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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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PUBLISHED SINCE 1889 BY THE STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1989
(USPS 650-640)
Grassland future is uncertain
VOL.99, NO.90
by Max Evans Kansan staff writer
In a state known for its wide open spaces, a 70-acre tract of land just west of Lawrence has become the focus of intense speculation.
The area, known as the Elkins Prairie, is native grassland at the corner of U.S. Highway 40 and Douglas County Road 13, about four miles outside of Lawrence. The prairie supports one of the largest local concentrations of Mead's milkweed, a federally protected plant species.
The prairie, which has never been plowed and planted, is the largest of 150 native prairies that still exist in Douglas County.
However, both the plant and the prairie are being threatened by development associated with the proposed South Lawrence Trafficway, said Ken Lassman, spokesman for the Bureau of Plains Rivers, a conservation group.
The trafficway would run south and west of Lawrence and would connect the Kansas Turnpike with Kansas Highway 10. The trafficway originally was slated to pass through a portion of Elkhorn, but it was later protected. Mead's milkweed, the 14 mile stretch of road will be moved farther west.
Charles Kuratt, who will receive the 1989 William Allen White Foundation award for Journalistic Merit thinks over a question. Kuratt spoke with students yesterday in Stauffer-Flint Hall.
Even though plans for the traffic way were changed, problems still exist. The land currently is zoned for agricultural use, but Lassman said he wasn't sure the city and county could resist a zoning change if the trafficy area started developing rapidly.
"The county has tried to make assurances," Lassman said. "At the same time that they are making these restrictions, they are laying out the corridors for development, and it is around the western edge of town.
A December agreement between Douglas County and Lawrence limited access to the prairie and controlled development along the route.
The agreement was strengthened Tuesday when the Lawrence City Commission approved a letter that demanded clarification of the city's and county's plans for the land. It also affirmed the restrictions agreed upon in December to protect Elkins Prairie.
The letter, sent by L. Romel Finley,
state supervisor for the Kamas Fish
and Wildlife Service, requested that
the commission make clear its intentions
to preserve the prairie in the
proposed trafficway was built
Lassman said the letter and commission's clarification failed to offer assurances that the area would be protected.
"The way we see it is that the prairie has yet to be preserved," Lassman said.
Lassman said Save the Elkins Prairie was working with state, local, private and public groups in an attempt to save the prairie, which he believed could be a great educational resource for the area.
"Lawrence is ecologically aware." Lassman said.
But Lassman said aesthetics played a large roll in the preservation movement.
"I grew up in the Lawrence area and I saw lots of prairies, but this one was head, and shoulders above the rest." I Lassman said.
Craig C. Freeman, program coordinator for the Kansas Natural Heritage Program at the University of Kansas, said the land supported many other rare species of plant life that flourished prior to increased settlement of Kansas in the late 1800s.
Kuralt's travels bring him to KU
by Kris M. Bergquist
Kansan staff writer
He may call himself an ordinary lady, bald guy, but not every guy like that could fill a room with 200 people and keep a crowd standing
This fat, bald guy is Charles Kuralt.
Kuralt, recipient of the 1989 William Allen White Foundation Award for Journalistic Merit, spoke yesterday in Stauffer-Flint Hall. He will receive the foundation's medalion at a luncheon today in the Ballroom at the Kansas Union.
"I feel honored," Kurall said. "It's only given to one person a year and this is a respected award in the field of journalism."
When he proposed his "On the Road" project in 1967, Kurtall said, he wanted to go out in the country to do stories on either places that matter or to see on CBS or on people you want to expect to know about.
He began his series, "On the Road with Charles Kuralt," in 1967.
"I wanted to get out of the office, too," he said, smiling.
Kurait said that he was not being hypocritical when he said that he didn't want Dan Rather's job.
Reporting is just fine with him.
"Frankly, I can't think of any thing I'd rather be doing," he said. "The fun of this line of work is getting out there and talking to people about new things, seeing new sightings and may be passing knowledge on those."
"That little tickle of curiosity and maybe a little spirit of romance — that's what sends reporters out in the field. When you are an劫相person, you leave that behind. I don't think that being a reporter is what I hope I never still be a reporter. That 's where my interest lies."
Kuralt said he liked serious stories about individuals but thought people in New York liked light-hearted stories, such as the one about a man whose car ran on corncobs.
"The rural places don't have a monopoly on characters, but I like doing stories on people in the country." he said.
Kurait doesn't think that pleasing the audience should have to be on the reporter's mind as much as it seems to be. He said he really didn't think about his audience when doing stories.
"I do stories that interest me, and I hope that they interest others," Kuralt said.
"People write me letters in great numbers," Kuralt said. "They write, 'If you think that was an interesting guy, just listen to story about the guy in this town.'"
He said his best source of story ideas about interesting people was the mail.
He said he traveled slowly on the backroads off the Interstates and shot the breeze with people. He stumbled upon ideas that way, or now that his van is more familiar, he up to him and after story ideas.
Kurt recalled one time in particular In Fort Myers, Fl., a woman came out of her house, walked up to his van parked on the street and smiled. He smiled back
"I think I'd like a couple of leaves of rye today," she said.
loaves or dry bread
Laughing. Kurrat said, "It's
priceless when you think you
are too important to be mistaken for a
bread man."
Dawn Abrahamson, Highland Park, Ill., senior, said that she came to the speech because she watched Kuralt's "CBS Sunday Morning" show and thought he was a great journalist
"It was just interesting listening to him." Abrahamson said.
Bush proposes more for social programs and less for defense
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Bush, making his first appearance before Congress, proposed a $1.16 trillion budget last night that would increase money for social programs but freeze Pentagon spending. He promised to
"work day and night" with Congress to put America's fiscal house in order.
in a prime-
time, nationally,
b r o w e c a s t
appearance.
Bush proposed
clash 9 6 h 11 p.m.
BUSH
ion from the defense budget proposal by former President Reagan to help offset costs of the expanded domestic programs.
Bush, in prepared remarks to the heavily democratic Congress, also voiced his personal support for making Puerto Rico the nation's best place to teach its people the necessary steps to let the people decide in a referendum."
He also said he would set up a new Task Force on Competence, enchaired by Vice President Dan Quayle. "The most important competence program of all is one that improves education in America," said Bush, tracing a number of school initiatives.
The Bush speech was not a State of the Union address (Reagan produced one on paper before leaving office last month), but it stood for one, a commitment to foreign policy issues as well as the entire range of domestic concerns.
The president's budget plan, which features a one year freeze on scores of federal programs, calls for roughly $5 billion more spending than the budget submitted by Reagan last year. The president says that much of not seeking any increase in taxes.
He said his offer to freeze Pentagon spending was conditioned upon reaching an overall agreement with Congress that included budget reforms. He proposed that the government go to a two-year budget process, rather than one year, and asked, as did Reagan, for the power to enact changes to that framework's presidential speech mixed campaign promises with expressions of budget restraint and new overtures toward bipartisan support.
Among Bush's major proposals were:
An increase in financing for the space program of $2.4 billion this year.
- Indefinite postponement of three oil drilling leases "which have raised troubling questions," two off the coast of California and one in Florida, "which could threaten the Everglades."
A $1,000 a child tax credit for low income families and the $3,000 deduction to help defer the cost of adoptions.
The first installment toward $900 million in grants for the nation's best schools, rewards for teachers, and an investment of the Head Start program
Bush called for a new, aggressive push in fighting "the scourge of drug abuse," including a $6 billion budget to fight drugs.
Local residents check status of S&L accounts
Anchor Savings under FDIC control
Kansan staff writer
by Steven Wolcott
Kansas staff writer
There were three customers waiting for the Lawrence branch of Anchor Savings, 900 Ohio St., to open this morning, but only one said he was worried about the safety of his accounts.
Anchor Savings, based in Kansas City, Kan., is one of 29 insolvent savings and loans in Kansas and Missouri that federal regulators are monitoring. The Bank of President George Bush's attempt to solve the savings and loan crisis
Richard McCleery, Lawrence resident, went to the bank this morning after learning of the potential takeover.
"I have a checking and savings account here, and I came down here this morning to see what was going on." McCheary said. "If they are going to do something back to doing what I used to do — put my money in my pocket or a tin can."
iny pokes on a book
Anchor has total assets of $840
million, but its net worth as a
percentage of assets was minus 0.7
percent, making the thrift technically insolvent.
A thrift is technically inactive if it owes more money to depositors and other creditors than could be raised by the sale of its assets.
Catherine Frey, a graduate teaching assistant at the Applied English Center, was at the bank to check on the status of her student loan. She also has a checking and savings account at the thrift.
I'm not worried because of the
FSLIC (Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation) insurance, and I certainly don't have over $100,000 in my account. Frey said, "It does give you food for thought, though. Banks and savings and loans are supposed to be reliable."
Officials at Anchor's Lawrence branch referred all questions to Roger Gormley, executive vice president of Anchor Savings.
"The Lawrence branch was not a source of problems." Gormley said. "It was a profitable branch."
He said that Anchor did not make improper loans.
"The only loans we make are government-guaranteed student loans and mortgage loans on single family homes," Gormley said.
Gormley said that Anchor was concerned that the public would think takeover meant closing the institution down and liquidating its assets.
"Takeover simply means that a member of the FDIC will come in and provide additional management control." Gormley said. "We welcome
As for the future of Anchor Savings, Gormley said he expected that the thrift would eventually be sold to a new company that could put more capital into the thrift.
"We anticipate business as usual; and of course, customer accounts are still insured to their fullest amount by the FSLIC," he said.
Reappraisal may affect both owners and tenants
Kansan staff writer
KU students who live in apart
ments may be forced to take a real
world course in economics next tail.
The course could be titled Reap
practice 102
Because of reappraisal, some apartment owners may have to pay more taxes on their properties. Some landlords may pass on the cost increases to tenants.
by Alan Morgan
See related story p. 6, col. 4
The course could be titled Reap praisal 101.
three of them," said Marie Lynch, owner and manager of several Lawrence apartments. "If the other rentals are appraised as high as the first three, I'm going to have to raise the rent."
"I have about 12 rentals altogether, and I have (reappraisal notices) on
West Germany outlaws neo-Nazi party German police find weapons, propaganda in raids on headquarters
Raising the rent may be the only option available to some Lawrence landlords, Lynch said.
The tax on a property will depend on the assessed property value Gen-
Reappraisal is the estimated value of a property by the state for tax purposes. Reappraisal in Lawrence was last done in 1962.
See STUDENTS, p: 6; col: 5
The Associated Press
FRANKFURT, West Germany — The government yesterday outlawed West Germany's most notorious neo-Nazi organization, and police discovered a small cache of weapons, and a search of the party headquarters.
During coordinated raids across the country, police confiscated knives, guns, ammunition, posters of Adolf Hitler and swastika-covered banners from members of the Nationale Sammlung.
"The Federal Republic is not about to become the roaming grounds for right-wing extremists," Interior Minister Friedrich Zimmermann said in announcing the ban.
Founded last summer, the National Sammlung had fielded candidates for next month's elections in Frankfurt and saturdays said it had two other locations. Its platform included renaming a railway station after filter
The group's leader, neo-Nazi Michael Kuehnen, he was considered legal action to fight the ban.
The ban forbids Nationale Sammlung members from carrying out any activities as a group, in connection with elections and it bans them from using the
Further to the right of the Republican Party are the nation's more than
A poll published Sunday by the Welt am Sonntag newspaper said another extreme right-wing group, the Republican Party, would win 11.5 percent of the vote nationwide if federal elections were held now
The Republicans, beheaded by a former Nazi Waffen SS soldier, captured 7.5 percent of the vote in last month's elections in West Berlin. That sends 11 party members to the local legislature and gives the Republicans two seats in Parliament beginning next year.
name publicly
1,300 neo-Nazis who are split into
about 10 different groups. The most
notorious is Nationale Sammlung,
which has about 170 members
The interior ministry said National Samhunh had expressed revolutionary and combative aims to change West German society. It also accused Kuehnel and his followers of new nazi groups nationwide.
The organization supports expulsion from West Germany of foreign workers and asylum seekers
The Nazi Party has been banned since West Germany was founded in 1949.