VOL. 101. NO. 19
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
$ ^{7} $THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1990
NEWS:864-4810
Man dies in KPL accident
A coal-drilling truck hit power lines electrocuting and killing a worker, who lies beside the truck
Worker electrocuted when boom of truck hits three power lines
By Elicia Hill
Kansan staff writers
By Elicia Hill and Jennifer Schultz
A man was killed at 1:10 p.m. yesterday when the boom of a truck he was operating hit a power line at the Kansas Power and Light plant in lawrence.
Another man working at the site was not hurt, said Tom Tayler, spokesperson for KPLU.
Taylor said that the two men, both in their twenties, worked for Makon, a small engineering firm in St. Joseph, Mo. Authorities will not release their names until family has been
He said that about 20,000 Lawrence customers, including the University of Kansas campus, were using it.
Duane Filkins, supervisor of the Douglas County ambulance service, was the first to respond.
He said the accident occurred when the boom of a coal-drilling truck made contact with three power lines of 115,000 volts each. The operator and triggered a small grass fire.
In addition to the Douglas County ambulance service, five fire engines from the Wakarusa Fire Protection District and Lawrence responded to the accident.
"We found one man who had been killed instantly and his partner was badly shaken up emotionally." Fikksn said. "It looked like the booth had been set on fire, and we were operating the boom and went out the other."
Steve Johnson, divisional manager for KPI Gas Service, 333 W. Ninth St., said that the heart of Lawrence, including portions of east and west Lawrence, lost power.
He said that about 12,000 customers lost power for 40 minutes. About 8,000 customers in the downtown area were without power for 6 hours and 25 minutes, or 2.15 p.m. in exce- ment to a few isolated customers.
Carl Rickett, KPL Gas Service associate director of the eastern region, said power was restored after they switched to a different sub-station.
Johnson said that the sub-stations reduced the power voltage supplied by the plant to make it safe to distribute to the Lawrence area.
Rickett said that the two men had been hired by KPL to check the density of the coal
the size of a city block. The electrical power lines were 25 feet above it.
as part of an annual inventory process.
Taylor said the test drilling involved raising the truck's boom and plunging it into the coal pile. The work involves drilling holes at various depths measure the moisture and density levels of the coal.
The truck sat on top of a 30-foot coal pile about
The owner and a secretary at the Mikon engineering firm said that they were saddened by the loss.
Kansan reporter Wes Denton contributed information to this story.
Iraq confiscating all foreign assets
The Associated Press
BAGHADD — The Iraqi government yesterday began confiscating all foreign assets from countries imitating economic sanctions against Iraq.
The official Iraqi News Agency said that the ruling Revolutionary Command Council ordered the seizure Tuesday night under a law dealing with the protection of "al-Iraq" money and rights in Iraq and abroad.
See related coverage p. 7
"All assets — cash deposits, property, interest and other revenue — belonging to the governments, institutions, companies and banks of the countries that have joined oppressive states," he confiscated. "the new law stated."
The statement did not provide estimates for foreign assets in Iraq, or say how much cash was involved. The State Department was unable to
say how much seized American assets were worth, and a spokesperson condemned the move.
"Actions like this can only make it more difficult for Iraq to return to the international community of nations and to restore economic relations which are crucial for Iraq's long-term development." spokesperson Margaret Tutuwil said. "The clear message is that we must comply with the Security Council resolutions relating to its invasion of Kuwait."
The Iraqi News Agency text made no mention of Kuwait, but earlier council decisions have stated that Iraqi law applies to Kuwait, which Baghdad annexed six days after the Aug. 2 invasion.
Mononucleosis strikes earlier this year at KU
The United States and Britain froze Iraqi and Kuwait assets immediately after the invasion. Other countries, including all European Community nations, quickly followed suit.
Bv Courtney Ehlen
Kansan staff writer
Midterm frenzy has not yet begun for KU students, but the dreaded mononucleosis already has caught up with an unusually large number of
Charles Yockey, chief of staff at Watkins Memorial Health Center, said the Watkins laboratory had confirmed 20 cases of acute mono since Labor Day. Those students may be out of school for up to two months while recovering from the virus.
"Mono is the disease of college students," Yockey said. "The big problem is that it knocks you out for eight weeks, and you can get it again."
Yockey said that he normally saw a number of acute mono cases each year but that they usually came in the middle of winter
Watkins were not all the cases present among students.
"Every semester, we have students who have to drop out of school because of mono and start over next semester," Yockey said. "It's just hard to take six to eight weeks out of the semester."
He said the 20 cases confirmed at
Mono, an Epstein-Barr virus, is also known as the "kissing disease" because it can be transmitted through saliva.
But most adults already carry the virus, Yockey said.
The mono virus remains dormant unless it overtakes an immune system weakened by lack of sleep, more active use of alcohol or another illness.
Symptoms of acute mono include a severe seve throat, bad headache, sinus infection, fever and swollen lymph nodes in the neck. Mono patients also experience acute fatigue.
House defense bill trims financing for stealth,SDI
Plan still allows for $978 million for gulf buildup
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The House approved a $233 billion defense bill yesterday that would make wholesale cuts in President Bush's fiscal 1981 budget request for the Strategic Initiative and I-2 stealth bomber
Voting along party lines, the House adopted the military plan for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. overseethe threat of a presidential veto and sharp differences with the Senate-approved bill.
The vote was 256-155 with 33 Republicans joining 223 Democrats in passing the bill. Twenty Democrats and Republicans opposed the legislation.
Among the major provisions of the bill are a $2.4 billion cut in Bush's $4.7 billion proposal for SDI, a halt in construction and a reduction of 129,900 troops.
House and Senate members will meet later this month to thrash out a
final defense bill. Last month, the Senate approved a $298 billion military bill that left the president's B-2 aircraft and trimmed $1 billion from SDI.
"To the young men and women sitting in Saudi Arabia trying to defend their country, what message is the house going to send them — that pork-barrels in the form of F-18s are more important than human beings?" asked Rep. Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., a GOP leader.
House Democrats argued that their bill reflects a lessening Soviet threat to the West while trying to help the Islamic State and ISIS in the Third World, including Iraq.
Republicans accused their colleagues of business as usual — filling the defense bill with pet projects for their constituents back home while undermining the men and women in uniform.
"It takes the first step toward buying the right defense for a new era," said Rep Lepin, D-Wis. House Armored Services Committee.
The measure includes $185 million in pay and other benefits for military personnel, $250 million for three sea-lift ships and $187 million for chemical and biological equipment and training.
The measure also requires Congress to authorize funds received from U.S. allies to defray the cost of the war against ISIS, which could rise to $15 billion next year.
In final-day action on the bill, The House also approved a $978 million package to assist the military buildup in the Persian Gulf aimed at
- Approximately $2.3 billion for SDI, the anti-missile shield commonly known as "Star Wars." The Senate approved $3.7 billion for the program and after the House-Senate conference total of $3 billion will likely result.
The House action came as Defense Secretary Dick Cheney asked lawmakers elsewhere on Capitol Hill to let the Pentagon accept and spend allied donations without prior approval from Congress.
Pizazz case testimony heard
stopping Iraqi aggression. The vote was 413-10.
An end to production of the B-2 bomber, the costliest aircraft in history at nearly $865 million a plane, will now be its aircraft currently under construction.
Among the major aspects of the House bill are:
Nightclub owners charged with violating four liquor laws
By Elicia Hill
Don and Jon Schmidt, the owners of Pizzaz, 901 Mississippi St., went before the ABC on four charges: allowing non-members into the private club, failure to display a liquor license, failure to provide sufficient financial records for an ABC auditor and advertising that the club was
The state Alcohol Beverage Control division heard testimony yesterday against the owners of a Lawrence nightclub who are charged with violating state liquor regulations.
Kansan staff writer
Shannon Mylar, an ABC investiga tion, said that on March 16 he went to the club to see if he would be admitted without a membership.
open to the general public.
The ABC brought three witnesses to verify the charges. Don Schmidt was the only witness for Pizzaz.
He said he was admitted.
In court, Mylar showed a test tube full of an alcoholic drink he had been served.
ABC enforcement agent Diana Toy
Schmidt said he had instructed his employees to admit only members or their guests
testified that when she entered Pizazz on March 14, the club's liquor license on display was a photocopy of the original.
"When I informed the Schmidt brothers that they were in violation, they became very angry," she said.
Gerald Keehn, a department of Revenue auditor, said he had notified the owners that they were going to be audited April 2.
Schmidt said he did not like to display the original license because it had been stolen once.
See PIZAZZ p.8
Monica Bowers of Lawrence is swamped with people hungry for hotdogs during the power outage.
KPL accident causes Lawrence power loss
By Debbie Myers
and Holly M. Neuman
A fatal accident at the Kansas Power and Light plant in northwest Lawrence left campus buildings without power for about a half hour yesterday but did not cause major problems for students and faculty.
Kansan staff writers
Burdel Welsh, KU police officer,
said the KU police used a Winnebago
recreational vehicle with radios;
maps and cellular telephones to communicate with department chairperson to decide where help was needed
Welsh said that about six officers checked buildings for problems with generators and telephones.
The command post was set up in a parking lot behind Cearrith-O'Leary Hall. Welsh said. It also was active in the chemical spill and several bomb threats.
Chris Mulvenon, Lawrence police spokesperson, said an emergency generator kept power going at the
"Occasionally we have had problems before caused by power outages," Niebaum said. "But every system is important." All systems appear to be fine.
Lawrence Law Enforcement Center Patrol officers and detectives directed traffic at major intersections where traffic lights were out.
The building holds the central system for most computers on campus.
Jerry Niebaum, director of academic computing services at the Computer Services Facility, said he had not been contacted about any campus computer problems after power was restored.
Some office workers in Strong Hall put their feet up and relaxed. They said they could not get an work done
Judy Pinegar, administrative officer at Watkins Memorial Health Center, said services at Watkins were not disrupted by the power because emergency generators kept them on electrical equipment functioning.
without the use of their computers and telephones.
Most students waited outside buildings for power to be restored and for buildings to reopen. Some classes met outside.
"I just wish we knew if classes were canceled instead of waiting around," Ho said. " like the last time with the gas thing, they made us wait around an hour or two hours. Someone came in out who knows what's going on."
Janet Donner, Paola junior, said she left campus after the power outage to go to work at McDonald's. 901 W. 23rd St.
The restaurant's centralized telephone system did not work, so employees plugged a standard phone into a telephone lack.
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"It was a mess on the streets," Donner said.