The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 3

The Salina Journal Sunday, October 1,1989 College students become mentors under program TOPEKA AP) An innovative program that helps college students pay for tuition while tutoring younger students is earning high marks in Kansas. The students are participating in a program to tutor elementary, junior high and high school students who are "at risk." At risk students may be about to drop out of school, have drug problems or come from single-parent families. "It goes back, fundamentally, to the way look at educational access," said Mark Tallman, director of the Associated Students of Kansas, which sponsors the tutoring program. Tallman said he wants to recruit at least 100 college students to tutor younger kids across the state through a program called Youth Education Service, or YES. YES will give the college students a little extra income to defray the costs of an education.

Tuition has doubled at the state universities over the past 10 years, Tallman said. But financial aid programs have fallen far behind. The students are paid about $1,000 for working eight to 10 hours a week for two semesters, he said. Giving college students a chance to earn extra money is only part of it. Tallman said their efforts might also increase a high school student's chances of being admitted to a college, Tallman said.

"It's an extremely cost-effective way of meeting two needs at once," he said. "Student leaders say they developed YES as a positive response to state support of the Margin of Excellence funding program for regents universities." Paul Z. Menye, a business major at poria State University, said the program gave him a first-hand look at what teachers face in the classroom. "It helped me understand some of the problems the educational system has in getting young people to go to school," he said. He said he helped two, sometimes three, students in English, mathematics and social sciences.

"I wanted to do it again this semester but I'm just too busy," he said. Students work as tutors, mentors and classroom aides in a variety of programs, which are coordinated by local school districts. "A lot of the details are worked out by school districts," Tallman said. Local school officials decide whether to use the college students as teacher aides or 'tutors, he said. For example, in Topeka, the YES students have met with middle school students on Saturday mornings, then play Softball with them in the afternoon.

"There's almost a Big Brother, Big Sister dimension to this," Tallman said. Last year, the Topeka, Kansas City, and Wichita school districts participated. So far this year, the school districts in Kansas City, Pittsburg, Topeka, Lawrence, Emporia, Wichita and Hays are participating. Others may join. That concerns Ann Johnson, who is the program specialist for dropout prevention for the Topeka School District.

Last year, the Topeka school district used 20 YES tutors. But it might not be able to hire that many this year because other districts are taking advantage of the program. "That's a concern we have," she said. "So far we have nine students aboard. The program is excellent." Because the college students are closer in age to the children, it makes communication easier, she said.

"There were mentors as much as they were tutors," she said, with the older students becoming examples for the middle and higii school kids. YES pilot programs began last year at three of the state's six regents universities with a $30,000 appropriation by the Legislature. About 25 university students participated. This year, the Legislature appropriated $50,000 to expand the program to all six Board of Regents universities. That state funding has been matched by $60,000 from student fees.

For some of the college students, it's a way to return some of the funds the Legislature has earmarked for higher education in the past two years. Tom Dortvy Darrel Mong, Salina, makes repairs on his father's home Saturday, so it can be painted "before the winter hits us." Oklahoma man files lawsuit to see 'Last Temptation' Prisoner leads students along 'bad road' By Harris News Service Mike Anderson took Erie High School students on a tour of a place he didn't want them to Anderson, who has served time in jails, reformatories and honor camps for nearly six years, spoke Friday to classes at the school in an effort to steer students away from drugs and prison. Drugs, Anderson said, were his road to destruction. In a biographical sketch given to the students, Anderson admitted to using marijuana, cocaine, demerol, preludin and LSD. "It's a really bad road," he said.

"It's something you should stay away from. It totally destroyed my life." Drugs were Anderson's way of trying to solve problems, he said. "People when they have problems and stuff, then tend to keep it inside. You can't do that," he said. "You need to learn to talk to people." it could happen to them, Anderson said: Someone he knew in prison had graduated from Brie High School two years ago.

Saying no might be more difficult, he said, but it is worthwhile. "You know the right road, but it's usually the hardest road," he said. "You need to know the right steps to get there." was convicted of conspiracy to com- Prison has taught me about respect for myself, my surroundings. I won't take things for granted." prisoner Mike Anderson mit forgery and aiding and abetting aggravated robbery, burglary and theft in January. The burglaries took place at the houses of his former employer and a friend's mother's boyfriend.

The forgery charge was connected with traveler's checks. He was in the Montgomery County jail from December 1983 to March 1984; the Kansas State Industrial Reformatory in Hutchinson from March 1984 to August 1988; and an honor camp at Toronto since then. Slight of build and unassuming, dressed in a sports shirt and slacks, Anderson admitted he did not look like a typical prisoner. Anderson detailed his experiences in prison. First-time inmates are greeted with yells of "new meat, new meat," he said.

"I want to keep you guys from sharing that He shared a 5-by-8-foot cell with another pris- oner, in a room built for one person. In other cells, six men share a room built for three. The crowded conditions can cause arguments over such things as television shows or cigarette butts. Drugs were rampant in prison, Anderson said. Asked by a student how drugs were smuggled into prison, Anderson said visitors would bring drugs smuggled into balloons.

Before returning to their cells, the convict would swallow the balloon, avoiding being caught by strip searches where every body cavity is checked. "They'd get back to the jail cell and puke them up," he said. "If they couldn't puke them up, they'd wait until they'd have to crap them out, then reach their hands down into the toilet and get the balloon out," he said. Anderson will be eligible for parole in June 1992. Dan Creitz, an Erie attorney who represented Anderson, brought him to speak to the students after interest was expressed by some faculty members.

Anderson had never spoken to a group before about being in prison-, Creitz said. "Prison has taught me about respect for myself, my surroundings," he said. "I won't take things for granted, like walking in the park, going to a show or going down the street to Bob's for dinner. You miss out on a lot. "Freedom is precious; drugs are trouble.

And they can take it away from you quickly." By The Associated Press An Oklahoma man has filed suit against Multimedia Cablevision to force it to show "The Last Temptation of Christ." Multimedia, which serves customers in Kansas, Oklahoma and North Carolina, announced Monday it would not telecast the controversial movie when it is broadcast this month on the premium channel Cinemax. Felix H. Olim, Midwest City, filed a lawsuit Friday in Oklahoma City federal court seeking an order to require the company to show the film. He also seeks $1 million in damage. The suit says Multimedia "infringed upon the religious rights of its 90,000 subscribers" by deciding to pre-empt the program.

"Whoever wishes not to view this or any transmission, always has the option of choosing another channel, or turning off his set," Olim said. The Cinemax premium cable channel will broadcast the movie nationwide Monday and on four other dates in October. Cox Cable in Oklahoma City, Tulsa Cable, and TCI Cablevision, which is available in 55 counties, announced they will show the movie. Multimedia serves 20 Oklahoma communities, mostly in central Oklahoma. Salina Cable Television System, which is owned by CTI Inc.

of Den- "Whoever wishes not to view this or any transmission, always has the option of choosing another channel, or turning off his set." Felix Olim filed lawsuit ver, announced this week that it will allow the movie to be shown. The Oscar-nominated "Last Temptation" sparked national protests when it was released 14 months ago because it portrayed Jesus as confused over his identity and purpose and subject to Human desires. Theaters in Oklahoma refused to show the movie. Meanwhile, a caller to Oklahoma State University threatened violence if the film is shown on the campus in Stillwater. The university's regents postponed a showing of the film by a student group while they attempted to decide if it is appropriate for a state-funded campus.

An American Civil Liberties Union attorney vowed to sue the university if the showing of the film is blocked. Second Oberlin farm raided for marijuana Group seeks communication link in west GARDEN CITY (AP) A group representing 54 western Kansas counties has proposed a 500-mile- fiber optic communications network linking six cities. Western Kansas Policy Development Board voted Friday to make the $10 million proposal a top priority during next session of the Kansas Legislature. The project could be accomplished with $2 million to $5 million in state funding, said Ed Hammond, Fort Hays State University president and the head of the policy board. The system could be operating by July 1,1991, he said.

Three private-sector groups Southwestern Bell Telephone, an association of regional independent telephone companies and at least one cooperative electrical utility are interested in sharing the cost of the project and are working on separate proposals for funding it, Hammond said. Such a network could all but eliminate long drives facing western Kansans who need to attend meetings or classes or do research in distant cities, Hammond said. The system would allow two-way interactive television, voice and computer communication. The main fiber optic trunk line would link Hays, home of Fort Hays State University, the region's only four-year college, to Colby, Great Bend, Dodge City, Garden City and Liberal, all sites of community colleges that belong to an educational compact with the university. Five mini-networks being set up among rural western Kansas school districts also could be tied into the main system, Hammond said.

By MARIS A DANIELS Staff Writer OBERLIN Authorities seized an undisclosed amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia Friday night from a farm southwest of Oberlin in Decatur County. Several weapons and a pickup truck also were seized in the raid, which occurred about 7 p.m. on a farm 18 miles southwest of Oberlin, a dispatcher for the Decatur County Sheriff's Department said. Fourteen law enforcement officers participated in the raid, including members of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Kansas Highway Patrol, the Oberlin Police Department and the sheriff's departments in Decatur, Thomas and Norton counties. Two suspects wanted in connection with the operation were at large Saturday.

The search was ordered by District Magistrate Judge John Bremer after Decatur County Attorney Steve Hirsch requested a search warrant. The bust was related to a raid Thursday on a farm 16 miles southwest of Oberlin in which authorities made the biggest drug bust in the history of Decatur County. Marijuana valued at $750,000 to $1 million was seized in the bust. The officers confiscated 250 marijuana plants weighing 1,200 pounds. Also seized were five drying racks for marijuana, two processing tables and about a mile of pipeline used for watering.

Two handguns and about 100 rounds of ammunition also were confiscated, along with a pickup truck. Michael Harry McCarthy, 30, San Rafael, was arrested at the farm. He was charged Friday in Decatur County District Court with being a felony fugitive from justice. McCarthy is wanted in connection with a burglary and other felonies in Marin County, Calif. McCarthy made a first appearance before Judge Bremer Friday afternoon.

Bond has been set at $1 million. Authorities are continuing an investigation on both raids. Journal to increase rates for areas outside Salina The Salina Journal subscription rate will increase 50 cents a month beginning Oct. 1 for subscribers outside the city limits of Salina. The rate for home delivery will increase from $9.50 to $10 a month.

Those on motor routes will I see an increase from $10 to $10.50 a month. Rates for subscribers living in Salina and for those receiving their papers by mail will not i change, said Harris Rayl, Salina Journal publisher. "It's more expensive to deliver outside the city than inside," he said. i He said it is common for news- papers to have such a rate differential. "It's uncommon for us." Advertising rates also will be going up, Rayl said.

Local display rates will increase 7 percent and classified rates, will go up between 9Ms percent and 10 percent. Advertising rates for the Neighbors section will go up nearly 7 percent. Rates for the Journal Plus, which is distributed to non-subscribers in the Saline County area, will decrease slightly from what rates were a year ago, Rayl said. Rates for preprinted inserts will not change, he said. Dodge City college fires scandal-plagued officials By Harris News Service DODGE CITY Dodge City Community College trustees, eager to put scandals concerning the former school president and basketball coach behind them, cleaned house this week.

Three top administrators athletic director Vernon Mai, vice president of instruction Irwin Noyes and fund-raising director Max VanLan- fired. A fourth administrator, Orville Kliewer, vice president of finance, announced his retirement effective Dec. 22. The board approved the ousters Wednesday night. "I firmly believe some significant changes are necessary if your new president is to have the best chance for success as your chief executive officer," said Walter Browe, acting president of the college.

Dodge City has been besieged by administrative scandal. Trustees fired first-year basketball coach Keith Tifft May 1 for allegedly allowing misuse of school credit cards, staging unauthorized pregame meals, and paying for players and parents to stay in motel rooms. Tifft filed a lawsuit against the school in June, charging that the board violated terms of his contract, hired him at a closed meeting and that athletic director Mai made slanderous remarks about him. On Sept. 20, former school president Gay Dahn was charged in Ford County District Court with 15 counts of felony theft and 24 counts of making a false writing for issuing allegedly bogus consulting contracts.

Dahn, who resigned in Aprjl amid accusations of financial mismanagement, sued the two-year college after trustees terminated his two-year contract. Voters troubled by the reports of mismanagement at the college elected three new members to the school's board of trustees in April. One of the new members, Tom Kindsvater, said Friday the action Wednesday was taken to "start the healing process" and get the college prepared for the arrival of a permanent president. The decision on a new president is expected to be made by late November. Noyes submitted his resignation effective immediately.

The board opted not to renew the contracts of Mai and VanLaningham. The contracts run until June, but both were asked to leave their jobs immediately. Noyes, 51, whose tenure with the community college totaled 18 years, said the house-cleaning stemmed from the Dahn scandal, which he said cast the entire college's administration in a bad light. Noyes said he suspected his job was in jeopardy a year ago, after information surfaced about the consulting scheme involving Dahn and Dahn's relatives. While the allegations "pertain to what appears to be a misuse of some funds, the end result is going to be turmoil and change," Noyes said.

"This school is just like any school," he said. "The institution is going to be there a long time.".