The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 9

THE SALIVA JOURNAL Great Plains VIEWPOINTS B2 ALMANAC B3 FUN B4 ANDREA DORIA: 40 YEARS LATER Kansan reliving memory of deadly marine disaster As she did 40 years ago for passengers, McLean will play piano at reunion of shipwreck survivors By The Associated Press WICHITA Julianne McLean was 25 when she sat down at the piano to entertain her fellow passengers on the Andrea Doria. Now, 40 years later, McLean has been invited to give another performance at the piano this time at an anniversary reunioii of survivors of the famous shipwreck. It will be the first time McLean has attended such a reunion. Although she said the wreck changed her she only thinks about the Andrea Doria when asked about it, she said. McCLEAN "And when I do, I'm just immediately there again.

It's vivid and it's real," she said. McLean recalls the long, loud sound of grating metal that meant the beginning of the end for the Italian luxury liner, which sank July 25,1956, after colliding with another ship off Nantucket Island the night before it was to dock in New York City. McLean said she may have been saved by her decision to stay up, listening to music in a lounge on an upper deck with friends she had met during the crossing from Genoa, Italy. She was still holding her drink a limeade with a strip of pineapple in it when the Europe-bound Swedish liner Stockholm collided with the Andrea Doria. The deck tilted at a 45-degree angle and she fell.

In the end, the young musician remained uninjured and even dry during the famous marine disaster that killed 46 of the 1,706 passengers and crew and sent the elegant $30 million ship to the bottom of the sea. The Stockholm, with $1 million in damage, limped back to port. Just as she had played piano for fellow passengers earlier in the journey, McLean will play the piano at 11:10 p.m. today at Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, Long Island, New York, for the reunion. Her performance of Robert Schumann's "Dedication" is timed to the exact moment of the collision in 1956.

The ceremony is to honor those who died on both the Andrea Doria and the Stockholm, which lost five crewmen. About 100 survivors are expect- ed to attend. McLean, a graduate of the Kansas City Conservatory and Juilliard School once judged by a Washington, D.C., critic to be a "fire-breathing pianist of the old school," had taken the voyage after spending a year in Europe, studying at the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome and competing at the Queen Elisabeth of Belgium International Competition in Brussels. McLean was a finalist in the Brussels competition, but didn't win. McLean thought the screech of metal against metal was an iceberg at first.

Then, as the ship listed, she and others sat atop pieces of luggage that had been stacked for the morning docking. The ship's foghorn blew throughout the night, and McLean was evacuated to a lifeboat and then BRIEFLY Large hail pounds northwest Kansas MONUMENT Several tornados reported to the National Weather Service in heavy storms in northwest Kansas Tuesday night didn't cause any damage, but hail smashed windows, pounded cars and drilled into crops. were reported just of Wheeler in Cheyenne 15 miles south of Rawlins and one mile northeast of iBrewster in Thomas County within about a one-hour period Tuesday afternoon, when the storms blew through. Hailstones reaching sizes of 2.75 inches were reported five miles north of Levant in Thomas County, and almost every north facing window in Monument was smashed by 1.75-inch hailstones. Wind gusts up to 80 mph were reached southwest of Oakley.

Qarn fire leads to marijuana arrest RAYMOND Firefighters thought they were responding to an insignificant barn fire, but it led to the largest processed marijuana seizure in Rice County history. A 30-year-old man was arrested Tuesday after officials said they found between 50 and 70 pounds of marijuana, valued at about $40,000. Deputies found 376 marijuana plants, Sheriff Milton Gille- said Wednesday. Curtis Werner, who rents the two miles north of Raymond in Kansas, was held in the jail Wednesday on suspicion possession of marijuana with intent to deliver. Bond was $100,000.

The prosecutor's office was investigating and had not filed for- Imal charges late Wednesday, coun- 'ty attorney Dwight Radke said. The marijuana was found by who were responding -to an 11:10 a.m. barn fire on farm. Witnesses said Tthe barn exploded and burned to ground within minutes. -Concerned that the fire might to two nearby sheds and "Werner's home, firefighters began to douse the sheds with waiter.

That's when they encoun- Werner, who was trying to Demolish the two sheds with a tractor, Gillespie said. I After taking Werner into cus- Gillespie and his deputies ob- a search warrant for the two sheds and Werner's home. They found drug paraphernalia, a Russian assault rifle and more than in cash, the sheriff said. Man cleared of killing roommate in 1986 GARDEN CITY A former City resident who was charged with first-degree murder for the 1986 killing of a former roommate was found innocent Wednesday. A Finney County jury deliberated 90 minutes before clearing William "Dean" Harstick of murder and aggravated robbery.

Harstick was charged with killing Tom Kelley, a Holcomb man who was found bludgeoned to death in August 1986. Harstick lived with Kelley for about 18 months, but at the time of Kelley's death he had moved about 10 miles away. Harstick moved to Columbus, after Kelley's death. He was arrested there in August 1994 on a Kansas warrant. From Staff and Wire Reports Tomorrow's Headlines 825-6OOO Category 6006 i i alter 7:30 p.m.) When you need to know A quiet goodbye Widower Landon preferred to stay out of spotlight By LEW FERGUSON The Associated Press OPEKA Theo Cobb Landon preferred educational, cultural and civic pursuits and worked to shield her family from the fame that came with her husband's political career.

She was the widow of Alfred M. Landon, the two-term Republican governor who became a legend after losing the 1936 presidential race to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She also was the mother of U.S. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, one of the more popular politicians in state history.

Landon, who died Sunday at the age of 97 after a lengthy ill-, ness, always let her husband have the public spotlight. And a memorial service in her honor Wednesday seemed in keeping with her lifelong preference. About 120 family members and friends gathered in a chapel at Topeka's First United Methodist Church to remember her. Landon was described as a gentle, caring woman who focused her energy on her family. Alf Landon, governor of Kansas in 1933-37, died in October 1987, a month after observing his 100th birthday.

While shunning political publicity, Theo Landon quietly carved out a niche for herself hi Topeka. She served more than 30 years as a member of the board of trustees of Washburn University, and was the first woman to serve as its chairman. She also served on the local boards of the Red Cross, Heart Fund, Florence Crittendon Home for pregnant girls and community concert. A story about Landon during the 1936 presidential campaign described her as "a serious- minded young Topeka society woman who was interested in charity and child welfare, as well as in music and collecting rare glassware and antiques." She seemed unaffected by the famous who came calling through the years at the Landon home, a 14-room colonial mansion in northwest Topeka, built after her husband lost the 1936 The Associated Press Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum, greets visitors at a memorial service for her mother, Theo Cobb Landon, on Wednesday in Topeka.

race. Visitors included then- President Ronald Reagan on Landon's 100th birthday in September 1987, George Bush and Bobby Kennedy. Theo Landon was born Sept. 2, 1900, the daughter of Samuel Cobb, president.of Bank of Topeka, now Bank IV Topeka. She graduated from Washburn University of Topeka in 1919, then studied the harp and piano in Europe.

She met Landon hi 1928 when he was managing the Kansas gubernatorial campaign of Clyde M. Reed Sr. of Parsons. He was a 41-year-old widower; she was 28 and had never been married. They were married after a courtship of less than two years.

She recalled that a mutual friend suggested to Landon that call her. "He wasn't very clear on the telephone," Landon said. "I thought he was an insurance salesman. We sat on the porch, and I waited for him to try to sell me something." Alf Landon's first wife, Margaret Fleming of Oil City, had died in June 1918 while on a vacation trip to Colorado, leaving Landon a widower with a year- old daughter, Margaret Ann, who the family called Peggy. Peggy was 12 when Landon married Theo Cobb.

Theo moved to Independence, where Landon was in the oil business, but the couple never moved back there after his four years as governor. To Alf and Theo Landon were born two children, Nancy on July 29, 1932, and John Cobb "Jack" Landon on Dec. 28,1933. She rarely argued politics with her husband or even interjected her own opinions. "Don't expect me to be anything like Mrs.

Roosevelt," she told interviewers during the 1936 campaign, when Eleanor Roosevelt campaigned often for her husband. "It wasn't customary in those days to help your husband politically," Theo Landon said. "Nancy and Jack were just babies at the time, and I really was needed at home. Oh, I went on one or two trips with Alfred but Mrs. Roosevelt was doing enough traveling for both of us." to the He de France, one of a flotilla of ships that had heard the distress calls of the Andrea Doria.

She remembers being greeted by a French sailor's "Bon sour" and the offer of a blanket and the spread of coffee, brioche and fruit on the French ship. Although there were stories at the time claiming that the Andrea Doria crew had claimed the lifeboats for themselves and left behind passengers, McLean remembers only their selflessness. "They just moved heaven and Earth to help everyone," she said. The Andrea Doria has been called "the Everest of shipwrecks." National Geographic plans to cover the reunion for a television documentary about the ship, which reportedly was carrying a formidable collection of contemporary Italian art. TECHNOLOGY Kansas Cellular growing Salina-based company's $67 million sales ranks high among tech firms By ALF ABUHAJLEH The Salina Journal Kansas Cellular, a Salina-based cellular telephone company, ranks as one of the state's fastest- growing technology firms, according to Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp.

In its seven-year history, Kansas Cellular has seen sales climb to $67 million, and employment grow to more than 200. Kansas Technology Enterprise, a state-sponsored non-profit corporation, will honor Kansas Cellular and other fast-growing firms at an Aug. 22 luncheon in Wichita. Gov. Bill Graves will attend.

"It's really exciting to see how a small company in rural Kansas can do so well! in a competitve market," said Clarke Garnett, Kansas Cellular's executive vice president. Founded in 1989 by 28 small, independent telephone companies, Kansas Cellular soon established itself as one of rural Kansas' top cellular phone companies. Dallas-based CellularOne is its main rival. "The demand for cell phones (in rural Kansas) has been enormous the last couple of years," Garnett said. "When they became popular in metropolitan areas, people here knew about them but couldn't buy them.

So when they became available, people jumped right on them." Kansas Cellular's $67 million hi sales last year was a 31 percent increase from the year before. Garnett said the company started with only a handful of employees, but now has 208 workers throughout Kansas, including 80 in Salina; In addition to selling cellular phones, Kansas Cellular operates the cellular telecommunication system that their customers use. The company also owns KINI, a telecommunications management service, and KINNET, a fiber-optic network that provides small telephone companies with services such as access to long-distance carriers and private phone lines used to transfer data at high speeds Kansas Technology Enterprise tracked technology-oriented companies from 1991 to 1995, and based its ranking on revenue growth over that period. The only stipulation was that a company earned less than $50,000 in the first year and more than $1 million in 1995. Also honored by Kansas Technology Enterprise was a Chapman company, RoofMart.

WaKEENEY Truck crashes through bedroom, but family survives Mishap at low-income apartment has family searching for new home By CHRIS KOGER The Salina Journal WaKEENEY In the time that it took the pickup truck to travel the 86 feet from the street to her son's bedroom, Kathryn Brown's life was changed. Brown was asleep at 4:30 a.m. Friday when the truck, driven by 16- year-old Jeff Brown (no relation), slammed into the room where her 7- year-old son, Paul sleeps. Fortunately, Paul wasn't hi the room at the time, and her 6-year- old daughter Rebecca was also safe. "Both of the kids had actually snuck into my room hi the middle of the night," said Kathryn Brown.

"It just went through the wall. We're lucky he wasn't hi there that night." The wreck also damaged a nearby apartment rented by her brother, Shane Brown, and the two have been looking for a place to live. Meanwhile, Kathryn lives with her sister and Shane lives with their mother. "The major damage is on my Truck hits house side. There is damage to his air conditioning, but it still works," Kathryn Brown said.

"But they won't let him hi there, because (the crash) broke a water main under the apartment." The apartment complex, Apple Junction Apartments, is low-income housing. Brown said her checks from the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services have been cut, so her rent is free and she receives $83 a month to pay bills. Without any other open spaces in the complex, however, Brown said she is unable to rent another place, or even pay the deposits to have utilities hooked up. "I have no funding. Now (SRS) tells me they have units open in other towns, but I have no funding to turn on the utilities," she said.

The low-income housing units are in Oberlin and Plainville, she said. "Right now, we don't even know what we're supposed to do for a place to live," Brown said. "We can bounce around between families, but what kind of life is that?" WaKeeney Police Chief Terry Eberle said the crash is under investigation. Jeff Brown was not arrested and passed sobriety tests at the scene of the crash. "We are still not sure what happened," Eberle said.

"His mother is concerned about seizures. Apparently the family has a history of that." SUGGESTIONS? CALL BEN WEARING, DEPUTY EDITOR, AT (913) 823-6363 OR 1-800-827-6363.