VOL.100,NO.124
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 1990
(USPS 650-640)
ADVERTISING: 864-4358
NEWS:864-4810
Gorbachev says 'nyet' to Estonia
The Associated Press
TALLINN, U.S.S.R. — Mikhail S. Gorbachev told Estonia it must back off from its declaration that it is an independent country illegally occupied by the Soviet Union, the president of this Baltic republic said yesterday.
estonia cautiously has followed the lead of its neighbor Lithuania, which declared its independence March 11. Estonian President Arnold Rutel said Soviet President Gorbachev indicated he might react in the same tough
Ruutel, interviewed by Estonian radio, quoted Gorbachev as saying, "When I heard of your resolution I was completely beside myself. You must declare the resolution null and void. It is an invalid one."
"It items to me that I have to introduce similar measures as those taken in Lithuania."
Soviet soldiers have occupied public buildings in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, arrested some Lithuanian deserters and sent convoys through Vilnius as a show of power, and also has ordered Lithuanians to over their weapons.
Soviet and Lithuanian officials said yesterday that they were heartened by a Moscow meeting between representatives of the republic and Alexander Yakovlev, a top aide to Gorbachev, that lasted more than three hours Tuesday night.
A recent news report
Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Yuri Gremitskikh called it a positive sign that the two sides will be able to resolve their problems.
Gorbachev said Saturday that Lithuania must renounce its declaration of independence before negotiations can begin on ending the dispute.
Ruetel did not elaborate when asked by the radio interviewer, what steps Gorbachev might have in mind.
He told Estonia's Supreme Soviet legislature that a response to Gorbachev would be drafted today and presented Monday to the national parliament.
Marju Lauristin, deputy speaker of the Estonian Suprema Soviet, said Estonia would not back off.
Tuesday, the 105-member Estonian Supreme Soviet elected Edgar Savisaar, now chairman of the People's Front, as the republic's new premier.
Davis throws popcorn to Roni Ball, 12, from Pawhuska, Okla., in a "corntest" match
Children salute life in cancer's shadow
'Seeing these kids just be regular kids is wonderful. Giving them the ability to make progress and achieve things
makes it all worthwhile.'
— Kathy Davis Schoolteacher
By Steve Bailey
Kansan staff writer
Kathy Davis glances around the room and begins to speak about chickens to her class.
"Chickens teach us a lot about life," she tells her students. "You don't know which ones will hatch, which ones won't and which ones will be Kentucky Fried."
the class Davis does not quiet the children but instead continues with her story.
"Well, I hope they are Kentucky Fried," blurs one student, bringing excited giggles from the rest of the class.
"That's kind of like with children," Davis says. "You don't know which ones will grow up to be
Davis knows her children understand the message in her words. Many of them suffer from cancer or other serious illnesses and cannot lead the life that most children their age do.
big and healthy and which ones won't."
Davis is the pediatric schoolteacher of a class for hospitalized children at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
Davis said the project started about seven years ago through the cooperation of the Med Center and the Kansas City School District. She teaches children from kindergarten through 12th grade in the same room. The class usually has between two and 10 students a day.
"It is kind of like a one-room country schoolhouse," Davis said. "We try to make sure that the kids can keep up with classmates when they are ill or have been seriously injured. But we spend a lot of time making sure the kids are allowed to be kids, not just patients."
Watching them patter down the hallways to the classroom with smiles on their faces, some pushing I.V. stands twice as tall as they are, it is obvious these are not average children.
But one step into the classroom and it is like nearly any other classroom. It's full of mischievous young children.
On this day, they are having a popcorn "corntest."
Davis beats on a drum, creating a triumphant drumroll for each child's attempt to toss the popcorn into the air and catch it in his mouth.
Jamie Curts, 6, of Raytown, Mo., has cancer. She has had numerous surgeries and chemotherapy treatments. Although there is interest in her case, we come out on top by tossing the popcorn directly into her mouth.
"Hey, she cheated," says Jer Wilson 11 of Salina
"I want to make sure this gets in the paper so everyone knows," he laughs. Jer suffers from Wilms' tumor, which is cancer of the
See SCHOOL. D. 5
Keith ThorpeKANSAN
Three for the sky?
Jerry Milburn, Leavenworth freshman, left, and Jeff Aley, Akron, Ohio, junior, prepare to launch their set of tandem kites in front of Fraser Hall. They used a stack of three trick flying kites yesterday but were unsuccessful in getting them airborne because the wind was too gusty. Milburn said. Outdoor activity may be inhibited today as cold, wintry weather moves into the area. Larry Schultz, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Topeka, said a cold front coming from Canada would send temperatures into the low 30s today with a 60 percent chance of light snow tonight.
Students may unwittingly have sick, stolen python Snake's bite may be harmful
By Pam Soliner
Kansas staff writer
A potentially dangerous python
can be allistering around a KU
fraternity.
acted skittish.
"If you don't know how to handle them, they will bite you," he said.
Sgt. Schuyler Bailey of the KU police said yesterday that Belton, Mo., police were trying to locate men men who unsuspectingly bought a sick, stolen python last week
unlh, they wn noe you, he bea
Cathy Ryan, co-manager of The
'They're generally very docile. You can walk around with them around your neck all day long. An animal that's not feeling up to par might be a little bit cranky.'
Cathv Rvan
Co-manager of The Menagerie
Eric Carrott of Pecular, Mo. owns two Burmese pythons, Satan and Gamoura, which were stolen from their wooden and plexiglass cage in his basement March 16. The female snake, Gamoura, was recovered March 30.
Carrott had been treating the snakes with daily injections for a rot infection on their undersides. Each snake required five more treatments.
The medication is lethal if injected directly in people, said Sgt. Don Spears of the Belton police.
Officials are worried that the toxic medicine could be transferred to people bitten by the python.
Carrott said the Shawnee reptologist who treated the snakes told him a bite from the snake would cause a strong illness. To a small child, a bite could be deadly.
He said that neither snake had bit him but that the male python, Satan,
Ryan said it was common for pet stores to buy snakes from pet owners. She said people often bought baby snakes and became tired of them later.
Menagerie in Kansas City, Mo., said the pet store bought the two pythons from individuals about three weeks ago.
breton police notified Ryan that the snakes had been stolen March 16.
One snake was sold to a Weston, Mo., man; she said. Two men, who said they belonged to a KU fraternity, bought the second python March 26. The snakes are worth about $150 each.
Ryan said she remembered the man who bought the first snake because he wrote a check. The KU students paid cash.
The pythons are about five feet long. They are constrictors and generally do not bite, Ryan said.
any they are not here they are "They're generally very docile."
"An animal that's not feeling up to par might be a little bit cranky," Ryan said.
she said. "You can walk around with them around your neck all day long." But Ryan said animals reacted just 'too people when they were ill.'
George Pisani, director of KU biology laboratories, said it was highly unlikely that the toxic drug LRH was delivered through the snake's saliva.
Ryan said a bite could cause anything from an upset stomach to a deadly illness.
He said snakes had slower metabolisms than people. Because of this, snakes require stronger concentration than humans, which would be lethal for humans.
Pisani said the medication might have metabolized by now, depending on the snake's metabolic rate and the temperature it had been kept at.
Margaret Miller, assistant director of the organizations and activities center and coordinator of greek programs, said she notified all the fraternities on campus and asked them to make announcements about the situation at their chapter meetings.
Miller said most fraternities allowed pets, and a few python owners brought their pets forward. Those pythons were ruled out.
Anyone with any information about the missing python should call Bailey of the KU police at 864-5572, or Spears of the Belton police at (816) 331-1500.
Government counts 6.8 million secrets
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — After seven years of trying, the government thinks it finally has an accurate count of how many secrets it creates: 6.8 million a year.
That's a 35 percent decrease from the previous count, but nearly all of the drop came when the Navy decided it really didn't originate more secrets than the rest of the government put together.
It's still just an estimate, but it appears that the "top secret,"
"secret" and "confidential" stamps were welded 6,796,501 times during the fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30.
Garinfeld heads the Information Security Oversight Office.
"It appears that this unprecedented drop is primarily the result of more accurate counting, rather than an actual tremendous decrease in classification activity," Garfinkel says. "I spent the past few years trying to get the government to produce fewer secrets and count them more accurately."
In his annual report released Tuesday to President Bush, Garfinkel praised the Navy for finally figuring out what he had been trying to count each year.
The government doesn't actually count its secrecy decisions each year. It samples the number of times some offices decide to classify information. Then it projects those numbers to reflect the number of decisions in all offices.