I
1861 Happy Birthday Kansas! 1997
********************************3-DIGIT 666
KS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PO BOX 3585
TOPEKA, KS 66601-3585
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
NEWS 864-4810
ADVERTISING 864-4358
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1997
SECTION A VOL.103, NO.86
(USPS 650-640)
The Kansas City Star may be sold by Disney
NEW YORK — Walt Disney Co. yesterday signaled it might be willing to sell the newspapers and magazines it bought along with Capital Cities/ABC — businesses that have been the target of speculation since the takeover.
While announcing stronger profits for the final three months of 1996, Disney said it intends to "begin exploring its strategic options" for the publishing business.
Along with its broadcasting operations, Capital Cities/ABC owned The Kansas City Star, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Belleville (III). News-Democrat and other daily newspapers. The deal also brought Disney specialty publications such as Women's Wear Daily.
Disney has been expected to look for a way to get out of the publications business since it agreed in August 1995 to buy Capital Cities/ABC for $19 billion. Through the deal, Disney was looking for a way to expand distribution of its movies. The newspapers and magazines simply didn't seem to fit with the rest of Disney.
Mike Auchard (left), a mason with the KU department of student housing, meets with State Rep. Bill Feuerborn, D-Garnett, along with Bob Harkness from facilities operations, Jeff Odom from student housing, and Richard Kershenbaum from computing services.
Arthur Brisbane, vice president and editor for The Kansas City Star, declined comment and referred questions to a Disney spokesperson in Burbank, Calif.
Study says Lawrence not highly segregated
WASHINGTON — Older cities in the Northeast and Midwest are now the nation's most racially segregated and will probably stay that way without a Rust Belt revival in construction, said the author of a study of housing patterns.
Of the 15 most segregated metropolitan areas, 10 were old Midwestern industrial cities, Farley report
America's most segregated city as of 1990 was Gary, Ind., according to the report by Reynolds Farley, of the University of Michigan. But city officials were quick to take exception.
The least segregated tended to be in the South and West, led by Jacksonville. N.C.
regulated by:
Using Census Bureau housing reports, Reynolds calculated what he called indexes of dissimilarity for communities that had at least 3 percent Black population, or at least 20,000 Blacks.
Lawrence was the fifth least-segregated city.
where Caucasians lived only on all-Caucasian blocks and Blacks only on all-Black blocks, the index would be 100. Where there was no racial pattern, the index would be zero.
Since winning the crown in May, 20-year old Alicia Machado of Venezuela has clearly added a little padding to her well-rounded curves
NEW YORK — Miss Universe hit the gym Tuesday, trying to control her expanding dimensions before her big binge turns her career into a black hole.
Miss Universe packs on pounds during reign
John Head / KANSAN
other foods," Miss Macadado said. Now, with the support of Donald Trump, who co-owns the Miss Universe pageant with CBS, she's shedding the pounds for all the world to see.
"I was in other countries with other foods." Miss Machado said.
While the weight may have threatened her crown, it didn't hurt her name recognition.
narrative recognized "Famous public! Before I had 15 pounds more, nobody knows. Now I am Miss Universe, and everybody knows," she said in broken, but enthusiastic, English.
With 50 photographers crowding around her in a tiny gym, she lifted a 10-pound weight, skipped rope and pedaled a bike.
Workers lobby for benefits
The Associated Press
State employees say issue affects students
By Ann Marchand Kansan staff writer
TOPEKA — Classified employees from the Regents institutions met at the Capitol yesterday to lobby for increased benefits.
increased benefits. The Kansas Council of Classified Senates met earlier this year and drafted a position paper outlining their requests from the legislature.
Those priorities are: salaries which reflect cost-of-living and experience adjustments, expanded health care benefits, increased retirement options, a revised worker's compensation package and varied leave programs.
Unlike unclassified employees, such as faculty, who are on University payroll, classified employees are state employees. Therefore, their economic futures are dependent on the legislature.
Richard Kershenbaum, a technical services manager for the University and a Classified Senate member, said that the students were affected by the current classified employment problems.
"At Ekdahl Dining Commons, it's a state-of-the-art dining facility, but when you go there you often have to eat off of paper plates and plastic silverware because they can't find enough people to wash dishes," he said.
through people to work for Twelve members of the KU Classified Senate, representing 1,600 classified workers at the University, took a personal day to lobby on behalf of all classified employees.
Kansas ranks 49th of 50 states when measuring total hourly compensation for state employees, surpassing only Louisiana, said Kansas Legislative Research Department officials. Kansas classified employees make an average of $15.26 per hour
A beginning custodian work or office assistant makes $6.60 an hour — which, at 40 hours per week, produces a yearly
classified employees make But that average disguises the fact that many entry-level jobs at the University, especially custodial or dining-hall jobs, pay significantly less.
before-tax salary of $13,728. The U.S. poverty level for a family of four is $15,600.
Because of the low state salaries, many potential workers are choosing to enter the private sector instead of working for the University.
State Rep. Bill Feuerborn, D-Garnett, said that the requested increase in wages was necessary to retain a strong public-sector work force.
Two legislators have responded to the classified employees' pleas and taken legislative action.
State Rep. Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence, has drafted a bill that guarantees employees overtime when called to work during emergency conditions.
State Rep. Henry Helgerson, D-Wichita, has requested a bill to explore options for classified employees to purchase disability insurance as a group, which is less expensive than individual purchases.
KU Classified Senate President Thelma Simons said that although the response to their requests had been positive, the legislative process would be long.
Geoff Krieger / KANSAN
Chris Medlen and Jimmy Vick, both from Lawrence High School, take advantage of the snow to sled beneath Carruth O' Leary Hall. Sledders run the risk of injury when doing jumps in the snow.
Friends don't let friends sled drunk or dangerously
Students warned to exercise caution
By Emily Vrabac
Kansan staff writer
"Sledding is fun, and it's in part fun because it's dangerous," said Randall Rock, chief of staff at Watkins Memorial Health Center.
For many students on the KU campus, snowfall means sledding. But for some of those students, sledding means injuries.
Rock said students come to Watkins with sliding injuries such as cuts, fractures and frostbite.
Tom Christie, a KU alumnus,
knows all too well about the
risk of head injury while sled-
ding. In December 1977,
Christie was injured while sled-
ding just west of the Campanile.
"People are at risk for head injuries as well," he said. "It may not be fashionable, but you may consider wearing your bike helmet to go sledding."
Now principal of Cordley Elementary School in Lawrence, Christie said he does not discourage sledding. Instead, he tells his students to use sleds that can be controlled.
"We were sledding on different kinds of things, but we weren't getting very far." Christie said. "So we borrowed a piece of plastic from another kid. I went down laying on my stomach and couldn't see, and I basically hit a tree with my head."
Christie needed 152 stitches in his face and broke his jaw in 14 places. He also lost his short-term memory.
Christine Bauer
Libby Hand, Lake Forest, Ill.
senior, went sledding in the
fresh snow Monday night.
Christie's advice to heart.
Not all KU students are taking
"We used huge metal cookie sheets," she said. "We greased up the bottom of them and got good speed."
good speech. Hand said she was bruised but had no severe injuries.
Mike Richardson, director of the department of Facilities Operations, said the University does not warn sledders of the dangers.
"Of course there's concern about the safety of sledders," he said. "But there have never been signs against it as far as I know." Rock said students should not
Rock said students should not do anything to affect their coordination when they go sledding.
"The most dangerous combination is alcohol consumption and sledding," he said. "It frequently results in injuries."
Students stalk rare empty spot
Permits oversold by department despite problems
By Dave Morantz Kansan staff writer
Endlessly circling cars and mad dashes for open spaces in yellow parking lots are all too familiar for many KU students.
But students upset with problems finding available parking should hunt for spaces in less-used yellow lots, said Donna Hultine, assistant director of parking.
"I think that they need to become more familiar with all the options of the yellow permit," she said.
Despite Hultine's advice, some students blame their parking woes on a departmental policy of overselling parking spaces.
"I know that the University sells more parking spaces than there are available spaces and justifies it by claiming that students will be coming and going at various times, so there should always be parking available," said Betsy Wingert, Lawrence junior. "But I paid $53 for parking and I expect there to be a parking space for me when I need it, and that does not seem unreasonable to me."
Hultine said that although the department does oversell parking spaces, students should not have problems finding spaces.
"The overall is not so much a factor when I have open spaces every day
on campus," she said.
She said the lot just west of Memorial Stadium usually contained empty spaces.
But Wingert said she paid for a permit to have a reasonable walk to class instead of trekking a long distance to campus.
"The whole idea here is to get a space fairly close to where my class is" she said.
Dena Schlesener, Peabody sophomore and secretary for the Jayhawker Towers Tenant Association, said most towers residents did not want a first-come, first-served permit plan.
"We would rather take a chance of parking close to the towers at night rather than having to park at the Burge Union or the Lied Center," she said.
But Jeremy Robbins, Tonganoxie senior, said the parking department should stop overselling permits. Fighting for a space has kept him from going to class, he said.
Huline said residents of Jayhawker Towers and some scholarship halls had rejected selling permits on a first-come, first-served basis plan and elected to stay with the present system.
Hultine said if the department suggested that only a set number of permits be sold, she did not feel that students would go for it.
"If I'm really late, I just say, 'Screw it' and 'don't go to class,' he said.
it, and don't go beo bob.
Tammy Murphy, Kansas City, Kan.,
junior, said students had to be
aggressive to find parking spaces.
"You just kind of watch people come back from class and then you try to nab 'em,' she said.
TODAY
INDEX
COLD AND WINDY
Television ... 2A
On Campus ... 2A
Features ... 6A
Horoscopes ... 6A
Nightlife ... 6A
Sports ... 1B
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