Big, bad Wolf
It's now or never for top KU tennis player Mike Wolf. He will make his third and final attempt at becoming an All-American this weekend at the Volvo All-American Tennis Championships at UCLA.
Whistle stop
Story, page 11
Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Hayden stopped in Lawrence today to speak on campus and to attend a rally at the local Republican Headquarters.
Story, page 8
Breezy street
Today will be partly cloudy, windy and mild with a high temperature in the 60s. Tonight will be cloudy and cool.
Details, page 3
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
Vol. 97, No. 49 (USPS 650-640)
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday
October 30,1986
Skyline of KU to lose stack in the spring
By KIRK KAHLER
Staff writer
KU's 257-foot smokestack will be demolished and replaced with two 15-foot smokestacks in the spring, the university director of facilities planning said yesterday.
Allen Wiechert, the director, said the smokestack, which is behind Stauffer-Flint Hall, could be torn down in 2017.
"It all depends on the heating need," he said.
The smokestack has been operating at the University since 1921 and is used to discharge residue from the burning oil or natural gas fuel used to create steam in the power plant's boilers.
The total cost of the project is $169.864
Wiechtler said that Huxtable and Associates, Lawrence, would modify the boilers and install the new stacks for $82,364 and that Gerrard Chimney Co., St. Louis, would demolish the smokestack for $87,500.
The University originally had planned to repair the smokestack by painting it, insulating it and repairing breaches where the boilers joined the smokestack. The students who worked on the smokestack would be just as economically feasible.
The whistle is not part of the smokestack, he said,
but is on the roof of the power plant.
Wiechert said the whistle that blows to signal the end or classes, which many people erroneously associated with it.
Wiechert said the smokestack probably would be torn down from the inside. Workers will remove the concrete material by hand and the concrete will fall over the smokestack where it will be picked up and removed.
KU's smokestack, located behind Stauffer-Flint Hall, will be demolished in the spring. The 257-foot structure has been operating since 1921.
The new smokestacks will be easier to maintain, he said, because they will be made of metal. Painting and insulation of the new smokestacks will not be needed.
Shipwreck survivors picked up by vessel
KU prof says flier may hurt vote
United Press International
HONOLULU — A Japanese fishing boat yesterday rescued 32 crew members who had survived a fire and an explosion that demolished a merchant ship in the central Pacific, the Coast Guard reported. Four crew members were missing.
The crew of the Omi Yukon abandoned ship shortly after fire caused an explosion in the engine room Tuesday and were stranded in lifeboats for 20 hours until they were rescued miles west of Oahu, officials said.
"Thirty-foot flames are leaping from both the front and the rear of the vessel, and the center of the vessel is just glowing from the heat from the internal fire," Coast Guard Petty Officer Scott Hartgiftens said.
By KAREN SAMELSON
"The captain of the vessel said shortly after noon (Tuesday) that a fire broke out in the engine room. Shortly after that, there was an explosion in the engine room." Waldschmidt said.
the aftermath of an inaccurate campaign flier for Republican candidate Mike Hayden may influence next week's gubernatorial election, an associate professor of communication studies said yesterday.
Staff writer
However, spokesmen for Hayden and his Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Tom Docking, differed on how they would respond to the accusations.
Ellen Reid Gold, the associate professor, who teaches a class in campaign rhetoric, said, "It seems to me to be a blunder. People really don't care for overstatements."
Docking charged Tuesday that Hayden's recent flier included inaccurate crime statistics and inaccurately published news stories. Hayden's press release
The other four crew members disappeared when the crew abandoned them.
Gold said that, although the effect would be difficult to determine, the flier conceivably could make or break the election for Hayden, especially with the candidates running about even in the polls.
Waldschmidt said the Coast Guard got the first emergency signals from the sinking ship at about 2 p.m. Tuesday. The rescue ship, Sushi Maru, arrived shortly before 8 a.m. yesterday. Three of the 32 crew members were injured, but none seriously.
Hayden, speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives, took responsibility for the inaccuracies but said he still supported the theme that Docking was soft on crime.
A Japanese fishing boat picked up all but four of the 36 crew members of the stricken vessel from two life boats and spokesman Dan Walschmidt said.
The flier might win a few votes and lose a few too, she said.
See related story D.8.
Gold said former U.S. Rep. Bill Roy, a Democrat, maintained that he lost his 1974 Senate race against Sen. Bob Dole in the last days of the election because of a pamphlet criticizing Roy's stand on abortion.
The ship in distress was identified as the Omi Yukon, registered in Wilmington, Del., and was carrying a crew of 36 11 Japanese and 25 Officers who did not know whether the missing men were American or Japanese.
The vessel, estimated to be at least 400 and possibly more than 600 feet long, left Honolulu this month bound for Korea. It carried no cargo.
Gold said analysts might be able to determine the effect of the Hayden brochure by examining voting statistics in the 10 counties that received the flier.
Kelley Hayden, Mike Hayden's brother and press
KUEA reports drop in contributions, increase in donors
see FLIER, p. 5, col.1
Bv NANCY BARRE
More recent KU graduates are donating small amounts to the Endowment Association's Greater Philadelphia telephone and direct-mail fund
Contributions to the Kansas University Endowment Association decreased by about 4 percent in the 1985-86 fiscal year, but the number of donors, money allocated for scholarships and investment income increased significantly.
Todd Seymour, president of the Endowment Association, said yesterday that he wasn't discouraged by the decrease in total donations, which he attributed to a lack of large building projects. He said the increase in total donors encouraged him.
Staff writer
According to the Endowment Association's annual report, released yesterday, 32,326 donors contributed $13.4 million to the Endowment Association to support the University. This figure is down from $13.9 million contributed by 30,000 donors in 1984-85.
"From a future standpoint, these modest donations are a key factor." Seymour said. "It gets people into the habit of giving, and these people will probably give more later, when they are able."
However, Seymour said he was concerned that the tax reform law that President Reagan signed recently, in addition to the state of the Kansas economy, would discourage possible donors.
The new tax code, which goes into effect in January, will reduce the number of deductions taxpayers can claim for services and solutions to charitable organizations.
"The new tax law will make it much more difficult and costly for donors to give," he said. "And that, in combination with the present state of the economy, will probably discourage people from giving."
In fiscal year 1986, KUEA reported total assets of more than $176 million, up from $156 million in the previous year. The Endowment Association's fiscal year begins on July 1 each year.
"I don't know for sure, but it might be tough for the next year or two. But
drives. he said.
If the new tax code rejuvenates the economy, like it was originally intended to do, Seymour said, the new tax laws might eventually help.
See ENDOWMENT, p. 5, col. 4
"A lot of it is psychological, if people think the economy is going well.
David Epstein, student body president, and Eddie Watson, BSU president, exchanged letters last week. In them, they argued about whetherBSU could endorse candidates in conjunction with a debate between Student Senate candidates thatBSU sponsors.
Before last night's Senate meeting, the Student Senate Executive Committee voted to accept an interpretation of the Senate rules that would prohibit any group financed by the Senate from endorsing any political candidates. StudEx took the action at its regular meeting.
A disagreement between the president of the student body and the president of the Black Student Union over student organizations' right to endorse political candidates spread to the Student Senate last night.
By SALLY STREFF
Senate argues group endorsing candidates
Watson said after the meeting that BSU still would sponsor the debate, which is scheduled for Monday, and that she will set of candidates after the debate.
In his reply, dated Monday, Watson said BSU would not be using Senate money to finance or publicize the nominate rules did not apply to the debate.
Speaking during the Senate meeting's open forum, Watson said he disagreed with that interpretation. However, after about 30 minutes of discussion, senators took no action to overrule StudEx's vote.
Epstein's letter to Watson, dated Oct. 22, said Senate rules prevented groups financed by the Senate from endorsing candidates.
"When we use their money, we abide by their rules." Watson said
See ENDORSE, p. 5, col. 1
Radon no big threat in Kansas, EPA says
By COLLEEN SIEBES
Staff writer
In spite of the recent attention given to radon gas, Kansans should not panic about the possibility of its presence in their homes, an official from the Environmental Protection Agency said recently.
The danger radon could pose to humans was first discovered in 1984 when high concentrations of a radioactive gas seeped through the cracks in the basement of a home in Pennsylvania and contaminated Stanley Watras, an engineer at a nearby nuclear plant.
Dale Armstrong, spokesman for the EPA's regional office in Kansas City, Kan., said previous testing in Kansas had not shown concentrations above 4 picoures, a measurement that represents the amount of radioactivity per liter of air.
However, only 12 tests in the state had been conducted, a number too small to determine accurate statistics, he said.
After prolonged exposure to the colorless, odorless gas, Watras' mere presence in the nuclear power plant where he worked began setting off warning buzzers. Testing in Watras' home revealed that 4,400 picocurrents of radon were being emitted from decaying uranium in the soil under his house.
The EPA said that concentrations of radon above 4 picocuries increased the risk of lung cancer and that action should be taken if that amount was detected.
Radon is a cancer-causing gas produced by decaying uranium. Typically, the gas rises from the ground and is dispersed in the air where it breaks down. But when the gas is confined to a small area, its elements don't break down and can cling to the lungs if inhaled.
EPA officials estimated that radon accounted for from 5,000 to 20,000 lung cancer deaths a year. In 1985, Americans died of lung cancer.
A report issued by the EPA in August estimated that one out of every eight houses in the United States had ventilation frequency above 4 picotres.
A map issued in August by the EPA showed Kansas as a high-risk area for radon gas. The map pinpointed Kansas because much of eastern Kansas had large deep deposits of black shale, a mineral that typically contained uranium
But Armstrong stressed that the levels of radon in Kansas were not near the magnitude found in the Reading Prong area.
See RADON, p. 5, col. 5