49
This is spring?
GIRD
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Details, page 2
Monday
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
March 30, 1987
Vol. 97, No. 121
(USPS 650-640)
Four KU students die when train strikes their car
Jeel Grantham
Overland Park
sophomore
Phi Gamma Delta
member
Scholarship chairman
Friends mourn students at service
Bill Skeet / KANSAN
By JOHN BUZBEE
Staff writer
Friends laughed a little to celebrate the lives of four KU students killed in a crash Friday. They cried a little to mourn their deaths. But mostly, there was silence at the St. Lawrence Catholic Center last night.
About 400 people attended the memorial service for the four students who died when their car was hit by a train just north of Lawrence. Elizabeth "Betsy" Dunlap, 21, Salina junior; Joel Granham, 20, Overland Park sophomore; Jennifer Jones, 19, St. Louis freshman; and Daniel McDevitt, 19, Salina sophomore, were killed in the crash.
The students' fraternity brothers and sorority sisters read poems and songs about love, life, death and friendship, while four candles burned on the altar. The Rev. Vincent Krische conducted the service.
David Amber, vice chancellor for student affairs, said Saturday, "When you have a tragedy like this, it's almost like losing one of your own."
On Saturday, some of Miss Jones' family and friends and her Alpha Chi Omega sorority sisters prayed, cried and softly sang at her memorial service.
About 150 people filled Danforth Chapel for the afternoon service, which included comments from Alpha Chi Omega embers, a sorority song and a prayer Miss Jones wrote, found by her father in her McColum Hall room. Her mother, who was staying with her Friday night for the sorority's Moms' Weekend, also attended the service.
"I think it left them with good memories and showed them how much we cared about her." said Jamie Jensen, president of Alpha Chi Omega.
Miss Jones was interested in art and music, Jensen said. In high school, she was a cheerleader and a pompon girl.
Funeral services for Miss Jones will be in St. Louis and Sarasota, Fla. Memorials may be sent to the Alpha Chi Omega Foundation.
Mr. McDevitt and Mr. Grantham both were members of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. Mr. McDevitt, the fraternity's rush chairman, planned to major in broadcast journalism, said his roommate Jeff Bloskey, Hutchinson sophomore.
"He was one of my best friends."
Bloskey said. "He was just a great guy, very personable.
maroid Vopat, principal of Salina South High School, said, "He was a pleasant, nice-looking kid. He had some leadership qualities. He made a contribution to our school."
Mr. McDevitt was involved with tennis and debate at Salina South, Vonat said.
scholarship chairman.
Funeral services for Mr. McDevitt will be at 11:30 a.m. today at the Sunrise Presbyterian Church in Salina
Mr. Grantham, an aerospace engineering major, was the fraternity's
Mr. Grantham was involved in band, wrestling and the National Honor Society at Shawnee Mission West High School.
Harold Bambgsbais, Shawnee Mission West football coach, said Mr. Grantham's family members were active boosters for the school.
"He was very academically conscious, and yet, he was a great fan."
Memorial services for Mr. Granham will be at 7 p.m. today at the Indian Heights Methodist Church in Overland Park.
"School was one of her main priorities," said Catherine Tuck, Chi Omega president. "She was an excellent student. She was really respected by the house. She was a soft-spoken person who was sweet."
Miss Dunlap, an elementary education major, was active as a member of the Chi Omega sorority and liked to ride horses.
Memorials for Miss Dunlap may be sent to the Betsy Dunlap memorial Chi Omega Scholarship, Box 121, Salina, Kana, 67401. Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. today at the First Methodist Church in Salina
Officials seeking cause of accident
By PAUL BELDEN
Staff writer
Four KU students were killed instantly Friday night when a train struck the car in which they were riding. A highway patrolman said Saturday that he found an empty wine flask and about six empty beer cans at the scene of the wreck.
Killed in the wreck were Elizabeth "Betsy" Dunlap, 21, Salina junior; Joel D Grantham, 20, Overland Park sophomore; Jennifer Lyn Jones, 19, St. Louis freshman; and Daniel J. McDevitt, 19, Salina sophomore.
Kansas highway patrolman J.D. Hall said that blood samples had been obtained from all four students and that the results of blood alcohol tests would be available later this week.
The four students had just left a Phi Gamma Delta fraternity party in Lawrence, Phi Gamma Delta president Mark Mathes said yesterday, McDevitt and Grantham both were members of the fraternity.
Mathes said a lawyer had advised fraternity members not to speculate on whether the four students had been drinking before the accident.
The accident occurred at 10:45 p.m. about a mile north of Interstate 70, and 75 yards west of U.S. Highway 24-59 on county road 1900N. The students were westbound on the county road, on their way to a Chi Omega sorority barn party, when the train struck the car, Hall said.
The car, a 1979 Plymouth Horizon owned by McDevitt's family, had just turned west from highway 24-59 onto the county road when it approached two sets of north-to-south railroad tracks. The railroad crossing has a sign but doesn't have a signal light or a crossing gate.
A southbound Union Pacific train
See WRECK, p. 10, col. 1
Vania Pires, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, senior, and a toga-clad Mauro Maschvich, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, senior, cut loose on the dance floor. The two were among the 400 who attended the ninth annual Brazilian Carnival on Saturday night at the Knights of Columbus, 2206 E. 23rd St.
Brazilian Carnival also a Lawrence tradition
Johnson makes resignation official
Brazil is not the only place to experience a carnival. Partying in colorful costumes to exotic music has become a Lawrence tradition, too.
Staff writer
The Brazilian-Portuguese Association let loose 400 people to wild samba rhythms in a celebration of the ninth annual Brazilian Carnival on Saturday night at the Knights of Columbus, 2206 E. 23rd St.
"People come to the carnival and they really free themselves."
said Angela M. Duarte, Goiania, Brazil, doctoral candidate and former president of the association.
"They really get in the spirit. There's not a certain step you have to dance. Everything you do is right." Duarte said.
Victor Ojeda, San Jose, Costa Rica, junior, said, "I come here for the music. I love the music."
See CARNIVAL, p. 6, col. 3
Monday Morning
Bv KIERSTJ MOEN
By TIM HAMILTON
Staff writer
Johnson was reported as saying he resigned because he had grown tired and frustrated after four years in his position. He said he would stay in Lawrence to pursue private business interests.
KU officials expressed regret this weekend after Athletic Director Monte Johnson announced his resignation Friday.
Anthony Redwood, chairman of the Kansas University Athletic Corporation, said that, although he hadn't expected Johnson's resignation, it came as no surprise.
Johnson could not be reached for comment at his hotel in New Orleans, where he is attending the NCAA Final Four Championship.
gy, dedication and enthusiasm that Monte did, you wonder how long he'll be able to keep it up." Redwood said. "I think he's been a tremendous athletic director and done a great job considering the problems and difficulties we'd been experiencing when he joined us in 1982.
'When people work with the ener-
"He has worked very well with the board of KUAC to achieve the objectives that we all wanted to achieve." Gary Hunter, associate athletic director, said he was disappointed to see Johnson leave.
Hunter said that the resignation came as no surprise to him because
"I've had the pleasure of working with him for the last two years, and he's one of the most respected athletic directors in the country," Hunter said. "I think he's an absolutely outstanding AD."
Hunter said that Johnson's resignation was not related to any one incident.
"I just think he wanted to wait until basketball was over, and he had the majority of Larry Brown's contract negotiations out of the way," he said.
Johnson had said he was burned out after four years.
"We had discussions on a few occasions about how he was tired and frustrated," Hunter said. "I know when he hired me two years ago he said he didn't plan on staying here forever."
A replacement committee for Johnson will be named today, and Hunter said he was not being considered for the position.
erred to the position,
"I'm really not a candidate," he said.
"Maybe in a year or two I'll seek an AD position somewhere also.
"The job is a very demanding one, but maybe not so demanding on a less-dedicated person," he said. "I think the time he has put into the program is time he had to take away from his family. And I imagine there has been some frustration with some of the recent NCAA changes that will cause problems with athletic directors."
"Monte is the type of person who sets goals and tries to reach them regardless of the time and energy required to get them done," said King, who played basketball with Johnson at KU in 1956-57.
but right now I'm happy with what
but doing."
Maurice E. King, KUAC alumni representative, said he hoped that KU could find someone with equal dedication and loyalty.
Memories, emotions stirred by question of death penalty
Rv JOHN BUZBEE
Staff writer
Behind high walls, guard towers and locked gates, prison guards stand ready to unlock the death chamber if Kansas reinstates capital punishment.
Legislators and lobbyists have been climbing the steps of the state Capitol this year to argue why that should or should not happen, as they have since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the death penalty in 1972.
Regardless of what the Legislature decides, many Kansans already have made up their minds. Some say capital punishment is cost effective. Some say it isn't. But perhaps the most passionate opponents and proponents of Kansan who were victimized by crime or victimized by punishment.
"Maybe that's the answer," said Delorise Stripin, who lives just east of the railroad tracks in Arlington, a small south-central Kansas town. "Maybe it should be left up to the people that lost on these deaths.
Maybe they should be the ones to decide."
Stirlin's niece, Tammy Mooney, was shot to death two years ago in a field outside Arlington. The 2-year-old twins she was baby-sitting also were shot to death. Arnold Rubeke, then an 18-year-old from nearby Hutchinson, was convicted of the murders. Mooney had walked in on Rubeke stealing pennies, prosecutors said.
"We lose both ways," said her father, Ellis Mooney. "We lost our daughter Tammy, and I'm out here working my butt off, and the tax money turns around and takes care of Rubene in state prison."
Ellis Mooney said Rubeke should be executed. He can't be, even if
Mooney's belt buckle says "Truckers Move America." His radio was tuned to a country and western station that was broadcasting a basketball game on a warm day earlier this month while he, his sister, and his wife, Margaret Mooney, talked about death.
"If you had a rotten egg out there, you don't want to keep it around," he said. "You get rid of it, don't you?"
"They figured they wouldn't be fit for society if they got out."
the state brings back capital punishment, because the killings happened when Kansas had no death penalty
Mooney said he could deal with his daughter's death more easily if Rubeke had confessed. Also, Rubeke's appeals, which are headed to the U.S. Supreme Court, have dragged on too long, he said.
"What kind of a person would it
in the old days," he said, "there weren't no appeals or nothing. They took you out to the nearest tree and strung you up. They didn't waste no time or no money on it.
Rubeke is serving six consecutive life sentences for the crimes. A bill in the Kansas Senate would reinstate the death penalty for first-degree murders; execution would be by 'ethal injection.'
See PENALTY, p. 10, col. 1
Hoop review
The college basketball season will come to an end tonight in New Orleans, but the Kansas Jayhawks already are looking forward to next year. The Kansan takes a look at what happened this year and gives a peak sneak at next season. See stories pages 12 and 13.
Home cooking
"Rock Chalk Cookin'" is a cookbook that features many KU personalities' favorite dishes, including Larry Brown's taco salad and Gretchen Budig's spinach and artichoke casserole. See story page 5.
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