Campus/Area
University Daily Kansan / Thursday, December 6, 1990
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KU student sees Detroit plane crash up close
Bv Debbie Mvers
Kansan staff writer
Curtis Garrett said he wished he hadn't attended the day to go back to lawrence, from Detroit.
Garrett, Detroit senior, exchanged a Midway Airlines ticket for passage on a Northwest Airlines flight that would depart earlier in the day.
"I was sorry," Garrett said. "I should have stayed with Midway. I was trying to get back here quicker because I had a night class I was trying to get back to.
"I still didn't get back to the night class."
"Still didn't get back to the night class": Garrett was one of 146 passengers aboard a train that hitcked down DC-9 Monday while prepping takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Eight people were killed and 20 were injured in the crash, which caused the DC-9 to catch on fire.
"All of a sudden it was just a real big loud noise and then the explosion came after that with the plane next to us," Garrett said. "It was pretty wild."
Garrett said the rain that fell most of the day Monday had melted the snow from a storm.
There was a lot of fog on the runway, he said.
The 727 was traveling fast to prepare for takeoff. Garrett said he was sitting near the 727, so he could brace himself.
"It happened so fast," Garrett said. "After the loud hit with the plane, I know I saw smoke.
"It was so scary. I saw my life pass in front of me."
Garrett said the flight attendants told the passengers to put on masks to avoid inhaling toxic fumes. After sitting on the plane for 15 minutes, they were taken off on buses to the Northwest Airlines terminal.
"I was still scared, but I was relieved that nothing happened to our plane," Garrett said. "Once I got off the plane, I felt good. I really need to get on a plane and get back to school."
Garrett said he thought the crash resulted
from a lack of communication.
"Everyone knew that the weather was bad," Garrett said. "I don't know whose fault it was. Somebody had some type of knowledge of which planes should have been on the runway. My assumption is that the air traffic controller should have had some type of communication with the people in the tower."
Garrett said he went to Detroit to interview with the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco in the Treasury Department as a special agent. He will graduate from KU in
Now, Garrett said he has doubts about the job because it would involve a lot of travel.
"I'm kind of shaky now about it," Garrett said. "I'll fly again, but I won't fly Northwest anymore. If I have to pay more for a ticket, I'll probably do that."
Garrett said some of his friends had been worried about him because they knew he was supposed to get back to Lawrence in time for
his Monday night class. Instead, he arrived in Lawrence about midnight after catching a train to New York.
"The they had a feeling that I was somewhere in the accident," Garrett said. "A lot of them were worried about me. A lot of them said, 'Hey, I thought you were a goner.' I just thank God that nothing actually happened on our plane."
Cedric Lockett, Fredonia junior and one of Garrett's fraternity brothers, said that when he heard about the plane crash on Monday, he didn't think anything about it. He doesn't usually think about one of his friends being involved in something like that.
But when he found out Tuesday that Carrie was a passenger on the 727, he thought it was an accident.
“At first I didn't believe it, but when I pieced it together, I thought it was a miracle that he survived.” Lockett said. “He was lying on the right plane. He was really shaken up by it."
Lockett said that on Tuesday, Garrett was
in a daze.
"The first thing he thought of in the plane was praying that he'd make it through, and when he did, he said he knew he'd be going to church this Sunday," Lockett said.
Garrett said the crash gave him a lot to think about.
"It makes you re-evaluate all the wrong things you do in life," Garrett said. "Anybody can go at any time, and I thought my time had come."
He said he got back into the swing of things fairly quickly by trying to have a strong finish to this semester, preparing for finals and looking forward to his last semester at KU.
"I try not to think about it, but every time I sit down when I'm alone, I realize that that could have been the end of my life."
FAA studies fire prevention
Mildred Love greets Baby Jay during a Christmas party at Colonial Manor of Lawrence as Allison Knorr, St. Clive, Iowa, junior, watches.
Students take joy to nursing home
Kansan staff writer
By Carol Krekeler
Baby Jay took time away from the KU basketball season yesterday to share the holiday spirit with residents of a Lawrence nursing home.
Baby Jay and about 20 students from the University of Kansas Student Alumni Association celebrated the Yuletide season by singing Christmas carols, trimming a tree and visiting with the residents at Colonial Manor of Lawrence, 3015 W. 31st St.
"We really appreciate what they do," said Annola Charity, activities coordinator for the clinic.
Charity said the student association had been visiting the residents during each holiday season since 1975.
The students brought pumpkins to the home on Halloween and drew pictures of turkeys for the residents to put on their doors during the Thanksgiving season, she said.
Dulcie Gira, Sanibel Island, Fla., senior, said the students spent at Colonial Manor was a "very nice place."
"I know it means a lot to them," she said.
he meant 'to be them.' she said.
Rob Bletzle, Abelie Ward, and chairperson for the association, said the students
enjoyed sharing time with the elderly.
"It teaches us to accept more," he said. "It brings our group closer together, and it's a learning experience for all of us."
Mildred Love, a Colonial Manor resident, said the students lifted her spirits
"I thank God for bringing the kids here and that I think enough of us old folks to come here," she said.
Jenny Hand, Topeka freshman that yesterday was her first visit to Colonial Manor and that
"I think it's really neat that all the students take time to do this," she said.
Jenny Hand and Pearl Dover, 87, enjoy Christmas music together.
Environmentalists make fund proposal to county
Bv Elicia Hill
Kansan staff writer
The recent loss of Elkins Prairie has prompted Douglas County environmentalists to seek a way to protect other natural ecosystems.
Elkins Prairie, an 80-acre tract of tallgrass prairie that was home to two federally endangered plants, was plowed two weeks ago. The prairie was about 3 miles west of Lawrence. Environmentalists presented a
proposal last night to Douglas County Commissioners for the creation of a fund that would be used by the Kansas Land Trust, a group dedicated to preserving forests, wetlands and prairies.
The proposed Douglas County Natural Areas Program would provide $40,000 from the county for the next five years that would be supply-
Stress takes its toll on students' health
See COUNTY. p. 14
By Courtney Eblen
Kansan staff writer
Health care officials at Watkins Memorial Health Center are being flooded with the biggest pre-finals rush of sick students in years.
Students with cases of bronchitis, influenza, strep throat, mononucleosis and pneumonia are packing Watkins, hoping for treatment and written advice from their doctors. These classes to excuse them from classes they had missed.
"We certainly seen a lot of people who need class excuses," said Charles Yorke, chief of staff 724.
He said that according to University regulations, physicians' notes were not required to excuse a
student from class, but that many instructors required students to prove they had been treated for illnesses.
Most of the illnesses treated before finals are stress-related, Yockey said. When finals begin, Watkins will begin receiving more cases of sleep deprivation.
Yockey said he treated several students each semester who stayed awake several nights in a row to study for a final, only to miss the exam because fatigue overwhelmed them.
The waiting room at Watkins is packed, Yockey said. Appointments for the mental health counseling center are booked through the end of the academic year.
Mono has been diagnosed for an average of six students a week since September, Yockey said.
Last week doctors told Rod Foley, Edwardsville junior, that he had a light case of mono. He had strep throat right before he contracted mono and attributes the illnesses to his hicctic schedule.
In addition to a full load of courses, Foley holds two part-time jobs. He also had been Lawrence's downtown Santa Claus but had to quit after he learned he had mono.
Yockey said the mononucleosis virus was carried by 95 percent of KU students but it only became active when the carrier's immune system was weakened.
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