University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, January 22, 1991
Campus/Area
3
Finney's speech today
Governor will propose property-tax relief plan to Legislature
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — Joan Finney goes before a joint session of the Legislature today to deliver her legislative and budget message, her first major speech since becoming governor.
Most attention will be focused on
her property tax relief plan, a massachusetts shipper that she orders to reduce significantly the reliance on property taxes for financing schools and local units of
government in Kansas
Joan Finnev
To do that, she will propose a sweeping expansion of the sales tax base, including placing the 4.25 percent tax on many services never before taxed in Kansas and eliminating a host of sales tax exemptions that have been granted over the years.
While exact figures were being kept under wraps until Finney appears before the joint session in the House chamber at 11 a.m. today, the committee's proposal was aimed at generating nearly $200 million in new revenue.
She would use about $500 million for property-tax relief and the rest for increasing funding of some state programs and to build up the state
general fund balance.
In the first year of her program, according to legislators who received a briefing last week on her plan, the amount of new revenue would be about $900 million and the amount of first-year property tax relief would be about $280 million.
Two of those legislators, Senate Democratic Leader Jerry Karr of Emporia and Senate Ways and Means Chairman Gus Bogina of Shawnee, a Republican, both expressed reservations whether law-makers will accept all of Finney's proposal. But Karr called it a good starting point in negotiations over tax relief.
Kansan staff writer
Bv. Joe Gose
Terror threats mean local security increase
The most immediate concern surrounds Gov. Joan Finney's state of the state address today at 11 a.m.
TOPEKA — Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's call for worldwide terrorism against the United States and its citizens has reached the ears of local law enforcement officials in charge of providing security for the state capital.
"We're paying attention, and it's going to be a little tighter," said Jolene Grabill, administrative assistant to the speaker pro tempore. "We're just taking extra precautions."
One of those precautions will require people attending the speech to pass through a metal detector. Grabill said.
Tom Laing, administrative assistant to the speaker of the house, said, "There's been a general advisory from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation in some cases of houses. They've made it clear that it'a sense world situation right now."
Laiing said that law enforcement personnel from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Kansas Highway Patrol and the Police Department would be in use to ensure security today.
The Kansas Highway Patrol
handles the normal daily security responsibilities.
"For the long-term, you'll see a more secure state capitol, but I don't anticipate any long-term anxiety over this." Laing said. "The local law enforcement authorities are very competent and noobliterated in openness in government is just that, and we're not going to change it."
Laing said that he had not heard of any terrorist threats involving the capitol.
Prof volunteers for gulf duty
"We never talk publicly about threats of any kind." he added.
By Nedra Beth Randolph
Kansan staff writer
A KU faculty member joining Operation Desert Storm next week is different from many of those who were called up: He volunteered to go.
'I could go over there and not have any angry shot fired at me. And then again, all hell could break loose.'
— Capt. Virgil Woolridge
- Capt. Virgil Woolridge assistant professor of military science
Unlike other reservists who were called to serve in the Persian Gulf, Capt. Virgil Woolridge's active-duty status allowed him to volunteer for service even though he was not part of a unit that was sent to the gulf.
Woolridge, assistant professor of military science, will report Monday for deployment to the Middle East, where he will be part of a U.S. unit normally stationed in Germany. He told the Army in early December that he wanted to serve in Saudi Arabia.
Woolridge worked with and became friends with Saudi Arabian officers when he was in officer's training school a few years ago. The U.S. Army was training the Saudi officers for their government. Woolridge said the Army had considered his familiarity with the Saudi Arabian people when deciding to deploy him to the gulf.
"I feel I have some ties, with the Saudi Arabian people," he said. "I was relatively confident that when I needed to be put on the list that I would go."
The Army gave him temporary-duty orders in the gulf for six months to a year, he said. But that does not mean that he could not be there longer.
"I'll probably be over there as long as I'm needed," he said. "I'll be there until the job is done."
At the University of Kansas, Woolridge a absence will affect the ROTC
Karen McQuinn, an Army ROTC student, said that although the school already had a replacement to teach Wowridge's classes, our bridge
"I'm sorry to see him go." she
said. "I hope he stays safe and comes back soon."
Col. Bill McGaha, military science professor and Army ROTC commander, said Woolridge's absence would leave an even bigger hole in the Army ROTC administration than it would in the classroom. There will be no replacement to fill Woolridge's role as a rotating instructor; instructors will have to 60 in the years
McGaish said Woolridge was setting a good example for ROTC students, and his impending departure would be an important perspective for many ROTC students.
"It brings it closer to home for the students." McGaha said. "It gives them a better appreciation for what the Army does.
"One thing you have to do in the Army is to serve in the best way you
can. Professionally, this is what Woolridge felt he should do."
Ron Hoard, Overland Park senior,
also said Woolridge was setting a good example by volunteering to serve.
"It shows a lot of good moral character to stand up for his country," said Hoard, an Army ROTC infantry reservist "I think it's great."
Woolridge said the hardest thing about leaving was explaining to his two sons, ages 5 and 9, why he was going to war.
"I have to try to make my oldest son understand that there really are things worth dying for," he said. "My mother doesn't really comprehend it."
Woolridge said he did not want to speculate about what might happen to him once he gets to the gulf. He has seen that the wind will be in Operation Desert Storm.
"I could get over there and not have an angry shot fired at me," he said. "And then again, all heil could break loose."
KU professor Virgil Woolridge soon will go to the gulf.
hilip Meiring/KANSAN
Peace rally condemns leaders, not soldiers
Eight hundred gather at Douglas County Courthouse to protest leaders' decisions in Middle East crisis
By Patricia Rojas
Kansan staff writer
Nine-year-old Ella Seibel took her drawing of Bart Simpson to the courthouse Sunday.
With a yellow pen she had written, "Don't have a war, man," on her picture.
Seibel was one of about 800 people who gathered at noon Sunday in front of the Douglas County Courthouse, Massachusetts and 10th streets, to protest the war in the Middle East.
"I want to tell people that peace is good and war is really bad." Seibel said.
In simple terms, that was the message of the rally.
But not everyone said it with a picture.
Michael Stewart, Villa Park, Ill., senior, rallied with a gas mask tied to his waist.
"It seems to make it real." Stewart said.
He said that many supporters of the war were not aware of what was really happening in the Persian Gulf. "If more people understood the real horrors of war, there would be more people here today," he said.
Stewart is a member of Voice, a KU organization for peace that, with the Lawrence Coalition for Peace and Justice, organized Sunday's protest.
Don McCloskey, Iowa City, Iowa, junior, and a member of Voice, all byers们by realized the fact that they must not be the first to arrive.
"We are against the leaders and the decisions that
The protesters were working to bring the troops home, he said.
'Last week we gathered in an expression of hope that war would be averted. The numbers here demonstrate the sadness and the frustration and the hope that it will be over soon.'
KU law librarian and a member of the Lawrence Cunia-
tion for Peace and Justice
were made." McCloskey said. "We support the troops. That's exactly what we are for."
Hanson, co-organizer of the weekly peace vigils in front of the courthouse, said the number of participants was increasing.
Louise Hanson, KU law librarian and a member of the Lawrence Coalition for Peace and Justice, said the protest demonstrated that U.S. citizens were divided about the war.
"Last week we gathered in an expression of hope that war would be wretched," she said. "The numbers here demonstrate the sadness and the frustration and the hope that it will be over soon."
"War is insanity," said Tom Berger, associate director of affirmative action and a Vietnam veteran. "We must stop the war before the insanity grips the country."
Some expressed their feelings because of their past experiences.
Stuart Beals, Lawrence graduate student, protests the gulf war. About 650 people joined Beals on Sunday in front of the county courthouse.
Community service no longer an option for violent offenders
Kansan staff reporter
New eligibility guidelines for community corrections programs will exclude people convicted of violent crimes or of selling drugs from performing community service in place of aiail time.
The Douglas County Commission unanimously approved the revised eligibility guidelines yesterday for Douglas County Community Corrections programs. The new guidelines went into effect immediately, said Chris McKenzie, county administrator.
Mark Matees, director of Douglas County Community Corrections, said the guidelines were revised because they were not specific and did not mention the crimes from being eligible for community services.
"We tried to weed out sex crimes and crimes of violence," Matese said. "These offenders are not eligible for community service."
Matese said, however, that offenders who were ineligible still would be considered for community service if the crime involved unusual circumstances.
According to the new guidelines, people convicted of selling or distributing drugs will not be considered for the program. However, those convicted of distributing drugs will be considered for community service.
Matees the eligibility regulations were only guidelines. Although the community-corrections department offenders and submit a recommendation to the court, the judge will make final sentencing decisions.