VOL. 100, NO. 70 (USPS 650-640)
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSTAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
WEDNESDAY DEC. 6,1989
NEWS: 864-4810
State reassigns property-tax official
By Derek Schmidt Kansan staff writer
TOPEKA — The controversial director of the state's Property Valuation Division was removed from his job yesterday.
Hamblin will be replaced by John Luttjohann
Terry D. Hamblin, who had angered lawmakers by failing to provide information to the Legislature, was reassigned from division director to director of collections, according to an announcement released yesterday by Ed Rolfs, secretary of revenue.
John R. Luttjohann, director of taxation, was appointed to replace Hamblin as division director.
"Mr. Hamblin has become a lightning rod for criticism, and the attacks have become increasingly harsh." Rolfs said in a statement. "After discussing the matter with Mr. Hamblin, we are both convinced
The Property Valuation Division,
part of the department of revenue, is
responsible for implementing the
civil and administrative application
of property for tax purposes.
that the war of words and finger-pointing is serving as a barrier to finding solutions to some very real problems taxpayers are facing."
Hamblin, who had been under attack by some legislators for months, did not appear last week at a three-day meeting of the joint Study Commission and United States Sifification, despite repeated requests by lawmakers to do so.
Rolfs confirmed that Hamblin had been told to stay away from the committee's meetings because of the
time he could be expected to be grilled if he had showed up.
State Sen. Phil Martin, D-Pittsburgh and a former division director, was Hamblin's sharpest critic. Martin said he had requested a sales assessment ratio study, which would indicate the accuracy of property values assigned during reevaluation, but that could hold him in November that the information would not be available until May 1990. Martin said.
Late Thursday night, the joint committee approved a motion by State Rep. Bill Roy Jr., D-Topeka, to investigate the legality of the division withholding information from the Legislature.
State Rep. Betty Jo Charlton, D-Davrence and a member of the joint committee, said yesterday she was not convinced that Hamblin's removal would expedite the flow of information to the Legislature.
Nonetheless, she said that Hamblin's removal was necessary, although she had not expected it.
"I really did not have the notion that he was out of favor with the administration," she said.
In a news conference Friday, Gov. Mike Hayden declined to say whether he still had confidence in Hamblin. Frank Ybarra, the governor's deputy press secretary, said yesterday that Hayden planned no further comment on the reassignment.
State Rep. Jessie Branson, D-Dawrence and a member of the joint committee, said she was not surprised by Hamblin's removal.
"He should have been there and should have been able to answer many of the questions that the committee had," she said.
Branson said she expected more cooperation from Luttjohann.
"He works very well with the Legislature," she said.
"I wouldn't voice satisfaction yet, but at least Mr. Luttjohnk knows what the problems are. I would hope it's an improvement."
legislature, she said.
Charlton was more cautious.
In a statement, Luttjohann said, "The challenges we face in the next few weeks are great. . . We must first quantify the scope of any insecurity that could assemble a package of changes which are appropriate."
Panel discusses University racism issues
Problems persist some students say
By Cory S. Anderson Kansan staff writer
Angela Cervantes had a bad experience in her English 102 class.
Stephanie Maddox. Kansas City, Mo., freshman, answers a question concerning racial problems on campus.
Cervantes, president of the Hispanic American Leadership Organization, said that one day she, along with several other students, came a few minutes late to class. As she sat down, her teacher made some humorous remarks about late students.
See related story
p. 8
*servantes didn't think it was funny.*
She said her teacher also commented that he knew for a fact that all Cubans in Miami were a least an hour late for school, work and everything else.
"I was so upset that I didn't want to speak for the rest of the class," she said. "He apologized later, but by then it was too late. The kids had already got it into their minds."
n
*Perpetuation of this ignorance can only be addressed by forums such as this. Racism doesn't have to exist in this country, but if we don't talk about it, it will perpetuate itself.*
Anthony Dick Haskell student and panelist
Cervantes was one of the participants in a panel discussion on racism yesterday in Hoch Auditorium. Her story is one example, she said, of an insensitivity on the part of some administrators and faculty that perpetuates racism on the KU campus. By hiring people like that teacher, the administration is showing its insensitivity, Cervantes said.
Administrative insensitivity and cultural education were two of the many subjects discussed by the panel yesterday. The panel was sponsored by the Sociology 104 class of Darvl Evans, associate professor of sociology.
It was the second part of a two-part project, the first part of which was a student-produced film on racism. More than 700 students attended, many of whom are in the class.
Members of the panel were: Frenchette Garth, Black Student Union president; Anthony Dick, Haskell student; Megan Chang and Kathryn Mar, representing Asian students; Andrea Katzman and Steve Jacobson, representing Hillel; Chris Alonzo, HALO member and Frank Williams, president of McColum Hall.
To start the discussion, Evans asked the panelists if they thought racism existed on campus, how it manifested itself, what its causes were, and what causes were and what could be done about it.
Garth responded by saying that the fact that a discussion was necessary proved racism existed on campus. She said it manifested itself in one of two ways, overtly with things like name calling, and coverly when people are
Students, panel members evaluate effectiveness of group discussion on racism
By Jennifer Metz Kansan staff writer
"I don't know if the panel is going to solve racism, but it will make people more aware of the problems," said Jill Johnston, Boulder. Colo., sonhorem.
Some students don't think yesterday's panel discussion in Hoch Auditorium will cure the problems of racism.
Mark Riding, a visiting Wichita State University freshman, said talking about racism was a good idea, but he questioned whether it would change people's attitudes, and whether racism would be around indefinitely.
"People think racism is a view, but racism is an installation in a person." Riding said. "It's not a problem, but it is a disease. It has to be cured, not just fixed."
Panel members unargue with members from Steve Jacobson, who that panel of the most important ideas behind the panel was addressing the problem, and to simply help students be conscious that the problem of racism existed.
Panel members disagreed with Riding.
"We're asking you to notice that by not sitting by a Black person, this could be a subtle hint of racism.
Some Black students in the audience cited things such as white students not sitting by Blacks on the bus as subtle manifestations of racist attitudes.
Frenchette Garth, panel member from the Black Student Union, said racial problems would never disappear if students took the attitude that nothing ever would change.
looked down upon because of the color of their skin.
"This is one step, but I don't think it should end here." Garth said.
Daryl Evans, associate professor of sociology, said racism existed and was "bad stuff." If solutions are going to begin, they must be made in an openness ofiversity with efforts like the panel, he said.
we need to do to stop racism," Jacobson said.
Garth said one of the causes of racism was that many people didn't understand other cultures.
"We're asking you to join and do whatever
Dick agreed, saying that racism was perpetuated by the educational curriculum in colleges and high schools. Most subjects are taught
"You folks are supposed to be the future," he said. "If you're not part of the solution, you are part of the problem."
from a white person's point of view with little regard to the contributions of other cultures, a situation that neretauates stereotypes, he said.
"Perpetuation of this ignorance can only be addressed by forums such as this," he said. "Racism doesn't have to exist in this country, but if we don't talk about it, it will perpetuate
Dick said the panel discussion would be helpful.
"You have to look back at the curriculum," Dick said. "Because when you get to this level your minds are already made up."
Katzman said apathy and indifference to racism were also a problem.
itself."
"If you are white and Protestant you don't face discrimination," she said.
Evans said the discussion was meant to get people to think about the problem and recognize that it exists. He said he hoped it had changed a few minds.
"If one person that was here today switched around then we have accomplished something." he said.
E. German party chief arrested
Citizens demand end to corruption political destruction
The Associated Press
EAST BERLIN — Erich Honecker and other former leaders were put under house arrest yesterday, the government disarmed the Communist Party's private army and the chiefs of the once-feared secret police resigned.
East Germans, furious about past corruption, surrounded secret police offices in several cities to stop further destruction of documents that he and his former spouse Honecker, who was party chief for 18 years, and his former lieutenants.
"The former general secretary and president Erich Honecker is among those who are not allowed to leave their houses," DON reported. Wanditz has 23 houses, once filled with Politiburo members and their families.
Under Honecker, the secret police were the main instrument for keeping people under control. The official news agency ADN reported yesterday that its 19 top officials resigned, but the new chief, Lt. Gen. Wolfgang Schwanitz, would remain in office.
The house arrests were an act of "national self-defense" and resulted from "the will of the people," said Harri Haarland, the deputy chief prosecutor.
Schwanitz has criticized the organization's past role in crushing dissent.
Guenter Wendland, the chief prosecutor, also resigned following allegations that he was unfit to lead corruption tribunal. He was a holdover from the Honecker era.
Authorities placed Honecker and other former top officials under house arrest yesterday in their luxurious Wandlitz compound north of East Berlin. The compound has become a symbol of past corruption and abuse.
Communist Party leaders appealed for calm to avoid "anarchy and chaos" in a nation that, in two months, has seen the dismissal of two sets of leaders, mass pro-democracy protests, the historic opening of its borders and promises of free elections and other reforms.
Bodies of kidnapped elderly couple found near Lecompton
The Interior Ministry said the government was disarming the "fighting groups", party-run militias based in factories.
By Rich Cornell Kansan staff writer
Western estimates said the militia had 3,000 active members but could have drawn on reserves of 500,000.
It said the weapons taken away included automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-aircraft and armored personnel carriers.
East Germany's top lawyer, Wolfgang Gogel, was arrested yesterday on suspicion of "criminal extortion," the official ADN news agency said.
On Monday, militia officers had urged the rank-and-file to break their oath of loyalty to the Communist Party.
Vogel handled spectacular East-West spy and prisoner swaps for years and was a confidant of Honecker. He also represented a fugitive East German official, Alexander Schalk-Golokowski.
The bodies of an elderly couple kidnapped Monday morning in Topeka were found yesterday in a field near Lecompton, said Jim Flory, Douglas County district attorney.
Honecker and several other members of the old leadership are the main targets of the corruption investigations. He has been expelled from the party, and three members of his Pollituro are in prison.
Lester M. Haley, 87, and Nancy C. Haley, 69, of Topeka, were shot to death. The gunman left them and another woman beside a dirt road. Flory said yesterday at a news conference at the Douglas County Law Enforcement Center. The Haley's
See RESIGN, p. 6
bodies were found together at 1:10 p.m. $ 2 \frac{1}{2} $ miles northwest of Lecompton near the Kansas River.
Flory said the kidnapper may have found the Haleys and shot them after sending them away from the car.
"Mr. and Mrs. Haley died of gun-shot wounds," Flory said. "No one is in custody."
Lt. Bud Brooks of the Topeka
l police department said the other
woman, Verne B. Horne, also of
Topeka, ran to a nearby farmhouse
from the intersection on the road.
She called her husband from
the farmhouse and he notified
the police, who began looking for the Haleys and another woman, Ida Dupugherty, who also may have been kidnapped.
Dougherty, a neighbor of the Haleys, is still missing, Brooks said. About 11:30 a.m. Monday, the Haleys went to her house to check on her.
When they walked inside, Dougherty was not home, and a gunman inside the house ordered the Halesy to lie on the floor, Brooks said. Shortly after that, Horne walked into the house to check on the Halesy.
The gunman took the Haleys and Horns to a car in Dougherty's garage
and drove to a dirt road north of Douglas County road 1023 and south of the Kansas River, Brooks said.
The Haleys and Horne were then ordered to leave the car, Brooks said. They ran away from the kidnapper in different directions.
However, Brooks said, police do
"We have several people we're looking at." he said.
not have significant information connecting any of the suspects with the crimes.
Horne described the gunman to police as a Black male, about 20 to 23 years old, five-10 to 6-foot, 140 pounds with shoulder-length black hair, Brooks said.
Doug yesterday's news conference, Flory said investigators from Douglas and Jefferson counties, KU police, the Kansas Bureau of investigation, the U.S. Army and Topeka police searched the area near Lecompont Monday and Tuesday. Volunteers from the area also
Using infrared sensing devices, investigators searched all night from a heliconator, he said.
(    )
Searchers found the two bodies yesterday near a deteriorated building, he said. He would not say how many times the Halevs were shot.
Investigators will continue searching the area today for Dougherty and clues concerning the shootings, Flory said. He Loren Anderson, Douglas County sheriff, plan to meet this morning with officials from Jefferson County to coordinate investigations.