Page 2-Wednesday, June 11, 1980-The Michigan Daily
Comedian Pryor
badly burned in
drug explosion
SHERMAN OAKS, Calif. (AP)-
Richard Pryor, a controversial prize-
winning comedian and writer, was in
critical condition yesterday after a
flammable drug mixture apparently
exploded in his face, badly burning the
upper half of his body, authorities said.
Doctors said persons Pryor's
age-39-had a one in three chance of
surviving burns as serious as those the
comedian sustained.
t POLICE LT. Dan Cooke said Pryor
thld Dr. Jack Grossman, who treated
the Emmy and Grammy winner Mon-
day night, that he was burned when
either being used to make "free base,"
a cocaine derivative, exploded in his
face.
The drug, created through a chemical
reaction of cocaine with the highly
volatile solvent, is smoked in a pipe.
"It was the ether that exploed,"
Cooke said, adding tht it wasn't known
what sparked the explosion. "We may
never know."
LOS ANGELES policeman Din
Schnider said, "No one from here really
interviewed" Pryor.
Earlier reports said the fire was
ignited by a butane cigarette lighter.
Officials at the burn center at Sher-
man Oaks Community Hospital said the
entertainer, who ran screaming nearly
a mile from his suburban home when
his clothes caught fire, was in critical
but stable condition late yesterday ad-
and was "fairly alert."
COOKE SAID NO charges against
Pryor were being contemplated.
Pryor
... critical but stable
Local fire officials said no drugs,
volatile chemicals or flammable liquids
were found in the comedian's Nor-
thridge house when arson investigators
searched it 15 hours after the accident.
A star of motion pictures, television,
nightclubs and recordings, Pryor had
completed two films earlier this year,
"Wholly Moses," due out this month,
and "Stir Crazy."
He had starring roles in such movies
as "Silver Streak," "The Wiz,"
"Greased Lightning," "Car Wash" and
'Uptown Saturday Night."
A son of Texas soil
Austin Calhoun Hughes' birth certificate may say he was born yesterday
in Radford, Va., but his parents made sure he was born over Texas soil. The
second son of Jim and Jan Hughes, who was named for the Texas city where
his folks met, was delivered as a bag of dirt lay beneath the hospital room
table. "We were born and raised in Texas and just wanted our son to be born
on Texas soil, too," said Hughes, who added that officials of Radford
Community Hospital didn't mind. "I didn't tell the hospital staff that I had
the soil until after I had done it. They just laughed." The Hughes family
moved to Virginia about four years ago. Austin's mother is a professor at
Radford University; his father, an employee of Health Care Maintenance
Functions. Their first son, Clark, was born in San Antonio. n
Snowstorm brainstorm
To inventor Harry Todd, the image of cars buried in thigh-high drifts of
winter snow posed a problem he couldn't resist solving. The aswer-a mini-
garage. "I've done a lot of traveling around and I've seen a lot of cars
sitting outside with no protection," saidthe Danville, Ill. inventor, who has
designed a garage that will fit cars like a glove. "I think my garage will be
good for places like apartment complexes, condominiums, mobile home
parks and doctor's offices where cars sit out for a while." The prototype
Custom Car Coverall is 82 inches wide and 18 feet long. It is constructed of
vinyl-over-steel siding, has two remote-controlled doors (orie for the car,
another for the passenger), And will retail for atidy $1,595 to $1,995. The item
might be a hot seller in Ann Arbor if drivers can only find parking spaces. [
On the outside
We salute the return of the sun and reasonable temperatures. The weather
bureau predicts clear blue skies and a high temperature near 70'. Grab a
frisbee, some friends, and a six-pack of your favorite beverage and head for
the Diag. t]
Happenings
FILMS
AAFC-The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick, 7p.m.; The American
Friend, 9 p.m., Old Arch. Aud.
MISCELLANEOUS
Ark-Hoot night, open mike, 1421 Hill.
Committee for a Fair Drinking Age-Petition signing, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.,
Diag and Union.
Spartacus Youth League-"The Black Question and the American
Revolution," 7:30 p.m., Anderson Rm. D, Union. Q
The Michigan Daily
(USPS 344-900)
Volume XC, No. 24-S
Wednesday, June 11, 1980
The Michigan Daily is edited and managed by students at the University
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Editors-in-Chief........... TOM MIRGA Business Manager...................
HOWARD WITT ROSEMARY WICKOWSKI
Editorial Page Editor.. .SARA ANSPACH Display Manager.... KATHLEEN CULVER
Arts Editor........... MARK COLEMAN Classified Manager.....SUSAN KLING
Sports Editor........... ALAN FANGER Circulation Manager.... JAMES PICKETT
Executive Sports Editors... SCOTT LEWIS Ad Coordinator... E. ANDREW PETERSEN
MARK MHANOVIC BUSINESS STAFF: Donna Drebin, Aida
NEWS STAFF WRITERS: Joyce Frieden, Eisenstat, Barbara Forslund, Kristina
Bonnie Juran, Nick Katsarelas, Geoff Peterson, Daniel Woods
Olans, Elaine Rideout, Mitch Stuart, Kev- SPORTS STAFF WRITERS: Dan Conlin,
in Tottis Tony Glinke, Buddy Moorehouse, Jon
PHTO STAFF: Paul Engstrom, David Moreland, Joanne Schneider, Tom Sha-
PHOTOJm STAFF: Pad heen, Drew Sharp, Jon Wells
Harris, Jim Kruz
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