KU chronicles
As director of University Archives at Spencer Research Library, John Nugent makes it his business to bring order to the chaos of records of this University. These
Cloudy
tales of the bizarre and the mundane, from employee records to accounts of student unrest, have been Nugent's bailiwick since 1969. See story, page 3.
High, 50s. Low, 40s Details on page 3.
The University Daily
KANSAN
Vol. 95, No. 47 (USPS 650-640)
Tuesday, October 30, 1984
By SUZANNE BROWN Staff Reporter
Maher says Kassebaum can be beat
Despite a poor showing in a recent poll, the Democratic candidate for a Kansas seat in the U.S. Senate predicted last night his underdog campaign.
Jim Mahar, who faces Republican Sen. Nancy Landon Kassbaum in her bid for a second term, told a group of about 10 Democrats that she whose told him his election was hopeless.
"I think it's going to be like the KU-OU game," he said, referring to the Jayhawks surprise victory Saturday over the Nets. "We may very well win an unset."
MHMR, AN OVERLAND Park investments counselor who lost the Democratic primary bid for the Senate in 1978 and 1980, was the guest speaker at a Student Union Activities forum in the Big Eight Room of the Kansas Union. He used no prepared text but answered questions from the audience for about an hour.
Maher discounted the results of a Kansas City Times and KCTV-5 poll published yesterday that showed Kassebaum leading Maher 72 percent to 14 percent, with 13 percent of the voters undecided.
"That poll was taken by the Literary Digest." Maher said before his talk, referring to the magazine that predicted a loss for Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936, when he won the greatest electoral victory in a presidential campaign.
Maher predicted that he would receive more than 30 percent of the vote.
"EVER THIS LAST WEEK is very important he this the voters' heart."
Matter plans to travel the state for the next seven days in a final effort to win
Mähar told his few listeners that he wanted to seek a seat in the U.S. Senate because he thought Kassabee had been an activist legislator during her six year term.
Maher said he disagreed with Kasse-
baum on several issues, among them her
opposition to a federal ban on abortion and
her stand against a balanced budget
amendment.
"I think she's regarded as a sitting sonator," he said. "Kind of taking up
Maher said he was against abortion and
See MAHER. p. 5, col. 1
Jim Maher, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate From Overland Park, tells a small audience that despite his underdog status, he will unseat Republican incumbent Nancy Landon Kassebaum in Tuesday's election. Maher spoke yesterday at a Student Union Activities forum in the Big Eight Room of the Kansas Union.
By CHRIS BARBER Staff Reporter
Rezone plan dies; officials surprised
Staff Reporter
The withdrawal of a proposal to rezone an area south of Lawrence for a shopping mall surprised city commissioners yesterday.
Delta Properties Inc., of Baltimore, requested last month to rezone a 61-acre tract on Iowa Street, south of Armstrong Road, for a shopping mall.
In a letter received yesterday by the Lawrence Douglas County Planning Office, district officials said
Stephen Adams, an Overland Park lawyer representing the developer, said yesterday that the request was withdrawn because he had been informed it already had decided against the proposal.
COMMISSIONER NANCY Shontz said yesterday that the commission had not petitioned for the grant.
"It's unfortunate that they feel that way," Shontz said. "Requests are always reviewed by the planning commission and then the City sets out to ensee the plans yet, so how could I prejudice?"
The Lawrence-Douglas County Planning
Commission was to consider Delta's proposal at its Nov. 14 meeting.
Commissioner David Longhurst also said he didn't think the commission had prejudged the request.
"This city has made a commitment to retail development in downtown Lawrence." Longhung said. "This does not mean that people can happen. We wouldn't make a judgment."
Longhurst said the use of the land would not have been an issue in the commission's decision. The issue was whether the rezoning would be appropriate for the land in question.
"WE CANT DECIDE arbitrarily," he said. "But this community is not likely to support a suburban mail, and the commission appears to be representative of the community."
Shontz said that although the commission was on record as supporting development downtown, the commission's decision did not support his proposals would not receive fair treatment.
"It would have to be a good one to get passed, though," she said.
See MALL, p. 5, col. 1
Baby's heart transplant draws ethical remarks
By United Press International
Experts yesterday raised medical, moral and social questions about the transplant of a baboon heart into a dying human infant. One scientist compared the latest marvel of modern science to the controversial and ultimately fatal implant of the world's first permanent artificial heart into Dr. Barney Clark.
In a UPI survey of a dozen experts in heart transplants, immunology and medical ethics, some hailed the case as an exciting scientific advance, some questioned its effectiveness and morality, and all agreed on its important implications for the future of health care and humanity.
AMIDST ALL THE fuss, 16-day old Baby Fae, born with the fatal hypophilic left heart syndrome — an underdeveloped left side of the heart — made steady progress at Loma Linda University Medical Center in Southern California.
The baby was taken off the respirator yesterday afternoon. She was "breathing normally."
well," and her condition was upgraded from critical to serious, hospital officials said.
"The case leaves a lot of questions," said Dr. Gladden Eliot, chairman of the California Medical Association's Committee on Journalistic Trends in Society Affecting Life
"It is akin to Clark, who received the mechanical heart with the probable likelihood he could not live for a prolonged period But, unlike the tiny girl, Clark was mentally competent and made his own decision."
CLARK, A RETIRED dentist, received the air-driven, man-made head Dec. 2, 1982, at the University of Utah Medical Center and the University of Utah in a bowel infection and kidney and lung failure.
"The big question is should desperate measures be taken to prolong life no matter what the quality of that life. I don't think as a group we want to prolong the process of dying." Eliott said.
Dr. Marvin Garoway, director of the Immuno-Genetics and Transplantation Laboratory at the University of California, San
See ETHICS, p. 5, col. 1
Court upholds damages to woman for pill effects
From Staff and Wire Reports
The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday let stand a $47.5 million award to a Lawrence woman who said she suffered kidney failure as a result of taking a birth control pill.
On April 27, the Kansas Supreme Court upheld a 1983 Sedwick County District Court decision that awarded Carol Lynn Wooderson $2 million in damages for her medical expenses and suffering and $2.75 million in punitive damages against the drug company.
The Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from the Ortho Pharmaceutical Co., which was ordered to pay damages for failure to warn doctors and patients of the possible side effects of the birth control pill.
"I'm real thankful." Wooderson said yesterday. She is the sister of Karen Carlin,
WOODERSON, ROUTE 2, took the pill Ortho-Numor 1-80 from fall 1972 until June 1976. She then was told she had hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a rare disease in which red blood cells are destroyed resulting in kidney failure.
Wooderson suffered kidney failure, had two kidney transplants, intestinal surgery and cataracts in both eyes.
But the Kansas Supreme Court rejected the company's argument and said many previous court rulings had defined the drug manufacturer's duty to warn the medical
profession of dangerous side effects of its products that it knows, has reason to know or suspect
"Similar cases in the past have not kept the same instances from happening." Michael said. "The company changed the warning a few months after the 1983 decision to include HUS. At least the ruling had that beneficial effect."
THE STATE COURT concluded that Ortho chose to ignore the accumulating payments from the debtors.
In its appeal to the Supreme Court, Orth argued that because the Food and Drug Administration regulated prescription drugs and their warnings, it should not be held accountable by state courts for failure to warn doctors or patients.
Gerald L. Michaud, Wooderson's lawyer, said yesterday that the court decision probably would have no long lasting effect on drug manufacturers.
Michaul said the pill Wooderson had taken contained 80 micrograms of estrogen.
"ORTHO PROMOTED THE pill to be just as safe as a safe pill with lower estrogen counts of 50 or 35," he said. "Since the 1970s, there is evidence that women with more than 30 micrograms of estrogen."
Raymond Schwegler, gynecologist at Watkins Memorial Hospital, said that of the 23,000 packages of birth control pills the hospital distributed last year, the vast majority had estrogen levels of 30-50 micrograms.
"We try to stay below the 50 microgram level," Schweigler said. "Tablets with more than 50 micrograms are used in cases of excessive bleeding for a relatively short time."
State Rep. Jesse Branson has been known for her stands on safety, social services education and health care.
Safety laws major issue for Branson
By SUZANNE BROWN Staff Renorter
State Rep. Jessie Branson, intent upon improving health and safety laws in Kansas, began her legislative career in 1981 by introducing legislation that would require safety belts for child passengers two years old and younger
"They laughed at me when I brought this up in the Legislature," she said. "They thought I was a crazy lady who was suddenly sent to jail for battery belts. There was a lot of opposition to it."
But the bill passed, and since then, the two-term Democrat from Lawrence has spent much of her time in Topeca working for services, safety standards and health care.
BRAHSON IS RUNNING FOR re-election in the 44th District. Although she faces opposition from a write-in candidate, Garry Niemann, he is the only candidate listed on the official ballot.
Branson had run without opposition until last week, when Bickler announced his candidacy. But Branson as an unopposed campaign was not as easy as it seemed.
"There isn't as much pressure in terms of the extent of the campaign," she said. "But an incumbent who's not opposed has to constantly stay in touch with the constitu-
"The campaign is not so much to win an
See BRANSON, p. 5, col. 4