The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 1

117th 307 New jail not intent of lawsuit Sedgwick County was forced to build By DAVID CLOUSTON Staff Writer Four years ago, Sedgwick County faced a situation Saline County faces today. The jail was crowded, prisoners were suing, and voters turned down a bond issue to fund new construction. A federal judge declared the old jail was operating unconstitutionally and specified new cell and staffing requirements. The result: Construction of a new jail in Wichita at a cost of about $20 million. That a federal judge could force Saline County to do the same thing concerns Sheriff Darrell Wilson.

But an attorney for the plaintiff in a civil lawsuit against the county commission and the sheriff's department said Friday that wasn't the suit's intent. "If we were considering that, it would have been in the form of a suit," Salina attorney Karen Black said. A class-action suit entitles a group of people, such as inmates, to file suit together without the need to be named individually. "It (crowding) is a problem that's being addressed," Black said. "That's going to happen whether we sue anyone or not.

We did not file to make a change in public If other inmates filed a class-action suit, local and state corrections officials say, that suit, coupled with proposed changes in sentencing guidelines that could double the population of the jail in a few years, could pressure county commissioners to speed up jail construction. Construction is considered three to five years distant. Black's client, James H. Young 21, is suing for compensation for injuries he says were received during a beating by six other inmates on Oct. 30,1988.

At the time, Young was in jail awaiting trial on a charge of indecent liberties with a child. Officials said the beating occurred because of the nature of the case against him. The charge later was amended to aggravated incest. Young pleaded guilty and was sentenced in January 1989 to a two-to-five-year prison term. He is an inmate at the Ellsworth Correctional Facility.

His attackers were charged and sentenced for the beating, Three received probation, and three served sentences. Sheriff's officials said later that Young should not have been sharing a cell with the others but all cells that hold just one prisoner were full. But Wilson said Friday that the reason he was put in with that group of prisoners was because he had fought earlier that night with an inmate in (See Jail, Page 5) Inside THE LOS ANGELES Raiders, with their Bo-dacious 6-1 record, invade Arrowhead Sunday in a key showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs. See Sports, Page 13. BEN FRICK not only loses his tax appeal with the state, but the valuation on one of his properties is dramatically increased.

See Page 3. MANY ANALYSTS say a national recession not only has arrived but is intensifying. See Page 22. Business 22,23 Classified 16-20 LivingToday 6,7 3 Opinion 4 Religion 10 Sports 13-16 Television 20 Weather 2 Weather and snow possible today, highs from the mid-30s northwest to the mid-60s southeast. Lows tonight from 20 northwest to 40s southeast- Highs Sunday in 40s.

Sallna 1 Sallna, Kansas SATURDAY November 3,1990 35 Cents PUMPKIN PARTY Katie Armitage, a State Historical Society educator, Friday shows fifth-grade students at Coronado school Tom Doricy how to weave dried pumpkin. The weavings were used as baskets by Indians. They later could be boiled and used for food. Kassebaum opponent faces tough odds TOPEKA (AP) Dick Williams was a political unknown when he entered the race against the seemingly unassailable Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum.

Little appears to have changed since the campaign started. Kassebaum, the "gentle senator," remains one of the more popular political figures in modern state history, despite the public relations problem Congress has after its budget fumbling in recent weeks. The maverick Wichita Democrat, bemoaning the lack of news coverage, which he calls censorship, has not appeared to have dented Kassebaum's political armor, despite issuing stacks of position papers on issues from Latin America policy to THE 1990 ELECTION economic development. A recent poll said 81 percent of the voters surveyed supported Kassebaum, while Williams had only 14 percent of the vote. Five percent were undecided.

Kassebaum's lopsided advantage in the race also is shown in the financial reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Kassebaum had cash reserves of $312,644, while Williams had $1,425 in his campaign treasury. Kassebaum, 58, is seeking her third six-year term, despite an earlier pledge that 12 years in the Senate would be her limit. Williams, 56, teaches English as a second language at Wichita State University and.has a varied background, with both business and academic experience. "People don't know how she votes," Williams said.

"Being nice is not enough." The two disagree sharply with President Bush's actions in the Persian Gulf crisis. Kassebaum fully supports the American troop buildup in Saudi Arabia following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Williams sees it as following a pattern of U.S. intervention in other nation's affairs. He also strongly advocates reducing the military budget.

Williams has taught French and Spanish in both high school and college. He also has worked for Coleman International and Commerce Clearing House as a commissioned salesman. He also owned his own company, Export Management for 10 years. He also holds a master's degree in French and Spanish and a master's of business administration. Williams has said politicians have betrayed American values.

"I see an America where people (See Tough, Page 11) Economists share out-of-this-world views Robert Hand studies a chart of the relation of gold prices to Mercury. Scientific breakthrough may yield better plants CHICAGO (AP) For these economists, the picture always is bright out of this world, you might say. That's because when it comes to business, astro-economists turn to the stars. They look at the rise of the moon, gravitational forces of Venus and Jupiter, and Earth's tidal flows and weather patterns to forecast the future of economic trends ranging from unemployment to gold prices. Spacey? Not to these high rollers, er, astro- economists.

This weekend about 150 of them are in Chicago for the Third Annual World Conference on Astro- Economics. Say what? "When most people hear about astro-economics, they go, Robert Hand, creator of a computer program overlaying star charts with stock market fluctuations, said Friday. "I think that there is a great deal of incredulity, but the proof is in the pudding in that people who use it make money." Among the lecture topics at the conference, for which each attendee paid $170: "Geocosmic and Rhythmic Cycles in Today's Precious Metals Markets," "Astrological Technical Analysis" and "Hot Stocks for the Coming During the coming months, Hand said, he foresees a bottoming out in the stock market and recession-like trends. Critics might argue it doesn't take a rocket scientist to predict such (See Views, Page 11) Bush Bush will visit gulf troops President to be there during Thanksgiving ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) President Bush will fly to the Persian Gulf to spend Thanksgiving with the troops he sent to confront Saddam Hussein, the White House announced Friday.

Bush, meanwhile, hitting hard at Saddam while campaigning for Republican candidates, renewed his pledge to push Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. But he said he still hopes U.S. forces can return home "without a shot fired in anger." Bush will visit Egypt and Saudi Arabia following a trip to Paris for the Nov. 19-21 multinational Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, White House Press Secretary Martin Fitzwater said. Confirmation of the long-rumored gulf trip came as Bush kept up his drumbeat of harsh anti-Saddam rhetoric.

Bush's spokesman said Thursday that the president was preparing the nation "for any eventuality," but the president said he was not trying to prepare Americans for war. While on a political barnstorming trip across the Midwest on Friday, Bush continued his dual message of hoping for a peaceful solution but holding firm to his pledge to rout Saddam from Kuwait. Referring to the U.S. troops he has sent to the gulf, Bush told a Cincinnati audience: "I will do my level best to bring every single one of them home without a shot fired in anger, but we will not stop abort of our stated objectives. We are the United States of America and we stand for principle.

That principle must prevail. "Saddam Hussein must get out and he must get out Given the volatility of the gulf region with more than 200,000 U.S. troops deployed, and with Iraq's 1 million-strong military also on war footing, complete with missiles that can reach Saudi Arabia all security concerns had been taken into account for Bush's visit, one administration official said. "If we didn't think it was safe, he wouldn't go," the official said. While in the gulf region, Bush will consult with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and the exiled emir of Kuwait, Fitzwater said.

In Washington, meanwhile, Secretary of State James A. Baker III scrambled his travel plans to arrange for meetings in Moscow next week on the gulf crisis with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev and Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shev- ardnadze. Baker leaves today on a trip to the Persian Gulf.

Bush plans to leave Washington on Nov. 16 for Europe and return from the Middle East on Nov. 23. He will stop first in Prague for the Nov. 17 first anniversary of the nonviolent ouster of the communist government of Czechoslovakia, and will consult with President Vaclav Havel.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -Scientists have, for the first time, genetically engineered the parts of plant cells where photosynthesis occurs. Rutgers University researchers said they have introduced genetically altered material into the cnlor- oplasts of a tobacco plant, whose seeds produced plants that carried the same traits. Photosynthesis occurs in cnlor- oplasts, the tiny structures in plant cells that contain chlorophyll. Photosynthesis is the process by which plants make food and capture the sun's energy.

"We now have this tool to genetically improve photosynthesis, to make it more efficient," said Pal Maliga, the director of Rutgers' research team. Improved photosynthesis could eventually make for bigger and sturdier plants that could more ef- ficiently produce food in a shorter amount of time, Milaga said. Scientists in other parts of the country hailed the Rutgers finding as a breakthrough. "It certainly is a first in higher plants," said Milton Zaitlin, the director of the biotechnology program at Cornell University in Ithaca, N. Y.

"It's a major breakthrough," said Richard Hallick, a biochemist at the University of Arizona. "It's something that has been sought for at least a decade." The results of the experiment were reported Thursday in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a scientific journal. Photosynthesis is fundamental to all plant and animal life because it provides the carbohydrates to power (See Plants, Page 11) The Rev. William Lytle speaks about the San Antonio Habitat for Humanity project. Habitat program pushed for Salina By DAVID CLOUSTON Staff Writer The Rev.

William Lytle believes in building communities, not just homeless shelters; in getting poor families to work together with other residents to help build homes the community can be proud of. "We're not just building houses but developing relationships between homeowning families," Lytle told a crowd at noon Friday at the First Presbyterian Church in Salina. "It's an on-hands way of getting in touch with people less fortunate." Lytle, pastor of the Madison Square Presbyterian Church in San Antonio, Texas, and Carolyn Talboys of Springfield, spoke on Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit housing ministry that works in partnership with low-income people to enable them to live in homes that they own. There are more than 500 Habitat affiliates in the United States and 70 affiliates in 28 countries overseas. The pair were invited by First Presbyterian Church officials to discuss ways the Habitat program can con- (See Habitat, Page 11).