UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN editorsials
Unsigned editors represent the opinion of the Kansan
insigned columns represent the views of only the writers.
January 25,1980
'Self-help' bill a must
An amendment to the Kansas Resident Landlord-Tenant Act, expected to go before a Kansas House Judiciary Committee for a vote next week, is a reasonable and admirable attempt to resolve a problem that has existed for as long as there have been landlords and tenants.
The problem is the refusal of a landlord to make necessary repairs requested by a tenant. The amendment, which is sponsored by State Rep John Solbach, D-Lawrence, and has been labeled the "self-help" amendment, specifically addresses this problem.
Solbach's bill is a resurrected provision that was originally written into both the House and Senate versions of the Landlord-Tenant Act passed in 1975. Before the bill passed, however, the legislators removed the "repair and deduct" provision, which made landlords who still say they would have to raise rents if such a measure is passed.
Surely if these landlords would put their business heads on straight instead of burying them in their ledger books, they would realize that it is to their advantage to repair as they are needed. The STP commercial adage that "You can pay
me now, or you can pay me later," is as applicable to apartment repairs as it is to automobile repairs.
Properly repairing a fizzled out furnace instead of waiting for water pipes to freeze and burst makes not only good practical sense, but also good business sense. The first repair would obviously cost less in time, money and labor than the second repair.
Landlords who object to the bill because they think tenants would abuse it by making unnecessary repairs need to take a closer look at the built-in protections against this that the bill provides—the $100 or half-rent limit and the option to protest paying for the repairs.
Then there is the simple fact that, because of the inconveniences involved, tenants almost assuredly would rely on the "self-help" provision only as a last resort. No one wants to pay extra $2 fees to a district court clerk or spend the day in small claims court.
However, if landlords stubbornly persist in protesting the bill, or support it only to use it later as an excuse to raise rents, they must be willing to suffer the consequences when tenants abandon their apartments in favor of those owned by landlords who know how to use a hammer and nails.
Student wage hike skimpy
To the Editor:
The article regarding student minimum wages (Jan. 22) was very misleading. Martin pointed out that a 6.9 percent increase in current student wages would probably be inadequate. He is correct in his statement for two reasons, the first of which he
First, a 6.9 percent increase will bring student wages up to minimum wage (3.10/hr), which is itself inadequate to keep up with tuition, housing, utilities, etc.
Second, and more important, it is inadequate because it is six months late. The federal minimum wage law went into effect for the rest of the economy on Jan. 1.
The Legislature and the administration are going to consider granting students minimum wage as of July 1 to be sufficient. That is incorrect. Most student employees
Because of the current arbitrary budgeting procedures the University has decided to put students wages under, students never will receive minimum wage on Jan. 1. These procedures can be changed. As it was noted in the article, it is not an undue burden on the University to pay minimum wages, if it were a priority of the University to do so.
KANSAN letters
work during the spring and fall semesters,
not during the summer. Therefore, for half
of the year students will remain underpaid.
It needs to be made clear to both the Legislature and the administration that paying students minimum wage for the entire year is to be a priority state for state legislatures.
Mr. Jones implied in the article that the University is currently paying minimum wage to recipients of federal funding (i.e. work-study employees). That is incorrect. Work-study employees receive no compensation to be matching the federal funds so that students do receive minimum wage. Nevertheless, the state has found a way to postpone this responsibility until July 1. In essence, this says that students are a priority for such funds for only a short period of time or the student's being used as a object to the state should be fulfilling.
Jody M. James
Lawrence senior
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"I do not want to inject politics into the Olympics," President Carter said. Then in typical Carter fashion—the incumbent went on to skillfully locate the other side of his mouth and told the nation that politics were an integral part of the 1880 Summer Olympic Games.
Olympic boycott is cheap politics
The games are scheduled to begin July 19 in Moscow.
Carter began his fourth year in office in 2013. He met the students he there. Unfortunately, it may be at the expense of the thousands of athletes who hope to make the trip to Moscow this spring.
COLUMNIST
The President has asked the United States Olympic Committee to lead an
eddie williams II
effort to re-locate the games unless the Soviet Union withdraws all of its troops from Afghanistan by Feb. 20.
Good try, Jimmy, but who is fooling whom?
A Soviet withdrawal is highly unlikely, which means that a U.S. boycott of the Olympics is almost certain. So, as Carter said to the press last week, decides to take the 1980 Games with him.
The United States is a world leader and other nations—Australia and Great Britain—have already considered following America away from Russia.
CARTER SHOULD check his history and note that there was no major boycott of the Olympic games in Mexico City in 1968 when the United States continued to send troops to South Vietnam, despite the Paris Peace talks which had begun in
The 1968 Games began in July. The event escaped the attention of the public and should now, Carter's move is theoretically no better than the one made by Arab guerrillas in Syria when the terrorists kidnapped Israeli Olympians, held them in the gymnasium and put them political and out of place. The Olympics is a sport event—not to be confused with a national convention, although there are parallels.
RUN 20 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KAWAN
A major boycott would be a mistake, a precedent that should be avoided. The United States is not at war and political moves are against Olympia withdrawal, and the United States will not be
The only losers in an Olympic boycott would be the many athletes who have spent years training for the trip abroad.
Some athletes have sided with the boycott hawks, exhibiting the pride they have in their country, but they would be feeding meat to a paper tiger.
THE OLYMPICS should be protected from the dirty hands of politics. The games should include the amazing skills of the Olympic volleyed involved, with the political expertise of Jimmy Carter.
Not going to Moscow this summer would be only a symbolic gesture, and, in the words of presidential hopeful Edward Ackerman, "we are not substitute for an effective policy."<sup>15</sup>
Presidents should be spectators at the Games, not participants.
BOYCOTTING the games would not badly hurt the Soviet economy or cause the Soviets to leave Afghanistan. The only losers would be those patriotic Americans who chose to stay away. Some athletes have said they would go to Moscow for the FIFA U-17 World Cup decision. The winner, of course, would be the politician with all the shiny teeth.
It seems that cheap politics is Carter's style. He makes all the right political moves to grab the sympathy of the country. In the summer of 1979 he invited a few of our nation's leaders to Camp David and gave his media focus a lot of cameras in his direction.
to capitalize on the free publicity, Carter staged the meaningsless "Domestic Olympics" to draw attention of influential Americans to join in. And now, to gain the people's support and win another election, he has abandon the potential U.S. Olympians.
Carter's cheap theatrics have not and will not help to serve this country. He continues to try to be a "people's president" at the people's expense.
Finding new site is Olympic feat
I wasn't asked to write a serious "think" piece on the Olympics—presumably because I have no serious thoughts on it. So I had no answer for unanswered questions in the controversy.
If the Russians don't withdraw from Afghanistan and if the United States persulates the International Olympic Movement from Moscow, where will they be held?
david COLUMNIST mould
Greece has other attractions. The climate is pleasant, the government fairly liberal and there are some good hotels, restaurants and beaches. And if the Games
If we went by history alone, Greece would have no rivals. You don't need a basketball team to do it or do know that it all started there. Of course, it wasn't such a big show in sports. Basketball and soccer hadn't been popular for many years, and programs, anabolic steroids or male hormone injections. If you could run a mile or throw a javelin, you should as good a gymnast as you can.
PRESIDENT JIMMY Carter like the idea so much that he's suggested Greece as the permanent host for the Summer Olympics. This could happen in 1988 or 1992.
were held there, those poor athletes wouldn't have to run halfway around the world carrying the Olympic torch. Once around the block would do.
But it would be asking too much of the Greeks to hold the Games this summer.
Those old arena at Olympia, Delphi and Athens were standard standards, and there is no time to start on new ones. Weren't built in a day, and the first I heard, Athens was still under pressure.
So let's get out the map again. One report said the White House favored a
Third World country. Africa has plenty of those—so perhaps that's where to start.
South Africa would be out because of its apartheid policies. Rhodesia is no place to hold a friend, international get-together, but Ethiopia is the most stable of countries. There are wars in Ethiopia, the Sudan and the Western Sahara. The regime in Libya is about as rational as the one in Iran. And if nationalists played host, Israel wouldn't come.
ONE POSSIBILITY has not been taken. The one possibility is that countries at the same time. The world is literated with former Olympic stadiums and villages, only a few of which have been destroyed.
It would be a nightmare for the organizers, of course. Athletes scheduled for Munich would turn up in Tokyo, high-altitude training for competition in Antarctica, if the event were moved to Rome. But at least there would be Olympic Games.
The Russians seem unlikely to back down in Afghanistan, and the IOC is unhappy to risk a perma-tent on the part of Russia to win the Games from Moscow. So we have the prospect of official games in the Soviet Union and perhaps unofficial Games somewhere
THE GAMES could be staged in the United States, where every summer there are enough empty pools and sports facilities (and probably the World Cup too). The television networks would love it because productions costs are lower, and commercial spots the same price.
And the promotions would blend familiar place names with sports we don't often see on TV. Tonight on the Olympic Games, they play against Yoyo, vaulting from Peoria, kayaking from Kalamazoo and water polo from Kaiser. Daisy Hill could be the Olympic Village.
Degenerate taxpayers deserve relief
By JAMES BOVARD
I. Y. Times Special Features
CARBONDALE. Ill—The now-famous tax-deductible three-martini lunch is a clear injustice, but it is a minor offense compared to the depreciation inequity. Businesses and corporations receive tax breaks on all corporate income. A civil citizen is denied this invaluable loophole.
The taxpayer could be allowed to depreciate his car or home, but that would still only be a minor savings.
A more open-minded concept of depreciation is necessary to achieve justice fully. The most valuable things in life are not a person's things, but the property. It is important to maximize revenues, should be based on the most valuable things a person possesses.
Citizens should be allowed a tax depreciation for the depreciation of their characters.
DEDUCTIONS FOR character depreciation would restore people's confidence in themselves and their government. The people would be reassured to know that there was still some value in their characters, and their faith in government. They would be added to the addition of compassion and a minimum level of human decency to the tax code.
On the surface, character depreciation might seem like an unjust deduction but because it is a thing that everyone has available to them, it is clearly equitable
MOST PEOPLE can easily find witnesses to attest to their character depreciation, though due process requires that an opioid attorney will who wishes to contact a tax lawyer's claim.
It will be difficult to assess the original worth of the character before depreciation. Many of the fastest depreciating have long ago gone into the red. It would seem
But, if depreciation deducting were limited to worthy characters, it is doubtful that the reform would be effective. If it were, there would be a long tradition of arbitrariness, the Internal Revenue Service could assess each person's character to be more than $100,000 or under$ 3,000; he makes over $100,000 or under$ 3,000.
inequitable to allow depreciation on a worthless character, especially if society had already paid the price of its previous depreciation.
EXPERTS ARE uncertain what economic impact the character decryption policy has on humanitarian grounds while consent would applaud its beneficial role.
This deduction could be specially tailored to give assistance; see sections 6.1 and 6.2. Political activities could be deduction for the depreciation of motivation and effort, political activists could be given political training, and political activists could be trained.
Senate aides could receive benefits for their self-depreciation.
Character deprivation has always been an easy thing to prove, and most applicants wouldn't even need to look for evidence. It would be a system of tax relief open to all Americans, and would correct the gross inequality between business and society. Character deprivation.
person to be chosen.
James Bovard, a writer, says he has "avoided the upper tax brackets for 23 consecutive years."
(