VOL.100, NO.150
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
ADVERTISING:864-4358
TUESDAY, JULY 3, 1990
(USPS 650-640)
NEWS:864-4810
Experts urge careful celebration
Safety plays important role
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Back yard fireworks are banned or severely restricted in a number of communities, but they can be dangerous if mishandled.
Follow label directions.
Buy legal fireworks from reliable dealers.
Here are some common-sense precautions from John Conkling, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association:
Use fireworks outdoors and away from open gasoline containers.
Children should be supervised by adults.
Don't drink alcohol and use fireworks simultaneously.
- Keep a bucket of water handy to put out grass fires.
- Never shoot fireworks in metal
Never shoot fireworks in metal or glass containers
Don't try to re-ignite faulty fireworks.
- Never attempt to create homemade fireworks. Mixing chemical powders can kill or maim.
The National Council on Fireworks Safety said firework injuries have declined in recent years, from 12,600 in 1986 to 9,700 last year, according to estimates by the Center Product Safety Commission.
High-powered firecrackers have been illegal in the United States since 1966. Ten years later, federal regulations were issued severely limiting the kinds of fireworks that legally can be sold in this country.
Thirteen states went further, banning fireworks of any kind. They are Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia.
Some or all of the legal fireworks under federal rules are allowed in 28 states and the District of Columbia. Seven states. Colorado, Illinois Iowa, Maine Maryland, Vermont Virginia also sparkle and other novelties, and fireworks are regulated only by counties in Hawaii and Nevada.
Ooohs and aaahs
Fireworks lovers watch a display in Riverside, Mo. A fireworks display, sponsored by the Lawrence Jaycees, will take place across the Kanaa River from Burcham Park, Second and Indiana streets, at 9:20 p.m. tomorrow. The 45-minute show will be synchronized with the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra's performance of the "1812 Overture."
Tradition may lose its spark
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Enjoy shooting off those Fourth of July fireworks in the back yard while you can. Pyrotechnics specialist John Conkling says this hallowed family tradition is on America's "list of endangered species" and may be headed for extinction.
"We could have a video game Fourth of July in the not-too-distant future, sitting in our living rooms and watching animated fireworks displays on our television screens." he said.
Conkling, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, blames a "totally irrational campaign" by lobbyists who want to ban all fireworks except for public displays by licensed professionals.
Sae related stories p.14
The way things are going, he said, "the prospects are frighteningly real" that families won't be able to celebrate Independence Day by lightning old. He said he'll send flowers to roman candles, fountains, pinhwires and sparklers.
"It if happens, I'll feel sad that a prohibition was adopted that isn't warranted, that the forces of exaggeration had won, that a 21st-year-old individual was more and more individual Freedom had perished," he said.
Conkling, 46, is a jovial chemistry professor at Washington College at Chestertown, Md., with a scholarly passion for fireworks. He published the first authoritative textbook on the subject, "The Chemistry of Fireworks," and a Conkling article on fireworks appears in the July issue of Scientific American magazine.
He can tell you that charcoal or iron will burn with a brilliant orange, that strontium salts produce striking reds, that barium nitrate gives off a bright green and that copper chloride is best for making blue, the most difficult and elusive color in the fireworks spectrum.
"My hobbies are fishing and the science of pyrotechnics," Conkling said with a laugh. "I'll grow up one of these days."
Cunning was in Washington last week to give holiday safety tips on a media hot line sponsored by the National Council on Fireworks Safety. The council is a public service arm of the $200 million fireworks industry's trade association, which Conkling runs from an office in his hometown.
Conkling's message is that backyard fireworks are safe if used with a little common sense.
See JULY, p. 14
Muslim holy day ends in tragedy
The Associated Press
MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — An ventilation-system failure was blamed today for a stumped in a packed pedestrian tunnel linking this holy city with a tent city. Diplomats said the stunt was unofficiated or were trampled to death.
Sources said a power failure caused the air conditioning in the 1,500-foot-long, 60-foot-wide tunnel to be shut off from Monday, setting off the stampede.
"It was God's will, which is above everything," King Fahd said of the disaster. "It was fate."
The disaster occurred during the hajj, the world's largest religious gathering, which draws about 2 million Moslems. Observances had been held, and pilgrims were observing post-hajj rituals or preparing to leave.
Diplomats said about 1,400 pilgrims were killed. Asian and Middle Eastern diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said most of the victims were Malaysian and Indonesian pilgrims.
The official Saudi media gave no specific casuage figure, though King Fahd acknowledged indirectly that there had been a large loss of life.
He called the dead "martyrs of the Islamic world."
"Had they not died there, they would have died elsewhere and at the same predestined moment," the king said, with light right with nobilize security officials.
The deaths shattered what had been a peaceful observance of the annual haff and was the worst pigimage tragedy in recent years. The celebration has been marred by terrorist attacks and riots.
Diplomats said the tunnel became packed beyond capacity when some pilgrims stopped in the middle while a walker continued to push their way in.
A witness said the tunnel, which can hold up to 1,000 pedestrians, became clogged with up to 5,000 people.
Raise of 8 percent requested for 1992
Kansan staff writer
By Melissa Bulgren
The Board of Regents on Thursday proposed a 683.6 million budget for fiscal year 1992, an amount that may exceed what the Legislature will
Regent Charles Hosteller said Kansas State University had a better chance of going to the Orange Bowl of approving the Regents budget.
I'm in favor of being honest about what the Regents schools need.
— Betty Jo Charlton State Representative
The Regents requested about $87.5 million more for 1992 than the Legislature approved for fiscal year 1991, which began Sunday, and proposed an 8 percent increase in faculty salaries.
Winter said he supported the Regents proposal because it would maintain the quality of Kansas higher education.
State Sen. Wint Winter, R-
Lawrence, said the state might need
to raise taxes to meet the Regents
of the state's financial difficulities
"I'm very much an advocate of raising taxes, even though I'm not excited about it," he said. "Without a tie increase, my recommendation is as good as it can be."
State Rep. Betty Jo Charlton, D-Lawrence, said state universities should ask for what they needed, even if they might not receive all of it.
"I'm in favor of being honest about what the Regents schools need," Charlton said. "Too many people in our system are not aware of the needs of universities are." Those of us
who live in a campus area are always pushing for the schools."
The Legislature's next session begins in January.
The heads of the Regents schools supported the proposed budget despite its uncertain chances and salary reserves. Many salaries should have top priority.
Chancellor Gene A. Budig said the University of Kansas requested $2.5 million for the proposed faculty salary increase.
"Although we are disappointed that funding was not available to complete the Margin of Excellence in three years, the goals of the plan and the concept of peer comparison as a funding guide remain valid," he said. "In the first two years, we did make progress in faculty salaries."
Peter Thompson, dean of fine arts,
said he was happy the Regents were
assessing the University's needs, but
that he wasn't going to pay attention
until he saw what Gov. Mike Hayden
legislated did with the budget.
The Margin of Excellence was the Board of Regents three-year plan to bring the total financing of its seven institutions to 95 percent of their peer schools and to bring the salaries of them to the same level as their peers.
The average faculty salary increase for fiscal year 1991 was 3 percent. The 1800 increase was 7.5 percent and the 1900 increase was 8 percent.
In a letter to Hayden, William Scott, presiding officer of the University Council, wrote that attention given to be given to higher education.
"The faculty aren't going to get all excited until we see what happens," he said.
"Otherwise, we gain one year we lose the next, and even the best years become inadequate attempts to catch up." Scott wrote.
Jury acquits Imelda Marcos
Three-month trial ends with big birthday present for Marcos
NEW YORK — A jury yesterday gave Imaelda Marcos a birthday present. It cleared her of charges that she looted $222 million from the Philippines and hid the money by buying art and properties with finan-
The Associated Press
The U.S. District Court verdict reduced the former Philippines first lady to tears and sent her to jail in an effort into jubilant celebration.
Khashoggi's help.
The jury also acquitted Khashoggi.
the Saudi jet-set once known as the world's richest man, of charges that he helped Marcos and her late husband conceal ownership of four New York buildings.
"I am in great awe and respect for the jury system that symbolizes the soul of the American people," she said.
"This is the best birthday present I ever had," said a beaming Marcos as she left the courtroom. Yesterday was her first birthday.
Marcos went directly to St. Patrick's Cathedral, where she walked on her knees down the aisle to the staircase and headed her head to the floor and praised.
Khashoggi, 54, also praised the American jury system.
"I feel very happy for myself and my family and for the United States," he said. A Muslim, he said he planned to leave New York to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, Islam's holiest city.
As was his habit during the trial, Khashogh returned to his posh midtown apartment via subway, posing with strangers and signing autographs. Once above ground, he and his wife used a cellular phone to call friends in France, England and California with the news.
If convicted on all charges, Marcos could have been sentenced to 50 years in prison and finned $1 million. Khaibongg could have been sentenced to 60 years and fined a $400,000 fine.
The jury announced its verdict in
the fifth day of deliberations after a three-month trial. Prosecutors called 98 witnesses. The defense, led by Bentley andorney Gerry Spence, called none.
"It was a poorly prepared case," foreman Katherine Ballout said later in a telephone interview. "There was an investigation of them that there was a case."
When Baillon read the first innocent verdict in court, Marcos supporters cried out, ignoring Judge John F. Keenan's warning against outbursts of violence.
Marcos was in tears. She smiled and hugged her lawyers.
The prosecutors sat facing the judge, eyes downcast.
See MARCOS. p. 5
Graduate fellowships approved Program aims for higher numbers of minority students, faculty
Program aims for higher numbers of minority students, faculty
By Bryan Reber
By Bryan Hesse
Kansan staff writer
If approved by the Legislature, the program would provide 40 $8,000 fellowships, said Martin Hammond-Paladan, director for academic affairs for the Regents.
The Board of Regents approved a program Thursday that would provide $320,000 for minority graduate students at Regents institutions in 1991-92.
The Council of Chief Academic Officers, comprised of academic administrators from the Regents institutions, recommended the Kansas Minority Fellowship Program to the Regents.
The program originally was proposed by the COCAO subcommittee on Minority Graduate Student Enrollment and Retention, chaired by Roberto Clemente, associate dean of the KU Graduate School.
Sanders said that between 1979 and 1989 the number of Black students earning doctorates nationwide dropped by 23.2 percent. In 1989, 811 Black students earned doctorates nationwide, Sanders said. The trend has been similar in Kansas.
"The number of minority individuals that get doctorates is rather small," Sanders said. "The number of minorities in graduate programs is rather small. So we need to get those numbers
"You've got this problem, what are you going to do about it?" This program was developed to address the problem in Kansas. The Kansas Department of Education had the problem rather than just be a part of it."
The $230,000 figure was based on 5 percent of the Regents institutions enhancement budgets, Hammond-Falanid s.id. The University of Kansas would receive eight fellowships totaling
Doctoral-granting institutions would be required to enhance the fellowships by a minimum of $2,000 each so each fellowship recipient would receive $10,000.
$64,000. The University of Kansas Medical Center would receive 11 fellowships totaling $88,000.
Eligibility for the fellowships would be based on full-time enrollment by the minority student. Black, Hispanic, American Indian and some students would be eligible for the fellowships.
Recipients of the fellowships must make a commitment to work at a Kansas educational institution after graduation, one year for each year they receive the fellowship.
"The goal is to have those individuals serve as mentors for those who follow." Mammond-