St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 1

On Today's Editorial Page No Mandate For New Right Editorial Moro Freedom Of Information Editorial T. LO I FINAL Vol. 102, No. 321 Copyright I Ml, Si. Louli Port-Dtspatdi SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1980 392 PAGES 75' POST-D PATCH Sky Diver Falls To Death At Arch KfT -V M'- ILL THE VICTIM'S wife tells how he prepared for the jump.

Page IE. iSlifcllliiiilfclttll mmm By Sally Bixby Defty Of the Pott-Dispatch Stat) As his wife watched in horror, an Overland factory worker parachuted Saturday morning onto the top of the 630-foot Gateway Arch, and then slipped down the north leg and fell to his death. The victim was Kenneth W. Swyers, 33, of the 10200 block of Driver Avenue. Fellow parachutists called Swyers a highly skilled veteran of more than 1,600 jumps who once was safety officer for a national parachute group.

Swyers made his jump from a single-engine plane at 8:50 a.m., using a black parasail, described as a highly maneuverable, rectangular chute. He came down atop the Arch, witnesses told police. There, the wind apparently blew him toward the north leg. Witnesses said that as he slipped down the leg, he tried to open a small auxiliary parachute. But the parachute's white cloth merely trailed behind him as he slid to his death.

Authorities on Saturday were trying to determine who piloted the plane and from which airport it had taken off. Swyers' wife, Millie, said he had called her Saturday morning and told her to watch the jump. She said that was her first inkling that he was going to carry out a hope first mentioned two weeks ago of jumping "somewhere near the Arch." She said she did not know the pilot's identity. She said in an interview that her husband had not meant to land on the Arch but wanted to be photographed gliding through the Arch. Had Swyers landed safely atop the Arch, he could have been let inside the monument through a trap door installed for servicing of the aircraft beacon atop the Arch.

Or he could have used his auxiliary parachute to jump to the ground, although the altitude 630 feet is close to the margin of safety. Other parachutists strongly maintained that Swyers was not the kind of person to attempt reckless stunts. Still, they said, his skill was such that he almost certainly could1 have avoided the top of the Arch had he wanted to do so. Once he hit the top, witnesses told police, Swyers slid down the north leg until he was about 60 feet from the ground. At that point, the Arch's slope is nearly vertical, and Swyers fell off.

The first call to police was at 8:52 a.m. from a woman who lives in the Mansion House apartment complex, 300 North Fourth Street. The woman, who asked that her identity be withheld, said in an interview later that she broke off a telephone call to a friend when she glanced out a window and saw the. parachute. "I really didn't know what I was looking at," she said.

"I didn't believe it." On the scene was John Higgenbotham, of Edwardsville, who worked with Swyers at the Westinghouse Electric Co. plant at 1945 Craig Road in west St. Louis County. He told police that Swyers had told See PARACHUTIST, Page 17 Ted DarganPost-Diapatch Arch after he fell to his death of Overland lies foot of the north Fire leg of the Gateway Saturday. Smoldered For Hour id ,1 i 'A The body of Kenneth W.

Swyers shrouded in his parachute at the MGM Unlikely, Here, Officials Say By Linda Eardley and Victor Volland Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Fire officials in St. Louis and St. Louis County believe that a "towering inferno" fire like the one that struck Las Vegas' MGM Grand hotel-casino is unlikely here especially in the newer high-rise hotels and office buildings because of strict fire codes and inspections and equipment advances. "It's every firefighter's nightmare, and I'd be a fool to say it could never happen here. But I feel we're really on top of the situation," commented Clayton Fire Chief Joseph Morgan, who planned to fly to Las Vegas Sunday to "study the problems and draw the lessons" of that fire.

Morgan and St. Louis Public Safety Director Alphonso Jackson said their local building codes require all hotels built since 1975 to have sprinkler systems or to divide the building into areas that can be sealed off to contain a fire and keep it from spreading. Buildings erected before the 1975 Building Officials Conference of America (BOCA) Code went into effect come under "grandfather clause" and cannot be forced to install either of the two costly systems, Jackson said. Fire doors, smoke alarms and wall hoses are required under earlier codes, he said. Clayton, the county's office and government center with a daytime working population of over 100,000, closely monitors changes in.

code requirements for fire safety and has even added refinements of its own, Morgan said. An example of the latter is a reflecting silver dot that is placed on the outside of high-rise buildings every five floors to help arriving firemen pinpoint the fire. The requirement was initiated after Clayton firemen were delayed in finding a fire on the 10th floor of the St. Louis County National Bank Building at 8000 Forsyth Boulevard last March. Morgan designed a special See HIGH-RISE, Paget 2 Often Miss Meetings Of Special District By Howard S.

Goller Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Excessive absences by two members of the St. Louis County Special School District Board hinder the affairs of the already trouble-plagued district, some board members say. Allan G. Barclay has missed 34 percent of the board meetings since he took office 4i years ago, School Board minutes show; and Gerald K. Braz-nell has missed 15 percent in the 3'i years since he took office.

Board members are especially critical of Barclay for missing meetings during the recent months of crisis. Since his re-eleetion in April 1979 he has been absent 55 percent of the time. Barclay was a professor of See ABSENCE Page 17 T-vn'T'inewirr Mim ill nu I'M I PI rim -siU''' Kenneth W. Swyers With jump gear Hotel Deaths At Least 83 Compiled From News Services LAS VEGAS, Nev. An electrical fire that smoldered for hours between floors before exploding into flames was cited Saturday as the cause of the MGM Grand hotel-casino blaze that killed 83 people and injured more than 500 others, fire officials said.

The second-worst hotel fire in the nation's history, which sent lethal clouds of smoke through all 26 floors of the hotel, started quietly above a delicatessen ceiling on the hotel's main floor before dawn Friday, Clark County Fire Chief Roy Parrish said at a news conference late Saturday. "This was a classic case of a fire that built and burned. It was definitely a killer," Parrish said. "We have determined the origin of the fire to be in the attic (between floors) above the deli. It is electrical in nature." He said that if most guests had remained in their rooms instead of panicking and attempting to flee, there would be more survivors.

At least two St. Louisians, Ellis C. Littmann, 70, chairman of Nixdorff-Krein Industries and his wife, Roslyn E. Littmann, 63, were among those killed. Parrish said the search for bodies would continue Sunday in the basement but that unless there are hospital deaths or bodies hidden below the main floor, the death total would remain at 83.

Clark County Coroner Otto Ravenholt had said earlier that he would not be surprised if more bodies were found in elevators that may be in the basement. Parrish said "a preburn period" of two or three hours allowed the fire to gain sufficient momentum to spread, first downward through the delicatessen's ceiling in a ball of flame, and then upward in a chimney-draft effect through open elevator shafts. Fire Capt. Mike Patterson said he interviewed the employee who reported the fire at 7: 15 a.m. (9.15 a.m.

St. Louis time) and "was physically knocked to the ground when the attic let loose." I "He was knocked down by this See FIRE, Page 5 Rainy, Then Cooler UNEXCUSED ABSENCES? Official forecast for St Louis and vicinity: Mostly cloudy with a chance of light rain early Sunday, then clearing and cooler. High in the upper 40s to low 50s. Slight chance of rain Monday or Tuesday. Highs Monday through Wednesday will be near 50 and lows near 30.

OttMr WmHwt Information on Pagt 1A Photographers allowed to enter the burned-out casino of the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas Saturday snapping away at the melted St. Louisans Describe metal slot machines. At least 83 people were killed in the blaze at the hotel Friday, the second worst hotel fire in the nation's history. Horror Of MGM Fire then huddled on the balcony, awaiting rescue. Those were some of the experiences described by St.

Louisans and others interviewed Friday and Saturday at Lambert Field on their way home from Las Vegas. Many still were shaken by the experience. At least 15 St. Louisans are believed to have been inside the hotel at the time of the fire. "It was hell," Schatzman said, moments after arriving at Lambert Field and embracing his son, dense, black smoke to the sky.

Inside, Marv and Carol Schatzman of Creve Coeur were rushing around their 16th-floor room, packing and getting ready to catch a plane home. Minutes later, they found themselves trapped in a stairwell, choking on smoke. They fled to the roof. Bogert Kiplinger of Webster Groves was sound asleep in his room on the 19th floor. He was awakened by a frantic pounding on his door, and when he opened it, five strangers begged for refuge from the smoke.

The group spent the next two hours packing wet towels around the door to keep out the smoke, and By Margaret Gillerman Of the Post-Dispatch Staff Dan Woolman had played poker all night in the MGM Grand hotel-casino, and at daylight Friday he decided to call it quits and get some morning air. As he walked out the door, there was a flash and a roar, and he turned back to see a wall of orange flame devouring the casino and the people inside. He stood on the street and watched in fascination and horror as the second-worst hotel fire in U.S. history leaped upward floor by floor, sending clouds of See LAS VEGAS, Page 12 Conservative Agenda Imperiled sinnda' sports GROUND HAWKS: Missouri's Tigers parlayed a powerful ground game into a 31-6 victory over the Kansas Jayhawks in their regular season finale. Page 1H of Sports By William Freivogel Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau WASHINGTON The 97th Congress probably will block major parts of the legislative agenda being pushed by conservatives in the aftermath of Ronald Reagan's landslide victory in the presidential election.

That is the assessment of some of the key members of Congress who will consider legislation on school busing, inside Iran Demands 'Clear' say conservatives still do not have the votes they need in either the House or Senate to pass constitutional amendments banning abortions or busing in school desegregation cases. The House Judiciary Committee is emerging as a major and on some issues insurmountable -r barrier for the conservative program that Sen. Strom Thurmond, has said he will try See CONGRESS, Page 14 Response Majlis decisions, the United States presumes (is presumptuous) in modifying this document," the Pars report said. It quoted Rajai's spokesman as saying that the prime minister was not in a position to negotiate or to modify the four demands set by the Iranian parliament Nov. 2.

Those demands were for a pledge of non-interference, the release of frozen Iranian assets, the return of the late shah's wealth and the cancellation of all See STAGES, Page 18 abortion, school prayer and the death penalty. It is a view shared both by backers and opponents of the bills. Chairmen of House Judiciary subcommittees said in interviews with the Post-Dispatch that they probably had the votes to kill in committee bills favoring school prayer and opposed to court-ordered busing for purposes of racial desegregation. And those on both sides of the issues Tehran that the letter demanded "a clear, precise response to the Iranian conditions" for freeing the 52 American hostages. The official Pars news agency said Rajai had complained that the U.S.

reply, contained in a bulky document transmitted to Iran via Algeria, was "neither explicit or clear. "In some cases not only had a direct reply not been made but additional proposals had been offered," Pars said. "Since the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran considers itself to 6e the only executor of the Automotive IK Books 4B Business 1-7J Classified Advertising I-30K 1-23L Editorials 2B Everyday 1-141 LifeStyle 1-12D MusicThe Arts 5B News Analysis 1-3B Obituaries 16E People IA Radio Highlights 101 Real Estate 1L St. Louis IE Sports 1-12H Travel 7-10D 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Compiled From News Services TEHRAN, Iran Iran complained Saturday that the U.S. reply to its hostage demands was too complicated and said it had sent Washington a letter demanding a straight yes-or-no answer.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Mohammad Ali Rajai said the letter was given to Algerian mediators to pass along to the United States. In Washington, a State Department official said the Iranian note had not been received and the department could not comment until it had. Rajai's pokesrnan told reporters in.