Grenada findings Delegation calls invasion justified Inside, p. 2
KANSAN
CHILLY
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
High 40, Low 20 Details on p. 2.
Wednesday morning, November 9, 1983
Vol. 94, No. 58 (USPS 650-640)
Commissioners select Town Center as developer
BY JOHN HOOGESTEGER Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
After three hours of debate, public comment and soul-searching, the Lawrence City Commission last night voted 3-1-1 to negotiate with Town Corp. as its official downtown developer.
More than 80 Lawrence residents packed the City Hall chambers to watch the commission as it debated between choosing Town Center, a building, and Sizer Realty Co. Inc. of Kenner La.
AFTER MIDNIGHT THE evening's debate reached a climax as Commissioner Ernest Angina made the motion to select Town Center. Commissioner Nancy Shontz was the sole candidate and Commissioner Mike Amay abstained from voting because of personal conflicts.
Immediately after the vote, Angino asked Shortz to make the vote unanimous and was met with a resentful face.
The selection of Town Center puts redevelopment in the 600 block downtown. The Town Center plan would close the 600 block of Massachusetts Street and place a mall between Vermont Street and the alley east of Massachusetts Street.
It also effectively kills any plans for development in the 700 and 800 blocks, east of Massachusetts, in keeping with the city's master plan, where the Sizer plan was placed.
Early in the commission meeting the mood was jovial, as Mayor David Longhurst jokingly suggested adding the selection of a developer to the consent agenda — which consists of non-controversial items voted on in one motion. As the night wore on the debate grew more serious.
Before the meeting ended, each of the
commissioners made statements about their feelings on selecting the developer.
Although Cooley assured Amyx that he could vote without violating the law, Amyx said he resented it.
AMYX DRILLED CITY attorney Gerry Cooley with questions about the legal status of the vote, expressing concern about a legal opinion issued last week by the state attorney general's office that indicated both he and Longhurst would violate the law if they voted on the Sizeler plan. Both Longhurst and Amyx have businesses downtown
"I find I have a conflict voting for one plan and not the other," Amyx said. "But there is something that goes a little bit farther — something that's inside yourself."
"Town Center is a fantastic plan. But, inside,
do I like it for all the wrong reasons? Is my vote
self-serving?"
After the meeting, Shontz said she was disturbed by the selection of Town Center.
She said that her negative vote would not affect public support for the plan.
"We were choosing a pretty picture," she said.
The whole thing was railroaded through. It was a
fairy tale, the kind of story you like.
ANGINO SAID THAT he could still see what happened to his body, but what was necessary to get off dead center.
"I was afraid of a 2-2 vote, and concerned that we would go back to square one." he said.
Longhurst, who voted despite being in the same ethical and legal bind as Amyx, said he was comfortable with the decision.
"I feel tired and drained. I'm glad it's behind us." he said.
Arafat and supporters retreat from their last Lebanese base
IMMEDIATELY BEFORE THE vote, Long-
hurst introduced an amendment to Angio-
n's bill.
See DOWNTOWN, p. 5, col. 1
By United Press International
BEIRET, Lebanon — Supporters of Yasser Arafat, pounded by tanks and artillery, retreated yesterday from their last Lebanese base and streamed into the port city of Tripoli for a final stand against Palestinian rebels. Unconfirmed reports said that Arafat fled Lebanon.
Lebanese police estimated that more than 100 people had been killed and at least 300 wounded in the six-day rebel assault that drove Arafat
See related stories p. 13
and most of his 5,000 fighters from two refugee camps north of Tripoli.
helicopter was French, but a naval spokesman in Paris said it was not. The Palestine News Agency in Cyprus denied the report that Arafat had fled.
"the rebels looked really wild, like savages"
said one person who allegedly saw rebels at a roadblock north of the city drag a man from a car, stab him then shoot him.
Elsewhere, Secretary-General Javier Perez
Cuellar will for an end to the bombing of
Terrorist Gunballs.
THE RIGHT-WING Voice of Lebanon radio said Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, fled Tripoli by helicopter to an unidentified ship offshore. Other reports said the
A U.N. spokesman said that Perez de Cuellar had been following the fighting in and around Tripoli with deep concern.
"FOR THE WELFARE of Lebanon, and for the lives of all those involved in the conflict, he appeals most urgently for a cease-fire in and to protect him. The U.N. spokesman said in a written statement.
Dozens of rebel shells slammed into the heart of the Tripoli, 45 miles north of Beirut, and triggered resistance at the nearby Beddawi refuge camp, Arafat's sole headquarters in Lebanon.
Prints on envelope at murder scene belonged to Bell, specialist testifies
Staff Reporter
By MICHAEL PAUL
Three fingerprints and a partial palmprint on an envelope that was found near the body of Frank Seurer Sr. belonged to Bryan Keith Bell, a fingerprint specialist yesterday in a District Court.
Bell is on trial for the second-degree murder of Seurer, whose body was found the morning of Aug. 2 on the kitchen floor of his restaurant, where he had been sleeping. Bell also is charged with appurved robbery.
HELEN TURNER, A fingerprint specialist for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, said Bell's prints were found on an envelope that had been mailed July 8 from the Topeka Public Library.
Testimony on Monday revealed that Bell wasn't working for Seurer in July. He had been fired in late June from his job at the restaurant.
Earlier yesterday, Carol Moddrell, deputy county coroner, testified that Seurer had been stabbed 23 times — 14 times in the back, six times in the chest and three times in the side. She said he died between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. after bleeding to death in about five minutes from the wounds.
The stab wounds were made by two different weapons. One was a knife-like weapon and the other was a different kind of instrument. A meat knife was the kind four of the wounds in Seurer's chest, she said.
Turner, the fingerprint analyst, said she did not find Bell's fingerprints on two meat forks that were found in the restaurant after the murder.
AS TESTIMONY ENDED yesterday in the second day of the trial, a fingerprint analyst from the Illinois State Crime Laboratory testified that he had found three fingerprints on a brown paper bag powered at the restaurant. He called yesterday to testify as to whose prints those were.
Other testimony yesterday afternoon established that Bell had received a check for $208.17 on July 8 from Pop's Bar-B-Q, that he owed $69.38 in cash and that he paid about $140 in cash for some car repairs.
Linda Wiseman, a bookkeeper at University State Bank, said that Bell cashed the check July 8. Bell received the check several days after he had been fired.
Turner testified that she did not find Bell's prints on any other items.
See TRIAL, p. 5, col. 3
FBI views videotapes to identify the suspect who bombed Capitol
By United Press International
WASHINGTON — The FBI reviewed videotape from a Capitol security camera yesterday seeking the identity of a bomber who planted an explosive charge near the Senate chamber that ripped a 13-foot-high gash in an interior wall.
The explosion late Monday night shredded painted paintings, damaged both the Republican and Democratic cloakrooms, and ripped a door off its hinges. It also triggered a rash of bomb threats, including one at the Pentagon, one in the House, another at the Capitol subway stop and a fourth that forced the evacuation of the Republican National Committee several blocks from the Capitol. No bombs were found in any of the incidents.
The Senate carried on business as usual, amid heightened security.
LOOKING FOR CLUES to the identity of the bomber, the FBI reviewed videotape from cameras trained on hallways leading to the alley where a bomb was slipped behind a window seat, about 30 feet from the Senate building. He would say little about the footage except that it showed a lot of smoke.
Senate Sergeant at Arms Larry Smith said the Capitol switchboard was warned of the bomb six minutes before the blast. An anonymous caller said the bombing was a reaction to American military action in Lebanon and Grenada.
No one was injured in the blast — thanks perhaps to lawmakers' ability to wrap up work on a military spending bill earlier than expected.
Senate Republican leader Howard Baker, sobered by a walk through the littered, valued corridor where the blast shattered windows and floor tiles, told reporters, "I expect there would have been extensive loss of life if the Senate had been in session."
But the Tennessee declared, "The Senate will not be deterred from its business. We'll do that in the rubble."
A GRANDFATHER CLOCK that has stood outside the chamber since 1859 was stopped by the blast, which occurred at 9:58 p.m. CST, not at midnight as reported in yesterday's Kansan. Nearby stood a marble bust
See CAPITOL, p. 5, col. 3
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Sen. Mack Mattingly, R-Ga., gazes at a 13-foot hole in an alcove of the Capitol.
Schoolchildren explore world of computers
Staff Reporter
By PETE WICKLUND
"Geoff
I Love You!!
You are the man of my dreams!!"
That message is from an intercepted note that was passed by Elschlager's sixth-grade teacher, "Writting" to Mr. White.
notebook paper and passed secretly under student desks. The note was composed on a micro-computer terminal, and a copy was taken from each of a few buttons on a computer keyboard
On the surface, the note is probably no different from what might be found in any other sixth-grade class in America — except maybe in the way it was circulated.
ins traditionally frowned-upon activity was encouraged, however, by Eltschinger as part of a program designed to acquaint elementary students with computers.
THE CENTENNIAL SIXTH-grade class is just one of the classes throughout Lawrence Unified School District 497 that has used computers to supplement traditional classroom learning.
It wasn't written on a sheet of tightly folded
playing video-games to gain familiarity with computers, of which some were developed by Jerry Chaffin, KU professor of special education.
Sandra Crowther, director of media literacy for the Lawrence school district, said that increased uses of computers in the district was not enough to bring computer technology into the classroom.
In other classrooms, some students are
SHE NOTED THAT since 1981, the number of micro-computers in the district had increased from 17 to more than 100. Crowther said that each of the district's 20 schools now had at least
See KIDS, p. 7, col.1
A horse stands facing the wind and drizzle off K-32 between Lawrence and Bonner Springs.
Gary Smith/KANSAN
Costa Rica needs U.S. economic aid to retain democracy, observers say
By ANA DEL CORRAL Staff Reporter
Costa Rica has sent out an S.O.S.
A severe economic crisis and revolutions in neighboring countries have planted seeds of doubt in the minds of citizens and observers about the future of Costa Rica's democracy.
The country is regarded by many as an island of democracy in an angry ocean of political and social unrest, military dictatorships and revolution. The island gives other Central American nations and the United States some hope that democracy can work in the region.
IN MAY 1982, Costa Rica's president, Luis Alberto Mongo, took office in a country that has the largest per-capita debt in the world. The country, with a population of 2.3 million, has a foreign debt that experts estimate reaches $4.6 billion.
However, in light of Costa Rica's economic woes, some KU faculty and students said recently that they thought U.S. economic aid was important to boost the country's economy and undeterred democracy.
Following his visit with Monge, Reagan asked the International Monetary Fund to be more lenient with Costa Rica and to relax its conditions for monetary aid.
"We ask for economic cooperation now so that, God willing, we never have to ask for military help." Monge told President Ronald Reagan last year during Reagan's tour of Central and South America.
Charles Stansifer, director of Latin American studies, said, "If there is anything clear about the American Congress it is that it's in the mood for helping Central America by way of helping Costa Rica. If they put money into Central America, they are going to put it into Costa Rica."
In 1982, Congress approved a $350 million package of aid for the region, bringing total U.S.
BUT THE ECONOMIC crisis in Costa Rica is, by most accounts, severe. In 1982, Costa Rica's economic activity shrank by 5.9 percent and its inflation rate climbed to 100 percent.
Robert Tomasek, professor of political science and a specialist in Latin American affairs, said, "The standard of living has gone down anywhere since the economic crisis that abashed the colony (Costa Rican currency) sixfold."
The enormity of the economic crisis cannot be exaggerated. It has been building up for years due to increasing imports over exports and a social welfare system and deficit state enterprises that became an impossible burden to bear."
Unemployment has reached 9 percent, he said, and underemployment has reached 26 percent.
John Augelli, chairman of the geography and meteorology department and a specialist in Latin American affairs, was in Costa Rica last year with participants in the University of Kansas Study Abroad program. He said that although Costa Rica was not in imminent
See COSTA RICA, p. 9, col. 2
.