The University Daily
University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
KANSAN
Thursday, October 7,1982 Vol.93,No.34 USPS 650-640
Jury finds Boan guilty of Med Center murders
By VICKY WILT Staff Reporter
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Bradley Bonn was found guilty yesterday morning of first-degree murder for the March 1981 shootings deaths of four students in an emergency room of the University of Kansas.
At 11:30 a.m., the seven-man, five-woman jury
atled 4:1-4 1/2 hours of deliberations and returned
the verdict.
Boan, 32, was also found guilty of three counts of aggravated assault — two on police officers and one on the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Turner in Kansas City, Kan.
A PICTURE showing Bean's gun hidden behind the Christmas tree in his parents' home was the determining factor in the jury's guilty verdict, Vincent Franklin, jspokesman, said.
The vote on whether Boan was guilty was 11-1 in favor of the prosecution when the jury adjourned Tuesday afternoon, Franklin said. It was a half-hour before the jury delivered the verdict.
He said the picture convinced the dissenting juror that Boan would not have tried to hide the shotgun if he thought what he was doing was right.
BOAN SAT CALMLY as the jurors were asked if the verdict represented their decision. When asked by reporters to give his opinion of the verdict, Boan smiled.
"I have no comment," he said.
Jay Vader, defense attorney, said he was certain there would be an appeal and that he wanted to get it.
Boan will be kept in the Wyandotte County Jail until an appeal has been made and heard,
then until he is sentenced, District Court Judge William Mahoney said.
Franklin said reaching the decision was not easy. The jurors were instructed to follow the MacNaughton Rules, which are based on the law of fraud and wrongdoing from wrong at the time a crime is committed.
JURY MEMBERS first took one offense at a time, Franklin said. They unanimously agreed that Boan was guilty of the assault on Kansas City, Kan. police officer Terry Mast at the Med
Franklin said the jury was not sure in the beginning whether Boan was sane on March 20, 1981, when he killed Marc Beck, a second-year resident at the Med Center, and Ruth Rhylot, a visitor in the emergency room. But he said everybody agreed that Boan knew what he was doing when he saw the police officer in the emergency room.
Franklin said that the controversial decision which found presidential assailant John W. Hinkley not guilty by reason of sanity was mentioned once during deliberations, and that he would have to decide whether he would decide this case, not the Hinkley case. He said the Hinkley case was not mentioned again.
WYANDOTTE COUNTY prosecuting attorney
Nick Tomasic said the jury made the pro-
prize worth $175,000.
"They didn't buy the psychiatric testimony — especially the one (psychiatrist) that saw Boen once 18 months after the crime," he said. "They went through that they were professional testifies."
Patricia Richwine, Boan's mother, said her son did not have psychiatric problems until his early 25. One psychiatrist testified that Boan had suffered psychiatric problems all his life.
Tax options highlight debate
Bv BRUCE SCHREINER
Staff Reporter
The two major gubernatorial candidates took off their gloves halfway through last night's five-man gubernatorial debate, sparring repeatedly over taxation policies that continue to grow in magnitude as the state's treasury continues to dwindle.
HARDAGE fired the evening's first stinging salvo by accusing Carlin of placing the state's budgetary well-being solely on a severance tax on oil and natural gas. The Wichita Republican warned that the severance tax, which died in the Kansas Legislature during the last two sessions,
All five gubernatorial candidates — Democratic incumbent John Carlin, Republican Sam Hardgey, American Party candidate Frank Shelton, Libertarian candidate James Ward and Prohibitionist candidate Warren Martin — will be sponsored by Topeka television station WIBW.
was destined to falter again under legislative scrutiny.
Hardage said a severance wage would put an unfair burden on a single industry. "I think the severance tax makes economic nonsense for Kansas," he said. "I understand some 45 percent of oil rigs are down and we have the highest unemployment since 1971, so it does make any sense to add to unemployment when we have that high of unemployment I don't think so."
CARLIN, who has been the chief proponent of the mineral production tax, defended the tax by calling it the best alternative to finance growing needs in education and highways.
Carlin said the severance tax would not smother the oil industry and would keep it from imposing a new burden on property owners. He also said he never projected to raise about $120 million annually.
The three other candidates were also split on the controversial several tax.
Martin said that the mineral tax was an issue in 1858 when he run for governor, and that he
A combine cut a swath through a Kansas wheat field near Kiowa during last year's harvest.
Candidates delineate issues in TV gubernatorial debate
By JULIE HEABERLIN
Staff Reporter
OPEN-A - In the conference room of the
Gov. John Carlin's wife, notably tense, heaved a deep sigh.
TOPEKA — in the conference form of the WIBW television station, candidates wives and children remain waiting for the beginning of the first debate between all five gubernatorial candidates.
"I THINK the debate was the clearest delineation of the issues yet," Bill Hoch, press secretary for Carlin, said at the end of the hour-long tapping session.
Two wives of third-party candidates sat together on a couch near the viewing screen. One lift a cigarette. The other drummed her fingers nervously.
But Dave Matthews, campaign manager for Republican Sam Hardage, said that he was equally pleased with Hardage's performance and that he had no alternative to the severance tax.
pation as exchanged looks and muffled laughter cheered each point that was considered a score
"I couldn't help but notice that Hardage is getting just a little more personal. I think that's
But when the five-member forum flashed on the viewing screen, tension melted into partici-
See PREPARE page 5
Wall Street Journal reports on toxin Scab-wheat story riles officials
By BONAR MENNINGER Staff Reporter
A windstorm in a drinking glass.
That is how David Fry of the Kansas Wheat Commission described the shifting clouds of misunderstanding that have shrouded international wheat markets since June, when a fungus problem was discovered in the 1982 winter wheat baryvest.
In a study of the problem released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, some of the facts and rumors surrounding the controversy were clarified.
Experts hope the study will put an end to the misunderstanding that began with early — and what they viewed as erroneously alarming — the fact that they were particularly the prestigious Wall Street Journal.
AN ARTICLE appeared July 15 in that paper under the headline, "Some of U.S. Winter Wheat Harvest Is Poisonous, Midwest Specialists Find."
The article stated in part, "The fungus, (expresses say) has produced two types of toxins in levels far above what is considered acceptable for human and animal consumption."
"The statement that part of the winter wheat crop may be poisonous is a drastic overstatement. The problem was more or less sensationalized in the Wall Street Journal. Of
Tim Ovitt, director of Market Analysis for the U.S. Wheat Associates in Washington, D.C., discussed the market impact of the misinformation that was in the article.
course, that is not one of our leading agricultural periodicals," Ovitt said.
"However, the same day it hit the streets of Washington and Lawrence, Kan., it also was on the run in Miami and Singapore. Right away you're deep in a hole and you're trying to get back to even."
EWESTERDAY'S REPORT by the Agricultural Research Service branch of the USDA concluded that the fungus, called Fusarium, affected less wheat than hard red winter wheat crop in the United States.
A study of 180 kernel samples from eastern Kansas and Nebraska also revealed that one of the microtoxins, called vomitoxin, which can be produced by the fungus, was present in only some of the wheat examined. The report did not mention the second toxin the Journal referred to, zearalenone, which experts have said was found in significant quantities in Kansas wheat.
The USDA study said that vomitoxin levels in U3, wheat grades one and two averaged 0.77 percent of the population.
Still, maximum amounts of the microtoxin admissible into the food chain, according to the Food and Drug Administration, are 1.0 parts per million for wheat products for human consumption. And wheat entering the milling process is allowed to have 2.0 parts per million. The FDA set the maximum level in animal feeds at 10 parts per million.
EXPERTS ARGUED that the article in the Wall Street Journal implied that all the fungus-affected wheat had produced the microtoxin, and that the problem was considerably
more extensive than the government study later revealed.
The article implied that the wheat scab, as the fungus is also called, affected one-third of the wheat acreage in Kansas. Yields in some fields, the story said, were down as much as 50 percent.
In fact, total grade defects in Kansas wheat are down this year from last, from 2.2 percent to 1.6 percent. In the Kansas Wheat Quality Report from the Crop and Livestock Reporting Service.
An official from the Journal said the paper had received no complaints about the story.
WHEN WHEAT SCAB surfaced in early samples of wheat, wheat specialists were able to eradicate the weed.
The fungus was something they had seen before. This season, however, the problem was more evident than in previous years because of the increase in the number in some of the wheat-growing areas last spring.
In a newsletter from the Kansas State University Extension Service, dated June 23, plant pathologist William Willis made these facts known. He also said that, to his knowledge, at that time there was no documentation of any toxin in any of the fungus-affected Kansas wheat.
But whether or not the vomitoxins were there, he also stated at the time that he could find no toxins in the wheat that were causing problems in food, either for animals or humans.
THE NEWSLETTER said that most of the affected kernels of wheat were lighter than normal and tended to blow out the back of the
Five finalists chosen for senior HOPE award
The field of 10 semifinalists has been narrowed to five finalists for the Honor for the Outstanding Progressive Educator award by seniors who voted in HOPE elections yesterday and Tuesday.
chanical engineering; and Louis Michel, professor of architecture.
THE FIVE HOPE finalists are Timothy Bentgston, associate professor of journalism; Clark Bricker, professor of chemistry; Joyce Porter, professor of chemistry; therapy; Edward McBride, professor of me-
HOPE co-chairman Lindsey Welch said yesterday that 493 seniors voted. "We're very excited about the turnout. We could have had more but it rained, and we moved the booths inside. When it was sprinkling, people wouldn't vote. They just kept on walking," she said.
About 250 seniors voted in the first elections, which took place Sept. 21 and 22.
THE FINAL VOTE will be on Oct. 19 and 20, and the winner will be announced Oct. 30 at the University of Kansas-Nebraska football game
The winner will have his name engraved on a permanent plaque in the Kansas Union. McBride has won the award once and Bricker has won three times.
Animals prowling stadium pose problems
About 15 abandoned cats, such as this black kitten, have taken up residence inside Memorial Stadium. No one wants to take responsibility for the stray animals, but workers leave trays of old food for them to eat. The stadium also is prowled by opossums and skunks.
Cats, skunks and opossums lurk deep in the bowels of KU's Memorial Stadium, workers at the stadium said yesterday.
Fifteen different cats could be seen yesterday, nonchallantly walking the corridor under the
By DARRELL PRESTON Staff Reporter
None of the groups that work in the stadium would claim responsibility for the creatures, and would have to wait.
"They're down there because students with a living toy got rid of them. Students abandon their cats down there when they go home." Forrest said yesterday. Union vendening services manager, said yesterday.
"I DON'T WANT the stadium to become an animal dump. Students don't want to have their animals put to sleep, so they dump them here. They should be, someone will have to do something about them."
"Who is going to be the one who drops the trap door on the gallows — who is going to call the animal control people to have these animals taken away?"
The Kansas Union vending services, the KU athletic department maintenance crews and facilities operations crews have offices and storage facilities under the stadium, said Floyd Temple, assistant athletic director for facilities maintenance.
"They don't really bother our area. The food people take care of them, but the stadium is under the control of the athletic department," Anderson said.
"I will say that they keep the rodents down," he said. "There were times when a cat odor — like a vomit — was detected."
"I do know there are cats there, and we have problems with their leavings." Temple said. "I would like to not have them, but it's not my area of responsibility.
"I'm not a cat hater, but I don't like that many
I'm around one area. The areas where the cats are
around me."
The biggest problem with the cats, workers said, were the fleas associated with the animals.
TOM ANDERSON, director of facilities operations, said he was not sure who had been shot.
maintenance employee, said See CAT page 5
Weather
Today will be sunny with a high in the low to mid-70s and there will be southerly winds 10 to 15 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
Tonight will be partly cloudy with a low around 50.
Tomorrow will be partly cloudy with a high in the upper 70s to 80.