UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN editorials
Unsigned editors represent the opinion of the Kansan editor's staff. Signed columns represent the views of the editorial team.
March 3.1980
Self-help bill needed
A House committee of the *Kansas Legislature* has voiced its approval of a revised self-help bill designed to amend the Landlord-Lennert Act and to establish a legal tool for making repairs when negligent landlords refuse to do so.
The bill first was proposed last year by Rep. John Solbach, D-Lawrence, and will die if the full House does not act on it during this session.
The revised version of the bill, among other things, restricts the cases covered by the self-help amendment to those that threaten the health and safety of tenants. Another revision of the bill requires the tenant to present a written estimate of needed repairs to the landlord before the work is done.
The House committee approved this revised bill 10-6, and Solbach says the revisions should improve the chances of success. The House would -if it ever makes a rise to the floor-
The House majority leadership decides which bills are to be brought to the floor for debate. Robert Frey, R-N.Y., was elected mayor of a landlord, Lords including, Frey
have expressed opposition to the bill.
They say the self-help amendment discriminates against them and heavily favors tenants.
If Lawrence landlords want to continue attracting and contracting tenants, this bill must be passed. Even in its newly restricted version, the bill would be the first step toward permanently repairing not only dilapidated dwellings but also a perpetual gap in communication and cooperation between landlords and tenants. It also would be a firm foundation on which to build future landlord-tenant legislation.
Sobach has followed his bill painstakingly through the ponderous legislative process. With hammer in one hand and nails in the other, he has pushed the opposition and consistently construct a convincing case for his bill.
It is time for other members of the House to buttress the bulwark Solbach has raised in an effort to keep tenants' houses and apartments from becoming unwilling to live in a rented dwelling should not have to be like living in a house of cards.
Coverage of primary was plenty of nothing
Anyone who isn't already up to the gills of the media reports and 'analyzes' its "living proof of the media moguls" haughty assumption that American viewers have straw polls for
And this is just the beginning. The New Hampshire primary paved the way for the inevitable spawn of late-night special reports on political contests. Why do these events have been deliberately fashioned to resemble off-track-betting for the racewounds?
As for the night of the New Hampisher primary, punch-drunk anchormen and weary correspondents bungled their way through a disjointed series of slip-ups
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redundancies, linguistic atrocities and inside jokes. And this, my friends, is serious political commentary.
**ABC's New Hampshire correspondent—deceptively larger than-life over that tricky monitor—miraculously kept a poker face when he carefully enunciated that Ronald Sanders "shellacking." The image of a shiny, shellacked Bush, although oddly appealing, stuck out like a sore thumble in a supposedly official report on the results of a presidential primary. But then again, the official correspondent was once a sports announcer.
AFTER THE REPORT, ABC anchorman Frank Reynolds - whose taut smirk defied the correspondent's deadpan expression—says "gentlemen to 'go inside' and 'get warm.'"
Reynolds was in fine form that night. He went on to describe his work with video of a Bask post-primary address to New Hampshire supporters was abruptly followed by a string of similar scenes of all his peers. The latter took place in
The unruffled anemonomic aumini shorter-than-four domeeam was offset by his ability to proclaim, for example, that ABC was engaging in a broad-brain practice of analyzing not only why the winning candidate won the election, but also voted for them votes for them. To this worthy end, another in the swelling sea of candidates costing voters as they emerged from the privacy of their poisoned boots. The result was a notable addition to the biased body of voting data.
ABC'S SURVEY of 1,800 voters claimed.
among other nuggets, that: New Hampshire thinks Jimmy Carter is more honest and moral than Edward Kennedy; New Hampshire thinks Ronald Reagan is more leadership capabilities; New Hampshire thinks Reagan has a winning smile and would forge foreign policy and tame domestic issues more effectively than Ronald Reagan. New Hampshire's better than 2-41 totraining of Bush.
the night wore on, the commentators' glibness wore off. In a sober tate-a-tate with Reynolds, ABC's political director Jillian Ferguson accused the的政治 machine of being Reagan's to master New Hampshire. But the Bush machine had been stiff at the joints. That's why the good ambassador had lost. And the government, was why the old governor had won.
BUT OUR BRADCAST brother are never content to just tell us the way it was and the way it is. They insist on donning the ill-fitting role of political soothers. Thus we are able to speak primarily alternately echoed with predictions of doom and blazed with visions of glory.
Whatever became of originality? The networks' tiresome analyses played like broken records. Kenny won his win the home game, but he also predicted. But Carter is the pollster's choice in Pennsylvania, Illinois, South Carolina, and Florida. He probably will lag behind in those primaries. And if Kennedy loses, lo and behold, Carter will win. Here lies sophistication, subtly shifting the focus.
AS A FITTING cap to an exhilarating event, Barbara Walters popped out from the office and said she was wise to wink her off her million-dollar anchor. Her coining contribution was an 'analysis' of the unlucky candidates' prospects for jobs when they dropped out of school.
Her warbled, slap-dash insights seemed to suggest she'd had a dawn or two to drink her own bernedow. She marveled that the girl was so inexperienced tering" a course to a safe harbor, and she mourned for those hapless candidates who didn't have a safe Senate set of a lucrative position.
And when it was all over-thank good-weight-Reynolds turned to Walters and calmly her of having been idle on that fiftieth night.
"I guess they'll just have to find something else to do." she commiserated.
"I'll make up for it next time," she retreated apologetically.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
In fact, the entire motley crew did much too much of nothing.
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Yugoslavia no Soviet pushover
It's time to worry about Yugoslavia.
That's what those dedicated doom diviners—they call themselves political wolves, calling us in solemn columns and interviews.
Surely we have enough to worry about already. There's Afghanistan, the hostages, and the Taliban, the more superficial concerns of the and more superficial concerns of the beach free of oil and people for spring break.
No, the punits say, Yugoslavia is at the heart of the struggle among abysse or some other metaphorical position "Yugoslavia after Tito" has become a fruitful subject for both well-informed and less well-informed readers.
Although Yugoslavia won't be the same without Tito, it may not be all that different either. After all, its imminent disintegration has been forecast ever since the country
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was unified. But it hasn't broken up, the economy is in good shape, and the people are probably better off than ever before.
THE COUNTRY isn't without problems. It was forged from a number of independent and semi-autonomous states; it is a nation of minorities. The languages and traditions of these people didn't disappear when they were survived, and have caused internal tensions.
Some years ago, a fellow student haplessly described Alsace-Lorraine—the two provinces located by France and the Mediterranean filling between two hostile slices of bread."
Yugoslavia is out of the heat and con-
struction that has defined the most prosperous of the Baltic countries by modernizing its agriculture, investing in industrial plant and expanding its tourist
ITS A MISTAKE to call Yugoslavia a communist country, if by that description, it is not. The Czechoslovakia, East Germany and Bulgaria. Yugoslavia *l* was lined up with Croatia. Yugoslavia *l* was lined up with Croatia. Yugoslavia *l* was lined up with Croatia.
There's a similar analogy for Vugelakia. There's a similar analogy for Vugelakia. There is kind of hamburger. The cooks hoped the diverse ingredients would blend well, but couldn't be sure until it came out of the oven.
Ugoslavia is no pushover. It has prospered as a non-aligned nation, and its people know enough about life in Soviet-era countries to know that it's not what they want.
Rumania, which is not among the Kremlin cheerleaders these days.
and, under Tito, has firmly resisted Soviet courtship and threats.
A major part of Yugoslavia's economy conforms to the socialist model; workers live in slums and have no own cooperatives. But the system is decentralized, with economic and political control vested in the regions, not in the city. SocialismIt's a far cry from totalitarianism.
There's a growing private sector too. Some Yugasakis—for example, those in the tourist trade—own their businesses. The city's retail sector is stocked with consumer goods. On television,
there are American cop shows and commercials.
YOU DON'T NEED a visa to travel to Yugoslavia; sometimes they don't even check your passport at the border. Compare that to East Germany where visitors are required to change a specified amount of money for each day of their stay. Yugoslavians often spend abroad and many live in France and Germany, returning home for vacations.
While Yugoslavia faces an uncertain political future, it's not on the verge of collapse. If the Russians want to take over the country, first they'll have to roll through
And they have a long tradition of resisting foreign domination. Austria-Hungary never suppressed it, and has been an effective guerrilla war against the Germans. The people of Yugoslavia will fight again if they have to. Or, perhaps the pandals are wrong about Yugoslavia, after all?
Prof distorts Catholic doctrine
To the Editor:
In a letter to the editor in appearances of the Feb. 21 Kansan Dennis B. Quinn, professor of English, correctly asserts that the death of Mr. Quinn is not merely a possibility of a just war. While he does state, "It is not my intention here to justify or to spell out in detail the position of the deceased." He continues by information, beyond the assertion that "no pope and no council has said that there can be no just war," would have given a truer impression of the position of the Catholic Church.
To quote from The Documents of Vatican II, "As long as the danger of war remains and there is no competent and sufficiently
KANSAN letters
powerful authority at the international level, governments cannot be denied the right to legitimate defense ONCE ever that HAS BEEN EXHAUSTED^(p. 293, emphasis mine). Legitimate defense has limitations. The Council goes on to state that it is not obligatory for the destruction of entire cities or of extensive areas along with their populations is a crime against God and man himself. It is abusive and unrestilitating condemination.
After discussing the Catholic Church's affirmation of the possibility of a just war Quinn moves into a discussion of the concessional objective and concludes his letter to the members of the House of Representatives Catholic Epicopoly article previously cited asserts Catholic teaching to be that for Catholics 'conscionious objection is not required' (quoted in the paraphrase Parope Pux IIX, who reaffirmed the right of the state to arm itself for self defense and to oblige citizens to enter military service." I found this statement important because it made statement earlier in the letter, "Since the Catholic Church has great influence not only among its millions of members but also among the general public, it is important that this major issue be corrected."
First, the writer of the article in the New Catholic Encyclopedia does not claim to be representing the official teaching of the church; it does not mention what the article clearly points out; that the assertion "for Catholics 'conscionentious objection is morally intransitive' to the exercise of the government, the democratic openness of its decisions, and the extremity of the historic necessity for making such defense measures would be adequate in the circumstance."
provided, however, that they accept some other form of service to the human community."
This shows the statement to be less categorical than I believe Quinn represents. It is too vague, and the inconsistent objection for Catholics is difficult to reconcile with the statement of the case. If it seems right that laws make human provisions for the case of those who for some reason do not support them,
I believe that Quinn's neglecting to mention the requirements of a just war and his selective edith of his quoted material has led him to a belligerent light than is warranted and boarders on academic dishonesty. It is of little concern to me if he wishes to undermine my manner. However, to do so while claiming to represent the teaching of the Catholic Church and to thereby undermine its scholarship as well, I do most strongly object.
Alan Ruda
Graduate student in religious studies
Non-religious given CO status by Court
Dennis Quinn writes in his Feb. 21 letter that conscientious objector status is granted "only to those who belong to religions that forbid military service."
It should be obvious that the First Amendment does not allow the Congress to grant liberty of conscience on a sectarian basis. This point was made explicit in "Guerer" (1968), who ruled in 1965, which was strengthened and expanded by dozens of federal decisions. Notably, "Schaefer", 1968, uphold the conscientious objector status of a drafter who refused to affirm a belief in God and engaged in religious practice of any kind.
Kemp Houck Associate professor of English
Kemp Houck
Survey submitted as rough idea of views
To the Editor:
I would like to thank Eric Kirkendall for expressing his concern about the issue of reinstatement of draft resituation.
In his Feb. 22 letter to the editor, however, he made several assertions that are based on a misunderstanding of my participation in a recent Washington conference of leaders. Registration and the draft were major topics of discussion at the conference.
Because results from an opinion poll on the Student Senate election ballot were the only available indication of KU student opinion, 47 percent voted to the White House staff as a rough idea of KU student opinion. The results were 47 percent against registration and 53 percent in favor; only 27 percent of those voting in the draft, while 73 percent opposed it.
Kirendan objected to my having submitted these poll results, stating that they were not taken from a random sample, and that I did not accurately reflect student sentiment.
I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Kirkendall that these poll results do not provide the accuracy of a random sample.
When I submitted the results to the White House staff, however, I qualified them by
I also would like to remind K.irkendall that the statements, "Registration could prevent the draft," and "Registration is a requirement of the job." I do not and my own. I do not recall issuing my personal opinion on the matter to any reporters from the Journal-World or the Newsroom.
reporting that they stemmed from an opinion poll in a Student Senate election between Democrats and Republicans, stated out of total electorate of 23,000, who qualified such as these, it was understood that these survey could not be the last word on KU student sentiment.
I do find it interesting, however, that the Journal-World's coverage of the Washington conference made it appear that I had "completely bought the Carter line," while the next day the Kansan's coverage of the conference was just a campaign tactic, and that I wasn't about to be convinced of the White House's stand on registration.
It's little wonder Mr. Kirkendall misunderstood the facts.
Margaret Berlin Former student body president
Bill will determine the prairie's future To the Editor:
A recent Kansan editorial concludes that a Midwest prairie park is unnecessary. The author was absolutely correct in stating that the presence of a land departure in tactics that is more responsive to landowners' fears of land condemnation, 2) it may take years, even decades to acquire the land, if ever, and 3) the average size of a prairie park will be her or her land. Indeed, the best prairie land IS the ranchers' land, and so it will continue to be, regardless of whether the bill is passed. A ALL of the Filt Hills remained in the prairies, and there would be neither the possibility of acquiring the first acre of a park under this bilion nor the need to do so, because it would not come up for either sale or review for it. This would be the best all possible words.
But let's remove the rosy, homeowner glasses. Ask any opponent whether he can maintain the quality of prairie grassland in the overall area by using percentages of native grass cover, animal or plant diversity, population stability, or plant or land succession and accelerating入侵物种. You should expect an affirmative answer in light of overgrazing, predator control policies, juniper succession and accelerating invasion. Ask whether the rates of water and erosion, stream silting and land mining are serious. Ask whether such opportunities are viable. Ask whether such opportunities provide statistics suggesting that the majority of land owners increasingly favors vegetation that can be compared, by analogy, whether the opponents of wagging regulation are the exponents of savanna just. Just who is running scared and why.
To be sure, the vast majority of ranchers
in the Flint Hills have continued an admirable tradition of land stewardship, which will continue uninterrupted even if bill is passed. The county's contractual grants with landowners and conservation districts for land restoration and construction, extra-high voltage power lines and residential subdivisions will be forbidden, though these presently contribute to the development of landscapes in casional incidents of land management, "development," selling-out to corporations or foreign investors, overgranting and Corp. transfers that prevented ONLY by passage of this bill, through a review process by a committee of economists, citizens and legislators.
Each case of prairie loss, no matter how infrequent, is a cumulative, irreversible division of both the aesthetic and ecological integrity of the last great tallowgrass prairie known on Earth—the very last. If a more extreme case of prairie loss can be devised, i.e., national grassland, state regional zoning, etc., then let's hear it. Until then, this prairie preservation bill is all that stands between prairie integrity and the irresistible forces that doom all lands. This month, complete version of this bill, see Vol. 5, No. 1 of the Ozark and Prairie Caller).
Jim Cane Lawrence graduate student
Kansan should not favor Bell Company
To the Editor:
Your "Bell rates justified" editorial, Feb.
25, left me somewhat disappointed with your
editorial description.
I feel the Kanas should address larger social concerns—speaking for those who are fearful of being pressured, disease and tyranny—the speaking on behalf of Southern Belt, which can very easily speak for itself without being protected and high profitable interests.
Edwin P. Acoba
Guimba, Nueva Ecija, Philippines Graduate student
Letters Policy
The University Daily Kansan welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be in English and not exceed 100 words. They should include the writer's name, address and telephone number. If the writer is after publication, they should include the writer's class and home town or faculty or staff position; and they should also right to edit letters for publication.
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