VULTURE BOX
COLDER
1.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
The University of Kansas
KANSAN
Vol. 89, No. 84
House committee reviews KU budget See story page 10
Wednesday, January 31, 1979
Fatal Blast
An explosion that destroyed a wing of a machinery building at a minimum security farm at the federal penitentiary near Leavenworth kept rescue teams working about 14 hours
in an attempt to rescue five men who were trapped under a 29-foot mud. Rubble. Below, efforts to remove the debris were hampered by a maze of steel bars used to
reinforce the walls and floors of the building. Bulloozers used in the rescue operation were almost useless without the aid of heavy bolt mortars and acetylene torches.
Explosion kills six
By DOUG HITCHCOCK and BRUCE THOMAS Staff Reporters
BEVERLY, Mo.—An explosion torre through a wing of a farm machinery building at a federal prison camp farm yesterday, killing five inmates and one
The explosion, which occurred at 10:45 a.m., also injured four men—two guards and two inmates, Irl Day, federal penitentiary warden, said yesterday.
Five of the dead-four inmates and one guard—trapped beneath tons of brick and concrete for nearly 14 hours before they freed their bodies about 2 this morning.
Day said that within minutes of the explosion, workers from the federal penitentiary arrived and began to dig through the debris of the 2-story brick and concrete fenced building and pulled up the fence of the rubble and rached to hospitals in the Lewamworth area.
Unable to find the trapped men, prison officials called for heavy construction equipment and additional rescue workers to come to the honor camp farm, which is across the Missouri River about three miles east of the U.S. Penitentiary south of Leavenworth. Workmen came from the nearby prison, from Fort Leavenworth,
which is about 2.5 miles away, and the
North Fire Department sent a
rescue team.
At one time during the day, despite continuous snowfall, as many as 200 snowbirds per hour fly from private construction firms bit away at the 20-foot pile of debris, but steel reinforcing bars within the concrete slowed their flight and bars with bolt cutters and acetylene torches.
The explosion, prison officials said, topped the roof and the 8- to 10-inch thick walls of the building's west wing, forcing the concrete floor to give way into a 3-foot crawl space. The men, some working on a truck inside the building, were pinned beneath bricks and large chunks of concrete laced with steel bars.
By dusk, workers could see three of the trapped men through gaps in the debris, but were unable to reach them or establish contact with them. One man was still unaccounted for.
Rescue operations continued into the early morning as temperatures dipped from the mid-tens to near zero. But workers, as they stood and watched bulldozers attack the rubble, said they had little hope of finding any of the trapped men alive.
"I could see enough of two of them to.
identify them," Jerry Brown, chief of ambulatory services at Fort Laurenworth, said. "The one man on the west was laying down. I could see about 40 percent of his body."
"The other man on the north side was packed by the debris very tightly and his head was crushed. Even if they didn't die when the building collapsed they must've died soon after. We're dealing with hydrothermia out here because it's so cold."
Ll. Col. Fred Clarke, an engineer from Fort Leavenworth who supervised the rescue operation, said the explosion probably was caused by an accumulation of natural gas in the building where inmates were working on a truck.
A board of inquiry, Day said, is to meet today to investigate the accident. He said the board would examine acetylene tanks, which were stored in the building.
If the tanks are crushed, Day said, it might suggest the explosion was caused by natural gas from the building's furnace. If the tank was in good condition, mean they were the cause of the explosion.
Day said he thought it was possible that natural gas had collected in the crawl space beneath the building's first floor, and was somehow ignited.
The honor camp farm, which consists of
See EXPLOSION back page
Blast ends inmate's plans
By PATRICIA MANSON
Staff Reporter
Caprell Blair had big plans for the future.
Cantrell Blair had big plans for the future Blair, 27, the only prison inmate ever to receive a KU scholarship, had hoped to be paroled this year so he could begin classes on the Lawrence campus. Blair, sentenced in 1974 for postal robbery, had planned to attend the bachelor of arts degree political science and eventually attend KU's School of Law.
Scott Spellerberg, teaching assistant in geography and one of Blair's teachers, said, "He was one of the most impressive people I have met. I never knew why he was there. It never came up in the conversation. If things had been his parole, he would have been out by now."
But Blair's plans were cut short yesterday by a gas explosion at a minimum security honor farm east of the U.S. Pentiment at a military base. The explosion killed Blair and five others.
BLAIR HAD hoped to be released on parole last August. He was not granted parole, however, and was transferred from the Leavenworth penitentiary to the honor farm in November. He was to have had another parole hearing in April.
Blair entered Leavenworth in 1974 after being sented to two eight-year terms for postal robbery. Blair, who had a tenth-grade education, earned his General Equivalency Degree in prison and then enrolled in KU's continuing education classes. As of last summer, he had earned 73 hours toward his bachelor's degree in political science.
Last summer, Blair was awarded a Kansas University Endowment Association scholarship. Although other inmates had applied for scholarships before, Jerry Rogers, director of financial aid, said Blair was the first prisoner to receive one.
In an interview last summer, Blair said, "Once I entered this institution and saw what a predicament I had gotten myself into, I realized there has got to be a better way. The staff members told me I'm still young. I could make something of myself.
He had a 4.0 grade point average.
Blair had planned to complete his education on the Lawrence campus, taking classes that were not offered at the prison. Rogers said Blair had written him about attending the University of Kansas.
BLAIR RECEIVED the scholarship, Rogers said, because "he had the financial need and the outstanding academic record."
"He said in his letter he was really looking forward to being on the KU campus," he said.
"A MAN HAS to be constructive. Education is the way."
Blair was enthusiastic about his studies and urged other inmates to improve them.
Stephan Goldman, associate professor of English and one of Blair's teachers, said, "I think in some ways he saw himself as an example to the other inmates of what he could do with an education. He was always using the other inmates to take classes."
ONE OF THE goals Blair set for himself was a law degree. He said, however, that he did not want to be a "a corporation lawyer with a big house on a hill."
Rogers said, "He really led a crusade for education."
David Billene, assistant instructor of political science, said, "He was really an exceptional person and an exceptional individual. He knew himself and was capable of achieving them."
Blair was an outgoing, personable man who impressed his teachers with his ambi-
tation.
laid last summer. "I want to help
see BLAIR back page
Staff Photo by ALAN ZLOTKY
See BLAIR back page
Menninger says death bill alone no deterrent
By TAMMY TIERNEY
Staff Reporter
TOPEKA-Karl Menninger, director of the Meninger Foundation in Topeka, told legislators yesterday that if they approved reinstatement of the death penalty, it should include a provision that all executions be televised.
"Be consistent," he said. "If you're doing this to deter people from killing, put it where the best is."
Speaking before the Kansas House Judiciary Committee, MENINGer said capital punishment was "too expensive, too uncivilized, too barbaric and too cruel."
He told committee members that although he too wished to find a deterrent for murderers, he did not think killing them was justified.
"Punishment and vengeance is not the spirit of the law, although it may be the spirit of some people who want this law," he said.
MENNINGER ALSO said imposing capital punishment would have a bad effect
- yesterday was the second day of committee hearings on the reinstatement of the death penalty in Kansas. Further committee discussion and possible final action on the death penalty.*
on a murderer's family and on prison employees.
"Capital punishment also has a dreadful effect on state employees. They have a tough job with enough discouragements already. And I can assure you that nobody wants to do the killing, It's not a pleasant task for any employee."
"If you impose this law, not only do you kill a man, but you do vast injury to his body."
Sister Dolores Brinkel, a representative of
The committee also heard testimony from members of several religious organizations and ministers.
the criminal Justice Ministries of Catholic Charities and the Coalition to Keep Kansas Free of the Death Penalty, said capital punishment could lead to "erosion of respect for life."
BRINKEL SAID reinstatement of the death penalty was an emotional issue and
The Rev. Jack Bremer, a representative of the Consortium for Legislative Concerns, said capital punishment was "a violation of the deepest religious values and teachings
"Capital punishment lends official sanction to contagious violence," he said.