The University Daily
University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
KANSAN
Tuesday, April 19, 1983 Vol. 93, No. 137 USPS 650-640
Bomb rips embassy; 29 dead,100 injured
By United Press International
BEIRUT, Lebanon (UP1) — A bomb tore apart the front of the U.S. Embassy yesterday, killing at least 29 people and wounding more than 100 in an avalanche of shattered glass and collapsing concrete. At least nine Americans were among those killed.
"The ones who did this, I hope they die a slow death," said an American woman from the embassy, her head bandaged and her white-print dress caked with blood.
A Moslem extremist group, the Islamic Struggle Organization, claimed responsibility for the bombing. The same group claimed a hand-grenade attack that injured five Marines in the multinational peace-keeping force last month.
OFFICIALS IN BEIRUT HAD no immediate explanation of what caused the blast, but the Lebanese Christian milira radio said a man on a suicide mission slammed a truck with more than 300 pounds of explosives into the front of the building.
"There was security for the embassy," said embassy foreign aid official Kurt Shafer, who escaped through a blown out window in the back of the building.
"But a madman can just pull up a car, push a button and you can do nothing about it."
least twice downstream.
Assistant secretary of State Lawrence Eagle-burger and two foreign service officers, two members of the office of military cooperation training the Lebanese army and two employees of the Agency for International Development were among those killed.
The American University Hospital said 29 bodies were recovered but only nine bodies had been identified. About half of the 105 injured suffered superficial wounds, about 28 others required surgery and at least 11 were severely burned by the blast or crushed by debris.
RESCUERS USED AED LIGHTS into the early hours today to search the rubble for more victims. "There are more bodies in there," an embassy official said.
The State Department said it could only confirm six American deaths, based on initial reports, but hospital spokesmen in Beirut later said that six American military personnel and at least three civilian employees were killed.
were among those killed.
He said it was "too early to say" whether Marine guards outside the embassy were killed because reports from Beirut were "fragmentary" and "we are not sure of the total number of injured or dead."
THE LUNCHTIME EXPLOSION BLEW the entire front off the building, destroyed the consular section and sent concrete floors
See EMBASSY page 5
Robert B. Green, 1031 Sunset Drive, works on the detail of a drawing of the front portion of Lippincott Hall. Green, a former KU art professor, said he must rush to finish his drawing before the trees blossom and block his view.
Local reaction differs on effect of Beirut bombing
By ANNE FITZGERALD Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
Local and national officials said yesterday's bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut was a senseless act of terrorism, but they disagreed about whether it would affect Middle East peace discussions.
"Lebanon is a very violent place," he said, "and people use explosives freely.
"This incident underlines something that we knew before — Lebanon is one of the most dangerous, confusing and violent places on Earth these days.
Avner Yaniv, a visiting professor of Middle Eastern affairs at Georgetown University who spoke in Lawrence last month, said that although the bombing was sad news, it was not surprising.
In these days,
*As crude as it may sound, I don't think it will
have any impact whatsoever on the peace process."
IF ANYTHING, THE INCIDENT will speed up the process, said Yaniv, a former director of the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies in Israel.
"The United States wanted peace badly in the past," he said, "and it wants it just as badly now. I know that isn't any consolation at all to the families of those killed."
families to those killed.
After the bombing, President Reagan said,
"This criminal attack on a diplomatic establishment will not deter us from our goals of peace in the region. We will do what we know to be right."
be Olgen.
Iron ripped apart the front of the embassy, killing at least 29 people and wounding more than 100 as concrete floors and shattered glass fell upon them. Six U.S. Marine guards died in the blast, according to reports from the American University Hospital in Beirut.
A MOSLEM EXTREMIST GROUP, the Islamic Struggle Organization, claimed responsibility for the bombing. The same group claimed a hand-grenade attack that injured five Marines in the multinational peace-keeping force last month.
force last month.
Others have blamed the Lebanese Moslem Amal group, the militia of the Lebanese Shiite Moslems, the dominant Islamic sect in the southern part of the country, which is thought to strongly favor Iran.
sided with U.S. Marine commander Col. James Mead said the group wanted "everybody out of Lebanon — all foreigners — so it would be a most likely candidate."
BUT HE SAID THE BOMBING only showed how unstable the region was and how important it was for American forces to stay there for now.
Eddy Goldberg, Prairie Village junior and KU representative of the AmericanIsrael Public Affairs Committee, said the main point of the bombing was probably to force U.S. Marines out of the region.
Zeev Livne, a colonel in the Israeli army who is studying at Ft. Leavenworth, said the bombing might speed up the peace process.
"It's possible that it's going to force the United States out of the region," he said, "but there isn't any evidence to indicate that it was just an attack on the United States."
"I think it proves that we need a very fast agreement in Lebanon because the situation is that we have no solution — it affects everyone in the region," said Livne, who was in Lebanon when Israel first invaded the country.
when Israel first invaded the RONALD FRANCIOSCO, ASSOCIATE professor of political science, said the bombing should be viewed simply as a terrorist act, and he would not speculate on how it would affect the peace negotiations.
attack on the United States. If the Shifte Moslem group did plant the bomb, however, it indicated a general anti-American attitude in the region, Francisco said.
Information for this story was also supplied by United Press International.
Weather
PLEASANT
Today will be partly cloudy and windy with south to southeast winds 15 to 25 mph, according to the National Weather Service in Topeka. There will be a 20 percent chance for showers and the high will be in the mid-50s.
Tonight will be mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance for showers and the low will be in the mid- to upper 30s.
Professors start KU chapter of NEA
Tomorrow will be mostly sunny and warmer with a high in the mid-nin
Bv JOEL THORNTON
Staff Reporter
A desire for higher faculty salaries and a stronger University has prompted a group of KU professors to start a chapter of a national teachers union.
And if enough faculty are interested, the professors said, the group could eventually become the bargaining agent for most University professors.
EDUCATION GRIFFIN SAID THAT FOR K-NEA to become the faculty's bargaining agent, 30 percent of the faculty would have to sign a petition for an election. Then, a majority of the faculty would have to approve it.
Clifford Griffin, professor of history, and Art Skidmore, associate professor of philosophy, said that wanted to give professors the opportunity to become members of a local chapter of the Kansas branch of the National Education Association.
An organizational meeting is planned for April 27 at 7:30 p.m. in the Walnut Room of the Kansas Union.
The new chapter would not necessarily become a union, or a bargaining agent for University faculty, Skidmore said, unless enough professors were interested.
enough processors.
"My guess is that if there were to be a faculty union at KU, it would take two to three years." he said. "Indeed, there no pressure being imposed on us to be a union. That's completely a matter of local organization to be decided."
GRIFFIN AND SKIDMORE ARE two of a group of 12 professors who have met with K-NEA officials several times since last November, laying the groundwork for establishing a KU K-NEA chapter.
Griffin said the group attending the April 27 meeting would decide what action to take on issues such as supporting legislative lobbying or becoming bargaining agents for the KU faculty.
husing a KU VT computer
Griffin said most of the professors involved in
the planning stage of the chapter wanted to improve the overall condition of the University.
improve the overall quality.
"I don't think that the people involved are involved because they have a personal argument against the University but that they have a general concern based on care and concern of the University," he said.
faculty and university. "The genuine and real effect of University governance has become largely an illusion," he said. "It's not trying to find something to take the place of faculty government but to strengthen and enhance those groups."
Skidmore said that part of the reason he wanted to start a K-NEA chapter was that he was dissatisfied with the achievements of faculty and University government.
K-NEA IS THE STATE CHAPTER of a national teachers union composed mostly of elementary and secondary school teachers, he said. About 80 percent of elementary and secondary teachers in the state are members of K-NEA.
See UNION page 5
Hayden, Doyen want year delay in salary raises
By JEFF TAYLOR
Staff Reporter
TOPEKA — Decisions on 1983-84 salary increases for KU employees are likely to be delayed from six months to one year if the Legislature does not pass additional tax measures this week, lawmakers said yesterday.
house Speaker Mike Hayden said yesterday that he and Senate President Ross Doyne would lawpawners to wait one year before giving Board of Regents employees employment. John Carlin has asked the Legislature to delay increasing salaries for fiscal year 1984 for six months.
months.
CARLIN HAS SAID HE STRONGLY opposed withholding salary increases for a year and called the plan a pay freeze, rather than a delay. Hayden said the year-long wait would save the state nearly $20 million.
Carlin recommended last January a 4 percent pay raise for faculty members, students and classified employees.
State Rep. Bill Bunten, R-Topeka, said his Ways and Means Committee had planned to negotiate salary increases later this week and introduce the compromise raises in a 'pay' bill.
But he said the committee might have to withhold a decision on pay raises until the next session in January, if the Legislature did not pass tax bills in the next few days that could raise more money for the state's general fund.
raise more money for me."
"I'd like to give them a great big raise right now." Bunten said. "But we can only give them what we can afford."
STATEHOUSE ANALYSTS ANNOUNCED yesterday that the state general fund's ending balance in fiscal 1984 would be about $17.2 million. That estimate is based on anticipated revenues from taxes the state already assesses and on expected revenues from taxes the Legislature passed this session.
"We are in pretty bad financial shape," Bunten told the committee during a meeting.
money for state employees and Regents
SEAY MANY page 5
Despite efforts, floods haunt Stranger Creek farmers
By MICHAEL BECK
Staff Reporter
TONGANOXIE — Three times a year the banks of Stranger Creek disappear, the roads become useless dams and fences lie half-buried in muddy water.
But the water is now receding into its destined path. And if the weather holds, many farmers along the creek, which winds its way through Atchison and Leavenworth counties, may be able to get their crops planted in another couple of weeks.
of weeks
But the delay in planting caused by the failure is costly. Some farmers are forced to take losses year after year because their crops do not have time to mature.
have different farmers EXPERIMENT with fast growing crops, such as sunflowers, but the sunflower market bottomed out last year and has not recovered.
has not recovered.
For decades, farmers at the lower end of the creek have felt the effects of the flooding, and they see little hope for relief in the future.
we are little hope for farmers. But at one time, farmers had reason for optimism. Twenty-five years ago, the state and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed the first feasible plan, but it involved a trade-off. The flooding for farmers in the southern end of the
creek would be controlled, but at the expense of the livelihoods of some farmers in the north.
Al Doege, a farmer on the south end of the creek, said, "There are men who to this day won't talk to each other because of this thing. A lot of people got hurt."
But the plan was not the first of its kind. In the 1920s, a Kansas City, Mo., man proposed a plan to straighten the winding creek and allow it to drain directly into the Kansas River.
Then in 1956, Congress passed public law 566, which allowed communities to borrow money to establish watershed districts and an extensive system of dams to control the water.
BUT IT, AND ANOTHER PLAN proposed in the 1930s, gained support from neither the farmers nor the government.
"This was the first real attempt at controlling the flooding that had been going on since anyone could remember," he said. "And the solution was watershed district number 11."
A watershed is a dividing line where water flows to one side or the other of a range of hills. The Stranger Creek watershed plan would have created 99 small lakes, mainly in the northern part of the district, to catch water and sediment.
A report by the Soil Conservation Service and the Corps of Engineers said the watershed would take about eight years to build. And by 1958 prices, the project would have cost the federal government nearly $9 million to construct and
the watershed district about $34,000 a year to maintain.
Both state and federal governments approved the plans, though approval took more than four years because the law had to be changed to accommodate the 275,000-acre Stranger Creek watershed district.
THE REPORT SAID THE PROJECT would make 62,000 more acres available for cultivation and benefit farmers in the district about $763,000 annually.
watershed district
Voters in Atchison and Leavenworth counties
had approved the plan, Doege said, and 90 farmers had agreed to have their land used for the lakes.
the lines
farmers disagree with Doege about the number of farmers who agreed to use their land for the watershed. No records are available to verify how many actually agreed.
The last step in the process to approve the watershed project was the approval by the watershed district's board of directors.
A field three miles north of Tonganoxie is covered by the flood waters of Stranger Creek.
"We had worked a long time." Doege said,
"and a lot of people had sunk a lot of time and
money into this, but we didn't get it."
HE SAID HENRY LANGE, AN Atchison farmer, was instrumental in raising enough support from the farmers in his area to kill the project and dash any further hopes of such a project.
project.
The Lange said that Lange did not want the watershed because the government would be involved and that Lange organized farmers on the north end of the creek against it.
Ed Thiel, whose lands are flooded regularly, said, "After a while the opposition kept getting stronger and they started saying how it would raise taxes, and the whole thing started to fall apart."
The meetings of the watershed board of directors began to get so chaotic that soon, two
See FLOOD page 5