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Coach: Marian Washington comments on her Olympic experience. Page 3B
Travels: Chancellor Hemenway attempts to tour all 105 Kansas counties. Page 3A
KS STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PO BOX 3585
TOPEKA, KS 66601-3585
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
NEWS 864-4810
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11.1997
SECTION A VOL. 103, NO. 151
ADVERTISING 864-4358
Missing girl's remains found in soybean field
SPRING HILL — Skeletal remains found in a soybean field have been identified as those of a 15-year-old girl, who has been missing since December.
The remains of Tawnya Knight of Spring Hill were identified through dental records, police said Monday.
The remains were spotted Saturday by farmer Robert Lynn as he was tilling his field for planting.
Investigators said Knight was last seen at a party Dec. 8, at a friend's house, which is less than a mile from where her remains were found.
Elizabeth Haney, who lives in the house, said that after the small party ended, Knight waited in vain for a friend to pick her up. Knight decided to walk to another friend's house at about 12:15 a.m. She never arrived.
Three days later, police publicly asked for help to find Knight. The search was halted when her uncle said the girl called him to report that she had run away from home but was fine.
Judge's conduct,words gets him kicked off bench
Donald Roberts, a village justice in Franklin County and former state police trooper, also told his clerk that an order of protection is "useless" and "foolish and unnecessary thing," according to the state Commission on Judicial Conduct.
ALBANY, N.Y. — A judge who told his clerk that every woman needed a good pounding every now and then was removed from office yesterday by a judicial conduct commission.
Robert's attorney, Peter Rupert, said he would fight the decision but would not comment further. The ruling can be appealed within 30 days to the state Court of Appeals, the state's highest court.
Calls to Roberts were not immediately returned yesterday. His term expires next April.
Last emperor's widow dies at 73 of lung cancer
(USPS 650-640)
Roberts, 52, made the comment in August 1994 after denying a protective order to Karyn Metz, whose husband was charged with assault after beating her.
BEIJING — Li Shuxian, widow of China's last emperor, has died of lung cancer at age 73. She died Monday in Beijing, the official Xinhua News Agency said in a one-sentence report yesterday.
Li, a commoner, married Alsingyoro Henry Puyi. Puyi abdicated the throne as a boy in 1912. He lived as an ordinary Chinese citizen after his release from a Russian re-education camp in 1959. Puyi died in 1967.
Puyi's life was depicted in The Last Emperor, the 1987 Bernardo Bertolucci film, which won nine Academy Awards.
He was born in Beijing on Feb. 7, 1906. He had just turned 6 when his family under pressure from Sun Yat-Sen's revolutionaries, abdi-
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OUT FROM THE ASHES
Photos by Gale Garber / KANSAN
Lawrence shops find themselves surviving the fire
By Mike Cole Kansan staff writer
Above: Sunflower Outdoor and Bike Shop is still under construction from a recent fire. The temporary satellite shop is located at 844 Massachusetts St. Right: Sunflower's store, along with others in the area, burned on Feb. 26., which caused many shops to relocate permenantly or until they can rebuild.
Downtown Lawrence businesses, disrupted by fire this past spring, plan to return to their improved original locations when renovations are completed.
A Feb. 26 fire destroyed several businesses and apartments on the northwest corner of the 800 block of New Hampshire and Massachusetts streets. The buildings are expected to be completely renovated by next fall.
The fire affected building facades on both Massachusetts and Eighth streets, Rob Hendon, Sunflower Outdoor and Bike Shop assistant manger, said the side of the building facing Massachusetts Street would be renovated to preserve a historical appearance.
Visions Optical, which sells sunglasses and eyeglass frames, temporarily relocated to 21 W. Ninth St.
T. J. Speckman, Visions Optical owner, said his store would return to its original location at 806 Massachusetts St. when construction was completed.
"Everything has been totally gutted," Speckman said.
Sunflower Outdoor and Bike Shop also moved. The temporary satellite store is located at 844 Massachusetts St. Like Visions Optical, the original Sunflower Outdoor and Bike Shop is being completely remodeled. But the cramped quarters of Sunflower's satellite store has caused some problems with merchandising.
The space in the satellite store is about one-third the size of the original space. Hendon said the satellite shop carried the same merchandise as the original store but more was hidden.
"It's kind of tight," Hendon said, "And we can't merchandise as well." '
Hendon said he expected the store to be in its old location by mid-fall. The newly remodeled store will feature a new facade and more space.
Hendon said Sunflower would use the apartment space to create a two-story mezzanine with skylights. The increased area will also allow the store to expand its inventory.
space previously occupied by apartments located above the store. Additional space will not only give Sunflower more room for merchandise, but will also create dramatic displays areas.
The remodeled store will utilize
"We can carry more merchandise and merchandise it better," Hendon said.
Director is appointed to advisory council
By Tom Winter Kansan staff writer
Sherwood Thompson, director of Minority Affairs, has been named one of seven members to Kansas' newly formed African-American Advisory Board. The board will be a resource for the Kansas Department of Human Resources.
Minority Affairs director Sherwood Thompson talks to Eric Daily, senior server, outside Strong Hall on Tuesday.
Thompson said he was concerned about how African Americans were perceived in Kansas.
So far, three members have been appointed to the volunteer committee, which will give African Americans an official voice in the state government, said Mike Matson, communications director for Gov. Bill Graves.
Thompson said he would like to see changes in health care, education, jobs and minority business ventures in the state. He also said he would like to see more African Americans in state agencies and legislative appointments.
Thompson also would like to work with the Board of Regents to establish college-community partnerships. Such programs would bring African-American junior high and high school students to college campuses during the summer to take classes and meet professors.
"When we educate and train the populous we give them significant opportunities to increase their quality of life." Thompson said.
Gregory Frost, program coordinator and satellite
"He wants to make the campus a place where students of color feel welcome," Frost said. "The leadership that he has provided to the University makes him an outstanding candidate to succeed in this position." Frost said.
counselor for the Health Careers Pathways Program, said that Thompson was an outstanding administrator who was student-sensitive and cared for his employees.
Two other appointments to the board have already been made by Graves. Those appointments are Ronald B. Cobb, director of housing
"They will bring strength, diverse skills and talents, which will enable them to do excellent jobs." Matson said.
management for the Kansas City, Kan., Housing Authority, and Leo Taylor, a member of the Kansas Parole Board.
The minority leader of the Kansas Senate, the minority leader of the Kansas House of Representatives, the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives will make up the remaining four appointments. The appointments will last three years.
Film places sixth at regional festival
Bv Tamara Miller
"I wanted to try film just to see if I could do it," Drain said. "It was either that or managing Wendy's."
Lawrence graduate student Steve Drain was just trying to get an education. But after earning a philosophy degree and trying law school, he still isn't finished.
Now a graduate student in film, he finally has found his calling. He created a 110-minute feature film that won first place in Saturday's Sixth Annual Kan Film Festival.
Kansan staff writer
Mike Gunter, technical and facilities manager of Oldfather Studio, said that the festival was the only one in the region and that it was aimed at college students. This year the festival had more student entries than before.
"It's great that people are trying to give us a creative outlet," Drain said.
Drain said that the Kan Film Festival provided an opportunity to test his film.
The film, To the Cuckoo's Calling, was written and produced by Drain and Rodney Hill. Lawrence graduate student. It is a romantic comedy about the experiences of a preacher's son from rural Kansas as he begins college.
Drain said the movie was a typical boy-meetsgirl story and that the film was based on his own experiences.
"I have discovered that I have a tendency toward films about average, normal people in average, normal situations," he said.
Many KU students who participated in the festival submitted class projects. However, Drain's worked on his project outside of class, and he encountered a few difficulties.
Hill and Drain began working on the film last summer and continued throughout the school year.
Hill began working on the film in Oldfather Studio but was forced out and had to complete half of his project in Chicago. Gunter said that the film department's goal was to make equipment accessible to all students in production classes and that Drain's project began to conflict with film classes.
Money and time presented other obstacles. The $50,000 budget was paid by Drain and others.
Judge frees man after 27 years locked behind bars
Black Panther claims to be political victim
The scene outside the Orange County Jail erupted less than two hours after Superior Court Judge Everett Dickey, who last month overturned Pratt's conviction, ordered him freed to await a decision on whether he will be retried.
"Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your fair and courageous ruling," said the 49-year-old Pratt in a husky voice as he stood before Dickey.
The Associated Press
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Amid cries of "Free at last!" former Black Panther Geronimo Pratt was released on bail yesterday after 27 years behind bars on murder charges he said were trumped up by the FBI during the turbulent '60s.
The courtroom was filled with many veterans of the activist 1960s, who had come to see the judge deal with one of the last pieces of unfinished business from the Black power movement.
Prosecutors are seeking to get the conviction reinstated. If they fail, they could retry Pratt, though they haven't said if they will.
Pratt was arrested in 1970 and charged with murdering school-teacher Caroline Olsen in a robbery on a Santa Monica tennis court in 1968. He was convicted in 1972 and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
Pratt insisted he was in Oakland at the time of the killing. He maintains he was railroaded for the killing as FBI and police sought to undermine the Black Panther movement in California. His defenders have long contended he was a victim of a political persecution campaign by J. Edgar Hoover.
Dickey overturned the conviction last month, ruling that prosecutors failed to tell the defense that the key witness against Pratt was an infiltrator and paid informant for the FBI and police. The witness had claimed Pratt confessed.
Pratt was rushed off in a van to get to the San Francisco Bay area in time for his 17-year-old daughter's high school graduation. She and her 14-year-old brother were conceived during conjugal visits Pratt had in prison.
Amid the chaotic scene outside court, Pratt's lawyer, Johnnie Cochran Jr., said, "This is a great day for justice in America." Former O.J. Simpson's lawyer represented Pratt at his trial and had said last year that he would not stop practicing law until Pratt was proven not guilty.
Eldridge Cleaver, the 61-year-old former minister of information for the Black Panthers, said Pratt's release and reversal of his conviction would help to solidify the party's reputation in history.
"We will be judged as having made a positive contribution," he said. "We stood up for freedom and justice.
"It's a matter of integrity. This is my Waterloo." Cochran said.
"It's madness in there," Pratt said after walking out of jail on $25,000 bail. "You have political prisoners on top of political prisoners. I'm only one of a great many that should be exposed, should be addressed."
Someone in the crowd stood up and screamed, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, he's free at last!"
"His legacy is one of endurance, of always saying no to the attempts to subvert him." Cleaver said of Pratt.
During the bail hearing, Pratt told the judge he was dedicated to trying to find out who killed Olsen and promised not to flee.
"I assure you that if there are any further proceedings I'll be the first one here," he said. "You can be assured I will adhere to any rule the court orders me to follow and that's my word as a Vietnam vet and a man."
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