VOL. 100, NO.53 (USPS 650-640)
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OR THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
WEDNESDAY NOV.8,1989
ADVERTISING:864-4358
NEWS:864-4810
Braniff leaves fliers up in air
By Kate Lee Kansan staff writer
**Braniff Airlines'** announcement Monday that all passenger service would end many people grounded in the US after travel plans that had to be changed.
Brandy Laurance, Pacific Pallades freshman, said she had purchased tickets on Branniff to fly home. Laurence and she attended Sept. 28 bankruptcy announcement.
"I called then, and they said they were still going to run my flight," she called this morning, and they said they were not going to run any flights."
Laurance's ticket had been issued entirely on Brannif stock, so she was not able to use it on another airline. She sent her ticket to the airlines' ticket for her trip home on USAir.
Laurance said she was not worried in September about losing her money or the company stopping service because she missed her ticket using a credit card.
"If I had paid in cash, it probably would be lost," she said. "Because I had paid with a credit card, I can get my money back."
A severe cash shortage short-circuited the company's reorganization plan and forced it to halt all passenger service, chairman William G. McGee said after an emergency meeting of the board of directors.
Braniff, which sought protection from creditors Sept. 28. while it developed a reorganization plan under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code, the company remained 1,800 employees yesterday, sookesman Sandy Smith said.
Ruth Hughes, owner and manager of Holiday Travel Inc., 2112 W. 25th St., said people who purchased tickets with a credit card would be able to get a refund because the credit card is not valid. The companies would then file one claim against the company in order to receive payment for the tickets.
People who purchased tickets by check would have to wait until the bankruptcy court makes a decision regarding the company to find out if they will receive a refund, Hughes said.
"There was a decision about Eastern nearly a year ago, and some people have it that to get money back from them it must be done by one to three years to do so."
Hughes said her office had been busy all day trying to help clients holding Braniff tickets find alternate ways to travel.
Financial troubles at Brauliff
Braniff Airlines suspended its passenger service yesterday, the latest event in a troubled financial flight through the 1980s.
1978: Airline Deregulation Act
May 13, 1982: Braniff International Corp. filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the federal Bankruptcy Act. It is the first major airline to fail after deregulation.
- March 1984: Braniff resumes flights after a 22-month furlough. Hyatt Corp. owns 80% of company; former creditors and stockholders own 20%.
"It's difficult, to say the least," she
June 1988: BIA Acquisitions, an investor group formed by Paine Webber, Inc., buys Braniff.
Sept. 28, 1989: Braniff files under Chapter 11 for the second time.
Nov. 7, 1989: Braniff suspends all flights.
SOURCE: Facts on file. AP Knight-Ridder Tribune News
said. "People put their trust in the company once again and lost again."
September, her agency had been careful to advise their clients about
See BRANIFF, p. 6
Hughes said that since Braniff announced a reduction in flights in
Virginia elects first Black U.S.governor
Dinkins wins New York race for mayor
Democrat L. Douglas Wilder, leading by a whisker against Republican J. Marshall Coleman in the Virginia gubernatorial race, declared victory last night in his bid to become the nation's first elected Black governor. Fellow Democrat David Dinkins became New York City's first Black mayor in off-year elections enlivened by the combustible mix of race and abortion.
The Associated Press
With all 1,967 precincts reporting in, Wilder had 889,869 votes, or 50 percent, to Coleman's 882,137 votes, also 50 percent. The results were not official.
Dinkins won election as the first Black mayor of the nation's most populous city, propelled by a multiractional campaign to his message of social conciliation
Dinkins, the Manhattan borough president, defeated Republican Rudolph W. Giuliani with the support of Black, Hispanic and liberal white voters who had enabled him to retire three-term incumbent Mayor
Edward I. Koch in the Sept. 12 Democrat primary.
Led by Dinkins, Black Democrats extended their hold on the nation's large city halls yesterday with first-ever victories in New York, New Jersey and Florida, but land, it was only a question of which Black candidate would prevail.
On the West Coast, a Black candidate will break the race for Sen. Seal
Rep. Bill Gray, D-Pa., the House majority whip and the nation's highest Black elected figure, praised Dinkins' election and said New York voters "have rejected the politics of fear." Dinkins withstood late campaign attacks on his character and integrity.
Official certification of the vote was not scheduled until Nov. 27. A second canvass of the unofficial total in the state's 186 counties in the state's 186 counties and cities.
Wilder said the margin of victory was unimportant.
Dance couple graces KU and makes campus home
See RACE, p. 6
By Melanie Matthes Kansan staff writer
A petite, dark-haired man rushes through the door of the enormous studio to a piano in the corner. He is smiling as he looks to his class with his evehrows raised.
"OK, let's start," he says, standing with his heels together and his knees turned out. "First position."
The nine student dancers assume first position, and advanced ballet class begins.
Midway through the class a woman enters the dance studio and the teacher's attention is drawn from his students.
For 17 years the couple has traveled throughout the United States performing and choreographing for various dance companies. Until they came to the University of Oklahoma, they attended this semester, they had never thought of settling down.
The teacher, Patrick Suzeau, and his wife, Muriel Cohan, stand close together and speak softly to one another. They look at each other for a moment, nod in agreement and Suzeau touches her shoulder as she turns to leave.
"There is a lot to like here," Cohan says, smiling and turning toward her husband, who is seated Indian style at a large table in their office at Robinson Center.
Suzaue seems to know intuitively what his wife is thinking and he completes her thought.
"It has the advantage because it's a university town and it has everything. There are concerts going on, more concerts than we can go to. So that's like being in a big city . . ."
Suzule speaks in a soft French accent. He pauses for a moment and his wife continues where he left off.
"And we have the strong feeling that the arts are very important to this University." Cahan says quietly, her head nodding emphatically. "And we want to be where the arts are very important."
Suzauk looks at his wife, nods his head and again finishes the thoughts that seem to be on the tip of her tonzue.
"... and in addition to all that, it's a small town. It's like being in the country so it's like having the best of both worlds. You have the cultural activity of the big city and yet you're in a small town. If you want to be in a big town, well there's one right next door. It's really ideal."
Cohan and Suzeau have had their share of big-city life. They both worked for the Mary Anthony Dance Theatre in New York City before they branched off in 1973 and now own company called the Cohan/Suzuai Dust Company.
While their home base remained in New York City, Cohan and Suzeau's company traveled to almost every corner of the United States and to Mexico City.
Two years ago, the couple traveled to KU and performed as guest artists with the University Dance Company. The couple was so intrigued by the KU atmosphere that they applied for teaching positions and were hired by Janet Hamburg, director of the dance division, as permanent faculty.
"I thought they would be wonderful as teachers and performers," Hamburg said. "They students love them,
She said she thought that the couple's prestigious reputation would strengthen the image of KU's dance division.
See DANCE, p. 6
East German council resigns amid unrest
The Associated Press
BERLIN — East Germany's government resigned yesterday in the wake growing nationwide unrest, a continuing exodus of thousands of its people and pleas from within the Communist Party for a sweeping top-level shakeup.
The 44-member Council of Ministers resigned jointly, government spokesman Wolfgang Meyer said. The cabinet, led by 75-year-old Premier Will Stoph, has little power and is controlled by the Communist Party's ruling Politburo. Stoph and several other ministers also are Poliburo members.
Muriel Cohan and Patrick Suzeau practice together in Robinson Gymnasium's dance studio.
Also yesterday, one day after the government introduced a proposed law promising 30 days of travel to the West, a parliamentary committee rejected the measure and urged a new law allowing unrestricted stays abroad.
Since early Saturday, more than 28,000 East Germans have fled to the West through neighboring Czechoslovakia. They arrived in West Germany yesterday at the rate of 120 an hour.
The government will remain in office until a new Council of Minsts.
"We appeal to the citizens who intend to leave our republic to reconsider their step once more. Our socialist fatherland needs everyone," said a statement issued by the outgoing cabinet.
ters is elected, Meyer said. He did not say when such an election would occur. The party's Central Committee was to meet last Wednesday to consider further changes.
New party leader Egon Krenz has said five elderly Politburo members closely associated with former leader Erich Honeck will be replaced by the end of the week. Two other Politburo members lost their jobs Oct. 18 when Krenz became the new leader.
Several Communist officials and three small parties allied with the Communists have urged the Politburo itself to resign.
The new escape route created the first free passage to the West since the Berlin Wall went up in 1961. Authorities have said that route will remain open until a new travel law takes effect, possibly before Christmas.
The latest surge of refugees began Saturday when east Germany allowed it through Czechoslovakia, the only country with East Germans can travel freely.
The Politburo also discussed an "action program" that Krenz has said would contain sweeping political and economic reforms.
So far this year, more than 175,000 East Germans have moved to West Germany by emigrating legally, escaping or failing to return from approved trips abroad.
Note: Map is not drawn to scale
Kevin MastenlKANBAN
U.S. group visits West Bank
Members say searches and seizures are everyday occurrences
A group of U.S. citizens brought a brief breath of hope to a small Israeli-occupied town where fear and uncertainty are everyday realities.
By Paula Parrish Kansan staff writer
"As the delegation began to walk, people from Belt Sahur began joining them," said Deborah Gerner, assistant professor of political science. "The group began to get larger and larger; and then people that were standing \on the balconies began applauding, and it just kept getting louder and louder."
The town, on the occupied West Bank about a mile southeast of Bethlehem, has been under Israeli military curfew off and on for the last two months. The people demonstrated to protest the curfew and taxation policies of the Israeli government.
Gerner traveled last week to the Middle East, particularly the West Bank, to observe a political protest staged by the people of Beit Sahur.
Gerner entered Belt Sahur on Sunday with 120 representatives of American Friends of Belt Sahur, which included Arab-Americans.
"Anyone who identified themselves
The U.S. contingent walked to four different churches in the town, while an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 people had joined the procession by the time it stopped to worship at the last church. Belt Sahur has a population of about 12,000.
as a journalist or other observer was forbidden to go in, and when I found that out, I went in with this group of Americans who were there in support of Beit Sahur," said Gerner, who is working on a textbook about the Arab-Iraeli-Palestinian conflict for Westview Press.
Texas increases likelihood of Grissom's return
State discontinues court-appointed lawyer's payments for appeal
See GAZA, p. 8
DALLAS — Texas has stopped paying for Richard Grissom Jr.'s attorney, which increases the possibility that the man accused of killing three Kansas women will be returned to Kansas this week.
The Associated Press
Grissom has until this afternoon to carry his extradition fight to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in the last step in the appeals process.
Paul Shunatona, a Dallas lawyer appointed in July to represent Grissom, said Monday that the court
"C
system stopped paying him after his most recent appeal failed Oct. 24 in a lower appellate court.
Grissom, 28, is charged in Johnson County Court with killing Joan Marie Butler, of Overland Park, Theresa J. Brown and Christine A. Rusch, who shared a Lenex apartment.
Gilbert Pena, chief extradition
counsel for Texas Gov. Bill Clementa, said that because Grissom was a fugitive, he was not entitled to a lawyer after his latest appeal in October.
Shunatona said he was not sure if
Shunatona will have to work without a fee if he wants to continue representing Grissom because his client has no money.
Grissom could file his own appeal although that appears unlikely considering the complexity of the procurement line, Texas officials said yesterday.
1.
he would file an appeal on Grissom's behalf.
If Shumatona files an appeal, Grissom would stay in the Dallas County Jail for two or three more weeks. If he doesn't, Grissom could be returned tomorrow to Kansas, Johnson County officials said.
Grissom, 28, is charged in Johnson County Court with killing Joan Marie Butler, of Overland Park, Theresa J. Butler, and Michael, who shared a Leona apartment.
The women disappeared in June,
but their bodies have not been found.