SINCE 1889
Trashy paintings
Art student finds dumpsters double nicely as canvases. See page 3.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, NOV. 14, 1985, VOL. 96, NO. 59 (USPS 650-640)
Rain Details page 3.
Vietnam vet angered over drawing's theft
By Karen Blakeman Of the Kansan staff
Within 24 hours of its being placed at the site of the planned Vietnam memorial Monday, an architect's drawing of the memorial was stolen. A Vietnam veteran says this isn't a typical college prank.
The drawing, in a Plexiglas and stainless steel frame, was placed on a metal pole at the planned memorial site during a consecration ceremony at 3 p.m. Monday and was discovered stolen at 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, KU police said.
Police said they had no suspects. "I don't know why anyone would do something like this." Lisa Ashner, a member of the KU Vietnam Memorial Committee, said yesterday.
John Musgrave, a veteran of the Vietnam War, said he remembered a time when people did this sort of
thing too frequently, and why they did it.
"This is a cowardly act made by a person or persons wishing to make some sort of twisted statement about the war or the policies that led us there by attacking the first physical evidence of the memorial," he said.
Musgrave, who has worked for two years to see the memorial become a reality, said the theft had not been the first act against the memorial project. The pole the drawing was to be placed on was stolen before the ceremony, he said.
Tom Anderson, director of facilities operations, said his staff worked to replace the pole in time for the consecration ceremony Monday.
the connection. Musgrave said he first considered the theft of the pole a random act that had nothing to do with the memorial.
had honoring these men, "but of course, that's not the case now." Musgrave said. "Speaking as a Vietnam veteran, as a member of
the committee that has worked for two years for this memorial, my impression is that this is not a random act of vandalism or a high-spirited college prank.
Musgrave, who joined the peace movement after returning from Vietnam, said he thought whoever took the drawing was behaving in the same way some people behaved during the war — blaming the veteran for a situation he had not created.
"Far too often the Vietnam vet has been held up to ridicule and to blame, when we did nothing more that what our forefathers had done — we served our country."
Musgrave said that foremost in his mind when he heard about the theft were the faces of some of the people who had attended the consecration ceremony — the widow of a man who was killed while serving with the
See VANDAL, p. 5, col. 1
House, Senate buy time to hash out budget plan
But neither deputy press secretary
Larry Sneakes, Treasury Secretary
United Press International
WASHINGTON — The House and Senate yesterday approved different versions of a small increase in the federal debt limit to buy another month to work on balanced budget legislation and avert a U.S. default while President Reagan is in Geneva.
raise money, approved an extension only to Dec. 6.
But because the two houses failed to agree on how to approach the short-term increase in the government's borrowing authority, the issue was still unresolved.
The House agreed to an $80 billion increase in the debt ceiling, up to $1.9 trillion, which they said was enough to cover the nation's bills through Dec. 13.
But the Senate, citing routine Treasury Department actions that
Senate leaders said the st
stension, combined with
revenue-raising measure
have the effect of coveri
tion's bills through about
date as the House measure
The Senate action was night on a xoice vote with Because the bills are dur Haitian-American for the short-term extension it day, before the governor of money.
But Reagan himself was not to accept the one-tension. The threat would pressure on balanced-budget tied to a year-long long-term federal borrowing authori- an increase, the governor of money at midnight long
Wolf Creek denie rehearing on rat
United Press International
TOPEKA — The Kansas Corporation Commission yesterday denied a rate rehearing to utilities that own the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant, but did adjust its order to permit two of the firms to earn an additional $6 million.
In an administrative meeting, the commission rejected utility arguments that it had acted arbitrarily when it declared $3.05 billion Wolf Creek plant should be valued like a cheaper coal-fired plant. Also rejected was a lengthy list of other arguments aimed at reopening the rate case.
The KCC did agree with utility
arguments that it mis-
formula to allow the uiltu-
tally to recover the co-
investment through de-
velopment of the life of the plan Gas & Electric Co. and City Power & Light Together own 94 pere plant — contended the mission incorrectly re rate base upon which may earn a return
The commission a with KCPL's argument utility incorrectly can cost of nuclear fuel in The resulting d See WOLF CRP
William Easley and Jeff Polack, student body president and vice president, and their terms next Friday. The two say their greatest accomplishment was to "restore organization" to Student Senate.
Suzv Mast/KANSAN
be worlds of int
ternational politics and international dance
collide in Taylor Hackford's "White Nights'
when dancers become
defectors across both
sides of the Iron Curtain. "White Nights' is an action-adventure film, of high suspense
Ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov plays a Russian dancer who defends to the West but is brought back home by a plane crash in the USSR. Gregory Hines is an American entertainer living in Russia ordered by the Soviets to make sure Baryshnikov stays.
and personal drama," says Hackford who directed the film.
"Baryshnikov and Hines (whose sense of morality made him desert from the army during the Vietnam War) form a lay relationship," explained Hackford. "It's a totally hypothetical story, but one that every defector has imagined."
"I've had nightmares," admits Bar-
yshnikov of his real-life defection. Playing in his first film role since The Turning Point, Baryshnikov finds himself reliving the most traumatic events of his own life.
All this and some of the best dancing in the world as well. But, as director for Hackford (whose Officer and a Gentleman and Against All Odds established his gift for intense romantic drama) asserts, "It is important to say that, although it stars Mikhail Bashnikov and Gregory Hines and has nine dancers, it is not a dance film."
"Dance is used in an experimental way—to pick up the dramatic action and move it forward. The film explores defection from the point of view of two men: Baryshnikov, the Russian who gave up his politics for his art, and Hines, the American who gave up his art for his politics."
"The "white nights" of the title—the long Russian summer nights—"are a stylistic point in the film," says Hackford. "The film takes place totally in daylight. There is no place to hide. Baryshnikov's character can't get away from the light."
Pre-production rehearsals at the American Ballet Theater (run by Barysnikov), directed by Hackford and
Mikhail Baryshnikov (left) plays a Russian ballet star who defects to the West, while Helen Mirren is a dancing partner he left behind. Isabella Rossellini (below) plays the wife of an American dancer (Gregory Hines) living in the Soviet Union. Baryshnikov says White Nights' plot recalls some of his own nightmares after his defection.
noted choreographer Twella Tharp,
produced an innovative synthesis of
ballet and tap, seen in White Nights
for the first time.
Also in White Nights are Helen Mirren (one of Britain's premier classical actresses and winner of the Best Actress Award at Cannes in 1985 for Cal) playing a retired Russian ballerina, Isabella Rossellini (Ingrid Bengman's daughter) and Geraldine Page. White Nights opens in selected cities in November and nationwide in December.
"The film has critical things to say about both the US and the USSR," Hackford described. "It's about force and repression, regardless of where they come from. It makes a universal statement about individual freedom." ♦
Ampersand 7