Wednesday June 29, 1988
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
Vol. 98, No. 149 (USPS 650-640)
Fire chief bans use of fireworks in city
Douglas County may do the same; public displays will go on as scheduled
By Paula Messbarger
Kansan staff writer
Fireworks have been banned in Lawrence because of the dry weather conditions, and a similar proposal could be passed by Douglas County.
Violators may be fined up to $200 or imprisoned for 180 days. Supervised public display fireworks have been approved, however, and the fireworks display for Independence Day will go on Monday night as scheduled
Lawrence Fire Chief Jim McSwain yesterday issued an order banning fireworks within the city limits. According to the order, it is unlawful for any person to use or explode any fireworks within the city limits of Lawrence during the 1988 legal fireworks season. The season would have been 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and 7 a.m.-11 p.m. Monday.
McSwain met with City Manager Buford Watson on Monday to discuss the dry conditions, which could become hazardous by the use of fireworks. By the end of the day, McSwain issued the ban. Under city ordinance, the fire chief can issue a ban on fireworks with the approval of the city manager.
McSwan said the department would have three extra firefighters on duty during the weekend, and he will call in extra help if the situation gets bad. If no ban had been issued, the department would have had to put at least 10 extra firefighters on duty.
"The ban helps us to eliminate the extra help." he said.
The fire department will assist the Lawrence Police Department and the KU Police Department by issuing notices to appear in court to those who violate the ordinance.
Sgt. John Brothers, a KU police spokesman, said the department usually did not have many problems with fire violations, so the department probably will not have extra officers on duty.
I understand small towns banning fireworks because they lack facilities. But Lawrence?
- John Cunningham Fireworks vendor
"The KU population is usually low during this weekend," Brothers said. "Most people go home."
Before this year, fireworks were legal in Lawrence if they fell into the "class C" category. Class C, said Marion Bartlett of the state fire marshal's office, includes fireworks containing small amounts of gun powder. Bartlett said bottle rockets used to be in this category but were banned in Kansas seven or eight years ago.
The county commissioners will meet today to discuss a resolution to ban fireworks in Douglas County and to consider revoking the 10 fireworks sale permits issued in the county.
Jeremiah Dennen, 10, of Topeka, gets an autograph from Ray Fogg of Cleveland, navigator for the 1911 Lancia Delta TIPO 56 racer.
John Cunningham of Lawrence received a permit to sell fireworks in the parking lot of Floyd's Bait and Tackle at 31st and Iowa Streets. Cunningham said it would be unfortunate for him if there were a county ban after all the time and money he bad put into his fireworks stand.
He said Topeka had not issued a ban although it was as dry as Lawrence was.
"I am not a fireman, but if I was to put a lighter to my grass right now, nothing could happen." Cunningham said.
"I understand small towns banning fireworks because they lack facilities," Cunningham said. "But Lawrence?"
Vintage cars racing coast to coast
By Karen Boring
Kansan staff writer
Balloons, clowns and antique cars brought hundreds of Topekans to the Capitol yesterday morning to welcome the drivers in the Great American Race.
The Interstate Batteries Great American Race is an annual car race against time from Los Angeles to Boston. The cars, each with a driver and navigator, passed near Lawrence yesterday morning on the way to Independence. Mo., and are expected to reach Boston by Sunday.
Tom McRae, executive director of the race, said rain followed the drivers all the way from Disneyland.
Distinction:
"Right now we're calling ourselves the 'drought-busters' because we have had rain every day except yesterday," he said.
every day they except for
Norm Miller, president of Interstate Batteries
and the master of ceremonies, said all the cars
were built before 1937. 105 of the 122 cars that
started the 12-day race June 22 were still going
yesterday.
The drivers can only use pencil and paper, a towwatch, a regular watch and a speedometer
They drive 12 to 14 hours a day and often work on the cars at night.
"We've got some of the best mechanics in the world just to keep the cars running," McRae said. "I've seen them make a carburetor out of a hubcap just to keep going."
The drivers are given explicit instructions each day and the goal is to follow the instructions as closely as possible. The drivers pass secret video-camera checkpoints and a point is added for each second the car deviates from the prescribed time. The driver with the lowest score will win $250,000.
Derailed peace convoy protests in Washington One of the KU students returns home rest of group remains in Nicaragua
By Lisa Sheikh
Kansan staff writer
One of the five University of Kansas students originally part of the Veterans Peace Convoy to Nicaragua returned to Lawrence on Thursday after a four-day stay in Managua Nicaragua.
Ted Millich, Kansas City, Mo.
senior, left the group of KU students in Guatemala after they had successfully crossed the Mexican border under the grestret of being tourists.
The convoy was turned back at the border June 8 by U.S. Customs officials who said the journey violated the U.S. trade embargo against Nicaragua.
"We said we were just going to cross the border and come back." Millich said. "We didn't have any supplies."
Millich left the KU students and flew to Managua from Guatemala because he already had bought a plane ticket out of Managua for Thursday, and he needed to get to the country in time to meet his flight.
He said he had heard from one of the students' parents that the rest of the KU students had arrived in Nicaragua early Monday, but he was not sure whether the students had managed to get through with their bus or had abandoned it in Guatemala.
Milich said the KU students, who left the convoy June 3 in Austin, Texas, had done so for two reasons. One, he said, was that the convoy was taking too long. The other was more a matter of principle.
The students and their contacts in Nicaragua could not be reached last night for comment.
"They were saying to the press that it was not political, and then they'd have their meetings where they were saying, 'Of course it's political,' " Millich said.
The 43-vehicle convoy of food and medical supplies for Nicaragua, meanwhile, has spent the past several days in Washington protesting U.S. foreign policy. The students are protesting, in particular, the government's refusal to allow the convoy vehicles to be left in Nicaragua to aid that country's transportation shortage.
Gerry Condon, a national coordinator of the convoy, said Monday that most of the convoy members had left Washington on Monday morning and were headed for Laredo, Texas. He said that the group would make another attempt to cross the border July 9.
"We're prepared to try to cross repeatedly within a period of several days, and we are asking people to have support action on July 9 across the country," he said.
William Callahan, coordinator for Quest for Peace, the organization that helped gather the supplies for the convoy, said that most of the supplies had been shipped ahead to Nicaragua and were already there. The only points of contention were the vehicles, which the convoy members are determined to donate to the Nicaraguans.
Millich said he didn't know for certain what had happened to the convoy until he returned to the United States. He said he thought the government's stance on the trade embargo made little sense.
In addition to the public and hospital transportation needs, Millich said, the country needs vehicles to transport crops from the farms into the cities. He said any vehicles donated to Nicaragua would be used for these purposes.
"I think its really stupid," he said. Nicaraguan cars and buses are in poor condition because they can't be maintained. They all belch black smoke and have cracked windshields, and many cannot go faster than 25 mph, he said.
"The only vehicles that ran well were in the military, so I don't think that they would need a small pickup truck or a sixty-six school bus for the military."
If the students did, in fact, leave their school in Managua, Millich said, they could face prosecution upon their return to the United States. Millich said he was in no danger because he left the bus in Guatemala and it was not in his name.
"They need public transportation really badly, and I think that goes for hospital vehicles as well," Millich said.
Last but not least
Archie Marshall was selected by Larry Brown's San Antonio Spurs in yesterday's NBA draft. Marshall was the last player chosen. See related story, p. 14.
KJHK files request to increase power
By Lisa Sheikh
Kansan staff writer
KJHK has applied to the Federal Communications Commission for permission to increase its power from 100 to 1,000 watts, said Jerry Howard, station manager, last week.
The request, which was filed with the FCC on April 28 and is now under engineering review, would allow KJHK to express the will of Douglas County and parts of the Topeka and Kansas City areas.
Rod Davis, engineer for the KU radio station, said the request was a decision of the KJHK faculty.
"We were wanting to get our signal into Topeka and Kansas City, and also into any gray areas in the city," he said.
He said that the KJHK signal now was clear only within Lawrence and that there were places within the city where it was fuzzy.
He said the application requested that JKHK'S new antenna be installed on the KANU tower.
Howard Hill, program director at KANU, said the tower was being torn down and relocated, along with some other West Campus structures, to make room for the new performing arts center. The tower has been at its West Campus location since 1982.
But the application has to be delayed, Davis said, because KANU is looking for a new location for its West Campus tower.
He said KANU was looking at several locations for the new tower
and hoped to have one selected soon. Hill said a site-clearance committee had been appointed by Judith Ramaley, executive vice chancellor, to relocate the West Campus structures. The committee's findings are to be submitted to Ramaley by Sept. 1.
Sam Chapman, director of engineers and operations at KANU, said the tower's rebuilding cost was difficult to estimate but would be about $250,000 to $350,000.
Chapman said that the tower, which now is 605 feet tall, would have to be built taller to compensate for the distance added by moving it from the present location. He said the new tower would be anywhere from 700 to 900 feet tall, depending on where it was relocated.
was rescued.
Once the new site is determined, Chapman said, KJHK will have to rethink its entire application to the FCC. He said that if the tower were moved 10 miles from campus, that would seriously affect KJHK's coverage area.
Hill said he was not certain how much of the bill would be paid by the University, but he suspected that KANU would pay part of the cost.
Chapman said that, although the move was a necessary one, it was unfortunate that it could not have been determined earlier. The KANU tower was destroyed in 1984 when a vandal cut the guy wires. It was rebuilt at its same location at a cost of $150,000.
"This is an expense to KANU for the good of the University," Hill said.
Plot to kill pope is reported
The Associated Press
VIENNA, Austria — Two Turks seeking notoriety taken a plot to kill Pope John Paul II on the first day of his visit to Austria, authorities said yesterday.
They said the 68-year-old pontifix was not in danger during his five-day tour of its alpine nation, which ended Monday. John Paul has survived two assassination attempts in this decade as leader of the world's Roman Catholics.
Interior Minister Karl Blecha said the escape of 29 terrorist inmates from a Turkish prison in March put Austria on alert. He said Interpol, the international police agency, advised Austrian officials of the escape.
The Austrian incident gained attention after a U.S. television network reported Monday that a plot to assassinate John Paul had been discovered and foiled. International news media carried the report for more than 10 hours before Austria responded officially.
Blecha told reporters yesterday after a Cabinet meeting: "The two men staged the so-called assassination plot as a means of gaining attention. No weapons were found, only a wielding pistol. The two men were arrested and charged with faking a criminal act, but were not in kept in jail."
but were not so Austrian television said of the Turks: "At first they were prime suspects in a possible plot."