The Louisville
an independent student weekly
The big bang
Sewer damage closed
parking lots, destroye.d streets
By BEANIE FELLONNEAU
An inch of rain might close the
University of Louisville because of
excessive flooding that could occur
following the sewer explosions that
rocked the Old Louisville area last
week.
According to William Davidson,
assistant vice president for operations.
U of Lis "in a vulnerable area" that
could make it inaccessable because of
flooding.
But so far. university officials have
made no plans for closing school or
changing spring break.
U of L was forced to close last rri­day
in the aftermath of the sewers
exploding throughout Old Louisville.
The biggest inconvenience to U of
L tudents is traffic and parking.
Access to parking lots on Brook
street i~ nonexistent. Getting to U of
L is another problem, as a result of
numerous streets being closed:
• Brook: closed between Warnock
and Avery Streets.
• Avery: west bound traffic is closed.
• Second. Third and Fourth: closed
between Avery and Hill streets.
"I don't believe anyone knows when
the damages to the streets will be
repaired," said Edward Dusch. the
director of the Physical Plant. "It
could be months to years."
The eruption left two craters on
Brook Street. One is in front of the
ticket office. the other sits in front of
Threlkeld Hall. The street also buckled
in front of the Houchens Building. It
was raised about four feet from its
original level in a 30 foot section.
Avery Street, which serves as the
northern boundary of Belknap Cam­pus,
was left with numerous crater~.
located : east of Brook and Avery
Streets, at the back entrance to Man­ual
High School. and the Second.
Third and Fourth Street intersections.
Monday. workers discovered that
the foundation between Second and
Third on Avery had been weakehed.
The culprit is a split sewer main that
has washed part of the sand from
under the street.
"We dug at the man hole and saw
that the sewer main was split," said
Clyde Wolfe. an employee of K.A.
Banker Construction Co. "People
are more or less assuming that all the
lines are the arne from the plant
(Ralston Purina on Floyd) to Hill
Street."
"From what I've been told the line
was put in around 1913. It's one of
the lowest in the area," said Wolfe.
"It has the tornado beat to hell."
Wolfe said. "You'll have to put up
with us this summer, next fall and
pring."
Workers started to tear through
the asphalt on Brook Street in an
effort to determine the damages to
sewer lines.
"We know of no known sewer
damage on Brook." aid Dusch. "It's
difficult to see underground unless
you have x-ray v!~~·-
Repairing the damage is estifJnated
to cost $42 million and could take
months or years to complete.
At least 23 craters were tllown
through 1.4 miles of street starting at
the Ralston Purina plant and ending
at 12th and Hill Streets. Stat'e fire
officials believe hexane. a petroleum
by-product. caused the blasts.
Hexane is used by Purina to remove
oil from soybeans. Metropolitan
Sewer District (MSD) was called to
the plant early Friday morning after
a possible hexane leak was reported.
No traces of the chemical were found
in sewers near the plant.
When, if or how the hexane found
it~ way into the sewers has not been
officially determined .
Last Friday's explosions left around
1.000 parking slots closed because of
unsafe roads.
"One way we hope to gain access to
the Red Barn parking lot is to cut
through the subcompact lot and across
Brandeis," said Davidson. That pro­ject
could not· be started until con­struction
at Brook and Avery is
completed.
The damage to buildings on Belk­nap
Campus is being accessed. Dusch
said. "We have not found anything
serious yet."
A manhole cover was thrown
through the roof of the Arts Anex.
There have been reports of cracks in
the drywall and concrete at the Hou­chens
Building.
"We don't know what thetotatlcost
See "Damage," page twelve
There'll be some changes made'
By MELISSA GIVAN
The list of changes in events and
services at the Belknap Campus
are as follows:
Parking- The lots that are closed
are those on the east side of Brook
Street including the lot _next to the
Red Barn and the subcompact
lot. Persons coming to Belknap
Campus should use Warnock and
Floyd Streets. Eastern Parkway
and Third Street northbound only.
Red Barn - All programs and
activities are on as scheduled.
L.inda Currington. a chairperson
at the Union for Student Activities
said that they prefer that only
dorm resident students attend
events since parking may be a
problem for commuter students.
For further information students
shoudl call 588-6691.
Library- The University Library
will be open Jegular -hours: Mon­day
through Thursday 8 a .m. to II
p.m .. Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m .. Sat­urday
9 a .m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday
1 I p.m. to II p.m.
Intramurals - All gyms will be
closed until further notice. All
intramurals for free play will be ·
cancelled until further notice due
to the shortage of water. Wrestling
will probably be moved to another
gym. Ping pong may be held but
volleyball will be cancelled until
further notice. The bowling tour­nament
scheduled for Feb. 28 will
be held at Parkmoor Lanes as
scheduled said Marty Gonterman.
an lntramurals office student
assistant. For more information
concerning lntramurals ca11588-6707.
Free University - The Free Uni­versity
classes are being held as
scheduled. The Student Govern-
• ment Association number is
588-6695.
Studio Theatre - The Studio
Theatre production has been re­schedu.
led for tonight and tomor-row
night at 8 p.m. and II p.m.
For further information call 588-
5922.
Mayor William Stansbury has
declared Old Louisville to be a
disaster area. He has request<:d
that all residents of this area, includ­ing
dormitory students, sororities
and fraternities and those living in
near-by apartments conserve water
by following these guidelines:
I. Oon'tdo~aundryathome -~
or in affected area.
2. T.ake a sponge bath - no tub
bath or shower.
3. Wash and rinse dishes by
hand - once a day.
4. Don't run faucet while shav­ing,
brushing teet~. or rinsing
dishes.
S. Try to reduce the number of
times the toilet is flushed.
6. Draw and store water in
refrigerator. ·
· 7. Do not use water outside the
house.(car washing, etc.)
Friday, February 20, 1981
"Hole" lot of traffic problems
BILL CARNER:
a question of
artistic
expression
seepg.2
vol. 52 no. 21 ·
Staff photo by John l. Goff
Bob Bringhurst, a Department of Public Safety officer, directed traffic because of the problema caused by laat
Frlday'a sewer explollon. Bringhurst waa working at the comer of Brook and Warnock.
Staff photo by Gary Sampson
On Third Street near Avery, Earl Gibson, an employee of Higdon Construction, operated a hydraulic jack. The jack
was used to help rip up the pavement so the sewers could be Inspected. More photos appear on page 5.
Dorm residents received a rude awakening
By BEANIE FELLONNEAU
"Shake, rattle and roll."
When the sewers of Louisville play­ed
its song last Friday morning,dorm
residents at U of L could not escape
the rude awakening that came shortly
after 5: IS a.m.
To answer the prevailing qutstion
appearing on T-shirts, "Where were
you when the sewers blew." most
dorm residents were just trying to
sleep.
The explosion left one crate.r next
to Threlkeld Hall on Brook Street. A
man hole cover landed within 15 feet
of the building.
The rooms were lit up and the
blinds started rattling, said Debbie
Vessels. assistant resident direCtor· of
Threlkeld. Vessels aid that some of
the residents on the side of the build­ing
facing the crater claimed that a
man hole covet struck the dorm.
"It shook the bed," said Steve
Oswald, who lives in Threlkeld. " It
shook the whole building. No one
knew what was going on ...
"It was a bigexplosion,"said John
Kehrer, another Threlkeld resident.
"All the lights were out. Someone
told us to 'get your clothes on.' Then
everyone saw the holes."
"We stayed in the lobby until the
lights came back on at 7:30." said
Kehrer.
"At first I thought lightening struck
the building, "said Jack Garrau,x, res­ident
direc.1or of Unit as Tower. "I ran
out in the lobby screaming, 'Lighten­ing
struck the building."'
"The women on the II th no or said
that the explosion didn't wake them,''
said Garraux. "They sa1d they were
awakened by asphalt falling on the
roof."
Unitas Tower is located on Avery
Street. where there are craters in the
road.
"It was really cra1y." said Kathy
Cease. who lives in Miller Hall. "I felt
something really shake the building."
"At first I thought it was a tor­nado,"
Cease said."Then I thought a
tra in had derailed. Alii saw were two
mushroom clouds."
"I went out into the hallway and
the clouds started to dissipate, "Cease
said.
" I was vaguely aware of some·
thing," said Kathy Marshall, Cease's
roommate. "I probably would have
slept right thro!Jgh it if Kathy hadn't
have been so excite<l. She kept on
saying, 'Oh my God, look out the
window."'
"Kathy wouldn't get up," Cease
sa1d. She thought that it would be
best just to go back to sleep. ·
"I wasn't aware of how bad it was,"
Marshall said. "I was tired. I had a
rough two days before that."
"At 6: IS everyone was still running
around the hallways." Cease said.
The damage to the streets serv•ed as
a catalyst turning numerous'students
into tourists.
A cra ter near U nitas on Avery
Street left a slab of concrete and
asphalt ticking up in the air. The
seven-foot slab was the scene of poses
for pictures. where people compared
themselves to the triangular slab.
Brook Street also attracted its share
of onlookers. "Mt. Brookmore." a
30- foot ection that buckled. raising it
about four feet from its normal level,
attracted the interest of one Threlkeld
resident. " I just have to walk on it,"
she said.
Dorm residents will be feeling the
a~ter shocks of the ex plosion for
some time. Chat Sue, the director of
Student Housing, said that U of L
needs to do some sacrificing like the
residents of Old Louisville are forced
to do.
Last Friday dorm residents were
asked to leave the dorms if they had
somewhere in Louisville they could
go. At first we were concerned about
evacuating students due to the hex­ane,
but we found out the level
dropped during the day.
"We're asking dorm resident~ to
voluntarily conserve water due to the
sewer blockage." Sue said .
Minerva will be back next year
By SUZETTE BRADY
The Minerva yearbook has been
saved from extinction.
A yearbook staff held a meeting on
Tuesday, Feb. 17, to determine if'
enough students were commitlted to
turning out a 1981 yearbook. Thir­teen
students attended and all agreed
there will be a Minerva yearbc ok in
the future.
1 "The problems with the yea book
in the past was the nonorganiza ion,"
said Harold Adams, assistan1 vice
president for Student Life. "~10, in
order to correct this proble 11 we
started the meeting by delegating
authority," he said.
Perry Burch was chosen editor and
Greg Burto n, co-edito r of the
Mlnena. Chairn1tn were elected to
serve on each of the eight sections of
the yearbook. The chairmen of each
unit has agreed to recruit more stu­dents
to help them work on the 1981
yearbook.
The new staff exemplified good
organization; each student expressed
determination, fresh ideas, and are
adamant in putting out a good qual­ity
1981 yearbook.
A meeting of the yearbook staff
will be held Feb. 23 at 4:30 p.m. in
Conference Room A of the Student
Center. Adams and Gene Bazaar.
representative of Delmar publishing
company will be present.
At this meeting, Adams will have a
total financia l report for the 1981
yearbook. Further organization of
the staff will also take place. Regular
'working hours for the yearbook office
will be establi shed and the section
chairmen will set up meetings with
their units to begin work immediately.
"We feel we have the eight sections
that a typical yearbook has. well
defined, along with a sales and pro­motion
department that we need to
get started on," Adams said.
"One of the first thing we need to
work on is sales of the 1981 books,"
said Adams.
Ho'tever, th~ 1980 yearbooks have
not been rece1ved yet. and Adams
aid a sales campaign for next year's
book will have to wait until students
receive the 1980 books. This way stu­dents
can see what the Minerva looks
like and be assured that there will be
future yearbooks, he said.
The 1980 yearbook has been com­pleted
and was due at U of L the week
of Feb. 16. They have not been
received, but are expected to be in at
anytime.
When the books are received, they
will go on sale immediately at tables
set up throughout the campus.
See "Minerva," page twelve