University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
KANSAN
Wednesday, December 2, 1981 Vol. 92, No.69 USPS 650-640
Economy of MX plan, safety of silos questioned Titan missile sites worry Congressmen Senate debates
By STEVE ROBRAHN Staff Reporter
The missile crew scrambled to position.
Two officers opened a red box. Inside: a key to the Titan II launch control panel. They quickly inserted the key. The light-emitting diodes for the system blinked to life.
sixty seconds and counting.
The site commander begins reading a series of launchseeance orders to the three other crewmen. Among the first was a check of wind and weather conditions.
T-minutes 45 seconds.
From behind the main control panel, the commander ordered a series of computer instructions fed to the missile.
Course and target were all pre-programmed. The crew was responsible only for launching the Titan II rocket, the same type that boosted Gemini astronauts into orbit during the 1960s.
THE COMMANDER read opening reading procedure but was suddenly interrupted in mid-run. The commander stopped.
T-minus 30 seconds.
An enemy warhead had exploded somewhere in the vicinity, knocking out power to the missile complex. Gauges and diodes on the control panels continued to slow from battery power.
The peaceful Kansas countryside outside the underground silo was mushrooming into the stratosphere, vaporized from nuclear explosions.
Overhead lights came back on when the emergency generator kicked in.
"Guidance go!" the commander said firmly.
With less than 15 seconds left in the countdown, the missile wan on its own. Nothing short of a minute.
A "laugh" sign flashed on the main control panel. A short distance away, the aging rocket roared skyward from a concrete hatch. Wichita was gone, Kansas City a radioactive hole, but soon the Titan's warhead would be raining down upon a Soviet target.
See related story page 7
This grim scenario at the Titan launch base at McConnel Air Force Base in Wichita west of Kansas.
A REAL TITAN II launch in Kansas may never happen. Titan IIs are scheduled to be phased out beginning next year, but the Titans will likely have the assistance of a recent Reasonable administration decision.
Maj. Ken Jackson, chief of the missile training branch at McConnell, said the simulations were designed to be as realistic as possible, giving the crew an opportunity to experience problems that they really might encounter during a Titan launch.
"Anytime you get a blast in the area of a silo, you'll lose power," he said. "The silos are pretty resistant to a blast, but with the size of some weapons, a blast could leave a pretty-good-sized
Worried about the damage direct hits could cause today's missile complexes, U.S. defense planners have turned to the MX missile and beefed-up weapons systems.
On Oct. 2, President Reagan announced that the United States would not base the yet-to-be-built MX missiles in a "shell game" multiple-silo system in Nevada and Utah, as proposed by former President Carter. Instead, about 100 U.S.-made bombs earlier in old Titan or Minuteman missile silos.
Titan missiles are now based at 17 sites in Kansas, 17 sites in Arkansas and at 18 bases in Arizona.
Reagan has called for making the old silos "superhard" against nuclear attack and deploying the MX beginning in 1986.
Meanwhile, he said the United States would study three other methods that offer long-term protection for the MX: antiturbial missile (ABM) defense, which would down incoming enemy missiles; continuous airborne patrol, which would launch MX against deep underground basing, which would bury the musks in sites such as the side of a mountain.
The old Titan II missile sites were less likely to be attacked because they weren't first-strike capable.
HOWEVER, some Kanaas politicians, including Rep. Dan Gloeckman, D-Kan, say they would accept the nomination.
"There might be a tremendous difference," he said in a recent interview. "Unless there is a powerful strategic reason for doing so, I am not willing to risk my district and state."
Glickman originally said that he leaned on favoring a plan to base the MX in existing locations, but not to move the MX.
Top of Titan II Missile
The president of the Wichita Area Chamber of commerce said the city would miss the people who died in the plane crash.
Titans in Kansas could mean a significant cut in military and civilian personnel at McConnell Air Force Base.
See MISSILE page 5
Senate debates defense budget, MX missile,B-1
The Senate yesterday tabled an amendment to the defense appropriations bill before them that would have directed the Pentagon not to base MX missiles near areas with a high population density. The amendment was offered by Sen. Dennis Decordni, D-Ariz.
By United Press International
Just before the Senate resumed its debate on the defense bill, Sen. Thomas Eagleton, D-Mo., criticized President Reagan for having failed to develop a clear defense policy and questioned the wisdom of spending billions of dollars on the B-1 aircraft and the MX.
"Since moving into the White House, President Reagan has failed to articulate a clear, comprehensive alternative to the (defense) policies of past administrations," said Eagleton, a member of the Defense Appropriations Panel.
Eagleton, who opposed the B-1 and the MX, said he believed in the need to build up America's defenses, but charged the aid of a program intended by him for wasteful programs and the wrong weapons.
The Senate also turned back the first attempt to cut funds for the new B-1 aircraft, but rejected more money for research and development of the radar-evading Stealth bomber.
The Senate defended an attempt to reallocate some of the B1 funds for another Air Force base.
See DEFENSE page 5
By CYNTHIA HRENCHIR Staff Renorter
It wasn't just their imagination
KU students have been smelling smoke in Watson's stacks for the past two weeks only because the library's new smoke detection system was being tested.
A can of compressed smoke was held near small, gold-colored cylinders in the ceiling to check whether the detectors were working properly, John Glinka, associate dean of libraries, said yesterday. The alarm's sound system had been turned off and only a small red light flashed to show the equipment was working.
"The test was announced on the library's public address system," said Kendall Simmons, Watson's circulation supervisor who is also for the library's fire-evacuation procedure.
"The dean's office called departments to announce the testing. Of course, the testing was on for several days, and the staff might have started taking it for granted."
THE LIBRARY now has three forms of alarm in case of fire, Simmons said.
"We have smoke detectors, manual alarms and a sprinkler system," she said.
The testing will help complete measures demanded by the state when renovation is due.
In a Feb. 6, 1980 interview, Glinka explained that because of the library's renovation, a fire-detection system and sprinkler system would be similarly to the state's fire safety requirements.
KURT JACKSON/Kansan Staff
"It's a Catch-22 situation," Glinda said. "We weren't required to put a system in before. But the state indicated that because we are renovating a building, the system will be
See WATSON page 5
Chelsey Gannoway, age 3, 2039 Clinton Court,
wanted to go into Gibson's with her mother,
Carol, but it was too wet for her to get out of the
van.
Window pains
Volunteers help build assistance center
Volunteers help build assistance center New Penn House construction begins
By JOE REBEIN
Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
In the more than 13 years it has served as a neighborhood assistance center, Penn House has lent a helping hand to thousands of needy people.
Saturday, if the weather permits, they should get paid back.
Local contractors will donate the services of 500 volunteers and the materials to build Penn House's new quarters at 1035 Pennsylvania St.
"I they nope to be thinner it hume tor furlur:
"The secret to building a house in a day is to use a lot of volunteers and to be super nice," Bob Hoehner, a member of Pom House's advisory board said recently. "It's awfully wet and sticky down there right now with all of the rain, but if the sun shines and the wind blows, we should be ready to go Saturday."
MOORE SAID the foundation of the building would be poured Friday and that the workers would start construction by 8 a.m. Saturday
Moore and Bob Treanor, the project's publicity chairman, have been organizing
the event ever since the Lawrence City Commission to build
library facilities since 1957.
A builder demolished in less than half an hour Penn House's old two-story house Nov. 18.
If the building goes up in four hours, it would be a new world record, Moore said. He said that he had read in a trade magazine of a house being built in seven-and-d-half hours, but that Penn House's new building was a 10-foot-tall square feet and of a more elaborate design.
"We are looking at a great effort by an industry in depression." Moore said. "Some of these guys have been out of work for six months, but they really want to help."
Moore said the labor would be concentrated to speed up the process.
"Instead of one or two shinglers, there will be 14," he said. "Where in a normal building you might have 10 people help pour the concrete, we'll have 35 people helping."
TO COORDINATE the effort, a schedule has been worked out showing what specific tasks the worker would do, he said. They will work hard, they will move back and let the others begin.
"We are kind of on automatic pilot right"
now" Treanor said. "People are getting
the weather and hoping that the
weather will hold out."
Workers at Penn Hospital are still finding it
difficult to find their new building can be
built in a day.
"I guess seeing is believing," Bessie Nichols, office manager, said yesterday. "We are planning to move into the building by the end of the month, anyway."
Since their old building was razed, Penn House has been moved to the former county health offices at Seventh and New Hampshire streets. Nichols said.
"We've been able to offer all of our services except the sale of furniture and clothing," she said. "Right now, we are mainly commuting and keeping our free Christmas dinner organized."
TREANOR SAID the Penn House advisory needed to pay off the project needed to pay off the project
He said the public was invited to watch the flurry of activity Friday and Saturday.
"We are going to keep everybody off of the lawn and away from all of the moving trucks," he said. "But there will be an area for people to watch."
Mild. 'normal' winter predicted for Kansas
By MARK ZIEMAN Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
With December came a light dusting of snow to the Lawrence area, but the National Weather Service in Topeka predicted yesterday that this winter would be drier than usual.
Sunkel said that the eastern part of the country was expected to have below-normal temperatures and heavier snowfall, and the western part was expected to have a normal winter.
"I could be bad, it could be nice," Warren Sumkel, Topeka meteorologist, said last night. "The prospects are that this winter will be milder than usual, and the mild winter with above-average temperatures."
The National Weather Service Winter Outlook, issued Monday, called for "intermediate" temperatures in the plains region.
The weather service's 30-day outlook for December was nearly a carbon copy of the winter outlook, calling for above-normal temperatures and near-normal moisture levels in Kansas.
However, even yesterday's scattered flurries caused slight problems for Kansas motorists and were part of more severe disturbances in other parts of the country.
in western Kansas, blowing and drifting snow closed Interstate Highway 70 from Hays to the Colorado border and U.S. Highway 36 from Denver to Colorado, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.
Other parts of the country were not as nominate as Kansas, however. This state's first mayor was James Cox.
Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota, burying parts of those states with foot-deep snow, causing the closing of highways, schools and businesses, stranding hundreds of motorists and claiming three lives. Ice East Coast roads were the cause of five more deaths.
The Midwest blizzard headed toward the Great Lakes late yesterday, and forecasters issued winter storm warnings for Wisconsin and Minnesota into northern Michigan.
In the East, two school buses collided on an ice-glazed road near Baltimore, and several other accidents were reported in cities along the coast.
According to Sunkel, the East Coast can expect even worse days ahead.
"It should be the eastern United States that gets it this year," he warned.
Spring Kansan positions open
Applications for positions on both the Kansas advertising and the news-editorial staffs are available in 105 Flint Hall, the office of student organizations and activities, 220 Strong Hall, and the Student Senate office, 105 B Kansas Union.
All applications are due by noon Friday in 106 Flint Hall.
Weather
Today will be cloudy and warmer with a high in the mid-40s, according to the National Weather Service in Topeka.
Tonight will be clear to partly cloudy with a low in the mid to upper 20s.
The high Thursday is expected to be in the mid-50s.