Middle East Reagan meets with Shamir Inside, p. 2
The University Daily
KANSAN
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
COLD
High, 35. Low, 20.
Details on p. 2.
Vol. 94, No. 69 (USPS 650-640)
Tuesday morning, November 29, 1983
U.S. compound shelled; troops on alert in Beirut
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Five heavy artillery shells slammed into the U.S. Marine compound yesterday, inflicting the first casualty on fresh American troops in Syria and the Americans in their highest stage of alert.
The attack on the Marine position was the third in less than 24 hours.
The new shelling came as President Amin Gemayel held talks with Italian leaders and Pope John Paul in Rome in an effort to bring peace to the region. The Italianians have 2,000 ceasefire troops in Lebanon
A Marine spokesman said it was believed to have been the first time the unit, the 22nd Marine Amphibious Unit, had been shelled since March 1996; there had been exchanges of small arms fire.
MAL. DENNIS BROOKS said the shelling slightly off one Marine. He was expected to return to duty.
The Marines instantly went to Condition 1, the maximum security status that confines all of them.
The Marine spokesman said the latest bombardment by heavy artillery shells came in one salvo of two shells and a second of three. All were fired from the ground behind near mountains held by Druse Muslim forces.
The shelling followed a day of artillery fire. Two rounds slammed inside the Marine compound at dawn, and a barrage at noon along the Beirut coast east of the U.S. Embassy.
With the situation in his capital deteriorating, Gamayel and Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi had a two-hour working lunch and agreed on the need to reopen national reconciliation
talks held in Geneva during the first week or November, Italian officials said.
THE LEBANESE PRESIDENT, who stopped in Rome on his way to talks in Washington with President Reagan, spent 40 minutes in the pope's study. He would not comment on his audience.
Leaders of Lebanon's warring factions also converged on Rome for talks to solidify a cease-fire. Although Gemayel told reporters he did not know of any talks, his spokesman Rafik Shihla told government radio in Beirut a meeting with the government representatives, and possibly Gemayel.
In Rome for the discussions were representatives of the pro-government Christian Phalange Party and of the Druse and Muslim Shiite militias, who are demanding more say in the government. The stepped-up attacks on the Martines began Sunday night when a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at their heavily armed spokesman said. The Martines returned first.
AT DAWN YESTERDAY, two artillery shells of undetermined origin hit the runway area of Beirut airport, in the middle of the U.S. protected zone. There was no return fire.
About noon, shells fired from the mountains east of Beirut, held by both Drusue and Syrian forces, crashed along the capital's coast. Witnesses saw two shells splash into the Mediterranean a half mile from the U.S. Embassy.
Shelling was also reported on Lebanese army targets at Souk EI Gharb, on the first ridge inland from Berur. Berur radio said Christian and Drusse villages in the southern part of the mountains exchanged mortar fire. A ceasefire was supposed to have halted fighting there.
See MIDEAST, p. 5, col. 4.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The Space Shuttle Columbia blasted off yesterday with the $1 billion Spacelab-1 aboard. Columbia is carrying a record six astronauts and will be in space nine days.
KU scientists starting work with shuttle
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The space shuttle Columbia blazed into orbit yesterday, and the world's largest astronaut crew activated the European Spacecab to begin the most ambitious attempt yet to put space science to work.
By Staff and Wire Reports
IN A PLUME of dirty white smoke, the shuttle punched through the thin clouds overhanging the Cape and streaked along the Eastern Seaboard to an orbit that reaches farther north and south than any previous manned American space flight
In West Germany, three KU scientists began to prepare for a series of experiments with the help of radar equipment on the Spacecab. The lab is carrying 72 experiments from the United States, Canada, Japan and 11 European countries.
Columbia, outfitted with new and more powerful main engines since its last flight a year ago, thundered on the launch pad in a burst of yellow flame on time at 10 a.m. CST, just ahead of an approaching cold front that had given NASA forecasters some anxious moments.
Columbia's two booster rockets were jettisoned 32 miles north of Cape Canaval, but the shuttle's three main engines kept firing until N.J. and 71 miles above the Atlantic Ocean.
The smooth countdown and successful launch were especially gratifying to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and to the engineers who worked at Sensing Laboratory, because technical problems
See SHUTTLE, p. 5, col.
Regents OK fee increases for housing
Downtown redevelopment is still on ground floor
Staff Reporter
By BRUCE F. HONOMICHL Staff Reporter
The only schools that have lower costs than KU's for double rooms in residence halls are Fort Hays State University and Kansas State University, which no rate increase were recommended.
The Board of Regents approved increases last week of up to $105 next year for room and board at five of its seven universities. But, despite the increases, most KU students in University housing will still pay less for room than students at other Regents schools.
UNDER A PLAN approved by the Residential Programs Advisory Board in September and by the Regents last week, KU students will pay about $2,000 yearly for a room in a residence hall, and between $1,519 and $1,638 for space in most scholarship halls.
See INCREASE, p. 5, col. 1
Officials at two Regents schools said yesterday that part of the reason for higher costs at other schools was that K-State and U-M are better options than the other Regents schools.
By JOHN HOOGESTEGER Staff Reporter
The recent selection of a new downtown developer by the Lawrence City Commission is the third big change in five years in plans to add more retail shopping space to the city.
By selecting Town Center Venture Corp. earlier this month to be the new downtown developer, the City Commission made a decision that could result in anywhere from one to three lawsuits filed against the city for restraint of contract or illegal acquisition of land.
In the five years that the city has considered redevelopment, the story has become increased.
WHEN JACOBS VICSONI and Jacobs, a Cleveland developing firm, first proposed a suburban or "cornfield" mall, as it was quickly dubbed, most people in Lawrence didn't object, said Jack Arensberg, owner of Arensberg's Shoes. 819 Massachusetts St.
Jacobs Visconsi and Jacobs, known as VJJ, purchased an option on a 62-acre tract on the
But Arensberg did not consider a "corridifil mail" a benefit to the city and was on project basis. He declined to delegate responsibility to dole-
So Aronsberg and 13 other Lawrence residents banded together to form Action 80, a corporation charged with the crime.
"There was a real lack of knowledge," he said.
"People thought a suburban mail mall was OK."
THE GROUP DECIDED to negotiate with JV1 in private, a decision that Arensberg said was
natural because no public interest had been aroused at the time.
It turned out to be a fatal error for Action 80. After 10 months of private negotiations, JVJ presented the last of its several plans to the public, and the plan was met with horror.
The plan called for leaving four square blocks downtown between Sixth and Eighth streets and the intersection with Park Avenue.
"A number of people who thought they could make decisions for the city go together and become more efficient."
Commissioner Tom Gleason said recently in recalling public reaction to Action 80.
Dean Palos, city planner assigned to downtown redevelopment, described it as the "city's best."
"They were going to destroy downtown to save it," he said. "The KU Center for Public Affairs did a survey, and it showed that 72 percent of the people wanted a new department store, but 64 percent didn't want an enclosed mail. The real moral of the story was that the public didn't want a mail."
Downtown redevelopment timeline
*JANUARY 1979: Jacobs, Viscusi and Jacobs of Cleveland announces plans to build a suburban mall on 62 acres of land south of the city. The developer asks the town to annex the land.
*MARCH 1978: City approves land annexation for residential uses. City leaders express concern about the effect of a suburban mall on downtown Lawrence.
- MAY 1979: Community leaders form Action 80, a private corporation devoted to pursuing downtown redevelopment instead of suburban development. JVJ later agreed to prepare preliminary plans.
*SEPT. 20, 1978: JVJ presents the first of several downtown proposals. Action 80 enters into a 10-month series of private negotiations with JVJ.
- JULY 6, 1980: The city hires Robert B. Teska Associates of Evanston, Ill., to make recommendations about downtown.
- JULY 16, 1980: JVJ makes a public presentation of its final plan for downtown redevelopment in the Lawrence High School cafeteria. After public displeasure, JVJ withdrew the downtown proposal and re-
See TIMELINE, p. 7, col. 4
PUBLIC REACTION KILLED THE JV3下
town plan, and Action 80 as well. But Arisenberg
saw the opportunity to take a more
drive.
“There was quite a lot of resentment that negotiations took place behind closed doors, but we were Lawrence’s only line of defense,” he added. “Our greatest service was alerting the city.”
Following rejection of the downtown proposal, JVJ returned to its plans for a suburban mail, and after the city rejected its request to rezone the property, JVJ left Lawrence.
Former Mayor Marci Francisco said that some people thought JVJ never really intended to build downtown and always planned to return to the cornfield.
Following JVJ's departure, the city found itself in the position of promoting downtown redevelopment, and the City Commission undertook a developer search.
The city developed a prospectus for redevelopment, which it sent to 154 national developers.
DURING THIS PROCESS, Lawrence voters elected the second of three city commissions that were created to oversee the city's budget.
The commissioners — Gleason, Friscois, Barkley Clark, Nancy Shoott and Don Binns — soon became well known for disagreeing with one another.
Downtown redevelopment, according to Binns, was one of the few things they could agree on.
The Downstream Improvement Committee, which was created to review prospective development sites, met with the City Council.
See DOWNTOWN, p. 7, col. 1
Arrival of winter adds to break for some students
By the Kansan Staff
Interstate 70 was open Sunday morning when two KU students packed their bags and started back to Law-
rence. That morning, Thanksgiving break at home in Hays.
By the end of winter's debut early yesterday, as much as 19 inches of snow had been dumped on northwest Kansas, leaving holiday travelers stranded and college students homebound for one or two extra days of vacation.
170 was closed from Salina west to Denver, and abandoned cars lined the road. Joyce Halbur, Garden City junior, said that more than 200 cars had been abandoned outside the city limits of the south-central Kansas town.
Two ditches, four hours and 80 miles later, Sarah and John Larson pulled back into the driveway of their home to wait until Old Man winter had stopped flexing his muscles and the roads were cleared
Standing room-only crowds filled armories, hotel rooms and high school gymnasiums in the small Kansas towns that dot I-70. The Goodland Holiday Inn had a "full house" after Saturday night, and night auditor Charles Lyon
GARDEN CITY POLICE dispatcher Deb Miller said, "People are getting stranded everywhere. We have all the people working. We're rapping them ragged."
and there were only a few hotel rooms left in the town Sunday.
In Russell, families began taking in stranded motorists when all of the public accommodations had been filled and travelers kept coming.
"I'm ready to hit the road," she said. Greg Bell, Lawrence senior, said that although the vacation was nice, he was ready to return to Lawrence. Bell is bound in Laramie, Wyo., where more than 18 inches of snow fell this weekend.
Sarah Larson, Hays senior, said that in between "All My Children," "General Hospital," and a game or two of Monopoly, she occasionally glanced at the books that had been faithfully brought home.
KU students said they had mixed reactions about being snowbound and mucking around.
SOMEWHAT HESTANTLY, SHE said that the extra vacation days brought a needed reprieve from looming term papers and projects.
Cindy Cheadle, Denver junior, also said she was anxious to get back to Lawrence. More than 20 inches of snow fell in Denver, and Cheadle said she
But with finals scheduled to begin soon, she said she was concerned about the course.
"Two or three days of just standing around is really bothersome," he said.
See STRANDED, p. 5, col. 4.
HAYS — Stranded motorists find refuge at the Kansas National Guard Armory after a buzzard struck the northwest section of the state. Interstate 70 was closed from Salina west to Denver following the weekend's storm. Some KU students were unable to return to Lawrence until yesterday.
Jewish mystics say apocalyptic war will begin today
By United Press International
TEL AVIV, Israel — Jewish mystics believe the war of Gog and Magog — the Old Testament vision of an apocalypse of fire, brimstone and hail — will start today and are asking for intercession
Mystics began pilgrimages to the tomb of the Biblical patriarchs in Hebron last week to ask Abraham to see Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Post said yesterday.
Three ultra-Orthodox Jews told soldiers guarding the tomb last Wednesday they had come to pray because one of them had had a dream that doomsday would take place Nov. 29, the newspaper said.
Another 25 weeping and praying Jewish mystics visited the site Thursday.
The doomsday war of the nations of Gog and Magog against the Kingdom of God is mentioned in the vision of the prophet Jonah, who visited the Old Testament's book of Ezekiel.
"every man's sword shall be against his brother," the prophesy says. "With pestilence and with my blood I will enter into judgment with him and I will pour upon him, in his hordes and upon all the nations in his train, floods of rain accompanied by halites, fire and brimstone."