THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PUBLISHED SINCE 1889 BY THE STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1989
(USPS 650-640)
Hayden dislikes tax plan
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — Gov. Mike Hayden vowed yesterday that he would sign no spending bills until the Legislature approved a plan similar to his to cut state income taxes, while the House and Senate prepared to negotiate terms of a radically different plan.
Debbie Villee, Pittsburgh, sophomore, and Kim Wittner, St. Louis, sophomore, shield themselves from the wind.
Yesterday, the House approved its own tax plan 118-5. It cuts individual income taxes by $33.1 million, restores a popular tax deduction for federal taxes paid and sets up a $60 million property tax relief fund.
million property.
House action sent the bill to the Senate last week with approved Hayden's tenure last week. The Senate voted to reject House amendments and appointed three members to a joint conference committee to work out a compromise. The House is expected to appoint its three members today.
to appoint its secretary.
Shunting the bill off to a conference committee meant the Legislature missed yesterday's deadline that Hayden set for having a bill ready to sign on his desk.
In his plan, Hayden proposed cutting individual income taxes $78.9 million. It contained no property tax relief and did not restore federal deductibility.
deductibles.
After the House vote, Hayden said that he did not like the house plan because it didn't provide enough income tax relief. His plan was designed to stop the collection of an income tax windfall that the state has been receiving because of federal tax changes.
changes
As it passed in the House, the bill would cut income tax rates. It also gives taxpayers a choice of figuring their taxes using lower rates or accepting higher rates in return for being allowed a deduction for federal taxes paid.
It also sets aside $50 million to be appropriated to local school districts starting in October 1990 to help them keep their property taxes down.
keep their property.
The House version also would keep the versions standard deduction and personal tax exemption the same as those in the federal code, which increase annually to account for inflation.
Freezin' Cold temperatures strike Midwest
by Brett Brenner Kansan staff unit
Kansan staff writer
Kansas
after January's warm finish, Kansas shivered under some of the coldest temperatures of the year yesterday.
day.
The record-breaking warm temperatures earlier in the week made the cold temperatures hard to take for some students.
for some students
Dawn Wright, Hutchinson junior,
said the wintry weather was too cold.
"Yesterday, I was wearing shorts and was outside." Wright said. "Today, I sick and have to bundle up to go out. It's kind of sad."
up to go out. It's kind of sad.
Joe Eagleman, head of the atmospheric science department, said the
air from the north and south poles were finally beginning to mix with the warmer air from around the equator. This resulted in the shift in the jet stream.
the jet stream
Tuesday night, the jet stream left its previous position over Canada and Alaska and traveled south to a position south of Lawrence. This allowed the bitterly cold air from the north to sweep down over the plains and into Kansas.
Kalusas Haves haves, a weather specialist with the National Weather Service in Topeka, said the extremely cold weather should be around through Monday with highs in the teens and lows below zero.
Record cold
VOL.99, NO.84
Note: Lowest recorded temperature in Illinois was '35 at M. Carroll, Jan. 22, 1930.
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune
Knight-Ridder Tribune News / MEGAN JAEGERMAN
House wants vote on pay increases
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — House members were lining up overwhelmingly against a proposed $45,000 pay raise yesterday and indicating in an Associated Press survey that they want a vote on the sensitive issue.
Survey results put additional pressure on House Speaker Jim Wright, D-Texas, to abandon a carefully orchestrated strategy of taking no vote until after the raise automatically takes effect next Wednesday.
Wednesday
Wright said Tuesday that he would hold a vote if that was what lawmakers wanted. The speaker announced he was circulating a questionnaire privately to determine whether House members really wanted a recorded vote. Wright's tally was not made available yesterday.
Under the law, members of Congress and other top federal officials will get pay raises of about 50 percent on Feb. 8 unless both chambers reject it. And file congressional salaries would go from $19,000 to $135,000 under a recommendation submitted by former President Reagan and supported by President George Bush.
dole yesterday. However, an informal AP survey of nearly a third of the 455 House members indicated that about 88 percent of those responding wanted a vote on the pay raise.
meanwhile, a survey of the entire House released yesterday by opponents of the pay raise showed 62 percent saying they would vote "no" if the issue came to a vote.
Over the past several weeks, I have heard from many members on both sides of the aisle. I have a pretty good idea of how they feel.
George basm.
Senate Leader George J. Mitchell, D-Maine, has promised a vote in his chamber this week. Surveys indicate that the pay raise will be rejected there.
O.
Jim Wright, D-Texas House Speaker
house will be repreetred leaders, with House Democratic leaders, with Republican consent, had adopted a
House Speake
"Over the past several weeks, I have heard from many members on both sides of the aisle." Wright said. "I have a pretty good idea of how they feel. They support 'regular procedure,'" which would mean committee hearings and a legislative schedule that would make a vote impossible before the Feb. 8 deadline.
Wright, who had been taking most of the political heat on the issue, changed that strategy on Tuesday. His survey was designed, in part, to demonstrate that it was not Wright alone who favored the pay increase.
strategy of avoiding a vote until after the deadline and then softening the political blow of the substantial pay raise by passing new ethics rules including a ban on lawmakers accepting speaking fees.
Senate opponents of the pay increase, at a hearing of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, said the current system of allowing pay increases to take effect without a vote was hurting Congress' public image.
The strategy was based on the opinion that House members supported the raise and but would find it politically impossible to vote for it.
No more free taxi rides home Secure Shuttle program axed because of abuse, no interes
Secure Shuttle program axed because of abuse, no interest
by Christine Winner Kanean staff writer
Kansan staff writer
The Secure Shuttle program temporarily has been shut down, the coordinator for KU on Wheels said yesterday. The soft coordinator was notified that Corvette
down, the coordinator for KU or work
Scott Russell, coordinator, was notified that Corporate
Coach of Lawrence had ceased operation and would no longer run the program.
Robert W. Forbes, president of Corporate Coach,
declined to comment.
half hour.
The shuttle ran from midnight to 3 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
The Student Senate Board of Transportation already had been examining options, Russell said, but this development stepped up their timetable. He estimated that a new program would be operating by March 20, but not in the same format as Secure Shuttle.
The Secure Shuttle was a free transportation service for KU students that followed a specific route every night, stopping at area bars and campus locations every half hour.
not in the same format as Security He said the new program probably would have a demand-response system, rather than the fixed schedule system that Shuttle used.
Several steps are involved in establishing a new program, Russell said. First, the specifications for the program will be developed and sent to the state purchasing office. Then different companies will submit bids for the program. The transportation board and other senate groups involved in formulating the specifications then will choose the company and award a contract.
The Secure Shuttle was in operation for one year. Last semester, the Student Senate reviewed the program and discussed restructuring or discontinuing it. Problems with the program included low ridership and lack of cost efficiency.
The cost for the shuttle was $17.25 an hour. Approximately 11 percent of students a week rode the shuttle, and the rest paid for each rider was $37.50, according to November 1988 Student Senate statistics. The Student Senate paid for the service regardless of whether there were any riders.
The Secure Shuttle replaced the Secure Cab program when the Union Cab Company raised its rates for each ride from $2.50 to $4. Chris Shirling, Student Senate treasurer, said that the cab program was popular but that students abused the service.
Delays at text store Many problems appear this year
by Thom Clark Kansan staff writer
A changeover in staff, less time between semesters and the alteration of several publishers' names has caused this semester's delay in available textbooks to be longer than usual, said Mike Reid, manager of the Kansas Union bookstore.
the Ransomers know.
"This is the worst semester I can remember in 11 years in getting texts in on time." Reid said.
He said that of three people who worked in the office ordering text-books, one had been employed since November and another since January.
'T
Mike Reid
This is the worst semester I can remember in 11 years in getting texts in on time.
manager of the Kansas Union
bookstore
"We don't have consistent help in the office, and we don't have a fully-trained staff like we should have," Reid said.
Reid said the bookstore planned to change some of its procedures to improve the book-order process.
"We need to improve our contact with the faculty and tell them what the status is on the books," Reid said.
A lack of staff had kept the book store from keeping the University faculty informed, he said. However, the university would improve on this in the future.
Reid also said it was more difficult to order books for the spring because of the shorter length of the winter break.
or bea
he Thayer, office supervisor for the bookstore, said the recent merger of several publishers complicated the book-ordering process.
book order forms.
Thayer said some publishers failed to pass book orders on to inheriting companies, and often failed to inform the University of the change. Also, when companies changed hands, some order numbers changed, causing further confusion and loss of orders.
orders.
Albert Cook, associate professor of English, said that at least 30 members of the English department had problems with the availability of texts.
Reid said that all the books had been ordered from the various publishers.
lishers.
Reid said the bookstore hoped to get some English texts from the trade book companies, which supply the Oread and other retail bookstores.
"We don't know if it will be easier but it might be since the demand on the textbook companies is greater." Reid said.
Reno said.
Cook said it was very important for the bookstore to have all books available by the first day of classes.
and it must be imperative to have books in place, and any deviation from this ideal indicates failure in the system someway." Cook said.
Reid said although the bookstore had not been able to meet its deadline this semester, he hoped to have all books in stock by the beginning of future semesters.
Group wants amendment for gay rights passed
by Marian Weeks
Last, Sunday, two women went downtown with a camera and a notepad to document graffiti in a Lawrence alley that read, "Fat dykes will die" and "Fat dykes don't make, this means you!" along with a wasstika.
Kansan staff writer
Liz Tolbert, Lawrence junior, who is the director of Gay and Lesbian Services of Kansas, said the graffiti, located between Eighth and Ninth streets and Massachusetts and New Hampshire streets was the kind of harassment that threatened her and other homosexuals nearly every day.
See related story
"I feel scared because the graffiti comes out of nowhere, because I know that the graffiti comes from a person and is aimed at a person, and that violent thoughts cause violent words (that) cause violent acts." she
Gay and Lesbian Harassment
A 1984 study conducted by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, found that more than one in five gay men and nearly one in 10 lesbians who responded to the study reported having been a victim of physical abuse.
Percentage of male and female respondents who were victimized in school
Source: National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Karen Cook, Lawrence junior and coordinator of Citizens for Human Rights in Lawrence, also was there to
said.
Dave Eames/KANSAN
document the graffiti.
document the grimness of Tolbert and Cook said that instances of gay and lesbian harassment in Lawrence were increasing.
according to the reports they had received. The reports include beat-
See NETWORK, p. 12, col. 3