Thursday, January 14, 1982
Cugana, Oregon
Oregon daily
emerald
Volume 83
Number 78
Death toll at 70
Plane plunges
into D. C. river
WASHINGTON (AP) - A
Florida-bound jetliner roared
from a snowy takeoff and
crashed into a Potomac River
bridge Wednesday, smashing
automobiles and plunging ben
eath the icy water More than 70
people, including at least six
motorists, were believed killed,
but the count could not be ver
ified.
The Boeing 737, an Air Flor
ida flight with at least 75 people
aboard, was bound from
Washington National Airport to
Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla
The crash of Flight 90 left only
eight survivors among the pas
sengers, police inspector
James Shugart said It was the
first fatal crash of an American
commercial airliner in more
than two years.
Only nine bodies were
recovered as of Wednesday
night.
Police Capt. Michael Canfield
said at least six motorists were
killed as the plane sheared the
tops of cars and hit a truck.
At least 16 survivors were ta
ken to Washington hospitals,
some suffering crash injuries,
some the effects of the frigid
river.
Even as ambulances and res
cue crews struggled through
the snow — and the massive
traffic jam it produced — to the
bridge, three people were killed
when a Washington subway car
hurtled from its track near the
Smithsonian Institution station
As darkness — and tempera
tures — fell, divers worked by
floodlight in the ice-crusted
river, searching for victims
Within minutes after the
crash, helicopters pulled sever
al survivors from the river Pre
sumably, most of the others
aboard the plane perished
under the ice.
It was not known how many of
the 16 known survivors were
from the plane or vehicles
struck upon the bridge, a multi
lane artery with three spans
connecting the city with subur
ban Virginia. The craft hit the
span nearest the airport, bear
ing traffic, much of it from the
Pentagon, headed into the city
or neighboring Maryland from
Virginia
The snowstorm had closed
the airport periodically during
the day
An AP photographer said he
saw bodies strapped into air
liner seats beneath the surface
of the Potomac.
The snow stopped shortly
after the crash, but foul weather
continued to impede rescue ef
forts. The temperature hovered
in the 20s as wind whipped the
river
One witness said one of the
plane s wheels hit a truck on the
bridge
Jerome Lancaster, an Air
Force sergeant who was in the
traffic jam on the bridge at the
time of the crash said “It looked
like he lost his direction. The
plane s wheel hit a truck.
“I counted about six or seven
who were alive, but they were
messed up,” he said. "We threw
a rope out to one passenger."
Another witness, Terence
Bell, said the nose of the plane
broke away from the fuselage,
plunged off the bridge and sank
into the Potomac about 25 yards
off the Virginia shore.
The tail section also broke
away, Bell said, and floated for
about 20 minutes Bell said he
saw five or six people emerge
Continued on Page 2
Lane board notes UniversityH
The University pumps more than learning
into the community, the Lane County Board of
Commissioners noted at a Wednesday meet
ing
While approving a state budget resolution
aimed at legislators, the commissioners
discussed including a reminder of the impor
tance of the University to the local economy
"Our largest employer is in danger of
losing 9Vi million dollars," said commissioner
Jerry Rust.
"The University and higher education
institutions are a resource in this state," said
commmissioner Otto t'Hooft
T Hooft said everyone may not agree with
"all the various programs" offered by univer
sities, but said the institutions do attract in
dustry and contribute to the economy.
In spite of Rust s suggestion to include
mention of the University, the commissioners
unanimously passed their statement without
the addition, although they left the door open
for a University-related resolution at a later
meeting.
The adopted resolution sympathizes with
the "complex issues and lack of desirable
alternatives” available to Gov. Vic Atlyeh and
state legislators, while pointing out that local
governments are being hit from both sides
Both local and state revenues are slipping, the
resolution says
The statement also supports property tax
relief as a “positive means” of reducing the tax
burden on county residents. Several commis
sioners said property tax relief is due for some
revamping, but appeared to agree with
t’Hooft’s comment that legislators must be
careful about "tinkering” with property tax
relief.
State residents might rebel if revisions are
"ill handled, ” he said.
The resolution also supports retaining
programs that encourage economic
diversification and development within the
state, and offers the commissioners’ help in
working toward "mutually acceptable” solu
tions to the budget crisis.
\
^Ari'IUoR
Photo by Duane Schrag
Signing out
Campbell Hall. ___ "Z
University Assembly asks
Atiyeh to spare higher ed
By Debbie Howlett
Ofth* EmaraU
A motion to send a statement
to state legislators by the
University Assembly put other
motions on the back burner at
Wednesday’s meeting.
The statement, which
received unanimous approval
from about 100 or so assembly
members, asks the Legislature
as well as Gov. Vic Atiyeh to use
alternative methods in meeting
the expected financial shortfall
for this fiscal year.
"These are frustrating
times. and rhetoric may not
be the best course of action at
this time, but we are limited in
what we can do,” said Katherine
Eaton, head of the bureau of
government research library.
Eaton described decreasing
resources in the past decade
and “substantially" decreased
support for higher education in
the past few years.
"To lay the entire make-up of
shortfall on public services is
abominable,” said Eaton.
Suggesting to reduce proper
ty tax relief and basic school
support while increasing tax
revenues, Eaton admonished
the assembly to “speak now and
vigorously, lest our voices
become a death rattle.”
An effort on behalf of the
Oregon Federation of Teachers
to amend the statement was
overriden.
Thomas Brady, business
manager of the physical plant,
moved to amend the original
statement by adding, "and be it
resolved that this faculty has no
confidence in Chancellor Roy
Lieuallen or in the Oregon State
Board of Higher Education."
University Pres, and assembly
chair, Paul Olum, said that as
chair of the assembly, he felt the
addition of the statement was
not "germane" to the issue at
hand
In a vote on whether to
sustain the chair, the assembly
turned the motion back and
voted decisively to support the
chair.
In other assembly business,
assembly members voted unan
imously, with very little discus
sion, to implement a ''course
cluster” requirement.
Students who enroll at the
University after summer term
1982 will be responsible to meet
the requirement. An exception
was made so that transfer
students with more than 30
hours credit will not be respon
sible to fulfill the group requir
ements, but after fall of 1985,
the requirement will apply to all
students.
The assembly also passed a
motion that defines a satisfac
tory performance in a class that
results in a grade of “P” to
mean a grade of C- or better.
The attendance at the meet
ing wich Olum termed "sparse,
considering the matters at
hand," thinned even more as 5
p.m. approached.
The last motion on the agen
da, an amendment to the
student code of conduct, was
voted on by only 41 assembly
members. A vote of 28 yes and
13 no passed a motion intended
to prevent students accused of
"academic dishonesty” from
dropping the class until the
matter is resolved
A motion was made to table
discussion until more input was
available from both faculty and
students but that motion was
soundly defeated.