Vol. 99, No. 59 (USPS 650-640)
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PUBLISHED SINCE 1880 BY THE STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
Thursday November 17,1988
200 protesters stage rally at Liberty Hall
By Daniel Niemi Kansan staff writer
"The Last Temptation of Christ," the film that has sparked protests across the country, tempted about 200 people into the cold last night to demonstrate at liberty Hall, 642 Massachusetts.
The protesters, most of them from St. Mary's Academy, Church and College in Leavenworth sang hymns, carried banners and knelt in prayer in front of the theater for about an hour. They arrived about one-half hour before the 9 p.m. showing of the film.
directed by Martin Scorsese and based on a book by Nikos Kazantzakis, have focused on a scene where Christ is tempted by lust toward Mary Magdalene.
De la Tour said he hoped the protest would halt the showing of the movie at Liberty Hall. It is scheduled to run through Dec. 3.
Jerry Kramer, a senior at St. Mary's, said he hoped the protest would keep people from seeing the movie.
"It mocks our Lord. It insults him. It's sickening. It's porno
The Rev. Herve de la tour,
headmaster of St. Mary's, said the protesters were there to pray and serve penance in compensation for the death of a woman in the film and to distribute flies to disemploy people from seeing it.
"I hope we're blocking the doors enough," he said.
Jeffrey Johnston/KANSAN
The protesters, however, did not stop Sarah Buchuemler, Overland Park sophomore, from seeing the movie.
To protect the local showing of the film, "The Last Temptation of Church gathered in front of Liberty Hall, 642 Massachusetts St., last Christ," about 200 people from St. Mary's Academy, College and night.
"This guy was grabbing me and trying to get me to read this stuff," she said. "I said, 'I just want to see the movie.'
Jill Johns, a theater employee.
"It made me want to see the movie more."
for the film earlier in the week.
Rob Fitzgerald, assistant manager at Liberty Hall, said earlier yesterday that three to four people had protested the film almost
want. They have the right to protest."
John Winfrey, KU assistant professor of Army ROTC, also was protesting the movie.
"Mv wife and I both believe that
Many of the students refused comment. De la Tour said the policy stemmed from a similar opinion on nationality shown at the Kansas Union in
testify for Christ," he said.
student who was in the seventh grade, and he didn't give the right answers. I think sometimes the teacher knows what to know what to say," de la Tour said.
None of the protesters inter-
viewed had seen the film or
planned to see it.
gree
majors finish their degrees.
major father also argued that discontinuation was a cee to students because many wanted or in the program. Also, he said no offered in the program's curriculum hange with the program's discontinu-
talked with a lot of freshmen and iores who were interested in majoring onnel," he said. "When told the major osed, a lot of people were really inted."
ple complain it is academically weak wn the courses to continue." he said. Torrey, Fairfax, Va., senior and the attent who attended the hearing, saideed with Drury that the program not be discontinued.
minister shooting
husband was killed . . . I gave Tom the .22-caliber Woodman that he used to shoot my husband," she said.
Bird was convicted in 1985 in the death of his wife, Sandy, who at first appeared to be the victim of a traffic accident at the Rocky Ford Bridge over the Cottonwood River near Emporia. The investigation was reopened after Bird's conviction on the solicitation charge. The prosecution contended that Bird threw his wife from the bridge and tried to disguise the slaying as a traffic accident.
The story of Eldridge and Bird, both of whom have remarried, was the subject of the CBS miniseries "Murder Ordained," a movie filmed in and around Emporia. It aired in May 1987.
used to shoot my masturbation.
Eldridge, 35, awaits sentencing on the second-degree murder charge but is already serving 5 to 18 years for an earlier unsuccessful plot on her husband's life.
e habit today
ing habit of smoking is no longer in fashion in New York City."
Hamish urged smokers unconcerned about their health to think about their friends and family, citing the recent death of his friend and "A Chorus Line" collaborator Edward Kleban. The lyricist, a heavy smoker, died of cancer last December.
The event, held under the big top at "The Big Apple Circus" in Lincoln Center, ended with two elephants crushing giant plastic foam cigarettes as the celebrities stood nearby.
The Tobacco Institute officially announced its "Great American Welcome" program in newspaper advertisements Tuesday, but a spokesman said that the program was not planned as a reballet to the Smokeout.