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Thursday, November 29, 1990 / University Daily Kansan
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Residents poke fun prepare for 'quake'
The Associated Press
Tavern owners jammed jukeboxes with earth-shaking tunes, and worried residents squirreled away water and flashlights yesterday as the countdown progressed for a major earthquake on the New Madrid Fault.
The commotion is over a prediction made by Dr. Iden Browning, who said there was a strong chance of a major earthquake Dec. 2-3 in an area known as the New Madrid Fault, from Arkansas through Missouri to Illinois.
"We're ready for it. I have 13 gallons jugs of water, blankets, two sleeping bags, a pipe wrench, canned food, a flashlight and a radio with a flashlight. Our Blank Brink of Bonne Terre, Mo., about 30 miles from the New Madrid fault
Others took the projections a little more lightly.
Bumper stickers saying "It's Iben Browning's Fault" have started popping up on cars in the region.
Joe Edwards, owner of the Blueberry Hill tavern in St. Louis, said he was filling his jukebox with earthquake songs and serving speeches to help his customers cope with any anxiety they might be feeling.
He culled more than 150 songs, including "Dancin' on the Ceiling," "Church Bells May Ring," "If We Make it Through December," and at least 13 songs with titles containing the word shake.
Meanwhile, Iben Browning's daughter, Evelyn Garriss, stood by her father's prediction.
Browning's family said he was on vacation and refused to disclose the location.
Earthquake experts and other scientists have repeatedly said that Browning's prediction, which relies
on the measurement of the pull of tidal forces on the earth, was nothing more than a random guess.
Tuesday, a scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey strongly discounted the prediction in a briefing of the official staff members in Washington.
"I can summarize our findings by saying there is no reason that a large earthquake is more likely to occur Dec. 2 or 3 than it is today, three weeks from today or any day in the future," said Randall Dupke, associate of the survey's Office of Earthquake, Volcanoes and Engineering.
Scientists agreed that there was a long-term threat of a major earthquake in the Midwest but no scientist would point a date for when it would occur.
The seven states near or along the fault zone are Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. Some residents in these states much stock in the prediction, but many aren't taking any chances.
Earthquake insurance sales have skyrocketed, and state regulators from the region have formed a special committee to monitor the availability of earthquake reports that some companies have stopped selling earthquake insurance.
School districts up and down the fault zone, which runs from Marked Tree, Ark., northeast through Missouri to Cairo, Ill., have canceled Inc. Dec. 3 and,4, and some local governments also have decided to shut down.
Sales of survival kits and other emergency preparedness items also have increased in the region as businesses scramble to take advantage of the sudden interest in earthquakes.
Grissom sentenced for checks
The Associated Press
OLATHE — Richard Grissom Jr. who already lives life in prison for killing three Johnson County women, was sentenced yesterday to an additional three to nine years for writing bad checks.
That term will run concurrently with a six- to 18-year sentence Grissom received earlier this month in Johnson County District Court on another bad check and forgery case.
Grissoni pleased g to 15 charges of forgery, writing bad
checks and theft. The charges stemmed from several checks he wrote in the spring and summer of 1989.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed to recommend a sentence of six to 18 years as part of plea negotiations.
Grissom, 30, was found guilty by a Jurv. Nov. 4 of three counts of first-degree murder and eight other serious offenses; disappearance of the three women.
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