CAMPUS AND AREA
University Daily Kansan, March 29, 1984
Page
Slander defendant clarifies early charge
By JILL CASEY Staff Reporter
A former research assistant being sued for slander and defamation by a KU professor testified yesterday that a letter she wrote containing criticism of the professor for not publishing enough articles was "not entirely true."
Nancy Sempolski, the research assistant, said in her letter that Michael Crawford, professor of anthropology, wrote an article a year in a scholarly journal."
During the third day of testimony yesterday in Douglas County District Court, Crawford's attorney disputed Sempolski's letter and said that various sources documented Crawford's published articles.
SEMPOLSKI HAD sent the letter to the Federal General Accounting Office, which distributes research grants, and the University of Kansas, which funds from the University of Kansas.
Crawford filed a $1.5 million suit in 1980. The suit stems from complaints filed in 1977 and 1978 by Sempoliisk and Liz Murray, both former research assistants, that accused the professor of misusing grant money.
In their complaints, filed with KU and with several other groups, Sempolski and Murray also accused Crawford of misconduct while compiling research in 1978 in the Central American country of Belize.
The suit also names Henry Lundsgaarde, another KU anthropology professor. Neither Murray nor Lundsgaarde have testified.
Besides the complaints filed by Murray and Sempolski, Crawford is basing his charges on letters written by Sempolski and on statements attributed to both Sempolski and Murray in newspaper articles.
Dale Niklas, Crawford's lawyer,
presented a copy of his client's resume
that listed all of the articles he had
published, including several for the
THE LETTER ALSO stated that several of Crawford's graduate students had complained that they weren't being taught proper nouns they had helped Crawford write.
years Sempolski had indirectly referred to in her letter.
Crawford's resume had also listed graduate students' names on the articles they had helped write, Niklas said.
In her letter to the General Accounting Office, Sempolski also said that Crawford had misused grant money for a project not for the department of anthropology.
Niklas contended that Crawford never used the grant money to buy a coffee pot, though Sempolski had overheard a conservation in which Crawford had discussed using that money to pay for it.
During her testimony, Sempolski defended her letter by saying that the General Accounting Office had requested that she disclose anything she
had heard about Crawford's misconduct and misuse of funds.
AN OFFICIAL WITH the federal office said he would be responsible for proving or disproving her allegations. *Umpoliak's testimony will continue today.*
A former Kansan reporter and a former reporter with the Lawrence Daily Journal-World reporter, who had quoted Sempolski and Murray in newspaper articles, also testified yesterday.
The deposition of a former Kansas City Times reporter who wrote an article about the initial complaint Sempolski and Murray filed with the University was also disclosed during the proceedings.
The deposition of Tom Ramstack, the former Times reporter, stated that he had called Sempolis, Murray and Crawford the day his article appeared in the Times to inquire about the story's accuracy.
KU student charged with forgery
By the Kansan Staff
A KU student suspected by police of manufacturing and selling fraudulent bus pass stickers was charged with embezzlement in Douglas County District Court.
KU police arrested Shannon Brooks, 1515 Engl Road, Friday night. He was later released from prison after being charged at $4,000 personal signature bond.
A preliminary hearing is sched uled for April 13.
Since the beginning of this month, KU bus drivers have confiscated 24 fraudulent bus passes. Brooks is not one of them and were confiscated, KU police said.
Middletown mayor remembers TMI
Bus drivers first reported noticing the forged passes in early February. Several weeks later, the Student Senate Transportation Board authorized the drivers to confiscate suspicious passes.
KU police have been investigating the forgery incidents since March 9. Today the Transportation Board wired the officers to charge against the 24 students caught with the fake passes, said Mark Rossi, chairman of the Board.
By PAUL CARTER Special to the Kansan
Mayor Robert G. Reid remembers the mood in Middletown, Pa., that spring day in 1979 when the unthinkable almost happened.
"There was no panic, but there was a lot of concern," Reid recalled recent "things were happening that the people knew nothing about.
"I teach school at Middletown High School, and I told the kids they were in the safest possible place, the corridors of the school."
Midtown High School is about three miles from the nuclear power plant on Three Mile Island, where the events began to unfold five years ago today describing the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history.
"The kids told me that they would rather be outside playing hooky and catching fallout," Reid said during a telephone interview.
The next day, March 30 1979, the gang began to strike the people of Middletown.
"That Friday 33 to 35 percent of our population of 10,000 left the city." Reid
Reid's family left town so he could sort through the chaos of the crisis without worrying about them.
Although the crisis is over, he said, it remains in still the center of attention in Middle East.
"There are mixed feelings about the future of the plant," Reid said.
"Some people think the plant should never operate again. Other people think reactor one should go on line if reactor two is cleaned up.
"A third faction wants to put reactor on line to make enough money to clean it."
"But reactor two will never operate again," Reid said.
Reid's personal opinion of nuclear power and the Nuclear Regulatory
"I don't think we should go ahead with nuclear power until we know how to get rid of the waste and operate the plant so there is no chance of an accident like the one that happened here.
"I couldn't tell you how close we were to meltdown. I don't think anyone knows."
"But I don't think we are getting the when plant officials say there was poisoning."
"The NRC says that only about as much radiation as in an X-ray was released," he said. "I don't think they know where the radiation is. I missed it. I don't believe anything they say."
Reid watched the developments at the plant, and the details of the accident
On the night of March 28, 1979, the filters in the main cooling pumps in reactor two became clogged. The filters were removed around the stainless steel rods containing uranium at the top of the reactor.
When the pellets dropped into the coolant, they produced a highly explosive radioactive hydrogen gas, which formed into a giant bubble at the top of the reactor. The gas bubble was preventing coolant from reaching the stainless steel rods which were at a temperature of over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
Furthermore, pressure from the hydrogen bubble threatened to crack the top of the reactor and release the radioactive hydrogen gas.
In order to relieve the pressure, the government is invited into the Pennsylvania countryside.
Also, the plant did not have enough space in its holding tanks for all the coolant it was using. As a result, the plant was discharged into the Susquehana river nearby.
By March 31, the NRC warned Congress about the possibility of a meltdown, the melting of uranium pellets through the floor of the reactor.
Plans to evacuate the 150,000 people in the four surrounding counties were discussed. Thousands of school children were sent to Hershey about ten miles away.
Group keeps fighting Wolf Creek licensing
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By LORI DODGE Staff Reporter
In response to a rejection from the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, the director of the Lawrence-based Nuclear Awareness Network said yesterday that the group would follow other routes in its attempt to intervene in the licensing case of the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant.
Stevi Stephens, the director, said that the license board this week had denied the group permission to present evidence about alleged safety and quality control problems in a nuclear power plant near Burilton is scheduled to go on line in February.
"It it did not surprise me for a second," Stephens said of the action by the board, which is part of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "I hurry, a member of the Nuclear Awareness Network, agreed.
The NRC is kind of like the fox guarding the chicken coop." he said.
Stephens declined to say what other procedures the group would follow in trying to stop Wolf Creek ranching. He talked with the group's attorney.
The licensing board denied the group's petition because it was filed too late. The board said that re-opening bearings, which ended last month, on Kansas Gas And Electric Co.'s application to operate the plant would unnecessarily delay the licensing process.
KG&E, based in Wichita, along with Kansas City Power and Light Co., of Kansas City, Mo., are the principal owners of the plant. Each utility owns 47 percent, and the remaining 6 percent is owned by Kansas Electrical Power Cooperatives Inc.
Stephens said the group's intervention request was based on allegations by six former construction workers of the plant who had been charged with safety and quality control practices of the Daniels Construction Co.
KU faculty elects 14 members to executive council of Senate
By the Kansan Staff
KU faculty members yesterday elected by mail ballot 14 new members to the University Council, the executive council of the University Senate.
The Council comprises 39 faculty and 13 students members. The University Senate includes 1,224 administration, faculty and Student Senate members.
James Carothers, associate professor of English and chairman of the University Senate Executive Committee, said that voter response was high this year, with 518 faculty members casting ballots.
The high voter response indicated that faculty had realized the importance of the program.
Ordinarily 13 faculty members are elected, he said, but this year two people tied for the last position, increasing the number to 14.
The new members will serve three-year terms, but one of the two faculty members who tied will serve a two-year term, he said.
The new Council members are:
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Norman R. Yetman, Jr., professor of American studies and sociology, 187 votes; N. Ray Hiner, professor of history, 156 votes; Elizabeth Banks, associate professor of classics, 150 votes; Beatrice Wright, professor of psychology, 146 votes; Tom Mulinaz, associate professor of civil engineering, 143 votes; Dan Bays, associate professor of history, 142 votes; Jacob Gordon, associate professor of African studies, 139 votes; Clifford Griffin, professor of history, 134 votes; Robert Stump, professor of physics and astronomy, 129 votes; Diane McDermott, associate professor of counseling, 127 votes; and William Tuttle, professor of history, 127 votes.
- * * * * * Do Yourself A Flavor!* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
MEN'S SPRING FORMAL RUSH
Three faculty members were elected as special representatives of their schools because rules require that every KU school be represented on the Council. They are: Tom Dean, professor and urban dean, 02 votes; Breck Marion, associate professor of curriculum and instruction, 75 votes; and Erica Stern, associate professor of occupational therapy, 74 votes.
HOW TO REGISTER: Return the form below either by mail or in person to the Interfraternity Council office (120 B Kansas Union)
WHEN: April 6, 7, and 8
A $10 registration fee must accompany your registration form. Registration forms will also be available in the IFC office.
LAST DAY TO REGISTER: Thursday,
Interfraternity Council Spring Formal Rush — 1983 Registration Form
THE CASTLE
TEA ROOM
1307 Mass. phone: 843-1151
Name:
Address:
April 5
Please mail or deliver this registration form, with the $10.00 registration fee, to The Office of the Interfraternity Council, 120B Kansas Union, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, 66045.
Spring Formal Rush, 1983 will begin on Friday, April 8, 1983 at 5:00 p.m. in Strong Hall, Room 300. For additional information please contact the Interfraternity Council, 120B Kansas Union, 913/864-3559.
Phone:
NOTICE: There will be an informal, informational meeting on Tuesday, April 3, at 7 p.m. in the Pine Room in the Kansas Union. It is not mandatory to attend this meeting to go through rush, but it will answer any questions that you may have about Formal Rush. Also, you may register at this meeting.
- Sponsored by the Interfraternity Council and its member fraternities.
Apply Now For The National Blank Book/K.U. Bookstores' Financial Aid Award
Some Qualifications for the Award are:
- K.U. Undergraduate
- Cumulative G.P.A. of 2.0 or better
- Self supporting for most of college expenses
- Must be seeking degree
- Full or part-time student
Married or single parents are encouraged to apply.
Application Deadline: April 13, 1984
Applications are available at the K.U. Bookstore Administration Office, Level 2, Kansas Union