THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PUBLISHED SINCE 1889 BY THE STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
IHURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1989
(USPS 650-640)
VOL. 99, NO. 89
144 die in crash Jet hits mountain in Azores
The Associated Press
LISBON, Portugal — A U.S. charter jet carrying Italian vacationers to the Caribbean crashed into a mountain in the Azores while trying to land in fog yesterday. All 144 people on board were killed.
The Boeing 707, with a seven-member U.S. crew, was approaching Santa Maria airport when it hit 1,749-foot Pico Altair Mountain and struck the Pimentel, a reporter in the Azores for Portugal's LUSA news agency.
Portuguese state television said an emergency medical team that arrived in Santa Mara from Ponta Delgata was there was no hope of surviving survivors.
LUSA reported that more than 50 bodies had been recovered by nightfall. Heavy fog and difficult access to the crash site hampered rescue
The jet belonged to the U.S. airline Independent Air Corp., based in Smyrna, Teen. Airline officials said the plane was bound from Bergamia, Italy, to the Dominican Republic and then to Jamaica.
In Smyrna, A.L. Pittman, president of Independent Air, identified six of the victims as: Leon Daugherty, 41, of Nashville, Tenn., the captain; Sammy Adcock, 36, Nashville, 1st officer; Gonzalez Morales, 43, Rex, 74, the thief; McFarlane Yvette Murray, 26, of Marretta, Ga. Angela Urban, 24, West Palm Beach, Fla., and Helen Ziegel, 45, Warner Robins, Ga.
a fourth flight attendant, a woman, was not identified pending notification of next of kin.
Portuguese TV said an anonymous caller to the newsroom claimed responsibility for the crash on behalf of an organization called the Brigada
Azores jet crash
Boeing 707
Length: 153 ft. Wingspan: 146 ft.
SOURCE: Modern Commercial Aircraft
Knight-Ridder Tribune News / PAUL SOUTAR
Terrorista International (International Terrorist Brigade).
once said that they knew of no group by that name and suspected that the claim was a hoax.
Witnesses said the wreckage still burned on Pico Alto five hours after the crash.
The plot radioed Santa Maria Airport control tower three minutes before the crash but did not report anything wrong, LUSA quoted an unidentified civil aviation official as saving.
KU's heating bills higher this winter
Kansan staff writer
But with the onset of cold weather,
Porter is looking at a bill for $5,000 a day for fuel oil.
by Max Evans
Bob Porter didn't think twice about a $117,000 December gas bill.
Porter said that figure did not include the cost of gas and electricity needed to heat Wetland Lake on Daisy Field or Stauffer Place.
It cost $3,160 to heat KU's main campus for Monday alone, said Porter, associate director of physical plant facilities.
The figure is almost 22 percent higher than December 19th, 1968, an average heating day last December, which cost $4,368.
"With 51 percent of the year gone, we have used 71 percent of the budget for natural gas," Porter said.
The 71 percent does not include February's bill.
Compared with last year, however,
this year's gas usage has not been
unusually high. January's fuel costs
have yet to be tallied, but Porter said
it would be low compared with a year
ago, when the weather was much
colder. Fuel costs for that month
were more than $190,000.
See GAS, p. 6, col. 1
Faulty lines cause blasts
Many Kansans confronted with recent natural gas explosions in the Kansas City area are concerned that the natural gas lines in their homes.
The most recent explosion, occurring Jan. 7, in Fulton, Mo., killed two persons. This explosion, and others in the Kansas City area, have been linked to corroded or faulty gas lines.
In Lawrence, Kansas Public Service supplies the natural gas and is responsible for the lines up to a user's house, said Dean Burger, vice president of operations for KPS.
Federal law mandates that safety rules be followed by all state and local gas companies. The state regulations for leaks and damage to lines.
The survey is carried out by a trained staff member who searches for leaks in the system with an instrument calibrated to find natural gas hydrocarbons.
After Ash Wednesday ceremonies, Don Jardon, Lawrence resident, Wednesday is the first day of Lent, the 40-day period before Jesus prays at the St. Lawrence Catholic Center, 1631 Crescent Road, Ash died.
During Ash Wednesday ceremonies, the Rev. Vincent Krische distributes ashes at the St. Lawrence Catholic Center, 1631 Crescent Road.
Lent begins
Steve Traynor(KANSAN
Ashes made from burned palm leaves symbolize the beginning and end of life
3 pizza drivers robbed in city
by Angela Clark
Kansan staff writer
Pizza delivery could be hazardous to your heath. Within the past two months, three different pizza delivery drivers have been robbed at gunpoint.
On Dec 7, a Rudy's Pizza delivery man was robbed in the 600 block of W. 12th Street, and on Jan. 22 two men robbed a Pizza Shuttle delivery man near the intersection of 15th and Maple streets in east Lawrence On Saturday, $35 was taken from a Pizza Hut delivery man in the 1700 block of Ohio Street.
gappoint.
And the pizza restaurant owners say there isn't anything they can do.
Chris Mulvenon, Lawrence police spokesman, said the Rudy's Pizza and the Pizza Shuttle robberies were related.
reduced.
"In both Rudy's and Pizza Shuttle, the man was wearing pantyhose on his head." Mulvenon said.
See OWNERS, p. 6. col. 2
Consumers, drivers to pay for Kansas highway bill
by John P. Milburn
and Alan Morgan Kansan staff writers
TOPEKA The road to financing better highways in Kansas will not be smooth, legislators said yesterday.
improved to provide
A House transportation committee
conducted hearings this week on the
bill — and five options to the bill — to
build and repair more than 9,600
miles of state highways.
A proposed increase in motor fuel taxes, vehicle registration fees and a 1/2 cent sales tax increase would pay for infrastructure highway improvement program.
State Rep. John Crowell, R-Longton, said
Testimony was heard from business leaders and community officials on the bill. Hearings will continue next week before the committee begins discussion on financing the bill.
State Rep. Rex Crowell, R-Longton, said
Crowell, chairman of the committee, said that he had not heard any major objection to the cost of the project during the hearings.
project outlining the mission." "So far, everyone has been supportive," Crowell said. "I'm sure there
The bill and four of its options each propose a four cent increase in the motor fuel tax effective July 1. An additional two cent increase would begin July 1, 1981, and another one increase would also take effect July 1, 1983.
will be some objection to the size of the highway bill, but when you look at it realistically, it's going to be a large program."
The state also would be authorized to issue $700 million in bonds to finance the project. The bonds would have 15 to 25 years of maturity and would be paid by the increased registration fees and motor fuel taxes.
Increased fuel taxes would generate more than $1 billion for the highway program through the year 2000, according to the bill.
Proposed taxes for road improvements
The bill and options propose to increase the 4 cent state sales tax between 25 percent and 5 percent.
In 1987, a special session was called by Gov. Mike Hayden for the purpose
See HIGHWAY, p. 6, col. 2
Stephen Kline/KANSAN
Source House Transportation Committee
More delays for Tower's confirmation
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Several members of the Senate Armed Services Committee received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the same defense contracting firms that hired Defense Secretary-designate John Tower to lobby for them, records show.
Tower, a former Republican senator from Texas who headed the armed services panel until his retirement in 1984, has said that he received more than $1 million in a three-year payout from the U.S. Marine International, Martin Marietta Corp., LTV Aerospace and Defense Co., and Textron Corp.
Members of the panel, which has put off a vote on Tower's nomination, have raised questions about whether Tower could remain impartial at the Pentagon because of his ties to defense contractors.
Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., the committee chairman, said yesterday that the most recent delay in the confirmation process stemmed from the FBI's investigation into new aliens and extraterrestrial nature involving the nominee.
Records on file at the Federal Election Commission show that in 1987 and 1988 the political action committees of at least four defense firms that hired Tower also contributed to panel members.
Atogether, the PAC's gave to more than 100 presidential, senatorial and congressional candidates.