THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
80th Year, No.123
The University of Kansas—Lawrence, Kansas
Tuesday, April 28, 1970
UDK News Roundup
By United Press International
Soviet enact pollution law
MOSCOW—The Soviet Union published a new anti-pollution law Monday that gives authorities the right to shut down any factory, mill, farm or river boat that fouls the water.
In a drive to halt the threat of a "silent spring," authorities have launched a propaganda campaign against misuse of water supplies and slapped heavy fines and probationary sentences on executives of polluting factories.
Inquest made public
BOSTON—Documents from the secret inquest into the death of Mary Jo Kopechne will be released Wednesday afternoon, nine months after the blonde secretary died in a midnight auto accident involving Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.
What the public will get a chance to see are two documents—the 764-page transcript of testimony and the 12-page report of inquest Judge James A. Boyle of the Edgartown District Court, where the closed-door investigation ended Jan. 8.
Strike intervention urged
A fresh appeal was made to the White House Monday to intervene in the violence spotted wildcat strikes of truck drivers amid signs the walkouts are taking a toll on the nation's economy.
The Dayton, Ohio, Chamber of Commerce sent President Nixon and other federal officials telegrams warning "a chain reaction is setting in from the strike, bringing on an acute shortage of goods and services."
Cleveland Mayor Cari Stokes said Nixon had not replied to his appeal, made last week, asking White House intervention.
Strikes threaten reform
WASHINGTON—The House Post Office Committee today starts drafting a new postal reform bill as two independent union leaders threaten another round of postal strikes if the Nixon administration's reform bill is enacted.
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Committeetudies schools
WASHINGTON (UPI)一A Senate committee studying school segregation problems was told Monday that American schools are so bad they're hardly worth integrating.
Charles E. Brown, a former junior high school teacher who served eight years as school superintendent in Newton, Mass., said grades are "idiotic," and that schools rule most children by fear and stifle their minds.
"The entire system must be changed," Brown told the Senate's new Select Committee on Equal Educational Opportunity. "Rather than seeking equality in terms of . . . expenditures, class size, college placement, etc., we must learn to seek equality in new terms, in human terms, such as respect, dignity, trust, humanity, freedom, responsibility, integrity, joy, authenticity, compassion, empathy, tenderness and love."
"We might be going aground here," said Sen. Edward W. Brooke, R-Mass., a strong proponent of school integration. He suggested that Brown perhaps picked the wrong committee. Brown is now a program officer for the Ford Foundation.
"I am intrigued, disturbed and appalled a bit by the statements of the witness," said Sen. John L. McClellan, D-Ark., an opponent of compulsory integration. He shook his head at Brown. "You go off in such long tangents," McClellan said, "I can't get a concrete answer from you."
"I anticipated I was going to get in trouble with this testimony," replied Brown, nervously puffing a cigarette. He acknowledged his ideas sounded like "soft words and loose concepts."
"But we are not going to approach equal educational opportunity until we face these problems," he said.
Arrest made for ROTC fire
After several hours of deliberation Monday morning, a statement was finally released naming a University janitor as the person allegedly responsible for setting a blaze in the Military Science Building April 23.
Douglas County Attorney Dan Young said that Howard Dean Decker, 24, employed in the Building and Grounds department was arrested at noon Monday on charges of second-degree arson. Bond was set at $25,000.
The ROTC fire, one of a series of small blazes which followed a $2 million fire at the Student Union Building Monday night, April 20, caused an estimated $500 damage.
Decker of 912 Tenn., had been an employee of the Buildings and Grounds department since April 18, 1968.
Officials theorize that Decker took corrugated cardboard, wood and target cloth and set them ablaze with a flammable liquid of some sort in the middle of the building's basement.
Sen, Mark O. Hatfield, R-Ore., said his experience as a father of three made him doubt that teachers, administrators or "the system" make students live in fear.
"The greatest fear my children bring home is not from the teachers or the administrators but from their fellow students, demanding conformity in styles and fads, in dress and hairdos—a cruel conformity," Hatfield said.
Sen. Walter F. Mondale, D-Minn., committee chairman, came to Brown's defense. "You're saying that it's not simply enough to look at a racial mixing process," Mondale said. "Otherwise children who are failing now will continue to fail."
Photo by Randy Leffingwell
Hair gets in your eyes...
The KU student body can be assured that spring has sprung. The wind is whipping up, around and over the Hill. The girl-watchers delight in the flying skirts and blowing hair that goes along with the spring phenomena on the Hill of the Wind.
Union renewal soon to begin
The state Fire Marshal Arthur Ramey announced Monday that the evidence had established the fire in the Kansas Union on April 20 was started by flammable liquid.
He said the physical and laboratory evidence established that a flammable petroleum product was used to start the fire, which destroyed the roof and the top floor of the old section.
Reconstruction of the Union might begin in two months, said Frank Burge. Union director. The complicated task of remodeling the structure will be completed, hopefully before 1972. Burge added.
No exact figure has been reached as to the extent of damage, however state
architect William Hale, said it would be in excess of $2 million.
The state architect said some areas are still wet, and this is one reason a formal estimate of the damage can't be reached. Some Union equipment must still be checked to be sure of the exact damage, he added.
The damage is almost entirely covered by insurance, because a private corporation operated the Union building. Burge said.
As soon as potential hazards to workmen in the roof trusses and other damaged parts have been found and eliminated, construction would begin on a temporary roof to prevent further weather damage. Hale said.
Because three entities are concerned
—KU. the state and Memorial Union Corp.-special procedures must be taken in handling reconstruction.
A request for guidelines to help alleviate bottlenecks over jurisdiction will be considered by the Kansas Board of Regents, said Hale.
Undamaged facilities have been under reorganization, Burge said. The usable sections of the Union are already being used for conferences by historians, sculptors and social workers.
A team has been organized to speed progress on construction Burge said, and as soon as this team completes a report on the situation, state officials will start on the rebuilding job. B. A. Green Construction Co. began the removal of the debris Friday, and will construct the temporary roof.
After a preliminary inspection of the damaged portion of the Union, Hale said the completion date on the reconstruction would be 1972.
Another Union spokesman said the main portion of the Union—the English Room, the Pine Room and the Ballroom—wouldn't be finished for 23 months.
Temporary quarters have been set up for the rescheduling of Union activities. Most activities have been rescheduled within the Union itself, the spokesman said. With the re-shifting the Union can accommodate almost everything except Ballroom activities and some food functions, he added.
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