KANU News Retention

[ROB HILTON]: Twenty years ago, many people stereotypically thought an environmentalist was someone with long hair who wore moccasins, a bandana, and smoked marijuana. But today we know that just isn't true. [CLASSROOM NOISES] Bob Lominska's kindergarten class at Hillcrest Elementary School in Lawrence is filled with five and six year old environmentalists -- students like Joy who's been drawing a poster depicting life in the wetlands. [JOY]: I drew this so that people would start saving our wetlands, so that different animals could live there. [ROB HILTON]: What'll happen if we don't save it? [JOY]: All the animals that live there will die. [ROB HILTON]: Drawing various habitats is just one of many projects and activities Lominska has given his children. There are various cages and aquariums in the classroom holding chickens or fish or tadpoles. The students keep diaries monitoring the growth and development of young animals into

adults. And though the children are young, Lominska says he's laying the foundation for the children to develop an appreciation for the environment. [BOB LOMINSKA]: If a child's been exposed to something in kindergarten, and then they really have to learn it in the fourth grade or fifth grade or high school, or something like that, if they've had some experience with it, it's going to mean a lot more to them. A lot of the times when kids get to be in the upper grades, they don't have as many hands-on experiences as you'd like them to have. And the child who really, you know, has felt and touched a turtle or has watched a tadpole go through its life cycle as it changes into a frog will have a much better comprehension of what he or she is reading once they get into junior high or high school. [ROB HILTON]: Earlier in the week, I spoke with Dr. Lee Droegemueller, commissioner of the state board of education, and Bill Riley, who is the president of the Kansas Advisory Council on Environmental Education. They both told me they would rather see environmental education integrated with already-mandated curriculums rather than develop an entirely new class, adding more hours to student's days -- and Lominska agrees.

[BOB LOMINSKA]: But I really think lots of resources should be offered to teachers so that the ones who are motivated -- and they're the ones who are probably going to do the best job of it -- will have all that they need to teach environmental education. Probably the best approach would be to teach teachers how to integrate environmental education into the curriculum rather than setting it up as a separate course. And I really think that's the way I do it here. We use the "whole language" approach in learning to read and write in the kindergarten level, and most of the primary grades do a lot of that, too. So when you're making up lists of words that the kids want to study, if you've got, for example, the box turtle in here, you can use words like "claws" and the color words that would be used for the box turtle, or use the words "beak" and "shell." And anything else- you could use other words, depending on if you wanted to get more sophisticated with the vocabulary. And then you could take the concepts that you're working on and write that into a story, and have that be the reading curriculum as well as the science curriculum. So I think if teachers can be given the materials and taught how to do that, that would probably be a

more effective way than saying, "You have to teach environmental education for a certain segment of time each week. [ROB HILTON]: It's moving slowly, but Lominska says the times are changing. Our nation, along with the rest of the world, is witnessing a movement to educate society about the need to preserve the environment. Lominska says while proving to be a difficult process, people's attitudes about the environment need to change. [BOB LOMINSKA]: There are institutional difficulties. People seem to be very enthusiastic about kids being concerned about the environment, but if they're asked to change, you run into difficulties. For example, a member of the community donated 50 small trees to the school. We wanted to plant those out in the schoolyard, and we called down to the maintenance people to see if they had enough shovels for, you know, 10 or 15 kids to be digging holes at the same time, and we very quickly got a phone call back, not exactly saying, "don't do it," but discouraging us from doing it, because if you plant trees, someone has to mow around them.

[ROB HILTON]: For KU Radio News, I'm Rob Hilton. ***** [BILL RILEY]: I see, you know, kids in elementary, middle school a lot more interested in recycling cans, conserving energy of some kinds and so forth, recycling other matter, than adults are, because we've established our patterns and we've built in in our philosophies, and we're not as flexible, and maybe we think we're not going to ever have to deal with the problem. I don't know, maybe all of the above. [ROB HILTON]: Bill Riley is the president of KACEE, or the Kansas Advisory Council for Environmental Education. [BILL RILEY]: But it seems like -- and this is a kind of an exciting thing -- that developing environmental solutions may very much be a younger generation game. [ROB HILTON]: So state education leaders now face a responsibility to teach children how to play that game. KACEE's role is to organize and disseminate information to school teachers and administrators and other state agency personnel promoting methods of educating the state's youth about environmental issues. A series of pamphlets have been made available

containing facts about the earth, reasons why environmental conservation is important, and suggested projects for the children -- activities like plant a tree; recycle cans, glass, and papers; how to build a birdhouse and conserve electricity. For 17 years, this has been KACEE's role, to act as an official advisor to the state board of education, to tell people what they can do to save the environment, but not to tell people that they have to do it. Which prompts the question, if the state is so concerned about educating its youth about the environment, then why hasn't it mandated some type of environmental education? Riley says people first need to be aware that mandating is not the only solution. [BILL RILEY]: Well it certainly isn't the only solution, and whether it's a practical solution would have to do with politics, economics, philosophies, a number of issues. If you're going to mandate, that often carries with it some kind of requirement establishing some funding sources. And anyone that's half awake in Kansas right now knows that we're having

a lot of difficulty with funding a number of issues right now. So for the state to legislatively take some kind of an action of that type would seem to be almost a death stroke to it, because it would be an automatic limitation built into it that- well you certainly wouldn't call it frivolous, but it would seem to be fairly irresponsible to take that approach. [ROB HILTON]: Dr. Lee Droegemueller is the commissioner for the state board of education, and concurring with Riley's opinion, he says the board would rather see environmental education integrated with already-mandated curriculums. [LEE DROEGEMUELLER]: The Kansas history, which has been mandated by the board and the legislature has a unit on Environmental Ed. Now they're still working on that and writing the content of it. So I think what you'll see the state board moving toward are outcomes-specific content areas that have to be covered, rather than any specific course. [ROB HILTON]: Though it is possible Kansas lawmakers could mandate

environmental education, Riley maintains it shouldn't be the government's responsibility to solve this particular problem. [BILL RILEY]: What I really can say, and maybe it's my hope, is that environmental issues will become a widely accepted and actively implemented part of all school curriculums totally as a result of the local school, and the local school board, and the local citizenry's interest in doing so. And that this not have to be something that we look to our government to solve for us. [ROB HILTON]: Later in the week we'll examine programs being implemented by a local schoolteacher who has decided to deal with the issue instead of waiting for the government to. I'm Rob Hilton. ***** [BOB KIRBY]: Perhaps you recall we had Dr. Houston in the studio to interview him prior to his trip abroad, and he was quite anxious to arrive in Poland and to begin his observations of the new Polish

government's attempt to open up the state to private enterprise, import-export trade, and free markets. Houston is teaching a course at the Central School of Planning and Statistics in Warsaw, and he's been lecturing on topics related to private enterprise. [DOUG HOUSTON]: Well, I'm not trying to push any ideology on anybody. All I can say is I think that probably that there are more free-market-oriented people in Poland than you'd probably find in the United States. There's no problem with accepting principles of market economies. They're prepared for it. At least intellectually they understand they have to go that way. The biggest problem, and they recognized it too, is that the attitudes of many people have to change before they can really accomplish anything. They've never seen market force, they don't understand much of the interaction I don't- it's been suggested they do not understand just what it means to have to work as hard as perhaps Westerners have. [??]: Doug,

before you left, a new minister of finance had been named, Balcerowicz. As I recall you were giving him very high marks. [DOUG HOUSTON]: The man who's pretty behind a lot of the reform of the economy. He puts the program together. Yeah, I would give him higher marks than I did before I came over here. He has a lot of guff in the face of quite a bit of concern now over what he's doing. He's still proceeding with the basic plan. And I think the basic plan is a sound one. The next step in what they're doing, if you might perhaps recall, they had a Polish (unclear) program that began in January to deal with inflation, and they've done that fairly effectively.

They've also created a fairly deep recession, which is the expense- [BOB KIRBY]: At this point the telephone connection became totally unintelligible, but what Houston said was in reference to Polish Finance Minister Balcerowicz's move last autumn to de-control prices, which caused immediate inflation. Houston says they began a program to reduce inflation, which he thinks has been fairly effective, but at the expense of creating a fairly deep recession. He says what the Polish government must now do is to begin instituting privatization, a move, Houston says, is meeting with a lot of resistance, both from the left and the right. And he thinks if the Polish people and the government will give their finance minister another 18 months or two years. He ought to be able to stabilize the Polish economy, while the same time taking it public by creating private entrepreneurial ownership. Houston will be back at KU in time to teach summer school, at which time we'll offer another update. I'm Bob Kirby. ***** [MICHELLE CORUM]: By their own admission, Karen and John

Pendleton deal in strange and unique vegetables, but it's a good living. [SOUND OF CASH REGISTER] Last fall it was blue corn. This time of year, as area residents have come to know, it's asparagus. Pendleton's Kaw Valley Asparagus, east of Lawrence, is one of the largest asparagus farms around. They average 100 customers per day, according to owner Karen Pendleton -- many of whom come to pick their own off the 20 acres. [KAREN PENDLETON]: It's an outing for people. They like to come out to the farm, see what a real farm looks like, and get in some sunshine and fresh produce. [MICHELLE CORUM]: What are the advantages and disadvantages in this "pick-your-own" concept? [KAREN PENDLETON]: The disadvantage is that it takes more employees for me to run the farm, because I have to have someone in the market to be able to deal with the people when they come out; someone in the field for them to deal with the people out there; and then also people out picking for those who don't want to pick their own. But an advantage of pick-your-own is that people come out, and they supply a lot of the labor, so I don't have to

hire quite as many to go out and pick. And also there's the pick-your-own mentality that when you come out and pick your own, it seems like you're always going to pick more than you really thought you would. They usually leave the farm with more than what they came out for. [LAUGHS] [MICHELLE CORUM]: The Pendletons are frequently asked, "Why asparagus?" [KAREN PENDLETON]: My father-in-law had always said, some year when he's caught up on planting corn in the spring, he'd like to plant the whole garden to asparagus. And so one year, for some reason we were caught up, and he planted the entire garden to asparagus. We had planned on eating it all ourselves, and our neighbors started asking for it. And we had- first year we had a little sign-up list, and if somebody wanted so much, we'd just give them a call and say, "Your five pounds is ready," and they'd come pick it up. And then we started looking more into the vegetable industry and saw the pick-your-own farms, and really thought that looked like a lot of fun. [MICHELLE CORUM]: The Pendletons also raise more traditional crops, which they sell at a market on their farm -- rhubarb, hydroponic tomatoes, and other vegetables. The novelty item at the Pendletons is the blue corn -- that they apprehensively started planting about

four years ago. [KAREN PENDLETON]: Way back behind the asparagus, like half a mile from the road, because we didn't want to be embarrassed, you know. [LAUGHTER] This was strange- this was strange, even for us. [MICHELLE CORUM]: The Indian Blue Corn grew, and there were some difficulty finding a grain elevator to mill it for human consumption, until a chip manufacturing plant in Hiawatha opened and took on the job. And the popularity of blue corn chips began to catch on in northeast Kansas. Each year, the chips have sold out quickly in specialty stores. The Pendletons are among the many Kansas farmers who are making use of the Kansas Agricultural Value Added Process Center at Kansas State University. Karen Pendleton is on the leadership council for the center, which helps farmers process raw agricultural products into profits for themselves and Kansas. [KAREN PENDLETON]: We've worked with a lot of small companies getting things developed. We're going to be doing- this next year we're going to be doing a lot more conferencing, helping people with their labeling -- there's labeling laws out there that a new person into the food processing

business may not know the rules and regulations. We'll have workshops that will give people technical assistance, be it making cookies, or processing meats. [MICHELLE CORUM]: And, Karen says, the Value Added Center continues to help her business. [KAREN PENDLETON]: Just recently, we worked with Wenger Manufacturing in Sabetha. We wanted to sell some blue corn meal along with our blue corn chips. And they worked with us on how we wanted our blue corn ground, to what texture, and they worked with us also finding out what the protein content was and some other things that we needed to know in order to put this onto the market. [MICHELLE CORUM]: For the consumer who values fresh asparagus and the high protein of blue corn, a trip out to a farm market like the Pendletons' can be refreshing. And the Pendletons enjoy the visitors. [KAREN PENDLETON]: This is our social time of year. [MICHELLE CORUM]: It probably would be, wouldn't it? [LAUGHTER] [KAREN PENDLETON]: There are certain people we only see during April and May. They're the "asparagus people," you know. They come out for the asparagus, and it's a lot of fun that way. [CASHIER VOICEOVER]: Thirty-one cents is your change. Thank

you. This is the four pounds of carrots. [MICHELLE CORUM]: For KANU's Morning Edition, I'm Michelle Corum. ***** [MALE SPEAKER]: In a surprise move the other day, the president of the United States changed his name from Bush to Sequoia. "Changing names at my age might sound kind of juvenile," he said, "but I'm doing it for the trees." The president has been on a tree planting binge. It's part of his campaign to become known as the Environmental President, as well as the Education President, the Military Industrial Complex President, the Pork Rind President. "The name 'Bush' conveyed a diminutive, boorish, minor league president," said Press Secretary Marlon Juniper. "Sequoia conveys a big, walking-tall, major league president." At a news conference, the president vowed to make Johnny Appleseed look like a flat-headed, apple tree bore, and announced his plans to raze the White House. The White House will be replaced with a treehouse, he said. From now on, the president of the United

States will be a tree dweller. Taking reporters on a woodland tour, President Sequoia baby-talked to saplings, and exchanged high fives with their branches. He wasn't ready to adopt the position of extremists who argue that trees should have the vote, but he did urge citizens to adopt trees, talk to trees, take a tree to dinner, and to "branch out" and "root" for trees. And he warned against the use of arboreal epithets and derogatory puns on words such as sap. "Discrimination will not be tolerated," he said. "A nation divided between deciduous and evergreen will fall." The president ordered that George Washington be stricken from the record of American history, because of the notorious chopping down incident. The legend of the first president of the United States would be replaced by the tale of a mutant cherry tree, which turned on a would-be assailant, chopped him down, and then admitted it openly on account of a low aptitude for prevarication. President Sequoia ordered citizens to plant at least a billion trees

a year. To show that he meant business, he said he was converting to the Druid religion and would be sacrificing an occasionally human being to trees. Planting trees is more than just a nifty idea that made you feel good, he said. Planting trees was an important component of the national defense. "In time, the entire United States will be covered by an impenetrable umbrella of branches," he said. "Enemy missiles will get hopelessly caught in them and rendered harmless. It's a Star Wars program this country can afford." The president called on Ronald Sycamore to recant his allegation that trees cause pollution. "People cause pollution," the chastened ex-president said. "However, pollution can actually be good for the environment." A reporter asked Sycamore about pesticides in the food chain. "Which one?" he asked. "McDonald's? Burger King?" "For every tree we plant, that's another gallon of gas we can burn!" crowed President Sequoia. "Exxon can spill all the oil it wants to! We can squander energy and poison the air! If we plant a billion trees

a year, we can cut down a billion trees! Clear-cut the suckers! Let them have it! The trees are going to save us -- hallelujah! The treeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!" ***** [BOB KIRBY]: Jim Slattery says that members of the House will be represented by majority leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri. Those on the House Budget Committee like Slattery will be in consultation with Gephardt and the House Budget Committee Chair Leon Panetta. [JIM SLATTERY]: I am glad that the president and the bipartisan Congressional leadership is at long last sitting down to talk about this problem, because I have said since I was elected to Congress, that this problem will only be resolved when the Congressional leaders sit down with the president and compromise. And major compromises are going to have to be made. I am an optimistic, but I guess I'm the eternal optimist, that this economic summit will bring forth some kind of significant agreement that will enable us to move forward with solving this real urgent problem facing the

country. [BOB KIRBY]: Some of the posturing by administration spokesmen that seems to have been done last week and then on the news shows over the weekend seems to have aroused the suspicion of at least some Democrats that this is an election year trap. What about that? [JIM SLATTERY]: Well, I'm intolerant of all this political posturing, and I understand that perhaps some of that has to go on. But I'm certainly intolerant of it. I think the people of Kansas and the people of this country would much rather see the president of the United States put a plan on the table, and tell the American people why things have so dramatically changed since the time he submitted his budget in January. And then tell the American people exactly how he proposes to solve the problem. And I think it is important to realize that in January, the president thought we only needed to reduce the deficit by $36 billion to reach the Gramm-Rudman target. The reality today is, is that it's going to take at least twice that much deficit reduction to reach the target. The president should therefore come forward and tell the American people why things have changed, and how he

proposes to reach the goal. And then the Congress should either go along with the president, or come up with an alternative plan. And I happen to believe that the American public doesn't really give a hoot about, you know, who kisses the tax pig first. [BOB KIRBY]: This federal deficit summit -- people say, "Why now?" It seems a contributing factor is the cost -- the true cost -- of the savings and loan bailout. [JIM SLATTERY]: I think that the savings and loan bailout cost is going up much higher than most people in Congress originally thought. And when the president made the pledge, "Read my lips. No new taxes," I mean, that is politically popular, to say something like that. But as a chief executive officer and the leader of the country, it's really irresponsible, because no one can say with certainty what the future holds. And the reality is, is that now the savings and loan cleanup problem is going to cost much more than what was originally projected. And that's one of the reasons why it's so important for us to have

a economic summit with the president with everything on the table. [BOB KIRBY]: It is Congressman Slattery's opinion, one of the hotly debated points will be not whether additional federal revenue is needed, but instead, who will be asked to pay. Slattery has long contended that the tax brackets hurt middle income earners, and that those with larger incomes -- six-figure incomes -- should bear more of the tax burden. I'm Bob Kirby. ***** [BIRDS CHIRPING] [TAMA WAGNER]: It was called a dedication to celebrate the continued commitment to restore the wetlands that have been part of the central area of this state for thousands of years. Named for the Cheyenne Indians, the 64 square mile basin was and still is treasured for its hunting. The marsh is also home to some 300 species of protected birds, as well as deer, amphibians, and reptiles.

Over the weekend, federal, state, and private organizations recognized the Bottom's entry into the Ramsar Convention. It is the oldest global environmental treaty, and was founded to protect the wetlands. The 20,000 acres were purchased by the state more than 50 years ago. Dykes and roads were built to help manage water flow from the Blood and Deception Creeks. Later, a diversion canal was completed from the Arkansas River. However, in the '60s, the Arkansas River began to decline, and it became a decision between wildlife and farmland irrigation. Many private organizations stepped in to fund massive efforts to return Cheyenne Bottoms to its original state. It became increasingly important as other North American wetlands were being destroyed. Governor Mike Hayden says Cheyenne Bottoms is often referred to as the Kansas Galapagos or Serengeti, because it represents the most valued water fowl and wetland ecosystem in the nation. [MIKE HAYDEN]: It attracts almost half of the entire northward migration of- migrating population of shorebirds on the entire continent. It is federally designated as Critical

Habitat for the whooping crane. And many other endangered species call the Bottoms home. [TAMA WAGNER]: Restoration of the Bottoms has been a top priority in this administration. But it has been the cooperation at the federal, state, and private level that has provided funding for the massive project. Most environmentalists contend protecting and conserving the habitat cannot be measured in dollars. But more than $3 million is spent each year to continue nature's efforts. The director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service John Turner says Kansas will see a return on their investment. As the word gets out, the estimated 60 million birdwatchers will be attracted to central Kansas. When considering Cheyenne Bottoms for national recognition, Turner says they received more letters supporting this site than any other than North America. [JOHN TURNER]: Indeed, we're to give Cheyenne Bottoms recognition, because, indeed, it's a global resource. [TAMA WAGNER]: Cheyenne Bottoms

is the first non-federal marsh to be listed as a wetland of international importance. Turner says there will be great educational and research opportunities because of the marshland. With the waterfowl population being at the lowest point in the nation's history, and the continued destruction of other wetlands, the global significance of the Bottoms is magnified. It is also recognized as a hemispheric site of the Western Shorebird Reserve Network. Argentinian Enrique Bucher made the presentation and urged officials to continue their work. [ENRIQUE BUCHER]: By protecting places where the birds stop and refuel for continuing their migration, we are starting to think globally. I think that the time has come to understand that the world is a small spaceship, and that we have to care for all places in the world, not just one or two. [TAMA WAGNER]: There are continued water management problems at Cheyenne Bottoms. At the present, they have

no way to control the levels of the pools, and during heavy rainfall they are prone to flooding. There is also controversy regarding the Bottoms' historically allocated water rights. Water tables have declined because of surface-use practices. But Governor Hayden and environmentalists say it can be worked out with cooperation from the state and area farmers. Everyone does agree, however, that this restoration project is without an end. It will be ongoing -- that they will continue to maximize for efficiency to entice more birds. Officials would also like to see more public use and are planning increased visitor services. As the celebration of the commitment continues, officials have charged themselves with preserving the fragile but important wetlands. For Kansas Public Radio, I'm Tama Wagner. [BIRD SOUNDS] [BIRD SOUNDS] ***** [MALE SPEAKER]: Kansas University has something of a history of handling the

electronic media half heartedly or not at all. Many faculty members still remember with distaste the way the university booted its chance to have an educational television channel -- a channel that eventually wound up at Washburn University as KTWU. And you won't get much argument that KU's video production facilities in all areas are minimal and considerably behind the times. KU's been drifting along in a books and paper world, and that world is dying. So's the notion that universities are in the business of providing classroom space and an instructor to stand at the front of their classroom and students to come sit right there and listen. At some point, KU has to look to the future. The university of the future will be in the business of delivering education, instruction, and training to wherever they're needed by whatever media are most appropriate and efficient. Increasingly these days that means delivering education by video. The outgoing executive vice chancellor seems to recognize this, and she named a committee to report on what the university needs to do and how big the bill will be. The answer to that ugly second

question came back, "Spend six million dollars over five years." Too much, said the executive vice chancellor, and maybe she's right. So a new committee was named to decide how to divide up a much smaller pie, more like $600,000. What we have here, according to one of the major players, is a bigger, better committee and therefore progress. I hope so, but I doubt it. The university's commitment over the next three years appears solid but overmatched. Where we need Mel Gibson, it looks like we're getting Pee-wee Herman. The price tag for getting into telecommunications is genuinely huge, but the cost to the university of not getting into it is unthinkably high. Our state's already ponderously over dependent on some very hot and cold industries, and we've seen again and again what that can do to state revenues. The key to digging out of that hole is education, spearheaded by an excellent and aggressive higher education system. Aggressive these days increasingly means continuing education, in-service training, distance education, and cooperation with other institutions to deliver otherwise unavailable classes and programs.

In other words, spend some genuine bucks and lay fiber optic cable or fire up the satellite uplink. Only that satellite uplink is in Manhattan. There's been talk at the state and Regents' level of telecommunication links between all of the major campuses, but talk is about as far as it goes so far. There's no real, coordinated effort and, surprise, there's no money. One program that deals with tape duplication of courses has seen its budget cut in half. That's the way we're headed. It's fair to say that at KU, in spite of modest state support, where education is concerned -- we deliver. That's good, but in the future the university will have to be able to say, "We deliver anywhere." ***** [MALE SPEAKER]: On a beautiful May day made expressly for baseball, I sat in a grandstand seat at Rosenblatt Stadium and wondered if life could be any better than this. Rosenblatt Stadium, as you may know, is in Omaha, a few hours

north of here on I-29, also known as the Bill Pecota Highway. "Why go to Omaha?" you're wondering, when I could've easily driven to Royals Stadium and saved hours behind the wheel. No, it wasn't because the Royals have plummeted from potential to pungence. It was more an inherent urge to witness baseball beneath the façade. Sometimes you can't help it. Royals Stadium is just too spotless, too symmetrical, too, well, perfect. Professional baseball wasn't necessarily meant for plastic pleasure palaces. Places like Rosenblatt Stadium, home of the Royals AAA Farm Club, remind us of that. What a pleasure to watch baseball where the scoreboard isn't as overwhelming as the Queen Mary and doesn't blind you with more lights than the Las Vegas Strip. Furthermore, if I see the dot race one more time I think I'll scream. Rosenblatt boasts a small, functional scoreboard that on this sunny and mild day I'd estimate was

about 65 percent operative. The remainder was either blank or botched beyond all recognition. The message board never did work, no doubt cutting seriously into much needed advertising revenue. And the ball count was forever a mystery, its lights frozen in a pattern that looked Russian or Sanskrit or preschool. You know how easy it is to park at Royals Stadium, I'm sure. You pay four bucks and zip right in. If you don't remember to look at the section designator above the nearest light pole, you may have difficulty locating your car after the game. Otherwise, no problem. At Rosenblatt, it costs nothing to park, and you're never in danger of wandering forever in search of your car. On this wondrous day with nearly 8,500 fans on hand, and with the adjacent zoo attracting thousands more, Rosenblatt shifted into its overflow parking mode. Thus we left our car at a precipitous 45 degree angle on the steep, grassy

bluff behind the center field's fence. What more could an imperfectionist ask for? When the Omaha players take the field, it's immediately apparent these Royals are wearing uniforms exactly like the big league club, except their names do not appear above the numbers on the back. Truly in Omaha you cannot tell the players without a program. Two of the Royals' hottest prospects are in Omaha. First baseman Bob Hamelin, supposedly George Brett's successor and outfielder Harvey Pulliam, the organization's Player of the Year in '89. Neither Hamelin nor Pulliam is hitting a lick. But their flaws with the stick anoint them with a humanity that's as unforgettable as the minor league genre itself. Still, Rosenblatt's most glaring imperfection is its location. Too bad it isn't in St. Joseph. If it were, I'd be there once a week. ***** [JOYCE HENSEN]: Basically we started the study group because were were having patrons coming in, almost on a- at least two or

three times a week of someone wanting to learn something more about their Indian heritage. And it's becoming quite evident that there's much more of an interest there than even what we were aware of. [ROB HILTON]: Joyce Hensen is the volunteer coordinator of the Indian Heritage Group. It meets the third Saturday of each month and is available to anyone wishing to trace their Native American ancestry. Hensen calls it a nucleus of knowledge in an informal classroom environment. [JOYCE HENSEN]: My main goal, of course, is to help the patrons that, you know, that really want to do family history research. But I really hope that it expands a little bit further than that, too. And that is to even make the community more aware of, you know, what's going on around them. [ROB HILTON]: And what's going on around them is the development of a new understanding about American Indians, their heritage, and their role in the U.S. Rollin Kekahbah is an instructor at Haskell

Indian Junior College in Lawrence, who teaches a course on contemporary issues of American Indians. He says most people don't realize what kind of an impact American Indians or tribes had on the evolution of the history of the U.S. [ROLLIN KEKAHBAH]: Ah, for example, I doubt if very few people realize that Indians are mentioned and even can be considered an integral part of the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Constitution is the basic document for the operation of our federal government. The basic document for the interpretation of law in this country includes comment on American Indians and their impact, I guess you might say, upon the existence of this government in its earliest times. And I think that if people understood that and was aware of it, then they would have a deeper appreciation of what the American Indian tribal groups

meant to the early evolution of this country. [ROB HILTON]: But it's not just other people's attitudes about Native Americans that need to change. Hensen, whose great grandmother was a full-blooded Cherokee, says she knows of a time when American Indians were afraid to admit to their own lineage. [JOYCE HENSEN]: Because a hundred years ago, you know, was like one step lower than being a black person, you know. And like the story that has been handed down within my own family -- my grandfather refused to go to Oklahoma to be put on the rolls, because he didn't want anybody in his community to know that he had any Indian blood in him. And this is the type of a story that has surfaced. [ROB HILTON]: And Kekahbah says he thinks attitudes are changing, that ethnic groups in general are beginning to develop a new sense of pride. But he says it appears Native Americans are doing so more out of necessity than for the simple interest of tracing family lineage. [ROLLIN KEKAHBAH]: A lot of it has to do with establishing themselves

identifiable, legally, as a person of American Indian ancestry. If they're able to do that, then it's possible that they can apply and gain membership to federally recognized tribes. And if they do that, then it's possible that they'll also be in a position to gain access to programs and services intended specifically for American Indian federally recognized tribes. So it has a benefit for certain people under certain circumstances, if, in fact, they can identify in that regard. [ROB HILTON]: Hensen says this is one of the reasons the ancestry study group has become so popular. For example, she says business men and women can use the group to find their ancestry to prove they are of a minority. The federal government gives extra consideration to minorities for business contracts and jobs. And Hensen says Native Americans are the only people that have to prove they're members of a

minority for that consideration. I'm Rob Hilton. ***** [WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN OLEANDER]: Folks, if you've been listening to me, you know about the Here, Kansas, DENSA Society, our support group for dimwits and dullards who have brain drain from living in Kansas. Well, ever since our protest against the Arab Shrine Temple in Topeka over the "Salmon" Rushdie death threat, we've been thinking international. Last week, in fact, Pierre Small went to a junk store in Near Here, Kansas, and bought some back issues of National Geographic. And he did more than look at the pictures. He read one and a half articles before his brain came up with a storm that might just sweep Here, Kansas. You see, the first article was about food -- how people somewhere eat termites as a regular part of their diet. Another group eats ants and cockroaches. Still another group eats dogs and cats. He started a second article, one that showed sacred cows wandering around loose in the streets of some country,

collarless as a stray dog in Here, Kansas. Pierre's brain bubbled. Some of us old timers got stirred up too and told Pierre about things we'd eaten during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl when times were hard. People didn't have homes, and they didn't have food. I remember well when we were plain out of meat on our farm and no money, and there wasn't but one thing to do. Old Bob, our plow horse, was too old to lift his tail to flick flies off his back. We slaughtered him one dusty fall day. A bum came up from the railroad tracks and begged a meal that night. "Well," we said, "we've got meat, but it's horse meat. Do you mind?" That man didn't blink. "Friends," he said, "I've eaten worms, flies, and grasshoppers. Hard times'll do that to you." We sat down to old Bob, said an extra grace, and then none of us said a word different than if we'd been eating beefsteak. Those stories added to Pierre Smalls' excitement -- not to mention the stray dog that wandered

into town. You see, folks from the bigger towns and cities bring out their unwanted pets, the old dogs and cats, the little kittens and puppies, and drop them in Here. We lock them in a makeshift shelter back of the Demolition Derby Museum and then take turns putting them to sleep. It was Pierre's turn. That's when his idea came to a head. He trotted into the co-op. "There's homeless all over the country, just like the Depression, ain't there?" We nodded. "And there's starving folks all over the world, ain't there?" We nodded again. "And we ought to do something about it?" We nodded again. "I got a project for DENSA," he said. Well, it seems like he's not going to just kill strays anymore. He's going to slaughter them, can them, freeze them, and export them all over the world to folks who don't mind making a meal of them. "Protein is protein," he said, quoting National Geographic. He'll start small -- apply for a grant from the Small Business Administration and ask the state Board of Agriculture for those stickers that say "FOOD

PRODUCT FROM THE LAND OF OZ." Then look out, ECO-DEVO. Once his dogs and cats hit the world market, he might get into ants and termites and cockroaches. "After all," he said, "we spend money killing them, when we could make money exporting them to a hungry world." Well, the co-op just stared at young Pierre. But he's a comer, and who knows? Maybe he's got something here. We watched him head toward the Demolition Derby Museum and his first stray dog. ***** [APRIL HALEY]: At Topeka High School, students skip at least seven classes automatically fail the class. They are then assigned to a study hall where they are supposed to study for the courses they are still enrolled in, but often they sit around feeling bored. The Great Books Program combats not only boredom, but it helps students build self confidence. A volunteer teacher goes to the study hall and invites any students who are interested to the library to read books aloud and discuss them. They receive 1/4 of a class credit towards graduation if they always come to

class and participate. By reading aloud and giving thoughtful answers to real-life questions about the characters in the books, they show themselves and other students that they are competent. Tim Cook, a 17 year old Topeka senior, participated in the program his junior year after he had been kicked out of school for lack of attendance. He said the Great Books Program gave him a reason to go to school. [TIM COOK]: I didn't think too much of the program last year when I was in it, but now I realize that it was a big help to me, and really helped me change my life. It was like, kids always wish for assemblies, and pep assemblies, and all kinds of things at school. Well that's what this was sort of like -- something to look forward to. [APRIL HALEY]: Tim said because his teacher, Steve Suchsland, was a volunteer, Tim realized someone cared about whether he graduated. Suchsland usually supervises 40 engineers at Southwestern Bell, but on Tuesday and Thursday during his lunch break, he teaches the Great Books Program. Another person that helped him through school was his mother, who made him do his homework. He

said both his mother and father wanted him to graduate from high school, and he will Sunday. Tim said they felt so strongly about it that they would have kicked him out of the house had he not been graduating. Another boy interviewed does not appear to be on the road to graduation. In order to protect his identity, I will call him Sean. Sean is 16 years old. He also participated in the Great Books Program. When I talked to him about a month ago, Sean, like Tim, said the program made him want to go to class. At that time, Sean was enrolled in six classes, which was more than he had ever taken at one time in his high school career. The day I talked with him, he seemed to be willing to do what it took to graduate. [SEAN]: Yeah, you really have to change the habit altogether. You've got to change yourself. You've got to make yourself a better person, make yourself like school and want to be in school. [APRIL HALEY]: Then Sean told me what he had to do to keep from skipping school. [SEAN]: To keep from getting behind in classes, you've got to stay up and do the work every day, stay on top of things, do your homework. Whatever you don't finish in class, you've got to take it home and finish it.

[APRIL HAYLEY]: But since that time, Sean has dropped out. He didn't want to talk about it, except to say that he just quit going to school. He said he couldn't concentrate on his studies, because he always had family problems on his mind. Sean's grandmother, who he lives with, also declined to comment on why Sean dropped out, or how she felt about it. Dick Patterson, associate principal at Topeka High School, said bright students like Sean usually quit school because of demands from their family, such as working to financially support the family, or because the student lacks a basic support system. [DICK PATTERSON]: The typical student that ends up being in study hall is a student that basically doesn't have a real strong support structure, someone supporting them to come to school. They're students that are basically on their own. [APRIL HALEY]: So how does the Great Books Program get these young people interested in school again? Patterson says it's the correlation between reading and failure in school. [DICK PATTERSON]: And what happens in that

group that goes out of study hall is that they're talking out loud and being respectful of each other in a group that they're used to being, in some cases, put down by. So while they're going individually, they're seeing other students that they may have had labeled as people that would never be able to be successful, discussing -- intelligently -- a book. [APRIL HALEY]: Patterson says without the Great Books reading program, 18 out of the 20 students in the program would not graduate. [DICK PATTERSON]: With the Great Books reading program, I'd say that the numbers indicate to me that they would be 12 out of those 20 that will graduate high school. Not all of them with their class, but they will graduate from high school. It may take them an extra semester, or an extra year, but they will graduate from high school. [APRIL HALEY]: The program seems to work 60 percent of the time, but like anything

else in life, the students participating in it will graduate only if they want to. I'm April Haley. ***** [TAMA WAGNER]: The 45 year old Parsons resident will serve a dual purpose if elected -- as lieutenant governor and also as secretary of the Department of Commerce. Johnston said there had to be something more to this offer to convince him to leave his leadership position in the Kansas senate. [MIKE JOHNSTON]: There had to be a very compelling reason for me to think of the prospect of giving that responsibility up, which I enjoy very much and which I worked very hard to achieve. And the Department of Commerce assignment certainly was a major factor in the decision-making process. [TAMA WAGNER]: There had been speculation Johnston would be the running mate, because his administrative assistant Bob Martin was earlier named Carlin's campaign manager. Carlin will face state treasurer Joan Finney and Topeka minister Fred Phelps in the August primary election. At the statehouse, I'm Tama Wagner. ***** [TAMA WAGNER]: Deputy Press Secretary Mogie Langston has confirmed that Wichita businessman Nestor Weigand will officially become a candidate

for the GOP gubernatorial nomination on Wednesday. Weigand has been very vocal in his dissatisfaction with the property reappraisal classification issues, and gained attention by organizing taxpayer protests. It is believed that much of his support comes from grassroots fringe organizations like Kansans for Fair Taxation and other protest groups. He's also said to be popular among the so-called "rebel faction" in the Kansas legislature. It has been reported that the Republican party had discouraged Weigand from challenging the incumbent, Mike Hayden. Weigand is expected to make a statewide campaign swing next week to make the official announcement. Weigand will join Hayden and Andover attorney Richard Peckham on the ballot. At the statehouse, I'm Tama Wagner. ***** [MIKE HAYDEN]: You know, I think there are a lot of people who don't follow it closely who think Gorbachev has all the power, and he can do about what he wants, but let's face it -- he's in deep trouble at home,

the economy's in trouble, they're having trouble in the Baltic states and other places in the Soviet Union. So I think he comes to the United States in a much weaker position than he was when he was here the last time. ***** [ROB HILTON]: Speaking to a crowded room of Kansas social workers, Helen Swan of Kansas City said ritualistic abuse refers to the repeated physical, sexual, mental, and spiritual abuse of children, combined with the systematic use of symbols and ceremonies. Swan explained several case examples of children in satanic cult environments. [HELEN SWAN]: They'll do things such as have the children observe violence or murder and masturbate them at the same time, so they begin to pair sexual stimulation with some kind of violence. They'll also do things like have the kids involved with someone sexually, and then make them participate in the killing of that person. [ROB HILTON]: Swan said most people never

fully recover from the trauma of such abuse. She also said the cases are difficult to prove and prosecute because of the typically bizarre content of each case. Swan has four years' experience in dealing with ritualistic abuse, handling about 10 cases a year. I'm Rob Hilton. ***** [TAMA WAGNER]: In a letter to the senate, Hayden blasted the legislature for overspending, and said their actions prevent any management flexibility for state agencies in providing services to the citizens of Kansas. Hayden indicates he warned the legislative leaders time and time again that their patterns in overspending would create difficulties for the fiscal year 1991 budget, and that he vetoed $45 million in spending in hopes the legislature would reconsider its habits. The governor also said by cutting 34 percent from the Regents Institutions' maintenance budget, that will force the continued deterioration to aging facilities, that will in turn increase repair costs in future years. In an earlier interview, house minority leader Marvin Barkis predicted

Hayden would try and shift the blame to the legislative branch, because he says Hayden was not an effective leader this session, and will be forced to run a campaign against the legislature this election year. Hayden ended the letter saying Kansans have the right to expect more from their legislators after more than 100 days of deliberation. At the statehouse, I'm Tama Wagner. ***** [BOB KIRBY]: That sums up the opinion of the outgoing SRS secretary Winston Barton. [WINSTON BARTON]: We're helping more people. There's more money spent on social services than ever before -- and even in real dollars -- in Kansas. The state hospitals are all certified. More money is going into social services than ever before. The children's programs, the adult programs, KanWork -- KanWork is a very successful program. [BOB KIRBY]: Barton says the governor and the legislature were very good to SRS, approving a general funding increase of almost 10 percent. Barton has been SRS secretary nearly three years, though he recently announced his resignation to return to social service work in Oklahoma. His replacement is Dennis Taylor.

[DENNIS TAYLOR]: The focus, particularly in the waning days of the session, was on what wasn't -- in some people's minds -- being accomplished. But I think overall, I'll probably be focusing as much as anything on what we are accomplishing with what we do have. Less, perhaps, on those things that we are not accomplishing with money we haven't got. [BOB KIRBY]: Both attended a news conference during the Kansas Conference on Social Welfare underway this week at the Lawrence Holidome. I'm Bob Kirby. ***** [TAMA WAGNER]: When the Kansas Association of Public Employees issued a statement last Friday, executive director Charles Dodson says they did so in reaction to a press report in the Topeka Capital-Journal, which quoted sources within the state Board of Regents as saying classified employees would not get the recommended increase -- the salary increase that was recommended by the legislature and the governor. Dodson says they immediately contacted their attorneys and issued the press release to send a clear message to their members,

that they were protecting salaries. However, Regents executive director Stan Koplik says the information was incorrect, that never at any time were classified employee salaries in danger. In fact, when the board decided to turn over the budget cutting authority to individual institutions, both groups were very aware certain areas of the budget were protected. Classified salaries are one such area. Koplik says the entire situation is unfortunate, because the misunderstanding caused a lot of unnecessary concern. At the statehouse, I'm Tama Wagner. ***** [TAMA WAGNER]: The University of Kansas Medical Center did not escape the one and three quarter percent across-the-board budget cut implemented by the legislature during the final hours of the 1990 session. Now, Vice Chancellor Dr. D. Kay Clawson says, they will be forced to rely more heavily on other revenue-generating areas.

[DR. D. KAY CLAWSON]: The university hospital this year was to produce $113 million of our budget. Next year, it will have to produce between $118 million and $121 million, so we do rely very heavily on the hospital. We also have- our clinical faculty relies very heavily on their practice income, and with such a small increase in operating money, which is really a 1 percent increase in our operating money at a time in which inflation is over 4.5 percent regularly, and over 8.5 percent for the medical market basket in the price index, we're hurting very badly now. [TAMA WAGNER]: A new debt collection team will also be added to the KU Med Center payroll in an attempt to clean up a debt that has grown to $30 million over many years. Clawson says it's not as bad as it looks, however, because unlike other public hospitals, the Med Center is not allowed by law to write off charitable debt. But there is a long and complicated process to do that, which they are currently involved in. But in

actuality, the hospital needs to collect only some $15 million in bad debts. While administrators have impending financial crises to consider, Clawson says, surprisingly, morale among the nursing staff is on the upswing. [DR. D. KAY CLAWSON]: The morale was so low during the winter months when so many of our nurses were taking two and sometimes three extra shifts a week. They were tired, they saw no hope, no end in sight. We were unable to recruit at the level of pay. [TAMA WAGNER]: One year ago, the Medical Center asked the legislature to help in increasing the rate of pay for nurses, but the legislature declined, saying it was not in the state's best interest. But this year, the legislature had a change of heart, and a new incentive-based pay scale was implemented this month. Director of Nursing Mary Ann Eisenbise says it rewards longevity. [MARY ANN EISENBISE]: We gave credit for all the time they had been in nursing. And so

that was one, I think, factor that improved their morale to think, "Well, now I am getting credit for all of the years that I was a nurse." [TAMA WAGNER]: The pay scale is based on four levels, and nurses receive increases on the scale as long as an adequate performance rate continues. KU Med Center nurses have also decided to unionize. Clawson and Eisenbise agree in the fact that they're both unsure how this will affect the future and morale, because the vote to unionize was almost a 50-50 split. As with cutting the balance of the Regents' budget, some legislators warn that such drastic cuts would send a clear message that Kansas is not serious about higher education. As for Clawson and the KU Med Center, they're taking a wait-and-see approach. For Kansas Public Radio, I'm Tama Wagner at the statehouse. ***** [BOB KIRBY]: Creamer was sentenced to six months in the county jail and was

fined court costs yesterday afternoon by District Judge James Paddock. Creamer probably sensed he would be sent to jail, for he held a news conference before the sentencing, and said that regardless, he would continue his congressional campaign. [MARK CREAMER]: I would imagine that if I am behind bars it's going to actually motivate more people to become active. And I think it'll make people mad that I would be in jail for something as silly as smoking marijuana, when- a matter of fact, in Lawrence, it's not even against the law to be drunk in public, and that's a much worse offense. [BOB KIRBY]: In a prepared statement to the judge, Creamer said his intention was to show his profound disagreement with the unjust law, and to use the best possible means to change the law. Last September he smoked a marijuana cigarette at the Lawrence Police Station as his way of protesting the inclusion of the so-called "casual pot user" in the Bush administration's war on drugs. He is campaigning for decriminalization of marijuana. I'm Bob Kirby. ***** [BOB KIRBY]: Ever since his arrest that night last

September for smoking a marijuana cigarette at the Lawrence Police Station, Mark Creamer tried to use the state's prosecution of himself as a platform for changing -- decriminalizing -- the use and possession of marijuana. He said as much during an eight-minute speech to District Judge James Paddock yesterday afternoon. But Paddock chose not to allow his courtroom to be a part of that platform. He sentenced Creamer to six months in jail and fined him court costs. The only leniency shown Creamer was that Paddock said he would entertain a probation request after 60 days. Creamer seemed seemed to know he might go to jail. He staged a news conference at the Douglas County Judicial Center before his sentencing. I'm Bob Kirby. ***** [APRIL HALEY]: Pam Davis, a neonatal nurse practitioner, says babies who have been exposed to cocaine or other drugs are often premature and can have brain dysfunctions. [PAM DAVIS]: They have areas in their brain that don't function, and so that can cause motor problems like cerebral palsy. We might see motor deficits where they have spasticity of a limb, an arm

or a leg, or they don't have good muscle control, or something like that. [APRIL HALEY]: Davis says she does not think these women should be incarcerated, but educated. [PAM DAVIS]: I don't think that the answer is incarceration for these moms. Our foster system is already overburdened with babies that we can't place. And- so they're going to have to take care of these kids. We're just going to have to teach them how to do it, and we're gonna have to provide rehabilitation and treatment for the mom. [APRIL HALEY]: Some social workers at the workshop said the law should read that pregnant women who use illegal drugs are committing statutory child abuse. I'm April Haley. ***** [HELEN SWAN]: Because the content that the children give you are so bizarre, because it takes so long for children to make statements, because the information was so traumatic that they've repressed much of it. And so it's real hard to go back and get them to talk about it, integrate it, and all those things. ***** [TAMA WAGNER]: For too

many years, the victim was a forgotten person, according to Stephan -- that those in the system seem to worry more about the one who has committed the crime rather than the one who had suffered. The director of the Crime Victims' Compensation Board -- the board which reviews claims and makes allocation suggestions -- Betty Bomar says the victims should not shoulder the full burden for something they did not instigate. And the (?unclear?) mechanism for compensation is unique to Kansas. [BETTY BOMAR]: It's never seemed fair to me that the offender -- all their costs are borne by the state. And that is generally state general revenue- er, state general funds. Those that we pay on behalf of the victim are not out of general fund. They're fines, fees, and forfeitures paid by court offenders. [TAMA WAGNER]: The fines, fees, and forfeitures from Kansas felons is expected to provide well over one

million dollars this fiscal year, and that will aid an estimated 900 victims of crime. One Kansas woman who asked that her name not be used is all too aware of what it's like to be a victim of a violent crime. She found that out after her teenage son was assaulted. [MOTHER OF ASSAULT VICTIM]: They had been at a high school basketball game, and as they were leaving the parking lot, there was a group of them. And they ran out in front of his truck, and for some reason he rolled his window down, and the boy hit him several times in the face and in the mouth. [TAMA WAGNER]: With hundreds of dollars in dental bills and no insurance, her family was referred by the County Victims' Assistance to the new program established in Kansas. [MOTHER OF ASSAULT VICTIM]: They sent us a letter and then had a telephone conversation with my son. And after we submitted our bills -- they paid for everything. [TAMA WAGNER]: The family was later able to reimburse the fund after the boy involved in the assault paid them. The woman says she was actually very surprised that the state was actually able to help them.

Dodge City Police Chief Oakley Ralph, a member of the Fund Grant Review Committee, says the program can also help in understanding the complicated legal system. [OAKLEY RALPH]: Too often, the victim has been forgotten in the criminal justice system. This gives us a way to help this victim through the system. Now the biggest part of it that I see, or the biggest help, is the advocates that are in most of these programs. And this advocate can go with the victim through the criminal justice system, explaining how it works, helping them through the court, being with them for moral support when they need it, and so on. But it just explains this complex judicial system that they're moving through and trying to get through without further turmoil. [TAMA WAGNER]: The program can also assist victims of domestic violence with personal needs like finding housing. In addition, victims of sexual assault, drunk drivers, and victims of property crime are often covered under this sweeping legislation. Kansas is also only one of a handful of states that

keeps a victim abreast of the critical stages of their case in the court system. And now there is a toll-free Victim's Information Referral Hotline to complement the entire program. While those involved say they've made great strides for victims, they all do agree that there is still much work to be done. For Kansas Public Radio, I'm Tama Wagner at the statehouse. ***** [NESTOR WEIGAND]: All across America, citizens are starting to rise up and put the handcuffs on the politicians to stop the spending, stop the taxing, and start listening to the people. [TAMA WAGNER]: By rallying the so-called "Republican rebels" from the Kansas house of representatives, adding other dissatisfied GOP members unhappy with the current administration, and a pinch of Democratic support from those not willing to swallow the leftovers, Mr. Weigand believes that could be the recipe to create a grassroots organization that could topple the Hayden administration. Karen France, a lobbyist on leave from the Kansas Association of Realtors, which Weigand has

in the past served as national president, is now a full-fledged campaigner. She says they have been besieged from calls from all over the state. [KAREN FRANCE]: I think it's a matter of a lot of unsatisfied voters who we've been hearing from for just months and continue to hear from, and have been calling and asking us to run, because they wanted a choice. And it's just, it's a call to do something about what we're hearing from people. [TAMA WAGNER]: However, a statement from the GOP headquarters indicates the incumbent Hayden has the grassroots support, and the party will back him in the primary, where he'll face Weigand and Andover attorney Richard Peckham. GOP chairperson, Representative Rochelle Chronister, a long-time Hayden colleague said Weigand will be a good candidate. But while a challenge is always good, there is, of course, a downside. [ROCHELLE CHRONISTER]: Well, I think that a primary is good and bad, both. It is good in that all of the participants then have to get out

and work harder and make more contacts. It's bad in that it also requires additional money be spent, and that of course is- money's not easy to raise, and, uh- however, I think that maybe Mr. Weigand is going to not have a lot of difficulty in that area. [TAMA WAGNER]: As Chronister alludes, Weigand's personal wealth will likely be an issue during the campaign. He is expected to use almost $400,000 in his own money. Many comparisons are being made between Weigand and Larry Jones, the Coleman executive who spent, according to some reports, a million dollars in the last primary and was still edged out by Hayden. As one observer noted, the Weigand package looks good, but there has to be substance before the voters of Kansas will lend their support. For Kansas Public Radio, I'm Tama Wagner at the statehouse.