Demonstrators Acquitted by District Court
By Joan McCabe
Three civil rights demonstrators were found innocent yesterday in district court of charges of disturbing the peace in a sit-in demonstration in Strong Hall March 8.
The three are Walter Bgoyla, Ngara, Tanzania, senior; Pamela Smith, Kansas City, and Elbert Rinkle, Scott City, both former KU students. They were among 110 demonstrators arrested when they refused to leave the second floor of Strong Hall and the office of Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe following an eight-hour sit-in.
THE JURY, which included two Negroes, returned the verdict after about three-hours deliberation yesterday. District Court Judge Frank R. Gray presided.
Trials for 15 other demonstrators, who with Bgoya, Rinkle and Miss Smith, were arbitrarily singled out for district court trials, have not been scheduled. County court trials for the other 95 demonstrators are scheduled to begin June 14
Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe
and Ralph King, Douglas county attorney, would make no comment this morning on the acquittal of the three demonstrators. King, asked if he would drop charges against the other demonstrators, replied, "No comment."
THE TRIAL for the three demonstrators began Monday. Witnesses for the prosecution included Chancellor Wescoe, Keith Lawton, vice chancellor for operations, Laurence C. Woodruff, dean of students, and E. P. Mooam, chief of traffic and security. Several secretaries from the Chancellor's office also testified Monday.
The defense was to present witnesses yesterday, but instead discharged all its witnesses, and limited its defense to the closing arguments. Attorneys for the defense were Chester I. Lewis, Wichita, and Fred Phelps, Topeka.
Each side was allowed 30 minutes yesterday to make its closing arguments. County attorney King divided the time allotted the prosecution into two 15-minute segments to enable him to exercise the right of the state to make
the first and last statements to the jury. This also enabled King to speak both before and after the defense made closing arguments.
King said first that with the demonstrators seated in the Chancellor's office and in the hallway, "there was not a wide space in the office for ingress as stated by the defense."
King continued, stating, that "the demonstrators did try to enter the private office of the Chancellor and that the Chancellor asked his secretaries if they were all right rather than if the peace was being disturbed.
"THERE WAS NOT a good repartee between the Chancellor and the students. The conversation ended with comments that there would be a sit-in and that the students must be carried out of his office.
Phelps, in giving closing arguments for the defense, said, "There is nothing in the law about the aisles or the corridor. The defendants are not charged with being unreasonable, they are charged with the crime of disturbing the
peace, which constitutes conduct by one person toward another which puts such person in fear of bodily harm. None of the witnesses stated that he or she was in fear of bodily harm."
Lewis, in closing statements, said, "Interestingly enough, not once did Mr. King refer to the law in his statement. He cannot talk about the law because he will be asking you (the jury) to bring back a vote of acquittal for these three individuals.
"The TRAGEDY of this is that we should not be here. No one in the chancellor's office signed a complaint. The charges were made by the county attorney and that is the reason we are here today. Staying in the office after 5 p.m. is not a crime.
"We are not here to determine whether someone was unreasonable, we are here to determine whether these students are guilty of the crime as charged and I submit that the state has not proven this."
"IF STUDENTS were not concerned with the social issues of
our day, affairs would be in a sad state," Lewis said.
Lewis ended his statement with a quote from Lorraine Hansberry's play, "A Raisin in the Sun", "What happens to a dream deferred?" it dries up like a raisin in the sun."
Lewis concluded "A conviction in this case would dry up the dreams of these three young persons permanently like a raisin in the sun."
Prosecutor King in his final statement to the jury charged that the defense had not dealt with the facts of the case. "The defendants said their mouthful and then some," he said. "They used abusive language and also threats or conduct to coerce or to intimidate."
"What you decide," King admonished the jury, "will determine whether these students lead at the head of a mob."
Judge Gray, in his instructions to the jury, said they must determine that the student defendants caused fear or apprehension of bodily harm to involved persons in order to convict them.
Forum on Building Gets ASC Support
By Jim Sullinger
A resolution supporting a proposed symposium to discuss future construction plans at KU was passed last night by the All Student Council (ASC).
The symposium was created by representatives from the School of Architecture and though supported by it, will not be an ASC function.
Jon Putnam, Leawood junior and ASC representative from large men's residence halls, said noted architects would be invited to attend the symposium to evaluate the university's long range construction plans and offer suggestions to improve them.
The findings of a special ASC committee which examined the construction of new Fraser Hall were presented by Jeffrey Irving, Leonia, N.J., graduate student.
THIS COMMITTEE met Sunday with James Canole, state architect, and Keith Lawton, vice chancellor of operations, in a four hour conference.
Irving said that in 1962 a KU master plan was introduced with considerations extending from immediately after World War II.
According to this plan, Irving said the main emphasis is on developing special educational needs and classroom space is a secondary consideration.
ANOTHER RESOLUTION passed by the ASC would bring the ASC treasurer and University Daily Kansan Board members together in discussions toward solving UDK financial losses which have resulted from ASC Bill No. 7. This bill on human rights prohibits the UDK from printing advertising from sources known to discriminate.
HOOT AND HOLLER—David Vargas, Costa Rica sophomore, and Russ May, Leawood senior, performed at the last Hoot and Holler sponsored by radio station KUOK this year. This week's program was presented at Battenfeld Hall. (See story on page 6)
Daily hansan
62nd Year, No.139
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
Air Strikes Continue in North; Paratroopers Seek Viet Cong
SAIGON — (UPI) — Forty U.S. Navy planes bombed targets in North Viet Nam today in another raid that underscored American determination to press on with the air war against the Hanoi regime.
It was the second consecutive day of air strikes on North Vietnamese territory following a six-day pause to watch for signs of Communist readiness to negotiate a settlement.
In South Viet Nam, a large force of U.S. Army paratroopers swept through the Vietnamese countryside today in an area known to be crawling with Communist guerrillas.
Weather
VIETNAMESE dive-bomber attacks killed an estimated 85 Viet Cong Tuesday night in a raid that resulted from the spotting of a Communist company by a U.S. observation pilot. The attack took place about 100 miles east of Saigon.
Officials announced, meanwhile, that last week's Viet Cong attacks were the heaviest of the year, killing or wounding 1,020 Vietnamese soldiers and 67 Americans. Viet Cong losses were set at 776 killed or captured.
Today's air raid inflicted "severe damage" on military barracks and a military radio station, according to an American spokesman.
Pilots said they encountered only light anti-aircraft fire. No enemy aircraft were sighted and all planes returned safely to the Coral Sea
THE SPOKESMAN said a separate strike on the Chanh Ho region, near Hoan Lo, destroyed a power house, damaged another building and left the administration building in flames.
Navy pilots operating from the aircraft carrier Coral Sea reported three buildings destroyed and the supply area heavily damaged in an attack on barracks at Hoan Lo, about 40 miles north of the border with the South Viet Nam.
A total of 50 tons of bombs and rockets were dumped on the two targets.
Wednesday, May 19, 1965
Partly cloudy skies and light, variable winds are predicted for tonight, with a low in the mid 50's.
Tomorrow's weather will be generally fair and warmer, the weather bureau predicted.
from the 45-minute raid, the spokesman said.
The operation by the American paratroopers was the first of the war for the 173rd Airborne Brigade, a combat-ready unit which arrived in South Viet Nam earlier this month to guard air bases near Saigon.
THE HELICOPTER airlift was officially billed as a training exercise, but there was no guarantee that it would not develop into a clash with the Viet Cong.
Although exact details were shrouded by military secrecy, it was disclosed that hundreds of paratroopers were involved and that the landing zone was many miles from the Bien Hoa air base—the brigade's headquarters.
A spokesman said the paratroopers will march back to Bien Hoa on foot, fighting their way through Viet Cong positions if necessary.
A spokesman said the action was the brigade's first full-scale "air mobile" operation. The 3,500-man unit is assigned to security duty at the Bien Hoa base 15 miles northeast of Saigon and the Vung Tau airstrip 40 miles southeast of the capital.
BOTH BIEN HOA and Vung Tau are already well defended by the South Vietnamese army, a fact which has led to wide-spread reports that the paratroopers are prepared to switch from security duties to regular combat action against the Communists.
Today's training operation was viewed as a sort of baptism by fire for the American troops.
In Saigon, intelligence officers reviewing Tuesday's air raid against North Viet Nam said U.S. Navy planes destroyed 90 per cent of the military barracks surrounding an oil depot and damaged all of its petroleum storage tanks.
The United States had only yesterday resumed its air strikes against North Viet Nam. The attacks were the first against the Communist Viet Cong in six days. No explanation was given by Washington for the resumption.
The lull was thought to be a "listening" period, while the U.S. awaited possible Communist negotiation offers. The Pentagon, however, had insisted that the stopping of attacks represented an ordinary tactical pause.
Air Force Announces Missile Modification
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—(UPI)—The Air Force today announced a $1 billion program for modernizing its entire force of Minuteman intercontinental missiles, to give them more range, great nuclear payloads and increased accuracy.
It was announced that all presently operational or planned Minuteman I missiles will be replaced with the bigger and more powerful Minuteman II models.
THUS THE ENTIRE force of 1,000 eventually will be of the Minuteman II model.
It previously had been disclosed that there would be 200 Minutean II models, 150 at Grand Forks AFB, N.D., where construction is underway, and 50 at Malmstrom AFB, Great Falls, Mont.
TODAY'S ANNOUNCEMENT meant that in addition to the original plan for 200 of the advanced versions the Air Force now will replace the 600 Minuteman I missiles already operational and the 200 scheduled to go into operation at Warren AFB, Cheyenne, Wyo., this summer.
The announcement was made at the Aviation Space Writers Association annual meeting.