Campus/Area
University Daily Kansan / Friday, March 9, 1990
3
ASK will lobby in Washington
Members want improvements in education act
By Matt Taylor Kansan staff writer
Three Associated Students of Kansas members plan to spend part of spring break in Washington, D.C., to support students in student financial aid.
B. Jake White, student body president; Sherri Sweers, ASK campus director; and Bill Moseley, ASK advisory board chairman, said they would leave today and return Wednesday.
White said they would lobby for improvements in the Higher Education Act of 1965, which provides for federal financial aid, including Pell Grants, Guaranteed Student Loans and minority scholarships.
Congress in July or August will begin to discuss revising the act, Moseley said. The revision process is expected to take 18 months.
Sweirs told Student Senate on Wednesday that KU students who received federal financial aid could be affected by the act. ASK wants to simplify the application process, make financial aid easier to obtain and increase scholarships for minorities.
White said that during the Reagan administration funds decreased for several financial aid programs.
Moseley said student financial aid in Kansas had increased about 35 percent during the past 10 years while tuition prices had risen more than 200 percent.
In Washington, the three will join ASK members and student leaders from the other Board of Regents schools. The group has scheduled two days of meetings with staff members of the Kansas congressional delegation and with other congressmen.
Moseley said Senate would pay $360 for some of the expenses. ASK is paying $660 for airfare.
ASK members and the student body presidents have gone to Washington in the past to lobby other national issues, White said.
Haskell to discuss violence and deaths
By Eric Gorski
Kansan staff writer
A public forum on increased violence and discrimination in Lawrence will be conducted today at Haskell Indian Junior College.
The forum, originally scheduled for March 12, was changed to coincide with a march to heighten community awareness of increased violence and a memorial service for Christopher George Bread, said George Amos, Haskell Student Senate executive board member.
Bread, 19, was found dead Friday, one mile east of Lawrence on 15th Street. A memorial service began at the center of Haskell's campus.
Bread is one of three American Indians who have been found dead in the past year in Lawrence.
The march will begin at 11 a.m. at 11th and Massachusetts streets and will at Haskell.
The forum is scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m., or whenever marchers return to the Haskell campus, said Ruth McMullen. It will be at the Coffin Sports Complex.
Only the forum is sanctioned by Haskell Student Senate.
Eli Talmaseh, Senate vice president, said, "All we’re trying to do is come up with a forum where students can come up with their opinion in a dignified manner."
A student petition requesting the date change was submitted this week, and meeting with The Senate called a special meeting yesterday to approve the switch.
"The Student Senate is part of the student body itself." Talmasey said. "Their concerns are our concerns. If they're for this day, we're all for it."
Amos said the forum was aimed not only at the Haskell population but all of Lawrence. Violence is a community problem, not a Haskell problem,
he said.
Douglas County District Attorney Jim Flary said that he planned to attend the forum and that he was sure that people's opinions would be heard.
"The opportunity for discussion back and forth will be vauable," Flory said.
He said he would speak briefly at the forum and would field questions about the investigation of the deaths.
We need things done. At least one of these have to be solved.
athletic department employee
Chris Mulvenon, Lawrence police spokesman, said Police Chief Ron Olin would attend the forum.
A spokesman for Douglas County Sherriff Loren Anderson said Anderson also would attend.
Martin said the forum would be a starting point for a continuing dialogue about recent violence against American Indians.
John Sandoval, a 19-year-old Haskell student, was found dead in April 1989 in the Kansas River. Cecil Dawes, a 21-year-old former*student at the University of Kansas, was also the same river in October 1989. Both were unattended deaths, meaning no one known to have witnessed the death
Rita Ramirez, Haskell athletic department employee, said she now drove her 8-year-old son three blocks to Cordley School, 1837 Vermont St., instead of letting him walk.
"We need things done," said Ramirez, who plans to attend the forum. "At least one of these have to be solved."
Apocalypse for apothecaries?
Looming discount chains don't worry small Lawrence drugstores
By Chris Siron
Kansan staff writer
By Chris Siron
Deep-discount drugstores are displacing traditional pharmacies in the United States, but retailers disagree about whether that trend will affect Lawrence.
Phar-Mor, an Ohio discount drugstore chain, moved across the Mississippi River and into Kansas last year. A group of Kansas City stores did a 14-store Dot Discount Drug Store chain from Walt-Mart Stores Inc.
Development plans are tentative, but representatives of both chains said the stores would expand, first in the Kansas City area and other regional markets, perhaps in Lawrence.
Deep-discount stores are bigger than traditional drugstores and are stocked with merchandise bought at cheaper rates.
A city the size of Lawrence offers a good market for a deep-discounter, said Jim Frederick, a store in Store News, a trade publication.
Revo D.S. Inc., a drugstore chain, is trying to sell 773 of its 1,873 stores, including 31 in Kansas.
Kathleen Obert, director of public relations for Revo, said the sales were not motivated by the number of deep-discount drugs.
Downtown Lawrence's Round Corner Drug Co. could be affected by discount dramatres
However, she said deep-discount drugstores could have an effect on traditional drugstores when they first opened in a community
"There's usually shifting when they move in," she said. "In the long run, though, there is a niche for both styles of business."
Obert said college students in particular might be attracted to discount stores.
"They don't mind the larger stores," she said. "They're usually looking just to save."
She said traditional drugstores were more convenient for people coming from the doctor or looking for a specific medicine. Ill people want to get home and do not want to spend time comparison shopping.
Mike McCaffery, pharmacist at Dillons, 1740 Massachusetts St., said the only way large chains
could succeed was through huge volumes of sales.
"There might not be the numbers in Lawrence," he said. "We don't have that kind of large line."
But, Ron Benjamin, president of Dot Discount, said Lawrence might be perfect for one of his stores.
market for Dot," he said.
"If it is a big enough market to support K mart and Wal-Mart, I would think it's a big enough
Tom Wilcox, owner and operator of Round Corner Drug Co., 801 Massachusetts St., said that a discounter might survive in Lawson but that it would not hurt independent druggers like his own.
"Discounters tend to bump heads with grocery stores and large chains like Wal-Mart," he said. "When you look at what draws people to a pharmacy, price
is pretty far down the list. They're looking for service and personality."
Frederick said Lawrence was unusual because it had not been inundated with discount chains. Local drugstore owners should worry about competing with deep-discounters.
"If they honestly believe they will not be hurt, they are deluding themselves," he said. "They are a force to be reckoned with."
Legislators notice peculiar letter campaign
Tobacco company tries to thwart cigarette tax with drive
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — A large tobacco company is playing a key role in a drive to defeat a proposed cigarette tax increase, and some legislators are calling the effort the most sophisticated letter-writing campaign they have ever seen.
House members have reported receiving numerous letters from constituents asking them to vote against a proposal to use a cigarette tax increase to finance higher education programs. Some said they now believe that Philip Morris USA is orchestrating the campaign, writing
letters for constituents to sign.
However, a Philip Morris official said the company was only providing information to customers who ask for it in writing letters to their legislators.
House members began to think they were the target of a campaign earlier this week. Rep. Vince Snowbarger, R-Olathe, sent his colleagues a memo Wednesday to explain where cigarette tax letters were coming from in Illinois and how Miller, R-Wellington, began collecting letters from House members.
"I'm impressed at the sophistication and how it's been masked not to look like an organized campaign," said Tep. Ginger Barr, R-Auburn. "I am very confident, and I'm sure, very expensive."
Jack Dillard, Philip Morris' regional director for governmental affairs, said the company was not orchestrating a campaign. He said the cost of providing assistance to customers was minimal.
"They ask us about providing information," he said. "They're the ones who have to do it."
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Dick Bond, R-Overland Park, and 21 other
senators, would increase the tax on a package of 20 cigarettes from 24 cents to 29 cents and on a package of 25 cigarettes from 30 cents to $ 36 \frac{1}{4} $ cents.
In addition, the bill would increase the state's tax on other tobacco products from 10 percent to 15 percent. The bill would raise about $11.8 million, which would go to the Board of Regents.
The Senate approved the bill a month ago, 26-13. It is now before the House Taxation Committee.
"I am not a bit surprised that a tecno company would be trying toteco them employees and friends on this issue." Bon said. "Am I distressed? No."