Knievel survives attempt to cross canyon in rocket
By JOHN FULLER
Special to the Kansar
TWIN FALLS, Idaho—It's almost more than one can grasp, watching what will probably go down in history as one of the most incredible and dangerous stunts ever attempted.
Robert Craig "Evel" Kneivel has lived through an attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon, even though malfunction in the parachute system caused the canyon to collapse. In the canyon wall, missing the river by 20 feet.
Knevel came out almost uncatched after his harrowing flight and rescue helicopters picked him up within seconds after impact.
Knivevel was recovered and returned to the launch ramp where the flight began, and he described what had happened.
He was slightly dared, with a bloody nose and black eyes caused by the force of the flight, a force that would leave him speechless.
"Tried to steer it," he mumbled. "AI I all knew thank God I didn't go into the river. Boy, I never would have gutted out of three. It hilt the shelf of two tables and dragged down to another shelf and hit two or three times."
"STRAPPED IN SO tight came through it all right. Don't know what happened. Went sideways. Just about knocked me out. Couldn't get my safety belt unharmed."
"As he walked away, the crowd cheered wildly:
'You did it. Evel!'
Looking shaken, Knievel gave the crown a bump-up signal, thanked them for their support, then was escorted back to his $71,000 custom-built truck for a reunion with his family and friends.
He had arrived at the launch site about 2 p.m. (D.T.), and displayed none of the cockiness that he was feeling.
He kept himself in tight control and appeared very dignified, almost regal. He didn't smile.
"I was looking back at all the things that the press has written and said about me, and the good things outnumber the bad by a million to three," he told reporters.
He then entered his trailer, emerging just at 4:30 for the jump.
THE ROCKET lifted off with a tremendous whosh. Spectators couldn't even see it.
As happened with the last test flight two weeks
ago, the drogue parachute deployed almost immediately after launch. The main part of the flight is controlled by a remote control.
Once the main parachute opened, the rocket stabilized. Two red smoke flares deployed, and the rocket flew.
It had flown less than halfway across the canyon.
It had flown less than halfway across the canyon. A wind of 15 miles an hour blew the rocket 600 feet upward and out of the view of most of the 39,000 spectators against a rock ledge and bounced several times.
About half the crowd broke through barriers in the press area and ran to the edge of the canyon.
Almost immediately, several helicopters lowered into the canyon, and Knevel was rescued.
In the hours before the flight, Knievel had become serious.
"GOD HAS NOTHING to do whether you live or死," he said at a press conference Saturday. "I'm a Christian and I believe in Jesus Christ, but I don't need His help to get accross that canyon. I've got the bus from Jerusalem that money can buy, and they'll do the job for me. If they don't work, they'll depend on God."
Just before the flight, a minister prayed for Knievel's success.
"Robert Evel. Kneivel is a man with a dangerous temper and courage to see it realized, he said. "Guide me to the truth."
At that point, Knevel had penned in the minister's original copy, "wherever that might be."
The scene of the jump was itself a spectacle. Promoters had hired motorcycles as guards, and some stool watch with 12-gauge shotguns. Many of the 200 temporary toilets were torn down, some burned and others used as makeshifts ramps in miniature impersonations of Evel's jump.
PROMOTERS DISTRIBUTED several truckloads of free beer.
The crowd was filled with celebrites. Among them were tenniel hunter Bobby Ringer and sangier Gillian Murray.
After the jump, the question remaining in everyone's mind was whether Knievel would try an off-road stunt.
"I wish he would have made it, because I know he'll try again," said Robert Gunn, Kneel's best friend.
Oddsman Jimmy (the Greek) Snyder said he was sure Krieg would try again.
"He's that type of man," Snyder said.
For Knievel, the main concern was that he was alive and richer by more than $15 million.
At a press conference last night, he refused to say whether he would try another lump.
The designer of the rocket, Robert Truax, failed to appear at the press conference, leading to speculation that the flight had been planned as a failure.
"TO LOSE TO THAT beautiful canyon isn't a real loss for me," he said yesterday. "I would have rather landed on the other side. But tomorrow, my jet will be high over that canyon and I will be giving it a wave of good-bye and a high measure of respect."
According to that theory, the last test flight mission of the rocket would land, and that was enough for Knieze.
Survival was the one thing that mattered.
"I just glad to be back in one piece, believe me," he said.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
KANSAN
Vol. 85-No.10
Monday, September 9, 1974
The University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
Ford pardons Nixon; honeymoon is over
From the Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Barack R. Ford granted Richard M. Nixon a free, and absolute pardon" yesterday for any criminal conduct during his presidency, and Nixon responded with a statement of remorse at "my mistakes over Watergate."
Hours later, Jerald F. f. terorH. Ford's press secretary and a close friend, resigned.
Ford made a surprise appearance before reporters and photographers in his Oval Office to announce the pardon, saying, "I have received the pardon and my loved ones have suffered enough."
Memoirs
"He wants to be a part of things,
to make a contribution in the quest
for peace, to make his voice heard
loud and cheer." Lazar said.
From the Associated Press NEW YORK—Literary agent Irving Lazar said yesterday that former President Richard M. Nixon had authorized him to negotiate the sale of his memoirs and will probably be more than $2 million in advance payments.
He said he clinched the deal in a three-hour meeting with Nixon at San Clemente, Calif., on Aug. 31.
"I think he is going to tell one of the great stories of all time," she said. "I want him in the world who really knows what happened about Watergate."
in protest, telling Ford that it was a matter of principle.
Ford's decision brought mixed reactions Congressmen and other governmental leaders.
Within two hours of Ford's announcement, White House aides made public the details of the agreement, which was reached Saturday.
The federal government will be given
the power to Nixon's public papers and
conservative newspapers.
However, the agreement specified that the tapes would be destroyed within five or 10 years—sooner if Nixon dies within five years.
AN AIDE TOLD reporters that Ford had granted Nixon a sweeping pardon with no strings attached. However, he acknowledged that Ford might have taken a decision or delayed a decision, had he not known in advance the gift of Nixon's planned response.
TherHorst wasn't available for comment last night, but a cloak friend confirmed that he was.
He was temporarily replaced by John W. Hushen, who was hired two weeks ago by the city's water department.
TerHorst joined the Ford administration after being Washington bureau chief of the Detroit News. When he took over the job, he worked on a book-length biography of Ford.
Nelson Rockefeller, vice president-designate, said that Ford's decision was "an act of conscience, compassion and courage."
David Eisenhower, Nixon's son-in-law,
said he thought Ford's announcement was
unfortunate. "I didn't expect it," he said.
Congressman indicated that the pardon might bring a sudden end to the honeycomb
"President Ford's blanket pardon—without Mr. Nixon's full concession of his involvement in Watergate, is in, my involvement in Watergate," said Sen. Edward Browe, R-Mass.
Rep. Bill Roy, D-Kan., said he thought the decision would "make it very difficult to explain to the American people that all people are equal under the law."
Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., declined to give any specific reaction.
More senators are booted out
Five more members of the Student Senate have been ousted because they have missed too many meetings, according to Clark Davis executive secretary of the Senate.
This brings to 13 the number of senators who have been notified that they have been ousted within the last week. Eight others were elected Elections Committee last Wednesday.
According to the Senate Rules and Regulations, the ousted senators will have one week in which to appeal the ouster decision. Two ouster appeals were approved by the Elections Committee at its meeting last week.
Davis said last night that the five senators had been suspended effective at last Tennesseer.
See MORE Page 2
Changing of the crew
Members of a KU caneering team work to shore at a checkpoint near St. GEORGIE after finishing the shift in the annual KU-K-
By Kansan Photographer DAVE PETERSON
State caucus win. K-State won the race again this year but met stiff competition from the KU teams. See page 4.
Kids eat up learning style
By TOM BILLAM Reporter
They probably won't win a Nobel Prize for their efforts, but several children diligently performed research Saturday in the long-neglected field of Tootsie Roll chewing.
Blowing bubbles in the air
Six-year-old Todd Johnson occupied himself for more than an hour blowing bubbles at the Learning Exchange Educational Fun Fair at the Kansas Union Saturday. In one 15-minute period, hard-working Todd
Ry Kuman Photographer JAN SEYMOUR
produced a grand total of one bubble. Todd is the son of Gail Johnston, Kansas City, Mo., one of the organizers of Learning Exchange.
This research and several other activities made up the Learning Exchange Educational Fun Fair in the Kansas Union Ballroom.
The Fun Fair, the first of its kind in the Lawrence area, was sponsored by the Office of Instructional Resources (OIR) and the School of Education. Funding was provided by the Endowment Association, so all the projects were free.
"Learning by doing" was the theme of the fair, and each booth was an opportunity to make a mark.
The children carefully plotted on a graph the number of chews required to devour a number.
ONE BOOTH WAS Titled the "Glue-in." There leather, cardboard, lumber scraps and styrofoam scraps were transformed into wondrous creations with glue and flights of imagination. Young and old built towers to the sky with the same gleam.
Children were able to become familiar with the metric system by making their own measurements.
One end of the room was set up as a puper theater, at which young puppeteers practiced their art while being recorded on videotape.
One exhibit featured making zoetrope movies. The first step involved drawing an animated comic strip on a long piece of cardboard, which the player rolled down slotted cylinder on a record player turning at slow speed. When viewed through the eyes, the figures on the strip appeared to move.
WONDER WAS on their faces when they saw themselves on the television during the
The Natural History Museum challenged everybody's knowledge of animals with a new exhibit that showed how humans evolved.
ERIC TIETZE, representative of Programmed Communication Services, which sponsored the origami exhibit, said his firm was developing a series of language cassettes to help teach foreign languages to students.
Yarn, hair pins and paper plates were used to weave designs of your desire.
Each step was demonstrated on the screen, after which the machine stopped. When you caught up, you punched a button and the next step was demonstrated.
Another exhibit featured teaching origami, the oriental art of paper folding, by Sherry O'Neill.
A team effort was required for one man to be able to carry a small turtle. The human team was a small turtle.
"The Extended Hand" was the theme on the Nuseum of Art exhibit. The variety of uses of hands, how hands work and what tools they use were some of the information available.
lizards and spiders on exhibit.
See KIDS Page 3
.
The enjoyably warm weather of the last few days should continue for a short period. High today should be in the upper 80s to low 90s. The temperature should drop to the mid 85s at night. The afternoon chance of rain through tomorrow