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Burned Out "Sun" Survives in Vegas
Whoever came up with that motto for the Las Vegas Sun in years gone by couldn't have realized how true it was, or how much work it would be to make the slogan come true.
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — (UPI) — There's an old saying down the street that no matter what happens,
"The Sun is going to come out every morning."
At 4:45 a.m. Nov. 20, an air conditioning unit above the newsroom exploded and a predawn fire swept through the building, destroying the plant of one of this city's two daily newspapers.
THE BLAZE had come just as the last copies of the final edition had been loaded aboard the circulation trucks.
Damage was set at $1.5 million and just about all that remained at 900 South Main Street were 200 employees wondering about how the Sun was going to come out the next morning.
Bryn Armstrong, executive editor,
still clad in his pajamas, Noel
Greenwood, menaging editor, and
Ruth Deskin, assistant to the publisher,
carted what was uncharred to
Mrs. Deskin's home where a temporary newsroom was set up in the garage.
A darkroom was established (and still remains) in the home of another staffer.
That night, the Sun rolled off the presses of the Las Vegas Review- Journal--24 pages, under the banner, "We Wuz Burned Out."
THE NEWSROOM stayed in the garage (with one telephone) for a few days until it was moved into a tin circulation building across the alley from the burned-out plant.
University Daily Kansan
Carpenters worked around the clock to insulate the walls and to build "mess hall" type tables for the newsside.
H. M. (Hank) Greenspun, Sun publisher, was in Geneva, Switzerland, when word of the fire came. He flew back and, after walking through the ruins, held a brief staff meeting.
"There's going to be a paper every day," he said. "And the Sun will be bigger and better than ever before."
THE PAPER rolled off the Review-Journal press for nearly a week. Then the press run was switched to the Indio, Calif., Daily News—almost 300 miles away—and the present "Airborne Edition" came to life.
MADISON SQUARE GARDEN lost almost $200,000 on the Tunney-Heeney heavyweight fight on June 6, 1928.
A chartered four-engine airplane flew to Indio from here every evening with news copy and page dummies, then flew back again with copies of the Sun for home delivery.
Job shops in Palm Springs, Indio, Banning and other California cities were pressed into service, as were those here in Las Vegas and in Phoenix, Ariz.
THEN, on Dec. 7, the Sun was printed in the Los Angeles suburb of Vernon at the Southwest Wave Publishing Co. plant.
The press was bigger and the Sun the following Sunday hit the street with 56 pages—a lot closer to the usual 106 pages than the first "after the fire" edition of 24.
For 10 days it went on, the paper slowly climbing back toward its prefire position. Fifty per cent of the complaints telephoned into the newsroom from subscribers decried the leek of a comte page.
"We're doing very well," says Armstrong, who came here earlier this year from the Reno Gazette. "The big thing right now is getting back to size as soon as possible.
"We're concentrating on getting back to local news and right now we're running about even and still climbing."
THE NEXT STEP will be a move from the tin circulation shed into a soon-to-be-completed building nearby which had been designed to expand the paper. Now it will house the entire operation except for a press room.
The "Airborne Edition" will continue, perhaps for a number of months, until a new press can be installed.
"The fire might slow us down for a couple of days," added Greenspun, "but we've survived greater onslaughts than fire and this won't stop us for long."
Armstrong, too, has survived greater problems.
As a matter of fact, the fire didn't stop them at all.
IN 1960 the Gazette press room flooded end, when the power failed, water began to rise at an alarming rate. Armstrong ordered a hasty retreat to a nearby job shop and ran off a four-page flier, complete with a story of the flood.
Since the fire, Armstrong has had time only to change from his pajamas into street clothes and to marvel at the performance of his staff.
Commented one public relations men: "This looks like a front line Stars and Stripes operation during the war." And so it does.
A lecture and discussion on "Biedermann and the Firebugs," a German play now running in KU Experimental Theater, will be at 4:30 a.m. tomorrow in the Forum Room of the Kansas Union.
'Biedermann' Director To Lecture On Play
"Biedermann and the Firebugs"
was presented Dec. 12-14 and will
run again Dec. 17-20.
Vincent Angotti, Lawrence graduate student and director of the play, will lead the discussion.
The discussion tomorrow is an SUA Drama Forum and is sponsored by SUA and National Collegiate Players.
Secret Service Queries Safety
WASHINGTON — (UPI)—Former U.S. Secret Service Chief U.E. Baughman said today that there were unanswered questions about President Kennedy's a-sassination that "should be resolved."
Monday, Dec. 16, 1963
Baughman, who guarded presidents as chief of the Secret Service for 13 years, said, "the plain fact is that you cannot protect the president from every danger. And the greatest danger is from a sniper hiding in a high building."
In a copyrighted interview with U.S. News and World Report, Baughman said he didn't know if the Secret Service did all it could to protect Kennedy because he wasn't in Dallas on the day of the assassination.
"BUT I CAN'T understand why Mrs Kennedy had to climb over the back of the car as she did to get help," Baughman said.
News photographs showed Mrs. Kennedy helping Secret Service agent Clint Hill into the presidential limousine after her husband was wounded.
Baughman said that one reason that agents weren't next to Kennedy on the running board of his car was that the White House wouldn't permit it.
"The White House has been trying to avoid making it conspicuous that you're guarding the president closely," he said.
ASKED IF THERE were any mistakes in the Dallas security preparations, Baughman said, "As an investigator, I can think of a lot of questions, but I wasn't there. The only thing I can say is that the Secret Service does not have enough men."
Baughman said Kennedy had visited New York City, Palm Beach, Tampa and Miami, Fla., before making his Texas trip. He said agents making security arrangements were strained to keep up with the President.
THE AUDIENCE consisted of the 15 society members and their visitors. Normally the debates are held in the school auditorium and draws crowds of 1,000 men. But officials felt it would be unsafe for Miss Milberg to cross the compound to the auditorium.
The debate question was the current college topic, that the federal government should guarantee all qualified high school graduates an opportunity to continue their education.
The visitors were ushered through the double locking doors into the halls of the administration building after signing in. It was only a short walk pass a mechanical Santa Claus in the lobby and the scattered guards to the conference room.
Inside the room, the debate society was awaiting its visitors. In one corner of the large room was a tape recorder manned by one of the inmates.
Special precautions were taken for Miss Milberg. Prior to her entry behind bars, guards cleared the hall for the short walk to the prison conference room.
Lauralee Milberg, Arlington, Va. senior, who formerly lived in Leavenworth, became the first woman debater to speak before the inmates. Her colleague, Fredrick J. Kauffeld, Minneapolis, Minn. senior, had debated against the inmates as a freshman.
KU was given the affirmative side of the question and Milberg lead off the debate after being introduced to the society members.
The atmosphere of the federal prison was forgotten as the debate began. The audience was seated at a long table taking notes and casually smoking. The room was furnished similar to any business conference room although perhaps a little less extravagant. Only the blue prison uniforms gave any reminder of the inmates' past.
THE KU TEAM handed the prison society its fifth defeat this year. The inmates have won one meet this year and has competed with several Big Eight teams.
By Don Black
KU Debate Members Defeat Prison Inmates
Two KU students went behind bars of the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth yesterday afternoon to debate against the prison's debate society.
THE MEMBERS of the prison team were Emerson Hackley and Mark Marymount. Marymount is the vice president of the society. Both men are in their middle ages and spoke strongly and distinctively.
Miss Milberg remarked after the debate that she was a little scared
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"The Leavenworth group has some fine debaters," Linkugel said. "They have plenty of time for research and no distractions."
THE
Following the debate, Dr. Wilmer Linkugel, KU's coach and professor of speech and drama, gave a critique of the afternoon's performance and concentrated on the negative side of the question.
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The prison society meets two hours each Sunday afternoon during the year. They have interclub debates and participated in six before meeting KU. Sponsor of the society is Anthony Santiago, the prison food administrator.
Prior to the prison debate, the KU team record was 15 wins, 5 losses compiled in three meets. The College team was challenged for another meet at the prison temporarily scheduled in the spring.
University
at first, but became relaxed as the speaking went on.
"I wished I'd had that guy for my lawyer," one of the inmates whispered during the rebuttal by Kauffeld. "Man he's good."
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ON THE HILL
AN INFORMAL DISCUSSION was held after the debate critique and refreshments were served. During the speaking, pictures were taken of the KU students and coach for the society's scrapbook.
The last time KU debated the team was in 1960. The team left behind a small gavel with the date and team names inscribed on a brass plate. Sponsor Santiago said it was one of the society's proudest possessions.
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