U Pl Photo
The vehicles which were struck are cleared from
the bridge
Ira Furman, spokesman for the National Transpor-
tation Safety Board, said there was no hint as to the
cause of the crash There was no indication the plane
Crash site
This is the section of the bridge struck by an Air
Florida 737 after it took off from Washington Na-
tional Airport Wednesday en route to Tampa, Fla
Police Capt. Michael L. Canfield said at least six
motorists were killed as the plane sheared the tops of
cars and hit a truck.
was in trouble during its brief flight. The airport control
tower reported no distress calls.
President Reagan ordered all but essential federal
employees who work in Washington to stay home
Thursday. Mayor Marion Barry had asked for that step
because of the weather and because it would reduce the
amount of traffic on the bridge and its approaches dur-
ing efforts to raise the plane and find the victims.
Even as ambulances and rescue crews struggled
through the snow — andthe massive traffic jam it pro-
duced — to the bridge, three people were killed when a
Washington subway car jumped its track beneath the
Washington Mall.                           .
It was not known how many of the 17 hospitalized
survivors were from the plane or vehicles struck on the
bridge, a multilane artery with three spans connecting
the city with suburban Virginia.
As darkness — and temperatures — fell, divers work-
ed by floodlight in the ice-crusted river, searching for
victims.
Within minutes after the crash, helicopters pulled
several survivors from the river. Presumably, most of
the others aboard the plane perished under the ice.
It was not known how many of the 16 known sur-
vivors were from the plane or vehicles struck upon the
bridge, a multilane artery with three spans connecting
the city with suburban Virginia. The craft hit the span
nearest the airport, bearing 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 in-
to airliner seats beneath the surface of the Potomac.
The snow stopped shortly after the crash, but the foul
weather impeded rescue efforts. The temperature
hovered in the 20s, wind w hipped the river.
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
hitatruck.
“1 counted about six or seven who were alive, but
they were messed up,” he said. "We threw a rope out to
one passenger.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Florida-bound jetliner
roared from a snowy takeoff and crashed into a
Potomac River bridge Wednesday, smashing
automobiles and plunging into the icy water. About 65
people were reported killed, but the casualty count was
unconfirmed.
The Boeing 737, an Air Florida flight with at least 75
people aboard, was bound from Washington National
Airport to Tampa and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
The crash of Flight 90 left few survivors among the
passengers, and killed an undetermined number of
Rented story page three
motorists on the bridge. It was the first fatal crash of an
American commercial airliner in more than two years.
Within minutes after the crash, helicopters pulled
several survivors from the river, but others were
presumed to have died in the river.
“The assumption is that most of the people are down
there still in their seatbelts from the takeoff,” said
police spokesman Gary Hankins.
Air Florida Vice President Cesar Alvarez said he was
not certain of the number aboard, but it was at least 75.
Earlier he had said there were five crew members and 73
or 74 passengers.
At least 17 survivors were taken to area hospitals, and
there was no indication that there would be any more.
Some of those who lived were injured in the crash itself;
others suffered the effect of exposure to the frigid river.
Stewardess Kelly Dunan survived the crash. "The
plane started to shake and the next thing 1 knew, 1 was
in the water,” she told the doctor who treated her for
hypothermia, a severe loss of body heat.
The plane went down at 4:04 p.m. After four hours
of rescue efforts, divers suspended operations for the
night.
Sam Jordan of the District of Columbia mayor’s
command center said city crews and the Coast Guard
would attempt to raise the sunken airliner at daybreak
Thursday, using a crane-cquipped barge.
Lt. Hiram Brewton, a District of Columbia police
spokesman, said there were believed to be only five sur-
vivors from the plane. A spokesman for the Federal
Aviation Administration, Ted Marr, said an "unof-
ficial” estimate "would be 65 dead.”
Jet hits bridge; sinks in Potomac
Fear blamed for failure
would serve no purpose,” he said.
Oklahoma Gov. George Nigh express-
ed disappointment in the outcome of the
Senate vote.
"We knew from the start it was an
uphill battle, and during the past week
the leadership and I made a major effort
to show bipartisan support for the
ERA,” he said, pledging to continue
motion to reconsider the issue. The mo-
tion must be voted on within three
legislative days — or by Tuesday.
If the motion were to pass, the ERA
would again be a live issue in the Senate.
some votes available and that we will be
able to encourage enough votes for the
Senate to pass this measure,” York said
at a press conference after the Senate ses-
sion.
House Speaker Dan Draper dis-
ment to the U.S. Constitution, adopted
after the Civil War.
"1 love women and I know that in
every society there is a divine order of
things and 1 know there is a divine order
in the United Slates of America," said
Sen. John Young, D-Sapulpa, in ex-
plaining why he intended to vote no.
Senate supporters argued that a con-
stitutional provision granting women
equal rights with men was long overdue,
that the 14th amendment has not been
interpreted to cover women, and that
Jesus had given women equal status with
men.
"I guarantee you that if the Constitu-
tion said ‘women,’ there would be 47 of
you and one of me up here,” said Sen.
Bernice Shedrick, D-Stillwater, the state
Senate's only woman member.
Eleanor Smeal, national president of
the National Organization for Women,
said failure of the measure in Oklahoma
would be a blow to the ERA cause but
would not end the chance of adding the
amendment to the Constitution
Pro-ERA efforts continue in other
states, including Florida, Illinois, North
Carolina and Virginia, she said.
She said "thousands” of dollars had
been spent on the effort to pass the ER A
in Oklahoma this year, but she would
not provide a specific figure.
basic rights of the Constitution.”
A motion to reconsider the amend-
ment was launched by Senate Pro Tem-
pore Marvin Y^rk. This motion must be
considered within three legislative work-
ing days from Wednesday’s vote. The
vote will probably be taken next Tues-
day.
Cate said the roll call was held open
longer than usual for the vote. He said at
one time the vote stood at 22 favoring the
amendment. However, the final total
favoring the issue fell to 21.
Because of possible indecision among
several senators, Cate said there may still
be hope of ratification Tuesday.
Branch, who joined the opposition,
said that under no circumstances will he
(continued on page 2)
counted the possibility that the resolu- and 1
tion might be brought before the House vote,’
if it fails completely in the Senate. "It the t
for the measure to pass.
Following the vote, Senate President Three of four senators representing
Pro Tempore Marvin York introduced a Cleveland County supported the Equal
Rights Amendment when the issue faced
a 27-21 rejection Wednesday afternoon.
Sen. Lee Cate, District 16, Sen. John
Clifton, District 17, and Sen. Don
Kilpatrick, District 43, supported the
I’m of the opinion that there are still amendment, while Sen. Bill Branch,
District 15, joinedtheopposition.
"The failure of the ERA was primari-
ly based on fear," said Sen. Cate, Nor-
man, who is one of 12 co-authors of the
amendment.
"1 have heard rhetoric for both sides,
am disappointed with the final
said Cate. "1 firmly believe that
the amendment simply reaffirms the
ERA ratification falls four votes short
work in favor of the measure before the
Senate reconsiders.
The galleries were filled with sup-
porters and opponents of the amend-
ment as senators debated the measure.
Senate opponents argued the Bible
places women in a subordinate position
to men and that women’s rights are
already protected by the 14th amend-
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The
Equal Rights Amendment fell four votes
short of winning ratification in the
Oklahoma Senate on Wednesday, but
the measure’s chief backer in the upper
house said the issue isn’t dead yet.
The 21-27 vote followed an hour-and-
a-half debate in which senators focused
on constitutional and religious
arguments to sway votes that appeared
to have been long committed on the
question.
All 11 Republicans and 16 Democrats
voted against the measure. It would have ____________
taken 25 votes in the 48-member Senate by Cindy Ferrell
for the measure to pass.
Following the vote, Senate President
Constitution
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UPl Photo
14th St.
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Flight path
This diagram shows the flight path of the Air
Florida 737 taken before the jetliner hit the
14th Street bridge — which was jammed with
rush-hour commuters At least 16 of the 73
aboard survived.
virginiaaJ
I
II
Figures clarified
Due to an editing error, the damages sought by the
Gay Activist Alliance in a lawsuit against the university
was incorrectly listed in Wednesday’s paper.
The GA A actually sought $10,000 in actual damages,
$100,000 in punitive damages and $2,500 in attorney
fees.
The State Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s
denial of damages.
v~
NX
WHITE
HOUSE
PENTAGON^
by Wllda Wahpepah__________
After a lengthy debate Wednesday, OU regents ex-
pressed concern about approving the $3.9 million pur-
chase of a main frame computer on which only one bid
was received by OU officials.
At the regents committee meeting Wednesday, OU
Board of Regents President Dee Replogle said the lack
of bidding for the computer hardware purchase made
him uncomfortable.
The regents will vote on the matter at their regular
monthly meeting today.
"If you take the combination of the lack of bidding
and the magnitude of the expense, when asked to ap-
prove it, it makes me uncomfortable,” Replogle said.
"I am just uncomfortable with the fact that 1 don’t see a
competitive element in the bidding.”
Vice President for Administrative Affairs Art Elbert
outlined the background related to the decision of the
Computer Advisory Committee to recommend an IBM
compatible computer be purchased.
The Computer Advisory Committee is made up of
faculty members representing different areas of the
university, Elbert said.
An alternative proposal presented by Norman
management consultant and computer specialist E.Z.
Million also was discussed.
OU President William S. Banowsky is recommen-
ding the regents approve the purchase of an IBM 3081
computer.
IBM was the sole bidder in the project. Elbert said bid
specifics were sent to two additional companies, Am-
dahl, of Houston, Texas, and National Advanced
Systems, of Dallas, Texas. Neither company submitted
a bid, even after the bid deadline was extended.
Replogle read from a letter from Amdahl represen-
tatives, quoting the letter as saying the bid specifics
were biased in favor of an IBM computer system.
writing. Let’s have a five year plan telling who is going
to get what,” Million said.
Million said his alternate system would cost less and
would take effect before the end of this semester.
"Il’s an interim device 1 agree," he said, "but then
we would need to do an audit and make sure what is on
the system is actual university workload.”
Million said when a computer system is saturated, or
overloaded, a new system is needed.
"My question is why is this one saturated?” he said.
"You have unauthorized users on the system. That
could be anyone from a student running a Snoopy
calendar to a faculty member working on a personal
project. Getting a new computer would be like the avia-
tion department buying a jet plane.”
Million cited the university’s bid specifics as being
vague and biased.
"They have not in any area in this entire document
stated their requirements," Million said. "People are
not going to respond to that vague document. This cen-
tral processor is going to become one big money sink. ”
Banowsky said the decison between purchasing a
main frame computer and adding a processor, as
(continued on page 2)
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Debate fails to resolve computer question
"It concerns me that both NRS and Amdahl will not
make a uiu when they are in tne t usiness oi competing
with IBM," Replogle said. "It just doesn't make sense
why they would not submit a bid. They both said the bid
specifics were biased and they didn’t have enough time
to make a bid,” Replogle said
Elbert said after nearly a year of study, the Computer
Advisory Committee was satisfied a IBM compatible
main frame computer would be the best choice to meet
the requirements of the i. liversity.
Elbert said a large number of IBM systems are in use
and for ease of expansion, the new central computer
would have to be IBM compatible.
"We feel an IBM would fit in with existing soft
ware," Elbert said. "We notified Amdahl and they
came to campus. We show ed them around. We also got
bid specifics from the University of Houston and the
University of Michigan and incorporated some of their
bid specifics into our bid specifics.”
Replogle expressed concern about the long range ex-
pansion of the university ’s computer system.
“This is just the beginning of a long period of ex-
penses later on down the road,” Replogle said.
Norman management consultant and computer
specialist E.Z. Million presented an alternate proposal
to the purchase of the IBM main frame computer.
Million’s proposal is to add to the existing central
computer a processing device that will multiply the
computer’s capacity.
Million estimates the workload capacity would in-
crease by as much as 10 times.
Million also charges OU officials with purchasing a
computer that would oversupply the university's cur-
rentneeds.
"It was preconceived what system they would pick,"
Million said. "All I was asking for was if they were pro-
mising faculty members more hardware later on to get
support for the big computer, they should put it in
Washington D.C
CAPITOL
Independence I l) Ave.
V
Thursday
A
OU wrestler* fell from their perch atop national rankings
to number 3 State rivals OSU stand at number 4 Seepage
4 for the story
Sampler .....
Sports .......
Editorial......
Entertainment
.... Page 3
Pages 44 9
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It's a sad day in Oklahoma after the state senate s vote on
the Equal Pights Amendment Seepages
Forecasters nave promised a return to more temperate
climates today, as warm southerly air moves into Nor-
man The warming trend will continue through Friday,
highs today will be near 50 but will drop into the 20s
tonight Friday's high will be near 56
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