas State University, won the pageant. Theumners-up were all KU students.
Decker, an architecture student, said she was hesitant to accept the honor at first because it would require her to leave school for three weeks in February to compete in the Miss USA Pageant in El Paso, Texas. But after she talked about her experience with the school, Decker said she thought she would be able to keep up in her classes.
For winning the pageant; Decker will receive a $500 scholarship, all expenses for the trip to El Paso, a wardrobe for the Miss USA Pageant, modeling classes and a color analysis.
in Overland Park, said the large number of KU students in this year's pageant was coincidental. She said the pageant recruited contestants from colleges and universities throughout the state. Six contestants were K-State students.
Jill Denzin, coordinator for the regional office of the Miss Kansas, Missouri and Iowa USA pageants
Janae Wiltsie, Chanute sophmore, was second princess; Cynthia Bushnell, Lawrence senior, was third princess; and Anna Bessenbacher, Lenexa freshman, was fourth princess.
Rita Rolaan, Kansas City, Kan., senior at KU, was the first runner-up. She had been on this pageant. She said she enjoyed the experience and the challenge.
Denzin said organizations at universities and colleges were asked to recommend candidates for the Miss Kansas USA Pageant. Pageant officials then interviewed the nominees and this year selected 37 contestants to participate.
The winner of the Miss USA Pageant receives between $225,000 and $250,000 in gifts and prizes. The pageant will be broadcast March 1 on national television.
Students are offered new places to study
By JENNIFER ROWLAND Staff writer
Trying to find a quiet place to study during finals can be tough.
But some local hotel owners are providing an unusual way to get away from ringing phones and harried roommates, by offering discount rates to students during the final period.
Jon Driscoll, general manager of All Seasons Motel, 2309 Iowa St., said he was offering special discounted student overnight rates of $15 for one person and $20 for two people. A $10 rate is available for daytime use, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will be offered through Dec. 30. Students must present a KUID to be eligible for both discounts.
Driscoll said this was the first year the motel had offered this type of study rate package, but that the All Seasons Motel in Manhattan, which charges 10% and boasts offering student discounts for study rooms for the past five years.
"This year we're going after the students who want to get away from the dorms to study, or get to a quiet place to study," he said.
we're looking at 20,000 students out there all in the same dilemma — they all have to study for tests," he said.
Driscoll decided to begin the discount at KU this year after its success at Kansas State University in Manhattan. He said advertisements for the reduced rate started yesterday, but so far not many students had responded.
December and January are slow months, Driscoll said, because it's not the time of year conventions and weddings are booked.
He said offering students rooms at discount rates meant the motel could make some money during an off-season holiday and benefit from a quiet atmosphere.
"It's a good deal for both the student and the motel. This is the time of year where we have rooms sitting unoccupied," he said.
"So it's kind of a win-win situation," he said.
Marge Sweeney, co-owner of the College Motel, 1703 W. Sixth St., said the motel's $23 regular rate was cut for students during the final period.
Jim Glenn, co-owner of the Trave-
lodge Motel, 801 Iowa St., and Dennis
Shaffer, general manager of the
Econo Lodge, 2907 W. Sixth St., said
they were offering a 10 percent
student discount rate.
Gail Towle, co-owner of the Halcyon House Bed & Breakfast, 1000 Ohio St., said students had checked in and were ready, but that she was offering no discount.
"Normally we don't want students because we don't want them to party here. But if they're wanting to study, it's really quiet." Towle said.
"Very often the parents think about having their children come home."
Westminster In., 2525 W. Sixth St., offers students the corporate rate of $22 a night, as long as it's one's student a room.
From Dec. 8 to Dec. 17, the Kansas and Burge Unions will provide free beverages, free pencils and quiet places to study, in smoking and non-smoking areas. A typing room will be available.