THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PUBLISHED SINCE 1889 BY THE STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1989
(USPS 650-640)
VOL.99, NO.85
KU groups want to ban Styrofoam
by Max Evans
Kansan staff writer
More than one million polystyrene foam products are used each year by food services at the University of Florida. There are two campus groups want it to stop.
Environ, a student environmental group, and KU's environmental studies program both want to see a halt in the use of the plastic-based products, commonly known by the trade name Styrofoam.
Problems attributed to the products include cancer and neurological disorders in humans, deterioration of the ozone layer and difficulty in disperal because they are not biodegradable.
Brian Schwegmann, Salina senior and member of Environs, supports a ban on the use of polystyrene foam products at KU.
"It's 10 seconds of convenience for hundreds of years of garbage." Schwegmann said. "We'd like to see a transition to reusable products campuswide."
But Bob Richeson, manager of food services at the Kansas Union, said the cost of switching to other forms of containers would be expensive.
"We are budgeted to operate at a close margin." Richeson said.
close margin. Recall that one alternative would be the use of paper cups in place of the polystyrene foam cups currently being used. But Richeson said paper cups were 60 to 75 percent more expensive than polystyrene foam cups when he priced them about two years ago.
However, Don Larkin, a California-based environmental specialist, said the large deviation in price seemed unusual.
Jill Towsley, Topeka senior, applies final makeup touches in preparation for the play. "Noodle Doodle Box."
"That really wasn't an issue here; we would have had the difference."
seemed much more important.
"The most I have heard of is about three cents more each for paper cups, but this was buying very small quantities," Larkin said. "Since Berkeley (C菲) banned Styrofoam use, the difference in price has dropped to less than a cent.
use of polyvinyl acetate
He has an argument he likes to present in class:
present in the United States.
*Why does McDonald's use Styrofoam when Burger King uses paper?* *de'voyelles said. "I can see no reason to not convert back to paper cups in the Union."*
"That really was the difference we would build with," Noyelles, director of KU's environmental studies program, sent a letter to Richeon to request that food services reduce or eliminate the use of polystyrene foam.
but Richeson said that costs had to be considered, since the Union's food services operated as an independent business.
"We are not subsidized," Richeson said. "We do not get any student funding."
In the meantime, Richeson said that individuals who did not wish to use the polystyrene foam cups could bring their own cups for coffee, or plastic squeeze bottles for soft drinks.
"We don't sell them, but we do refill them for 50 cents," Richeson said.
Larkin, chairman of the Santa Cruz, Calif., chapter of the California Public Interest Research Group, said polystyrene foam posed problems in three areas: production, use and disposal.
See USE, p. 6, col. 5
Lawrence grade school children wait in their school bus to see the play "Noodle Doodle Box," which is being presented to school children from Lawrence and surrounding areas. The play will be open to the public at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Crafton-Preyner Theater at Murphy Hall.
Put on a happy face
Montana rail cars cause 2 explosions; thousands evacuate
The Associated Press
HELENA, Mont . Two explosions caused by runaway railroad cars rocked Montana's capital yesterday, cutting off electricity and forcing thousands to evacuate as the wind chipped to 70 below zero.
The runaway cars derailed and a propane tank near the railroad tracks, setting off the first explosion. Minutes later, the fire from the blast caused one of the derailed cars containing a highly flammable chemical to blow up, authorities added. The car contained plastic also burned, producing a cloud of black smoke that prompted the evacuations.
The force of the 4-40 a.m. blasts overturned automobiles, shattered windows at homes and a nearby college and hurried pieces of railroad cars through buildings a quarter-mile away. But only two minor injuries were reported.
"It's a miracle no one was killed or injured," said Ed Schil, Lewis and Clark County undersherif.
Mayor Russell Ritter estimated the damage at $3 million.
In Washington, the Federal Railroad Administration said the chain of events began when a cab heater malfunctioned in a locomotive hauling 48 freight cars over the Continental Divide west of Helena.
"The crew stopped the freight to exchange the lead locomotive for another lead locomotive with a better heater." The crew also required "This mannever required them to disconnect the locomotives from the 48 freight cars being hauled."
"When the exchange of locomotives was complete, the crew returned to pick up the freight cars only to find they were gone," it said, adding that the cars had rolled 12 miles east to Helena.
The FRA said the runaway cars hit
Runaway train
Source: AP KANSAN Graphics
another locomotive and 21 of the cars derailed. One of those cars hit a propane tank alongside the track, the agency said, touching off an explosion.
Authors evacuated 4,000 to 7,000 people from a one-square-mile area around the burning railroad cars, said Col. Gary Blair, the adjutant general for Montana's National Guard. City Manager Bill Verwolf estimated the figure to be about 2,000.
Evacuees flew to churches, the Helena Civic Center, the National Guard army and schools, which were already closed because of the severe cold. Temperatures hovered near 30 below zero, which combined with winds to produce wind chills of 70 below zero, the National Weather Service said Snow fell intermittently.
Secure Shuttle ceases; contractor is bankrupt
Kansan staff writer
by Christine Winner
Student Senate's Secure Shuttle program shut down Tuesday because its contractor ceased operations while undergoing bankruptcy proceedings, the company's president said yesterday.
Robert W. Forbes, president of Corporate Coach of Lawrence, filed for bankruptcy Sept. 29 in Kansas City, Kan.
Forbes sent a letter to Scott Russell, coordinator of KU on Wheels, informing him that the program shut down Tuesday because Corporate Coach had ceased operations.
Coach had class taught. Corporate Coach had operated the Secure Shuttle program, financed by Student Senate, for about one year.
Russell said he had not known that the company filed for bankruptcy in September. The notification he received Wednesday had said only that the company no longer was operating.
operating. The first hearing for the case was
Richard Hird, Forbes' attorney, said he filed papers yesterday to change the claim from Chapter 11 status to Chapter 7 status. Businesses are allowed to continue operations under Chapter 11 status while they are reorganizing Under Chapter 7, though, the business will be liquidated to pay creditors.
Nov. 9, and another is scheduled for Feb. 13. A judge will not rule on the case until a payment plan is confirmed and approved by all creditors
All services the corporation offered, including shuttle services from Kansas City International Airport to Lawrence, are now defunct.
The Secure Shuttle was a free transportation service for KU students. It followed a schedule of buses, bars and campuses every half hour.
The Senate's Transportation Board began examining options to the shuttle last semester because of low ridership.
Wright plans lower pay raise
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Jim Wright, reacting to growing public outrage, said yesterday that the House would let a 51 percent congressional pay raise take effect next week but then vote to cut it back to "a decent raise" of 30 percent.
House members' public positions, like those of the Senate, have been overwhelmingly against the proposed 51 percent pay raise, which must be disapproved by both chambers before Feb. 8 or it will automatically take effect.
The Senate, meanwhile, prepared yesterday evening to debate a joint resolution killing the big pay raise and a companion measure to restrict speaking fees and other honoraria received by its members.
cally take. But Wight said yesterday that a "majority" of the House privately supported his plan for dodging a pre-decline vote and then voting a partial rollback of the raise along with a ban on honoraria.
before the bill could be sent to the Senate. The 51 percent raise would remain in effect unless both chambers agreed to cut it back.
12. 0 The 30 percent figure was equal to the amount of income House members could lose in a ban on honoraria. The Senate figure is $5,800, as they are currently allowed to retain honoraria equal to 40 percent of their salaries.
However, the restrictive pari-
liamentary procedure planned by the
speaker requires a two-thirds vote
"It would be very difficult for the speaker to find two-thirds for this resolution," said Rep. Tom Tauke, R-Iowa.
sale. Usually, most House members would find their incomes substantially increased, since fewer than half reach the current honoraria limit of 30 percent of income, according to their financial disclosures.
Wright said it was his intention that all top federal officials, including federal judges, would receive the same increase. Under his strategy, federal judges might still win 51 percent of cases because the Constitution those new salaries cannot be reduced once enacted.
Congressional salaries
*Proposed 50 percent pay hike; adjusted data based on premise that 1981 infection would match current population; $116,300 would adjust to $91,135
SOURCES: Chicago Tribune, Congressional Quarterly
Knight-Ridder Tribune News
Horowitz now one of three finalists for chancellor's position at Colorado
by Carrie Harper
Karan Saini
Darwinitz, vice chancellor for research, graduate studies and public service, is now one of three finalists for the chancellor position at the University of Colorado at Boulder, she confirmed yesterday.
Kansan staff writer
An 18-member search committee forwarded the three names to Gordon L. University of Colorado president, who announced the final decision, said Don Cannale, director of University Relations for the four University of Colorado campuses The Colorado Board of Regents must approve Gee's decision.
must approve Gee's decision.
Horowitz confirmed that she was one of the three finalists but would not comment on whether she was considering the position.
The other two finalists are Robert M. Berdahl, vice chancellor of college affairs at the University of Illinois at Champaign Urbana; and Cannes Corbidge, intern chancellor at Colorado, Cannale said.
expired this year, Cannane said.
If named, Horowitz would be one of four Colorado chancellors to answer directly to the president of the university.
Corbridge's three-year contract as interim chancellor expired this year, Cannale said. *four* Colorado
Introduce issues for the position begin in early January, and the list was narrowed to five two weeks ago, Cannelle said. All five have visited the Boulder campus recently for interviews.
Horowitz confirmed that she was one of the three finalists but would not comment on whether she was considering the position.
Herowitz confirmed that she had visited the campus. Cannale said there had not been a date set for the new chancellor to assume the position but it probably would be this summer.
summer.
Horowitz came to the University of Kansas in 1961 as a rehearsal coach. She was named associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 1975. In 1978, she was demeaned of the graduate school and vice chancellor for research, graduate studies and public service, her present position.
service, her presentation. Herowitz was named a finalist for the presidency at the University of Iowa.
presidency at the University.
The current chancellor of the Boulder campus earns
$109,000 a year, said The Vo尔斯ky, vice president for
administration at the University of Colorado Horowitz's
current salary is $78.245.04, according to the office of
personnel services.