The Aichigan Daily-Saturday, July 18, 1981-Page 3 BALCONY COLLAPSES AMID DANCERS Disaster at hotel ballroom From AP and UPI KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Three "sky bridges" in an enclosed courtyard at the Hyatt Regency Hotel collapsed onto a ballroom full of dancers last night, killing at least 43 and injuring about 100, police said. As the first of the bodies were pulled from a tangle of twisted girders and broken glass, officials designated one room of the lavish midtown hotel as a temporary morgue. POLICE CHIEF Norman Caron said injured who could walk were being placed on a city bus to be taken to a hospital. Officials said rescue efforts were hampered by natural gas leaks and were working to shut off the leaks to eliminate the chance of explosion in the 40-story building. Harold Knabe, a spokesman for the Kansas City Fire Department, said part of the lobby in the west side of the building also had collapsed. He said equipment, including cranes, was brought in to help people who were trapped by the collapsing walkways. THE WALKWAYS are stacked one over another at different levels inside the lobby of the hotel, which is several stories high. Police said one of the walkways fell and knocked down the others, which criss-crossed beneath. The ballroom under the walkways, called "sky bridges" by the hotel, was crowded with dancers at a "Tea Dan- ce," which has become a Friday night fixture at the latest luxury hotel to open in Kansas City. A hotel staff member estimated at least 1,500 people were in the area when the collapse occurred. MORE THAN 40 emergency vehicles from around the metropolitan area hurried to the scene, and several of the injured were evacuated by helicopter. As rescuers moved through the AP Photo THREE ELEVATED WALKWAYS in the enclosed courtyard of the Hyatt Regency hotel in Kansas City collapsed yesterday on a ballroom full of dancers, killing or injuring hundreds. wreckage, the injured awaiting evacuation were comforted by friends. Uninjured people waited outside the building for word of the missing. "There's quite a few fatalities," said fire department spokesman Harold Knobe. "THAT WHOLE thing just collapsed. We don't know how many people are under it." Knobe estimated 500 people were on the two balconies and the main lobby floor when the concrete structures collapsed about 7:30 p.m. CDT, pulling down a chunk of the hotel with it. Dozens of injured people dressed in evening attire lay on the ground outside the posh downtown hotel. Some wan- dered bleeding and dazed. - THE LOBBY floor was jammed with people attending a tea dance, a popular Big Band event that is held each Friday at the Hyatt: The dancing had just en- ded at the time of the collapse. Authorities hauled in a variety of ex- trication equipment, including cranes, to aid in pulling out trapped victims. The smell of gas permeated the air in the damaged hotel, hampering rescue efforts. Officians were taking extra precautions not to create any sparks that could possibly ignite an explosion. A TRIP TO THE EYE OF AGAMOTTO Probing the comic book frontier By ANDREW CHAPMAN Daily staff writer "The X-men." "The Hands of Shang Chi." "Kona: Monarch of Monster Isle." "Matt Fury." Yes, comic book fans, this really is the final fron- tier. There is refuge in Ann Arbor for die-hard collec- tors. THE EYE OF Agamotto (the name comes from Dr. Strange's mystical amulet), located above Tice's on South State Street, is the only comic book store in Ann Arbor, and has been since it opened for business in 1973. "We sell anything that is fantasy, and fantasy is just about anything," said owner and manager Norm Harris. 'Basically we sell comic books," Harris said, "but the word comic book sometimes conjures up a negative image; you can call it sequential panel story tellfng." THE WALLS OF the Eye of Agamotto are lined with comic books-some from as long ago as the 1940s, others as recent as last week. For those more intepested in the popular heroes, there are "Super- man," "'Spiderman,"'or "the Lone Ranger." For the more eccentric tastes, there's "Hansi: The Girl Who Loved the Swastika," or a series on "Superman's Pal: Jimmy Olsen." ' s "You can't really stereotype the comic book reader," Harris said. "I've seen all types in here-doctors, lawyers, students. They come in waves. In the summer I get more high school kids. During the school year it's mostly University studen- ts." Barbara Niemeyer, a high school senior, browsed through the latest edition of "Elfquest." "I've been collecting comics for the past year and a half, but all I really like is Elfquest. It's the best thing they stock," she said. (Elfquest is a fantasy comic roughly based on Tolkein's Lord of the Rings trilogy. THE PRICES range from a quarter to $50 an issue, depending on the age, condition, popularity and rarity of the comic book. "I've seen people come in here and drop $300 in one shot, but that's rare, Harris said. "Most people just browse and buy a comic or two." Harris opened the store after he graduated from the University. "I read comics all through college," he said. "My grades got better after I started reading them seriously." Harris claims the student population hasn't really changed much in the time he's been here. "There's been a change in the faces, but not in the attitudes," he said. "SOME PEOPLE come in to look at things for their nostalgia aspect, but it's mostly the contemporary stuff that sells the best," Harris said. See COMIC, Page 4 Doily Photo by JACKIE BELL NORM HARRIS, owner of the Eye of Agamotto, said he has seen some people come into his comic book store and "drop $300 in one shot."