The University Daily
Salvador satire
Songwriter uses humor to attack U.S. policy. See story on page 3.
KANSAN
Cloudy High, 60. Low, 30s. Details on page 3.
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
Vol. 95, No.115 (USPS 650-640)
Thursday, March 21, 1985
KU profs say work goes on despite orders
BY SHARON ROSSE
Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
Two professors conducting research for companies involved in a culture-growing operation said yesterday they would continue to work for the company despite a legal dispute between the companies and state officials.
Last Tuesday, a hearing was set to hear arguments on a temporary restraint order issued two weeks ago by Shawnee County District Judge James Buchelle. The hearing will be 9 a.m. next Tuesday in Topeka.
The order stopped a cease and desist order, issued by Kansas Securities Commissioner John Wurth against Culture Farms Inc. 2220 SW St., nine other firms and 12 individuals.
But James Akagi, chairman of the microbiology department, and Delbert Shankel, professor of microbiology, said they were conducting research for was legal.
ANOTHER COMPANY NAMED in the order, Activator Supply Co., Las Vegas, Nev. sells kits to consumers to grow bacteria in their homes. Culture Farms buys the bacteria from consumers and resells them to Cleopatra's Secret, a Reno, Nev., cosmetics company.
Akagi said, "There has not been one shred of evidence that says the operation is illegal. I don't think it will happen. But if they do find some evidence, I won't wait for the indictment to pull out of the deal."
Shankel said that Culture Farms had already made monthly payments in advance to the University of Kansas for his and others' medical expenses, did no reason to doubt the company's legality.
"'1am a scientist and like to act on facts, not speculations,' he said. 'Hight now, I am.' He replied.
But the cease and desist order described the operation as a pyramid-Ponzi scheme. Such schemes use money from new investors to pay returns to previous investors, said Larry Christ, general counsel for the securities commissioner.
The order also charged the companies with selling illegal securities in the form of investment contracts and making misrepresentations to consumers.
Christ said the securities commission had filed a motion to vacate, or lift, the restraining order because of procedural faults with the plea and the order.
If Buchele refuses to lift the restraining order, Wurth could appeal the decision or request another hearing to determine whether the securities commission acted unconstitutionally in issuing the cease and desist order. Christ said.
"The way the whole operation works is illegal because securities either must be registered or exempt from registration," Christ said. "And even if people are making money now, pyramid and Poni schemes don't work. It will eventually collapse."
Soviet author Valentin Ruspatin describes his love for his native Siberia to an audience of about 200. Ruspatin, considered the greatest author still living in the Soviet Union, spoke through an interpreter last night in the Big Eight Room of the Kansas Union.
Soviet author visits KU after two years' delay
By KEVIN LEATHERS
Staff Reporter
Neither the change in Soviet leadership nor Ronald Reagan's pitch for increased financing of the MX missile stopped Soviet author Valentin Raspuit from visiting campus this time.
Raspinet, who has been scheduled to visit the University of Kansas off and on for more than two years under the department of Slavic languages and literatures' writer-in-residence program, finally got the opportunity to speak to KU students last night.
Rasputin, who has been called the greatest author still living in the Soviet Union, spoke to nearly 200 people in the big Eight Room of St. Petersburg and transition his native Nibiru is going through.
"Siberia was at one time an undeveloped and unindustrialized country." Rasputin said through an interpreter. "But now Siberia is experiencing technology gone crazy. There is industrialization and development going on everywhere."
HE HAS WRITTEN about the environment and life of Siberia in many of his books, including "Farewell to Matyora" and "Live and Remember," which have been translated into dozens of languages.
Gerald Mikkelson, chairman of the department, said he had tried to arrange for Ruspint to visit KU ever since they met in Siberia a couple of years ago. But because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the chill in relations between the United States and Union thereafter, Ruspint was unable to come to the United States, Mikkelson said.
in ms speech "My Siberia Yesterday and Today." Rasputin said that because of the Soviet government's desire for industrialization, Siberia had gone through a number
of changes in the past several years. They were changes, he said, that especially affected the physical environment of Siberia.
"IM REALLY NOT very optimistic about the future of Siberia," said Rasputin, who has lived in Siberia all of his life. "I seems as if what happened in Europe and much of the United States is going to happen in Siberia. We will never know." But he has concern for the environment after it is too late — once a significant amount of industrialization has already taken place."
In his novel "Farewell to Matyora," Rasputin depicts a family that is forced to move from their village because of the war. He describes how government decides to build a hydroelectric plant nearby.
A similar situation happened to Rus扑utin's own village in Siberia. Since that time, Rus扑utin said he had looked upon any industrialization with skepticism.
But Ruspinin's criticism of the Soviet government seems to be well received in his country. He said he had been given several awards for his works, which he said he thought meant they regarded him as at least an accepted writer.
"We ARE VERY much in favor of the development of Siberia," he said. "But we want the development to be done rationally. Most of the industrial construction now is being done by people from outside of Siberia. These people are only looking to further their own gains. They have no real concern for the future of Siberia."
"My works come out regularly and Ive won various awards, so either the government is not aware of my works or they don't disapprove of them," he said.
Although Siberia has often gotten negative publicity as a place only for political and common criminals, Rasputin said he considered Siberia to be the center of the world and the only place to live.
Group seeks money for conservative speaker
By NANCY STOETZER
Staff Reporter
Young Americans for Freedom, a conservative campus group, last night requested $8,500 from the Student Senate Finance Committee to fund a conservative speaker to come to campus next fall.
Victor Goodpasture, president of the 10-member group, said earlier this week that YAF hoped to bring Jeane Kirkpatrick, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to the University of Kansas because, he said, the campus has not had enough conservative representation.
"Fallas is here. Farrakkan is coming. We think people from the opposite political background," she says.
President Reagan, or George Will, a conservative columnist.
ANY SPEAKER BROUGHT to campus with Student Senate money first must be approved by the Student Senate University Affairs Committee.
YAF was one of 11 student groups that requested funds from the Finance Committee during the second night of budget hearings for non-revenue code groups.
Non-revenue code groups are small student groups that request Senate funds annually and generally promote special interests.
YAF recieved $144 for fiscal year 1985.
YAF's total request for fiscal year 1968 was $11,677. In addition to the $9,500 to pay for the conservative speaker, $2,177 would cover advertising and supplies.
YAF recieved $144 for lalr year club bills. This week, the committee is scheduled to presentations from 33 student groups receiving a share of $61,181 available for distribution.
THE COMMITTEE WILL continue hearings at 6:30 tonight in the Kansas Room of the Kansas Union.
The money is generated from the $24 student activity fee students pay with tuition each semester.
Next week, the committee is scheduled to vote on how much money to allocate to each group. Recommendations made by the Senate must meet the approval of the Senate.
The Rock Chalk Rowdies, a new group designed to raise school spirit at sporting events, requested $600 to help get the group off the ground.
Another new group, Master's in Public Administration, requested $1,224 to help finance a conference. The 30-member group provides information about professional organizations, seminars and conferences in fields relating to public administration.
THE MEN'S SOCCER Club requested $1,782 for equipment, tournaments and referee costs. The 20-member group received about $790 from the Senate for fiscal year 1885.
The Chinese Student Association requested $4,065 for supplies and cultural events. The group has about 120 members and received $645 from the Senate for fiscal year 1985.
THE KU AMATEUR Radio Club requested $1,897 to pay for equipment for their "ham shack" in Learned Hall.
Latin American Solidarity, requested $1,123 for supplies and special projects. The group sponsors rice and beans dinners that serve as an educational forum about Latin America.
LAS has 20 members and also sponsors
fair lectures on campus. The group
received $450.
The Minority Business Student Council requested $673 to pay for supplies and advertising. The club's purpose is to increase the number of minorities that graduate from the School of Business. The 70-member group received $255 from the Senate in fiscal year 1985.
Contamination caused Bhopal leak
By United Press International
DANBURY, Conn. — Contamination of a storage tank, possibly caused by sabotage, was responsible for a gas leak that killed more than 2,500 people at Union Carbide's plant at Bhopal, India, corporation officials said yesterday. They also said the plant was riddled with safety violations.
Company officials did not pinpoint blame for history's worst chemical disaster and said production of the deadly isocyanate gas would resume next month in its Institute, WVa. plant. Production was halted there after the Bhona disaster.
In a report compiled by Union Carbide scientists and technicians from the United States, the company said 120 to 240 gallons of water "inadvertently or deliberately" were allowed to contaminate an underground storage tank in the Bhopal plant.
Warren Anderson, Union Carbide Chairman, stopped short of directly charging sabotage but said the company could not rule out that contamination may have been deliberate.
THE MIXTURE STARTED a runaway chemical reaction that leaked a deadly cloud of methyl isocyanate gas over the sleeping city of Bhopal on Dec. 3, 1984, killing more than 2,500 people and injuring thousands more.
"The amount of water that got into this tank took a while to get in there." He said at a news conference. "That's why we said it might be deliberate. It can't impug malice here. I can't say it's an act of sabotage."
ANDERSON SAID CIVIL, and criminal action was pending in India against individual employees of Union Carbide India 144
When pressed, however, Anderson said, "It doesn't seem like something that is inadvertent."
and the Indian government was conducting a criminal investigation.
"The issue of fault is before the courts both here and in India. In light of those proceedings, we will confine (remarks) to what happened and not who was at fault." he
Ron Van Mynen, corporate director of health and safety for Union Carbide and chairman of the investigating team, said a refrigeration unit crucial to controlling chemical reaction had been out of operation for five months before the leak.
A flare tower designed to burn off gases vented from the plant also was shut down for maintenance at the time of the leak, he said.
WORKERS WERE NOT aware of a dangerous buildup of pressure in the storage tank, and an alarm that had not been reset
See CARBIDE, p. 5, col. 1
Reagan names Brock as labor secretary
Bv United Press International
Brock, 54, a former senator praised for his work in rebuilding the GOP as its national chairman in the four years before Reagan's 180 election and for tough negotiating with the Japanese as U.S. trade representative since 1981 was reluctant to take the job.
WASHINGTON — President Reagan, acting to restore order at a Labor Department blasted by unions as "second rate" yesterday named William Brock as secretary to replace indicted Raymond Donovan.
"I needed time to think," he acknowledged after Reagan's announcement.
"You know, you just can't believe everything you read, can you?" Reagan told reporters as he disclosed his choice, which surprised some observers who expected the
job to go to political adviser Edward Rollins, who sought the post.
Explaining why he took the job, Brock cited the president's power of persuasion. "He said that he would like this job done in a certain way and I feel I can do it that way. It's a challenge that is impossible to resist." Brock said.
Senate Republican leader Robert Dole of Kansas said Brock's nomination would "sail through" the confirmation process and organized labor leaders welcomed the
ASSESSED HIS NEW Cabinet nominee, Reagan said, "Anyone who's spent four years dealing with international trade can pegotiate with almost anyone."
White House spokesman Larry Speaks said chief of staff Donald Reagan contacted several candidates, including Brock, after the Justice Department's lawsuit against York judge's ruling that he would have to
stand trial on charges of iarceny and fraud
BROCK DECLINED TO state his views on substantive labor issues, but said, "I think my primary job is to do whatever I can to create as many jobs as I can.
"We've had some very difficult times and we have a lot of communicating (with organized labor) to do, but that's precisely what I would like to do," he said.
Suave and well-versed in government — and particularly attuned to labor's concern with protection from foreign imports Brock represents a sharp departure from Donovan, a tough talking product of the world of the New Jersey construction industry.
AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland said the labor federation welcomes the nomination
We have worked with him in many areas over the years. Although we have not
See BROCK, p. 5, col. 2
Pat Duffer, 9, above, son of Bob and Kathy Duffer, 3306 Creekwood Drive, is closely followed by Andy Guth, 9, son of David and Kathy Guth, 1820 Indiana St., in an ambitious climb. The two yesterday took to the trees to enjoy some after-school fun in the mild weather.