The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 12

84 SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10. 2001 GREAT PLAINS THE SALINA JOURNAL HARASSMENT CLAIM Former Graves aide faces claim Former state worker says she was harassed By The Associated Press TOPEKA A former state budget analyst is alleging in documents filed with the state Human Rights Commission that she was fired for complaining about unwanted sexual advances from a former top aide to Gov. Bill Graves. Judith L. Ham said in her complaint that the unwanted advances from Dan Hermes, who was formerly Graves' chief legislative liaison, created a hostile work environment in the State Budget Division.

She filed her complaint in October against the Department of Administration, which oversees the budget division. The Topeka Capital-Journal reported the filing in a story in its Wednesday editions. In her complaint, Ham alleged that Hermes began making unwanted advances around November 1999. "Despite my protests, the advances continued," Ham said in her complaint. "On May 31, 2000,1 was terminated." Hermes was fired in June.

Graves' office didn't announce his departure, and neither the governor nor his staff has discussed the reasons for Hermes' departure. Hermes now lobbies for alcohol safety programs, their coordinators, centers that provide services the developmentally disabled and a company. Public Solutions. "The allegations are inaccurate," Hermes told The Capital-Journal. "The claims included in the complaint are incorrect." Ham's allegations are part of a series of complaints filed by women in Kansas government alleging sexual harassment or sexual discrimination.

In November, a Lawrence woman filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission alleging that officials of GTECH, the West Greenwich, R.I., firm that operates the Kansas Lottery's online games, coerced her into digging up dirt on top lottery officials to aid the company in keeping its contract with the lottery GTECH officials deny the allegations. That complaint came a year after the Department of Administration investigated allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct by lottery employees. Lottery officials also have disclosed finding pornography and other inappropriate materials on four agency computers. Last month, a former division director with the Kansas Department of Human Resources, filed a lawsuit alleging she was fired after reporting that an agency computer was being used to access Internet pornography. Another former Department of Human Resources division director, also has said she intends to file a complaint with the Human Rights Commission alleging sexual discrimination.

In 1999, a former KDHR employee was awarded $510,000 by a federal jury over allegations of sexual harassment. The state Board of Regents agreed in 2000 to a $75,000 settlement with its former associate director of fiscal affairs, who had filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission alleging gender bias. During a news conference Friday, Graves would not declare whether whether sexual harassment and gender bias are serious problems in state government, but he expressed confidence in the process for resolving complaints. "I only have the confidence that, to the extent that wrongdoing has occurred, the system is designed to look into that and render some judgment that resolves it," he said. EDUCATION Small schools face extinction School finance formula may force them to close down By ANDREW BACH The Gareleii Cil)' Telegram HEALY Grain elevators tower over this town, but passing through Healy on Kansas Highway 4, it's hard to miss the school.

The brown brick building that serves as daytime home to students in the Healy School District is on the extreme northwest corner of town. There are two paved streets in Healy, K-4 and the road to the school, though that road is dirt a few feet past the playground. Only the conspicuously large Methodist church rivals the school in terms of size or seating capacity There is probably no danger of the church closing up shop anytime soon but the same cannot be said for Healy's school. Healy's school district was singled out as being too small by the school district boundary study commissioned by the Kansas Legislature. Results of the study were presented in a joint session of the House and Senate Education committees in early January Those results seem to point to consolidation, or an end to schools like Healy.

"It didn't come as a real surprise to me," said Healy Superintendent Wayne Lindsey, who said he wasn't pleased with the findings. He called the study's approach "flawed" for focusing FOOD PANTRY "Is Healy going to he here next year? Yes. Ten years from I don't know." Wayne Lindsey Healy superintendent of schools only on test scores from one year. And he wasn't alone. Moscow School District was- named in the study as one of 28 Kansas districts identified as having "a combination of lower than expected pupil performance and much higher than expected per pupil spending." Larry Phillippi, Moscow superintendent, said judging a district based on one year of low test scores is ridiculous.

And in a small district, if a few students blow the test it can have serious consequences. "The bottom line in this study is money," Phillippi said. "They don't care about low test scores if you don't spend a lot of money" With school consolidation a third-rail issue in Kansas touch it and die area legislators have said the study is likely to be shelved. Nevertheless, the reality is that many small school districts are in danger of closing or consolidating. But, Phillippi said, Moscow likely won't be among them.

"Moscow itself has grown 25 percent; we're actually larger than we've ever been," he said of the school's 214 students. Healy isn't as large, but as long as the students are still being served and the money is in the bank, there won't be talk of consolidation, Lindsey said. "Students who are graduates from Healy, Kansas, can compete, and the minute we can't we're not going to need the state to have to tell us what to do or some fly-by-night study out of Denver," Lindsey said. Nearby Utica, with which Healy shares an athletic program, didn't need the state to tell it, either but Utica will not have a high school in 2001-02. Lindsey said his district is going through some tough times, but he's not at the point where he needs to turn out the lights yet.

"Is Healy going to be here next year? Yes. Ten years from now I don't know," Lindsey said. His district had good luck this year. Healy gained 20 students last fall to put its districtwide enrollment at 124, and the district may receive a few more students when Utica is no longer an option. And at a per-student rate of $9,000 from the state, Healy will welcome anyone willing to fill a desk.

The financial pressures on schools are not going down, though. Utility bills are on a rapid ascent, and high-quality teachers are becoming increasingly scarce. While the 20-student increase has given Healy a cushion to deal with unexpected gas costs, the teacher quandary is not going away, Lindsey said. The district is competitive with a $29,000 base salary, but it can't afford to offer health insurance, he said. Moscow and Healy administrators say they still can offer high caliber opportunities to their students.

Moscow offers 40 hours of college credit, anatomy and Cisco Systems Certification classes. Healy has enviable facilities and a range of classes through interactive television and cooperation with nearby Dighton, Lindsey said. The boundary study singled out these schools and presented a plan for a contentious consolidation. Even if the legislature doesn't codify that plan, the schools might still be forced to consolidate because of the current finance formula, Lindsey said. "If you don't have bodies, you don't get money," Lindsey said.

Although schools with low enrollment get a weighted per- student rate, it doesn't balance the scale, he said. Lindsey said consolidation isn't in the foreseeable future for his district, and it's not imminent or likely in Moscow, Phillippi said. As long as enrollments continue to fluctuate and costs continue to rise, the answer to the consolidation question for these small districts might not remain as optimistic. Charity cited for selling donated food items By The Associated Press VIRGIL A small charity food pantry in this southeast Kansas community violated Kansas Foodbank Warehouse policies by selling donated food. An investigation by the Kansas Foodbank uncovered the activity of the pantry, which is run by a bikers' ministry The same ministry runs another food pantry called New Life Outreach Missions in Wichita.

Kansas Foodbank shut down the Virgil pantry on Wednesday Virginia White, director of the Foodbank, ordered the food removed from the pantry after she sent officials to investigate anonymous reports of the employees' activities. The officials saw a tote board in the pantry listing below- market prices for food. For example, a pound of coffee was listed for $1.50, soup for 56 cents and a pound of hamburger for $1. All 500 pantries affiliated with Foodbank must sign an agreement saying they will not sell food or accept donations for it. White said.

The bikers violated both agreements, also accepting nations from individuals and businesses. The pantry was started by Brent Turnipseed, a pastor who moved to Virgil in Greenwood County several months ago to start a church. Turnipseed reached by phone in Pennsylvania, where he was attending a religious retreat took full responsibility for the shutdown. Lawrence to experiment with ethanol in vehicles By The Associated Press LAWRENCE The city will experiment with ethanol instead of gasoline in three vehicles to see whether their mileage and performance change. "We're doing it to be practical and efficient, and to look for alternatives especially with TOPEKA MURDER the energy issues we're faced with," Lawrence City Manager Mike Wildgen said.

The experiment will run through June. The Kansas Corn Commission has given the city a storage tank, a pump and the corn- based fuel for the three vehicles. Wildgen said the city already owns five "flex-fuel" vehicles that can run on ethanol or regular gasoline, and three more are coming. Officials are starting to look at the possibility of buying some of the new "hybrid" cars that run on a mixture of electricity and gasoline, getting up to 70 miles per gallon. The city has nearly 350 cars on the street, though, which means the percentage of flex- fuel vehicles is still relatively small.

During the winter, the cars will use a fuel blend that's 75 percent ethanol and 25 percent gasoline. When warmer weather arrives, they'll switch to a blend with 85 percent ethanol. Treatment for Children's Behavior Problems ckmhc Central Mental Health Center Sewing the peoph of Dickinson, Ellsworth, Lincoin, Ottawa Saline Counties 809 Elmhurst Salina 823-6322 1-800-794-8281 Murderer asks for expungement By The Associated Press TOPEKA A woman who killed her husband in 1977 and served 15 years in prison is asking a Shawnee County judge to erase the conviction her record. Milda Sandstrom, 77, was convicted of first-degree murder on Dec. 9, 1977, for the shooting death five months earlier of Thad Sandstrom, 51, vice president of broadcasting for Stauffer Publications.

She was released from prison in 1992. Sandstrom's request was filed June 27, 2000. In a written statement, Sandstrom, who completed parole in 1994, said she was seeking expungement to "remove a ma.ior obstacle for employment and social interaction." Sandstrom testified Monday before District Judge Thomas Conklin that she works at a Veterans Administration Medical Center in Phoenix, where she is a social services associate in the mental health-behavioral sciences area. She is known there by her maiden name, Jo M. Jackson.

Several other witnesses, including former Kansas Gov. William Avery, testified that Sandstrom was conscientious and a hard worker. The Rev. Paul Eppinger, former pastor of First Baptist Church in Topeka, who now lives in Phoenix, testified that he found Sandstrom a job after she was released from 'prison. He said Sandstroiri, who lived with his family for a time, was a model citizen.

Senior Attorney Joel Meinecke, who is representing the district attorney's office in the case, and Richard Senecal, an Atchison attorney representing Sandstrom, have two weeks to submit written arguments to Conklin, who will rule on the request later. Current Kansas law doesn't allow the expungement of a murder conviction, but the law did in 1977, when the murder occurred. Then-District Attorney Joan Hamilton objected to the pungement. Driveability Specialists BENgiSON SERVICE CENTER 730 N. Santa Fe Salina 785-823-3771 SLEEP SHOP AT CENTRAL SHOWROOM (785)823-7171 1415 W.

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