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Thursday, July 6, 1978
University Daily Kansan
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Comment
Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Kanan editorial staff. Signed columns represent the views of only the writers
City negotiators lucky
a firefighters' strike and a police walkout easily could have been the fate of Lawrence this week as the agreements with the public protection employees near renewal.
A recent firefighters' strike in Memphis wreaked havoc on the city. The strike, which lasted through the holiday weekend, resulted in more than 300 fires, most of which were classified as arson. The 800,000 residents lived in fear of fires for three days.
The mayor imposed a curfew and the police director accused the firefighters of setting most of the fires. The firefighters returned to work Tuesday, but the city is still reeling. The firefighters were upset because of the city's refusal to grant a 50-cent-hour wage increase.
MEANWHILE, two other towns lost their police forces. The 34-man police force in New Bern, N.C., walked off the job Friday night. The policemen wanted a bigger pay increase than the city offered. The city aldermen met and decided to allow the
policemen to return to work but offered no wage concession. Other area law enforcement officials filled in for the policemen July 4.
Thirty three of the 36 policemen on the Callman, Ala., force went on strike Tuesday. The three others called in sick. Sheriff's deputies filled in for the policemen.
depends upon me.
In Lawrence, policemen and firefighters have not yet taken any work action against the city. They agreed with the city last year that they would not take any work action before July 1. They can now feel free to take work action, even though the intention to do so has not been announced.
THE CITY AND the public protection employees still have not been able to reach an agreement on the wage rate. The negotiations passed the impasse date three weeks ago.
week ago.
This week the policemen and firefighters could have easily pressured the city to meet their demands by not working July 4.
Lawrence has been lucky so far.
On Monday the Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional the penalty laws, saying that the laws did not allow the proper consideration of individual aggrievement or mitigating circumstances.
one court's decision leaves little room for hope that the death penalty will be abolished. The court had seemed to say it was overreaction, undesirable when it ruled in 1972 that capital punishment, as it was then practiced, violated the Eighth Amendment's ban on capital punishment. A small respite from capital punishment occurred then, mainly because the decision effectively struck a veil over the capital punishment and because the states missed the loophole in the court's decision: The constitutional violation had allowed the state to impose capital punishment was based on arbitrary sentencing.
ARBITRARY SENTENCING is sentencing that makes no allowance for the crime's mitigating circumstances.
States remained ignorant of that loophole until July 1978, when the court clarified its
No one can quite kill the death penalty.
Spacecraft landing pad laudable
Lawrence should have a landing pad for alien spacecraft.
Mount Rainer in Washington has one,
bringing one in Lawrence certainly cann
Death penalty yields no justice
The group, New Age Foundation, was formed by Wayne Sloh Aho, who earlier this year asked President Jimmy Carter to open a space. One has not yet been announced.
The landing pad in Washington was dedicated last week by a group of flying saucer enthusiasts who bought 14 acres of land for that purpose. The group calls it SPLAASL - Spacecraft Protective Landing Area. Advancement of Science and Technology.
AHO IS CONCERNED that unexpected alien visitors won't have anyone to greet them upon arrival. He wants to be sure any beings that land on his pad, marked NEUTRAL LANDING ZONE, will be properly received.
Why should Lawrence be left out of the alien landing pad competition? After all, the alien had been the first to land.
who probably could learn a great deal from alien visitors.
The Kansas University Endowment Association has plenty of experience in providing grants. We even have
Kevin Kious Editor
the equipment necessary to guide a ship here
Scientists around the world would herald KU as a leader in space relations. Prominent researchers would come here to visit and visitors and preparing to deal with them.
ARCHITECTURE students could construct a sign for the landing pad that read JAYHAWK NEUTRAL LANDING AREA. The entire project probabilty would be 50 times more money it already funds more than 50 projects in the Space Technology Center on West Campus.
The pad would create some jobs and would work public relations miracles for Lawrence and KU. There should be no difficulty in bringing tourists from I-70.
There a few acres and some huge night lighting equipment would be needed. The area could be fenceed in and guarded. Towers would be erected and the ground would be highly dramatic at night. Bright lights shining skyward from the ground would spell out JAYHAWK NEUTRAL
The passengers of passing airplanes would be able to pass above the overhead view and be able to load onto the overhead view.
Network film crews would cover the construction and completion of the project.
A HUGE DISH antenna could be contacted to broadcast and receive space messages.
11 probably will all lead to the forming of a department of alien studies, which would lead to a study abroad program that includes a visit to NASA's space program. Oh, well forget it.
occur each year in the Kansas Legislature, which is why Kansas is among four states without a death penalty statute. In that state, the law that would give juries the choice of imposing a death sentence or life imprisonment on persons convicted of premeditated murder, homicide, or misdemeanor mitigating circumstances. If the trial resulted in a conviction, a separate jury would be impaneled for sentencing. Any death penalty sentence could be reviewed by the trial judge and the Kansas Supreme Court.
of those they plan to execute legislates. States will find it fairly easy to satisfy the court's new guidelines by adding a few words that make exceptions for aggravating or mitigating circumstances in their laws, which can make them more fair; they will only make the laws more bulky.
BUT THE SENATE rejected the House bill and could not develop one that both chambers agreed upon. The chances for a death penalty statute in Kansas died once again.
THE LIST OF arguments for and against capital punishment has become tattered with age and emotion. Supporters of the death penalty say it is an effective deterent to crime and want a fair and impartial system for implementing it. We say capital punishment does notCrime and discriminates against the poor and minorities. Division along the same lines
The Legislature's inability to provide a death penalty law is commendable, even though the inability appears to be involuntary. The State will think that words added to state death penalty statutes will be able to create justice for criminals. But words are not capable of creating justice; they are capable only of encouraging the possibility of executing someone used before to justify condemning criminals to death—"an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." However, those words originated not as a cry for retribution but as a plea for just punishment. The State fairness in dealing out legalized death, even in retribution for other deaths.
The only thing that should die is the death penalty.
"Bebe Rebozo had him flown to a secret laboratory in China."
My friend LeRoy has a disconcerting quirk in his psyche. Every one of his dreams comes true. He's not too happy about it. He used to go for days without sleep because he preferred not to know what was going to happen.
1 am serious," he replied "You really think Nixon's beer boiled up in San Clemente all this time writing his memoirs? Wrong. Ziegler wrote the book."
In January he dreamed that Jimmy Green would not have to move and that he could carry every body mad by canceling the Kansai Reys.
"Then what's Nixon been up to?" I asked.
I TOLD HIM to give me everything he had. If the worst was true, there were certain people who cared. My passport expired last year.
"Now look, LeRoy," I said,
"this is serious."
position by saying the death penalty itself was not inherently cruel or unusual and could be considered constitutional in certain cases. The court said the death penalty could be imposed if judges and juries receive adequate information
"It's not really Nixon," he said.
The effect of Monday's decision will be to plug the loophole that the states missed in the 1972 decision and that they started to notice only recently, much to the detriment
Pshaw. I said.
"You mean the Red Chinese are in on this?" I said, aghast.
wang. I sang.
In June I told him to quit telling me about his dreams. He said I told you so.
WE NEVER TALKED about LeRoy's dreams after that until Saturday night. We were there last week at Kesson's "Saturday Night Laze Rent."
Graduate just can't beat the rap
"I thought you didn't want to hear about my dreams," he said.
When I opened Monday morning's paper to see Nixon's tricky countenance losing at a house in a state of mild hysteria.
"Right up to their fortune cookies."LeRov said.
Don't worry, he said, Walker will resign before summer.
Division along the same lines
"Nixon's going to make a comeback," he whispered to me.
"Shut up," I cried and threw him out of the house.
"They cloned him."
I was shocked. Two Richard Nixons? I was dazed and
"What happened?" I asked, pretending I was incapable of being shocked any further.
N.Y., Trades Pad, 1947.
For four long years I had been
awaiting this moment. I set in
my seat, fidgeting nervously.
China, Rebozo sponsor Nixon comeback
By MICHAEL J. WEITHORN
and guidance to determine the appropriateness of the death penalty in the particular case.
confused. My mind was reeling with rhetorical questions.
Somewhere in the haze, LeRoy was talking.
David Link
Editorial Writer
"But what about Humphrey's funeral," I asked. "Nixon was there. Or was it . . ."
"SEEEMS THE RED Chinese were pretty盯 when Nixon blew it. They thought he should
have destroyed the tapes when he had a chance. But they don't like Carter at all, so when they called him using technique they called Bebe."
"Right. That was the clone.
They didn't have him fully programmed yet, so they didn't him say anything." Leo boy said.
"Oh, they're going to let him write speeches for the new one, but they're afraid to let him out," he said. "I screw it up aam," Leroy said.
"But what about the old Nixon?" I wondered.
"Poor guy," I said, "almost makes you feel sorry for him."
"Don't worry," LeRoy said. "They found one of Checkers' dog hairs and cloned a new dog to keep the old Nixon happy."
"They have to lay low for a while. They spent so much money getting tucky, that they can't afford another public appearance until the royalties start coming in from the memoirs." LeHoyt
"HAD YOU EVER heard of it
"So what happens next?" I asked.
"Wait a minute," said "You mean they created Hyden out of nothing?"
before?" he retorted quickly. "Of course, not nobody, bad. When they discovered that there was no town in the country where people would cross the street to see Nixon, they decided to build their own."
"But what about all those people?" I thought you said nobody in the country would go to see him."
"Exactly," LeRoy said. "They made 4,000 clones of David Eisenhower and them to look like real people."
"Just what do they hope to gain by all this sleight of hand?" I wondered.
"Surely you must have some idea," I said.
to the political hierarchy of Western civilization."
"What do you think I am, a mind reader?" LeRoy asked.
"WELL, THE Red Chinese figure Nixon is their best chance to get a foot in the door
"Yeah, that figures," I said. "So they're going to have him run for president again?"
"That's the fuzzy part," LeRoy said. "The last thing I remember about the dream was a huge crowd of people who knew a universe in front of what looked like a big cathedral.
"For some reason they all started cheering when they saw a stream of white smoke coming from one of the chimneys. They were shouting 'Vive il Dicite! Vive il Dicite!"
"Good grief," I shouted,
"What happened next?"
1 wonder whether NASA has started accepting applications for people to man the first space colony.
waiting for what seemed like an eternity for my name to be called. Finally, I was up. The president handed me a package containing a new suit of clothes, and he brought back to Tulsa. "I just want you to know," I said to him, "that I'm out for good." He smiled wryly, "You'll be back," he said, "maybe because he's back," he said, "you'll back with the jyms wall. Kid, your kind is all the same. It's in your blood."
I KNEW THAT I would prove him wrong. Four years in college had given me a lot of help as a kid. Got mixed up with a bad crowd. I used to tell my mother that I was going to play baseball, then I sneaked off to it. Pretty soon, IPretty soon, I became the best at what I did. No math problem was too tough for me to crack. No philosophical question ever existed and believe me. I was proud of it.
Then the inevitable. I landed in college. "You're no son of mine," my father had said when he found out. He just didn't understand. I thought I had it all figured out.
But I saw a lot in four years. I saw people who I knew would spend the rest of their lives in and out of school.
Societal misfits. I knew I was better than that.
NOW THAT I WAS finally out,
I promised myself that I would
never see the inside of a dormitory room again. I had paid my debt. It was straight time for this boy.
The streets of Tulsa were cold, even hostile. I took a room in the local flophouse and began to walk through it. Within a few minutes I found myself in front of the local public library. It was almost as if I had been thought, though. I probably could slip inside, read the latest issue of Intellect or New Republic and be out before anyone noticed. Then I caught up with the man I knew had to stay straight.
AS I STOOD there staring at the building, I was approached by a guy about five years older than I was. "Just out, kid?" he asked, lighting a cigarette. "What makes you think so, said replied I am not a little more credit than that. Where was it, Haverford?" Swarthmore," I replied. He winced. "Ooh, that is a tough one. Here are your going from here, law school?" looked him right into his mouth for good." He stiffened a laugh. "Listen, kid, why don't we go inside the library, I'll show you around." I
We went inside, and the guy began to tell me his story. Pretty typical. Had spent four years at Yale, then three at business school in New York, starting a law school in the fall. He looked the part, too. ill-fitting clothes, large thick spectacles, unkempt hair and he chain-smoked. I saw him with the microfilm six" "you seem to know your stuff, kid. Me and some other former grads in town are getting together Wednesday night. We're going out to see them on the basement here. I think you might add something to the group." "But the library is closed at night, the protectors are out," he said. "Will you be there?" It was tempting, I admit, but my mind was made up. I told him I couldn't come. "Think it over, kid," he said. "We could use an existentialist." And he
began to protest, but he stopped me. "We don't have to read anything, kid, only look. There is no harm in that, in there?"
THE NEXT DAY I answered an ad in the paper for a supermarket clerk. "I need the resume, my phyllos very interested."
"I see you worked for two years in an Acme market. Very impressive, Well, son, I think you'll work out. He sloppily made up a college up." You..you're a college grad?" Well., sir," I replied, "technically yes, but I'm out of school for good. I really like to get it." "He cut me off with a wave of his hand." "Listen son, I'm sure you're fine person. But I can't hire a grad. I just want to be back to school in the fall. I'm sorry, but this supermarket is my life. It's just a little business, I know, but it all I have. You college kids understand that. I'm very sorry.
THE NEXT FEW days it was the same thing. They were sorry, they understood my situation, but they couldn't hire me. The week wore on. I grew depressed, hungry, tired. The outside world was not the bed of roses that had imagined.
About 10 guys were inside, and they all turned and looked at me. I had never seen any one of them. "One of the existentialist," one of them said
On Wednesday night, in desperation, I went back to the library. Sure enough, the front door was unlocked. I walked down two flights and into a small, damp room.
to me. I didn't respond. I never did like labels. I took a seat in the back and waited for the seminar to begin.
The first guy presented a paper on Aquinas. Hung up on the existence of God, I'd heard it all before. Someone mentioned that the existence of God could be postulated on moral grounds and was acquainted with him. How did these guys ever get to be intellectuals?
THE DISCUSSION continued,
and my blood began to race. I
had forgotten how exciting it was.
I had hoped that my hopes, my dreams of staying straight. I was torn, conflicted. My mother had myself I forgot. I jumped up.
Don't you people realize that the universe is absurd?!" They turned and looked at me. I was hot. "Doesn't Kiergegaard mean anything to you fool?" They fell silent. I was for the first time since I had been out of school, confidence surged through my body. I was ready to hit them with the clincher.
"Now, as for Nietzsche . . ."
Suddenly the door burst open, and in stormed six plainclothes librarians. "This is a book." This was my knees and wept. I knew that my dreams were shattered.
I SPENT THE next couple of months doing summer school in Tulsa, and my worst fears proved correct. I was sent Back East. Grad school, Ivy League, no less. I would not be allowed a Ph.D., before I vee' got out. No more straight time for a long while.
I don't know whether to blame myself or to blame society. What's the difference? It's all meaningless anyway.
Michael J. Weithorn, a political science major, was graduated from Swarthmore College last month as president of his class.
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