272 COLLAPSE OF TEXAS TOWER NO. 4 



Mr. RuTLEDGE. We have no report on that, sir. 



Mr. Kendall. Those were the only two storms of major conse- 

 quence, I believe, mitil the one on January 15, is that right ?^ 



Mr. RuTLEDGE. We have no specific information on that, sir. 



Mr. Kendall. All right, Mr. Kuss, about the middle of November 

 1960, did anyone in the Air Force ask you to tell him what the re- 

 maining strength of the tower was at that time ? 



Mr. Kuss. Yes. 



Mr. Kendall. Who was it, sir ? 



Mr. Kuss. Captain Grassfield. 



Mr. Kendall. What about General Elder ? 



Mr. Kuss. Let me get these dates straight. 



Mr. Kendall. About the middle of November 1960, isn't it true 

 that General Elder called you on the telephone and asked you to tell 

 him what the remaining strength of the tower was ? 



estimate or tower strength 



Mr. Kuss. Yes, sir. 



jSIr. Kendall. What did you tell him ? 



jSlr. Kuss. This was — at that time, I refused to estimate the strength 

 of the tower. 



Mr. Kendall. You gave him no estimate at all ? 



Mr. Kuss. No, sir . 



Mr. Kendall. At that time, your firm had agreed with J. Rich 

 Steers, Inc., and the date of the agreement was October 3, 1960, to 

 evaluate the remaining strength of the tower in terms of its original 

 design criteria, isn't that right ? 



Mr. Kuss. That's right, sir. 



Mr. Kendall. Why couldn't vou give him an estimate in Novem- 

 ber 1960 ? 



Mr. Kuss. This damage Avas so extensive that it came completely 

 outside the terms of what we expected to find. 



Mr. Kendall. You just told me that it would take about a week to 

 make a stress reanalysis, and you had here about 6 weeks. 



Go ahead, sir. 



Mr. Kuss. I have considerable knowledge of this tower, sir, having 

 worked with it a long time. From the conditions that were discovered, 

 I knew without making any figures that it was very dangerous. It 

 wasn't a matter of figuring. 



Furthermore, we had no knowledge that we had a report of the 

 total damage. It could have been more, so I didn't want to encourage 

 anybody that it was safe in anyway. Even though I had made an 

 analysis, it might have been based on the wrong premises. 



Mr. Rutledge. Mr. Counsel — — 



Senator Stennis. Pardon me, let us not interrupt Mr. Kuss, if 

 you will. He has been asked a question. 



You were not through with your answer? 



Mr. Kuss. I think I was through, yes. 



Senator Stennis. It did not appear' to me that you were, excuse me. 



All right, excuse me, Mr. Rutledge. 



IMr. Rutledge. May we put it on the record that we were first 

 informed about the damage by Mr. Koch of J. Rich Steers Co. on 



