SINCE 1889
Setting the stage
Guthrie expects Dickens plot to make play a success
See page 6
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, JAN 30, 1986, VOL. 96, NO. 86 (USPS 650-640)
Windy
Details page 3
Officers shot reeling rocket
United Press International
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Quick-acting Air Force safety of fliers destroyed one of Challenger's booster rockets after it emerged from the fireball around the shuttle and careened wildly toward the heavily populated Florida coast, the National Space and Aeronautics Administration reported yesterday.
See related stories p.2, 3.1
Disclosure of the "destruct" radio command to blow up the 149-foot rocket came as space detectives across the nation searched for clues to the disaster that killed teacher Christa McAuliffe and six crewmates.
The agency also disclosed that although all data that was being
monitored looked good up to the point of the explosion, controllers in Houston did not keep tabs on conditions in the giant external fuel tank that blew up with the force of 1.6 million pounds of TNT.
"The data we look at in the control room is limited to that which is operationally significant, that which we can do something about," said flight director Jay Greene.
“Obviously, the external tank temps would be very nice to have right now, but operationally we have no use for it so we don't display it.”
Frame-by-frame analysis of videootes of Tuesday's explosion revealed a small orange flame near the bottom of Challenger's big tank
Then, one-third of a second later, a larger flame appeared higher on the other side of the aluminum tank. In
Officials emphasized they did not know what caused the 14-foot plunge.
another tenth of a second, the forward portion of the tank detonated with a bright flash, and the ship was enveloped in a massive fireball.
Nothing was being ruled out, including sabotage.
President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, will attend a memorial service in Houston tomorrow for McAnhile, 37, a Concord, N.H., social studies teacher; Commander Francis "Dick" Seebone, 46, co-pilot Michael Smith, 40, Judith Resnik, 36, Ellison Onizuka, 39, Ronald McNair, 35, and Gregory Jarvis, 41.
Shuttle operations were suspended as a result of the catastrophe that killed the five men and two women aboard Challenger, but NASA's acting administrator. William Graham, vowed to press on with future shuttle flights
A fleet of eight ships and nine aircraft continued a search of the relatively shallow waters of the cape for shuttle wreckage. A Coast Guard cutter brought one load of debris to nearby Port Canaveral, where the pieces were impounded.
Air Force Master Sgt. Charles
See SHUTTLE, p. 5, col. 1
Bryan Graves/KANSAN
Mari Dusay, a member of the cast in the soap opera "Capitol" and chairman of the Kansas Film Commission, speaks to an Introduction to the Film Medium class about her roles in the television series "Hogan's Heroes." She
said yesterday that one week she would portray a German and the next week she would be a Russian. "The accent was always the same." Dusay said. See story on page 7.
Insurance helps repay embezzlement
By Brian Kaberline Staff writer
Staff writer
A check for $50,000 from an insurance company will soon be on its way to the University of Kansas to help repay funds embezzled by the former coordinator of the KU on Wheels program, a state deputy attorney general said yesterday.
Jeff Southard, deputy attorney general, said a check from the State Auto and Casualty Underwriters will go toward $257,000 in restitution ordered by the Douglas County District Court after Steve McMurray was found guilty of embezzling from
the University Transportation Board in 1983
Southard said the claim was received from a bond policy the Board of Regents held with State Auto and Casualty between December 1981 and December 1984 The bond protected the Regents from losses such as embezzlement.
"It basically protected the institution from the employees." he said.
since his parole in December 1984, McMurry has moved to the Denver area and has recently agreed to repay the University $200 a month.
McMurray, former coordinator of KU on Wheels, the campus bus service, was convicted in 1983 on five counts of property theft, a felony. He was sentenced to four consecutive 2 to 5-year terms and one concurrent 2
He said the conviction of McMurry proved the money was missing and a later civil suit by the University
As of Jan. 16, court records showed that McMurry had repaid the University only $160.
to 5-year prison term and ordered to pay restitution.
The claim check has been so long in coming because the state first had to prove the money was lost and not recoverable. Southard said.
against McMurry helped total reimbursement was doubtful.
John Cram, vice president of claims for State Auto and Casualty Underwriters, said part of the delay was the result of the time it took the Kansas attorney general's office to make a claim.
Southard said McMurry still owed the University the total amount set by the district court. If McMurray did manage to pay the full amount, the
"Until they make a claim, there is no claim," he said.
See PAID, p. 5, col. 6
By Frank Ybarra Staff writer
Members of an executive board of the University of Kansas Athletic Corporation have played referee between basketball fans and decided to make the top few rows behind the KU bench off limits to spectators.
Anthony Redwood, KUAC Board chairman, said an executive session of the board met yesterday and decided not to let students sit on the upper rows of the bleachers behind the KU bench.
He said that the specifics of the plan had not been worked out but that some seats on the lower level on the north and south ends of Allen Field House also may be declared off-limits to students.
The decision stemmed from complaints from fans who said they couldn't see the games. They said groups of students were standing on bleachers in front of those seated near the bottom of the second level.
The bleachers were installed at the beginning of the season and were six feet higher than the 30-year-old stands they replaced.
Redwood said the decision, which was made with only five home games remaining, had to be made because students were being inconsiderate of other fans, especially those who were physically unable to stand through the entire game.
The members of the executive committee had been closely monitoring the crowds at games, he said, and enough seating was available around the field house to compensate for the lost seats.
Redwood said the board still didn't want students to stand throughout an entire game.
“It’s really unfortunate that the behavior of some students is going to cause the rest of those students to lose these seats,” he said.
Redwood also said that the decision was not final and that the board would review the situation after the season and decide on a more permanent solution.
Joe Courtright, Baxter Springs sophomore, who often stands in the area behind the bench, said he agreed with the board's decision because it would let students like himself stand for long periods during a game if they wanted.
"I think it's great," he said.
"That's what I was hoping they would do all year long. I think it will make everyone happy."
However, he disaged with Redwood. Courtright said students should be able to stand throughout a game.
"I hope they make this the final decision," he said.
See KUAC, p. 2, col. 4
Evan Woolton, Overland Earl,
senior, said he also cheered to the
Jayhawks from behind the touch.
The decision was in the best interest
Shuttle coverage elicits media criticism, praise
Staff writer
By Russell Gray
Members of the media in the Lawrence are patting themselves on the back for their handling of Tuesday's space shuttle disaster, though some followers of the media coverage found parts distasteful.
Noelle Applegate, Hays freshman, who watched the coverage on television at home, said Tuesday, "I didn't appreciate them showing the whole family when the thing blew up and I sure the family didn't either."
On campus, Bob Kealing, assistant news director at JKHJ FM, said the media did a good job dealing with the death of Christa McAuliffe, the school teacher on board. The pictures of her family and students were not exploitive and did a good job of getting the human element into the story, he said.
Kealing said he heard about the explosion on television and rushed to the radio station, where he was the only person handling the story.
"I just tried to get out as accurately as possible what had happened," he said. "I think I did an accurate job under the circumstances."
Kealing said that a flood of information made his job tough but that the disaster was such an important event it engrossed his concentration.
TV-30, a local Lawrence television station, handed the coverage by having a video jockey briefly describe what happened in the attack and said to Gene Hartley, news director,
TV-30 does not have access to news services or network film footage, Hartley said. His station covered local events and left coverage of the disaster to the networks, he said.
Hartley, who agreed that the coverage of McAuliffe's family was tactful, said his station did not have anything about the shuttle in its newscast.
The Lawrence Journal-World
received the news of the disaster one hour before the paper's deadline, said Bob Nordyke, managing editor.
The quality of the coverage was good considering time constraints and the magnitude of the event, Nordyke said.
He said the coverage was complete because the Journal-World used the Associated Press news service and had a chance to get reactions from the Lawrence community and campus.
Donald Jones, ambassador for the Kansas City Star and Times, disagreed with Kealing and Hartley on coverage of the McAuliffe family.
"I thought that was a real invasion of human dececy," he said about the film clips run by the national news broadcasts.
Jones said he wondered who and what the networks were serving in showing pictures like those. He also said he wondered what kind of reaction they expected from the family — certainly not aplause.
There was no point in watching the explosion over and over again, Jones said. It was simply a matter of seeing it once and it is over, he said.
Jones was pleased with the coverage in yesterday's Star and today's Times.
"Basically, it was not an extraor dinarily hard story to cover," he said.
The Star and Times had received only one call about the coverage, Jones said. The call was from a woman who received one of the first editions of Tuesday's Star, which had no mention of the disaster, Jones said.
The story was not complicated and the paper had a lot of necessary background information about the flight and crew in the wire computers, he said.
The earliest printing of the Star.
See MEDIA, p. 5, col. 4
Committee to help boost Kansas economy
Rv Sandra Crider
The state Legislature established a committee yesterday to study and put into effect the recommendations of a KU research institute that should help a faltering state economy, and, eventually, Kansas students, State Sen. Wint Winder Jr., R-Lawrence, said yesterday.
Staff writer
"I think it has the potential of being the most significant work of this Legislature for the long-term development of the Kansas economy." Winter said.
The newly created Legislative Commission on Kansas Economic Development will be composed of five members of the Senate and five of the House who will, after reviewing the interim report, make recommendations to the Legislature in March.
The first half of the Kansas Economic Development study of KU's Institute for Public Policy and Business Research was presented early this month to Gov. John Carlin and the Legislature.
The study includes observations on the erosion of the state's economy and recommends improvements in several key areas: agriculture, taxation; education, research and technology transfer; finance and innovation; and organizations for economic development in the state and local community.
Anthony Redwood, executive director of the institute and professor of business, said, "I am delighted that they are forming a joint committee to study our recommendations."
Expand financing for the university-business Centers of Excellence Program, an organization that promotes ties between universities and businesses. It receives state and corporate funds.
In education and research, the study gives six recommendations to the state to:
Give more state money to the Research Matching Grant Program, financed by state and corporate funds.
- Establish institutes for applied science and technology at the larger research universities.
- Provide resources to the state universities to do more applied social and economic research.
Provide financing for an industry liaison at main universities.
Strongly endorse a continuation and expansion of the state's commitment to public education, particularly higher education.
Winter said that last spring his proposal to finance an economic development study was approved and that an ad hoc committee awarded the contract to the institute.
The study was commissioned in September and will be completed in March.
Redwood praised the Legislature and the governor for their prompt action in forming the commission to consider these recommendations, but he said a healthy economy might take some time.
proving economic development."
He said, "Although the implementation of the report has come so quick, it will be a long haul for im-
"It's important to increase the employment opportunities of Kansas to make sure there are opportunities for students graduating from universities in Kansas."
"At the moment, the state's economic base is eroding," he said. "That means we are not creating enough jobs and the right kind of jobs.
If the study recommendations are put into effect, Redwood said, they will have a positive effect on students who are looking for a future in Kansas.
Winter said improving the climate for business and upgrading the quality of the state's higher education system would have a cyclical effect in reviving the economy.
Business would contribute to university research, the university would give its findings back to business and then the improved business would generate more jobs for students, he said.
Shirley Sicilian, economist for the institute, also said the improvement of the state economy and the improvement of higher education were related directly.
Charles Krider, study coordinator and professor of business, said the report advocated more research opportunities for students, higher wages for graduate teaching assistants and greater resources for students. He also said a good state economy would encourage Kansas students to stay in Kansas after graduation.