THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2011
PAGE 3
STATE
Scientists say fossil is likely a new dino
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two Kansas fossil hunters say they think they found something new while digging in Montana.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jim Kirkland, a state paleontologist at the Utah Geological Survey, has examined photos of the fossil that Robert and Alan Dettrich are uncovering and said it looks like a new type of ankylosaur. The low-slung heavily armored dinosaurs lived around 65 million years ago and munched on plants.
"This thing is worthy of note. There is no doubt about it," said Kirkland, who specializes in ankylosaurs. "In my mind it's clearly a new one."
The brothers have been digging since May in a fossil-rich area near the town of Jordan. They've uncovered the ankylosaur fossil's skull, part of its leg, ribs, armored plates and some vertebrae.
Kirkland said it appears the creature measured about 30 feet long before its death, making it the biggest ankylosaur he had ever seen. He said typical ankylosaurs were 16 feet long, with one type, the ankylosaurus, measuring 20 feet.
“It’s huge,” said Robert Detrich, who discovered the fossil. “It’s bigger than any of the specialists have seen so far. It’s got everybody pretty excited.”
Kirkland and the Detrich brothers hope a person or institution will step forward to buy the fossil for a museum, which would allow for further study to determine if it is indeed unique. The effort would involve cleaning the fossil and comparing it against related animals to make sure it isn't just a variation of a previously discovered dinosaur.
Public display in a museum would also allow the brothers to seek naming rights should the fossil prove to be a first. Robert Detrich said, if given the opportunity, he would like to call it "enormasaurus" in honor of his late mother Norma.
"It's exciting," Robert Detrich said. "It really is. When he came back and said it's pretty clearly a new genus, and these guys write papers on ankylosaures so they know their stuff."
Robert Detrich, who is from Wichita, and his brother, who lives in Lawrence, plan to return to Kansas in about three weeks.
1-70
Officials defend investigation
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A phoned-in threat to a local motel and anti-government statements scrawled across a pickup truck prompted Kansas officials to shut down a 25-mile stretch of heavily traveled Interstate 70 west of Topeka for more than nine hours Monday.
Nothing dangerous was found in either the motel or the pickup driven by Christopher Spence, 50, of Conway, Ark., but a Kansas Highway Patrol spokesman said investigators had no way of knowing that without taking a closer look.
"You are in a situation that if it came back negative on both the motel room and the vehicle, it seemed like a waste of time," said Highway Patrol Capt. Steven Zeller. "On the other side of it, if we had an explosion or release of hazardous materials into the atmosphere and exposed motorists driving by, that would be horrendous. We decided to err on the side of public safety."
The incident began midmorning Monday after someone called 911 and said hazardous materials had been placed in a room at the Rama-
da Inn in Junction City, and that the FBI should be called. The motel was evacuated while fire and hazardous material crews investigated.
Soon after police issued a description of a suspect and vehicle, a Highway Patrol trooper stopped a pickup truck on I-70 west of Topeka. Spence, who was driving the truck, was returned to Junction City for questioning, while the interstate was closed in both directions to keep other vehicles away as authorities prepared to inspect the vehicle.
"We received information, troopers made the stop and we went from there," Zeller said. "We couldn't take a chance on the safety of the motoring public going by that vehicle with the indicators we had."
He said the writing on the pickup truck contributed to the extra caution by investigators.
"One comment written on the vehicle led us to believe it could be a deadly situation," Zeller said, without going into further detail.
The interstate was closed from around 1:15 p.m. and reopened around 10:30 p.m. after investigators with the Highway Patrol, FBI and other agencies determined
there was nothing dangerous in Spence's vehicle.
He was being held on $100,000 bond after being charged with aggravated criminal threat. His case has been assigned to the public defender's office in Junction City, which declined to comment Tuesday when contacted by The Associated Press.
Junction City Police Chief Tim Brown said in a news release that no motive for the threat had been determined.
Kimberly Qualls, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Transportation, said there were no major problems associated with detouring traffic from the four-lane interstate and onto state highways that in some cases ran through towns with speed limits of 20 mph.
She said the detour added about 45 minutes to the average travel time through that section of the state.
"If we have citizens look at what is happening across the world, they should appreciate the extra steps taken to ensure the safety of everyone like we did yesterday," Qualls said.