THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAN
Vol.87,No.160
The University of Kansas—Lawrence, Kansas
Comp Centera a 'showcase'
Thursday, July 14, 1977
See story page three
Tower's position is controversial
Bv CHRISTOPHER COX
Staff Writer
The presentation yesterday of a petition protesting the building site of a communications tower in the south parking lot of the Douglas County Judicial and Law Commission, which was privatized as "untimely" and "not appropriate" by Douglas County commissioners.
"I was surprised to see the tower location going in at what I consider the front door," she said.
The petition was submitted by Associate District Judge Mike Elwell and contained the names of 44 county employees, counting Elwell, who are complaining about the tower's proximity to the law center building.
The tower site is in the parking lot just southeast of the building's south entrance. Destruction of the parking lot pavement and base of the tower began earlier this week.
Elwell said he had understood from newspaper articles only that the tower was under construction.
parking lot of the law center. He said he wasmused to that the building site would be under construction.
The county commissioners, however, disagreed with Elwil and maintained that the tower's site had been a matter of public record for three years.
In addition, Peter Whitenth, commission chairman, said he had gone before the City Commission. The Commission last week called for a public hearing. At each meeting, he said, he presented "the plot plan that had been developed and which indicated very clearly what would be done."
Whitenthight said the plan showed the route of the underground cable connecting the tower with the Emergency Operations Center in the law center's basement. He said it also showed the two parking spaces that would be taken up by the tower.
Members of the public and county employees, Whitenight said, should have made all their comments about the tower's status at public hearings held in the spring.
"I have done nothing to obscure this matter from anybody." Whitengight said. "I gave it the fullest airing that any governmental body owes beyond that to the public, fellow workers or whoever. I don't know what I could have done beyond that."
Commissioners Beverly Bradley and Robert Neis agreed with Whitenght and said that if there had been confusion about the cause of the problem, it was up to Elwell or the public to find out.
Besides claiming that excessive discussion on the tower's location had already been held, Whitenght said he didn't feel it was the place of county employees to question the commission's decisions "after the fact."
"I have known for some time exactly where it was going to be and I have never told anyone it was going to be in the south end of the parking lot." Bradley said.
"I like public input and I'm happy to hear it from anyone in a timely way," he said. "I don't expect the county employees to be second-guessing the Board (of County
Commissioners) on administrative decisions.
Elwell said he hoped that the commissioners would reconsider the tower location and study other sites. He said the proposed new campus will be a permanent center was one possible alternative.
"That (tower decision) has been made and all the耳害 offered. If it was an obscure decision that we hadn't given anyone any notice of that was going to affect all of these people in terms of danger, I would feel differently about it."
"I don't think we sayin' there no way," Bradley said. "We're saying the decision has been made. And we're not going to change it." Appreciate it if you didn't question ours."
1 "questioned it because I don't think that's an appropriate spot," Elwell said. "I just work here like everybody else, and if I see someone doing something, and it's not going to look so nice there."
Balfour recommended for KU ombudsman job; qualifications rated 'outstanding' by committee
Although the appointment is not yet official, William Bairfour, professor of physiology and cell biology and former vice chancellor for student affairs, has been recommended for the position of University ambassador.
In a letter to Del Shankel, executive vice chancellor, the Advisory Committee on Campus Grievances has unanimously recommended Balfour for the position.
Shankel will review the committee's recommendation when he returns from the job.
However, some committee members were willing to discuss the qualities they
In accordance with University Senate codes, grievance committee members have refused to discuss the specific candidate for the position.
had looked for in the search for an om-
budsman...
The responsibilities of the first KU umbandsman will be to hear individual grievances confidently and try to resolve those complaints without resorting to other University grievance procedure channels, according to the job description.
Deanell Tacha, associate dean of the School of Law and chairman of the grievance committee, has said that the job description is vague to allow the first ombudsman to determine the scope of his position.
The committee only had one applicant for position, Mike Tauraboulos, committee member.
Taraboulos, said the qualifications of the applicant were outstanding.
"It would be difficult to surpass the ap
plicant's knowledge of the University," he said.
Tarabulos said the applicant had an excellent working relationship with other University faculty and students, one of the qualities the committee had been looking
The committee began its search for the orbundan last spring, after compiling the
Job descriptions were also sent to all departments of the University, he said.
Taraboubs said that the committee followed Affirmative Action guidelines in the application process, keeping the application period open for one month and
The ambudsman position will be a part-time appointment with a concurrent part-time position in another department of the University.
The job description stated that the ombrien had to have at least six years (under 60) of experience.
It is important that the position be held by someone who knows about KU and its operations.
Tarabulos said that the committee had researched obsudman positions at other universities before writing the job description.
Tarabouls said the committee had decided not to have a screening process of applicants before the full committee had a chance to review each application.
The committee decided to complete the interviewing process before deciding on whether to open the application process again.
"We owed the applicant the right to review his application." Tarabules said. If the committee hadn't been satisfied with the applicant, it would have recommended that the process be reopened, he said.
According to a source in the administration, it is possible that Shankel will recommend that the committee reopen the process.
However, Taraboulis he thought
Houderl would ask to meet with the com-
munity.
Tarabulos said that the committee hoped the embushman would be on the job by the time he arrived.
Tired . . . but still smiling
Thursday
After hours of practicing in temperatures in the upper 90s, Michelle Pirano, a junior in high school from Lincoln, Neb., still manages to keep a smile on her face. Pirano is one of 250 pomp girls attending a week-long camp at KU. The camp will feature a final contest that will name one squad as the best performers.
Nurses to appeal convictions
DETROIT—Defense attorneys say they will appeal the convictions of two nurses on charges of poisoning patients at a veterans' hospital where more than 50 persons suffered breathing failures during a two-month period.
From our wire services
The jury that deliberated their case for nearly 94 hours also acquitted one of the defendants on a charge of murder.
"We're all stunned at this verdict," Thomas O'Brien defense lawyer, said after yesterday's verdict was returned.
"The only feeling I have at this moment is that it is possible to try to fairly convict innocent people in this country."
Filipina Narcisco de Ypsilanti, Mich,
and Leonora Perez of Ann Arbor, Mich.
were convicted of poisoning patients with a muscle-relaxing drug at the Ann Arbor Veterans Administration hospital during the summer of 1975.
The two women face possible life imprisonment, but federal prosecutors said they had not decided whether to ask for life sentences.
OPEC meeting ends in discord
STOCKHOLM, Sweden—A meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that began as a demonstration of unity ended discordantly yesterday with the makings of another split among radical and moderate members over oil price increases.
Radical members of the 13-member oil cartel indicated they would oppose efforts by Saudi Arabia and Iran, the two largest producers to freeze current prices through 1978.
Libya said a minimum increase of 10 per cent would be justified. Libya.
Algeria and Ira also said there was the possibility of a new split within the organization and another round of two-tiered prices if the Saudis and Iranians insisted on a price free at the next week in Caracas, Venezuela, next December.
Some analysts familiar with OPEC maneuvering said the positions taken by Saudi Arabia and Iran were prompted largely by their anticipation of a glut on world oil markets in the near future—that is, in the coming years—and the belief that oil prices will soon outstrip Western inflation, making indexing unnecessary.
In approving a suspension of the ban sought by the Food and Drug Administration, the committee noted that it was important to raise cancer in laboratory animals. It voted to
WASHINGTON—The Senate Human Resources Committee voted 11 to 3 yesterday to approve an 18-month lease on an on saccharin, the artificial sweetener.
Saccharin ban lift approved
Kansas City 6, Detroit 4; Boston 9,
Cleveland 7; Chicago 6, Toronto 3, 2nd
game 11 innings; Milwaukee 9, New York
8; Baltimore 4, Texas 3; Seattle 3,
Columbia 6; California 3;
Philadelphia 5, St. Louis 4;
Cincinnati 3; Houston 5, Los Angeles 2,
13 innings; Pittsburgh 6, Montreal 1;
San Francisco 5, San Diego 6.
The legislation, which authorizes a number of new studies on the effectiveness of present methods of testing, presents instances, now goes to the Senate floor.
require all products containing saccharin to bear the following label: "Warning: This product contains saccharin, which causes cancer in animals. Use of this product may increase your risk of developing cancer."
hot and humid weather will continue today and throughout the weekend. The National Weather Service in Topeka forecasts clear to partly cloudy skies and ternors in the upper 80% of the month through Sunday. Lows will be in the lower 70%.
Baseball
Weather
Power loss blacks out New York
NEW YORK (AP) - New York City city
museum, displayed in daylight as in
darkness for the same reason.
As dawn brought the first light in hours for the 10 million residents who endured the hot summer night without power. Mayor Tom Levin told the people who live and work here:
"It will not be possible to operate a normal day if urge me to stay until the morning," she said.
runs early morning news conference after a long, dark night that saw nearly 2,000 people arrested for looting. Seventy-eight police officers were reported injured.
As Beane spoke, power was restored to some outlying areas, but Manhattan itself was the most densely populated area.
The subways were useless, the commuter railroads motionless and the city at a standstill. Wall Street was shut down; the railroad was still open, until the duration. Elevators were immobilized.
Beame said there could be no subway or commuter rail service unit 2½ hours after power was fully restored. Consolidated officials could not say when that would be.
"We cannot tolerate in this age of technology an electrical system that can shut down the nation's largest city because of a bolt of lightning in Westchester County," the weary mayor told a city hall news conference.
There was bus service, but only so long
the fuel lausted, since gasoline pumps cannot function without electricity.
Beame urged New Yorkers not to drive their cars, either.
"Leave them where they are," he said. The mayor said only people in jobs essential to health and safety should report to work.
The blackout was triggered when devices designed to protect the area's power system failed during a raging electrical storm that swetten through the New York area last night, stiring power lines and generating stations with lightning bolts. Power station after power station failed as demand for electricity continued high.
By 9:34 p.m., the blackout had cascaded across the city's five boroughs and into its
northern and eastern suburbs and parts of New Jersey.
"All of a sudden, New York disappeared," said a diner atop the quarter-mile high World Trade Center. "All you could see was New Jersey."
Thousands were trapped, at least temporarily, in subways and elevators, and in skyscrapers floors above the stalled elevators.
The looting that spread throughout the five boroughs contrasted the remarkable barmony during a similar blackout over the Northeast on Nov. 9, 1965.
The first success at restoring power came just before 2 a.m., when power returned to 150,000 customers in the Jamaica area of Montserrat. In Westchester County were relied on.
Voters to decide water bond issue Tuesday
Bv ROBERT GODFREV
Staff Writer
Lawrence voters will decide Tuesday whether to approve the issuance of general obligation bonds totaling $8.4 million to fund construction of the Clinton water treatment plant on Dragstrip Road northeast of Clinton Reservoir.
Although the bond issue was approved by a four to one margin in an election last March, a technical error in fulfilling state-required publication dates of election notices forced the city to take the issue back to the polls.
Mike Wildgen, assistant city manager,
said yesterday that the delay in the bond
issue, if approved Tuesday, should not have
any adverse affect on the expected 1979
completion date of the treatment plant,
which should be in full operation by 1980.
He said, however, that interest rates available for the bond issue, whether the vote was favorable or not, might not be the same as those last spring.
The proposed 10 million gallons-a-day capacity treatment plant, which would serve Lawrence and three rural water districts, would supplement the existing plant at Third and Indiana Streets, which has a capacity of 17 million gallons a day.
Wilden said funding the plant through general obligation bonds rather than through a private bank would be much more expensive.
finance obligations because of lower interest rates and a shorter bond life.
General obligation bonds are issued for 20 years at a rate of interest that is $ \frac{1}{2} $ to 1 per cent lower than the interest for 30-year revenue bonds.
Specifically, the bond issue involves $8.4 million in general obligation bonds to pay for the $8.8 million treatment plant. The bonds will be made up from water revenue cash, reserves.
After the first election, Lawrence city commissioners approved an increase in water and sewer rates to pay for the bonds and for higher operating costs at the new treatment plant. The first increase, about 11 per cent for the average owner, took place in May. A series of additional increases has been set up over the next five years.
If voters don't approve the bond issue, the city commission has the option of authorizing an ordinance to fund the plant construction. The public will be expensive than general obligation bonds.
The Clinton treatment plant would provide a more stable and cleaner water supply than the existing plant, which takes its water from the Kansas river, Wilden said, because of the river's higher pollution levels. The water susceptibility to drought conditions.
Because of an expected light voter turnout, many predict polls have been canceled.
Wilden said that he didn't know how long the existing treatment plant could provide adequate service to customers but that during the droughts of the past two summers, the plant operated at full capacity and water usage was greater than reserves.
However, if the bond issue does receive approval as is expected, city commissioners will probably authorize the bond sale at Tuesday's city commission meeting, Wildden give, and construction bids would probably be let by the last week in August.
Polling places for the water bond election are as follows:
- First Ward: 1 and 4th precincts,
Pinkney School; 2nd and 3rd precincts,
Douglas County Bank, and 5th precinct,
Deerfield School.
See VOTERS page 2
Meeting on energy set for tonight
A town meeting to allow Lawrence residents to discuss the rising cost of utilities in Lawrence has been scheduled for 7:30 p.m. today in the City Commission Room on the fourth floor of the First National Bank Tower, 900 Massachusetts
Agencies that are sponsoring the meeting are Ballard Center, the Consumer Affairs Association, the Council on Aging, the East Central Kansas Economic Opportunity Corporation, Penn House and the city human resources department.
"We're trying to figure out some way to help people with their utilities," Judy Atienza of Adira Association, said. "But, first we've got to find out what the complaints are."
Oroeger said the town meeting was a prelude to a larger citywide workshop to teach methods of energy conservation to residents.
Topics expected to be discussed at tomorrow's meeting include utility company policies and possible discrepancies with the program's fees, utility shutoffs and security deposit fees.
Representatives from the Kansas Public Service Gas Co., Southeastern Bell Telephone Co., the Kansas Power and Light Department, and the Texas Department are scheduled to attend.
City and county commissioners and state representatives and senators also have