KANSAN
University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
The University Daily
Monday, March 1, 1982
Vol. 92, No. 106 USPS 650-640
FALN terrorists claim blasts Bombs rip financial district
By United Press International
NEW YORK-Powerful bombs planted by the Puerto Rican terrorist group FALN exploded in a 30-minute span in the Wall Street financial district late last night, damaging the New York and American Stock Exchanges and the Chase Manhattan Bank and Merrill Lench.
The blasts appeared to be timed to mark the March 1, 1954, anniversary of the attack by Puerto Rican nationalists on the U.S. House of Representatives, which five congressmen were wounded by gunfire.
THERE WERE no injuries, and most of the damage was to the buildings' entrances and plaza.
The FALN claimed responsibility for the blasts in a communiqué police found in a telegram sent to them.
Police Sgt. Edward Leshack said the first explosion occurred at 11:25 p.m. at the Merrill Lynch building. Then minutes later, bombs went off a few blocks away at Chase Manhattan Plaza and the New York Stock Exchange. The last explosion occurred at 11:55 p.m. at the American Stock Exchange.
Leshack said high-powered explosives-possibly dynamite - were used in the bombs.
Police said shortly after the bombing a news
agency reported it received a telephone call from a man claiming to be a FALN representative who directed police to an envelope in a telephone booth.
THE ANONYMOUS caller did not mention the blasts but the letter, which they described as "a typical FALN communique", mentioned the FALN's massive forces" opposing statehood for Puerto Rico.
The FALN—"Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional" (Armed Forces for National Liberation)—is comprised of radical ethnic Puerto Ricans living in the United States and who have any if ties with the island. It is to be independence for Puerto Rice from the U.S.
In the past decade the FALN has bombed businesses in Manhattan and other major cities.
Witnesses said a late model four-door car crammed with people was seen speeding from the street.
Patrick Murphy, the police department's chief of operations, said the "multi-paged" communique claimed responsibility for the bombings but did not mention specific targets.
The communique bore the symbol of the nationalist group—a star with the letters FALN—and said the attack was to protest "Yankee imperialism," Murphy said.
THE MESSAGE also expressed "solidarity" with leftists arrested in last October's bungled Brinks heist in Nyack, N.Y., in which two police officers and a guard were killed. Police have charged former members of the Weather Underground Black Liberation Army with the Nagellacks killings.
Members of the police arson and explosion sound were studying the bombs for clues
In front of the New York Stock Exchange, investigators searched the glass-covered sidewalks for clues. The blast knocked out glass panels in the entrance of Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. across the street and broke a window on the fourth floor of the building next door.
At Merrill Lynch, a 30-foot section of inch-thick glas in and around the entrance was blowed out.
Pat Molly, a security guard at Merril Lynch, he was manning the front desk when the blaze
"My ears are still ringing," he said. "I'm still shook up."
He said about 25 workers were in the building at the time.
At Chase Manhattan, nine large panels of glass were blown out on the first and second floors at Nineveh.
Atlanta officials say murder cases shut
At the American Stock Exchange, the blast barrels and blow of a steel grating
From the Staff and Wire Reports
ATLANTA—Wayne Williams' double murder conviction will probably close the books on most of the 28 murders that terrorized Atlanta's black neighborhoods for nearly two years, authorities told CNN.
Defense attorneys for Williams said Saturday that they would appeal his murder conviction on the grounds that the prosecution was allowed to prove other murders in its case against Williams.
Williams was linked by testimony to nine of the other 26 Atlanta slayings and to a 10th that was never added to the list of killings investigated by a special police task force.
The jury of eight blacks and four whites decided on the guilty verdict for both counts of first-degree murder after 12 hours of deliberation Saturday night.
THE PROSECUTION was allowed to use the testimony to establish a "pattern of killing."
"The pattern evidence was what hurt us the most," Alvin Binder, chief defense attorney for Williams, said Saturday after the jury returned its guilty verdict.
"I think he has a good basis for an appeal."
Williams was sentenced to two life terms for the killing of Jimmy Ray Payne, 21, and Nathaniel Cater, 27. He has 30 days to file an appeal.
Payne's and Cater's murders were two of the 28 murders, mostly of children, that gripped Atlanta's black neighborhoods from July 1979 to last summer when Williams was arrested.
Defense attorney Mary Welcome said the
decision by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Clarence Cooper midway through the two-month trial to allow the introduction of the pattern evidence was a devastating blow to Williams'
"Wayne was charged with two murders," she said, "but we were forced to defend him against
ANOTHER FACET of the prosecution's case against Williams was fiber evidence.
Prosecution experts said it was "virtually impossible to prove that he was from any of these other than WIlliams, hope it works."
Fibers found on the bodies of 12 victims, including Payne and Cater, were said to be "microscopically similar" to one taken from 18 different places in Payne's home and auto.
But a local expert in fiber optics, who testified for the defense, said yesterday that he disagreed with them.
Randall Bresse, professor of textile science at Kansas State University, spent two weeks in Japan.
HE SAID his conclusion was that the fibers were basically circumstantial evidence and that the prosecution did not have enough hard evidence to link the fibers to Williams.
He said the prosecution maintained that the bodies and a pair of shorts found on one of the victims contained fibers from the carpet in Williams' home and from his car.
If a person rolled around on a carpet, he said, he would pick up some fibers. Within four to five hours about 90 percent of those fibers would drop off the clothing.
Bresse said he disputed the fiber evidence because the bodies were discovered in the Chelsea Hospital.
Bresse said he did not know how those fibers could still be there after the bodies had been in contact.
HE SAID he ran a test to see whether the river could be the source of the fibers. He put a pillow case in the river. After a half hour, he took the pillow case out of the water and found there were several hundred fibers from the river in the pillow case.
"The match-up (of fibers) doesn't prove that Wavne is a killer." Bresse said.
He said he did not agree that the fiber evidence associated Williams with the victims.
"It is my personal opinion that Wayne didn't kill himself."
Binder said the state's fiber evidence, along with the pattern evidence, were the two most important factors.
"The fiber evidence will be the hardest part of the case to overcome (on appeal)," he said. "They're going to refer to this case for years to come as the test case for fiber evidence."
The sun sets behind a barn west of town.
THE SPECIAL police task force, which at one point comprised more than 100 federal, state and law linemen, will probably be disbanded this week.
Lewis Stlaton, Fulton County district attorney, who led the prosecution team, would not say whether he would seek further charges against Williams.
But Slaton indicated he believed the long and triangular string of killings was solved with evidence.
"I hate to get into the personal bit, but when I had him locked up, I didn't think there would be any more killings and there haven't been any more," he said.
TRACEY THOMPSON/Kansan Staff
Joyce Jordan, a Lawrence resident, plucks a harp during yesterday afternoon's Family Fun Day at the Spencer Museum of Art.
Watson to investigate charge against city water department
Staff Reporter
Lawrence City Manager Buford Watson is directing an investigation into the alleged harassment in 1979 of a Lawrence water department officer, Brian City Commissioner and died Saturday.
By STEPHEN BLAIR
In the closed session, Watson was shown a copy of a letter in which Frost said she was harassed for taking samples of city water that were found in the basement, acceptably high level in water bacteria. He accepts.
Frost said Saturday that no one had contacted her about her charges.
The five city commissioners asked Watson to investigate the alleged harassment of the former lab technician, Linda Frost, during an executive session Feb. 20, Bims said.
Officials at the Lawrence Water Treatment Plant, at Third and Indiana streets, kept telling her the problem was in her, not in the water, Frost said.
THEY BEGAN watching closely when she made any small mistakes, such as breaking a bite.
When she found the second bad sample, her job was taken away from her and she could only work at the Sewage Treatment Plant, where she had been working part time. Frost said.
Although Frost had not been contacted by any city officials, Robert Leach, assistant director of utilities at the plant, said someone connected with the city had talked to someone in his office.
"There been some communication," he said.
"I'm not at liberty to say anything. We've been diddled."
Abbey Burts, director of the State Bureau of
INVESTIGATION GAGE page 5
Club owners attempt to stop entrance of underage patrons
By BECKY ROBERTS Staff Reporter
Gone are the days of easy entrance to
Lawrence police officials and nightclub owners.
Staff Reporter
Some police officers and club owners are concerned that minors do not understand the problems they cause for themselves and clubs when they violate liquor laws, Mark Brothers, Lawrence police department crime analyst, said recently.
"Club owners are going to crack down on habitual violator problems." Brothers said.
"There a problem with clubs that have heavy college clientele," Brothers said. "We want to make sure students understand some of the problems we deal with."
If an underage person is found in a club, both the club and the individual can be prosecuted. Both the club and the individual
BROTHERS SAID that one of the biggest problems was underage people using fake or doctored IDs to get into clubs.
If police find minors in a club, the person in charge of the club that night can be arrested. The club also can face an average fine of $2,000 and be given down for about a three-day period. Brothers said.
Because Lawrence club owners face these Alcohol Beverage Control penalties, they have begun to crack down on minors and overcrowding in their clubs.
See BARS page 5
Weather
Today will be sunny and mild with the highs from 80 to 65 degrees, according to the National Weather Service in Topeka.
Southwest winds will blow 10 to 20 mph today.
Skies will turn partly cloudy tonight with temperatures at 35 to 40 degrees.
it remains partly cloudy, with the bighs in the mid-80s or low 70s.