OPINION
University Daily Kansan, February 28, 1985
Page 4
The University Daily KANSAN
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
The University Daily Kanan, (USPK 600) 6040 is published at the University of Kansas, 118 Staffer Flint Hall. Lawrence, Kanan 6045, daily during the regular school year and Wednesday and Friday during the summer session, excluding Saturday, Sunday, holidays and finals periods. Subscriptions payed at Lawrence, Kanan 6045. Subscriptions by mail are $1 for six months or $2 a month for six months or $3 a year outside the county. Student subscriptions are $1 and are paid through a direct address changes to the University Daily Kanan, 118 Staffer Flint Hall, Lawrence, Kanan 6045.
MATT DEGALAN Editor
DIANE LUBER SUSAN WORTMAN
Managing Editor Editorial Editor
LYNNE STARK Business Manager
ROB KARWATH Campus Editor
DUNCAN CALHOUN MARY BERNICA
Retail Sales National Sales
Manager Manager
DAVID NIXON Campus Sales Manager
SUSANNE SHAW
General Manager and News Adviser
JOHN OBERZAN Sales and Marketing Adviser
New Federalism
President Reagan's 1986 budget calls for deep cuts in aid to states, cities and local governments. Reagan argues that states should be granted more authority in return for having their budgets cut. He calls this the "New Federalism."
The recent Supreme Court decision in the San Antonio transit case calls for cuts in state's authority. Associate Justice Harry A. Blackmun said federal laws applied to state and local governments as long as they were not "destructive of state sovereignty or violative of any constitutional provision." The High Court calls this old federalism.
States call it getting the shaft
"This decision can only lead to a greater exercise on federal authority and unitary, centralized government," said Richard B. Geltzman, general counsel of the National Governors Association. "Without the constitutional protection of Federal legislative and judicial branches, states will be just a few more special interest groups coming to Washington for help."
The Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act — which sets minimum wage and overtime requirements — applies to state and local public workers.
The decision will cost those governments millions of dollars in overtime pay,but that's only fair to the public workers.
Other short-term effects are less certain
Reagan's Labor Department asked for a narrow ruling on the specifics of the San Antonio public transit case. The High Court responded with sweeping changes in federal-state relations.
The Labor Department is reluctant to interfere with the states' rights that Reagan has championed. The confusion is further heightened by the facf that Labor Secretary Raymond J. Donovan is on leave, preparing his defense against criminal charges of larceny and falsifying records.
States have little fear of government infringement from the Reagan administration, which has been steadily retreating from involvement in state activities.
It's the long-term effects that states fear. No one knows just how much more authority the federal government has over states now. Officials are worried that the power may be extended to areas far beyond wage and hour standards.
There are laws that need to be federal or uniform in all states. Civil rights laws, maybe even a national drinking age, certainly qualify.
Not even the venerable Supreme Court seems to sure about the issue.
Remember, this ruling became law by a 5-4 vote, overruling a 1976 law supporting states' rights, also a 5-4 decision, which overruled the previous federalist precedent.
Home and career
Tarnished private lives have caused the professional demotion or downfall of some public people in the past few years. That demotion was long overdue in the case of John Fedders, who resigned Tuesday from the Securities and Exchange Commission amid reports that he repeatedly had beaten his wife.
Despite his resignation, Fedders apparently still does not realize the gravity of his actions.
He said recently that he felt great remorse about seven incidents of domestic violence that have marred his marriage in the past 18 years, but he referred to them as isolated events that did not "justify the extreme characterizations made in the press." Fedders "strongly contests that he was a wife beater," his attorney said.
But those isolated events led to "a broken eardrum, wrenched neck, several black eyes and many, many bruises," according to Charlotte Fedders, who is more than a foot shorter than her 6-foot-10, 230-pound husband. Two of the Fedders' five sons witnessed at least one of the incidents, and Charlotte Fedders' sister has seen some of the injuries.
Although John Fedders' abuse of his wife began as early two years after they were married, it took his wife's public disclosure of their problem at their divorce trial to get him to take some long-overdue action.
He says he has resumed the psychiatric counseling he started and stopped before he and his wife separated 18 months ago. And he has resigned from his job—a job that his colleagues say never was affected by his marital difficulties and that he says he always placed before his family.
Had advocates of women's rights not raised society's consciousness about the issue of domestic violence, Charlotte Fedders probably still would be living in her own private hell while her husband continued to pursue his career.
Instead, this case provides evidence that wife-beating is a public crime, not just a private problem that can be safely hidden and handled in a plagued couple's bedroom.
The University Daily Kansan invites individuals and groups to submit guest columns. Columns should be typewritten and double-spaced and should not exceed 625 words. They should include the writer's name, address and phone number. Columns can be mailed or brought to the Kansan office, 111 Staffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit or reject columns.
GUEST COLUMNS
the conspiracy convictions of Jack Elder and Stacey Merkt, and the conviction of Elder alone for landing in the United States, who refuges invily some reflection.
There's no refuge from the courts
The pair was accused of bringing two adults and three teen-agers to a refuge and facilitating the Salary Drop trip out of the Rio Grande Valley.
The Houston jury was not allowed to consider the wider issues presented by this case, namely why people are fleeing Central America. Presenting a few facts that the jury was not allowed to consider might help people arrive at other conclusions in this case.
members, friends and independent sponsors.
Officials in the Reagan administration perceive this refuge and others like it as a threat. They should. Its existence is a powerful
Casa Oscar Romero, the center where Elder and Merkt worked, is not illegal. It is not even a declared sanctuary. What goes on there is quite simple: Hungry, poorly clothed and sick people fleeing the violence of their homelands are directed there for help. The Casa is owned by a Catholic diocese, financed largely by a grant from the United Methodist Church and receives donations from almost every other religious group, including the Mennonites and Mormons
People arriving at the Casa from El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua or Honduras seek legal rights in the United States and are put in contact with family
reminder that U.S. policies regarding Central America are directly responsible for the influx of refugees into this country.
Some of those refugees are vocal and eloquent. They denounce the torture, rape, pillage and bombing that is going on in their countries. They speak out at the risk of their lives, because once they are apprehended by the Immigration and Nationality service, the process leading to their disarmment begins. Who are these people? lawyers, teachers, church workers, nurses, union members, ex-soldiers and students — just common people.
To be granted political asylum, international law requires a well-founded fear of persecution because
of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a social group. U.S. law works on the same basis. It is not supposed to distinguish between refugees from so-called friendly and unfriendly countries.
Why then does the administration grant political asylum to refugees from Poland and Nicaragua but refuses even extended voluntary departure status to Guatemalans and Salvadorans? In Poland one priest was killed. The perpetrators were quickly found, tried and sentenced to stiff prison terms. In El Salvador an officer (loop, 12 priests and 50,000 civilians) have been killed. In not one case have the perpetrator brought to trial. Half the Poles who apply for political asylum are granted it. Not even 3 percent of the Salvadorans who apply are granted asylum.
The jury was not supposed to consider arguments regarding religion, international law and administration policy. You consider them. If this is our law, we're all going to hell in a hand basket.
The verdict was all the more appalling because Merkt was convicted of conspiracy for acts that the government said occurred while she was in New York. Either the jury thought that her presence at Casa Romo involved her in a conspiracy before she left for Kansas, which was not even alleged by the government, or the jury did not believe that she was in Lawrence and New York at all.
Because my family and I have already been vilified by the prosecutor as per jurpries, I am asking all of people who met Merkt while she was in Lawrence to come forward with affidavits. Those who didn't have a chance to meet her can show support for American efforts in sending letters to Casa Oscar Romero, 311 Wentz St., San Benito, Texas, 78558, or to judge Filemilon Vela, Federal Courthouse, Brownsville, Texas.
Last week the city council in Berkeley, Calif., declared the whole city a sanctuary. Couldn't Lawrence do the same? Or couldn't we do them one better by reaffirming the Geneva Convention, the jurisdiction of the World Court and the 1980 Refugee Act?
Elder and Merkt's concern for Central American refugees should be the concern of us all.
EDITOR'S NOTE: John Blatz is a third year law student from Seaford, NY. He testified at the trial of Elder and Merklt last week in Houston.
*Au Naturel - Shells, ivory
Dangling questions hang from earrings
*Drastic Plastic — Bright, gaudy colors and weird geometry prevail here.
- Tackle Box Chic — Small bobbers, spinners and swivels seem to be most appealing, although some opt for larger lures.
I was walking along Jayhawk Boulevard not long ago when I saw a young woman with a Prowler hanging from her ear.
My head swale. Being an avid fisherman, I recognized the classic lure instantly. The Heddon Tackle Co. quit making Prowlers years
Dangling earrings come in five basic categories:
The Prowler was just the tip of the iceberg. A fashion trend in earrings is sweeping the campus. Big danglers are in.
ago, but I still keep a broken and battered remnant as a reminder of all the bass I used to catch with them.
The Prowler was a three-inch, hard plastic temptation, contorted and painted to look like a crippled shud as it came through the water
And this woman was trolling a perfectly healthy specimen from her ear lobe.
I gave up hope of ever casting that plug, but since then I've been watching women's ears.
"Catching anything?" I asked. She stared at me as though I were some trivial pest buzzing around her head.
Oddly enough, it had the same effect as it jigged up and down her neck.
I tried to trade her a comparable bait for the Prowler.
bones, stones (not the precious kind) and wood are all appearing in ears.
- Precious Metal — Gold, silver, copper, brass and tin in diverse convolutions are common.
- Beads - All shapes, sizes and colors are popular components.
Many women are showing great imagination in fashioning their own earrings. Plumage and paper clips are definitely passe.
I never got the chance to ask the lady why she she had a Prowler in her ear or why women are wearing danglers. So the question remains.
Almost everyone has seen pictures in National Geographic of folks in Africa with odd objects protruding from noses, lips, cheeks, brows and, inevitably, ears.
A look at the field of anthropology sheds a little light on the subject. There are fascinating parallels in other cultures.
Earrings are used as status symbols, ornaments in religious rituals and enticing devices for luring potential mates.
But most KU women probably don't sport earrings for these purposes.
Perbars sociology holds the answer. Large, dangling earrings could be an expression of deviance from the norms of society. Maybe, but large numbers of women wear them, and most don't take it that far.
Does psychology hold the key?
Do women select suspended earrings to transmit subtle cues about themselves? I doubt it.
Everyone likes to feel attractive and unique, but what are women really wearing the things for?
And if the lady with the Prowler ever wants to make a deal, I'm all ears.
And they are fun They sure make walking down the boulevard more interesting.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Campus purging
To the editor:
In response to "No GLOSK funds," I find it quite reassuring that when I walk the campus I can be secure in the idea that someone is so concerned with what is right that they will stoop to "legal means," if necessary, to protect humanity.
I always wanted nee-Nazis disguised as an "organization of concerned taxpayers" purging the University of Kansas of Gay and Lesbian Services of Kansas, et al. Since, apparently, a large contingent is adamant in the dislike of gays, why don't they simply bake GLSOK, et al., in ovens rather than exposing them to California?
Furthermore, the University would be a much better place if the definition of et al. began to encompass more and more groups of people of whom to rid KU — let us say, the Jews or Negrenos.
James D. Oss needs to realize that each individual has his own rights. Organizing to express those rights is a basic American ideal. He can articulate his merits, a forcible departure of LORI, or frighten me and many others.
People have the right to express themselves, but no one has the right to infringe on expression.
John Jay Miller
John Jay Miller Fort Scott sophomore
No simple choice
To the editor.
Tim Erickson's column, "Civil rights for all, including unborn" in the Feb. 13 issue of the University Daily Kansan, seems to exclude consideration of those women dealing with the fear of an unwanted pregnancy. Women who opt for abortion are not mindless "murderers" who enjoy making the decision, and sensitive individuals who must take one of the most adult steps of their lives.
There is no easy or convenient way out as many pro-life groups would have us believe. The decision to terminate a pregnancy
carries lifelong scars that are emotional as well as physical.
Abortion is, by no means, a recent problem. Modern and medically supervised methods have replaced grotesque and crude devices that have been employed by women through the birth of their babies. The abortion performed by laymen carried the risks of severe internal bleeding and possible infection due to unsanitary conditions.
The problems of the increase in abortions must be dealt with by maintaining the already threatened funds to family-planning clinics and by educating young adults about their bodies and the choices they must face in their personal activities.
Those urging their state governments to make the procedure illegal have overlooked the immediate consequences such as the re-enactment of the "underground abortion." *Abortion, regardless of state and national rulings, is not going to stop. We cannot turn back the hands of time or the minds of women.*
I too believe in Erickson's "forgotten God," but I believe he came to deliver a message of compassion, not one of judgment. The righteous of the Bible used to stone the sinners. Now they bomb ticket signs. Have they learned nothing of forgiveness in 2,000 years?
Meg McWhinney Redwood City, Calif sophomore
One terrific idea
To the editor:
In regard to the proposed solar clock tower, we think it's a terrific idea.
It would be a good idea to have a clock in the center of campus, especially for those of us without watches.
The design works well with Wescoe and makes Wescoe look less like a large funn!
Jim Wilder
Chris Sechler
Lawrence residents
1