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Tuesday, December 9, 1975
University Daily Kansan
Good-bv, Lawrence
The golden age of the mammoth metropolis is coming to a grinding halt. Pollution, crime, inflation, unemployment and overcrowding are taking their toll on America's giants and bringing them to their knees.
At a time when America's largest city is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and many other large cities could soon face a similar crisis, it's easy to forget that there are healthy, prosperous and growing towns in our country. Lawrence is one of those towns.
The seniors, graduate students and professors who have lived in Lawrence the past few years have witnessed the incredible growth of a healthy town.
They have seen Massachusetts Street turn from the gigantic hole it was in the summer of 1971 to the beautiful downtown mall it is today.
They have witnessed the transformation of 23rd St. into a monstrous neon arcade that grows longer every year.
They have seen new apartment buildings, stores and housing developments spring up every year, extending the city limits farther in all four directions.
They have seen businesses come and go and change names several times, but they have also seen a wide variety of businesses continue to thrive and expand, year after year.
They have seen the town pass through troubled times in the late 1960s and early 1970s and have seen once beautiful
homes fall into the disrepair of the student ghetto.
They have seen Lawrence grow before their eyes, and it is still growing. It is far from reaching the levels of pollution and urban decay that plague our giant cities, however. The downtown area is clean and well-kept, the air is fresh and the streets are safe enough to walk at night.
Many people like myself originally came to Lawrence only to attend KU, but soon found themselves thinking of it as home. Perhaps it's because Lawrence is more than a town. It's a city with its own culture and its avant-garde personality, and it seems to get into your bloodstream and affect your whole outlook on life.
In just a few short weeks, I'll graduate from KU and move to Boston, one of those cold, forboding giants, but Lawrence will still be my home, for I've watched it grow last four years, and I've grown along with it.
I've watched the trees on Mt. Oread bud in the spring and then turn red and gold and drop their leaves in the fall. I've trudged through ten inches of snow on Massachusetts Street while Christmas shopping and I've spent many hot summer nights drinking ice cold beer in my favorite bar. And as the days come to realize that Lawrence is more than just a college town—it's a town for people and it's a town that I'll always want to return to.
Jain Penner Silks Contributing Writer
Last issue tomorrow
The Kansan welcomes letters to the editor, but will not be able to print any the remainder of this semester. The last Kansan this year will be published tomorrow.
Greetings, friends!
By WARD HARKAVY Contributing Writer
Hoist a cup and drink a toast,
Whether inland or on the coast,
'Tis time to end the year with cheer,
Though '75 was a mixed-up year.
Raymond Nichols, Big Daddy Amin,
Archie Dykes and young Fred Lynn,
Wendell Barker, Nolan Cromwell,
One who sues, one who runs well,
All of these (and Paul Mokeski),
of which I have no idea,
Betty Ford and Gilbert Brown,
Helped make this a year renowned;
Into the language came, "Get Down!".
And the Mayaguez was lost, then found,
Martha Kees joined Andrew Jacobs.
While Nixon remained one of the nabobs. But all those named and Sally Moore, Should join us! You, too, Bud Moore! Jerry Brown, who causes conspiracy, Burlington, Kan, which has gone fission, George D. S Trow, Last but not least, D Fambrough; Help us all, kin and kith, Come on over, Laverne Smith! John Paul Stevens, Karen DeCrow, Share a smile with Rockefeller! Chrisiss Evert, Jimmy Connors, You're welcome, too . . . but watch you
monitors:
Henry Stram and Bruce Springsteen,
Come and chat with Theodore Bernstein.
And if that isn't allure enough,
Would you say "HI" to Lorna Laft?
Congress: Send your Ronald Dellums;
Lecompton: Ditto Marvin Kellum.
Mary Luce Reece and Eddie Rolfs;
Simones, send both your Dolphins!
All for one, with Morris Udall,
Let's frolic in this bedded hall!
Valerie, show us the Rhoda success;
While we entertain Betty Furness.
I. J. Stonebell, will you enthrail?
And let's include Ed Jones (Too Tall).
And let's include Nic Ford,
Susie Ford and Nick Thimmesch,
Bobby Minton (who's now Polish),
Meet Fred Pence, a Lawrence commish!
Ronald Calgaard, Barkley Clark,
We have room for you to park.
Auert Shanker, Felix Rohatyn,
God save us all, and Manhattan!
Even greedy Hall (Monty),
Will join us (but not Richard Conte).
And all of us, father and son.
Will likewise miss E.G. Robinson.
Ellen Burstyn, Agatha Christie,
And Erol Garner, who plays Misty.
Sneak on over with William Shockley.
Alvin Dark, bring Charlotte Finley!
Everyone else whose names aren't here, Grace our hall with your good cheer; Finish the term with nary a tear, Bury the hatchet; 76 is near!
With apologies to Frank Sullivan.
Readers Respond / Zionism doesn't equal racism
To the Editor:
I think that David Radd, in his letter to the editor on Nov. 20, equating Zionism with racism, has been sold a bill of goods. He says that to be a Zionist is "to believe in a state created急急急急急急急急急急
parliamentary representation in the Kresset and the right to free speech, press and religion. Also, let's not forget the tens of thousands of Druze and other minorities enjoying equal rights. Who has been oppressed?
How fine can you get! What Zionism is, is the belief in a national homeland for the Jews in Palestine. This does not exist. For example, there are over million Palestinian Arabs living in Israel proper with full
Radd further states that no other country in the world is a homeland solely for one people. Really? If that's true, how come the Arab countries made so many Muslim Muslims had been living in those countries for longer than Islam has been a religion, if not for the
purpose of making these homelands solely for their own people?
When Arabs start national movements and then end up declaring theocratic Islamic Judaism, they say "Jews do the same, it's called nationalism and racism. That, Radd, is antisemitism.
Lock up for safety To the Editor:
Cory Mass Brooklyn, N.Y., graduate student
forthcoming; Please lock your doors. It can't happen to me, I thought. No one would dare come into my house. There was one man, however, who dared, and there I was at around 3 a.m. with an unwelcome guest in my bedroom and a flashlight in my very experienced eye, we were very vulnerable to say the least.
A plea for caution-a lecture
If we can't do anything about the behavior of people who come to rob and rape,rape and kill, we don't own trusting natures. There's
no sense inviting trouble. We need to protect ourselves: We need to lock our doors. This man knew that people in our part of the city usually don't lock their doors, and he was right.
Perhaps you won't lock your door until something happens to you, but if I can get one person to think about the potential danger (I prefer to wish there is a lock) and give it away such a simple thing to get a lock, and it's worth your peace of mind.
Karen Edmiston
Lawrence graduate student
Karen Edmisten
Detroit has reached its nadir
It snowed before Thanksgiving this year, and as I was driving my old, rickety foreign car home from Lawrence, winding around a myriad of American-made behemoths and midguts that were spinning, shipping or stuck on the road, a perplexing question came to my mind.
Why can't they make a good American snow car?
the country and gets its share of bad driving conditions every year. 'You'd think those unmobile phones would get the message!'
It does seem a little odd, since a large chunk of our nation experiences some nasty winter weather every year. It seems even stranger when you consider the fact that Detroit, the car capital of the United States, is located in the northern part of
Actually, Detroit did have the beginnings of a decent snow car at one time, the Chevy Corvair
Paula Jolly Contributing Writer
abandoned the model instead of making it safer.
It had an engine over the rear wheels, a feature that added tremendously to the car's traction in slippery situations. The firefighters' attacks were made concerning the Corvair's safety, its makers
So with the way things stand, the American driver has a limited number of solutions to the winter driving dilemma. He or she could buy the one wheel drive vehicle, the oldMobile wheel drive, the Oldmobile Toronado, if he wished to pay about $9,000. He could add expensive snow tires or carry tire chains. He could ignore cars entirely and purchase a four-wheel drive vehicle. Or he could buy a foreign car which could cover the rear wheels, and risk the wrath of people who paste "Buy a foreign car and help 10
Americans lose their jobs" bumper stickers on their cars.
My answer to those people—and to the car makers in Detroit—is that when Detroit starts producing cars that can
get me through the long, hard winter with a minimum of slipping and sliding, then I will buy an American car. Until I have little insurance from Germany I will carry me through.
Published at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and examination periods. Second-class postage paid at an international semester or $15 in Douglas County and $10 in Plattsmouth. Subscription fees are $1.35 per subscription are $1.35 a semester, paid through the university.
Editor Dennis Ellsworth
Business Manager Cindy Long
Johnson dresses for his role in an upstairs workroom at Pennys.
Youngsters from across the street compete for Santa's attention.
Santa Claus, better known to students as Mark Johnson, practices his wave and his ho, ho, ho.
SIDEWALK SANTA CLAUS
Some kids take a thoughtful pause when Santa asks them what they want.
Mark Johnson, Lawrence sophomore, ambles slowly down Massachusetts Street in downtown Lawrence. There are shouts from across the street and a half dozen kids come running at him full speed. Such an occurrence might bother Johnson. He is a Santa Claus, or his helper, as the kids' parents may choose to explain it.
Johnson was hired by the
Downtown Lawrence Association to play Santa Claus for 60 hours during the holiday season. He works late in the afternoon and some evenings on Saturdays, a day on Saturdays, depending of course, on his class schedule.
He earns his money.
"Some days this suit feels like it weighs 100 pounds," Johnson said. "On the warmer days, I get off work wringing with sweat."
At day's end Johnson slumps, exhausted, in his dressing room.
Staff Photos by DON PIERCE