Columbia Missourian Newspaper 1984-09-24

              STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
1012 U01RT OIIC
COLUBBIA, HO. 65211
Qj iUbsourUwi. r r r - Always a winner JBBf
77th Year --- No. 9 Good Morning! lfs Monday, September 24, 1984 2 Sections 20 Pages 25 Cents
Reagan says
no neglect
at embassy
United Press International
NEW YORK President Reagan
rejected suggestions Sunday of U. S.
negligence in the car- bombi- ng of the
American embassy in Beirut and
said there is no plan to send a Ma-rine
contingent back to guard the in-stallation.
The president was asked by re-porters
whether any negligence was
involved in the bombing that killed
24 people at the embassy Thursday
and he replied, " No."
He likened the delay in completing
security arrangements at the em-bassy,
where U. S. personnel had
moved two months ago, to having a
kitchen renovated.
" Anyone that's ever had a kitchen
done over knows that it never gets
done as soon as you wish it would,"
said Reagan.
The president said 75 percent of all
security devices were in. place be-fore
personnel moved to the embas-sy
annex in Christian East Beirut
from the embassy in Moslem West
Beirut, which had been bombed last
year.
The president spoke at a picture- takin- g
session as he began a meeting
with Argentine President Raul Al- fons- m.
It was the first time he spoke
at any length about the bombing.
He said despite security devices, if
someone is " determined to kill him-self,
exploding an automobile,"
there is not much that can be done.
Administration officials have ac-knowledged
that security at the em-bassy
annex was deficient and the
move to that section of the Lebanese
capital entailed a risk.
He disputed a suggestion that it
might have been a mistake to' pull
the Marine contingent guarding the
embassy out of Beirut. " No," the
president said, " You can't have ex-terior
guards. The Marines can't be
exterior guards outside the com-pound.
That is foreign territory and
there was no need inside the com-pound
for a detachment of 80 Ma-rines,"
who were withdrawn about a
month ago.
Reagan said the driver of the exp-losives-
laden car was fired upon
" from the beginning. He got close,
but he never did get into the com
pound." The car exploded about 20
feet from the embassy building after
negotiating a driveway with waist- hig- h
concrete obstacles.
Asked if embassy officials had
moved into the building too quickly
before security arrangements were
completed, the president replied,
" No. We're waiting for the complete
report from the two ( State Depart-ment
officials) that were sent over
there."
Asked if the embassy will be safer
now, Reagan said, " There are addi-tional
things that still have to be
done. For example, the three steel
gates, but because of the wet con-crete
and so forth ... they had not yet
been installed."
The president said that although
the gates had not been put in place,
" As I say, this was a checkpoint and
the car was stopped. When they be-gan
to step on it, they were fired
upon."
As for tougher security at the en-trance
to the compound, Reagan
said, " You're talking about a resi-dential
street People must have ac-cess.
We cannot completely close off
that street"
Meanwhile, Walter Mondale's
campaign chief said Sunday the
bombing is a political issue and will
remain one until President Reagan
answers the question, " How could it
happen again?"
James Johnson, head of the Demo-cratic
presidential campaign, said
the truck- bombi- ng " outrages the
American people."
Johnson was asked on NBC's
" Meet the Press" if questions about
embassy security raised by the
bombing present a political issue.
Referring also to 1983 bombings at
the U. S. Embassy and Marine bar-racks
in the Lebanese capital, he re- pbe- d:
" There's a political issue for one
reason and that is, three times on
Mr. Reagan's watch we have lost
lives in Lebanon. That outrages the
American people."
" It's not a question of was there a
mistake the first time, was there a
mistake the second time. This is the
third time. ... All over this country,
people are asking the same question:
How could it happen again?"
New cheating scandal
puts doubt on honor
WASHINGTON ( UPI) - A new
cheating scandal at the Air Force
Academy has renewed debate over
whether honor codes can work on to-day's
college campuses where stu-dents
are under intense pressure to
achieve high . grades, a UPI survey
indicated.
The academy has suspended its
honor code because of a cheating
scandal that was the worst nv20
years. That code required cadets to
report any cheating they know
about, whether they were, involved
or not.
The academy acted in the spring in
the wake of 19 known violations in
which morning test questions were
passed to students taking an af-ternoon
test. Academy officials be-lieved
more cadets cheated than the
19 who were suspended and that cade-t-
run trials acquitted a number de-spite
evidence they had cheated.
" It was apparent that the entire
application of the honor code by ca-dets
was not functioning properly,"
one official said.
A UPI survey of institutions of
higher learning turned up some solid
. support of the honor code concept as
well as some- skepticism- ;
, Not surprisingly; ' support fo? the
Air Force Academy's kind of code,
came from another service academy
West Point.- - '
" The major feedback we, get is
that all the cadets are pretty satis--
fied with the honor code," Cadet
Honor Capt. Charles Rogers said.
" A cadet Is not automatically
kicked out if he is caught cheating,''
Rogers said. An extensive review
process takes into account the
judgment of other cadets.
The Naval Academy, which uses
general guidelines, had 35 violations
and 24 expulsions last year.
The point of the honor concept is
not a set of rules, but rather " to do
the right thing at ail times," said
Cmdr. Kendell Pease, Naval Acade-my
spokesman.
The University of Virginia has had
an honor code for 142 years, but re-moved
the so- call- ed non- tolerati- on
clause prohibiting even silence about
someone else's cheating.
Yet if a student is convicted of ly-ing,
stealing or cheating, there is
only one punishment expulsion.
That single sanction was favored by
60 percent of those who expressed an
opinion in a February vote.
" The reason why honor codes
dont work at the service academies
is closely analogous to why they
dont work at the University of Tex-as,"
student body president Rodney
Schlosser said. " People are realizing
that we are in a competitive environ-- ,
ment and, consequently, getting
good grades becomes crucial.'
ao8 -- - -- - i r. . . i U Ja! rt? Xftetoi& pni
Edmund Lo
What better way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon than watching a house burn down?
Good day for a fire
ByPatDaltoni
Mlssourlan staff writer
With 55 pounds of firefighting gear covering me, I
stood next to Battalion Chief Ken Owens, waiting for in-structions
to enter the burning house.
We entered through the back door. Using the hose
carried by the first crew to guide us upstairs, we
moved up a flight of stairs toward the source of the fire.
It took only minutes to douse the flames. Even though
our fire suits were insulated against the heat, we could
feel the waves of heat coming from the walls even after
the fire had been extinguished.
Sunday's fire had been intentionally set
Firefighting trainees and seasoned firefighters con-ducted
what Columbia Chief BUI Westhoff Jr. called a
" controlled burn," and members of the press got an in-side
look at how fires are fought.
The fire- traini- ng session was held in an abandoned
building across from Cosmopolitan Park on Business
Loop 70 West
" The burn is as close to actual conditions as possi-ble,"
Westhoff said, " it's better training than anything
you could do."
The exercises consisted of igniting different portions
of the house in order to give trainees practical experi-ence
in firefighting techniques.
After observing the first four burns, Westhoff allowed
members of the media to participate. A fifth burn was
set in the upper portion of the house.
First- han- d experience was different from what we
had been observing all morning.
First, It was necessary to put on the proper equip-ment:
a fire suit, weighing about 20 pounds; boots, glov-es,
helmet and mask and an oxygen tank, weighing
about 35 pounds.
Once we were upstairs, the smoke grew thicker and
visibility became nearly non- existe- nt I crawled down
the hall with Owens as the firefighters extinguished the
fire and ventilated the room. Because of the poor visi-bility,
I could only see billows of brownish- colore- d
smoke and the silhouettes of the firefighters in the next
room.
The sounds of breaking glass from the windows sig-naled
the beginning of the ventilation process on the up-per
floor. Once that began, visibility became clearer
and we moved inside the bedroom to see the damage
and watch part of the ventilation process.
After kneeling in puddles of water, trying to control
my breathing as not to run out of oxygen and feeling in-tensely
hot in the fire suit, it was time to leave the
building.
Owens guided us back down the stairs and out the
backdoor.
What I learned Sunday was just how involved putting
out a fire can be. Having to endure the heat, the cum-bersome
and heavy equipment and the anxiety of not
knowing what will happen next are all part of the fire-fighting
business.
Observing from a distance is deceiving. Many times,
Westhoff explained earlier that day, people will drive
by a fire scene and see firefighters who appear to be
standing around doing very little. But each crew has a
separate job and they are not always required to be in-side
the burning structure.
" It's a very regimented process, militaristic in na-ture,"
Westhoff said. " Everyone has a job to do and
must do it."
i
KrryClrl
t
Edmund Lo
Columbia firefighter John Ig- lehea- rt,
above teft, and Jerry
Fisher set up a hose during
the training session. Mean-while,
Stephen Stone, left,
watches the blaze with his
sons, Chris, left, and Mat-thew.