UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN editorslal
Unsigned editors represent the opinion of the Kan斯
Signed columns represent the views of only the writers
March 4.1980
Ford wants top spot
Guess who crawled out of the Republican woodwork during the weekend? Gerald R. Ford-38th president of the United States and the biggest non-candidate candidate in the 1980 presidential campaign since Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts.
In a New York Times interview with Ford Saturday, the former president said Ronald Reagan, former California governor, could not win the presidential general election. Reagan, he said, was thought of as a very conservative Republican and a very conservative Republican could not win a national election.
Reagan's decisive victory over George Bush in the New Hampshire primary re-established him as the Republican front-runner in the presidential race, Ford said. "We don't want—we can't afford to have a-replay of 1984."
In 1964, Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona, a very conservative Republican, was sorely defeated by President Lyndon Johnson.
Ford said requests that he enter the race were increasing but he was not
sure whether the requests represented a widely held feeling. Nevertheless, he cautiously has invited his party to ask him to join the race.
Ford said he was not "scherling or convining" to capture the Republican presidential nomination, but it is evident that he has, to some extent, considered his options carefully and calculatingly. He knows he must defend by April 2014 whether he in turn by May 4 would be reductive delegates to the Republican National Convention in Detroit would still be unbound. The convention is in July.
Ford also said he could want to "roll the dice in Detroit," hoping the other candidates would deadlock and be away with his party's nomination.
Despite his talk of enjoying a relaxed retirement, Ford wants to be the 40th president of the United States—not desperately enough to go out and pump hands for the position just yet, but he doesn't need them. The predictions about the present front-runner's ultimate defeat and to outline his possibilities in the race.
Death bill is doomed
Although some legislators call it a hoax when others content it is needed to protect society, a bill to reinstate capital punishment in Kansas is on its way. The House has passed the Legislature. The House last week gave the bill its final approval, 80-43.
The bill would allow a death sentence to be issued as punishment for all premeditated murders as well as for killings committed under seven specific instances: by an inmate; for hire of a witness; in multiple murder; in abusive or nuking; in abdapping; in commission of rape or sodomy; and in an escape attempt.
seems predestined to come to an end under the veto of Gov. John Carlin- if the Senate does not put it out of misery first.
This is the sixth consecutive year that a bill calling for reinstatement of the death penalty has been introduced in the Legislature. At least 18 similar bills died or were defeated in the last five legislative sessions. This bill, too,
Carlin already has vetoed one death penalty bill during his term. The one climbing the legislative ladder to his office now differs from the one he held in 2014. He will be for a death sentence in cases of murders committed during a felony.
The House representatives debated alternatives to the death penalty, including a 30-year minimum sentence for serious crimes, before finally approving it. However, the extent of their debate must be questioned in resulting results. Did they exhaustively consider ALL the alternatives?
Carlin is certain to ask the same question when he sends the bill back to them—and tells them to think again.
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Tourney's format should be changed
The format of the Big exam post-season basketball tournament is as rotten as a year-old pumpkin. And although the 1980 post-season tournament is history and gives an interesting look, the officials should seriously consider scraping the format of the tournament.
The glaring weakness of the post-season "classic" is that first-round games are held on campus sites. The conference's first four finishers play at home against the last four winners. The winners of these contests advance to Kansas City for the semifinals and finals.
The games held at the campus sites consistently have been boring financial disasters.
KU's game against Colorado last Tuesday is the best example yet. Even though KU won 6-1, the Bucks have a per game for conference battles, its first-round game against the Buffalo drew a messy $3.00. A team with a 0-26 record lost in a shootout is especially for a post-season tournament game.
COLUMNIST
david lewis
The other Big Eight schools who played at Gate are the 10-team gate, the gate Kansas State where home basketball games and sellouts are synonymous, attracted only 5,000 fans to its games.
MISSUOURI, THE regular season champion, managed to draw almost 8,000. However, that was the second lowest crowd the Tigers had all season.
Most of the crowds at the first-round tournament games represent seasonal lows in attendance at a time when fans should be packing the arenas.
More often than not, the four top finishers are not known until the last day of the regular season, only three days before the tournament's first-round games.
This year, KU did not know whether it would play at home until after the dayhawks won their conference game. Three days is not adequate notice for most fans. And three days is not nearly enough time to organize a game or attendance figures reflect that very fact.
But the fans and the teams are not to blame—the format of the tournament brings about these paltry attendance figures.
THE OBVIOUS SOLUTION is to hold the tournament, including the first-round matches, in Kansas City. In the past,
Kansas City has been very supportive of the Big Eight conference.
Look at the now defunct Big Eight Holiday Tentement, which was canceled after the postponement. Its existence. In its last year, the holiday tentement ban all of its attendance
For years, Kansas Citizens fanatically supported a tournament that was meaningless as far as conference standings were concerned. It is obvious that they also would support another eight-tournament. And remember, this tournament is the most important tournament of the year for the NCAA tournament or teams qualify for the NCAA tournament.
HAVING ALL eight teams in Kansas City would create an exciting atmosphere and
give the tournament as well as the conference more stature. The Big Eight has lacked basketball tradition since the conference's inception. As opposed to having a team, it was made up of all eight teams in Kansas City would give the tournament some desperately needed
With all the teams advance to Kansas City, we have a few extra days to prepare for. And every year, the fans would know where their teams were going to play. This certainly works.
Moreover, each team could have a better chance of winning the tournament because all of the tournament's games would be played on a neutral court. A neutral court is also safer for fans who have attended first-round games at campus sites could have pillows to
more comfortably watch one sleepy romp after another.
THIS YEAR, the closest game was seven points—Nebraska over Oklahoma. But the score was misleading; Oklahoma was never in the game.
In four years, only one visiting team has won a first-round tournament game. Having first-round games at campus sites has been a waste of time. As it stands now, Big Ten teams have not won any top-tier games in the top four teams to Kansas City and just foretelling about the first-round games.
As fans who attended the jam-packed Kemper arena this weekend would attest, a host of other teams will be tournament. But for now, the overall tournament is only second-rate. The hoopla has been squashed by bending first-round games to be exciting as watching wet cement dry
Self-help bill needs student support
By DAVID C. HENRY
Guest Columnist
Many times we students feel as if we are being acted upon by outside forces over which we have little or no control. We often consider ourselves victimized by decisions that affect our health and safety, our ability to play in sports and football games. In view of such attitudes, it is encouraging to learn of decisions where we can affect the outcome.
For the past two years I have been involved with the Associated Students of Kansas, the statewide student lobby for the interests and needs of Kansas Regents schools. I have seen how legislation can be affected by our voice in Topela. If I also realized that in many instances our voices can be even stronger with your help.
ASK is attempting to secure passage of the so-called "Self-Armament" to the 1975 Landlord-Tenant Act and, thus far, I'm
pleased to say we have been successful. The bill would give tenants a legal procedure to make home repairs necessary for reasons of health and safety.
THE BILL was passed in the House Judiciary Committee early in February by a large margin, only to be returned to the Senate for a second revision of the language. This provided landlords with a sterling opportunity to gather their forces in an attempt to kill the lobbying groups. Although they failed to defeat it, the vote last week, 10-6, was considerably closer than the first vote. Further, key votes were obtained via the lobbying of landlords' representatives.
Rep. Joe Hangland from Overland Park, N.J., said he had now oppose the bill after being impressed by the speed with which the landlords "came out of the woodwork" when the bill passed.
perant members of the House are also opposed. Despite this, we do have a good chance of winning passage.
YOU CAN BE certain that legislators will be hearing from the landlords and their representatives in the next few weeks. They will be told that the bill tips the balance in favor of the landlords, and tenants will abuse the bill and that landlords will be forced to raise rents to compensate accordingly. They will be told to vote for the bill, which provides people who can be helpful in an election year.
Therefore it is imperative that these same legislators hear from tenants such as yourself. You need to tell your legislator how you want your tenants to be 250. You can tell them that this bill is needed to protect the rights and needs of tenants. Tell them that landlords will be under no more financial obligations; in other words, they must be responsible landlord anything extra. You
can tell them of problems you may have had with getting a landlord to remedy a problem. You can tell them, for example, if you couldn't get a broken wind door [fixed].
I cannot stress enough the impact that such a call or letter has on influencing the behavior of our students. We need your help at this crucial time to get this bill through the House of Representatives you will call to represent yourself and your student Senate office at 864-3710 or by dugging 1058 Kansas Union. We'll give you their name, address, and phone number. Someone will also help you figure out how to cover concerns the bill or how to write your representative. This won't take more than a day, but it can be worth it because the benefit is well worth the effort. Please help ASK help you in Topeka.
David C. Henry is an Overland Park junior majoring in architecture and is a member of ASK at the University of Kansas.
To the Editor:
Editorial on Joe's displays lack of taste
We are writing this letter in shocked mood, a year after the storm that struck Thursday's Kansas, "Say it isn't so, Joe." We refer specifically to where the sadly mastaken, or deranged, author, says "The rain was very heavy."
Now, be serious. What red-blooded Jayhawk can deny the oral satisfaction derived from a Joe's doughnut? Obviously, the author knows nothing about good eating.
The Kansan has in the past been accused of faulty reporting, but this editorial shows no taste.
Mindy Levinson
Toledo, Ohio junior
Becky Lilienkamp
St. Louis sophomore
Rene G Stutzman
Halstead junior
Afghanistan column farcical, lacks basis
To the Editor:
I don't know where the Kanasan found Ron B. It was one of them, who contributed his surgical story titled *Overcareer ingestion to Afghan occupation*." (Feb. 25). It's obvious that the Kanasan was hurriedly brought in.
Having called President Carter's reaction to the commie takeover of Afghanistan "knee-jerk" and dangerous to this country,
Furthermore, Afghanistan was not already under the official Soviet control that Bain would have as believe. This guy thinks Carter "has brought the world to the edge of Europe," and says even Eain supports mass killing by the Soviets. One day the Reds went to Kerala, 115 miles north of Kabul, and shot up a village—leaving 1,000 innocent, shell-bounded people in their heyday. Even today, Soviet tanks roam the streets of Kabul, murdering people.
Bain displays his ignorance of foreign affairs. Bain contends that most Americans don't support Carter—I'd be interested in doing a clinical research left him to such a conclusion.
Beyond the issue of human rights, the United States has vital interests in the Persian Gulf that the Soviets could threaten, and Russia wants to realize that our economy would crumble like crackers if we suddenly lost half of our oil supply? He thinks we can switch over to a cleaner energy source sounds like a loany Jerry Brown. Bain says 'Energy abundances in this country, in the crops and forests, in the sunlight and the sky, are changing.' These lines would make a great poem, but only a fool would believe we can suddenly rely on corn and air for our vital energy supply. But Bain wasn't yet born when the Arab oil embargo sent the United States a frenzy.
By reminding the Soviet Union that we, as
UNIVERSITY DAILY letters KANSAN
Bain concludes that public criticism of the Carter Doctrine has been rare, most of it coming from Senator Edward Kennedy, D-Missouri, who said few who find fault with Carter says a lot.
they, have a vast magazine of nuclear weapons, by sending troops to the Persian Gulf, by boycoting the Olympics, and by getting tough. Mr. Carter fell short of laying out the red carpet on which the Soviets could win. They did so and bring devastation to the U.S. economy.
David Kersley
Ottawa freshman
then anything else is personnel. I, for one,
think that I shouldn't have to BUY my
freedom from military service.
Peace should be anti-draft motivation
The waging of any war is a violation of the way of peace. The authority of the people to make decisions about government. When our government violates our standards, we must work to change it so we can live in a just and peaceful society.
Strife and wars are born of the selfishness and greed of individuals, groups and organizations, who hope that Kansas Anti-Draft Organization will deter the individual who wrote that letter.
It was with disappointment and dismay that I read Eric Kirkendall's letter to the Kanass, apparently on behalf of the Kansas Department of Agriculture, much opposed to the return of registration and the draft. But my opposition grows out of his insistence, not just an aversion toward beaten drafts.
To the Editor:
Mr. Kirkendall seems to feel that the way to "keep our military forces strong" is to pay higher wages. Is he willing to pay higher taxes in order to keep from being drained? We already spend so much on military purchases, and support ourselves in consumer goods, and of all the splendid things the military does with that money, the they spend more on
Matt Bartel
Matt Burter
Hesston junior
Registration of guns Big Brother tactic
To the Editor:
In reference to the editorial about gun control in the Feb. 29th Kansan, I have one question to ask Susan Nammum. Have you ever heard of Afghanistan? If you have, you probably also have heard that the Soviets are confiscating all firearms there. And we have been so much easier for the Soviets if all these firearms had been registered?
Personally, I am tired of the "Big Brother" mentality that stifles freedom and takes away rights. As this letter is being mailed to a is check = the NRA!
Kevin Maxon Lawrence sophomore