THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday January 28,1988
Vol. 98, No. 84 (USPS 650-640)
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
Inquiry by FBI disputed Group claims rights violated
WASHINGTON — A New York-based legal group charged yesterday that the FBI violated the civil rights of hundreds of people in conducting a six-year investigation into organizations opposed to U.S. policies in Central America.
The Associated Press
The FBI acknowledged that it conducted an investigation into the Committee in Support of the People of El Salvador, or CISPES, but maintained that it was looking into "alleged criminal activity rather than the motives and beliefs of those being investigated."
"We want the FBI to catch spies, terrorists and crooks and put them in jail, not keep political groups under surveillance, even if they disagree with the president." Edwards said.
In an interview yesterday, Justice Department spokesman Pat Korten said that the Center for Constitutional Rights, which has had the FBI documents for nearly two years, is not a reason to believe "they are attempting to influence the Contra aid vote in the U.S. Congress."
Rep. Don Edwards, D-Calif., chairman of the House subcommittee on health and constitu-
tion reform, FRCR.
The Center for Constitutional Rights, founded in 1966 to provide "legal support to progressive movements," got 1,320 pages from FBI files through the Freedom of Information Act. Many of the pages contained blacked-out sentences or paragraphs. The center said the documents represented only about a third of the government's files.
Margaret Ratner, an attorney with the center who has studied the documents, said the FBI began its investigation in 1981 to determine whether any members of CISPES, a group working to end U.S. intervention in Central America, were foreign agents.
The FB1's field offices found no evidence to back up that claim, she said, so the focus of the investigation was turned into a "foreign matter" for her agency "even though no basis for such existed."
The inquiry was authorized by an executive order signed by President Reagan in December 1981 that allowed the bureau and the CIA to watch people even if they are not suspected of breaking the law or acting on behalf of a foreign power, Ratner said.
Secure Cab's return is possible
By Jeff Suggs
After some delay this semester, Secure Cab could resume service by Feb. 1.
Kansan staff writer
Student Senate Transportation Board voted unanimously last night to tentatively grant Corporate Coach of Lawrence, 912 Iowa St., rights for the Secure Cab service. The board voted 8-0 to take the van-operated service over bids from Yellow Cab Co. and Lawrence Bus Co.
If the state Division of Purchases approves the transaction quickly, students may be able to pay for it.
Secure Cab would operate differently than
Charles Bryan, coordinator of KU on Wheels, said a van would run at hour intervals. The van would make fixed stops at bars and on campus, and would spend the rest of the time dropping students off. On Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, the service would run an additional van, which would allow it to pick up passengers every half hour.
before. Instead of passangers calling for a ride, the ride would come at fixed times throughout the night.
Bryan said the hours of service had not been decided.
Bryan said that in the past, a passenger's
chance to catch Secure Cab often was undependable. He said the van, which would hold 12 people, would solve that problem.
"They're going to be able to count on this. It'll be where it is supposed to be," Bryan said.
The cost of the van service would be approximately $10,500 this semester. The estimated costs of operating the service under Yellow Cab or adding a bus to the service were $12,600 and $9,315, respectively.
Yellow Cab previously operated secure Cab, but Student Senate dropped sponsorship of the service this semester when the cab company announced fares would go up from
$2.50 and $1.25 for full and partial rides to $4
for both. Yellow Cab made a lower bid
Monday. $3.50 for a full ride and $2 for a
partial ride.
Partial rides were when a group of students called the cab, and some were dropped off on the way to the final destination.
"I think they dropped down because they felt the pressure." Bryan said. "I think the board made a good decision tonight. We can't keep the costs escalating."
Jason Krakow, student body president, said the move to re-establish Secure Cab service was cost efficient.
"It's what the student body needs." Kra-
kow said.
Monkev business
In the play "Monkey Monkey," the monkey King, played by Darrin Person, second from left, Kansas City, Kan., sophomore, is excited about his chance to go to school to learn how to live forever. Left to right are Chris Cole, Glen Ellyn, Ill., senior; Person; Sheila Aberderhall, Wichita sophomore; and
Lawrence Peters, Denver, Colo., sophomore. The KU Theatre for Young People will present the play by Charles Jones at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Crafton-Preyer Theatre in Murphy Hall. Tickets are $2.50. All seats are reserved.
City marks lanes at Colony Woods
By Kevin Dilmore
Kansan staff writer
For the residents of Colony Woods Apartments, 1301 W. 24th St., parking has never been easy. Crowded lots last semester forced many students to park anywhere they could fit a car, including fire lanes.
They won't have that luxury this semester.
Since Jan. 1, cars parked in newlymarked fire lanes have been ticketed and towed to enforce a city ordinance.
Management at the apartment complex, the fire department and the police department have the authority to tow any offenders.
Lonnie Faler, owner of Jayhawk Tow and Storage, 501 Maple St., said that 20 illegally-parked cars had been towed from the complex since Jan. 1.
Gerald Burkhart, manager of the complex, said yesterday that about 635 people, most of whom were KU students, lived in the apartments. Ed Collister, attorney for the complex, said figures were not available for the number of cars owned by residents.
Burkhard estimated last semester that 800 vehicles were registered at the complex. Now, 786 parking spaces are available, he said.
He said the towing woes went into effect Dec. 31 to comply with a city law.
The Lawrence Fire Department has clearly marked the fire lanes with No Parking signs and with yellow painted curbs.
Richard Barr, Lawrence fire marshal, said the fire lanes were created to give emergency vehicles access to the 15 buildings in Colony Woods.
Lawrence fire codes stipulate that fire lanes must be in place for all buildings, and that they must be at least 20 feet wide.
'If any parked cars reduce the
width of that lane, you have a violation." Barr said.
Barr said that none of the cars parked in fire lanes last semester were towed because the fire lanes were unmarked.
"We can not enforce an unmarked lane," he said, "and we will not tow or ticket any car parked in one."
"Our understanding was that adequate parking would be provided by Colony Woods." McSwain said. "But when problems started, it appeared we would have to remedy them in this manner."
Jim McSwain, Lawrence fire chief,
said that if no other parking problems
were evident in Lawrence park-
ers' fire lanes could remain
unmarked.
Barr said he had received complaints from Lawrence residents about parking violations at Colony Woods and conducted an investigation last fall.
Jane Guenther, Lawrence senior and resident of Colony Woods, agreed. "People never should have been allowed to get away with parkland anyway," she said. "The fire lanes give people more room to drive."
"After we reviewed the reports, we installed the signs where parking reduced the lanes to less than 20 feet."
Barr said the towing zone did not take away any of the 786 parking spaces provided by the complex.
The 370 unit complex has been plagued with parking problems since it opened last summer. At that time, 598 spaces were available for residents, 23 more than by city regulations. Still, the lot overflowed with cars.
"What the signs did was not allow people to park where they shouldn't have in the first place." he said.
See PARK, p. 5, col. 1
Remember the Shuttle Challenger tragedy still a haunting memory
By Brenda Flory
Kansan staff writer
Two years ago today, Christa McAuliffe, a schoolteacher from Concord, N.H., took the challenge of exploring a new world. Her quest ended in tragedy.
On Jan. 28, 1986, NASA officials watched helplessly as the space shuttle Challenger exploded, leaving only one smoke, only 74 seconds after launch.
That image of destruction remains vivid in the minds of many students and faculty at the University of Kansas. They remember, and criticize.
"It was an incredible loss for the families of the crew, the country and the space program," he said. "We (the finalists) were so excited to be part of such a wonderful opportunity that we pulled together like one big family. Christa's death made all of us realize how much everybody in this country was tied to the space program."
"That was a tragic moment for all of us," said Wendell Mohling, a Kansas finalist in the NASA Teacher in Space Program. Mohling, a Shawnee Northwest high school biology teacher, is now a doctoral student at KU.
Jan Roskam, professor of aerospace engineering, said the accident was a classic example of a failure to communicate.
To them, the disaster highlighted the agony of failure in what had once seemed the most exhilarating of its aspirations; the conquest of space.
"It's a case where there were too damn many layers of management." he said. "Management didn't properly communicate with each other down the line. If they had, they would have realized that the launch shouldn't have occurred."
After the accident, President Reagan created a special committee, the Rogers Commission, to study what had caused the accident. The commission determined that weak channels of communication had been one cause of the failure that resulted in the shuttle explosion.
The commission found that those who made the decision to launch were unaware that engineers had previously advised against launching if temperatures went below 53 degrees Fahrenheit. It suggested that if the decision-makers had known that, the Challenger wouldn't have flown on that cold Florida morning.
Now, two years later, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
another shuttle in August. But at least two KU professors don't agree with the decisions NASA has made since the accident. They said that bureaucracy had overwhelmed good sense and that decisions were being taken out of the hands of engineers.
"I don't think they are heading in the right direction," said Mel Dubnick, associate professor of public administration. "They may have strengthened their reporting lines, but this is enhancing the wrong accountability system."
Dubnick said that NASA had added a holine for whistle-blowers, and had put astronauts in administrative positions, but that those were actions that addressed the symptom, not the problem.
Dubnick, who has written on NASA
Shuttle launch date moved; officials blast NASA delays
The Associated Press
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA set Aug. 4 as the new launch date for the next space shuttle flight yesterday as workers here prepare to attribute to the crash Challenger astronauts who died years ago.
Meanwhile, two principal figures of the Apollo moon-landing program criticized what one called a "frankly unnecessary delay" in returning the shuttle to space and what the other said was a "fear of action, a gridlock to progress" in the U.S. space program.
The spacecraft fleet was grounded for more than 31 months as a result of the Challenger accident. \
"If we see space flight as a necessary element in our formula for national survival, then a $2\frac{1}{2}$-year hiatus (in space flight) is totally unacceptable." Kraft said
Christopher C. Kraft, former director of the Johnson Space Center and for two decades a leader in the U.S. space program, said last night that the long delay in resuming space shuttle flights was "totally unacceptable" if the United States was to remain a major technological power.
Meanwhile, Gen. Samuel C. Phillips, who organized the Apollo management system, blamed a lack of leadership from the White House, Congress and NASA for malaise in the U.S. space effort.
management problems in the Public Administration Review, said political and bureaucratic factors were becoming more important in NASA than the standard advice of engineers.
NASA, Dubnick said, is a unique public organization that depends heavily on good technical and scientific information. Because of this, he said, its administrators need to communicate accountability system where engineers can easily communicate among themselves.
"There is no lateral communication, only hierarchical," he said. "It's so easy for communication to get misused and distorted in this kind of system. Back in the day, the final say whether they would launch or not."
Roskam said he agreed that the layers of NASA management needed to be thinned. He said he was opposed to Roskam's decision to put the program on hold.
"There is no way they can make the shuttle as safe as a commercial airplane," Roskam said. "It would cost the country much money."
Roskam said he thought NASA should have reinforced the boosters after the accident and then resumed launching.
He said Congress could be held partially responsible for the Challenger accident because it had not worked at making long-term financial commitments with NASA.
"I firmly believe that budget constraints lowers safety factors," he said. "For example, many people in the engineering community believe that they need more than solid rocket boosters. But the solid rocket boosters cost less."
Joe Engle, a former astronaut and
See SHUTTLE, p. 6, col. 1