VOL.101, NO.69
KANSAS
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1990
(USPS 650-640)
NEWS:864-4810
Nine killed, 20 injured in Detroit plane crash
The Associated Press
The scene on Detroit's Runway 3C
ROMULUS, Mich. — A jettlin clipped another while preparing to take off from a Detroit airport in heavy fog yesterday, igniting a fire and causing ruins. At least nine people were killed and 20 injured, officials said.
It was not clear immediately what caused the collision between a DC-9 and a Boeing 727-200, both operated by Northwest Airlines. A spokesperson for air traffic controllers said the DC-9 appeared to have become lost on a slick, foggy runway and straymed by the 727's path.
Knight-Ridder Tribune News/BILL BAKER and MARTY WESTMAN
For nearly an hour after the accident, smoke billowed out of the fuselage of the DC-9, where passengers apparently became trapped by the fast-moving fire. By the time the fire was extinguished, much of the plane's roof was open to the overcast skv.
Officials said initially that 19 people were killed, but Edward McNamara, a Wayne County executive, said their estimate was too big.
"The medical examiner swept through the wreckage twice and found nine bodies," he said.
McNamara said some people who were unaccounted for may have escaped.
Northwest officials said they could not confirm the reduced death toll.
The DC-9, Flight 1482 to Pittsburgh was carrying 39 passengers and four crew members, according to airline officials. The 727, Flight 299 to Memphis, Teen, was carrying 146 passengers.
Both flights originated in Detroit.
Alan Muncaster, another Northwest spokesperson, said, "Apparently the right wing of the 727 hit the aft section, the engine, of the DC9, taking the engine off. That resulted in the attack, that at, this point, is all we know."
Linda Kalinsky, of the Taylor Ambulance Co., said there were 50 or 60 injuries, including some burns. They were taken to four hospitals in the area.
Both flights originated in Detroit. McNamara said the only injuries on the 727 were those that occurred during the plane's evacuation. He did not report any other injuries or injuries injured on the DC-9, but he said there were survivors.
At the time of the crash, visibility was poor and the ground was wet from a morning snow and sleep storm that delayed flights at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Munster said that the airport had been closed to
inbound traffic but that planes were being allowed to take off.
Tony Dresden, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, a union representing air traffic controllers, said there was a quarter-mile visibility in the air but only about 800 feet on the ground.
"The DC-9 pilot became lost on the runways. The pilot gave the ground controller erroneous information about his position and turned right onto the runway where the 727 was taxing."
"We've had some discussions with our people out there." Dresden said.
Dresden said that his information was preliminary. The Federal Aviation Administration, which supervised the aircraft carriers, did not comment immediately.
Glassworks
Brian Higer, Lawrence junior, melts a pyrex rod into the shape of a Christmas tree. Higer was lampworking yesterday in the Kansas Union Gallery as part of an arts and crafts show sponsored by SUA. Higer said he had been lampworking for about six years, and he had sold his work in several states. The arts and crafts show will continue through Thursday.
Recession could create tighter job market for grads
By Yvonne Guzman
Kansan staff writer
Because of what may be a national recession, some KU seniors may have to be especially aggressive if they want to find employment this year, some KU faculty members said.
Fred Madda, placement director for the School of Business, said it was too early to estimate how severe the possible recession would be.
But the United States' economic slump might mean that this year's graduates will have to work harder in graduates in order to find jobs, he said.
"I think it's going to have a fair
amount of effect." Medow said.
Alan Greenspan, chairperson of the Federal Reserve Board, said Thursday that the U.S. economy was in trouble because of rising oil prices, the Persian Gulf crisis and the deflating value of the dollar.
KU graduates will be affected to varying degrees by a recession, if there is one. Some faculty members said their fields would remain rela-
tivelv secure.
Edward Meyen, dean of education,
said that most education majors
would not have problems finding
employment because the number of
teachers needed in public schools
would not change.
The only way employment would be affected was if some teachers and administrators delayed retirement, he said.
More likely effects of a recession plans for school expansion. Meyers said.
"I don't think that we will see much of a change in employment opportunity." Meven said.
Similarly, Carl Locke, dean of engineering, said that engineers tended to be in demand all of the time.
Other faculty members said that as long as students were flexible they would increase their ability to find work.
Pam Houston, director of under-
graduate services for the College of
Liberal Arts and Sciences, said that
she hoped College graduates would be better off than others because they had a broader background.
"Students who are graduating with a liberal arts degree always have a lot of flexibility," she said.
But KU graduates from specialized fields often are not as flexible as they need to be while looking for jobs.
Max Lucas, dean of architecture and urban design, said architecture gradutes might have problems if there was a deep recession.
"One of the first industries to be affected is the construction industry." Lucas said. "On the other hand, you are one of an excellent reputation in the field."
Dana Leibengood, associate dean of journalism, said that a recession would decrease the number of jobs available to journalism students.
"I think it's definitely a factor," he said. "The job market, for our students at least, is considerably tighter because of it."
Leibengo said the recession that struck the United States in the early 1890s had a marked effect on the profession, and was available to journalism graduates.
But getting a job might not be the only problem.
Madaus said that once students had jobs, they might not be able to advance as quickly as they would like. Part of the problem might be because of troops returning from Fort Riley and reclaiming their jobs.
Forum addresses engineering fee
Dean of school discusses proposal; students to vote today and tomorrow
Kansan staff writer
Mike Schreiner, student body president, and Carl Locke, dean of engineering, answered students' questions and debated a proposed engineering fee last night at a forum in the Kansas Union Ballroom.
Some engineering students who attended the forum said students were divided about the fee, and they could not predict the results of a student vote on the issue today and tomorrow.
The $15-a credit hour fee was proposed by the deans of engineering at the University of Kansas, Kansas State University and Wichita State University. The proposal, designed to help the schools cover the cost of equipment used in engineering at the university, was sent to the Board of Regents on Dec. 20.
About 15 people attended the forum.
The Regents requested the student vote, which will be 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. today and tomorrow in Learned Hall.
Locke, in defending the fee, said that a high-quality education required better equipment and that engineering fee was a small price to pay.
to determine students' 'opinions about the fee. The vote is non-binding and will not require the Regents to either adopt or reject the fee.
He said that if the fee passed, one-third of the money would be used by the dean's office to maintain school-wide facilities, and two-thirds of the money would be given to engineering departments based on the number of student credit hours within each department.
Locke said that school officials had tried to obtain more financing from the university but had concluded it was not possible able to be reallocated to the school.
"The chairs of the departments will take student concerns into account, he said. If students pay the rent, the school would voice in how the money is行."
Schreiner said if the fee passed.
there was no guarantee that the Legislature would not decrease the amount of money allocated to the project. The amount of money provided by the proposed fee.
Schreiner said he saw two alternatives to the fee: either to generate money for the school through a line-item budget request to the Legislature or through a $2-a-credit hour general-use equipment fee that would apply to students at all Regents schools.
"Students may be punished for higher fees." he said.
Senator Barber, a civil engineering major, said, "I think the (fee) is well needed. I'm in favor of it — I think it's the best alternative."
She said engineering students had every opportunity to be informed about the issue for the vote today and tomorrow.
Nicole Reams, a mechanical engineering major, does not support the fee and said students should decide whether to study at his talents and not because of money.
Farmer loved life of labor
Kenyon staff write
By Elicia Hill
The sign symbolized his life
"Perry Kitsmiller — Bulls For Rent, After Dark Calls Only." it read.
Friends explained that the sign meant not to call Kitsmiller until after dark because he would be out doing chores until sunset. It hung at the Sale Barn, a market where gathered every Saturday to sell, buy and rent cattle.
Perry Kitsmiller was a farmer, one of a vanishing occupation whose numbers are shrinking as urban populations grow.
Kitsmiller, 73, owned a farm on Rural Route 2, about a
mile north of Lawrence, and fought development
with his widow.
His friends and neighbors said he was their voice against the urban planners who saw economic value in them.
"It's real hard for non-educated — not dumb, mind you, just not schooled — people to get in front of those experienced people on the (Douglas County) Commission and fight for what they think is right," said Lorene Davison, a neighbor: "Kitty was just as scared about doing it as we were, but he still did it."
But as he face is but
Friends said that the last battle he fought. against
plans for an asphalt plant, was the battle that broke his heart.
"He told me the week before he died that the loss of that asphalt-plant zoning hurt him deeply," said William Goins, whose daughter married one of Kitson's sons. "He said he couldn't shake the tension from it."
Unable to prevent rezoning for the plant, which was to be built at the edge of his property, and despondent about his failing health, "Kitsy" as he was affectionately called, committed what his friends thought was the last act to retain control of his life.
He hung himself Sept. 4.
A farmer's life
Kitsmiller's big green and black sign still is posted prominently in the Sale Barn.
Although the barn is just four blocks from the Douglas County Courthouse, it is a world apart from the city way of life. Here, the uniform of the day is a flannel shirt and a pair of six-buckle overshoes.
The week after Kitsmiller died, his friends' said the normal carnival atmosphere at the barn was unusually quiet.
See KITSMILLER, p. 8